first we got snow...deep snow!

going to bed wednesday, the 16th, it was just starting to snow. the forecast had just changed from 4-6 inches, to 8-10, with the most down in the south west corner of nh. that meant to me, we could get a lot, and all snow. i fell asleep "while visions of [deep snow] danced in my head".

when i woke up thursday morning, i was rewarded--richly. there was already maybe 8" on the top of the vehicles and roofs, which obviously means the ground too, but it is harder to see. that, and it was still snowing hard. bonus, as i suited up for shoveling, it seemed to be coming down even harder. when i got out, i pushed around what was there for a couple hours. when i broke to go in, there was another 8" already built up where i had cleared at the start.

i was thrilled and anxious to get out, up high, turned around, and floating back down. the depth made me choose the steeper runs at shaker wma, hoping to recruit dick. the roads were horrendous and pulling into the bike shop parking area, i turned a bit early, where the road hadn't been plowed yet. it took about an hour of heavy shoveling to dig out. that delay gave dick enough time to finish what he was doing and after eating a bit of lunch we headed across the street. 

skis on the feet, we started plowing towards the trails. by the time we got to the bottom of where we planned to start up, i had lengthened my poles to their max and taken off my sweater. 

the going was about as hard work as i could remember. dick's skis seemed to come out of the depths a bit easier so he mostly broke trail--thank you. it was indeed deep--probably more than 2 feet. when we got to the top of the steep section, we decided enough , let's point them down. we stripped our skins, buckled boots tight, clamped down bindings, and pushed off. turns out we weren't done plowing.

if you stayed in the track we had broken out on the way up, you could move down. but if you went out into the deep, you got maybe one, or one and a half turns in before the snow, pushing at your crotch, stopped you, even at the steepest. you won't hear me say this often, but without a bottom to it, the snow was too deep. 

i gave it a night and went back out friday. still: too early, too deep, too much work. 

that night i convinced myself that the doughboy--a 215cm snowboard--would float it. i emailed olivia and convinced her to join me. we met at the bottom of the shaker hill and hiked up in a track some sledders had made. we buckled in at the top and pointed down. for the third time--it was brutally slow. unless you kept to a track you would sink almost immediately and stop. each time i went off, i got stopped. most of those times, stopping included falling over as well. getting back up was as exhausting as skinning though the deep on that first day. we gave up trying.

sunday, day four, i headed over to the AT off goose pond, figuring really steep had to do it. turns out others were headed for the same idea. they got there a couple hours earlier and it looked like it was indeed fun. i found some untracked areas and practically flew down. that was more like it. i didn't even see all those animal tracks i was following on the way up.

i stopped at skip's to get him to go take a run somewhere. he was busy, so i skinned up town hill solo. the run down the other side was really sweet. i was pretty excited to skin back up and fly down into our dooryard. it was all that i dreamed of. the bottom had finally developed, with the top cold, dry, and fast.

the picture on the left was the track over rowen's log (see oct 12th goap! for rowen riding it). the rock hop on the right was at the 'sledding corner' (see feb 2018 goap! grace and suki sledding). when i got back in the house, i emailed olivia and we arranged to meet again over at the shaker wma--for another go at it.

the next day it was much warmer and somewhat sticky. read slow, and grippy enough i could scale up without skins. that was ok in that we could hit the glades and olivia's first backcountry skiing through the trees would be less anxious. we got by lost pond and started down. as long as you kept moving, it was a good run. when you stopped, you clumped up. basically, i tried not to stop though we changed packs, and i took the big one with snowshoes in it. i also gave her my mittens which let her ride with her hands out of her pockets. 

