FJ #10 Syndicate Road Woods

December 4^th, 2009

 Today was quite warm for a typical December day in Williamstown.  There was a nice breeze and the air was approximately 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  I observed much more of the terrain of my site today than I had been able to in the past due to the thick cover of leafy trees and shrubs.  Now that the branches were bare, however, I could see the true topography of the Syndicate Road Woods.

            Walking north along the stream one first encounters a large area, about 20 square feet, of low land on the stream’s eastern bank.  The lowland area forms a sort of semicircle shape bordering the stream, and it looks like someone has just taken a shovel and scooped out this area.  At the eastern edge of the semicircle, there is a 45° slope up about 8 feet to higher ground.  On this slope as well, there is a small, stream-like indentation running from east to west.  This has obviously been carved by water and now acts as a funnel for water from the top of the slope running into the stream.

            Continuing a trek northward, the land east of the stream suddenly becomes a cliff, and one now comes across another large lowland area in a semicircular shape, but this time on the western bank of the stream.  What is the cause of these formations?  Is it natural or man-made? The stream in the Syndicate Road woods does have its twists and turns, and like we saw at the Hoosic River, the stream could have changed course and dug out the lowland areas.  However, this is problematic because the stream at the Syndicate Road woods does not even come close to matching the power and amount of water held by the Hoosic, which is a fifth order stream.  Therefore, we must wonder, did the stream used to be larger and have more power? We know that the stream has been controlled by human hands because of the cement culvert that carries water from under Syndicate Road.  It is possible that the stream did carve out these semicircular areas and then shrunk down to its straight path through the middle.  Also, the strength of the stream 80-100 years ago when they built Syndicate Road could have been much more than it is today.  This is just one of the many natural mysteries found in the Syndicate Road woods.

Continuing north, the eastern bank of the stream becomes even steeper, about a 70°, 10 foot slope.  A deep crevice also runs from east to west, down this slope to the stream.  Up on the “cliff”, I also come across another mystery.  There is a bit of a crevice running north-south which eventually connects to the deeper crevice.  At one point, however, this small crevice becomes a more crater-like formation, about 2 feet deep.  I wonder if this crater was formed by a pool of water, but it is more likely that the hole was formed after a tree fell over, tearing out its roots and the ground that came along with it.  Water then most likely collected in the crater, and the resulting crevice was formed as the water sought a gravity-driven path down to the stream.  It is fascinating to study natural power of water at the Syndicate Road woods.  It can create canyons and cliffs and bring life to a woods that would otherwise seem dead.       

Next, I took a soil sample near the southern edge of the site.  I first had to clear away a 2 inch layer of leaves before I started to dig.  What I found was a layer of dark soil, about 2 inches thick, in which remnants of decaying leaves and organic matter could still be seen.  Then, for as deep as the shovel would allow me to dig, the ground was composed completely of clay.  Because of the recent rains, the clay was moist and cool.  Clay is a heavy soil, which has relatively poor drainage and aeration capabilities.  Although they usually hold more water than desired for optimal plant growth, clay does retain nutrients well.  Although the soil was not loam, the farmers that used to farm near Syndicate Road obviously figured out how to maximize the potential of a clay soil base.

Syndicate Road Woods

Human History and Impacts

The Syndicate Road woods have an interesting human history from the origins of Williamstown, their association with the college and their use today.  Today, the woods are not maintained by humans, though their size is limited on the west by Syndicate Road and the east by the Poker Flats fields.  Their terrain, flora, and use in the past, however, seems to be very different than it is today. 

            The first piece of evidence we have is a map from 1843 plotting the original land divisions of Williamstown.  This map shows the original plots for each townsman, as well as areas coded as meadows, pine or oak forests, as well as the first and second 50 acre plots allotted to each member of the town.  Where the Syndicate Road woods now stand appears to be part of the “1^st 50 acre” section.  This most likely means that an early settler cleared the land and used it for agricultural purposes.

