Photoshow DVD Available

A lot happens in eight years, now we want to show you how much! A new photo show DVD is now available that shows over 100 of the best photos of Libby Hill. See wildlife, trail users, trails, and more all set to music as you take a virtual tour of Libby Hill Trails. The DVD is available for a $25 Donation to the ' Save Libby Hill' Campaign or you can view a copy from the Gray Public Library. Many thanks to our photographers, Joel McPike, Jennifer Lummis, John Keller, and my faithful old Canon camera! This makes a perfect gift for your trail friends so help Save Libby Hill and have a great token of your donation!

$60,000 Blueberries

I made my second trek up Libby Hill to get another week's supply of blueberries. Last week I got a sampling from areas of the Moose Odyssey and Deer Run trails. Then the berries were very abundant but rather small. This week though, after a week of showers, the blueberries increased significantly in size! I was attempting to do a little trail maintenance but kept wandering off trial when I saw little more clumps of berries.

I have a long history with blueberries, growing up in Washington County (the worlds largest producer of wild blueberries) I can't remember a summer when I didn't look to gather a few berries to taste that special sweetness that the large cultivate blueberries just lack. My I was seven I took my first paying summer job raking blueberries. After 5 days (which seemed like 5 years) I earned $32, enough to pay for my first bicycle.

Raking is a much faster way to harvest blueberries but today I did the classic 'picking' method. Picking allows you to go at a very gradual pace. Look for bunches of three or more berries that are all ripe. You can pick about a quart of berries in 45 minutes to an hour. While picking you concentrate on things you never normally notice. Things like the ferns and other small plants that grow amongst the blueberries. You also hear the birds calling above in pine trees; I'm sure I'm eating some of their food supply, but they seem to be okay with sharing.

Last year, I found good picking near the cell tower off the Moose Odyssey trail. Ironically, that same afternoon a moose was browsing in the area. I'm not sure if she was eating blueberries but she liked whatever it was and stayed nearby for over 20 minutes. Of course it was the one day I didn't have a camera with me! I do remember though, thinking last year that the Hancock property (which lots of good berries) could soon be lost to development. This year lots has changed! The Gray Community Endowment took a mortgage out from a generous group of local investors to purchase these critical 29 acres. So today when I picked blueberries I really treasured how valuable they were. Some might say that those blueberries cost $60,000 (amount we need to fund raise) but to my mind they are worth every penny and never have tasted so sweet!

So bring a bag or container and get up on Libby Hill by August 1st and get a few berries of your own. Treasure their flavor and do what you can to help support Libby Hill.

Sharon's Trail Walk

I've been walking the trails on Sunday mornings and having a blast. Today was my first foray off the Moose Odyssey - I did Deer Run and Holmquist Hollow. Deer Run was absolutely beautiful - I just felt like I was covered in a soft, green blanket! It must be lovely in the fall. Holmquist Hollow had interesting terrain, but it was quite buggy. In fact, I'm sure it's the same darn horse fly who welcomes me at the trailhead every time I arrive, and buzzes me during the whole hike. No amount of bug spray seems to deter him.

One cool thing -- as I was going along Holmquist Hollow, I heard sounds in the woods, but couldn't see anything. Just as I joined up to MO again, I saw that blaze of a white deer tail bouncing through the trees! Wish I could have seen more, but that was a nice start.

Birds were very loud at the bottom of the hill, but very quiet up top. Interesting.

And I saw that place where the lightening hit the trees - whoa! What I noticed first was that big shard of tree sticking at an angle into the ground, and then I looked back and saw the tree. I figured it was lightening, but wasn't sure until I came home and read your report about it on the blog.

Anyway, just thought I'd report in! Hope you're having a nice weekend!

....submitted by trail user, Sharon Caufield, Gray, Maine

Real Fireworks on Libby Hill

There's always something new to discover as you wander the trails at Libby Hill! A couple of weeks ago, a strong lightning storm hit 3 large pine trees on top of the hill between the cellar hole and view 1 on the Moose Odyssey Trail. The strikes hit the 3 trees about 50 feet up and exploded many shards of wood into the surrounding woods. All trees are still standing but will most likely die in a year or two. If you examine the 'strike zone' you can find shards of wood up to 25 feet long 'harpooned' into the wood soil (see photo of me and one shard on left). It is one of the best displays of a lightning strike on a tree that I have seen. This area has already survived a microbust tornado 4 years ago but for these 3 trees, this was one storm that had their name on it!

Turkey in the Grass

A couple of Sundays ago, I heard a comotion in the grass near the top of Libby Hill. Next thing I heard the chirping of lots of chicks and saw them scrambling around in front of us. There were over a eight turkey chicks trying to find their mother who was about 50 feet away in the grassy clearing off the Moose Odyssey Trail. I got this photo of one of them and then saw another chick turned upside down with its legs moving but unable to turn over. So I helped turn it over and felt the soft down of its feathers which must have only been a couple of weeks old. I then found a second chick upside down but this one was not doing well. It had a twisted neck and some blood below its eye. Apparently we had interrupted some sort of attack by a predator, perhaps a hawk? That little chick didn't make it and we both went from elation to saddness as we saw the cycle of nature played out on Libby Hill. We withdrew from the clearing and made sure the chicks ran back to their mother before we went back down the hill. Once again we were amazed at how every time we go up the hill we discover something new!

National Trails Day June 7th

National Trails day is the first Saturday in June every year (June 7th). It is a day for you to go out and hike a trail, any trail, to celebrate what trails provide! This year you can celebrate by coming to Libby Hill! This year I will take hikers to all the highlights of the trail and give them lots of options for future hikes. With over 21 miles of trails in the area, there is no end to where you can hike at Libby Hill! Our event also helps raise funds to 'Save Libby Hill' so you can have a very strong impact on supporting hiking in your own back yard. So, if you can, register for our hike or at the very least, go out on the trails and celebrate in your own way! Happy National Trails Day!

There's Always More to See!

We have lots of events coming in the next few weeks, all of which help raise money for our "Save Libby Hill Campaign". One event, our "Birds of Libby Hill" event on June 15th, spurred a pre-walk by Derek Lovitch of the Wild Bird Center in Gray. In his blog he documented that he found over 35 species of birds on his walk a few weeks ago! I was very curious on how he found so many. So the past two weeks I have been taking my binoculars and a bird book.

What I've discovered is how many different warblers are coming through the pine thickets near the cell tower and the Harold Libbey memorial! I discovered 4 species of birds just yesterday that I have never seen before (Redstart, Yellow throat, Black and White Warbler, and Magnolia Warbler) on all the trips I have made into the woods these past 5 decades! The truth is, they have been there all along but I'm just learning to better observe the wildlife that exists in the woods.

So, if you want a new experience, take a pair of binoculars and walk a little slower up the hill. Listen for birds and watch for bird activity higher up in the trees. If you take some time and observe you discover so many things that you never saw before. You also don't have to walk 5 miles to see them! Many birds are very active around the school and pond or just up the hill toward the cell tower. Make your next afternoon on the hill something different but doing a little bird watching; you won't be disappointed! And... if that gets you excited, consider joining us for the 'Birds of Libby Hill' where you can spend a few hours with Derek and learn new ways to observe wildlife. The birds are out there just waiting to see you!

Also visit our Spring 2008 Flower and Wildlife sightings to see what is blooming or visiting the trails. You can also post an entry of what you see!