Holland Glen Cache
A delightful, shady afternoon stroll along Hop Brook before clamboring up to the sunny ridge.
I had no idea this trail even existed, leading up from a small turnout on route 9 up to the ridge of fair sized hill and beyond. I only went about as far as the cache I was looking for, but the trail was well marked and continued clearly along the ridge.
If the top of the ridge was bright and sunny and warm, the trail along Hop Brook was the more cool, shady, and picturesque. With the aid of a small tripod, the relatively dim lighting just makes the pictures of flowing water more dramatic.
Coming down the hillside,
flowing over rocks,
or cascading into pools. Up on the ridge, I found the Holland Glen cache.
Inside was the first Travel Bug I’ve ever found. I felt a little guilty taking it, since I have a week of meetings coming up so it’ll take me at least that long to place it somewhere else. But how could I resist?
Coming back down the trail, I stopped to snap a few more pictures.
Like this mushroom
and these ferns growing just off the side of the trail.
Of course, I found the wood frog irresistible. In retrospect, I should have searched the brook for red backed salamanders too. I don’t have any recent pictures of them.
There are some precipitous drops on this trail, including this one from above the waterfall I photographed on the way up.
For my parting shot, a full second of flowing water.