by pwax
[Click here]
I did not look closely enough at Larry's album "Western Rhode Island" before. Well worth it, as usual.
You know, as I look at these pictures of wonderful rock piles, many of them quite fresh looking, and then glance at the fragment of topo map Larry includes - where the word "Narragansett" is there plain to see - and when I think about how the Narragansetts are a well established tribe which never lost its cultural identity; and when I think about the statement that there are more rock piles in the corner of RI, MA, and CT than anywhere else; and when I realize this is the Narragansett area; and when I realize that the Narragansetts have shown a great deal of interest in our humble rock piles studies; THEN I start to understand why the piles are fresh down in RI. Also I know who I can ask but will not get an answer from about these rock pile activities.
So why not just tuck the tail between the legs and hurry home, minding my own business? Maybe I should. But we Europeans need to learn to recognize and respect the Indian's scared spots and the Indians won't teach us about them directly. So there is some point in my doing this work. Still further, it is well worth re-discovering the sites around here because they have been lost in a way I suspect the RI sites have not been lost. Even further, I think there are a number of phenomena whose purpose has been lost and these phenomena will not show up in RI. I am guessing these phenomena may no longer be understood by anyone living. So maybe there is some point also to looking carefully at the sites up this way - these sites may have something to teach all of us - not just the Europeans.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Some Alaska related links
by pwax
Searching the web so you don't have to. For the moment, I am looking for things about Alaska
Virginia's Rolling Ridge [Click here and scroll down] (yeah I know, that is not Alaska)
I suspected I could find an Alaskan Cairn if I kept at it. It is a fine photo. But hard to link to. Please click, and enter the search term "Cairn", then keep clicking on thumbnails till you get the full sized picture - it is worth it. [Click here]
"Serpentine Hot Springs, where shamans once trained, has long been recognized by Native Alaskans for spiritual and medicinal values. The nearby hillsides are dotted with the remnants of ancient stone cairns"
HMM? [Click here]
You probably already know about Inukshuk. We'll save that for another day.
[Click here]
More Science Frontiers. I missed this one yesterday - it is CT not Alaska.
Searching the web so you don't have to. For the moment, I am looking for things about Alaska
Virginia's Rolling Ridge [Click here and scroll down] (yeah I know, that is not Alaska)
I suspected I could find an Alaskan Cairn if I kept at it. It is a fine photo. But hard to link to. Please click, and enter the search term "Cairn", then keep clicking on thumbnails till you get the full sized picture - it is worth it. [Click here]
"Serpentine Hot Springs, where shamans once trained, has long been recognized by Native Alaskans for spiritual and medicinal values. The nearby hillsides are dotted with the remnants of ancient stone cairns"
HMM? [Click here]
You probably already know about Inukshuk. We'll save that for another day.
[Click here]
More Science Frontiers. I missed this one yesterday - it is CT not Alaska.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
More Site X photos from Highland Boy
Highland Boy writes in about a site he reported on before:
Reverse angle
I believe the line markings are actually quartz veins, though I am not sure. I took this hastily as I was running out of daylight in a very dark part of the woods, in the rain. There are also similiar markings on the back but I was out of space on the digital camera.
ignore the mouse pointers...sloppy screen capture. There are a few of these split rocks around.
Possible burial mound located on the edge of the oldest (and darkest) hemlock grove I have ever come across. I would estimate the age of trees to be 300+ year old range.
Reverse angle 
I didn't notice at the time, but note the 'mask' or effigy-like markings on stone at the left. Could be lichens or minerals, due for a close-up on the next trip in.
Here are a few I thought you would be interested in. I am currently working on mapping all of the features I have come across, of which there are many.
This is at the foot of the hill leading up to what I believe is the main site. I've walked by this quite a few times without even noticing it.
This is at the foot of the hill leading up to what I believe is the main site. I've walked by this quite a few times without even noticing it.
