Punkatasset Perspective

On many occasions I've looked up from the vantage point of my boat's cockpit towards the top of Punkatasset Hill in Concord, MA.  My boat's bow has also nudged into the mouth of Saw Mill Brook which drains Punkatasset's northeastern slope to the Concord River.  Yet, I've never visited this very accessible hill with such an interesting Native American name...until this morning.  Since the wind backed off just a little, and the bright sunshine brought temperatures to the plus side of 20 degrees,  Mrs. Trashpaddler and I decided to see things from a "Punkatasset Perspective".
Hiking in from the kiosk we took the first trail heading to the hill's summit and soon drank-in this view of the Concord River valley below...

 

 

According to this Town of Concord Conservation Land Guidemap  "Punkatasset is Native American for Broad Topped Hill.  It is one of the highest points in Concord; from here, minutemen watched and gathered their troop strength before approaching the British at the North Bridge in 1775".

 

Returning to the trail network, we followed a loop around Hutchins Pond seeing ample evidence of busy beavers having done yeoman's work under last night's bright and full "Wolf Moon"...

 

Mrs. Trashpaddler provided perspective to better demonstrate that these beavers aren't afraid to think 'big'.

 

At the point where water flows out of Hutchins Pond this man-made spillway regulates the flow into Saw Mill Brook...

 

The pond itself appears to have been man-made as it does not show on a map dating from 1894...

An ingenious device was installed to fool the beavers.  Water from further out in the pond is conveyed to the inside of this fenced enclosure via a submerged pipe.  The beavers can block off the fence all they wish without stopping the flow of water.  It must frustrate the heck out of them!