Vacation Hike #5: Diana's Baths

On our last full day up north, we took the kids to Diana's Baths. For those who have never been there, it a huge, sprawling series of pools, falls, and rocks that is a very popular family spot. It's a little over half a mile in, but I ended going out-and-back twice - five minutes after we got there, Carter claimed she needed to use the potty - which was all the way back at the parking lot. But once I got back, the kids and I built a little dam out of rocks and sticks, to block a tiny waterfall and try to get a pool to form behind it.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 24, 2010 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

Vacation Hike #4: Echo Lake & White Horse Ledge

Another cloudy, foggy morning - so I don't have any picture from the summit of the ledge. But this shot almost makes up for it. Lori wants to get a print made for our living room.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 24, 2010 01:23 PM | Comments (0)

Vacation Hike #3: Ethan Pond

Went up to Ethan Pond in Crawford Notch on day three. I've never been up there before, and thought it was worth checking out. It was pretty nice, in fact. I like all the bog bridges they have up there, where the trail starts to get wet. They just look cool to me, for some reason. I also flushed some kind of good-sized bird, but I'm not sure what it is. I'll have to poke around online and try to find a picture to compare to. Filing this hike away in my "do-again" file - the Ethan Pond campsite might be worth an overnight trip sometime.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 21, 2010 07:59 AM | Comments (2)

Vacation Hike #2: Black Cap

Went up Black Cap on day two - much better weather, as you can see. Black Cap is such a short hike, you barely get warmed up by the time you reach the summit. The photo on the left cracks me up - the reflector and the brightly painted sign that says 'TRAIL'. Don't know what I would have done without it!

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 18, 2010 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

Vacation Hike #1: Mt. Willard

Mt. Willard was my first morning hike of our vacation. What a way to start, too. It was pouring on me the whole way up, plus it was right at dawn, so I was worried about running into a bear, too. Once I got to the top the rain stopped, but the whole of Crawford Notch was socked in with fog anyway. You could barely make out the ridge that is across the notch from Willard. Still, I had a great time anyway. Hiking in the rain never really bothers me that much. It's just a matter of accepting the fact that you are going to get soaked - once you do that, it can be kind of fun.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 18, 2010 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

Maudslay: The Return

Now that the weather is warming up again, I've restarted my weekly weekend walks at Maudslay State Park. On my most recent trip, I took more of an interest in two things I've been curious about several times before, but never followed up on. The first is the tree you see in the middle picture, which is in the formal walled garden at the park. Late last fall, I noticed that this tree had fruit growing on it (they looked like apples). It seemed like an awfully strange and interesting way to grow a tree, though. Well I looked it up, and apparently this technique dates all the way back to trying to grow fruit within the walls of castles, in a very limited space. The technique is called "espalier" - here is a link to the wiki article. The other interesting thing is the round stone you see in the third photo (forgive me for the terrible quality of that one). I'd always suspected it was a millstone, but I wasn't sure. Well I looked that up, too. It is in fact a millstone - a runner stone, to be precise. Based on what I read in this article, it looks like this particular stone has a "quarter dress" pattern. It makes me wonder how it ended up here, out in the woods at the park. The park is right on the river - I wonder if there was a mill here once upon a time?

Posted under Hikes by Joel on May 11, 2010 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

Mt. Avalon

Dad and I went for a winter hike up in Crawford Notch last weekend. We climbed Mount Avalon. We ended up with a beautiful day. It was pretty cold, but the skies were nice and clear. The view from the top was amazing - the view of the Mt. Washington weather station was crystal clear. The last quarter-mile was incredibly steep, and without crampons I backslid a half-step for every step forward. But on the way down, the steepness was an advantage. I sat on my butt, and slid for a hundred yards at a shot halfway down the mountain. Next time, I'm going to bring a little saucer-style sled!

