Itinerary

Springwater Fieldtrip T19

Dallas Abbott and Bill Menke

February 8 and 15-19, 2019

February 8, 2019. (Dallas, only)

9:50 AM, Leave Tappan NY

4:00 PM, Spring 1 (Site 115) Gilmonton Hill Road Spring (1181 Gilmonton Hill Road, Bethlehem New Hampshire). Spring on hillside with water flowing from pipe protruding from rocks into a cast iron basin.

4:30 PM, Searched for spring reported by the US Geological survey on Muchmore Rd (Bethlehem New Hampshire) without finding it.

5:30 PM, Arrive house of Paul and Gigi Estes, Plymouth New Hampshire and stay the night there.

February 15, 2019 (Bill and Dallas)

2:00 PM, Leave Tappan New York.

5:00 PM, Stop for gas and a snack at the Stewart Shop (Exit 8 off of the Northway at 1529 Crescent Rd, Clifton Park New York).

6:00 PM, Arrive Saratoga Springs New York and stay at the Community Court Motel (248 Broadway, Saratoga Springs New York, 888-322-7856).

February 16, 2019 (Bill, only)

8 AM, Buy breakfast sandwiches and coffee at the Steward Shop, off of Route 9 at Circular Street. Dallas and I checked did a bit of contra dancing at the Dance Flurry in the morning.

12 Noon, I spend about five hours walking around Saratoga Springs. I first visit Historic Congress Park:

Spring 2, Site 35, Long Pond Spring, a plastic pipe extending out from the ground at the end of a long pond.

Spring 3, Site 85, Fish Pond Spring, the inflow of a circular fish pond.

Spring 4, Site 34, Deer Park Spring. The small, ornate spring house that we visited last July has been repaired.

Spring 5, Site 36, several plastic pipes extending out into the War Memorial pond.

Spring 6, Site 33, Congress Spring, in a large spring house.

The Hathorn Spring (Site 37), across the street from the park, is shut off.

1PM. Walk to High Rock Park and visit the Springs 7 and 8 (Sites 41a,b with 41a closest to the road) at the Victorian Fountain Springs, two fountains in a spring house. A new sign has been erected with the text:

High Rock Park. The Governor. This Spring was drilled in 1908. It was named for Governor Charles Evans Hughes who has recently signed a bill protecting the springs. The water flows through limestone and clay from a depth of 170 feet. The water also is piped over to High Rock Cone under the pavilion to your right. The Peerless. This spring is located across High Rock Avenues and is piped to this fountain. It is very palatable with only a moderate amount of minerals.

Judging from my temperature measurements, I think the Governor is the fountain nearest the road. I also visited nearby Spring 9, Site 39, High Rock Spring, with a tufa cone, in a spring house, as well as a nearby fountain.

I then walked to the Old Red Spring, but found that it was closed.

2:30 PM, I walked south down Warren and Ludlow Streets to Union Street and then east on Union Street to its intersection with East Street. According to information I was given, the Big Red Spring is near the picnic area of the Saratoga Racetrack, which is located immediately south of this intersection. However, the entire racetrack was fenced off for renovations, so I was not able to visit the site.

3:30 PM, I walked north on East Street to the Spring Run Trail. This trail follows Spring Run (brook). I walked the trail eastward to Excelsior Spring Ave, and then that road north to Excelsior Avenue. I found Spring 10 (Site 116) a seep on the hillside above Spring Run, near the southwest corner of the intersection.

4:00 PM, I spent quite a lot of time searching for the Empire Spring and finally found it, but it was closed (perhaps for winter). It is on the north side of High Rock Avenue, just a hundred yards or so east of High Rock Park, between the street and the side of the now-restored Van Raalte Knitting Mill (125 High Rock Avenue). A photo that I found on the web shows an ornate bronze fountain surrounded with hedges; however the fountain was covered over by a rectangular box, today.

5:00 PM, After stopping by the Community Court Motel to drop off my equipment, I walked to Pizza 7 (7 Caroline Street) and had a sausage and pepper pie.

10:00 PM, After a bit of contra dancing at the Dance Flurry, I returned to the Community Court Motel for the night.

February 17, 2019 (Bill and Dallas)

8:00 AM, We bought breakfast sandwiches and coffee at the Steward Shop, off of Route 9 at Circular Street. We then checked out of the Community Court Motel and did a bit of contra dancing at the Dance Flurry.

11:20 PM, We returned to the Excelsior Springs Street spring (Spring 10, Site 116) to record its location by GPS (something I did not do yesterday).

1:00 PM, Chestnut Hill Road Spring (Spring 11, Site 117). The spring is on the east, uphill side of Chestnut Hill Road, by a pullout with two rectangular concrete barriers. Water flows out of a white PVC pipe protruding from the hillside, and runs beneath the road into a small pond on the other side. My cellphone gives the address as 10 Chestnut Hill Road, Eagle Bridge, New York.

1:20 PM, We stop to examine another undeveloped seep, also on the east side of Chestnut Hill Road, a quarter mile past Site 117 and a hundred meters past a sign that reads, “Chestnut Woods State Forest, 802 Acres, State of New York, Department of Environmental Conservation”. Its temperature is very variable due to snow melt, so we do not measure it further.

4:00 PM, Troy Spring (Spring 11, Site 117), near 65 Spring Avenue, Troy, New York. The spring is located on the north side below a tall slope and has a concrete wall with six copper outlet pipes (plus a white PVC overflow pipe at the bottom. Only five outlet pipes were flowing. A bronze plaque reads “Begun in 1947, rebuilt in 1986 by Dominic Copano, restored in 2013 by Micheli Contracting Corp.” We spoke briefly with a local resident who said that this was the only spring in Troy with which he was familiar.

7:00 PM, Arrive in Tappan New York.