trailology 101...

...prepping to take MOC out to work on the mascoma side of the cardigan trails.





hiking with craig sanborn, might not be fast, but it is definitely rich: in trail work history, "we put those rocks there in 1985...that water bar in 2000...those four steps in 2015...", in trail work jargon: "that's a rbdd, rock bermed drainage dip...that rock spine is 'cake'...that one is 'toast'...", and in wit "i could be a professor of trailology--i may not have an endowed chair, but there are plenty of seats up in the mountains!" the chief of the cardigan higlanders volunteer trail crew took me out cruising today for a lesson on how he approaches trail work.




and indeed, work it is: from spring patrolling cutting out blowdowns and trimming new growth, building water bars or drainage dips, putting in steps, laying barricades or scree, to the regular cleaning of drainage. knowing how to use a shovel, mattock, and rake is basic. learning how to fell, peel, and saw trees to size, not to mention moving them, gets more involved. then learning to move and set stone, without wrecking anything--like your back--is yet another critical skill set. all these things, and more, take putting in solid hours; hiking the system, seeing what needs to be done, and doing it makes for good trails. i am looking forward to bringing MOC out and learning the art!

it was a fine day to be on the mountain, a day after our latest snow. it has been such a funny winter and now spring. we get a few days, a week, of warm--warm enough to get a first planting of peas and some greens in--then it dips down below twenty or snows. yesterday we got 3-5 inches of wet snow. it cleared overnight, the temperature dropped, and today at 1 o'clock when i pulled into the summer parking lot, i got this picture at the trailhead:

craig and i hiked and talked, talked and hiked, to just below the cascades, what i have referred to as the waterfall section in previous posts. a former student and MOC member, emily, stopped and chatted a bit when she passed us headed up. three other groups passed us both on their way up and then down. (like i mentioned earlier, we were not fast!) we had a final little discussion at our high point and arranged to meet next, soon, for a bit of paper work. i continued up and craig turned down. soon enough i ran into emily. she was ruddy cheeked from both the temp and the wind up on the bare rock. i got up there soon enough and snapped this picture of the west side of the tower:

the ice/snow was still fairly thick in the trees whereever the sun was not hitting it. i figured it was about 4 o'clock when i headed down myself. with all the snow i decided to take the upper ski trail and risk the underlying ice rather than slush puddles i slogged through after the upper bridge--i think craig called it clifford's bridge. the snow gave me footing for the most part though i did just 'go for it' at the bulge pictured below along with a shot on the left, of the upper section that leads to it:




if skip had been with me, he would have wanted his skis--i can hear him now, "best skiing ever!" well maybe he wouldn't have gone that far--maybe--but not having much to ski on this winter, it was fun to slide fast down this.

i did not slow much the rest of the way either. only once, when i passed a lone hiker resting atop a rock on her way up, fiddling with her earbuds. running downhill has one trick, which is really two, keep your lead foot in front of you and headed for something fairly solid. as i get older i suppose i am also limiting more the vertical i am willing to drop in a single bound. i have gotten good at just touching briefly with one foot on those big drops before switching quickly to the other foot--essentially speeding up until you can slow using your whole body rather than just your legs. it is invigorating, but don't fall--it hurts.

i made it down to the parking lot and saw craig still there, reading in his car. i thanked him again for my lesson and snapped a 5 o'clock picture of the trailhead, in the sun now and sans snow:

as i drove off mtn. i dreamed of future trail work days...that and dinner--i am always hungry.

a rolling stone...

supposedly gathers no moss. al strickland took a few of us out saturday for a hike around the bicknell brook loop over in enfield and showed us a bunch of it--moss that is! armed with field magnifying loupes, an atomizer for hydrating the moss, and al's passion for the miniature non-vascular plants, six of us set off into the woods. the first thing i noticed was that the black flies were out! not in force or biting--yet--but definitely more than a few. black flies 'hatch' in moving water and it being fairly dry so far this spring, i had hopes that this wouldn't be such a bad season. we shall see.

the dry was in evidence on our first couple of stops and al gave the examples a good spritzing as we started examining our first species. at one point, not too long after the start, we took off into the woods headed toward some pink flagging tape. it got swampier and swampier, with blow downs crisscrossing everywhere as we pulled up to a large birch (i think) covered in moss all around. there were two main species that i actually remember and pam took photos of: shingle and frizzy hook. at another off trail spot we saw a third, easier to identify larger species covering a boulder: stair step.