Reverse angle
I believe the line markings are actually quartz veins, though I am not sure. I took this hastily as I was running out of daylight in a very dark part of the woods, in the rain. There are also similiar markings on the back but I was out of space on the digital camera.
ignore the mouse pointers...sloppy screen capture. There are a few of these split rocks around.
Possible burial mound located on the edge of the oldest (and darkest) hemlock grove I have ever come across. I would estimate the age of trees to be 300+ year old range.
Reverse angle 
I didn't notice at the time, but note the 'mask' or effigy-like markings on stone at the left. Could be lichens or minerals, due for a close-up on the next trip in.Ancient Rock Cairns in the California Desert
[Click here]
You probably know about "Scientific Frontiers Online" a great repository of the un-explained. Poke around there if you have never visited before.
[or click here]
[or here]
You probably know about "Scientific Frontiers Online" a great repository of the un-explained. Poke around there if you have never visited before.
[or click here]
[or here]
Cairns: “Teaching a Stone to Talk” by Benjamin Helphand
This is an essay about the world-wide phenomenon of rock piles, or "cairns". I thought it was sort of interesting because of the pile descriptions so like the ones we see around here.
[Click here]
[Click here]
Bolton-Stow Conservation Land. Part 1 - Approaching a Site
by pwax
After a couple of "dry" weeks, I finally found a site Sunday afternoon with Friend from Carlisle (FFC). I had hoped to get to around under the "C" in "WORCESTER CO" but there were houses blocking access, so we circled around the hill on Delaney Street and discovered a Bolton Conservation Land entrance from the north side of the hill. So we walked in along the trail and were zig-zagging across the slope towards a large boulder when we saw this interesting configuration:
Did the two "wedges" formerly span across this split? After two weeks of finding essentially nothing, I was grasping at straws and not sure if this was the only feature we would see; but we did see another rock pile or two of the most obscure sort.
Then we crossed over to a sub-summit and I found what looked like a prayer seat.
I was shouting at FFC, who was still around the curve of the hill, and a dog was barking and I realized one of the landowners was on the way to see who was making noise. Luckily, and unusually, I was not tresspassing, so I did not get all nervous. It turned out to be a nice lady apologizing for her dog, and also curious about what we were doing. I said Did you notice this? referring to the prayer seat and she said: she had seen it and been wondering about it. Did I know what it was? I said it was a prayer seat. By this time FFC had caught up and said: Well it could be a fireplace - let's check for charcoal. There was none. So I asked the lady if there were any rock piles around and she said: Are you the people I read about in the newspaper? Yup our reputation preceeded us. That's two for two on meeting people in the woods and being identified as "those people". Apparently the message about rock piles is getting out, the newspaper article reached a lot of people in Acton, Boxborough, Stow, Harvard, Bolton - several of the towns listed in the original USET Resolution 2003:022.
FFC had picked up an arrow he found in the woods and had this conversation: "Nice arrow" said the lady; and "Is it yours?" says FFC; and "Yes it looks like one of ours" says the lady; so FFC gave it back - proving that we are essentially benevolent. The lady called her daughter up the hillside (their house was right there) and told her and her friend to get Dad and come down and listen to what we were saying.
During this time, FFC had peeked into a crack in a rock nearby (which I had discounted) and located a wedge. So we showed this to the lady and also, when her daughter and friend appeared, showed it to them. They found it interesting. We also noted this unusual structure in the wall corner.
This is similar to an enclosure FFC found behind Middlesex School in Concord. [Click here]
As it turns out, there is an entire rock piles site about 30 yards away but we did not find it till later. In fact these structures - the seat, the split-wedged rock, the enclosure, are at the top of the site.
