It is not often that one can travel from one season to another in a short range of space and of time.  But this became possible for me due to a combination of circumstances during my hike in Massachusetts.  In that state the Trail runs roughly North-South and the elevation runs from 3936 feet at Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts -- at the North end -- to 660 feet at the crossing of the Housatonic River in Sheffield, near the southern end.  The gradual change in elevation and the 9-day lapse of time gave rise to a dramatic change.  It's possible that the small change in latitude during my travel (about 3/4 of a degree) played a part, too in the climate changes I experienced.

     On these treks I like to take notes in my Nature journal on the flora, fauna and physical environment, and lately, to take accompanying photographs.  This time I endeavored to learn more about the birds inhabiting the Trail neighborhood.  Since many of these are small and elusive and hard to see, I studied bird song tapes before the trek.  During the hike, as I heard a new bird's vocalization, I represented the call in my journal phonetically using a system I devised.  When I collated these at home I was astonished to find I had noted about 45 species, besides the ones identified by sight!  I hasten to add that I did not immediately know the identity of all 45, but made careful notes for later recognition. In some cases I'm sure I have duplicated, as a given bird may have several types of songs and calls.

 Some stories

 The people of Berkshire County are more aware of their natural environment than their urban counterparts in the East of the state.  But as with Maine, certain legends and impressions persist in conversation.  One is that Massachusetts abounds in "coyodogs," a supposed cross between Eastern coyotes and domestic dogs that have gone feral.  I heard coyotes on two occasions, both times at a large distance: once in an evening when they engaged in social yipping, and another during mid-day when there was barked communication (enough to concern me momentarily, but unnecessarily, that it might have been a pack of gone-wild dogs.)  Coyote scat was also seen at several places on the trail, always on a prominent stone in the middle of the footpath.  The elusiveness of the coyote and its great population relative to the sparsity of wild dogs make me think that any such cross-breeding must be infrequent.

      Another amusing folklore concerns some small, biting flies that swarm in early spring in the woods of Berkshire County.  The locals uniformly told me those are "gnats."  No one seemed to connect them with the black flies that are prevalent in their neighboring states of Vermont and New Hampshire.  So I took several specimens of the little insects that bit me and brought them home for identification.  Our Cooperative Extension entomologist identified them all as black flies.  Perhaps it’s just that in Massachusetts no one wants to say the b--- word!!   

     Although it is common knowledge that the black bear and moose are populous in Maine, it is not as widely known that these animals have now penetrated the Bay State.  The local people were well aware of these animals, however. I found two excellent fresh sets of Moose tracks several miles apart, as if they might be two distinct individuals.  I also noted one instance of fresh black bear scat.  My chancing upon them in just the limited range of my walk indicates to me that they are well-established and may be surprisingly numerous.  

   On the third evening I enjoyed a rare campfire before crawling into my tent.  (I usually am too short of time after cooking supper, and too fatigued for firewood gathering).  It started to rain late in the evening, which put out the fire.  Early in the morning of May 18  the rain began to sound solid on my tent.  I thought "Sleet?" and immediately cocooned myself in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep.  When I awoke at daylight I unzipped the tent door and looked out into a world of snow!  Two inches had fallen, and a couple more by the time I got down from Crystal Mountain.  There was even snow in the valleys.  The townspeople assured me that snowfall this late in the spring was very unusual. 

   May is early in the hiking season, but I met a few other hikers, including one young thruhiker who had left Springer Mountain, Georgia in February!  I also met a middle-aged hiker whose trail name is "The Admiral."  In a blue raincoat, green shorts, stout boots and large floppy tan hat, with an orange whistle dangling from his neck and walking stick in hand, he struck a Tom Bombadil-like figure  on the Trail.  He said that he was finishing the AT, having done 1300 miles last year, and expecting "to finish the other 900."

   Western Massachusetts people got their first good fall of precipitation in a long while.  Most small watercourses were full. The larger streams were running nearly full, and at a moderate volume. Finding sufficient drinking water was never a concern.  Although this brought on muddy conditions in the normally wet spots, the accompanying cold weather brought one unexpected treat.  For several days I had the enviable experience of walking through the occasional bogs and swamps without encountering a single mosquito!  This enabled me to enjoy Nature in the wetlands in a way I had rarely before. 

Some highlights

   It was a time of wildflowers.  Though the forest at higher altitudes might be generally brown and bare, there was always a bit of color at trailside from the early bloomers.  Surprisingly there was a marked difference in microclimate from one side of a mountain to the other, even at the same altitude.  For example the trout lily was barely budded on the North face of Mount Williams, but in full flower on the South, which had longer direct exposure to sunlight.

   In southern Massachusetts the Eastern Chipmunks were very much in evidence, warning me out of a territory that seemed to extend at least 50 feet around their holes under stones or  tree roots.  At first encounter there were so many along the trail I named the area "Chipmunk City."  But the concentration continued for about the next 15 miles, so I redubbed the area "Chipmunk Megalopolis."  The only exception was an area clearly marked by a weasel, who must have cleaned them all out in his territory.

