Walking Off the Grumpies

  I was a super-grump today. Fortunately for you, you did not have to deal with me. My solution, as always-- take a walk.

This is a mostly ephemeral wetland, and I liked the stark appearance.

How long a walk? I wasn't sure what was needed. I started out to do 8 miles, but when I came to a corner where I could make a choice that affected the distance, I decided I was 10-miles grumpy.

Cows are always curious. I'm pretty sure these are Highland Cattle, the oldest registered breed! (So, I also learned something new.) They mooed and mooed long after I had passed.

Best find? Here you go, but what is it?

It's an oriole nest! I haven't found one of these in years, although the orioles come each spring. And this crazy bird forgot that it is supposed to be a secretive species. This nest is hanging right over the road, although I'm sure it was completely hidden when the leaves were out.

You can compare this nest with a vireo nest in the link below, the other bird that builds a hanging nest. However, the vireo's is small- the size of a tennis ball. This is much larger and hangs lower.

So did the 10 miles do their work? Guess so. And I decided I was primarily grumpy because my yearly rhythms know that this is the time of year I should be in Philadelphia for the Flower Show, and seeing Marie, and David and his family. I haven't been actively thinking about missing all that, but I think it's the root issue. So now I can move on.

OK, I was also grumpy because I have to get busy on the tax prep, but now I've hunkered down on that. Also did a bunch of editing.

See a vireo nest See orioles

Interloken Trail South

 
Today we hiked an 8-mile loop going south from the Blueberry Patch Campground to the junction of the Interloken Trail with the main Finger Lakes Trail. Then we returned on the same trail till the Burnt Hill Loop split off and returned us to our starting point via a slightly different route.



When I was a kid, a lot of this was public land, but it was the Hector Land Use Area. Now it is the Finger Lakes National Forest.

I think these mushrooms are past their prime, but still pretty.



We saw this tiny, tiny toad. It was less than 1/2 inch long.



Just a short way from the junction is the Dunham Lean-to where I have camped twice previously. So we went there to have a snack before turning around.



The trail goes through a pasture- they only ask hikers to close the gates. The cows were curious, as cows will be.



The bull thistles were in full bloom.



This view is of the west side of Seneca Lake. A storm was brewing, and we got to the car just before the rain arrived!



Felt good to be walking again! Tomorrow we hope to do the north end of this branch trail.

See Very Miscellaneous Fun

Hoofin' It

 
Today, I decided to do a long walk rather than one with weight. I managed 7.2 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes. I was trying to push myself, and I think this qualifies. I managed to stay dry until the final 3/4 mile. O well. No big deal when there is a house and dry clothes at the end of the walk.

I love this pastoral scene, one I walk by occasionally.



I puttered around with hiking food. Mostly, I cleaned up previous messes and packaged some things that had already been dried. Made some progress. I started early enough that I don't have to race through this job. Dried a couple more things in the oven.

But Cathy said I could borrow her round dehydrator. They don't do as good a job as mine, but it will be fine to finish up this job. Their biggest fault is uneven drying which can be a problem for long-term storage. But all of this food will be eaten within 3 weeks, so it's not a problem.



Incidentally, the sunrise this morning was glorious!



In other news: I finished reading a book Marie and I bought in the spring. It's called Grandma Gatewood's Walk, about the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, which she did in 1955 at age 67. While Emma Gatewood was an amazing lady, the book could have been better. It slips into sensationalism much more than I think is necessary. I was determined to finish it though, and it got better. I think the author (a city boy) had to get used to the idea of this older lady out there hiking in sneakers, alone.

	See Buckeye Trail rural scenes
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14.9 Miles and a Stong Opinion

 
Day three did not feel very good, but I got 'er done! My legs were very tired in the morning, and one stretch in the middle did not help. More about that in a minute.

The day was mostly overcast, but a little warmer than yesterday. Still mostly through farm country. Largely soybeans and corn. The soybeans are being harvested. In fact, as I write this a huge combine is clearing the field right in back of the campground. Hope he finishes before we want to go to bed!

But I did pass a few typical farm animals. Good old Holsteins... the standard cow of my childhood.



