Next brook north of Nod Brook in Groton

I had a wonderful walk last weekend, not for the piles I found so much as for the gratification of predicting where I would find them. In general if you go up a valley and it curves around - say - to the right: when you are on the right hand side of the valley and look back down, you see the sides of the valley. But if you are on the left side of the valley and look back down, sometimes you can see out to the sky. Those are the first places I look to find rectangular mounds. 

I followed such a valley up the brook that is one brook north of the Nod Brook. It curved around the northern end of Shepley Hill and came up along the hill's eastern side.

As I came around the hill and saw a kind of "knoll" at A, I had that feeling of expectation: "Ah! That is where I would expect to find rock piles". And there was nothing but empty snow under the pine trees. But then...wait there are several rocks poking up in one place, could that be a rock pile?

I look back down the valley at it. I am not sure. I look up the valley at it:

And I almost see an 'F' (with the large rock at the bottom). And then notice another rock, off there in the distance along the line of the photo. A closer look at it:

Son of gun there is a rock pile beyond it.

So I thought that the value to the world of such a small find might not be that great. But it is good to confirm the instinct to follow a valley and consider places with a good view back down. 

Proceeding to the far side of the "knoll" where a different branch of the brook was coming uphill (at B), what is that?

Another cluster of rocks sticking out above the snow, all in a cluster, with few other rocks around.

I think this is a big old thing. Probably not too visible at any time of year. I don't know how to describe it but the pile is in more than one lobe. I see a channel dividing it. You can see it better here:

This nice structure was a little uphill from here:

Then when I really got to the top of the valley (at C), I saw a traditional shape - there low to the ground and left of center, highlighted by the snow:

Closeup:

A crescent that, to me, seems a degenerate version of a rectangle with a hollow. A typical shape, but reduced to a suggestion. Another view:

Nearby, a little stretch of wall (a bit like the "rock pile" at A):

There I am, walking along with mixed thoughts, a pain in the back, and a theme of climbing the valley. Here we are at the top:

I saw a few other things on the way back to my car, circling around the southern end of the hill.