The Adventures of Sparky

Just Passing Through

2012-01-25T17:05:00.015-05:00

Entering the AWW just east of Umsaskis Bridge on the Realty road.

Who comes out here? I blirted aloud, knowing full well who goes out there. There we were, just driving along. We had only just hit the Realty (Reality) road heading west, just outside of the small, classic, Aroostook County town of Ashland, ME. One thing about Ashland in the middle of January, don't expect to find any bundles of firewood for sale, but stop at the local Shop n Save forty or so miles before in the town of Patten, ME and DO take them up on their offer to free up the frozen lock with a torch to get at that wood shed, a nice warm fire on a January night when it's predicted to be twelve below zero could save your life.

Russell Stream Road, June 2011

Realty Road, January 2012

A contrast in views from the pictures above of just driving along through the North Maine Woods. My adventures to this vast area of Maine are many, I've told tales here, here, here and here, including a cryptic, but relative mention here. As a bonus, if you read along to this unrelated, but yet very telling write up, your life may be forever changed from a spirit of adventure.

The last two journeys into the Allagash, unwritten about until now, could not be more polar opposite from each other, and at two of the most inhospitable times of the year, black fly season and during winter's icy grip. Back in June of 2011, myself and co-pilot, expert navigator and long time friend Mike headed back to an area near Allagash lake with a main mission, get my Subaru and kayak to the water way gate in advance of a yet to be fulfilled kayak camping trip.

Allagash Lake access, check.

Not only did we accomplish this mission, I had no doubt we would, but we ended up driving 280 miles of woods roads from Greenville to Fort Kent stopping in to check out McNally's camps, a little self baptizing in the St. John river, and finding the old camp on Eagle Lake where I stayed with my family as a wee one.

Picture, left the Alpine glow of the distant peaks in Baxter State park taken from the Telos road.

On both trips the Subie Dubie absolutely ruled, but on this trip, with the wintry conditions, the all wheel drive provided nothing but confidence inspiring handling, plus it's so fun to drive.

This trip was intended mainly as a nature tour and woods road scouting mission, but also allowed me to investigate where and how other types of vehicles like snowmobiles get around a few key areas of areas I'm not as familiar with. I've been dreaming this one up for the last few weeks. With detailed map plotting, checking on roads that are plowed and not plowed as well as other research I've been gathering online. Pretty much up to the last minute the plan was confirmed and executed. Bail out options were noted and different road segments were targeted to be dealt with on demand knowing we would adapt to the conditions on the ground. We planned to car camp out at two possible sites, Wadleigh Pond on the St. Juste road or at Caucomgomoc Lake on the Caucomgomoc road and then finish the drive the next day. All this may sounds confusing, but flip through a DeLorme Maine Gazetteer maps - 63, 62, 61, 56, 55, 50, & 49.

Reality takes this route!

As the story goes, I left home in Eliot at 3:30 AM, the first stop was picking up Mike in Lewiston for 5:00 AM, then after a brief stop for some greasy spoon breakfast, it was north to the launch site in Ashland, 10:30 AM. I had yet to approach the woods from this section, so I was anxious to see what it was like. It had snowed over night and the day before and the plow had been about half the distance to Clayton Lake then turned back, but the road had been traveled, so we pushed on through the snowy wilderness expanse. It was super cold outside the car, remaining near or below zero and I began to wonder about how much desire I really had to camp out. Arriving at Clayton Lake we stopped for a couple of photos, I don't believe anyone else was there, just the empty houses and buildings the loggers use.

Representing the State of Maine, the US and Canada at Clayton Lake.

Then it was westward on to our first junction with the Poulin road south bound. Only a couple sets of tire tracks here through 8-10 inches of snow didn't turn me around until the road turned into a snowmobile trail. OK, we're backtracking to Clayton Lake and headed down the Churchill Dam road thinking our original planned route was not possible. Only seconds down the road, an approaching truck with two guys who looked like brothers stop to chat. I asked about the road to the dam and they said it was not passable, we had some further chit chat and they carried on. Seems they were also out for a woods road ride. At the junction with the Churchill dam road is the Priestly Cut off which would take us back on route to the Poulin road. I can see why the loggers use this option as it's closer and more direct to Clayton Lake. Important bits of road navigation taking place here. Now quickly rejoining the Poulin road we were greeted by two huge moose.

Brother.

Sister with claim to the Poulin Road northbound.

Just as quickly as we saw these Moose, two more appeared and scurried off the road as we approached. A few clicks south, a quick flash of another just in the woods off the side of the road, then ahead a couple hundred yards, two more jumped out and ran across our path. Seven within in a couple miles of each other. Continuing south we arrive at our next junction. A quick lunch and we're headed west again, now on the Cyr road. This one was also not plowed and snow covered, but we we're zipping right along worry free. Less than ten miles down the Cyr road where the Ross Lake camps winter access is right where the tracks stopped on Cyr road. This is where folks have parked their trucks and trailers and taken snowmachines in toward the sporting camps at Ross lake. A lonely looking Game Warden is sitting in his truck and I give a wave hello that goes unanswered, poor warden, his hands must have been too cold to wave back hello. Without being able to carry on down the Cyr road I calculate going on this untraveled road -vs- daylight fading and the unknown of the road ahead. A smart decision is made to exercise our bailout option and head toward the Telos gate and on to Millinocket, as this is the final option for our intended route west and south. Yet, from here, the ride is far from over and we're back in the Allagash Water Way zone. Appropriately we stop in the "no stopping" zone at John's Bridge and take a few photos.

The Waterway south and west looking at Round Pond and further toward Big Eagle Lake.

North from John's Bridge on Churchill Lake up to the dam.

Continuing down the road I note several spots to park at and head down to Eagle Lake via snow machine. As we approach Haymock Lake, we see a happy woman cross country skiing and she waves and smiles. What a day for a ski I thought...

At the junction with the Indian Pond road I decide to head down, it's been plowed, but is snow covered and the going is better than I remember from the time Steph and I camped out there for multiple days. The now famous Pelletier Brothers have been logging down there for a few years and have really widened and improved the road. I was hoping to show Mike the summer access to Indian Stream, but just after the camps at Little Indian pond the road turned into a snowmobile trail, so we headed back out. The next diversion is at the Nugent's Camp parking lot, where a sign reads "Camp parking two miles". Yup heading down this road too! We arrive at the parking lot, now nearly all the way to camp, and see a bunch of vehicles and trailers. They must have had a busy weekend and full house. It is then that I spot this little gem...

Single place snowmobile trailer. I will have one with a shiny new Ski Doo please.

We head back to the main road and from here it's ten miles to Chamberlain Bridge. From the thoroughfare at the bridge one can access both Chamberlain and Telos lakes. There are some excellent camping spots along the way. Highly recommended is the High Bank campsite on Telos and Lost Spring on Chamberlain. Check them out. Not only are the campsites awesome, it's all about the view.

Katahdin range from Chamberlain Bridge.

Thirty miles south of the bridge is the Golden road heading east to Millinocket and where we stopped the GPS track for the day. We had decided to head back to Lewiston at least, but I was mentally plotting making the trip wicked epic by driving home as well. We decide to stop and grill up some burgers and hot dogs we had brought with us followed by some hot tea for the caffeine effect and the long drive home. At this point, 5:30 PM, I had been on the road since 3:30 AM with over five hundred miles covered. Below is a GPS track of our drive in the North Maine Woods, followed by a final pic from high up on the Telos road.

Fire in the sky on the Telos road.

Twenty one hours and 868 miles later I arrived home. It was an incredible drive, mission accomplished for sure. Thanks for reading. Do yourself a favor and check out this great treasure we have in the state of Maine. Go explore the woods.

In memory of a once in a lifetime friend ~ November 10, 1968 - January 18, 2008

2012-01-18T08:28:00.002-05:00

Old School shot - 12/22/91 -
Young a free spirited on the summit of Mount Moosilauke.
Left - Roland Fortin, Center - Me, Right - Pete Roux.

Four years ago today, January 18, 2008, sometime after 2:35 PM, our great friend, Pete Roux, was avalanched out of Odell gully on Mount Washington. The first ice gully he'd ever climbed on the mountain tragically was his last. I can't help but run through the conversation I had with him the night before his climb, the story told in the photos he took on his journey to a higher place and the sad events that one deals with after such a great loss.

Taking time today to reflect on many great endeavors with friends. While flipping through quite literally thousands of photos, I was reminded of all the young and free spirited adventures I have had the opportunity to be a part of.

To the core group of homies, Erik, Luke, Tommy and Roland. Peace my Brothers, life may have us miles apart, but you are always never far from thought.

Twenty Eleven Revisited

2011-12-31T08:33:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here at home sipping my morning roast, french in flavor, and precisely pressed to perfection. It's a morning ritual to many, for all a different time block of one's day, but for me, today, on this last day of the calendar year, I reflect on all the events in the last twelve months that have kept me alive. My deeper thought into the word alive is how I relate it with the spirit of adventure and recreation. I climb, ride, or hike to satisfy a compulsion to be active, near obsession (biking) levels at times. Where am I going with this, I'm really not that sure other than I feel pretty fortunate to be able to enjoy the things I do, as there are folks near and far who have many life hurdles and challenges.

So I share a few moments of life adventure in the last 364 days.

Winter Expedition into Baxter State Park, Jan 2011

Summer Expedition to the North Maine Woods- here at the Allagash Lake Waterway Gate

June vacation to Bar Harbor- Cadillac Mountain sunset

Fall mountain bike trip to the Magical West- Joe's Ridge, Fruita, CO

Steph at Warner Lake, Moab UT - Mid Whole Enchilada Epic ride

Rocky Mountain High

That's a nutshell look back to 2011 for you.
Be good to yourselves, be good to others. Peace and Prosperity to all in Twenty Twelve.

Thankful Everyday

2011-11-24T20:31:00.003-05:00

Greetings,

I am thankful for good health and being able to live life to the fullest, everyday.

Todd Ringelberg climbs the lower reaches of Odell Gully, Huntington Ravine, Mount Washington

To see, smell and hear.

The Majestic St. John river from Blanchete-Maibec Bridge

Stump pond, Baxter State Park

This Amazing Woman.

Steph, skiing out on Foley Pond, Mount Aggie.

Steph, Moore Fun trail, Fruita, CO.

The Lovely Stephanie & Louise Jacques

Incredible Journeys.

Sovereign Trail, Moab, Utah.

2011 Mount Washington Hill Climb Race Report

2011-08-21T10:45:00.030-04:00

Hi Family, Friends and fellow blog readers,

I figured I better get on this report while the pain is still fresh and memories are flowing like the prettiest little stream in the wilderness.

Sunrise!

Photo credit courtesy of Stephanie Schoff Jacques

Firstly, I must say a very warm thanks to everyone who donated to the cause. Together, for just our fundraising campaign, we raised $995 dollars, every penny goes directly to the Tin Mountain Conservation Center. I have no idea what the total funds raised for all who participated is yet, as you're still able to receive donations until September 1, but surely they will release that information after the fundraiser ends. If you're interested to know what the Tin Mountain Conservation Center does, check them out on the web here. The Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb is the largest single fundraiser that benefits the TMCC. If you wanted to donate and haven't yet, well there is still time! Here is a link to my fundraising page.

Secondly, many of you sent well wishes and good luck messages as well, so thanks for that. It's nice to get a word of encouragement or some good energy vibes while preparing for, and attempting a climb like this.

What a climb it was...

Shaking off the pre-race butterflies!
Photo credit courtesy of Stephanie Schoff Jacques

I started the day feeling great, legs good, mind strong and ready for the vertical challenge ahead of me. For having the opportunity given to me to race this climb again just a month ago, I'd worked hard to feel as good as I did this morning. To me, it's quite a testament to putting your mind and body to work to accomplish such a beastly climb. Many of you know I've climbed all over Mount Washington, in the gullies of the ravines, on hiking trails approaching from the north, south, east and west. I've the reached summit over 47 times and climbed in some vicious weather and also climbed and hiked in some of the most beautiful weather with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean. I've used ropes, crampons & ice axes, and rock climbed on some of the most incredible alpine climbing routes in Northern New England. More recently, I even made the summit on skis with a life-long best friend of mine Roland Fortin, what an amazing day that was! Of all the outdoor/recreational things I personally enjoy doing, I'm most passionate about riding my bicycle, whether it's a mountain or road bike, nothing compares to riding bikes for me. To feel like a kid, free spirited and happy.

Race ready!
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Schoff Jacques

The last time I climbed Washington on my bike, (2009) it was a spiritual journey for me. We had just lost a friend in an avalanche on the mountain the year before. Avoiding detail to some degree, but having (and seeing) one of your best friends pulled off a mountain in a body bag, so close to me, so close to Erik, Luke, Tommy and Roland, all of us who climbed together as friends from the start, so close to his wife and family, parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. The emotional trauma, the terrible visions and many sleepless hours was tough to deal with for a very long time, and may be for a long time in lots of ways. Quietly, yet deep in my mind, on that first time up the hill on my bike, I was climbing for Pete, personally climbing in memory of him. Not one single adventure can compare to throwing yourself deep into a zone of hurt and sense of accomplishment than riding that road on my bicycle. It's a way for me to get a dig at the mountain, it's the safest way I can find to assault it, make it feel my pain, make me feel the pain, giving me strength to deal with various aspects of life on so many levels.

If this is way too corny for some of you, well, you could just stop reading here, but I suggest you grab a tissue and read on....

It's 6:45 am, up since 3 am, on the road for 4 am, we're at the venue and I'm now registered and checked in, my stomach is a pit of nerves. I'm anxious! I'm excited! I'm confident! I'm focused! I ride my bike up and down route 16 to warm up, I climb from the Auto Road toward Pinkham Notch to get a view of Huntington Ravine, say a prayer in my mind, and continue on my warm up ride.

Mount Washington 8/20/11, what weather for a bike race up the hill.

Now it's race time, the cannon blasts, I'm off and suddenly I leave the comfort zone of the parking area and the road points up-hill, quickly, steeply, and everything slows but my heart. It's pounding, racing, breathing is fast and furious, my pedals tick over like a dancer's feet across the floor, spinning in perfect circles. Mile one sign in eight minutes, miles two sign eight minutes later, but I haven't been able to control my heart rate, yet I am spinning comfortably, legs just powering me upward. The first three miles I was sort of delirious, the air temp was really hot, my arms felt really sore and heavy, yet numb and light. I remember thinking that it felt like I was having a bad acid trip, (had a couple of those in high school) I was seeing things, I felt really dizzy, but I just kept pedaling and working hard. I had my "What the F*%! am I doing" moment around mile three, I quickly shut down the negative thought and kept up my momentum. I was on pace for my goal, as much as it hurt, it was working for me. Ten minute miles is what I was after.

Nearly the same time I hit tree line, my heart rate started to come down to a more controlled level, where I felt like I could put out a bit more power. Up and around the Horn, I took in a quick view of the surrounding mountains, but this isn't a leisurely stroll, no time for views, no time for scenic vistas. As I hit the dirt road section, I looked up ahead of me to see the line of riders mashing the gears, the road reaches up to 18% gradient in this stretch, and it is pretty sustained. It grinds on for about two miles. This is where I started to slip back away from my goal, at times my speed dropped to 3-4 mph and I needed to maintain 5.84 mph the entire ride. Topping out on the dirt, near cragway turn, there's a "flat spot" for about one hundred yards where I was able to get some higher gearing and pick up a little speed before the road turns sharply uphill again. I wouldn't have necessarily called it a flat spot, but here were two spectators with signs and one read "It's a FLAT spot". This is also the section where, if you know what to look for, you can see the southern gullies of Huntington Ravine, Odell Gully specifically, and so I take from that view, digging deep in my soul for the inner strength needed to get me through the remaining effort. A little further up the road a Raven flies overhead, as I look up he appears to be looking down on me, he swirls through the air and lets out a quick call and then disappears from my line of sight. Good vibes!

When I hit mile six, I was about 61 minutes on course, leaving me only seventeen minutes to get the final 1.6 miles to the finish. I had put in an amazing effort to this point, but I was dropping in average speed, I would surge ahead, legs, mind and body working incredibly hard to keep pace, but I could only go so fast at this point, I was losing ground and time. The pain from the exertion was really working on me.

Just past mile six there were two spectators I could see ahead, one dawning a full on superman suit and cape, I thought at first it was my buddy Todd, who had gone up in the car with Steph, but it was just some dude who was yelling as I rode by with a big smile. His buddy was handing out those red swedish fish, he yelled, asking if I wanted some and I let out a couple of expletives, confirming that I did indeed want some with an "oh f**! yeah" and so I put out my right hand and he poured out a big mound of them. I just stuffed them in my mouth and took in the quick sugars, but I had so many in my mouth that I couldn't breathe! I chewed a few and had to spit the rest out.

