Summer 2010...

A little slice of summer 2010 in photos.

Hit the full screen box in the corner for a larger slide show. Most images are uploaded at 1080P. If they are pixelated, and you are using a higher resolution screen, chances are nothing is wrong with your monitor or the images, they are just lower resolution than your monitor at full screen size!

Our Presidential Traverse Summed Up In a Photo!

Although Colvin had been up to Thunderstorm Junction (~5,000ft) just below the summit of Mount Adams this winter, he had never been above treeline in the snow free season. The difference between the two seasons is stark and incomparable. Having had "Wonder Dog" for 10 years I forgot that not all dogs can effortlessly cruise over boulder fields like a mountain goat. Yet, Colvin is actually way ahead of Caney in almost every milestone for a trail dog. He's hiked more miles, spent more days car camping or at a hut, and ascended higher peaks than Caney by almost 9 months! By the end of this summer he'll have paddled at least 200 miles before Caney ever saw the inside of a boat, and he's already done well mountain biking. The only thing Colvin technically hasn't done yet is a backpacking trip, although you could consider his overnight trip to Grey Knob in New Hampshire a backpack.

So my initial disappointment with his fear of negotiating the boulder fields was tempered by the fact that he actually did really well. Caney set a high bar, and it's not reasonable to compare him to any other dog. Caney's FIRST trip to NH he effortlessly summited Mt Jefferson via the 3rd class Ridge of the Caps carrying a loaded backpack without any help whatsoever. Thinking about this in hindsight it is simply remarkable, and now I realize why I was often asked as I hiked above treeline in New Hampshire with Caney what I thought was a stupid question, "how does he do scrambling on the talus?"

To be honest, I never thought Colvin could complete the traverse. When we started planning it I didn't even have him yet, and once we got him I was immediately concerned about the time frame.

Athletically any young Border Collie can hike 20 miles of easy terrain in a day. They have the VO2 max almost 4X that of Lance Armstrong's super human statistic, and were bread for consecuctive 20+ mile days over rough hilly terrain. However, heat, abrasive talus and scree on the paw pads, as well as the mental demands of ascending and descending steep bouldery terrain in 30+ mph winds and 100% humidity, is altogether another factor. At 9 months Colvin is the equivalent of a 14.5 year old child in developmental terms. Putting it into perspective, forgetting the ancillary demands of a 20 mile alpine traverse, not many 14.5 year old humans could handle 16 hours and 18,000ft gain and lost on the trail.

Regardless, as the trip got closer, I gradually started facing reality. I knew his paws at best might hold up for a minimal (summitless) traverse if I protected them with booties. After a while I realized that was probably still unlikely, so I thought we would bail at Mt Washington with or without summiting Adams and Jefferson. Technically, all the elevation gain is over by Mt Washington, and the southern traverse is really just about mileage, but the hike out via the Tuckerman Ravine snowcat trail at the base of Mount Washington is easy enough that I could have carried him out without much difficulty back to Pinkham. Whereas the hike out via the Souther Presidential's is quite a bit more demanding in the descent back to Crawford Notch.

In the end, even that plan was a bit optimistic. However, there is a silver lining, despite dropping my hat and losing a couple of minutes (as in 2 minutes), and then prodding Colvin for almost 2 miles of above treeline hiking, we beat book time from Dolly Copp over the 5,367ft Mount Madison to the AMC Madison Spring Hut by over 20 minutes. Factoring in wind and humidity (creating slick talus and wet paw pads) that is pretty impressive considering Colvin literally started turning around to tell me we should go down at treeline, at times he wouldn't even continue without me going back for him. Basically, when he was moving he was moving pretty quickly.

As we descended Madison it was clear Colvin was mentally frazzled from the stress of rock hopping over and around the jumble of boulders that is the foot path above treeline. Worse, his paws were already showing signs of abuse, and he'd been wearing booties since the start of the descent, which is most rough on the front paws.

At Madison Hut we met back up with Mandy and Kevin who were ahead of us by at least 10 minutes, I raised the white flag. Although it was much less a surrender than the right decision. It was Colvin's hardest single day on the trail (although he actually gained about the same elevation during his winter trip to Grey Knob) and his first 5000ft summit. With the return trip it was just shy of a 10,000ft gain loss day, and just shy of 10 miles. Although he only gets credit for Madison, he essentially did a half traverse.

On the way down we were able to relax, take our time, and enjoy what turned out to be a spectacular day. We spent at least 2 hours just enjoying the day stopping for lunch below the summit and then enjoying the sunshine and clearing views from Osgood Junction for almost an hour!

After our hour long break at Osgood Junction I really wanted to take the Osgood Trail down to the Great Gulf trail, and then the Great Gulf Link trail literally back to our campsite at Dolly Copp. However, as we started on the Osgood I realized the extra 2 miles might be a real issue. Besides that the Osgood continued up and down on the ridge moreso than the Daniel Webster Scout trail which was mostly a straight down descent from the junction. In reality I'm almost certain the Osgood to Great Gulf Link would have been no harder because the Great Gulf Link trail is essentially a double track forest trail for 1.5 miles. Despite that, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was pushing him a little too hard with the extra mileage and we turned around about 5 minutes down the Osgood Trail.

Overall it was a good hike, and nothing to be ashamed of. Colvin was definitely pushed to his limits, he wouldn't even get out of the car Friday night. I had to carry him to the tent, and then feed and water him in the tent because he was too sore to walk on the rough ground.

We picked up Mandy and Kevin at Crawford Notch at 9:20pm. They made excellent time and had absolutely outstanding weather from Mount Adams onward, plus they got a little taste of just how bad an average day above treeline can be in the Northern Presidential's.

Saturday we took a short walk along the river, but Colvin mostly rested in the tent while I tried to dry out our gear from a typical rainy NH/Great Gulf stay. Following the 4.5 hour drive home Saturday night he had enough energy to get his toys out of the bin, and even chase them a few times. Sunday he was ready to play indoors but still tender outside, but I thought a short lowland trail to a lake would be OK. Colvin ended up hiking/bushwhacking about 4 miles and almost did his first swim after playing in the water for about 20 minutes.

