Geocaching - 0 for 3 :(

Holly and I got out for a short walk this afternoon in Maalwyck Park, just west of Scotia along the Mohawk River. There are 3 geocaches there, and though one was labeled "evil", we thought we could at least find the other two. No such luck. One was along a hiking trail in the woods, and we were all over it, but couldn't find it. Another was along the Mohawk, whose level is significantly down for the winter/spring seasons, now that the Barge Canal is closed. We walked along the exposed river shoreline to the place where the cache had to be, but again no luck. Needless to say, we didn't turn up the "evil" one either. But it was another nice day to be outside.

Biking - Struggling Westbound, then Sailing Home

It's another sunny, relatively warm November day, almost 50 again. The only catch is that the wind is blowing at a steady 20-40mph, gusting to near 50. What better day for a bike ride? Since the wind was coming down the Mohawk Valley from the NW, I decided to ride upstream and upwind for 10 miles, then turn around and enjoy the free ride home. This was a tough fight on the outbound leg, where it was hard to even maintain 7-8 mph at times in very low gears, not to mention staying in anything resembling a straight line. But, oh, the ride home! I hardly ever dropped below 18mph, and even kept it between 20-25 for one stretch. This sure beats the crap out of riding on the trainer in the basement!

Geocaching - H.G. Reist Preserve - Four Out of Four!

Today was a rather dreary November day, with a threat of afternoon showers - not a good day to make any big outdoor plans. Holly and I decided on a local walk in the H.G. Reist Preserve in Niskayuna, a property of the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club. As usual recently, we always check for any geocaches that may be hidden on any of these local walks, just to make it more interesting. There were 4 in this preserve that we hadn't yet tried to find, and we had a good day, finding all 4 in about an hour. They were all very easy ones, but after several recent failures-to-find, it was good to know at least that the GPS was working correctly. The rain never came, but it's very dark now for this time of day, so it can't be too far off.

Biking and Lunch - Schenectady's "Little Italy"

It wasn't exactly a promising day, with a 20% chance of some drizzle, but 4 of us took our chances and biked 11-12 miles from Lions Park in Niskayuna to Perreca's Italian Bakery on Jay Street in Schenectady for lunch. Perreca's just recently opened "More Perreca's", a small sit-down restaurant open next door for breakfast and lunch. We just barely beat the noon rush, ordered our lunches, and grabbed a table. Perreca's Italian bread is legendary around here, and that was the bread used for our sandwiches, which were very good. After lunch, we walked across Jay Street to Civitello's Italian Pastry Shop, where some of us had dessert. The chocolate éclair I had was delicious, and others were equally pleased with their selections. As we headed back toward Niskayuna, it hadn't rained at all, the sun was out, and it was 55 degrees, another amazing November day.

Geocaching - Skunked Again

We had time for a short walk this afternoon between other things, so we headed to the Mohawk River State Park, more familiarly known by its former name, the Schenectady Museum Preserve, near Lock 7 along the Mohawk River. There was a multi-part geocache we'd never tried, so we gave it a go. It was described simply as a "series of micros leading to an ammo can" as the final, so we had no idea how many parts there would be. We found the first two parts without any problem, but never managed to turn up part 3. It was a nice walk at any rate, though the trails were generally wet and sloppy. We need some cold weather and snow so we can ski here again, sans mud.

Geocaching - Jenkins Park

After helping Holly with some yard work, we took a short walk in Jenkins Park, in Burnt Hills, and tried our luck at a couple of geocaches there. We couldn't get the first one, but the second one was a snap. Having not yet walked very far, we then wandered some of the farther recesses of the park for a while. A lot of work is being done here, and new trails are being created, along with barriers to keep cars and ATVs where they belong.

Biking - 100th Biking Day of 2009

A few weeks ago, I realized I had biked on 95 days so far this year. Being one who loves round numbers, that could only mean one thing, and today was the day. It was mostly sunny and in the 50s again, and another nice day to get out. I decided to retrace my 20-mile ride of two days ago on the off-chance I'd stumble on a reflective leg band that had somehow gone missing on that ride. No such luck, but it was a good ride nevertheless. With 2,611 miles so far in 2009, December is yet to come, but so is colder messier weather, so it was good to get this one in on another very nice November day.