            It appears that the Tallmadge family owned the land during this time, because there are records from 1887 documenting the sale of this land by the Tallmadge family.  The Tallmadges also owned a 72 acre farm plot in what is now the Hopkins forest to the west of the Hoosic River, and sold that land to Hopkins in 1889.  In 1887, according to the president’s report from that year, a group of men bought the Tallmadge land who planned on building a housing development.  A 1889 map shows that Park Street ended at Baxter Road, but the president mentions in his report that the men built Syndicate Road to connect Park Street with North Street.  This road was most likely a dirt path however, because a sketch from 1939 comments that the intersection with Baxter Road marked the “end of improved road.”  In the end, nothing came of the housing development and the area was sold to the College.  At the same time the Huntoon lot, which included lands east of Syndicate Road and the area that is now Cole Field, was sold to the College, and the land was then used as the college farm.  The area was still being used as farmland in 1938, as shown by the aerial photograph below.  The photograph shows the Thompson Infirmary and the Cole Field house, and the area that is now Cole Field and the Tennis Courts was plowed in sections of farmland.  Besides these landmarks there was very little vegetation, and it appears that one could see Eph’s Pond from Thompson because the area was not blocked by heavy forestation as it is today.  Note also that Syndicate Road is still just a dirt path marked by wheel tracks in this photograph.  To the east of this path, where the Syndicate Road woods site now exists, there were a few trees of an indiscernible species speckled along the road. 

            The next piece of pictorial evidence is an aerial photograph taken in 1962, also shown below.  Here, in only about a quarter century, the amount of foliage in the area has grown at least three-fold since the last picture was taken.  The tennis courts and Cole Field have been constructed, and it does not appear that the Poker Flats field is being used as farmland anymore.  The trees in the area seem to be a mix of both deciduous and coniferous, and at this point Syndicate Road has been paved and has become an official road.  Mission Park and the parking lots behind it were not built until 1971.

            The natural history of the Syndicate Road Woods is noticeable in the terrain of the woods today.  The trees represent those that are usually in existence in old areas of cultivation, especially paper birch, red oak, sugar maple, hemlock, beech and yellow and black birch.  There is little human impact within the woods besides the telephone lines that run north/south along Syndicate Road.  The Syndicate Road woods present an interesting history of a land that was once cultivated and is now very much untouched by human hands.         

Sinicariello FJ #7
Wednesday, 11/11/09

I immediately feel a rush of crisp fall air as I begin my walk out to the woods.  It is about 55 degrees and partly cloudy, but the air is cool and a bit nippy, giving hints that winter is on its way.  Since I have not been to observe the site for two weeks now, the changes I find are immense.  The luscious orange leaves that once dotted the treetops and covered the ground are now crunchy, dead and brown.  They no longer flutter into the air when I kick them with my feet, but instead just crumple with each step I take.  I notice that some leaves are grayer than others, and seem to form a path on the ground.  These gray leaves are concentrated in lower areas of land, and I wonder if rain or moisture had any role in this phenomenon.  Because it has not rained in a while, the pool of water at the southeast corner of the wood now has shrunken to a size of about 4 feet x 6 feet, although the sides of the pool remain muddy from the usual water.  

Because the branches of the trees are now bare, one can practically look straight through the woods.  I am able to see the Taconics to the west and many birds flying above the empty canopy, whereas earlier in the year the luscious foliage of the Syndicate Road woods formed a green blanket around me.  The crows are being particularly boisterous today, and I count at least ten flying above the treetops.  After they leave, other birds begin to make themselves heard, such as a sparrow and a chickadee.  In these woods of mostly bare maples, beech, oak and aspen trees, one paper birch to the south is easily spotted due to its clean white bark.  Some small trees still have lime-green leaves and one sugar maple still maintains bright yellow leaves. 

