chasing the 'snow moon'

once a month, the moon rises close to the same time the sun sets. give or take a day from the the full moon, MOC hikes up cardigan for the view. the winter is always the trickiest as we have to start hiking close enough to 3:00p--right when school gets out--that very few students, if any, ever show. maybe the cold keeps them away too, but i like to think it is just scheduling.

my schedule was sort of cramped today, friday, as well. i got off the chiropractor's table shortly after 2:00p and drove home to prep a winter pack. i left the house at 3:15p to be up to the winter parking lot for the 3:45p start hiking time. as i drove out the drive i thought, maybe i should have brought a sled, or even skis, but then, if kids showed up, i wouldn't be likely to use them. that and i assumed there still wasn't enough snow to make the descent anything less than fast and furious.

i had skied a quick loop at la salette on thursday's snow day with matt--who did a desperate solo, early morning up and down tecumsah under very icy conditions before any snow built up--and he had asked about the moonrise-sunset hike. maybe i should have called him and suggested skis, but cardigan is much tighter than la salette and i figured it would be super slick, so i didn't. matt wasn't there at 3:45p nor was anybody else, so i started up alone, following two skiers' tracks, skinning up, and cutting turns coming down. at the looks of things then, i cursed my leaving all sliding equipment at home.

by the summer parking lot i had stopped cursing and started contemplating coming back in the morning with skis. whoever had gone up before me today, had pretty much retraced their tracks coming down the hiking trail. this left the ski trail unmarked. when i passed the bottom of the second ski section, it too, was unmarked. the upper section was un-skied as well, but now that i had seen the conditions, i started to think it might be worth waiting for a bit more coverage. four inches of fluff on top of that ice layer meant faster than a speeding bullet. of course on the weekend, all kinds of people could be out in the woods tracking things up.

i was weighing all the possibilities, factoring in the forecasted snow, a bit of fluff tomorrow and another possible storm on sunday into monday, when my feet slipped back and i found myself in plank position. my hands were getting cold and wet so i slid back to a spot where i could kneel and then sit. i took out my creepers right there and 'spiked up'! this was just at tree line and as i got back up and started, even micro-spikes made for sketchy walking. now, instead of skis or a sled, i was thinking full fledged crampons and a walking ice axe would be the ticket.

with a bit of carful route planning--staying to the spotty ice on rock where the sun had deteriorated it enough for my spikes to grip it--i made it up to the top just as the full 'snow moon' was coming up. besides being full there was a partial eclipse and a comet due tonight. while i probably would miss that, according to my time clock, in six minutes, the sun would be setting. because of a substantial cloud bank i was going to miss that too. i took this shot anyway hoping something would show up on the image and maybe even look as beautiful as it did to me in real time.

beautiful or not, i took one more picture of the moon, brighter now as it rose out of the horizon mist, put the camera away and bundled up for the cold and wind on the bare upper part. picking my way down the 'good' rotten ice that held my creepers, i went through a couple of drifts, one almost waist deep. the prevailing winds had packed and sculpted them into long lines running northwest to southeast. as i dipped into the low trees the wind was much reduced and i could unzip my jacket. snow replaced ice, and i picked up the pace to match the more sure footing.

solid footing was good as it was getting darker amonst the trees. i stayed on the hiking trail just in case i decided to try skiing in the morning. soon enough i was below the waterfall, then past the south ridge-west ridge junction sign. as i dropped toward the creek crossing, a dark form approached and said, "hey!" it was adam, a MOC graduate back in the day--one of owen's best buddies--snowshoeing up with sled in hand and head lamps, "three of them" in pack. we chatted about life and such for a bit and continued in opposite directions. as i went, it occured to me, if i had a sled i could have gone back up with him. at the least, i should have taken his picture to post. regretting both failures, it crossed my mind that maybe he would take a selfie and i could snag it.

i got down to the truck and motored home happy with the outing. as i came around the last curve to our drive, an extra car in front of pam's and one across the road in the extra parking made me even happier--it was both sawyer and sadie. i parked across the road and walked in at the same time soy was coming out with his skis and boots. he was headed south and wanted to be prepared for the forecasted snow. sadie i assumed was staying for dinner, so i got at preparing the crust for friday, pizza night. while i built the pie, sadie whooped, "papa adam just posted a selfie!" my day was complete!



go outside and play!

highs and lows...

last wednesday sawyer took me along with him for a hike he and colin had planned. colin and eliza are having a house built over on 4A between mcdanials marsh and aaron ledge.

we were going to hike west to the marsh--the low point on the left side of the picture above--then back to the house site, cross 4A, and head up to aaron ledge--the high point, those tiny blue spots to the east in the upper right.


tuesday evening, it had snowed a couple of fluffy inches and made the world winter-beautiful. we got out to 4A and the new frame sheathed in plywood. colin showed us around as the crew ate muffins and drank coffee--their morning break just delivered by eliza's father, mike, a local house builder-mover. the rafters were not up yet, but we got a good sense of the floor plan and could look out the 'windows' to visualize things. to the south outside the bedroom there was a frozen brook winding by which promised some lovely bubbling once it thawed come spring. i put a mark on the google shot about where the house is being built, left of the large plowed land. the former owner had grown corn there. the site was very pleasant, and colin's excitement was obvious.



we were also excited about the hike too so we shouldered our packs and headed out towards the marsh.  as we wandered up the drive, mike invited us to stop in at his shop when we were going by towards aaron ledge. as we turned down an old woods road, the snow got a bit less crusty under the fresh inches on top. it made for good walking. colin had scoped things out pretty well, both on foot and virtually on google maps. he hiked us right to the feeder stream coming in from the southeast (toward the bottom right on the picture below). we found a spot to cross at an old beaver dam and picked our way over. nobody got wet feet.



the plan was to stay dry and make a clockwise loop coming back to the stream and walking onto the open marsh. we dipped in and out of the woods, marshy openings, and isolated little hollows, some with frozen 'ponds', some dry. at one point soy and i put on our creepers before heading down a slippery slope. with a bit of bushwhacking through balsam loaded with fresh snow--poised to dump down the back of your neck--we met up with the stream again and followed it toward the marsh. an otter had the same idea and alternating foot prints and belly slides led us on. i had found an old topo map and we figured to come out right at the long-ish island where the stream enters the main body of water. that seemed to work.



once we stepped out onto the ice, we were able to take stock, match up the map with the surroundings, and point ourselves back along the shoreline until we found another water entry. the picture above is oriented north at the top, which meant we walked northeast-ish past the two large copses of trees and then cut back toward the stream. once we got past that point of trees sticking out into the marsh grass, we angled through the woods and rejoined the trail we started on.

as we came out into the field next to colin's house site, we found a downed tree, brushed off space to sit, and ate a spot of lunch. the sun came out warming our backs and casting our shadows down in front of us. after lunch, we crossed 4A headed toward the ledges. we cut through a field and hooked up with shad hill road. another short cut over a snowmobile trail and we found the road again along with mike's shop. outside, the giant house moving wheel sets and i-beams were impressive. inside, amidst the usual jumble of everything but the kitchen sink, was a horse drawn sleigh project mike was finishing. as we left we picked up woody the "handsome" dog who bolted from the cab of mike's truck where he had been waiting for us.

woody tore off in front of us as we kept on back the road, now called carter brook rd. we passed by mike and nancy's house, and one other year rounder before the plowing ended and the woods closed in. snowmobiles used the track, but none had been over it recently. as we came to a turn, i pointed off road and asked, "shall we?" without giving anybody much time to say no, i took off into the woods on a more direct line toward the top. as we went up, woody bounding ahead, i took note of the glade like terrain and fairly deep snow coverage. with a foot of fluff on top, this would be a sweet ski. in the moment, the hiking was just as good as the crust kept you up, but allowed for some traction.

we worked our way up and through some fresh logging (you can see a road scar to the left on the google picture) and came out on the ledges through some thicker softwoods. before getting too close, colin put woody on a lead to keep him from skittering over an edge.



















the picture colin snapped, is us standing on summit ledges (the rock with a white stripe toward the top right of the google image). i am looking pretty much east, sawyer and woody are mostly north. all the tracks were ours, made as we snacked and looked about.

after our snack and some water, we turned around and let woody loose so he could lead back along our footprints. on the way down woody and i got in a good amount of stick time, each of us running flat out for short bits, letting gravity work us until we had to stop and regain some control. it was a much faster down than it had been up and in no time we were back on the snowmobile trail. as we were coming on to the plowed road, we met the last house owner walking his two dogs. while we talked with him, woody chased about and wrestled with the dogs.

back on the road we came up to mike and nancy's and dropped off woody with nancy who came out to say hi before she went to water the horses. we backtracked on our shortcuts and came to 4A and the house site. at the cars we hugged goodbyes and turned toward home. it was a grand day out and i was thankful for the 'boys' letting me tag along. now, if we just got some snow, i would come back and test out some of those trails.