Uphill - Wachusett Mountain - 8/7/16

122 Diner

Up and out of the house early-ish today and on the road by about 8:15 headed north - on our way to find Wachusett Mountain in the middle of Massachusetts. But first, a stop in Holden, MA at the 122 Diner, on route 122, duh. . . We were seated promptly by friendly happy people and coffee arrived very quickly and once we ordered it seemed as though only seconds passed when breakfast arrived. I had my eggs and toast, which by the way the toast was perfect and I added bacon this time too as I knew I would be putting out some energy on the mountain. Nana's breakfast did not live up to her expectations and she left a bit disappointed in the food, but no complaints about the service. The waitress had a strange accent and neither Nana nor I could place it, kind of a midwestern valley girl sound.. .  strange for New England. The price was good and the service was good but the home fries were a bit mushy. So, once we refreshed and paid we were off to find the mountain. A short 12 minute drive delivered us to the entrance to find the lot at the visitor center full, so we found the second lot and a friendly ranger took six bucks from us to allow us to park.

Entrance

 We walked back to the visitors center and read all the good stuff and picked up a trail map. This trail was no slacker. It started up right from the trail head in the parking lot. I only took me a few minutes to start puffing and wheezing - Nana on the other hand didn't seem to crack a sweat. And neither did those young girls that passed us by, and did I mention the six year old and his father that just walked right past. . . damn but I gotta get back in shape. The trail was a jumble of rock and stone which had been arranged loosely into 'steps', kind of. I can only say that it was headed up the side of the mountain. I have to admit at this point,  that Wachusett Mountain is a weenie mountain, as mountains go. I know all the other mountains in Massachusetts laugh at Wachusett and New Hampshire and Maine mountains won't even talk to Wachusett, but it felt pretty large to me. Nana kind of left me in the dust a few times but was feeling sorry for me and would wait up as I came puffing along.

Nana on the climb

The steepness of the trail did not hold much appeal to Nana as she has a natural and understandable fear of falling down. Nana can sometimes be a bit unsure on steep rocky trails and this one made her a bit uncomfortable. Near the summit we crossed the road to the top and went separate ways..Nana took the road to the summit and I pushed on toward the summit on the trail, just because I wasn't completely wet yet, projectile sweating championships here I come. As it turned out we both arrived at the top of the mountain at the same time. Once out of the woods and on flatter ground my heart rate began to return to normal - It peaked at 124, normal for me is mid to low 50's - 53 - 54 is about what it normally is when resting. Nana and I walked around the open area at the top and were is the company of several hundred other people that had hiked, biked and drove up there.

Made it!

I would guess that there are at least eight trails that come to the summit and of course we took the steepest most direct trail. Looking to the East we could clearly make out Boston about 40 miles away and to the northwest we could see Mount Monadnock in Keene New Hampshire. The clouds were fantastic. We walked up to the observation tower and found a place to sit on a bench. I asked Nana to help me off with my backpack and she was shocked by how heavy it was. "What do you have in there" She asked. I told her that I had thought it would be a good place to shoot a time lapse so I packed my gear, tripod, camera lenses, filters and intervalometer.. you know the basics. I unpacked and sat up my tripod where I thought I had a good view of the clouds passing by to the North. The play of the shadows over the hills was fascinating to watch. I got the tripod stable and hung my backpack on the bottom hook to help stabilized the tripod, it was very

Time lapse gear

windy. We sat on the bench while my camera clicked away, eating trail mix and dried pineapple and I think I downed a large bottle of water. The fifteen minutes or so that we sat there yielded the time lapse below. It is only 10 seconds long but shows the motion of the clouds. We packed everything back into our packs and started the descent. We took a trail for a short distance but decided to return by the road which certainly was a beautiful walk down the mountain.

Harlow Lookout

We passed the Harlow Lookout shelter, what a beautiful place with a fantastic view. Nana and I both took many photos and panoramas. The walk back down was only about a mile and a half or so but it was still steep enough that I felt as though I was slipping into the toe of my boots. Today we walked a bit over three miles, maybe three and a half..going up it felt longer -- coming down it felt too short. It was good to get back to the car and get the air conditioning on -- it was a hot day. . .  Driving home we spotted a road sign that said Nana Trail..
Below are some pix and the time lapse I made at the summit

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."  Edmund Hillary

It is best to watch the time lapse full screen

Wachusett Mountain Time lapse from Edward Huff on Vimeo.