stair step moss

shingle moss

frizzy hook moss

the four-tooth moss is another common moss often found on tree stumps. without a fair amount of practice, mosses in general are not easy to distinguish without magnification. but a few of the species have characteristics that make them apparent even to the naked eye. (i love that expression...!) all mosses grow in wetter areas. some, like the peat mosses, grow in really wet areas. we saw one, spikey peat, in a constant wet spot next to a stream. surprisingly, there is a common moss that grows right in the stream: keeled water moss, sometimes refered to as greater water moss, maybe because it grows up to 15cm long. moss is usually much shorter as it has to get, and retain, nearly all its water through the leaves. right next to the bicknell brook, we found the last two species that i thought were easy to remember, palm tree and wavy starburst.

various moss species, a fern frond, some dead leaves, the bicknell brook...

it is worth noting that we also looked at three or four species of liverworts and the same amount of lichen. one 'leafy' liverwort, bazzania, looks very much like a moss. it has a very distinctive y-branching pattern to its stalks. i showed the group the two common lichen Genera that grow high up in dying or dead fir trees: Usnea and Evernia. the first is the one with an elastic thread of fungus covered by the algae. it is highly sensitive to air pollution carried on blowing winds. the second is a flatter, maybe thicker version, with a fungus that breaks easily and leaves fuzzy ends rather than the thread of Usnea. Evernia is fairly tolerant of air pollution.

we got back to the cars around five-ish with enough moss info swirling around our brains to keep us busy for a while. i will have to pick up the common mosses guide that al's moss mentor helped author with her father and two others. being out in the woods was a great cap stone atop the mornings' work at the ces garden/outdoor classroom. being out-side is always preferable to in-, especially with good people.

speaking of good people, the MOC moonrise sunset hike was taken in by six of us, and one dog, on thursday evening. we left the parking lot around 6:30 realizing that the usual crowd were away at a track meet and waiting around wouldn't grow our group any bigger. the hiking trail was nearly ice free with nothing that couldn't be safely navigated with just shoes or boots. it was cool enough to make hiking along at a fairly quick, youthful rate comfortable. nobody was sweating--too much. just as we topped out and dropped our packs we spotted the moon starting to peak above the eastern haze.

on the western front, the cloud bank was much bigger and i snapped the picture with our band silhouetted against the sun sandwiched between two layers just before it disappeared.

just three other hikers besides MOC were up enjoying the views. we started down when the sun dropped behind the lowest cloud line. it was a very pleasant descent with enough light from the moon that only one headlamp came out, and then only for one particularly 'shaded' gully. a lone car--the other three people on top--remained as we motored off satisfied with april's moon-sun 'ablution'.

a ton and a half more cars greeted pam and i today when we pulled into the parking lot this morning. it was sunday, not too cool, with plenty of blue sky, so i imagined the people with those cars--from all across new england, including new york state--were looking for an outdoor church experience.

folks were fairly spread out along the various trails. we took a few of the ski trail loops to keep that feeling. up at the connector over to hurricane gap and the amc alexandria lodge side there were a few icy spots that were really sketchy. i stepped to the side to let a woman go by and schwoop she skidded off her feet onto her butt. her mother came running up all worried and schwoop, followed her daughter down. i stepped away but remembered that spot for the way down. we made one other stop to take a picture of three younger hikers perched above 'turn around rock' and then made it to the top. i saw an old student--graduated in '97--and got his son to read the anemometer i keep in my pack: 15-20mph.

we ate a snack bar and headed down. just below the waterfall zone, we ran across a hiker that had passed us on the way up and then started the descent before we did. he was clearly concerned and stopped us to report, "we lost an engagement ring somewhere on the trail..." i didn't hold out too much hope for finding it, but i hiked back up a ways and then down again with my eyes glued to the ground. (another eye expression that paints a great image.) no luck, but i left an email address just in case i ran across it later. i ran off to try and catch pam who had kept hiking and caught her on the last ski trail section. long story short, we got home, ate a bit of lunch, and sat down to an email from the couple--"WE FOUND THE RING!!!" that was amazing and made another great end to a fine day.

life is good...!

this time, spring has really sprung!

which comes first, peepers or quackers? to answer that it helps to be outside playing a lot--that and knowing what exactly peepers and quackers are. a peeper is a very small tree frog, Hyla crucifer, commonly referred to as a spring peeper. i learned today that on martha's vineyard they are called "pinkletinks"! they are about the size of a quarter and can make a disproportionately loud peeping sound. 

