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Bethlehem, New Hampshire, United States
E-mail contact: randonneur8@yahoo.com | Facebook: facebook.com/1HappyHikerNH

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28 March 2014

XC-Skiing at Great Glen Trails (Pinkham Notch)

Since there about ten facilities with groomed trail systems within an hour's drive of my home, it's sort of surprising, even to me, that this is the first year I've branched out into the world of XC-skiing on groomed trails.  It's been a nice addition to my overall Nordic skiing experience!  In prior years I've skied off the beaten path though open woodlands, logging roads, etc.  For future winter seasons, I'll likely do a bit of both types of skiing since both are appealing to me in different ways.

The weather forecast for the next several days included rain and daytime temperatures in the upper 40s, possibly even low 50s.  Considering that, plus the fact that it was the last week in March, I could see the handwriting on the wall.  This pretty much spelled the end of any quality XC-skiing for at least several days, and perhaps for the entire season.  So, as a grand finale to what could be my last great Nordic adventure of the year, I decided to ski on the groomed trails at Great Glen Trails.  I was eager to try out this place since I have a passion for doing things that are new to me, and this would fit into that category since it would be the first time I'd ever skied at this facility.

The conditions for skiing at this particular location were phenomenal.  Possibly the best I've had this season!  The overall experience was further enhanced by the picturesque backdrops of the Presidential and Carter-Wildcat mountain ranges.  The only unpleasantness was of my own making.  I skied and skied for several hours until my legs muscles burned and demanded that I call it a day!  It was similar to the cliché of "shop till you drop"!

And so, you might ask, what are some of the sights you saw during your delightful day at Great Glen Trails?  The snapshots presented below show some highlights of this ski adventure.  And just as a side note, there are a few photos with captions making reference to trail names.  One thing I've noticed about Nordic ski centers is that they have a talent for coming up with odd and often humorous names for their trails.  They are unlike hiking trails which generally incorporate the name of a destination, or a topographic feature such as a brook, etc.
Great Glen Trails has a gorgeous location within the White Mountains.  Even before arriving at the facility, there are many attractive views.  I stopped at a roadside pull-off to take the photo shown above. 

While skiing the trails, there are many places where you can see stunning sights, such as this view of Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison.  This photo was taken from the Great Grumpy Grade (how do they come up with the these trail names?) :-)
Exterior of the cabin at Great Angel Station (at junction of trails named Libby Trace and Dragon Corridor)
Looking through a window at mountain vistas from inside the cabin at Great Angel Station
Had a very pleasant lunch at this picnic table with an impressive view.  There was no wind, the air temperature was in the low 30s, and the bright sun made it feel even warmer.
Besides distant vistas of magnificent mountains, other attractive sights were close by, such as the vignette shown in the above photo which was taken along Dragon Corridor, not far from Fuzzbottom Brake.
Although winds were mild at the surface, air currents in the upper atmosphere were strong and produced lenticular cloud formations sometimes referred to as "flying saucer clouds".  This photo collage shows a few of the lenticulars seen during my ski trek.
Okay, this last photo is just for fun.  A mountain feature that could be seen during this trek was something often referred to as "Jefferson's Knees".  When first pointed out to me many years ago, I was told that it helps to imagine Thomas Jefferson's head perched atop Mt. Jefferson.  So, with a bit of photo trickery, there you have it!
~ THE END ~

26 March 2014

Chickadee Surprise at Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area in Vermont

Even after having lived for many years in the Bethlehem, NH area, it still amazes me how many interesting places there are to visit which are often less than an hour's drive from home.  Recently, I discovered that one such place is located in the neighboring State of VT at the Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area.

This Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a 4,970 acre wetland and forest complex owned by the State of VT, and is managed by the VT Fish & Wildlife Department.  It is situated about 15 miles NE of St. Johnsbury in the town of Victory. Various access points to the WMA are located along an unpaved road which bisects the property (see map below).