Moving closer to the stream, I realize the quantity of fallen logs in the woods.  The odd thing is that not many of them look as if they are decaying and I do not see any fungi growing on them.  This could be explained by the fact that they are newly fallen logs, or by the more realistic explanation that the conditions favor a slower decay process.  The stream, which runs north into the Hoosic River, is speckled with colorful leaves and stones, creating the perfect picture for a painter.  Because it has not rained in a while, the stream does not hold a ton of water, but has enough to keep trickling and moving.  Many logs have fallen into and across the stream, creating a perfect passage over the waters.  One tree, with many individual branches, grows practically sideways off of the north bank and forms a complete arc over the stream.   

The attached video is a typical representation of the Syndicate Road woods.  It shows the pool of water in the southeast corner of the woods, a squirrel, a car zooming down Syndicate Road, and the stream.  In the background, you can also hear the noise of a nearby lawnmower.  Although the woods may seem as if they are secluded from the outside world, now that the leaves have fallen from the trees the presence of human impact is ever more evident. 

Syndicate Road Woods – Friday, October 30, 2009 – 3:00 PM

The Syndicate Road woods have changed exponentially since my last visit.  The first thing I noticed on my way into the woods is that the asters on the east side of the road which were in full bloom only a few weeks ago have now shriveled up to become little puffy balls of spores.  The large puddle in the southeast corner of the woods, which I believe has grown a bit in size, measuring approximately 10 feet by 10 feet, is now visible from the road due to the bare branches of the surrounding trees.  As I step into the site, I find it ironic that now the floor, not the canopy, is yellow because of the fallen leaves.  Otherwise, everything seems quite still and only a squirrel disturbs the peace by jumping from one bank of the stream to the other.

The stream, in fact, is nothing but still.  Even though it has not rained since Wednesday, water not only trickles but pours out from the culvert.  The sound, therefore, of the gushing water is of a much higher decibel than during my other visits as the stream winds its way through rocks and miniature cataracts formed by fallen branches.  The western bank of the stream is still muddy from the rain, but due to continuous erosion, it gives a good example of the various soil levels present at the site.  I can easily see the two or three inches of dark top soil covering a thick, light-colored, muddy layer of clay.  These layers all rest on a rock which is only slightly visible but appears to be schist.

On the banks of the stream I notice that the honeysuckle has lost of its small leaves but still maintains its bright red berries.  The sumac too, which had a vibrant magenta color last week, has lost all of its leaves, although I do notice another sumac about twenty feet downstream that is later in its cycle and now appears bright pink.  Now that the branches of most of the tall trees are bare, it is easy to spot the oaks that I had a hard time finding during my first visits.  From my zero point I can see at least six as they still retain many brown leaves.  A few sugar maples are also holding off and still sport a beautiful yellow coloring.  Without their leaves, the many bare trees in the woods all become like one, no longer identifiable by their leaves, buds, or coloration.       Inspired by the field trip to various points on the Green River last Tuesday, I wanted to check out the stream in the Syndicate Road woods to see if it had any of the same larvae that were present in the river.  I had brought with me a make-shift collecting kit which consisted of a kitchen bowl and a pair of tweezers.  My first try inspecting the leaves from a riffle in the stream was unsuccessful.  Farther downstream, however, I had better luck.  Among wobbly rocks and broken branches, I managed to collect a large clump of dead leaves from a riffle in the stream.  After rinsing them off I found a large, what I thought to be, true fly larva.  At full extension the larva was about two inches in length, although it expanded and contracted frequently.  The larva had a transparent outer layer that seemed to break into bubble-like sections which hosted a small, black object inside.  I set the larva on a leaf in order to examine it further after collecting more specimens, but by the time I came back it had crawled away.  Although I also examined leaves from pools of standing water, the only other critter I found was a small inch worm that looked like it had drowned in the water.  I was happy with my discovery of the caddisfly larva, however, so I decided to rinse off my materials and head home.  Even though the Syndicate Road woods may seem a serene and quiet area, I learned today that the trickling stream is full of life.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:00 PM/ Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:00 AM- Syndicate Road Woods

