The ice grew thinner, its area smaller, and its load lighter; and as Mother Earth lost her heavy burden, the land rose, more in the north than in the south. The differential rise decanted the water southward out of the lake basins, and the seas retired from the coastal lowlands. Old shores and sea beaches remained as flat terraces sloping gently southward. The rivers raced down the steep beach slopes to the old lake floors and sea bottom. They cut their channels deeply into the unconsolidated deltas and meandered back and forth over the flat, ungraded lacustrine plains, as if uncertain where to flow. They flooded the lands in the spring, leaving loose sand and silt for the winds to blow when the water was low. Sand dunes rose near the river banks at North Hadley, Sunderland, Hatfield, and South Deerfield; but the march of the dunes was arrested as post-glacial vegetation repossessed the land. It was at this point in the story that man found and settled the Connecticut Valley, becoming a witness to the geologic work of the river and an aid to the work of the wind as his plow bared the fertile soil to the elements. Interesting Places Books and periodicals supply dinner menus for the hostess and list theatrical offerings for the habitué. Surely suggestions of places for a picnic or an evening drive are equally in order. Experience, some of it painful, soon reduces the number of pleasant picnic sites: poison ivy or a deceptive bog may linger in the memory and automatically eliminate some otherwise delightful spot. But places suitable to every taste lie within the Connecticut Valley or along its fringing uplands. Some are near the highways and others are on woodland trails; a few are interesting for their immediate surroundings and many because of their expansive view. Here is a landscape which can be appreciated without leaving or stopping the car; but there is a sight which can be relished only from a trail, or from a pinnacle accessible to the agile climber. Drives satisfy some tastes; but places to stop, meditate, and conjure up the past appeal to others. The Valley and its environs have something for every temperament and every mood. _Mount Lincoln in Pelham_ Mount Lincoln is remote enough from highways to offer some measure of retreat, yet it is not discouragingly inaccessible. The summit rises about 300 feet above the nearest road, which lies a mile away by woodland trail. It is Pelham’s highest eminence, and its height is enhanced by a fire tower which affords a magnificent view in every compass direction.