An exciting walk in the forest

Yesterday, Suzy, Paul, and I met at the Town Forest parking area for our Tuesday morning nature walk.  We were joined by just one person, Pierre, who told us he used to hike a lot but got out of the habit.  He had on sandals, which made me fret a bit, but we just decided to head out as usual. 

I had heard that 7th and 8th graders at the Catholic school had put up tree identification signs along the Mainline Trail, and that seemed like a good destination, especially because one of my favorite lookouts is at the trail's end.  After about an hour's nice but humid walk, with Suzy in the lead, we reached the turnoff for the Empire Lookout.  All of a sudden, we heard some loud rustling in the underbrush, and a partridge with full plumage showing rushed out.  It was quite a surprise, and Suzy came rushing over to me, perhaps for "protection"?  She's almost 6' tall to my 5'5", so I don't know what I could have done. 

At any rate, the bird flew several yards away toward the quarry and sat, giving us the evil eye.  Then we heard some faint cheep-cheeping, just as we were about to continue up to the lookout.  A baby chick emerged from the leaves just inches from Suzy's foot, giving her another good scare.  The momma (?) bird next charged our whole group, and we ran up the trail toward the lookout.  It was quite an amazing thing, and everything happened so fast. 

We stayed up on the Empire Lookout (that's me, above), which is really a pile of waste granite blocks that has overgrown with trees and pine needles, for quite some time, to allow the partridge family to relocate or settle down.  Then we headed along the Mainline Trail where the signs were, indeed, very nice.  Here, Suzy takes a picture of the sign for the black cherry tree, which was huge.  I wonder if it actually has cherries?  We'll have to keep an eye on it during our walks this summer.

Last Sunday Samantha led us on a very long and winding walk along the Locomotion Trail.  What will Denise have up her sleeve this Sunday?