Rattlesnake Ramble - March 16, 2016

HIKE REPORT

Wednesday, March 16, 2016, Rattlesnake Ramble
Hike Leader:  Winslow Green
~3 hours, 10:00 am start from Lime Kiln trailhead, Rte 117, Bolton, MA

Hikers (22):  Winslow, Adena Schutzberg, Andy Lewis, Barbara Jacobs, Betty Hoffman, Dick Harter, Dick Lawrence, Jack Mroczkowski, Janet Miller, John Springfield, Mike Hanauer, Nancy  Smith, Patrick Ward, Rini Kester, Richard Fortier, Roy Westerberg, Sander Nydick, Susan Sabin, Terry Gleason, Tom Allen, Tom Clark, and Winnie Parker.
Present at lunch (4):  Jacque Smith, Jerry Green, Kathy Halmi, and Richard Vignoni.

Twenty two hikers gathered at the Lime Kiln trailhead in Bolton on an overcast, but pleasant, late winter morning for the last scheduled hike of the season.  We visited the lime kiln where lime was made from the limestone obtained from nearby quarries.  The Whitcomb house, built in 1711, is still standing nearby and has been continuously inhabited for 305 years.  We stopped to see the quarries and then passed west of Rattlesnake Hill, and made our way to Old Sugar Road and saw the Whitcomb Tavern built in 1700, Bolton’s oldest house.  We returned through beautiful fields where horses are pastured, through the woods, and back to our starting place.

After the hike we all went to Slater's for pizza and beer.  I thank all for their presence, for their kind Happy 80th Birthday wishes, and for the two cakes that we all shared.  I was pleased that Jerry Green and Mike Hanauer were able to attend.  They are the only Wednesday Wheelers still active who were present in 1999 when I joined the group - back then the Wheelers were a much smaller group and not yet connected with the CRW.   Being 80 is not so bad when one has such good company.

Report by Winslow Green.