Riding the White Mountains

After a quick stop in Montpelier to do laundry and run the trails at Hubbard Park, I ran into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. And the first thing that struck me was, alongside the beautiful, colorful, tree-lined roads was a nice wide, shoulder for cycling. And excellent roadway almost everywhere. Similar to the Adirondacks of New York, but with much less traffic and generally less rushed drivers. I had to ride. Luckily for me, I happened to meet up with some others who had come into town with the same idea and already a big route in mind. And so it was, I set out with the three of them for one of the most awesome rides yet.

In front of the Capitol Building in Montpelier.

Near the top of Kancamagus Pass. This was quite the climb.

Mt Washington and hotel in the distance.

Towards the end of the ride, crossing a bridge on a dedicated bike path just north of the town of Lincoln, close to the highway.

The bike trail was so beautiful. And quite dangerous in this direction. It was full of sharp, twists and turns, and mostly downhill. Tons of fun!

All in all, the ride totaled over 80 miles with a ton of climbing, each with an amazing, fun, and long descent. The route we took started just north of the town of Lincoln where the bike path starts/ends and travels down highway 3 south, and all downhill, into town, and the continues east along 112 up over Kancamagus Pass and then takes a left up Bearnotch Road (good, short climb), and then back west onto 302 to form a big loop (if I remember correctly, it was a long day...) with two long climbs (and descents) and two short ones with the rest being mostly rolling hills. An awesome day of riding with some great people who had come all the way up from the Boston area just for this.

This spot was missed along the ride as it was on the first big descent from the pass, but I didn't miss it on my way out of town!

Very interesting to see large patches of grass with no trees on this hillside.

New Hampshire. An amazing place for cycling. Who knew? Well, now. You do. And I do.

Shooting in Vermont

The best way to get to Vermont from the Adirondacks is to take the ferry across Lake Champlain, which can be done at several points, all for less than $10. And in Vermont, Burlington seems to be the place to go, as it is not only the biggest city, but also one of the coolest cities I've been to. Despite being relatively very small at only a population of just over 40 thousand at the last census, it amazingly has a great downtown strip (Church St) with all kinds of cool little shops, bars, and coffee houses which not only stay busy and bustling throughout the day, but at night as well! And you are in walking distance of a beautiful boardwalk and trail that runs along Lake Champlain which is great for biking, running, or just enjoying the sun as it sets over the Adirondacks on the other side of the lake.

There are no shortage of beautiful sunsets in this area.

And even without the setting sun, Lake Champlain is a great beauty.

Interestingly, Burlington also happens to be a veritable "hipster" town.

Complete with a bike stacked on top of a... bike. Way cool!

However, if hipsters aren't your thing, fear not, it also happens to have a big contingent of gun aficionados that will have your back when the world ends (or the zombies/homeless/hipsters/Chinese attack). Seriously though, people here take their Second Amendment rights very seriously and enjoy introducing others to the joys of, and the importance of why you should to.

It's the sunglasses. Definitely the sunglasses.

I gotta say, shooting an Assault Rifle has got to rank up there with the coolest, funnest things I've ever done. Definitely something I will have to do again when I get the chance.

Where'd the bottles go? Oh yeah, that's right. I knocked them all down. Yep.

The local gunstore even has special targets to prep for a zombie apocalypse. Complete with a red gooey solution that fills the inside, along with convenient holes in the back of the head and heart areas where one might place certain explosive materials for added effect. Way cool. Gotta get one of these some day.

Free gun range. Comes with free widlife experience.

However, when in a fight, it's always best to bring the bigger gun. Go big or go home, right? Well, I found myself a cannon! What!? This isn't how you shoot it?

So what does all of this add up to? An incredible experience with some great people. Everyone I met in this town was so friendly and helpful and interesting to talk to. The nightlife was fantastic. The food was excellent, and the beer was even better! And with all the wonderful breweries around, very reasonably priced as well!

This growler of Magic Hat's famous No. 9 brew was only $9.75 and $7.25 for a refill at the brewery.

