Biking - Another November Bonus Day

Today wasn't supposed to be as warm as yesterday, and would also be mostly cloudy, but, hey, 60 degrees in November is a day not to be wasted. Some friends and I took a leisurely bike ride from western Clifton Park down to the Crescent Bridge, where we had lunch at Stewart's, and then returned by a different route, for 27 miles altogether. In past years, we've tried to ride in every month, and November was an easy one this year.

Hiking, Geocaching, and Ski Trail Scouting on a Very Warm November Day

November 9. Sunny. 73 degrees. Wait.....what? We don't get many days like this around here this late in the season. Holly and I headed off today for the short hike up Vroman's Nose, near Middleburgh, NY, and its outstanding views of the Schoharie Valley. It's less than an hour from home, and only a half hour to the top, but the views are stupendous. The trail follows an old road up the more gentle back side, and reaches the sheer cliffs facing south and east. Peregrine falcons nest here, and it's an extremely popular local hike.





After enjoying the views and eating lunch, we went off in search of a couple of geocaches known to be up here on the summit. Well, one was, and we found it easily. The other was downhill in a direction we chose not to go this trip, so we left it for another time.

On the way home, sort of, we stopped at Cole Hill State Forest to check out more of the XC ski trails and get in a little more of a walk. I had been here earlier in the week, but only scratched the surface, and only in a different part of the forest. Today, I GPSed (is that a verb?) the trails as we walked, and should be able to produce a pretty accurate map for the ECOS Ski Tips publication I'm helping to update and revise. We also picked off one more geocache in the forest, as long as we were there. It was just a wonderful day to be outside.

Geocaching - Four in One Day

It was a sunny November day in the 60s, so Holly and I took advantage by getting out for a walk and looking for some geocaches this afternoon. Indian Meadows Park, in Glenville, has about 8-10 of them scattered about, so I picked 4 and away we went. These were pretty easy ones, one of them a multi-cache, and we actually found all 5 locations in less than a 90-minute walk. Lots of people out on a very nice Indian Summer day.

Biking - River Loop

I was supposed to lead an ADK hike to Kaaterskill High Peak today. But after last weekend's back strain, and the fact that it's still not quite right, hauling a winter-weight pack up and down a steep Catskill didn't have a whole lot of appeal. So, with only a couple of people showing interest anyway, I cancelled the hike, despite it being a very nice day.

But after spending a whole week basically sitting on my ass because of this, I needed to do something. I thought that biking might be OK as long as I took it easy and didn't get my back into any hill climbing. After a little struggle getting the bike up out of the basement, I set off on a flat loop up and down the Mohawk River, for about 21 miles. This was fine with no back issues, except the return trip had a 15-20 mph headwind, and that distance turned out to be plenty. The bike is now in the garage, and I should be able to get out more easily if I want to ride again.

Walk - Long Path, Cole Hill State Forest

I messed up my back somehow last weekend, so haven't been doing much this week.

Yesterday, I went to a meeting of the ECOS Ski Tips Committee, of which I am a member. We're revising a 2001 edition of that booklet, which contains maps of local places to go cross-country skiing. We're trying to update and field-check all of the maps and republish a new edition in the next year or so. Since Cole Hill State Forest just got added to my list, and I needed to get out and do something, I went and walked part of the ski trails there, parts of which follow the Long Path. I didn't walk all that far, but from what I saw, this place looks pretty good for skiing. It's also up in the hills of Albany County, so will get more snow than down here in the valley. We'll give it a try sometime this winter, and field-check the rest of the trails shown on the existing map.

Geocaching - Wolf Creek Falls Preserve

Today was a sunny, bright November day, and Holly and I decided to go try a couple of geocaches. We chose the Wolf Creek Falls Preserve, between Altamont and Knox, a property of the Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy. There are two geocaches located in the preserve, Holly had never been there, and it was a nice day for a walk in the woods.

We found the first geocache easily after a short walk and an impromptu high-water detour around a swollen stream. But the second one eluded us. We knew we were in the right place, but it must have been extremely well-hidden or camouflaged. After running out of ideas, we gave up and headed back to the car.

We'll definitely be back here in the winter to try some cross-country skiing on the wide and rolling trails.

