XC Skiing - Murphy Lake

With heavy rain coming in this weekend, and snow generally melting rapidly everywhere, Holly and some friends and I set off for the Adirondacks today for one more backcountry ski outing. We were planning to ski to Murphy Lake, the northernmost of 3 lakes on the Murphy/Middle/Bennett Lakes trail, just south of Wells. The round-trip mileage to the lake would be either 5.9, 6.2, 6.4, or 8.0, depending on the information source, but was most likely between 6 and 7 miles.

Arriving at the trailhead on Pumpkin Hollow Road, it was clear that this would be spring conditions. A light shower was passing by, but we hoped it would soon leave us behind. This trail is a marked snowmobile trail, and was pretty hard-packed, while off to either side, there was at least 12-18" of heavy wet corn snow, but not much room to make use of it. The trail was fast and full of icy spots, bare spots, rocks, and downed tree debris, but we unbelievably persevered and actually got to the lake. Some hills required walking rather than skiing, both up and down, and at least one stream crossing also required us to remove our skis.

It was a generally uphill climb to the lake, gaining in the neighborhood of 300-400 feet. We had lunch there on a mostly bare hillside overlooking the lake, as more light showers splattered in the open water near the outlet.


Murphy Lake from beaver dam at its outlet


Our lunch spot on the bare hillside east of the outlet

The return trip was much quicker, but also somewhat of a survival test on the speedy bumpy rock-strewn downhills. This trip was definitely an adventure with these conditions, but would be a very nice ski trip with softer and deeper mid-winter snow.

Biking - An Easy 20

What a weird time of year - skiing one day and biking the next! With more skiing planned tomorrow, I got on the bike this afternoon to enjoy the 50-degree temperatures while they last. I rode the old 10-speed again, partly because of salty snowmelt puddles, but probably more just because I can't quite believe that spring is really here yet. It's also a good strength builder to ride this bike around without the gearing that the good bike would have. I knocked off just short of 20 miles at an average of 14.5 mph, almost like a mid-season ride. Aerobically, I'm in great shape from skiing, but the biking muscles (and butt) need some work to be able to stay in the saddle for the longer distances I'll be doing this year.

XC Skiing - Charleston State Forest

Today's ECOS Tuesday morning ski trip was a return trip to Charleston State Forest, up 1,200 feet in nearby Montgomery County. A group of friends, Holly, and I went there last week, and found very deep snow remaining from a storm a few weeks ago. Today, we'd be skiing a different section, and this time with about 20 people. So we split into two groups. Our group skied these two loops counterclockwise from the southern parking area, taking about 2 hours to get all the way around, at a leisurely pace and with a short stop for lunch included.



With temps in the 40s, the snow was mushy in the strong March sun and crunchy in the shade. Overall, it was much firmer than what we found last week, and we were skiing on top of the snow rather than sinking in deeply as on that last trip.

Walk - Mohawk River Bike Path

The March wind doth blow..... Or, I might have been out on the bike again today. It was another sunny day near 50 degrees, but the wind was cool and gusty, and I just didn't feel like fighting it. Holly and I went for a short walk on the bike path in Rotterdam, and were actually passed by a couple on bikes. There's still some snow, but usually one clear dry bikeable rut up the middle - good to know.

Tomorrow, I start my part-time consulting career in earnest, and the rest of the week, though promising more nice weather, is a little up in the air until some routines get established and some questions get answered.

Geocaching - Shenentaha Creek Park

Today was another beautiful sunny day in the 40s, so after our respective mornings of other stuff to get done, Holly and I went geocaching at Shenentaha Creek Park, near Ballston Lake. There were 3 easy caches here, and all were close to the bike trail, which was bare and almost bikeable. We found all three with no problems and got in a nice walk on a spring-ish afternoon. It's a little scary that March is coming in like a lamb - doesn't bode well for the end of the month if the old saying can be believed.

Biking - First ride of the season!

Though there's still a fair amount of snow on the ground, it's now brown and ugly and no good for much of anything. Meanwhile, the roads are mostly dry, temps are consistently in the 40s, and spring fever has arrived. My good bike is all cleaned up and overhauled and waiting in the basement for drier conditions, so I saddled up the old reliable 10-speed and hit the road this afternoon. There were still quite a few snowmelt puddles along the sides of the roads, but traffic was light enough to avoid most of them. I did an easy 13.4 miles, as shown by the screen capture below from my new favorite route mapping site, RideWithGPS.com:

XC Skiing - Charleston State Forest

Charleston State Forest lies at about 1,200-1,300', and during the storms of the past week, got prodigious amounts of snowfall. There are about 20 miles of ski trails in this forest, maintained by volunteers, and we've only begun to explore them. I'm responsible for verifying the map for this area for an upcoming revision of the "Ski Tips" booklet published by ECOS, a publication that identifies numerous local free cross-country skiing locations, so needed to get out here and see how the existing map matched reality on the ground.

This afternoon, 5 of us made the short 35-40-minute drive to the northern section of the forest where none of us had ever skied before. We found the parking area on Hughes Road to be unplowed and blocked by large snowbanks, so parked in the road and got ready to go.



There are two loops in this section, connected by a crossover trail between them, and we were starting from the north end, hoping to do the longer loop.