A big thanks and shoutout has to go to my friend Anthony, who I met on the sidewalk when I first got into town, and his wife Trisha for showing me around town, cooking me dinner, taking me shooting, introducing me to a slew of awesome people, and generally being awesome people to hang out with. For anyone planning to visit this town, this is the guy you need to get in contact with. 



The Algonquin Tour- Adirondacks Part 2

Driving through the Adirondacks provided beautiful lake views along colorful tree-lined rolling and twisting roads the entire way. It really was a pleasureful driving experience. Despite the fact, that even if you are driving at the insanely high speed limit of 55mph or more (New York speed limits seem to have nothing to do with the road itself, it is simply the state maximum 55mph everywhere until you are suddenly driving through a town and it drops to 30mph instantly), you will be getting passed the entire time. New Yorkers, it seems, are some of the fastest, most impatient drivers. Then again that was probably me whenever I had somewhere I needed to be. Now that I've been able to slow down and focus on the journey, rather than the destination, I definitely tend to drive slower than I used to. Which enables me the chance to catch some of the beautiful places and find a place to stop, enjoy, and capture the moment.

This waterfall in the town of Essex was absolutely gorgeous.

This lake provided a perfect sunset picnic spot when traveling through the town of Keene.

It had a beautiful view in each direction.

I really wanted to swim out to this island on Saranac Lake.

One very cool thing about this area is almost all of it (and a lot of the other highways I drove on in New York as well) has a nice wide shoulder to bike on, making it a splendid area to cycle, even with the relatively high traffic around the northern Adirondacks and Lake Placid area. After driving through, I can see why the Lake Placid Ironman is such a popular one.

For anyone interested in some seriously good and difficult hiking (and bouldering) the High Peaks region is the place to go. The best area to access a lot of these trails is at the Loj trailhead, close to Lake Placid, which takes you down a dead end road to the High Peaks visitors center. A warning though, parking does cost $10 per day and there doesn't seem to be anywhere else to park in the area that would be free. However, it does seem to be a pretty common practice to sleep in your car here at night for the morning's hike, as it provides 24 hour restroom access, along with showers at a fee of $.25 per minute. After doing my research, the Algonquin Tour looked to be the big, strenuous hike that covered some of the best of the High Peaks region that I was looking for.

Outlined in yellow is the route I took for the Algonquin Tour which takes you through Algonquin Peak, the 2nd highest in the region, and allows a fun scramble up to Wright Peak as well. Total mileage is only around 13 miles, but it is very slow going at times with all the bouldering on slick rocks and such to reach the summit, as well as lots of traveling down streams and waterfalls as part of the trail.

This route leads past tons of cool little falls such as this one.

Unfortunately for me, visibility approaching the summit became very low. Thankfully though, I could just barely make out the next pile of rocks that marked the trail ahead.

Though I didn't get a summit view of any kind from Wright or here at Algonquin, due to what would have been whiteout conditions if there was snow on the ground, the challenging journey up each summit made it just as rewarding. And each time I was only glad to be heading back down the mountain to warmer temps.

The weather finally started to break on my way down the backside and provided one amazing view of the valley below.

An example of the general terrain to get down the mountainside. Everywhere was slow, steep, wet, and tedious. And absolutely stunningly beautiful. Perfect for the adventurous soul.

And finally, after what seems like forever of steep descents along streams and falls, likely going off trail and back on several times, the valley below opens up to beautiful Avalanche Lake.

I wonder what caused this seem here? An avalanche perhaps?

I don't really know, but if you do, post up and let me know!

And this is an example of Avalanche Pass. Easily the biggest pile of destruction I've yet to see. The whole valley in this area is debris from avalanches that seem to have wreaked some serious havoc in this particularly area.

The rest of the trip back from here is, thankfully, quite easy and fast terrain, making the hike to Avalanche Lake and back a very popular one. However, those hikers don't get the satisfaction of knowing they could have slipped and died at several points along their hike. 

