Training Log Archive: bl

@ Knox TF - Robertson, Boundary trails - mute but appealing colors.

Henniker

From Rob's place to River Run bookstore to buy Rob's book "Robbie & George". Portsmouth is arguably NH's best city. Prescott Pk was in full bloom. Walked twice this distance fwiw.

Had a 2014 Ashburnham BG T-shirt which elicited commentary twice; one couple had just "run" a 5K Paddy charity in Cambridge, she was 80, he 85. He ran a 3:09 Boston at age 50. We recalled Marathon winners Bill Rogers & Amby Burfoot (first college student ever), both Wesleyan '68. I mentioned I owned the first 2 BG t-shirts, '79 & '80, one-of-kinds, very rarely worn. Now-a-days there are more t-shirts than one has rag projects. I hate to see them age, tatter & go.

AT Bear Brook - parked at Hayes Field - walked up Podunk a bit and then took a small path to the right. More or less unfamiliar, some new/unmapped paths, lost contact now and then, then made my way to a more definitive path, relocated and went for stone piles, bits of wall and odd mapped boulders in lovely fern woods but generally too thick for O. Saw two hunters at start (had forgotten orange) but rest of time went ok, no guns heard or people seen.

At Bela Brook easement, Dunbarton. Damp, fresh woods. Went to Evans Mill Pond, mill site and cellar hole. Finally met another person at BB.

Walked home from Ordway Lane, Beth having dropped me & W off. Been awhile since I'd been there - it has changed in that once two aging, separate landowners lived there - now siblings own the two houses at the end and junk etc etc are on both sides of the dead-end country lane making it look the private area it now is. The lady I encountered while walking toward the woods at the end certainly was curious who this stranger was on their property. That's a change but also 10+ years later. We (plus her c. 4 y/o) had a pleasant time reciting old and new and that I was walking to my home on the other side of the woods.

Walked thru seemingly forgotten Ordway Cemetery, the first Ordway laid down there in 1834. I recall asking both Doc Howard and Jet Jennings if I could map their property c. 2007. Now they are years dead. Actually felt refreshing to be entering these woods, much of which feel unfamiliar and even mountain laurel woods for several hundred meters, then more open, all the while actually feeling remote. And then more and more parts I recognized. Found a hunter's tent, half collapsed. Made my way to Woodhill-Hooksett - tired by then and decided to stay on trails and dirt roads. Finally, the power line and decided to again make my way thru the woods home. I was coming down the steep contours, saw another hunter's tent - was taking a photo of it and lo & behold, a hunter inside! Asked him if it was on his property - answer "negative". Told him it was the second I'd seen since Ordway La. "Yes, there are a lot of hunters out". But of course, a Saturday in hunting season. Said dismissively "Don't shoot me" as I walked away. Years and years of O activity of sharing forest with hunting. But not happy when people hunt in backyards, so to speak. There still is a stand in a tree not 80 yds from the east end of the house and maybe the same distance from the road.

Finally got one wet, muddy foot in the swamp right behind the house. Nice to start out, nice to get back. Strava said considerably less distance (3.52).

With Beth & W, chill NW day. A start, Beth's longest walk since knee surgeries.

With W to Melanie's Point - impressively windy.

O at Pawtuckaway on the island. Saw no one. A bit concerned about coming with a dog even tho after Labor Day midweek. In retrospect, not enough rock to be of optimal challenge. But a good post-camping weekend visit. Thoroughly impressed with Big Island and Horse I campgrounds.

Two milk containers in the 'middle of nowhere' were puzzling, perhaps intended for a hunter.

Forest give and take:

Usual DP - there was a football game going on, looked like a pigmy league event. Lots of cars but still found room for virtually no one else. W got really black feet - had to go back to Turee for a foot wash.

Interesting walk on old mapped Nottingcook forest - hadn't seen some in 15 yrs. Some very lovely - a bunch on private land. Was unable to pinpoint where I was for maybe 15' - then saw, from a distance, what I what was a unique boulder. Turned out to be a hunter's shelter on a prominent knoll by a swamp and the rest fell in place as well as the portion before. Slow but interesting.

