A UVM blog NR9 Wonderblog – Christian Wall

Tuesday, July 13 – 70 Degrees / Rainy / Cloudy

When I was younger (about 7-12 years old or so) my friends from my neighborhood and I would always use my current Wonderblog site as an awesome sledding and snowboarding hill in the winter. Every single year without fail we would set up this little “ski mountain” and just ride down and walk up all day long. We made up trail names, had “ski instructors,” and even made a mini lodge which was a pretty elaborate snow fort at the end of my driveway. It sounds pretty goofy now but back then it was the coolest thing to us. Below are the runs that we decided upon based on the way the land is shaped. We didn’t cut trees or put in chairlifts, we simply used the land the way it was left for us.

P.S. – The numbers ( ex. #/10) is the difficulty level of each run. *

The Lodge (No Rating) – We’ll start with the end of my driveway. This was the site of our lodge. (For reference this is about 80-100 yards away from my Wonderblog site which is behind my house as well). In the winter all the green is gone and it’s basically just a dirt patch with a few trees sticking up in the back. We came up with some pretty elaborate snow forts here. This is where we would have lunch and hot chocolate!

The Headwall (5/10) – This is the run we nicknamed The Headwall. Named after the training/race run at Shawnee Peak in Maine (where I grew up skiing and racing) this is the steepest of all the runs. While it is in fact the steepest it is not the most challenging. It’s a very direct run and a nice easy run off so you don’t slam into any trees or rocks which is very possible, if not likely, as we progress across the “ridge.”

The Main (7.5/10) – Next we have The Main. The Main, also named after a run at Shawnee Peak, is the run that’s right down the middle of all the slopes. It is relatively a straight shot however the runout is covered by branches so you can’t see what’s below. You just have to close your eyes and pray. I have hit a number of kids on The Main and I have also fallen victim to a number of kids as well. It adds a real 8 year old level thrill factor.

The Drop (9/10) – The Drop was fun. The Drop was fun for a number of reasons. It gave you butterflies, it was a blind 6 foot drop off onto flat ground, and there was the extreme, may I repeat, extreme likelihood of getting hurt. It was fun. The drop essentially was a really steep pitch for about 20 feet which turned into about a 6 foot drop off a rock face onto perfectly flat ground. There was only about 5-6 feet or so before a wall of trees which you would always go barreling into no matter what. You could really only do the drop if it was your last run of the day because you would pretty much always hit a tree and get hurt and you wouldn’t want to get hurt on the morning of a snow day because then you’d be inside all day. So if it wasn’t the trees that got you then it was the fact that your ass is gonna smash into the ground with little support beneath it. The drop was fun.

The Summit Glades (1.5/10) – The Summit Glades is just a small collection of trees before you get to the other runs. It’s fun to add this one to any of the ones listed above. On good snow days you could carry your glide all the way across the top of the hill to The Headwall and take it down. All other runs (except the drop) can be accessed after going through the glades.

We never came up with a name for our little ski area but we always knew when it was time to go over there and go for a rip. It is difficult to tell from the photos but it is a decent little hill that we used to sled and snowboard down. It is also much better looking in the late fall and winter when all the green is back to brown and there is no growth on the ground, it’s just dirt.
I’m really glad I decided to use this location for my Wonderblog. This place has had an impact on me from a young age that I still remember and resonate with today. When I was outside taking these photos I remember all of the stories that happened back here. I wish I could go back and see it for a day when we had a snow day. On snow days, the energy was unrivaled.

July 6, 2021. Humid / 80 degrees / partly sunny.

For the most part, the swamp looks the same. We have had a lot of rain, wind, and thunderstorms as of late so there are a lot more sticks and twigs lying all over the ground that broke off the trees and blew around. The little pond, that was pretty much dry last time I was here, has some still water in it. Mostly this just came from the rain I assume but it makes the place look a little better rather than a big old patch of wet mud. Perhaps this is just the difference between the time of day and sunlight through the trees but there looks to be a lot more growth than I saw last time. Again this is probably jut attributed to viewing the marsh at a different time of day than last time so the sunlight hits it differently. It’s pretty crowded and dense down there so when I go to take some photos today I will be wearing my boots.

