Friday, January 11, 2013

1-11-13 Little River on Skies

I had a whole day to play in the snow and ended up debating for a while where to go.  I decided Little River on skies but originally settled for the Northern approach.  Well when I got there I discovered that the road that normally is so peaceful is in fact a open logging road in the winter.  The trails off to the side that I normal detour onto are also active, very active, snowmobile trails.  So we turned around and headed to the southern access point.  Once I got there I relished that there was almost no one there except a dog sled team doing runs. 
 It was beautiful even if the snow was not. The recent warmth made the snow grainy adn very slippery.  It stripped off my kick wax so often that by the end I had stopped and replaced the kick wax 5 times just so I wouldn't slide backwards.
 It wasn't super cold but because I knew Sal would be jumping into the deep stuff I put his coat on him. We had a blast. on the down hill parts of the trail (this is all hiking trails I was skiing) I would have to yell out to him to to run as fast as he could because otherwise I would run him down.  He only failed to do so once and I literally plowed him over and flipped him to the side because I was going so fast.  He did not do it again.
 I have to say I feel much more confident on my skies, I fell only twice, and once was on purpose so I did not go into a river.  The sun came out only sparingly and this road here was all hard packed, I had almost no control when it went downhill.
 At the end this is the dam at Little River.  The sun came out and just lit up the space.  It was peaceful.
I tried a panorama but it only sorta worked,  A good way to spend the day.

1-6-13 Niquette Bay

Where do you go if you don't want to drive far, get on road that lead to skiing and will be packed and don't have a lot of time.  Niquette Bay answered all of those criteria.
The snow was maybe 6 inches deep but the trails so packed that I just needed my microspikes and that was it.  Busy too, lots of people and their dogs.  Sal was... reasonably well behaved.
 There is a little beach where you can see out into Lake Champlain.  This bay at least was frozen.  Most of the lake isn't at this point.
 Sal found this stick on the beach and grew quite attached.
Normally you would be able to see an amazing view of Mount Mansfield.  Not on this day.

1-1-13 Mount Mansfield and a New Year

I decided not to produce a lengthy post for this one.  I chose to climb Mount Mansfield as a way to bring in the new year.  It seemed fitting.  Given the dangers of doing it solo I recruited Craig to join me.  The weather was going to be partially cloudy but the windchill was forecasted to bring the temp down to -30 degrees.  A hard hike and as we drove up the peak was hidden in clouds so not a great chance of a view.  That proved to be only partially incorrect. 
 Craig, on the trail and having fun.  He hadn't spend as much time on snowshoes as I have but he had a great time in the snow.
 Winds had obscured the trail with blown snow, we were the first up so we were breaking trial, and sometimes loosing it and guessing where we needed to go.  The snow was probably 7 feet deep but for the most part we weren't sinking in.  Only occasionally would it drop and we would be up to our waist in snow and had to crawl out.
 This is after three hours of climbing.  The summit was obscured but I knew it was another half mile or more and we both agreed to turn around. The next bit was steep and exposed.  Not so bad going up but coming back down in fog and not sliding off the side of a cliff seemed like a real danger.  Especially with no trail to follow.
 It was a good choice to turn around, and I got to play with my phone taking amazing panoramas.  The view went in and out of being obscured and the other mountains would appear and disappear.  It was beautiful.
 Just amazing to see, almost ethereal.  The sun would break through sporadically and create vistas like this:

 And then the clouds would roll in again turning everything grey.
There was one point where we had blue sky and I got to take this picture.  The lake was still obscured and you can't see New York at all but still, what a view.
 There was one final moment where the sun cut through all the snow encrusted trees and I got this amazing shot.  I was really happy with the pictures I took.
In the end it was an awesome way to bring in the New Year, summit or not. It felt right, or I should say Right with the capitol r.  The last year had had its share of challenges, I started it in a pretty bad place and I feel a lot healthier, happier and complete than I have in a while.  I feel... capable.  So onwards and upwards to the next set of challenges and failures and life lived to its fullest.

