the start of winter.

a big storm has been blowing across the country, dropping 'feet' of snow in the mountains out west, promising to hit here tonight, and linger through tuesday morning. since late this afternoon, just as it got dark, the flakes have been falling and adding up to 3-4 inches so far. that gets me excited.

the month of november has seen lots of local biking and some on the cape, flying the power kite, local hiking & trail work, scouting new ski trails over in pomfret vt, hiking the AT on the after turkey trot, biking & hiking town hill--it has been busy on the adventure side.

back at the beginning of the month, at the tail end of a couple of days of high winds and more than an inch of rain, i rode the addict over to the top of love joy brook road. it would be bad enough to ride over a thick layer fallen leaves, and all the added water could submerge an already wet trail. i turned in shaking my head, but smiling and hoping i didn't meet a blow down on one of the steeper sections where it could be hard to stop--"adventure cycling!"

i came up with that mantra on a long tour, coming home from minneapolis. i still use it, even i'm not exactly 'off map' given i live here and have ridden a lot of these trails before. today's adventure was indeed slippery, very wet, and included a few blowdowns, fortunately on the flatter sections down towards the bottom. no matter the obstacles, it is always fun to ride for miles through the woods.

the next weekend, i was down on the cape, helping a friend move some of her things from up in scituate to her mom and dad's cottage in popponesset-mashpee. soy and han live just a few miles away, so i took some pedals and my shoes to ride while visiting them. soy has a luddite--a sweet single speed made by civilian, with a carbon front fork--in his stable and i was hankering to get on that saddle.

it was well the effort of taking his 'frozen' pedals off. and though i was a bit leery of stripping my own, i tightened them on and rode out to 'callie's beach', near 'dead neck' dividing the ocean and waquoit bay. soy had shown me a cool jeep trail that goes through the jehu pond conservation area much and hooks up with 'will's work road' out to the water.

i had my 3.5m kite with me and after some futzing with the launch from a narrow spit of land, full of bushes and things to rip nylon, i got it in the air. the wind was really blowing and constantly wanting to pull me into the marsh. a guy, wearing a full wet suit came down the path with a kite-surfing set up. i pulled my little guy in while he set his big one up. i was able to help him launch his which was cool. i had been wanting to see how it was done.


i watched a bit before riding back home. there was a large blowdown in the conservation area that i decided to grab a saw and go back to cut. sawyer got home while i was at the house and got on another bike to come help. it was work, but we stopped after one cut and just shifted the trunks so you could ride through without getting off the bike.

sunday afternoon, when i got back to new hampshire pam and i got in some trail work on town hill behind the house. there is still one monster pine down across the path just before it pops out onto hall's road leading down to the bear pond bog. i will have to get it with a bigger saw.

i did more biking going into the next weekend. i have bee trying to keep thursdays and fridays available to play. saturday, pam and i got back on town hill and cleared everything right to the bog, except for that monster pine and a couple of big hardwoods that you can easily step over. on sunday i went over to cory and melissa's in pomfret for a bit of house work and to scout a possible ski route up into the hills behind his place. we tromped about in crusty snow and figured a possible path, hooking up fields with maple sugaring roads. i am totally stoked with the possibility of a few miles of trail. the downhills will be fantastic with a foot of fresh powder!

on the friday after thanksgiving, we got a group together for the 19th (or so) annual after turkey trot going from goose pond road to the skiway and back. participation has waxed and waned over the years, with it on the waning side most recently. still, it's nice to see whoever comes.















this year, all the pendeltons, plus mia, noah's young one, made it, as did sawyer off cape, and laura from next door. the forcast was for some sun and moderate temps, but most people kept their hat and gloves on, if not their jacket zipped. it was definitely wintery, icy enough for people to wear creepers, which really helped up on the spine of holt's ledge. for posterity, i took top and bottom photos.




saturday, the sun actually did come out and warmed up some, at least when you were standing in its rays. i tried to tempt laura to roll out her new fat bike and ride a loop with me. she was on nephew ryder duty so after i took a spin up over town hill--to that big ol' downed pine--and back again, i changed shoes and hiked the same with the two of them. we stopped at the two classic landmarks for photo opps: the octopus tree, and the abandoned truck...