And some quakers are always good for a chuckle or two.



The day gave yet another bonsai offering.

And my faithful support crew decided to come meet me one stop before the end, so I slack packed the last mile and a quarter with only my camera and belt pack. Pretty cushy!



That last mile was one of the nicest of the day. It went through Spencer Lake Wildlife Area. The color is just beginning on the shores of the lake, and it was very pretty.



I thought there wasn't going to be a house of the day, and it isn't actually on the trail. But as we were driving back to camp this beauty appeared on a corner. It's even for sale. I'd like to buy every wonderful old house in the world like this and fix them up. I know... totally unrealistic, but I love old houses. Please notice I accidentally captured myself taking the picture not once but twice in the lower left.



Now for the middle of the day. It was only two miles (plus a detour), but it wasn't much fun. That's not something I'd usually say about off-road trail. It was through Findley State Park. I've talked myself into giving them 4 points out of 10, but until I got almost all the way through it was only going to be 1 point.

That first point is for allowing the Buckeye Trail to come through and be off road. That's good.

The trail from the road into the park was terrible. It had been slash logged and the debris just run down with a bulldozer and left. That makes terrible footing... all you can do is stumble through. Then I got to the first parking area. Nicely marked, good signage and blazing. That's the picture I put on Facebook earlier today. Wrong. You follow that trail to the right (as it says), and it leads you to a valley where there is no blaze anywhere. So the map said the trail goes south. There was a trail going south, so I took it. After two disc golf cages and one tee, without a single blaze, I pulled out my phone and got my location on Google. Sure didn't look like I was on the trail I was supposed to be on. I considered bushwhacking east to the trail I wanted, but I'd already been in knee-deep poison ivy and the terrain looked like there was another valley between me and where I wanted to be. Could have been a swamp in the bottom of that. So I backtracked. Hunted the area where the blazes ended even harder, but there was no other blaze.

Went right back to the sign where the blazes said turn right. But now I knew that the trail I wanted was to the left. So I turned left and found that in just 10 feet or so. Not marked as Buckeye Trail, but it matched where I should be on my map. I took it.

It is also the park's mountain bike trail. OK. In the first place, mountain bikers aren't crazy about having to watch out for hikers. Hikers aren't crazy about having to watch out for bikers. It was a great trail for the bikes. Lots of steep hills, curves, roots and bumps. Not so nice walking. I suspect it was the bike trail first. The BT should be given a different route.

Next issue. The park had nice new trail maps at every junction with your location labeled, etc. But they don't match the map on the Buckeye Trail maps. And, the park has named two trails "Buckeye something else" that aren't the Buckeye Trail. If you took those, you'd end up somewhere completely wrong. Finally made it to the crossing of the creek that drains the lake. Here's where they started to pick up the extra 3 points I'll give them.

Point #2 was for two good bridges. One across the creek and one across a swampy area.

Point #3 was for getting the Buckeye Trail off the bike trail and having it pretty well marked on the east side of the park.

Point #4 was for having the turn to leave the park well marked.

Anyway, by the time I got through that little section it was past my lunch time and I still wasn't halfway for the day. This does not make me a happy hiker. So I had a snack, walked another hour and then had my lunch. Ester and Jade drove by, and cheered me up. Then I walked the last five miles of the day.

Oh yes, and had to plastic bag the clothes I was wearing and wash up really well when we got back to camp. Ivy is pretty dried up for the season, but I don't dare chance ignoring it.

So, there you have today's long saga. Only one more day for this trip. That always makes me sad.

	See Day Two
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More of Sylvia's Neighbors

 
Although the lambs were the big hit of the walk Sylvia and I took on Monday, we were surely entertained by other neighbors of hers.

I'll present them in the order we met them. First, the very friendly goats who came right over and demanded grass from the other side of the fence. We complied.



Next were the cows. They weren't all that interested in us, but the calf was a little curious.



Oddly enough, the horse was also uninterested.



The black sheep of this family sure didn't think of himself as an outcast.



And his little white goat buddy decided to walk with us till he ran out of pasture.