To hear my recording, click here

It is amazing how much we take sound for granted.  Just walking out to my site at the Syndicate Road woods I noticed so many more sounds than I had before; the sound the leaves make when they fall to rest on the ground, the hum of the electrical and heating units of nearby buildings, and the rustle of squirrels scampering up tree trunks.  I first visited my site on Wednesday night, hoping to see and hear some things that were not present in the daytime.  The moon was a thin waxing crescent and gave no light to my journey.  I did not see many stars, but I figured the night was cloudy because it was warm.  On the road, the sound of crickets filled the air in a slow, melodic chorus, but once I stepped under the canopy of the woods I could barely hear their chirping.  The woods were quiet and eerie at this time of night.  There were a few gray squirrels scurrying about, but I did not see or hear any deer, frogs or other nocturnal animals.  The stillness was interrupted at multiple points by not only cars whizzing past on Syndicate Road, but by trains as well.  It turns out that there is an active railroad quite close to campus that runs westward just north of the Hoosac River and then north, parallel with Route 7.  From what I heard, it sounded like the train was used mostly for freight and the sound of its wheels on the tracks lasted for at least five minutes.  Wishing to get a recording of this chorus of stream, cars and trains, I turned on the recording device, only to find it was out of battery.  I decided to come back the next day to make a recording.

On Thursday morning, after charging the recorder, I headed out to the Syndicate Road woods at about 10:00 A.M.  It was an oddly warm day for late October, about 55 degrees, and there were few clouds in the sky.  At this time there were more human noises to take into account; the scuffle of feet through fallen leaves as people headed out for class, the chatter of the dining staff during their break, and the thud of the rubber ball against the floor of the paddle ball court.  The difference between my visit this morning and my visit the night before was the presence of boisterous birds.  Their chirping noises were even more easily heard when I walked further away from campus and closer to the woods.  I could identify the calls of crows, finches, and chickadees, but there were many more I could only analyze and record.  A few squirrels greeted me as I entered the woods and I even saw and heard a few chipmunks scamper about.  I heard a continuous, loud rustling of leaves, and attributed them the small creatures, but after the noise continued I turned to look and realized that it was the result of a deer.  I only saw one, which appeared to be a doe, and as soon as I tried to get a closer look she ran off towards the Poker Flats fields.  This has been my second sighting of deer at the site during broad daylight, and I wonder why the deer are active at this time. 

Another sound that I was able to record was the sound of the stream.  Although the stream seemed to trickle very loudly out of the culvert, the water was mostly stagnant so the sound must have been amplified by the shape and material of the cement culvert.  Otherwise, the Syndicate Road woods were mostly silent, but it makes me wonder what the definition of silent is.  In fact, if you listen closely, the woods are far from silent; the leaves crackle in the wind, small crickets chirp, branches snap.  We humans have formulated a new definition of “silence”.  To us, if the sounds that surround us do not reach the volume of a car or a motorcycle, we consider our atmosphere to be quiet, maybe even silent.  We take for granted the whistling of the wind and the sound of two blades of grass brushing together.  At my site today however, I realized that if you spend a while in the woods even the chirping of a song sparrow can seem quite loud.

