Given it’s the summer season, there are more people enjoying the woods. Landowners are busy exploring their own bit of New Hampshire heaven and literally millions of tourists are visiting the state. As a result, people have questions about the ways of the woods and trails.

I’ve asked our own Miss Woodsways to answer some of the more common kinds of questions.

Dear Miss Woodsways:
I was hiking up Mount Kearsarge the other day when I came upon two other hikers. Before they saw me approaching, I watched one carelessly throw a candybar wrapper on the ground near the trail. Can you believe that? When I confronted them, the offender denied it and then became very hostile and tried to intimidate me. I may only be 5 feet tall, but I wasn’t about to back down.
Litter-hater from Lebanon

My Dear Litter-hater:
Miss Woodsways feels your pain. But confronting unknown people much larger than yourself while out in the middle of the woods is a little like chasing down a bear that stole your lunch — you might not like how they react.
Miss Woodsways suggests that next time (and there will be a next time) you politely ask the litterbugs if they need a trashbag as you have one stowed neatly in your daypack that you’d be happy to share. When they decline, just pick up the offending wrapper yourself and enjoy the rest of your day knowing that you are a good steward of the land.

Dear Miss Woodsways:
I was on a challenging hike on a hot day recently and stopped to take a drink. Another hiker came along and said he had no water and asked to drink from my water bottle. I had no idea who this person was and was not at all comfortable sharing. I mean, eeww, right? So said no and this person was very put out with me. Don’t you think I was right to refuse? I mean, why do people go out in the woods so unprepared?
Ticked off in Tamworth

My Dear Ticked Off:
If you must refuse a fellow hiker in need, simply put a hand to your belly and with a pained look tell them that “you wouldn’t want to catch what I’ve got.” They’ll move right along. That said, Miss Woodsways has known hikers who carry extra bottles of water from which a cool drink could be offered to quench the thirst of a passing stranger.

Dear Miss Woodsways:
There’s a local trail in my part of the state and I look forward to walking on it every summer. This year, I was terribly upset to find that the trail is closed because the person who owns the land is having some logging done. The gall! I’ve been walking on this trail for years and I think of it as my own little place of peace and quiet, even though I know there are other people who use the trail, too. What should we do?
Grumbling in Grafton County

My Dear Grumbler:
Miss Woodsways suggests a two-part action plan in your situation. First, go buy a nice thank-you card and send it to the landowner expressing your gratitude for so many years of free access and enjoyment of the land he or she been paying taxes on for all that time. Include a nice bottle of wine. Second, find a different trail to explore this summer — there are many from which to choose.

Dear Miss Woodsways:
On my property is a yellow birch that I think might qualify as “old growth.” To find out, I cut it down so I could count the growth rings — it would appear to be 250 years old. Does that count as old growth?
Curious in Carroll County

My Dear Curious:
Not any more it doesn’t.
Seriously, a so-called “old growth” forest might be a place that not only has older living trees but has escaped any significant disturbance for a long time. It would likely feature standing dead trees, openings in the canopy created when dead trees fall and downed trees in various states of decay. In your case, the yellow birch could live on for centuries as a piece of furniture.

Jack Savage is the editor of Forest Notes, the magazine of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. He can be reached at jsavage@forestsociety.org.