Members of Outdoor Recreation for Seniors (ORFS) had their Tuesday 10 am hike and lunch led by Al and Eileen.
Al described options for hiking paths: dirt road, paved road, and forest.
The hike included the trails of Dexter's Inn
Our trail visited Crowther Chapel
Eileen shared her bear encounter experience.
Nancy demonstrated her protection from black flies.
Al entertained the group with his rendition of rhyme schemes
Directions:
from Rte 11 Sunapee, take 103B 1/2 mi, Rt on Stagecoach Rd 1.0 mi, Rt on
Young Hill Rd 1/2 mi, L on Pine Ridge
Road – go around loop counter clockwise ¼ mi where you see the view.
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are also available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle .
My grandson Carson, his father Shaun, and his Uncle Tim, celebrated Carson's 2018 graduation from Harrison High School, Kennesaw, Georgia with a tandem sky jump.
They jumped from 14,600 feet. The total jump took approximately 4 1/2 minutes. The free fall was one minute, followed by a 3 1/2 minute parachute flight to a safe landing.
Carson will be attending the University of Mississippi this Fall. Carson's sister, Madison, did the skydive in 2016. She is a senior at Auburn University.
Carson Skydiving 2018
Shaun Skydiving 2018 Timothy Skydiving 2018
Maddi Skydiving 2016
Video by a Proud Grandfather and Father Preparation, Pre and Post Interviews
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends" Steve's 5th book is now available. Outdoor Play Volume IIhas trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are also available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle .
I have lived in New Hampshire for many years and have had
glimpses of black bears as they crossed my hiking paths or roads.These brief sightings were so quick I was never
able to get a picture.
I also heard “Do not get too close to a bear – particularly when
cubs are present”. With this caution, last Monday I was in my front yard in Bedford,
and lo and behold a mother bear with four cubs following, crossed the road … a
100 or so feet in front of me.
With iPhone in hand, I stealthily walked up the road to see
if I could spot where the bears entered the leafy green and dark woods. I turned onto my neighbor’s lawn outside the forest.
No sooner did I make the turn, when over the knoll ahead was
a large growling upright bear facing me with paws up ready to box. The mother was protecting her cubs and
warning me to “stay away”. With camera
rolling, I was able to get a glimpse of her standing. Then returning to all
fours, she lumbered into a dark hole in the forest where she had already cleared
her cubs to safety.
This was my first challenge by a bear – and a warning, “do
not get too close”.
My wife joined me for a view and we watched the bear from the top of the mound ... maybe
fifty feet from the dark forest hole where the bear was camouflaged in the
woods. We could only see her eyes, nose, and slight body movement. The mother was in front
of a tree urging her cubs to climb the tree.
As we silently watched waiting for a better
picture, she unexpectedly roared whilerushing a few feet out of the woods ... and immediately returned to her black forested cave.She was again challenging
us to keep away from her cubs ... and to leave. This was a more vicious second warning "to leave".
This is when I realized, “too close to a bear”, means being
within sight of the bear.
We retreated to the road, and walked to the other side of the
woods. We could see one of the cubs clinging high in a tree. We knew the mother was still below the treed
cubs, and we nervously kept an eye on the ground level, anticipating a charging bear from the woods.
It was time to leave before my foolish bravery resulted in personal
danger.
My lesson and warning to all my readers is, if you want to observe
a wilderness bear, stay out of its sight ... as far away as you can. Use your zoom camera lens, and if you do not
have a zoom lens, then leave.
Remember, getting close to a bear, means staying out of
sight of the bear.
++++++++++++++++++
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle.