Ski Lift in summer - looks sad

Part of the Mid-State Trail

Panorama from Harlow Lookout

App says 3.7 miles..taken with a grain of salt

The road sign says Nana Trail!

Borderland State Park, MA

Today started off in Foxboro MA, home of the New England Patriots, Go Pats!,

At the Commons

at the Commons Restaurant and even though it was one of those Sunday mornings where we had to wait for a table we (I) maintained our humor and let the time and worries roll away. Nana and I were served coffee right away by a cheerful waitress, we ordered and the food seemed as though it had been waiting for us on the back shelf..good friendly fast service. (Once we got seated). Nana had the breakfast burrito and I broke from tradition and had a Western Omelet...hmmm... I see why people like these things. I have discovered that some other tiny traditions have crept into our breakfast outings.. I always take a bit of Grape Jam on my toast while Nana is an Orange Marmalade woman...seems to be consistent. I checked out the driving time to the Park I had selected and it was only about 12 minutes away. Once we paid and made one last tour of the restrooms we set off for Borderland State Park, somewhere new as is always the goal. It was an easy drive and SIRI gave us great directions so we arrived in the predicted 12 minutes. Technology is getting to be so good at thinking for us that we will soon forget how to use maps or the Dewey Decimal System -- and I know that anyone reading this has fewer than three phone numbers committed to memory.  To my surprise when, we arrived at the park, there was a fee of $6.00 to be paid and it was a fully automated system requiring 

 

$6 to Park!

me to exit the car and approach an unfamiliar bit of technology and have a conversation with this machine by pressing buttons, declaring statehood and inserting plastic money. It then spat out a receipt and I was instructed to place it on my dashboard in full view so the dashboard police and make sure I am not violating any rules.  All in all a good system, and I don't really begrudge the six bucks, as it turned out that this was a beautiful place for Nana and Pappa to walk. We found our way to the park headquarters and got a free map of the trails and grounds, and made use of the facilities one more time..too much coffee I guess.

At the trailhead.

We started off on the West Side Trail and wandered to the French Trail and by the time we made it to the Granite Rock Trail where we discovered a huge bolder field and the walking had more of an uphill, down hill personality. Not real huff and puffing walking but noticeable. At some point we wandered back toward the lake, then on and on until we made our way to some very large fields on the east side of the lake. Upon leaving the fields we met a couple of guys who were walking several very large dogs. Bothe the men and the dogs were very friendly. I wish I could retain the breed of dogs a couple of them were but I cannot recall what we were told but they were very large dogs - maybe black bear sized dogs - very friendly. We pressed on and the young men told us that it was just about a mile back to the parking area, but also said it was going to 'really rain in about 20 minutes' so we picked up the pace. It never rained. 

The big house

These grounds were made by the Ames's in around 1910-ish  - you can look it up. But the long and the short of it was that they made this place their home and later left it to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - the name Borderland comes for the fact that it is on the border of a couple of towns - Easton and Sharon, MA. It is quite a beautiful place and they have a Frisbee Golf course and apparently hold public events frequently in the big house. Nice!

Nana and I hike around the whole grounds surrounding the house which is lush with gardens and sculptures and waterfalls. Very nice ending for a day on the trail.  As usual I was completely wet for the walk and Nana had the presence of mind to pack an extra shirt for me to change into so I wouldn't embarrass myself, or her, should we meet up with anyone. As it turned out we were near a Woodcraft Store, and I can't pass one of those, meaning we did stop on our way back home..so thanks Nana for thinking of me. Now a few more pictures.

Bolders along the trail

Special birding spot

Near the big house

Our trek

Nana on the trail

Warm Sunday - Bluff Point State Park, Groton, CT

Buford's Family Restaurant

We got out of the house in good time this week and drove to Groton, Connecticut for a great breakfast at Buford's Family Restaurant. We parked in front of the Happy Tails Dog Grooming shop directly across the street from Buford's and wen we arrived, all the seats were taken so we sat at the counter. I have to say that this was  one of the friendliest places we had been in quite some time. It seems like everyone that was working at Buford's was genuinely happy to be there. This is just a small hole in the wall, neighborhood diner but it gets a five star rating from me.