Walk - Long Path to High Point Cliff

Today, we were expecting a warm, windy, and wet Halloween Day. What we got was 70 and windy, but the rain got postponed until later in the afternoon. After some household chores and fall yard work, I headed off to John Boyd Thacher State Park for a short walk before the deluge. As I got closer to the park, atop the Helderberg Escarpment, I noticed a trailhead I'd never seen before, listing the Long Path to High Point Cliff, about 1.1 miles. This looked about right, so off I went. It turns out that the Open Space Institute just recently acquired another 188 acres here to be added to the park, and that's where I was now walking.

I kept watching the sky to the west, and maintained a fairly brisk pace, not wanting to get wet in the next hour or so. By the time I got to the overlook, the sky had mostly clouded over, but the views were still spectacular. The escarpment in the main part of the park was visible to the southeast.



Fourteen miles to the ESE was the Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany.



And just below me to the north was the tiny village of Altamont, at the base of the escarpment.



The sky was getting noticeably darker now, so I didn't tarry long here, walking quickly back to the car. It had not rained by the time I drove home, but it still looks like it will be a wet evening for trick-or-treating ;-)

Biking - Clifton Park and Lunch

A group of friends got together today for a 30-mile backroads ride around the Towns of Clifton Park and Round Lake. It was a cool and cloudy morning, though clearing was expected later with highs in the 60s. Unfortunately, we finished before any of that happened, and also had to contend with some unexpected winds. It wasn't the most pleasant day to be out, but at least it was dry, and lunch at Lakeside Farms is always a good destination.

Today also marked 2,500 miles for the year, on 95 rides. This has definitely been my best biking year ever.

Golf - Whispering Pines GC

Today dawned gloomy and cool, but not rainy, so I headed for Whispering Pines and its 18-hole par-3 layout. The first hole gave me a taste of what was to come. I dropped my tee shot nicely on the green, and then promptly 3-putted, the first of many. These fast rolling greens continue to confound me. A few good (great!) holes saved me from an otherwise high-scoring round, despite feeling like I was hitting everything very well.

Highlights

• 2 birdies, one on a 35-foot putt, and another on a 28-footer
• 7 of 18 greens in regulation
• 3 pars and only one double bogey

Lowlights

• Five 3-putts
• Several tee shots hit fat and short

Overall, the score was in my top ten for the year, and it felt like I was playing well. I just need to figure out how to putt consistently at this place.

Hiking - Rusk Mountain (Catskills)

After our last off-trail hike to Moose Mountain a few weeks ago, Holly wanted to learn more about map and compass navigation. Normally, I do the route planning, give her a compass bearing to follow, and she gets us to the destination through the woods very well. But she wanted to understand better how that compass bearing was arrived at. She suggested a trailless Catskill summit, since deer season hadn't yet opened to our south, and I chose Rusk as a simple and relatively short learning exercise. It's about 3/4 mile on a trail, and then about another 1.25 miles on a straight line to the summit. It's quite steep, and there are no views, but it would serve our purpose well.

Arriving at the trailhead, I helped her understand the map and the route and she came up with a bearing she wanted to follow. And off we went. It was a beautiful day to be out, with temps in the 50s, no wind, and an extremely blue sky as a backdrop to the yellow beech leaves still remaining on the trees.



After struggling upward through the beeches (and a few especially nasty sons of beeches), she nailed the summit dead on. We knew this because on the trailless Catskill summits, the Catskill 3500 Club maintains canisters where hikers register a successful ascent. This then qualifies them, after completing all of the 3500-foot summits, for membership in the Club. We're both already members, but the canister was still a welcome sight.




The summit is otherwise very nondescript, with no views whatsoever of the surrounding territory. We ate our lunches, signed the register, and then headed back down.



On the way down, I made a small mental error, following a bearing that caused us to intersect a stream a little farther up its bed than I would have liked. It wasn't a big deal, just a little rocky and sloppy for a ways as we followed it down, but then we were back on the trail and reached the car in good time. Ice cream at the Prattsville Diner completed a great day in the woods.

Biking - The Bridges of Washington County

My Long Island friend Ted was in town for the weekend and wanted to get out for a ride. He had previously done a 33-mile ride in rural Washington County, a loop including Greenwich, Salem, and Cambridge, which he described as "having some killer hills". So we decided to give it a try on a cool windy Sunday.




