Walk and geocaching - J. B. Thacher State Park

With rain coming in for the afternoon, Holly and I got out for a short walk and a few geocaches this morning in John Boyd Thacher State Park, high in the Helderbergs above Altamont, NY. We spent some time on a section of the Long Path, finding 3 of the 4 caches we looked for, and then walked back along the edge of the escarpment to enjoy the views.






On the drive home, the rains arrived in earnest, and we were glad we were able to get out when we did and stay mostly dry.

Hiking - Peaked Hills, Hoffman Notch Wilderness

Yesterday, some friends and I climbed two small summits, the Peaked Hills, west of I-87 in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area. We left the parking area, crossed under the Northway though a large culvert/tunnel, and entered the wilderness. We followed an old logging road, then an ax-blazed path, and then another logging road as long as they continued to take us in the right direction. None of these appeared on any maps, so we still needed to pay attention to where we were going, CCW around the loop on the map below.



Finally, we left the road and started the steep thick bushwhack to the northern summit. There was a lot of blowdown, thick spruce, and slippery rock to negotiate, but finally we broke out on the summit rocks. Hoffman Mountain (3704') to the west dominated the view.



We were expecting to see Hoffman close up and not much else, and were really surprised by the fine panorama of the Adirondack High Peaks spread out before us to the north.



Because the direction to the southern peak from here would have dropped us right over a cliff, we descended steeply to the north instead, stopped for lunch in a flat sunny clearing, and then circled the northern peak to continue on to the southern one. There were many fine views along this southern ridge to the south and east. The northern tip of Schroon Lake appears near the center of this shot.



The hazy blue ridges extended off to the distant horizon.



As we descended the southern peak's ridge to navigate back to the original logging road, we got one last view of Pharaoh Mountain (2556') and its cliffs to the east.



Crossing the northern end of a small pond on a soggy floating bog, we eventually rejoined the logging road we'd come in on, and followed it back under I-87 to the car. It was about a 6-mile 2000-foot adventure, with views much better than expected, to a mostly trailless place where people rarely go.

Hiking - Plotterkill Preserve

Normally, if I go for a walk in a local preserve, I call it a "walk", not a "hike". The Plotterkill Preserve is the one exception to that rule. The trails are many and varied, but all involve some level of steepness. Today, with temps again in the 60s, I did the long red trail loop, clockwise, to the lower end of the preserve, about a 5-6 mile distance with 1200-1600 feet of climbing total. That's a little more than a "walk".



The 60' high upper falls had more water going over it than I expected to see after a week or two of relatively dry weather.



I didn't add on any side trails today, or descend to the bottom of any of the major waterfalls. At the lower end of the preserve, I decided to take the high-water route (blue) just in case there might be a problem with the red trail's crossing of the stream. This trail gets much less use, and it had been years since I'd hiked it. I was amazed at the amount of storm debris that had been dredged out of the stream at the culverts that pass under the NYS Thruway. This must have been quite a torrent to see after tropical storms Irene and Lee, and the entire stream bed showed the effects of those storms.

Just after crossing the stream and rejoining the red trail, a yellow side trail leads to one of my favorite cascades here, and I always stop for a drink and a rest to enjoy them.



Next came the 400' steady climb back out of the gorge and up onto the south rim. Once on top, the trail continues along the rim to a mowed gas pipeline junction below the Coplon Road parking area. Here, the red trail descends back into the gorge, recrosses the stream, and climbs back up to rejoin the trail I used coming in along the north rim. It was about a 3-hour walk altogether at a leisurely pace, and until the very end, I had almost the entire place to myself, on what is probably the last of these spectacular warm November days.

Biking. In shorts. In November.

We're having a spectacular stretch of nice weather, soon to be interrupted by a few days of rain. But today was sunny and mid-60s, much warmer than normal, and a day like that is not allowed to be wasted. Biking friend Judy and I have decided to push each other a little harder for the rest of this season, since we've both been seriously slacking off of late. So today, we took on an easy 28 miles that we've both done many times before, the Mohawk River loop between Rexford and Crescent.



It was a beautiful warm calm day for riding, and we just took it easy and enjoyed the ride. This loop requires a stop at Riverview Orchards for cider and donuts, so we fulfilled that requirement. After another brief stop at Stewart's in Crescent, it was back up the US-9 hill and onto the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway back to the start at Lions Park in Niskayuna. There were lots of others out enjoying the sun and warmth, the right idea at this usually unsettled time of year.

