a hike with sawyer, hannah, and pam up over town hill rather than on the AT back and forth to holt's ledge.
since 2001, MOC has been gathering to hike from goose pond road to the top dartmouth skiway and back. it's only a couple of miles but it gains a good bit of elevation on the way over--and of course loses it on the way back.
the original idea was to go outside and play!, maybe burn off some of those extra calories from the feast, all the while hangout with friends you don't always get to see. we have had some pretty big crowds over the years, and then over the past five or six years, half of them had been just pam and i, maybe some pendletons.
this year, soy and han were psyched about hiking, hoping to see noah, eben, maybe andrew, colleen, and others. friday morning when i got up it was -8°F and a call from skip to let me know they would not be trotting, at least not in the morning. last night pam had mentioned that she was thinking of something less involved--like maybe town hill. when everybody finally made it out of bed and down stairs, we reprogrammed.
the kids went over to visit the pendletons, pam started her yearly holiday letter, i suited up to try skiing our trails up and over town hill.
the "bitter...record cold" greeted me as i started sliding up hill. having lived a few winters in northern minnesota and spent plenty of winter in the mountains, i can get pretty jazzed listening to the extreme verbiage hyping weather. i wrote a letter to NHPR pointing out particular hyperbole and questioning what sort of language might they use when it inevitably gets colder, windier, and snowier. the great thing about these two nights of below zero and days of brisk wind, it totally dried out the wet snow. that made skiing fairly fast!
fast enough to turn and yo-yo the 's curves' a couple of times, run up, then all the way down to bear pond road, climb back up and finish in one long slide home. i came in the door just as the kiddos and pam were suiting up to hike over the hill.
i stripped off my ski bibs and followed them following my ski tracks. hannah had her camera and took this series of pictures, the first one of sawyer on the other side of the gap i put in the stone wall between the broadbeests and jorgensens.
pam was zipping ahead on her snow shoes and we didn't catch her until just below the s curves where she stopped for a second. han was ready and snapped a partial family photo. i am particularly fond of the strip of sunlight along sawyer's leg and the side of my face.
pam scooted off again and in no time we were cresting the height of land. the third image captures the lineup.
it also has a great composition: the snow, people, and hill on the horizon fill the bottom third; the trees and their angled shadows accentuate the upright hikers; a spot of red with blue, again with a stripe of sunlight. it totally works for my eye.
what doesn't work is 'the truck', sitting in the middle of the trail for as long as we have lived here.
i have dreams of pulling it out of the woods someday. it will be a chore though as both axles are broken along with all the other things that would make dragging it away easier.
after the snow this week on tuesday, i am thinking we will have to wait a few seasons--i am throwing in mud, with winter and most of spring--to do anything like haul it out of the woods. that's fine with me, the more snow the merrier. and if it gets a little drier- fluffier than the last one i will be ecstatic!
whatever happens weather wise, it's always a pleasure to go outside and play!
ps--one of my 'other lovers' was out on the snow, up skiing the green woodlands. he took a photo looking at moosilauke in honor of my hike a couple weeks earlier. he also got a shot of his frosty, après ski smile!
since 2001, MOC has been gathering to hike from goose pond road to the top dartmouth skiway and back. it's only a couple of miles but it gains a good bit of elevation on the way over--and of course loses it on the way back.the original idea was to go outside and play!, maybe burn off some of those extra calories from the feast, all the while hangout with friends you don't always get to see. we have had some pretty big crowds over the years, and then over the past five or six years, half of them had been just pam and i, maybe some pendletons.
this year, soy and han were psyched about hiking, hoping to see noah, eben, maybe andrew, colleen, and others. friday morning when i got up it was -8°F and a call from skip to let me know they would not be trotting, at least not in the morning. last night pam had mentioned that she was thinking of something less involved--like maybe town hill. when everybody finally made it out of bed and down stairs, we reprogrammed.
the kids went over to visit the pendletons, pam started her yearly holiday letter, i suited up to try skiing our trails up and over town hill.
the "bitter...record cold" greeted me as i started sliding up hill. having lived a few winters in northern minnesota and spent plenty of winter in the mountains, i can get pretty jazzed listening to the extreme verbiage hyping weather. i wrote a letter to NHPR pointing out particular hyperbole and questioning what sort of language might they use when it inevitably gets colder, windier, and snowier. the great thing about these two nights of below zero and days of brisk wind, it totally dried out the wet snow. that made skiing fairly fast!
fast enough to turn and yo-yo the 's curves' a couple of times, run up, then all the way down to bear pond road, climb back up and finish in one long slide home. i came in the door just as the kiddos and pam were suiting up to hike over the hill.
i stripped off my ski bibs and followed them following my ski tracks. hannah had her camera and took this series of pictures, the first one of sawyer on the other side of the gap i put in the stone wall between the broadbeests and jorgensens.pam was zipping ahead on her snow shoes and we didn't catch her until just below the s curves where she stopped for a second. han was ready and snapped a partial family photo. i am particularly fond of the strip of sunlight along sawyer's leg and the side of my face.
pam scooted off again and in no time we were cresting the height of land. the third image captures the lineup.
it also has a great composition: the snow, people, and hill on the horizon fill the bottom third; the trees and their angled shadows accentuate the upright hikers; a spot of red with blue, again with a stripe of sunlight. it totally works for my eye.
what doesn't work is 'the truck', sitting in the middle of the trail for as long as we have lived here.
i have dreams of pulling it out of the woods someday. it will be a chore though as both axles are broken along with all the other things that would make dragging it away easier.
after the snow this week on tuesday, i am thinking we will have to wait a few seasons--i am throwing in mud, with winter and most of spring--to do anything like haul it out of the woods. that's fine with me, the more snow the merrier. and if it gets a little drier- fluffier than the last one i will be ecstatic!
whatever happens weather wise, it's always a pleasure to go outside and play!
ps--one of my 'other lovers' was out on the snow, up skiing the green woodlands. he took a photo looking at moosilauke in honor of my hike a couple weeks earlier. he also got a shot of his frosty, après ski smile!
thanks jay!!
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