Thursday, March 04, 2010

Revisiting a marker pile site in Bolton

Several years ago, Bruce McAleer and I explored south of Rt 117 and East of Rt 495 in the patch of woods between Camp Resolute and those highways. We saw a minor rock pile site and I realized, recently, it might be worth exploring a bit further south. Heading out, I passed through the familiar territory on the way to the new. I think you can actually glimpse some of the piles in this site, on the right, as you head north on Rt 495 just before the 117 exit. Anyway, the site is nicer than I remembered. Here is the approach with a boulder at the upper left: [Note the path/old road in the foreground].

Taking a look at that boulder (facing back the way I came in) , it is adjacent and parallel to a long thin pile:
A nice little structure I do not remember from the previous visit.

There were a number of nice little piles in the snow, probably damaged and a bit smeared out: Several un-damaged vertical sided piles: Piles in lines, and evenly spaced:These characteristics of vertical sided piles, in lines, are what I call "marker piles". Another characteristic I see occasionally at such sites is one pile at the edge - possibly at the end of one of the lines of pile - with a nice chunk of quartz in the center. I found that kind of pile here: Closer:[For those who appreciate the turtle, lets look even closer:] A pretty piece of quartz, maybe even deliberately shaped.

1 comment :

pwax said...

I hate it when I am reading this blog years later and do not remember where the site was and where I left little clue as to how to locate it. Here the clue is the image name NPineXXX.jpg where "Pine" refers to a hill adjacent to 495 and "N" means north of there.

Today, I see no reason to be cagey about these sites. Public or not, they remain at risk primarily from forestry and development. Secret or not they are going to get bulldozed.

Meanwhile I hope as many people can see them as possible. This site is at the intersection of 495 and 117 in Bolton. South east of the intersection there is a hillside where you can almost glimpse the rock piles from the highway driving north.