picking navel lint...

up in the sawtooths with my dear friend paul! life is sweet...of course to get here--one of the many mountain ranges in idaho--i ended up flying out of boston, through salt lake city, into haily/sun valley idaho. flying is something i like to avoid, for many reasons, but sometimes it seems worth it.

on the boston end, eben p met me at the bus station and hustled me to a tai restaurant were we met matt and kailynn. after swapping old moc stories--eb and matt were both stalwart alums--and finishing a tasty meal, eb and i continued onto his apartment where he graciously shared enough floor space to roll out a sleeping bag. i also snagged a couple of his mom's famous cookies for a bedtime snack. one could not ask for a better host!

eb had arranged for an early cab so i got up about four o'clock-ish, in time to finish kailynn's curried rice she offered the night before. a short bit later the cab picked me up and whisked me to logan in good time. had i used that time to inspect my carryon luggage, i might have found the old swiss army knife buried and forgotten in my little back pack. if i knew it was there i could have easily transferred it to my checkin duffle and saved it from whatever they do with the thousands of sharp objects they probably find. i told the tsa agent that it would do my heart good if he took it home and used it or gave it to his favorite relative--he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

having effectively curbed any latent terrorist inclinations i might have, the flights out west went smoothly. and, given the two hours mtn time gave me back, just after noon i was waving at paul waiting to pick me up in haily. flying over the mountains, some well covered in snow, was very pleasing knowing full well that paul would have a hike planned to get us out into them for few days.

sure enough, the plan had us packing that evening for two nights and three days. day one, we would go leisurely up to goat lake out of stanley and set up camp, hang out some, take a swim, the usual 'this is such a beautiful place' stuff. day two, after breakfast, we would summit thompson peak, and then the last day, hike out, maybe in time for a second breakfast at the stanley baking co. & cafe. i got to catch up with paul and his wife renée as we packed. even with the large gap between our visits, it was a joy and the years quickly melted. 

at a certain point, our energies also melted and we headed off to bed. the next morning we final-packed, loaded the truck, and drove north. unfortunately, renée was still recovering from a sickness and couldn't go with, but she gave us a wave and wished us luck. the road to stanley took us up and over galena pass, where i had learned to telemark ski, way 'back in the day' when i had come out to be best man at paul's and renée's wedding. i had returned--and skied galena again--a few times, once with kevin when we were heading to alaska and denali. the pass was snowless for the moment, but i could remember the many lines, and envision hundreds more; just a few feet of snow would open up a world of joy. 

we pulled into stanley and the cafe and fueled up on their famous pancakes. paul mentioned that a breakfast stop here was the tradition whenever they passed by. i was honored to get in on that. pam and i had actually gotten stuck in stanley when we were hitchhiking home from a visit--again, way 'back in the day'. the baking co. wasn't there in '76, i recall we ate breakfast in the lodge after spending the night there to avoid -52°F outdoors on the roadside.



well fed and back on the road, a few miles west of town we got out to the iron creek campground and the trailhead to enter the sawtooths from the north end. we swapped crocs for hiking shoes, shouldered our packs, and started, one foot in front of the other. hiking out west is not all that different than the trails in the white mtns back east, only it is much much dryer here and instead of all dirt with rocks and roots, there is a good amount of gravel on the footpath. 



being dry and gravelly also means the fallen trees don't rot nearly as quickly which makes for lots and lots of grey sticks of all sizes littering the forest. such excess would make our trail crews back home really jealous of all the material for water bars, steps, bridging, shelters, whatever. just when we turned off the main trail and headed toward goat lake, we crossed a three log bridge. paul said each log had been floating in much deeper water back in june. they were a couple of feet above water now.



as we rounded a shoulder coming out of the thicker forest, paul suddenly stopped and whispered, "stone troll...don't wake it or we're in trouble." we took a water and snack brake under its gaze and shot a couple of pictures. looking south--the direction the troll stared out--we started to see the higher peaks. 





