Colcord was indicted on three counts of class-A felony arson. Each class-A felony carries a sentence of more than seven years in prison.

The class-A felony arson charges allege Colcord set fire to a farm house with an attached barn and shed at 22 Glines Hill Road in Eaton on June 26 or 27, a seasonal home at 162 Watson Hill Road in Freedom on June 27, and a seasonal cabin at 318 Page Hill Road in Tamworth on June 8.

Colcord was indicted on two counts of class-B felony arson for allegedly setting fire to a two-story barn and a one-story barn at 192 Mooney Hill Road in Madison, and a one-story storage structure owned by Purity Springs Resort at 1515 Eaton Road in Madison on June 22. The class-B felony carries a prison sentence of 3 1/2 to 7 years.

The more serious class-A felony charges were filed for properties that had accommodations for people to sleep overnight.

Colcord was indicted on six misdemeanor arson charges for allegedly setting fires on land owned by the Nature Conservancy and Purity Springs Resort property.

All of which sets the stage for the next issue. In June the Alliance released a study it commissioned showing the State paid just 12 percent of the cost of controlling milfoil in its infested lakes in 2010. Lake towns like Freedom, Ossipee and Effingham paid the rest. Worse, half of New Hampshire’s milfoil-infested lakes have no control plan at all. Given the economic and environmental stakes, the Legislature’s lack of a long-term milfoil control plan is an issue that can no longer be ducked.

In September, N.H. Fish and Game held a meeting in Ossipee to present preliminary plans to improve boat access to the lake by substantially upgrading the public ramp on Route 25, whose management it inherited from DRED several years ago. The Select Boards of Ossipee and Freedom, and the Ossipee Conservation Commission, lost no time in asking the agency to fund a milfoil prevention program at the site as part of its detailed final plan, which will be presented in the New Year.

You didn’t have to be a long-time lake resident with a memory of the devastating 1947 fire to be alarmed when an arsonist began stalking the area from Madison to Freedom, including the near-by Ossipee Pine Barrens. A house fire on Leavitt Bay further set nerves on edge but proved to be accidental. Then, after an arrest in September, the fires stopped.

Eagles appear to be back on the lake to stay if the number of pictures posted on the Alliance’s Facebook page is any indication. Thanks to local photographers like John Rowe, you can check out these majestic creatures at www.facebook.com/ossipeelake. In a Conway Sun article, reporter Daymond Steer noted that Ossipee Lake is stocked with landlocked salmon. Who knew? They can be fished and kept from April through September, per state regulations.

The lake’s loon nests were unproductive this year, but numerous volunteers kept an eye on nesting sites and stayed in close touch with biologists at the Loon Preservation Committee in Moultonborough. Sadly, bat populations continued to be decimated by a fungus, prompting State officials to say crops and forests are in harm’s way due to increased insect populations.

The lake was largely spared damage from Hurricane Irene, which devastated Vermont and parts of New Hampshire to our north, but we experienced a surprisingly heavy snowstorm in October. The fact that trees were still in leaf created a disaster elsewhere in New England, but once again our area lucked out.

As we complete this article, Broad Bay’s Bob Smart reports warmer than normal temperatures and little ice on the lake. But stick around, as the old adage goes.

Happy New Year to all, and it’s on to 2012…

Temperatures down to the single digits at night earlier in the week put some frost in the ground. Based on weather forecasts, no snow, with light rain and temperatures above freezing through Christmas Day.

King Pine has man-made snow in the clubhouse area and expects to produce some coverage in remaining areas by end of the week.

The lake level remains above the plan of 405′ by this time of year because of the heavy rain (about 2″) from 12/6 – 12/9.  Level was down to 407′ before the rain and then went up to a little over 408′ two days later.

No other big news to report from this corner of Freedom Land.

Support from people like you helped us secure an agreement from the State to replace the onerous “410 Rule” with a new regulation that returned ownership of large parts of the shoreline to lake property owners. Your financial support also allowed us to start an ambitious initiative to secure an agreement from the State to pay a larger share of the ever-growing cost of controlling milfoil in our lake.

Ossipee Lake Alliance is a 100 percent volunteer organization, which means all of the funds we raise from people like you go directly to support initiatives like the ones above. We are not paid for our work, but our work can only continue with your support.

This is a busy time of the year, but before it ends, please take a few moments to make a tax deductible contribution in any amount. If you’ve already contributed this year, please consider making another donation. If you’ve been waiting to help out, now is the time.

