neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these adventures

after such a beautiful day sunday the 25th of october, the weather turned a bit wet--actually it got a bit cold and very wet. by the end of the week, when i took the pumpkins to the town green, there was 2-3 inches of snow on their heads and lack of shoulders. half of them were still smiling though.

we--olivia and i--carved all these on wednesday and thursday. yes, it rained and yes our hands got cold, but it was for a good cause. when we fixed on our patterns, we realized that they would be perfect harbingers of 'the day after' the election. it turned out the day after, stretched into four, but who's counting.

i was planning on scooting up cardigan for sunrise-moonset saturday, but clouds were still scudding through and it was only 10°F, so i switched to going up later for sunset-moonrise. i called skip in case he wanted to join me. 

when i got up to the park, i waited for a few minutes but didn't see skip so i started up. about half way up, i had stopped to give out some info when i heard some heavy breathing down the trail. it was skip. we got up to the top shortly there after, just as the sun set.

i had the camera out and ready which was probably a good thing as the sun doesn't hang there for too long. we bundled up and huddled against the east side of the tower, almost out of the wind. there were six other hikers there mostly on the north side completely out of the wind, all waiting now for the moon to show itself. including the group of about a dozen costumed hikers a hundred yards shy of the summit, there were a surprising number of folks up for the celestial show.

don't ask me why skip didn't get me to move my finger just a little, but working his new phone was awkward and he was probably cold and ready to start down. it wouldn't take long for dark to close in.

as we headed into the after glow of sunset, i snapped a picture that looked better in the real, but i am still using a point and shoot camera. i told skip that pam and i would be going back up the next day. having hiked up in the whites that morning with simon, he had school work to get at. i had an idea to get a picture of pam in the same place--and i actually remembered, though my angle was off.

we made it down safe and sound though when he clicked his lock on the key and his lights came on, i jumped. he was a real sport for making the extra effort to join me--i don't get to see him much these days.

pam and i went up the next day under a very cloudy sky. she managed a smile despite some 'trail expert' got her blood boiling when he advised her that the bare rocks would ruin her micro-spikes. as you can see in the picture--the rocks were pretty well covered.

it was much colder and quite a bit windier than saturday, so we didn't stay long. dropping below treeline blocked all the wind and things got relatively comfortable--hence the casual stance on craig's new 'EAST AMC' sign.

pam was not buying the message though i assured her it was to warn hikers headed down to the lodge, they should go ⬅ that way. i have met a few hikers on the orange side in the parking lot totally confused--and not happy that they would have to hike back up and over.

over the week things really warmed up. by thursday, it was getting up into the 60s and the skies were clear, bright blue. i woke early on saturday and got up to cardigan by 6:00~ish. there were already a couple of cars in the winter parking spot as the state had closed the gate. i had heard that news so i brought my bike and rode up to the old state forest shed. 

i had a rake slid between my back and pack which probably looked funny, but would help me on my mission to clean drains. when i opened the shed to stow the bike, i found a shovel and took that along. october rains wash the fallen leaves into the little ditches we build to shed water from the trail. we usually get a crew to clean them toward november, but this year the gate got closed early. i don't mind doing it solo, though it is a heck of a lot slower.

about 20-30 drains and a large blowdown later, i headed down to the bike. four hours felt like enough--especially without breakfast or my morning tea! that and the truck was loaded with recycling to drop off at the transfer station. i couldn't remember when they closed and didn't want to miss that opportunity.

after my late breakfast and pam's early lunch, we both got on our bikes and set out again. she was going to the boat launch on goose pond and i wanted to hit another woodsy section of the fom-ftt, friends of mascoma-five town tour. i never took the camera out of the bag as i was busy clearing trail--i don't think that path gets used much except on the one end where mccallister's have their sap lines. pam got a nice picture though of somebodies little sit spot looking out over the pond.

it's been dry enough this summer that they are already letting water out, not for controlling ice damage to shoreline, but for lebanon to meet it's water needs.

the trail i took through the woods got me so excited that the 10 or so miles home from the bottom flew by. i started right in on convincing pam that she would love it and that we should go on sunday. she took the bait.

on sunday as i left to drop the bikes off at the 'top' of the ride, pam asked "am i getting sandbagged?" she met me in canaan center and we drove out towards clark pond to park the truck at the 'bottom'. back up to the sugar house and on our bikes we got a couple hundred yards into the mccallister junk yard--an iconic new england collection if i've ever seen one--before we had to push up a leafy, slippery slope to the woods road.

several muddy patches, a couple of dirt mounds, and more than a few errant sticks that i had missed the day before dampened pam's spirits significantly--and that was just on 'the flats'. when we got to the downhill, i heard her announce, "that's it. no more." she got off bike and hiked. 

i have to hand it to her for sticking with it and not swearing too much. for proof of her 'trooper'-ness, i got a picture of her smiling when she passed the stone wall i was waiting at. it was nice enough that she even gave me a kiss!

we made it to the road with a lone camp on it, a mile or so above clark pond. the same fire pit i saw smoke from was going again today. the road is fairly steep, but pam was singing as she rolled down. we met the cabin owner at a sharp bend--he told us he was coming back from taking a bath as his place had no running water or electricity. he was smiling when he said that and chucled when we told him we came over the hill. "that road's pretty rocky, no!?"

the hiking and biking has been pretty good these last couple weeks. i am anxious for enough snow to get the skis out, but for now i will settle for just being outside and playing! it's this much fun...