An Afternoon On The Plotters Kill

Just a few images from a very nice -and apparently very popular- little local hike that we'd never done. Of course, just because it's local (18 miles) doesn't mean it's easily accessible. I was in the central Adirondack's a few weekends ago in just a little more time. This isn't uncommon in an area where travel is limited by winding rivers/canals and limited, oft congested crossing points.

Plotters Kill (Flat Creek) is a rugged gorge in Rotterdam Junction, just a few miles from the Rotterdam Square Mall. The waterfalls are mostly seasonal, and already Rynex Creek was almost completely dry, but the Plotters Kill was still flowing nicely.

Still, it's a nice place to explore after work during the summer, or a nice local place to do a little top rope ice climbing during the winter. Although, with the larger Upper Falls being only 60 feet, by the time the base freezes you probably only have about a 45 foot climb. Not insignificant for a local climb minutes from Schenectady, but for a little more driving you can be doing multipitch ice in the Catskills or Adirondacks.

Anything Caney Can Do, I Can Do Better...

...so Colvin told me after our trip to New Hampshire. I reminded him that he had only hiked in the snow and that Caney was probably the best rock climbing canine I'd ever seen.

Two weekends ago was Colvin's first entirely dirt/rock hike up little Buck Mountain on Lake George. The 6 mile hike was technically about as easy as hikes get, with at most some rooted wet trail, but mostly soft dirt and duff. I've actually lobbied to have it renamed Cinderella Mountain since it's directly across Shelving Brook from Sleeping Beauty Mountain. Regardless, other than sore paws from the previous weekend on the granular snow, followed by a 10 mile walk week, and then 4 miles of roller blading on Sunday, Colvin did just fine.

This past weekend we did a creek bushwhack along Stony Creek and Tenant Falls on Saturday, and Sunday we went to Crane Mountain.

Crane Mountain is a favorite mountain of mine. It's not far from home via the pleasant to drive winding backroads, it's a fairly short circuitous route with multiple options, and an easy bushwhack up a second summit (also with excellent views). And of course it's mildly technical in a few isolated sections, while much of the middle section of trail is a fairly rugged vertical streambed boulder hop. The summit of Crane has some of the best views in all of the Adirondacks, and the
mountain is covered in steep vertical cliffs that yield rock and ice climbing routes of all difficulties. Crane Mountain Pond is also one of the highest altitude bodies of water of substantial size within the Adirondacks.



Crane Mountain is easily Colvin's first technical rock hike. There are several very steep sections requiring great care for human hikers with some use of hands. There are also two ladders, the first is about 5 feet high, and the second is about 15-20 feet.

The difference right now between Caney and Colvin as trail dogs is that Caney was very pragmatic about problem solving even at a young age. He was a very good athlete, but just like human climbers, often the best athlete isn't the best climber. Climbing is about problem solving, it's a puzzle with a little gravity thrown in for good measure. Colvin is a superior athlete, but like novice climbers with great athletic skill, he thinks he can power through everything.

On the first very steep technical section, which required using our human hands, Colvin attempted to just jump up and into the overhanging sloped boulders. The result was not so good! He lost his footing and fell several feet, luckily he didn't hurt himself. I lowered the rope to Aimee, she clipped him in, and I hauled him up.

I was certainly hoping for him to flash that first technical section, but it's very easy for me to forget that Caney wasn't necessarily a natural climber, he did take a while to get the confidence to climb challenging terrain better than many humans. Colvin already displays confidence and comfort on the trail, but he definitely lacks the learned skills of technical climbing.

Last Sunday, before we left for Crane, Aim had tweaked her back but was going to give hiking a shot. By the time we'd hiked for a little ways she realized while it was awkard ascending, going down over the rough trail was really going to be agonizing. I wanted to get Colvin as much time out as possible, perhaps even try the first ladder, so Colvin and I hiked up and additional 10 minutes to get past the next 2 hard sections.

Of the two hard sections, the first is a 15 foot fairly steep (near vertical) wall with some lower angled ramping paired with good foot and hand holds, while the second is a 5 foot ladder.

Colvin didn't have any problems on the vertical wall going up or down, but to my surprise, he was surprisingly accepting at giving the ladder a shot. I thought this was odd since he didn't even want to go up the steep loft stairs at Grey Knob. Hopefully this is just a sign of his growing confidence on the trail as he gets more experience.

In any case, he ended up trying to "dyno" the ladder in a few quick bounds, rather than climb it. The result of course was a dog missing the rungs and getting stuck. Thankfully (and unlike Caney) he does tend to listen when he is stressed or excited. I told him to stay, and he relaxed without panicking and throwing himself off the ladder (believe me, if it was Caney he'd never have calmed down). I was able to then give him a boost from above via his Ruff Wear Web Master harness.

The good news of course is he definitely has the desire to climb the ladder, and honestly, Caney was at least a few years old before he willingly climbed his first ladder. It wasn't till he was well aged that he would climb them without prompting. For Colvin to not hesitate is a promising first step. I'm sure as he gets a bit more trail savy, and learns to "climb" up obstacles through problem solving rather than brute force, he will do just fine. When you consider Colvin's progress, it is very impressive considering he has barely hiked 40 mountain trail miles, and only 8 total over only rock/dirt.

I always get a kick when I notice most dog training books consider hiking a non competitive K9 activity, I have to disagree. If you take your dog on challenging trails, it becomes equally competitive as the sport of human rock climbing. Bearing in mind that even if your dog is an agility champion, only you are aware of this achievement. On the flip side, your dog always knows the satisfaction of completing a tough section of trail and continuing on the hike, which then makes the hike itself a continuous reward.

Franconia Ridge Traverse Loop

(Oct 2009)

George and I left a little later than expected, but were on the road a little before 8am. We took the scenic route to Franconia Notch and it took almost 5 hours including several stops to eat, gas, and a few detours (dirt roads that dead ended, missed turns, etc). Since we were being drenched in torrential rains that were forecast to continue all day, there was no particular rush. Hiking Saturday was out of the question, and our main hike had always been planned for Sunday.

We arrived at Lafayette Place at around 1pm, checked the radar and waited for the first break in the rain to setup our tents. We just missed the best part of the rain free window but figured it wasn't going to get any better for hours when looking at the Doppler. After setting up in increasingly soaking rain, George and I took off for North Conway for some rain killing time...food and last minute shopping.