We found snowshoe tracks for the first quarter mile past a couple of ponds, but there the tracks ended, and we were on our own. The snow was close to 2 feet deep, and very heavy and wet, and we were breaking trail, never knowing just how far the next step forward was going to sink. It was tough going, to say the least. It was complicated by the scarcity of trail markers headed in our counter-clockwise direction, and by the number of downed or leaning trees and branches. We had to stop often to find a marker and look at the map to be sure we were headed in the right direction.


Picture by Judy

When we reached the junction with the crossover trail, we all decided that the shorter loop back to the car would be the better idea, given the conditions, our rate of progress, and the time remaining until dark. We looked forward to a downhill run shown on the map just after we ended the crossover and rejoined the main loop trail. Unfortunately, it was short, gentle, and very slow, and we continued the tough slog back toward the car. When we finally finished, we were pretty beat. Two GPSs both showed we'd covered only about 3.67 miles in over two hours time, a pretty dismal pace on skis, though there was also 1,158 feet of climbing involved.

CORRECTION, 10 March: I misread that graphic that appears below. 1,158 was our starting elevation. At the bottom right, it shows we only gained 231 feet. Even more dismal...

Back in the car, we drove a little south to another trailhead to pick up a map or two from the kiosk there. The snowbanks here were even higher, and the kiosk was on the other side.


Picture by Judy

Back home, GPS tracks showed that the existing map was accurate for the portion of the trails we had covered. We just wished that the downhill was a little more exciting after all that hard work.


From Judy's GPS

Thanks to Judy for the pictures and GPS track.

Snowshoeing - Indian Kill Preserve

With nearby skiing kind of a mess, Holly and I got out for a short snowshoe walk today in the Indian Kill Preserve in Glenville. Temps were in the upper 30s and the snow was like wet cement, except on the trails where numerous others had passed before us. Snowshoes were hardly necessary, but the crampons underfoot provided some welcome traction at times. Last week's heavy wet snowfall is rapidly melting and it almost feels like spring. Unfortunately, winter in these parts is never over until it's over, and we've had some monster March storms over the years. I'm starting to look forward to biking again, but for now, the trainer will have to do.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

I led a cross-country ski trip today for Schenectady ADK. Even given all the snow we've had lately closer to home, this one was already on the schedule for Rockwood State Forest, so that's where we went, knowing full well that there would be no shortage of snow there either.

Five of us left the parking area to find well over a foot of extremely heavy wet snow, and the only previous tracks those of snowshoers and bare-booters. Although the new snow was very pretty to look at, it didn't provide the best skiing conditions, since we basically had to stay in that trench. Downhill control was next to impossible via normal snowplow means, since we were in ruts and the heavy snow to the sides did not give way easily. After doing the usual long loop with a couple of good-sized "interesting" hills, we decided to avoid any more exciting downhills and do another easier loop. But we then found that loop to be still buried in 20" of unbroken heavy wet snow and thought better of it. It was tough conditions, and we'd all had enough, so we headed back home to the continuing rain in the valley.

XC Skiing - Mohawk River State Park

You'd think that with a 15" snowfall just two days ago that almost any local park would have great skiing. Enter yesterday's rain, and things are quite a mess. Holly and I went to the former Schenectady Museum Preserve this afternoon and were not pleased with what we found. The view from the car should have been a clue.



The rain had soaked through the snow, melting a lot of it, and creating a slushy mess underneath. Walkers had already covered most of the trails here, leaving slushy footprints in many spots. I arrived early and skied some of the trails in the open fields in the western part of the property, and many of these were actually impassable due to flooding.



We headed for some higher ground, but avoided any steep terrain, because the heavy wet snow and the walkers' trench would have made downhill control next to impossible, or at least less than fun. It would be hard to call much of what we did today "skiing", but it was an hour outside at least. For the time being, we're no better off than before the storm in terms of finding good snow this close to home.

XC Skiing - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

We've been spending an awful lot of time at Featherstonehaugh recently, mostly because it's close, has a ski trail, and holds its snow pretty well. After yesterday's dump of about 15" in my yard (and driveway), today brought a mix of rain and snow and temps near 40F. It's turned into quite a mess down here in the valley.



But just a few short miles to the west, and 1000' higher in elevation, it's a completely different story today. Notice the locations of "Home" and "Featherstonehaugh SF" on the graphic below.



After confirming with a friend who lives near there that the hills were indeed getting snow, we set off for Featherstonehaugh, but nothing we'd heard prepared us for what we found there. As we started from the car, we soon found that the woods were covered with about 2' of new snow, and the going was extremely slow. There had been no rain here whatsoever, and it was still snowing heavily. Fortunately, the snowmobile trail had seen some use since yesterday's big dump, and the 4-5" of today's new snow covering it made for some very nice, and extremely picturesque, skiing.



After about an hour of unsuccessfully dodging snow bombs from the trees above, we were pretty wet. We'd covered the length of the snowmobile trail in both directions from the car, and skiing anywhere else would have been pretty exhausting, so we called it a day.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

More snow is expected (make that EAGERLY AWAITED) later this week, but today Holly and I made a return trip to Rockwood State Forest, where we knew there was already skiable snow. The main trails were hard-packed, but with temps in the upper 30s, even that snow was soft and almost mushy in spots. We explored some lesser-known (unmarked, unmaintained, and unmapped) trails and old roads along with the usual long loop we always cover, which resulted in some interesting climbs and downhills, often with small branches slapping at our faces. An hour and a half was enough today, what with the added climbs and the slower snow. There doesn't seem to be much of a local consensus about the expected storms over the next few days, but at this point, any new snow is welcome.