Snowy Peak- The Adirondacks Part 1

The Adirondack Mountains are not only located in northeast New York, they pretty much are northeast New York, and have been a New York icon in wilderness and mountains for the past couple centuries. And thus I could not very well travel through the state without a stop, a couple epic hikes, and maybe even a nighttime rescue if the situation calls for it. This foray began in the southwest as I came up through the middle of the Adirondack park and stopped for a few quick hikes as I ran across them.

The gorgeous lakes, trees and mountains are so numerous in this area, it is next to impossible not to find the perfectly, beautiful, serene area that you are looking for.

Most of the trails in this area at this time of year are, unfortunately, made up of mostly mud, rocks, and tree roots and thus can be quite a bit more slow going and mentally draining than most trails, particularly if you happen to be hiking in normal trail running shoes and are trying not to get your feet wet and muddy. However, the added challenge of jumping from stone to stone the entire way adds a unique difficulty dynamic to the hike. The other noticeable difference in these mountains was the seemingly complete lack of switchbacks. When ascending in the Rockies, all of the trails were mostly made up of switchbacks that kept a constant but challenging ascent. Here in the Adirondacks everything seemed to a straight shot, often straight up whatever boulders and rocks made up the particular stream you were following, which very often was the actual trail! Which means getting to the summit of any of the peaks often required some simple bouldering skills (intuitive for most people) and if you missed the easy route (which I often do in my haste) could involve a degree of easy rock climbing. All of which makes for a great fun and challenging time that is compounded by the amazing views rewarded at the top.

The amazing view from Snowy Peak in the southern area of the Adirondacks.

Once at the peak, make certain not to think you've seen everything and go back down. Hiking through a short trail leads to this view from the backside. Off this ledge it is straight down all the way to the bottom so don't get too close if you have any rational fear of heights.

Snapping this shot from the ledge with the straight dropoff was a little disorienting, but well worth it. 

And right smack in the middle of the peak, is an old firetower to climb up and get a complete 360 degree view of everything around so that you don't miss a scene.

Afterwards, the way back down the mountain, though seemingly daunting from the way up, is actually not as bad as it seems. It simply requires a high degree of caution and a slow steady pace, particularly when everything is wet. At this point I must stress that no matter how quick of a hiker you are, it is very important to bring a flashlight. I, myself, barely got back before dark as my time estimates of the hike and when it should be dark did not factor in the slower terrain and the surrounding mountains and northern latitude creating a much quicker twilight than expected. Combine this with no cell phone service at all anywhere in the area and you could end up with a recipe for disaster. Which is exactly what happened to an older couple that I passed on the way back down the mountain. After waiting in my car for 30 minutes or so after finishing the hike trying to decide what to do since I could not call and alert anyone and I did not know who to contact in the next closest town, which would likely be completely shut down by this time, I had no choice but to grab a flashlight and go back looking for them to make absolutely certain they would be getting back safely. Luckily, I ran into them after a scant 30 minutes or so. And thankfully, they were prepared enough to have brought a flashlight, though by the amount of light it put out, it was still an amazing feat that they had not gone off the trail. I provided my support and encouragement and led them back in, which turned out to be quite easy with the pocket flashlight my dad had provided me that was so bright it turned the woods into daylight. After that little scare and lengthy adventure, this was one of those nights where it felt really really good to finally lay down to sleep.

E Camping

In order to provide insight on how you too can travel as cheaply and "luxuriously" as I have been, particularly if you also happen to own a Honda Element, I've decided to create a special blogpost on just this topic along with some sweet pics of my E in some of my favorite places. First, the setup...

I've used color coding to separate the different areas of storage in my "E House". For the color blind... I'm sorry, you're just going to have to use your problem solving skillz to figure it out.

Black Oval= My general purpose storage area where my vast array of clothes for all the swimming, biking, running, and hiking I do are along with my invaluable REI camp chair. This all gets moved to the driver seat for "sleep mode". Behind this area is my Igloo Xtreme cooler which sits on the front passenger seat. My feet touch it sometimes when I sleep (6'0), but it's not in the way.

