Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Nobscot, Social Distancing round 2, Red, 6.1 km. These courses were extended for an extra week, so we had the chance to do them. Realized as I was getting ready that I neither of my pairs of orienteering glasses was in my bag (usually both are), so I had to wear a different pair, which was not ideal, made it difficult to read the map (I took them off completely for the last couple of legs). Moving pretty well through most of this, a couple of small time losses in the circle on #12 and #16, plus on my way to #11 I never found the trails I was looking for, got turned in the wrong direction, lost track of where I was, and eventually just followed the compass in the general direction and assumed I'd figure it out when I got close -- I did, but I also checked a wrong boulder first (just outside the circle). Saw several people out there with maps, including Jim Paschetto.

splits

A pretty good night for looking at the sky. I saw:

Sun: don't look at it directly

Earth: just look down

Venus: bright in the NW shortly after sunset, discernable as a crescent through binoculars

Mercury: very close to Venus, just below and to the left when the sky got dark enough

Jupiter: got up before dawn to see the outer three, this on was bright in the south, and with binoculars I was barely able to discern one if its moons, though I don't know which one (it was to the right, as they all are tonight)

Saturn: pretty close to the left of Jupiter, my binoculars aren't strong enough to see the rings

Mars: in the SE, and even this colorblind guy could maybe see a hint of redness

That's all of the naked-eye visible planets, plus:

International Space Station: around 9:30 PM, when I went out on my deck to see if I could get a last glimpse of Venus, my astronomy app identified the bright dot moving across the sky, and I followed it until it went behind trees to the north

The only major thing not visible is the Moon, which is in the new phase right now.

C • Saturn's rings 2

Downstream from Townsend Harbor to Vose. The first part of this was kind of paddlecross, lots of limbo trees, bumping and scraping, and a couple of very tight squeezes. It also had more quickwater than I expected. Had to take the boat out of the water in about a half-dozen spots, mostly for tangles of snags, but one for what looked like it could be rapids, and when I carried the boat past it, I decided that I didn't regret skipping it. I don't need to do this section again. I saw about 35 people on the banks (or in the water at the swimming hole at Bertozzi WMA), including two women in somewhat elaborate counterculture attire, one of whom was doing tricks with a flaming hula hoop. And I encountered a group of about a dozen stoned kayakers heading upstream. The latter part of the trip was through a pretty interesting area, lots of nooks and crannies and twisty side channels, that seemed like it might make for a good canoe-O. Saw a lot of birds, including some great blue herons pretty close, and several beaver as well. At the place where I took the boat out, a lot of trees had been snapped off in last week's storm, and I chatted a bit with a couple of guys who had been right there when it happened; one tree hit the small building they were in.

And then back to get the car, on the Motobecane I had stashed at the park. I mad the clever move of ducking into Crosswinds and taking the railroad bed for the last part, so I didn't need to ride on Rte. 119 in the incresing dim with no lights on the bike. This section of the future rail trail is actually in decent shape (rails and ties still there, but there's a path next to them), and there's easy access from behind the shopping center. I should explore the section heading toward West Groton.

Over to Willard Brook, then into the woods, initially on familar trails, then onto some that I'm pretty sure I had never been on before -- probably largely private property, and much of which was an extensive laurel ranch. When I hit the power line, I tried to get most of the way home on it, but after crossiing West Townsend Rd., it got pretty muddy, then I made a wrong choice and ended up behind a locked gate near one of the solar farms (looks like the other power line is unfenced). Then I made another wrong choice and went along a ride that was wet and untracked (had to walk the bike some), eventually getting to the back of the old Niemi complex, where I initially thought I was fenced in again, but when I came around the front it turned out there was an entrance. Maybe don't need to do that last part again.

Little bit: stripped the shingles off the west side of the big shed. It might have lasted longer if they hadn't cheaped out on the shingles. Instead of overlapping, there were gaps between them. It was almost as if they were just there for show.

A fairly short ride that was generally pretty flat, although I did do the steep climb up Clarks Hill on Lancaster Ave. Mid 60s F, but I skipped the jacket this time, and I was fine.

C • So have you ever flown one ... 4

Climbed Scarlet Hill twice (the first time looking for Nancy, the second time with her) to watch the sunset, then we went over to Cow Pond and successfully spotted Mercury, which is currently very close to Venus. I might have seen it once before, but if so, it was just barely, and tonight it was very distinct. Lots of whippoorwills around, but I wouldn't know one if I saw it.

C • Whippoorwills 5

It turns out that the mystery switch in the garage was the key. When I had some electrical work done, I asked the electrician about the wire that disappeared into the foundation, and he said that maybe it used to go to a pole lamp. Good guess, but it actually went to the shed. If at any point I had tightened up the light bulb that was up near the roof in the shed and pulled the chain, then if the switch in the garage had been on, the bulb would have lit up. I'll disconnnect it in the garage, but I'll leave the cable there in case I ever get another shed or want to put up Christmas lights or something.

Checking out the Willard Brook map in progress. Quite pleased. Setting good courses is going to be challenging, but if done well, there is potential for them to be excellent. A lot of variety out there.

C • Willard Brook 3

I needed to pick something up at Best Buy, so I figured I might as well take advantage of that to go for a ride somewhere else. What I learned today is that the Shirley Airport is now a (pretty big) solar farm.

C • solar airport 2

Little bit: first, I dragged the pine seedlings and such that I had uprooted last week out to the brush pile. Then I unloaded most of the kindling that had been sitting in the big shed and threw it in the woods, in preparation for demolishing the shed. And since I was there, I pulled a few loose pieces off the shed and threw them in a pile. And a few more. And eventually all of the pieces that I could remove without the use of tools, which was quite a bit, because it's really decrepit. The ends are pretty solid, and the roof is still on it, but the long sides are mostly gone. The thing was made mostly out of scrap wood, I think. Must have been a weird man-cave at some point. It had rudimentary electricity (no longer connected), and I never realized until tonight that it had a stovepipe.

Although actually, I'm not positive that the electricity is disconnected. There's a mystery switch in the garage that I traced at some point to a wire going into the ground... will have to investigate.

A walk with Nancy from her house. On Friday, I mentioned that the forecast had called for tornadoes. Well, I texted Nancy that evening saying "Here comes the weather!" when a ripping thunderstorm came through, that appears to have have taken down the last of the big dead white pine in the SW corner of my lot (there wasn't much left of it). But when the storm reached her, the power went off at her house, so she came over to my place. It wasn't so simple to make the trip, though, because various roads were closed.

So today we took a stroll up to street to where one of the road closures had been, and went on the trails through Snake Meadow, where she had gone for a hike a few days ago. First we saw a place where there were a bunch of trees snapped off or gone rootstock. Then, lying across a field where the trail went, we found one of the biggest rootstocks I've ever seen, a group of five large white pines and a few hardwoods on the edge of a marsh that all went down as one large clump. And further along, we came to an area that was recently a nice patch of mature forest, but is now an area that we figure was at least a couple of acres had nearly every tree down, and it looks like the destruction stopped right at the edge of a townhouse development (there was a crane there cleaning up the mess). And various patches of lesser devastation as we continued on. All within walking distance of Nancy's house.

Then after a break we went out to the Sassafras Conservation Area. Nice little patch of woods, lots of variety, lots of boulders, including a pair of Pawtuckaway-scale ones (apparently known as House and Barn). This place largely escaped the blowdown damage, except for a bit near The Village. Getting out of the Village was a little challenging, in terms of both finding access to the old neglected trail, and the fact that it was obliterated by fallen trees in places.