6/22-23 Kayaking Sand Bar and a Walk in LaPlatte Woods

This was a weekend where there were at least 4 different rainstorm, probably more.  I manage to get out in my kayak after work on Friday and then again up to the Sand Bar Park and launch south to consistently not catch any fish despite one or two beautiful casts (they don't bite for style?).

 I left before the second storm of the day hit, took sal for a short run in storm 3 and retired for the night. Sunday brought a short window of sun between storm 4 and storm 5 so I tool to Laplatte Woods, part of Shelburne.

 A small place, it was nicely empty and not horribly buggy.  Sort of.  My DEET could not keep them away.

 There was this nice bench along the way, Sal refused not to be in the shot.

 Saw these flowers, and the white version of it as well, still not sure what they actually are.  tried looking it up but did not find an obvious match.

 Back in the 1780s there was a Grist Mill on this site, built by Ira Allen.  It was the key to Winooski.

 Sal looking upstream where there had been a 50 foot damn.  It was washed away in a flood in the 1800s.

 The little fall that remains.

 Vermont has a lot of rock like this, it looks like elephant hide.

Another yellow flower with a doting bee.  A nice short walk before yet another storm.

Umiaks and Kayaks

When I was down in Bennington for the combination of of my Mother's birthday, retirement and Father's Day I went to see some old family friends.  Phil and Ellen Viereck has spent time in the 50 on King Island in Alaska as teachers.  Today they live in a farmhouse from the 1760s, as you can tell below.

 You can walk through the house and see the progression through time.  They also have two small skin on frame models from their time in alaska.  To the left is a model of a 36 foot umiak (the full size one) and the right of a King Island Kayak (here is the creation of a full size replica)

 Details of the bow, skin strapped down and the cross pieces lashed in place.

 The external view, a little curve to the front and straight back.  These would hold 20 people in the 8 hour boat ride from King Island to the mainland.

 Here is the front view of the kayak with the harpoon and hunting gear on the top.

 The hull lines of the kayak, there is a built in handhold in the bow.  I imagine useful when hauling these up the rock cliffs that make up King Island.

 Internal view with lashed ribs.

 Inside looking up towards the bow, the detail is impressive.

 Details of the bow.  I imagine with high winds this could get blown around but I am sure there was a good reason.

The final product of this was retrieving a 13 foot Umiak built by Phil in the 1950s.  It was heavy but the ribs are bent wood from when I am guessing it was green.  It has oars, a new thing for me.   While I may not keep it in it's original form it is an honor to have his craftsmanship and someone else perspective on skin on frame boats.

Flowers From Five Sisters Neighborhood

There are a lot of amazing gardens around where I leave, here are some pictures I took during my morning walks.

6-4-13 Camel's Hump

The season where you are suppose to stay off peaks is finally over so on a sunny day (in Burlington) I grabbed Sal and went to Camel's Hump to climb.  I chose the sorter Burrows Trail, which mas fairly steep and just a pile of rocks.

This is the actual trail, believe it or not.  I ended up running down a good part of the mountain on the return but I had to walk the really shifty parts.

While it was sunny in Burlington, Camel's Hump was completely socked in with clouds.

The final trail to the top, I managed the ascent in  1 hour and 10 minutes, a solid pace.

The proper summit, it was a tuesday so only one person was at the top.  It was 45 degrees with winds 30-40mph so we did not stay up there long.

Sal was ready for the decent.  Even though it was not the amazing view that I know I can get up there, it certainly was a good hike and there is something other worldly about being buried in the clouds.

6-3-13 Kayaking Winooski River

While the water is not warm, it was warmish enough that I decided to go kayaking and try to fish a little bit.  Historically I have been horrible at fishing so I figured from the get go that mainly I would be just kayaking and drifting.  

I decided to go to a new launch point for me, at where the Winooski River drains into Lake Champlain.  After a couple of weeks of rain the water was high and the river was flowing quite fast.  I found this little inlet off the river.

There was so much pollen and dandelion fluff that the river was white in parts.  Luckily my allergies have not kicked my but this year, only sporadically.

This is the bike path bridge over the exit to Lake Champlain.  It was fun to kayak under as people biked over top.  Mostly when I run into a bridge it is for cars so no one notices you but one man walking across with his baby waved.

Lake Champlain.  What is hard to tell is that the water was pushing 1-2 foot swells from wind.  I did not venture far out onto the lake because of that but it was fun to sorta surf the waves.