Our mailing address is P.O. Box 173, Freedom NH 03836.

Thank you, and all the best from all of us at the Alliance for a great holiday season.

Lake level was down below 406′ by November 30th, and then we had a strong rainstorm that evening. It melted Wednesday’s snow and raised the lake 1.5′ in three days. Plan for this time of year is 405.5′ for December 1st and 404.5′ by end of the month.

Looking back over records of the last few years there has almost always been ice on Broad Bay by this time of the year. Water levels have been:

- The 2008 level was 407.9′ with full ice cover
- The 2009 level was 408.0′ with skin ice (couldn’t  do test bores at the dam until January)
- The 2010 level was 407.8′ with no ice

As for activities in Freedom, holiday decorations are being set up. The month is filling with concerts and other events. We had the first planning meeting for the 2012 Old Home Week in Freedom. Ducky race will be June 30th. Parade and cardboard boat race on August 4th and other events from August 3 – 12.

Work on the Mill Pond firehouse has been completed, and work continues on the Village Road Fire House/Police Station with completion in January.

I am almost ready for my “Long Winter’s Nap”!

Why haven’t I been there before, since I’ve been to all the surrounding peaks? In the past when I glanced at a map of the Ossipee Range, the only trail that went to its summit was the long and tedious Turtleback Mountain Trail — actually an old carriage road of the Thomas Plant estate — that started next to Shannon Pond at Ossipee Park, and wound its way endlessly up switchbacks, passing a half mile spur trail to Turtleback’s summit, and continuing another three miles towards the summit of Mount Shaw. Going that way was a seven mile round trip to Turtleback’s summit, trudging on long switchbacks both ways. My eyes easily turned elsewhere on the map.

But my interest in Turtleback Mountain was spurred last week, when I wrote about another hike in the Ossipee Range: Sentinel Mountain (1,680 feet), located near Dan Hole Pond. After that hike I contacted the geologist Bob Newton, who described a hard igneous rock in the range called Moat Volcanics. It is a composite of basalt and rhyolite, and to keep things simple, is what remains today of the collapsed Ossipee volcano, active during the Jurassic period (200 to 150 million years ago). I knew that Turtleback Mountain had a unique feature in this kind of rock on its summit ledges, that was a must see.

Lately, like a squirrel gathering acorns, I’ve been gathering hikes before it snowed (as I write this on Friday, that is past tense). Last Monday I headed out for a mid-day hike up Turtleback Mountain. From Route 25 in Moultonboro, I turned on Route 109 south. In 2.3 miles I went straight on Route 171, and in half a mile, turned left up Ossipee Park Road. Just after the stone gatehouse, I parked in the hiker parking lot on the right. Then I continued walking down the road through the attractive meadow, bore right and just after Shannon Pond, walked off the road and across the grass to the beginning of the Brook Path.

I wanted to enjoy variety as well and a specific destination. After all, and especially on a hike, the path is the goal. The short Brook Path brought me down along Shannon Brook past a series of beautiful waterfalls, all named during the 19th century hotel era. Colorful explanatory signs in good taste were tacked to trees at each falls. The culmination, at the bottom of the trail, was the famous Fall of Song. From there, I crossed the bridge over the brook, and did a short steep climb up the slope to wide Shannon Brook Trail, which in the winter is a major snowmobile route over the Ossipee Range. I bore right, crossed a bridge over a brook and soon took a left on the Bald Knob Cut-off.

My plan was to hike up to Bald Knob, a rocky knob and panoramic lookout, then bushwhack up the rocky oak ridge above it for about three quarters of a mile to the summit of Turtleback Mountain. An interesting surprise awaited me on top of Bald Knob.

But back along the scenic and interesting Bald Knob Cut-off, I passed a ledgey area of rhyolite with a sign on a tree explaining columnar jointing, a process in the cooling of magma that creates hexagonal columns. A few broken six sided columns littered the ground behind the sign, and further back the jumble of ledge had numerous signs of columnar jointing. Certainly not as spectacular as more famous examples of columnar jointing around the country, such as Devil’s Tower in Wyoming or Devil’s Post Pile in California, this spot is still very striking.

At this point, I was actually on the lower slopes of Turtleback Mountain. Further up on the smooth rounded summit ledge of Turtleback, you stand on the flat surface of magma that cooled. Six sided cracks are visible beneath your feet. These look like the scales on a turtle shell, hence the mountain’s name.