The basic plan was to have a good meal Saturday night, and what better place than Moat Mountain smokehouse and brewery. So after a wet and harrowing drive over the Kancamagus Highway, which included rain, snow, ice and freezing temps at various elevations, we arrived in North Conway.

In the Northeast we have this thing called weather. It's not necessarily the worst weather by sheer numbers. For instance many places are colder, many are wetter, many receive more snow, many have stronger winds (although Mt Washington DOES hold the official record for highest recorded wind gust in the northern hemisphere), but what makes our weather so unique is the speed in which it deteriorates to the extremes.

After checking the latest higher summits weather report, which changed from temps in 40s and 25mph wind gust to highs in the 20s and 70mph wind gust, George was a bit worried that he might have been a little under prepared for the weather that had now been re-forecast. Fortunately, if you need gear then North Conway is the place to be. A quick lunch at Bangkok Café preceded scouring the anemic consignment shop at IME and Jim Jones clearance bin where George found some mittens, shell pants, and a neoprene face mask for less than $50.

Having killed plenty of rainy day time while shopping, we had worked up and appetite for the main course at Moat Mountain. Beer, steak, and a manly brisket chili all in honorary preparation for Sunday's Franconia Ridge traverse. As far as a chili brisket goes, can anything negative be said about a bowl of pulled beef in some liquid? Dinner was great, the beer was good, and we were back across the Kancamagus under continued downpours.

After a good nights sleep under continued rain, warming temps and increasing winds, we awoke Sunday morning to clearing skies and falling temps. A high pressure system with winds from the north was pushing in, clearing out the rain, and causing an inverted temperature profile.

Inverted temperatures are rare in the mountains, but the anomaly is such that instead of air getting colder as you increase in altitude (typically 3-4*F per 1000ft), it actually gets warmer as you go up. We saw this while driving back from North Conway across the Kancamagus Saturday night. The temperature actually went from the mid 40s in North Conway to over 50F at ~3000ft.

We started the Franconia Ridge traverse with temps in the mid 40s from Lafayette Place, crossing I-91 via the underpass, we started up the Bridle Path towards Greenleaf hut. George took the lead and set a nice pace. He hasn't hiked much and was out of shape, but including a breakfast break we made great time to 3000ft, and eventually to the Greenleaf hut at 4200ft.

Along the way to Greenleaf, starting at around 3000ft, there are some great views across to the Franconia Ridge, which the Bridle Path parallels for most of it's approach to the hut. It was fairly warm, and fairly windless at these rock outcroppings on the edge of the ravine. Looking across at the Franconia Range where the summits were under the clouds it was clear it was going to be an interesting day.

We spent way too much time messing around at Greenleaf, almost 40 minutes in total, we spent much time debating the actual temperature which was probably about 5 degrees above freezing. Finally back on the trail we lost some elevation and than began our ascent to the summit of Mount Lafayette. It was now getting progressively windier but still quite warm. We were in and out of cloud cover, as was the distant landscape. It was, as always, quite beautiful and surreal.

As we ascended above treeline the wind continued while the temperatures dropped. We met some hikers at around 4800ft descending with an injured member asking for some ibuprofen. While talking with them we inquired about the summit conditions, which they said were around 29F and windy. Another hiker had previously told us, “windy, but not knock you over windy, 40-50mph...not 70s or anything crazy...some rime ice but otherwise dry.”

As of that point the higher summits forecast was on the money, and it seemed like George was having some doubts. After all, assuming the forecast continued to pan out as promised, we had some rain/sleet followed by 70mph winds and continued falling temps on the way. We are talking wind chills approaching the single digits with hurricane force gust.

Finally, just below the summit, after filtering ice cold water in a spring/runoff, we met another hiker who had passed us while we were filtering. George asked him how the summit was, and he said he turned around just short of it; too windy, too cold. At this point George pretty much decided we were turning around at the summit, which of course I had no intention of doing. The winds were brutal, and it was cold, but neither of us was wearing all that much, and we were plenty warm. It was also dry, and the trail was mostly free of ice and snow. Basically as close to perfect as you find in these mountains, aside from the wind of course.

I convinced George that 1) we were up here to let nature beat the crap out of us 2) from the summit of Lafayette it was only about 1 mile (a fairly easy mile) less to just descend, while continuing across the ridge would be a lot more fun and marginally more difficult. 3) Even if the worst of the weather happened, we were fully prepared. He begrudgingly agreed to continue, but let me know he was sure we would not arrive at camp till midnight (and he was wrong), if we weren't killed on the ridge (obviously also wrong).

We geared up for the summit with thicker gloves and face protection. The winds were nasty, cold and blowing from the north at around a constant 50mph. There was freezing fog, and at times limited visibility. We took a few summit shots, and descended to the south with the wind at our back. Just as we dropped below the summit we saw two hikers sitting on the south side of Lafayette eating lunch in perfect calm. After a few words we walked 10m away and winds once again were pushing at our backs, but with much less force. Within a few minutes it was warm enough to remove my thicker gloves and my hat. The skies began to clear and conditions, while still variable, were greatly improving.

Other than the occasional bits of hail falling from the sky, the rest of the ridge was an enjoyable walk. The footing on the Franconia Ridge is easy, and the scenery makes the hiking a pure joy. We stopped for lunch just to the south of Lincolns summit. The winds had shifted by now, but were still mostly from the north. The skies were mostly sunny, and the views were virtually unlimited in all directions.

The rest of the ridge was uneventful other than seeing the barefoot hiker. I know people do hike barefoot, but I simply cannot imagine negotiating talus, and NH granite with my bare feet. Not to mention walking through mud and ice cold water.

The descent of the Falling Waters trail to complete our loop was as craptacular as expected. The Falling Waters trail is rooty, rutted, rugged and wet. The upper portion descends steeply, lacks views, and is dark and dank. The lower portion, while beautiful and scenic has several water crossings of Dry Brook. In low water this isn't an issue but with all the rain the lower trail was very wet, slick, and water crossings were high.

Just above the 150ft Cloudland Falls, we had to cross the brook. We were on a slick slab and George decided to throw himself down the slab while above me. In the process he took me out and we both almost slid off the slab and into the brook.

Having lost a lot of time dealing with the wetness, and slick nature of the trail, it was getting dark. We finished the 1/2 mile and 2 water crossings with headlamps.