Hiking, Ski Trail Scouting, and 3 (of 5) Geocaches - Tibbits State Forest

Today was another nice November day, so Holly and I headed off to Tibbits State Forest, in Rensselaer County, to walk a 4-mile loop there and evaluate its suitability for cross-country skiing. It's listed in the Ski Tips booklet, published by ECOS, that I'm helping to revise, and though we'd walked there before, we weren't looking at it from a skier's point of view. There are also nearly 20 geocaches scattered throughout this forest, so we picked a few of those to look for as well. We oranged up really well, though deer season doesn't open until Saturday, and set off to explore this place.

First, the trails. There are two old roads that diverge from the parking area, both marked with red markers. At their farthest point, a blue-marked "foot-traffic only" trail connects their two ends, forming a loop. We hiked the loop clockwise, and the more southeasterly of the two roads was perfectly skiable, though a long gentle uphill slog. The blue hiking trail, though narrow and winding, with a few hills, would mostly be skiable by an intermediate skier. But then we came to a drop off the ridge that would be difficult in this direction for even an expert skier. Soon after that, we met the end of the other red-marked road, and the next bit of that was also a very steep downhill. Once it leveled out, the rest of the way back to the car would be a very nice ski. I plan to try skiing this in the opposite direction this winter, skiing UP the steepest parts, and then gliding down the more gentle easterly road. Stay tuned here for details of that adventure as winter sets in.



Along the way, we managed to find 3 of the 5 geocaches that we looked for. I'm tempted to say the other two were missing, and some other reports at geocaching.com lend credence to that belief for these two caches.

It was yet another nice day to be out in the woods.

Biking - Rolling on the River

So goes the old CCR song. Today was another nice day for November, much cooler, but sunny and no wind whatsoever. Despite putting in some time on the indoor trainer bike this morning, it was a day not to be wasted. So I bundled up and hit the Mohawk River Bikeway westbound, crossed the river at Lock 9, and returned via NY5 through Scotia, for about 20 relaxed miles. With cooler and more unsettled weather coming over the weekend and beyond, there may not be many more days like this.

Walk - Schenectady County Forest

After a morning of catching up around the house, and with days getting too short to drive very far and have time to do anything, I headed for the Schenectady County Forest and a short walk in the woods. It was a beautiful clear day with a crisp breeze, and a walk had more appeal than another bike ride.

We sometimes XC ski here in the winter, since it's near the highest elevation in the county and holds its snow pretty well. I tidied the trails up a bit as I walked, removing downed branches and other debris, and covered most of the trails in an hour or so before heading back home.

Biking - In Shorts, in November

This year, it's like October and November got reversed somehow. After a very cool and unsettled October, the first half of November, for the most part, has been unseasonably warm and dry. There's still half a month to go, and literally anything can happen, but to have this many days in the 60s so far in November is quite a treat.

After standing outside yesterday in the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida, while helping a friend make some repairs to his dock on Great Sacandaga Lake, and then spending this morning on some fairly tedious business paperwork, I needed to get out on the bike. I had bigger ideas than the ultimate reality when I left the house, but decided en route to Grant Hill that I really didn't feel like climbing it today. So I settled for a mostly flat 19 miles, and when I'd finished, that felt like enough.

My old 10-speed is now set up on the trainer in the basement, and it's time to start getting in some more regular riding. Outdoors is only catch-as-catch-can this time of year, and it's just not enough to maintain any kind of fitness level.

Hiking - A Catskill Potpourri

Today, Holly and I went hiking with our friends John and Diane. With hunting season in full swing to our north, we headed south to the Catskills, where it's still another week before the guns start blazing.

About an hour and a quarter from home, we parked on Roaring Brook Road and started up the Pecoy Notch Trail to the Devil's Path high above. About a mile from the car, we reached our destination, Dibble's Quarry. This is an abandoned bluestone quarry where a lot of debris remains strewn across the hillside. Persons unknown have constructed elaborate walls, chairs, fireplaces, and even a lighthouse here from the leftover stone slabs. Here, John and Diane are relaxing in the "throne room".



And Holly surveys her realm from the "Druid's Throne".



The views here are well worth the short hike, and the stonework alone makes it a very interesting destination.

When we got back to the car, it was still early, and the forecast rain was nowhere in sight, so we took a side trip to Kaaterskill Falls, in Kaaterskill Clove. 3 of the 4 of us had never been there before, so this was an added treat. We watched as a young couple wandered along the top of the lower falls, a place where many before have fallen to their deaths. It's a spectacular place with a long history, and it was nice to finally get to see it.



All in all, another fine November day outdoors, before an expected very wet weekend.

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.