Nana and Pappa at the counter

It was great sitting at the counter as this is where all the action is.  We had a great chat with the waitresses and the food was great, prompt and generous portions. Nana had a reuben omelet and I had my usual and they got the toast right. so score one for the small town diner. Nana and I chatted and caught up on all the happenings of the past week. Sunday mornings are always great this way as the week days are busy and it can be difficult to get it all said, so we get it all out on Sunday mornings, over eggs and coffees and home fries. Once we were fortified we set off to find Bluff Point State Park. We had hiked here once before, (before this blog) back in late November of last year and have great memories of that time. The big loop part of the trail is 

just over 4 miles starting in a dusty parking area. We chose this spot because it is near the water and has beaches on Long Island Sound. Nana needed to be by the water and this seemed to be just the spot.

Nana gets her bearings

It was building into another hot day as we started up the path but we walked in comfort in the shade of Hickory and Oak and had a great breeze coming in off the Sound. The trail here is wide and well traveled and there is no need of trail markers. No blazes on the trees here.

Out on the point, overlooking the Sound.

As is usually the case I began to perspire heavily a short way into the walk, it is just what I do...  but this time Nana had reminded me to bring my hat so the sweat wouldn't run into my eyes. It worked! Thanks Nana! However there was at least one noticeable drawback. The picture on the right taken at the diner turned out pretty good and Nana wanted a copy to send to our son who lives on the far shore in California. When I went to send it to her (it was on my iPhone) I had to look down at my screen and when I did that a puddle of water formed on my screen. Yep, I had sweat my hat completely full, so when I tipped my head down, it would run in a stream from the bill. I was able to overcome these hardships and press on. As the sun got higher in the sky, more and more fun seekers arrives along the trail and we passed quite a few heading for the beach with arms full of beach toys and towing wagons and baskets behind. We made it back to the start having logged over 4 miles. The apps are still in conflict - I am guessing 4 miles even. Once back to the car we swapped out our backpacks for beach chairs and found a great spot in the shade. Nana was reading and I was sketching and all the while we had a good conversation going. Once when I needed to go the the mens room (they actually had a solar powered mens room) I was fortunate to have a hot dog stand in my path, so on my return trip I made the acquaintance of the purveyor of fine dogs. He was a large guy who was falling asleep in his chair while playing Sudoko - I think I save him from the pain of boredom. We ended up chatting for quite a while. Not only does he sell hot dogs but raises champion 'coon hounds. Growing up in Illinois my neighbor had several runs of hounds and 'coon hunting was a big sport in my childhood. Even though we became kindred spirits, he still charged me full retail for the dog. I took my dog back to my spot in the shade and Nana and I were in a cool, breezy spot on a hot summer day. Oh and did I mention that there is a Dairy Queen at the entrance to the park. . . 

Some Pictures

On the 'trail' 

By the beach

Even though it sys 4.5 I bet it was only 4

The view from my chair

Convolutions - Caratunk

At the ihop

This weeks' Sunday walk took place on Saturday. And so it starts. . . and fell apart quickly. With all good intentions we planned to rise early on Saturday (Sunday had other obligations) and find an exotic place and have a nice long walk. But it didn't turn out that way - as it turns out it was a very late start day. So we decided to just go to Caratunk which is the closest decent place to walk in the woods. Also as it turns out, an IHOP just opened up down the street and we thought it might be a good idea to see what it is like. So breaking with tradition and leaving all good sense at home, we struck out for the IHOP. Wouldn't you know that we were not the only ones with that idea on a warm Saturday morning. We had to wait... I hate to wait... Well they do have an extensive menu and 'Ashley', our waitress, (can I say waitress -- is that sexist? Maybe wait-person) was very pleasant and got us coffee promptly and handed us rather large menus which took a while to read, they do have a large selection of things to choose from.

$3.50 a cup!