We ran into a one last group, and they seemed a little confused, but I told them they only had 100 vertical feet till the trail head, and we were close. There was a spot the trail appeared to cross the brook, or continue on it's bank. I told George to wait while I checked it out, and then I called for him to come this way. I thought he heard me and started down the trail, turned out he didn't.

I arrived back at camp at 6:35, about 10h30m after we started, we climbed 4050 feet over 9.8 miles. At 6:45, after I'd changed my boots there was still no George at camp. 6:55 came and I knew there was no way he was that far behind. So I ran the half mile to the trail head where the couple that we passed were hiking out to. I asked them if they saw him, and they said he passed them and then started back up the Bridle Path. I was impressed; he was obviously feeling so good he decided to do it a second time. Then reality sank in, he was going in the wrong direction, which fortunately was mostly (entirely) up hill. I knew he would eventually figure it out, so I wasn't too worried. Still I ran up the trail calling out his name, and fortunately he'd figured out his mistake sooner than later.

And here lies a lesson for the kiddies: 1) never split up without clearly going over the plan 2) make sure everyone is carrying a map 3) make sure everyone is prepared to spend a night

I usually print out a map for everyone, but I forgot this time. Plus, I wasn't particularly worried since it was a simple loop hike. Because of the rushing water, George didn't hear me say “this is the right way, lets go.” However, he was fully prepared to spend a night out, and probably pretty comfortably at that.

Back at camp it was dinner time. My menu was Black bean soup with blue corn tortilla chips, reheated pad thai from lunch the previous day, Stove Top stuffing, and red wine. George had his trail comfort food of chicken and rice.

After dinner and a little down time relaxing under the stars till it was time to sack out.

I managed to get the last 2 innings of the Yankee game in my tent via my Palm Pre while roaming off Verizon. I found this ironic because George who has a Verizon phone couldn’t get service at all. Barely hanging on to the 12:01am clinching finale as the wind whipped, I was sound asleep by 12:02. I wouldn't wake up again till 8:30am, and after hitting the virtual snooze button for an 1 hour I was back to the land of the living at 9:30am.

After breakfast and drying our gear out we were off to hike a little peak south of the campground on our way back home. Mount Pemigewasset is a 2550ft peak with an open summit, and nearly 270* views of the surrounding mountainscape. The 3 mile round trip took us less about 1 hour 30 minutes, not including the 30 minute lunch at the top.

The trail up Pemigewasset is probably one of the worst trails in NH. Absolutely awful, it follows a creek bed, much of the way, and is extremely wet and hard to get a good rhythm going. On the descent I was tired of the abuse of my back and knees. The terrain was easier than the trail would suggest, so I cut cross country and mostly kept up with George who descends faster than me. Going off trail was drier, and softer, and I could get descent strides rather than tip toe between rocks.

Eventually I lost George and the trail, I then followed the creek contour down hill till the trail crossed it again close to the end of the trail. Hitting the trail wasn't a necessity but sort of important since it negated having to run across 4 lanes of highway to get back to the trailhead at the Flume Gorge visitors center. Including the bushwhack, I ended up finishing about a minute behind George.

Back on the road at 3pm we were home by 7pm, including 25+ minutes of stops.

All in all it was a good weekend, and physically my toughest weekend hiking in the mountains since early summer. Over 2 days we covered 12 miles and 12,000ft gained and lost over 12 hours of hiking. By no means record setting, or even noteworthy. Quite frankly the little hike on Monday was harder than the Franconia Loop which I rate as a beginner hike, with the caveat that it is so comparatively easy that you see vastly unprepared people hiking with nothing more than a single Poland Spring bottle. I know despite the great ridge top hiking, George was a little disappointed. I usually drag him up some semi technical scramble and this time we never had to use our hands.

Nevertheless, considering I've literally done nothing remotely exerting between July 2009 and early October 2009, while adding a solid point to my BMI, we covered a decent amount of ground, and had a good time. I hopefully gained a little more momentum towards regaining fitness so I can enjoy my time out there a lot more on future trips.

The hardest part of regaining your fitness is knowing that the first few weeks are going to suck big time. Your mind only remembers what you could do back then, your body only knows what you can do now. Retraining both isn't easy, but in a short time they meet somewhere in the middle, and eventually they trade places. Then you have to retrain your mind to realize it's not about what you can do now, but what you want to do.

I thought about Caney a lot up in NH, in part because I think the first hike he did in NH was the Falling Waters trail Memorial Day weekend 2000. While driving up Saturday on NH 25A we crossed a river access site, I thought about him and how he got in that cold water and lay down after we had a long, hot and hard weekend in the Northern Presidential's in June 2008. That weekend was just over a year ago, and he dominated the King Ravine trail (a trail the guidebook says is not recommended for dogs) on a 80F day with typically oppressive Northeastern humidity. A few months later I did it with humans without him because he was not 100%, although I wish he had come because he never really got to 100% again. That human partnered scramble took longer, there was more complaining, and they were undoubtedly less competent than my canine partner. While I've hiked with a lot of people elsewhere, I've logged more miles and had more crazy days in the White Mountains with Caney than anyone else.

So Long 2009...Starting the New Year Right, In the Adirondacks!

Well, 2009 is history and I am on my way to starting 2010 in similar fashion to 2008, which while not an amazing year, was a pretty darn good one in comparison.

While I didn't start off the New Year exactly like 2008, complete with a 1.5 hour drive in the snow, followed by a 4 mile sunrise hike with no sleep, I'm hoping to make up for it with quantity over quality. Yes, I am an American...more is more, and less is less, quantity over quality always reigns supreme. So, instead of last years one and done till the next weekend, I'm shooting for a consecutive days of Y2X record. And since records are established purely with the idea they will be broken, I'm off to start the year with 3.5 days in the Adirondacks, snowshoeing, hiking, and getting intimate with my Pentax 645N and some good old fashioned film.

I'm gonna go all Ansel Adam's on the Adirondacks with a bag full of Fuji Neopan Acros 100, a roll or two of Neopan 400, and perhaps a roll of Ilford Delta 3200 for star trails or moonlight shots under the very full moon. I'm even going to bring the magic 645N interchangeable film back, so I can shoot all 3 films as the need arises. To be honest, I don't know a damn thing about shooting landscapes in black and white, and that is appealing. Sure I mess around with it, I even occasionally create a nice looking color channel conversion from a film or digital color image, but I rarely bothered with shooting straight black and white. My philosophy has always been shoot color and do a high quality conversion. But truth be told, I'm tired of digital workflow, sick of Lightroom, and having a blast doing my own black and white developing for pennies on the roll.

