Chilly but sunny

Still chilly and windy here today, 'though we're running out of April. Nice day for a hike, but layer up, as it will be a chilly start.
At 7:30 am, it is 35 degrees and rising.
The humidity is 51% and steady.
The barometer is 29.62 inches of mercury under clear skies.
Wind in the observed period ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 MPH.

The US Forest Service Fire Danger for today is HIGH.
Today's NWS forecast: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Northwest wind around 11 mph.

We'll have a crew out today with Working for Worcester, and we're also getting some experience in with using a grip hoist out at Mount Wachusett. 

Cooks Pond Madness!!

4.5 hrs.
10 Volunteers
42 Bags of brush
Including Bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, Norway maple, and Black locust, among other invasives.

Thanks to the Tatnuck/Cooks Island Cub, GWLT Volunteers, for an EPIC cleanup, IN A SNOWSTORM no less!

We started with a few flakes on the ground and ended with a full snowman out on the ice! It snowed A Lot! The whole time!

Free tomorrow? Come help us clear!

Just in case you are looking for a little bit of outdoor volunteer work during this winter month, we have an opportunity available!

On Saturday, January 18th (tomorrow!), a group of volunteers will be gathering at 11:00 am near the benches that overlook Cooks Pond.  The plan is to cut back the vegetation in that area to make the pond more visible and to remove some invasive species.

If you are sensitive to poison ivy, you may wish to miss this one ... there is definitely some in the area of work.

There will be some tools available, but feel free to bring your favorite pair of loppers or small clippers!

Earth Day clean-up day!

It's Earth Day clean-up day here in the city of Worcester, and we hope you'll either come down to Cascades East (that's Olean Street, on the Holden line) or find a clean-up near you on the REC's map to pitch in on!

At nine am, it is 50.5 degrees and rising.
We have 53% humidity and falling.
The barometer is 29.62 is inches of mercury and steady.
We have clear blue skies here today.
The fire danger remains MODERATE.

Happy clean-ups!

Happy Arbor Day!

Happy Arbor Day!
It's lovely out today, and the trees are just getting their leaves out.
At 8:30, it is 47.3 degrees and rising.
We're seeing 48% humidity and falling.
The barometer is at 29.53 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.
The brook is running at 1.92 inches.

Tomorrow brings the citywide Earth Day clean-ups. If you head over to the Regional Environmental Council's website, they have handy map posted of where you'll find a place you can pitch in. The Greater Worcester Land Trust is running clean-ups at three properties: two we could particularly use a hand on are Broadmeadow Brook (off of Kirkland Street) and Cascades East (off Olean Street). Clean-ups start at 8:30 and go until the DPW truck comes or 1 pm, whichever comes first.And if you're working on a GWLT property, please join us here at the Lodge for a cookout afterward!

WE ARE OPEN!

Thanks to more than one generous neighbor (you guys are great!), we now have a CLEARED parking area. You can park on the left as you turn into the driveway.
PLEASE be thoughtful in your parking so we can get as many people in as possible.

We've already had more than one hiker come through on the Cascades Trail. This is a light fluffy snow, so it is fun snowshoeing, but it takes some energy to cut a new path.

Enjoy the trails and send photos, if you would!

Happy hiking!

Feels like fall

While it isn't as chilly as it has been the past few mornings, it does feel like fall out there today!
At 8 am, it is 50 degrees and rising.
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.
The brook is again dry.

It is sign and timber work Thursday here at the Lodge; if you have some time this morning, come by any time after 9 to help with log hewing. If you saw us at stART, you know that we have a whole sign frame read to go for Pine Glen in West Boylston; we just need to finish the sign for that. The frame we're working on next will at the end of Dawson Road to mark the KinneyWoods property.

See you tomorrow at stART!

The logs are loaded and we're ready to go! The annual arts-and-everything-else festival, stART on the Street is tomorrow on Park Avenue from 11-6. Look for us in our usual spot under the trees at the edge of Newton Hill (across from the corner of Elm and Park).
We'll have the bowsaws, adze, bark spud, and mallet and chisel ready for willing hands. Stop by and help us finish up the next property sign!
See you tomorrow!

Heading into fall

The fire danger remains low and the brook is still running, as it's starting to get chillier at night and stay cooler during the day. Currently, the brook is running at about 2 inches.
The squirrels and chipmunks have been busy here lately, as the shagbark hickory nuts are ripening. You can sit outside and hear what sounds like rain, as the squirrels high up in the trees shell the nuts.
At 9:30 am, it is 72 degrees and rising under clear blue skies.
The barometer is 29.21 and steady.

And I have a squirrel scolding me through the window as I post this!


______________________________________
Note that this weekend marks the start of our fall festival season: please look for us at Worcester's Canalfest, which you might have seen covered in yesterday's paper.
And be sure to check out the video!

Warm and dry

We're into week two without rain here, so the stream is drying up. It's still much cooler under the trees than it is elsewhere in the city, though. At ten am, it is just now getting to 75 degrees and steady.
We've got a bit of a breeze here, as well.
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady under clear blue skies.

We had a large group of people here yesterday for the every-other-Thursday work project, including a group from the Worcester Public Schools. Much sign routing, painting, staining, and log shaping going on well into the afternoon. You'll be seeing the fruits of that labor going up at various properties as we head into the fall!