On a sunny day, I drove about 45 minutes from my home to do some exploration by snowshoeing along a portion of the trail network within the WMA.  Although it was already 4 days into the official Spring Season, there was still a deep covering of snow throughout the region.

This was the first time I'd ever visited this wildlife area, and so I was uncertain what the conditions might be.  Upon arrival at the WMA, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the parking lot at one of the access points (Damon's Crossing) had been recently plowed.  Then, I was further pleased to see that the trail leading from the trailhead had a well-trodden snowshoe track.  I fully expected that it would be my task to break out the trail!

While I was putting on my snowshoes, I noticed some cute little chickadees flitting about. I didn't think too much of it.  After all, I was in a wildlife management area!

After snowshoeing for about 20 minutes or so, I noticed a snowshoe track branching off the trail.  If you know me, then you'd know that I just had to follow this track to see where it led.  Within about 50 ft, the snowshoe track abruptly ended at the scene shown below.  I was repulsively intrigued to see my cute little chickadees feasting like vultures on an animal carcass which had been wired to a tree about 10 ft above the ground.
Chickadees feasting on an animal carcass hung in a tree (most likely placed by hunters as bait, according to VT Fish & Game official)
On the day after my hike, I telephoned the VT Fish & Wildlife Department to report what I'd seen.  I was connected to a very helpful and knowledgeable staff member who is a Certified Wildlife Biologist.  I was told that the carcass (possibly beaver) had likely been placed in the tree as bait by hunters who were (hopefully) hunting something that was in season.  Apparently, the chickadees just so happened to be the unintended beneficiary of this rather large morsel of food.

I also learned from the VT Wildlife Biologist that chickadees are omnivorous.  Whereas they chiefly eat a diet of seeds, berries, insects, and invertebrates, they will occasionally eat carrion.  In thinking about it, perhaps this sort of stands to reason since the chickadees do eat the suet that I occasionally hang in my backyard during the winter months.  But I can guarantee you that what I hang in my backyard in no way resembles what I saw hanging from a tree at the WMA!

And so, you might quickly ask, what else did you see during your visit at the Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area?  Fair enough!  Shown below are some snapshots of some more pleasant scenes that I experienced during my snowshoe trek.  

Oh! And just as a side note, my snowshoe trek only covered a portion of the trail network at this facility.  There are other areas still to be explored that will be interesting to do in warm weather months.  But, since wet/boggy places such as this are magnets for hoards of biting insects, this visit will be done in late summer/early autumn, after their numbers have greatly diminished!
Snapshots taken at the trailhead named Damon's Crossing
Segment of trail leading through Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area
A portion of the vast bogs within Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area
Looking across bog at some nearby VT mountains (Burke Mtn and Umpire Mtn)
This last photo needs some explanation.  It didn't hit me as to what I was looking at when I took this snapshot.  However, once I got home and studied it, then it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at East Mountain which is the site of an abandoned U.S. Air Force Base.  The two red arrows point to a couple of the many buildings that are still standing at this location.  More details about this facility can be found at a blog report (click HERE) that I filed after having hiked to this spot in September 2012.
East Mountain (site of abandoned U.S. Air Force Base).  Red arrows point to two of many buildings still standing at this location (click/tap on photo to enlarge it)
LINKS:

Click HERE to read a one-page information sheet about the Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area.

Click HERE to view a video (about 15 minutes in length) about this facility which aired on Vermont Public Television (VPT).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
When talking with the official from the VT Fish & Game Department, I learned that in past years the trailhead parking lots at this facility have not been plowed on a regular basis.  But in the future, the Department expects to have money budgeted for consistent snow removal. Actually, this official was surprised to learn that the trailhead at Damon's Crossing had been plowed!  He assumed this was probably done by the Town of Victory since they recently passed an ordinance disallowing parking on the shoulder of the road during winter months.  Apparently, prior to the ordinance being passed, folks were accessing the WMA in the winter by parking at wide spots on the shoulder of the road.


~ THE END ~

19 March 2014

And Away He Ran to Mt. Tom on a Beautiful Sunny Day!