Disc golf - A crowded day in the park

After a busy morning of various errands and stuff that needed doing, I headed to Central Park this afternoon for some disc golf. Much to my dismay, there were 5-6 cars already parked near the first tee, so I knew I'd be catching up to some traffic at some point. I was alone until #9, where some major-league leaf-blowing was in progress, halting play for another guy, Neil, and me. We finished that 18 together, catching a couple of other groups near the end, and played another 9 together before he headed for home. This guy got some serious distance on his throws, and it was a lot of fun to watch, and envy. I continued through my second 18 after he left, improving my not-so-good first round 71 with a 66, much better. It's great to see so many people out using this fairly new feature of the park, but I much prefer having it to myself.

Hiking - Ragged Mountain, MA

Ragged Mountain is a rugged furrowed ridge just below and to the east of Mount Greylock, the high point of Massachusetts, near Adams, MA. We followed the Bellows Pipe Trail, an old road, to just below the southern summit of Ragged, and then an unmarked trail steeply to the summit. There were great views here of Mount Greylock, but not of much else.



The plan was to next bushwhack a short distance down the rugged ridge to some more expansive views. We soon decided against the further of the two, mostly because of increasingly deep snow and the distance/time involved. But we did find great wide-open views from Raven Rocks, on the east side of the ridge.



After enjoying the warm sun there for a while, we headed back to the summit and the trail back to the car. It was just a beautiful day for hiking.

Biking - With a good lunch stop

Another 21/2 weeks off the bike, after an equal hiatus before that. A November day with sunny skies and temps near 60. Yard work temporarily caught up. Gotta get back in the saddle and just do it.

For the rest of this season, I'll be sticking to 20-30 mile rides, since that's about what my fitness level has deteriorated to. Today, I biked from Schenectady Community College to the Charlton General Store for a great lunch. That got me about 11 miles. Then I continued east along Charlton Road to the east side of Ballston Lake, returning via Schauber Rd, Ashdown Rd, Blue Barns Rd, the Rexford Bridge, and the bike path. That came out just over 30 miles, but honestly, 20 would have been enough. I found hills that didn't used to be hills, and used much lower gears than usual. Amazing how a long layoff leads to slothdom.

Disc golf - A couple of good rounds

After the day warmed up, I got out today for a couple of rounds of disc golf in Central Park. I picked up right where I left off after last time out's personal best of 63, throwing a 65 and a 64 (par 57, avg 69). These new discs definitely give me more control, and that's reflected in the scoring. Now if I could only learn to "putt"...

Walk and geocaching - Galway Preserve

Today, Holly and I got out for a short walk in a preserve we'd never before visited. The Galway Preserve is a fairly new property of Saratoga PLAN, on Crane Road in Galway. In its 49 acres, there are 8 geocaches and one letterbox, and a loop trail of about 1.3 miles that passes many of these. We found the letterbox with no problem, but only 2 of the 5 geocaches that we searched for. We'll go back for the unsuccessful three and the three we skipped some time after this preserve dries out, possibly even in winter. There was a lot of mud here, and a beaver dam that was threatening to overflow the trail. It was a nice walk, and good to get out someplace new, and we'll be back to try again another time.

Disc golf - Sneaking some in between showers

After spending the morning inside catching up on miscellaneous stuff, I really felt like getting out of the house this afternoon. Since the radar showed no more rain in the immediate future, I decided to head over to Central Park and see how many rounds I might get in. It was cool and raw, and the ground was very wet, but this was an activity close by that would also get me a walk, so what the heck?

After breaking a disc earlier in the week, I bought a couple of new ones that have different curve ratings, the new ones supposedly flying straighter. Straight is good with all the trees on this course, but not always possible up to this point. The first round was about average, though messing up the last two holes inflated my score to a 32-39-71. But in the second 18, I figured out these new discs, or so it seemed. I threw a 33-30-63 for my best round ever, and also the best back nine ever. That's only 6 over par for the round, and it really surprised me. These discs do indeed fly straighter, once I got the right throwing motion. Almost time to move on to the longer tees!

Trail maintenance - Featherstonhaugh State Forest ski trails

Each autumn, the Environmental Clearinghouse (ECOS) gathers at Featherstonhaugh State Forest to clear our adopted ski trails before winter. Today, a group of about 20 of us converged on the forest and gave it our best shot. We spent the morning on the figure-8 loop west of Lake Road on the map below.



There was plenty to keep us all busy, with a variety of tools including loppers, axes, saws, and our own brute strength. This large tree, and another like it, were each cut twice by a couple of men skilled with axes, and the remains rolled off the trail with considerable effort. It was amazing to watch these guys, who obviously knew what they were doing with an axe.