According to Bob Newton, columnar jointing is formed by quick cooling. This cooling of magma from the outside-in causes shrinkage cracks to form, commonly in a six sided pattern. He compared it to cracks in drying mud. However, the smooth ledge on Turtleback’s summit was not part of the uniform surface of an old volcano as one might think. Bob Newton said that the Ossipee volcano collapsed inward. “Inside the ring dike,” he said “everything dropped down. Broken blocks rotated down as the fell.” Later, the broken pieces of this collapse were uncovered by erosion. Now, 150 million years later, we find peace and beauty perched in the middle of the ancient cataclysm.

One purpose of my hike was to go to the top of Turtleback to see these hexagonal patterns in the ledge. From the Bald Knob Cut-off, I reached an old carriage road which brought me to the bare summit of Bald Knob in a third of a mile. The view over Lake Winnipesaukee was great that day, and I lingered for a snack. When I turned to look up at the ridge that I planned to bushwhack, I happened to see a new nearby trail sign. To my surprise, it said Turtleback Mountain, half a mile. The sign pointed towards the ridge above.

It isn’t everyday you bump into a new trail in the direction you’re planning to bushwhack. I started up the trail, marked with red and white markers. Frequently it followed a deep rut which was obviously an old herd path. Many had gone this way before, even though there wasn’t a trail.

The next day I called Larry DeGeorge, 72, of Tuftonboro. He is the volunteer Property Adopter for the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Land. On just one sunny day — this past labor day — he and a small crew of volunteers built the new half mile trail from Bald Knob to the carriage road spur just below the summit of Turtleback Mountain’s summit. Following the old herd path, they placed signs and trail markers, cut brush, moved rocks and whatever else was necessary. Their one day’s work opened up a variety of new loop options for hikers wanting to visit the spectacular summits of Bald Knob and Turtleback.

Back on my hike, I quickly climbed the rocky oak ridge, reached the carriage road below the top of Turtleback and climbed up to the bare summit. Mount Shaw (2,990), the highest peak in the Ossipee Range, loomed large across a deep ravine. In the foreground of the same view, beneath my feet, dark hexagonal cracks covered the gray rock.

The afternoon was aging, and though it was mild and beautiful up there, I decided to head down. Instead of returning the way I had come, I decided to bushwhack down towards the switchbacks of the Turtleback Mountain Trail. Later, walking down through pleasant open woods, I crossed the carriage road many times, but persisted in a direct descent rather than the long switchbacks of the road. Quickly I was at the bottom, and walked across the grass of Ossipee Park to my car.

The whole process was fun, from figuring out how to get there, to driving through the historic section of Ossipee called Moultonville, to the hike, and to finally getting back down to our car at dusk. But before taking you there, here is a little bit of geology of the area that I gathered from a phone call to Bob Newton, geology department head at Smith College, and occasional lecturer on the geology of the Ossipee Range.

Sentinel Mountain rises steeply above Dan Hole Pond and Little Dan Hole Pond, at the southern end of the Ossipee Range. It is located inside the ring dike of the collapsed volcano that formed the circular Ossipee Range. At it begins a range of higher peaks that sweep around the west side of the range, culminating in the 2,990 foot Mount Shaw.

These peaks, once molten rock that reached the surface of the earth before cooling, are mostly comprised of a hard and resistant rock known as Moat Volcanics, a composite of basalt and rhyolite. In contrast to this, most of the lower and more gentle eastern side of the Ossipee Range is comprised of Conway granite. Intruded after the collapse of the volcano, this Conway granite never made it to the surface, and crystallized deep in the earth. However, time and erosion brought it to light, and being softer and less resistant than the tougher Moat volcanics, it eroded quicker, making for a more gentle eastern half of the Ossipee Range today.

The sharp and sassy little peak of Sentinel Mountain, right on the edge of the Conway granite, but composed of Moat Volcanics, has a low fracture density, making it especially hard to erode. Thus, its dramatic shape as seen from below across Little Dan Hole Pond.

Back to our hike. Previous to last Monday, we had taken a pleasant Sunday afternoon drive around Little Dan Hole Pond, so we knew how to get there. But to get directions to the actual trailhead, we checked out Jeremy Clark’s Hiking Guide found at FranklinSites.com, and looked under the peaks of Carroll County. We also looked at the “Trail Bandit Map of the Ossipee Mountains,” created by Bob Garrison. This is available to freely download on the Franklinsites.com Hiking Guide. Both these sources were helpful, but once there, we still had to do a little scrambling at the last minute to find the trailhead.

