An achievable goal?

Well, I've had quite a problem with blogging this summer.  Some stories were too big to go in the blog, some were too insignificant.  Some I just couldn't describe appropriately.  There are several embryonic drafts in my folder.

Kim and I just got back late last night from our final training hike of 2011 - in preparation for the "biggie": Mt. Katahdin later this month.  Our goal yesterday was Mt. Monroe, a distinct peak on the shoulder of Mt. Washington and, as the name implies, part of the Presidential range.  At 5372', Monroe is the 4th highest mountain in the Northeastern US.  We had planned to summit Monroe then Eisenhower (4760') on our way back down which would have involved an extra 0.8 miles (in addition to the 9+ that we did) and another 300' of climb.  I was too exhausted, though, even for that.  I'm not sure why but the three-week layoff didn't help much.  More detail in my report on EveryTrail.

These hikes have to be planned quite carefully.  We need the right amount of distance and climb to fit into the training schedule.  This final training hike entailed (in practice) about 3650' of elevation gain and about 9 miles round-trip.  Katahdin (5267') will require about 3750' of elevation and more like 11 miles round-trip.  It will also require some scrambling over boulder fields and some challenging sections (but don't worry, we will not be attempting the knife edge).  So Monroe was excellent training for that.  We will also have to start very early in order to have as much light for the descent as possible, now that the days are getting shorter.  We'll probably be on the mountain for 12 hours or more.

So that's twice in as many hikes that I've missed the secondary peak (Kim got the earlier one) but it doesn't help my chances at the "48" club**.  But then I never aspired to belonging to that club anyway.  Kim isn't sure yet - she has 19 now (would have been 20 with Eisenhower) and might want to complete the other 29.

But I think I've adopted a new goal, one slightly less onerous: the eight 5000 footers of New England.  After Katahdin (fingers crossed), I will only have two to "bag": Mt Washington (which at 6288' is hard but probably no harder than Katahdin) and Mt. Adams which was planned for our Presidential range hike seven years ago but which I couldn't manage due to lack of fitness (again it was only 300' to the top but wobbly legs aren't good for climbing mountains).

But these lists of peaks have a big flaw.  They are based on a completely arbitrary value for minimum prominence: 200 ft.  Prominence is defined thus:

The prominence of a peak is the height of the peak’s summit above the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit.
It is in some ways a better indication than the actual elevation of the summit to the amount of climb necessary to get to the top.  This is because the starting point for an ascent is often one of the cols (or saddles) around the base of the mountain. When mountains are listed by prominence, many peaks are relegated beyond the practical limits of the list -- all of the Presidential range, for instance.  Of course, listing peaks with no prominence requirements at all would be an impossibility -- the number of peaks approaches infinity as the prominence threshold gets smaller and smaller.

There is an entire web site devoted to lists of prominence throughout the world.  In New Hampshire, for instance, there are 14 peaks with prominence greater than 2000'.  And we've climbed slightly more than half of these: Carter Dome, Lafayette, Kinsman, Moosilauke*, Carrigain*, Osceola*, Kearsage, Monadnock (*I'm taking credit here for some that Kim only has climbed).  There are 12 in Vermont, of which we have climbed only one (Ascutney).  There are 16 in Maine of which we haven't climbed any - yet, although we've been close (Bigelow's Avery Peak - West Peak).   Katahdin will be the biggie: over 4000' of prominence.  And this list makes it more important to climb Massachusetts' own Mt. Greylock: the only mountain in Southern New England with 2000' of prominence. 

I'm even looking at the lists for the British Isles.  I note that Paul and I have climbed #67 Croaghaun with 688m (2257') of prominence (this page has a great photograph) and #112 Cadair Idris (608m, 1994'). which comes just after Ben Loyal (which I would like to climb one day as we didn't have time on our last visit to Sutherland).

So, perhaps a realistic goal is to climb all of the peaks in New Hampshire and Massachusetts with at least 2000' of prominence.  Only seven to go.  Many of the Maine peaks are simply too far out of the way to be practical.

** people who have climbed all 48 of New Hampshire's 4000'-plus mountains.

The North Downs

Part of the following was originally penned back in April. My apologies for finishing it so late.

The view from Chartham Downs

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!  My niece Mia and I went for a ride this morning along the narrow lanes on the edge of the North Downs here in Kent.  Our primary goal was to hear/see a skylark, or if we were very lucky, an early cuckoo.  We were disappointed in that goal but what a wonderful outing we had.  We saw a chiffchaff, magpies, lots of wood pigeons, a goldfinch, a huge and curious fox, a peacock and several pheasants, rooks, etc.  The bluebells were out in force, carpeting the woods. 