Moonlight Snowshoeing - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

Every month in the winter just before the full moon, I lead a moonlight snowshoeing trip for Schenectady ADK. There's an easy 1-hour loop in Featherstonehaugh State Forest which is very close to home, and this has proven to be a popular trip. Scheduling can be a crap shoot, with weather, snow conditions, and people's calendars all coming into play. Any night between first quarter and full moon usually provides enough moon brightness and altitude to let us do this trip without any artificial lights, a new thing for a lot of people.

With cloudiness and snow forecast for every other night in the coming week, tonight looked like the only night with any remote hope of clear skies. So our group of 4 headed up to Featherstonehaugh and gave it a shot. When we arrived, the skies had completely clouded over, though with only thin clouds. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, the visibility became better as we left the snowmobile trail and headed off into the forest. We (meaning I) lost the official trail at one point and got sidetracked on the unofficial "Purple Duct Tape Trail" by mistake. After backtracking to the real trail with the help of a flashlight, we continued on our intended route under rapidly clearing skies. For the last third of the trip, the moon shone brilliantly, though only a glimmer of how it would look when full later in the week. The stars were bright and it was a beautiful night to be out.

Snowshoeing - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

With another moonlight snowshoeing trip coming up this week, clear skies permitting, it was time to check out the snow situation at Featherstonehaugh State Forest. Holly and I went out for a short walk this afternoon and found plenty of snow, with several recent inches atop a solid base. It's looking like a pretty cloudy week overall, and this may not happen, but tomorrow (Sunday) night has at least some promise.

XC Skiing - Vermont Getaway No. 2

Following last week's annual trip to the Landgrove Inn, near Londonderry, VT, we had the pleasure this week of returning to much the same area. Our friend Jan had invited several friends up for a few days to her house in Andover, for some cross-country skiing and other fun in the snow. Holly and I arrived around mid-day on Wednesday, had a quick lunch, and then all set off to find some skiing on the new-fallen snow from the day before.

We headed to the Catamount Trail to ski a section north of Little Michigan Road in Landgrove. We parked at the end of the plowed section of the Danby-Mt. Tabor Road (FR 10) and started up the Utley Brook Trail, with Catamount blazes.



All went well until we reached the first downhill of any size. The snow was thin under the pines, and icy underneath, and not all were comfortable continuing. As the Catamount's own trail guide notes for this section (we hadn't read this in advance, of course):

"Since the Utley Brook Trail can be moderately difficult, especially if the snow conditions are poor, you may want to choose the option of skiing north on FR 10 (instead of taking the Utley Brook Trail)"

So that's exactly what we did. We backtracked to the road and skied up FR 10 instead, which was well-packed by snowmobiles and had very gentle grades. This was a much better idea. We skied northbound for about an hour, and then turned around and headed back to the cars. After a delicious dinner back at Jan's house, and watching the Olympics as late as we could stay awake, we all hit the sack.

On Thursday morning, we had breakfast and all lounged around a bit, and then headed out for some more skiing. This time we headed for the Mad Tom Notch Road in nearby Peru. This road is also unplowed in winter beyond a certain point, and involves a climb up to the ridge between Styles Peak and Peru Peak, just north of the Bromley Ski Area. The Appalachian Trail/Long Trail follows this ridge, and that crossing of this road was our destination. The road climbs about 400 feet in a little over a mile and provides a gentle downhill run from the ridge back to the car.

It took us about an hour to climb to the ridge and the crossing of the AT/LT.


(L to R: Joe, Sandi, Holly, Jan, Judy, Dick)

From there, it took us only 10-15 minutes to glide back down to the cars, and we all agreed that the climb had been worth it.

Holly and I were staying one more night with Jan, but the rest of the group headed back to Albany from here, having arrived a day earlier than we had. After lunch back at the house, we snowshoed some of Jan's 60 acres. and then got out some toboggans and saucers to try out the hill behind the house. We finally got a pretty good track going and had some nice rides, along with several dumps in the snow. It was good childish fun.

Later, we took Jan out for dinner at the Landgrove Inn and gave her the grand tour of our favorite place to stay (except Jan's house!). Back at the house, we tried to watch the Olympics all the way through, but didn't quite make it to the end, and called it a day.

Breakfast, cleanup, and packing went quickly in the morning, and we were all home in time for lunch after an easy drive. Thanks, Jan, for great hospitality and a great time!

XC Skiing - Charleston State Forest

With snow promised later today, we joined the regular Tuesday morning ECOS ski trip this morning. Several people had pre-skied Charleston SF yesterday, and found several inches of new powder from a recent lake-effect snow event. With its higher elevation, Charleston has also held on to at least some of its base, so the skiing was pretty good. Snow was falling the entire time we were skiing, which has been a rare sight this winter. We skied for about 2 hours before heading back to the cars and starting a slow, slippery drive home.

We're expecting 3-6" of snow here before this ends overnight, and tomorrow, we're going back to Vermont at the invitation of a friend. Several of us will be staying at her house in Andover for a few days and skiing both groomed and ungroomed trails in the area. Southern Vermont will likely be the bulls-eye for heavy snowfall from this storm, so backcountry trails should be well-covered, unlike last week when we were there.