Gracing me at mile seven was my support staff for the day and where I hit my finish line goal of 1:18, if only mile seven was the finish line! I'd had it in my head from the start that I was handing off my phone to Steph, which I had in my jersey pocket the whole ride up, in hopes that she had a nice cold bottle of water waiting for me that I could pour over my head to cool off and wash some of the sweat away. It couldn't have worked more perfectly, as I appeared in their view, I motioned for a bottle and I saw Steph scurrying through her back pack to ready for the hand off. There it was, I handed the phone off to Todd, threw my empty water bottle on the ground, and grabbed the full bottle, proceeding immediately to pour it over my head and take a big ole' mouth full. Wow, that was rewarding! As I continued riding, I was shadowed by Todd, running along side me, yelling at me, even though I can't remember everything you said, it helped me immensely. I do remember you saying "you are in the zone" and I was! Feeling so incredibly high, feeling so freaking good about the ride I had put in to that point. I remember standing up to pedal and hearing you let out a huge scream, that was awesome, Thanks, Bro!

The Hand off.
Photo credit courtesy of Stephanie Schoff Jacques

It's hard to believe the last .6 miles took me five minutes, but it did. This part of the road kicks up a bit, and levels off a little bit too, I kicked down a few gears sped it up. I could see the summit building, I could see the finish line stretch, suddenly all along the road there were hundreds of people congratulating me, yelling at me. Then you turn the final corner to see a huge crowd and you're in the final 75 yards of the race, the nasty 22% grade. The road is rough and full of pock marks from the snowcat going up in the winter. I zipped up my jersey and just stood up on the pedals giving every last bit of energy, I had to finish strong! As I crossed the line I heard the announcer, local cycling industry colleague, Chris Zigmont call out my name, also calling out my shop sponsor, Papa Wheelies. As a racer, you want to hear this stuff, and you want others to hear the shop name too. Crossing the line I had about four Hill Climb volunteers grab me to make sure I wouldn't fall over and they yell at you, "unclip, unclip from your pedals" which seems like the most daunting task. Once you've unclipped they drape a super soft and warm fleece blanket over you and hang a finisher's medal around your neck. I just sat on my bike, head on my handlebars trying to catch my breath and bring my heart rate down. I quickly envision the whole ride, every little bit, emotions are flowing and I think of my brother man, Pete Roux, visions go through my head and I shed a few tears of both happiness and sadness. In the end, I am at peace, I accomplished this climb again.

Even though I didn't finish top notch or hit the 1:18:08 time goal, I took a huge chunk of time off my previous ride. Seven minutes and thirty-six seconds. The bar has been set, I will chase this goal until I get it. I learned exactly what I need to do next time and I will do this. That I guarantee you, my supporters, and myself. It was an amazing experience, an amazing journey! Today, I'm reflecting on the ride, I'm sore and tired, but I feel absolutely great.

To my incredible and lovely wife Steph, sister in-law Heidi, great friend Brian and one of my best mates Todd, thanks so much for all your support yesterday, you all made the day so awesome for me.

Finally, thanks again to all of you who supported me, generously donated your hard earned money to the cause, and had time to think about or maybe learn about my reasons for doing this climb.

Live life to the fullest potential every day!
Thanks for reading.

Steve

It's surely is a huge mountain, forever connected.
Photo credit courtesy of Heidi Schoff Spiller

My time was 1:23:06. I placed 122 overall out of 488, and 18th out of 47 in my age group.
Full Results

The GPS file of my ride up the hill

Reflections from the Brotherhood of the Rope

2011-03-11T09:00:00.012-05:00

The rope, the rope, the rope! How thankful I am for the rope. It's quite a connection! The safe, confidence inspiring feeling you get when "tied in" makes climbing in the Alpine Zone or any "zone" for that matter, so relaxing. I'm just back from an amazing day on Mount Washington. As we've done so many times this season, Todd and I roped up, our intent this day on getting up Damnation Gully, his first ascent on this one and the fourth time I've climbed it. We had initially planned on making Pinnacle Gully the climb for the day, but a bit of a late start, other climbers hiking through and heading that way, opened up Damnation as our option, especially when Todd said he'd never been up Damnation Gully. First attempted by Robert Underhill and Lincoln O'Brien in late winter 1929, the first complete ascent of Damnation did not happen until January 31, 1943, when William L. Putnam & Andrew J. Kaufman made it to the rim of the ravine. Damnation is the longest gully in Huntington Ravine.

Photo above and left is of Todd starting our first roped pitch.

Huntington Ravine 3/9/11

The weather was absolutely stellar for us, blue skies, no wind and warm, by Mount Washington standards. Together, we climbed Odells Gully on November 28, 2010 in quite opposite conditions and we had made other attempts to get back into the ravine, but either weather or higher than acceptable avalanche danger turned us back to go off and enjoy excellent days of climbing in Crawford Notch.

We followed the boot pack of a skier who climbed to just below the first ice pitch in Damnation. We found him anxiously awaiting our arrival to a safe zone, which allowed him to ski down through. Todd and I moved to climber's right below a large rock and told him to "send it".
Solar gain was working to his advantage, but a very thick layer of rain crust was still a factor in his descent. He seemed to be a very controlled and experienced skier as he jump turned past us, exclaiming how good it was to be up here on this day! Watching his turns down the lower gully and into the fan, he nailed the whole run in fine style. Pictured in the photo above is the skier we followed into Damnation.

Speaking of "sending it" Following Todd's most excellent lead on the first pitch, I took the sharp end on the second pitch. One bomber screw, a very well placed nut, followed by a long 150 foot run out on super stable, but steep snow and I was at the second belay stance, happy, calm, confident and thinking only good thoughts.

Todd climbing up the steep, stable, snow slope on the second pitch

My sweet rock pro belay anchor at the top of the second pitch.

Quote of the day "I love placing rock pro when ice climbing, it makes me feel so happy" Aside from making me feel so good, it definitely is needed with conditions such as we had. Little in the way of available or good quality ice to place screws, yet ample cracks and crannies for placing rock gear. A long fall on this steep terrain with the slick crusty coating could spell disaster.

On that note, and to my point of the bond and brotherhood of the rope, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday, 3/10/11 at 10:30 AM, a solo climber triggered an avalanche in Pinnacle Gully (photo left) just above the first pitch, which swept him over the first ice pitch (about 180 feet) and he then proceeded to fall in total 1300 feet to the floor of the ravine. Details are still emerging, but this climber is most certainly feeling lucky to be alive! He is reportedly recovering in the hospital with a broken femur and other injuries. I'm not willing to Monday morning quarterback his climb, but I wish him well in his recovery.

I am barely visible in the photo above on the crux pitch through the rock band.
Photo -Todd Ringelberg

The third pitch of the day climbed more low angled snow to the crux of the climb. Arriving at his belay anchor I took Todd's advice to climb straight up through the rock band, keeping to the right of the gully. I found some spicy moves on thin ice covered rock and good mixed moves finishing up a steep snow slope to a meager belay stance with marginal (at best) protection placed at the anchor. I hunkered down, belaying while sitting, with feet firmly placed in the event of a fall from Todd, I would have to hold his weight while belaying from my waist, in true mountaineer style. As expected, he did not fall and quickly joined me at the anchor, where we exchanged pleasantries about the pitch I had just lead, then he moved on through to the final pitch. I was relieved to have him place a solid nut, followed by an ice screw just above that, which allowed me to worry less about my anchor having to hold us in the event of a mishap. Then he disappeared, as I quickly fed out rope in meters. Knowing he had arrived at the top of the ravine, I began to dismantle my sketchy anchor and quickly started to climb after getting "the signal" (energy through the rope) that I was on belay. The exit moves up the final snow slope were just amazing and I finished up the gully seeing Todd, sitting in the snow, all bundled up belaying me safely through the finish. I looked left and the sun was shimmering through approaching thin clouds showing the summit cone just full of snow and gleaming from the shiny crust covering the entire mountain.

Another Great Day on the Hill!

Eagle Eye Vision

2011-03-08T21:30:00.019-05:00

Just spent a great day fishing with friends on Lower Range Pond. Well, they fished, I just hung out in the sun. I took the above photo, which I dedicate to David, Luisa and Bobby Jo. Left to right, a peace sign, a read between the lines, and a sarcastic thumbs up. After a long year away, Myself, Brothers Roy and Pop Roy reunited together again with nothing to stop future gatherings.

The Boys were busy chasing flags. After a slow season, I'd like to think it was merely my energy and presence that brought them such good luck. Jim was first, pulling out a large Bass, then J-Roy with a Brown trout. A few stolen bait later, it was Pops turn. A nice Rainbow Trout which was the only fish not tossed back into the respective holes.

We had seen one of the resident Eagles who graced us with a fly by earlier in the morning, then again in the afternoon, flying directly over our base camp with nothing but a pure ulterior motive, taking stock of the Rainbow Trout being chilled in the snow. With little thought a few minutes later, Jason grabbed the trout and started walking a hundred feet or so on the ice away from base camp, he tossed out the fish for the Eagles. Little did we know, but another Eagle had seen him grab the fish and before he was able to get half way back to us the Eagle was hovering over J-Roy's head, as if to thank him in some way, then he swooped down, grabbed it and flew back toward the nest. What a beautiful gift to witness such nature in action!

The hover!

The Swoop!

Thanks for the great day guys!

Katahdin Calling

2011-02-10T07:45:00.005-05:00

Since the last time I stood on top of Mount Katahdin in winter, I've wanted to return and this past week I did. My good friend Todd and I made the journey, his fifth, my second foray into Baxter's Winter Wonderland. Despite not having made it to the summit this time around, for me, it was simply amazing! It's something that not a lot of people see, even in the other seasons of a year, or even in a lifetime.

Fortunately, I've been on the top of that peak many times and surely would have been again if things had gone according to our plan, but part of the mystery surrounding this mountain is not knowing what will happen until you get right up in there. It's easy to sit on the couch, plan a trip, talk with your climbing partner about the ice climbs you aspire to do, plan the itinerary, but the Mountain has plans for you and it's not what you planned. In the picture above is the "plum line" of The Cilley Barber route, an incredible ice and snow climb that we had hoped to get up, but another party on route one day, followed by a huge snow dump the next, kept us from achieving that goal. As I often tell myself, that climb will always be there and someday I'll return and quite possibly it will go into my log book.

The logistics of getting yourself in and out of such remote Maine wilderness are not a simple as some might think. Firstly, one must ski or hike sixteen miles (one way) to Chimney Pond, while pulling a sled or carrying on your back (least desirable method) all of your food, camping and climbing gear that you'll need for the length of your stay. For most, with the exception of the very hardy, this is a two day minimum approach. The first day is a thirteen mile ski to Roaring Brook campground, where you take shelter in the wood heated bunkhouse. After ten hours on the trail and all those miles, you're damn happy you paid a few bucks more for the bunkhouse and didn't choose to just sleep in a frigid Lean-to.

The monkey that was attached to my hips, I estimate 90 pounds! Silly, just silly.

Day two is a nice "stroll" up the Chimney Pond trail 3.3 miles. The weight of our sleds really hit home (for me anyway) and the hike was tough, at least for the first mile and a half. You see, Todd befriended Ranger Mike who was grooming the snowmobile trail up and down the mountain, so on his way out he was coming down with a few propane tanks. He said to Todd, "Do you think we can get both of those sleds in this one"? Of course Todd was exceptionally quick to say "We'll make em' fit"! So Ranger Mike went down to the pond, turned around and came back up to us, we loaded our gear in his sled and he cruised them nearly right up to the bunkhouse for us. We pretty much flew up the final mile and a half in forty minutes, which was significantly faster than the first 1.5 miles. Plus the steepest part of the trail was right after he took our sleds up, so that was a nice treat. I did not feel an ounce of guilt weighing me down either!

Todd hiking across the Basin Pond with the North Basin and Taber Wall in the background.

Sled Free!

Part of the reason we hauled so much weight was because we wanted to eat well. Talk about a menu! Day one breakfast, a healthy dose of greasy spoon in Millinocket, ME. Appropriately at The Appalachian Trail Cafe! Eggs and home fries, pancakes, a BIG breakfast which undoubtedly was burned off a few miles down the trail. For lunches everyday, we planned "trail foods" which for me, consists of Powerbar Gels, Cliff Bars, Poptarts and a healthy granola mix along with plenty of chocolate. So on to dinner! Todd brewed up beforehand at home, then froze, a killer Tortellini Soup. Lots of veggies, a tomato/veggie broth base, and some spicy Italian sausage. After ten hours on the trail, with your heals ripped and torn with blisters, this was quite comforting! Day two breakfast, coffee, eggs and pancakes, with a nice side of yogurt (partially frozen) and blueberries, yup, you read that right! Day two dinner was Clam Chowder, Bountiful Bread and Crab Cakes. What a meal! That was damn good and could very well be one of the best meals I've ever had in the back country. Tuesday's breaky, including coffee, was plain old oatmeal dressed up with fresh blueberries and almonds, quite good! Dinner, a fancy Asian stir fry with plenty of traditional stir fry veggies and chicken added for protein. Wednesday's breakfast, yup oatmeal again (yum!). Dinner was another classic, Steak Fajitas with cheese, slices of avocado and a side of salsa. Thursday, you know the drill, breakfast, eggs and pancakes and dinner another round of stir fry. For me, upon reflection, suffering all those miles with all that weight was worth it. We ate like kings!

Todd's Tortellini Soup hit the spot! Photo - Todd Ringelberg

Since we were some what "grounded" due to the big snow storm on Wednesday, we went for a short but sweet hike to the base of the First Cathedral, a couple of miles round trip. We started up the snow slope hoping to get to the top, but part of the trail is avalanche prone and so we played it safe and didn't climb too high. Arriving back at the Cabin, we decided to put party a bit and put the finishing touches on the stairs we dug to go down to the wood shed. It was basically just a snowy ramp so we tried to give back to our fellow humanoids making their access easier. We also stacked wood in the cabin for the next set of campers and split a bunch of pieces too!

We were set to climb down low on the Pamola Ice Cliffs on Thursday, but when we got out and had a look at the climb we planned, even that had some pretty good avalanche potential at the top. Although it would have been small in size, anything that would have come off certainly could have spelled disaster for the leader or second. So we played it safe and hit the trail down to the Roaring Brook Bunkhouse so that our trip out on Friday would be that much shorter.

Todd at the base of the first Catherdal.

A few photos from the rest of our trip, one I plan on doing again next year and maybe then we'll get that plum line on Cilley Barber? We made the ski out from Roaring Brook to my car in 7 hours, much faster than the ski in since it was mostly down hill and our sleds were slightly lighter. I think I can speak for Todd as well as myself here and say, we learned a lot on this trip, we made good, safe, self informed decisions and this can only help us in the future while playing in the Mountains.

The Armadillo from the basin snow slopes, quite a view of this rock feature.

Todd at the base of Waterfall Gully, post first pitch climb.

Storm God Pamola showed up at The Katahdin Lake Trailhead on our ski out. He was big!

Climbing skins on for the ski up Windy Pitch on the Roaring Brook rd.

Parting shot, The classic view of Katahdin from the Roaring Brook rd.

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

In Memory of a great friend 11/10/68 - 1/18/08

2011-01-18T06:36:00.001-05:00

Pete Roux on the approach trail to Huntington Ravine, March 18, 2003

The objective dangers in the winter mountains are many, which are contrasted by their extraordinary beauty, and the rejuvenation and peacefulness they can bring us. These factors together create the challenges that give us the intense fulfillment as human beings and keep us coming back time and time again. We must be ever on the lookout for all the hazards we face while pursuing our mountain passions. The mountains will be here another day.
Written January 20th, 2008 by ~ Chris Joosen
USFS Snow Ranger on Mt. Washington

One Hundred and Ten Percent

2010-12-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

Sharing one of my finest moments on the sharp end while climbing frozen water. Everything about this picture brings me great joy. The preparation, both mental and physical to get to this day was intense and it took a long time. I'm working on getting back to that level. In the thirteen years since this photo was taken, I've only worked on maintaining consistency with my climbing ability. Always climbing for fun and barely breaking the difficulty threshold. It's time to move beyond that and get back on steeper ice. Nearly three years after the storm came in, I feel more determined and mentally prepared than ever to accomplish some new goals in the mountains. Looking at this picture allows me to get in that 'zen' mode. I can visually work out every move I did on this day, March, 23, 1997. The mental game while climbing ice is 90% of the battle and I'm adding in another twenty percent physical for nice even 110.

Training, it's all about the training!

2010-11-25T12:11:00.007-05:00

There is nothing quite like filling a back pack full of gear & food and hitting the trail! I was invited by my mountain bike friends, Bill, Todd and Chuck to head out on a section of the Appalachian Trail in Maine for a couple of days. What a great backpacking trip it was!

Walk the plank to the other side of the river!

The Fall Colors were just starting to appear in the Sugarloaf, Maine area and as I entered the forest, the buzz hit me, the colors intensified, the smells of the wilderness opened up my air way and I realized that I was very much alive. It's tough to put into words the excitement I felt about getting on the trail, walking a great distance carrying all I would need to survive, very comfortably I might add, for a couple of days. But in one word, awesome!

You couldn't ask for a better crew on this trip. In addition to Bill, Chuck,Todd and myself, there was Steve, Paul, Jules, Don and Todd Ringelberg, we were nine in total. The trail was rugged, as you might expect from the AT, but I just hiked slowly, methodically, placing my feet firmly on the turf, walking on stone as much as possible and taking it all in. Premeditation for future mountain missions.

A steep and rocky trail climbing up to Sugarloaf Mountain

A good shot of the crew headed up the trail.

