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  1. #81
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    I decided against hitting the AT on my week vacation as planned, even though I could have with my tent as everything is still open except shelter camping and privy use. I knew the crowds would be too much. Instead I ended up spending 6 good days hiking with 4 nights camping on the more local New England Trail. Still some popular sections but few and it was easy to avoid people, everybody is really good with and respectful about keeping distance.

    It's such a shame the more I find out and see what the NET (and other Blue Blazed CT hiking trails) used to do and to see old trail markings around cliff sections that are now routed around. A few examples I've found is the Tri Mountain peak and ledge it used to follow down to the road... Following Mt. Higby ridge down much further avoiding wet trail, following Lamentation Mt. ridge down further avoiding wet trail. The ridge walk past West Peak that was rerouted down to Edgewood Rd. in the 1990s is now totally hikeable but the trail still goes to Edgewood avoiding a beautiful ridge walk and shorter road walk. The Ragged Mountain/Wassel Reservoir are is a true shame what happened with the trail there, one of the nicest cliff walking sections in the state now avoided because of cliff jumping. The saddest part about it is that there is just as much if not more cliff jumping that goes on now as when the trail went through - so the hikers lose out and the cliff jumpers make out. The place is trashed 10 times worse now as when the trail went through as well.


    The NET in MA is an even bigger shame. There are some really nice and big sections of the true/original M&M Trail (Metacomet-Monadnock Trail) that can still be hiked but could not be considered part of the NET because of property or whatever issues. I'm talking like 30-40 miles or more of the original M&M Trail that is now rerouted or a road walk when you follow the NET. There's a few parts where it's totally legal to hike the M&M Trail but theres a few mile road walk blazed around it for the NET, and a lot of people would never know. I would have never known about Mt. Craig - me and my buddy were about to do the road walk and then we just happened to walk by the guy who owns the house that you walk up his driveway briefly then hit the old M&M Trail to Mt. Craig and he was like "Hey you guys doing the trail? … make sure you follow the old route up my driveway to the right". He said some land owner is trying to get $$ and not allowing the NET over his property - but it's ok to hike it.


    that's all for now but theres a lot more...
    NoDoz
    nobo 2018 March 10th - October 19th
    -
    I'm just one too many mornings and 1,000 miles behind

  2. #82
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Since the C-word hit I've been sleeping in the backyard in a bedroll (cowboy) camp---to keep my Thermarest on-the-ground chops up---and I finally got around to publishing my 27 Etudes for Soprano Recorder I wrote several years ago---


    Attachment 46326

    https://musescore.com/user/34686105/scores/6080011
    Quote Originally Posted by Time Zone View Post
    Oh my! The legend of the Nutbuster Trail has yet another talent. Funny, I've thought about learning recorder (or tin whistle) as an instrument that might be well-suited in size, weight, and durability to environmental conditions one would expect to encounter on the trail. Even tried my hand at fashioning my own flute out of PVC. Sort of worked, kind of a fun project just to prove I could do it, but not good enough to choose over, say, my daughter's old Yamaha plastic recorder from her younger school days.
    ...
    Well, since we're talking music and instruments, I just recently completed my little guitar project. A full size guitar is both unwieldy and heavy, and those little backpacking guitars have short necks, and me being not very good at playing, I just can't deal with a short-scale guitar.... SO, I wanted a full-size-neck guitar to play on the trail, PLUS it had to be quiet, basically inaudible except by myself being plugged into a small earphone amp.

    So I built the little electric shown in the photo below, sitting next to my full sized strat.

    Took me a couple of tries to get it set up to tune properly and easily, finally went with little pulleys for the strings on the bridge end. I didn't build the neck, I bought the same one that's on my big strat.

    NOW, I just have to get out and hike with it!

    BTW, 2lbs, 10 ounces total strung weight, not bad considering those Martin Backpackers are 3 pounds and have short necks.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #83

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    Appointment for blood donation is tomorrow. Blood center called today to remind me,told me to drink lots of fluids. I presume they meant Budweiser,so I am following their advice....

  4. #84
    Registered User JNI64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slow Trek View Post
    Appointment for blood donation is tomorrow. Blood center called today to remind me,told me to drink lots of fluids. I presume they meant Budweiser,so I am following their advice....
    Lucky blood recipients. You're a American hero. Thank you and cheers!

  5. #85
    Registered User JNI64's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JNI64 View Post
    I just got finished planting 2- 12' -6×6 posts in the ground 3' deep with 120 lbs of concrete in each and 18' apart. For a hammock , yep that's where I'll be hanging and barbecuing.
    Today I hung out ( literally) in my new hammock set up in my backyard, Barbecuing and enjoying adult beverages. I think I'll sleep out there tonight, getting hang nights, bag nights doesn't matter right . ( I've heard that here somewhere, tipi perhaps ) ?
    Last edited by JNI64; 04-19-2020 at 14:52.

  6. #86

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    Quote Originally Posted by Time Zone View Post
    Funny that Tipi Walter's choice of instrument is comparatively ultralight.
    In the old days I used to backpack with a B-flat clarinet so I could make money playing street music off the trail. Then I retired from the clarinet world and went to soprano recorder.