Walk, Geocaching - Clifton Park

Today was an ugly day - dreary, very windy, and flurries. We didn't have a lot of time this afternoon, so headed to Veterans Memorial Park in Clifton Park to look for a couple of geocaches. The first was way too easy - I actually saw the container from the trail. We concealed it a little better when we left it. The second was a different story. Comments like "clever hide" and "interesting container" were bad enough, but it wasn't until I got home that I noticed some others from previous winters regarding this one's possible unavailability if there were more than a couple of inches of snow. So we'll use that as our excuse for not finding the second one and try it another time. Lots of trails here we never knew existed, and a nice nearby place for a short walk.

XC Skiing - Vermont Getaway #1

As we do every winter, Holly and I traipsed off to Vermont for a few days of skiing, good food, and relaxation (yeah, we're retired, but still...) We stayed at the Landgrove Inn, an old Vermont inn in the middle of nowhere that's become our favorite. As we were leaving our home turf, snow was falling pretty heavily, and we had high hopes for a big dump of snow that's eluded us for most of this winter. As it turned out, this one went south as have all the others, and my yard is still brown and bare.

After checking in at the Landgrove on Wednesday, we headed to Wild Wings Ski Touring Center for an afternoon of groomed skiing. This place is a throwback to the early days of ski touring. There's a small barn with a wood stove, outhouses, and a warming room, and no other facilities. Only classic skiing is allowed - no skating! And the trails are wonderful. There was about an inch or two of new powder atop a very firm and deep base, and it hadn't been groomed to death, so the skiing was great. We spent about 2 hours going up and down the blues and blacks before we called it a day and went back to the Inn for dinner, reading, and an early lights-out.

Thursday dawned very blustery, with windows rattling and the wind howling, though a warm sun tempered things a bit. We decided to postpone skiing until the afternoon, and go to the Vermont Country Store in Weston after breakfast. It bills itself as a "purveyor of the practical and hard-to-find", and it's a very interesting place to easily kill an hour browsing. After lunch, we headed to Viking Nordic Center near Londonderry. We've been coming here for many years, and have our favorite trails, including many blacks. Unfortunately, Wednesday's storm had little impact here (only an inch or so), and the base was less than we'd seen at Wild Wings. Many trails were closed for lack of snow, so we did our best to fill up another 2 hours here on those that were still open. It was a long uphill slog back to the center at the end of the day, and we'd both had enough. Another good dinner at the Swiss Inn and more reading took us to bedtime.

Today after breakfast we skied the Landgrove's own trail system. It's not as extensive as the others, but it was very convenient for a quick hour of skiing before heading home. It was windy in the open fields and there were some icy spots where the new snow had blown off, but overall wasn't bad. These trails connect directly to the Catamount Trail, but it looked a little dicey for the conditions, so we passed it by.

I numbered this post "#1" because next week we'll be going back to Vermont. A friend has invited several of us to her Vermont house for a few days mid-week, and we'll be doing some more skiing. No snow on the horizon, but we'll continue to hope...

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

Today was a regularly scheduled ECOS Tuesday cross-country ski trip to a local area determined to have skiable snow. Since Holly and I had just had a good experience (twice!) at Rockwood the week before, it was decided that this would be the place.

About a dozen of us converged on the parking lot around 9:30 and stood around in the 20-degree cold waiting to get started. Once on the trails, we found the conditions to be much "firmer" than last week, with much of the powder having been skied off over the weekend. It appears there may have also been a feeble attempt at grooming, which, in this case, might have been better left undone. Trails were hard and fast, and now need a few inches of new snow to be deemed any better than "good". There are conflicting reports related to the northern extent of a coastal storm tomorrow, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Holly and I are off to Vermont tomorrow for a couple of days of (hopefully) good skiing there. More on that after we return.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

We missed the monster east coast storm yesterday and today, the latest of several this season. With no snow near home, we set off again for Rockwood State Forest, less than an hour away, west of Johnstown, NY, and around 1100-1200 feet in elevation. There was plenty of snow here earlier in the week, and another inch or two had fallen since then. Now we had several inches of new snow on a very firm base, and the skiing was as good as it gets.



For a change, today we explored the trails north of NY29, a place we'd never skied before, and which few Rockwood skiers ever visit.



We started at the main parking area, walked across NY29, and headed northeast on the North Loop Road, hoping to do an E/W figure-8 loop ending at Rockwood Lake. But it seems that the northernmost sections of the "8" were not actually there, as shown on the map. The northeasterly-most end was overgrown, rough, and with thin cover. We took the two southern sections (nice hills!) of the "8" as far as the lake, but couldn't find that end of the supposed northern return loop at all, so we headed back the way we had started. Exploring the other spur trail that goes south from those sections to NY29, it also seemed overgrown and rough. On the way out, we also explored the southeasterly spur (B Road) toward NY10A. I continued on through, and Holly turned around and went straight back to the car, picking me up at the other end. Although this section is obviously not maintained, it was skiable, and even had one ski trail marker along the way.

Our hopes are high for some measurable snow Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, but the jury is still out. Meanwhile, this is some pretty good skiing reasonably close to home.

Hiking, Snowshoeing - Taconic Crest Trail

Today, I joined a Taconic Hiking Club outing on the Taconic Crest Trail, along the border between New York and Massachusetts. With 14 people on the trip, and needing to leave cars at either end of the hike, I won't go into the logistical details. Suffice it to say that it got complicated to the point of being laughable, but everything worked out.