Let's go hiking with the ORFS! Today's outdoor trek will be in Hanover, NH at the Mink Brook Nature Preserve. Weather is sunny and in the low 70's ...AND the black flies are still sleeping! The Mink Brook Nature Preserve protects habitat for wild
brook trout, bears, and many other creatures while offering a natural retreat
within walking distance of downtown Hanover. Owned by the Hanover Conservancy,
this 112-acre preserve is the result of deep generosity and community spirit. Through
the millennia, Mosbasak Sibosis (“Mink Brook” in Abenaki) has been an important
center of life for Native Americans and remains so today. (Mink Brook Nature Preserve Map and Guide)
The above map’s red arrows
begin and end at the Parking (P) area and proceeds through the wooden gate onto
Quinn Trail along Mink Brook; continues on the Forest Loop; crosses the Bridge
to Trout Brook Trail; and returns back to the Bridge and exits at the wood gate
on Quinn Trail.Our trek took about 1 ½
hours.
Who are the ORFS?
The Outdoor Recreation for
Seniors (ORFS) group meets every Tuesday year-round at 10 am.In the summer we kayak/canoe, swim and
hike.In the fall we hike, and in the
winter we snowshoe and cross-country ski.Our trips are from 1-1/2 to 2 hours, followed by lunch.
Directions and location are
available for our Tuesday 10 am outings via email and the monthly New London
Chapin Senior Center Courier newsletter. To learn more and join, contact the
Chapin Senior Center at 357 pleasant Street, PO Box 1263, New London, New
Hampshire 03752 or go to their web site at http://www.coachapincenter.org
ORFS is a very informal
group and participation is for all outdoor enthusiasts wanting guaranteed good
exercise with a friendly fun group. References
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Kindle.
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle .
Join ORFS The Outdoor Recreation for Seniors (ORFS) group meets every Tuesday year-round at 10 am. In the summer we kayak/canoe, swim and hike. In the fall we hike, and in the winter we snowshoe, cross-country ski and bowl. Our trips are from 1-1/2 to 2 hours, followed by lunch. Directions and location are available for our Tuesday 10 am outings via email and the monthly New London Chapin Senior Center Courier newsletter. To learn more and join, contact the Chapin Senior Center at 357 pleasant Street, PO Box 1263, New London, New Hampshire 03752 or go to their web site at http://www.coachapincenter.org ORFS is a very informal group and participation is for all outdoor enthusiasts wanting guaranteed good exercise with a friendly fun group.
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are also available as e-Books at Kindle and hard copy at Amazon.com
The Sunapee, Ragged, and Kearsarge (SRK)
Greenway is a 75-mile loop of hiking trails in central New Hampshire. The
Greenway Trail System circles the Lake Sunapee area and
connects Sunapee, Ragged, and Kearsarge Mountains.
Our quest today is shown below: Section 7 topographical
map of the SRKG with a descriptive title of Trail 7 NH Route 4A to Wilmot
Center.This 4.4-mile section involves
two trails: the Bog Mountain Trail and Kimpton Brook Trail. This was our first
time on section 7, specifically Bog Mountain, for Patty, Jim and myself.
This Greenway map shows our
trip in green. The Greenway estimated time to hike is 3 hours.On our easterly ascent, we stopped frequently
for water breaks, and once for a snack, and took 20 to 30 minutes at the
summit.On our hike down to the western
trailhead terminus we stopped a few times for water, and then once for snack.Our total time for Section 7 was just under four hours.
This section of the SRKG is a
mixture of well developed wooded trails and woods-logging roads. Our goal was
to summit Bog Mountain, 1,787 feet, starting at the eastern trailhead parking
lot at the Wilmot Town Hall. We would be
doing all of section 7.
We picked up the bog mountain trail
within a minute of walking from the parking lot.This eastern side of the mountain was very
rocky, and reminded me of the saying, “Don’t take NH for Granite”.The trail up to the summit followed a vein of
granite appearing to be centuries ago, reminding me of previous hikes to the
White Mountains of NH with plenty of granite rocks.
For most of the eastern trail up to
the summit the trapezoid signs readily kept us on the trail.The views from the barren summit of Bog
Mountain was marvelous.We easily
recognized Mt Sunapee and Kearsarge Mountain and their surrounding mountains. Certainly,
well worth our trek.
The hike from the summit downward
to our western trail terminus was easier than the eastern side.However, the trail signs from the summit to
the western terminus were not always readily visible.It appears like the signage was made for
hikers entering on the western trailhead, as we frequently had to pause to locate
the trapezoid signs, and often spotted them only when we looked behind us from
whence we came.