   Treeline is noticeably higher there on the mountains than in Maine, due to the lower geographic latitude, so they are forested from bottom to top.  Once in a while though I entered high birch-beech zones, and even a few expanses of spruce-fir, reminding me a bit of my home state. Overall it was a typically rough stretch of New England trail, with mountain climbing, roots and stones in the trailway, and occasional rock ledges or boulders to scramble over. But some sections were garden-like, with a humus-strewn footpath and a border of sorrel, ferns, grass and moss, inviting an easy stroll.

   The weather during the 9-day trip varied in temperature (lowest about 25º F. , highest about 70º F.) and sky conditions (two days of light rain, snow or overcast, gratefully with no thunderstorms, with the rest fair or with just a morning mist.)  I had a few buggy hours. The wind was welcome to keep me cool and to disperse the few flies and mosquitoes most days. 

Special things seen or heard

   Paradoxically, though the hike was almost all above 1500 feet, the Trail included long stretches through bogs. In these moist areas, among the early spring flowers were the trout lily and common wood sorrel. In the semi-wet areas and adjacent to ponds the false hellebore, on luxurious tall green stalks, was getting ready to flower; and in the uplands I noticed Canada mayflower just about to bloom.

  Here and there vernal pools were still brimming with water, which had ponded up from snowmelt and rain.  I peered into several but could find no egg masses of frogs or salamanders.  It may have been too early, or, more likely, they were in hidden parts of the pools, attached under branches that stick into the water, and amidst organic debris.

   In two prominent places along the Trail beavers had taken advantage of the waterflow and terrain.  One marvelous dam was a 60 foot perfect semicircle (see photo below).  Although it backed up water which flooded the Trail, I was more than compensated by the sight of the work of these animal engineers.  

   I heard a few slitherings in the dry leaves that I thought might be a toad or a snake. Sure enough there was the familiar Eastern garter snake. If I walk at length in a New England wood I count myself as having missed something if I do not encounter one of our colorful recumbent reptiles.

   The forest understory had elderberry, striped maple, hobblebush, shadbush, and alder and was also graced by azalea, mountain laurel and rhododendron, but exclusively at certain altitudes.  (I never saw them in the valleys.)  One specimen of Striped maple was 5.2 inches in diameter, the largest I have ever seen North of Virginia, of this modest, short-lived tree species.

   Defying the usual rule of human avoidance, there are times when the animals come to us. Almost every trail shelter (known regionally as "leantos") had empty tuna fish cans hung upside down from small ropes on the ceiling.  The purpose is to allow hikers to suspend their food safely from mice, who cannot clamber around the can.  The mice come in the leanto anyway, searching for crumbs from careless campers, and for nesting material (such as toilet paper, which they shred copiously).  One odd behavior I noticed is that they bring in small stones almost all of uniform size (approximately 1-1/4" x 3/4" x 1/2")and leave them in various places.  I was puzzled by why they do this, although it reminded me of the stories about pack rats.  

  Resident porcupines also regularly visited two of the leantos at night to chew the edges of foundations boards and bunks, differing only in relative boldness.  Around midnight the one at the Kay Wood Leanto vocalized long and plaintively before timidly chewing on the foundation boards.  Eventually he dared to come into the sleeping space but seemed intimidated by the breathing and snores of the five large mammals slumbering there (one of whom was only feigning sleep, but actually playing reporter for the Maine Nature News!)  Someone sneezed and the porky fled, coming back in about a half hour, to start the procedure all over.  At October Mountain Leanto the trail crew had installed a bear hoist -- not to hoist bears, of course! -- but for hikers to raise their food bags beyond reach of black bears, one or more of whom had become habituated to browsing that site.  After the installation last year, and hiker education, there were no further reports of bear visits. 

Observation List

Amphibians and reptiles seen or heard:  Eastern garter snake; green frog; spring peeper, tree frog.

Birds identified by sight or sound: American robin; barred owl; black and white warbler; black-capped chickadee; black-throated blue warbler; black-throated green warbler; blue jay; bobolink; Canada goose; catbird; common crow; common raven; dark-eyed junco; downy woodpecker; Eastern phoebe; Eastern wood peewee; evening grosbeak; field sparrow; flicker; hermit thrush; marsh wren; ovenbird; pileated woodpecker; red-breasted nuthatch; red-eyed vireo;  red-tailed hawk; red-winged blackbird; ruffed grouse; rufous-sided towhee; savannah sparrow? (or Virginia rail?); swallow (species?); tufted titmouse; white-throated sparrow; wild turkey; wood thrush.

Insects and arachnids seen: ants; black flies; bumblebees; butterflies (including Monarch ); dragonflies; grasshoppers; horse flies; mosquitoes; moths (including common wood nymph); wasps; water striders; web-weaving spiders.

Mammals identified by sight or sign: beaver; black bear; Eastern chipmunk;  field mouse; gray squirrel; moose; porcupine; red squirrel; weasel; white-tailed deer; vole.

Tree and bush flowers seen:  elderberry, hobblebush; maple; meadowsweet; purple azalea; shadbush.

Wildflowers seen:  blue violet; buttercup; coltsfoot; common wood sorrel; dandelion; Jack-in-the-pulpit; marsh marigold; painted trillium; purple trillium; sarsaparilla; trout lily; wild strawberry; yellow violet; yellow wood sorrel.