After getting the transportation figured out and dropping cars as needed, we all started north from the trailhead on Madden Road, near Hancock, MA. After some steep climbing, we soon reached the open summit of Rounds Mountain. It was very windy and exposed here, and with temps only around 20F, we didn't tarry long. It was an extremely clear day, and the views were great to the south, west and north.



Back in the woods, there was about 3-4" of fresh powder on top of 8-10" of very firm base, so the walking on snowshoes was pretty easy, and the trail was well-marked. We split into many different and varying groups over the course of the day, but all managed to be in the same place for lunch.



Continuing along the Taconic Ridge, and climbing and descending several more minor summits, we arrived at the junction with the Robinson Hollow Access Trail, just recently reopened. From there it was all down hill to the pre-spotted cars after about a 6.3-mile hike.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

Today was a day of surprises. We were originally planning to drive to Tug Hill to ski on the BREIA trails there, since Tug Hill always has deep snow. Just before it was time to start the 2-hour drive, I re-read the note at the top of that last link, and realized it applied to exactly the trails we were planning to ski on. Wish they'd bothered to call them the "Egypt Road Trails", as they do everywhere else! So those trails would not be open until after 2:00pm - not gonna work. The other BREIA sections weren't as desirable for other reasons, so we needed to go somewhere else.

So we set our sights instead on Piseco, and the "Foxy Brown Loop", a 6-mile ungroomed trail near the Piseco Airport. It was about the same driving time, and about the same current snow conditions, so seemed an acceptable alternative. On the way, we had to pass by Rockwood State Forest, another place we ski often, about half the driving time away, but to which we hadn't yet been this low-snow year. Conditions looked better than we expected, so we decided to give it a try.



Many of the trails here had been "groomed" (rolled) and/or snowmobiled in the past, so were hard-packed and firm. But there was about an inch of fresh unskied powder on top, and it made for some pretty good skiing. There was over a foot of very firm snow in the woods, and a couple of ungroomed trails I skied had plenty of powder on top for control, although they were definitely faster than usual.

We hadn't expected to be skiing here today, or even anytime soon, after the recent thaw and rains. But there's no warm weather in the forecast, and there may even be an inch or two of snow off and on, so this could provide some good skiing "close" to home in the weeks to come.

Walk - Old Erie Canal Towpath

Today was balmy after a couple of days of bitter cold, sunny and mid-20s. With no skiing anywhere nearby, Holly and I just went for a walk on the old towpath, between the Lock 7 dam and Vischer Ferry. There were blocks of ice on the towpath just below the power plant from last weeks flooding, but after that it was mostly clear with a few icy spots, and not bad walking.

Looking back upstream at the dam there was plenty of ice on the rocks below it and hanging over the top.



We walked for about an hour as the sun began to set, and called it a day.

Walk - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

With leading a moonlight snowshoe trip on my schedule for this week, and a big thaw this past Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to head back to Featherstonehaugh to see if there was still any snow, and whether it was OK for either snowshoeing or even for walking. I had my doubts, but in case anybody actually calls to sign up, I needed to know what to expect. What I got was a snowmobile trail that was like concrete and walkable but slick; 10-12" of off-trail snow that was very crusty; and a ski trail that was glare ice. On top of that, the only night that's looking halfway clear at the moment is Friday, with temps in the low teens and windy. This trip isn't going to happen this week - maybe I'll try again in late February for the next full moon.

I spent much of the rest of the day, and indeed much of the past week off and on, in the basement doing my annual winter bike maintenance, cleaning, and overhaul. I'm replacing lots of parts this year in preparation for a coast-to-coast trip later this summer. I always do all of my own maintenance, and this year it's new cables, cassette, chain, handlebar tape, and brake pads, in addition to truing the wheels, putting new grease in the hubs and a complete top-to-bottom cleaning. With no snow on the horizon, this is a good time to spend getting this stuff done.

Walk - Mohawk River Bike Path

After yesterday's one-day January thaw, my yard is bare of snow, and the rivers are running high. We got about 2" of rain, and with temps in the high 40s, there was a lot of snowmelt as well. Today, I went for a short walk on the bike path in Rotterdam, despite the "Road Closed" signs blocking the path. There had been a serious ice jam on the Mohawk River earlier, and the river had approached flood stage before the jam broke up (nice video here - not mine, and another here, from the Daily Gazette) and the water dropped and started moving again. The bike path was now a safe place to walk, so I ignored the signs.

The river was high, and large chunks of ice lined the shore about 10-15' above the current river level, where the water had been before.



There was a lot of ice piled up at Lock 8, which is where I turned around and headed back to the car.



As long as I was out and about, I decided to continue the river tour by heading into Scotia. At the Western Gateway bridge, there are actually two separate channels, and this secondary one was still clogged with ice.



Finally, I headed to Schenectady's Stockade, on the opposite side of the river. This area is always among the hardest hit when the Mohawk floods, and it looked like this episode had been a close call. The river was still close to full in Riverside Park, and had been much higher, leaving big chunks of ice on the walking path and nearly up to the foundations of the buildings nearby. There are more great pictures from the Stockade at this link.



We're expecting colder conditions over the next few days, but the chances for any significant snow are pretty slim. So we're left with ice and mud for now, and the choices for outdoor fun are pretty limited. Hoping that an expected coastal storm overnight on Friday gives us a better shot of winter than currently forecast - fingers crossed...

