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Tumbling and splashing down its stone-filled watercourse, the rush of the water on Sanderson Brook serenaded us the whole length of our hike. Spring had barely arrived this 14th day of April.  Ice and snow still covered about a third of the trail but despite trail conditions, the sunny demeanor of the day made us all truly grateful to be out.

 
 

The 11 of us proceeded on a leisurely pace along the logging road with the babbling brook on one side and the wooded hillside on the other.  Abruptly, Linda caught my attention and pointed to the mossy hillside.  Quick little furry blurs scurried about, coming out from under a root and quickly into a neighboring hole.  There were bunches of them, each one visible for a second at most.  They were so fast, it was hard to get a good look at any one in particular, but by sheer number and activity, they had to be shrews.  I soon spotted the reason for their anxiety – a garter snake sat in the midst of the bustle waiting for a lunch opportunity.  We stood quietly watching for a while before sauntering off.

  We were compelled to make several more stops along the way.  We listened to and spotted an Eastern Phoebe; compared a north-facing slope with a south-facing slope; debated the identity of tiny trillium leaves newly emerged; observed some metamorphic rock and identified birch trees.  Once we arrived at the falls overlook site, we marveled at the volume and force of water rushing down.  Since others were below we opted to have lunch further along the trail on boulders.
 

A door or bed part lay on the hillside and Tom went over to investigate its usefulness as a sit-upon.  He lifted it up to find, what we thought at the time to be a Woodrat, but later identified as a Woodland vole.  After folks got a good look at the cute furry critter, we put the little guy’s hiding spot back into place and opted not to sit on it.

 After lunch, some of us experimented with acorn whistling, mostly without success.  Only two of us ventured on the narrow snow-covered trail that led down to the bottom of the falls.  It wasn’t treacherous if you had dependable tread.  Joan and I enjoyed the thundering spectacle only for a few minutes before making our way up to rendezvous with the rest of the crew back at the parking lot.
 With weather so cooperative and wildlife that allowed themselves to be seen, our three hour hike up Sanderson Brook Falls Trail was nothing less than delightful.