Posted under Hikes by Joel on February 13, 2010 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

Weekend Hikes

I've been sticking to my plan to go for a hike every Saturday morning. It's been about six weeks, and the only Saturday I've missed was the morning of Carter's birthday party - there was just too much stuff to set up at the house for me to squeeze a hike in. But other than that, I've been going every Saturday, rain or shine. I'm really starting to get to know my way around Maudslay a lot better, and don't bother bringing a trail map anymore. To be honest, it isn't a very accurate map and really wasn't much help anyway. I plan to keep this up all through the winter, as well. I eventually plan to branch out and add other parks to the pool, but for now, I am enjoying Maudslay that I don't have much of an urge yet to go elsewhere.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on October 21, 2009 06:56 AM | Comments (0)

Maudslay State Park

Going hiking in the Whites with Dad really lit a fire under me to try to start hiking more again. The past two weekends, I've gotten up early on Saturday morning (before dawn) to go for a hike without taking too much time away from the fam. Both times so far, I've gone out to Maudslay State Park in Newburyport. It's great - it's a beautiful park, plus that early in the morning I see hardly anyone. Yesterday I hiked for two hours, and saw a grand total of three people - all joggers. Next weekend I'm planning to try somewhere new. I'm considering Willowdale State Forest.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on September 27, 2009 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

North and Middle Sugarloaf

Two weekends ago, Dad and I went up north just for weekend, so that we could do a hike in the White Mountains. We ended up doing North and Middle Sugarloaf. I've never been up there before, and it was great. The views were fantastic, but it was freezing on the summit. It was low 40's to begin with, plus there was a whole lot of wind. But all in all, an awesome hike.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on September 27, 2009 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

Black Cap

While we were up north, we took the kids on a hike. I wanted to give them their first taste of the mountains, but I also wanted to make sure they could actually -do- the hike. So we settled on Black Cap. It's a little over a mile to the top, with a relatively easy grade. We had to carry them off and on as their legs got tired - or they got bored. :) But once we got to the top, they had a great time. Sean and I explored the summit, and he was climbing rocks, running around, jumping in puddles, and just thoroughly enjoying himself. The only downside is that the whole region was packed tight with fog, so we couldn't see anything from the summit. I would really have liked to see what the kids thought of the view.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on June 23, 2009 05:47 AM | Comments (0)

Arethusa Falls - Frankenstein Cliff

Dad and I hit the Arethusa Falls / Frankenstein Cliff loop the day before Lori was due to arrive with the kids. The falls were beautiful, but crowded. But we saw only three other groups on the Frankenstein Cliff, and they were all traveling in the other direction. The cliff itself commanded a fantastic view - although truth be told, my vertigo had me standing (alright, sitting) about forty feet back from the edge. On the trail down from the cliff, you pass under a bridge for the railroad that passes through this area. I've always wondered what it would be like to be there as a train passed by. Somehow, we timed it perfectly. We got their, climbed up to the bridge to check it out, and heard the train blow it's whistle not 30 seconds later. Amazing!

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 13, 2008 06:39 PM | Comments (0)

Sawyer Pond

After our warm-up hike of Black Cap earlier in the day, we were prepared to head out for an overnight stay at Sawyer Pond. I've been reading some about ultralight backpacking, and have slimmed my overnight gear down to something that will fit in my rucksack, rather than taking my big overnight bag. As you can see, Dad and Mike had some fairly large loads, however. Although both were more bulky than heavy, to be honest. But I thought Mike's looked especially funny, with that huge sleeping bag sticking off of the back like a chair. We started at the northern end of the trail, and less that a mile in the sky opened up and the downpour began. We were soaked to the skin instantly. But the air and rain were both pretty warm, so it was more fun than depressing. Of course, it scrubbed our overnight plans, as our gear got pretty wet. But we still got a chance to see the campsites and shelter, and the view of the pond with the mountains behind was quite beautiful. We plan to go back soon, and hopefully this time with Lori in tow as well.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 13, 2008 06:25 PM | Comments (1)

Sean and Daddy Day

Sean and I had a father-son day today. Lori took Carter out to run some errands, and Sean and I went to Maudslay State Park for a hike. We did about 2.5 to 3 miles total, and much to my surprise Sean walked the whole way. He was a little tired by the end, but he never even asked to be carried. We found some old foundations out in a field, and Sean walked on the top 2 inches protruding from the grass, chugging like an engine as he went. We did four laps before he was ready to move on. That hike proved to me that once I get him up north with me, there are probably a few short hikes in the Whites that he could handle. I can't wait!