This bridge had been lifted off of its supports by the root ball of a falling tree, where it now rested.



It's now back in place and skiable again. It took many of us to move it off of the tree and back into place.

The trails to the east and south of Lake Road were heavily impacted by logging over the past few years, and will likely be rerouted. At any rate, that area is too wet to address in warmer weather, and we'll be going back in winter to see how things are in there.

(Thanks to Will and Nancy for the "before" photos above.)

Disc golf - Schenectady Central Park

Today was warmer than normal for October, with rain forecast later. I had some other things to do, so took care of them in the morning, and headed out for some disc golf after lunch. Today in Central Park was the girls' sectional tennis championships, so there was a lot more than normal traffic, both motorized and pedestrian.

I got most of the way through one round before one of my two discs, one that had been semi-cracked before, now broke most of the way, and I was lucky I finished the round. It was a good round, but I was done for the day. Went home, did some online research into the plethora of discs available, and headed off to Play It Again Sports in Latham to pick up a replacement. They carry the widest selection I've seen, and I left with a replacement and a new "driver" disc, one that supposedly curves less than the one I have. Maybe now my scores will start to come down....

Hiking - Trail maintenance and a couple of small mountains

This weekend, there was an informal gathering of Northville-Lake Placid trail stewards at the historic Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake. We'd be meeting for dinner on Saturday evening. And since we'd postponed our October 15th trail steward trip because of weather, we rescheduled it for Friday October 21, the day before the gathering, and booked two nights at the hotel. It was good that we did reschedule, since friends Mary and John were available and eager to give us a hand on what turned out to be a pretty tough day, much more so than usual. The trail was extremely wet and muddy after recent rains, and many (MANY!) drainages were clogged with downed leaves. There was much work to be done, but our crew rose to the occasion and left the trail in better shape than we'd found it. Many thinks to Mary and John for all of their help!



We crashed early after dinner Friday night, and then got in a couple of short hikes on a fairly dreary Saturday. We went first to Mount Arab, one of the fire tower peaks included in the ADK Fire Tower Challenge. We had previously completed enough of these mountains to achieve the patch award, but there still remain a few of the others we haven't climbed. Mount Arab was one, and Saturday was the day. It's only about a mile to the summit and its tower, and the views were good enough to warrant a return trip on a better day. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died, and I have only this one misty shot of Eagle Crag Pond far below.



After Arab, and with new camera batteries, we drove east a short distance and climbed little Panther Mountain, just south of the junction of NY-30 and NY-3 north of Corey's. This one was only about a half-mile each way, and again, it demands a return trip. The High Peaks were not visible this day, aside from occasional glimpses of Emmons and Donaldson in the nearby Seward Range. And Blue Mountain to the south had its head in the clouds. On a good day, the effort/reward ratio would be outstanding. It was a steep but short and rewarding hike, and we'll be back here again, also on a better day.



Returning to the hotel, we got cleaned up and joined the gathering downstairs for dinner. There's a lot happening right now with the Northville-Lake Placid Trail, including its new web site and ADK chapter, and it was interesting to get together and share stories among fellow trail stewards.

Sunday saw us on the road early headed for home, with other commitments to keep. It was a good weekend, with less rain that we'd expected, and a lot of quality time spent with friends, old and new.

Disc golf - Schenectady Central Park

It's been two wet weeks since I last got in a round of disc golf, and with nothing else on today's calendar, I got out for an early start. It was cool this morning, near 50F, and the park was very quiet. The tennis courts were mostly empty, and the only people out were walkers, joggers, park maintenance workers, and the usual volunteers maintaining the rose garden. I got in two quick rounds, and the 2-week layoff was reflected in the scores, first a 72 and then a 66 as I rediscovered whatever groove I may once have had. The second round was only one off my best ever, so that was satisfying, while the inconsistency was maddening. Golf - a good way to ruin a nice walk. Not really - it was still a nice walk.

Biking - Mohawk River Loop, Again

Today, some biker friends and I decided it was time to get off our butts and get in some more miles. The weather hasn't been great lately, or all summer for that matter, and we've all been feeling a little sluggish. We chose an easy ride, the same loop I did a few weeks ago, my last time on the bike. We rode a loop from the Niskayuna Railroad Station and park, along the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway, crossed the Rexford Bridge, along the north side of the river to the Crescent Bridge, and then returned to the start again via the bike path. Along the way, we stopped at Riverview Orchards for warm fresh cider donuts, and at Stewart's in Crescent for a light lunch. It was a relaxed ride at a comfortable pace for everybody, and it was just good to get out again.

