Outdoors – Page 14

Moosilauke – winter or spring?

Winter on the summit – spring at the base.

I had already started putting away my winter gear – assuming that, it being April, my winter adventures were at an end. I should know better, because New Hampshire often plays tricks with spring. Three days ago, in the week of April Fools, New England was hit with a powerful nor’easter storm that brought us 40 hours of snowfall. Here at home the snow was wet spring snow – delivering a lot of moisture but melting so quickly that we never accumulated more than 3-6″ of depth. In the three warm days hence, much of that snow has melted, or will be gone soon.

I knew the story would be very different at altitude: in the higher peaks of the White Mountains the rain would have turned to snow sooner, stayed as snow longer, and fallen as dry, fluffy powder. With the weather clearing today, I just had to get up there, up high, to play in this new powder. I was not disappointed. Read on, and check out the gallery of this winter wonderland!

The “Balcony” along the Gorge Brook Trail, Mount Moosilauke.
Normally a rough and rocky traverse, today the trail was smooth and featureless.

Spring snowstorm

Wet and sticky.

We’ve just concluded a spring snowstorm – in April. It was unusually large and long, lasting over 40 hours and dumping 3-6″ in our area… but possibly several feet at higher elevation. These spring storms can often bring the greatest snowfall because they result from the collision of warm, moist air arriving from the south, and cold, dry air from the north. They bring sticky, wet snow, which coats everything beautifully with fat snowflakes – but can also bring down trees and branches, causing power outages. We lost power this morning, and I went out to photograph the beauty; see the gallery!

Northern Lights

Two brilliant nights, above the Arctic Circle.

As noted in the prior post, we spent four nights in Saariselkä, near the northern tip of Finland. We stayed at the “Northern Lights Village,” which we all hoped was eponymously named! Guests are housed in individual little cabins, called “aurora cabins,” which have glass across half their roof, and a special in-room tablet computer that rings a gentle alarm whenever the Northern Lights are visible. We were all hopeful to see the aurora borealis, at least once. We did! Read on, and check out the photo gallery!

Lapland

Northern Finland – Sami culture, reindeer, dogsleds, and more.

After our day in Helsinki (Finland) and our day in Tallinn (Estonia), we hopped on a Finnair flight to the northern tip of Finland – specifically, to the tiny town of Saariselkä, where one can downhill ski at the northern-most lift-skiing resort in the world, cross-country ski on an extensive trail network, explore reindeer farms, experience dogsledding, and more. We stayed four nights at the “Northern Lights Village,” a delightful resort in the middle of all these delightful opportunities. Read on, and check out the photo gallery for more!

David skied on nordic skis to the summit of Saariselkä, Finland.

Wildlife camera – February

New cameras and exciting footage!

As you may recall from my prior blog post, I purchased and deployed two more wildlife cameras, allowing me to explore several interesting locations simultaneously. I quickly captured some exciting video of a fisher, a small but fearsome predator I’ve never truly seen in the wild. The new cameras were blurry, and flaky; after numerous iterations with tech support they sent me two new cameras. So I have lots of video to share this month! Check out this new video of the fisher, nice and clear. Later, watch the deer sniff my camera.
Read on, though, for the most exciting video!

Wildlife camera – January

Deer, fox, coyote, and fisher!

Winter has been fickle this year – bringing us some good snowfalls, but also tremendously warm weather and bare ground. I expanded my set of wildlife cameras from two to four, and explored several new locations in the forest near my home. Check out the video! I caught many videos of white-tailed deer, including an interesting behavior: food is scarce for them in winter, so they browse on the thin branches of hemlock trees. I placed a camera next to a fresh fallen hemlock, surrounded by deer tracks, indicating they come often to nibble.

I also caught two red fox running by on a brilliant sunny day and a glimpse of a coyote trotting by in the middle of the night. Most exciting, though, was the fisher, a well-known local animal I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen. “The fisher (Pekania pennanti) is a carnivorous mammal native to North America, a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern United States. … It is sometimes referred to as a fisher cat, although it is not a cat.” [Wikipedia] Indeed, Wikipedia’s image of the fisher in its winter coat is a dead ringer for what we see in my video:

By http://www.ForestWander.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 us, Link

Unfortunately, my fisher video came from one of the two new cameras, which seem to be perpetually out of focus. I’ve tried numerous tests and fixes, and communicated with tech support, to no avail. They are sending replacement cameras, so I hope February will bring me more clear video!

Moosilauke rime

A beautiful day on a favorite peak.

Moosilauke is my favorite mountain, and I visit often. Nonetheless, it had been nearly a year since my last visit – far longer than my usual time away – and I was itching to get back up there. Today’s weather forecast promised moderate temperatures and clear skies – and I knew from recent weather that these popular trails should be well packed from the storms two and three weeks ago. Although I got a late start (hitting the trail at 11am), it turned out to be a fantastic day to be in the mountains. Read on!

David at the summit sign for Mount Moosilauke.

Sunday Cube

Mount Cube with a dusting of snow.

It has been a warm week, complete with rain, sleet, and drizzle. Bleah – much of the beautiful snow we had last week has compacted, and the frozen ponds and rivers are looking rather soft. Nonetheless I was eager to get out on the trail, so I headed for an old standby, Mount Cube. The sky was cloudy but I was rewarded with views both close and distant. Read on!

Wright’s Mountain

A gem of the upper valley.

After another week of snow and cold weather – that allowed the snow to remain soft and powdery – it was time to get out on the trail again. Some friends suggested Wright’s Mountain, outside Bradford VT. It has a lovely network of trails, maintained by local volunteers. It’s not a tall mountain, nor are its trails long, but on a single-digit kind of day it makes for a nice morning outing.

View from summit of Wright Mountain, Vermont.

Ski season

It has finally snowed – two or three good dumps of snow, over the past two weeks. Although it rained on the snow last week, it stayed cold all this week, so last week’s snow was compressed and hardened by the rain, and this week’s snow formed a wonderfully fluffy powder on top of that base. Today I had a chance to get out skiing, for the first time this season. A friend here in Lyme provides an incredible community service – he grooms several kilometers of trails for nordic skiing, classic style. These trails are a short drive from my house, and they wander through the farm fields and timber forests of central Lyme. I made a quick couple of loops in the lower fields this afternoon… just me and the breeze and a light falling snow. Deer tracks criss-crossed the field, and a barred owl soared silently over the meadow.