The sky was blue and there was almost no snow that day. Chuck says they are now all white again. We sure are here! But who knew that I'd only have to go a few miles south of me to have a mini-spring vacation. It was great!

I got extra work hours tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early after I make a salad. We have a party tomorrow too.

	See Lambs
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Whoooo are Yooooo?

 
Is there anything quite so curious as cows who are used to people? This small group was very interested in what I was doing. Yes, there is a fence between us. They do have big feet and I had on sandals.

	See Farm Fun
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NCT Vermont Extension- Trail Around Middlebury (TAM)

 
For our second day of hiking in Vermont, we planned 9.6 miles, all of it on the western portion of a loop trail that encircles the city of Middlebury. We briefly met with the man who has been the driving force for this effort for 20 years, John Derrick. He had provided me with maps and info ahead of time. Despite the bad storm they'd had, and extensive clean-up work he said he had to do on his farm, he was out mowing the trail, too. Trails never happen without passionate, dedicated people who work hard to create and maintain them. We had hoped to take him to dinner, but he said his wife told him he was already committed to something else that night.



So, we headed off along the edges of some good-sized farm fields. It was quite reminiscent of portions of the Finger Lakes Trail... except for those Green Mountains still ahead of us in the distance.



Our blazes for most of the day were the TAM logo. It's a silhouette of mountains and hills, with some evergreens, and the letters T-A-M in the base of the mountain. But... um... don't tell John, but we decided that from a distance they look like a cow facing left. So, we just followed the cows.



One of the best sights of the day was a bobolink singing for us on a shrub. I haven't seen many since childhood, and I hope they are making a comeback.



Much of the piece in the middle of the day that was pretty much straight south was in the woods. That was a beautiful walk along the base of a ridge where we could look out to our right into sunny wetlands along a creek. Then we entered Middlebury College property, and the trail wove in and out of woods and meadows, and finally (didn't) go through the college solar array. We did take a wrong turn here and got to see the panels up close, and also got to walk at least an extra half mile to get back to the correct place. Who would want to walk under 10 miles for the day, right?



We saw very few real cows on the hillsides, even though it's dairy country. John told us that most cows are "kept on concrete," because there isn't enough land to both graze them and raise feed for the winter. He said his own small herd does get to go outside. It seems sad to me that some cows don't get to be outside at all.



After following a ski trail around a golf course, and getting rained on a little, near the end of the day we crossed Otter Creek on the Boathouse Bridge. It's a sizable suspension bridge, and John said he built it. I think this means he planned, organized, raised funds, and also worked on construction. I'm sure he had help!



Here's the map for the day. The eastern half of the loop is the very thin red line. We chose the west side for a rather stupid reason- it was the side John highlighted when he sent me the map. So I thought the NCT had decided to follow that side. I guess either option is fine. The east side is more "urban," (we were told), but also has some nice woods and nature preserves. I wish we'd had time to do that side too, just for comparison.



Sections like this are part of the reason I love the North Country Trail. I love the wild and high spots, but I also love the patchwork of experiences that can be found working one's way through the landscape, whatever it is. You'll never get tired of the "same old thing" on the NCT.

	See Crown Pt Bridge to TAM
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More Farm Fun

 
These were not all taken on the same day, and they are from several locations, but I've created a collection to keep Old McDonald happy.

First we have the friendly pony.



Followed by the longhorn steer. I took this one from a distance, not wanting to find out how friendly the beast attached to the horns is. But he sure has pretty markings.



This little girl was clearly a pet. She maaaaed enough to make Priscilla happy, and thought I should have had food in my pockets.



What is there to say about chickens? They are funny, that's for sure. One of them kept barking, making me think there was a little dog nearby. Figure that one out.



Next we have a black "runner" duck. Ducks like this are more often seen in Europe (so I read), and they don't fly.



Two of these critters get a second shot. The goat was clearly peeved that no treats were forthcoming.



And the black duck. I really like these upright ducks. I used the picture above to show its usual posture in the best way. But I think this is a nicer picture of the two ducks, who are clearly friends.



I wouldn't mind having a few farm animals. The problem is, I'd have to stay home. My terminal wanderlust and animals are not compatible.

	See Farm Fun
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