happy new day--

--year, oh and decade!

new year's day--like any of the other 364--is always a good day to go outside and play! pam and i decided a hike out the kitchen door, up town hill, and down to the marsh at the beaver dam would start these new times off right. as we left the drive, pam turned and grabbed a picture of the sun and shade on the house.

the snow from the last couple days has given us a prime base and i was even tempted to go back and grab my skis. instead, we made it a together hike, stopping now and again to take pictures.




the sun was nice and warm, especially climbing. not long after this pam took off her jacket. not that you can see all that clearly, but the shadow shows mine already tied around my waste, with my hat and mittens in the pockets.


not that it surprised us, but it was really beautiful in the woods. it also was no surprise that the rest of the world was still out there when just after crossing the 'porky track', pam's phone buzzed in my pocket. it was a text from hannah--thanking her for the birthday wish. she and soy had just gotten home from their annual sunrise trip to their own beauty spot--the ocean.

obviously the weather is different down on the cape. but, while i am a dedicated snow person, all that sand looks pretty inviting. it reminds me of the early morning romps on popham beach.


we walked all the way down to the marshy area just past the beaver dam. i took pam's phone back and got a picture--complete with a finger in the frame. maybe it's just me, but i see some similarity in the textures and colors between pictures.

on the loop back we passed through the new opening we cleared on the weekend. pam had never used a two person saw, but in two cuts, she came into her own. the cut on the left only took us about a minute.

moving the cut section took a lot more time than sawing through it. the tree was big enough with plenty of branches propping it up or planting it firmly in the ground.

it's out of the way now and through the clearing, you get up to my two favorite pitches to ski. i sped to the top of the higher section and set up to take a series of pam powering up. it makes a fun little 'flip book'--click on the first one and toggle through them!





the cell tower seemed perfectly aligned from this vantage, as close to the spot we got hannah's text going out, we now got one from sadila, coming back. she and otavio had gone out for their own morning hike in a local park.

the pond is close to where they kayak and swim in warmer times. again, it makes a wonderful frozen image with its textures and colors.

like reception on the hill, the families' collective 'eye' seemed well aligned this new year's day!






the only thing better than hearing of the kiddos' adventures is actually being on one with them. thankfully, that happens enough despite our being a somewhat spread out. going outside to play! makes us all smile!!

holiday gatherings

thanksgiving, hanukka, christmas, new years--all common holidays to get together with family and friends. a time to look back on the past, look around at the present, and look ahead to the future--it's one of "the most wonderful time[s] of the year!"

this past summer, simon moved back to the east coast. one benefit, he gets back to canaan a good deal more than when he lived in boulder. and now on the cape, he's only twenty or so minutes from sawyer and hannah. i am down there some and can use that to see even more of him.


last time i was down, soy and i took advantage of that, and went over to his place for a delicious supper. i recruited him as an enthusiastic rider of NERT--new england roundabout tour--circumnavigating each of the six new england states next year. adventuring with si is always fun! he shows up in multiple goap! posts.

fun and si's organization was playing big this vacation. dropping a braid of holiday bread off at the pendelton house, soy and i sat for some tea and a few rounds of bananagrams. si inquired if i would be interested in hiking moosilauke the next day. i was in, but he would have to pick me up as sadie has my truck.

when i called the next morning to confirm my reservation, the plan for moosilauke had moved to cardigan, and the handful of people had doubled. by the time he picked me up, he was asking me to bring all my extra micro spikes--just in case. when we got up to the winter parking lot, all kinds of people popped out of their cars waving hi. one subaru wagon, a veritable 'clown car', even had two squeezed into the way back.

for a final count of eleven people, it didn't take us all that long to gear up and start off. not everybody was of si's age and fitness level, so we spread out into little pods and started sharing our stories. we gathered together again next to the shelter at the summer parking lot and de-layered some before hitting the trail.


where west ridge and south ridge trails split, we decided to loop up the steeper, icy south ridge and down the regular west ridge. my knees would appreciate that.

a bit under the big ice flow, si and i stopped to cut out a huge pine that had fallen squarely across the trail. if we did it right, we could make one cut and roll it to the edge of the trail. it was large enough that even that would still take a while.

switching out when our spm--strokes per minute--dropped, we had the log on the ground and moved downhill, off trail in short order. it was not too long before we caught up with the troops negotiating the ice fall.


i always enjoy this section of the trail--as long as i am hiking up! (goap! has a few pictures from last winter...) various brands of spikes folks had afoot, and their confidence on ice, made for an interesting crossing at the bottom flow. the picture here has katie lending a hand through the middle. several of the group, bypassed it all together meandering up a less icy, but steep, off trail route.


at the top of the ice, two of the group noticed they each had one spike on backwards. when they turned it around, they affirmed that made for much better traction! 


on the ridge part of the south ridge trail, you get a prime view of the summit of cardigan as well as the high points along the spine going south and east, over orange--or gilman--mountain. the last bit of our path to the summit, goes up the steep granite on the east side.


up at the summit, we gathered the troops below the tower. read from left to right, according to noses: diane, creek, simon, devon, claire, ruggen, barbara, katie, mozelle, molly, david.

at one point, simon mentioned that he had never stayed up top for as long as we were now. i could have reminded him of the hours watching the meteor shower once, hanging out post jell-o-thon races, or the MOC overnight we had up there--but it was getting cold standing around in the wind. we headed down.

for those of us who had removed our spikes going up the south ridge granite slabs, we stopped above 'turn around rock' on west ridge and remounted them. as they say in some circles, it was all 'downhill' from there. 

just above the waterfall, simon steered most down the ski trail, while i took ruggen and katie to the top of the waterfall. with wide grins and a few whoops, they started lowering themselves over the edge, using anything available for hand holds. the rest of us went down what i call the winter cut off and met everyone back on the trail.

after a few more splittings, we regrouped at the summer parking lot and took off down the road en masse, only to string out again relative to our individual speeds, or in my case good conversation and as self-appointed caboose. 







you can see in the faces, that it was a grand day to go outside and play! as a bonus, the younger folks planned to meet at simon's, eat some more, and play some indoors!!