barren nights

[whippoorbill]

Tuesday, November 18

She was brisk, but still beautiful out there today. It seems like I don't get up to the big green often enough these days, but Al and I got together this morning, made our way north, and did some serious wandering. Our agenda is never solid -- I like it that way -- and we took many a twist and turn. Rockwood; Parkdale; Chatsworth; many a cranberry bog; bushwhacking and stone hunting through some evil, wicked, nasty briars; getting seriously stuck in a seductive but menacing hole; my marveling at the shapes of the trees; Al's nose to the ground for those elusive stone markers; the winter green; the waters blue, "and will somebody please come tow this stupid truck out of this stupid hole????"

Thanks for looking,
Bill

 

[manumuskin]

First off let me say to Bubbamax,don't listem to me.I'm an old prude that likes my barrens pics natural like.Don't let my old self stifle your young talent.As for whipoorbill me and him go way back and I like nothing better then to yank his chain.So carry on young fellow and put your heart into it.
As for you mr. Whipoorbilly. Bravo! Those are some real good representatives of your old work.I noticed you had to get your little gaff in and screw up a pic with me in it.I now feel quite out of focus thank you much.I'm glad that you didn't warp that stone.I'd hate to see Guy pull a can of whoop a@@ out of his back pocket and go to town on you.I'm surprised you could focus on it all the huffin and puffin you was doin,or was that me,i forget,I'm out of focus.
Alfie

 

[whippoorbill]

parkdale

Still sorting through the 18-gazillion photos taken during Tuesday's ramble. Now that I think about it, the ride back to Parkdale from 206 was the prettiest part of the day. This road was obviously a battle line used to combat the recent fire. Territories north of the road were fire-scarred (albeit beautifully); south seemed untouched. The sun was brilliant last Tuesday and I couldn't believe the way its light fired up the pine needles on the ground. It was so freakin' gold. The top photo hardly does it justice, so I can only recommend one ride up the sand road on a sunny day before the tones wane. The second photo is of a stand of unscathed pines in the burn area, visible from the road intersection at Parkdale. The third is of the small stream looking south from the bridge, again at Parkdale.

 

[whippoorbill]

Sorry. I seem to be on a BubbaMax-inspired roll here. And I'm still pix sorting from the other day's mass. Hopefully, this'll be the last batch, unless somebody begs for more. Ha.

I found my first stone. But it's not like I wasn't led there by a carrot stick, of sorts. Apparently, this stone has been missing in action for a spell -- and Alfie, with a little carrot stick following of his own, took us to the general area of its supposed location. Mind you, my fire isn't quite lit by the hunting-through-brush stone-searching procedures and my attention tends to be out- and up-ward. Poor Alfie was circling like a fleet of stagecoach wagons while I meandered looking at things like this ...

As a matter of fact, it might have been this very picture I was sizing up when I looked down at the ground between my feet and saw this ...

(photographed with Al's pinkie)

I bowed. "Thank you! Thank you!" sez Alfred, as I went back to searching the treetops.

Here's a photo taken along Rockwood Rd. Three holes and two minutes up the road from here my truck would dive head-first into the abyss. (That photo is a few posts north.)

We're planning on heading back to this area again Tuesday (next week), but I'm not driving.

I noticed you had to get your little gaff in and screw up a pic with me in it.I now feel quite out of focus thank you much.

 

[bobpbx]

I like that second to last photo Bill. It has a different feel to it...has a bit of beckoning distance to it...like perhaps rolling English countryside beyond the trees.

I like the first blurry photo of Al walking away too. It evokes mystery and melancholy...of things long gone and forgotten.

 

[Teegate]

All,

The stone in the photo that Bill photographed may have an interesting history. I was looking over some old surveys last year and found one that showed a stone on the map not near any of the survey lines. I was curious if I could find it and using a piece of paper on my monitor, I scaled the map and figured where I thought it would be. Jessica and I went searching for it and my GPS took me directly to it. I call it the “mystery stone”, and have been trying to figure out who may have placed it there and when. The mystery became even deeper when it disappeared when Al and I could not find it again. Three attempts by Al and one by me was enough to have me search back though my records and find the GPX file that I made the day I scaled the map on my computer screen. And Bill saved the day proving that stones just don’t get up and walk away.