http://chilmark2641.blogspot.com/2014/04/pinkletinks.html

the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, is a bit bigger at ~2 inches. it has a distinctive black eye stripe that is telltale. while they are not quite so loud, their call is unique in that it truly sounds like some sort of duck, quacking out in the woods. the first couple of weeks these two little noise makers are out advertising for a mate, they go day and night. after a while though they slip into being nocturnally vocal.

http://www.wellsreserve.org/blog/62-frog_quiz_peeps_quacks_groans_snores_and_more

i must say, while i don't always write dates down, april 12 seems to be the earliest i have ever heard either of these frogs. i was outside for most of the afternoon on tuesday during april vacation. at one point i noticed one or two frogs, then a few more joined in, and after a bit there were probably a couple dozen--quackers. it wasn't until thursday the 14, that i heard my first peepers. they were out in the same area, up by the watering hole in the field out behind our house.

over the years past, when i was paying attention, wood frogs consistently sounded before spring peepers, though i must admit, some years i didn't always catch the first voice. i try to check the vernal pools about our area and look for eggs from these two species as well as toads and salamanders. i can remember biking one year when the snow was barely gone and stopping up at the larry pond dam. the water was literally filled with mating american toads, but i don't have a date for that (unless skip remembers...).

amphibians are not the only animals doing their spring thing...the birds are all about 'strutting and flitting their hour upon the stage.' most of the last week, for at least two or three hours a morning, several male tom wild turkeys have been using various spots in the field, as they fan their tails, droop their wings, and cluck circles about seemingly oblivious hens. at dusk and sometimes dawn out by the same water hole with the frogs, you can hear the unmistakable nasal peent of the american wood cock as it paces the ground, just before it flies up in a crazy, loopy pattern and makes some pretty weird noises with its wings. then there is the drumming of the ruffed grouse hidden away in the woods or the more public rapping of chimney flashing by some sort of 'wood' pecker--all these antics, designed to attract females. i wonder if i was anything like that when i first met pam...

some species, namely the phoebe and robin, already have their mates and are working on or even done with their nests. those two have taken over girts on the woodshed and both porches. out in the lower woods, i assume the local barred owl pair is just about to hatch their clutch. taking our weekend walk up and over town hill two weeks ago, pam and i surprised a pair of hooded mergansers in the stream fed pond curtesy of the new beaver dam over in the wet spots above bear pond. the male duck is quite amazing with its bold white crest and rusty sides. the female is no slouch either with her cinnamon-y feathered crest.

(all the bird links come from the incredible cornell lab of ornithology "all about birds" website. you can find live cams for many of the species along with video and sound recordings. caution: it is so good you will not be able to 'leave your screen.' i have even used its recordings to call in birds--like the witchity-witchity-witchity call that thoroughly confused a common yellow throat out off our back porch.)

i could go on and on listing...walking and riding bike everyday allows for seeing a lot more than if you stay in checking your various electronic devices. i ran across another new term today--"screenager!" i dare say though, adults are just as bad, maybe even worse. (all these blogs don't write themselves.) but, don't despair, even going out at night can lead to encounters. pam just about made it to the compost pile tonight, when the humps in the garden she thought were rocks started ambling toward her. she came in pretty excited! i put the computer up and grabbed a light figuring if they were ambling they were probably porcupines and wouldn't be very far. plus, they would give me another species to write about. sure enough, i found them, one ten feet up the birches just beyond the well and the other in the pussy willow shrub (sorry i have no idea what it is...but will try to look it up).

it's always lots of fun around here! don't forget, tomorrow is the moonrise--sunset hike up cardigan. i rode the nishiki up to the summer parking lot today--the gate is open. join us if you can; we start hiking at 6:30.

a grand day out!

MOC and april vacation, go together like...fun and more fun. this was the 17th year that the outing club has taken students up into tuckerman ravine. and while i can remember a couple nasty weather days, i recall many more on the good side. the iconic 'blue bird' sky yesterday, added to the latter. before setting off, we took the traditional pose at the bottom trail sign, warning all hikers that conditions above could be extremely dangerous and to turn back if any 'bad weather' came in. it did not look like we would have any of that today.




all that being said, the first thing i discovered this year, and should have expected--but didn't!--was the tuck trail was totally iced, from just past crystal cascades to hermit lake. fortunately, half the ten students had brought some sort of micro-spike set ups and after donning them, were good to go. i sent the others up the sherburne ski trail thinking it would be more hiker friendly. we all made it up to ho-jo's at the same time, each group with its own tales of ice slicked paths! sticking with the be-spiked group on the tuck trail, i watched several sliding extravaganzas--one particular crash, involved two sliding bodies spinning out of control as they careened down the "icy sluice" when the lead person slipped on a bulge. the sherburne crew had similar stories about a particular "icy gauntlet" that required a hand over hand ascent using the fir trees along the edge. a particularly dramatic report of a dropped pole, saved by the last in line would have been entertaining had we not needed to go down after our time in the bowl.