Walk - Charleston State Forest Ski Trail Exploration

Yeah, I know - it's only October. But deer (bow) season starts shortly, and I wanted to get this in while it was safe.

I remembered reading something about a so-called "Overlook Trail" at Charleston State Forest, and needed to find out what that meant. Most of the ski trails there are in deep woods, with no chance of a distant view anywhere. Google turned up an old Times-Union article with the following intriguing reference:

"A bit further west, there are a number of great cross-country ski and hiking trails in the Charleston State Forest in Montgomery County. More than 20 miles of trails loop among several roads. From Route 30A, the trails can be accessed from Hughes Road, Burtonville Road, Gordon Road and Gidley Road. The trails are divided such that several trips are possible. The trails off of Gordon Road are interesting, winding through the swamps and beaver ponds. From Gidley Road, the Overlook Trail winds around a hardwood ridge that offers a great view of the Schoharie Valley. The terrain on this trail is a bit steep, though."

The article was from 2001, and 10 years of growth might mean there was no longer any overlook. I needed to find out.

I let my GPS get me to a parking area on Gidley Road that I assumed was where I wanted to start. This was some distance from the main parking area and kiosk on NY-30A, circled on the map below. Click on the map to enlarge it.



This was a delightful loop, about 2.6 miles long, which I walked CCW. The climbs and descents were long and gradual, not as steep as exaggerated above, but more rolling than some other trails we've skied here. And, at the far northeastern end of the loop, there might have even once been a view. In winter with the leaves down, it's likely there still is. In fact, the stretch of trail immediately NW of that point should also have something of a view.

This loop begs for a return trip on skis this winter. The only problem is that it may not get enough traffic to count on this trail being broken. And this forest gets a LOT of snow, which could mean a tough slog for a too-small group. I'll have to recruit some willing sloggers and get back in here to check it out.

Hiking - Fall colors at the Berry Pond Preserve

The Berry Pond Preserve, a property of the Lake George Land Conservancy, opened to the public in 2008, adjacent to the Village of Lake George Recreation Center Trails. There are two trails in this preserve, a blue trail that climbs steeply to an unnamed summit, and a red trail to Berry Pond itself. Today, Holly and I walked them both.



We wound our way through the Rec Center XC ski trails, following the blue markers to lead us on to the Preserve. This part was a bit confusing, mostly due to an over- or under-application of the two-markers-for-a-turn trail marking convention. Eventually, we entered the Preserve and climbed steeply to the ridge, where we found a spectacular view of Lake George below. This was a great lunch spot.



Continuing on to the second, south-facing, view nearby, looking into the sun muted the colors somewhat, but it was interesting nonetheless.



Leaving the summit, we descended down an old logging road to the junction of the Blue and Red trails near Berry Pond. Reaching the pond, there were eye-popping fall colors everywhere across the glassy surface.



As we walked the loop around the pond, there was evidence of beaver activity at every turn. We saw at least two lodges, and stumps everywhere. At the south end of the pond, there was also a small heron rookery, though we didn't see any actual herons today.



Now heading back to the car, we were amazed at how much we were descending along the red trail back to its eastern junction with the blue. Retracing our route along the blue trail, we noticed a waterfall we'd failed to see on the way in. There's a leanto at this location, facing the waterfall, a nice place for a break.



We returned to the car and tried to figure out a good ice cream stop. After two end-of-season-we're-closed failures, we wound up at Stewart's in Corinth on the way home. Later, totaling up the mileage and elevation, we had covered about 5.3 miles and almost 1,500 feet of climbing, convincing us we'd earned that ice cream stop.

This was a nice hike with a little bit of everything - views, fall colors, wildlife, and a waterfall. We'll probably be doing this one again.

Walk - Moccasin Kill Sanctuary

I just bought a new GPS, and wanted to see how it worked in the field. So I downloaded a map of the nearby Moccasin Kill Sanctuary, loaded it up, and set off for a short walk in the woods. This GPS (a Garmin eTrex 20, just released) is so far above the older GPS I'd been using for the past 10 years that it took some time to figure out. Once I spent some time with it, I can see that this new one will provide a lot of the things I've always been missing, the biggest of those being on-board topo maps. The other really neat feature is the ability to download any map as a JPG image and load it into the GPS for use on the ground. That's what I did today, and it worked well.