 

the next day it was much warmer and somewhat sticky. read slow, and grippy enough i could scale up without skins. that was ok in that we could hit the glades and olivia's first backcountry skiing through the trees would be less anxious. it also helped to change packs, and loan her my extra big mittens so she could ride with her hands out of her pockets. that made her smile big--even after she tried jumping a downed tree, and didn't quite make it. as she floated by 'dusting' herself off, she said something like "thanks for the mittens--that helped!"

tuesday was colder and the snow had actually dried out some, not nearly so sticky and still about a foot deep--the bottom was rising--which made it slow~ish. that made cardigan the choice of the day. it was good, but being the sixth day after the snowfall, it was getting tracked out. that never helps.

wednesday was even colder and dryer, and even though the bottom was even higher, about 6 inches now. i went back for one last go at a trail i had noticed had only a central snowshoe track, leaving plenty of edge to turn in. amazingly, the conditions were just about the best of any of the previous days. 

it was a good thing as the rain started christmas eve afternoon and kept up right through christmas day. that wasn't so bad, as i was inside baking the annual christmas pulla while the snow melted. being outside and playing is always good--even when you are getting wet--but after six days i was ok taking a break.

snow on the ground

here in the northeast, saturday was forecasted to be snowy. over the past month, i had gotten in a couple days of trail work on cardigan but wanted to do some final chainsawing on the ski trail before the seasonal freeze up--which hopefully comes, soon. as i parked at the winter trailhead, it was starting to spit snow.

by the time i got up to the first mess of blow downs, it was snowing good. i dropped my pack by a tree and donned chaps, helmet, and ear muffs. i cut a bunch, moved a bunch, hiked a bit, cut some more, moved some more, hiked a bit--more. it went on like that until i got halfway along the second section where i called it good. 

the snow was coming down harder and i was plenty wet, so "good" was good. as i walked back through one particular 'mess' i was impressed with the clear line that was now snowing up.

if this keeps up, stays for the season, and continues to gets deeper and deeper over the next few months, you many not even notice those downed, big ol' trees. that will make me very happy. 

speaking of trail work, last thursday, olivia--back from oregon and off the recommended travel quarantine--joined me on the 2nd half of raking drains on cardigan's west ridge trail. the 1.75" of rain i had in my gauge at home on monday, looked to be at least that much on the mountain. the clear sign of a torrent ran strait down the trail where water had been running. as we got higher and higher, the drains were freezing harder and harder.

at a certain point, we parked the rake and shovel leaning on a tree and just hiked. it was an rare blue sky day and we wanted to see it from the top. surprise, surprise we had a elizabeth siting. elizabeth was a former student, friend of sadie's, and is now coaching cross country and track with tom, her father. she is an active woman recovering from wearing the 'boot' all fall to heal a broken bone in her foot. i snapped a picture of her running by. and another of olivia taking a panorama up at the tower. it was cold enough that we didn't stay long.

the thursday before that was thanksgiving, which means on friday MOC does its annual 'after turkey trot' from goose pond road to holt's ledge along the AT. i didn't advertise anything this year due to covid, but i thought skip & linda or maybe even andrew might show up.

nada. it was pam and i. though we did see some fresh gnawing activity, even the beavers were tucked into their den in the lodge at the damn. there were plenty of wet, slippery leaves to slide around on. footing going up at least, wasn't too bad and the path was rather beautiful in the grey mist.

at the top, overlooking holt's ledge, it was pretty well socked in. you could see enough not to step off the edge, but no further.

after hot tea and a snack and we started back knowing those leaves going down would be trickier. i heard at least one "f*^k" from behind when pam went down as we descended. all i could hope for was that the next time i was on this trail, it would be in knee deep snow, with skis doing all the sliding.

speaking of sliding and hitting the deck, the weekend before we had made the hour~ish drive over to one of our favorite hikes, welch-dickey loop in the waterville valley. it can be really crowded, so with covid and social distancing in mind, we went early on a cloudy, cooler friday morning. that was a good choice, but there were several icy spots--one with my butt print on it. 

we had gone up there years ago with the buffum family and got the idea to recreate a couple of the pictures that i remember taking of iona. pam let me pose under the stone, as my butt was already wet. 

we took a few artsy shots without any shenanigans as well...the one of the cairne reminded us of a goldsworthy sculpture--thank you palmer.

all in all, it was a grand day out. it would have been way cool to have the buffums along again. iona--now in college over in scotland--is even home for the holidays. still, any day we get to 'go outside and play!' is one that puts a smile on our faces.

more adventure riding through the woods scoping out possible fom-ftt routes.

if you haven't ridden a woods road in 10, 15, maybe 20 years, things will probably have changed. if you've never ridden something, things could also have changed over that amount of time, but you won't notice the difference. profound...

