Northern slopes of Wildcat Hill, Ashland MA

The other day I showed a map of Wildcat Hill. The whole northern side has one cluster of rock piles after another, each one centered on a little knoll. There are plenty of little knolls in there and, for the most part, each one has its own rock pile site. I think these are marker pile sites organized radially around the local high points. I have been to Wildcat Hill before and there are other interesting rock pile sites near the main entrance - it is Sudbury Valley Trustees land called "Cowassock Woods" (trail map pdf here) but this time we went in a little side entrance directly into the part of the hill I highlighted on the map. Step into this area and you will start seeing rock piles.

You walk along and see many scenes like this (I'll show a few example as we go. The 19 pile example was from here)
Or:Some of the piles are nicer than others:In one place it seemed many of the piles had one larger flat slab leaning up against them. You can see one such in the background:Up close:and:and:and:These propped-slab piles were concentrated, or at least caught my attention, on one part of the hillside.

Pippsissewa starting to flower now:I took lots of pictures. Here was something unusual: a stone wall, interrupted with a circle (fire pit). The wall opens up like a funnel on two sides of the circle, kind of "druidic" (means it seems a bit "New Age" to me but perhaps not, not here in this place of many ceremonies).

Here was a place where the piles were a bit different, made from more and smaller rocks:Not to keep showing the same things, here is what might be a deliberate "gap" pile:
And a nice bit of subtle structure:
One last look at your typical "marker" pile:Note the typical "V" shape (more examples here). Note the rock at the point of the "V".

The whole hillside gives the impression of having been added to a bit at a time over a long period. I found one part that seemed quite different and, perhaps a bit older. I'll post that separately.