XC Skiing - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

I had mostly planned a day on the sofa recuperating from yesterday (napping!) and watching football. But Holly had just bought new skis, and we're expecting heavy rains overnight, ruining all local skiing for the foreseeable future. So we got out for a low-key 2-3 mile loop in Featherstonehaugh State Forest, the nearest skiable snow to home, to try the new skis. We met up with a group from her church that included some friends I hadn't seen in quite a while, and the pace was mostly slow and sociable. I did get out front for some of it and managed to actually ski a little, and it felt good. Temps were in the upper 30s and the snow was soft and friendly, in marked contrast to yesterday's outing. I also skied with no pack, and that was also refreshing. Tonight and tomorrow, we're expecting a region-wide heavy rain (2-3"), with flash flooding and the whole thing, so skiing will be done until we get more snow, even at higher elevations within a reasonable drive. Back to the bike on the trainer...

XC Skiing - Botheration Pond Loop

Today, I joined a Schenectady ADK backcountry ski trip on a relatively new ski trail to Botheration Pond. The 8-mile loop is just west of Gore Mountain and near Garnet Hill XC Center, NW of North Creek, NY.

Temps were in the high single digits when we arrived at the parking area near Old Farm Clearing. That was OK, since once leaving the old road from the parking area, the next 2 miles of this loop are steadily uphill, and we warmed up quickly. This portion of the trail had been heavily snowshoed, and was extremely firm and crunchy, especially in the cold temperatures. We were all hoping the downhill end of the loop wasn't going to be like this!

Reaching the height of land, we found ourselves at William Blake Pond. We skied across its surface to the far (eastern) end, and picked up the trail again in the woods.



Frozen fog/mist from overnight was clinging to everything, awaiting the morning sun.



A little further to the east, we skied across another frozen marshy area, again paralleling the much rougher trail in the woods, and rejoining it beyond the marsh.



After several interesting (read: FAST AND BUMPY) downhills, and many of us picking ourselves up out of the snow, we reached Botheration Pond, our destination. It was a gorgeous lunch spot.



Now that we were about 400-500 feet above our starting point, we were all hoping that the snow had softened in the early afternoon sun and temps near 30. The downhills were likely to be challenging enough without also being hard-packed and fast as we had seen earlier. As it turned out, that did indeed prove to be the case on both counts - softened snow AND challenging downhill runs. Some of us struggled to stay on our feet and not pick up too much speed. It was exhilarating, to say the least!

Finally, we arrived at the second of two brand new bridges that were just recently installed, making this loop possible. This one had a fairly steep ramp up to its deck, requiring strong arms to pull ourselves up. It was very ornate, as hiking trail bridges go, and part of the group posed for a picture going across it.



After a long gentle downhill through a pine forest, we reached the old road back to Old Farm Clearing that we had started in on. From here it was a relaxing, gently rolling 1.3 miles back to the cars after about 4.5 hours in the woods on a beautiful day.

Snowshoeing - Featherstonehaugh State Forest

Featherstonehaugh State Forest is the nearest "high elevation" area to home, only about 20 minutes away, and 1400' above sea level. I'm leading a full-moon snowshoeing outing there sometime next week, and needed to know the status of the trails following some heavy logging last winter. I took my snowshoes today and went for a short walk to check it out.

I wish I had taken my skis instead! There was about a foot of total snow, with a somewhat fresher inch or two of powder on top of an icy base. There were ski tracks on the main ski loop, and it didn't look bad! The logging of last year left things looking a little sloppy here and there, but the trail itself was basically OK and usable for a nighttime outing. Snow conditions will change drastically over the weekend, with sleet, freezing rain, and then some heavier rain expected. I'll need to revisit that next week, but at least the trails don't seem to be obstructed or trashed.

XC Skiing - Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center

Despite temperatures hovering near 40 at home, and bare spots everywhere, there's still lots of good local skiing around. What's changed is our definition of "local". We live in a valley location, but are fortunate to be surrounded by areas of higher elevation a reasonable distance from home, in many different directions. Going to one of these areas, 1200-1500' higher than home, we've been finding some pretty good snow still hanging on.



We skied today at Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center, high on the Rensselaer Plateau, leass than an hour to our east. A commercial XC area in that area had reported 4-7 inches of new snow over the past several days, so we decided to give Dyken Pond a try, on a mild sunny day. We weren't exactly prepared for what we found.



There was indeed about 4" of new dry powder, atop a firm 8-10" base, and the trees were all covered with the new snowfall. I had brought my "rock skis", concerned about the possibility of thin cover, but that was not a problem at all. Rocks and roots were well-covered. Temperatures only got to about 30, so the snow never got sloppy. We were setting first tracks in the shallow powder on much of the terrain we covered today.



The trails at Dyken Pond were not laid out with skiing in mind. They're essentially hiking trails, and are sometimes narrow, twisting, and rough. But with the new snow atop the firm base, the skiing was excellent, if at times challenging. Several short downhill pitches, including zig-zags between trees and rocks, required quick footwork to avoid straddling a tree. It was backcountry skiing at its best.

We're expecting sleet and rain over the weekend, even at higher elevations, so next week may find us at a groomed XC ski center, for lack of other choices.

