Hiking

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Snow Shoeing

February 3, 2009 in Hiking, Snow by Mardé | 11 comments

I strapped on my snowshoes this morning and headed out the back door. The snow was a bit harder because some melting had occurred yesterday, and then a little refreezing during the night.

I stepped easily along my previous tracks which was fun. Then I made a new track around the front of the house which required some effort, but I thought, “What the heck, why don’t I head across the street into the woods?” Do something more interesting!

I surprised myself by managing fairly easily to climb up over the steep snow bank, and then off I was into the woods. The deep snow made the old path hard to find. Fortunately the red tags on the trees were still there but it was hard going! I had to stop fairly often to rest and catch my breath.

Finally I came to some deer tracks about three-quarters of the way up to the old stone wall. I had already seen enough squirrel and chipmunk tracks on the way and even snow prints of tinier creatures, so I decided to take a picture here. My shot of the deer tracks didn’t come out but here’s a shot of my snowshoe tracks.

I decided to go back to the house at this point because I told Cynthia I’d do some shopping for her. The trek back along the path I’d already made was a lot easier, of course, than the way up in the virgin snow. I navigated back over the big snow bank to the road without too much trouble.

The woods were lovely, dark and deep but I had promises to keep!

UPDATE: I made it up to the old stone wall this afternoon (Feb. 4), then turned right and proceeded another 20 feet or so. We’ll see how it takes me to make a path to the top of the hill.

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Status Dump

November 13, 2008 in Hiking, Mardy, Medication by Mardé | 7 comments

You’ve heard about the world, at least in certain respects, in my last few posts, but how am I doing now after my brush with disaster to usher in the month of November? Hey, as I like to say, I could be worse. I still do get uncomfortable at night when I try to move in bed. This endless muscle stiffness is very slow at going away. But it’s gradually improving. Other than that, I’m fine. I keep monitoring my blood pressure and find it freaky at times. I have an appointment coming up with an electrocardiologist who maybe can sort out the various electrical signals generated by my heart, i.e., the atrial fibrillation arrhythmia, the premature ventricular contractions, the interesting sinus rhythms, etc. Sounds serious, huh? Well I’ve been living with these signal types for many years and I’ve always done well on stress tests in spite of them, so, what me worry? The docs say, “Get your hiking exercise. Very important!” I missed it today. Too much blogging!
:wink: :lol:

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What Is So Rare?

September 24, 2008 in Environment, Hiking, Politics, Weather by Mardé | 11 comments

What is so rare as a day in June late September or October, for then if ever come the greatest days to enjoy and breathe in the great outdoors. Here in Maine we’ve been having the greatest days the past several days. I’ve gotta get back out there and do some real walking/hiking. (I just got through putting up some Lee Goldsberry signs; Lee is running against Ralph Sarty for State Rep for District 99 here in Maine.) There are NO FREAKING BUGS out any more — no mosquitoes, no black flies, no ticks, and great visibility. You can see everywhere, the distant hills and mountains, the colored (or beginning to be colored) foliage, you name it. I’ve gotta take a little break from politicking even in this critical election year. Anybody else wanta go hiking? :lol:

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Labor Days

September 1, 2008 in Celebrations, Hiking, Memories by Mardé | No comments

Well, here it is, yet another Labor (laborless?) Day, and a beauty of a day it is. The end of summer comes with a bang this year, right on September 1. Tomorrow begins the mad fury of September, the back-to-school days, the beginning of fall. Well, it doesn’t have to be mad, does it? Up here on Fessenden Hill we don’t need to worry about mad rushes back to school. There’s only one family on this old road who has school age kids and they’re home schooled. So, it’ll be quiet, as usual on Fessenden Hill in the coming week. The way I like it.

Today I’m at my computer doing my seemingly endless blogging yet again. Am I addicted? Probably. But I find it fun, what the heck. I made some mods to my blog today and now here I am typing up a post. What do ya know?! But I’m curious. What did I do on some other Labor Days in past years? Let me consult some of my old journal books…..

