Training Log Archive: bl

Token ski behind Audubon. Empty parking surrounded by high snow banks. The hardest part was getting over the snow bank! Open woods, a bit windy. Did a short loop, eventually finding tracks which returned to parking more easily than departing.

Best would have been in our local woods on snow mobile pack. Took Mocha to Stoneybrook for just that but she did not care for the lack of firm enough footing & lay down on the trail and then in the middle of the road so we packed it up & went home.

Treadmill.

More shoveling. 13" per local paper, but dry & light. Car shopping used up the afternoon and, unexpectedly, we made a deposit on a 2012 Volvo station wagon. I never expected that we would view a clean shiny vehicle given recent weather. I was expecting a snow-covered lump. But perhaps car dealer lots have the greatest concentration of clean, shiny cars in the area, regardless of the awful weather. Salt-caked cars are about all there is on the roads. Windy & very cold all day.

C • newish car. 2

Snow shoveling & roof raking after work. About 8" in a NE blizzard.

I went to Rye Harbor yesterday. It was picture-perfect: calm, sunny, comparatively warm. At the time of the boat haul in late October, there was a Tu into Wed gale and then a Sunday into Monday storm. 24 or fewer hours before, it was the proverbial calm before as is today.

Y after work.

I've been looking for time to get to Bear Brook for classic skiing. Cold-induced lassitude has been a factor. And almost a year post-op, not being what I'd expected to be is probably a bigger factor.

This late Dec-early Jan. time frame is most notable for the very cold and the very bright (moon light).

Shucks. I would have joined you. Something like the blind leading the blind. This old guy on today's NYT front page caught my attention as I was leaving the local bookstore this eve. Surely more appeal to this. Come back alive anyway:-)

Not to beat this into the ground, but Phil's "winter nighttime ascent" jesting and coach's "why women live longer" brought back memory of this lady hiker/mountaineer from 2015. A very interesting read..."She died where the wind left her". Read it to the end.

Went to Great Hill summit with Beth to see the moon rise which was at 4:20. Passed the same vantage as yesterday with no cloud on the western horizon so a different “painting” tonight. It was windy atop Great Hill and it was nice to drop down to the sheltered spur to wait for the moon rise. Coming back, we could see and did not need any light. Just plain frigid each & every day the past week or so.

Cold weather companion

Moonrise

Morning walk with Mocha again to Stoneybrook - identical to yesterday.
Considered Parsons but the new house construction (hadn’t been there in 6 mo) removed any appeal. Also, encountering snowmobiles was possible. M was more bouncy each day and we walked a bit farther each time.

Pack Monadnock, Monadnock, Crotched Mt.

End of day walk to Great Hill to say goodbye to 2017. Wind had died so it was quite quiet. Until I heard the noise of someone coming. Who should it be but Bob D finishing up a Nottingcook afternoon hike and arriving just in time for sunset. Last time I was on Great Hill, 12/3 after the UNO mtg, I also encountered Bob (operating a leaf blower approaching in the dark) - likely the most avid user of Nottingcook. A quiet day on the home front. Only two times I got off the property were with Mocha & for sunset. Frigid days.

End of day, end of year

Repeat of yesterday with Mocha, walked a bit further. There was a NW wind, strong enough that even in woods it penetrated at times. Bright, blue, white, cold. Forgot to turn watch off at end. Certainly token but marks end of 2017.