Does this fish make my boat look big and other adventures

The title for this blog was a stroke of genius on Heather's part.This is the only fish either of us have caught. Still, what a great excuse to sit in a kayak for hours on a beautiful river. We ended up on the Winooski River and what a stunning day.
A three winged dragonfly was rescued by Heather. It sat there and tried to dry its wings to fly again.
There were cows on the banks. Really. Right next to some Canadian geese.
And the sunset. We got back to the car as the sun was going down. Just a beautiful day.

The next day we took a hike up Pharaoh Mountain in the Adirondacks. The stats: 12.8 miles round trip over 6 hours, 1,450 foot ascent over the last mile. The forest was old growth, those trees around me really are that big. Some must have been over a hundred years old.
These signs are from the mid-point of the hike. It is a beautiful wilderness and lots of trails to play with. Add to that wonderful weather and it makes a stunning hike.
There was this cool frog on the path...
Not very big I know but cool. The view from the top was incredible, pictures don't do it justice. There are various sides with exposed rock. We took a couple of minutes just to sit and enjoy it. Sal certainly did.
And where we at lunch/dinner on the return.

Climbing higher than I have before

On May 16 I climbed the highest peak and the longest ascent I have done. All in 5 hours. The specs: Rocky Peak Ridge, 4,390 foot peak, 3,100 ascent and 10.8 mile round trip. The peak is bald so the promise of an excellent view was heavy on our minds as you can see:

Rocky Peak Ridge is part of a range which tops with the appropriately named Giant Mountain. This picture is sighted out over the ridge with Giant Mountain looming in the background. If you look closely you can see the boulder. We never got to it but it looked about 15 feet tall if not more. Huge.

Clear skies gave us an incredible view, I am not even sure how far we could even see.
It was an amazing hike. We made amazing time and had a great time. Sal is sleeping upstairs as I type this still recovering from it.

And this was on the side of the road on our way home. The scale: 290 feet. The Adirondacks are amazing.

First kayak fishing, note I didn't say catching...

We may have had to improvise for how to get the kayaks on the car at the same time.

Out on the water on Dead Creek. We were fishing for Bass which obliged by jumping all around us but never biting.
The water was high so I went exploring through the trees. A very enjoyable kayaking and fishing experience. And no, neither of us caught anything.

Hiking a Hurricane

Given it was a weekend we went for a hike up Hurricane Mountain. Located in the Adirondacks, specifically Keene Valley, it rises to 3,694 feet and has a bald peak with a now defunct fire tower. I had put a couple of other pictures up of this hike but this are from Heather's camera. The ascent was very wet and the trail was mainly a waterfall of spring run-off. Sal had to learn how to cross fast water like this:

The view from the top was stunning. It was a cloudy gray day but still...
The marker. I love that it is called Hurricane Mountain. Just an intimidating name.
Sal enjoying the view.
Beavers were at work at the bottom of the trail.

Button Bay Exploration

I did post a couple pictures from this excursion but here are a couple from Heather's camera. There were loons and geese swimming around the point and even got quite close. Sal was interested.

It was hard work to get him to pose on the rock. I like the picture of my attempts far more then the resulting shot.
Sometimes you have to take a load off...
There are shelter there and of course Sal was interested in the one called Dogwood. He was moving fast, I didn't think I actually got a good shot of him.
There are tons of small parks north of Burlington. Lots to explore.

Smuggler's Notch Lite

So if you do read this often enough you might recognize the landscape. This is Smuggler's Notch, right by Stowe. Snow was partially melted and there were waterfalls everywhere.

A cool tree with some posturing.
Heather with backpack and Sal walking past ice waterfalls
It was a beautiful walk.

Maine Trippin'

These are all images we took from a quick visit to Maine to visit Heather's Mom. The first couple are from Moxie Falls. The water was running very high after lots of rain and the spring melt. I don't even know class these rapids would fall under.

This is the falls, and yes there is ice on both sides of the water.

Sal was tired after all of that. It was a good thing give the 5 hour drive.

And for the first time despite driving past it multiple times, here is Mount Washington. It has always been obscured by clouds but that day it was glorious

Just stunning. We will hike that at some point...

Travels and Explorations

I know it has been a while since I have put a new post up. And this one is mainly going to be a photo journal. First and foremost this is Sal, our dog riding along with us to go hiking. Although usually he is good and sleeps in the back of the car, he decided he needed to be closer to us.
Likewise his eagerness extends to staring out our back porch ever vigilant for squirrels or other dogs. The flopped over ear will always stay like that, malformed from birth. It makes him very foppish.

The follow few shot are from our exploration of Button Bay State Park and Mallet's Bay State Park. This seems to be the well shot up body of a Model T car or at least from that era. It was on a side trail in Mallet Bay.
Button Bay is a small park with a shoreline of fossilized clay. If you find the right spots you can see fossils from when Lake Champlain actually went north through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and was a salt water lake. This is a small point, the mountains in the distance are the Adirondacks.
I also got a new,... well used new kayak. It is a 14 foot Wilderness Systems Pungo 140. Hard plastic makes me feel much more comfortable taking it fishing or in shallow water. And it even comes in orange. It is very stable and even if it feels slow under my blades it is a nice boat. No name for it yet.
Another brilliant hike was up Hurricane Mountain in the Adirondacks. The top is bare rock with an abandoned fire tower. It was forecasted to rain but we had a good hike with only a couple of threatening cloud. The view from the top was stunning given the rather mild but very wet climb. Water was just running down the trails. Still, the view was a solid 360 of peaks and glacial valleys. Just amazing. These pictures do not do it justice. This is looking south toward Keene Valley I think.
Here is the firetower and the view is toward the northeast. Not a clear day but still...
Between my two kayaks and Heather's this is the set. The framework for my second skin-on-frame kayak is not included in the picture but it is a 14' boat so it would sit in the middle.
So that is all for now. Once I have more adventures I will try to post them up. I have been on the water twice with my new kayak but I did not bring a camera. However I did see a Bald Eagle on my last trip and now I know where the nest is I plan to return to the site with a real camera. Until then.....