a bit further along, we came to the next turn off, semi-hidden and going steeply up to goat lake. the path was super gravelly and the slope had clearly burned off at some point.  for a long while, you could hear a large amount of rushing water but we didn't get a look at it--goat falls--until passing an outcrop near its top. i imagined there would be some great ice climbing in frozen times.

the closer we got to the lake the more i noticed how hot i was and suggested to paul that we take a swim. he was not at all enthusiastic about diving into 'freezing' cold water, but i figured if i went in, he would join me. it would be good to wash off the sweat we worked up and get clean for dinner. i stripped and dove in. it was heaven, only a bit colder, though if i had to guess not all that different than the atlantic on the maine coast. 

the temperature might have been similar, but the view was certainly unique. after i got my boxers back on paul took this shot. the tiny triangle in the center distance is thompson peak, where we would be headed the next day. at 8000 feet plus, the water was snow melt coming down from patches like the ones you can see above the lake. oh, and paul did go in, up to his neck even.

we set up our tent just above the swimming 'hole', and cooked dinner on my new, ultra-lite alcohol stove. after cleaning up, we talked of life well into the evening. 




it cooled off quickly when the sun dipped behind the ridge line to the west, but there seemed to be a warm air mass moving up from the south. there were no clouds to clue us in on the direction of those upper winds, but that made for some super star watching. before i crawled into my sleeping bag, the milky way had washed a bright strip across the sky. when i woke up and went to pee a couple of hours later, the lake reflected all that starlight making for quite a show below the feet as well as above the head. 

in the morning, i fired up the stove again and boiled water for oatmeal and hot cocoa. we were about done eating when the sun started to hit that western ridge line and i snapped the picture below.

the stanley baking company had great pancakes, but atmosphere like this at breakfast would be hard to beat. yes, that is snow at the water's edge.

speaking of snow and edges, we soon took off around the perimeter of the lake, hiking up the chain of lakes, around and over a few patches of the frozen. most of the snow patches were solid from their top down to rock. this one below, had a nice arched tunnel that the melt had carved out enough to scare paul around it. he stopped and took a shot, intimating that at any moment things were going to collapse and i would be toast. 

of course i reminded him that if that did happen he would have to carry me out...he stopped saying anything, but he might have kept worrying. 










we circumnavigated one of the lakes by edging along a ledge about 5 meters above the water. i suppose this sort of 'trail' is not for everybody, but it got me excited and kept me focused on something more than the good distance we had left to go. truth be told, i am not all that big a fan of hiking. being out in the western mountains was nice though and with a rock 'climbing' section now and again, i was smiling.








not too much further, a drainage from another lake in the chain made me think of pam's love of moss. a couple hundred yards of thick, soft green, made a lovely path up through the rock. when paul had been by here in june, it had been under more than a few feet of snow. that got me guessing that the high plants only lay exposed for about 4 months, and some of that under water. you have to be hardy to grow up here.











we got to the saddle leading up to thompson peak and paul snapped a picture that showed a few of the lakes over my shoulders. goat lake, where we were camping, is the farthest blue spot to the north. it seemed like a fair distance, and we still had the peak above us to finish.


climbing through some pretty gravely scree, we worked our way up and around the western flank to the southern couloir and scrambled up. i got a nice shot of paul looking up that slot, just under the summit. 

topping out, we scouted around the several of the 'false' peaks along the summit spine. looking out to the south, one really gets the idea why this range is called the sawtooths. i respect that pam would never move out here, but i could see myself living near these mountains. skiing and climbing out our backdoor is possible in new england, even fairly decent given our proximity to the white mtns. but here, going outside and playing in the backyard would be like dying and going to heaven. just so i would remember it, paul took a picture of what we were looking over as we settled down to eat lunch at the summit register...

the view definitely put big smiles on our faces! after a multi pitch climb, my expression was a bit weary here--maybe it was a bad hair day. this picture was taken 40 years ago, somewhere out there in that view above, on the finger of fate, a stone spire in the sawtooths. i led one of paul's best friends, steve ollila, up there just so he could take this picture of me--jk. steve died a few years back but we opted out of a memorial climb so that we could actually set the camera and sit together on a summit...

