Always interesting to see how a trip unfolds. The Spring vacation plans had me eventually ending on Cape Ann. One thing was clear from the beginning: it would once again be overshadowed by the prospect of lousy weather.
But the adventure began by reaching the Mohawk Trail and making a quick jaunt up to the Town of Rowe. In going over photographs of boulders taken in 2008, something significant caught my attention. A possible, more likely prospect, for the Profile Rock from that town. The effort to gain additional information was mostly thwarted by high water levels in Pelham Brook so this will warrant a return visit.
On to Worcester County, for verification of some unidentified antique photographic material. One image I had already identified from my own records as the Pulpit Rock/Devil's Pulpit. But the second necessitated a personal visit. It also turned out to be the very same rock, but photographed from a distance, probably over 125 years ago. While in the area, a stop was made to Half House (Rock).
Moving on to Cape Ann, I made a brief visit to the ocean at Pigeon Cove before settling in for the evening.
By the second day, the threat of inclement weather was already a real possibility. So keeping things short - and local - I looked into a 'sliding rock'. This is one of those old local sites from people's childhood memories where as youngsters they would slide down an inclined rock surface. The interesting part is the 'smoothing out' of the rock after years of use. Then a warm up hike was made to Goose Cove after checking out the water level at the Goose Cove Reservoir. Here a couple of Babson's marked cellar holes can be found.
A hike followed into the outer perimeter of Dogtown where a nifty cave was located. A bit more hiking brought more boulders and the possibility of future explorations. This is a section of Dogtown I had barely touched upon in past visits. On the way back to HQ, I returned to a perched boulder formation first discovered in October 2013.
The third and fourth days were basically devoted to working around the rain. I decided early on to use the time to extend my explorations of Dogtown into areas I had never seen. The third day ended with the discovery of another cave, while combing through an area of significant boulders. The fourth, saw a visit to an old quarry within the perimeter of Dogtown, and a quick searh through 'Joppa' for it's Old Man formation.
Before leaving town on day five, I took my guide, from earlier in the week, back into Dogtown to see my own modest cave discovery. Then over to the "dead pirate boulders" before saying goodbye. Heading home, I made a final stop into Fitchburg to look over geologic features (apparently there may be some I missed) including old Moses Rock.