I walked all of the trails at the Sanctuary, but it only amounted to about 1.33 miles. But there was a lot of up and down and it was a warm day, so that was OK. It was clear that there had been a LOT of water running through here during last month's flooding events, with plenty of debris and rocks strewn about everywhere in the streambeds.

It was a short walk, but served its purpose. I traced all the trails with the GPS and came home and played some more with this new toy. Can't wait to use it for some real bushwhacking.

Biking - Mohawk River Loop

After another almost 2-week hiatus from the bike, I finally got back in the saddle today and went for a ride. This late in the season, I'm not "training" for anything, and I'm not interested in pain and suffering. So I went for an easy 28-mile spin along the Mohawk River, between the Rexford and Crescent Bridges. Though relatively flat, there are 1,000 feet of climbing scattered throughout, but it's a pretty relaxing ride if it's allowed to be.



I took it easy today and just enjoyed the ride on another really nice October day.

Walk - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

Today was lawn-mowing day, yet again. All this rain has made the grass go crazy, and I'm still mowing it weekly in October! With cool dewy (frosty?) mornings, I have to wait until afternoon when it warms up and dries out to do this. So after some errands and lunch, I dispensed with the lawn pretty quickly and got out for an afternoon walk on another gorgeous fall day.

With logging now completed in Featherstonhaugh, with Irene now long gone, with an ECOS trail maintenance trip there coming up in a couple of weeks, and with my monthly moonlight snowshoe trips coming up a little later, I wanted to see what kind of shape the trails were in. I expected a wet mess in the worst way, so wore appropriate footwear and set off for the forest.

The marked access trail from Tidball Road was my main concern. The logging had left a mess here, and it appears nothing has changed to correct it. Lots of downed branches on the "trail", a paucity of remaining trail markers, and the wettest conditions I had ever seen, mostly due to the vehicle ruts. This will take days or weeks to clean up, and I don't plan on using this access trail anytime soon.

Once I managed to find the main ski trail loop, it wasn't in bad shape, although still very wet. That won't be a problem in winter, so OK, it's probably skiable, at least the part I saw. I didn't continue as far as I'd hoped, because it just stopped being fun with all the wetness. It was worse than I could have imagined, and this wasn't even the traditionally wettest section.

As I was about to head back toward Tidball Road via a different and better access trail, my cell phone rang. It was a former consulting client with a software question he thought I could answer. It was weird sitting on a stump in the middle of the woods and having this conversation, but it was brief, and then I continued out to Tidball Road and back to the car.

At some point, I had wandered through a patch of some kind of weeds that left my pants and sweatshirt covered with hundreds of clinging seed pods. That will be a fine mess to clean up, picking them all off one by one. Sounds like a good rainy day project.

Hiking - Moose Mountain Cliffs

Every autumn, or almost anyway, Holly and I set off to climb Moose Mountain, off NY-30 just south of the Sacandaga Campground near Wells, NY. Moose has no trail, at least not yet, and it's a pure bushwhack from the car to the summit cliffs. There are plans to add trails here in the future, but we're selfishly hoping that never happens.

Today was our 9th trip up this mountain, and we like it because we avoid the leaf-peeping crowds that are found on the more popular trails. I handle the GPS, and Holly follows the compass bearings I give her and guides us through the woods. As can be seen from the map below showing 7 of our trips, we're a pretty good team and have this one down pat. We occasionally wind up "exploring" a little, either intentionally or not, but also often recognize the same boulders or downed trees on the return trip that we passed on the way up. (The red line to the east is the route of one of the proposed trails which we were trying to follow. The red lines to the west were somewhat less intentional on one of our early trips.)



We always head first for the western summit and its viewpoint, which is now rapidly growing in. This is consistently about 90 minutes from the car.



After lunch, we dropped back to the col between the two summits, and went to a much more open view on the eastern summit. Cathead Mountain (center) and the West Branch of the Sacandaga River can be seen from here.



The fall colors this year seemed very subdued. We weren't sure if we were just too early, or whether we had already missed the brighter reds, many of which seemed to be on the ground underfoot.



It was such a beautiful fall day that we hated to leave. But the ice cream calling us from Northville drew us off the summit and back to the car. After a very wet couple of weeks, it was nice to finally get outside on such a perfect day.

Disc Golf - Schenectady Central Park

After the early morning rains, there was another break in the action. So I took advantage and headed to Central Park for my weekly disc golf outing. It was still pretty dreary, and there was nobody else on the course, just the way I like it.

The first round was not bad, just a little better than average with a 34-34-68. Par is 28-29-57. The second round started out at a personal-best-tying pace, with a 30 on the front nine. Then on the back nine, I imploded and finished with a 30-38-68. Two rounds of 68 is not a bad day relative to my average of 70, but it could have been so much better... Still, it was a 2-mile walk in the park, and that's the whole point.