practice audio

Thursday, October 15, 2009 – Syndicate Road Woods – 10:00 AM

As I walked down Syndicate Road to my site this morning I noticed the usual signs of autumn, the yellow and bare trees, and the New York aster that had by now almost completely shriveled up.  At the intersection with Baxter Road, however, I was greeted by two deer about 75 yards east of me.  They seemed to be females because of their lack of horns and medium stature.  One had a few white dots near its stomach, and I assumed it was younger than the other.  Instead of lifting their tails and running away, the deer stopped, stared at me for a few seconds and then began to slowly walk closer.  I continued on, not wishing to engage in a standoff with the deer.  I also noticed a large puddle south of Baxter Road that was at least 8 feet in length and width and showed the effects of the recent rain.  Many song birds chirped loudly as I entered the Syndicate Road woods, and even though the sky was quite overcast, the woods were lighter than usual because the taller trees had lost many of their leaves.  The leaves that did remain on the taller trees, however, had turned a medium yellow, aside from one coniferous pine tree and a tall maple, whose leaves remained green for no apparent reason to me.  The smaller trees and shrubs were still a green color, and I imagined this pattern could be attributed to the same reason why trees lose their leaves from the top first.  The ferns have now dried completely and have turned a light brown color.  It is hard to imagine the floor of the wood as it was in September when the foliage was green and in full bloom.  There is a constant crackle of drying branches and falling leaves due to the soft wind as I make my way over closer to the stream.

Because of the recent precipitation, the stream looks more like an actual stream now rather than a series of puddles, as it had appeared in previous weeks.  It is noisy and bustling by the culvert which emerges from the intersection of Syndicate and Baxter Roads, but then gets quieter and much stiller as it weaves northward.  Because of this new movement, I now realized that the water was indeed very clear and clean, but only appeared murky because of the muddy, rocky basin.  The tree with the magenta leaves that I identified last week as sumac has lost some of its vibrant color and many of its leaves.  I see a bush that appears to be honeysuckle, whose leaves have turned a light yellow color but whose berries are still juicy and ripe, and I wonder if this is the natural progression for honeysuckle plants.

I hear a woodpecker poking at a tree trunk with short, quick pecks as I wander southeast towards the large indent of land that I had discovered a few weeks ago.  The foliage here is much greener than in the other sections of the woods and the trees appear much leafier.  Although this area of the woods has a slightly higher elevation than the others, I do not think I can attribute its coloring to this fact.  I wonder if it is because the trees surrounding the indent are smaller and shorter than in the eastern section of the woods.  Here I stumble upon a small weedy plant that is still green.  It has twigs growing in an opposite pattern yet only a few leaves grow from the top.  I will try to identify it before returning to the woods.

This week I wished to focus on the touch and feeling of many of the natural objects around me.  Even by getting closer to trees and leaves in order to touch them I discovered new sights that I had not noticed before.  The bark of a tall beech tree was groovy and had moss growing on its southern side.  A dead vine that seemed to grow from the ground leant up against the beech, and I could tell it had been dead for a few years.  A fungus grew on the vine, brown and leafy on one side but rough and with small black dots that appeared almost like stitches on the other.  The stones in the creek were cold and smooth and only some of the larger ones had moss growing on their top sides.  I wondered if the fact that some of the rocks did not have moss growing on them was due to their rock type, because the quartzite stone did not have any moss, while the rock that appeared to be phyllite was almost completely green.  I spotted another vine which was also covered in hairy green moss.  I further study if different fungus or moss types grow on different types of trees.

Syndicate Road Woods – October 9, 2009 – 9:00 A.M.

As soon as I step out of Mission it begins to rain.  The sky is overcast, the air is damp, and the temperature is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so I realize why it was not Mountain Day today.  Walking to the site, I already notice some changes from the previous week.  The leaves are now a much deeper yellow than before, and many of them form a colorful, crunchy blanket over the sidewalk.  I also notice that the New York aster on the east side of Syndicate Road that caught my attention last week with its brilliant light-blue coloring now appears duller and its blooms have shriveled.  I hear the rain pounding faster against the leaves, but under the canopy of trees I am now safe and dry.  I identify the leaves that have fallen to the ground as maple, beech and elm, and begin to search for their mother trees.  At first I was surprised not to see any oak trees or leaves, but then I notice a tall oak at the northeast corner of the wood which still retains many of its leaves.  I also observe more coniferous trees in the wood, whose green needles are now more apparent against the autumn colored backdrop.  Many of the shrubs that are very populous in the Syndicate Road Woods are still green.  This makes me wonder if they are exotic plants, which would account for their quantity and their green leaves.  Many of the small trees, which I believe to be elms, also retain their green color.