After a couple of "dry" weeks, I finally found a site Sunday afternoon with Friend from Carlisle (FFC). I had hoped to get to around under the "C" in "WORCESTER CO" but there were houses blocking access, so we circled around the hill on Delaney Street and discovered a Bolton Conservation Land entrance from the north side of the hill. So we walked in along the trail and were zig-zagging across the slope towards a large boulder when we saw this interesting configuration:
Did the two "wedges" formerly span across this split? After two weeks of finding essentially nothing, I was grasping at straws and not sure if this was the only feature we would see; but we did see another rock pile or two of the most obscure sort.Then we crossed over to a sub-summit and I found what looked like a prayer seat.
I was shouting at FFC, who was still around the curve of the hill, and a dog was barking and I realized one of the landowners was on the way to see who was making noise. Luckily, and unusually, I was not tresspassing, so I did not get all nervous. It turned out to be a nice lady apologizing for her dog, and also curious about what we were doing. I said Did you notice this? referring to the prayer seat and she said: she had seen it and been wondering about it. Did I know what it was? I said it was a prayer seat. By this time FFC had caught up and said: Well it could be a fireplace - let's check for charcoal. There was none. So I asked the lady if there were any rock piles around and she said: Are you the people I read about in the newspaper? Yup our reputation preceeded us. That's two for two on meeting people in the woods and being identified as "those people". Apparently the message about rock piles is getting out, the newspaper article reached a lot of people in Acton, Boxborough, Stow, Harvard, Bolton - several of the towns listed in the original USET Resolution 2003:022.FFC had picked up an arrow he found in the woods and had this conversation: "Nice arrow" said the lady; and "Is it yours?" says FFC; and "Yes it looks like one of ours" says the lady; so FFC gave it back - proving that we are essentially benevolent. The lady called her daughter up the hillside (their house was right there) and told her and her friend to get Dad and come down and listen to what we were saying.
During this time, FFC had peeked into a crack in a rock nearby (which I had discounted) and located a wedge. So we showed this to the lady and also, when her daughter and friend appeared, showed it to them. They found it interesting. We also noted this unusual structure in the wall corner.
This is similar to an enclosure FFC found behind Middlesex School in Concord. [Click here] As it turns out, there is an entire rock piles site about 30 yards away but we did not find it till later. In fact these structures - the seat, the split-wedged rock, the enclosure, are at the top of the site.
Bolton-Stow Conservation Land. Part 2 - a Hillside Site
by pwax
So we walked off down the hill, still hoping to see a real rock pile and did see a rock-on-rock, right there visible from the trail.
And then, lo and behold, a rock pile. 
Down at the edge of the hill, which drops off into wetland, there were a number of these debris covered piles on support rocks. Without taking time to clean any off, there was little hope of seeing more than the pile's existence.
And after this we kept seeing other non-descript rock piles covered with debris, as we circled the edges of the hill. There were a couple of rock-on-rocks next to each other at the same level on the hill. One of the two was shimmed into place. This suggestion that the exact placement was important. Here is one of them, it looks like a burnt rock to me.
We came up behind a house with a new barking dog and turned more directly up the steep hill heading (as we found out later) directly back to the location of the prayer seat. As we got higher on the hill the piles got more substantial until FFC says: "Hey Peter! I found the good stuff". And he was right, the piles were better defined, and there were some really neat things to see.
For example these next rock-on-rocks were in a line leading downhill to...
... an aperture pile. Can you see the hole through the pile?
Note how this pile is just at the edge of the drop off. Was this a hole we look through or one through which the light will shine, or none of the above? FFC was captivated by the fact that there was an unusual rock in this pile which he recognized as coming from the limestone vein which runs across country from where he lives in Carlisle to near here in Bolton and Stow and beyond. So that was the first unusual something he found in a rock pile.
Now here is yet another rock-on-rock with a more substantial pile in the background.
In the next section we'll take a closer look at that more substantial pile.
So we walked off down the hill, still hoping to see a real rock pile and did see a rock-on-rock, right there visible from the trail.
And then, lo and behold, a rock pile. 
Down at the edge of the hill, which drops off into wetland, there were a number of these debris covered piles on support rocks. Without taking time to clean any off, there was little hope of seeing more than the pile's existence.