I had hiked up this trail before, many, many, years ago to peak-bag Sugarloaf, but this time I was after my sixty sixth Four Thousand Foot Mountain. You see, a few years after I finished climbing the 65 peaks on that cold, cold, day February 2, 1996 they re-measured a couple of the mountains in Maine, Spaulding and Reddington. They found them to be just over 4000 feet. Who doesn't want to add more peaks to their list?

Most of the guys in the group had to bag all three of our planned climbs for their lists. A decision was made by some, which I quickly scoffed at, to drop pack at the junction of the Sugarloaf spur trail and go for the peak. I think I said in a few explicative words, I'm not dropping my F&^@!#$ pack, I'm carrying over all the summits, basically throwing down the gauntlet right then and there! The only one to follow suit, at least over Sugarloaf and Spaulding was Ringelberg. Ahh, good fun and a nice challenge. I think I even took off for the summit of the Loaf with a very brisk pace from that junction only conceding to TR1 just before the summit, so he could have the glory of summiting this Maine 4000 footer.

and there he goes!

Atop Sugarloaf, the second highest mountain in Maine, sits a lot of trash from the skiing operations. It's littered with buildings, radio & communication towers and just a bunch of crap to put it mildly. Oh whatever, it's a great ski mountain for the two plankers and knuckledraggers to ski and ride on. Plenty of Massholes make the trip and add to our state's economy. Thanks Holes! Now go back home. Ha, ha!

The summit building, where you're no longer allowed to camp in, or even go into to seek refuge in bad weather. Who needs rules? They were meant to be broken! I didn't venture in, but a few of us did.

I didn't take a summit photo from Spaulding, but I did get to the top, pack on my back and took this shot of the hill before hitting the trail to the top.

It's a quiet little peak, but very nice indeed. Spaulding Mountain in the distance.

I think I was the last one to reach Spaulding shelter and it was pretty full with the crew gobbling up their spots to sleep. The party had already started when I arrived so I quickly joined in the fun. A good way to end the day! I settled into my little nook behind the shelter, sleeping bag, bivy sack, ground cloth, all set to snooze!

My nook! (Photo by TR1)

I woke up to the sound of rain droplets hitting the ground and a few snoring grunts from the crew in the shelter. I should have thought more about where I set up my sleeping situation. They were sawing wood all night in that lean-to and it reverberated out the back quite loudly. I still slept like a log on the ground though from the previous days efforts.

One problem, I was responsible for coffee, which I forgot, thankfully one of the Todd's had a little pack of Starbucks Via and the Todd I was supposed to supply coffee for, had some special tea, so it all worked out. Thanks for the Via, Todd B.

With breakfast in our bellies, we set out for the second half of the trip. It was a wonderful rainy hike through the forest toward Mt. Abraham. There must have been a few moose watching us, there was moose droppings all over and it looked like he or she had trashed about the trail. Not any old trail, I'm talking steep, rocky terrain at elevation. Pretty impressive signs of moose life from my perspective.

some colorful moss.

Appalachian Trail Terrain

Not long after I took this shot, we took the Abraham Trail, then emerged from the trees onto the rocky slopes of Mount Abraham. I've climbed this one a few times and never have I had a view from this summit. It's always fogged in and rainy, but that is part of the mystery and lure of the hills, there is certainly something beautiful about it no matter what the weather in the mountains.

Todd Bumen navigating the fog

the crew headed up

Our reward

Bill and Steve had charted out a bushwack on the map with GPS coordinates for us to take as a fun aspect of the trip, but considering the lack of visibility, we headed down the Fire Warden's trail and back to the cars. I had a great time on this trip and it was the beginning of my quest to get to Baxter State Park this winter. It's all about the training! Good times with some good friends and some new friends too!

Thanks for reading! A couple of parting shots!

Mountain flora.

A Sparky Summit Sprint! (photo by TR1)

Peace and Love!

2010-11-21T18:45:00.002-05:00

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Location:Peace and Love!

In Honor We Climb

2010-11-10T21:00:00.151-05:00

11/10/10 Bits of ice left over in Odell's gully from the cold spell in October.

For the third year in a row, I have made the bitter sweet journey to Huntington Ravine on or near November 10th, to memorialize in some way, one of my very best friends who sadly lost his life on this mountain in January 2008. November 10th is Pete's birthday, which ironically or not, coincides with the United States Marine Core Birthday. Pete's Dad was a Marine in the Vietnam War and I personally find it interesting he was born on that day, or maybe his folks planned it that way. Anyway Happy Birthday Pete Roux, Happy Birthday Marines!

On my first outing, November 14th (missed it by a few days) 2008, I hiked solo, following in the footsteps of my lost brother, with the boots he wore on his final day now on my feet, I met the challenge with caution and some hint of higher being or spirit force. The rocks were all covered in six inches of fresh powder, enough to hide them, but also enough to cause me to take violent falls a few times. I've only told a couple of people this, but it was as if some power or force was giving me an extra firm shove when I tripped up on those rocks. As I would trip up on a rock, I could feel the push, which led me to hit the ground very forcefully. Once was above treeline on the Alpine Garden trail, I remember with great detail, looking around through the white out conditions and seeing nothing, but hearing the wind whisper caution in my ear. I didn't even think about or want to go to the summit on this day, I wanted to get down and home as quick as possible, the dark haunting feeling was uncomfortable.

November 10, 2009, a full year and a half after the avalanche, I was heading up again. This time with Todd Ringelberg in tow. What a day it was! We brought boots, crampons and ice tools, but left that all stuff in the car since there wasn't even a hint of ice or snow. We went for the fast and light approach with only our trail running/approach shoes and super light packs on our backs. We made it to the floor of the ravine quite fast and then headed up the boulder scree known as the fan, aiming for the base of Odell Gully, roughly 400 feet below the first ice pitch. The wind was silent and there was unlimited visibility, a Raven appeared catching thermals in the air above the ravine then landing on a ledge, giving off a quick verbal sign of his presence. We hung out at the memorial site, then shot up the Huntington head wall. We did make the summit on this hike, I think it was my 44th time at 6288.

November 10, 2010. Again another stellar day on the hill. Hardly any snow or ice at all and a fine day to climb the Huntington Ravine trail. We didn't visit the memorial spot this time around we stayed on the HR trail through the fan and headed up the head wall.

Clouds creeping across the Carter Mountain Range from Huntington Ravine.

J'ai gravi la montagne avec mon ami.

This trail is one of the toughest hiking trails in the White Mountains and is as close to technical rock climbing one can get with what I rate as some 5th class terrain in spots. It's pretty damn fun to put it in a few words. PDF!

Climbing up the steep head wall in Huntington Ravine.

It was quite windy on this day, but we didn't really feel the full force until the summit. Emerging from above the ravine while climbing up the Nelson Crag trail, he appeared, but only for a brief second as he flew from the upper rim down into the ravine, who you ask? The Raven, he was lurking near the top rim of the ravine and quickly caught the wind beneath his wings and flew down the mountain. I believe there's a pair of eyes watching over me on the hill, always and forever.

In honor we climb 11/10/10

Five Fun

2010-09-15T07:45:00.002-04:00

There is nothing more perfect than starting vacation on a wild and crazy rock climb. It's really not that wild and crazy, except for the fact that I haven't climbed La Roche consistently in a very long time...but it's all what you make of it, and I'm going with wild and crazy. Finally, Old Todd Ringelberg and I were able to hook up for a day at the crag. The last time I think we hung out was on the icy walls of Frankenstein Cliff for some Ice ascending. That boy has been so damn busy with his new abode, family and life in general, it was nice he took a day for himself and let freedom ring his bell. Freedom of the hills, or cliffs in this case.

We discussed our plan for the day, Fun House 5.7, The Second Pitch of Pooh, 5.6 and the three Upper Refuse pitches, 5.3, 5.6 and 5.5, all of which he'd never climbed before. To those who know nothing about the numbers I've just listed after the names of the climbs, it's the grading system used for rock climbing, range of 5.0 up to 5.15 or is it 5.16 they're at now? Anyway, on that scale, we were on some pretty moderate and rather easy climbing, or Five Fun, I like to say!

Rope, flaked out and ready for the tie in.

Well, I had not been to the base of the Fun House route in almost seven or eight years, so we wandered around in the woods, up and down pine needle filled steep climber trails trying to find it for about an hour, Todd wearing flip flops, seems he was trying to go light, but not very fast. Eventually we found the route and I attempted to get him on the first pitch, mainly so I could sit back and laugh while he struggled, but he was more than happy to allow me the honors, which I did, with very little style or any grace at all. I muscled my way up the right facing corner, clipped the old pin, and belly flopped on the ledge after hanging out way too long with the protection at my chest...it's one of those climbing moves (like most) you've just got to make and not hang out. I though back to my previous endeavors up this fine slice of granite and I know for sure I've been much more efficient and graceful. Arriving at the belay tree, I anchored off and brought the old man up. He was looking strong and climbing quickly, a smile from ear to ear, happy to be crimping fingers and smearing toes on stone. Motivated to tackle the second pitch, he racked our 60 pounds (slight exaggeration) of gear onto his harness and gave a valiant effort on the Pooh pitch cracks. Humbled and tail between his legs, he passed the torch to moi. So, I clumsily again, muscled my way up to easier ground and that Five Fun climbing I was talking about. Before long we were on the tree ledge mid-cliff on Cathedral Ledge.

Sparky climbs the first pitch of Upper Refuse

Arriving at the base of Upper Refuse, we had to wait for a little bit to allow the train of guides with clients above us to climb through, which was fine by me, we ate a snack and I gave Todd the two second tour of other climbs in the general area. Black Lung, The Book of Solemnity, all climbs I've done in my "hardcore" (not really) days of climbing. We hung out for about a half hour and then started up. I took the beautifully aesthetic first pitch. It's got great protection, it's easy and is just SDF (so damn fun!).

Sparky at the belay ledge after pitch one.

Todd ran up it like a madman and took the lead on pitch two. Fully in tune with his skills, he lead up the 5.6 variation with fluidity and great confidence.

TR1 on lead 9/4/10

Yet again, it was my turn on the sharp end. I proceeded to climb with that lack of style and muscled my way off the ledge, grabbing a tree in the process and defending my tree aid by declaring "It's mountaineering" then I continued up. Again, I've done this route more times than fingers on both hands, but yet I got the tunnel vision that lead me into the right facing corner instead of being out on the face closer to the edge of the world on the arete. After much cussing, I climbed through, toes squealing in pain and sweat brewing off my brow. I may have even said "I'll never do this again" to myself, but really I meant never climb in that "manky" (official climber term) corner.

Just before that mountaineering move on the last pitch of Upper Refuse

Topping out at the fence that keeps the tourist from taking the plunge, I was bombarded with questions of how this whole climbing thing works...I answered a few questions and then just tried to shrug the questions off so I could get Todd up to the top. We celebrated with what little water we had left on our bottles and hiked down the auto road. Yet another day closer to life shared with a great friend. Thanks Todd!

Da Boyz, pre-ascent

Once Upon A Star

2010-08-29T07:55:00.004-04:00

The wind blows the smell of salty air. The tide ebbs & flows, and for at least the next two days, our lives just slow. We are staying on Star Island out in the Isles of Shoals, which is off the coast of Rye, NH. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a brief ride on the Uncle Oscar, a charter boat at the Rye Harbor Marina. We quickly settled into the routine with a nap out on the lawn, then a rock in a couple of the comfy rockers on the porch of the Oceanic Hotel. Ahh, Island life, it's nice to just relax and let it all go.

A wonderful view of the ocean from the rocking chairs.

We ate dinner family style with other guests here. Some conferencee's, and some, like us, just here for a personal retreat.

I booked this trip to celebrate Steph's 40th birthday. She works way too hard most all the time, so this "doing of nothing" for a couple of days is just what she needed.

Last nights Sunset from Star!

That's all for now. Back to R&R.

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Summertime Ticking Away

2010-08-25T08:55:00.021-04:00

Hauling the Webber Grill out to High Bank Campsite

Telos Lake, AWW. September, 2009

The weather is changing, I can smell it, I can feel it in the temperatures the last few mornings. I don't really care either way, especially since we don't have much choice in the matter, Fall then Winter, it's the natural progression. I love fall! Looking forward to fresh apples, and fresh doughnuts & cider from the local Apple Orchard. Crisp air and crackling leaves under foot. So, before all that, go out and enjoy every little bit of Summer we've got left.

Steph and I are headed out on vacation (love that word) the first week of September and we're not sure just what to do yet. Possibly some mountain bike riding at The Kingdom Trails in Vermont, along with a few days in Burlington? Maybe some road riding in the Green Mountains? Plus, I have a bike race on the 11th. I am riding / racing in the inaugural Crank The Crawford Time Trial, which starts at Attitash Ski Area in Bartlett, NH and ends 18 miles later, uphill, at the top of Crawford Notch. It should be a great ride, um, I mean race...

Long Time, No Bloggie

2010-08-02T19:43:00.068-04:00

Hey, I'm back, I'm back, back from my funky groove...Seriously, I didn't really go anywhere, but I have been out there, right down in there, up there (a couple of times), around there, through there, and now I am right here. Here to stay, and I continue to go outside and play or O n P.

Let me continue by telling you, or suggesting to you, where not to go. If you love the Northern part of Maine like I do, and you're a snowmobiler, ice fisherman, or your more into summer style water activities and you like to paddle places like the West Branch of the Penobscot, Lobster Lake, or Chesuncook Lake, please, please, please, DO NOT patronize the not-so-kind folks at The Chesuncook Lake House (not even worthy of a link to their website, but if you really want to know ask Google). Seems even when you're nice to people like David and Luisa Surprenant, you're destined to look "suspicious". Even when you've researched a trip to Northern Maine and you've emailed back and forth with someone like David, and you have thanked him for his service and all his effort grooming snowmobile trails throughout the Chesuncook and Allagash area and you've gone to the Lake House on a long snowmobile ride to get gas, find your way to "scope" out the Lake House, only to plan on returning the next day to give these people money for a damn good meal, (we didn't have the chance to return, and never will) don't be fooled, don't be nice and appreciative to people like The Surprenants, for your kindness and sharing of thoughts on how much you love the wilderness and "our" fare State of Maine will only leave you looking suspicious in their minds. Seems these people from away, (Massholes) can't tell the difference between some genuinely nice people and someone who might be looking to rob them in the spring when the ice melts out and the riff-raff flock to camps to B & E on people like them. You made a big error in character judgment, David, and Luisa. What ever gave you the thought we were up to something suspicious? Being nice to you all, praising thanks to you for your service, gas on site, your well groomed snowmachine trails, telling you how fortunate you are to have a home in such a spectacular location with such a dramatic view of Mount Katahdin? Maybe we should have been assholes, smoked a few cigarettes or spit chewing tobacco while drinking some beer on our visit, then maybe you would have felt more of a Masshole homie, touchy, feelie, warm and fuzzy feeling in your guts, instead of being paranoid and emailing the local overzealous Game Warden, asking to go check us out. You're a bunch of loosers David & Luisa, and as I type this, picture a big sarcastic thumbs-up pointed in your direction!

So, now that I've got that out of my system and I've recovered from the post traumatic stress of having my Fourth Amendment Rights violated from Mr. Overzealous, let's move on to more positive things that Spark-less-wonder has been up to. Well this involves bicycles for the road and the dirt trails, rock climbing shoes that hurt my feet when just thinking about them, hiking off to far in the distance mountain peaks in the heart White Mountains, tidal waters of Southern Maine in a Kayak and oh-so-many-more enjoyable moments of life as I know it. I can even toss in visiting the White House on a late spring vacation to Washington, DC. Yeah, if you're wondering, David, Luisa and Bobby Jo, oddly, no one accused us of trying to scope out the White House for a future robbing mission? Though we were followed by a couple of suits after filing a complaint at the EPA building regarding the Gulf Oil Spill, but immediately after, we visited Olympia Snowe's office and were given VIP tickets for a tour of the Capitol building as well as a tour of her personal office.

Summer is in full swing as I sit and type this on August 2, Twenty Ten. I am about to show some photos of my recent adventurous missions...Enjoy!

The Washington Monument from the Vietnam War Memorial.

Steph outside of a house we considered buying.

Outside of the FBI building, I had some questions for them...

A late night visit to the Thomas Jefferson memorial, very powerful!

Before we headed home, we went to Camden Yards to see the Red Sox whip the O's.
A great game, and a lovely Ball Park.

DC was amazing, it's such a great city. You really feel the power of our country when you're right down in there. We walked around the whole city on one of our days there, it must have been twenty miles, we saw it all, well almost. We definitely will be back for the stuff we missed, but we visited museums like the Natural and American History, the Native American museum, the Capitol and Senate buildings, The Vietnam War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, our Maine Senator's offices, The Archives of the United States of America, and so much more. Both the Senators were out of town for recess, but we did get to meet the office staff, all Mainers! We stayed in Georgetown, a short ride on the Metro into to the city from our hotel. Georgetown itself was a nice touristy area, lot's of shops and restaurants, including the famous and chocolate coma inducing Georgetown Cupcake! Cupcakes? Yes, cupcakes of all flavors and varieties, simply delicious!