By night I'll be chilling (or rather warming) by a wood stove, and drying out my gear as I read a book, while nursing a Lake Placid Brewery Ubu Ale. Then maybe on Sunday night shoot some star trails if the weather looks good enough to leave my trusty medium format workhorse outside. With a little luck, I'll finish reading Verplanck Colvin's biography, Footsteps Through the Adirondacks; which leads me to resolutions!

As far as New Years resolutions, they are completely pointless. As pointless as saying I'm sorry when someone dies, or God bless you when someone sneezes. Of course you are sorry, and around the 1800s AD it was learned our souls don't fly out of our bodies when we sneeze. Jan 1st is a day like any other. You don't need a change of calendar to start something different, only the desire to make it happen, whether it is Jan 1st, Jan 20th, February 7, March 18th, April 1st, July 31st or November 6th...you get the point.

So instead of laying out a list of mangy laundry like the rest of the detritus of the blogosphere, I'm just gonna finish off Colvin's biography which I started months ago. I tore through the first few hundred pages when I got the book, and then put it down reluctantly at about the 75% point, only to have it sit on my nightstand for the last 2.5 months. Right now I use mostly as a way to level out my pile of books so that my phone (aka. alarm clock) doesn't fall between the stacks. The cover jacket has gotten quite ragged from me hitting the snooze button, or throwing the phone off the nightstand while searching in vain for a virtual snooze button on a virtual alarm clock.

So how bad is this book that I have relinquished it to a pulpy level? Actually, Nina Webb did an

excellent job on the book, which sadly is the only really comprehensive look at Verplanck Colvin's life. Without her work, it's entirely possible that Colvin would just be another High Peak on a tick list like so many other famous Adirondack names.

For those not in the know, Colvin was the father of the Adirondacks. To put this into proper light, the Adirondacks were America's first wilderness, and an experiment that has never been repeated in the world, and probably never will. If you take that last statement to heart, Verplanck Colvin was the father of the American wilderness as well. The Wilderness Act of 1964, almost 80 years after the establishment of "Forever Wild" in the New York constitution, was based on what Colvin fought for in the Adirondack Forest Preserve for over 20 years of his life.

It goes without saying, if not for Verplanck Colvin, I would have far less to blog about, far less to

photograph, and far less to entertain my imagination during the work week. The Adirondacks are the ultimate four season "weekend wilderness", and they just happen to be in my backyard.

Resolute to resolve my resolution, and confident in the outcome, I'll be packing away Adirondack Explorations: Nature Writings Of Verplanck Colvin.

Have a Happy New Year (and 2009, suck it!!)!!

Have Camera, Will Time Travel

Traveling through the Charlotte Airport on our way to Memphis in 2007, I noticed the lighting and architecture of the airport. Unlike the spartan concrete prison block look of Memphis (or many other airports in the US), Charlotte had some interesting design and lighting.

I've always had no problems pulling my camera out at airports, after all, you often spend hours waiting with nothing to do. My camera is frequently my only sanity when forced to deal with extreme boredom, or as an escape from the reality of certain situations where I'd gladly load a round, spin the revolver and see what happens with a shot to the head. These days with laptops and wifi, time passes a bit more quickly while traveling, but airports are in many ways an interesting photograph waiting to happen, and a camera is still the best escape from reality.

My wife asked me why I titled this "Time Travel?" I liked the futuristic feel of it at the time, and also later in the finished photo. Yet, the black and white with the old biplane makes it sort of timeless. It makes me wonder whether I were going back in time, or maybe forward in time. Second, I shot it in 2007 and it is coming to life as a finished product in 2009. I suppose this photo was like going back to the future.

There were a few photos I really liked the concept of at the airport, but at ISO 1600 in color, with the contrasty mixed lighting sources, nothing really worked off the bat. While I envisioned the final ISO 1600 photos being black and white to make use of the pleasing digital noise structure of Pentax cameras at high ISO, I also liked what I took in color.

This conflict led to me processing and reprocessing the images in color, and then in black and white. I never could get my favorite of the bunch to work, eventually I grew tired of working on the airport shots, so they languished in digital purgatory for 18 months till I could revisit them with a fresh look. In the end, "Time Travel" wasn't even the photo I had originally picked as the best of several different scenes, but looking at the various scenes from a fresh perspective I finally got what I was looking for.

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Prime Time In Memphis

The one thing about Pentax gear over the higher market share Canon and Nikon gear is my 21mm pancake lens is image stabilized, oh, and it's a pancake. I wouldn't say this is by far my favorite lens, but it does spend the more time on my camera than my other lenses. Ok, it's by far my favorite lens EVER when all things are considered! Now if you can find a wide angle prime that is stabilized by Canon or Nikon, send me a message, because that might make me consider adding more to my Nikon kit for general shooting, and not just sports. Canon and Nikon make some nice cameras and lenses; unfortunately I can't find anything in the lineup that suits me more than the kit I took for a night out in Memphis.

While in Memphis to watch a University of Memphis game, and then to catch some music on Beale Street, I took just 3 lenses, a Pentax DA 21mm Limited f/3.2 pancake, a Pentax FA 43mm Limited f/1.9, and a Voigtlander 90mm APO f/3.5, along with the Pentax 360FGZ flash. The whole kit, along with my Ultrapod (and the usual assorted accessories like cable release, remote, blower brush, etc), fit into/onto my Lowepro TLZ 70AW, and was pretty light on the shoulder.

It turned out that despite having a 28-70 2.8, 50-135mm 2.8, 200mm 2.8 sitting in the bag at home that I made the right choice. The reason, FedEx Forum must have the most stringent rules in all of sports arenas. The guard literally made me take my entire kit apart ($1200 in lenses just being juggled as people bumped into me), measured all the lenses, made me extend them and mount each to the camera, and then made me swear on my first born none of them attached together (as in a teleconverter). The 90mm Lanthar just barely made the cut, but my two Pentax Limiteds combined didn't exceed the 3 inch rule! I'm gonna be honest with everyone reading this, with all the measuring going on, I was for the first time in my life starting to really have some self confidence issues with my manhood.