saturday, i made a plan to ride the lary pond section and check see if the way through to river road was still passable. i called skip and he accepted the invitation to join in the fun. he had not been through that way in just as long, so it was guaranteed to be an adventure. 

i rode over to his house and offered clockwise or counter clockwise--he chose counter- and we took off toward stevens road. as we passed a friend david's house, he was outside and stopped us to look at his cool new, little workshop with an arched roof. 

back on steven's we flew downhill and turned onto the lary pond road. skip was already planning to stop. i got out my camera as he was playing with his.

there was a small raft of ducks way out, with silhouettes like buffleheads, but not close enough for a positive id. i was thinking the last time i was here, skip and i were on a mission to skate all the bigger ponds in canaan and enfield. that was many winters ago.

back on the road, we climbed steadily to the left hand turn that would take us into dorchester before doubling back into canaan along the headwaters of the mascoma. at one point we crossed the river and stopped on the bridge for pictures--upstream & down.

not too long after that we came to a right hand turn climbing a big hill with snowmobile signs pointing up. i found a 'dead end' sign on a stick buried in the grass on the road following the river. skip seemed to recognize the hill so why not. as we pushed, we were both thinking this would be a great ski with good snow. we kept on pushing and making plans to come back in the winter, early enough after a storm to beat the snow machines.

as the steep fell off, we got back on the saddles and pedaled. after a while the down hill started and as the light was fading we let go the brakes more. maybe more than we should of not being able to see all the rocks. i thunked one solid with my front wheel and even in all the leaves saw within ten yards or so, it was flat.

as i stopped i thought, crap, i never patched that tube that went flat last month. skip to the rescue. as he pulled up behind he announced that he had a spare tube and CO2--score! i didn't even have to take the tire lever out...in nascar pit speed, the tire was under pressure and the wheel back on. we were lucky it was the front one.

a little more down hill and we turned left onto what would become the gore road, headed toward river road and home. skip turned his light on blinking mode, incase anybody needed to see us. i think we made it all the way to the turnpike without any traffic passing in either direction. at the bottom of his hill he offered to gift me a lift if i pedaled up to the house. it was getting dark enough that i took the offer.

it's always great to have skip along, but he was going to be circumnavigating grafton pond the next day, so i didn't even ask him if he wanted to try to find a route down to clark pond from the gore road. i checked both of the leaky tubes but they were too far gone to patch, so i just stuck all the pump and patches in my frame bag and left around noon to give me plenty of light to explore some more.

this time i passed by the pond end of the gore road and followed river road along the mascoma. a mile or more in, i passed another gate and was back in the woods. after what seemed like another mile, up a really gentle grade, i saw the dead end sign i had pulled out of the grass. it was back down again. skip had tried to pound it in with a rotten piece of wood and didn't get it in very far.

i turned up the hill again and tried riding as much as i could--that wasn't far. the steep and wet leaves were brutal. more pushing was involved for a second day, but it gave me plenty of time to think about skiing it. 

back on the saddle, i was a bit more prepared to miss any sharp rocks on the down slope. very soon the path ahead looked wide open and inviting. in the improved light, i figured it would be safe enough to let off the brake and have a bit of fun in the leaves. what the heck, i had patches and a pump!

that got me to the gore road fairly quickly and fortunately, the air in the tires at the top, was still there at the bottom. onto the gore road, i found a road to the right heading toward clark pond. skip had mentioned it saturday so i turned downhill, again. in a quick minute, i came to another intersection surrounded by old stone walls.

off to the left, there were several old cellar holes with foundation stones still laid up. i got off the bike and wandered around trying to imagine the structures that used to sit atop them. i was guessing the house was the smaller one with a walk in cellar. and the barn was bigger with what looked to be a root cellar. i was pretty impressed.

i was also still in the woods and didn't know how far the pond was. i took off. the trail got steep and rocky after just a short bit, but i found an alternative path--with dirt bike tracks--off to one side and took that. it came out just a couple hundred yards shy of the boat launch at the pond. sweet!

the sugar house road that pam and i came down here on last weekend was just around the corner--and up a big hill. so i kept riding. when i got into the woods again--i.e. the deep, slippery leaves--things got even more slippery as sleet started coming down. i tried to take a quick picture, but... 