the march back down to goat lake, didn't take as long as coming up--gravity has a way of making that work easier. although it was not just a hop, skip, and a jump, we did make it before dark and were able to cook without headlamps. that night, clouds did start moving in and we got a rain shower or two before breakfast. chocolate milk in our oatmeal fueled us through packing and hiking out--in time to hit the stanley baking co. cafe for 2nd breakfast!



well fed, we got back in the truck but, before driving back over galena pass we stopped at redfish lake to relax in the shallows of the river feeding it. i couldn't have asked for a nicer end to such a wonderful three days.

windy and cool...

a perfect time to run up a local mountain and camp--especially in the dark! i was entering data at school and saw an email from sawyer pop up--" i was thinking of sleeping up on xxxxxxxx tonight to see how the gear holds up in a potentially wet and cool environment...any interest in coming along? i could pick you up around 6:30..." sweet; i was all in.

i packed up quickly and pedaled home to cook a 'fast' meal for us. soy pulled in, we ate, we final packed the essentials, and we pulled out. even with all that quick, when we started up the trail it was dark. the head lamps came on when a slip at a rocky creek crossing told us, despite the moon at almost full-bright, it was hard to see potential obstacles at our feet.

hiking in the dark with a headlamp can be problematic for me. after a time, maybe 20 minutes or so, i start losing acuity and depths go haywire. rocks float up and tree branches sink down. things take on new dimensions that fool with my bearings. i reminded soy how our long standing debate about using car high-beams, was the same thing. my eyes must get tired and the brain stops automatically refocusing. my right eye has not worked in sync with my left since i was a child. i had an operation for being cross-eyed and have not had binocular vision that i ever knew about. when it happens hiking, i take the light off my head and hold it below my waste--that helped.



our 'head' lights were turned off totally when we got up above 'turn around rock', the boulder in the middle of the trail just about tree-lien. i coined the nickname in reference to where conditions often deteriorate for skiing. more often than not, the snow--if it exists at all--is scoured and icy making it a sketchy ski at best. we didn't turn back, but stopped and put on a wind layer. soy's new rain jacket made for good contrast in the dark. the rest of the way, we were glad to have protection as it grew more and more blustery the higher we got. guessing at the speed is always interesting. i carry and anemometer along to check and have dialed in my predictions pretty much according to sound and feel. soy had it pegged at 30mph as he had checked mountain weather forecast, a very informative website he found. i always go to the low side, as humans tend to exaggerate. maybe we do that because it feels so different, especially comparing it to what we call normal. 




at the top we stopped out of the wind and watched thin clouds scud past the moon at high speed. the moon's brightness dimmed, then re-brightened, and made for an almost eerie effect. almost, as it was really frightening, not even spooky, but definitely strange. we scouted out our possible tent site under moon light and decided to set things up. the wind gave us a bit of a challenge from flapping my fly like crazy to blowing one of soy's poles off. i snapped a shot of the bivy tucked tight to the granite.

i had pangs of regret for not buying myself one when soy got his--the two pole model has been discontinued. it lay low and quiet, while my solo hubba--not all that tall, but maybe 2x higher than the black diamond--whop-whop-whopped a steady beat in the 'breeze'. my room to move inside was the trade off for sawyer's low profile. depending upon the situation there are positives for both. given that i love to go stealth, and get caught in the wind as much as i do in the rain, i still was a bit jealous.

after brewing a cup-pot of tea, with the lid safely back after chasing it down the east side, and some more windspeed testing--i did see-feel one gust over 30mph--we tucked into our respective sleeping quarters. one of the reasons we had come up was to test some gear. soy had just bought a down quilt, an ultra light sleeping cover--not a bag--that promised warmth down to 20°F. it was not going to get that cold tonight, but we could have temps down in the 30's and with windchill it would give us a taste.

