Thursday, November 09, 2006

Did I tell you about Leominster State Forest?

I mentioned it here and here. It is a dark and gloomy place. I think I mentioned the difficulty (and sometimes near impossibility) of forging a path through the moutain laurel. Anyway, I told you so: [Click here] Reading the news story I have a couple of thoughts: First is "hey that's Parmenter Rd where I walked on Sunday!". Next is: "what the heck was a hunter with a .22 doing in there?" There is no hunting allowed and it is a forest road closed to the public with a locked gate. So how did his vehicle get to that spot? When I was there last weekend some pickup truck driving group picked the lock, went in a ways, and were cutting themselves a winter's worth of firewood. Is that all standard for a State Forest?


Quoting from the newspaper:
"Fire officials said a major hindrance is the thick growth of mountain laurel bushes, a protected species that is an attraction at the state forest. They said it is easy to become disoriented in the shrubbery, especially in last night’s steady rain and lack of moonlight. "

Based on where his car was parked (at the foot of a forest road that leads north) and based on my personal experience that you can only really travel on the roads and open trails, and based on the report that the man was "near a river", it seems pretty clear where the man ought to be: right down hill (east) from the little brookside site I reported the other day.

OK, the man found his way out. [Click here]

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