Anyway, there is a possibility that this stone was from the John Lee or Joseph Smith survey from as early as May 14, 1783. Later owned by James McCambridge, Edwin Moore, Joseph Wharton, and now you and I. Ultimately, I am not really sure what this stone represents and it frustrates me.

Guy

 

[maxwellandson]

Alfred,

In the future, I'd prefer if you referred to me as Vincent van Whippoorbill. And stop hoiting my feelings.

On the other hand, thank you Bob and Tom for the compliments. It's been a while since I've wandered the pitches with the ol' Canon. (I'm cheap, and gas has been, like, expensive). It's time to return ... maybe this weekend. Is there anybody besides Alfred who would like to come along (to assure I don't get lost)?

Vincent van ...

Bubbamax and I are in let us know

 

[LARGO]

Bill,
Nice to see you were out my way. There are a few areas back here I think you would have fun with, yet not get your truck sunk.
I love the surreality (is that a word?) that you create in your work. It is second to none, but the regular shots you take are a treat any day. Good eye dude!
I gotta say, I would love to be fly on a... well there ain't no walls so I'd settle for a dungheap. Yeah that works. I would like to be a fly on one of those in earshot of you and Al out there. You two must be like a Pinebarrens Vaudeville act that only performs for the wild things. I can only imagine some of the dialogue we don't hear about.
Good stuff from both of you. Keep it up!

g.

 

[whippoorbill]

Bill,
Nice to see you were out my way. There are a few areas back here I think you would have fun with, yet not get your truck sunk.
I love the surreality (is that a word?) that you create in your work. It is second to none, but the regular shots you take are a treat any day. Good eye dude!
I gotta say, I would love to be fly on a... well there ain't no walls so I'd settle for a dungheap. Yeah that works. I would like to be a fly on one of those in earshot of you and Al out there. You two must be like a Pinebarrens Vaudeville act that only performs for the wild things. I can only imagine some of the dialogue we don't hear about.
Good stuff from both of you. Keep it up!

g.

Al is a rather strange one, yes, George. But he and I have managed to get along for many years despite this. However, things are rather magical between us when we're out in the natural world. Our gears mesh there. He's taught me a lot about the barrens. (Even to the point where I can comfortably wander the area ...sans GPS... at night on my own.) I've met no man who knows the woods, and nature in general, like he does. He's led me down many a beautiful path, and places where there are no paths, and the rewards have been priceless.

 

[manumuskin]

Billy,
You've stretched me! I look skinnier! I like it!
I really don't know my way around that good I mostly fake it.Besides you can never be really lost when you have no place you'd rather be then where your at.I am honored you consider me your pine barrens guru after the quite nasty intro I gave you to the barrens back in the fall of 85.Surprised you ever went back with me.We'll see if we can get temporarily turned around n the sleeper medders tuesday.
Alfie

 

[whippoorbill]

A-hunka-hunka-burnin-Al

 

[Teegate]

Al moves around pretty good for being that heavy

Guy

 

[maxwellandson]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fat Al-bert

 

[whippoorbill]

In no way can the photos do the day justice. After years and years of wandering the barrens, I'm still overcome with awe at the beauty they offer. Al and I journeyed out into the meadows associated with the Great Swamp and Sleeper Creek this afternoon (after the morning rains) and wandered the area freely. We had each left a vehicle at different points on Rockwood Rd, planning a through trip, but that plan had to be abandoned due to our slow progress, the shortened days, and having no sense of hurry.

bearings set

Al calls this "The Under Water Road." We waded this for a half mile or so, out to the meadows, sloshing all the way. More below ...

emerging from the under water road to the meadows

(sorry, alfie)

When it was time to return, Al and I had to split ways on Rockwood Rd. He walked east to his vehicle. Me, west. We both had over a mile to walk. The following are photos I took during the walk back to my truck.

I tromped back out to the bog for this last shot, taken from the intended exit place of our trip. Light was waning; it's probably good we quit when we did.