It was a beautiful sunny blue-sky day, and I had a commitment which took up most of my morning.  Aarrgh!  Finally, around noon I was able to break away.  Lines from a children's nursery rhyme passed through my mind as I headed out the door for a hike to Mt. Tom: "Tom Tom the piper's son, Stole a pig and away he ran."  Although I didn't steal a pig, the bit about "away he ran" certainly rang true!

I'm very grateful that locations such as Mt. Tom are a very short drive from my home.  Even with such a late start, there would still be plenty of remaining daylight hours to drive to the trailhead in Crawford Notch and complete the 5.8 mile (round-trip) hike.

The trail combination (Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur) leading to Mt. Tom is a very popular route.  And as a result, even after a recent snowfall, the corridor is quickly tramped out by snowshoers and the pathway becomes like a sidewalk.
Typical segment of trail leading to Mt. Tom under wintertime conditions
There probably would have been enough time to extend my trek by doing a loop that would've included Mt. Field and Mt. Avalon.  However, I thought hey!  I have nothing to prove regarding how many peaks I can bag, or the distance I can travel.  So, why not just limit my trek to Mt. Tom and take my good old time to savor every aspect of the sights along the route?  And besides, the day was simply too lovely to be spent dashing through the woods, especially when quality time could be spent perched on a sunny and windless mountaintop.

Since I'd decided to make this an unhurried hike, there was ample time to spend on the summit for a pleasurable and prolonged visit with the Gray Jays.  Although I'm uncertain if the Jays enjoyed the camaraderie, I can say with certainty that they enjoyed the pretzels and other treats that I provided to them!
Collage of snapshots taken of the Gray Jays
The following photos show some of the other sights that I enjoyed during my leisurely hike to Mt. Tom.
A "Bird's-eye view" of Carrigain Notch
Mother Nature's artistry of angles, slopes and bumps.  (If you're sharply "inclined" to think that Mt. Webster is dominating this scene, you're correct!)
'Tis difficult to ignore 'Big George' when traveling in this part of the White Mountains on a bright sunny day.
Love this "pencil forest" along the Mt. Tom Spur trail
Christmas Tree decorations in mid-March.  Now that's 'March madness'!
As weird as it might seem, it was even delightful to catch the trailside "peeks of peaks" during this leisurely adventure in the mountains.
Although I'd decided not to continue beyond Mt. Tom, I did walk a 100 yards out of my way to the junction of the Willey Range Trail and A-Z Trail.  Both trails were broken out!

" . . . and away he ran" to Mt. Tom! (Please note that no pigs were actually stolen or harmed during the production of this hike!)

10 March 2014

Information Sharing: XC-Skiing and Snowshoeing at Milan Hill State Park

Introduction:

As to which format to use for future postings to my blog, that is still a bit indefinite.  However, what is definite is my belief that blogging can be an effective means to share information with others.

Knowledge gained from information-sharing can move us in new directions and sometimes at a quicker pace than if we're left to our own discovery process.  Just think!  The concept of the wheel might have caught on much earlier in the history of mankind if the youngster shown in the following cartoon could have shared his knowledge via a blog! :-)

For certain, it's a very farfetched notion to think that a Stone Age blog could have led to a more rapid advancement of "wheel knowledge".  However, I recently gained some "real knowledge", as a direct result of modern-era blogging!

A reader of my recent blog about Skiing on Groomed Cross-Country Trails posted a reply which recommended that I try the XC-ski trails at Milan Hill State Park.  And, just like the wheel was eventually invented, most likely I would have eventually discovered this XC-ski facility on my own.  However, this comment sped up my discovery process, and for that, I'm very grateful!

The XC-ski trails at Milan Hill State Park are maintained by the Nansen Ski Club (click HERE)It was established in 1872 in Berlin, NH by a group of Scandinavians, and it's said to be the oldest continuously operating ski club in America.  The club’s name was chosen to honor Fridtjof Nansen, a 19th century Norwegian Arctic explorer who was the first person to cross Greenland on skis.  And lastly, just as a further point of interest, the current trail system at Milan Hill was designed by Morton Trails, a firm with involvement in planning over a hundred trail projects across the United States and abroad.