after tossing for an hour, i forced myself to get up and go out and pee. i got back in empty and settled. years ago i learned that if you pee you stay warmer as you don't have to keep all that liquid body temp. it works for me. the next time woke, i noticed a pink glow on the eastern horizon--time to rise and prep for the shine. soy had been a bit anxious about getting an early start in order to make it to work on time, so i woke him. his smile seemed a good advertisement for the effectiveness of his new sleeping kit. the flash may have blinded him but he cheerily gave me a starred review of his comfort. he mentioned that the bivy-tent size, seemed to limit the loft his quilt could achieve, but he stayed toasty.

having slept warm in my primaloft 'puffy' and a t-shirt, in my 35°primaloft bag, i was less jealous than over the bivy-tent. one reason i love primaloft is its bombproof water resistance. new england is a wet environment. most of the places i go are wet, potentially, very wet. we are headed to vancouver island. the pacific northwest, especially the coast is home to one of the few remaining strong holds of the temperate rainforest.






i suggested just packing and jumping. soy, still in his quilt, looked puzzled, "without waiting for me?" no, but not hanging around to see the sun actually top the horizon. the quick exit off saved us 15-20 minutes, and got us down to the car in plenty of time to make work for both of us. the descent was uneventful, though i noticed much more in the light than i did going up in the dark. like pam and i saw on our hike a couple of weeks ago, mushrooms were in 'full bloom'. even though some rain helped the decomposers to go wild, the creeks were nearly dry, save for a few puddle-pools fed by the remaining trickles. i also took note of several blowdowns that would have to be cut out before ski season.








soy dropped me off and headed toward dartmouth's media services. i switched backpacks and went to school. soon enough i saw several MOC students that reminded me tonight was the monthly moonrise--sunset hike. i had not forgotten, and after a day supporting all things tech, i got up to the parking lot. when i pulled in, ben j, a MOC grad now in college, was tailgaiting with a can of tuna, cheese and crackers. we waited 10 minutes past the published start hiking time, and picked up one more student, andrew p. we took off hoping to make the top to see the moon pop up and figured any stragglers would make the sunset. we made it as the moon emerged from behind a gauze of haze low in the east.

a group of five more MOCers made it up just before the sunset and we snapped a few pictures. (i am still waiting julia f...) two other mascoma alum came up as well. we went down in two groups, making our way at our own speeds. gathering in the parking lot, i was feeling so good that i made up a riddle for the group: today, i went up the mtn once and came down the same mtn twice...how does that work? olivia s. was equally excited and recruiting folks to go up in the morining to see the opposite of tonight's show, sunrise--moonset. i didn't hear any immediate enthusiasm but figured if anybody could rally the troops it would be olivia.

sure enough, at school on friday, olivia gushed that she and a couple of others had made the trek and gotten an equally great, clear show, horizon to horizon.

no riddle here, go outside and play! it's always good...

we took to the woods...

for some cross-country action and more AT hiking. after a long week answering to all sorts of problems with computers, smartboards, projectors, phones, and assorted other tech, i was fairly relieved to hop on the bus with the cross-country team at 2:00 on friday afternoon. our usual coach, rev. tom, had a wedding to do and i was 'volunteered' to fill in. it was a bit of a bus ride, but i had a swell time with three of the runners that i knew well. olivia, justin, and i laughed a lot at lincoln as he made crazy statement after crazy statement--clearly "numbers baffled him!" we got a lot of milage out of his jack's beanstalk-esque 1000 foot tall pine tree. "it was so high up there, you couldn't see the leaves."

the meet was at fall mtn regional high school (put the map on satellite and zoom in a bit for a look at the area we ran in) and their x-c coach met us as the bus pulled into the lot. we got the basic run down of the event and wandered over to the starting line area to wait for the 'coarse jog' around. we watched a couple of teams go off and followed a ways behind. i ran along with the team sporting the bright blue crocs. we made it around, a bit more than a mile and a half and finished circling their track. the actual race would be 2x around and finishing with most of one lap directly on the track.

