Great Meadows and Author's Ridge

One New Year's Day after a hike in Blue Hills, I went to Great Meadows in Concord, MA. Great Meadows is a National Wildlife Refuge. I love Great Meadows. The scenery is beautiful and it is loaded with wildlife. The day before, there was a sighting of a bald eagle.

I did not see a lot the day I went. I didn't see the bald eagle. My highlight was seeing some coots.

After my walk of two miles ( I was limping by the end because of a sore hip, because I hiked five miles then jogged four miles around Ponkapaug Pond) I went to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Concord during the 1800's was the site of more brilliant minds than possibly any place before or since. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau not only were neighbors but friends. They are all buried next to each other on the appropriately named Author's Ridge. There are usually flowers or tokens at the graves of them author's especially Thoreau. I was there only a few minutes but could feel the genius in the air.

Coot

Muskrat Lodge