10-13-12 to 10-14 Overnight at Skyline

For the first overnight trip of fall/winter I ended up with a friend and his dog climbing to the Skyline Lodge on the Long Trail near Middlebury.  It was a beautiful 55 degree day but all forecasts indicated at the most a 30 degree night and heavy wind, rain and sleet on Sunday.

 The beginning.

 There was a cool little bridge in the beginning and for the most part the trail wasn't very steep.  My pack weighted in at 35 lbs so not too bad.

 There were a lot of people doing day hikes, many passed me on the way up, a couple were surprised that I was planing an overnight.

 Dry, warm and loaded with the pack.

 This blaze is always indicates a steep incline and switchbacks.  Vermont is filled with both.

 There was snow on the ground and the temperature dropped noticeably as I got close to the ridge line 

 The shelter, or lodge (it did have walls on all four sides after all) was right across the Long Trail.  To the south was a short jaunt to an amazing lookout.

 This shot can't really show just how expansive the view felt.

Breadloaf Mountain to the North.  Sadly this was the end to my photos, I thought I had more but I deleted them by mistake.  The lodge was very nice, it overlooks a small pond which in turn overlooks the Presidential Range and that day we could even see them.

By the time nigh fell at 6:11 there were five of us and two dogs.  We ate, played poker to pass some of the darkness and retired by 8:30.  The temp dropped to at least 30 degrees and in the pitch black a heavy storm came in unleashing rain then sleet, then more rain for the whole night.

My gear stood up alright but not great, even fully clothed in my mummy bag I was not comfortable and I struggled to keep Sal covered and warm through the night.  13 hours and only a couple hours of sleep later the dawn revealed a drizzling ice covered terrain.  I ended up heading out early, moving quickly down through the now ice cold puddle filled trails down to the car.

All in all it was a good learning experience and a safe introduction to what it means to hike overnight in colder weather.  It was intense but tonight I am glad for central heat, a comfortable bed and the promise of a warm shower in the morning.

10-7-12 Honey Hollow

Honey Hollow is part of the CAT trail I go to so often.  It is at the base of Camel's Hump and it a nice quiet place.  And the leaves had started to turn.

 Just beautiful.  Anyone who has seen this doesn't need to ask why I would want to return.

 TaDA... panorama... too much fun.

 And there were these bleach out ferns.  Dead?  But looked cool.

 And an old gas stove.  It was way off the trail on the side of a hill.  Not sure why or how but there it was.

 The mother of all burls.

 The return down the path back towards the car.

 Where the Red Ferns Grow.  For those who know the book, you can start to tear up now.

 And of course flowing streams.

 The light here doesn't do the trees justice.

10-6-12 A Quick Walk

From a walk around Burlington with Sal.

 I am quite happy with these shots.  There are times that this place shines.

9-26-12 Fencing Again with Greg

I recently started fencing again, I had fenced all through High School, leading the team my senior year and fenced until I was a junior at Vassar College.  My High School friend Greg was coming up for a tournament and for the first time in ten years we went to a tournament together.  The night before was filled with armory and making sure all our weapons worked.  It was an impressive collection.

 The match was held on an indoor tennis court, not a bad surface.

 Fencing is about 5 minutes of action and 2 hours of standing, then repeat.  The challenge is not to let your muscles cool in a bad way.

 But also there was good fencing to watch.

 I may not even know who this was.  I did alright but honestly I just had a lot of fun.  It was a mellow group to fence and there was a lot of laughing.

 Afterwords there was good food, beer and pizza and Sal gave away cuddle time freely.  I don't think Greg minded.

9-25-12 Hurricane Mountain

I have always love Hurricane Mountain.  A short, hard but not impossible hike with an amazing view.  Sal was smart and enjoyed all the refreshing streams on the way up.

 The view as always was awesome.  I did I think close to my record time of about 1:15 to get to the top.

 The High Peaks were just starting to turn.  Such a view.

The rock at the top has such a smoothed out texture.  I know from being up here in the winter that the winds are fierce, and even that day it was blowing pretty hard.

 Looking south.  What a collage of colors.  It is hard to get a photo to give you the real sense of depth.

Looking more west towards the Cascades.

 Sal was just swept away by the view.

 There was a beaver dam I saw on the way down that I completely missed on the way up.

9-23-12 Starting a New Boat/Kayak

I started to get that urge to build something again so decided to make a new kayak... because I guess.

 These are the white oak ribs cut down to 1/4" strips to be used for ribs later.

 I ripped a 2"x6"x16' board down to all these pieces which will make up the rest of the boat.  Note the pile of sawdust.

 Mortises carved with a drill and a chisel.  Longest process, or at least most tedious.

I was debating making an open boat hence this shape but I think I may cut it apart so I can make it more into a kayak form.

9-16-12 Sand Bar State Park Outlet

Sand Bar State Park wasn't exactly where I was.  There is a river a little south of it that flows out to Lake Champlain that is all protected waters and grounds.  It was a solid paddle to get out of the river into the lake but the view was stunning.

 The water was so shallow due to the dry summer that everywhere it was only inches deep.

 At one point I kept running aground in 2 inches of water so even though I was a 100 feet from the actually shore I got out and walked my kayak over the sandbar.  It was amazing.

In the water everywhere were freshwater mussels.  I don't think these are Zebra Mussels (again invasive species) but you could see the trails in the sandy bottom where they had dragged themselves along.

Some were truly huge.  I reach over the edge and plucked this from the bottom.  I also saw an Adirondack guide boat out cruising the water, such beautiful crafts.

9-13-12 Shelburne Pond Kayaking

Shelburne Pond is a place I have visited before and only kayaked once.  It was a beautiful day and I decided to branch out.

 The water was a bit rough with some solid winds.  The craziest thing was the green algae (I think that was what it was) just hovering under the surface.  It looks like it had metallic flakes and just glimmered in the sun.

 When I dipped my paddles it would put these crazy patterns into it.

 It was rather surreal to drift silently over the green watching it shift and eddy behind me.

I know for green algae part of the danger is it blocks light from going into the water for other plant life.  This was so think I can see why.  Oh evasive species...

9-9-12 Hiking Mount Mansfield

For the first time in a while I decided to climb Mount Mansfield.  It is the tallest in Vermont and while one side is a huge ski resort the other is fairly peaceful.

 I took the southern approach and it wasn't long until I was at the bare spine that climbs to the southern most peak of Mount Mansfield.  This is looking north.

 There is a lot of rock scrabbling and Sal was having a blast.

 It was cold at the top, I brought layers and a warm hat because I knew that it would be windy.  Still, it was colder than I expected and I turned back from walking the entire ridge knowing how cold I would get.

 Outside of the Ski Resort there are also huge antennas for all sorts of thing.  Again, tallest point in Vermont and all of that.

 The clouds were low but still one hell of a view.  This is south towards Camel's Hump I believe

 The woods at the top are protected as this little alcove showed its pristine state.  Sal remained on a leash for this bit and we worked together with solid vocal commands so he didn't pull me over sharp rocks.

At the end one tired puppy and a happy hiker.  It is good to go to the roof occasionally.