that's right, we were forecasted to get 6-8~ish inches of snow on monday evening! a couple of hikes up cardigan let me know that there was still plenty of base left, from tree-line down. that much snow would be great--probably even cover the dog shit!! in the meantime, town hill was right out our door.
friday: pam and i are hiking up town hill a lot in these days of social distancing. there is much comfort in stepping out the kitchen door and walking for miles without crossing paths with others. we did the short loop, past the truck and back on the porcupine trail. there was a section deeper in the woods, out of the sun, with a fair amount of snow left. i got pam to stop for a photo opp.
a pair of wellies and the bottoms of pam's poles give you an idea of what the rest of the trail is like--wet and leafy. it was warm enough to take off her jacket though, which probably meant closer to 50° than 40°. i never checked, but my t-shirt and sweater was plenty comfortable.
saturday: i had been hearing of a possible good amount of snow coming monday, so after breakfast i decided to run up the west ridge trail and scope out the remaining base after the warm day friday. i didn't think it would change much, but if it did i wanted to know where to not to deep carve a turn. plus it was sadie's birthday and i had a little penguin that wanted her send her a message--happy birthday sadila!
the coverage was still pretty good and certainly nothing 6~ish inches wouldn't cover enough to never notice. there were a few cars parked at the bottom, but hiking the ski trail, i saw nobody all the way up, and most of the way down. i ended up passing two parties, a bit surprised they didn't have micro-spikes and wondered how far they would end up going? a cold night had frozen things up solid and it was slippery!
i was not surprised at the number of dogs going up the mtn. in my last post i complained about all the dog shit in the middle of the trail. i had removed two big piles up higher today already. but as i got to the last corner, i saw two tied up bags of poop set by the side of the road. my only hope was that the owners who left it were still hiking and would be picking it up on their way down. it made me mad enough to almost say something--almost.
when i got down to the gate, a group of college kids were rounding one side as i went around the other. an older woman was standing in the road "ripping them a new asshole" (as she informed her partner when i passed by) on the seriousness of social distancing. even though i was just thinking about telling the next dog owners to be sure and clean up after their pet, i was a little taken aback at her yelling and swearing. i threw my stuff into the truck and left that scene.
pam and i took the afternoon to walk the town hill loop again and this time i took a series of her on the big snowy section.
it was cold enough today to keep the jacket and hat on, though the wellies were still useful in the wet sections.
sunday: was another cold morning, but by the time we went out in the afternoon, it was getting close to freezing. we took the loop counter clockwise today so we hit the snow patch going the opposite way. i almost forgot to get a picture, but i managed to snap this one just before she walked off of it.
given we still had plenty of daylight left--note my shadow is not as long as pam's was in the series above--we decided to hike all the way to the marsh off bear pond road. i did a little cutting along the way, trimming back small trees bending into the trail. there is one section where the trees have really long, sharp thorns, and they always seem need cutting back. someday i will look them up and identify them--i don't think they are native.
the beaver pond at the bottom of the trail--just beyond the thorns--still had a skin of ice on it in a couple of places, way too thin to cross over. i looked for wood ducks on the open water out in the sun, but i think it's still a week or two early. the hike back went smoothly and we were coming down town hill with an hour of sunlight to spare.
these three day weekends, with our backyard trails, are pretty sweet. it's enough to put a smile on a face, especially with snow in the forecast. who wouldn't want to 'go outside and play!' with all those riches?
friday: pam and i are hiking up town hill a lot in these days of social distancing. there is much comfort in stepping out the kitchen door and walking for miles without crossing paths with others. we did the short loop, past the truck and back on the porcupine trail. there was a section deeper in the woods, out of the sun, with a fair amount of snow left. i got pam to stop for a photo opp.
a pair of wellies and the bottoms of pam's poles give you an idea of what the rest of the trail is like--wet and leafy. it was warm enough to take off her jacket though, which probably meant closer to 50° than 40°. i never checked, but my t-shirt and sweater was plenty comfortable.
saturday: i had been hearing of a possible good amount of snow coming monday, so after breakfast i decided to run up the west ridge trail and scope out the remaining base after the warm day friday. i didn't think it would change much, but if it did i wanted to know where to not to deep carve a turn. plus it was sadie's birthday and i had a little penguin that wanted her send her a message--happy birthday sadila!
the coverage was still pretty good and certainly nothing 6~ish inches wouldn't cover enough to never notice. there were a few cars parked at the bottom, but hiking the ski trail, i saw nobody all the way up, and most of the way down. i ended up passing two parties, a bit surprised they didn't have micro-spikes and wondered how far they would end up going? a cold night had frozen things up solid and it was slippery!
i was not surprised at the number of dogs going up the mtn. in my last post i complained about all the dog shit in the middle of the trail. i had removed two big piles up higher today already. but as i got to the last corner, i saw two tied up bags of poop set by the side of the road. my only hope was that the owners who left it were still hiking and would be picking it up on their way down. it made me mad enough to almost say something--almost.
when i got down to the gate, a group of college kids were rounding one side as i went around the other. an older woman was standing in the road "ripping them a new asshole" (as she informed her partner when i passed by) on the seriousness of social distancing. even though i was just thinking about telling the next dog owners to be sure and clean up after their pet, i was a little taken aback at her yelling and swearing. i threw my stuff into the truck and left that scene.
pam and i took the afternoon to walk the town hill loop again and this time i took a series of her on the big snowy section.
it was cold enough today to keep the jacket and hat on, though the wellies were still useful in the wet sections.
sunday: was another cold morning, but by the time we went out in the afternoon, it was getting close to freezing. we took the loop counter clockwise today so we hit the snow patch going the opposite way. i almost forgot to get a picture, but i managed to snap this one just before she walked off of it.
given we still had plenty of daylight left--note my shadow is not as long as pam's was in the series above--we decided to hike all the way to the marsh off bear pond road. i did a little cutting along the way, trimming back small trees bending into the trail. there is one section where the trees have really long, sharp thorns, and they always seem need cutting back. someday i will look them up and identify them--i don't think they are native.
the beaver pond at the bottom of the trail--just beyond the thorns--still had a skin of ice on it in a couple of places, way too thin to cross over. i looked for wood ducks on the open water out in the sun, but i think it's still a week or two early. the hike back went smoothly and we were coming down town hill with an hour of sunlight to spare.
these three day weekends, with our backyard trails, are pretty sweet. it's enough to put a smile on a face, especially with snow in the forecast. who wouldn't want to 'go outside and play!' with all those riches?
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