Search and Recovery Mission

Saturday, December 7


OK, so if you read my last blog entry, you may recall that I lost my water bottle.  This was the first Nalgene bottle I ever owned, and it has been through a lot.  The first time I remember losing it was hiking on South Mountain in the Lehigh Valley.  But I retraced my steps and eventually found it in the leaves.  It has almost floated away more than once on kayak trips when my boat overturned, but I always got it back.  Just last spring, I lost it orienteering in Carlisle, but when I went back to look for it, a young lady doing the same course as me found it and returned it.  The strap connecting the lid broke years ago and I was ready to throw it out.  Then I found a replacement part for it at REI to extend its life.

Needless to say, all during this past week, I was going over in my head where it might have fallen out of my day pack.  Unfortunately, since it gets dark just after 4pm, I was not able to get out to look after work any day.  Today's mission was to find that water bottle!  

I am starting from Redemption Rock in Princeton and heading north on the Mid-State trail (see map from last week's hike).

It's going to be a little harder than I thought to look for this water bottle.  Besides all the leaves, we got a little snow last night.  And it looks like they got a little bit more here than we had in Leominster.

I rarely travel north on this section of the trail, and I don't recall ever seeing this sign.  I'd better check it out.

Yup.  It's a glacial boulder alright, although not as impressive as Sampson's Pebble or Balance Rock.

At this point, I'm thinking it's not much further to where it fell out.  Looking back toward Mr. Wachusett, you can see there's a some snow even off the ski trails.

As I'm walking along, I keep seeing these tracks.  Ahh - these are made by wild turkeys.  They are all over the place this time of year.  However, I didn't actually see any today.

Alas, I walked for 30 minutes, well beyond where I thought it might have fallen out.  No luck in finding it, though.  On my way back I have to navigate snow-covered roots and rocks.  Even with trekking poles, it's a bit of a challenge.  I wound up falling on a big piece of granite on this steep, rocky hillside.

I hiked for about an hour (a little over a mile), but in the end I guess it was finally time to say "So Long" to my old water bottle.  Which is a shame, because it still had water in it and I was getting kind of thirsty.

Thanksgiving Family Hike

November 30, 2013

For the first time in 26 years we are in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving.  Betsy is in White Christmas this weekend, so traveling to PA just won't work.  Instead, everyone gathers at our Johnny Appleseed home for the holiday.  And apparently, everybody's up for a little hike on Saturday afternoon.  Nathaniel brought his hiking shoes home just for the occasion (assuming he gets a break from homework and projects).  Matt (coming up from Philly) just assumed we would be taking a hike.  Betsy stayed home to rest to she could give a great performance, singing, acting, and dancing (see photo on her web site).

For this hike, we did a small section of the Mid-State trail.  We dropped a car at the Wachusett Mountain parking lot ("down" arrow on left side of map) and then headed back to our starting point, the Crow Hills parking lot in Leominster State Forest ("up" arrow on right side of map).  The ski area is open with a few trails already.  I hope to behitting those slopes soon myself.  But today, we hike!

Cassandra joined us at the last minute with Dominic.  First he has to be loaded into the baby backpack.

It is a steep climb from the parking lot to the base of the Crow Hills.  Nathaniel & Matt had colds so were struggling a bit to breathe.  Once there, Alex suggested we go up to the top of the cliffs to enjoy the views.  That was an even steeper climb.

But Alex is right about the views.  Directly behind me is a 100' cliff and Crow Hills Pond in the distance.

After a bit of a walk, we get our first glimpse of Mt. Wachusett.  You can see the ski trails clearly.

Nathaniel tests the ice at the edge of this frozen brook.

You think crossing a brook in the summer is fun?  At this time of year, it's frozen on top, but still very cold water just beneath.  It's beautiful, but don't fall in.

The brook cascades down between the granite boulders.  The shadows are long even though it's only 1pm.

We make it to Redemption Rock, where James joined my last May.

The water formed hair-like icicles near these rocks.  Cool!

We're finally near the end, crossing "tick field".  Fortunately, no ticks at this time of year.  You can see snow from the guns on the mountain just across the road.

All told, it was only about 3 miles of hiking, but with the cold and the colds, it took us over 2 hours.  There was one casualty - I lost my favorite water bottle, and I'm not sure where. I don't have time to go looking for it now, because we have to make dinner and then we're off to see Betsy in her show.  Despite the loss, everyone welcomed this bit of outdoor exercise.

Treasure Valley Backpack

It seems like it's been raking, raking, raking every weekend this fall.  I feel as if I have been a prisoner of my leaves this year.  That is to say, I am long overdue for an outdoor adventure.  However, after this weekend, I need to consider being a bit more judicious in my selection of activities.

I decided to join Boy Scout Troop 11 on a ½ of their weekend activity.  On Saturday, they participated in the annual Turkey Shoot at Treasure Valley Scout Reservation.  On Sunday, the plan was to hike out with full packs approximately 4 miles.  This "backpack" campout will help some of the scouts satisfy a requirement for Camping merit badge.  I've done nearly identical hikes before, so this should be fun.  See Hike 10 from last year.

I arrive at the campsite Saturday afternoon.  The weather is nice (for November), but the forecast is calling for bone-chilling cold tonight, with a 20% chance of snow.  We'll see.  I have packed my -15° sleeping bag, so I will hopefully stay warm overnight.

Things look good Saturday afternoon.  We're on the edge of a large "jamboree" field.  I brought my four-season tent (foreground) to keep the wind out.

