Keeping New Year's Resolutions . . . Hiking, Birding, and Photography

      Back in January 2013, before my work life went crazy, I wrote about New Year's resolutions for the Mountain Gazette. I outline some suggested resolutions that I thought would make the sporting world a better place and sportsmen better people - if that is possible.  Among the resolutions I suggested was "Take up a new and complimentary 'hobby'; something to get you out in the woods during the off season. Take up photography, bird watching, hiking, canoeing – something to get you outside; something you can do with family or friends...."

Tri-Colored Heron and Great Egret, Cape May, NJ

I decided to follow my own advice (for a change) and take up several "hobbies" to compliment hunting and fishing activities. And while many hobbies don't come cheap, they don't have to be expensive (unless you get a new camera and new hiking shoes, and a new backpack...not that I'm saying I did...).

Being outdoors keeps me sane. Some people have no problem dealing with crowds of people, tons of traffic, and lots of buildings and pavement. Not me. I need the outdoors to recreate and regenerate. When I'm in Vermont, I'm surrounded by the outdoors. When I'm away, not so much.

My "hobbies" bring me outside when noting is in season or, God forbid, I don't have time or feel like hunting or fishing. When I'm away from Vermont these same pursuits give me a great reason to head for the hills - not that I need too much of a reason.

Sky Meadow State Park, VA

I started snowshoe day hiking on the western slopes of Mount Mansfield after hunting season was over and before trout season opened with . The woods were almost empty and I certainly didn't overhead.

Friends in Virginia told me about Sky Meadows State Park, which has become a favorite - especially the section that runs along the Appalachian Trial. Wherever I am on the weekend I look to see what local trails are available.

Sometimes the weather is less than desirable or I simply don't have the time available for a good hike. Enter the hobby of birding. I used to bird back in high school and my early fatherhood years - both periods of time with my friend Tom Kenefick. Back in the day, we'd pack our daughters Lauren and Katie and go looking for Bald Eagles at Mason Neck in Virginia. We'd tie feathers on the girls and let them flop around in their winter coats hoping to attract some birds. (Just checking to see if our wives ever read my blog.)

Great Blue Heron, Huntley Meadows Park, VA

In fact, back in high school we birded with David Allen Sibley (once). David was in my class and Tom and I ran track with David's older brother Steve and sister Anne. We went out one night looking to call owls and stayed through dawn. We ended up in a marsh, trying to convince David to leave so we could grab some breakfast. To say that David had an unusual level of focus for a high school guy would be a gross understatement, certainly where something other than girls were concerned. Of course, having more focus than either Tom or me was a low hurdle to meet.

So, I'm birding again and taking some short side trips to various locations near and not so near and it has been a lot of fun.

Whimbrels, Cape May, NJ

The Tri-Colored Heron, Great Egret, and Whimbrel photos were taken on a September trip to Cape May, NJ. The shots were taken from a boat in choppy water. I was using a Lumix GX-7 with a 100-300 lens. The camera has an anti-vibration feature, which was handy shooting from a boat.

I saw 34 species of birds. Many of the birds were firsts for me. Kind of neat. It gets me out and is an interesting challenge to learn to identify new birds. It is like preseason scouting, where you aren't sure of what game you'll actually find.

One interesting sighting while at Cape May was a Whiskered Tern. You won't find it in your local bird guide since it is from Africa. It was visiting Cape May when I was. It was only the third sighting of this bird in the United States. Frankly, it wasn't an impressive looking bird. It was nice to add such an unusual sighting to my life list.

Expect to see many more photos in coming posts. I already have quite a backlog. 

Old man vs. Stony Man

Last weekend I decided to take a drive out to Shenandoah National Park to do some hiking.  My goal was to hike to the summit of Stony Man mountain, then continue hiking along the Appalachian Trail ("AT").  I saw a beautiful photo taken from Stony Man in Backpacker magazine and was hoping to get a picture or two using my iPhone.

The signs are right "Watch for Deer"

I won't bore you with stories of DC-area traffic...coming and going, but will say that you have to love getting out to the country to suffer the traffic.  I guess you take the bad with the good.

It was a relatively cloudy day, so I knew my visibility would be limited.  What I did not know or could not recall knowing was how high some of the mountains are in the Park.  Stony Man is just over 4,000 feet, only about 300 feet shorter than Mt. Mansfield in Vermont.  The summits of each mountain are very different.  There is no tree line on Stony Man like the one on Mt. Mansfield.  It was about 10 degrees cooler on the summit of Stony Man than in the valley.  I'll take cooler, even if it is only 10 degrees!

