It's a holiday! Even though we've already been plenty busy this Columbus Day weekend, there's still time to squeeze in one more hiking adventure. It will just be Betsy & me today and we need to be home in time for Betsy to teach afternoon lessons. I check out my Southern New Hampshire Hiking Guide and find an "easier" hike less than an hour away. This one is called Gap Mountain in Troy, NH.
There are two approaches to climb to the summit of Gap Mountain. We opt for the one from the north parking lot because the book says that it is a little less steep in the approach.
It's always a good idea to double check the directions and trail maps before hitting the trail.
See? We just have to follow the white rectangular blazes to get to our destination.
The treckking poles really help when you have to ford a stream.
Yes, lots of green still on the trees, but lots and lots of leaves falling, too.
You'd think this would be the top with a flag planted here, but as it turns out, it was just a false summit. Some other hikers who we started with turned around here without knowing they missed the summit.
Finally we see lots of fall colors. But the haze persists, so we aren't able to see the top of Mount Monadnock to the east.
Here's the proof that we we really did make it to the top.
We had to hoof it back down the mountain, since as I mentioned, the Music Studio of Betsy Fiedler did not take this as a holiday. We worked up a sweat, but we made it with a little time to spare. Our adventure today was 2.66 miles with an elevation gain of 817 feet. I promised Betsy it would be less of climb than Wachusett, but it turns out it was only 200' less.
I've included the elevation chart, so you can see it pretty much up then down. Next time, maybe I'll try the approach from the south to compare.
The next stop on our Columbus Day Weekend explorations will be to western Massachusetts and some Trustees properties that until now, have remained unvisited. In fact, in 34 years living in New England, we have never ventured this far west on Rt. 2. Today's the day we change that. For company, we bring along my parents, and for them, I choose a mostly flat easy-going trail.
Even though it is part of the Trustees of Reservations in this state, he Mountain Meadow Preserve actually straddles the Massachusetts-Vermont border. We actually drive up a dirt road out of Massachusetts into a parking lot in Vermont.
Being a little uncertain of where we may find our next meal, Betsy wisely packs lunches for everybody. Believe or not, we were not the only people finding this remote parking lot. There was one other car and several other dog-walking locals who visited while we were here.
Now fortified, it's off on to the trail, trekking poles in hand.
Although hiking in Vermont, we're just a few steps away from walking back into Massachusetts.
You could say that I'm "out-standing in my field." I won't, but you could :)
The trail signage was very good. The trick was to avoid looping on the same trail over and over.
Of course we did make it out, and here's the property marker proving we were there.
You'll be glad to know my mid-80 year old parents survived this 1.11 mile hike. The elevation gain was extremely modest 99 feet.
Afterward, we still had some time as the gray skies continued to clear. We headed next to Field Farm, another property of the Trustees, less than 15 minutes away. The property consists two architecturally interesting houses one of which is a guest house (B&B) and the other now a small museum.
The color-soaked Berkshire mountains provide a sweeping backdrop to the beautiful manicured grounds surrounding the houses.
This house had a silo built right into the exterior.
I crossed two Trustees properties off my list, but there's still more to see in this corner of the state. Mount Greylock (the highest peak in Massachusetts) was just a little further drive to the south. We had to choose between going there and going for ice cream back in Williamstown. You can probably guess where we wound up. Yum.
One of the fun things about living in New England, is that you can visit a lot of the cool places you see in the pages of Yankee Magazine (see our visit to Lobster Landing in Clinton, CT). This past month I read a story about Apex Orchards in Shelburne, MA where a cooperative approach was able to keep a family farming tradition "growing" strong.. In the photo at right, Courtney poses with Tim, the 7th generation co-owner. As co-owner, she now manages the hill top orchard while Tim continues to drive the tractor.
I recalled my experiences as a teenager working at Highland Orchards outside West Chester, PA, and resolved to visit Apex on my next visit to western Massachusetts. I was inspired by the story so on our visit I thought a similar photo would be appropriate (below).
Not far from I-91, the orchard sits atop a hill affording stunning views in three directions. Mount Monadnock can even be seen to the northeast.
Thanks, Courtney, for taking time out of your busy Saturday to chat with me. I wish you both all the best.
It promises to be a very nice early fall day. September is often an idea time for paddling since the waters are still warn, not yet having chilled down for the season. With that in mind, we head to Marblehead to join our good friends Tom & Kay for an afternoon adventure.
Deciding to make it a more casual day, we opt to NOT attempt a paddle out to the Misery Islands from Manchester-by-the-Sea, but instead to just stay close to home and launch from Marblehead's Stramski Beach into Salem Harbor. On a previous trip, we paddled around Salem Neck into Beverly Harbor, but today we have a high tide, so it's an ideal time to head to the south end.
Tom & Kay ask, "Why are you still on the beach, Steve? Let's go!"
"First things first," I reply. "My darling wife requests a little push into the water."
We make it all the way to the south end of the harbor. These rock formations don't always appear this way, because at low tide, this whole area is just mud flats.