Heading closer to the stream, I can hear the results of the recent rain as the water flows noisily out from under Syndicate Road through the culvert.  I see that some orange foam has again gathered near the culvert, and I wonder its cause.  What then immediately catches my attention is a small tree with bright pink leaves.  The leaves are growing in an opposite growth pattern but droop towards the ground in a floppy manner.  This tree may be a sumac.  Near to the stream, I see something I hadn’t noticed before.  Halfway up the trunk of a tall trembling aspen is a growth of large green leaves that look a bit like maples.  They seem to be connected to vines growing from the ground which then twist around the trunk of the aspen as well.  I wonder if this plant is killing the tree, or if the two are living in harmony. 

Although I do not see any animals besides an ant scurrying down a log, I do notice the absence of the mosquitoes that pestered me during the beginning of September.  I do, however, spot holes at the bases of many trees that appear to be chipmunk homes.  Birds chirp all around me, but I can only pick out a few specific calls.  First, a bird makes a shrill chirp in an even rhythm about once every three seconds.  Another joins in with a deeper, more frequent chirp about two times per second.  And of course, I hear the caws of many crows hidden among the tree branches.

This time I decide to explore a new exit from the woods, and I head east towards the Poker Flats field.  I come across a small trench emerging southeast from the stream which contains no water.  The trench also comes to a stop about twenty feet from the stream.  I wonder if this trench was formed by humans or as a result of natural causes.  Exploring further, I find that the eastern side of the wood is much different than the western side.  There are fewer shrubs and small trees on the east side, which makes the atmosphere much more open.  The small trees that are present have been stripped of their leaves, which could be a result of seasonal changes but is probably due to the presence of deer who like to eat the leaves close to the ground.  This side of the wood also has a higher ratio of conifers to deciduous plants, and their dead needles and pine cones cover the ground.  I find a new type of tree with large heart-shaped leaves which I cannot seem to identify.  I then come across a circular indent of land that is a bit deeper than the surrounding terrain.  It runs about 15 feet North/South and 10 feet East/West.  Although it is dry, I believe that it was once filled with water, and I wish to explore its purpose further.  Perhaps it is even a vernal pool.

Kristen Sinicariello

Site Description #2 Syndicate Road Woods, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009

9:45 A.M.

 It was obvious that it had rained the day before at the Syndicate Road Woods.  As I neared the site, I could hear the water in the stream trickling louder than before.  The weather was still a bit cool and cloudy, but began to clear up as the time passed.  Today I was concerned mostly in identifying the trees in my site, as I realized that I did not even know the species I had been looking at for three weeks.  I of course noticed many sugar maples, whose leaves had turned yellow/orange with black splotches and fallen to the ground.  There were a few red maple-leaves on the ground as well, though I doubt they had fallen from a red maple tree because their buds were pointy like those of a sugar maple.  Next I came across a large tree whose trunk had split off into practically two different trees about five feet off the ground.  The leaves were ovate and still green, so I identified the tree as a birch, though its wood did not smell like that of sweet birch.  One side of the tree was almost completely covered in moss and the bark was flakey.  Looking up, I saw that the tallest tree’s leaves were small, still green, and growing in an alternate pattern.  As they were constantly trembling in the wind, I assumed the tree to be a trembling/quaking aspen. 

At this point I crossed the stream by way of a tree that had fallen perfectly like a bridge.  It had many small holes in it where I assume termites had nested.  Now on the western bank of the stream I found an American elm tree with small greenish-yellow toothed leaves that felt like sand paper.  I also encountered one honeysuckle and many beech trees.  Looking up, I saw what seemed to be a Norway maple or a box elder tree.  I examined the lady ferns which were small and grew in an alternate pattern, as well as the sensitive fern which had a much longer stem and wider leaves growing in an opposite growth pattern. 