the boys ran first and olivia, lincoln--he couldn't run yet as he hadn't gotten in all his paper work--and i placed ourselves strategically and cheered when the mascoma boys went past. as the racers spread out we moved a few times to see them. olivia and lincoln ended up at the finish line taking times while i went up the track and spurred them on toward the end. justin ran really well for their first meet, almost breaking 20 minutes at 20:32. devon and henry ran a respectable race as well. i think lincoln was frustrated he hadn't gotten in his consent form as he wanted to race as well.

soon enough the girls were lining up and olivia fit into the middle of the pack. she seemed to not take off as fast as the group, but said she passed a bunch of them fairly soon after they got in the woods. that seemed like a better strategy than burning out early. she looked very steady every time we caught sight of her at a vantage point. she finished strong as well and came off the track with a smile and getting her breath back. it was a fine outing for all even though i elected to skip the traditional stop at mcdonalds.

http://www.mytopo.com/maps/

sunday morning was hiking day, and pam got herself out of bed and into breakfast just after 7:00a. her goal was to get on the trail early and make it to the top of smart's mtn. usually we have just looped the lower section and going to the top would add some distance as well as vertical--about 8 miles compared to 6.5. i thought that it would be wise to take the ranger trail up and the AT down as there is more gradual up on the former. of course that would give us some steep down, but gravity would assist.


to get to the trailhead, we drove over the turnpike road, past dartmouth skiway, and up towards reservoir pond. the parking area was almost full, but considering it was vacation weekend and the sky was nearly cloudless, it was to be expected. packs on the backs, we set out.


the first thing we noticed. and stopped to take a few pictures of, were the huge caps of an extensive and varied mushroom crop. after about the third photo stop pam mentioned aloud what i had been thinking--fungi could be a great thread for this post. i tried to come up with a hiking joke ending in the punchline "why not? i'm a fun-gi!" but gave it up for concentrating on where i was placing my feet to avoid stomping on any. here are four interesting examples...









the purply-blue flower picture is of bottle gentian. pam remembered betty collins telling her that, way back in the 1960's. (it always cracks me up that she thinks she has alzheimer's when she can't remember something.) gentians are woodsy perennials that love wettish feet. fortunately for those who kept an eye out, these had found a moist spot in this dry year.





speaking of moisture and lack there of, as we got higher and higher in elevation, i wondered if the fungi would disappear. things don't rot as fast in dry environments and fungi are part of the 'rotting' system. but, there seemed to be fewer of them, and even at the top i saw them tucked into a shady spot or three. along the way, pam broke out her poles to help coax the legs along, but she did something funky to her shoulder. even though she said she was determined, i thought uh-oh. we did eventually make it and i steered her toward the tent site with a friendly, grassy overlook. she sat down happily to adjust her hair and eat a slice of pizza.

from that vantage point, we could see all the surrounding hills and mtn.s to the south, from cardigan in the east, to just west of moose. we tried to name all the ponds in view, but there were a lot, and it got a tad confusing with some of the bigger ones partially hidden. the picture below shows most of cummings pond at the bottom and firescrew and cardigan mtn at the top. i believe that is ragged mtn in the far back on the right. angles from different perspectives--i.e. standing atop different mountains--can throw you way off.

refreshed, hair in place (for those who have it), and one last picture, we started down. the heat of the day was not too bad up high and in the breeze. much of the time too, we were in the shade. at the ranger-AT junction, we turned off, onto about a quarter mile of steep rock stairs dropping you quickly down to the high valley between the AT ridgeline, where we were headed, and the ranger trail, where we had come up. it can get really wet through here but not this summer. the numerous bog bridges and stone steps were all 'high and dry'.




as we got up on lambert ridge, it got even drier, especially out in the sun on the 'bald spots' where the ledge was exposed. i took a screen shot of the satellite view where you can see the white granite dotting the green. if you zoom in on google maps, the AT is labeled and you can get a good idea of it. it yo-yo's along for quiet a ways. i think maybe this is when i heard pam start muttering, "just two more miles...one step at a time." so far, she had been quite a trooper, even though she crumped her shoulder way back on the ranger trail.