Carrying around 3 high quality primes is a dream. None of them are exceptionally fast, but all are exceptional quality and sharp wide open. Considering most of my shooting is centered around optimal sharpness and quality, I rarely need anything faster than f/2.0. For me the tradeoff between a tack sharp F/4 lens at F/4 and a f/2.8 (or faster) lens that doesn’t sharpen up till f/4 is a no brainer.

Adding in the high ISO capability of the K20D, and the excellent in camera shake reduction fast lenses are almost unnecessary. For creative effects fast glass can be useful, but with digital files it's pretty easy to digitally limit depth of field in the rare instances where a paper thin focus plane is truly necessary. After all, that's what the $600 pirated copy of PhotoShop is doing on your computer (and for those of us that actually paid for it, doubly so!)!

There are of course naysayers that claim the in body stabilization isn't as good, or doesn't work with long lenses, or wide angles, or at all. The fact is, I sometimes have a steady enough hand to take a sharp shot with my film cameras at 28mm and 1/15th of a second, but sometimes and often are two completely different things. With the 21mm DA Limited, and body based shake reduction, I can shoot 1/8th-1/15th as a normal shutter speed, and generally get sharp results without any crazy antics. When I shoot my old digital camera without shake reduction (SR), I sometimes forget that I CANNOT hand hold at 1/8^th of a second.

This proved true just this evening when I was looking through a bunch of soft shots from last month that I hadn’t downloaded from the card yet. I opened up the EXIF (the embedded image data) and sure enough I was trying to shoot a 24-50mm zoom at speeds around 1/20^th of a second rather than boost the ISO. Note to self: no matter how hard you wish that solid old 6MP super compact DSLR with the fully external control layout is going to magically become weather sealed, have 1/3 stop ISO control AND have shake reduction, it will never happen, so give up!

Fast glass is often looked at as a cure all for slow shutter speeds and high ISO. The problem I have with fast glass is that wide open the depth of field is so shallow that often just a little movement of the camera, or the subject, and the focus point is now out of the plane of focus. When this happens you don't have creatively limited DOF but a soft or completely out of focus image. Then there are those that will argue, "but when it's really dark a fast lens is brighter." True again, but in really dark low contrast situations both auto focus and your eye sight are not going to be able to quickly lock on to a moving target. Thus there is no real advantage, only a perceived one from the days of manual focus only lenses and ground glass split prism viewfinders.

Of course all of this is subjective, there are people reading this saying I'm at best a heretic, and at worst completely and certifiably insane; and while I'm not saying fast lenses are never needed, the utility of them is grossly overestimated when cost, size and weight are factored in.

For me, with digital, I'd rather jack the ISO up, use f/4, and I can always do a little digital depth of field adjustment after the fact. The benefit of course, is while everyone else is lugging pounds and pounds of fast glass for creative purposes, I'm casually toting around just what I need, and not a bit more!

Thanks to Pentax and the Limited series primes, I'm all smiles too!

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The Burroughs Range...Deliverance In The Catskills!

"The works of man dwindle, and the original features of the huge globe come out. Every single object or point is dwarfed; the valley of the Hudson is only a wrinkle in the earth's surface. You discover with a feeling of surprise that the great thing is the earth itself, which stretches away on every hand so far beyond your ken." -John Burroughs

The Burroughs range can be summed up in a few words…The classic Catskill hike!!!!

I can and will go on about what makes it so great, but the fact is, I cannot think of a better introduction or finale to hiking the Catskills.

The Burroughs Range covers +/- 13 miles, and about 10,000 feet gained and lost. It summits three 3500 foot peaks including the Catskills highest, Slide Mountain at over 4000 feet, Cornell at 3870ft, and Wittenberg at 3790ft. The loop can be done as a long day hike that even a weeble-wobble, his string bean wife, and aging mutant dog can complete, or you can break it down into a backpack at a more leisurely pace.

Sometimes breaking hikes down into backpacks can be advantageous, but when you consider that you have to carry about 2x as much weight on a backpack as you do on a day hike, plus you have to set aside time find a suitable/legal camping spot, time to set up and break down camp, cook, etc, you don’t necessarily have any more time, or an easier time.

That said, the Burroughs can make for a great 2-4 day backpack. With the only issues being that there are several spots that require some difficult climbing up near vertical faces and even a spot where you must traverse an exposed ledge and then climb up either a face or a crack. In winter I believe there is a rope here, but in warm weather it must be free climbed.

I very rarely have to help Caney climb anything that is blazed as a trail, and on the Burroughs I needed to help him three times. When you consider that he only needed help a few more times on what I consider the roughest and most fun blazed trail in NH (and perhaps the Northeast), a trail that states it is not recommended for dogs, this should be some indication of the ruggedness of the Burroughs Range.

However, if you are like me, and you think you think that hiking is more fun when you get to use your hands, then the Burroughs Range offers just enough challenge and excitement to keep a smile on your face.

While the Catskills technically have no bald summits, the looping nature of the Burroughs Range traverse and its various exposed ledges and view points allow for nearly 360 degree views of the Catskills and beyond.

After getting chased out of NH on account of torrential rain, which can be best summed up by the NOAA weather radio reports, “we are experiencing a brief period of drier weather after 2 weeks of sustained precipitation, following this dry period continued and prolonged periods of precipitation will resume.”

Let me just say that in the days we were in NH, among what is colorfully called the “dry period”, it was anything but dry. Generally I don't run from rain, but when dry is an inch or two of rain over a few days, I'm thinking we should be building an arc rather than hiking.

When we got back home, I watched the radar for the Mount Washington region, and the radar wasn’t green or yellow, but largely orange and red, meaning severe thunderstorms. However, in the Catskills it was forecast to be cooler, drier and free of rain.

Normally I wouldn’t take a trip to the Catskills with so much time off, but the truth was I just wanted to escape the rain for a day while doing something challenging. We arrived at the trail head with no signs of rain at around 10:30am.

Aim was naively confusing us for fast hikers, and came up with a brilliant idea that if we finished our 15 mile endeavor by 6pm, we’d have plenty of time to drive down to New Paltz and get Poutine and nachos at P&G’s.