A sneaker-friendly trail

The other big difference between the peaks of Shenandoah National Park and Vermont is that Virginia has Skyline Drive which runs along the peaks and is parallel to the AT through the Park.  I recall reading that FDR's Administration had a similar proposal regarding building a Skyline Drive in Vermont that would run along the backbone of the Green Mountains, but that Vermont - then being very independent and wary of too much government intrusion - rejected the idea.  Virginia's mountains are more accessible than Vermont's, but something is lost when you can just drive right up to a high peak.

I know something is lost because that's how I began my hike, driving to a parking lot just south of Stony Man's summit.  Fortunately, there were many other trails, because the hike to the summit was not too long or too challenging.  It was, however, a great place to eat lunch.

Hiker looking down on the clouds

There was a front moving in while I sat at the summit and ate my ham and cheese sandwich.  Luckily, the clouds below did offer some nice views.  It wasn't as breathtaking as the photo I had seen in Backpacker magazine, but still pretty impressive.

I'd love to plan a nice long hike along the AT, but I'd need a free weekend to do it.  I'd have to stay down close to the Park to insure I could get an early start.  Perhaps later this summer.

Another first for me happened on my hike.  As soon as I got back to the car, it started to rain.  It really rained...and I was done and sitting in a dry car.  It was a nice almost end to the day.  I still had the traffic to fight as I got closer to DC.

another view from the summit

another another view

New flatwear and the trillium hike with a few friends on the Appalachian Trail

Gathering at the trail head

I've been working in DC for over a month now and have made significant progress in integrating myself into a new firm, finding and renting an apartment, and buying essentials to furnish the apartment.  Yes, a 42 inch TV is essential - especially as one ages, the eyes fail....  While it is true that setting up a new place is absolutely thrilling, sometimes picking out new flatware in 18/10 stainless on Amazon.com just isn't enough.  So on the advice of a friend, I signed up on meetup.com.

Contrary to suspicions of my oldest daughter, meetup.com isn't an adult dating site.  It is a way to meet people in your local area who share your interests.  What the heck.  I searched on hiking and saw that the Capital Hiking Club was hosting the Trillium Hike.  Trillium?  Sounded like a flower, so I called my

Vermont Trillium

wife and asked her what a trillium was.  Shortly after asking my question, Karen sent me a picture of a trillium she took not too far from our house.  Who knew!

Virginia Trillium

I confess that I was far less interested in seeing the trillium than the hike.  The Capital Hiking Club has its own late model commercial bus for its outings.  I caught the bus in a Northern Virginia Metro parking lot for the ride out to the G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area.  Two hiking routes were offered, a 6 and a 12 mile hike.  I was going to do the 12 mile hike, but I didn't want to get too far ahead of my "fitbit" competition.  So far that hasn't been an issue.

When I arrived at the Metro lot, I saw several people, who were clearly dressed to go hiking, standing next to a car.  I went over to introduce myself.  Unfortunately, they were another hiking group.  It turns out that three separate groups were meeting at the same lot that day.  Clearly a lot of hiking demand around the Nation's Capital.

It was quite a diverse group that showed up for the hike.  There were some younger couples, but I'd guess the median age was mid-to-late 40s.  I wasn't close to being the oldest (or in the worst shape).  It was a very nice group of folks.

view from the trail

The weather was pleasant, sunny and mild.  While all the leaves were out in the suburbs of Washington, the mountains were still greening up.
Interestingly, I was surprised at how few people could recognize poison ivy...even when hiking right through it.  It bordered both sides of the trail in one section.  Despite the amount of time I've spent in the woods, I have yet to have a reaction to poison ivy.  No complaints from me.  I hope I remain so fortunate.

The only problem with taking a bus to a hike is that you can't leave when you are done.  The good news is that someone brought several coolers of beer and sodas for purchase while you waited.  It was nice to talk with the other hikers and hear about some of their other hikes.  One woman had recently returned from hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and was preparing to hike to the Everest base camp.  That is a woman with clearly more disposable income than me.  It was certainly an interesting and diverse group.

No matter where you are, it seems like you can always find people who enjoy the outdoors.  It may not be hunting or fishing, but being outside is still invigorating.  I'm sure I'll be going on several more hikes with the Capital Hiking Club in the future.

Can you ever see enough trillium?

As you will read in my next post, sometimes it is hunting or fishing, or at least fishing.  If there's water (and an Orvis store) you will find fishermen and women.  And I have an Orvis store just down the street from my Virginia apartment.  For the record, I did not select my apartment because of the Orvis store; really, Karen, I didn't.

House Broken in Harpers Ferry

View from St. Joseph's Church

Saturday I decided to take a drive up to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It has probably been 15 years since I've been up that way. Saturday was forecast to be a nice spring day, high around 70 and lots of sun.

Harpers Ferry sits on a point of land at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. It is a place steeped in history. It was visited by George Washington, when he was a young man surveying the area. Thomas Jefferson visited there on his way to Philadelphia. The town is also where Robert E. Lee and Jeb Stuart captured John Brown, after Brown's failed attempt to break into the armory and use the weapons to launch a slave revolt. Stonewall Jackson captured over 12,000 Union troops there during the Civil War.