Later, we visited Denge wood, although the birds there had gone quiet during the mid-morning.

The next day Mia was again interested in bird-watching and running, although she's way too fast for me!  This time we drove up to Stodmarsh and although we didn't see anything very spectacular, it was another beautiful, quiet morning. Unfortunately, it was again too quiet: no sound of skylarks or cuckoos.  The photo above was taken from one of the hides.  So peaceful as the swan glided from left to right.

The North Downs have, I would say, been a significant factor in my life.  Stretching from Guildford in the West (although, in a sense, the Downs could be said to extend all the way to Salisbury plain) to Dover (and the English Channel) in the East, they form a crescent which brings them quite close in to London.  The Canterbury pilgrims used the downs for several reasons ("The Pilgrims' Way"): firstly for navigation -- it's easier to follow the ridge line of a range of hills.  This must have been especially important in the early days of the pilgrimage (the end of the 12th century) when usage had not yet resulted in easily followed tracks.  Second, they were perhaps a little less likely to be ambushed by footpads since the had the advantage of visibility and height.  Third, the soil (based on chalk) is porous and so wet patches do not develop that would slow passage -- in contrast to the "Wealden" clay just to the South.  As the pilgrims reached the edge of the valley of the Stour (Chilham), they would turn left and leave the downs, passing through Chartham into Canterbury.

I remember many wonderful day trips from London notably to Box Hill and Leith Hill from which the view was always tremendous.  And two great men, Charles Darwin and Ralph Vaughan Williams were united, not only by the intertwining of their families, but in making their homes on the North slope of the Downs -- Darwin at Downe House in Orpington and Vaughan Williams at Leith Hill Place near Dorking.  I remember these hills too as the domain of the Chalk Hill Blue, a lovely if unassuming butterfly.  Whether or not they are still there, I know not.  Perhaps that should be my next nature quest for the North Downs.

The South Downs too have been if anything an even bigger influence in my youth.  I will tackle them in a future blog.  And I know just where to look for the Chalk Hill Blue in the South Downs :)

A summer of hiking

Looking West from Mt. Abraham towards Saddleback

Another successful hike last Saturday, this time to the summit of Mt. Abraham (Maine) [4037'] with a total of 2950' gain in elevation and about 9 miles round trip.  The majority of the elevation gain was accomplished in the last mile and a quarter of the fire warden's trail so the climb was pretty steep.  See EveryTrail for more details on the climb (with profile).  This time, we only took Puga and Cindy as the "junior" dogs were not really up to it.

We began our training this year with Mt. Wachusett in late April, I think.  That was about 900' elevation gain and only about 3 miles round trip.  We've successively done harder and harder climbs since then (although we gave our legs a rest a couple of weeks ago with Mt. Kearsage South).  I've missed a couple of hikes, but Kim has been on every one.

These days as I'm struggling up the trails to such lofty peaks, I marvel at my sheer insanity seven years ago when I volunteered to go on a two day hike in the Presidential range.  Our plan was to start up the Caps Ridge trail (2720' elevation gain), summit Mt. Jefferson (5716') then go on to bag Mt. Adams before staying overnight at the Madison Springs Hut.  Then on up Mt. Madison the following day.  It was a long time (forever?) since I had done such a demanding hike and, although I had trained assiduously on the stairmaster ahead of time, I had done very little real hiking in preparation.  I must have been mad!

The ascent of Mt. Jefferson, while quite scary at times, went without a hitch.  But by the time we had struggled over to the foot of Mt. Adams, my legs were done.  And I mean done.  So, Kim and I skipped Mt. Adams (sorry!) and made sure we got to the hut in time for dinner.  After dinner, we went on a nature walk and took in the unadulterated night sky.  The following day, we climbed Mt. Madison and had the most unbelievable views.  While the descent might might have seemed easier, my knees could hardly move for the next couple of weeks.

Fast forward to 2011.  Our plan is to conquer Mt. Katahdin later this summer.  It stands at 5268' but with approximately 4000' (ugh!) of elevation gain.  It's one tough mountain by all accounts.

Until this last hike of Mt. Abraham, I was seriously doubting if I could do it.  But now, I know I can and am determined to make all the training worthwhile.  I just hope that the weather is good because I hate hiking on slippery rocks.