Labor Day six years ago, Sept. 2, 2002, I started off, journaling (with pen and ink!) at 7:54am: “Quiet here. Everyone in bed. But dogs are barking somewhere….[Yesterday] I decided to try hiking ‘Rankin Trail’ off Hancock Pond road. This was around Noon. It was another adventure for me….The trail soon became a snow mobile trail going by Perley Pond and then hit a fork, one arrow pointing to Sebago and the other to Denmark and Moose Pond. I took the latter, then a narrower one which seemed to be heading toward Fessenden Hill. Just then I encountered a couple ATVs coming along the main path. They stopped and a man chatted with me telling me he owns 300 acres here and to be his guest. Two women with him said, ‘This is our playground!’ ……. Amazingly, I encountered after a lot of struggling over rocks and fallen trees, the same outcropping of rock I had stopped at on Wednesday! Was I happy! Then in another 20 minutes or so I was home.”

Well, at least I got some good exercise in six years ago. Plus blogging by pen and ink!

Labor Day Sept. 4, 1995: “….The day started cool, about 46F, but warmed up a lot and now it’s in the high 60s I think. I went for a walk a while ago. The moon is approaching full and is casting a lot of light….. This morning as I walked out to get the paper, the air felt good and I had slept well. I tried to experience the morning, the beginning — in this case, of the day. And when I went out this evening in the moonlight, my thoughts enclosed the end — in this case, of the day. A life in a day. And the end of the long weekend came. We move on. ….”

Ah, to be philosophical on Labor Day.

Labor Day Sept. 3, 1990: “I’m sitting on a couch at ‘Nancy’s farm’ [Nancy is Cyn's sister] in Denmark, Maine. The day is cool, approaching fall? Yesterday was hot but finally thickened over with clouds. Went swimming in her pool. The mosquitoes were kind of bad. [same this year!] Cyn and I left home [Carlisle, MA] yesterday at 9:36am and got here at 12:33pm, slightly under three hours and 126 miles….. Yesterday I read some in Barbara Hannah’s, ‘Encounters with the Soul: Active Imagination’. Have I met figures from my unconscious? I can think of some. But there’s always the reductionist argument: they’re just illusions, something you ate…… Had long trip home — Labor Day traffic…..”

For brevity, I’ve left out a lot of things, mainly personal. But isn’t it all about me? HAHAHA OK, but I’m shy.

So that’s a smattering of past Labor Days’ activities. This afternoon I did go for a quick walk up the road and back, keeping ahead of the mosquitoes. The wind is strong and it’s in the 70′s. Another Labor Day drawing to a close. We did have eleven people for dinner Saturday night.

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ATV Trail

September 21, 2007 in Environment, Hiking, Trees by Mardé | 9 comments

Yesterday I had quite a long walk in the woods. I started at Narramissic Farm, walked about 100 yards in a westerly direction on a cleared farm road, and entered an ATV trail. (Oh, ATV == All Terrain Vehicle.) Then I headed in a northerly direction on the trail and came along side what I call Little Fitch Hill which was covered with more small trees and tangled vines than it had been the last time I was there. This is reasonable. It’s been over a year and we’ve had a lot of rain. But the place looked mysterious and a bit forbidding. I remembered when I climbed up there over three years ago and got those photos of porcupines. Two in one tree:

But I digress. After looking up into the mess of trees and vines for a few moments I walked on along the trail and remembered that it sloped down. Soon I was going downhill past places I had remembered. It was quite beautiful actually, so I snapped a picture of the ATV trail curving downward with the hazy outlines of Pleasant Mountain in the distance:

I kept on walking down, down, and down, past the remains of the ancient road connecting Fessenden Hill Road with Ingalls Road, and on, wondering if I should turn back. But I was curious. So I kept going, finally over a little bridge and up slightly, and then on down to suddenly view the Narrow Gauge Road together with the terminus of Hilton Road. This I was familiar with, having been there a few times before by way of Hilton Road. It was fun being there again and I snapped a picture of the little beaver pond running parallel to Narrow Gauge Road:

But now the task was to return, to walk and scramble up that steep ATV trail to my truck parked at Narramissic. So, I girded my loins, so to speak, and headed on up. I carefully paced myself, stopping frequently to rest in shaded portions of the trail, the sweat running off my face and neck. Before I knew it, there I was, passing familiar places, and finally arriving at a less steep part of the trail, on past Little Fitch Hill and on to the level portion of the trail. I was glad to get back to my truck and drive on home, but I enjoyed the experience, the memories, and the quiet beauty of the day.

Incidentally, this ATV trail proceeds on up beyond Narramissic to the Bear Trap. Perhaps I should get myself an ATV.
:lol: