Thanksgiving from the top of Mount Mansfield

This was the view from 4,030 feet on Thanksgiving Day. That is right, those are clouds at eye level. The hike was up the Sunset Ridge Trail, around 3 miles in length and around 2,600 feet in elevation gain. This is looking up a the Chin summit, one of a couple on Mount Mansfield. The summits are named after the parts of a face because some drunk mountaineer thought it looked like a profile.
The clouds would come in and then departs with strong gusts of wind. It was like being inside a pillow, white all around and this eerie silence.
Heather, bundled against the cold, taking a picture of me. I will post those shots later once I have loaded the camera into this computer.
This is looking towards Camel's Hump. Just surreal. These were all shot with my dinky iPhone camera. It was a beautiful hike and a great Thanksgiving.

Just up for a day

Made my bed and slept in it too!

Yep, made a bedframe with Heather this weekend for our foam mattress. Very strong design carefully constructed the easiest and cheapest way possible. So, materials cost about $38 including paint that has not yet been applied and it took about 6 hours to construct.

Halfway up a Long Way

Even though fall foliage has started to pass... wait, no because fall foliage has started to pass this Sunday was spent climbing up a pleasantly deserted Long Trail that crosses over Camel's Hump east of Burlington. It was beautiful, this was one of the trailside rivers.

This is MY island...
A view, not even close to the top of anything.
At this point we weren't sure how far we were in and given how old my map was and that we were on a new Long Trail leg. At this point we were about 1.5 hours or so and then we found this viewpoint after a struggle up a steep part of the trail.
Yep, that is Camel's Hump, well over 2 miles away. We only had about 3 hours of daylight left so we decided to turn back.
On the decent the leafless trees provided nice views of some of the surrounding landscape. The overall estimated stats: 2 hours and 40 minutes, approximately 1,500 ft elevation gain over approximately 2.5 miles (5 miles round trip) .

Once Again the Phoenix Descends

Shelburne Museum in the London Fog

Shelburne Museum, for those who don't know, is located just south of Burlington, actually south of South Burlington as well. It isn't a traditional museum with a single building and a collection, it is instead holds a multitude of replica and transported building from all over the northeast on a large tract of land. There is a certain life-and-times-in-the-Northeast-over-the-last-couple-of-hundred-years theme, but not exclusively. It has a variety of buildings and exhibits to say the least.

This is the steamboat Ticonderoga, it sits on a drydock and is beautifully restored. I loved this as a kid and still do.
Their print shop is impressive and we got a private tour from the Blacksmith Don because it was closed and he appreciated my interest in movable type (given the sets that I have and haven't been able to really use). He has worked in the print shop as well as hammering metal and we talked a bit about how to do it. It was very helpful.
What I dream of at night. This was only half of the exhibit of Shaker hand tools. Just stunning both the woodworking and the metalworking that went into these.
Because how can I resist a boat. Or the beautiful girl photographing them. Too much?
There was a motorcycle show as well. This is a custom bike that looks like the builder should be sent away and told to add the proper parts so it would run.
For those who know the term Wankel Engine this is one of the few bikes with one and specifically, this is the weird exhaust port.
A Royal Enfield...
Another custom bike, and the one good thought to end with: I have motorcycle goggles that match.

Making Scratch

Again another short and sweet blog post. This is a bookshelf I made from scratch by hand in about 6 hours. Total cost was $35 and only a little blood. It is serving as a dresser actually, but I still say Ikea can go and suck it.

Window Dressing

Short and to the point, these are watercolors I did to cover the lower half of the windows in the apartment. Each is about 28"x22" on backed tracing paper.

Sailing on a Day of Rest

Sunday Heather and I adjourned to Lake Champlain to joins our Canadian friends Bernard and Francine in their 22' sailboat for a day of leisurely sailing. It began with rain but once that had petered out the winds picked up.
Sure you can always look forward or you can occasionally look up as well. I had an opportunity to steer for a while and had a blast. These sails can move the boat at a nice pace.
Bernard in control...
And Francine on the lookout...
The boat is moored in a bay so you get to the shore by dingy. However, it is a small dingy and with Bernard in the middle and me in the back it looked a little ridiculous, something Heather was careful to document. I think there is a certain kind of Mafiaso feel to the shot though.
It was an amazing way to spend a Sunday, sailing, brilliant food and wine, amazing company and stunning weather.

#32 Why Burlington Rocks

Perkins Pier. Just down the street. The photo doesn't even do it justice....

The Great Bearded One Speaks

There is the man of the hour, my Dad. It was wonderful to both see this long overdue book, "Go Light: Exploring the Tao of Native America" out in print and to see him at the stand talking. I drove down and surprised him, sans beard actually to make it even more poignant, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Even got my own signed copy. So go and buy one. NOW.

The Phoenix meets Lake Champlain

This is going to be short and sweet because I didn't take any pictures. I put my kayak in at the Oakledge Park. It was low winds and good weather and I did about a half hour paddle to get a feel for the lake. It made me realize why the hulls on the greenland kayaks are shaped the way they are: with a round hull giving you good secondary stability means that when waves surprise you and you don't brace for it, sure it will tip but and won't go over and you can easily bring it back down. A solid flat bottomed one would get to that point were you can't do anything to prevent the flip and suddenly you are in the water. It was a beautiful trip.

I am also going to post a blog about my father's book reading, but I need to find my cable to upload the pictures though. Soon.

A State Fair, A'yup

Since I am no longer a city dweller in the Pittsburgh sense my first real weekend in Burlington also involved going to the Champlain State Fair in Essex. Heather had free tickets for it from work and when in Rome... It was a lot of fun, although crowded. Inside the expo center was this sand sculpture. You know when I think of Vermont, I truly just think of sand.

The sand actually brought my back to my time at the St. Regis Resort in Dana Point, CA. We had sand sculptures in the lobby for Christmas every year and more often than not I had to guard it from damage. Silly sand.
The first act we saw was a couple of crazy germans with a LOT of tigers. The cage made it hard to shoot but there is an African Lion standing on a rig under which tigers are passing. The cats all seemed incredibly mellow, almost sleepy and seemed in no rush to actually do tricks. But when they moved the grace was unsettling. Our bipedal nature does not serve us well sometimes.
Worst Adience Particiation Ever... actually a hypnotist at work.
And of course I took a picture of a boat. The Maritime Museum had this and a birch bark canoe set up there. On the wall at the far end is a map of Lake Champlain showing the depth. From that it seemed to go as deep as 450 feet in parts. At least I know where the scuba shop is located.And of course giant pumkins. They are going to hollow them out and race them on the river. Really. Too much maple syrup, it got to their brains...

How Many Camel's Humps Can a Camel's Hump Hump?

This last weekend Heather, Chance and I hike Camel's Hump. Rising to 4,083 feet, it is one of the few "bald" peaks in Vermont which means stunning views. It also means that if you choose to hike it on Labor Day weekend when the weather is perfect and clear you are not going to be the only ones up there. The trail was surreal, people every couple of hundred feet and much of the trail so narrow that you just needed to stand (especially if there was another dog) and wait for the others to pass. When we finally got above the treeline it was a stunning view.

What you see below is Mount Mansfield to the north of Camel's Hump, the next peak to be conquered and also over 4,000 feet.

From the top you could see three states, the Adirondacks just loomed and Mt. Washington was easy to find. Chance got a little excited by my picture taking.

This gives you a good idea of just how crowded it was up there. I think when we were there there was about 50 or more people and estimates we heard on the trail indicated more than 500 people hiked the peak that day. It was too crowded to be enjoyed and all of us were glad to start the descent. And no, I am not the guy in the green shirt in this picture.
The descent was much more pleasant, much fewer people and the trail really is beautiful. We both agreed it need to be re-hiked on a calmer day. Total elevation gain: 2,800 approximately feet, total length: 6.6 miles and total time 4.5 hours incuding stopping at the top.

From Bennington to Burlington

This post is only about a week overdue but here it is with typos and grammatic inconsitencies. Exactly nine days ago I moved up to Burlington Vermont. For those who don't know where it is imagine a medium size town or a small city (but let's be honest, it is a town) located on the shore of Lake Champlain with the Adirondacks on the far shore and the Green Mountains to the East. It is a stunning location. So I loaded up my parent's car with my stuff, a kayak and two bicycles for the trip.

It isn't as loaded down as you would think, and certainly a little less than my move to Bennington. The drive was uneventful thanks to my parents and once Heather got in we unloaded. Within minutes it looked like what you see below.

Actually that is a complete lie, it took many days to turn it into the picture above. It is a beautiful place and as per the tradition of two poor bastards the sofabed is off the side of the road. Perfectly clean for those who come to visit and stay with us, I swear. I steam cleaned it on my hands and knees.

This is the view out our back porch. In the back yard you can see my kayak, Heather's kayak and our landlords canoe. Sitting here with candles lit enjoying a meal or drinking a good beer bring a remarkable feeling similiar to being on vacation in some amazing cabin in the middle of nowhere instead of, oh yeah, where I live.

This is all the fun stuff, all our hiking, camping, snowshoeing gear. Not pictured are the two pair of cross county skiis that hopefully will see good use this winter and kayak paddles. I am hoping to put my kayak in the water soon and I need to start working on the frame for the second one. I want it to be a solid build so I can take it across Lake Champlain and battle the Loc Ness creature that lives in the 400 feet deep underwater canyons.

Hiking the Bald Mountain and Discovering Dandruff

Today I took a hike up Bald Mountain. It is located in the Glastonberry wilderness next to the Appalachian Trail and rises to around 2,800 feet with a 1,600 feet elevation gain from the trailhead. It is 2.5 miles to the top and the runoff made the first mile of trail quite muddy, something that Loki, my canine companion, decided to utilize by walking down the middle of any puddle. It probably helped him keep cool, it was 85 degrees and 50% humidity.
Along the way I ran into this guy, not sure exactly what species but he was about 3 inches long. The blue spike was brilliantly colored, something the picture doesn't do justice.
So the commen nomenclature in Bennington for Bald Mountain is The White Rocks, named for the large exposed white rock face on the western slope. During this climb I learned that it is white because the mountain is mainly marble. The chunk in the shot above was one of a multitude that covered the trail. Note, marble when wet is slippery.Just another cool rock, I wish the focus had turned out better. Poor Loki was suffering towards the summit, he is a bit porky and it was damn hot so I let him set the pace and kept stopping to let him breathe.This at the summit, the ground is white with marble powder, rather surreal and the reason for the title of this post. The pines there only grew to about 6 feet at the most so I stood on the pile of rocks to get a view.
Self portriate with the auto timer. I had my camelbak with me and drained all 50 oz. by the time I got back to the car.This is the view from the top. It was hazy so it didn't photograph well but it overlooked the Green Mountains and it was stunning. I took a seat and called my girlfriend Heather to share with her the exerience and as I am sitting there two backpackers walked up. Sure I am sitting on the summit of a moutain on my damn cell phone. Silly. Loki was very tired and going through heat exhaustion so we decended quickly to find some drinkable creeks. It was a good hike, I want to go up the other side so I can get to those white rocks and take some shots there.

Because you know it is true. I made this for fun in the peak of procrastination about other projects. The inspiration? Well simply this car was parked out of my apartment in Pittsburgh for the year plus I lived there...