A Friday afternoon walk in the Great North Woods

Discussion in 'Adventure, Hiking, Backpacking and Travel' started by Stone, Dec 16, 2016.

  1. Stone

    Stone Member

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    State: Maine. Half way up, in the geographic center.

    My electric power went out early morning. Tree took down a transformer.
    No electricity at 1 pm, no cooking possible, so I packed a picnic lunch and went for a hike.
    I wore four layers, starting with a heavy pile fleece undershirt, because the highs today were single digit F.

    The walk started on a snowmobile trail 100' from my apartment.
    There's 7" of 3-day old powder on the ground to walk on, made easier by mobile packing.

    004 - trail in.JPG

    About 1/4 mi in, I came upon this old barn after spying a whitetail and a wild turkey gaggle.
    Those are turkey tracks to the left of the barn. Several large ones flew out of the trees.

    012 - barn.JPG

    Root cellar (?) on the other side of the trail from the barn.

    015 -- root cellar.JPG

    I wonder if they sell bacon cheeseburgers and beer.

    025 - scooter sign.JPG

    When you get off the main trails -- which are packed -- onto the side trails that are not,
    the going gets rougher and tougher. But at least they're cleared of brush and deadwood.

    030-side trail.JPG

    Just off to the right of the trail is a big deadwood area. What caused this? A blizzard? Microburst? Walking through this stuff, especially with a walking stick or rifle, is damn near impossible. Requires acrobatics and slithering.

    031 --deadfall.JPG

    At the top of the hill (glacial esker), I found one of the largest glacial erratics (boulder carried down here from the north in the belly of a glacier, then dropped randomly as it melted) that I've seen. [ETA: within walking or biking distance of where I live. There are other much larger ones elsewhere.] Just the above ground part is the size of a late '60's Buick. It could be 2 -3X larger than that (the underground parts often are). Granite it appears to be, something from the Canadian Shield from Archean times further north.

    041 -- Buick Rock.JPG

    I ate a snack here on this stump in front of Buick Rock. I put my heavy winter gloves on the stump to sit on so I wouldn't freeze me arse off :), while wearing my secondary lined leather work gloves. Exposed skin became painful after only 30 sec. I ate for ten minutes, then started loosing feeling in my feet -- even in those Muckboot Arctic boots. So, I finished up and walked the mile home.

    Today, I carried the lumbar pack sold to me by @Wolfman Zack.
    Next time out, I'll wear my full pack. (See: What's in this pack?)

    047 snack stump.JPG

    Snack: some leftover bread soaked in butter and olive oil with bacon and brie cheese,
    all on top of a layer of polenta with bread and butter pickles and tomato with peanuts.

    044-lunch.JPG
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2016
  2. DiscoveryLover

    DiscoveryLover Member

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    Nice looking area.
     
  3. Stone

    Stone Member

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    The pics don't do it justice.
    It must be experienced long term.

    First came up here in '77 from RI (after TX).
    But it was a weekend trip. I didn't ... see it then.
    After 6.5 years here, some of the hardest of my life :eek:
    I now see it. And the crucible training has been part of it.
     
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  4. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Some musique for a Friday night at 11:34 pm after a long walk.

    1:16. Wait for it ... "There it is."

    And the horns kick @ 1:48 .

    Woo who!

     
  5. Wolfman Zack

    Wolfman Zack Member

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    That's nothing for a glacerial erratic, while impressive there are lots many times that size in the valley along the Bar Harbor Road.
    I know of a couple that are larger than tractor trailers.
     
  6. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I agree about the erratics, Zack: this one is not a record size. If one were to catalog all in the state, I'll wager they're distributed as a power law called 1/f. Actually, it's A = 1/f, where A is amplitude or size and f is frequency. So size and frequency are inversely related: little ones are very common, large one's infrequent. Virtually everything in nature is 1/f.

    So I'd wager that this one is pretty far up on the distribution, but not at the top.

    Add that the ones I've seen are limited because my travel here has been so limited -- not having a car has been a drag.

    So, when I say one of the largest I've seen, one has to factor that I haven't seen that many. :D
     
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  7. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Zack's comment above motivated me to continue my study of glacial erratics (GE's). I've been fascinated by them since moving to Maine. I knew of them much earlier in life. I've been a student and teacher of evolutionary ecology for decades, and have been fascinated by the ice ages of the last 2 - 3 million years with their oscillating glacial/interglacial phases. (We've been in the current interglacial for about 10,000 years, +/- 1000 years depending on where you put "end/begin" and whether you include the Younger Dryas.) It amazes me when I'm sitting in some place where there are GE's when I am reminded by their presence that a mere 13,000 years ago, that place where I'm sitting was covered by an ice sheet over a mile thick. I mean, wow.

    GE's allow geologists (which I want to be when I grow up) and glaciologists to track glacier movements, extents, etc. Here's a well done article about GE's on Wikipedia.

    I found that article while seeking information about the size range of GE's. I know they can be as small as little stones, but got to wondering, how big can they get? I mean, a glacier a mile thick is a powerful beast, but ice has its limits for carrying stuff.

    Quoting the article: "Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders such as Big Rock (15,000 tonnes or 17,000 short tons) in Alberta."

    That's a pic of it below. Yah, that's considerably larger than the one I saw on my hike yesterday. :rolleyes: That one in Alberta is on the large end of the 1/f distribution.

    So anyway, I went back up and clarified my description of the GE in my OP (aren't acronyms weird?) to reflect more accurately what I meant.

