A view from "Grand Lookout" at one of the old quarries.
My old pal Meredith (fellow kayak shop worker for years) is back home (in NH) after her winter in Aspen. Her and I took a quick trip up Mt. Cardigan in central NH. The hike was really short, maybe 6 miles, but the last half mile to the top were a scramble up bare rock. Would have been super sketchy in the rain. However, the wildest part of that little outing was getting there! Turns out Google map directions aren't quite foolproof. The last leg of their directions had me following "Knowles Hill Rd". I'd been on gravel roads for a while, so I didn't think much of it, when that road seemed to be a rarely used jeep trail. Didn't worry about it much at first, but the "road" kept getting worse and worse, to the point I was driving down a washed-out, overgrown, rutted, boulder-strewn, abandoned skidder trail. I consulted the NH gazetteer (should have sooner) to find out that "Knowles Hill Rd" is marked as a "trail" on their map. Hmm. I got to a point where I couldn't go any further due to trees, so I decided to backtrack. Wasn't any room to turn around, so I had to gun it backwards back up all those ruts and rocks, which I could no longer see coming. So I just hoped for the best. Mud flying everywhere and bouncing like crazy, I made it to a spot I could turn around, but not before smacking several rocks and causing the engine oil light to turn on. I thought I was screwed. Fortunately after turning around, shutting the car down, and checking things out, everything worked out ok. Light turned off and started up fine. So anyway, needless to say, I found a different way to get where I needed to go. It's really good that I still had my snow tires on, or I definitely would have gotten stuck. Fordo, you would have loved it.
The point of no return. Didn't stop the Suby though!
Meredith scrambling above treeline.
Looking back at Mt. Cardigan. The upper part of the trail just goes straight up that left side of it.
Last time I was in Boothbay, I borrowed Travis's canoe (with his permission of course). My coworker Lee and I have been planning to paddle down part of the Winooski river in it, but so far our schedules haven't matched up. So, some afternoon this past week, I forget which, I took it out to a local reservoir with my neighbor Brandi. I'm not much of a canoer, and she's even less of one, but it was still a nice laid back little paddle. It sprinkled a bit, and once we got back to shore, the sun was below the clouds and created a gorgeous double rainbow. It was really pretty.
Brandi reaches for her raincoat.
Sun on the opposite shore. Sure would make a nice rainbow if it rained right now...
Shazam! Remember the awesome rainbow we saw that winter out at Long Beach? This was about as good as that one.
Yesterday, after work, I went riding with 4 other folks from work at a place in nearby Waterbury called Perry Hill. Holy crap, some awesome riding! Lots of roots and rocks, made treacherous by several afternoon showers, but some awesome trails nonetheless. I kept up with them all just fine too. About an hour into the ride, I broke my chain. I've been doing that a lot lately. After running a half mile or so to where they were waiting, I fixed it real quick and impressed them with that. They're not really the mechanic sort. In fact, I've worked on two of their bikes in exchange for a six-pack of microbrew. Anywho, after that, I had to baby it up the hills for fear of snapping it again, so I wound up running a lot when it was uphill. Going down though, whee! Some pretty rippin' downhills. There was one called "Butt-crack". Super steep and some pretty harry parts too, especially since it was wet. Everyone but Lee (mentioned earlier) and I were on full suspension bikes with quick releases on their seatposts, which was definitely an advantage on this descent. I was wearing baggy shorts over my spandex out of modesty, and I kept getting stuck behind my saddle! I'd get way back behind the seat on a steep part, then couldn't get back on top of the saddle because my shorts caught the back of it. Skipping the baggies next time I ride there. There were even several skinny bridges with some serious consequences if you screwed them up. There were some super sharp banked turns that were a total blast too! The final descent (and initial ascent) has lots of big dirt waterbars, which tried to buck you off on the way down, going wicked fast. At one point there was a straightaway with two waterbars pretty close together, followed by a sharp left turn. I couldn't slow down enough, since the waterbars threw me in the air, and totally blew through that left turn. It was pretty funny I though. Anyway, great ride, even if it was wet and nasty and I had a mechanical and had to run a bunch. Followed by some beer and hotdogs in the parking lot. Good times. Unfortunately no pictures of that though. Maybe next time.
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