And after this we kept seeing other non-descript rock piles covered with debris, as we circled the edges of the hill. There were a couple of rock-on-rocks next to each other at the same level on the hill. One of the two was shimmed into place. This suggestion that the exact placement was important. Here is one of them, it looks like a burnt rock to me.
We came up behind a house with a new barking dog and turned more directly up the steep hill heading (as we found out later) directly back to the location of the prayer seat. As we got higher on the hill the piles got more substantial until FFC says: "Hey Peter! I found the good stuff". And he was right, the piles were better defined, and there were some really neat things to see.
For example these next rock-on-rocks were in a line leading downhill to...
... an aperture pile. Can you see the hole through the pile?
Note how this pile is just at the edge of the drop off. Was this a hole we look through or one through which the light will shine, or none of the above? FFC was captivated by the fact that there was an unusual rock in this pile which he recognized as coming from the limestone vein which runs across country from where he lives in Carlisle to near here in Bolton and Stow and beyond. So that was the first unusual something he found in a rock pile.Now here is yet another rock-on-rock with a more substantial pile in the background.
In the next section we'll take a closer look at that more substantial pile.Bolton-Stow Conservation Land. Part 3 - a Ceremonial Plow Blade
by pwax
Here are two pictures of a very interesting rock pile just below the brow of a hilltop, facing east. Note the rusted piece of iron wedged between the large rock on the right and the other rocks in the pile. This is the second unusual thing FFC found in a rock pile.
The reason I am showing both pictures is because the first picture is from before we removed the iron and the second pictures is from after we put it back. We were as careful as we could be to put it back the way it was. Now let's take a look at the piece of iron.
Well, that is a broken off tip from a plow blade. There is no field nearby here, and none on the rocky hilltop. That means someone brought the broken plow tip up the hill and dedicated a rock pile to it. In this one pile we see the whole story and, as FFC points out, we get a pretty good way of dating when the pile was built. Is it 1700s, 1800s, 1900s? Someone could tell us. This one rock pile is "holographic" of the story of the Indian Farmer - in one pile we see a context for all of the rest.
After this exciting find, we continued up the hill, seeing a few more piles. Like this one with a built in shelf:
Or these ones which look to have designed shapes:
That last one could almost be two birds. These piles would be very interesting by themselves if they had not been overshadowed by the other finds at this site. Speaking of which, is this not a typical hilltop site? Well it has a lot of similarity with the east side of the Hill of 500 Cairns [Click here] or [Click here]. Both sites are along Elizabeth Brook, a 1/2 mile or so apart. But I do not get the sense of marker piles. And these previous photos, showing piles with apparent shaping of the rock or of the pile, suggest effigies - something unusual on a hillside far above the wetlands.
Then there was one last find: a nice split wedged rock.
FFC was much taken with this structure because the upper wedge points, he says, towards the 125 degrees magnetic, or August 13 sunrise - a date/direction which, they say, keeps coming up over and over again. According to Tim Fohl, August 13 has some Mayan connection or Milky Way connection which I do not understand.
But rather than end on that note of archeo-astronomy let me emphasize the presence of limestone from a nearby quarry and the presence of a broken plow tip. I think these are not astronomical. Other ideas are going to be needed to understand a site like this. Also let me emphasize my belief that the small details can be the most important.
Here are two pictures of a very interesting rock pile just below the brow of a hilltop, facing east. Note the rusted piece of iron wedged between the large rock on the right and the other rocks in the pile. This is the second unusual thing FFC found in a rock pile.
The reason I am showing both pictures is because the first picture is from before we removed the iron and the second pictures is from after we put it back. We were as careful as we could be to put it back the way it was. Now let's take a look at the piece of iron.
Well, that is a broken off tip from a plow blade. There is no field nearby here, and none on the rocky hilltop. That means someone brought the broken plow tip up the hill and dedicated a rock pile to it. In this one pile we see the whole story and, as FFC points out, we get a pretty good way of dating when the pile was built. Is it 1700s, 1800s, 1900s? Someone could tell us. This one rock pile is "holographic" of the story of the Indian Farmer - in one pile we see a context for all of the rest.After this exciting find, we continued up the hill, seeing a few more piles. Like this one with a built in shelf:
Or these ones which look to have designed shapes:
That last one could almost be two birds. These piles would be very interesting by themselves if they had not been overshadowed by the other finds at this site. Speaking of which, is this not a typical hilltop site? Well it has a lot of similarity with the east side of the Hill of 500 Cairns [Click here] or [Click here]. Both sites are along Elizabeth Brook, a 1/2 mile or so apart. But I do not get the sense of marker piles. And these previous photos, showing piles with apparent shaping of the rock or of the pile, suggest effigies - something unusual on a hillside far above the wetlands.Then there was one last find: a nice split wedged rock.
FFC was much taken with this structure because the upper wedge points, he says, towards the 125 degrees magnetic, or August 13 sunrise - a date/direction which, they say, keeps coming up over and over again. According to Tim Fohl, August 13 has some Mayan connection or Milky Way connection which I do not understand.But rather than end on that note of archeo-astronomy let me emphasize the presence of limestone from a nearby quarry and the presence of a broken plow tip. I think these are not astronomical. Other ideas are going to be needed to understand a site like this. Also let me emphasize my belief that the small details can be the most important.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Looks like birds
A newcomer to this site might not know that these piles are taken to be deliberate ceremonial structures, probably made by Native Americans. I think it is quite possible that the details are important. To me it looks like two birds on the back of a larger bird. But it could be something entirely different. Assuming an Indian built this, it is not idle to speculate about the details.Back to Monadnock Dr. Westford, MA
Unable to find a new site on Sunday morning, I took my wife to visit the Monadnock Drive site in Westford which was discussed earlier [Click here]. A month later much has changed - the two platforms which face each other across the brook are almost lost to view in the foliage. But the light in the forest is nice.Rolling Rock - North Kingstown, RI
by JimP
Above - the, "twin whales," of Rolling Rock in North Kingstown. Along with Queen's Fort, the Town of North Kingstown counts Rolling Rock among its landmarks which, " indicate the strong presence and tradition of Narragansett Indians in Rhode Island."
Below - The outcropping, which is the main focal point of the area, has a huge split in it.
Below - A stone row leads to the outcropping.
Below - Stone rows like this one seem to define the perimeters of the area. It is reminiscent of the walls at the Queen's Fort complex.
Below - A small stone structure built over a spring.
Below - a piece of quartz in a stone row.
Thunderbird Nest
Bruce M writes:
I came across a neat indian definition. Click on the link and scroll down until you find the definition of Thundebird Nest. I've also came across an interesting place in Ontario, Canada in Algonquin National Park where there are known cairns and vision pits. Do a google search on it.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
More archeo listserv discussion board on rock piles
[Click here]
If you find this discussion interesting (they are going back and forth on whether rock piles are Native American), you can track back to previous postings by clicking the link at the top of the message "Re: Southeastern Rock Piles".
I particularly like this part:
If you find this discussion interesting (they are going back and forth on whether rock piles are Native American), you can track back to previous postings by clicking the link at the top of the message "Re: Southeastern Rock Piles".
I particularly like this part:
"if he (or the vast majority of archaeologists in
the East) had bothered to spend a day in any decent
library, he would have found out what Native burials
in this region look like and not countenanced the
destruction of a Native burial ground. The features
Moeller described, "stone walls, lines of stones
that can be mistaken for walls, piles of stones . . .
and short lines containing boulders," are a classic
description of a Native cemetery in this part of
America."
New Age Vision Quest uses rock piles
[Click here]
This is pretty scary, in that it may lead to a corrupting of the record. Actually I think this could be considered quite dis-respectful of Indian traditions, so caution is advised.