Long story short, we didn’t quite make it out by 6pm, or 8pm, or 10pm, or 12am. It was nearly 1am when we arrived at the car. Now, to be fair, we didn’t exclusively hike for 13 hours. And we did have a wrong turn that erased my shortcut.

We actually spent about 30 minutes on top of Wittenberg, and we also looked at all the campsites in the cols, for future planning of a backpacking trip.

All in all we probably ended up blowing 1-2 hours messing around, filtering water, taking some ground level macro shots, and other assorted stuff I cannot describe in a PG-13 rated blog (other than to say the flatness of a certain potential secluded campsite was well tested)!!.

I’m sure you are still wondering what makes the Burroughs Range so special. There really isn't any singular aspect, rather it's the ability to string together 3 Catskill 3500 footers (4 if you go for Giant Ledge and Panther), a bunch of impressive views, some rugged hiking, and a long hike into a non contrived day in the mountains. Moreover, the range is named after the great American naturalist, conservationist, and essayist, John Burroughs, who spent much of his life in this area.

New England has Thoreau and Walden Pond, and New York has John Burroughs and his Slabsides. The summit of Slide Mountain makes special note of John Burroughs importance to both this range, and of course to the American conservation movement in general with a plaque that reads:

In Memoriam

John Burroughs

Who in his early writings introduced Slide Mountain to the world. He made many visits to this peak, and slept several nights beneath this rock. This region is the scene of many of his essays.

“Here the works of man dwindle.” In the hearts of the Southern Catskills.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Burroughs Range is the fact that it surrounds the epicenter of a meteor strike As you look at a terrain map of the range you will see that Esopus and Woodland Creeks form a circle around the range, dead center of this impact site is Panther Mountain. It’s hypothesized that Panther Mountain rose from gas being forced up. Yes, rather than a crater, the impact site of this meteor actually formed an inverted relief crater.

During the middle part of the 20^th century the mountain actually had a gas pipeline that produced considerable gas output, but in that time energy was not nearly as profitable as it is today. NY is a huge gas producing state, and has many reserves that are on state owned land and not currently tapped. These reserves are currently the source of worry and debate among environmentalist, since it is well known that drilling and removal of gas and oil is not without impact. As such the government of New York has been noted to be preparing a plan to deal with the inevitable demand to access these reserves, while balancing the environmental impact.

The gas pipeline of the 1940s, however, served a greater role than energy alone. The drill cuttings, which were saved by the NY State geological survey, were tested for ore found only in meteorites. The test, along with other data, confirmed that a meteor about 1Km (1/2 mile) hit the site.

While on the summit of Wittenberg, a summit we had all to ourselves for most of the 30 minutes we spent up there, we found blueberries to supplement our lunch. I was shocked there were still berries left on this popular summit this late in the summer. I suppose all the city folk are too shy to pick some berries while hiking, too busy breaking glass bottles, and writing their names on the summit stone.

One thing we noticed almost immediately was the view down to the reservoirs was a bit strange. After all the rain we have had the reservoirs seemed to be low. Not long after this hike I read that NYC expects the reservoirs to not meet demand of city water consumption in the next few decades (or sooner) and desalination plants will be required for the first time in NYC history.

While this doesn't fully surprise me, the cost of these plants is staggering, and no doubt will put another strain on the City of New York financially after a few hundred years of essentially free water, and perhaps the best pure water supply of any major US city. The flip side of course, is NYC has been a terrible steward of the land surrounding the reservoirs, and ultimately is getting what it deserves. It's appalling to me that a city who's very existence depends on the clean water from upstate reservoirs has been so indifferent to protecting these water sources.

From the time we left Wittenberg the views were intermittent, but never quite as broadly spectacular as the broad 245* vista seen from Wittenberg's east summit. Of course often the smaller view points that followed offered a more intimate look at some of the more wild areas of the Slide Mountain Wilderness.

We were in the mid afternoon when we were descending into the long col between Cornell and Slide and about halfway through the 13 mile hike.

Cornell is a typical Catskill summit in that it is essentially a plateau with possible views from ledges off to the sides of the trail. There was no true summit viewpoint, but several spots close to the summit offered nice views into the Slide Mountain Wilderness, both towards Slide and back at Wittenberg.

The col between Cornell and Slide is a rarity in that it's long but generally flat (in terms of mountains, not plains). It straddles the 3500ft mark, which for the Catskills is a zone of protection. For 9 months per year there is no camping above 3500ft to protect the much more fragile plants and soil higher up on the mountains. In winter, camping is allowed at all elevations, however, the col often legally dips just enough below 3500ft to offer camping in all seasons and a few of the best campsites in the col seem to be right at the 3400 foot mark.

Better than legal and somewhat decent camping, is the fact there are several water sources. The Catskills are somewhat rare in the fact that springs are often found high on the mountains, and the Burroughs Range does offer several spots to fill up, even in summer. One thing I noted though was that while the trail maps show several springs, we only found one reliable spring. This is a bit concerning since most guides note the springs are reliable, and this was a wet summer. It's possible we missed a spring, but since our goal was to mark these points on a map for future reference I'd be even more skeptical a less observant group would do a better job finding the springs.

One thing I'd like to address is something that appears to be becoming more and more of a problem. People seem to believe that since they do one or two backpacking trips a year, most likely not to the same spot, that leaving a pile of non degradable trash is acceptable practice. I guess they assume in a year or two when they return it will be gone and no harm done. The problem is those that follow you in the near future are going to a location like this col, to get away from the world, to escape things like trash and litter, and as they hike into what they assume is a wilderness campsite miles from a road after hiking thousands of vertical feet, they are greeted by a pile of MREs. Worse, this trash is a nightmare to carry out, and not many people have the desire to carry out a few smelly MRE packages over a few miles.

Why in God's name anyone thinks taking MREs on a backpacking trip is a good idea is beyond me. Sure they are easy to prepare, but then so are Ramen Noodles, or a freeze dried dinner. Yet, MREs are heavy, bulky, and when you are done there is a large pile of waste that needs to be packed out.