We exited the Bog
Mountain Trail and crossed Stearns Road onto Kimpton Brook Trail.The Kimpton Brook Trail had large tree
blowdowns from winter storms that blocked the trail.Mixed into this, which made the Kimpton Brook
Trail hike exciting, was crossing at least 4 streams by leaping rock to rock,
using a blowdown tree, or a hewed log maybe 10 inches in diameter.
We now, never have to say, “I wish
I had hiked the SRG greenway section over Bog Mountain.”
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) Trails Hiked by OutdoorSteve and Friends - Click below links
++++++++++++++++++ " Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
http://outdoorsteve.com/Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life. Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Kindle and hardcopy at Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London, NH, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Gift Shop, Lebanon, NH.
April 2018: Two Days at Mount Sunapee and One Day at Okemo Mountain
For a bonus video check out
Carson, Nicholas, and Tim skiing Mt. Sunapee in February
++++++++++++++++++
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as an e-Book at Kindle and hard copy at Amazon.com
Learning, opportunities, and fun can often
come in threes.First was when my wife
and I joined the Outdoor Recreation for Seniors
(ORFS) group and its emphasis on weekly year-round hiking and paddling in
the Lake Sunapee-Dartmouth region. Through ORFS hikes, I recognized my second opportunity, discussed in my January 2018 Blog
post titled, New London, NH Conservation Commission web site .The Conservation Commission web sited listed 29 trail hikes in the
New London area.This ORFS connection further
led to my third opportunity, learning more about,theSunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition(SRKG)and the 14 trails listed in its guide.
And yes, there is an overlap of trails between these two organizations.Wow!Maybe I should create a list of those hikes I have done, and those I need to do?
Enough said, let me start with my
latest hike and blog post, and that is the 4.3-mile Protectworth Trail in
Springfield, NH.Go to the SKRG site and
see Trail Map 4for a topographical map of the Trail.
The ORFS group introduced me to the Protectworth Trail as one of their Tuesday winter hikes. On that day the ORFS hiked one mile of it (actually
2 miles as we snowshoed in one mile, and then backtracked to our starting
trailhead).See my Blog post of April 2,2018 for more on this ORFS trip. I was thrilled with this
trail because of the snow, blue sky, crisp teen temperatures, no wind, snow-covered
tree canopy, and my ORFS friends.So much
so that a few days after the hike, I asked my son Tim and friend Mike to join
me in hiking the 4.3-mile Protectworth Trail from its start on Route 114 in Springfield,
NH, and finishing at its western trailhead on Baptist Pond at the intersection
of Stoneybrook Road (also known as Baptist Pond Road) and Deer Road.
The Springfield section of the SKRG
is named the Protectworth Trail in honor of the original name given to the land
by the Portsmouth proprietors in 1778.This section of the SKRG is a combination of gravel and wood roads.It has a few short steep hills on the class
VI roads.
We took two cars – Tim drove to the
Deer Road-Stoneybrook Trailhead and parked in an area off Deer Road.Mike and I met Tim there, and we drove in my Jeep
to the eastern trailhead on Route 114 to start our trek.
Do we wear snowshoes, microspikes or just our winter hiking boots?
For the ORFS hike, due to deep snow
on the trail, we all wore snowshoes and gaiters. They were a necessity because we did some bushwhacking on ungroomed side trails off this class VI trail.
When Tim, Mike and I arrived at the
Route 114 trailhead we first checked the trail, and the snow was now packed plus
had ice spots.We elected to wear our microspikes.
Scouting the Trail
A few days before the hike, my wife
and I scouted the Deer Road/Stoney Road western terminus of the Protectworth
Trail by driving to where it ended on Stoney Brook Road, locating the Protectworth
trail sign, and driving a ways down the dirt Deer Road.
This would be my first time doing
the entire Protectworth Trail, so for safety reasons (do not get lost!) I brought
my compass along with the SRKG topo map.