regrouped, we all enjoyed a bit of lunch looking up at the ravine from the comfort of the caretakers' ice free porch. a couple of other hikers were stopped as well and when i took up a conversation with one pair, we discovered that we had worked at pinkham together back in 1975! ed parsons, now living in tamworth, was up hiking for the day with his friend nancy. we had a good laugh at how small the world was and spoke of some of the others from 'back in the day' that we still kept up with. he was impressed that pam and i had made it all work over the forty one years. after taking a picture with him and another of our group, we packed and headed up into the bowl behind the two of them.

there was a bit of ice on the trail up but nothing that couldn't be gotten over or around. in about a half an hour we popped into ravine and i heard the chorus of, "oh my...this is incredible!" it is quite a site and with a full group of first-timers, i got a good kick out of their delight--despite the slipping and sliding to get here. there were only five others up with our dozen so we literally 'had the place to ourselves'. i saw ed tagging along behind the lone skier over in left gully as i led the boldest of our group up central, beyond "lunch rocks". we were only going part way to get a good launch into a slide. the snow was perfect for sliding and would have been excellent skiing, but i had left mine back at mascoma, not really wanting to carry them if i was the lone skier or snowboarder. since the sherburne was pretty much ice and melted out more than half its length, i was not too bummed that i had made that choice. everybody, took at least one zip down--most three or four--and all had huge smiles on their faces when they finally stopped at the bottom of the bowl.



dirk found a deep hole to climb into while a couple of the more frequent sliders changed into 'drys' from their 'wets' before we headed out of the ravine. we had the 2.5-3 miles to get down and none of us was relishing the icy descent. at the hermit lake shelters we made the decision to go right, down the sherbune. turns out that given the warming temp. and the plentiful sun, that was a good choice. the ski trail is quite a bit more open than the hiking trail and the ice was much softer--mostly passable without too much slippage. mostly, but one student did his best impression of superman when he tripped over something and instantly picked up a good amount of speed on a 20 foot slick spot. 'no blood no foul' allowed us a hearty laugh, but i for one, was took a good deal of care where i stepped. i found the side trail that i remembered from snowy years past took a few off that way. it had practically no ice and was covered by 2-3 inches of wet snow--that and the blow downs were all cut free. we walked comfortably along listening to whooping and hollering from those slipping along above us.




back at the dodge lodge, a group of non-believers went in to "take a look" at a crew picture with me, taken back in '75 when i "had really long hair!" (before we had started i showed three or four students and they had obviously spread the word and now were going to prove it to the others.) i got the van unlocked and after a bathroom check we piled in and took off. the ride home was smooth and this year we didn't get stopped for the van being not being inspected--even though it was three days past. i was supposed to drop it off at a local station for that after we unloaded everybody--bonus!

it truly was a grand day out!!

april fools!

a handful of MOC fools take a polar dip! 

every year on april fools' day, the outing club gathers as many hardy souls as we can and head over to canaan street lake. in years past we have jumped through a hole in ice that was three feet thick. it is not as much fun to 'run in' but unfortunately, in the last six years, we have had to do just that three times.

in the picture above, a fifth dipper is yet to run in. olivia is just behind us, still out of the picture. not that this actually mattered, but she had just moved here from tennesse and it was her first cold water experience. the student taking pictures got a great series of her deciding enough was enough and she turned and 'ran' out. if i remember right she was saying something like, "it's so cold...i getting out...i can't feel my legs or feet...this is so insane..." all through chattering teeth!

we all came out finally, with smiles on our faces! it was a good time--definitely cold--but everybody warmed up under their own power.

the fast squad ambulance was heated and standing by, just in case. the rescue squad likes to come out and suit up for practice. so far we have only needed them once to warm up a slightly hypothermic student with less than zero percent body fat. it is always great to have them join us, year after year, ice or no ice.

besides people swimming in april, how do you know winter is finally over? the temperature drops down to the single numbers and it snows six inches... it is crazy when last week we were up in the 60's and even above freezing over night. on wednesday i rode out 4A and teamed up with pete for a tour around mascoma lake. i was wearing a light long sleeve shirt and my tights and had an extra top in my pannier. during the ride, i was pretty warm pumping up hill, comfortable cruising along the flat, and only a little cool flying down hill. even though the sun was setting when i turned back at proctor's as pete pedaled off, the extra layer stayed in the bag all the way home.