Blue Oval= My bed. I use a 1.5" thick Alps Mountaineering sleeping pad laid on top of the fully reclined seats and a cheap $25 Coleman 40 degree sleeping bag that works absolutely perfect for my needs. I am just as comfortable here as I would be in my own bed. In fact, it now has become "my own bed". Next to the bed in the rear side pocket is where I store my "fine" red wines.

Green Oval= My camping/cooking gear. Basically my kitchen. I use a super inefficient but cheap Coleman Single Burner stove along with a pot, a wok, wooden spatula and spoon, cheap ss plate, bowl, cup, and silverware, a thin, plastic cutting board and good chopping knife, and I have a Jetboil Flash for quickly boiling up water for my various loose leaf Japanese Green Teas I am addicted to. Using an X-ray machine to move to underneath the leaned back front seat reveals my storage bag for my various tools such as a camp axe, trowel, wrenches and other hand tools, flashlights, matches, man/bear killing knife, bear spray (in case the knife fails), duct tape and other various useful items that may or may not make it easier or more difficult in crossing an international border. And amplifying that X-ray machine that I'm hoping you bought legally and did not obtain from "other means" further on reveals my pantry, located in the very front of the vehicle's passenger side, on the floor beneath the cooler. This is where most of the food (mostly fresh fruits and vegetables that don't need refrigerated) is stored that isn't strewn randomly about the rest of the vehicle.

Orange Oval= My super sweet carbon bikes! They can be a pain to get in and out, but the setup is quite slick for using space as efficiently as possible. This setup shows my Cyclocross and Tri bikes. It also works for my road and Tri bike combo which I used in the Northwest during the summer.

Purple Oval= A neat little storage box that doubles as the platform to set my bikes at the perfect height that is needed for them to fit in the space allotted. Lots of random stuff like bike gear and vitamins and such go in here. Behind it and under the bikes is a nice little space where I have a big back with all my smaller bags of various teas, vitamins, personal hygiene products, and some mini spheres containing parallel universes.

Brown Oval= My Thule Sidekick (8 cu. ft storage) storage box, or as I call it, my attic. I chose this one because of the price and the weight limits of the factory rack (I figure it's a good idea to keep the handling as good as possible with all the twisty roads I drive on). Here is where I keep most of my triathlon and cycling equipment, extra towels, laundry detergent, dirty clothes, and the vast amounts of shoes needed for all the different activities I participate in.

And now for some sweet pics of it in action!

This was at our camping spot in Allenspeak, CO, during the Fourth of July weekend.

Awesome place with tons of free camping spots.

This was Rabbit Valley on the Colorado-Utah border just off I70. This camping spot was not only free, but had pits, grills, picnic tables, and bathrooms as well and was all mine on this particular night.

This was along scenic Highway 128 going to Moab from I-70 from the east side.

I included two pictures since it really was that beautiful. My favorite scenic drive yet.

This camping spot in Mt Hood National Forest was found when I had to backtrack from my planned route because of a road that was washed out. I decided to drive down a dead end path in the forest and found this sweet little spot where it ended.

This was at Mt Rainier. This night I ended up in a parking lot in Paradise where overnight camping was not allowed. Someone shined a flashlight in my car but didn't bug me.

For urban camping, many times I've parked in a Walmart parking lot or that of a 24 hour grocery store whenever a National Forest was not close by, but several times I've found nice little spots in neighborhoods as well. This worked great in Seattle where there is no law against this and so many cars along the side of the road that one more was hardly noticeable. Usually I found a spot close to one of the many parks for quick restroom access in the morning. In small towns like Boulder and Ann Arbor I found awesome spots right next to downtown so that I could just walk back from the bars in the evening and to the coffee shops in the morning. Other times, such as in national parks or the Adirondacks I've found backcountry trailheads to park next to where a car sitting overnight would not be suspicious. And for National Forest and other such free camping areas, the website freecampsites.net has come in handy quite a few times. As of this writing (3-4 months of traveling), I've yet to pay for a camping spot.

And in closing, I leave you with a pic of my carbon fiber drink holder for when I feel like a nightcap

Mysterious Awakening.