And so we ordered, Nana had an omelet and a crepe with red berries of some kind, maybe strawberries, and I had eggs home fries and toast as normal, but also got 'country fried steak' - homage to my midwestern roots. By golly they got the toast right! It sure was busy and we had the seat right by the door and got to see the parade of humanity flowing past. I gotta say, most of them were rather large and we were thinking that maybe they had been to the IHOP one too many times. Now I know what you are thinking - I am not being to sensitive or politically correct, but I am a visual person and am just reporting what I saw. And besides, they may have been saying the same thing about me. Anyway, back to the convolutions of the morning. While we were there we realized that we had the evening free - a free Saturday - this is a rarity to be sure. I would bet that we must have no more that 5 or 6 free Saturday evenings in a year. Well with this blank slate of an evening staring us in the face we decided that we should rent a movie and my friend Giovanni had recommended 'The Intern' with Robert de Nero. Nana said that sounded fine and I figured we could pick it up at the Red Box -- checking my phone (the source of all knowledge) I discovered that this was not to be and Netflix didn't have it either. Consulting the phone device one more time I discovered that we could buy it at Walmart - which is a half a mile away - for the sum of $9.95. Excessive, but it is an open Saturday night and I wanted to impress my sweetie. We decided that we should swing by the Walmart before the hike, snag the movie and head for the woods. Walmart was out of them. . . . and because of our late start it was now after one in the afternoon and the temperature was over 90º! "Let's try Best Buy" I said trying to be cheerful " we are here already..."  Best Buy was out of them. . . .  Nana had waited in the car while I ran into Best Buy and when I gave her the news she pointed out that Target was 'just right over there' so off we went again. This time Nana also had a few things she wanted to see of Target had. . . Well I found the movie ---  $22.95!!!!!!! So in a short span of time I went from spending a buck at the Red Box to a price of $22.95!! No deal. It was the DVD, Blue Ray downloadable watch it anywhere edition - I am not paying for that - and who needs to watch it on ALL their devices.  We left.    Oh and did I mention that IHOP turned out to be very expensive.. we spent $35 for breakfast...forget the chain diners, buy local, better food, better people, better prices.

Caratunk yellow dot trail

Oh yeah, this blog is supposed to be about walking with Nana. We did arrive at Caratunk at the very peak of the hottest day so far this year. I think my phone app had the temperature at about 2000º Kelvin or something like that, it was close to the temperature of the sun. We started off on the red dot trail down over the bridge and through the tall pines. I love this little preserve. So close to home and yet when you walk back into the woods you feel very remote. Even with the heat of the day (and I really feel the heat of the day), it was a good place to be. I think that they win the award for having the most mushrooms of any trail we have hiked - they were everywhere. We saw red mushrooms, yellow and white mushrooms and mushrooms of all sizes and varieties - mushroom heaven. The other thing Caratunk had this fine day was bugs. Lots of flying, annoying bugs. I am thinking that by now you musk think that I am just an old whiner but, well, that is just how this day worked out, and it is my job to tell the story. All in all, through the heat and the bugs, we had a good walk. We walked the outer perimeter of the preserve and walked through many different types of terrain with great diversity in the types of plants and trees that grow in this forest. The ferns were spectacular and lots of princess pine and wildflowers along the trail.  And did I mention the mushrooms.

Back at the beginning

The final part of the trail Nana and I through the fields over looking the barn and the starting point. The fields are the home to a wide variety of birds and we spotted several thrushes and even a goldfinch. And of course many birds that we didn't or couldn't put a name to. While walking in the forest we were serenaded by bird song. The birds know a good thing and I suspect that is why they are here. Even though it was a convoluted start to the day..we got our walk in this weekend, in a beautiful spot, which we had all to ourselves, and as always, I was in the good company of Nana.

And of course when I got home, I had to mow the lawn..just a bit more walking in the blazing sun. . . .

Mushrooms everywhere

On the trail

It lies - I bet it was only about 2.5 miles

Thinking of Paul - Lincoln Woods

Geneva Coffee

Today was sort of a melancholy day for a walk. Our dear friend Paul passed away yesterday so this walk has become our memorial walk. Such a good man, such a good friend. More on that later, but let me tell you how our day went. Nana and I started our day in search of some place close and decided just to walk again in Lincoln Woods, just north of the city of Providence, a few minutes from our house. I found the Geneva Diner in North Providence on the computer and it looked like a good enough place to have breakfast as we always like new diners. It all started off well enough, we were seated promptly and the waitress seemed cheerful enough. We got coffee straight away. The diner was not busy it only is a maybe too other booths with hungry breakfast seekers.
Nana ordered the 'Mexican Omelet' and I ordered my usual 2 eggs, home fries and toast. And the wait began... and continued... and continued. We began to wonder if we had been forgotten but the waitress showed up and refilled our empty coffee cups. Nana asked for a glass of water which never came. If you are a regular reader of this drivel you know I like my toast dark and without butter.

