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Flying Seattle!

I usually get to altitude by climbing mountains, but yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to fly around the Seattle area with my former student Jon Howell , who now has his pilot’s license and loves to fly. After crawling through Bellevue rush hour we arrived at the Renton airport and went through pre-flight checks on the little Cessna Skyhawk II. The plan was to fly up to Friday Harbor in the San Juan islands, for dinner, but the clouds meant he would need to fly IFR (instrument) rather than VFR (visual) rules. Jon is qualified for IFR but there one of the lights was out and there were reports of something flaky in one radio… discretion being the better part of valor, we instead took a VFR spin around Seattle under the cloud deck, cruising at 1500′. Quite exciting! Nice views of the city and lakes and sound. We even flew right over SeaTac airport while jetliners landed below us. Wow. Check out the photo gallery.

And for dessert, we picked big juicy blackberries along the access road.

Thanks Jon!

Four days, Six hikes

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend three nights at the beautiful and historic Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH, in the heart of the White Mountains and in full view of the Presidential Range. I took a few photos of the resort and its view.

Mt. Washington Hotel and Presies — Mt. Washington Hotel and Presidential Range

Although I was there for an office retreat, I took advantage of the free time before breakfast, and before dinner, to enjoy six short hikes around the area. On top of my longer hike to Mount Ellen on Sunday, it’s been a 30.3-mile week. You can view all photos, in roughly reverse order, or check out each hike below.

Tue PM: Mount Hale [photos] 4.4mi
Wed AM: Mount Willard [photos] 3.2mi
Wed PM: Ammonoosic River [photos] 3.0mi
Thu AM: Sugarloaf mountains [photos] 3.2mi
Fri AM: Mount Oscar [photos] ~3mi
Fri PM: Arethusa Falls and Frankenstein Cliffs [photos] 5.1mi

Although these are small peaks – only Mount Hale counts as a 4000’er – most of them have great views. Indeed, only Mount Hale had no view at all. My favorites were Willard, Sugarloaf, and Ammonosic Upper Falls and Arethusa Falls. On Mount Oscar (the top of Bretton Woods ski area) I had views west at Mount Hale and the Sugarloafs, and east to a glorious sunrise over Mount Washington. I also found that early mornings are great for spotting wildlife – a large turkey on the Willard trail and a bear cub near the Sugarloafs. What a great week!

Mount Ellen, VT

A nice hike today with long-time friend Lelia. We zipped up Mount Ellen, on the Long Trail in Vermont, from the west via the Jerusalem Trail. It was a cloudy day, threatening rain, but we reached the treed summit in two hours and spent a pleasant hour sitting at the top of the Sugarbush chairlift enjoying the sun-speckled view to the east. Continue reading “Mount Ellen, VT”

Noonmark mountain

Last week Andy and I had to drop off John at Camp Dudley a day early, so we spent the day hiking in the nearby Adirondack Mountains. These mountains were my childhood stomping ground, and it’s always a treat to be able to visit there again and climb mountains that, in some cases, I climbed 40 years earlier. Continue reading “Noonmark mountain”

Appalachian Trail backpacking

The boys and I recently took a three-day backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) not far from home. [See photo gallery.] Pam dropped us off at a remote road crossing on Cape Moonshine Road, Lake Armington and just south of Ore Hill. Andy and John were wearing new backpacks and carrying more than they ever had before, which was helpful, but my pack still managed to weigh in at 52 pounds. It’s a good thing we didn’t have an aggressive agenda.

Continue reading “Appalachian Trail backpacking”

A week in the Lake District of England

map showing location of Ambleside in UK — Ambleside is in northwestern England

[see SmugMug gallery for more photos]

Every year I attend the MobiSys conference; this year it was held in the beautiful Lake District of northwestern England. I had heard so much about this area – a walker’s paradise, people said – so I decided to go early and to bring along my son John. We flew from Manchester to Manchester (NH to UK, that is) and drove to Ambleside, in the center of the Lake District. It was pouring rain, but the rental-car agent assured us that it wouldn’t last (more on that later). Continue reading “A week in the Lake District of England”

Welcome to my new blog site!

With the demise of MobileMe hosting of iWeb sites, I decided to give WordPress a try. I’m sitting here with my son in the Philadelphia airport just about to head out on our latest adventure: 10 days in the Lakes District of western England, including a visit to my home town – literally, my birthplace, near Manchester.

dave

Back to Moosilauke

I can think of few times when I’ve been on the summit of Moosilauke with such deep blue skies and warm sunny temperatures.

Although the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer – well, actually, it’s been warm all winter – I am not quite ready to let go of winter. A surprise snowfall of 4” of powder early on Saturday morning, plus a forecast for a warm sunny day today, instigated a repeat visit to Moosilauke via the Glenncliff trail. I rallied David and Kathy Hooke – recalling our visit of last February. On that trip, we were lucky to encounter several feet of fresh powder. Today, a few inches of fresh snow made a well-packed (and icy) trail a joy to climb.

David on the Moosilauke summit, with the Franconia Range beyond.

We saw perhaps two dozen other people on the trail or on the summit. Clearly we weren’t the only folks with the good sense to hit the trail today. The sun was warm, the snow fluffy, and the hills windless. We did hit some wind on the summit, but the temp was 26˚F and quite comfortable. On the trip down the snow started to get mushy, then slushy, then running water, and finally mud. At the parking lot it was 46˚F. Warm day!

Check out the photos (and movies).

Back to Bangalore

I was back in India to attend COMSNETS conference and the NetHealth workshop.

I have been fortunate to return to Bangalore every January, since we left there in May 2009. The main reason is to attend an important conference on computer networks, an opportunity to meet researchers from my field. But I always take the opportunity to visit old friends and favorite places. Read on!

Backpacking 2011

Two brief backpacking trips.

Somehow we never got around to our annual late-August family backpacking trip. I was determined to get out, anyway, so we took two short trips. On September 30, Andy and John and I headed directly from school to a trailhead on the west side of Moose Mountain. We hiked up to reach the A.T. where it crosses a col between north and south peak, then pulled into the shelter just as it got dark and began to rain. We poked around in the dark looking for the water supply, and settled in just as a huge thunderstorm struck. Nothing like being in an open shelter, on a ridgeline, in a thunderstorm! We had to leave the next morning, skipping our second night out, because John was feeling ill.

Andy and John backpacking on Moose Mountain.

Two weeks later, Andy and Mara and I headed for Holts Ledge, hiking up to Trapper John shelter late on Saturday afternoon, with just enough daylight to explore a bit and then settle in. It rained overnight, but the next morning we were able to climb up to Holts Ledge for a view of the fall colors.

Mara and Andy can’t wait for ski season, as we visit the top of Holt’s Ledge during the peak of foliage season.

I had only my iPhone, and limited light, but took some photos.

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2021, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.