The logging work at Cascades West is now completed (and if you didn't see the T&G report on this, check it out), and the new route of the Meadow Ridge trail is open for hiking. We've gotten some good reports on it already! We'll be watching the newly cleared space this summer as it starts to come back with grasses and bushes, much better and more mixed habitat for all that lives here.

Still rising

We've raised the fire danger sign again this morning to VERY HIGH. This is very,  very unusual for central Massachusetts, let alone for March.
At 8:45, it is 59 degrees and rising. 87% humidity and steady.
The barometer is at 29.41 inches of mercury and steady.

I should also note that we are lucky enough to have some excellent sign work going on this week, thanks to intern Jacob!

BEAUTIFUL!

Well, folks, if you were waiting for spring, you've got it!
We are expecting that it will be in the mid-sixties by noon today, so get out there and enjoy it!
Should you be coming through here, do know that several days of melting means that trails are extremely muddy. In the places where the line between trail and brook is somewhat foggy (Silver Spring comes to mind), expect water. So long as you're prepared for that, great weather for it!
We also are lucky enough to have a spring break crew here from Clark for a second day, doing some timber shaping. This is in addition to our stalwart "every other Thursday morning" volunteers, who are routing some signs.
At 10:45 am it is 58.8 degrees and rising.
The humidity is 60% and falling.
The barometer stands at 29.35 inches of mercury and steady.
We currently have about 9 mph of wind
Enjoy!

Frigid

There may be no snow, but there's no mistaking the season this morning: it is COLD outside!
At 8 am, it is 22.5 degrees and steady (brrr).
52% humidity and steady (it's getting too cold to hold much water in the air)
The barometer is 29 inches of mercury and steady
The stream is running steadily, with some ice around the edges. The Cascades did some melting and refreezing over the weekend, and continue to run.
Fire danger continues to be NONE.

Yesterday, we were cutting trail and flagging a new trail loop at Kinneywood at the Dawson Road. We had a big enthusiastic crew for a great start to the new year!

Cascades West sign

Colin, Tyler, and William braved the cold and got the new sign up. Look for it at the property bound with Boyton Park on Silver Spring Road!

Sign going up today!

You know you have intrepid volunteers when people show up even when it's 17 degrees! The sign at Cascades West has been brought up the hill and will be going up today.
It is COLD: at 9:30, it is just breaking 20. With the wind, which we're getting about 7 mph of right now, it feels like zero.
Bright and sunny, however.
The Cascades, after the rain earlier this week, continue to run through the ice. If you've never seen them like this, come by! It's really quite lovely.
The fire danger remains NONE (though it is low to the east of us).
If you bundle up and account for the wind, nice day for a hike! The mud that's been plaguing us has frozen!

Wind Advisory!

The National Weather Service wants you to know that there is a wind advisory today.
Winds may gust up to 46 mph.
Ordinarily that isn't too too bad,
but recently we had an ice storm and there are still limbs hanging here and there, so if you head into the woods be extra aware of your surroundings please.

Yesterday the GWLT volunteer crew and a kindly dog walker who loves to dig holes headed up into Cascades West.
After digging down to the bedrock (and that wasn't very far down at all) we stood up the massive timber frame property sign holder, and set it in place.
The property sign is completed and should be following along shortly.

Post-Irene calm

Certainly the post-storm calm out there this morning!
At 7:30 am, it is 58.3 degrees and steady, rather chilly actually.
84% humidity
29.06 inches of pressure and rising.
In total, we had 3.66 inches of rain during the storm.

We avoided most damage up here in the Lodge. We've got several sizable trees down: one across the driveway, one across the trail, one behind the shed.
We are asking all hikers and walkers to please report in with downed trees or blocked trails.

We need to know what trail, and where/about how far in.
If you can try to classify what is bowsawable (up to 10" or so) and what is chainsawable (=or > 12") that would be great. Many thanks!

Clark University is Here!

We have some Clark University students here this morning, doing some trail and sign work on the Cascades parkland. We're getting some new posts worked on, replacing some repainted signs, and putting up some new ones. Thanks to Clark University for their great volunteers!
It is a LOVELY day to be out and about; get outside!
At noon, it is 56.8 degrees and still rising.
35% humidity and steady
The barometer is at 29.47 inches of mercury and steady under blue, sunny skies.

If you do get out on the trails this weekend, we would always appreciate a report of anything you find!

(Apologies, as an earlier post misidentified the volunteers on account of the bright purple t-shirts they wore.)

Warmer!

We have daffodils working their way up through the leaves down by the sign, and a high of the mid-fifties is forecasted today!
If you've got a hankering to do some outside work, come by: we're out doing work on signs until 11:30 today.
At nine am, it is 38.7 degrees and rising under sunny skies.
52% humidity
The barometer is at 29.44 inches of mercury and steady.
The stream is 5.6 inches and burbling merrily along.

SNOW!

Yes, we did indeed get some; it's sticking still in places under cover and under the trees. This wasn't your usual late fall dusting, either: this was some serious stuff. We also got some sleet last night, which was pretty noisy, and now it's switched entirely to rain. At 8:45 am, it is 38 degrees, so that will be it for exciting precipitation for today.
All of this, however, has the stream back up to a solid five inches (once you pull all the leaves away from the stream gauge). The Cascades are running!

All of which makes this afternoon's trail clearing work at God's Acre more urgent: WINTER IS COMING! If you can join us from 3-5pm today, we're meeting at Logan Field (yes, that means we've made progress). Loppers and bow saws welcome!