A perfect dog day afternoon

Danny (the golden lab) spent her second birthday today on Libby Hill! Taking our trail tour she enjoyed chasing every stick we threw on land or in the water! While we walked 3.5 miles, we estimate she did over 10 miles in her slalom through the brush and trails. If only we could be as good as "living in the moment" as a golden lab is in the woods.! A perpetual smile was on her face at every turn. Somewhere tonight, I'm sure she is curled up dreaming of all the smells she took in and the sights she saw on her adventure on Libby Hill.

The parking lot was full at 4pm today as lots of folks hit the trails after days of drizzle. It is clear that more and more folks find the trails as they escape from the uncertainty of daily life these days. So don't be a slave to your lazy boy and big screen this winter, come out and play! Live life like a golden lab..... retrieve it!

Signs of the times

In the past week, 4 new signs have popped up around Libby Hill. The new fund raising sign that now resides on the corner of Libby Hill Road and Route 26 will tell our story to over 16,800 cars every day! Designed by Shelly Holmquist with her famous Libby Hill logo and a new twisting trail icon to the top of the hill, this new sign is very attractive. It still amazes me that a majority of the residents of Gray still don't know where Libby Hill is. Despite the fact it is almost at the geographic center of town and just about everyone looks at it every day, they don't know what it is called. While we have been working on some DOT signage on Route 26 for over 6 months, we decided that we couldn't wait until the bureaucracy caught up to our need to let folks know where we are!

Meanwhile, back at our parking lot, which has recently been paved and had lines painted, we had a need to guide trail users to the trail heads. We needed some street signage that we could afford and get produced quickly. Luckily we found assistance from the Penobscot County Sherriff's department's Community Works program. This program has jail prisoners produce high quality street signage at a minimal cost for municipalities. With only a week's lead time, we were able to obtain 4 inch reflective lettered signs in blue and white. They now let trail users know where the parking lot and main trail head is located.

Our fund raising campaign to finalize the purchase of our critical 29 acre parcel is in full gear. We need your pledge of $50 to $100 or more to make Libby Hills forever a public space. We are reaching out to trail users over the next month, please do all you can to help!

Climate Change and Rising Food Prices..it must be 1816

Worried about high food prices, global warming, astronomic energy prices? Learn what Libby Hill resident James Libby had to face in 1816 when it snowed 12 months of the year. See the full article from our home page at www.libbyhill.org or go directly to the article at this link. You'll never think about the old cellar hole the same way!

Who Was Harold Libbey

We see names on memorials every day and hardly give it a second thought. For a couple years now, I've wanted to know who was this guy, Harold Libbey. I finally spent and afternoon with his son and got pictures and stories about the man behind the trail. You can view all of these at this link.

The research I did on Harold has also given me connections to James Libbey and others who grew up on Libbey Hill. I hope to have more background on life on Libbey Hill in the early 1800's later this year.

Of interest is that when you Google "Harold Libbey" , the first 4 hits are all related to Libbey Hill trails! Harold is now a very famous Libbey on the Internet! It goes to show how much impact a person can have on his community. While not all of us have land to donate to public use, we can contribute to saving it. We still need $59,000 to finalize saving Libby Hill, now you can join Harold by donating what you can to keep the Libby Hill trails going!

Hey Who Are Those Film Guys?

Over the past month, you may have seen some strange goings on up on Libby Hill. Several SMCC students have been working on a video documentary on Libby Hill. Corey Rich, project lead (holding camera) and Patrick Rioux (production assistant) have been taking hours of video of the Libby Hill Trails. The video will feature footage of the trails and the folks who use them. They also did a number of interviews, including one with Richard Libbey, whom along with his brother Wilbert donated 46 acres to the system in 2003.

I spent 5 hours one day with the 'crew'. Being the 'old trail guide' I showed them possible areas of artistic value for the film. I also got to spew on and on about the trails, which I'm sure will fall out in the editing room.

One of the challenges of the day was getting folks who were on the trail to be in the film. We desperately wanted to show the trails being used by actual people. It was a little like 'candid camera' as people were quite surprised about what we were doing. We did learn though that when approach folks on the trail, don't use the phrase "hey, want to be in a video"? It gets some really nervous trail users when we come storming out of the bushes!

The objective of the film is to educate the community on what Libby Hill Trails is all about and learn about the 'Save Libby Hill' campaign. I've had some experience with home videos and know how much effort goes into even a few minutes of quality film. These guys really take their film making seriously and often took 3 takes to get a shot and narration just the way they wanted it. It seems hard to believe that 30 or 40 hours of filming and editing goes into even a 10-15 minute video. After 5 hours, I was ready to retire from my film career and head down the hill.

We hope to have a public showing of the film later this fall and offer it to the public for a donation to the "Save Libby Hill" campaign. Don't confuse this film with our other DVD, Best Photos of Libby Hill. That DVD is a collection of over 100 the best photos of Libby Hill from the past 8 years. It is available now at the Gray Public Library and can also be obtained with a $25 donation to the 'Save Libby Hill' campaign.

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.