May Newsletter 2022

End-to-End One Day Challenge

The roster is filled! The Challenge was postponed for the past two years but this year we are ready to go forward with the event on May 14, 2022. The ambitious hikers are eager to start, and complete, the 30-mile, 7000+ feet gain trek on the Taconic Crest Trail from Berry Pond to the end of the trail at Rte. 346. Many of our outings leaders, trail workers and other board and committee members are volunteering at the event. You can cheer the hikers on during the afternoon at Petersburg Pass or congratulate them as they finish their trek late afternoon or evening at the Rte. 346 trailhead.

Trail Work & Reroute

Our trail workers have been busy sprucing up the trail and removing copious amounts of blowdown from the trail. A short reroute was marked and cleared near the northern end of the trail, with approval from NYS DEC. The reroute gets the hiker above a normally wet section of trail. More remediation is planned for that area. Meanwhile, work continues clearing blowdown on other sections and access trails. Our trail workers have logged over 235 hours of work, including travel time, so far this year. Many thanks to our hard working crew! Check out the pictures at the bottom of the newsletter of the trail crews at work.

**Trail crew had a great day for cutting the reroute, pic by B Coyle.**

Stone Walls in our Woods

Robert Frost said “Good fences make good neighbors,” and this idea was acted out with great vigor in New England thousands of times over.

Lucky for us, this is a great time of year to make a closer observation of our plentiful woodland stone walls. In winter they are covered with snow and in the summer, well, they are often “guarded” by prickery undergrowth and concealed by foliage. Now, however, they stand out in the landscape, calling to you to come take a look and do some pondering.

How are stone walls, Napoleon, and merino sheep related? The Portuguese, after losing to Napoleon in 1809, were not able to continue protecting their interest in their special breed of sheep, the merino, prized for their hardiness and soft wool. In 1810 an American was able to import 4,000 of them to his farm in Vermont. After a tariff was passed on English goods after the War of 1812, people went crazy for wool, (much like what happened during the Dutch tulip mania of 1637 and our own dot com tech mania of the late 1990s). Rivers were dammed, textile mills were built and every farmer wanted to raise merinos. In the next 30 years the sheep population in Vermont alone rose to 1.7 million!

This economic trend drastically changed the New England landscape. Forests were cleared for pasture and stone fences were erected where previously they had been constructed of wood only. After wood became more scarce, it made sense to use the stones cleared from fields for fencing. Naturally it must be added that stone walls were not always fencing; they merely represent the effort to clear land for farming.

Farmers could do 10 to 20 feet of stone wall a day, and for sheep, they had to be 4 ½ feet high, which, interestingly enough, is the approximate height of a man’s thigh, where the ability to lift objects is maximized. Often brush or wood rails were placed on top to make them higher. These stone walls have larger rocks to keep livestock inside pastures or out of mowed and planted fields. Labor was plentiful for building the walls; there was no war going on; there was peace and prosperity.

The mass of the stones in New England’s walls during this period was greater than that of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and placed end to end, the stone walls of New England would extend 240,000 miles! But the building frenzy did not last long. Why? Too many sheep on limited pasture eroded and degraded soils; productivity declined; there was a period of intense flooding and erosion. Sheep farming gave way to dairy, and many farmers abandoned their lands for better soils farther west. Over time, the forests regrew and now shelter miles and miles of stone walls—all for our viewing benefit. There is a lot you can find out about the history of a particular parcel from the stone walls that were built on it.

Early stone walls were just lengths of tossed field stone, kind of primitive in looks. We see these jumbled rocks lined up haphazardly in many places or in more organized but still irregularly shaped walls.

More productive farms created more classical double walls, the kind that look ordered and that you can walk on. These were built with the stones slanted inward from each side to increase the integrity and strength of the wall. The interior of these walls was usually filled with rubble and pebbles. Capstones (large slabs) were placed on top.

Other stone walls were constructed out of stones hauled or thrown out of tilled ground, where stones that rise to the surface after the winter are a constant annoyance to tillers. So these smaller stones were added to walls and indicated the land around it was cultivated, not grazed.

First, the ground beneath the wall had to be stabilized with gravel our dug out to avoid heaving. Two building principles governed stone laying. Each tier had gaps that did not coincide with the gaps above it. This was called “one-on-two” or “two on one.” Larger stones went down first, then the wall was tapered upward so it wouldn’t tilt or fall over.

How were large stones moved into place? Some big field stones were blown up with explosives; others were moved with ingenious devices—rock lifters and grippers, slings from tripods and jointed levers. It was an endless war.

Stone walls built by the Shakers are unmistakable—strong, perfectly straight, and attractive. Because they were creating a “Heaven on Earth,” nothing but perfection would do. Their walls are dug deep, run a plumb line, and are often capped by enormous flat stones. They haven’t moved an inch in almost 200 years.

All stone walls are interesting and tell a story of hard work, hope for prosperity and a better life, and the beneficence of nature. Take a minute next time to stop and think about these monuments to a struggling people and pause to honor these enduring mementos of the past. It will add a layer of interest to your hike or bike this spring!

References: Reading the Forested Landscape, by Tom Wessels and Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls, by Robert M. Thorson

OUTINGS: Refer to the THC website outings page for details about the outings and how to register. We are scheduling on a short-term basis rather than seasonally, so check the website periodically.

Saturday, May 14: End-to-End Challenge
Wednesdays: Midweek paddles B
Wednesday, May 18: Yokun Ridge along a portion of The High Road, B-
Tuesday, May 24: Sarah Tenney – TCT – Shepherds Well Loop B
Thursday May 26: Hand Hollow C
Saturday, June 11: SPRING GATHERING, Grafton Lakes State Park (GLSP)
Thursday June 23- Field Farm Williamstown C