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Beaver-Rail LbNA #8107 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Apr 28, 2004
Location:
City:Hudson
County:Hillsborough
State:New Hampshire
Boxes:1
Found by: Woodland Faeries
Last found:Oct 19, 2008
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Apr 28, 2004
Clues to the Beaver Rail LB

Get to Rt 111 from either Rt 93 or from Rt 3 in NH. Rt 111 in Hudson is known as Central St.
Kimball Hill Rd goes south from Rt 111 towards the town of Pelham. Speare Rd is on the right,1.3 miles from Rt 111. You can also get to this site from NH Rt128 (Mammoth Rd),in Pelham,NH. From Mammoth Rd, turn onto Keyes Hill Rd towards Hudson. At .09 miles Keyes Hill Rd turns into Kimball Hill Rd at the Hudson town line. At 1.7 miles,turn left onto Speare Rd.
Just after house # 61 at .04 miles, is the trail head on the left, same side of the road as house # 61. The road here is hilly and windy. Although there is not too much traffic,be careful and find a place to pull off the road just a little past the trail head on the right, or go a little further down the road to a safer place, turn around and park just before the trail head, pulling completely off the road.
Take the trail in and after only a few steps it turns sharply left. The trail here goes very straight.You are now on an old rail bed. It was called the Lawrence(MA)-Nashua(NH) Electric line. It was opened around 1906.
Although the tracks and ties have been removed, if you look carefully, you may find a railroad spike lying in the dirt here or there. You will also see lots of wildlife signs on this trail. I have seen deer tracks, coyote scat, horse hoof prints, birds of prey, blue herons, and of course lots of signs of beaver.
Anyway, walk along the track bed past a small broken down beaver dam on the right. In the spring this trail can be a little wet, and the small brook will be running noisly through the gap in the dam. In summer things dry out a bit. After a few minutes a path breaks off towards the right, but continue on straight.Cross a makeshift bridge of corrugated steel over a small stream, note the old stone work that used to be the base of the original bridge for the rails.
Soon after the bridge, you’ll see a very large beaver dam on the left, with a decent sized pond behind it. In the middle you’ll see a beaver lodge. If you’re enjoying the trail, walk a little further along and towards the end of the pond, you’ll see a much larger beaver lodge. The whole length of this trail from where you started to the other end where it comes to another road is about one mile, although that’s a guess.
To find the B-R-L-B go back to the large dam. Standing on the trail with the large dam just to your right, walk around 54 steps (21 of MY steps took me to the first of two fence posts on the right side of the trail) til you see a large stump of a tree with some large rocks just behind it on the left. Go around the right side of the rocks to the back side and look at where the two rocks meet. There is a pretty good space right under where the two rocks come together. Down low is the Beaver Rail box.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip…….let me know what you think, at Countbaa @ adelphia.net
P. S. It seems that this area is known to hunters also, so care must be taken during any hunting season.... It has also been brought to my attention that there is a fair amount of poison ivy in the area. I planted the box in the early spring and dind't notice this, so I will try and relocate it and change the clues after the ivy is out this coming spring.............