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. JV3

    JV3 Member

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    nice! snow with all that dead wood around...where's the camp fire? that's an overnight opportunity for me.
     
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  9. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Oh, I definitely -- 100% sure -- will have one or more camps over there. I just need to sort out ownership issues first. It's not public land -- somebody owns it, even though clearly use is allowed: there are snowmobile trails criss-crossing it. But as soon as I ask around the neighborhood a bit, make sure I'm not stepping on any toes, I'll begin to prepare a discrete camp or two in there. The total wood seems -- from online maps with "aerial view" to be over 100 acres, maybe 150 -- hard to see what the land use patterns are, which is cut, regrowth, etc.

    Part of what I'll do on my day hikes over there will be to identify potential camps. That'll be easier now that I've got the hammock (Warbonnet Blackbird) even though it may be spring 'fore I can use that since I'm lacking sufficient winter insulation (not even a good pad for it yet, let alone a winter-worthy under-quilt). But I've still got my mountaineering tent, winter bag (good to about -10F any more; in fact, it's my bed quilt right now), and a bivy sack, so I can do some nights out long as I watch the weather (which I do) and pick and choose a bit.
     
  10. Stone

    Stone Member

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    By the way, we're getting another significant dusting today. It's been snowing steadily for hours -- I'd say 2 - 3" new so far, on top of 7 or 8" from two previous storms recently -- and is predicted to continue through the afternoon, though by evening, it may become freezing rain, which could make things really nasty. Not sure I'll get a woods walk in today since I've got to walk downtown to the grocery for a medium run. (Out of beer, too!!!)
     
  11. Klynesquatch

    Klynesquatch Member

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    I was standing on top of that guys just a couple months ago! Has a great view of the mountains from the top
     
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  12. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Oh, how cool. Yes, I see you're from Alberta. Lucky guy. I came close to going there in the 90's; had a postdoc opportunity, but turned it down for other pursuits. Of all the western Canadian provinces, Alberta appeals most to me, in the cold rain shadow of those western mountains. I actually hope to live in Nunavut someday, for at least extended periods if not permanently.
     
  13. Klynesquatch

    Klynesquatch Member

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    Born and raised Albertan, and while it would be tough to pick the most beautiful place in Canada the mountains will always have a special place in my heart. If you ever get the chance to visit don't turn it down. The Rockies don't disappoint!
     
  14. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Oh, for sure, the Rockies rock. I started backpacking in them in my 20's after my first exposure in Colorado and Wyoming during a trip out at 22. Changed the life of that boy from Memphis. I finally got to live in them -- or on their southern end -- in my 30's and 40's during grad school in ABQ, followed by a teaching position there. LOTS of backpacking in the southern Rockies of NM (especially Sangre de Cristo east of Fanta Se (as I call it) in Pecos Wilderness, and up in S CO in the Weminuche Wilderness. One to two week expeditions to the latter every year for 8 (August).

    Here's one of my favorite camp pics, just west of the continental divide in Weminuche, upper head waters of the Animas River, trib of the Colorado. That's the Guardian in the background, eastern most peak of the Grenadier Range -- jagged, jagged peaks. This camp at about 11,000' at near the treeline was 3 days in from the trailhead on Rio Grande -- we had to wade across to get to trail, which could be really hairy after a lot of rain and snowmelt.

    Gaurdian from Rock Lake w tent 2.jpg

    That was in the mid-90's. I've still got that tent. It's in my big pack in the other room. I'm likely to use it here in the woods in question. (By the way, here, I'm at about 500' above sea level, but the forest ecosystems in this area -- the southern end of Maine's Great North Woods, which is the bottom end of taiga, is similar to what I'd see at 11k' in the image above -- lots of fir and spruce, and the climate is similar also.)

    After that I went to Oregon for 8 years, and was disappointed by the mountains there (among other things). In 2010, I came here to Maine -- long, long, sad story about what got me here, but it turned out for the better. More on that another time.

    Ok, the snow is picking up, and I've got to walk downtown for groceries...
     
  15. anrkst6973

    anrkst6973 Member

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    The outdoors is a whisper that calls and never stops is it not? I too share a fascination with the ice age but mine is the people,tools and knowledge that allowed our ancestors to survive such an environment.
     
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  16. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Well said, and indeed. Now that I have these woodlands so close -- just walk out my door and I'm there -- it's going to be harder for me to get my serious work done in this studio. :D

    I am as much interested in that aspect as I am the geology, climatology and ice sheet dynamics, all of which I study from a global perspective. Fascinating.

    But so are our ancestors who survived a million years of ice ages (roughly ten), during which climate could change 10X as much in a single decade as it has in the entire last 10,000 years. We're a stormworthy species. That fascinates me.

    I think of the native peoples -- Abinaki and related tribes -- who lived in this region before Europeans arrived. How any one could survive in this winter climate (let alone the Inuits further north) is amazing and fascinating to me. Here I need all this high tech gear just to camp in it before going back home where it's warm, and they lived in it 24/7/365.
     
  17. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    frigging love me some Polenta. Its the Sicilian in me, see......

    amazing photos NemStoneNem!
     
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  18. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Thanks, Bushy. Coming from you, that's a real complement.
    Just trying to keep up with your fine pictorial travel logs. ;)

    So, you got some Sicilian genes? Interesting. That just fits for what I know of you. :cool:
     
  19. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    nope...come to BC, Brother NemStoneNem.......

    we have MOUNTAINS....

    Alberta has some cow festival every year.....:p
     
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  20. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    GERMAN / SICILIAN parents.
     
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