My XC-Ski Trek at Milan Hill State Park:

All of the above is a very long way of arriving at the presentation of a few snapshots taken during a most delightful day of skiing at Milan Hill State Park. Since snowshoers are also welcome at this facility, the scenes that are shown in these photos can be experienced by those who enjoy this winter sport as well.

The Carters and Presidential Range
Highly zoomed view of Presidential Range
Pliny and Pilot Range
Slightly zoomed view of Percy Peaks and Victor Head
Milan Hill Fire Tower
Looking downward from one of the fire tower landings (I'm uncomfortable with climbing most towers, but this one doesn't seem to set off my acrophobia alarm!)
Trailhead parking lot and snow grooming machine.  (At lower left, note the donation box with the ski club's founding date of 1872.)
A typical segment of trail within the Milan Hill XC-ski trail system
Photo shows nothing in particular; just happened to like the beautiful birch against a brilliant blue sky, along with a half-moon high in the sky
~ THE END ~

05 March 2014

Thoughts about Skiing on Groomed Cross-Country Trails

Snowshoeing and Nordic/cross-country skiing are wintertime activities that I truly look forward to each year.  On any free day that is available to me, it's often a difficult decision as to which of those two sports to do.  However, at this time of year, skiing quite often wins out since ideal conditions for that activity are relatively short-lived, as compared to the snowshoe season which can sometimes last from late Autumn to early Spring.

We are blessed here in northern New Hampshire to have large tracts of land such as the White Mountain National Forest, as well as many other areas that are publicly available for snowshoeing and cross country skiing.  And so, in years past I've enjoyed skiing on these free of charge public lands.

This past Christmas, I was gifted with a small amount of money with the stipulation that it be used to purchase something related to skiing or hiking that would be new or unique for me.  And so, never having skied on groomed trails, I opted to spend my gift money to purchase trail passes at a few of the many Nordic ski centers that are near to my home in Bethlehem.  Arbitrarily chosen were: Jackson Ski Touring Foundation; Bear Notch Ski Touring; Franconia Inn X-C Center; Bretton Woods Nordic Center.

I must say that skiing on groomed trails is a bit like having your seat on an airplane upgraded to first-class!  It's a true luxury to ski along a wide corridor with a consistently even surface that is free of obstacles like downed trees, large rocks/boulders, tall grass and brush.  However, a luxury that I can do without are the machine-made tracks (see snapshot below).
Machine-made tracks along groomed cross-country ski trails
I "get it" as to the principle behind having these pre-set tracks, and I'm certain that many people find them useful.  However, for an avid bushwhacker like me who prefers to roam freely, staying on these preset tracks is more than I can bear!  Even from my early childhood days, I've always had a partiality to "color outside the lines".  So, my solution was to stay within the trail corridor, but by and large to simply ignore the machine-made tracks.

It was a new and a very enjoyable experience to ski on groomed trails.  And so, now that I've been introduced to this type of skiing (and now that my gift money has been depleted), it's quite likely that in the future I'll occasionally purchase trail passes using my own funds.  However, I still have a fondness for skiing the untamed and ungroomed corridors of the public lands, and that is where I'll probably continue to do most of my skiing.

As to which of the Nordic ski centers I enjoyed the most, each one is completely different which makes comparisons difficult.  All of these facilities provided views of land features that are familiar to me, but their trail systems provided unfamiliar views of these familiar places.  That in itself was a real treat and worth the price of admission!