At Turee for the sunset, Beth getting better walking on two new knees. Turee sunsets take me back to something similar on an O-ringen summer evening.

Town Pond home, still breezy, cool in shade.

AM DP before taking W off to kennel for the day/night. Visit at Squam, Three Sisters Island.

UNO camping Sunday brown, 3.3k. Got off to a bad start, being distracted when I should have been concentrating. Forgot to put the control descriptions on my shirt front where I like them. So I had to unfold the map to check. So not feeling exactly in control half way to the first flag.

To 1, the road was tempting but I wanted ‘to get into it’. Got in the vicinity and was caught off by an unmapped knoll. Going to #3, I lost map contact. The yellow seemed hard to read yet on the map it looked straightforward enough. There was no plan B - suck it up, concentrate and figure out where I was. Lost maybe 5’. Going to #4, also managed to lose track of the yellow patches — after vowing I would not. Relocated in the open area with a high distinct knoll - I’d been there in a night O one or two years ago. To 5, the knoll was hidden under rock, so it was more painful to find than it should have been. To 6 was another partial loss of map contact and ended up using the trail tho I should have been able to go straight thru woods. 7,8,9 ok tho approach to 9 (went above the cliff) lost some 45” to a minute. All in all, maybe 9-10’ lost. Give it a B-.

Brown

Picking up controls after the meet - tired on top of tired. Seeing the yellow areas at a slow rate made me realize how awful they have become - loaded with deadfall and thick with dense new growth. Not much of an O venue in that particular area as it currently stands.

Brown - Splits

Event: UNO: Pawtuckaway 1-Day NRE
 

UNO Pawtuckaway camping weekend, brown Y, 2.2k, a NRE opportunity - started at 10am when I, as well as the woods & day, was all fresh. Good 'run' in that I had no mistakes. Some hesitation on #1 -- and on #4, I got to the knoll expecting to see the flag and reentrant, didn't looked and went left a bit and then looked right and saw it maybe 20m away. Getting to and leaving #6 lost perhaps a minute due to unexpected thick stuff (took forever to get to the bridge) - some confusion but not lost.

Left my splits on the table next to the map and think a breeze might have blown them off the table - when I was looking more than an hour later, I couldn't find them. Had my Garmin 310 time, route, splits. Tried to get the Garmin app for this new computer up and running and am not willing to play the learning curve right now. Maybe the 310XT is 'gone with the wind' as far as new software is concerned. This is a Strava file from the iphone which I had in my pocket, turned off a bit after finishing. I was around 37:40 I think.

Fun to see some old friends! Tom Jahn at 93 topped the field with the Bermans and Hans B close behind. Didn't see enough though, was on my way home by 2pm with a few essential chores waiting.

Brown Y

Tan - Splits

A very nice stretch of woods and walls between the ends of these two roads. Left the road twice for a bit - the first path disappeared in the undergrowth, the second, starting promisingly, was left for another day. This is Meadowsend Conservation easement land.

O walk at Harris Center - cool, sunny day when not under the canopy. Other than W., boulders and more boulders for company. Water back in the woods. Dry as a bone last time. After went inside the center building briefly for some education etc. A Milky Way of another stripe.

AM DP to stream & return - so overgrown these days, the view walled off with small, dense pines.

Another DP after Walgreen's.

DP while at CH for bloodwork - still raining.

At Merrymeeting Lake - walked a bit in a thin band of nice woods - logging uphill made for thick growth. Nice fresh water swim after.

Walked to slough to see what the status of the unauthorized firing range on private property is.

Looking at resurgence of bike jump inspite of clear communication it is not permitted on town land.

Actually chilly, a fall harbinger day.

Kayak on Elm Brook on a Labor Day weekend Friday. Met a cast of characters, Beth moreso since she wasn't able to go with me in the kayak.

With Ken - blustery, fine NW day - even chilly at the top. Walked thru more tick-potential grass than I would have liked.