Washington County adjoins the state of Vermont, which in many ways it resembles much more than it does the other New York counties surrounding it. The terrain is hilly, farms are plentiful, and the scenery is very rural. There are even several covered bridges in the county, and we crossed one on today's ride.



The Rexleigh Bridge, built in 1874, is on a side road south of Salem, NY. The text reads "25 Dollars Fine for Driving on This Bridge Faster Than a Walk". This bridge was followed immediately by the first big climb shown above, and visible in the background, which continued on for about a mile. In the middle was one short cruel section of approximately 15% grade. After making it up that one, we chose to skip a second covered bridge that would have involved another significant country road up-and-down, and took a valley detour to Cambridge instead.

After a rest and snack stop in Cambridge, we headed northwest, into a stiff headwind, and tackled the second big climb of the day. This one was not as steep, but did seem to continue on for a couple of miles. After that, it was all downhill back to Greenwich and the car.

This area is a great place to ride, and I'll keep this one on my list, maybe with a few modifications.

Hiking - Pharaoh Mountain

At 2556 feet, Pharaoh Mountain is the highest summit in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area of the Adirondacks. Today, I joined a Schenectady ADK trip to its summit, approaching from the south via Pharaoh Lake. It was a 13.8-mile round trip, longer than we had realized because a former 1.1-mile road to a more interior trailhead was now unmaintained and impassable to all but high-clearance vehicles.



As we reached the end of the road and the old trailhead, the morning fog was just burning off.



Further along, we came to a very large beaver dam and pond. This shot only shows about a quarter of the total length of this dam.



Our destination, Pharaoh Mountain, towered above the pond behind the dam.



On the summit, clouds were beginning to fill in, and it was cool and windy. We ate lunch and enjoyed the view to the east toward Vermont in the far distance, with part of Pharaoh Lake directly below.



The summit has several views in different directions. Here, we're looking more northwest toward the Adirondack High Peaks on the horizon.



Since the forecast was calling for an increasing chance of rain as the day wore on, we left the summit and made good time back to the outlet of Pharaoh Lake. The sky was getting gloomier by the minute, but we never did get any rain from the ominous clouds reflected in the lake.



The last 3.6 miles back to the cars seemed like an eternity, but the old road provided good walking and we reached the cars about 8 hours after we started.

Walk - Near Wolf Hollow

Today, the Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy was leading a walk on some private property near Wolf Hollow, in Glenville. The landowner had entered into an easement with MHLC that prevents most further development on his 37 mostly wooded acres. The property is not technically open to the public, but the owner offered a tour of the property today which interested the many people who attended. The location is significant in Native American history, both for a great inter-tribal battle there in 1669, and as the site of a continual encampment over a period of centuries. Many artifacts have been found there and donated to the NYS Museum. The owner's hope is to preserve the property in its present state for future generations to enjoy.

Biking - Lunch at Indian Ladder Farms

Today, a friend and I set off to a destination of lunch at Indian Ladder Farms, a local orchard and farm store. It's about a 30-mile loop from my house, and I do this ride several times every year. They have an interesting menu with some unusual sandwiches and soups, and it's an easy ride that can be made as hilly or as flat as I choose. Today, we cut out some of the busier roads in favor of a few more hilly quiet roads, which also served to warm us up on a cool morning in the 40s.

Biking this time of year is all about enjoying whatever fitness level is left after the season has begun to wind down. We just took it easy and enjoyed the fall colors, especially those on the face of the Helderberg Escarpment, which were some of the most brilliant we've seen anywhere this year. On the way home, a stop at my favorite local farm stand for the last sweet corn of the season completed the day.

Hiking - Trail Maintenance, Northville-Lake Placid Trail

Today, Holly and I led our semiannual trail maintenance trip for Schenectady ADK on the section of the Northville-Lake Placid Trail that we've adopted for the past 16 years. The trail section extends from the Lake Durant Campground near Blue Mountain Lake to the leanto at Stephens Pond, about 3 miles to the south. Our responsibilities include clearing blowdown, cutting back brush, clearing drainages, and reporting any issues we can't handle to NYSDEC and ADK.