A Sphinx in Snow

By the end of two storms there was almst 2 feet of snow.  The logistical problem of seeing out of the driveway when pulling out with 5 foot tall snowbanks is a serious one.  As I have done in the past I made a snow sculpture
 I felt Egyptian that day.
 As you can see it was about 4 feet tall on a 1 foot base of snow.
 And longer than my car.
And monumental.  I do love making snow sculptures, this one was a fairly simple form but got lots of appreciation form passerby's.

12-30-12 Cat Trail and Snowshoes

The CAT trail at the base of Camel's Hump is still one of my favorite mellow place to go.  This time I got to go back with real snow on the ground and on my favorite snowshoes.
 It was moderately busy on the trail, Sal behaved... sort of.  It was nice to use my snowshoes again and get used to how they feel again.  I know the cold and dark can be hard but then there is also SNOW.  Makes up the difference.
By the way, in Vermont we have three lane highways too, it just happens to be on ski trails.

12-27-12 Snowfall and Roof Golf

For the first time in almost two years we had a real snow storm.  Last year was a barren wasteland when it came to snow, I didn't ski or snowshoe because there simpky wasn't enough snow.  However this year we got one storm that dropped over a foot and I got to break out my skies for the first time in two years.
 The roads were well covered, I went down to the local park as darkness fell.
 In Vermont even with snow like this people were still driving around.  If you live in northern Vermont this is just part of life here.
 So nice to see these tracks again, I ended up in the country club having fun on the trails there.  It took a bit to get my comfort level on skies but it was so nice to slide again.
 At my workplace there is a putt putt golf course on the roof.  It has about 6 holes and at this point in the storm over a foot of snow on it.  My friend and I went up on break, and on lunch, and after work to play.  We cleared the course with our boots, made ramps in snow and had an awesome time.
 When you are shooting down a snow canyon you have to think about the shot.
And clear it of the inch an hour that was dropping while we played.  It was so much fun.

Visits, Mansfield and the Danger of iPhones

So I had a bunch of adventures in the middle of December.  My friend Ashley came up for a week, we hike Mount Mansfield in beautiful snow, went out to her families cabin in the middle of the Adirondacks and did many cool adventures.  However, when I offloaded all the amazing pictures I had taken I did not verify that when it said it had copied it actually had.  It proved a lie and I deleted all the images that is my usual fare.

So in short there was an attempted summit of Mount Mansfield, we turned back because what had been no snow at the base turned into well over a foot and we did not have the right gear to continue.  It was a hell of a lot of fun and beautiful.  Snow turned that landscape into almost an alien experience.

We also ate and made tons of good food, drank coffe and played Go, went out to her family's cabin and hiked up to the mountain/hill that is on the property.  It was pretty much where I would want to live in a couple of years if I could work out of my home.  almost 50 acres at the base of Hurricane Mountain with a real log cabin.

Anyways, an awesome visit and I wish I could have put the beautiful photos up to match.  Next time.

12-1-12 Little River North

The northern side of Little River has a certain appeal to me.  Seemingly only frequented by locals and with lots of wilderness around to explore I can spend hours just wandering with Sal. With the first real snowfall (not deep enough to need snowshoes) we got to have some fun.
 In Vermont the hunting season is full swing and I am very cautious with both Sal and myself.  I have a huge orange jacket and I made a vest for him that seems to hold up.  The first iterations of this were destroyed in a single hike because he likes to tear through the bushes.
 This proved much more functional and given about 20 minutes after this picture I saw a hunter climbing down out of the hillside I was glad.  There were other hikers out on the trail and when I saw them with their dogs not wearing orange I did warn them.
 The only deviation that I did take was up one side road to this foundation.  There used to be two house up here but this was the only one I could find.

It was surrounded by this beautiful field.  I determined that I must come up here in the spring and just spend the day under the apple tree in this field and watch the day pass