I love the history. Walking around town is great exercise. I could also visit the Appalachian Trial (AT) headquarters and hike some on the Appalachian Trail.  In the immortal words of Grampa Boushie, "Beautiful."

When I got to town I immediately started hiking up to St. Peter's  Catholic Church, which overlooks the town. St. Peter's is right off of a walkway that goes past the church up to a cemetery that is the highest point over the town. Hiking up to St. Peter's is where I made my first discovery - the AT goes right by the church. I was already on the AT and didn't know it.  Beautiful.

St. Joseph's Church

From St. Peter's, I headed up to the cemetery. It was on my way up to the stone steps to the cemetery that I noticed a wooden post with a white blaze on it. The white blaze signifies the AT.

Note white blaze on post (sign of the AT)

It is a very steep, but short climb from town up the hill to the cemetery.  Many of old stones in the cemetery told sad stories of children lost young.  While it may have been common during the period, I'm sure it was no less painful.  What a beautiful spot to be laid to rest.

From the cemetery I walked over to the old Cliff House Hotel.  Sadly, the old hotel was fenced off awaiting some unknown fate.  The side yard of the hotel still provided a pretty good view looking down the Potomac towards where the Shenandoah enters it.

View from the Cliff House

From the hotel I headed up the street to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters to stop in and pick up a Virginia trail map.  It was here that I met "House Broken."  House Broken is what is referred to as a trail name.  Many of the "through hikers" take on or are given trail names.  A through hiker is someone hiking the entire AT from Georgia to Maine, just over a 2,000 mile walk in the woods.

I met House Broken, a through hiker, when I was looking though pictures of this year's current crop of AT through hikers, all documented at AT headquarters.  I inquired whether he had a trail name, to which he replied House Broken.  Interesting name, I thought.  "So, how'd you come by the name 'House Broken'?"  Turns out it should have been "not" house broken and it followed an evening of heavy drinking on the trail.  You can figure out the rest.

After visiting the AT center, I hiked down into town and across the Potomac River on a railroad trestle.  I then hiked up the river some before it was time to turn around and head back to the traffic of Northern Virginia.

Visiting Harpers Ferry was a great side trip.  It got me out of the city.  It was wonderful exercise and it was a great way to pass the day.  My only regret was that I didn't bring a fishing pole...they are all back in Vermont.  Both the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers hold a ton of Small Mouth Bass and Sunfish.  I'll bring a  rod and reel next time.  You have to enjoy your days afield where you can find them and I could have done a lot worse than Harpers Ferry.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger

Frozen pond off the Long Trail

One of my New Year's resolutions was to get outside more during the off season, both to scout and to get some exercise.  The last couple of weekends I've headed out snowshoeing up to Vermont's Long Trail on Mount Mansfield.

Yesterday I snowshoed up the Nebraska Notch trail to its intersection with the Long Trail, then took the Long Trail south.  It was mid-twenties with wind gusts up to almost 5 mph (thanks to WeatherHawk for the WindMate 350).

One or two snowshoers had gone up the Nebraska Notch trail before me, but I was the first snowshoer to head south on the Long Trail.  My destination was Taylor Lodge.

View from Taylor Lodge

It is just over two miles up to Taylor Lodge.  As you'd expect, most of the climb is up.  Lots of up. However, there are many relatively flat areas and some descents as well.  Total ascents for the round-trip hike are over 7,800 feet.

I took a short break upon reaching the lodge, after doing a brief "Rocky" dance.  I was packing up to head back when a group of three middle-aged ladies arrived.  (If they read this, I just assume they were middle-aged based on their wit and maturity.  They all look much younger.)  The ladies thanked me for breaking trail for them - which I thought was kind.  If nothing else, I am a superb trail-breaker.  I have fairly large snowshoes and that snow ends up pretty well packed down.

Another view from Taylor Lodge

On my way back from the lodge I met quite a few snowshoers heading up the mountain and one back-country skier.  Almost everyone I met on the  trail was accompanied by a dog or two.  Whenever I couldn't find a blue or white blaze I could always locate a yellow "blaze" left by a four-legged hiker.

It was great to get outside and it was great to get such good exercise.  Snowshoeing up a mountain is pretty exhausting and is difficult enough that you don't need to be carrying extra weight.  I'll add this to my growing list of arguments to lose some pounds.  Good thing I gave up donuts for Lent.  Maybe I'll get a lighter pack.

Porch of Taylor Lodge

Now that I'm inserting photos in this post it has dawned on me that perhaps I should have taken a picture as I approached the lodge.  I'll have to go back and do that, but not today!