July 12,2026: Blake Brook Paddle

This week the Lakes Region Conservation Trust sponsored a guided paddle tour on Lake Wicwas.  It was a small group, but they were adventurous, powering through the thick weeds to paddle all the way up to the beaver dam that impounds the beaver pond in Blake Brook before it flows into Lake Wicwas. Once we got past the shallow cove and into the brook the weeds thinned out and the paddling was easier. 

Working our way up to the beaver dam.

Blake Brook is the second largest tributary feeding the lake; Dolloff Brook is the largest.  Both tributaries have beaver dams which provide great value to clean the water before entering the lake, as well as providing flood mitigation during heavy rain events, and storing water to supply the lake through prolonged dry spells.

As far as one can paddle before reaching the beaver dam.

There are literally thousands of White Water Lilies blooming in the lake now, and we saw quite a few Floating Bladderwort.

White Water Lilies - and several Yellow Water Lilies

White Water Lilies

Floating Bladderwort

There was even a painted turtle posing for us as it was sunning on a log.

Back in the middle of the lake we noticed a stand of tall dead trees reaching up above the forest canopy west of the lake.

Ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer.

These are White Ash trees, killed by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer which I mentioned in the May 17, 2026 Journal Entry.  

The remaining live ash trees in the Lakes Region won't last much longer.

Speaking of invasive species, here are a few of the most notorious invasive plants to keep an eye for at this time of year as they are easily identifed right now.  All of these spread very rapidly and should be addressed as soon as they are noted.  Once they have grown into a large area they are much harder to eliminate.

Glossy Buckthorn

Purple Loosestrife

Japanese Knotweed

I mentioned recently that a skunk family has taken up residence behind our house.  I'm pretty sure that's what's been digging holes beside our steps at night, so I set the trail camera to see if that's the case.  Well, I haven't seen the skunk yet, but I did catch this animal which was probably following the skunk's scent.

I wonder what a bobcat would do if it came upon a skunk....

We also have a broad-winged Hawk nest somewhere in the vicinity.  They've been driving the chipmunks and small birds crazy whenever they're near.  I saw this one swoop in, causing all the other birds to scatter.

Broad-winged Hawk

Finally, a check in with our loon chick, Pip, thanks to Deb Crowely.  

Loon photos by Deb Crowley

Pip is doing fine, and somehow swallowing ever bigger fish.

At this rate, Pip will start shedding its baby fluff soon!

March 26, 2023: Old Growth Forests

I've known for years about a stand of old growth sugar maples in the Hamlin Town forest in Meredith.  The maple grove is noted on the trail map of the property and I'm always amazed at their size and age.  During a snowshoe trip on that trail this week my eye was caught by another very large tree, which on inspection, is a huge old American beech.  

American Beech

I didn't have anything to measure its circumference, but I estimated it to be about 65 inches.  

Beech has smooth gray bark in its early years but as it ages is becomes rough and cracked, so I know this is an old tree, but I'm not able to guess at its age, though the sugar maples here have been estimated at over 250 years old.  

Now my eye seemed to be tuned to looking up, and soon I noticed another large tree.

Yellow Birch

This I identified as a yellow birch based on its distinctive soft and peeling bark.  Unlike white (or paper) birch, yellow birch is a very long living tree.  Could this also be a couple of hundred years old?  Yellow birch is supposed to have a sweet, minty aroma in its leaves and twigs; it would be long climb to scrape a twig to smell it on this specimen.

Next to be found was a red pine:

Red Pine

Red pine, though not rare, have a specific habitat they prefer, dry and sandy, so I was a little surprised to see it here.  But based on the bark I'm pretty sure it's a red pine.

Red pine has a smooth, scaly, reddish bark.

The crown and needles are also rather distinctive, though the needles were too far away to examine.

All four of these trees were in close proximity to each other.  A short distance away I came upon yet another majestic tree, a towering white ash.

White Ash

Ash is another tree with a distinctive bark pattern which makes it identifiable in winter.

Diamond shaped furrows on white ash.

This is one of the largest ash trees I've seen and it may be largest I'll ever see as the emerald ash borer works its way through New Hampshire, destroying all the large ash trees.  Perhaps this one, hidden among all these other tall timbers won't be found by the invasive insect - wishful thinking, I know.

I didn't pass by the grandfather of all the trees in this forest on this excursion:  the ancient black tupelo (or black gum) tree that has been documented at 450 years old.  I understand why this tree and the sugar maples were not cut down years ago:  the wood of the black tupelo is so hard that no one wants to work with it, and the sugar maples were more valuable as a maple syrup cash-crop than as saw logs.  Why the other large trees are still standing is more of a mystery.  Clearly the area has been logged in the past based on the lack of mature white pine and hemlock.  Perhaps the wood of these trees just wasn't in demand when it was logged in the past.

Another question:  why hadn't I noticed these trees in my many prior hikes on this trail?  I'm sure the good visibility due to the lack of leaves on the trees was a factor, but I think the bright sun, blue sky, and white snow also made these handsome trees stand out on that pretty March day.

We may be well into March but there is still 17 inches of ice on the lake, and even taking out the four inches of porous frozen slush on top, that's over a foot of ice the March sun still has to bore through.  With a bit more snow yesterday, we've got a long ways to go before ice out.

Open water slowly works its way back from the outlet of Lake Wicwas.