Walk - Schenectady County Forest

Yesterday was supposed to be another in a string of cool rainy days. So when I saw a break in the action on the weather radar, and even a hint of temporary partially clearing skies, it was almost obligatory to get out of the house and do something while I could. I didn't want to waste any of that time driving, so I headed to the nearby County Forest. There's a new trail here that I had walked once before, but I had failed to capture a GPS track of its location. So that was today's hope, and a rough track appears below. The new trail is on Town of Duanesburg property outside the forest proper, but adds another nice loop to the overall network.



There were many trees down since my last visit, which was before TS Irene came through. And although it wasn't actively precipitating, it was extremely wet and sloppy going, with many puddles on the trails, and most bog bridges surrounded by standing water. I cleared a few drainages where it was possible and a sturdy stick was available, but in general, this place really needs to dry out and have some tree removal done. But I got in a 3-mile walk, and now today, it's raining once again. Better weather is coming, or so "they" say...

Disc Golf - Schenectady Central Park

Today was going to be lawn-mowing day. But since things were still pretty wet early on from heavy dew and fog, I decided to let it dry out while I got in a couple of rounds of disc golf in nearby Central Park. The park was pretty quiet today, and I was the only one on the course. I threw a couple of pretty good rounds, punctuated by fishing my lost disc out of a muddy stream on hole #10. That was a tough and lengthy fight, and I must have drawn more than a few puzzled looks. But unlike real golf, discs are a more expensive commodity than golf balls, and it was worth the struggle and the mud. The day turned sunny while I was there, and it was a nice morning for a two-mile walk in the park.

Hiking - Tomany Mountain

Tomany Mountain has been on my radar for quite a while. It's a small peak near Arietta, NY, that used to have a fire tower, a trail and a view. Now it has none of those. The fire tower was removed over 40 years ago, the trees have grown up obscuring any hope of a view, and the formerly marked trail was abandoned and is no longer maintained. But the trail is still shown on topo maps, and is supposedly still fairly easy to follow. So, with today headed for near 80 degrees and brilliant sun, Holly and I decided to give it a try.

The trail starts from a parking area on NY-10, and rises only a little over a mile to the wooded summit. Along the way, occasional old telephone poles with wire dangling told us we were in the right place. After losing the faint path for a while, we bushwhacked for a short distance and then rejoined it near the summit, where we found the ruins of the former ranger cabin.



This is probably the clearing where the fire tower once stood. There's no sign of it now at all.



The arrival of fall colors was well underway in the southern Adirondacks. Holly snapped this shot looking overhead as we relaxed on the summit under a clear blue sky.



On the trip down, we managed to stay on the clearest path with no bushwhacking. There were still occasional red trail markers on some of the trees.

On the way home, we made the requisite ice cream stop, and were home by mid-afternoon after a very nice day outside.

Biking - the four Thruways ride

It's been a slow year on the bike, a combination of burnout/low motivation, an overabundance of rainy wet weather, and just wanting to do some other things. I can't count last year, but for the two previous years, I spent about 100 days each in the saddle. This year? Only 50 so far. So today, I wanted to just get out for a ride, an easy relaxed long-ish ride, just for its own sake and the enjoyment of it.

I have just such a ride mapped from my house: 30 miles and only 800 feet of total climbing.



I call it the "4 Thruways ride" because it crosses I-90, the NYS Thruway, four times in the process of looping back and forth to add on some miles. It's a good alternative to the flat local riverside routes, either on a weekend when they're more crowded, or in this case, since they're still recovering from the flood damage of a few weeks ago.

I planned to take it easy and just enjoy the ride, and was a little surprised to see my overall average speed come out higher than usual. Guess that proves I'm well-rested...

Biking, and an evening with a bicycle traveler

As a member of the online Warm Showers List, I was privileged last evening to host another long-distance bicycle tourist. Jose, from the Chicago area, had called me the day before, asking if he could camp on my lawn as he passed through the Capital District. Knowing it was going to be a damp night, I offered him my spare room instead, along with a garage for his bike, dinner, and breakfast. I've had a few other requests like this since I joined the list, and they're all different. What's always the same is that we're all bicyclists, and there's no shortage of good conversation and sharing our stories of life on the road.