on saturday, i could feel the temperature dropping through the day. i even put on a hat at one point puttering out in the garden, digging parsnips. my hands got a more than a little cold washing them. nothing like sunday though--i rode up jones hill to see a friend thinking, the steep mile climb would warm me up. my hands were frozen stiff by the time i got to the top even as i my 'de-hatted' head was sweating. i contemplated borrowing gloves for the ride home. when i pulled into our drive, i checked the temp. and realized why things were so fridgid--it was only 20°F out.

i put on a warmer shirt, jacket, and hat and headed over to lasallette to cut the remaining flagging tape from our snowshoe festival in january. as i crossed the causeway over mascoma lake it was starting to snow and the wind was blowing substantial white caps out on the lake. leaving the parking lot, the snow was getting thicker and blowing everywhere. as i got to the recently cleared 'potato field' at the height of land, the ground  was solid white and the wind was now buffeted me from side to side. crossing back into the woods things got a little more comfortable.  ten minutes downhill and the sun actually burst through the clouds. maybe that was why it was so windy, a front was blowing through.

i got over to the top of the upper big field and was clipping a couple of markers when i heard a huge crash off to my right. a huge old tree blew over about a hundred yards off the trail. i wished i had the camera as it would have been impressive (maybe i will come back and get a shot). as i got back to the truck with my pockets full of flagging tape, it was definitely getting colder with the sun tucking behind the ridge even though the wind was dropping.

monday brought a whole different weather system. a soft snow fell all day, starting about six in the morning and not ending until after i went to bed. it was cold enough to stay dry and fluffy, covering the frozen ground, and building up anywhere from 3 to 5 inches. waking early tuesday to the clear and cold, i decided to hike up cardigan after my third grade stint.

the winter gate was still up and there were no tracks in the lower parking lot. hiking up the road i could just make out a single set of boot tracks going up and coming back down. they were made during the snow as they were almost totally filled in. i remember last week i stopped and took a picture going up the road so i did that again. the sky was practically cloudless and a deep, crisp blue. the snow was equally crisp and showed countless tracks where various animals scurried about dealing with this 're-wintering' their landscape.

i kept track of the different tracks and counted eight species: two types of small rodents--a mouse and perhaps a shrew, squirrel--probably a red, rabbit, ruffed grouse--actually flushed one, deer, fox, and coyote. tracking was good as the animals were most likely out looking hard for food to fuel them through the cold. the birds were doing the same, with several wintering species--juncos, chicadees, and at least two downy woodpeckers flitting and pecking about.


up top i could see a long way, north, east, south, and west. i took pictures looking from each side of the tower, along those compass lines.

east

north

north, one could see the snow covered tops of the common white mtn. peaks: moosilauke, liberty, and washington. east, the big lakes were all free of ice similar to the sky free of clouds--save for that one little spot. south, another lone cloud above and three ski areas stuck out--white contrasting with blue and 'black' respectively. to the west, several more ski areas way off on the horizon, along with a bank of  incoming clouds.

south

west

the wind, coming out of the west, was blowing hard on three of the four sides, but it wasn't all that unpleasant. i packed things away, tightened my hood, pulled my face scarf up, and pointed my feet down.




once into the trees and out of the wind, the sun was warming. at the bottom, some of the snow was even melted on the lowest part of the road. i had seen a new set of boot prints join the west ridge trail coming in from south ridge. somebody and their dog were headed down in front of me. when i got to the winter lot, they kept going down the road towards orange. i was impressed with their motivated stroll.

three things that i have been thinking about while out and about in the last week:
a: pre-planning your path will restrict you, stay open and the 'real way' will present itself to us in all its variability... deliberately encourage change--don't become complacent with yourself as is, let experience guide you to make yourself new tiny bits at a time. (from michael puett's and christine gross-loh's talk on the diane rehm show)
2: a long term relationship is not set in stone but full of change--commit to working at it. (a long held belief pam and i share and applies to a: above)
III: "...i would have spent the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if..." seems to be a common motivator, but more and more i find it simplistic, maybe even false. you could bring this up over an infinite number of 'missed opportunities' a creative mind could invent. i have long assumed we do what we do because, at least at the time, it is what we wanted--for comfort, for joy, for thrill, for growth... (from the book, now a movie, janapar by tom allen, subtitled 'love, on a bike')