as we were going down after an up, we did have a bit of a surprise that distracted pam from the "never ending" part of things. another hiker had just stopped below me and i thought to myself--that looks like the "lost" toronto guy we had seen last weekend over on moose mtn. sure enough it was same person i mentioned in my last post!


we chatted a bit but i tried not to get too involved as i remember he liked to ramble on verbally. he looked healthy and seemed to be in really good spirits so when pam came along, we gave him a good luck and goodbye.


a bit later pam was making up titles to a new guide book: hiking the AT--one mile a day! a new twist on the old 'dollar-a-day' guides they used to put out. over and above the super slow pace he was setting, about six miles in seven days, seeing him there, pam was mostly relieved of the worry she had for "lost man". seeing him alive and well put a spring back in her own step.


well and good she perked up, as we still had about a mile to descend. i took a couple of pictures of her in fine form at 'the corner' where MOC commonly stopped to eat lunch on our way up on the deep freeze overnight. she usually is not so game about getting close to any edge let alone one with a 60-70 foot drop, but maybe she was feeling frisky and starting to "smell the barn" as they say.



after squaring the corner, we passed over a few final ledgy parts and got solidly into the woods. at one point the trail goes through an opening in an incredible stone wall. every time i cross through that gap, i marvel at whoever the heck built that beauty way the heck up there. one last picture doesn't quite do it justice but it is still in fine shape. trust me, or better yet take a hike and see it for yourself.



after the wall, we could start to hear vehicles laboring up the gravel down below, and then turning a corner i heard grant brook. the car was waiting for us when we popped out of the woods. there was no bus blocking us in, which was a bit of a possibility given the couple dozen teen looking hikers that passed us headed up to the summit cabin for the night.

ourselves, we were headed home eventually, with a trip over to pam's sister's in springfield to pick tomatoes and a swim in lake kolelemook. that would certainly be refreshing!

hiking on the AT...

with a man who seemed lost and some 'smelly boys!' for about a month now pam has been talking about hiking the AT from goose pond road going south, up moose mtn. this past saturday we finally made it happen. the topo below shows the trail in red within the pink border of the white mountain national forest. we started from the top of the map and followed the dotted line toward south peak at the bottom.

http://www.mytopo.com/maps/

parking at the same pull off we use for MOC's annual turkey trot to holt's ledge and dartmouth skiway, we went across the road and headed south and uphill. not too far in the trail turns hard west and angles up even more. the land falls away to the north and the valley goose pond road follows. every once in a while a little flat spot offers a perch with a view. it was at one of these, about the size of a small kitchen, a man stood against a tree, his tent still set, and various gear spread about.

i stopped to talk as pam came up and we discovered he was from toronto and hiking the AT in new hampshire. if i were to say anything about him at this point i would comment on how soft spoken and unhurried he was. he spoke of stopping early the night before because he was tired, waking for breakfast, and then falling back asleep. it was around 10 and although he was gazing out over the valley, he was thinking about packing and getting moving.



we moved on as well, still climbing steeply and in a short bit, headed back south, more along a ridge. looking into the woods, you could see ledge paralleling us. in a few places the trail ran across exposed granite in the 'spine'. pam took a shot of one root system that spidered over a particularly large section of ledge.

looking up as we climbed, i got a picture of the area covered in a couple of feet of snow--it was a perfect glade. the trees were well spaced and the under growth small enough to be covered by a good couple of dumps. skip would be excited to see this and i wondered why he had not suggested ski up here before--maybe he and linda had not been up here since his freeheel turns got more solid. i remember we had skied the south peak and wolfboro road areas a number of years ago--we would have to come back to this side.

the ledge stuck up more and more as we got higher. the trail went by several long sections well above our heads. i went off trail over to one open spot about the size of a big house, covered in berry brush and fern. old fruit trees, crab apples and cherry, hung around the edges. it was a cool place only exploring it at its high point left me with a sketchy scramble down over a lichen and moss edge, with an overhanging drop of about six final feet. i managed, but pam was on the trail wondering what all the noise was.