WITHOUT BUTTER DAMN IT!!!!!

You can see here just how that turned out, and the odd thing was our toast arrived first on it's own plates long before any breakfast showed up and when a plate arrived only Nana's breakfast arrived and my two eggs did not show for almost another 7 or 8 minutes. Nana asked for a glass of water again and never got it still. . . The Geneva Diner does not get a high rating, and not much of a tip either. Nana never did get her water..we guessed they lost the recipe. A short time later we pulled into the back entrance of Lincoln Woods..this was not intentional, I just happened to miss the exit so I took the next and knew the way to the back of the park. This was actually a much better entrance to the park complete with a covered bridge over a stream. We parked and struck out to the woods along a dirt road which lead to many trails. Soon we were walking in peace and talking of our long friendship with Paul and the meaning of all this end of life stuff. Paul's passing has made us all more reflective on our own place in the world and exactly how short our time here actually is. Make the best of it. Paul was an inspiration in many ways and has touch our life in a most permanent way. While we walked we got calls and texts from friends who have also been touched by Paul wanting to know the news and what they could do and sending well wishes. He was loved by many.

Lincoln Woods

We walked toward the pond and then followed a trail around the perimeter for a while and crossed back over to the road and around back through the woods. It seemed a bit more of a wander than hike..a bit more aimless the way life seems right now. I think I will leave the blog here for the day with one final thought. As we approached the end of our walk a huge Red Tailed Hawk landed in a tree almost directly above us. Maybe it was my mood or maybe some thing real but I would like to think that it was a sign  of better things to come, of a new beginning or something I don't have words for, but a sign of something good. 

Red Tailed Hawk

Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods

Our path

Defoliated - Crawley Preserve

Iced Coffee

Well it's the Fourth of July Weekend and you know what that means.. we slept too late and the lines at the breakfast place I choose were 15 deep out the door.  Drat! -- So on to plan B. I had chosen Stepping Stone Falls for our hike today but we headed further south and ended up in Richmond RI, right near where I work and went to the Fresh Ground Cafe for breakfast. We each had iced coffees (since it was almost noon) and breakfast burritos. All very good! and good service too. Since I know this area and we were on kind of a tight schedule we decided to hike in a place nearby called the Crawley Preserve, about 5 miles from the cafe in Usquepaugh, RI - I had been there sketching several times but had never walked the trails. To our surprise the Gypsy Moth caterpillars had almost completely defoliated the area. It was amazing seeing the entirety of the forest, this time of the year without leaves. It was like winter again.
However, the trails were very well marked and we were not to be deterred by a few missing leaves. We started off on the Red Dot Trail which winds it way up a hilly countryside with several switchbacks to keep me from puffing too much. You can see in the picture  that the leaves are just gone, but the trail is wide and the walking is very easy and the scenery is still

No Leaves

No leavesvery nice. Even though it was a hot July day and we didn't have much cover, it was cool enough that I didn't work up my usual lather. Along the red dot trail we met a lady who said she live just down the road, she was walking her dog, a large white handsome dog of some unknown breed. We chatted for a few minutes and came away with a lot of local knowledge about the area and about the trails. For the longest route she recommended talking the red trail to the blue trail and the blue trail to the yellow trail which would lead us back to the parking area. This is exactly what we ended up doing. Along the way there were trail markers with numbers on them - we have learned since that they match up with a trail guide and point out natural features. We need to walk this again with the guide in hand. At he far end of the preserve we could see signs of civilization but soon were back into the forest. Interestingly the caterpillars were in the stage of development where they were becoming moths..and the woods were swarming with little white moths, amazing.