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 13, 2008 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

Black Cap

As a warm-up hike before our overnight trip to Sawyer Pond, we hit Black Cap. It's a fairly easy amble up to the rocky summit, but the roasting temperatures and oppressive humidity made it seem worse than it was. At the summit we wandered a bit, trying to discover if there was any kind of a ledge or outlook around. In the process, we stumbled across a small memorial for Kathleen J. Etter, the late owner of a vegetarian cafe in North Conway called "Cafe Chimes". There was an engraved stone at the base of a tree, and the branches of the tree were well-laden with windchimes of all forms. It was actually quite a touching gesture, even though I didn't know the woman in life. It made me happy to know that she had friends, and that they would want to memorialize her in that way. Next time I travel to black cap, I will be bring a windchime with me to add to the tree.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on July 13, 2008 06:15 PM | Comments (0)

Maudslay State Park

We went to Maudslay State Park over the long weekend - twice, in fact. The first time, we stepped out of the van, put brand new batteries in the camera, turned it on, and it immediately started complaining about dead batteries. It's actually been doing that a lot lately, so we finally decided to buy a new camera, and went back to Maudslay on Monday. The kids loved both trips, pictures notwithstanding. The did a great job walking, and we had a nice little picnic lunch by the river. Sean saw a lot of boats, a few jet skis, and he swears he saw a submarine. :) We probably racked up about 2-3 miles each time. The loved the whole experience, which I find really encouraging - as I've got high hopes for them wanting to hike more with me in the future.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on May 28, 2008 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

Sean's Second Hike

The weather is finally starting to cool off, and Sean and I have a lot of catching up to do with our outdoor activities. Today he went on his second hike. He did great - for such a little man, he's got a ton of stamina. I only carried him at the very end for the fun of it - he loves the view from my shoulders, and if i bounce him around as we walk it cracks him up.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on October 20, 2006 06:41 PM | Comments (1)

Sean's First Hike

Today we took Sean on his first hike - we count this one as his first because he did all of the walking himself. So his career total is now 1/3 of a mile. Woohoo! He's on the board!

We took him to the Cibolo Nature Center here in Boerne. Lori and I used to go there all the time, and I still take the dogs there pretty frequently for long walks. We took him down to the creek (for those non-Texans, apparently down here you're supposed to pronounce that 'crick'), and he waded and splashed for a good hour. Good times were had by all. And as a bonus, a couple of these photos are some of my favorite I've ever taken of Sean, hands down. I ordered one of them (the portrait where he is looking up and to the left) as an 8x10 for my office at work.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on June 25, 2006 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

Hedgehog Mountain

Since I wouldn't get another chance to hike up north for a year or two, Dad and I decided to take a hike on Hedgehog Mountain in the White Mountains, in spite of the rain. We expected to get soaked, and therefore enjoyed ourselves even once we did. We hiked out to a what would probably be a nice little overlook on a clear day. Even on a rainy day, it was a decent view. I don't have any pictures, as there really was no break in the rain and I didn't dare take the camera out.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on June 3, 2006 09:56 PM | Comments (0)

Pawtuckaway Fire Tower

Adam and I took a day hike to the fire tower on Pawtuckaway State Park's South Mountain. The day was overcast and on the verge of rain all day, and the mosquitos were out in full force. On top of that, Adam and I both forgot to bring any bug spray. We did, however, see some wildlife of the "won't suck my blood" variety. We saw lots of salamanders (as you can see in the photos), a half-dozen goldfinches, a red-throated hummingbird, and lots and lots of chipmunks.

Posted under Hikes by Joel on June 2, 2006 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

Pawtuckaway Night Hike

Mike, Dad, and I went on a night hike in Pawtuckaway State Park. It got down into the 20's while we were out there, and we could see the frost forming on the fallen leaves. We took the boys with us (Dugan, Bailey, and Cody), and they had a blast. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got. :)

Posted under Hikes by Joel on November 12, 2005 11:42 PM | Comments (0)