below the north peak slab, three through hikers hung out on a broad overlook back to the north toward smart's mountain. there is a cabin up just off the peak with its fire tower. i imagined they would be staying up there that night--about 10 miles away, with a good bit of vertical to gain in two sections.

we topped out soon after that but i had not been there in so long that i suggested that we just keep going. pam was thinking i was just scheming to hike all the way to south peak, but i really was not all that sure. i think i figured it out about a mile of ridge later. walking through the woods without any distant spots for reference is a east coast thing. one has to go up to the whites to hike for miles above treeline. at some point pam's hunger started to perk up and she wondered about turning around. i thought of the potatoes and onions i had to harvest and agreed it would be a good spot to spin.

as we were coming back up to the north peak four through hikers--the 'smelly boys'--went roaring past us at speed. pam guessed that they would be headed to that north looking overlook and would stop and stink up our lunch spot. sure enough they were, so we kept on finally stopping on one of the outcroppings in a nice shady spot. we each had an apple and pam had 1/2 of her third cliff bar...granted the first two were the small sized ones. we took off again thinking that any minute the train of 'smelly boys' would blow by again. if you don't know pam, she gets hooked on certain phrases and repeats them in her child's voice--i heard 'smelly boys' a bunch of times before two of them actually did pass us--this time with a girl.

they caught us right at a log foot bridge covered with the toronto hiker's gear and him sitting on it. i went around on some larger rocks and stepped off trail on the other side of the creek. i didn't talk to the guy this time but the 'smelly boys' did. the guy had advanced much less than a mile--down hill--and had three of four water bottles out along with a filter. he was said he was filling up for day, but it was already after 1:00 and he had barely moved. it was probably at this point, pam started to worry about the 'lost man.'

we got back to the car shortly after and she told me she was worried about the guy. given that he had all the gear, food, and now water, i thought he would be ok. the AT is well traveled too, so i was not too concerned. i probably was also thinking about the potatoes and onions as i drove right by goose pond with out stopping and making good use of the swim suits pam had thoughtfully packed. it was hot and we were sweaty, but it was going to get worse for me, bending over and digging. i suspected that i would be even more in need of a swim in a few hours.

sure enough i was, and i thought maybe that was why pam was headed to the garden with her camera. but no she wanted pictures of her annual garden. to be sure the flowers this year have been spectacular, but what's not to love about a dirt-streaked, sweaty old man bending over a hill of potatoes?

i'll leave it at that...

biking with the masses...

in mass...and vermont too! friday after work i loaded my road bike and headed south to sawyer and hannah's place in sunderland mass. dinner was sautéed summer squash with noodles and pesto--yum! i had a second go at it, thinking about carbo-loading for the next day. sitting with them at the kitchen table made me think of summer garden meals back in day, when pam and i first started growing food. i remember coming home from school one evening only to see a backhoe digging about the yard and drive, some of the garden plants tilting into the hole--a rhubarb already fallen in.

the 'kids' had invited me south to ride on saturday, in the d2r2--the deerfield dirt road randonnee. they have been doing this ride for the last few years and had a small group built up. two couples from boston were slated to come, one of them matt munsey and his partner kailyn, the other cory and josh. unfortunately, kailyn had been in a bike-car accident with her on the bike. she was unable to ride so i volunteered to cover her entrance fee.

josh and cory pulled in shortly after it got dark. we chatted some, decided on an early start, prepped the teeth, and crawled off to bed--cory, josh, and i in tents out by the garden. i woke the usual dark o'clock and went inside for first breakfast--deckard the cat had his early too. by 6:30 we were packing bikes and gearing up. we took off for deerfield to the gathering and second breakfast, at least for me. matty was probably just leaving boston. he would catch us somewhere--the beast on a bike he is.

we pulled in behind hundreds of cars parked in a huge field with stakes and string marking off multiple 4x football field sized lots. things seemed to be filling up at a good clip. bikers of all shapes, sizes, and sexes were pedaling about, some already heading out on the route. we registered, fastened on our numbers, and went at the food tent. i don't know exactly what time it was but it struck me as very motivating to see so many folks into biking their saturday away. soy and i were taking in all the lovely rides around us, from vintage "japanese steel" to the ultramodern carbon fiber--and everything in between. likewise, bodies sported a rainbow of jerseys and shorts. kits--as a rider's clothing is called--advertised just about everything and everywhere. it was a feast for the eyes!