For no particular reason (other than this is where I spent the final few dollars of my gift money), I've chosen to present a few snapshots taken from the Bretton Woods Nordic Trails.  This trail system winds through the scenic property of the historic Mount Washington Hotel, and also extends onward into the White Mountain National Forest.
Although the day was overcast, it was still pleasant to be skiing at the foot of the scenic Presidential Range
Nothing much to be said other than here is a snapshot of a mountain yurt that I visited along the way
A trailside snapshot looking across a snow-covered field toward the Crawford Notch area

~ THE END ~

01 March 2014

My Grand Tour of Mt. Pemigewasset and Surrounding Area

INTRODUCTION:

Recently I shared some thoughts online with a blogger friend of mine named Ryan who authors "Guthook Hikes" (click HERE).  For anyone unfamiliar with his blog, stop by for a visit sometime.  It's a terrific read!

The thoughts I shared with Ryan had to do with boredom and complacency.  I stated that these had never been issues for me, but did admit to experiencing a decreased ‘fervor’ for revisiting places that I’ve already visited, and for doing things I’ve already done.  However, as an offset to this, there has been an increased passion to explore new places, and to make other changes such as visiting a familiar place via an unfamiliar route.  Considering the research involved for finding new places and for alternative ways of doing things, boredom and complacency don’t stand a chance of ever taking over!

Related to the above topic of exploration and change, perhaps frequent readers of my blog will recall that my previous posting (click HERE) contained a footnote which presented some thoughts about either discontinuing my blog, or making changes to it.  I've decided to maintain my blog, but will be experimenting now and then with different styles of writing and presentation.

So, please bear with me while I experiment.  But also keep in mind that I relish change, which might mean there will be no end to my shifting styles!  Or then again, who knows!  I might stumble upon a style that I like and then stick with it for a while until the urge for change once again prevails!

MY 'GRAND TOUR' OF MT. PEMIGEWASSET AND SURROUNDING AREA:

My 'Grand Tour' included visits to the following locations: 1) ledge located below and east of summit of Mt. Pemigewasset (see Addendum at bottom of this report); 2) summit of Mt. Pemigewasset; 3) Mud Pond which is situated a short distance north of Mt. Pemigewasset.

Perhaps it should be noted that I've visited all three of those destinations on numerous occasions.  However, this is an example of what was mentioned above, i.e. visiting familiar places via unfamiliar routes.  Various components of this trek were new to me, foremost of which was the ascent of Mt. Pemigewasset from the ledge located below and east of the summit.
Map showing places I visited along with a general idea of the route of travel
The snowpack wasn't rock-hard like we often get in early Springtime.  However, it was firm enough for some enjoyable off trail travel.

Franconia Range as viewed from an off-trail ledge located below and east of Mt. Pemigewasset's summit

When trekking to Mt. Pemigewasset's summit from the ledge below it, I was surprised to find a rough corridor and sawed off branches.  (Steve Smith suggested that this might be the remnants of an abandoned trail that once ran between the Indian Head Resort and the summit.)
On the way up to the summit, there was a nicely framed view of massive Mt. Moosilauke on the distant horizon
Peaks in the Franconia Range, as viewed from the summit of Mt. Pemigewasset.  (As shown earlier, there is a less obstructed view of this mountain range from the off-trail ledge located below and east of the summit.)
Among many other mountains, the eastward view from the summit of Mt. Pemigewasset features Loon Mountain, Scar Ridge and the Osceolas.  Click HERE for a complete view guide at Steve Smith's website.
A portion of the Franconia Range as viewed from Mud Pond
Cannon Mountain as viewed from Mud Pond
While descending the Mt. Pemigewasset Trail during those seasons of the year when leaves are off the trees, there are pleasant views of the Franconia Range (particularly Mt. Flume).
~ THE END ~
////////////////////////

Addendum (added 02-Mar-2014):
Since others might have the same question, I'm sharing a response that I provided to a reader who sent me an e-mail asking if Google Earth imagery shows the ledge that I visited on Mt. Pemigewasset's east side.  The answer is yes it does, but just barely (see image below).  I cannot say that finding this ledge is quite as difficult as finding the proverbial 'needle in a haystack'.  However, I can definitely say that this ledge is a mere fraction of the size of the massive area of exposed rock at the summit of Mt. Pemigewasset.
CLICK ON THIS IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT