wow, i didn't realize i had gone two months without posting a goap! time flies while you are outside playing!
giving you a long list would be tough, with way too much narrative. you probably guessed though, i didn't have a camera along for most of those outings. and when i did have it--like my last training ride with my senior, ken, who is off biking around sicily for two full weeks and a scouting ride with my junior, laura, working on an adventure-gravel route for a possible fund raising event for friends of mascoma--i only managed two shots...
that's ken on the left, in front of grafton pond, and laura on the right, with a turkey feather accenting her helmet. oh wait, i got another picture of 'someone' you might recognize. on both rides, i passed by the 'donald' out on a front yard. he wasn't pointing his finger and bad mouthing anybody as they passed, but he did have the long tie.
two fridays ago: 're-biked' a couple long sections that laura and i had considered possible adventure paths. lest you don't already know, height of land road in grafton, really does ascend a rather large hill--throw in some of spectacle pond road and you climb nearly 1000 feet in three miles. laura and i had pedaled 40-ish miles and climbed about 4000 feet. my solo route was also 40-ish with around 4000 feet of climbing. laura had told me, riding ten miles in new england averages 1000 feet of climbing. one benefit of all that climbing was getting a few good views of cardigan.
two saturdays ago: rolled out the mountain bike and went to check out the x-c trail i have been reestablishing over the summer, climbing a couple of hundred feet from the rail trail up to south road in a little less than a mile. i kept climbing up so. road, turning onto ibey and finding the top of an old snowmobile trail that dropped down to mud pond road. it was still rock-y and root-y where i remember it rocky and rooty and in really good shape everywhere else. coming onto so. road again, i pedaled back up to the top of the running trail. this time, going down hill afforded me time to snap pictures of the varied terrain.
the top starts out in pines coming back into the long abandoned road which leads to a very dense fern section, followed by a mixed fern and softwood section which camouflages some deep, awkward skidder ruts from logging 15 years ago. the last bit, a steep pitch down to the rail trail, goes through some fairly thick woods that obviously wasn't logged that last time.
dropping onto the rail trail at speed, involves turning 90°in about 10 feet before plunging over another steep bit down into some really thick woods. that always makes it pretty exciting--especially when i remember to wonder if anybody else might be using the trail.
two sundays ago: parked the bikes and hiked with pam. the weekend before we had gone up 2 miles on the AT to holt's ledge from the skiway. the idea was to prep for the 4 mile climb up smart's mtn. she was worried the 8 miles round trip would be too much--it wasn't.
i took a picture at the rocky outcropping where the MOC stops for lunch on our deep freeze overnight. we had hiked it in sept. of 2016 and i took essentially the same view.
on the way down the ranger trail, pam found some fungus that attracted her attention. she is an avid mushroom photographer--as seen in the older post--and stopped to get a couple of images.
this friday past: pedaled past the donald again--now replaced by a fairly large trump flag--up to the huntley graveyard above grafton pond. laura and i were both interested in the abandoned, western end of kinsman highway, hooking that up with oak hill and mud pond roads to start the adventure ride. i had no idea where it came out of the woods but i knew it went in at the graveyard so i decided to ride it backwards.
not a horrible idea, but it would definitely take some work in the rockiest, washed out sections. mud pond road was in fine shape despite the "no maintenance" sign on the south end. i was a bit worried given the last time i had ridden it with the MOC, we ended up pushing a jeep out of a wicked mud pit. the south gate was closed and locked this time, so maybe they are trying to keep 4 wheeled vehicles out now--that would be nice for us bikers.
this saturday past: speaking of maintenance, pam and i went up town hill for some trail work before winter sets in. there were a few blow downs, but i had a couple of saws along, a chainsaw for the bigger trunks, and a sharp handsaw for the smaller stuff. it was glorious weather and i got kinda lost in the work, coming back down the hill to pam washed up and waiting for me. we were a bit late for a dinner date up to our old neighbors on sawyer hill.
all in all, we have been really active this summer and now into fall. going outside and playing! has been rich and rewarding. like pam always says, "aren't we lucky?!" indeed we are...
giving you a long list would be tough, with way too much narrative. you probably guessed though, i didn't have a camera along for most of those outings. and when i did have it--like my last training ride with my senior, ken, who is off biking around sicily for two full weeks and a scouting ride with my junior, laura, working on an adventure-gravel route for a possible fund raising event for friends of mascoma--i only managed two shots...
that's ken on the left, in front of grafton pond, and laura on the right, with a turkey feather accenting her helmet. oh wait, i got another picture of 'someone' you might recognize. on both rides, i passed by the 'donald' out on a front yard. he wasn't pointing his finger and bad mouthing anybody as they passed, but he did have the long tie.
two fridays ago: 're-biked' a couple long sections that laura and i had considered possible adventure paths. lest you don't already know, height of land road in grafton, really does ascend a rather large hill--throw in some of spectacle pond road and you climb nearly 1000 feet in three miles. laura and i had pedaled 40-ish miles and climbed about 4000 feet. my solo route was also 40-ish with around 4000 feet of climbing. laura had told me, riding ten miles in new england averages 1000 feet of climbing. one benefit of all that climbing was getting a few good views of cardigan.
two saturdays ago: rolled out the mountain bike and went to check out the x-c trail i have been reestablishing over the summer, climbing a couple of hundred feet from the rail trail up to south road in a little less than a mile. i kept climbing up so. road, turning onto ibey and finding the top of an old snowmobile trail that dropped down to mud pond road. it was still rock-y and root-y where i remember it rocky and rooty and in really good shape everywhere else. coming onto so. road again, i pedaled back up to the top of the running trail. this time, going down hill afforded me time to snap pictures of the varied terrain.
the top starts out in pines coming back into the long abandoned road which leads to a very dense fern section, followed by a mixed fern and softwood section which camouflages some deep, awkward skidder ruts from logging 15 years ago. the last bit, a steep pitch down to the rail trail, goes through some fairly thick woods that obviously wasn't logged that last time.
dropping onto the rail trail at speed, involves turning 90°in about 10 feet before plunging over another steep bit down into some really thick woods. that always makes it pretty exciting--especially when i remember to wonder if anybody else might be using the trail.
two sundays ago: parked the bikes and hiked with pam. the weekend before we had gone up 2 miles on the AT to holt's ledge from the skiway. the idea was to prep for the 4 mile climb up smart's mtn. she was worried the 8 miles round trip would be too much--it wasn't.
i took a picture at the rocky outcropping where the MOC stops for lunch on our deep freeze overnight. we had hiked it in sept. of 2016 and i took essentially the same view.
on the way down the ranger trail, pam found some fungus that attracted her attention. she is an avid mushroom photographer--as seen in the older post--and stopped to get a couple of images.
this friday past: pedaled past the donald again--now replaced by a fairly large trump flag--up to the huntley graveyard above grafton pond. laura and i were both interested in the abandoned, western end of kinsman highway, hooking that up with oak hill and mud pond roads to start the adventure ride. i had no idea where it came out of the woods but i knew it went in at the graveyard so i decided to ride it backwards.
not a horrible idea, but it would definitely take some work in the rockiest, washed out sections. mud pond road was in fine shape despite the "no maintenance" sign on the south end. i was a bit worried given the last time i had ridden it with the MOC, we ended up pushing a jeep out of a wicked mud pit. the south gate was closed and locked this time, so maybe they are trying to keep 4 wheeled vehicles out now--that would be nice for us bikers.
this saturday past: speaking of maintenance, pam and i went up town hill for some trail work before winter sets in. there were a few blow downs, but i had a couple of saws along, a chainsaw for the bigger trunks, and a sharp handsaw for the smaller stuff. it was glorious weather and i got kinda lost in the work, coming back down the hill to pam washed up and waiting for me. we were a bit late for a dinner date up to our old neighbors on sawyer hill.
all in all, we have been really active this summer and now into fall. going outside and playing! has been rich and rewarding. like pam always says, "aren't we lucky?!" indeed we are...
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