    To kill time during this wet-market Fever I have the opportunity to make some buckskin bags with lazy-stitch beadwork---

    GREASY RED VEE BAG-XL.jpg

    Medicine Wheel Bag.jpgSMALLER-L.jpg

  7. #87
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    Never heard about wild leek, but we have ramson (wood garlic) of which we are living on (well, almost) since a few days.
    So nice to watch my wife forayin for dandelion, young nettles and ramson to provide a tasty spinach.
    (sorry, this post refers to Zelph searching for morels)

  8. #88
    Registered User Tuxhiker's Avatar
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    01-01-2012
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    Gulfport, Mississippi
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    Tipi, I love the buckskin bags!
    What am I doing today? Our beaches reopened yesterday, so I am going for a walk on the beach before the storms come thru.

  9. #89

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    Quote Originally Posted by colorado_rob View Post
    Well, since we're talking music and instruments, I just recently completed my little guitar project. A full size guitar is both unwieldy and heavy, and those little backpacking guitars have short necks, and me being not very good at playing, I just can't deal with a short-scale guitar.... SO, I wanted a full-size-neck guitar to play on the trail, PLUS it had to be quiet, basically inaudible except by myself being plugged into a small earphone amp.

    So I built the little electric shown in the photo below, sitting next to my full sized strat.

    Took me a couple of tries to get it set up to tune properly and easily, finally went with little pulleys for the strings on the bridge end. I didn't build the neck, I bought the same one that's on my big strat.

    NOW, I just have to get out and hike with it!

    BTW, 2lbs, 10 ounces total strung weight, not bad considering those Martin Backpackers are 3 pounds and have short necks.
    Very cool! Not everyone is a curmudgeon about music in the backcountry. Music is beautiful, whether it’s produced from a skilled hand or not so play it proudly.

  10. #90
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    11-20-2002
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    Damascus, Virginia
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    today we we were trail devils. gave a coupla beers to an older German thru-hiker at Dickey gap

  11. #91

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    I took a walk with my saw and cleared nearly a dozen small trees and countless tree limbs and sticks from the trails which loop behind my place. Meet 9 people on my way back down the popular side. 5 from in town and 4 from Maine. Nice teaser of a spring day, temp hit 60, but a stiff NW wind at times gave a little bite to the air as a cold front approaches.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  12. #92

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    I did a hike up South Moat in the Conway NH area. First hike where I didn't need traction. Just a few small spots of snow in the shadows. I saw zero people climbing up, 10 groups coming down. When I got there at 8 AM there were two cars in the lot, when I came down around noon the lot was full with a few cars parked along the road. Plenty of room for social distancing on the trail.

  13. #93

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    Quote Originally Posted by peakbagger View Post
    I did a hike up South Moat in the Conway NH area. First hike where I didn't need traction. Just a few small spots of snow in the shadows. I saw zero people climbing up, 10 groups coming down. When I got there at 8 AM there were two cars in the lot, when I came down around noon the lot was full with a few cars parked along the road. Plenty of room for social distancing on the trail.
    A friend of mine did Welch-Dickie yesterday. She said she passed at least 40 people. I bet most were from the Boston area, where COVID-19 is currently exploding. Social distancing or not, I wish they would stay home! At least most of them aren't coming this far north.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  14. #94

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    One thing good about Welch Dickey is almost everyone hikes it counterclockwise to get the good views early. Start in the early AM and its rare to see anyone going the opposite direction. I wish some of the popular loops had one way traffic like the Franconia Ridge loop. Of course I always do it CW and many others insist its better CCW. The Milford Track in NZ is set up that way, everyone goes one direction so you rarely if ever pass anyone except overcoming the slower folks.

  15. #95
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    If I'm doing the Franconia loop via the Falling Waters trail I prefer CCW if it's wet or slippery.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 04-20-2020 at 17:15.

  16. #96

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    Cycled 11 miles, broke three sewing needles while sewing blackout shades for my daughter’s camper van, practiced my fiddle, swept and mopped, repaired my hammock, bought vegs for kimchi, listened to an audiobook on the art of organizing and tidying, made a chocolate sourdough starter.

  17. #97
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
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    Short run. First marathon in October if it doesn't get rescheduled.

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  18. #98
    Registered User greentick's Avatar
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    Biked around Jekyll Island with the herd. (2 days ago)

    20200422_121014.jpg20200422_124210.jpg20200422_130902.jpg20200422_132532.jpg20200422_132934.jpg

    ETA: I reduced the pics to not be a bandwidth hawg; maybe too much
    Last edited by greentick; 04-24-2020 at 12:26.
    nous défions

    It's gonna be ok.

    Ditch Medicine: wash your hands and keep your booger-pickers off your face!

  19. #99
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
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    Working on my marathon training. After I got injured I lost all my progress. RAN 3 miles today. No walking. First time since returning to running 2 weeks ago. Now, I just need to keep building my endurance.

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  20. #100
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    Started transcribing my thru-hike journals from last year. The first 19 days I wrote in a Rite in the Rain hard journal. After that filled up, I mailed it home, and switched over to journaling in my phone (by this point we were in the Smokies, and I was too tired to write in a book every night). While I didn't write in extreme detail, it's providing an amazing framework for putting everything together. Couple this with all my photos, and it's a great way to put the days together with more memory. It's going to take forever, but it's a great project to work on at the time.

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