Looking North to Sugarloaf and the Bigelow Range beyond

Pirates of the Caribbean

Part four of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, or rather the first part of the second trilogy, is called On Stranger Tides.  Strange they were.  Will and I went to see it last evening (in 3D) at the IMAX theater at Boston Common.  I thought it was pretty good.  Not great -- you don't expect Pirates movies to be great -- but decent and a welcome change from the dreadful third episode.  It has a new director, Rob Marshall, and unceremoniously dumps Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley.  But overall, the quality of acting has improved dramatically with the reigning British Bad Guy: Ian McShane.  Penélope Cruz really was good too although in her case, it's more the mascara than acting skills that prevail.  Much as I love Geoffrey Rush for his excellent acting skills, he is definitely not suited to play the one-legged pirate.  I enjoyed the mermaids, with their wondrous tails and powerful swimming strokes, although of course the movie was careful not to show any other parts of their anatomy!

The plot was definitely ridiculous but it at least held the story together.  Normally I avoid reading the Boston Globe reviews before a movie.  Their reviews are always completely hopeless in my opinion.  Nevertheless, Ty Burr pretty much nailed it this time (I read it after seeing it).  My only complaint is that he only mentioned Ian McShane in passing -- he deserved much more credit.

Spring, Graduations, Concerts, Travels, etc.

So much stuff to catch up on - what an incredibly busy time of year this is!

Kim's lilacs in full bloom

This evening was the first of our Symphony Pro Musica concerts "Spanish Serenade".  And since I wrote that, not only have we had the second concert, but the review of the second concert and the remainder of a week.  One of composers ("The Happy Slaves" overture) was the then 13-yr-old Arriaga from Bilbao, who died when he was still only 19.  I found an excellent book  on the web, which helped me to understand why the eponymous slaves of his opera were happy.  Unfortunately, the book online doesn't allow us to see some critical pages.  All in all, it was a fantastic concert and I personally had a great write-up in the review.

A branch of our dogwood

Now, we are getting ready for Miranda's graduation party and then graduation itself.  We are looking forward to a fine weekend (but I don't think we're going to get it).  The mosquitoes are out in force these days but that's only to be expected.  But what I think has really been different this years is that everything has happened at once.  Magnolias, redbuds, dogwoods, lilacs, apples, cherries, everything out at pretty much the same time.  The toll on us hay-fever sufferers has been heavy.

Redbuds outside the office in Waltham

Meanwhile, we've been doing some hiking, including a hike up Mts. Percival and Morgan just new Squam lake in New Hampshire.  The views were breathtaking.

Did I mention that Jimmy got adopted?  He seems very happy -- we've heard quite a bit from his family.

More on other vernal observations, including my trip to England at a later time.

A walk in the woods

No, this is not a reference to Bill Bryson's interesting book on the Appalachian trail (AT).  Speaking of which, our bridge friend Bob McCaw is out hiking the AT again (!).  You can keep track of his progress with his Trail Journal.

View Estabrook Woods in a larger map.

No, my title refers to a four-mile walk we did in Estabrook Woods (see map). Kim had asked me to plan a four-mile walk and when we got back to the car the GPS was showing 4.00 miles!  Total luck of course. Especially as the track shown here claims to be 4.33 miles. Strange -- it may be something to do with the conversion between formats.  My entire lifetime has been spent marveling at the way computer people (myself excepted, obviously) care nothing about the error bounds of measurements.  So, a point on the map is presumed to be exact, even though that makes the track appear jagged.  And if you look carefully, you'll notice that our return up the main track appears about 10m to the right of the way we came down it.  And also that the car had dropped a couple of hundred feet since we set out.  This should all be handled properly by the software, but of course it isn't.

But the dogs don't care about the precision of the GPS either.  They had a wonderful time, especially Jimmy who met some new friends (and tried to go home with them).  There was still snow on the ground and of course some wet patches to negotiate, but all in all a beautiful day.  We could feel virtuous when we got back.

Switching tack now... I've never been a fan of the humble parsnip.  I've always loved its relative the carrot but there's something about the taste of parsnips that disagrees with me.  But the good news is that I'm getting over it.  Like so many veggies, parsnips are health-giving in several ways.  Did you know that parsnips and carrots are part of a large family of flowers, the Apiaceae (also known as the Umbellifers), which contains many of the herbs with which we are so familiar?  However, it also includes the hemlock (that's to say Socrates' C.O.D., rather than the North American tree).

While this winter started out with lots of snow and while our garden in the backyard has had a blanket of snow all winter long, it turns out that we've ended (assuming no more, April Fools day notwithstanding) with just over 80", far short the record, set in the year (1995-6) Ella and David decided to try a New England winter for a change, of 108".  I'm expecting that in a day or two, we'll again be able to see the vegetable garden.