This is pretty scary, in that it may lead to a corrupting of the record. Actually I think this could be considered quite dis-respectful of Indian traditions, so caution is advised.
Rock piles in the Great Lakes region
From an archeology listserv:
[Click here for original]
"While most of these features reflect early historic Euroamerican agricultural practices or natural phenomena, certain of the sites can be attributed to prehistoric and historic Native American land use."
Here, in the original topic, someone concludes natural causes for the rock piles.
[Click here]
[Click here for original]
"While most of these features reflect early historic Euroamerican agricultural practices or natural phenomena, certain of the sites can be attributed to prehistoric and historic Native American land use."
Here, in the original topic, someone concludes natural causes for the rock piles.
[Click here]
Taking a break
I have stuff to report from Sunday's explorations in Stow and Bolton. At the moment I feel like kicking back and not fooling with picture downloads and etc... See you Monday. Meanwhile enjoy Larry H's photos.
Larry Harrop follows directions from JimP and takes pictures
Larry Harrop writes:
Hi Peter,
I'm uploading some pictures that I took from Jim Porter's site in Rhode Island. The album name is Western Rhode Island.
( http://larryharrop.com )
I was only able to handle 3.5 miles on the yellow trail before turning back. So I'm sure I didn't see everything there is.
Multitudinous rock piles indeed. Rock piles and cairns in large areas scattered along the trail. A few split and filled boulders as well. This site is similar to Parker Woodland, but the piles here seem to be a lot older and not as well defined. The first thing I noticed was the absences of quartz rocks that are so common in other areas.
Nothing really jumps out at you here until you come to the stone walls. The only purpose of these walls or rows seems to be to connect boulders together. They curve, turn and twist every which way just to connect to another boulder. The stone work was amazing in some sections, not like any wall construction I've seen.
( http://larryharrop.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1510 )
None of these would serve any farming purposes.
( http://larryharrop.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1495 )
Hopefully, I'll be able to get back there this fall and winter ( Lyme free) to throughly explore this area. This area is only 15 miles S W of Parker Woodland. It would be well worth a trip to both of these places. Thanks to Jim Porter for the directions.
Larry
Just a reminder to everyone to check yourself for ticks frequently.. I resorted to treating my clothing with Permethrin. Today I had the pleasure of seeing a tick on my pant leg curl up in a ball and fall off .
Hi Peter,
I'm uploading some pictures that I took from Jim Porter's site in Rhode Island. The album name is Western Rhode Island.
( http://larryharrop.com )
I was only able to handle 3.5 miles on the yellow trail before turning back. So I'm sure I didn't see everything there is.
Multitudinous rock piles indeed. Rock piles and cairns in large areas scattered along the trail. A few split and filled boulders as well. This site is similar to Parker Woodland, but the piles here seem to be a lot older and not as well defined. The first thing I noticed was the absences of quartz rocks that are so common in other areas.
Nothing really jumps out at you here until you come to the stone walls. The only purpose of these walls or rows seems to be to connect boulders together. They curve, turn and twist every which way just to connect to another boulder. The stone work was amazing in some sections, not like any wall construction I've seen.
( http://larryharrop.com/main
None of these would serve any farming purposes.
( http://larryharrop.com/main
Hopefully, I'll be able to get back there this fall and winter ( Lyme free) to throughly explore this area. This area is only 15 miles S W of Parker Woodland. It would be well worth a trip to both of these places. Thanks to Jim Porter for the directions.
Larry
Just a reminder to everyone to check yourself for ticks frequently.. I resorted to treating my clothing with Permethrin. Today I had the pleasure of seeing a tick on my pant leg curl up in a ball and fall off .
Saturday, May 20, 2006
On the way back from a trip to nowhere
On the way back we took small roads and looked for rock piles from the car, stopping occasionally to explore a bit if an area looked promising. It seems we were doomed to fail all day. We saw a few piles that looked like good candidates for being field clearing piles: piles built at the corners of stone walls. Also we saw a couple of other examples of scooped out hollows or what looked like prayer seat configurations. I have no idea where we were on the map.
