7/16/11 - Mid-July Progress

If you are describing any occurrence... make two or more distinct reports at different times... We discriminate at first only a few features, and we need to reconsider our experience from many points of view and in various moods in order to perceive the whole.  
Thoreau - March 24, 1857

After last weeks foggy start, today was sure to be much improved - and it was.  Bright and sunny today, once again an early morning start.

Actually, the parking lot doesn't look that much different from last week.  There are piles of sand and the hole in the center - for the island, I presume, is still there.

Looking South down Mt. House Trail  - East Side of New Parking Lot

Center of Parking lot - looking south (Power line poles)

As I stood on a giant pile of dirt and gravel, I looked about the parking lot.  It doesn't look much different than last week, I thought.  The backhoe is gone; only one remains at the summit.  I suppose they might need a bulldozer to level the lot before they get to the finishing touches of paving. 

From the Sandpile in the parking lot looking east to the road that will enter.  (Up Summit Road)

What a surprise this morning!  I met an old friend who, like me and like Thoreau, enjoys the early morning air of Wachusett.  That's her on the road heading down with her dog, George. 

Looking northeast up to the summit from the parking lot.

View to the west in the parking lot... this is the back section.

 

 

Another view to the south - Mt. House Trail on the left.

Progress from last week does not look like much from afar.  But, in fact, great strides are being made.  The  rebar for the observation platform base is now being laid and the forms placed for more cement to be poured.

Something big is going on at the Summit!

Stone Wall being constructed about the U. S. Coastal Marker

 I think this is just great!  The one marker that exists from the 1860's U.S. Coastal Survey team is imbedded into the bedrock right on the summit.  Preserving this historical marker is obviously a priority for the project.  And, obviously, the wall is being built with chunks of bedrock!  This will be interesting to see when it is finished.

From the south side of the summit looking north across the site.

Current Fire Watch Tower peers down at the construction.

The old tower must feel a bit of remorse for she will soon be retired, her life and her work to be replaced by a new guard.

Forms for the observation deck.

From the east looking west.

Foundation with rebar for the walls of the observation platform.

Sand for the cement - lots of it!!

And so once again, I am quite excited by what is taking place on the summit.  At a glance, I first saw the same site as in the last two weeks, but to discover the stone wall about the coastal marker is real special.  We will see what else awaits us as construction continues.