It was a cold day, the trail was much wetter than usual, and there were only three of us, but we left the trail in pretty good shape for the winter XC ski season.

Golf - Clifton Knolls Executive Course

The weather unexpectedly improved this afternoon, all the way into the 50s with some sun, so I headed out for a brief golf outing. Clifton Knolls is a 9-hole par-28 course not far from home, and it was all I felt like taking on today, having not played in about 3 weeks. That long layoff definitely showed, though there were some bright spots.

Highlights

• Outstanding short game around the greens
• Five one-putts and only 14 total putts
• 3 pars and 3 bogeys

Lowlights

• Lots of hooking, slicing, and mis-hits
• Hooked into water on #2, and under a tree on #9
• Three triple bogeys (scoring 6 on a par 3)

Not sure how many more times I'll be getting out this year, but I remember going on a warm November day last year, so I'm probably not quite done yet.

Biking - The Great Pumpkin Ride

It's been a very cold week, nearly 20 degrees below normal every day, with highs only in the 40s. But some friends and I were all game for a bike ride, so we headed out on the Mohawk River Bike Path from Rotterdam Kiwanis Park to Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, about 17 miles to the west. It was only in the 30s as we started, and it took a while to generate some warmth. We reached Karen's Produce and Ice Cream a little before noon, hoping to buy some hot soup and eat our bag lunches in the warmth of the dining area there. Unfortunately, power had been out for about a half hour, and there was no heat. Their soup was still hot, so that was a plus as we enjoyed our lunches indoors.

Back outside, I began eyeing the stack of pumpkins for sale, and wondered if I could manage to get one home by bike. It seemed worth a try, and I was up to the challenge.



The pumpkin stayed put surprisingly well, and survived the sometimes bumpy ride back to Rotterdam without a scratch.

Hiking - Plotterkill Preserve

As I was putting on my boots for Monday's Moose Mountain hike, I noticed that they were starting to fall apart in several places. Later, at home, I discovered that I had been wearing these same boots for 11 years, and a lot of miles. That's nearly a third of my total hiking career. That fact made it very easy to justify buying a new pair, which I did yesterday.

Today, I thought it might be a good idea to give the new boots a trial run someplace nearby, before committing them to any kind of serious hike. The Plotterkill Preserve has about a 5-6 mile loop trail that's as rugged as anything we have around here, and it would provide a good test.

For the first part of the hike, I was concentrating more on the boots than the scenery - they were a little stiff and I was noticing a couple of potential hot spots. But as time went on, they became more comfortable, and I was able to relax and enjoy the hike. I stopped at one of my favorite cascades near the lower end of the preserve.



Climbing up from the stream to the South Rim, the sunlight was streaming through the trees, bathing everything in a yellow light.



The colors across the gorge were especially bright.



Dropping back down to the stream near the Coplon Road entrance, I decided to bushwhack upstream to the base of the 40-foot Lower Falls, since there was enough water flowing to make it interesting.



From there, I bushwhacked steeply up to the South Rim and the Blue Trail back to the car. The climb had obviously been done by many before me, and was no more steep than many Adirondack or Catskill pitches I'd done over the years. It avoided a long circuitous route back down stream and up to the North Rim and back to the car.

In the end, the boots were pretty comfortable, and are ready for a more serious adventure.

Hiking - Cliffs on Moose Mountain

Every year, on Columbus Day Weekend, Holly and I head to the southern Adirondacks and bushwhack about 90 minutes to the cliffs on Moose Mountain. While the more popular areas of the Adirondacks are teeming with leaf-peepers, we've never seen another soul on this hike. There's no trail, and we use GPS, map, and compass to navigate to the cliffs on this isolated summit.

Today, many of the more brightly colored leaves had already fallen victim to last week's high winds, but the yellows and oranges were still brilliant in spots.





This summit is only about an hour from home, and we've hiked it every year since 2001 on this holiday weekend. While this year's colors were pretty subdued, it's always nice to be able to just park the car on the side of the road and set off through the woods completely on our own, and find our way to these unspoiled views. In the next few years, there are plans to build trails here, and we're not looking forward to the day when this becomes a more popular destination.

Retired No More!