June brought some long distance bike rides, lots of training on both the mountain bike and the road bike. We've had quite a fantastic streak of weather this spring and summer and I've managed to get in a lot of ride time. As I type, I am about 1350 miles combined on road and mountain bikes. One thousand plus solid miles on the road bike, with a couple of nice rides in the White Mountains. One of the rides Steph and I did was with our friend Al Hospers. From his house in North Conway up and over Bear Notch, to the top of Kancamaugus Pass and back dowm to North Conway. It was about 57 miles, and 4500 or so, feet of climbing. A great day to be on the bike-cycles, even if it was 98 degrees and we all drank almost a gallon of water each!

Steph, just finishing the days climbing at the top of the Kanc pass, smile and all, feeling great inner reward.

A few days later, I had the opportunity to help out some Mount Washington Bicycle Hill Climbers by driving the get-down car to the summit for friends, Tom Scontras, and Steve McGrath. Well, the race day was rained out, so the rain date the next day kicked in and the race went off without a sprinkle or flash of lightning. What a day to be on Mount Washington, always special and spiritually powerful for me. Tom put in a great ride considering his "stuff" he's dealt with over the previous few weeks before the race, illness, lack of hill training due to the illness...etc. Respecting his privacy, but including some pictures.

Looking North and slightly East to the top of Huntington Ravine.

The race winner and current course record holder, Tom Danielson.
He missed beating his record by about 8 seconds on this day. He was absolutely flying!

Tom, two times on the summit out of four races attempts.

So then, the following weekend, the opportunity presented itself to join in on a long hike to the summit of Owl's Head in the Pemigawesset Wilderness. A friend of mine, Bill, who is trying to get his Four Thousand Footers done in New Hampshire was headed to the Owl. Knowing Steph still needed this one for hers, I suggested we go along for the ride and the hike! Yes, that's right, we rode our mountain bikes on the Lincoln Woods trail the first three miles, locked them to a tree and then hit the foot path. Five miles and several thousand feet higher, we stood on the tree filled, view-less summit. The last mile up the slide was a blast, steep and fun, some bouldering off the "trail" and lots of loose rock. Bill's son, Jack, sprinted from the bottom of the slide and we never saw him again until the summit. A great day to be out in the woods. The hiking through the wilderness is truly amazing, but the ride back to the cars kicked ass!

The three first timers before heading out. Steph, Bill and Jack.

Bikes R Fun!

Steph, Bill & Jack headed up the steep and loose slide.

Bill on the summit.

That about rounds up as much as I want to put into this edition of Sparky's Ride. Stay tuned, I'm crackin on with the writing. Happy Reading! Ride On!

Blog press test

2010-02-19T21:26:00.001-05:00

Just testing a new Iphone ap for this blog. The picture of Steph below is from a recent walk along the ocean.

It's the Standard!

2010-02-18T07:00:00.010-05:00

I started ice climbing back in 1991, the popularity of the sport and increased traffic at the cliffs has grown tremendously since then. So, if you meet up with a buddy to climb some ice and you find no cars in the parking lot when you arrive, what do you do? If you said blah, blah, blah, then you're right, Climb the funnest route at the Crag!

This past Sunday was the exact case I mention and just what Todd and I did. We met at the usual spot half way from our respective homes, finished the drive north on route 16, then stopped for some coffee in North Conway. Fueled up on caffeine and egg & cheese on a bagel, we headed to our planned climbing area for the day, we weren't sure which climb we would do, but it became obvious as we pulled up the access road to Frankenstein Cliff in Crawford Notch.

It was 8 am and there were zero, count 'em, zero cars in the parking lot! So we planned to head straight to Standard Route, a New Hampshire Classic, with a NEI 3 rating (New England Ice Grade 3). Todd had not been out climbing for about a month, though I had been a couple of times and also the previous day. This meant that Todd would have the glory of leading the funnest pitch on the route, the second pitch out the left side of the cave. It is always so fun and exposed. To think I have another friend who solos this route on a regular basis....Oh well, I wouldn't do it, but lacing the climb full of screws and having a great time climbing some frozen water was just awesome! I never get tired of this one...

I was filming our climb while using a Vholdr Countour HD action sports camera, mounted onto my climbing helmet with a elastic velcro strap. I edited the footage to create the following video of our climb of the first two pitches. My only claim to fame is amateur at best, and I must warn you, in the excitement of climbing with a brother and friend, I may have dropped a few F-Bombs! So pop some corn or have a coffee and take a seat and climb the ice. The video is about 37 minutes long.

I know every time I watch, I slide to the edge of my seat as I relive the experience.

Standard Route Frankenstein Cliff - The whole story! from Steve Jacques on Vimeo.

Living the Dream

2010-02-04T07:52:00.018-05:00

Life to the fullest? Absolutely!
For as long as I can remember, I've been adventuring outside into the wilderness. Fresh out of high school, I had to make some critical changes, or I could have headed out on the wrong path. It took a few years, and it was a lot of work, but I accomplished some goals and the mold started to build with a little more integrity.

I remember my first journey up the hill, somewhat still a punk, dawning a cotton Metallica t-shirt, and work style boots (I might have had a windbreaker in the pack). My friend Roland and I headed up, with him even smoking a few Camels on the way. Well, fortunately the mountains accepted my application for study in life education, and what great things I have learned!

The photo above is from a recent ascent of the ice climb called East Face Slabs Right, on Mount Willard, in Crawford Notch, NH. I am at the most difficult section in this photo. How does one deal with such a challenge? Calmly and with fluidity! This was one of those special days, a cold day in January with the sun shining, the sky clear and bright blue. While many stood in lines for other climbs on this day, my friend Erik and I moved through on another climbing route below this one, quickly, while displaying good ethic and style. Arriving at the base of this pretty, blue, chunk of frozen water clinging to the side of a cliff, the hook was set and I was lured to the top. Some might loose their breath at the just the thought of putting themselves in such a situation, yet I accepted the challenge with open arms and took a breath of life as I anchored myself safely at the top. In trying to relate my point, adventure for me is life. The risk, the reward, the challenge, the failure, the success. I believe their is a certain strong similarity between the two.

I can currently be found dreaming through the eyes of my life and to the next adventure. There is one in there that could be quite special and I hope you'll stick around to see all that may encompass what will be next.

In memory of a once in a lifetime friend ~ November 10, 1968 - January 18, 2008

2010-01-18T00:00:00.004-05:00

Pete Roux seconds Pinnacle Gully on Mount Washington, March 18, 2003

"Then there was silence, hiss of the slide soft hushed. The mountains lay, stood, reared like creatures that dream lovely in sunlight: ebony, silver and silk just as before. But I loathed them, trembling and sick, for you had gone." -Wilfrid Noyce

Memories Made

2010-01-01T09:14:00.004-05:00

Eliot, Maine sunset on November 13th 2009

Happy New Decade!

Wow! I am ready to move on! The Y2k decade was good and bad, overall, just OK. But forget the bad, I am looking forward, and moving on, in a lot of ways. Treasure what you have people! We could be a lot worse off and there are a lot of bad things going on in the World. Thankfully, we have people willing to risk their lives in honor of, and too protect, ours. Just a few random "look backs" on 2009 and some of my favorite adventures. Three cheers to more of the fun stuff in the coming months and years! Adventure is adaptable throughout all aspects of life. It is the spirit of adventure that keeps me alive, inside and out!

January 11, 2009. We had a big snowstorm and Steph and I wanted to get some exercise. We decided to head to Mount Agamenticus for some snowshoeing. It was a beautiful day. We took the photo below at the very spot where we were married in October, 2006. No doubt the highlight of the last decade for me.
Forever on Honeymoon!

February 2, 2009. I stood on the summit of Mount Washington for the 42nd time. This one was a solo hike to the top. A quick, safe journey to the roof of New England!

The Summit Tower and Weather Station.

A collaborative team effort for sure, but not without Steph's gifted nature spirit. She rescued this small Saw-Whet Owl from the side of a busy road near our home on February 29, and I took him to the Center for Wildlife in York, Maine so he could/ would hopefully be rehabilitated.

Injured and looking in poor condition, the Little Saw-Whet Steph saved.

Journey is a common theme...March 1, 2009 brought another foray into the Allagash with the Great Ice Fisherman. We journeyed in honor and memory of our friend David Caron who passed on January 13, 2009. Your spirit lives on in our hearts and minds forever. Renting that snowmobile and riding around the wilderness was awesome.

The Allagash 2009 Crew fishing hard on Chamberlain Lake.
L-R Me, John, Paul, Don, Jim, Jason, front Mukwa.

March brought longer, warmer days and springing motivations to ride bicycles. This from the birthday ride for Tom and I, March 25, 2009.

Marta Downing, Tom Scontras and myself on a cold but sunny spring ride. Photo by: Todd Ringelberg

Red Sox -vs- Yankees! The night Jacoby stole home! Sometimes you just have to say WTF, get out the credit card, and go to a ball game!

Saw-Whet Owl Release! May 18, 2009
Rehabilitated by The Center For Wildlife

Journey to the North East Kingdom of Vermont May 26.
Kingdom Trails, Heaven on Bikes!

Steph climbing to a bench in the Heaven's

August Acadia Daze! The very best of a summer trip with Steph to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, watching the sun rise out of the ocean from the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

Sky Fire.

Mount Washington Bicycle Hill Climb, August 15.

Journey to Allagash Lake as viewed from the summit of Allagash Mountain, September 18.
No doubt a future Sparky Paddling Adventure!

Family Time! Life's simple treasures!

Me & Louise on a cool Fall morning.

Honoring the fallen. November 10.
Uphill view of Odell Gully, roughly 400 feet below the first sections of Ice.

Burning it all away! We finally burned the remnants of the Ice Storm of 2008 on New Years Eve. New beginnings, New Endeavors, New Challenges, New Life!
Steph warming her thoughts on the last ten years of her life.

Swingin Tools, Kickin Feet

2009-12-26T19:00:00.016-05:00

Just back from the first day of Ice Climbing season for 09/10. It was a full-on-winter-conditions-day out there. I climbed with my good friend Todd today. We headed to one of my favorite areas to climb, Mount Willard in Crawford Notch, NH. It was a blustery day, but not terribly cold. We climbed the lower section of Hitchcock Gully before traversing right to the base of a climb called Left Hand Monkey Wrench. I urged Todd to lead this pitch, saying "It's your turn to lead this one" (last year we did this one together and I lead this pitch), and so he did, in fine style I must add. I forgot my camera, but I managed to take this shot below with my Iphone.

Left Hand Monkey Wrench is such a great climb, and sure does beat the tricky mixed lower Hitchcock Gully pitch. Plus, we were out to ice climb, not frozen moss, and dicey rock with crampons on! After cleaning Todd's gear from the route and joining him at the belay, we coiled the ropes and moved to the upper tier of cliff band. The wind was HOWLING and snow was blowing around intensely. We looked at East Face Slabs right, one of the climbs on the upper tier. I really would have liked to have lead this one today, but looking up at the top section of ice and the trees up there getting blown all about, it was a good call to save for another day and not risk getting blown off the climb. So we opted for the more "sheltered" upper Hitchcock Gully. It was my turn on the sharp end and it felt like I had just climbed yesterday, not last spring! My head was in it and feeling the climbing love. I started up and quickly got blasted from up slope winds and blowing snow, I looked down at Todd, only 40 feet or so below and I could not see him, complete whiteout conditions. It was pretty intense! At the first ice screw, it went in quick and felt very secure, bang, quick draw clipped, rope clipped, climb on! Only about four feet above my pro, my head says, wait a second...lets put a little more safety in this system! Bang, shorty screw in quicker than you can say "shorty screw", quick draw clipped, rope clipped, head level...climb on! I ran it out to the next screw about 20 feet, just before a tricky ice bulge, I put in another screw. Some of my screws are old and not so sharp...this third one was a bit more difficult to get good purchase in the ice, but eventually gave in to my efforts and I was off ascending this beautiful blue ice on such amazing terrain. I think I placed one or two more and ran the rope out to the top, as the difficulty eases the higher up you get. I absolutely LOVE climbing on Mount Willard. The routes we climbed are not necessarily difficult, but great for breaking off the couch (not really) and getting back to placing gear and climbing with good technique. I took this next photo of Todd seconding my pitch up Hitchcock in furious winter conditions.

We were going to traverse to a climb called "The Cleft" and top out on the Mount Willard Hiking trail and hike back to the car, but decided to rappel off the cliff and head to town for some food at the Flatbread in North Conway. Once again, a great day in the mountains with a great friend.

Winter Solstice

2009-12-21T12:47:00.007-05:00

Whoa~ Long time no Sparky Adventure...
Actually quite the opposite! Admittedly, I've been lazy on the writing front, but in reality, all too busy with life. Fall is over, Winter is here! I've managed a few long-ish October and November road rides, which were most excellent. I have also been trying to commute to work on my bike at least once a week, and I have also been Mountain Biking quite regularly.

So let's talk Winter! I spent a couple of hours last weekend for some Winter Climbing Gear Organization. Crampons, ice axes, helmet, ropes, rock pro, ice screws, snow shoes, the list is long, and the equipment heavy! I am actually looking forward to this winter and while I was sorting through the above quiver of tools for the trade, my mind wandered - as it often does - to many past adventures in the mountains with good friends. 2010 will be a better Winter than the last two, there are a lot of climbs to revisit and hopefully a couple of new ones to add to the resume, we'll see how the conditions and my skills move along. One really cool thing is, I just bought some new skis for my approach to the more remote areas and the weekly Wednesday night ski with the mountain bike crew. I purchased some Karhu 10th Mountain skis, 165 cm (short and sweet), and I will be using my Silveretta bindings. These skis are full metal edge, wax less, with climbing scales. I will also have skins for the steeper climbs. Thanks to Roland and the Neptune Mountaineering crew in Boulder, CO for the excellent customer service. The skis I am replacing are some 10 year old Rossignol Haute Route Extreme telemark skis which were heavy and not very touring friendly. Though, I will be saving them for sure! I skied the Tuckerman Ravine head wall with these, so they are slightly famous.

The Sun emerges with a sparkle on freshly fallen snow, Mount Agamentics 1/11/09.

Baxter State Park recently relaxed the rules regarding winter access to Mount Katahdin, now allowing Solo Winter travel and no minimum party requirements. With regard to solo climbers, you are not allowed on technical terrain, where the use of a rope and protection would normally be needed. What I like hearing about these changes is, the ability to attempt a winter hike from the Abol campground and up the Abol slide to the summit, which I am currently considering, unless I can entice a friend to do a longer Chimney Pond ice climbing / hiking summit trip.

So Winter is here, not much we can do to change it now... I am going to embrace it and go outside and play in the snow!

Solo Climbing in Central Gully, Huntington Ravine Mount Washington 3/17/09

Dempsey Challenge Ride

2009-12-12T07:31:00.007-05:00

I'd like to start by thanking everyone for helping me to raise funds or who sent words of encouragement for my participation in the Inaugural Dempsey Challenge. A ride, walk and run fundraiser put on by Patrick Dempsey, for the Dempsey Center for Hope and Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, ME. I rode on the Team Ali's Rack Pack, in Honor and Memory of, Alison Dumont, a life long friend who sadly passed away two weeks before the event. Even though I hadn't seen her in several years, when I learned she was fighting Cancer, and that her close friend Kim was organizing a team for her, I jumped at the chance to get involved. Alison was a great person and she fought cancer very hard, especially in her last few weeks. She was a brave soldier and for many more, the fight continues on. The way I see it, I had the easy part, the ride! In today's tough economy, you all gave from your hearts and I appreciate it very much. One Hundred Percent of the funds raised were given to the center for patient care. While I rode, I had many people on my mind who I know have crossed the battle line. In 2001, I gathered with family by my Grandmother's side as she slipped into eternal life from her quick battle with Lung Cancer. I thought about that a lot on my ride, life changes you after watching a loved one, someone, or anyone die. I think I had a couple of moments along the way where I had to hold off some emotions thinking about Memere and Alison, but also probably from some of the pain I was putting on myself. This was part of my plan from the start, ride hard and try for a personal best time over one hundred miles. One never knows how they'll feel starting, continuing, and actually finishing a long ride like this. From the start I rode pretty fast and quickly caught up to Dempsey's VIP group who had started about three minutes before everyone else. He was pretty much surrounded and I wasn't interested in chatting, but it was pretty cool to see Professional Cyclists Ted King, George Hincapie and Dave Zabriskie riding in this event.

After riding with the VIP's for a few minutes, I latched on to a fast group and never looked back. I rode past the first rest stop eleven miles into the ride and planned to stop at the second at about twenty three miles. My life long friends, Jason and Jim Roy along with Steve Jalbert were volunteering mechanical support for the riders, I was glad to see they were super busy. I was pretty cold and wet since the roads had been soaked with rain water from the start. Thinking ahead, I strategically stashed some chain lube and dry cycling clothes in their truck the day before, so I took five and lubed my chain, but didn't change any clothes, knowing I had more rainy weather ahead. They were to be stationed at mile seventy five, so I knew having dry clothes near the end would give me some comfort and incentive to finish strong. Pretty much from this rest stop to the end of the ride, I was riding on my own. Plenty of time for thought and reflection when "throwing" yourself out there!

At mile Fifty, around the other side of Long Lake in Harrison, the sun came out and the roads were drying up. I took a long break and ate some much needed food at the rest stop. All the rest stops were well staffed with volunteers and plenty of goodies for the riders to eat, Bananas, Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, Oranges, plenty of Water and Gatorade as well. They could have had more "salty" treats (which I suggested in a post ride survey they sent out).