Jose left Seattle in June, on his way to Boston, a cross-country trip. But his trip doesn't end there. He's hoping to touch all 48 continental states, a journey that he estimates will take him the better part of two years, and over 12,000 miles. Only 25-30 years old, he quit his 10-year job, and threw everything into this trip. Amazing stuff, even to one who has biked coast-to-coast himself.

We spent a lot of time talking over dinner and breakfast, and then it was time for him to go. He needed to get from my home in Rotterdam to NY-7 east out of Troy, so I rode with him through Schenectady to the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway near the GE R&D Center, and on to the Niskayuna Railroad Station where we parted ways. He'll be picking off a corner of Vermont over the next few days, and then heading south to US-20 across Massachusetts, having followed US-20 much of the way across the country already. Trying to stay ahead of winter, he'll be headed down the east coast after touching each of the New England states. He takes it as a compliment when people call him "crazy".

Jose has a blog, and I for one will be following him the rest of the way. He's also trying to raise money for a charity to fund a water well for a village in Cameroon, Africa, and there's a link there as well. I wish him the best of luck, and admire him for following his dream.

Disc Golf - Schenectady Central Park

Today was another beautiful day, but I got off to a bit of a slow start. With yard work hanging over me later before a few days of possible rain, I headed off to Central Park for what seems like about a weekly game of disc golf.

The course didn't appear to be very crowded at all, but then I played through a foursome around the 6th hole. I finished the front 9 with a personal best, only 2 over par, including 2 birdies. Then, on the 12th, I caught up to the rest of the day's parade. Some organization within GE was having a disc golf outing, and there were several groups now ahead of me, moving much more slowly than I was. The group I'd played through must have been playing even slower.

I was about to bail out and cut the day short, but the group I'd now caught invited me to play along with them, so I did. None of them had ever played before, so it was like I was the seasoned pro. I finished the round one off of my personal best for 18, and enjoyed playing with these guys.

Then, since the first tee was open and nobody was in sight, I decided to go around again for a second unencumbered round. But when I caught yet another unrelated foursome on the 3rd hole, I gave it up and went home. This is getting to be a very popular pastime!

Hiking - Moxham Mountain

Yesterday, I joined a Schenectady ADK hike to Moxham Mountain, near Minerva, NY. This mountain has no trail, though NYSDEC has proposed someday building one, as outlined in the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest Unit Management Plan, Appendix J.



The day's plan was to try to follow the route of the proposed trail. This would involve about a 2.5-mile bushwhack each way, with lots of twists and turns to avoid the private land at the beginning and to attempt to stay on the intended route. Norm did an outstanding job with GPS and compass to guide us through the sometimes thick and featureless woods, and approximated the route very well.

The mountain itself was spectacular, especially as we approached the summit along the open rocky ridge.



The view from the summit was well over 180 degrees, stretching from the Hudson River in the east, through North Creek and Gore Mountain to the south, all the away around to Blue Mountain in the northwest, and beyond. I failed to capture the east and south views, probably because of the direct sun from that direction. The view further west and north was my favorite. Click on the photo to enlarge.



Having successfully followed the trail's proposed route on the ascent, we opted for a slightly shorter route on the descent. That's the beauty of bushwhacking - you can go wherever it suits you. Once again, Norm steered us around a beaver swamp and the faintly marked property lines and brought us out perfectly back at the cars.

This will become a very popular hike if the trail is ever built as described. As it was, we were in the woods for about 5 hours, plus a long time on the summit enjoying the views. It was a long slog but well worth it, and will be even better if and when that time is shortened by a marked and maintained route.

Disc golf - And a much-needed walk in Central Park

After yesterday's bicycling fiasco, I wanted to take it easy today, but also wanted to get out for at least a walk, to loosen up the aching legs. As I pondered a suitable destination, I decided that disc golf was a good solution, giving me about a mile per round on gentle terrain, and close to home. The Central Park course is much less likely to be crowded now that school is back in session, since many of the players I saw over the summer were of school age.

Central Park has been largely cleared of any earlier storm damage. The exception is the tennis stadium, which still has several large trees leaning on and crushing the surrounding fence. These don't affect the disc golf course, and all blowdowns that did interfere have now been removed. I played 2 rounds, both about average, with a few bright spots, and a few curses, as always. The legs felt OK, so I'm planning to go hiking tomorrow. More on that when I return.

Biking - An almost half-century...