Vertigan Consulting, LLC, has its first contract. I'll be subcontracting to a prime contractor that just won a bid for some VA-related software development work. It's only 15 hours per week, Nov 2009- June 2010, but it may put a damper on the level of activity I've been posting here. On the up side, it will help to finance future adventures. Lots of details still to work out, but I have no intention of giving up the "good life" I've found. More to come as this evolves...

Biking - One for the Road

Holly's bike group was riding this morning, and the route was along the Hudson River north of Stillwater. I really like that road, so I tagged along. It was a cloudy, brisk, windy fall morning, and all of my good bike clothes are packed for tomorrow's drive to DC, so I made do with a sweatshirt, windbreaker, and jeans, on the old 10-speed. We rode about 11 relaxed miles north up the road, then turned around and returned south to Lock 4 Canal Park and the cars. As always, there was a headwind in both directions.

Biking - Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal

On Thursday morning, a friend and I are driving to Washington, DC, and have hired a bike shuttle operator to get us to the western end of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), south of Pittsburgh. From there, we'll be biking back to Washington for the next 6-8 days, along the GAP and then the C&O Canal towpath. It's 330 miles of off-road riding, and it should be a great trip. I'll be posting daily updates and pictures to an online trip journal at CrazyGuyOnABike.com wherever wifi access allows. We're hoping for good camping weather and colorful fall foliage, and will return here around Columbus Day weekend sometime.

Biking - Easy Leg Loosener

Got out with Holly this morning for a relaxed 9+ miles before the rains came. Rode the old 10-speed because the Trek is packed up and ready to go.

Hiking - Steep Scramble to a Rocky Summit

Catamount stands alone north of Whiteface Mountain and the Wilmington Range, and at 3173 feet, it's a most impressive view from the road approaching the trailhead. The trail starts out flat, and then climbs from right to left in the picture below, crossing the two smaller bumps before the steep climb to the open summit.



Getting over the first bump was no worse than any other Adirondack hike, but getting to the second bump was a little more of a challenge. The first of two "lemon squeezers" got us close, and then there were several more steep pitches before this minor summit.



From this intermediate summit, the actual summit still towered several hundred feet above us with its steep rocky slabs.



Reaching the real summit, we looked back down to see other hikers coming up over the bump we had just climbed.



The view to the north included many other mountains and lakes, in a distant area of the Adirondacks that we rarely visit.



The trip back down was almost as slow as the trip up, as we were being very cautious descending the steep rocks. This was really a mountain to remember.

Hiking - Two Glorious Fall Summits

Today, from Lake Placid we headed north and west into the Santa Clara Tract, a large area of state land recently purchased from a large lumber company. There is still some working commercial forest in the area, where conservation easements allow recreational access to its many ponds and remote summits.

Azure Mountain

Azure Mountain has one of the relatively few remaining fire towers in the Adirondacks. It's maintained, and staffed during the summer months, by Azure Mountain Friends, a local volunteer group, in concert with NYSDEC. From the tower, there are 360-degree views, but the views from a south-facing ledge seemed even more impressive and close-up. The fall colors were magnificent.

The Pinnacle

This small peak lies a little north of Azure, with a short walk of only about a half-mile to its summit. The views were not quite as expansive as from Azure, but they were a great reward for very little effort.

Hiking - Two Short Ones Before the Rain

After a day of very iffy weather yesterday, when we just took in some local museums, today promised cloudy and misty skies early with heavy rain possible later in the day. So we did the smart thing and chose a couple of short hikes close to our condo and stayed dry while still getting out before the rains.

Owen and Copperas Ponds

These two ponds are only about a 2-3 mile round trip from the parking area. While it was not the most photogenic of days, the ponds were pretty scenic nonetheless. First, we came to Owen Pond, with some nice color across the way, in front of some lower shoulders of the Sentinel Range.



We continued on to Copperas Pond, which on a better day would have a very nice view of Whiteface Mountain beyond. Not so today, but we continued around to its leanto before turning back,

Cobble Hill

This is a small summit that looks down on the village of Lake Placid. There's an old road and several trails that lead to the summit. The views today were pretty murky, but we could make out the Sentinel Range, Mount Van Hoevenberg, and Mount Jo in the distance.



Before we descended, we started down one of the other trails that looked out to the west, across the village, from an open rock.



We got back to the condo about an hour before the heavy rains hit, and felt reassured that we had made exactly the right plans for this day.

