Training Log Archive: bl

Close to two hours on a site walk for the proposed subdivison off Bow Bog.
Some 20 attended. Nice day, bright & white & not too cold.

UNO winter walk & party. Met in parking at Silver Lake SP. Perfect eve: bright moonlight, calm, T around 32F. Snow mobile trails were very icy, microspikes or similar were necessary. Didn't really need headlamps which were detracting from "winter woods in moonlight". Maybe as many as 25 people, perhaps 1/2 that I didn't know, I think Pete & Lex's alpine friends. Nice, full-house party after.

Two woods walks today with groups of c. 20 - not the usual fare for outdoors activity.

Two x 15' on treadmill.

Sore back on & off for at least 6 wks., not sure what that's about as is often the case with MSK issues. Hernia sx are behind.

On Town Pond to see what that was like. Crust a bit too soft. Interesting to have the run of it though, along the edges etc. Then to town for Valentine's dinner with Beth at Margaritas.

Token but fine outing at end of day. Worked, came home, napped. Poor night's sleep, and a day that began with shoveling of unexpectedly crusted snow. I wanted to go somewhere & but not in woods as it was getting dark. Hammond came to mind & was perfect. The field had a crust that supported my weight. A bit late for sunset but still a pleasant end to the day. Stopped at Hammond cemetery (1804)...a commanding view of field and sunsets for many years.

Walk out back on an otherwise inside, stay-at-home day with a winter storm watch evening in store. Easy enough to walk across frozen swamp, then up the contours, along the top, then into the green, thick part of the forest. Lost a good part of my sense of direction having to change course due to downed trees etc. Still managed to come out on the SVT adjacent to the bog. Walked along the power line and then turned back into the woods, more open though. Then it was over the knoll-ridge-spur system where we used to spend occasional nights in a tent. And still (usually) say we will again (24 yrs at this address), come May. Finally return across the wetlands where, nowadays, I don't have any familiar landmarks, trees are close and I'm not confident where I'll end up. Today, I was about 100m to the left. There was a 12' by 8" by 1.75" board across the 10" deep, 8' wide stream. It cracked once when I was about 2/3rds way across but "permitted" passage.

I saw lots of deer and turkey prints. I rarely see anything alive in winter woods. Our friends this winter have been the same turkeys, the same grey & red squirrels, the same few deer and, just the other night, two raccoons on the patio, a first. Over the years, we've surmised their being responsible for minor damage but have never seen any. There have been moose and fox over the years as well but not recently. Coyotes used to howl from Nottingcook but again not in a long time.

We've become fond of the turkeys, coming twice daily for months. A few times, the toms pecked at the window, ie, as in demanding more food, different food or whatever. More recently, these two toms (w/ 4-6 hens) have been "all display" portending mating season. Today's "all display".

O map walk at Bear Brook from Podunk parking. Confused at the start and the 2011 version did not have some new, small trails. Boulders didn't match etc. So back a bit and things eventually provided necessary feedback. But in returning, I got in the same area from the near opposite direction and contours weren't working. At one point, I crossed my outgoing tracks. Recognition still wasn't as easy as I might have expected. I need to remind myself how to put gpx route over the map for insight. Was about 32F & felt perfectly fine. Generally calm, too, after the past few windy days. I had microspikes which I eventually put on. Walking off trail had a few slip-possible moments. Trails were icy as was parking.

There was a young malamute or husky on the edge of parking, who came to see me, disobeying his owner's commands (and treats). When I was leaving some 10' later, the wife or SO had disappeared into the woods, still trying to harness the dog. It harked back to days when Zoe & Molly would play "catch me if you can", often not the least bit amusing.


Last night, we watched Patriot's Day, the story of the 2013 Boston marathon bombing. It was very interesting to see such an account. We thought the only over-done sections were the first shoot-out in Watertown and the backyard boat scene with more gun barrels pointing at that boat than seemed possible. We left the finish area about 90' before. We had been somewhere around the first bomb site. We were at Walden Pond when we heard of the bombing. Seeing the movie graphically demonstrated what wasn't for us.