Red Maple Trail is one of our favorite hikes here on Cape Cod. It has so much diversity. You hike through the woods, on a boardwalk over Red Maple Swamp, down to the shores to Nauset Marsh and then back through the meadows and hills at Fort Hill. It is spectacular, any time of the day and any time of the year.
I thought this photograph where the trail and the spur intersect was very interesting so I took it in black and white and in color. Which one do you like better?
The light was so beautiful on the carvings at Indian Rock at Fort Hill the other day. It almost looks like dusk, but it was in the middle of the afternoon.
Indian Rock was a “community grinding rock, one of four such rocks found in the Nauset area. The Indians used the abrasive qualities of the fine-grained metamorphic rock to grind and polish implements made of stone and animal bones, such as stone axes or bone fishhooks.
Indian Rock was originally located in the mud of the marsh below where it now sits on Skiff Hill. The National Park Service moved the 20-ton boulder to this site in 1965.”
(I posted the 2nd photograph with my mitten on it so you can see the huge size of this rock. It was also a completely different day as you can see by the different lighting.)
What history!
Merry We were taking a hike at Fort Hill last fall when we passed a group of middle school student on a field trip. Their guide was telling them about the salt marsh and that there are 3 plants that make up a salt marsh.
I thought to myself, “I never knew that. I’ll have to look that up when I get home.” I did some research and I think they are herbs, grasses and low shrubs. Does anyone know if this is correct? There are many, many different varieties of each of these plants.
This is a photograph of Glasswort or Pickleweed. You can see it along the side of the trail on the salt marsh at Fort Hill.