We ate before the sun went down.  Now we just have to stay warm until bed time (9pm or so).  Meanwhile, it starts snowing.

The next morning, it is 18°.  YES, I said 18°.  I was warm except for my feet.  It snowed a bit more overnight.

After we shuttle cars, we're all packed up and ready to go.

Now for the crazy part.  How hard can it be to get from one side of the camp to the other (see the map at right)?  We have to get from the red circle at the bottom of the map to the red circle on the Mid-State Trail.  It's a mile.  How long can this take?  As it turns out, quite a long time (it took us an hour and a half).  Besides all the adjustments everybody needs when starting out with a heavy load on your back, the trails were hard to find and follow (despite the map) .

The snow on top of the leaves, didn't make it any easier to find the trails.

We finally made it to  the glacial erratic known as "Sampson's Pebble".

We're all together at the edge of Browning Pond.  The water is beautiful as always.

With my tight schedule today, we have to part company.  I'm continuing on the Mid-State.  See the yellow triangle?

 

By the end of the hike, the soft earth had actually frozen to my trekking poles.  My water bottle had also frozen shut a couple times making getting a drink a bit of a challenge.

The actual hiking mileage was about 4.5 miles.  When I got back to my car, it had warmed up to 21°.  A heat wave!  I made it with a few minutes to spare for 12:00 Mass.  But as I type this, my fingers are still thawing out.

Swift River Reservation

Sunday October 20

It's another beautiful fall day.  However today, we only have a small slot of time this afternoon between finishing one gig in the morning and having another gig at 6pm.  So we turn to Betsy's Nature Walks book, not to be confused with Steve's Hiking books.  To get us going, Betsy saves the normal time spent at the scanner copying the hike description and map, choosing the more expedient method of separating the required pages from the their binding (i.e. "It's my book.", she reasons).

Our hiking destination is the Swift River Reservation, one of 3 tracks of land in Petersham, MA owned by The Trustees of Reservations.  Listed at 1.75 miles long to take only 1:15, we will have ample time for our walk even with the 45 minute ride out there.  Actually, I remember that Nathaniel & I have already done this hike in the winter with snowshoes.  It will look different today without snow.

Start of hike. Sorry for the tree in the way.  You can see how deep blue the sky is through the woods behind us.

The trail winds along the Swift River.  It looks like the beavers have been busy here.

You can see this gate on the map, above.  The tall hemlocks look like the walls of a grand cathedral.

This is the "scenic view" on the hike.  When we get to this kind of "scenic view", it means we need to buy a new book:  the "scenic view" is now gone because the edition of the book we are using is too old.

Sneaking a little further up the trail, we did actually find a nice view (thankfully the leaves have fallen).

The moss on this rock was very thick.  Our feet sank about an inch stepping on it.

"Where's the trail?"  This really was a problem.  The trail blazes were few and far between.  With the fresh coat of fallen leaves, staying on the trail was a challenge.

Does "X" really mark the spot?  Maybe so.  These trees crossed right in our path, as we're nearing the end of the hike.

Across the road (Highway 32), is Connor Pond.  Below the dam to the left is the Swift River.

Above the dam, the water is placid and reflects the lovely fall colors.

Even taking our time, our hike took barely an hour.  It proves you can always sneak in a little Sunday afternoon hike if you try.

Mt Major

Saturday, October 12

It's Columbus Day and Matt's birthday.  He has a plan to go hiking.  Typing a few key words into a browser search engine determined our destination:  "foliage... hike... new hampshire."  Voilà!  We're off to Mt Major, at the southern end of Alton Bay of Lake Winnipesaukee (web site).

The weather forecast is calling for showers to the south and sunshine to the north.  The day is starting out foggy, but we have hope.  We leave the house by 9:15am so we have plenty of time for hiking after a 2 hour drive.  The mini-van is full, but we will be missing Cassandra and Dominic today so they can catch up on much needed sleep.

We make our usual EMS stop in Concord for a couple quick items, but unfortunately, the weather hasn't cleared much;  i.e.  it's still foggy!  We still have another 40 minutes to drive.  It'll get better.

Holy hiking sticks!  Look at all the cars.  The lot is full, so the parking is along the state highway.

Our "begin the hike" picture.  A large crew:  Matt, Becky, Alex, Steve, Betsy, and Nathaniel.

Nathaniel picks up a dead tree for a hiking stick.

We're in New Hampshire, so there's a lot of granite to be found.  This glacial erratic is a fine specimen.

If your pack makes your back hot, turn your coat around.  Really?

Nathaniel is lounging at a view near the top

Matt and Becky are taking their lunch break here.  We figured that if we ate now, maybe the fog would lift by the time we got to the top.  I'm told the view behind them is fabulous.

At least we still had plenty of color in the foliage.

Yay!  We made it to the top.  Unfortunately the views are no better.

"OK.  How long do we wait for the fog to lift?"

That's me next to the foundation at the top.  If you check the web site link, there's a photo of this same foundation with a beautiful view in the background.

Our first choice going down was mobbed with people.  Instead we opted for a shorter, albeit, much steeper descent.  Alton Bay is ahead, but we still can't see it.

Near the bottom, a lot of trees are still in green.  The crowds behind were an Asian professionals gathering that came up from Boston for the day. Nǐ hǎo.

It turns out that you can't see the top from the parking lot either.

 Despite the fog, we had a very enjoyable day.  I have no idea how far we hiked, and it really didn't matter since we were really out for the great color and views.  Yah.  I would go back, but maybe avoid the Saturday of Columbus Day weekend.