From West Ossipee we drove south on Route 16 to the exit for Center Ossipee. We followed Main Street into Center Ossipee, then continued straight out of town on Moultonville Road. At a fork we took a right up Valley Road and in almost two miles, just before reaching Little Dan Hole Pond, we took a right on Bents Road. There is one driveway on the right after turning onto Bents Road. You continue beyond that, and take the next right, 50 feet into a gate for the trailhead. Don’t block the gate. There is a gravel pit further in, owned by Terrace Pines Campground, just up Bents Road.

Mark and Jane Wright of Terrace Pines Campground located on Dan Hole Pond, also own the lower part of Sentinel Mountain located in Center Ossipee. Beyond the town line, the upper slopes and summit are owned by Camp Merrowvista of Center Tuftonboro. Both camps welcome hikers, and expect the land and people met there to be treated respectfully.

Recently, new signs on the trail have made the hike straightforward. We didn’t start up until 3:30 p.m. We wore hunter orange vests, but didn’t see any hunters. The trail went from one old logging road to another, but was easy to follow, with paint marks on trees. Then at a sign, it turned sharp left up the final peak.

That was one steep third of a mile. The rocky trail wound up through a shady hemlock forest, hills in the Ossipee Range growing more visible behind us to the north. Soon we could see the summit ledge ahead, and together we walked out on the top.
The views south and west opened up, with Alton Bay visible below the Belknap Range to the west. Dan Hole Pond spread east to west directly below us. Climbing up on a big glacial erratic sitting on the ledge, we could see a snow dotted Mount Washington to the north.

It was mostly cloudy with a slight fall chill in the waning day. We spent a good half hour or more up there, to get the most of this late afternoon foray in the mountains. We knew that we had headlamps for the descent if necessary. On the way down, although we took our time, we didn’t need the headlamps. But near the bottom we decided to turn one on and swing it with our stride, just in case a hunter at the end of his day heard us rustling through the dead leaves.

Later I talked to Mark Wright, who said that there had been few hunters so far, as warm weather had kept the deer stationary and hidden.

But the temperature would soon be dropping.

Bats are a natural form of pest control, but with many species dying off at an alarming rate as a fungus spreads through their caves and mines across New Hampshire and the Northeast, experts worry it’s only a matter of time before insect populations begin to rise, threatening crops and forests and leading to billions of dollars in agricultural losses.

“We’re going to start seeing some ecological effects. They are so important, and we don’t realize how important they are,” said Emily Brunkhurst, a wildlife biologist with New Hampshire Fish and Game.

The dwindling bat population is being blamed on a disease known as white nose syndrome, a white fungus that grows on a bat’s face and wings during hibernation. It’s wiped out millions of bats across the Northeast since it first appeared in caves in New York during the winter of 2006. It spread to New Hampshire in 2009 and across New England.

The fungus, believed to have originated in Europe, has affected five of the eight species of bats living in New Hampshire, including the most common bat, known as the little brown bat. The Northern long-eared bat, tri-colored bat, the Eastern small-footed bat and the big brown bat are also dying.

Read the entire article online on the NH Union Leader website.

Bats are a natural form of pest control, but with many species dying off at an alarming rate as a fungus spreads through their caves and mines across New Hampshire and the Northeast, experts worry it’s only a matter of time before insect populations begin to rise, threatening crops and forests and leading to billions of dollars in agricultural losses.

The water level was down to 407.25′ on 10/1 and one south-side gate was opened plus a layer of north-side stop logs was removed in anticipation of rain later that week.  The rain came and by 10/4 water level was up to 408.8′ – almost 1.5 ft. in 4 days.

With no rain and a flow equal to all five south-side gates being open, the level came down to summer plan in seven days (10/11). Four days later the level was down to 406.55′ and it looked like we were on schedule for the winter drawdown scheduled to start 10/10.

More rain was predicted for the 14th (and we got it) so all gates were opened and it looks like all stop logs were removed on the 13th. Net result is that lake level went up 1.2 ft. to 407.73′ by last evening in a time span of less than three days.

Prediction is for dry weather until Wednesday, and then more rain for a day – no idea how much. There is no way short of an earthquake to drain more water out of the lake, so we will ride the ups and downs until ______ freezes over in December.