Today was a fun day. It’s always super interesting to see how my travels effect people. I have been so happy to hear how excited people are to see my photos, read this blog, and take a day trip of their own, but sometimes inspiration goes beyond that. This time around it was an idea hatched in a friend’s mind – why not leave fairy villages on these hikes? So several people made houses, got together, and placed them on the Wellness Trail heading up to the hospital. It’s a tiny trail, probably not even on any maps, but the hopes were to place this little bit of whimsy somewhere to be enjoyed but not populace enough to get immediately stolen or ruined. This was the results – three sweet little fairy houses and a fourth from a darkly humored friend who placed it behind a tree stump away from the others because she said it looked like it belonged to a reclusive serial killer fairy and that’s just where reclusive serial killer fairies belong. Can’t argue there. Will people enjoy this little set up? Will they add to it? Will they wonder who made it? We’re conspiring to start a much larger network of fairy house makers and spread these little surprise villages throughout New England… could be fun! Let me know if you’d like to join in!
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Mount Watatic is a wonderful little hike for anyone who is in shape enough to shamble up a steep hill for a little over a mile. I was hoping this was me today. You see I spent a few days bedbound with a horrendous migraine and I had grown VERY antsy in the meanwhile. I was hoping this slightly more strenuous hike could calm my restless legs. I may not have been completely ready for the challenge but I went alone and climbed at my own pace. Usually on a day as beautiful as this the parking lot is stuffed full and cars are parked aside the road for half a mile but today there was scarcely another soul to be seen. I revealed in the opportunity to take way too many photos – art filter, no art filter, marbles, no marbles. It was all good! Nature sure makes photography easy sometimes, especially when you’re somewhere as beautiful as this.
The trail starts off very flat and unassuming, winding past a little swamp. At this time of year there is water whooshing down the mountain still, run off from the winter, that creates these calming little crystal clear creeks. People are allowed to bring their dogs (on leash) here and it’s not unusual for them to jump in! A small bridge-like structure guides hikers over the water and into the woods. This is where things turn interesting because the trail winds around and becomes more and more steep, then almost flat again, then steep. You’ll pass many wood pecker hollowed trees, rotted logs, exposed roots, mushrooms, and many swarms of May flies. I swallowed a few and snorted two more. Good for the sinuses. But if that’s the only negative thing I could come up with then this was a great hike! I enjoyed the peace and majesty of the forest. I played like an imp with the shadows and I left marbles wherever I went. I was delighted to find at least some of them were gone before I came back down!
UPDATE: As of July 12, 2021 half of the staircase at Madame Sherri’s castle has collapsed and there are no plans to restore it or preserve the remaining steps. The below blog entry was written before these events and we hope you can all still enjoy hiking in the area and looking at the rest of the ruins. For more information on the collapse see 
Madame Sherri’s castle is a ruin out in the middle of the woods that looks like a castle. In actuality it was a mansion built in the 1930’s to host flamboyant parties for an eccentric actress named Madame Sherri. Locals will tell you with a spark f mischief in their eye that the castle may have been a bit more than a place to party… they claim it was a brothel. Now I don’t know too much about that but what I do know is it fell into disrepair and then burned down in the 1960’s. Now all that is left of it is a stunning rock staircase that goes nowhere and other bits and pieces of the walls and foundation. Even better there is a state forest surrounding it and lots of lovely trails to hike all around it. I took Annie’s Loop Trail today. It was… a moderate hike… Lots of hills, roots jutting out of the ground, some flooding, and lots of rocks that needed to be climbed over. With that being said I was passed by no less than four ladies in their golden years, a visibly pregnant woman, and a series of small dogs… so the trail couldn’t have been that bad! One of the women was sure to stop me and randomly tell me I was pretty. This made me smile. You meet the sweetest people on these trails sometime! This was just a reminder – if you can make someone’s day with such a small gesture, do it!