Arriving at mile seventy five, I was getting my ass kicked, or kicking my own ass, giving it my all and riding hard. In a typical century ride, I wouldn't have the opportunity to change from rain and sweat soaked clothes, but man, was it nice to get into some dry shorts and a dry jersey for the final twenty five miles. I loaded up on food to get me back to Lewiston and set off on a blistering pace for the final stretch. Some where around the back side of the Auburn Airport, I saw a sign that read "Twenty Miles to go"...What? Oh No! Twenty more miles I thought? I had calculated about twelve, so that hit my psyche pretty hard. Muscle through it I thought to myself....

I rolled across the bridge into Lewiston feeling great and honestly ready to be off the bike. The event was pretty much done and there were just a few folks lingering around. I still had to ride my bike a couple of miles back to my car.

Thanks to my friend Kim Laverdiere for organizing Team Ali's Rack Pack, Thanks to the Roy Boy's for letting me stash some dry clothes and chain lube in their vehicle, Thanks to all the volunteers and event organizers, Thanks to all my sponsors for your donations and words of encouragement, Thanks to my Mom for letting me crash at her house the night before, Thanks to all the Cancer Soldiers for fighting so bravely and continuing that fight! Thanks to Patrick Dempsey for giving my hometown some limelight and starting this great event. I am looking forward to next year's ride for sure.

My ride stats were-
Total Mileage- 102 miles
Total Elevation Gain- 5743 Feet
Total Elevation Loss- 5368 Feet
Ride Time- 6 hours and 35 Minutes

Allagash Wanderers

2009-09-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

What would the last weekend of summer be like without a trip to the Great North Woods of Maine?
I prompted a long time friend about a month ago to head up this past weekend. We marked it on the calender and started the planning. We shared a common goal and each had our own motivations for heading up. Mike wanted to reminisce on the days he and his Dad traveled to the Allagash Wilderness for some camping and fishing fun. I wanted to scout more of the area for future kayak camping missions.

Mike celebrating the "end of the pavement" with a few photographs.

Golden Road looking West from the Greenville Road junction.

I've never been west on the Golden road beyond the winter access to Chesuncook Lake, so this was all new terrain for me. Our first stop shortly after we turned on the Golden Road was at the North Maine Woods Caribou Checkpoint. We paid our camping fee's, $56.00 for two people which included a day use fee in addition to the camping per night. Our destination was the North Round Pond campsite. This would put us very close to Allagash Lake for our planned hike on Saturday morning. The road was in pretty good shape and we did not see one logging truck, only a couple of Pick-ups which looked like loggers with the typical stuff the carry in the bed. We stopped at our first POI, The North East Carry road, which will lead you down to NE Carry. There is a store there! Also, you can access Lobster Lake from here, which is also the start for many West Branch of the Penobscot River trips. The bridge at Hannibal's Crossing was our next stop. I said to Mike, with a name like that I have to stop! It was a lot like Chamberlain Bridge, long with side rails and in very good shape. The scenery was just incredible and I envisioned what it would be like to travel on the river. The water looked nice and flat, flowing ever so gently through the wilderness.

The West Branch looking West toward Lobster Stream at Hannibal's Crossing.

West Branch looking East.

Minutes after Hannibal's we took a right onto the Ragmuff Road. This long North Woods road takes you into the heart of the Allagash. I've wondered what it was like and I was not disappointed! At the start, she's fairly straight and wide, then it narrows and becomes more of a one lane, two track road. We rushed a FAT Black Bear around one of the corners, I was in shock! I've never seen a Bear in the wild and immediately I felt nature's power and saw the bear's beauty as he turned up an embankment and gave a look back before lunging further into the forest. The contrast from his black fur to the tan around his snout was incredibly beautiful. I would say he was probably a year or two old, and certainly putting on some weight for the approaching winter. We rolled by that spot slowly and I asked Mike if he wanted to go follow him for a better look? No, was a quick reply and I agreed it was probably better to let him be. Soon after this we missed a turn, but realized it once we arrived at the Loon Lake Dam. Indirectly, we would have arrived at the same spot, but we turned back since we had intended to take the Ragmuff road to Caucomgomoc Dam, where the Round Pond road starts, just a short 5 mile round trip detour.

Back on track, we arrive at the Caucomgomoc Lake Dam. You actually drive over this one!

Mike took this picture of me taking a picture of Caucomgomoc Lake.
*Photo by Mike Auger*

Lake and Clouds, the cove near the Caucomgomoc Dam.

The foliage in Northern Maine is just starting to turn and we saw some red and orange colors that were electric! I captured a few here along the shore of Ciss Stream which drains Round Pond into Caucomgomoc Lake.

Ciss Stream with a little foliage popping out here and there.

We arrived at our campsite to find no one there! WoooWhoo!! Let the party begin! I cracked a couple of Mike's Hard Lemonade's and shared with Mike (no relation to the MHL guys). After driving for about nine and a half hours, I was ready to just chill around camp. We took a stroll down to the water and then each began setting up our tents. It was quite breezy and cool, showing a bit of fall and winter due to arrive in the coming months. Soon it was time for some dinner, pizza on the grill! I'm trying to perfect this meal and not sure the grill is as good as a hot oven, but it worked out well and we enjoyed mushrooms, onions and chunks of fresh garlic on the pizzas, YUM! At one point after we ate, I headed to get some water from the pond for dishes. I noticed when I flashed my light that there was something glowing in the water, I thought it was a canoeist just off shore of the campsite, but after telling Mike and hearing some splashing, we realized it was a BIG Moose feeding on the vegetation in the water. He must have been huge since the glowing eyes were about two feet apart. We tuned in the Red Sox game on the crank radio and partied a bit more before retiring for the night. I slept great all night and was woken up by Mike around 6:30 AM, him saying there was a Mother and two young ones in the pond just out front of the tents.

Moose wake up call!

After a while the little guys got out of the water and waited for Mom to finish feeding. The whole time they were keeping a close eye on us at the campsite and when she cautiously started heading out of the water and greeted them on shore, they hurried to her side and let off some grunts and groans showing their affection. It was an amazing display of animals communicating to each other. Then they slowly started to head up toward the road and we got a couple of nice pictures of them there.

They would return two more times during our stay at Round Pond.

What can you say about coffee while camping...I can think of many words, but to sum it up, delicious! After breakfast and watching the moose we took a quick walk down the road to Poland Pond, just a short distance from camp. Mike had been in there with his Dad many times over the years and he seemed happy to have walked in there for the memory's. He told many tales of The Allagash Traveler and the travelers who traveled in it. Fun to hear about and imagine what it was like back in the day. We hiked back and walked into the "Inlet Campsite". This was nice, but it would have been difficult for the VW to get in since it was quite muddy and rutted deep in one spot. I was liking the campsite we were at, but good notes for future trips in. Arriving back at the car we jumped in and started up the road to Allagash Lake. I thought it was close, but learned we had to drive in about two miles. On the GPS it was about two and a half and we had to park about a quarter mile form the gate since the VW again was too low to make it right to the parking spot. A bummer for sure considering future trips in, unless I get that Toyota Tacoma or Subaru Forester I'm dreaming of lately. We parked the car and started the hike. Shortly after hitting the trail we stumbled upon this girl.

She wasn't interested in negotiating our passage, I took this quick photo and she took a couple of steps toward us. My hands went up like I was under arrest (to make myself appear bigger than I am), so did Mike's. He said "should we yell?" "Yeah" I said, so we yelled "Hey get out of here, Go Home!" She stared us down and Mike reached for his camera, as he did, she looked right and calculated her options, then she trotted off down the trail and into the woods. We continued down the path with curiosity as to where she was, we never did see her again, but figured she was close, watching us walk right by.

The hike into Allagash Lake is very nice, with no real difficulties to note. Pulling a fully loaded boat on a kayak cart might be a different story, but before long, we were at the Ranger Cabin, which was not occupied. Something tells me the Ranger was due to be back before winter as there were still screens on the porch and it looked like it was not winter ready. I immediately went to the water and baptized myself by splashing water on my face and head. It felt great, and my imagination went wild wondering what it will be like to paddle this amazing waterway. We paused for some pictures before heading up the Tower Trail to the summit of Allagash Mountain.

Self portrait at the Ranger Cabin.

I've thought about climbing Allagash mountain for years and the only way to make it happen is to make that effort. Looking at Allagash mountain from Chamberlain Lake on my many visits, it commands the North West view. The trail starts gently for about 100 yards and then goes straight up to the summit, literally! There are no switch backs and it goes uphill steeply! It is a short hike about three quarters of a mile to the summit. There is a Fire Tower on top and I just had to climb it. I will admit, under normal conditions I would have been OK, but it was pretty windy and I haven't climbed much of anything since winter Ice climbing. I got a little gripped all the way up the ladder, and hesitated to push the triangle door open to gain access to the tower. I stepped down with fear and then climbed in. Only long enough to get a quick look around (five seconds or less) and then started to climb down. The wind was very gusty and it freaked me out...Mike took a few pictures of the climb.

*

*Just pushing the tiny door open.

Well, I am happy to report the Fire Tower never fell while we there, so I wish I had a little more nerve to stay up there for a bit longer. I'll blame the wind for sure! We stayed on the summit for a long time, trying to pick out lakes and mountains in the distance and just admiring the view of Allagash Lake, which is spectacular by the way!

Allagash Lake from Allagash Mountain.

While on the summit we were greeted by two Turkey Vultures who were soaring and catching the thermals, taking advantage of the winds. Mike got some great pictures of them, this one is my favorite.

We eventually made our way down the mountain and had lunch at the Ranger Cain close to the lake. I have to mention this. The Ranger did some repairs to his HUGE canoe it looks like it needed some new fiberglass over the keels. One thing that bothered me was he made a MESS of applying the epoxy to cover the glass fibers and I mean a MESS! So Mr. Ranger, what happens when your canoe hits a rock next summer on the lake and one of these pieces of epoxy lies permanently in the water? This is supposed to be a protected waterway. I hope your end of season tasks include cleaning up after your self and covering the epoxy some how...This is clearly seen in Mike's picture of me making our lunch. Lunch was fantastic, we had mozerella, basil and tomato sandwiches on Naan bread doused with Olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

*Gourmet Lunch on the shore of Allagash Lake, with a touch of epoxy!

After lunch we headed out, taking a brief walk down the Carry Trail to the Carry Trail campsite. This one is nice with a couple of camping cells, one on the shore and one just inland. Then we hiked back to the car and headed back to camp. When we arrived we had guests from N.H. Wes, a firefighter from Newfields, NH and his Chica from Portsmouth, we never did get her name, so I call her Chica! We also met Bono, their/her puppy beagle. He was fun and crazy! We took a ride to Johnson Pond, which is another five miles up the Johnson Pond road. Along the way we saw a huge pile of Bear scat (shit) and around a corner we saw him, Buddy Bear! Mike was able to get a picture of this guy.

* Buddy Bear!

After checking out the access to and shoreline of Johnson Pond, we headed back to camp for some drinks and other party treats. Our neighbors had gone for a ride in the car and we relaxed a bit, knowing they would return on our terms. It's funny how some people are, they waltzed right in and set up right next to us. I would have camped up closer to the road if I came in and saw someone all set up, wanting to give myself and my camping neighbors some peace and quiet. Some people just want to be close I guess...? We had a great meal with separate dishes of Vegetarian Chili and Chicken Curry. Then I made a couple more drinks and caught a good buzz. We retired fairly early and I feel asleep in my tent listening to my IPod.

Sunday we woke up to the Moose family again and then quickly ate breakfast and packed up the tents and hit the road. Our goal was a big old loop on the North Woods Roads. It was awesome putting the pieces of the puzzle together and recon'ing the area for future trips. I close this BLOG with some pictures from the road trip and a GPS track of our road trip from Round Pond to the end of the Telos Road, at the Golden Road junction. Thanks for reading!

Allagash Stream just upstream from Chamberlain Lake.

Amazing North Maine Woods Roads.

New Access to the waterway, day use only, no starting or ending of trips from this location!

View Larger Map

Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb 2009

2009-08-16T09:27:00.004-04:00

I did my first Race up Mount Washington yesterday. It was absolutely amazing. Almost a somewhat spiritual journey to 6288ft. My time was 1:30:42. I am very happy and now hooked on doing this event for the next few years...staring the annual tradition 8/21/2010. Thanks to my lovely wife Steph for driving the car and screaming at me when I rode by her...and all the incredible photographs and support.

Steph waiting for the Bike-Cyclers, enjoying a beautiful morning on Mount Washington.

The obligatory summit shot!

Cycling in the shadows of the Mountain.

Three Examples

2009-08-11T07:33:00.012-04:00

Three examples of ways to give to your fellow human. Fortunately for Stephanie and I, we have been taught yet again from the book of lessons in life. We just returned from an incredibly beautiful weekend in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. While our adventure differed from that of the thousands of people who also made the worthy journey to this special spot here in Maine, surely a few of the thousands of people took something back with them to further enhance their lives.

Our first encounter, (all of them on the very last day) was very high up on the precipice hiking trail. The term "hiking" is all relative. This trail climbs steeply up the eastern flanks of Champlain Mountain. Nesting Peregrine Falcons keep the trail closed for most of the year, and my recollection was that it had been closed entirely over the last few years, but now after the chicks fledge, hikers are allowed to return for the climbing fun. We had initially considered the Ladder trail on Mount Door, but after riding through the park loop road with our bikes on Saturday and seeing that it was open, the deal was sealed in my mind. Shortly after starting the route, you come to the "Eliminator" where the first set of Iron Rungs that climb a 8 foot high ledge send people back to admire the view from below. Steph cruised it and I knew then we would not be eliminated. Admittedly, she is afraid of heights, for which the guide book suggests this trail is probably not a good hiking option. Like a lot of other steep climbs throughout the mountains, the guidebook can be a bit misleading or overrating of the difficulty, and for good reason.

Steph giving the thumbs up on The Eliminator.

The climb steepens and soon we are climbing up vertical rock, on Iron Rungs in the form of a ladder, even climbing a metal ladder attached to the rock by rungs, on what would be moderately difficult rock climbing if there were no fixed rungs. At one point, on the vertical ladder, I had gone up for a picture and come back down to allow Steph to go ahead of me where she felt more comfortable. I thought when I was up there that this would be a big test for her, but she flew right up. I got back on the ladder following her up and got just a bit "wigged out", but quickly turned that around and climbed through. We topped out on a sloping ledge where the route went right on very secure rungs. Steph saw some folks and asked if they were coming down, "No, but you can come on up" the gentleman replied. Steph climbed through and I poked my head up over the sloping ledge and saw the guys wife nearly laying down, sweating profusely. The look of FEAR was in her eyes, I know this because I had only seconds ago felt this, and I've seen it before in my climbing friends eyes over the years. I said to her right away "Are you alright" She didn't look good to me and was sitting on this precarious ledge looking like she could have slid right off. She shook off my questions of wellness and suggested she was just "getting her nerve". Quickly, with a bit of coaching from her husband and myself, she moved through to much safer ground. A fall here could have been tragic. She said it would be better for us to go first and then follow so she could watch our route and steps. After we passed there were still some really steep sections and she was on my heels nearly the rest of the way, I would climb on a series of rungs and as my foot left one, her hand would grab it, climbing up quickly below me. We topped out and they both said how helpful it was climbing near us and thanks for getting her off that ledge. We were in the right place at the right time for these nice folks from Chicago.

Steph on one of the steeps sections of Iron Rungs.

After "risking life and limb" on the Precipice, riding our bikes around the Park and up Cadillac Mountain a couple of times the day before, we were ready to sit in our beach chairs at that special spot we had seen on our bike ride. Rest and relaxation! Basking in the sun overlooking the big blue sea, we snacked on cheese and crackers, blueberries and chocolate, just perfect!

R & R = H

At one point we heard someone scream followed by a thud. Without a fraction of a seconds thought, both Steph and I rushed to the man's side. Noticing he was wincing in pain, I went right to his head, holding it in traction, both Steph and I were telling him to lay still, and not move. We did a quick check on all his extremities, asked him who he was and where he was a few times. His wife was right there and was just assuring him that calling for medics was a good idea. We all agreed, so Steph called 911. I won't go into detail about this guy, but it seems as if he had a lot of medical issues, and after traveling from Ohio, he was just trying to enjoy the rocky coastline and slipped and fell. I think enjoying the rocky coastline was a great "adventure" for him, it's a shame this fall interrupted his day. He lost his balance and landed on his head, neck, and left hip. He was able to move his legs and arms, had no numbness or confusion. He seemed pretty stable, but the neck, head and spine is just not to be fooled with. Both Steph and I remained pretty calm and within minutes we had Park Rangers on scene assessing his condition and the situation. Minutes after they arrived, more assistance from Bar Harbor Paramedics, under cover National Park Police, National Park Life Guards and the National Park Search and Rescue were all there. Nine guys in total. I was relieved of holding his head and we both watched in amazement of the professionalism of these crews. They put a neck brace on him, back boarded him, and put him in a litter for carry up off the rocks. We helped with the carry and several step downs and hand to hand passes. One guy called the moves while we followed and shuffled him up and over on counts of one, two, three. They put him in the Ambulance, rushing him to Mount Desert Island Hospital. His wife was very thankful of our assistance and we gave her our contact information so she could let us know how he was. We both felt emotionally drained after that and just wanted to be home. I felt a bit sick to my stomach with nerves. So, we bid Acadia farewell, driving away while discussing what had happened. Steph received an email from his wife Gina last night, and as it turns out, he is sore, with a few bruises and scrapes, but no broken bones or long lasting effects. Great News!

