Still a Peaceful Walk, Despite Brush Fire Damage

I live in Concord and my family loves to hike, bike and snowshoe.  We often make use of the conserved land in Concord, there are a lot of beautiful trails and they’re close to home.  So I was heartbroken to hear about the brush fires in Concord in the last few weeks because most were on conservation properties we love to visit.

 Last week my husband and I walked to the most recently burned area, near the Marjory Swope Park trails off Long Pond Road. The area that burned is actually an old ski area, you can find more on that here.

In the photo you can see the engine used to power the rope tow, the fire burned the hillside just behind it.   There’s still a very nice path that was probably part of the ski area, bounded on one side by a small stone wall.  You can see the scorched leaves on both sides of that path.  The burned area included the sight of the old warming hut, its fireplace is still standing.    While walking through the burned area we heard a number of pileated woodpeckers calling and drumming.  Hearing them cheered us up.  Despite the devastation of the fire they made it seem like the forest was already starting to recover.  By the time we got to the end of the pond we couldn’t really see the burned area, the pond looks as beautiful as ever.