I stir from a sound slumber. It's dark. Misty. My windows are fogged. I can't see a thing. My phone says it's midnight. There is no noise. I see an eerie light shining from somewhere to my left. I haven't a clue how I got here. I don't know where here is.

I rack my brain to figure out where I've been recently by backtracking thru my journey. After leaving Columbus, my next stop was Presque Isle State Park (free) in Eerie, PA. An image of sandy beaches, excellent trail running, and a small little lighthouse fill my memory.

Presque Isle State Park beach.

After that was Buffalo, NY, Niagara Falls and endless rain. I had planned on biking over to the Canadian side of the falls, but with the rain and mist, it would have been a miserable trip and with low visibility, one I decided to cancel. Niagara Falls itself tho, along with the state park that sits on the Island in between them, is quite the site. And because of the rain and time of year, I was at least able to find free parking on the side of the street and avoid the normal $10 fee.

The view of Buffalo from the south.

Niagara Falls upstream view.

Niagara Falls side view.

From there it was Rochester, which seemed to be all ghetto from downtown to the north side. Though it was interesting to see so many people walking around at night, I did not get a safe vibe from the area and traveled on towards Syracuse. In Syracuse, it was gameday morning and people were out tailgating for the Syracuse-Rutgers football game. Not quite the same as a Sooner gameday in Norman. Not even close. But in all fairness, Syracuse is a basketball town and the weather was cold and damp and miserable to run in, much less tailgate in. Here I ran into some Syracuse students to tag along with on a run, but left shortly after, so it can't be the area I'm in now.

I did miss a turn and end up at Chittenango Falls (Fee area during summer, free the rest of the year) to the east of Syracuse. A small, beautiful area to picnic and even had a few short hiking trails.

Stunning Chittenango Falls in Central New York.

So where did I go after that? Well it was on to New Hartford and then down to Cooperstown the next morning for the Ommegang Cyclocross race. Which, not only met my expectations for Cyclocross in the Northeast, but surpassed them! The field for the Cat 4 race was huge! And not only was there mud, it was pretty much all there was besides that one hill with long, thick, wet grass where if I'd been thinking, I would have dismounted and ran up instead of hammering out all my power with the tire spinning just to keep the bike moving. It felt like I was racing in slow motion. With switchbacks, sharp, off bank corners, thick mud, and wet, slick grass and rocks everywhere, I only had to speed up just a little to get one of my tires sliding and ensure me that with the lines I was taking through the course I could not, in fact, go any faster than the snails pace I was forced to travel at. However, I was, at least, still in front of a lot of people. That is, until the end of the third lap, going into the final one, where I pulled my shoe right out of my cleat (still stuck in the pedal) trying to dismount for the barrier. For awhile, I stood dumbfounded about what to do or how to fix it and by the time I remembered I could just run it the whole last lap, the leader passed me and the race was over.

Now while I hadn't had a glorious race in the least, I had achieved my two goals of not crashing (miraculously I managed to save it everytime I almost went down) and not getting lapped while I still had a fully functioning bike. And best of all, I had a blast playing with my bike in the mud! Post-race, however, had to be the best part. Everyone I met was as friendly as can be, especially the guys from Team Ommegang who were putting on the race. They hooked me up with all kinds of cool swag and free tickets for the excellent Ommegang brews being served. If you've never been to one of these events, I highly recommend it. It is perfect for spectating. The whole general atmosphere is completely different than the typical crit, road race, or triathlon. It is much more laid back, friendly, and a lot less serious, yet still contains an extremely competitive nature. A cyclocross event almost seem to be an anomaly to cycling in that brings out the best in people as it's atmosphere encourages them to leave their egos at the road and enjoy themselves.

Afterwards, I... wait, what did I do after? Let's see, I was hanging out, enjoying the post race festivities, finishing my beer, and... decided I'd had too many to drive anywhere and moved my stuff over to take a quick nap, and... Hold on a sec, am I at the... Yep, still at the brewery! Oops... that was quite the nap! Well, now that I'm here in this nice quite, safe area, and nobody has bugged me, it looks like I've found my free camping spot for the night!