Longtime nature lover teaches others how to track in winter

ALTON — As an only child, Barbara Bald learned to entertain herself by spending time outdoors. “I’ve always loved being outside, and I had a lot of animals in my life, such as dogs, cats, gerbils, turtles and hermit crabs,” she says.

Growing up in New Jersey, Bald was also searching for fossils and insects and delighting in the natural world. She did not know it then, but her outdoor adventures would blossom into a lifetime pursuit of hiking, snowshoeing and tracking animals, as well as writing, sketching and teaching others about the natural world.

Bald says of her education, “I finished pre-med as an undergrad, then went on to zoology and counseling at the University of New Hampshire.” She moved to Alton in 1972 and taught sixth grade science in the Gilford school system for 22 years. Now retired, Bald remains active and spends a lot of time outdoors.

As an avid snowshoer, Bald finds the wintertime outdoor landscape fascinating. Over the years, she got interested in animal tracking, an activity made easier when snow is on the ground. “If I go behind my house in Alton, within 10 minutes, I can see a lot of animal tracks,” she explains.

Bald does not track to hunt animals but instead tracks out of curiosity to learn about the behavior of animals and their place in the world around us. Most importantly, Bald enjoys tracking because she has great respect and an almost spiritual love for all living things. “I don’t like to kill anything,” she emphasizes, respecting each animal, insect or person and their unique life cycle.

Bald took classes with trackers Tom Brown, Paul Rezendes and Sue Morse and through the Appalachian Mountain Club. With the knowledge she has gleaned over the years, Bald occasionally offers tracking programs at Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough and elsewhere, such as through the Green Mountain Conservation Group in Effingham.

Tracking helps those who want to learn about the outdoor world, and Bald explains, “You need to be observant and look for patterns in the environment when you are tracking, such as an animal’s shelter, food and water. Look at each place; for example, if you see oak trees when you are in the woods, acorns and likely squirrels live there as well.”

Bald says tracking will help people relax and appreciate the outdoor environment, whether in winter or summer. During the winter, ideal conditions for tracking are a thin layer of snow on a crust, perhaps one or two days after snowfall. 

As well as tracking, Bald also offers nature sketching classes, which are popular at locations such as Castle in the Clouds. Nature drawing, she says, adds to an awareness of the outdoor world and can be done any time of the year.

Bald has an appreciation for capturing the outdoor environment through drawing and writing, which are just a few of her skills. One of Bald’s talents is writing poetry, and her work has been published in a variety of anthologies and journals throughout the country. She has two full-length poetry books and one chapbook.

As a tracker (she rates herself an intermediate-level tracker) who is often in the woods looking for the signs of animals, it is no surprise Bald has encountered a variety of animals in the wild. “I have seen deer, squirrels and even a bobcat, a fisher cat and a bear,” she recalls.

Because the woods are home to many animals, Bald stresses leaving a family dog at home if someone wants to become a tracker. The outdoors/woods are home to other animals that could be upset, should a dog, however well-trained, venture near.

Tracking can be a group pastime or a solitary one. Bald enjoys sharing her tracking skills with others but is comfortable independently tracking. Having grown up as an only child, Bald learned to look for life everywhere, from the tracks of a small squirrel on a fresh layer of snow to the sound of birds in the trees while sitting by a stream with a journal or sketchbook in hand.

It seems a perfect way to enjoy the world, and one Bald is happy to share with others willing to slow down and observe.

Bald hopes to offer nature programs at Castle in the Clouds in the future; visit castleintheclouds.org.