We found the yellow trail

 The trail system here was one of the best marked trails system we have walked. All the blazes were fresh and bright and they were close enough together that you never had to search them out. The yellow trail had the most diversity of terrain with a brook and large glacial boulders strewn along the way. Even thought he walking was easy the views were fantastic. The yellow trail also was just a bit greener than the rest of this defoliated forest with lush ferns and raspberry bushes, once we got near the brook, anyway. As we neared the finish of our two mile walk, a white tailed deer leapt across the trail just in front of Nana, giving her a start and it was gone before I looked up. We had heard several wild critter thrashing around in the brush from time to time and supposed it was deer, this confirmed it. After returning to the car, we drove down the hill to the Kenyon Grist Mill, a Rhode Island favorite. And now some more photos.

At the start

Well marked trail

Pappa, posing like a pioneer - what a poser!

App didn't have the trails

Mill stone

Nana at Kenyons

With The Kids - Dingman Falls, PA - June 25-27

Our little spot in PA

This was the week the was... it seems that just about everything that could go wrong, did. But with a bad week behind us Nana and Pappa along with our grandkids Ben and Grace set off early Saturday morning for  a few days away. Our destination was a place that Nana found called Babbling Brook Cottages, near Dingman's Ferry/Dingman's Falls, Pennsylvania. The drive is about four and a half hours from our home in Rhode Island and an easy ride it was. Ben is always in the navigator seat when ever we travel and did a good job this time too. Ben has been suffering with stomach problems and I have been watching what I eat so we didn't have much in the way of snacks on the road, but we did start off at Dunkin Donuts as always and that held us for the ride. As we arrived in the area of the cabins we took a side trip to dingman's Falls, a national park. This is a wonderful park with lots of trails for hiking and we got a guided tour with a ranger named Eric. His took us along the trail to Silverhead Falls, an 80 foot tall, very narrow falls cutting vertically through very large rock walls It was spectacular. Here is a photo of the falls.

Silverhead Falls - Click for larger

We were told by others leaving the trail that we had just missed a Black Bear who was trying to get across the trail and the river..would have been pretty cool to see a bear. we continued along through the forest of Hemlock and Elm to the star attraction, Dingman Falls, which is the second highest waterfalls in Pennsylvania. We had a great time here and as it turns out is the the 100th birthday for the National Park Service this year, congrats and keep up the fine work. From here we struck out for the cabins and what a great place to call home for a few days. The cabin property backed right up to the George W. Childs Park which has an abundance of waterfalls. We hiked through the woods, an adventure in itself, and found some great spots to play. We spent the afternoon climbing all over rocks and playing in the water. The forest was a very comfortable place to spend time with the family. Ben and Grace had a great time climbing on the stones that filled the stream bed and Ben had his first encounter with what I call a crawdad but most people refer to as a crayfish.

Crawdad Boy

After the adventure we took off in search of food and drink and to pick up a few groceries and explore the village of Milford, about 7 miles away. We also found  a company to rent tubes for a river float on the Delaware River. We made reservations for the next day.  We had supper at a restaurant called simply 'The Grill' and I think everyone had a pretty good supper. on our return we found a drug store and a grocery store and arrived back at the cabin well stocked. At his point in the evening I think we were all pretty tired and about all we could do is build a fire in the fire pit out back and sit around poke stick in it. There is something very satisfying about sitting around a fire and poking it with a stick, the kids love this and we do it at home frequently too.

Ah, a fire

The next morning Pappa made breakfast, bacon and scrambled eggs and we were off to the river for a day of slow floating adventure. What a business they have going. For a mere $120 the drive us up the river three miles, drop us off where there is a stack of tubes and allow us to float back to the start. Likely cost them seven cents for gas and five minutes hourly wage for the kid who drove us. Good business plan, wish I had thought of it. The trip down the river was easy, with only a couple of spots where the water moved as fast as a walk. Once back to the start we stacked the tubes, took a shower and headed out. Benny was still feeling a bit poorly when we returned to the cabin so Nana and Grace and I wen in search of more waterfalls, and found several back at the George W. Childs Park. This time we drove over and hiked in from the entrance. Lots of people swimming and leaping from high cliffs.

George W. Childs Park, Falls

More campfires that night and a ride home the next day, stopping for a while to walk a bit on the Appalachian Trail. Now we can all say we have hike a few paces on the AT. An easy ride home from there and I think everyone had a good time exploring new places.


And now more photos.

Tubing on the Delaware

Sweetie Pie on the trail

People were jumping here

More Waterfalls

On the Appalachian Trail - if only for a minute