When I went down to the swamp today I found an old newspaper from September 29, 1996! I was really not expecting to find something like that. It was all yellow and it was a full sheet almost fully intact. Unfortunately it was just ads so there was no story I could read but it was cool anyway. I know this object isn’t part of the natural landscape but it was definitely worth mentioning. Why would I just randomly find this object lying right on top of the dirt? I have been back there so many times in my life and this was the first time that I found a newspaper and one from 1996 as well is pretty cool. Also since it is on private property in a weird spot I know for sure nobody else goes back there. At least not regularly.

As I took these photos it made me realize how many “randoms” are just lying around in the woodsy area I chose. “Randoms” are all the sticks and rocks and random stuff that lie around on the ground. There’s also some beer bottles and trash as well that I think come from the neighbors parties just over the fence. I never looked at this site in depth like this before. I have always just used it for manhunt with my buddies or airsoft gun fights. I like looking at it from a nature perspective like I have been for the past 2 weeks now. It gives me a better appreciation of the land that we use for fun and how our activities affect it.

It is 3pm on June 6, 2021. It is chilly and damp. The swampy/ wooded area right behind my house covers about an acre of land (possibly a little less) and I found it to be a very interesting place to do these blog posts on. Before getting into intimate detail, this area of land makes a large bowl like feature and down in the middle of this bowl like area is a swampy pond. There are multiple types of trees and shrubbery surrounding the area. The pond is a swampy, muddy little mess that used to hold still water and have salamanders all over the place but not so much anymore. It has since dried up and there is barely any still water down there only in the springtime. By thus time in the year it is pretty much dried out. It used to be full of water all year round and we could even skate on it in the winter. There is a particular type of plant that stands about a foot off the ground but only has leaves on the very top. Its about a foot long stem and they just blanket the ground below them. Over a very large part of this acre of land, these plants form a green blanket and you cannot see the ground through them.

1. Is this bowl like area manmade?
2. What are all of these little plants that cover the wooded floor?
3. Why is there a huge willow tree in the corner?
4. I wonder if the Colonists ever fought the British on this land? I hope so.
5. Why do squirrels chase each other around trees?
6. Why does bedrock stick out so frequently?
7. The soil is much darker here than in a grassy yard. Why?
8. What kind of bugs and stuff live underneath the soil?
9. Why is it swampy and damp down here?
10. Who decided to build my house on a rocky hillside?
11. Why is the bark on these trees so rough?
12. How rocky is the soil?
13. When did this piece of land form?
14. How did this piece of land form?
15. How old are these trees?
16. How old is the dirt a few layers down?
17. What kind of birds live here?
18. Was the visible bedrock always visible?
19. If I were to travel back in time 300 years, would this area look the same?
20. How tall would that Willow tree be?
21. Is lawn grass really that natural?
22. Why does that bamboo look alike plant exist and how?
23. Why don’t flowers stay all year long?
24. How is this plot so green?
25. Is this enough questions?

Why do squirrels chase each other so aggressively? I have noticed this many times in this spot and around many other wooded areas where I have seen squirrels. They chase each other around trees and across the ground very aggressively. Squirrels are usually pretty afraid of people but when they get into their moods, they start flying after one another without a care in the world of anything else going on around them. It’s pretty entertaining to watch. I always just assumed that this was a way for males to assert dominance and claim their territory but it goes deeper than that. Male squirrels are actually pretty docile and relaxed. The females are the ones who are safeguarding their territory. male squirrels simply mate and then move on but it’s a female squirrels job to look after the offspring and when two squirrels are in a tree fighting match it is usually females fighting over space for their offspring to live.

Why Do Squirrels Chase Each Other? Question And Answer. Squirrel Arena. (2020, November 10). https://www.squirrelarena.com/why-do-squirrels-chase-each-other/#:~:text=Why%20Do%20Squirrels%20Chase%20Each%20Other%201%20Safeguarding,Baby%20squirrels%20are%20no%20exception%20to%20this.%20.

I really want to look into those plants that I had mentioned before. The ones with plain stems that are about a foot off the ground and have leaves on the top. They look like a blanket of green from above but if you were to poke your head under the mini canopy, it is just the ground with about a thousand mini green drinking straws peeking out of the ground. It’s pretty cool.