Thanks for looking,
Bill

 

[Teegate]

Great photo's Bill! That is an amazing area there that few people see or understand. You can return again and again and never see it all. Thank you for sharing your day.

Guy

 

[whippoorbill]

 

[manumuskin]

It was a good day though we got a late start due to rain and other circumstances,that is till near the area where we split up.We were walking along a medder and i was feeling for an island I knew to be there somewhere,their are many patches of brush out here that appear to be high ground but aren't quite high enough to set a tent up on.The island i can c tree island (you'd have to see the tree in the middle of the island to understand)is the only patch of high ground thats not attached to the higher ground along rockwood road and you can park your butt on it and stay dry.Well we were walking the medder edge and bill was scoping the medder for photos and i was scoping the bush for this island,i hadn't been to it in years but knew i was close.This is when I seen it.bill walked right by because he was looking to the right.It was a spike buck,i thought a doe at first and it was dead but it was sitting up looking at us.I knew it was dead because it's eyes were blue and opaque but it was looking at us.it was curled up like deer do when they lay in the brush and it's head was up and looking at me through those dead blue eyes.I walked over to it amazed,never had i ever seen a dead deer sit up and look at me,as i got closer i saw the nasty truth.This deer had been caught in a deer snare.Something highly illegal unless in a survival situation.The rope was a strog type of black crab line,strong enough for any other type of small or medium animal but this deer broke it and running through the forest in blind flight it had become entangled around two small pines,one at it's head and one at it's feet.The rope had yanked it's head up just enough to look natural as it eyeballed the medder it was next to.The deer had obviouslyexhausted itself yanking at the rope which it no doubt didn't have enough slack to snap again and it layed down and either choked to death or starved.It was quite fat so i doubt it starved.it didn't stink and was quite recently dead.It couldn't lay it's head down to die so it stared death in the face and died like a buck.It had one inch spikes,a short life indeed.Bill took pics but he sez too morbid to post.
I wanted to make use of the body of the deer by brain tanning the skin but i had no rope big enough to hoist it to skin it and would have had to tote the bloody hide more then a mile down a waterlogged road and then had nothing to keep the truck clean with.momma woulda killed me.Also if ranger rick caught me without a licens it woulda been my hide gettin tanned.I'd rather skin it myself because most hides i find tossed aside are badly knife scored and useless for buckskin.The hide has to be pulled and fisted off after the initial incisions and this woulda been a nice skin.At first I was looking for buckshot holes or an arrow puncture because the rope being black was camo but i noticed the hair piched tightly around the neck and thats when i seen the rope.Now I am not anti hunting and if your hunting for food I say get the deer anyway you can and the law be damned if I'm hungry so I can't get mad at this hunter for killing the deer or illegally snaring it.I don't know his circumstances but I can get pissed at his stupidity of trying to snare a100 plus pound deer with crab line.He should've used at least three eight inch synthetic rope or some good strong snare wire and a system that yanked the deer off the ground so death would've been quick.he was obviously no professional and I doubt he was really in dire enough circumstances to warrant the snare in the first place.This isn't the wilds of Alaska so i doubt he had been lost for days.It's not like he set it for something smaller either.A deers head is higher then any other animal out there and a noose big enough to collar a deer would've been too large to collar anything else but a large predator whose head would've still been too low.This was deliberate in my opinion and i doubt warranted.Billy has pics,if anyone wants to see them let one of us know.
Al

 

[whippoorbill]

Thank you, Al, for posting that.

I'd called Al at home tonight and asked him to describe what we saw with the deer. He had a better understanding of what went on there. I walked up, took a couple of quick snaps, and had to walk away. I'm considering putting the photo on the gallery that contains all the other shots from today -- we'll see -- maybe those who are upset about the nature of this situation would be interesting in seeing it. It's not overly morbid to look at, but to realize what the creature undoubtedly went through turns my stomach.

Bill

 

[Teegate]

Bill,

I would like to see those photo's. If you don't post them could you send them to me? If you post them do as I do and store them on your photobucket account and just post the link here. Warn everyone not to click on it if they don't want to see it.

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

I'd like to see it too Bill, but I know Ben does not like those type of photos shown since children do visit the site. Please show me via email.......bob