Heading North

The original 130 acre farm here was defined by only two straight lines that met at a right angle and the Unadilla River.  Here we are looking to the North at part of one of those original property lines.  This is the longest straight line that defines what is ours.  The retreating glacier deposited many different appearing land forms here.  The bedrock ridge is behind us and is disappearing into glacial till.  Ahead of us is higher ground that is entirely glacial material.  The visible depression carries away a steady water flow that oozes from the bedrock.  From the first time that I walked here, I wanted to build a stone dam to form a respectable sized pond.  That project remains only a dream. 

This depression was formed when a large chunk of the glacial ice fell into meltwater.  The till dropped here covered the ice creating a long level land form.  Eventually the ice melted and the soil dropped into the resulting hole.  A Dead Ice Sink is frequently filled with water but this area contains a deep deposit of sandy ground that quickly carries away water.

This picture is looking Eastward toward the Dead Ice Sink.  It shows the long soil deposit that may be the highest ground that we own.  To me it looked like the level deck of an aircraft carrier since the ground sharply falls away in all directions..  To the right several lower and smaller fields can be found.  This ground was drier and was used only as pasture for the dairy cows.  Views of the ridge are spectacular and we still spend a great deal of time walking here.

Our property line crosses this feature as the land drops away on the far side.  We have always referred to it as the Gravel Bank Hill since a gravel bank was opened there about seventy years ago.  When we purchased this land the highway crew of the Town of Unadilla yearly took away enough gravel to cover the taxes on the remains of the original farm.  That arrangement ended when we acquired this land.

 

The Gravel Bank Hill drops sharply to river bottom land.  Walking that property line when some snow covers the ground would be risky so we will have to imagine the sharp drop to this pipe that marks the end of our walk to the North.  A left turn will have us walking to the West.