On our way home, Stephanie had the brilliant idea of giving our National Park Pass away to folks who looked like they were headed to Acadia. We stopped for gas in Ellsworth and Steph spotted a couple from Massachusetts. Sure enough they were headed there the very next day. So they had a park pass good until August 13th. They were thrilled and very thankful from "One Sox Fan to the next!" the woman said, as she admired my Red Sox hat. Proving once again, that being good to other people is a great reward and adds time to the life bank as much as all the adventuring I have ever done.

"Katahdin, in all it's glory,"

2009-07-16T20:45:00.044-04:00

"Katahdin, in all it's glory, Forever shall remain, The Mountain Of The People of Maine."
~Percival P. Baxter

A few words I love to read from the former Governor of Maine. We as Mainers, are very privileged to have this as our own. What a generous offering. I am recently back from an all too quick trip into Baxter State Park, with a successful mission on a classic Katahdin day. As always, I am further humbled by the powerful force of nature that surrounds Baxter.

The stars were aligned last week when my friend Erik and I were chatting on the phone and he told me he been laid off from his job, again. Fortunately, in this case, as he was able to join me on the trip. I hope you get back to work soon though Erik. I had made a reservation pretty easily over the phone the week before last, the plan was to camp out at Roaring Brook the night before and hike Katahdin from that side. Our route had yet been determined until we were discussing it during the journey north on Interstate 95. Erik had never climbed either the Cathedral trail or Helon Taylor. So considering the spectacular climbing up Cathedral, we decided our route would be to link that trail with the Knife Edge and then down Helon Taylor back to Roaring Brook Campground. Looking at the numbers in terms of mileage, it looks fairly easy, it's only 9.7 miles. You start on the Chimney Pond trail for 3.3 miles before you turn onto the Cathedral Trail at the Ranger Cabin. The weather was great, actually relatively cool like this whole summer has been, and considering the amount of rain, few black flies or mosquitoes. Speaking of rain, Erik and I were taking a break at the North Basin Trail junction and a Ranger was headed down to Roaring Brook from Chimney Pond, anyway, he said they had 20 inches of Rain in the Month of June at the Pond...That is just crazy.

A thin cloud obscures the Knife Edge from view, Erik and I enjoying the day.

Looking up at the first Cathedral.

Erik bouldering up one of the many fine moves one can find on the "hike" up.

We made good time on the Chimney Pond trail, knocking the 3.3 out in under two hours. Pausing very briefly at the cabin, we start the Cathedral trail. This is a fun one, lots of boulder hopping and hand over hand climbing including some fun little rock scrambles off the main hiking trail. We were behind a large group of scouts from Nova Scotia. They actually motored right along, we only passed them very high up on the trail just below the summit. The 1.7 miles from Chimney Pond to the Summit took us three hours, we took our time, enjoyed the view, and had fun scrambling on the trail. It did spit a little mist for a few minutes at one point below the summit, the wind picked up also, so we put on light wind shells. Erik said a little prayer to a mountain spirit, (he shared this with me later) to ask that the weather clear as we were to make our traverse of this Grand Peak. Be it fate, or wish granted, it was quite beautiful all day long, improving as we wandered.

Erik topping out on the Cathedral Trail

My main mission on this climb was actually to unearth that sliver of my friend Pete's compass, which was broken during his plunge down Odell Gully on January 18th 2008. I had left it buried under some rocks inside of cairn number four from the summit as you descend the Hunt Trail. Sitting pointed at True North for 13 months, I would often think about the location of this little piece of plastic, and the significance of the location I stashed it in, as well as the symbolism of my intent, has given me some sense of calm at times in the last year. Maybe, the moral of all this is....We are broken when friends or family pass on....time does heal wounds, physically or mentally...then, slowly, we are one again...more able to focus on happy times and great memories.

A piece of Peter Roux sits in cairn number four on Mount Katahdin. It was placed there June 12th 2008 and removed July 15th 2009.

Broken and Battered, we all are 'finding our way back home.'

Erik has had possession of Pete's compass, I told him when I gave it to him where to find the missing piece. It was right where I had left it! I am amazed it sat in the very same position I left it in, not influenced by weather or someone else finding it. I actually thought it was gone, you see when Erik and I arrived on the summit, the lines for the Coca Cola machine and Pay phone were long so, I looked at him and said- "Number Four" as I headed down toward the cairn....He followed with curiosity. I actually walked right by it to number five. I hesitantly started to disassemble the top half of that rock cairn and nothing looked familiar....Mentally starting to panic, Erik said, "Is that a cairn right by that guy with the red jacket?" As he was pointing back in the direction of the summit. Indeed it was, and we were at Cairn number five! We gently assembled number five to it's original state and sprinted to number four. I was a little less careful this time and started rummaging through, pulling rocks off the top of the Cairn, and Erik said "There it IS!" We smiled and took a few pictures. The created anxiety of leaving this piece of "memorabilia" there on the Mountain, including the anticipation of when I would return to retrieve it was very necessary for my own continued healing....Furthering the moral of the story I suppose. We are one on Earth, fortunate to have family and friends with us. When they die, it really sucks, but we know we will be one again someday, where ever it is our spirit goes when we die. Though wounded from the trauma, the compass is one again and can help guide Erik in some way...

The obligatory summit sign picture.

We decided to hang out at Cairn Number Four and eat a bit of lunch. We had some killer chunks of Garlic and Herb Cheddar Cheese with some chunks of Pepperoni. I also pushed down a couple of Powerbar Gel packs that I generally use when Cycling. We also had a few pieces of Chocolate for a little mountain dessert. Good times with a great old friend. After lunch, we added to the massive crowd on the summit and snapped a couple of photos of the sign. It sure is battered and in need of replacement.

Katahdin's South Peak

I hadn't been on the Knife Edge since 2001 when Steph and I did the same route Erik and I were on. It is an amazing trail across a killer spine of rock only a yard wide in some sections, with steep cliffs on either side, a slip and fall here could be deadly. A game I like to play to pass time on a long hike is "rock hopping". Erik and I wondered, in one of our senseless conversations...I wonder how many rocks our feet touched today. We estimated a million at least..with out much thought, but seriously there has to hundreds of millions of rocks, pebbles and fragments of stone amongst the Katahdin Massif. Quite a compelling thought I think! One other game I try to play the times I have been across the Edge is exactly that, walking across in the trickiest section trying maintain that "Edge."

Looking at the second half of the Kinfe Edge from South Peak.
The amazing Chimney Peak and Pamola peak at the far end of the trail.

Looking down from the South Peak with Katahdin Lake in the background.

The South Summit Raven

I was just a bit ahead of Erik coming down the South Peak, so I decided to stop and sip some water. As Erik was hiking down, a huge Raven flew into our vision and just hovered about 10 feet above him, then flew a few circles around us. I managed a few really good shots of him.

Another pass.

After he flew low and close to us, he landed on a rock to just enjoy the view.

Erik crossing one of the narrower sections of the Knife Edge.

We really took our time on this part of the hike, what would be the reason to rush anyway? We stopped a few times and just sat and admired the view. Katahdin just amazes me...a couple more photos below to end this blog. Thanks for reading.

Erik still on "edge".

The view of the Brothers, L-R South and North, from under the cloud deck.

Paying Respects

2009-07-13T14:58:00.002-04:00

Paying respects for the very recent death of Peter Shintani. Peter died on Mount Washington in Northern New Hampshire on June 9th or 10th as he sought shelter in difficult weather conditions. He had attempted Mount Washington several years ago and failed in poor weather, so he went back to try it again. I hope you reached your goal Peter. As tragic as it is, I am glad your family can now have some closure with your death. Peter Shintani's death makes 141 people who have perished on Mount Washington. I have personally felt lost for most of the last month wondering what could have happened to this climber, and it certainly has brought back some horrible traumatic memories. Peter was found about 3/4 of a mile from the summit on the Lion Head trail. He was in a difficult spot to be seen as he huddled under an overhanging rock. RIP Mr. Shinatni.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=129713834

Adventure on Four Wheels-

2009-06-14T14:19:00.033-04:00

My bike only has two, I know, but on a 114 mile bike ride through the biggest mountains we have here in New England, one wonders how many times their wheels may go round, and two bikes equals four wheels, that is a lot of pedal revolutions and quite an adventure!

I longed to ride my bike one hundred miles or more last season, but it never happened. Part of my goal this season, is at least two or three of these suffer fests. Today put the first one in the books, yet, I feel like an addict craving more miles of climbing up steep roads. My good friend Todd and I set out from the Kancamagus Highway starting at the Albany covered bridge on Passaconaway Road which takes you into North Conway. We made an unexpected stop in town as Todd discovered his jersey from the local bike shop was too big. As it turns out, they buy American cut jerseys and not the Euro cut. So in the end, Todd failed to buy either the Colorado or California state jerseys at the Pearl Izumi store in town, but he did get one that made him happy and mentally able to sustain the mileage, silly how the little things play in. Also worth noting is, the Louis Garneau store would have got Todd's money, but they don't open until 10 am. You snooze, You loose LG! OK- one more stop for batteries for the GPS and we are onto our first climb of the day, Hurricane Mountain. This one is an absolute beast! I was happy we had accumulated a minimal fifteen miles before launching an attack of this one. The climb is roughly 2.5 miles, it reaches grades of 17 percent, it's narrow and has technically difficult corners that are very steep and difficult to climb! I think the overall average grade is 12 percent.

Arriving at the top of Hurricane Mountain.

That climb up was tough to start the day, equally tough is the descent, with all the indulations and drops on the back side, it's possible to come flying off with some big air. Reserved would describe my trip down. Todd gets the nod on the first climb and what would basically amount to stealing the show overall. We worked our way from Hurricane and headed North aiming to our second climb of the day, Evan's Notch. This one always makes me think I could potentailly be in Europe. The road is narrow and climbs moderately to the top of the Notch at around 1800 feet above sea level.

Todd's rig on their first ascent of Evans Notch.

The ride down the hill on the way to Gilead, Maine is a gentle consistent stretch about 12 miles or so with minimal pedaling effort required. We took a highly recommended route suggestion from North East Cycling's website to ride via North Road into Gorham, New Hampshire instead of the very busy Route 2. This route proved to be one of the best sections of this ride. Beautiful rolling terrain along farm fields and the Androscoggin River. You do eventually ride Route 2 for a section into Gorham, the shoulder is "comfortable" for my head, it could be better though.

We arrived just ahead of the parade in town to celebrate something, and a few people I think thought we were late arrivals with the clown bunch. It was an interesting observation for all parties involved. I asked Todd what he thought, continue with our intended ride, or bail up towards Pinkham Notch? He quickly shut down any negative thoughts by saying we would ride on. I agreed, though half of me would have caved in if he had said, lets bail. We stopped for our first refueling mission of the day at the Irving on the north end of town. They are always pretty sure to have ripe bananas and plenty of salty treats. I made a hasty impulse buy of a half gallon of Lemonade. It was pretty good, but sweeter than my stomach needed. We watered it down and chowed down then got back up on the bikes.

Topping out on the "Big Hill" heading west on Route 2 out of Gorham, NH

This is a route I have wanted to ride for a long time, craving the steep climb up and over the big hill out of Gorham into Randolph, NH. We rode right by the Appalachia parking lot which takes hikers and climbers into the vast and popular area of the Northern Presidential Range, I have never seen so MANY cars in the lot, though this is the basic approach to the AMC's Madison Hut. The Head wind was brutal that whole section and Todd and I continued to mash the pedals taking long pulls and working very well together, it's good to know your riding friends riding posture and Todd is a dependable, strong rider, always willing to work or steal the town line sprint from under you. I think we rode by a few TL signs and played a "no contest" game. All game points were being awarded out on the climbs.

Todd giving the victory salute before even starting the climb!

Jefferson Notch was our big goal for the day and after mashing the head winds all across RT 2, we were ready! This road is the highest "public" road in new Hampshire, reaching the top at three thousand and eight feet above sea level. This crux is, the road is almost entirely on gravel with a very short section that is paved near some bridges and stream crossings. My observation of that is, they must have had a real bad flood in these areas and when they fixed the washouts they tarred either side of the bridges, possibly adding some structural integrity to the road at these water crossings. I barely mustered up the strength to continue, at one point, I dismounted from the bike and walked about 100 feet. It's a brutal 17% grade in this section and I was hurting! All the while, I really wanted to be in front on this climb, I realized my defeat and ground it out to the top. Todd just blew this one apart and I arrived with him waiting at the summit for about five minutes.

With most of the work for the day done, we had big smiles at the top of Jefferson Notch.

I'm definitely going to prop my self on a pedestal now, the descent off the top of Jefferson Notch is a freaking blast! My mountain biking skills certainly played in as I dropped Todd pretty quickly hitting a top speed about 32 MPH on this one. I knew Todd would be a bit more conservative and I took advantage, but that really didn't matter much in the grand scheme. It was pure fun factor. We bottomed out and crossed the road which climbs to the base of the Cog Railway on Mount Washington. We then took the Mount Clinton road which traverses the Southern Presidentials and puts you at the top of Crawford Notch. This was a fun run down and Todd put in quite an attack, adding insult to the injuries he doled out on the three previous climbs of the day. I countered and shot off like a rocket leading to the finish of the Clinton road. We both agreed how fast and crazy fun that was!

Preparing for the Fast and Furious descent into Crawford Notch.

After many miles, we still had some smiles!

We stopped for a good 20 minutes at the AMC Highland Center and had a cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie. We also topped off our water bottles and enjoyed the scenery. I found out later, my sister in law and her family were there at that very moment spending the weekend hiking in Crawford Notch. I wish I could have seen them. The descent down was, and always is, a fast one. I hit 49 mph and Todd was very far in front of me hitting speeds over 55 mph. At one point, he rocketed forward ahead of a Harley rider like he was nearly standing still! We regrouped at the bottom and set a blistering pace all the way into Bartlett. Our final climb of the day was Bear Notch and I had hoped to put in a good battle thinking Todd was ready to go off the front again. He was not up to the task and I rode mostly alone about 100 yards ahead of him nearly the whole way up. At one point though, he passed me as my left quad cramped pretty severely. I was able to ride it off and back ahead of him the remainder of the climb. Once we arrived at the Kanc after descending the back side of Bear Notch, we made our way gently down to the Albany covered bridge and the car. Thanks to Todd for all the above photos and working hard on this ride, it was an EPIC day!

All said and done, the stats go like this.
White Mountains East-
114 miles
8430ft of climbing
Total saddle time 7:49

The Kingdom

2009-06-01T07:46:00.016-04:00

A little photo tour of a recent biking trip to the North East Kingdom of Vermont, specifically East Burke, and the fabulous mountain bike trails that exist there. We rode over a couple of days a week ago. My how time flies when you are on vacation! I go back to work today after ten days off. I feel pretty good about that and I am looking forward to many things! Staying busy with home responsibilities and riding my bike and training in/on the hills for the next couple of months. Hoping for a couple of century rides, a couple of days on hurricane mountain with my climbing bike, and a paddling trip or two....in between all that, just looking forward to waking up everyday. Photos!

A must visit for any mountain biker, the terrain, the scenery, all very classic Vermont.

Ready to Ride!

Burke Mountain from Darling Hill Road.

Harp Trail.

Steph ready to play "the Harp".

Navigating The Kingdom.

Diversely wooded "buff" trails leading to open fields with spectacular views.

Slithering down Side Winder.

Steph climbing to Heaven's Bench

Steph sitting on Heaven's Bench.

Sugar Shack Single Track

View Larger Map

The GPS track from our ride on Day 1- 14 miles.

Round Gerrish Island

2009-05-27T13:22:00.023-04:00

Vacation, that's a sweet word, it rings in my ears like a beautiful wind chime, or thousands of tiny little bells ringing in unison, choreographed like the finest Broadway Show....I'm going off now, on vacation that is. Steph and I planned to have the week of the Memorial Day Holiday off together to play and relax a bit. Deciding when to take "time off" is never easy, you have to think about the weather, where to go, what to do...tough decisions to make.

Our vacation actually started last Friday the 22nd of May. We set off around noon time for a long bike ride. Steph made the call on our route and it was really nice, although a bit busy with traffic and a nasty detour around the bridge being repaired at Odiorne Point State Park, where your turned inland at Wallis Sands Beach from Rt 1A along coastal NH. I really enjoy this ride, it has to be some of the most scenic terrain along the Seacoast, after all it is all NH has! I think we ended up with 39 miles round trip from home, give or take a mile or two, probably take, since I can't exactly remember. At one point, along the nasty detour, Steph got a little upset with a car that passed us fast and close, she set off on a full on sprint chasing them down to yell...I yelled at her (not in a mean way, just to have her let it roll), "hey, Hey, HEY, it is not going to do you any good, let it go..." she caught up at the intersection, but they slipped through the stop sign with barely a stop. When I reached her, she knew it wasn't worth it. I think it is just unnecessary to pass cyclists as fast and close as some drivers do, have some respect people! As a cyclist, I try when ever possible to obey all traffic laws to "set a good example" and I have seen plenty (as a driver) who don't do the same and many that do. As a cyclist, I believe there is a time and a place for evasion of laws...such as, clearly no one around or coming in either direction, roll through the stop, as a cyclist in busy downtown car and bike traffic, stop at traffic lights, play safe and show respect, driving behind cyclists, pass with care and consideration. This world would be a great place if we all showed some care and respect...That could be a long discussion!

