The Whim of the Great Magnet: October 2013

10-13-13 Delta Park, finally a little waves

With winds from the south at 10-20 knots the waves finally picked up and I grabbed my boat to go and surf some water. I could only take pictures went I landed on the little sandbar island but I had a blast.

You can sort of see the waves. It was only clean breaks for an hour or so then it died down again.

Nice little white caps.

There were 5-7 kite boarders out there. A couple of times they were close enough to wave. I am slowly getting better at catching and keeping a wave. So much fun.

10-12-13 Delta Park

Even though it was calm I had to go out to Delta where the Winooski exits into Lake Champlain.

For almost a half mile out from the shore the water is only a couple of feet deep. When the winds pick up it gives me waves to play with. This is a little sandbar island just a bit out. The birds love it.

You can see here how shallow it is.

I love the sunsets here.

10-12-13 Bolton CAT trail

Again, onto new trails. This is a section of the CAT/VAST trail on the Bolton side.

Again, roads were filled with foliage seekers so I went to a place less travelled.

It was a wide trail and Sal was so happy to run all over. My time kayaking has eaten into hiking time so he had some energy to get out.

One happy dog.

So happy.

Pretty stream.

A second later Sal got in the shot. What a prima donna.

Big rock. I now want to go back and ski these trails.

10-5-13 24 Hour Comic

Here are some pictures from my 24 hour comic experience. I have the final result here.

This rand from 10am on Saturday and ended at 10am on Sunday. I was joined by 8+ other brave souls for an all night journey into comic making.

Inking was done around 8pm. I was pretty happy with my speed.

Took a walk around 4am and found this one storefront nearby. It was empty but all the lights were on and it had this green hue.

I painted all the pages with watercolors. Mid-process.

The final spread, all in color. I was grateful for the experience and happy with the final product. Even more so because my mother came up and watched Sal while I did my overnight. I am certainly going there next year.

9-29-13 Lone Rock Point

A new kayaking adventure started in the Burlington Harbor and then rounded Rock Point.

These geological formations are quite fascinating. This quite detailed article explains that Lower Cambrian Dunham Dolostone overlies the dark gray to black-bedded Middle Ordovician Iberville Formation, a member of the Trenton Group on proto-North America's marine shelf.

There were two little "islands"and this one was made of three rocks.

Which then I squeezed through. That gap is literally as wide as my shoulders.

This overhang had anchors at the top for rock climbing. It looks like a challenging set but I a newbie at that so who am I to judge.

And impressively tall.

The second little rock. An optimistic tree to say the least.

A little rock inlet. I turned my boat around and backed it in.

Looking out. The water was calm, lots of people out playing in the lake. I will certainly come back when the waves are up and play amongst those formations.

9-29-13 VAST network, then bushwacking

With the weather nice and the leaves turning, my usual haunts are quite busy. So I bushwacked somewhere new.

I started off on the snowmobile trails around the base of Little River, but soon found an unmarked overgrown road wandering into the woods, not on any of my maps. So off I went.

A nice little stream.

This was the foundation for a pump house. A fixer upper.

Another empty foundation.

At this point I found all the building from the CCC teams that built the Waterbury Dam. This is all from around 1939.

Sal was determined to be in all my shots if he could help it.

Steps to what must have been a bunk house.

I still don't make complete sense of the engravings. After the V it had "CCC" but before?

Maybe a well? It was so small I can't imagine another use.

These plants seems quite content growing on the mantle.

Another chimney. I saw at least 4 in my wanderings.

This is right near where I park. There is a little dam (there used to be a zip line but that was finally taken down).

It wanders down into this steep canyon with precarious footing. I actually sat to take this shot. As I was heading out I was talking to two older gentlemen and they said a hydro worker had actually drowned right there last year. Caution justified.

I do have my outdoor habits, occasionally it is good to break them and explore new places. It was a good day for adventured.