The ladies would like to save a little energy to paddle back, so while they head back to the beach, the "mighty paddling guys" go exploring the far side of the harbor.
As we approached this lighthouse, I had the strangest feeling that I had been here before. It turns out there are more than one of these styles of lighthouses on the western shore of Salem Harbor.
We headed around one of the wharfs and came upon this tourist attraction. The ship is called the Friendship of Salem.It is a reconstruction rather than an original ship. It's masts appear short, but that's because the upper halves of them were taken down and are laying nearby on the ground.
At a nearby "historic" building, there was a wedding party getting some photos taken, although I had a bit of a hard time "capturing the moment" as you can see.
In any event, I was enjoying my time on the water.
Since Tom & I took a long detour, from the Friendship we decided to head straight back to our put-in expecting to find the ladies waiting for us. As we approached, however, they were nowhere to be found. We doubled back along the most likely path to look for them.
We finally found them employing the "let's let the tide carry us back" technique. No paddling required.
Tom & I headed back to the beach to await their ultimate arrival. Any time now...
It turns out a little paddling is needed to get back to the beach, after all.
For Tom & I, this was a 2:10 excursion covering 5.21 miles. I think I can now officially check all of Salem Harbor off as "done".
This blog entry highlights a different type of "adventure" for me. I had a chance to play a "gig" right here in my hometown. The business development office for the city of Leominster has been sponsoring "Downtown Sounds" in August and September. Basically, live music in the city's newest park across from the Monument Square downtown. I signed up to perform and was there Saturday night from 5pm for 3 hours. Sorry if you missed it.
Despite a couple rain shower interruptions, it was a fun experience playing and singing for diners, drivers, and passers-by.
It's early, but since we're on "military time", we decide to get out for an early morning walk. It's cool, but, there's a lot of humidity still lingering in the air. A t-shirt and shorts will be fine. Moreover, the bells for breakfast start going off at 8:15, so we'd better get a move on.
Even though we have a map, we wind up loosing the trail along the way (see far right of our track). Fortunately, the Scripture quotes on signage in the woods get us back on track.
Whew! We found our way back.
The sun comes up later than in New England, so the mist in the valleys will linger.
On this enjoyable 45 minute walk, we covered 1.81 miles and 306' of elevation gain. After shower and breakfast, it's off to our day at Indian Lake with Cassandra and the family.
On the way to my nephew's wedding western Pennsylvania, we stopped over for a couple days in Bethlehem With extra time on my hands, I decided to explore a hiking property I've heard a lot about but never had an opportunity to visit: Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County.
The sanctuary is maintained by an organization that promotes raptor conservation science and education. It is apparently a school field-trip destination for districts in neighboring counties. From Bethlehem, it was an easy 45 minute drive west.
Once there, I discovered that there was a fee to go hiking (which I wasn't expecting), but I figured it was for a worthy cause, so I ponied up the $10. My first decision was to pick a trail. Being by myself and since I had the time, I figured 4 to 5 miles would be a good distance goal. The River of Rocks Trail seems like a good place to start
Wow! This looks like it will be a nice trail. Just a little ways down and already a great view. Hazy, yes. And I have my "paid" sticker on, too.
Some kids are enjoying the vista, but in another way.
One of the features along this trail are two boulder fields, as shown here. It is a low point where the glacial "leftovers" were deposted.
While this trail was mostly downhill, it was more difficult than I anticipated. When I read "River of Rock", I was thinking a river (or river bed) with a few rocks in it. It turns out, I was hiking on a trail of rocks. I might not have taken it if the trail was named such. Exhausting!
I made to a trail junction where I see a sign informing me that indeed, this was a DIFFICULT trail. Well, perhaps the worst is behind me.
I get to the next trail junction only to find that I've stumbled onto a double black diamond trail instead.
Can you believe this? Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. It is not easy hiking over these, as you always have to make sure your footing is good so you don't get hurt. And as you can see, there are also some challenging uphill paths to boot..
This is a nice view from the top of the ridge, but still hazy.
I'm sure you're tired of looking at uphill rock scrambles, but maybe it gives you an idea of how I felt.
At this end of the trail, there's an actual fence and places to sit. Time for a lunch break.
Still a great view from atop the ridge.
So evidently, this was the easier way to the ridge views. There are stairs to climb instead of bouncing over boulders and even some benches scattered here and there to rest on.
Looking off to the south, I can see the two boulder fields, one of which I saw near the beginning of the hike.
Here's an historical recap.
I've included this elevation profile to how steeply I descended at the start of my hike, only to climb more steeply immediately afterward. In any event, the hardest part of the hike was probably the ridgeline anyway, scampering over the abundance of rocks on the path.
I was shooting to hike between 4.5 to 5.5 miles, but the difficulty made the actual 4.13 that I did challenge enough. As it was, it took me 2:45 with an altitude gain of 1044 feet (that's one "Mt Wachusett" from the ski area base). Suffice it to say, with the high humidity, I was drenched. The little yellow sticker fell off my shirt who-knows-where and wasn't there when I was done.