like an exuberant puppy, ryder was skittering all over the place leaping off rocks and tossing his spear, trying to stick it into a not so illusive prey, the ground. laura sent me a video from the day before that captures the gist of the game and ryder's fine form!

today, as the snow has stopped for a bit--still hoping the storm delivers a few more inches--i'm happy to finish this up and dream of the next adventure. no matter what december brings weather-wise, it's always a good day to go outside and play!

deep into fall.

past peak color now, it's that time of year when a lot of my outdoor time is spent doing lawn & garden shut down chores: digging the potatoes, canning tomato and apple sauces, rebuilding compost piles with this years leaves and the last of the grass clippings. 

despite all that, pam and i have been hiking at least once a week. two weekends back--right at peak color--pam went solo up to cole pond while i did garden stuff. her account was not as colorful as the pictures, but that might have been hard to match.

the next day, we both went up cardigan along with 'the squirrel', aka sawyer. i was in charge of transporting FOC, friends of cardigan, t-shirts to and from the orange fall festival so we got an early start. that was a good thing as the trails got more and more crowded as we came down.

at the top, i spotted the family we had been criss-crossing with on the way up and asked the kids "would you like to see the carving of the girl who chased her handkerchief over the cliff?" soy thought that was a bit bold, but they seemed game--that and their parents came with!

the family posed above the fading image and 188? date carved into the ledge.



when we got back down and to the upper parking lot, i had my key with me and opened up the cellar where the clivus multrum lives. sawyer was game to see the innards of a composting toilet. it was filling up with tp and would have to raked down soon. i actually biked up there thursday and took a picture of the works after i had consolidated things, but before spreading shavings, and 'watering' with the biological.

it's not too bad of job if folks remember to close the toilet seat lids--that keeps the fly population down. this summer wasn't too bad even with people forgetting.


last weekend pam and i went up the wolfboro road where last fall and again this summer we ran into the granite state offroad groups. we were hoping not to see them again. on the way up, i fixed my stream diversion project from july and built a second one where a good bit of water was flowing right down the trail. it was just us at the south peak. we stopped for water, a snack, and a photo shoot with pam demo-ing her leak picker uppers!



on the way down we didn't cross paths with any hikers, bikers, or four wheeled vehicles. which made for a very relaxed jaunt. we drove an alternative road home to go by the andrew place and see if they had any eggs for sale. about half way out, a half dozen or so jeeps and one truck were popping out of the woods at the top of love joy brook road--the end vehicle in front of us had a granite state offroad sticker on its rear window!







that made us both laugh. we were still smiling, even though there were no eggs in the farm stand fridge. the hike was peaceful and beautiful, despite being past peak--a lovely day to go outside and play!

summer may be over, but adventures continue...

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...

what a difference two weeks and a bunch of sunny days make...

the sun has been shining a lot lately, so i have been outside playing rather than inside posting. but on at least a couple of my adventures, i had a camera along. bike rides two weeks apart gave me the idea for a 'that was then, this is now' display.

back on thursday, july 11th, we had a significant rain event. it rained, hard, all day at the house, and even harder over on the western flank of cardigan mt in orange. 

the rain gauge in my garden poured out 3.4 inches--nearly 9cm for you folks on metric. my friend carol, who lives over in the morning shadow of cardigan said they got over 7 inches--that's approaching 19cm. clouds seem to stack up on the west side of the ridge line and just dump water big time. i remember at least two other major flood events and one huge--as in more than four feet--snow since i have been around. 

deep snow is something i always welcome--deep water, especially flooding, not so much. this time, the flooding was more destructive than ever. i caught wind of some areas that were particularly hard hit and when the rain stopped on friday morning, i grabbed my camera and bike, and pedaled off to check things out.


going toward canaan, the water was pretty high, spilling over the banks of the indian river and into the fields. where the river banks contained things, a rushing, muddy flow made for a dramatic picture. when put side by side with a picture taken two fridays later, you can start to imagine how high and fast the water was.



water can cause a lot of damage flowing that high and fast, especially in places other than between the banks. that's exactly what happened up at the orange basin bridge. the valley news featured a picture of the washed out road at the culvert and up new colony road which runs alongside the brook as it flows down to the culvert.



this past friday, the 26th--the two weeks after the rain ride--i pedaled up the orange road to check out the bridge rebuild. the barriers were still up, but they let me lift my bike over. the pictures don't look nearly as crazy, things are close to being open again.



past the jersey barriers, i continued on up to the state park and raked down the clivus composting toilet--my summer 'friends of cardigan' assignment. on my way back down i passed jim, the man in the white t-shirt with the two kids inspecting the washout on new colony road pictured above. he was riding up hill and we stopped for a brief chat. 

i stopped on new colony and took the picture of the form where they were going to pour a cement header for the 'new' basin culvert.  a minute after i started on downhill, the cement truck passed me coming up. 

down in town i stopped two places, the darling's blueberry patch and the bridge behind the ball field where i had taken a photo of the river at 'high tide' two weeks ago. the debris building up against the bridge helped push the water out of the bank and into center field.





pam and i went back with buckets to pick blueberries on sunday and i showed her the river at "low tide". the water has much receded, they have mowed the grass, but the incredible debris-jam against the bridge is still there.


i walked around and took a shot of it from the bank. my thought would be to come in with a chain saw and clear it out before the next big rain event, but you never know about the state. plus at the moment they are still fixing roads and bridges.


my final stop on friday's ride was the usual, sweeping at drummonds. robbie and i have been talking about my buying his 'old' mtn bike and he had it set up for me to test ride. after making a clean sweep, i took off across the highway and onto the lasalette trails. a sweet drive train made going up that long hill almost a dream. almost being it was pretty hot, i sweat a lot, and it was buggy. on a good hill it's hard to wipe the sweat out of your eyes or swat a persistent deer fly.


i took a digger on the way down, but managed to land in a soft, muddy patch--likely the reason i fell in the first place--and avoid any injury, beyond more laundry that is. the bike is a lot of fun!


all in all, even though some of the washouts were still washed out, it was a fine day to 'go outside and play!'

this year's vacation...

popham beach, on the point of phippsburg that sticks out into the kennebeck river--



way back in the summer of '75, pam and i borrowed our friend cami's car and drove to the coast of maine. somehow, we chose popham beach state park and spent a couple of days. our attempt to sleep on the beach was cut short by mosquitoes, but we remember it fondly.

i went back for an afternoon after a three day timber framing workshop at the shelter institute i took in the early '80s, readying to build our first house. after kids, in 1991, we started going back to popham and have been going every year since, making this year our 28th. the kids don't always make it over, but when they do, we have a grand time--huggermugger© is often involved.

over the years, routines have changed. but one constant has been my early morning beach walks. i gather toys, rope, clothing, driftwood, all sorts of 'lost' stuff to make a yearly sculpture which i leave for the park visitors. sometimes they last for a good long while and i am able to reuse pieces.





last year, i built three playful figures, two of which were still standing when we got there this year. their clothing was a bit faded, "tattered and torn" according to tom, who photographed them over the winter a few times.


it is fun trying to work out what exactly i am going to build, according to what i find in the mornings. this year i had a grand idea of a giant windmill type structure, but didn't have the tools to pull that off. i stashed things under the cabin and will come better prepared next year.




another thing i do some of every year is skim board. i now have two boards that i bring for when kevin and family come over. for those of you who have never done it, you drop a thin 'board' into that little trickle of water when waves wash up on shore, jump on, and skim along.


pam got a nice picture this year with both of the islands in the background, fox in really nice afternoon light.




maybe half the mornings, i am up early enough to see the sun rise. since taking that series up on cardigan last month, i finally remembered the camera on thursday and took a one of the dawn 'fireworks' for the 4th.



while everyday at the beach is a good one, this year, there were five in a row that were spectacularly sunny. the only rain we got was on sunday and i got in a good amount of reading while that lasted. going outside and playing, on the beach, is special...