Heublein Tower Hike

Today we took the kids on a hike in the Talcott Mountain State Park up to the Heublein Tower. The kids managed to hike the 2.5 mile round trip plus the 120 steps to the top of the tower. Well, I had to carry Ciara a little bit when she got tired and said her legs had "too much exercise in them." :)

A little picnic at the top

Observation room at the top of the tower

Bruce's hike to the swamp

A friend of mine (Bruce) emailed me yesterday some pics he took on a recent hike. He retired last year, so he has lots of time for cool hikes and snapping pics:

Over the weekend, I hiked to a nest that I discovered a couple months ago, to see if there was any recent activity. It's a large nest, so I thought it may be an eagle or an osprey, since they tend to use the same nest year after year. It was an interesting hike and I thought you might like to see some of what I saw. This is the best nest site I have ever seen for a large bird of prey - it has a lot of character. I shot a ton of pictures, but here are a few to experience a "virtual hike."

Here is the nest in March of this year. There was no activity.

The nest is located on top of a dead tree in the middle of a large swamp.

I saw several large snakes along the edge of the swamp.

And lots of frogs that the snakes feed on.

There were also some large bullfrogs.

This yearling came out of the woods on the edge of the swamp to feed on some tender, new vegetation.

An osprey landed and sat in the nest on and off, so there may be some eggs in the nest.

A landing approach from the north.

Fly-over from the south.

Another fly-over from the south.

Overhead shot

Another overhead shot

I hope you enjoyed this virtual hike. There should be a lot of activity after the eggs hatch, since both parents will be busy bringing fresh food to their young. I also saw a beaver surface in front of me and swim away before I could get a picture (one of the many shots that "got away"). I think one of the landing shots may be a candidate for Nat Geo. You can imagine how many pictures I had to take to get a few good ones. Thank God for digital. I love my new job. Have a great day...

Thanks for the pics Bruce! They're awesome. What a great hike!

Sir Edmund Hillary

I saw in the news that Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest, died yesterday at 88 years old. Some of his quotes are worth posting:

As Hillary reached base camp after completing the climb of Everest, he summed up the monumental achievement:
"We knocked the bastard off."

I can relate to his simple philosophy of life:
"Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself."

He also once said:
"I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it."

Right on Sir!

Mt. Whitney Hike

Back in 2002 I hiked up Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states, standing at 14,496 feet. It was such an awesome hike. The terrain was incredible, the views were spectacular and the weather was perfect. I flew out to San Diego, CA and met up with my buddy Doug and two of his friends Tim and John. We drove up to Lone Pine, CA and camped out at the base of Mt. Whitney. On day 1 we hiked up the east side route to just over 12,000 feet and set up our tents at Trail Camp. On day 2 we completed the trek up to the summit and then made the return trip back down.

At the summit

Here's a video I put together of the hike:

Mountain Wingsuit

A friend of mine (Bruce) emailed me and said if I get bored with long distance running here's something to try. It combines interests in the outdoors, aviation and insanity:


Here's another wingsuit video
Yet another wingsuit video

Crazy!! I think I'll stick with the land stuff.

Presidential Traverse

Last summer, my buddy Mark and I hiked the entire Presidential Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in one day. Configured in light and fast mode, I was geared up with my Gregory Z35 pack, Merrell Chameleon ll light hiking boots and Komperdell trekking polls. With a pre dawn start and some assistance from Mother Nature, we had a full, weather perfect day for hiking.

Quick stats:
Distance covered: 24 miles
Elevation gain: 9,075 feet
Peaks bagged: 11
Time to complete: 12 ½ hours
Gorp consumed: A lot

Here’s a quick video of some pics from the hike:


Here’s a google map of the route uploaded from my Garmin Forerunner 301:


Here’s a table of the trails we used, the peaks we summited along with the distances, elevations and time of each segment of the traverse:


Spreadsheet

A goal of ours is to run the entire trail section between the AMC huts in 24 hours. According to the AMC website it's a 56 mile trek and climbs a total elevation equivalent to Mt. Everest. With a little luck on our side, I think we can do it. We’ll see…