Every year, the weekend after Labor Day is the Mohawk-Hudson Cycling Club's annual Century Weekend. There are rides each day of 100, 62, 50, and 25 miles, with rest stops, SAG support, and a good feed afterwards. I usually ride the metric century (100km, 62 miles), but this year didn't really feel up to that, so opted for the 50-miler instead, riding on Sunday. I was riding with a new friend Phil, whom I'd never met, but who turned out to be a very compatible and companionable fellow rider. There was a new route this year, so I didn't really know what to expect, and no route profile was provided. I worked this one up afterwards:



To cut to the chase, the cramps that had only taunted and threatened on last month's ADK Ididaride hit home in a big way on this ride, and at about the same 45-mile distance as on that earlier ride. On a small uphill rise, my quads began to spasm and throb, and finally locked up to the point where I could not even bend my knees. When Phil heard me screaming in agony, he came back and helped me off the bike so I could try to stretch things out and continue on. I managed to get in another mile, but started to lock up again, and I knew I could never make it another 5-7 miles to the finish in this condition. So I made the embarrassing call to the SAG vehicle for a pickup, my first ever. (Well, the second actually. I once called my father after about 120 miles into a 130-mile ride. The problem then wasn't cramps, but darkness. The year was 1973, and I was younger then.)

Anyway, I rejoined Phil at the post-ride feast, and finished off an enjoyable day, despite the cramping issues. Though I was certainly well-hydrated, there were apparently not enough electrolytes, despite several quarts of Gatorade. And it was only about 70F, so I'm still a little mystified. Need to figure this one out...

Biking - Walkway Over the Hudson

Yesterday, I joined a Schenectady ADK/Taconic Hiking Club bike trip to the Walkway Over the Hudson, in Poughkeepsie, NY. It's an old railroad bridge that's been converted to pedestrian and bicycle use, spanning the Hudson River which is about a half-mile wide at this point.



There's a loop route we planned to use that crossed both the Walkway and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge to the south. We also planned to ride the 3.5-mile Hudson Valley Rail Trail, which extends westward from the west end of the Walkway.



We started on the Poughkeepsie side, and rode westward across the Walkway. From the Walkway, we had a fine view of the FDR Bridge to the south.



Leaving the Walkway, we headed west on the HVRT. This section was newly paved, and had some interesting bike racks at stops along the way.



The Black Creek Water Trail, a canoe access point off the HVRT, was indeed a water trail today, with the creek overflowing from recent rains and flooding.



At our westernmost point, we stopped for lunch at Tony Williams Park. There was a nice gazebo here near the tennis courts, and rest rooms in a building near the ballfields.

After lunch, we turned around and headed back toward the Walkway. Before getting there, we turned south off the HVRT to pick up a local road leading to the FDR Bridge.



This bridge had a narrow separated walkway on each side, with traffic roaring by up the center.



We had a great view from here of the new Walkway Over the Hudson to the north.



Leaving the FDR Bridge, the signed loop route followed local streets in Poughkeepsie back to the parking area where we'd left the cars. This route seems to be designed for walking and not biking, as it led us on busy one-way streets, the WRONG way, through the Amtrak station and back to the cars. This needs to be reexamined if it's being encouraged for bicycling use.

Before leaving town, we decided to bike a few blocks north to a local farmers' market in a town park nearby. We arrived before it actually opened, but could see that it was very small-scale, so decided not to wait around for its opening. Instead, we took one last spin across the Walkway and back, and then headed for home.

It was an interesting outing to do once, just to see and experience the new Walkway, but a long drive for only 15 miles of biking. Still, it was a pleasant day with a very friendly group of riders.

Biking - Saratoga National Historical Park

Today, Holly's twice-weekly biking group was going to Saratoga Battlefield to ride the tour road.  This has some appeal, so I tagged along.  It was an almost traffic-free relaxed 11 miles in scenic surroundings on a cool comfortable morning.  To make it more of a challenge, I rode it on my old 10-speed, and without shifting at all, staying in about a 65-70 gear/inch setting for the whole ride.

From the overlooks, it looked like the Hudson had receded quite a bit, and it was nowhere near as muddy as the Mohawk, at least not here.  Things are beginning a very slow and protracted return to normal.

Disc golf - Schenectady Central Park

Not sure where the past 2 weeks have gone, but after getting back on the bike for the first time since then yesterday, today I did the same for a round of disc golf.  I got a fairly early start to beat the later arrivals,and had the course to myself for two uninterrupted rounds.  There were several large trees down in the park, along with lots of small branches and leaves.  Only one hole (#2) was really affected, with the crown of a large tree coming down right around the basket.  That probably added a shot to my score for that hole, but it was still playable.  Both rounds were about average, with the usual holes causing the usual troubles.  But it was a nice way to get in a 2-mile walk on a nice late summer morning.