“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
Before I took the photos from the last post, I stopped by the Appalachian Trail RR station to get some pictures. I have been there before but since it was such a nice crisp morning, I went back to see if I get a different perspective.
The AT headed south at the Appalachian Trial RR station.
Happy Hiking!!!
“Nature is not our enemy, to be raped and conquered. Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.”
-Terence McKenna
What a beautiful and exhilarating morning! I decided that on my hike today (11/4/17) I would test out the headlamp that I recently purchased (previous post). Starting out at just about 5:20 am, it was still fully dark and would remain so for almost the full duration of my hike. I also finally got the chilly morning that I have been waiting for! Even though the temperature was 35 degrees, it didn’t feel that cold and as I entered the woods, it was almost perfectly silent. The only sound that I could hear were my boots shuffling through the fallen leaves as I walked up the trail.
With the exception of the last 15 minutes of the hike, I used the headlamp to illuminate the ground as I walked. I thought at first that it would be difficult to see the trail in front of me, but the lamp proved to be very effective in making sure that I could see any rocks or roots that could prove to be an issue as I hiked.
The picture below, although it is a really crappy cell phone photo, shows you how well the trail was lit during this hike.
As I made my way out of the woods, I saw the last of a huge moon setting and when I turned to the east, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise.
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
11/4/17-5.3-313.92
“If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan.”
―Terence Mckenna
Autumn this year has been a strange one. Even though you have to expect some pretty drastic temperature changes during the months of October and November, at this point it has been way to warm to count as weather that you would associate with the coming winter. With that said, at four in the afternoon today (11/2/17) it was a toasty 72 degrees. Even with the higher temps, the absence of any humidity actually made for another incredible hike.
It seems that with my afternoon hikes I am resorting to a “go to” on the Green Trail at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. It is a nice loop wth a couple of hills that will actually make you work.
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
11/2/17-4.1-308.62
“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”
-Unknown
The trail at the start of the hike.
After not hiking for several days, I got back on the trail on Thursday to see what I could see. And finally, I saw some pretty intense fall colors as I made my way around the Green Trail and up a rocky road to a shelter. Due to a busy week, not only have I not been out hiking, but I also did not get on my stationary bike as much as I would have liked. Needless to say, my legs felt out of sorts and I knew that I was moving a little slower than I usually do.
Some nice fall colors in the woods.
With that said, it did feel good to get the legs moving and to breathe in the crisp fall air. Today I did bring my decent camera with me so I was hoping to get some decent pictures that adequately represented the day. Although it wasn’t brilliantly sunny, as the sun set it keep peeking through the clouds offering me a pretty nice array of colors and shades within the clouds.
An awesome sight!!
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
10/26/17-4.1-300.92
Every time I go to Ward Pound Ridge now the trees are more bare and the woods seem more expansive than they did just a few weeks ago. Since I started to hike at WPRR during the summer, everything was cloaked in a sea of greens. Now, if even just for a couple of days, the trees resemble a huge bowl of stuffing that sits on the table at Thanksgiving.
Like the bowl of stuffing that is waiting to be eaten, the leaves fall and are reclaimed by the earth. It is truly an awesome time to be hiking. Today was definitely the coldest morning in a many months. At my usual start time of around 6:20 am, the temperature had dropped to 38 degrees. As I stretched and waited for it to get a little lighter (and warmer), I put on the flannel jacket that I had stashed in the back of my jeep.
Even at that time of the morning I could tell which of the shelters were occupied because of the distinct smell of a dying campfire. As I approached one shelter, it was so quiet that I could hear the slow roar of someone snoring. When I actually passed the tent and the snore was at its loudest, I could only feel sorry for anyone who might be sharing a tent with him.
The sky right before starting my hike.
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
10/21/17-5.2-296.82
“Mostly, two miles an hour is good going.”
-Colin Fletcher
As I was leaving the parking on Michigan Road the other day I saw the familiar markings of a connector trail. This is the first time that I have seen this particular trail despite the fact that I have been by the start of the trail about thirty times. So instead of making the customary left turn from my jeep to get to the trail, I went right and headed down Michigan Road. Turning right, I headed into the woods and after a short time I found myself at the site of an old mill.
After looking around for a few minutes I headed back up to the road. On the map it is shown as a loop, but for the life of me I couldn’t find any blazes on the return route. When I got back to the road, I made the left and made my way to the Red and Green Trail. I took this trail until the green trail left the red and intersected with the RT. Shortly after that the yellow trail comes in until you go back to the parking lot.
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
10/5/17-4.5-265.12
Rule #1 of hiking: Check the weather forecast before you plan to go out on a long hike.
My original plan yesterday was to hike between 9 and 10 miles, all depending on how I felt. As I closed in on around 4.5 miles, it started raining. I looked up at the sky and immediately knew that I wouldn’t be finishing that long hike. Since I hadn’t bothered to check the forecast, I didn’t bring ay rain gear. With the temperature at the time at around 51 degrees, hiking in the pouring rain was out of the question.
Well folks, another lesson of live and learn!!!
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
9/30/17-5.5-250.32
“Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees.”
-Edwin Way Teale
“Although the vast majority of walkers never even think of using a walking staff, I unhesitatingly include it among the foundations of the house that travels on my back.”
-Colin Fletcher
If you have read this blog of mine, you know that fall is my favorite time of year. Apple picking, college football, cool days, cooler nights and of course awesome hiking make every day truly magnificent. Today I was back hiking the Labyrinth at Ward Pound Ridge. As I was in sight of the finish, I felt good and decided to make the left turn onto the Yellow Trail to add some mileage.
Making my way up the trail. I pulled out the map and saw that the RT Trail would soon take me off of the Yellow trail and then put me on the Red Trail for literally a couple of hundred feet. Heading up a small hill, it then finished on the Green Trail.
On the Red/Green trail.
My trusty pack and poles leaning on my favorite resting rock at 2.5 miles.
The view directly behind the rock where I take a break just before the Green trail veers off to the left.
The trail about one mile from the finish.
Some of the more interesting rock formations along the trail.
More of the Red Trail.
From this point on I will be listing my mileage as an accumulation for the entire calendar year. Taking the information from my blog as well as my GPS, I have calculated that prior to the first hike of the summer I had hiked 45.2 miles. I am adding that to the 181.22 that I did for the summer, giving me a total of 226.42 miles. With the addition of the 7.7 miles that I hiked today, that brings my total for the year to 234.12 miles.
2017 Mileage:
Hikes from 1/1/17-6/26/17-45.2-226.42
9/23/17-7.7-234.12
Since school started back up on August 30th, I haven’t had as much time to go hiking. It’s always a let down, especially since I could go hiking anytime and anywhere I wanted to during the summer months. Although I do ride a stationary bike on the days that I don’t get out, it isn’t quite the same! So, we had today off and I decided to go to…..Anthony’s Nose of course! It is still very early in the fall season so only small spots were beginning to change.
Fall starting to make an appearance.
Bear Mt. as seen from the Nose. As you can see, although some of the more Autumn colors are evident but not widespread.
As the AT turns off onto a woods road, it runs parallel to Camp Smith, a US Army reserve training center. Here are two signs that kept appearing on that particular section of the trail. The “Danger” sign faces the military reservation and the orange “property of” sign is on the other side of the tree facing the trail.
As I have noted before, hiking to Anthony’s Nose is always special, no matter how many times you take to the trail to get to the top. The temperature today was in the low 60’s with no humidity and cloudy skies. It was perfect!!!
Don’t worry, when the Autumn colors are more crisp I’ll get back up there and get some outstanding photos!
Peace.
The Zen Hiker 