XC Skiing - Schenectady County Forest

After a day of rest, football, and catch-up, we got a surprising amount of new snow overnight, especially at higher elevations just west of here. At 1,400 feet, the Schenectady County Forest is high enough that it still had about 6-8" of firm base, and got about another 5" last night. Holly and I headed off on the short 20-minute drive this afternoon to get in a quick ski before the walkers ruined the trails there. The snow was heavy and wet, as I had found earlier when clearing my driveway. With the temperature around 40 degrees, this was a lot like spring skiing. We skied for about 45 minutes, breaking trail all the way, dodging snow bombs from the pines above, and smooshing thousands of snow fleas that speckled the surface of the snow. That means I'll soon have the stench of death in my basement whenever I walk past where the skis are hanging.

It was good to get out on a nice day, but we really need some better snow than this, along with some colder temperatures.

XC Skiing - Partridge Run WMA (again!)

This will sound like a broken record after yesterday's posting. Today I led a ski trip for Schenectady ADK, back to Partridge Run, which I had scouted for this trip just yesterday. It was hard for some to believe that with bare grass in the valley there could be any local skiing possible. A group of 8 believers headed up to Partridge Run, elevation 1800-2000'. and found excellent skiing. We skied the same 4.7-mile loop I skied yesterday, and today it seemed even better. The snow was a little cooler and less soggy, almost powdery in spots. And with 8 people laying down tracks, the trail just got better and better. I've now skied on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, after also hiking last Saturday. Gotta love retired life!

XC Skiing - Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area

Having pre-skied Cole Hill State Forest yesterday and not liking the conditions there for a Saturday ski trip I'm leading, I went to Partridge Run today to see if things were any better there. It's slightly to the west of Cole Hill (see map below), but more importantly, it's about 500 feet higher in elevation, and also has designated ski trails. Computer snow models showed substantially more snow depth there, but I needed to see the reality for myself.

As I reached the parking area on High Point Road, there was indeed noticeably more snow here. The access trail from this lot had been bare-booted and was a little rough, but once I hit the main ski loop, things improved immeasurably. Snowshoers had courteously packed their trail to one side of the ski tracks, and the ski tracks were pretty good. There was one short stretch where bare ground and running water appeared in patches, but they were easily bypassed. The snow was moist and slow, so the downhills were very controllable. All of last year's ice storm damage had been cleared from the trails, and it was in pretty good shape.

I skied the 4.7-mile loop shown below counterclockwise in about an hour and a half. There's one stretch on an unplowed road that may include snowmobile traffic on the weekend, but it's wide and there's room for everyone. It's also a sweet downhill run. We'll be going to Partridge Run tomorrow instead of Cole Hill, but the bottom line is that we desperately need more snow. Even places like this will begin to wear thin very soon.

XC Skiing - Cole Hill State Forest

Since I'm leading a Schenectady ADK ski trip to Cole Hill S.F. on Saturday, I wanted to pre-ski it and make sure conditions were OK for an outing there. This forest is located in western Albany County, in the so-called "hill towns", just south of Berne, about 45 minutes from home.



There are about 4-5 miles of ski trails here, and though there was adequate snow cover, every one of the ski trails had been pretty seriously compacted by snowshoe use. This made the trails faster than they might have otherwise been, and made negotiating some of the downhills a bit challenging, because of the snowshoe trench. There wasn't really enough snow (8-12") to go far off into the powder without knowing what was underneath.



Having said all that, we spent about 2 hours skiing almost all of the trails, skipping one known very steep section. It wasn't bad skiing, and parts of it were even pretty good. But with a couple of thaw/freeze cycles expected over the next day or two, the compacted trails may be a bit crunchy and treacherous by Saturday. We'll be checking out another alternative on Friday, and may move this trip elsewhere until there's better snow here.

XC Skiing - Grafton Lakes State Park

Today's ECOS Tuesday morning ski trip went to Grafton Lakes State Park, in nearby Rensselaer County. Grafton is at about 1500', and while we got only a few inches of snow at home a week or so ago, Grafton reported 15" there. I wouldn't call this outing great skiing, but it's getting so beggars can't be choosers around here. The snow itself was nice, but the trails still had some rocks showing through, and even many of the ski trails had been snowmobiled on. We spent about 2 hours going around Shaver Pond at a very leisurely pace, on a relatively flat trail. I had skied here once many years ago, also on thin cover, and hadn't been back since. While there are many other trails that we didn't ski, I think we need more snow before I'll go back here again.

XC Skiing - Camp Saratoga

Old Boy Scout Camp Saratoga is part of the Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park, near Exit 16 of the Adirondack Northway, and only a short drive from home. It's groomed regularly, and can be a nice place to ski if the conditions are right. We tried skiing here a few weeks ago, but found very icy conditions. Since then, several inches of new snow have fallen atop the icy crap, and the area was regroomed just a few days ago. We found excellent conditions there today as we got out for a short afternoon ski.

There's something about skiing in good tracks that's entirely different from the usual backcountry-type skiing we like to do. The almost effortless full-extension kick/glide motion, up and down rolling hills, around turns, trying to keep a smooth rhythm - that's what's missing from trailbreaking and slogging through deep snow. Both kinds of skiing have their appeal, and today was a very nice outing for its own reasons. I'll always continue to wear wool instead of lycra, but this kind of skiing can also be a lot of fun.

Hiking - Taconic Crest Trail

Today, I led a snowshoe hike on the Taconic Crest Trail for the Schenectady Chapter of ADK. We were expecting a day that was cold (which we got - low teens), high winds and extreme windchills (which weren't as bad as advertised), and 16-20 inches of unbroken snow (there was only 10-15"). We covered 5.34 miles beginning on the Tower Mountain Road access, and ending at Potter Mountain Road to the north. We started out cold, but the nearly 600-foot climb to the ridge warmed us up in a hurry.

Along the way, skies cleared as we approached the Berry Pond Recreation Area atop the ridge in Massachusetts.



It was windy and exposed here, so we didn't linger long. We were now above a well-defined new snow level visible on the trees below and around the pond.



Leaving Berry Pond, we were passed by several dozen snowshoe racers participating in a 5-mile race on a portion of the TCT. Some were much slower (and older and larger) than others. At the point where their route diverged from ours, we ate a quick standup lunch and continued on.

The sky was growing clearer by the minute, and the contrast of white snow-encrusted trees against the deep blue sky was striking at times.






As we turned northeast along the final ridge, the winds began to increase, and we were glad to be finishing early before they got any worse. We reached the pre-spotted car after about 4.5 hours on the trail, and stopped at a Stewart's shop on the way home for refreshments after a beautiful day outside.

Walk - Indian Meadows Park

A light (nuisance) snow is falling today. Since I feel a cold coming on, and am also leading a fairly strenuous snowshoe hike tomorrow, and am still a little sore from Wednesday's ski outing, it's basically a rest day. But since neither Holly nor I can ever really sit still, we went for a short walk in Indian Meadows Park, in Glenville. The trails are well-packed, and would actually be skiable with only a few inches of new snow, which unfortunately I don't think we're going to get in the foreseeable future.

This afternoon, I'm transitioning my pack from summer to serious winter, which means adding several pounds of stuff, in preparation for tomorrow's outing. It will be a cold windy day up on the Taconic Ridge, and we're expecting to be breaking trail in 15-20" of unbroken snow, so we'll need to be well-prepared.

XC Skiing - Clapper Hollow State Forest

Today, Holly and I got together with some friends and went skiing in Clapper Hollow State Forest, in southwestern Schoharie County, about an hour from home.



The forest is above 2000', and got a lot of lake effect snow in the past week or so. It's also on my list to scout out for the new edition of "Ski Tips" being published by ECOS, as our committee begins the winter ski trail map verification process. None of us had ever skied here before, and were pleasantly surprised by the snow, the terrain, and especially by the well-marked trails that matched our existing map very well. There are about 8 miles of trails here, and we probably skied 5-6 miles of them today, breaking trail in 1 foot of new powder for most of it.



We stopped for lunch on the leeward side of a leanto by a frozen pond, but quickly chilled in the 10-degree temperatures, so continued on. Eventually, we got to retrace our tracks downhill back to the cars after about 3 hours of skiing, and all agreed that this was definitely a place deserving of a return visit.

On the way home, on NY10 south of Summit, our front left tire went flat. We pulled over into not the best place, but were at least off the road. Not really relishing the thought of changing that tire myself in the cold conditions, we decided to have Holly call AAA and see how long they would be to get to us. Hearing "30 minutes", we decided to wait it out. The rest of the group squeezed into the other car and headed for home, and we eventually saw a tow truck appear after 45-60 minutes. The driver was very pleasant, and made a quick change getting us on our way again, albeit at 50 mph max on a donut spare. We ultimately got home about 90 minutes later than we would have otherwise, so not a bad day all things considered.

XC Skiing - Saratoga Spa State Park

Beginning today, and every Tuesday in ski season, the Environmental Clearinghouse (ECOS) has a ski trip to a relatively nearby area that has good snow. The first trip of the season is traditionally to Saratoga Spa State Park. We ski for a couple of hours on the golf course and other parts of the park, and then retire to the warming hut for a potluck of snacks and hot drinks.

Much of the state, as well as nearby Vermont, got hammered by a lot of snow over the weekend, but locally we only got a few inches. The trails in the park had a light coating over a very firm base, and the skiing was surprisingly good. I went in full retro gear today, with wool knickers and knicker socks, ragg wool hat and mittens, and my old waxable wooden skis. It's been many years now since I've skied on wax, and I'd forgotten what a sweet sensation it is when the wax is right. We've had so many sloppy winters lately that it just hasn't been worth the guessing game that waxing requires under less than ideal conditions. Today was perfect, with temps around 20 and dry snow, and the skiing was smooth as silk. Golf courses aren't my favorite places to ski, but it was good to finally get out for some reasonably good skiing.

Walking, Geocaching - Sanders Preserve

We got another inch of new snow overnight, so at least everything looks like winter, even if we can't do much with it yet. We went for a walk this afternoon in the Sanders Preserve, in Glenville. There were 4 geocaches there that we haven't done that made a nice loop, so we tried those as well. The trails were covered with an inch or two of new snow, so the walking was much improved over the earlier crunchiness we found everywhere we went, but there was still clearly not enough snow for skiing. There were lots of washouts, bare spots, and exposed rocks and roots, so walking is still the best outdoor activity around here.

We found the first 2 geocaches easily, but it appeared the third might be buried in snow and we chose not to go blindly digging for it. The 4th turned out to be a longer walk than we wanted today, so we left it for another time.

More nuisance snow expected over the weekend, but that's about all.