I’m writing this on Jan. 2, which the internet tells me is World Introvert Day. I suppose the idea is that we introverts need a day (or many days!) to recover from all the holiday hoopla. But in these pandemic times, the holidays have been just about quiet enough even for me. Still, it’s nice to take a day or two for quiet reflection about the year just past and the one just ahead.
I spent several hours on New Year’s Day doing a “deep dive” into all of the data I’d been compiling about my 2021 hikes. I knew how many I had done (128) because I had kept track all year, and I knew I had managed to make it to one more than in 2020. I was happy to discover that my total hiking mileage (457.8 miles) was about 28 miles more than in the previous year, and that the average length of my hikes was 3.58 miles, compared to 3.4 miles in 2020. I always say that I can find everything I need without having to leave Oxford County (Well, almost everything; I do have to admit that visits to the world’s most perfect grandchild in Portland are essential, too.), and it turns out that, of my 128 hikes in 2021, 124 of them were right here in Oxford County. Not only that, but 101 of them were in either Greenwood or Woodstock, my two hometowns, including 55 on the Bucks Ledge trail network and 28 in Maggie’s Nature Park. Yes, I’m a homebody, and proud of it.
I began and ended 2021, on Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, with a hike to all three peaks in the proposed Bucks Ledge Community Forest. That seems particularly appropriate, since this project, a partnership between the Woodstock Conservation Commission and the Mahoosuc Land Trust, is very near and dear to my heart.
At the beginning of the year, the idea of purchasing the 634-acre Bucks Ledge parcel to conserve it forever as a community forest was just beginning to take shape, and as the year ended, the project was well on its way to achieving its local fundraising goal of $175,000, with the balance of the $850,000 cost expected to be met through state grants and foundations. In 2021, new trails were built, trailhead parking was expanded, an informational kiosk was installed, and a series of guided hikes introduced many new people to this remarkable corner of the world.
Your help will make a difference in conserving the Bucks Ledge property for future generations. A volunteer planning committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 5 p.m. at the Woodstock Town Office, and all are welcome. Donations can be made at mahoosuc.org/bucks-ledge or by mail to the Town of Woodstock, PO Box 317, Bryant Pond, Maine 04219. Thank you!
Just in case you’re interested in even more facts and figures from my hiking records, I’m working on a blog post, tentatively titled “2021 in Adversity and Adventures: Another year of keeping it ‘low and local’” which, with any luck, I will have posted by the time you read this.
If you have events you’d like listed here, or news to share, please contact me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812. You can find and follow my blog at amywchapman.com/reflections.
“Every mountaintop is within reach if you just keep climbing.” — Barry Finlay
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