We had more time off to plan, and honestly as it is right, now as I type this BLOG, I will probably not take this week off again. Living here, in southern Maine, with the unofficial "start of summer" that Memorial Day Weekend brings, you loose a couple of days, because everyone else is heading out to play and traveling on the roads also, so we hung low on Saturday. I worked our bike fleet through the Buddha shop to ensure we would have no mechanical issues on our planned trip to Kingdom Trails in Northeastern Vermont, East Burke, VT to be exact. More on this coming soon in a separate post. I don't know why I haven't learned the "don't trust the weather forecast" lesson at this stage of life, but it wasn't what was it was supposed to be over the weekend, at least on Sunday. We planned a Kayak adventure to Brave Boat Harbor. You access this amazing area from Chauncey Creek at the sharp turn as you are headed to Sea Point Beach. This is also protected land under the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. It is a really special spot for us for a couple of reasons, you'll see one coming up. It is always SO nice getting back in the kayak at the start of the season. Being on the water brings my mind great peace and provides a sense of calm.

Steph as we start heading "up the creek", with paddles!

Proposition Point! (where I popped the question in 2004)

This is such a nice paddle, very sheltered in the worst weather and winds. We've been here a bunch of times. As we were snaking our way up, winding through the turns, we noticed a lot of paddlers coming our way, 14 to be exact. A big group of folks who were going around Gerrish Island. They were "all decked out" with dry suits and VHF radios, all using mostly fiberglass boats. It sort of made me feel like an amateur....No dry suit or VHF radio for this kid! I would not say we lack experience and plus we exercise good judgment. Steph asked one of them how it was out there and he said the water was fairly flat and it was nice, low winds. We decided we would head out of the mouth of the harbor and check out the conditions on the ocean. I've certainly seen it much worse and we've headed out into the open ocean and been quickly turned around by big waves and unsettling conditions. The traverse from Brave Boat to Fort Foster on the Maine side of Portsmouth Harbor is about three miles, with three distinct points of land I use as land marks. We've done this trip a few times and I have soloed it a few times myself. As we head out, it is calm, and the waves, however little they were, are easy to predict and navigate. There is a lack of pictures on this first section, as we discuss our chances for survival if we roll and have to provide each other a rescue. In 49 degree water, it is not long before you'll die and the initial shock of entering cold water like this would make it difficult in many ways. We stay close to one another to increase reaction time and preparedness. We discuss our group rescue procedures as we paddle leisurely, yet very much on guard, at least I can say I was tense and on edge during this time. We always stay close to shore and honestly, we are so close to the car from anywhere along this section of coastline, that I would be not afraid to wash up on some one's beach front home and ask to seek refuge to retrieve that car if it came down to it.
We took a break two thirds through the Ocean paddle for some snacks on a nice rocky beach.

On the rocky beach, cheese and crackers, a chocolate snacks, YUM!

It wasn't long after our break we were paddling along the relatively protected shore along Fort Foster in Kittery. I took a few nice photos here, even though the weather was not the best, sprinkling rain at times, it was still beautiful and fun to be in our boats.

Whaleback Lighthouse at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbor.

The Isles of Shoals barely visible through the fog about six or seven miles away.

We made the corner, headed up the Maine side of Portsmouth Harbor towards the lower part of Chauncey Creek, the tide was ebbing, but had not dropped enough to deny us entry, a lot of people were enjoying the food at the Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier, a couple of them waved to us as we paddled by.

Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier seen ahead of me and to the left.

We made the end of the creek and tried paddling under the road through the tunnel, the water draining the upper part of the creek was to strong. Steph snaped a couple pictures of my lame attempt.

Tough work in a fast ebbing tide!

This was a great start to the kayaking season and had me dreaming of Allagash waters, go figure? Soon, soon, I know that is what I keep telling myself...I will be back in the Allagash soon...We tracked the circumnavigation of the Island to check the mileage and have the GPS track as well. We wish our friends Jason and Diane could have joined us, maybe at some point this summer? Here is a link to our day on the water. It was 8 miles and took us about 3 1/2 hours. A great day with my wife enjoying our life here in Southern Maine.

View Larger Map

Fitness Test!

2009-05-14T08:26:00.010-04:00

Looking back to last year's BLOG entry dated 4/30/09, I was complaining about hurting after a test of endurance on the local club road ride. Well, I broke free from the work chains early and headed down to Euro Auto last night for some measure of this years effort so far on the bike. I had a great ride in the end, but from the beginning I was on guard. Again, like last year, this was a big group for me, as I usually ride alone or with only a few people at the most, and most of the time, the riders I ride with are very predictable and I know their moves. On this night, there were 24 riders, a lot of them I had not seen before. I was chatting with a friend before we rode away, when I saw the group leaving I abruptly ended the conversation. Heading for a safe spot, I find myself near the top 10 or so in the group. I know the course like the back of my hand and I knew that the first couple, three miles would be pretty tame, since it's fairly busy with traffic. Making our first turn on to quieter roads, I set off for the front five or six, as the group assembles behind. A few riders start a quick attack and set the pace on fire. The five or so at the front took long pulls, and it was soon my turn, on the front, working, pulling the group with great confidence and attention....This was pretty fun! After my session, I pulled off left and about 10 or so riders passed me, looking over my right shoulder, I saw a hole between the lead group and the chase group and managed to pull back in there. Grimaced faces were on some of those in the chaser group. Keeping on track in the lead group to the first traffic intersection, we all assemble and regroup continuing on rural roads.

The pace was fast, but the riders civil, and I stayed away from "that guy" on the tri bike, that for some reason, does not like me? You see a few years ago, I was really focused on doing town line sprints, going off the front of this, at the time, tight nit group for my own personal reasons. Always playing safe and keeping clear, so as not to cause a crash with the group, well I must have offended this guy and we exchanged words, he nearly ran me off the road one time as well! So, I took a break from this group ride, it seemed he was hassling me every time I rode, saying I was not "working" for everyone. (I mumble in my head as I type this, The jackass is riding a tri bike on a roadie ride and half the time is two bike lengths out front of everybody...creating a carrot on a stick situation for the rest of the group). Anyway, I don't know why someone would be so offended by a town line sprint, so I just smile and said hello, be civil and ride my ride, protect numero uno and most of all, have fun.

We hit the "highway" they call it, Route 101 in Hampton which drops you right into Hampton Beach, NH. That is usually when all hell breaks loose, everyone is sprinting for the front, usually in a brutal head wind. I rush into this section staying on the sixth or seventh wheel when two pace lines start and I'm on the inside of one, leading the way. I break for the front of everyone and get exhausted quickly, battling strong riders and in your face wind! I eventually end up near the back as we cruise into the square for the usual break spot before the race up the coast of NH. Part of my thinking at this stage is, keeping fuel on the fire for the final leg. We stop at the square, I chow down a bar and power gel and finish one of two bottles of fluid. As the group rides off, it was sort of bad timing for some...we get caught in a bit of car traffic, which ends up letting us go. So from the start, I am chasing 15 or so at the front and the pace is fast! After a couple of miles, I end up with a good draft, a risky (to me, not the group) move around a pedestrian crossing barrier, and catch onto a hole with about six riders on the front. I see people ahead getting ready to get into the oncoming Peleton, and I recognize a couple of them, Tom, a good friend, is riding his freshly tuned bicycle (Bicycle Buddha) and I as he drops off from his pull I say, "nice bike sissy boy", he laughs and a continues his slide back. I end up on my turn just before we near the Route 111/ 1A junction. A quick short climb leading into some fast corners, this is the most scenic section of coastline around, it's a beautiful night, but I can't pay any attention to that, my heart is pounding, my defenses are up, and my cadence is revolving quickly. I maintain in the top six or seven and contemplate the upcoming townline. There is no way I determine, as I ask my self for more...The paceline is working, my computer reads 30 MPH, my lungs are ever expanding and my heart is pounding. This is all good, after all as the title reads, this is a fitness test, and all the pain is weakness leaving my body, so I have been told...

As we near the Rye Beach Club I am off the back on the main group, riders are behind me, they were shelled a little quicker than I. I assemble with Kevin who works at Euro Auto and is a super strong rider, we automatically know to work together to make an attempt at the tail end, we ride hard, short pulls for each, and the group keeps slipping away, finally I give in and wave Kevin away as he still chases. I figure, I've handed in my test and have passed by self grading!
A few friends who were off the back in the B group fall in behind and we chat on a leisurely approach back to the shop, good conversation with good people.

Two cool things, 1- "that guy" who I mentioned doesn't like me, he ends up in the main group everytime, I'll be the first one to give credit when due...

2- Three riders on the group have patronized the Buddha, and I saw first hand my work in action, the riders were riding strong and bikes ticking like clocks...At one point, I saw Tom put the hammer down full sprint mode and shoot off the front like a rocket! That was really cool....my hands keeping him on the bike and riding fast!

I thinking that I need to get to this ride on as much as possible to keep the high speed, group ride skills in check. I also look very much forward to the next couple of months training for the Mt. Washington Hill Climb in August. I am on the official list, and have listed my "Team" as TPR (Team Pete Roux) for this ride. If the strength I build between now and then only helps a little, I will dig into the basket of pain we all have suffered with his death...The healing continues!

Over and Out...

SJ

East meets West

2009-04-19T13:10:00.014-04:00

Greetings from a sunny and HOT Monterey, California!!

I am here for work (it's real tough) for the 2009 Sea Otter Classic. This year is our "reward" year, the last two years that we have been here, we have endured all kinds of weather, torrential rain, Mt. Washington style winds, and cold, cold, temperatures. The weather has been absolutely incredible this year and I am not complaining, other than the bike jersey sunburn on my arms from gloves to sleeve and on the back of my legs. Dummy I was, and did not wear sun screen on my ride....speaking of which, I rode the Cross Country course on Friday and it was a BLAST, 19 miles of pushing myself HARD! I knew I wouldn't get much else in for a work out, so I red lined it as much as I could without keeling over and puking. The trails were in great shape, a bit dusty, but that is to be expected here in this climate, at least this year.

Me trying to catch my breath after pushing hard on the MTB course

This years event has been very successful from a business stand point. We had Matt Pococha stop by the booth on Friday for an Exposure Lights presentation. Yesterday we had James Huang from Cyclingnews.com stop by for the Exposure presentation. The legendary Dave Wiens came by for a chat with James, and I even spotted James talking with Craig Calfee. He knows all the VIP's. Speaking of legends, I ventured over to the Giant Booth to say Hi to Tara Llanes and also chatted with her for a bit. I also bought one of her hoodie sweatshirts for Steph (surprise spoiled). Tara was kind enough allow a photo with me. She is such an incredibly nice person and an inspiration to so many people, me included...If you think your life is tough, consider being handicapped and then re-consider your troubles. Tara takes on this daily challenge with an amazing positive attitude.

Tara and I.

I am now siting at San Francisco International awaiting my flight back to Boston (GO SOX!) and I am anxious to get home to the family. I am always a rack of nerves checking in, going through security...and today was no different, sweats, shakes, but I am fine now, belly is full and I'm about to board. I'll just add a couple photos from our sunset ride on 17 mile drive last evening...I'll follow up with a blog about the ASS at the Highway 1 gate of 17 Mile Drive later.

The Lone Cypress.

Sunset from 17 Mile Drive

A few observations of Spring

2009-04-08T18:03:00.004-04:00

Baseball is here, Go Sox!

My ice tools are still on my pack along with all my Winter gear....I keep hearing mountain calls to climb one more time, but I am done. Expanding on this, I had a good year, managing to get out a measly seven times. All good climbs, but the first outing on Mt. Lincoln, in the throat, was amazing and the last time Soloing Central Gully on Washington just a couple of weeks ago, was just fantastic as well.

I have never raked grass in March until last week, I managed a couple of sessions of yard work. It is great smelling the dirt and earth as you uncover winter's blast. The earth worms are also very busy in the compost pile!

Bike riding is coming along nicely. I have several goals I am working on, trying to climb lots of hills on the roadie, along with doing the Mt. Washington Hill Climb in August. I will be happy to compete in the actual race and hopefully beat my personal time to date (practice ride 06') of 1hr 33 min. A few century rides planned coming this season starting early May and again around Memorial Day hopefully. It is light until almost eight o'clock now which is nice, I can actually get a good ride in after work.

That's all.....I love winter, love to see it come and GO!

Central Gully, Mount Washington

2009-03-24T07:04:00.023-04:00

3/17/09 Climb up Central Gully in Huntington Ravine.

I'm SAD, I am suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder! The last few weeks I have been yearning for Spring, though you would not know it's finally now spring this morning. The last week or so we really had some nice weather and after a 60 mile week on the road bike, I rode over a hundred miles on the bike the very next week, a good first start to the cycling season, I even rode one day at Mt. A on the frozen trails. My mind works in odd ways, after two long rides on 14th and 15th, I looked at the extended forecast for early in the week. It looked really nice to hit up Huntington Ravine for some Alpine climbing. My good friend Al Hospers and I have been trying to climb together for a few years and it just has not happened. We committed earlier in the year to climb this ice season and we had been exchanging emails about the very day we were going to have, blue bird, stable snow, light winds and warm temperatures.

What does this have to do with being SAD? I had nearly written off winter this year when the we hit 55 degrees and the snow started disappearing on the seacoast. But, you just can't let go can you? After all, who would pass up a beautiful day climbing in such a spectacular location. I cleared the day off in short notice, it's nice to have pre authorized "blue bird" days. Al and I met for 7:00 AM, which for me means a 3:30 wake up call and on the road for 4:15. Believe it or not, that is the hardest part. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, we were hiking past the Harvard Cabin. I have been reading the Avalanche reports faithfully every day all season and the snow pack stability had improved to perfect mountaineering conditions. Having arrived at the floor of the Ravine, we had been watching climbers assemble at the base of various gullies and our options for climbs were thinning out. Al said he would be happy climbing Central Gully and I agreed and mentioned we should solo it. We ditched his rope and hiking pole at the Albert Dow rescue cache since we had also decided to descend the Escape Hatch right back to the base of the Ravine.

South and Odell gully with a load of snow on the lower scrub and rock talus.

We started hiking up the fan and got about a third of the way up and stopped to put our crampons on and take out an ice axe. There were two very serious accidents just two days before our climb and one of the guys fell right from the ice bulge in Central Gully about 800 feet to the rocks below, suffering multiple facial injuries, a broken leg, and arm. I hope he is recovering with some relative comfort. This is the problem with such good climbing conditions, it is absolutely vital that you have solid mountaineering skills and your self arrest skills turn on in a flash. Now I am not saying this mountaineer had limited experience, I am saying I was on red alert, closely paying attention to how and where I planted my feet and axe as I climbed up a beautiful snow slope.

Looking down at Sparky (me) climbing the Fan.

If you are a savy "Adventures of Sparky" reader, you remember I had been up here last November, climbing after a fresh snowfall that was just enough to cover all the rocks with a slick snow surface. This was easy climbing by comparison, all those rocks were now feet below me buried in snow. As I was climbing up, I really started tuning in. Climbing without rope, on terrain that you feel very comfortable on is bliss. I really needed to get back to this level of mental stability with my "level" of acceptable risk. The healing continues....

A very FAT first pitch of Pinnacle.

Al and I were behind a three person team of ski/mountaineers who were also climbing Central Gully. We figured they intended to ski back down, so just before the ice bulge we hung out and chatted, admiring the view and watching the climbers file into the lower Ravine and scatter to wait for their choice climbing line. After a few minutes, we started seeing small chunks of snow come down from the turns above. Then the first skier arrived at the ice bulge.

Brian Post at the top of the Ice bulge in Central Gully.

A couple of side steps down to better position himself for the "crux" and one nice swoop turn and he blasted by us churning and turning, with a hoot and a holla, eventually stopping just before the exposed rocks from the fan. Skier number two up next, Actually, I took a cool video of this guy, Jesse Billingham.

The Third guy, I actually never got his name, with all due respect, looked the least comfortable up there and almost lost his edge as he faithfully took that swoop turn off the ice. He actually hung on tight and went into his turns down with great style and control, well done! That was really cool, I had never seen anyone ski Central. You wouldn't catch me up there skiing that's for sure! Sounds odd considering I was up there climbing, with out a rope. Funny how you get up on the ice bulge and remember just how long it is as you peer down through your crampons to the exposure below. It was a few good climbing moves to clear through the ice and onto the super stable snow slope above the ice.

Looking down from just above the Ice bulge in Central Gully.

Looking up at a rope less Al Hospers and the remainder of the climb.

Al and I made pretty quick work of the upper gully and before you knew it we were at the top with stunning views of the upper mountain and a windless Alpine Garden.