Next I turned to study the rocks in the stream basin.  Even a few inches of rain had made a difference in the stream.  Large puddles would form and then trickle slowly through a narrow opening of rocks into another pool of standing water.  The largest rock was smooth, circular and cream colored, which led me to believe it to be marble.  Another large rock, perhaps schist, had obvious but smooth layers with some luster among its brown and black coloring.  I collected some smaller rock samples, which appeared to be different types, but upon closer examination I found that they only fell into two categories: schistose phyllite, identifiable by its greenish luster, and quartzite, which had shimmering parts mixed in with other sediments.  Next time I come to visit the site I will be sure to bring a rock identifying kit with me in order to be sure of my speculations. 

As I began made my way back to the side walk to begin my journey home, I noticed that the southern edge of the woods was full of New York aster, which had grown in a bush-like formation.  I had never noticed the lavender blooms before, though they must have been there.  They added a nice contrast to the yellow and orange colors that were beginning to emerge in the Syndicate Road woods.  I now wonder how long it will be before the tree branches will be bare and all their colorful leaves will cover the ground.

Field mapKristen Sinicariello
Site Description #1
Syndicate Road Woods
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

The weather was hot and humid as I made my way to the Syndicate Road wood site.  Today I planned to take a new approach when surveying the site.  During my last visit, I chose a few spots to sit down and closely observe the natural area that surrounded me.  I noticed the positions of the trees, rocks and stream.  This time, however, I planned to pursue a more continuous observation method, by walking alongside the trickling stream in order to find not only its origin but the formations it had caused and the plants it had given life to.
On the opposite side where Baxter Road meets Syndicate Road, a large plastic pipe about two feet in diameter passes under the road and releases a tiny trickle of water into the small stream.  There are many fallen branches blocking the stream’s path, and the water has formed a large puddle of dark and murky water.  The stream, or may I say the small trench the stream must fill when there is more precipitation, continues about 15 yards East, and then makes a gradual turn and begins to flow North.  Throughout its change in direction, the stream becomes almost dry, and all that remains are the small rocks that cover the muddy bank.  A large crevice intersects the stream at its turning point, which seems to have come from the road.  I imagine that water flows down this crevice to meet the stream at certain wet points during the year.  A few more broken drainage pipes (both cement and plastic) also lay strewn about at this point, but obviously no longer serve a purpose.
The north and east sides of the stream are higher in elevation than the south and west banks.  After the bend in the stream, the eastern bank becomes a steeper hill, leading up to Cole Field.  This hill is covered with pine trees and various ferns.  On the western bank after the bend in the stream there is evidence of extreme erosion, and one maple tree is left with most of its roots completely exposed.
As the stream continues to trickle north its crevice becomes much thinner and more vegetation covers the area.  It is at about this point when the telephone line crosses over the stream on its path northeast.  As I struggle to make my way through the thorny branches and prickly leaves, I have to cross to the west bank because the eastern bank has become a steep cliff and is impossible to walk along.  Here, the type of vegetation changes and it is almost impossible to see the stream.  There are no trees, only ferns, bushes and leafy plants.  I begin to “bushwack” my way westward out of the woods and find myself in someone’s backyard.  I walked quickly back to the road and back towards the entrance to the wood.  By making a map and studying the terrain, I have learned much more about my site, the stream, and the life around it.
I noticed a few more things in the wood this time, including a honeysuckle bush and many sugar maple trees (now that I am able to identify them).  I watched two chipmunks chase each other up and down the banks of the stream and in and out of their multiple holes in the ground.  The leaves have begun to change and a bit more yellow dots the mostly green canopy of foliage.  I also noticed many red maple leaves that had already fallen to the ground.