the sugar house road that pam and i came down here on last weekend was just around the corner--and up a big hill. so i kept riding. when i got into the woods again--i.e. the deep, slippery leaves--things got even more slippery as sleet started coming down. i tried to take a quick picture, but... 

it didn't get any worse although anytime i was going downhill, it was almost cold. when i got back to the house, i realized i had put my hat in my pocket and pulled my thinner neck gaiter up onto my head and my gloves were in my frame bag.

cold or hot, sleet or sun, it always is fun to go outside and play!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

late autumn, outdoors in new england--playing in the leaves

after our saturday zoom-yoga session with the kids, i went out to harvest a late crop. it was raining, but not all that hard. by the time i got a bucket full of leeks into the house, it had gotten wetter. i decided to postpone until sun-day, my exploratory ride of a section on the 'five town tour'. 

i was dressed and out to the shop before pam even got out of bed, only to be met with a flat front tire on the addict. when i was going to patch it, i accidently got some paper stuck on a weird blobby patch made for my air mattress. so it wouldn't go to waste i used it on the bike tube all the while wondering how long it would last...the answer to that came in less than a mile. i ended up changing it out in front of harris rebar.

all pumped up, i got back on rt4 heading east. at some point i jumped on the rail trail and just after going by the town of canaan, i met up with a fellow teacher1 out for a run. we chatted as we went along. after that i was looking for the little connector i discovered, winding through the woods from rail trail to rt4. i stopped and rolled a large rock in place to mark the faint path on the trail side.

next stop was a stone foundation remnant where i took a picture.

after that i headed up riddle hill--the one sawyer and i came down in the last goap!--to the ruggle's mine turn. my plan was to find the old road back over to height of land road that drops down to rt4 right by tewksbury. my idea was to offer up a more woodsy less paved alternative to the north end of riddle hill. of course that would include a big ass hill. little did i know that even past the gate up to the mine, there is still quite a bit of climbing--big, big ass hill. looking up with the sun at the back and looking down into the sun.

all the climbing was worth it though. the woods were sublime and 97.9% rideable--for me. the leaves were again slippery enough to have me seriously thinking about a pair of rock n' road tires. i looked them up and ran into frame builder bruce gordon's death announcement as well as a SOPWAMTOS parade picture! sawyer mentioned something about gordon dieing when we were riding sunday, but then stopped. my hope is 43mm will fit on the addict.

meanwhile coming out of the woods onto height of land road, a grand 'new england-y' view got me off the bike walking around for the iconic postcard picture. the first one is right at the junction. 

not sure if this next one is the best vantage point but it was good--i think that is moose mtn in the distance.

on the downhill to rt4 i stopped twice to talk to folks about the road i just took coming over from ruggles mine. the first was a local graftonite, and an avid pro-class 6, 'open' roader. the second person was another local character--and one i knew--definitely a pro-private 'closed' roader. both thought it might be called glass road.

at rt4, snug harbor road is exactly opposite height of land and leads up to orange pond rd. that would start the 'long half' of the five town tour. i had the thought today, that fom-ftt might more accurately describe the ride than friends of mascoma gravel grinder.

today--to get back for a hike over town hill with pam--i turned left onto rt4 and went west until i found a quick link back to the rail trail. in a couple of miles or so, at canaan's eastern culvert, i met two grandparents riding with their little grandkids.

just past the tunnel, the father was waiting on his bike and when i went by, i got an enthusiastic "hi koby". enthusiastic enough that i stopped and chatted a while before riding along with him after the rest of the group went by. it was a classmate of sawyer's, travis. definitely a warm & fuzzy moment hearing all his good news.

i road fairly hard toward home and got there in time to stretch while pam ate lunch and got ready to hike. we both put on jackets as it was cooling down with the sun sinking. the woods, again--this time on foot and with a friend--were sublime. we made it over to the marsh you may have seen before if you follow goap!

the log bridge i set in the dry time a month ago, was now actually crossing water. i didn't use it though as now it only gets you to more wet. 

it was a really great day! the only regret i have is sadie and i didn't get to carve pumpkins. vt has restricted travel into and out of grafton county. despite that little setback, going outside and playing, always generates a big smile!