After crossing the col we began the ascent up Slide Mountain. Slide is the highest mountain in New York State not in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and it's one of only two 4000 foot mountains not located in the Adirondacks. While Slide is the highest mountain in the Catskills it's still not above tree-line. And the summit itself has very limited views. Like many highest peaks, it's by far one of the least impressive, although, the hike up to it's summit from the Cornell-Slide col offers some nice views and an amazingly cool and clean spring! This was in my opinion the best spring on the whole hike, and much appreciated after 8 miles!

Before we reached the summit of Slide the weather looked to be changing for the worse, a cool wind, and stormy skies appeared. The weather radios were silent but the sky definitely looked as though a severe thunderstorm could roll through at any moment. Of course this severe weather is often leads to the most impressive views as it rolls over the mountains. As we climbed the stairs and ladders up the final few hundred feet to the summit of Slide, Aim commented on the rainbow out in the distance. Finally, I got to a spot with enough line of sight to pull out my 3lb carbon tripod, and mount the 55-300 and shoot the distance landscape. Unfortunately the rainbow never really became more visible, and after 15 minutes of waiting, it was clear to me that I'd run out of light long before I got a good shot. I packed up, and caught back up with Aim and Caney just below the summit.

On the summit of slide we took the usual summit photos, and made some Carnation Instant Breakfast which I've found is a great way to both hydrate and get some quick nutrition on a long hike. I put as much of my gear into my pack as I could fit, still expecting the storm to pound us. Oddly though, despite the ominous skies, and thunder rumbling we never had more than a drop or two of rain on this long day.

The hike down the west side of slide offers a few off trail view points which we caught the setting sun out to the west. The trail is essentially a wide old road bed (or seems like one), I always refer to this path up the highest peak in the Catskills as the ladies route. It's generally well graded, and not too rough. Although while the trail is not steep, the footing is awful in the warm weather because of the typical Catskill slate and scree, which begs you to take a mistep and roll an ankle. Sure enough, after a full day of hiking, I found myself on my ass more times than I cared to count. In the winter this route is incredibly easy and it's no surprise that it's one of the most heavily hiked trails in the winter months. With snow cover, all that ankle breaker slate becomes a non issue, and if the trail is already broken, you can often make better time ascending Slide Mountain in winter than summer.

When we reached the Slide Mountain parking area it was well past dark, and well past our hoped for exit time, P&G's in New Paltz was now not in the plans, but since this part of the hike was new to me, we had other problems.

I'd read a few trip reports were people accessed a DEC right of way to cut some of the road walking off and also reduce some of the descent and re-ascent. Finding this was easy as pie, since it was just north of Winnisook Lake, although it was so easy that we naturally thought we were in the wrong spot. So after pulling the map and altimeter out, we proceeded up the forest road bed.

About 45 minutes later, including a 15 minute stop to change my socks (which is a real treat after a long day of hiking), we arrived at the intersection of the actual trail we would have been on if we'd continued down the paved highway, and regained the trail. We cut 500 feet of the hike and about ½ mile. Unfortunately we would give that 500ft, and perhaps a full mile back in short order.

Aim, who can actually read a map just fine, decided that the non green shaded area and old woods road that passed through it was a viable shortcut for us. After all it was now 10pm at night, 12 hours of hiking in the books, and nothing more to see. We were tired, hungry, and ready to finish this up. For whatever reason, just like the time we did Crane Mountain in April, without snowshoes and post holed 2.5 miles back to the car, I blindly followed her at the ~12 mile point of this trip.

This is one of those stories that will live in infamy. We timed the road intersection brilliantly using my altimeter, and we started down the road as happy as can be to be knocking off about a mile of the hike. As we walked down the road it became evident that one of two things was the case. 1) the whole road was private 2) one side of the road was private but the other was state land.

Me being the optimist/realist was hoping for the later, so despite the signs becoming increasingly more aggressive and less and less open to interpretation in their meaning we kept going (as if “Take Another Step And You Will Die Maggot” requires a 800 verbal SAT to figure out). All the signs seemed to be in the middle of the road, or on the right hand side of the road. But about 10 minutes down the road, the first signs on the left appeared, and they weren't friendly. So at this point it was evident we were trespassing, and evident that these people watched the movie Deliverance at least a few dozen times.

So, not wanting to walk back up the road, which was UP and curved away from where we ultimately were en route to, I decided that if we could spot the road, that we should go for it. You know, like when people would try to jump the Berlin Wall and get to the west. Of course the Beware of Dog sign was intimidating, as were the barking dogs. But more intimidating was the frequent “Beware of Large Trained Attack Dog” or “Beware of Pack of Large Attack Dogs” signs that seemed to be more frequent and with larger lettering, and I should mention, those were the signs that I can speak kindly of, there were a few others that said things I refuse to write about!

So after some time, certain I was either going to die, or go to jail as they fed Caney to a pack of wild dogs, I ran like hell back to the road, and we hauled up the road like we were on mile number 1 of this adventure. Quite frankly I didn't know Aim could run that fast, because certain she was dead I just kept running, but when I got back to precious state land, she was right behind me.

So rather than take a shortcut, we were now 45 minutes behind where we should have been, at least 500 vertical feet and 1 mile over the actual hike distance, and still about 1.5 miles from the trail head.

One thing I never see mentioned in the Burroughs Range trip reports is the final “Stairway To Heaven” it is an exercise in futility as you come close to the end of the trail. It’s probably 30 steps spaced at about a few feet apart, and each one goes up about 2 feet. At the end of 14 miles of hiking, where the trail map shows a fairly flat stretch to the car, this is demoralizing.

As we hiked down to the base and finally up this “Stairway To Heaven” I realized I was actually out of food. I almost never run out of food on a hike, but this time I was out, water was almost gone too, and I was tired. We sat on the rock steps, cursing the trail crew for what was actually incredible work, but surely this little incline should have been visible on the map. Surely someone should have mentioned it. It wasn't that it was all that hard, no, not even after 15 miles, but the fact that no one ever mentioned it was a bit shocking.

The whole trip took us about 15 hours to cover about 16 miles and around 11,000 feet gained and lost. It was by far the longest day hike Aim and I had done in some time, perhaps since the Butterfield Trail in Arkansas back in 1998, although while the Butterfield was about as long, it perhaps gained and lost no more than 1/3 the elevation of the Burroughs Range.

Definitely the classic Catskill hike, complete with the usual Serpico mishap and added adventure to make it a classic day in the mountains!

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