In fact, the trailhead is up 93, and only 3 hours away, so I could leave home at 6 AM and be there by 9 AM. Six hours for the 12.2 mile hike would mean I would be done by 3 PM. It takes 52 minutes to drive from that trailhead to the one I used Tuesday = 4 PM. Sunset is after 8 PM, so I would have 4 hours for trail-clearing (ah, but "the gate" closes at 4 PM).
So reverse the order = trail-clearing first, hike South Weeks Mtn second!
I was planning on taking my clippers, my loppers, and a small hand-saw, because "blowdowns" are "beyond my pay grade" - they are "too hard". But as I was driving into my Thrusday Morning Mens Breakfast, I thought "Blowdowns - SCREW Blowdowns!", so I stopped at Home Depot on the way home; if they had a battery-powered chainsaw for under $100, I would buy it. Well, this one was $129, which I thought was Ok:
I left the house at 5:45 AM - at the McDonald's in West Ossipee, NH at 7:45, hiking at 10AM. My chainsaw worked great, but "Trail Clearing" is just a different mindset than "Peak Bagging" - I was doing 38-minute miles. I kept going higher and higher, and found myself at the junction with "Kilkenny Ridge Trail" around noon. So I figured that today was only a "Trail Clearing" Day, and I continued up towards North Weeks Mtn:
I hiked 7.4 miles in 4 hours, getting back to the car at 2. I love the moss-covered rocks:
Plus a pair of before-and-after pictures:
I turned around when my chainsaw started running out of juice. Unfortunately, some trees were just too big for me to handle:
Although I feel good about the work I have done, the trail still needs a lot of love: wooden walkways through boggy areas, and a big chainsaw for the big stuff.
Leaving on York Pond Road, I crossed over the Upper Ammonoosuc River:
looking upstream:
looking downstream:
I picked up some cans and bottles along the New Hampshire roadways, and took the long way home - I wanted to take a look at the Starr King Trail trailhead. Jefferson, New Hampshire is in some beautiful country.
(so, do I have anything planned for next Thursday?)
I stopped at the Visitors Parking near Cannon Mountain, just to look around. #9 pocket at the D'Angelos in Woburn, and home at 7:30. Thank you God for these wonderful adventures!!
Today's driving music was from my big iPod - the remaining "K" albums:
Alice Cooper - Killer, 1971
The first two tracks "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" are one of the best 1-2 tracks on any album. I still rember them being played at a party at Penn my freshman year - when the 1st song ended, a guy said "No, no, just let it keep playing." A good call.
Miles David - Kind of Blue, 1959
To quote Wikipedia: "It is regarded by many critics as jazz's greatest record, Davis's masterpiece, and one of the best albums of all time." I like it, but you be your own judge.
The Decemberists - The King Is Dead, 2011
and that finishes my "K" albums. So then I started listening to songs that start with the letter "K". I made it through 78 songs (click here for the list of songs), beginning with:
Samite Of Uganda - "Kakokolo" from the album Dance My Children, Dance, 2006
and ending with:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Killing Floor [Live]" from the album Experience - Live, 2002
highlights include:
The Pretenders - "Kid" from the album The Pretenders, 1980
Bryan Adams - "Kids Wanna Rock" from the album Reckless, 1984
The Electric Flag - "Killing Floor" from the album Old Glory: Best of the Electric Flag, originally 1968
With Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Buddy Miles (drums) and Harvey Brooks (bass), plus one of the first horn sections in rock and roll, the band had either "too much horns" (guitar fans) or "too little horns" (eventual fans of Blood, Sweat and Tears).
I think I can generally describe my music taste in the quote from Dire Straits - "Sultans of Swing":
They don't give a damn about any trumpet-playing band
It ain't what they call "Rock 'n' Roll"
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