despite the urge to gawk, we--our 'gruppo' pictured above--did finally get out of the gate. it felt good to ride in a little pack, chatting with each other. for a couple of miles we kept a steady pace and i smiled each time a group of riders flew by us on their hot bikes and in their 'fit' kits.  i like to climb strong and i particularly remember see sawing one particular couple, passing them on the longer uphill, and them passing us back on the downhill or flat. soon enough we got off the pavement and went into the woods on a dirt back road. if things stayed this 'rural' and rough, i would be pumped.



after the first big hill--josh skipped his chain off to the spokeside of his freewheel twenty meters from the top--we got back on pavement for a fast descent. on the next big hill, the beast caught us--snuck up fast while we were even talking about him, "matty, you're here!" let's get the party started.

there were enough riders doing the 100K like we were that it was easy to follow the flow, everybody heading to the first water-snack stop. a fairly big crowd made it hard to miss. we didn't spend too much time, but i made sure and down a mini cup of 'pickle juice' to ward off the dreaded cramping. it was another quick decent going away, with a couple of hairpins thrown in just when you wanted to be looking at the wide valley views.  as we climbed back out of the low spot we just rolled into, i was chugging ahead a bit when i heard my name, several times. "koby, come back, you missed the turn. this way has more rocks and is steeper...!" so much for following the flow.

as we were headed off onto another woods road, we got stopped by a fire vehicle. a police car and an ambulance crept by and parked at the bottom of a steep section where a rider had crashed and was sitting off to the side with paramedics attending him. we were single file and slow getting past that point. it occurred to me that i was wearing a helmet. though i get a big raft of grief, i don't usually use one unless i am with students--and going fast through the woods or down mountains. it is a choice that seems to garner a lot of criticism but americans tend to make safety decisions based on fear rather than solid research. then again, maybe it's my dutch heratige--that and the damn things are hot.

hot helmet and all, after another really long climb up a dirt road, we launched into a couple of miles of steep downhill. i remember at one point letting it go and passing matty, unusual in and of itself, but as i went by i gave a little hop out of a dip in the road and got airborne. the challenge was on, and he zoomed back by when i got conservative and stuck behind a threesome of gents going much slower, two sometimes three abreast. before the down let up completely we came to the river, the covered bridge under renovation, and lunch. i could hear matty's brakes in tandem with mine. another unusual occurrence, matty braking--or even having working brakes!

lunch was a good break but i should have taken a couple of pickle juices there. the only time i felt a twinge of cramp was following the river for 5-6 miles leaving lunch. it sort of worried me as it was basically flat and right before the big turn up 'apex' hill--




the hill was so called because the apex orchard water and snack stop is perched at the tippy top of the longest and steepest hill we would ride over. the word on the road was that the 'peach lady', normally there and handing out the tasty fruit, was not going to be there this year. i want to say, thank the fruit godesses and gods, that was not true. i got a juicey ripe delicious peach and three mini-cups of pickle juice--both hit the spot! hannah and cory seem to be happy with their peaches too.



we had a couple more ups and downs after that, the craziest being down hawk's hill, one of the steeper and without question the roughest and sandiest. sawyer's comment was "this is why some people suffer riding a mtn. bike the whole way, just for this." we made it down safely, but two police cars and an ambulance went screaming by us and up hawk's for someone who didn't.

at the bottom of hawk's we reversed the roads we had started on and came back to the parking, food tent, and for some, the all important beer stand. sixty two miles, a few stops, and some great riding brought smiles to our faces as we crossed the finish line and got into the refreshment ones. soy made a gif out of the racewire pictures taken--it takes some work but sometimes it does 'scroll'.

it was a grand day out, as 'wallace' would say...and i do believe i would do it again if the 'gruppo' invites me back!