Hiking - Wright Peak

Today, we climbed Wright Peak, the 16th highest of the Adirondack High Peaks. It was a crystal-clear day in the 50s, and the views could not have been better. I had done this same hike back in February with my brother and some of his friends, but today was a different world up there. This would be Holly's 37th of the 46 4000' peaks, and it was just a perfect day to enjoy the climb.

Fall colors had not yet reached an appreciable level, but the grasses on and near the summit were already an amazing shade of yellow-orange. This shot shows Heart Lake and Mount Jo, with Whiteface Mountain on the far horizon.



As we reached treeline, the summit rocks towered above us, with the way now marked with giant rock cairns.



From the summit, we could see the village of Lake Placid off in the distance, including the condo where we are staying for the week, with Whiteface again hovering above the town.



The most prominent feature from the summit was Algonquin Peak, at 5114' the second highest of the Adirondack summits.



This was an all-day 8-mile hike, with 2400+ feet of climbing, and we were all pretty beat by the time we reached the car. Staying in Lake Placid saved us the long drive home, and having take-out food delivered to the condo completed our day.

Hiking - Owl's Head Mountain

We're staying in Lake Placid this week, at a friend's condo which he generously offered us. On the way driving up today, since we were early anyway, we stopped to climb little Owl's Head Mountain, only 0.6 miles each way, but with wonderful views. It was a crystal-clear day, and the views were superb.

Biking - 2,000 Miles and Counting

It's been a good year for biking, despite all the wet weather. My to-date mileage is about the same as last year, but last year, I had already done a 374-mile 10-day tour by now. This year's multi-day tour of over 300 miles is yet to come. More on that in a week or so. I've been riding more frequently and for longer distances this year, and that's made up the difference. Today, I rode an easy, though breezy, 20 miles, and that put me over the top and well on my way to a record year.

Biking - Windy, Cool, and a Couple of Hills

Mornings this week have been very cool, and always with the threat of a few showers, so I've been staying in and watching the Vuelta a Espana live online, instead of going out biking. I did the same today, but then noticed the temperature had climbed to almost 70, and the showers were fading out, so I hit the road this afternoon for a couple of hours. I did a slightly longer version of my usual Grant Hill loop from home, adding some miles by doing a longer loop to the southwest for 26.7 miles. That route is here.

By the time I was starting to head north, the wind had increased from the northwest and the skies were threatening at least some light rain, but I only got a few sprinkles toward the end. There was a LOT of traffic negotiating the NY7/NY146 roundabout this time of day!

Golf - Hillcrest GC

Today was supposed to be cool, cloudy, and in the 60s, and I didn't really feel like doing anything with too much exertion, so I headed off to Hillcrest for a morning nine. Things started off really well, and even continued that way for the first 5 holes. Then, I three-putted #6 and hit a towering sky-ball on #7 that ended with a very nice kerplunk in the pond. One more three-putt to finish on #9, and I was several strokes higher than the round generally felt like. It could have been my best Hillcrest round ever, but....

Highlights

• One par and seven bogeys
• Short game and putting overall pretty good
• Most shots were roughly straight, or at least in the fairway

Lowlights

• That kerplunk and its penalty
• Two 3-putts

Biking - Easy Flat Lunch Ride

After Sunday's 100km, and then waking up yesterday with a cold and feeling very fatigued, I couldn't stand the thought of spending yet another fine late summer day hanging around the house. So I laid out an easy 32-mile route that included lunch at Indian Ladder Farms, packed some tissues, and hit the road. It was already near 70 and sunny by late morning, and just a gorgeous day to be out. My legs had mostly recovered, and the minor rollers on this ride were easily conquered. After Sunday's hill-fest, it felt good to just get out and cruise. Indian Ladder's cafe had a problem today with extremely slow service, so I bailed out and headed to Altamont, where I had a sandwich at Subway before continuing home.

Around the corner from my house, on NY146 (NYS Bike Route 5), I noticed a bike tourist checking his maps on the side of the road, so I pulled over to talk. He's biking from Portland to New York City, and has been on the road only 6 weeks! From there, he's joining the Climate Ride to Washington at the end of September. We had an interesting conversation about things touring and TransAm and continued on our separate ways.