A successful climb with thumbs up approval!

It's days like this climbing on the mountain that take all that SADness, (Seasonal Affective Disorder) away. All the pains of the Winter 2008/2009 gone. A realization of soon to come days of paddling across an open lake in the Allagash, a long bike ride through killer single track or a hundred miles on the road through the notches of the north. This day, a great day with a great friend! The last couple of pictures are of our descent down the Escape Hatch, steep snow, but not terribly difficult.

Al Hospers makes his way down the Escape Hatch, look for the shovel handle three clicks south of the Pinnacle Buttress.

The red line shows our descent down the Escape Hatch

Thanks for reading!

Saw-Whet Owl Update

2009-03-11T14:51:00.002-04:00

I just spoke with Lorissa at the Center For Wildlife.
The Owl is doing GREAT! Fingers crossed, he will hopefully be able to be released in the very near future!

Apmoojenegamook- "lake that is crossed"

2009-03-06T07:22:00.097-05:00

The Chamberlain 2009 Crew enjoying some late day fishing and a beautiful sunset on our first day on 3/1/09. Viewed left to right, John Chasse, Makwa (on the snow sleeping this shot out), Paul Roy, Jason Roy, Jim Roy and Don Chabot.

With the set list down, the cd made, gear lists checked off, hundreds of pounds of gear, food and beer packed, snowmobiles ready, trucks and trailers packed, at six AM, we hit the road! A rekindling of a tradition I've come to love and miss intensely. All the work, all the anticipation, all the organization, well worth the effort, for the rewards will live on in our minds forever. What adventure am I getting at now? Another journey into Maine's Allagash Wilderness for some winter fun! About three weeks ago, I got a call from J-Roy. "Hey" he said, "We want to take a trip, book a cabin at Nugent's Camp" Within a couple of hours I had emailed John and Regina at Nugent's and we had a cabin reserved.

You don't have to tell me twice, I am on it like an owl on a field mouse. My first foray into the winter Allagash was back in 2003. It was the Roy Boys, Papa Roy, Dave Caron and myself on that trip. I was hooked immediately, their ultimate adventure was for the fishing and I quickly developed a relationship with the "expedition" factor. What, you mean I have to drive to Northern Maine, look at Katahdin and dream of the next visit to the summit, drive further north and on dirt roads for forty miles, snowmobile in 6 miles with all your gear and spend several nights in a remote wilderness cabin...absolutely! We stayed at the old, now removed, Farm House camps area in the oldest rustic cabin that first trip. That experience was the beginning of what I have come to think of as a yearly tradition of exploration into this vast wilderness. We traveled from camp over a couple of full days time fishing the Mud Brook and Crows Nest areas of Chamberlain Lake. I think we counted 14 eagles out on the ice that year close by Upper Crows Nest.

In 2004 and 2005 we organized trips in again, both times we booked the Historic Farm House. It was 2004, when we had a visit from a lone Warden on snowmobile at Crows nest. He was out patrolling the lake and stopped to check us out. In conversation, he talked about a lot of the history of the lake and history of the area, history I had never known about. He mentioned a book I quickly purchased upon return that year and one I've started reading again to refresh my memory. It's called- The Wilderness from Chamberlain Farm. I highly recommend reading it if this area of Maine interests you. One of my fondest memories of 2004 was our snowmobile ride back from Crows Nest along the eastern shore of Chamberlain Lake, it is about seven miles and when the snow is right, it's a beautiful ride. We had an incredible sunset that day! Our 2005 trip was different, but very much the same, schlep the gear in, journey, fish, party etc...but the group dynamics were tougher to manage. Little arguments started, there was barking of orders, petty tension among some...I am glad I can tune out some of this and remain pretty even keeled, but I wore thin in spots also. That year the snow was very deep and a lot of work for all of us digging holes in the ice and the machines pulling heavy dog sleds, I think the extra effort attributed to the some what sour ending. On a positive note, one of my favorite memories of the 2005 trip was snowshoeing way out back of the farm house and looking for old buildings that remain from long ago as well as finding some really big pine trees out by the point.

A Norther Saw-Whet Owl Steph found injured on the side of the road 2/28/09. We brought him to the Center for Wildlife in York, ME and he is slowly being rehabilitated and we hope to be able to release him in the near future.

Fast forward to 2009, my trip started with a early morning phone call from Stephanie, she had just left home headed for work last Saturday February 28th. I answered the call and it was a familiar story, "I have an Owl in my lap and he's injured!" (keep in mind she is driving, talking on the cell and holding the Owl!) Again, amazed by her never ending compassion for wildlife, I quickly agreed to bring him to the Center for Wildlife in York, ME on my way north to Lewiston. I warmed up some towels in the dryer, put him in a box, and kept him in a quiet room while I quickly finished packing my gear into the car. I dropped him at the CFW and initially, it did not look good for him, but they were going to let him rest and examine him later that day. As of writing this post, the Owl is recovering better than anyone expected and is now eating on his own. Hopefully, we may even be able to release him. Great News!

The crew admiring Mount Katahdin at Abol Bridge, the Golden Road on our way further North.

One dream I have, is to someday have a snowmobile or two of my own and spend some time camping and touring around the North woods of Maine, gliding along frozen lakes and down miles and miles of logging roads. I can't see myself ever really enjoying the ITS trails and the typical snowmobile scene, but journeys like this are the best. This year I took a big leap of faith and a big chunk of credit out of my credit card! I rented a snowmobile for our trip. As it turns out it was a good decision because one of Paul Roy's sleds broke down catastrophically a week before our trip, and even though it will take me a little bit to pay it off, it was a freakin blast! I rented a 2005 Skidoo 550 GTX double rider from New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket.

Driving north up the Telos road we crossed Chamberlain Bridge and continued to the parking lot for Nugent's Camps. Time to get to work! We decided to set the Fishermen up with their gear and as much camp gear as we could get on our first run in. Jimmy stayed back at the vehicles and got us sorted for the second run. We arrived and met up with Regina Webster and John Richardson, owners of Nugent's Camps, we got our camp sorted out and the Boys went fishing. John and Regina do a great job with these sporting camps. We were stunned and some what saddened to see John on crutches. Apparently, he had hip surgery a year or so ago and it never healed correctly, so now he has to have surgery again. I hope you get through this John...my best with your recovery. What a life to live there. I am sure it is a ton of work keeping things going on site, but what rewards they must have living so simply, in such an amazing environment. Dog sled unloaded, I traveled back to the trucks with an empty dog sled and the rental Skidoo. Snowmobiles are fun! Flying back up the trail to meet Jimmy, we loaded the dog sled with remaining gear and John arrived with Big Red (Paul Roy's sled). We loaded up his dog sled and headed down the trail to camp. It was perfect timing as the sun was starting to set.

Arriving at camp is always nice. The smell of the wood stove, the log cabin aesthetics, nature bounding. I took this picture of a Canadian Jay who greeted me with his voice and presence in a near by tree.

After unloading the two dog sleds, Jimmy, John and I headed out onto the lake to join the fisherman and enjoy the remainder of the day. What an incredible sunset and amazing view of the Katahdin range.

Sunset over a frozen Chamberlain Lake 3/1/09

Our view of the Katahdin Range.

Sky Fire!

The partying had long begun near the start of the Telos Road. Now with the sun down, we resigned to camp for the night. Drinks in hand we celebrated a safe journey in and discussed our options for the next couple of full days. Our plan, armed with knowledge of potential snow on Monday, was to wait and see, get up early, and make the decision to journey to Eagle Lake or a day around camp, fishing close by. The night went on with a great soup and bread meal and more drinks. Waking up Monday bright and early, it was snowing and visibility across the lake was non existent, except for maybe 200 yards out, then a full on white out. Camp day for sure! The guys who wanted to fish got coffee and headed out to find a spot up the eastern shoreline. I stayed back at camp with Jim and John and got breakfast made and called them in on the walkie talkies. We cleaned up camp after breakfast and then headed to the day camp the guys had set up. They had already caught a legal brookie, and a cusk. Time passed pretty quickly just hanging out and before you knew it it was time for lunch. Chili and bread on tap thanks to Don and Kim Chabot, which was mighty tasty I must add. Three at a time we headed back for lunch, it was just a quick snowmobile ride up the lake. After lunch it was ride time for me. I had seen Regina head up the trail that goes to the farm house from their main base and had seen her come back after cleaning up a departing party. I figured I would take a nice ride up to the farm, riding through the fresh fallen snow with not even a soul around...I had the trail to myself.

The Farm House on Chamberlain Lake, Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

I knew from previous visits I was getting close to the Farm House and the picture above is what you see just as you emerge from the tree covered trail. A stunning view on this day, capturing all my senses, love of nature, and historic imagination. Higher spirits greeted me as I reached for my camera and turned around to see a huge crow flying over the tall trees you see just left of the house. Always a good sign having nature greet you. At one point, I almost felt a little frightened, as the snow falling made my surroundings seem eerily silent, almost haunting. Considering the history of the land I stood on, I welcomed every sensation. I rode down the trail right by the house and considered going down the lake back to the crew. Being my first time on this snowmobile and with the whiteout conditions, I decided to head back on the trail. I was hoping I could find the other longer trail that goes directly from where you park the cars to the farm. I ended up riding for about an hour and a half and had a great time. Back at the days fishing spot, the crew was winding down for the day.

We picked up all the ice fishing traps and put our LNT (leave no trace) practices into effect. Back at camp, with more drinks, we celebrated being in nature and a great day on the ice. Hopeful the weather would clear, our plan for Tuesday was a trip to Eagle Lake. Below is a GPS track of our trip from our camp at Nugent's to Farm Island on Eagle Lake. It is about 12.5 miles by snowmobile, via the Trains trail.

Our trip up the lake was pretty quick and we were at the Historic Trains. I noticed Locke Dam on our way past, pretty easy to spot the old house that sits on site anyway. I have been studying the Allagash map for years and specifically the Lake waters sections. Leading our group, I knew right where to go and looking back at Johnny riding on the dog sled, he was on the same brain wave. We stopped just before the trail and both wondered if that was it, almost at the same time we spotted the old steam boilers that remain on the lake shore near train cove. With a quick walk in, John confirmed it was the trail. I remember from 2004 this trail was all bumpy, which is still the case. We took is slow so as not to abuse the machines, dog sleds or the guys riding on the back. Just before the Eagle Lake side lie the trains!

Part of Maine's logging history.

You may remember reading about the trains from last summer's Allagash Adventure continued, but once again, it was humbling to see these huge locomotives just sitting in the woods! A bit of tricky snowmobile trail up and over the old train tracks, and we are on Eagle Lake. We can see Farm Island, which looks like roughly a two mile crossing, so we head in that direction. We find the summer campsite and set up camp for the day. Like clock work ice augers are digging holes and traps are set for the big one! Impressively, the guys had all their traps in by 10:30 am. We hung out at Farm Island just enjoying the day. The weather was nice, a bit colder than we would have liked, but sunny and pleasant. I took a snowmobile ride around the island later in the day. The landscape is impressive, there is a nice fairly tall cliff at the northern side of the island where the land reaches it's highest point. After lunch I went for a snowshoe hike around the Northwest side of the island, I took some photos along the way.

Bear Mountain Trap.

Frozen landscape.

Big Sky Maine style!

John heading out on the snowshoe trail.

We all agreed to pack it up by 3:15 and be on the way back for 3:30, we wanted to enjoy the ride back, stop at McCarren camp site on Chamberlain, and the guys wanted to stop at the farm house also. It was bitter sweet stopping at McCarren and remembering our friend Dave Caron. We stopped just by the campsite sign and I hopped of the snowmobile to take a couple of pictures, I sunk in up to my waist in deep, powdery snow. Not good considering we were loaded up with two riders and a dog on the machine, and pulling a heavy dog sled. The snow had drifted very deep in this area. Jason, driving his Dad's machine had no issue and sped off. I almost got us stuck, but managed to get out of it with little issue. Our next stop was the Farm House, we hung out there for a few minutes, partied a bit and then decided to take the trail back to camp. I had just ridden it the day before, so I lead the group through. The sun was just setting and it started getting dark in the woods. We took the trail for a bit, which ends up traversing some logging roads, and at some point we missed one critical turn, but a groomed machine trail continued down logging roads. There were some amazing HUGE Grandfather trees that were left standing along the forested sections. Nice to see the selective cutting rule used. I really wanted to stop and check them out, but at this point it was getting cold, very dark, and I had missed the trail! I knew we would end up just near the cars since we were most likely on the new Farm House trail. Paul Roy's snow machine had blown the head light, so I offered up My Exposure Lights Joystick with head strap (work plug!). That was really cool actually, the guys on that machine said it worked killer and it was fun to look back at the light's beam from my vantage point. At one point, I was making a corner maybe just a bit too fast and looked back for the other group at the wrong time, I sent Jimmy and Makwa flying off the machine into three feet of powder...I was literally just crawling and they landed unharmed, but certainly surprised! What happened with the trail was, no one had been on the short section from Camp to the logging roads, but someone had groomed the Farm House trail from near the parking lot to the farm. Which was the opposite case the day before when I took my solo ride. Anyway, we made it back to camp safely and had an incredible ride back. This day was one we have been talking about for years, a trip to Eagle finally in the books. We all agreed that we would go back again next time we make the journey up to the Allagash. I also made a lot of mental notes for future paddling trips...My mind is always plotting another adventure!

This land will forever hold a special spot in my nature soul. I sign off with a couple of pictures, courtesy of Jason Roy. The first one is of Makwa wearing my prima loft vest to stay warm. Sad news upon our return, a tumor was discovered on his rear leg after it broke the skin, we are praying for you Mukky, you will be with us for a long time to come...I've seen this dog run nearly around the whole circumfrence of Chamberlain Lake, his love for this land is inspiring! The last picture is of one of Dave Caron's traps that we took with us in memory and honor of him. Frozen and snow covered, isolated among vast wilderness and expansive waters. Thanks for reading!

You are missed friend...

First Road Ride of the Year

2009-02-21T16:01:00.006-05:00

Too tired to write much right now, but I am happy to report I got out for my first road ride of 2009! Below is the GPS track from Motionbased.com. 53 Miles on a beautiful, windy, winter day! I came home REALLY hungry and cold and I am now enjoying a nice cup of tea...

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Winter Bike

2009-02-19T08:34:00.024-05:00

The 1FG on Folley Pond

Welcome! Welcome the outdoor bicycle riding season of 2009! I love winter as much as Frosty the Snowman, but this one has been brutal! I've kept in touch with a friend I mountain bike with during the other three seasons, and he and the regular suspects have been cross country skiing and snowshoeing all winter since the trails have been locked up with deep snow, good on them! I just haven't been into heading out on a COLD Wednesday night for anything except to get home from work and hang out, which can be just as fun! The weather has warmed and we recently had a nice February thaw, that with cold nights and Todd mentioning that the snowmobiles have been out on the trails at Aggie, also that Sunday morning's ride was "MINT"! That is pretty much all I needed to hear. I have been riding the rollers inside a couple days a week since Jan 1 and that has added up to 100+ miles, so I have been able to maintain fitness despite the down time this winter. I headed out on the trails Tuesday morning, going down toward Folley pond from the orange gate, it was fast, the trail down steep drop was incredible! Super tacky with the studded tires and very well packed snow, no rocks, roots and terrain negotiation. Whipping through the turns and berms lower down, I carried good speed into the climb up to the pond. This one is tough on dirt, especially with the single speed! I had no problems climbing up the snowmo trail standing on the pedals and pushing hard. Arriving at the pond, the glare ice was so magnetic, just luring me to ride it! It looked super thick and safe.

Mount Agamenticus- looking back up the pond

I rode all the way to the middle dam, exploring the coves and looking at rock ledges along the way. At the dam, I jumped onto lower folly pond, thinking I would just ride the trails back to the start. The ponds add up to about 4.5 miles of riding. The ice on the ponds was fun, but the trails were also an icy blast. I was just pumping out the miles and I felt so happy to be on the bike, outside, and in the woods. Along the way, I was stopped dead in my track by this beer can in the middle of the trail...my first thought as I pulled my brakes was, I have to pack that out, which I'd be happy to do, but then I saw this glove in a tree nearby!

For some reason I thought the following- Who ever it was that dropped the can could possibly be missing a glove and something tells me they frequent the trails...so I thought further...looks like a pretty nice glove to me, maybe they'll be on the look see next time they are out, you would have to be blind to miss it going by. Plus, the beer that was in the can may have been the cause for the lost glove.

So then I did this-

In my mind this was the right thing to do, If nothing else it will make someone laugh and will be a good trail junction marker. Let me know if you find it.

The riding was so good Tuesday morning and 10 miles wasn't enough, so I ventured out again Wednesday AM. Heading down steep drop again and getting onto Folley pond, I rode that to the end and jumped on the trails...I got seriously lost and my planned 1.5 hour ride turned into a thirteen mile, three hour suffer fest...23 miles off road in two days, I am a happy cyclist!

I have been playing around with IMovie on my Mac Book and while out on my ride, I took some video footage....It is amateur level at best, but it is work in progress and at the least, it gives you a good idea of what fun I had. It was quite a challenge holding the camera in one hand and riding the trails...sorry for the shaky action in some spots.
Enjoy!