Sounds like Gilsum Woods is a disaster area! — Ed

Greetings not from Gilsum Woods!  (No power still due to the ice storm…went to Keene to use its power!)

Beginning on Thursday about 3AM, and ending approximately 31 hours later, we received pouring sleet and freezing rain, non-stop.  The result, the worst ice storm I think the woods have ever seen, and no power for some of this area for over a week, guaranteed–lines down, poles snapped in two, trees broken, uprooted, etc–the list goes on.  The entire town of Gilsum has been without power, and as I was driving to Keene tonight, PSNH was just turning on the power on route 10 as far north as the Gilsum Garage.  I doubt the woods will have power this weekend, but we can still hope, right?!?

There was a LOT of water with this storm, and ponding throughout the woods, with each small stream a large river.  The cold front that moved in yesterday afternoon helped drain some of that water and turn the rest to ice.

If you’re hoping to come into the woods for the holidays, plan on walking with snowshoes or poles or whatever.  It looks like we have about three inches of snow, but it’s actually sleet with ice underneath.

The entrance at the gate currently has a birch arch, followed by a large pine hanging on the lines across the road about half way down to the ball field.  Every road in the roads has branches, trees and/or tree tops hanging or twisted in the power lines.  Some sections are not passable.  PSNH will be very busy here this year…

There are some lots also with branches on the lines–Holly (who also has a few branches on the roof but no apparent damage), Tappans (who also have at least two trees that split and are wanting to fall towards the road and not the house), Karen, Joe & Paul, and the Shores driveway.  There are even branches down on the small road to the pond…

Mother Nature was not picky–pines, cherries, maples–all were fair game for destruction.  Apples, birches and many more all look like members of Arches National Park…  The ONLY area not showing any signs of destruction is the section of road from lot 0 to the gate that the tree company pruned in October for the new power poles which have not been installed yet–not a branch down or a twig bent…

I could not get past the Jones’ cabin to see about the health of the Kitchens’ and Brazdzionis’ cabins because of a couple trees across the road, but will try and walk out there soon.  We should clean out the trees in case we need access to the dam this winter…

That said, I have the only lot with a tree down on the roof–a small pine on the cabin.  And I have the only lot with substantial damage–I have a crop circle in the middle of my red pines.  The red pines beside the Youngs show early signs of a crop circle and still may blow over during the next ice storm, but they were spared the fate of about 100 or more of my trees Friday morning at 5AM, when the woods went from the snapping of 10 trees per hour to a constant popping and cracking noise, like popping corn, for about an hour, when the wind and cold front began to move in–all from the east, and probably somehow connected with a channel of air coming up from the river–all the trees I lost, including a section of white pine in another area, were all knocked down from the east.  With the exception of it looking like a gigantic spaceship landed on top of the red pine field, I’d say there was a tornado of sorts.  Needless to say, the field will be made
 larger this year–not by my choice…

I spoke with logger Dave this morning as I pleaded for help cleaning up my downed tree mess, and he said if the GWA wanted some emergency clean-up help to get us through until the spring pruning we’d been talking about, he’d try and make time for us.  He has two jobs right now but is going to take a day off this week to start to make order of my mess.

I will try and send photos of the woods later so you all can see the excitement you missed!

I don’t have a current contact list for the lot owners so I’m sending you this email.  If you’d prefer a phone call, leave your number on my answering machine.

Have a safe and happy holiday season as we round out 2008 and look forward to 2009!

Janine