Twenty months is a long time to be away from something that has been my 'old stomping grounds' for a couple decades. Between Covid and late summer medical, that's what happened during 2020. So it was with keen anticipation I took to the road and looked forward to landing on Cape Ann once again.
But before that could happen, I wanted to check in at several sites not visted in a VERY long time! First up was an ancient land boundary boulder in northernmost Essex County. I see that over the last dozen years it had lost the picturesque tree that once grew alongside it. On to Den Rock where it once was reported the Devil resided in its trademark fissure in the ledge. Over the years I've picked up couple interesting photos. One definitely showing the well known rock face, the other: unidentified but likely can be traced to this site. Down in the region of the Harold Parker State Forest, I did trace two very old photographs to the Jenkins Boulder (which I had identified from a 2000 photo of my own doing) and visited the old Jenkins soapstone quarry by way of a new access I recently discovered. The day was finished with further testing of the fold-able kayak on the Annisquam River.
Day two turned into a real treat! I was taken on a tour of some difficult to access local sites including quarries and private estates. These are areas I would have never seen without the company of my host and local gardener. I saw several Lanesville area quarries, an old cemetery (where the namesake Lane Family might be found) and estates over in the Annisquam section of town. I got a real lesson on how gardens can work to complement the rocky surfaces that are a typical part of Cape Ann. Along the way I was treated to Sheep Rock and the possible discovery of Tilting Rock. Upon parting ways with my guide, I traveled up and around the top of Cape Ann, stopping at Folly Cove to search out the whale that had washed up there weeks ago.
The third day took me up to Newbury. I hoped to find possible access to the Parker River from an island on the Great Meadows property. Although this did not prove to be a reality, I took the time to look over several large boulders at that location. Some have said one of them is Gerrish Rock. My very knowledgeable local source took me there years ago to show me Gerrish Rock rising from the Parker at low tide. It's not often I get into Newbury so I went over to the Devil's Basin (old lime pit) along with the Haystack Boulder and another one off in the brush simply identified during the 1890s as 'a glacial erratic boulder of quartz augite diorite' . On the way out of town, my day was cut short with a flat tire . Phooey!
Day four came and it was time to make my way to one of my most favorite of all places: Pigeon Cove. But first stop was closer to Rockport Center at Old Garden Beach. I had to photograph the large boulder first seen many years ago and told that it had a name: which, of course, I long ago forgot! From there it was on to the Atlantic Path which allows me access to the Atlantic shoreline and many of my favorite rocky formations. Here I was 'reunited' with the 'Meditation Seat', Pulpit Rock/Singers Rock/Dianah's Bath, Chapin's Gully, the Great Gargoyle, and Metoric Stone. Old maps of the coastline list archaic names to many of these places and at some future point I will explore than further. Coming just off the coastline, I looked to see if the site of an old chalybeate spring could be found. From the plant growth, one area looked to be excessively damp, but nothing definite. I then took a quick look at the overgrown Profile Rock and saw that it would eventually need a small cleanup to free it from the dense overgrowth. A bit to the south, I came to the Turtle Mound and old Rockport Hospital ruins. A quarried boulder lay secluded just out of site, buried within the underbrush.
On day number 5, I left the Cape to travel down to Salem. I'd seen a number of postings on some conservation land in the area known as Salem Woods at Highland Park. I did a quick one hour trip around its perimeter that gave me a good idea of what it offered. Forests, marshes and meadow lands with enough rock outcrops to tell me what might lie beneath. Leaving Salem behind, I took a jaunt roughly northwest for twenty miles to continue on from where I left off the day of the flat tire. This covered the Stickney Boulder, a search for a memorial boulder with plaque (a no show) and ending at Holmes Rock, another old land boundary.
I noticed the return to longer trips proved fatiguing. Either out of shape or just the normal aging process, time will tell. So on the morning of the sixth day, I pulled camp and set a direct route home to the Berkshires.
