Archive for the ‘The World Outside’ Category

This year at a teen camp my wife runs I recently discovered, well I should say rediscovered a hobby/joy/passion or whatever you want to call it:  mountain biking.  I had forgotten how much fun riding a bike is.  I brought my old Schwinn and rode up and down every hill in the camp ground.  When we got home I started to look for trails around where I live in Watertown, New York.  As it turns out, I live right next the local mecca of trails:  Thompson Park.  For the last week and a half I’ve been riding several of the trails that crisscross the public park that I’ve been going to for five years.  Honestly, I feel a little silly that I never knew they existed!

Each time that I go up there I spend at least an hour straight, riding the trail loops.  I could even more easily stay up there for three more hours.  There are trails of varying difficulties, from beginer to advanced, and all of them are well maintained.  If you live in the Watertown area, get your bike and head up there!

So if you can’t find me or reach me on my cell, it means that I’m out riding the trails…at least until the snow starts to fall.

For Memorial Day, Amanda and I decide to keep with our tradition of going hiking in the Adirondacks.  For us, it’s the best way to spend a holiday.  Our favorite place for family hiking is Old Forge, because it has food, stores, and of course, tons of trails.  We were really excited because it looked like the weather was going to be nice for the first time in three years!  Every time we’ve gone to Old Forge for Memorial Day, it’s gray and overcast with showers and sometimes even thunderstorms!  But we always stuck it out.  Hiking in nice weather will be a welcome change.

Amanda watches Ethan on his ump-teenth trip from the bench to the lake.

Like everything in life now, getting out the door takes 5 times longer because of the kids.  We figure 2.5x per kid (2 x 2.5 = 5).  So after missing our planned departure time of 10am, we finally set off at around 10:45!  Amanda has to drive when we go to Old Forge because of Moose River Road.  It winds along the Moose River (hence the name) and if Amanda is riding in the passenger seat, she’ll spew for sure.  I don’t mind because it gives me a chance to take in the sights.

By the time that we got to Old Forge it was lunch time.  So we decided to eat by the lake.  Ethan had a lot of fun running around and throwing rocks into the lake.  For whatever reason, Ellie decided that today she was going to be a pill.  She was either asleep, eating, or crying.  No cuteness for Mommy and Daddy (ok there was a little cuteness).

Apparently Ethan has a love of boats.

After we finished lunch we had to motivate ourselves to get to the trail head.  Maybe we should just chill and walk around town?  It was so beautiful outside, the weather was practically begging us to hit the trail.  Oh well, if we must, we must!

We didn’t want to kill ourselves, because not only were we going to have to carry ourselves up the trail, but also a 30lb. toddler and a 12lb. infant (not

to mention Jack, a 65lb. boxer – though if he needed be carried I would have left his lazy cropped tail on the mountain!).  So we chose to hike up Black Bear Mountain from Uncas Rd.  It was only 2.2 miles up, and from the xeroxed map they gave us at the information center, it looked pretty easy.  What we got was one of the most beautiful trails we’ve hiked in the Fulton Chain Lake area.  The hike wasn’t that challenging, in fact it was very pleasant.  We hiked up to a beautiful rock outcropping, which we thought was the summit.  After taking off our loads we realized that we were short of the summit by a couple hundred yards, but since we had already unloaded, we decided to take a break anyway.  Both Ethan and Jack had fun exploring the rocks.  The view from our rest-stop was beautiful.  If it wasn’t for the black flies, we would have stayed longer.

From that map we got at the info center, the trail should have continued up to the summit then made a loop back down the mountain to the trail.  We continued up the mountain till we reached the peak.  The view was even nicer up there, but there were also more people around.

The view from almost the top.

So we kept going on what I thought was the right trail.  It turns out that the map I had only marked a few of the trails.  Up until that point we had been following yellow trail blazes.  Now they had turned to blue and we were on a separate trail that was much steeper.  It was more like rock climbing than hiking.  Luckily, I admitted my mistake before we had gone too far, and we backtracked to the right trail.  But we did officially reach the correct summit and I even have a picture of the marker to prove it!

Because it's there...

After a quick and easy trip down the mountain, we were tired (in a good way), but there would be no resting at the trailhead because the black flies descended upon you whenever you stopped moving.  We threw everything into the car and drove off, leaving the changing and resting for the dinner stop.  We went to Subway for some after-hike subs and to take a load off our tired feet.  Ethan ate all of his sandwich (those of you who know him know that in itself is rare!), and Ellie finally stopped fussing long enough for us to think she’s a cutie again.  It should be noted (perhaps in the history books) that Ethan did not have a nap and didn’t whine, cry or misbehave the entire day.  We were so proud of him.  I was especially thankful because when he’s in the backpack carrier, I get his whining in stereo.

All in all it was as close as you can get to a perfect day with two kids!

Every year, on the first Saturday in May, the Black River season opens for Whitewater Challengers.  Normally this day is marked with a group of guides trying to remember how to do a job that had become second nature to them.  However, this year things were different.  Not that there weren’t gliches and hiccups during the day, but for the most part, everything went smoothly.  All of the returning guides knew what had to be done and we did them.  Though there were lessons learned:

1. The ground is supersaturated with water and cannot be driven on (more particularly; driven onto then off of).  Conincidently, the van and trailer are not immune to this phenomenon.
2. If Tony dares you to grind the log in first drop of Glen Park Falls, you should not do it.  The log will follow you down the remaining two drops and you will swim.
3. Don’t boof onto TAV when TAV is “surfing” a hole.  He’ll flip you over and make you swim with him.

All in all it was a great day to be on the river.  It doesn’t hurt that I’m being paid for it either!