a couple of holiday hikes with friends!

the day: friday, november 26th--the day after thanksgiving, not cold enough to outright snow but close. of course a wet snow might not have been any more comfortable than the rain, but maybe it would have been prettier than the wet look we were all wearing at the end.

the adventure: since y2k, the day after thanksgiving has been reserved for MOC's after turkey trot--a hike along the AT trail from goose pond road to the top of dartmouth skiway. for a few years we would stash a vehicle at both ends, but at some point, we just started hiking back to the start--after a bit of a lunch. i don't know how far that makes the trip, but it seems a good distance.

the memories: it's always a crap shoot as to who will show up. even when i was teaching and would advertise more heavily, you never knew how many would show up. this year, with it raining, i was figuring on a pretty low turnout--but hopefully there would be more than last year's just pam and i. woot woot, there were!

notes: even up in the clouds--after "a bit of lunch" and for a passing, friendly midwesterner volunteering to snap a photo--we were smiling! colleen, koby, andrew, sawyer, pam, and patrick, all returning turkey trot alum.

for comparison, the rain did change to snow later on friday, making for absolutely lovely hiking on saturday. our dear friends billy and tracey stopped by on their holiday travels. after "a bit of a lunch" (a bigger bit than friday) we went up and around our 'local' town hill loop. billy and pam posed for tracey leaving the dooryard.

go outside and play!

biking with friends--the north half of the 'friends of mascoma-five town tour'

the day: november 6, a cold start to a sunny, warm ~ish day in november. no wind except on the downhills.

the adventure: now that simon is living close by--close enough--we planned a gravel ride over a piece of the fom-ftt. he brought in laura and she invited her coworker greg. simon also convinced skip to pedal with us, which was good as it meant starting later, when the frost was off the pumpkins--and skip had eaten lunch! we rode most of the red line to the north of the green 'rail trail' line. with a bit of a detour to draft skip back to canaan street--and eat a delicious scone! or two!!

the memories: i don't often ride with a group, but it was a lot of fun: skip, simon, greg, and laura...

notes: after greg turned off heading home via the turnpike, we got skip to the comfy couch next to linda--the baker of the aforementioned delicious scones--and simon, laura, and i took that detour back to the 'red line' on the ftt. hills were involved. at the top of the first big one, i took a breather to stop and get a picture of the really cool stoned cistern.

go outside and play!

trail work on tunnel brook

the day: november 5, another sunny and warm-ing day in paradise--note it is now november.

the adventure: adam organized a 'trail' crew to clean tunnel brook up to the chain of beaver ponds in the notch between the west side of moosilauke and east side of mt clough. three of us, adam, ryan, and myself, ski the trail to access the slides on both moosilauke and clough. we are hoping tim comes over to ski it with us, since he helped make it a sweet downhill run! 

the memories: i think this is the very spot i took a picture looking up to the slide two winters ago. adam and ryan are explaining to tim that getting up there is much easier said than done. 

notes: the snow on the trail did not surprise me, it was 20°F in my dooryard this morning and skip and i got caught in a squall last week up on moose mtn. what was interesting though, even though mud pond at the height of land, was half covered with ice, there was more snow lower down--at least where the sun didn't hit it.

go outside and play!

a quick run up moose mountain

the day: october 24, sunny and warm, at least for late october. it will turn out to be the warmest october on record--by 5.5°!

the adventure: another classic hike in our repertoire. this one is often a quickie, spur of the moment, up and down.

the memories: even though it is quickie, pam always manages to snap a few pictures...even surrounded by numerous dogs sniffing out our pizza snack.

notes: the view from the top is to the southeast, goose pond peaks out mid left, and the high point on the horizon is kearsarge. our house is somewhere in the middle.

go outside and play!

a modest hike to make us smile

the day: october 17, goldilocks weather--not too warm, not too cold, not too sunny, not too cloudy, not too windy, not too still...basically, everything was just right!

the adventure: a fall hike looping the ranger trail and the AT on smarts mountain. pam likes to skip the summit which keeps it to about 7~ish miles.

the memories: i'm not a big hiker, but pam gets me out there, and that keeps it pleasant. she also carries a phone, so like biking with soy, there are pictures!

notes: the world is at your feet--literally

go outside and play!