Here is one pile built into a wall corner:
A few feet along one of the walls was a curious hollow. I cannot figure this out but it looked to have been put there while building the wall.
This did not seem to be something added later to the wall or the result of some kind of damage.
Later by the road at a different place we saw something and got out to take pictures. This is one "U" shaped structure which might have been a prayer seat - although built pretty recently.
There was another a few feet away.
I thought these could be kid's forts but they were a little too well made. Maybe modern day ceremonialism?
Still later on the way home, here is another pile built into the corner of two stone walls:
If you look closely behind the large pile, you can see some auxilliary piles where the smaller cobbles were collected:
So this looks good for being a field clearing pile - with no alternative motives.
Here is one pile built into a wall corner:
A few feet along one of the walls was a curious hollow. I cannot figure this out but it looked to have been put there while building the wall.
This did not seem to be something added later to the wall or the result of some kind of damage.Later by the road at a different place we saw something and got out to take pictures. This is one "U" shaped structure which might have been a prayer seat - although built pretty recently.
There was another a few feet away.
I thought these could be kid's forts but they were a little too well made. Maybe modern day ceremonialism?Still later on the way home, here is another pile built into the corner of two stone walls:
If you look closely behind the large pile, you can see some auxilliary piles where the smaller cobbles were collected:
So this looks good for being a field clearing pile - with no alternative motives.
Roadtrip to nowhere - Brookline NH
As Bruce M put it: "We drove to New Hampshire, parked, got out of the car and took a couple of pictures of rock piles, then drove home". A couple of rock piles is about all we got for the day.
We set out optimistically assuming the topo map was showing us good territory to explore just south of Badger Hill in Brookline NH (as discussed earlier [Click here]). But it is foolish to think you can predict local conditions on the ground by looking at the topo map. In the case of the place we selected for today, it turned out to be the right topography but the wrong geology - where we went was all one large glacial outwash area - with only sand and gravel but no rocks bigger than a fist. It is ironic that we parked next to the only rock piles we saw there. This was at the entrance to a sand and gravel operation off North Mason Rd in Brookline NH.
This pile has two scooped out hollows.
The right hand scoop had a single piece of quartz in the center in back:
[It is a small lighter rock just above the middle of the photo.] Nearby, or perhaps part of the same structure of cobbles, was one more scooped out hollow which also had a piece of quartz in the center of the back wall:
Downhill a few yards below these piles was what looked like a single ground pile at the edge of a faint gully:
Although we walked around for a while we could not get across the impenetrable wetland and mountain laurel to get over onto the Badger Hill which looked so inviting on the map. So it was what is probably a typical problem: too much sandy geology and impenetrable mountain laurel.
We set out optimistically assuming the topo map was showing us good territory to explore just south of Badger Hill in Brookline NH (as discussed earlier [Click here]). But it is foolish to think you can predict local conditions on the ground by looking at the topo map. In the case of the place we selected for today, it turned out to be the right topography but the wrong geology - where we went was all one large glacial outwash area - with only sand and gravel but no rocks bigger than a fist. It is ironic that we parked next to the only rock piles we saw there. This was at the entrance to a sand and gravel operation off North Mason Rd in Brookline NH.
This pile has two scooped out hollows.
The right hand scoop had a single piece of quartz in the center in back:
[It is a small lighter rock just above the middle of the photo.] Nearby, or perhaps part of the same structure of cobbles, was one more scooped out hollow which also had a piece of quartz in the center of the back wall:
Downhill a few yards below these piles was what looked like a single ground pile at the edge of a faint gully:
Although we walked around for a while we could not get across the impenetrable wetland and mountain laurel to get over onto the Badger Hill which looked so inviting on the map. So it was what is probably a typical problem: too much sandy geology and impenetrable mountain laurel.
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