Siamese Pond Overnight 7-3 to 7-4

This backpacking trip was to the Siamese Pond Wilderness, a place named after two pond that are so uninteresting to hike to we went to an entirely different part of the forest. This is actually my pre-birthday hike give I was delivered to this world on July 5. Like Pharaoh Wilderness this too seemed to share in having old forest and few people. A truly nice combination.
Just a cool waterfall. A year ago this would have just been an amusing water feature but because I have a dog I now also consider them vital for re-hydration. His hardier stomach can drink what we can't so it serves us well to find water he can drink to prevent having to part with out own.
I am actually playing a Native American Love Flute. It is a beautiful sound drifting across the calm lake waters. There were a couple of other people staying in lean-toes there so I am sure it surprised them.
It may have been a little chilly. The fire was a much appreciated addition.
Seriously you are going to get tired of these kind of kodak moment photos because I seem to take a lot of them at the places we go. One stunning morning after a substantially more restful night's sleep. The nighttime sounds were just a little less foreign and freaky because I had a bit more context.
Sal agreed things were looking up. What a strange dog.

It was a wonderful overnight with a good walk in and out. My pack was even better with a load of around 35 pounds rather than 43 pounds the time before. A truly enjoyable pre-birthday adventure.

Pharaoh Overnight Hike 6-19 to 6-20

It seems only appropriate to begin with the disclaimer that this was the first overnight camping I have done in years. We had attempted an overnight on the Long Trail a couple of weeks prior and that ended in disaster due to a nasty used backpack and unpleasant trails. We were headed to Pharaoh Lake, the body of water that was on the far side of Pharaoh Mountain which we had hiked a couple of weeks back.
It was a good hike with the exception of overgrown trails and nasty bugs that were not deterred by the remaining bug spray. It was soon discovered that a pine bough make an excellent bug re-distributor.
This is the lean-to with our tent parked inside. A cool place to hang out and despite people at all the campsites around the lake, nicely private.
Yep this is the lake. The rock in the distance is about 15 feet tall. When we first got out there some kids with a canoe were swimming off of it.
This is the view proper in the morning. Just beautiful to wake up to. We lazed about and even took a further nap. The night had been a very restless one for me, it has been man years since camping out and the sound of animals kept me up. Sal, however, slept soundly the whole night. All in all a wonderful and pleasant first overnight hike.

Trapp Family Lands 6-13-10

In order to find new places in Vermont where we could go where there weren't a lot of people we decided to hike some trails in the Trapp Family lands. Located just south of Mount Mansfield it is dedicated to snowshoeing and cross country skiing, in contrast with all the downhill skiing centers around that area.
This was an auspicious beginning... They weren't kidding, it would be messy to get a vehicle through there and I imagine the house opposite the sign had pulled more than a few silly motorist out.
For the most part the trails went in and out of state land and all were badly marked. There were more than a couple times where we guessed and just kept looking for markers. I even broke out the compass and actually used it to get us in the right direction. The heavy overgrowth of ferns made it impossible to find trails on the ground. This was an incredibly steep, maybe 45 degrees I think, of fern covered descent without trail markers. I think people ski this but wow it was steep.
One nice and obvious path. It was frustrating having to bushwack and get lost so much. And because of that fact I have no clue how long or how much elevation we covered. We were glad to find the car again.

Pharoah Mountain 5-29-10

I know it has been a while since I have put up new entries but it hasn't been for the lack of content. Over the last month and a half we have been very busy hiking, backpacking, kayaking and the like.

The first I want to talk about is the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness. Located south of the High Peak region in the Adirondacks, it is a large and relatively quite stretch of woods.
We headed for the peak, 6.3 miles in and about 1,400 elevation gain.
What is hard to see in this picture is the size of these trees, the forest is old and for the most part untouched. I have never seen pine trees this big.
It became clear this area reaquired further exploration at a later date...
On the peak of Pharaoh Mountain. Not entirely bald but some beautiful open sections of rock, even a part where we both stretched out with our socks off and enjoyed the heat.
Sal claims all he can see.