SooNipi Magazine Fall 2015 by Ron Garceau
Ron Garceau, a friend and the editor of
SooNipi Magazine, had written a very nice article in the Fall 2015 issue. The person who had planned the ORFS hike of Protectworth Trail had shared with me
the below two pages from the SooNipi article.I do believe if you enlarge the images, you can clearly read these two
pages.I share these pages with
permission from Ron Garceau.Indeed, Ron’s
hike was in the fall, whereas our hike was in the winter …covering the same delightful
Protectworth Trail.
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) Trails Hiked by OutdoorSteve and Friends - Click below links
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life. Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Kindle and hardcopy at Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London, NH, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Gift Shop, Lebanon, NH.
This Tuesday’s 10 am trek for the Outdoor Recreation for Seniors
(ORFS) was very special. It began with a choice of doing a 3-mile hike around
Lake Kolelemook in Springfield, NH, or doing a snowshoe trek on the Protectworth
Trail, part of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG).
More so, after the hike, the annual celebration of the March
Equinox would begin at our hosts, the Coombs.Kathy and Bill invite the ORFS to adorn themselves with provided flowers
and greenery and partake in Kathy's Spring Offerings.We dance to our own music and
participate in a "New Beginnings" ceremony.
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) is a great circle of trail corridors and conserved lands providing hikers
with minimally-developed access to the mountains, lakes, vistas and historical
sites of the region. The “necklace” trail comprises over 75 trail miles,
created with the cooperation of landowners and local authorities, through the
forests, over mountains and, where appropriate, via old roads, now unsuitable
for wheeled traffic but more extensively used as much as two centuries ago.
The Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway Trail Guide topological
Map 4 below shows the Protectworth Trail in Springfield, NH. We trekked on the
trail about one and a half hours. This trail is Class VI.It had been previously groomed for snow
mobiles, cross country skiers, and hikers.Besides
staying on the main trail, we also added some bushwhacking (making our own side
trails in deep snow).
We did not hike
the full Protectworth Trail (4.3 miles) today, but after 45 minutes on the trail, we
turned around and returned to the route 114 trail-head from whence we started. I got enough sense of this beautiful trail, to
plan a return to complete the full Protectworth Trail within the SRKG.
Given I chose the
Protectworth Trail to snowshoe, the video below gives you a sense of our trek, and
then continues to the “party peoples” celebration of spring and new beginnings …
and Bill’s sharing of his UFO experiences.
References
·Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition
(SRKG and Greenwayhttp://www.srkg.com/
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve's 5th book, Outdoor Play Fun 4 4 Seasons Volume II, is now available
Outdoor Play Volume II has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book motivates friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as an e-Book at Kindle and hard copy at Amazon.com
Purchase at www.amazon.com and www.outdoorsteve.com
About OutdoorSteve
OutdoorSteve is more than just a blog; it is a way of life. OutdoorSteve is Steve Priest sharing his outdoor adventures and life experiences. OutdoorSteve includes blog posts, books, short stories, videos, lectures, and speaking events. To learn more or to book Steve for your next event email Steve atsteve@outdoorsteve.com or visit him on the web at OutdoorSteve.com
Outdoor Enthusiast provides outdoor places to go and things to do. Steve's mission is to motivate and encourage families and individuals to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Readers are encouraged to post and share their Comments.
When trying to explain my enthusiasm for outdoor actions, I paraphrase Thoreau's, "Discover I had not lived" with the expression, "Never say, 'I wish I had'."
The book provides places to go and things to do, but moreover the author’s stories and “I wish I had…” show individuals can, like the author, overcome self-made barriers and obstacles of health, physical, mental, and injury problems.
My outdoor pursuit began after a torn Achilles tendon, a resultant limp, and weight gain. I turned to physical activity in search of a stress reliever as well as a "lifestyle for the long haul."
My writings on 'Outdoor Play' enthusiastically portray the entertainment of the outdoors. Travel with me and meet the challenges of outdoor recreation that are the cornerstone of my lectures and stories.
I reside in Sunapee, New Hampshire with Catherine, my wife. We have two sons and two grandchildren.
If you're interested in having me speak, you can email me at steve@outdoorsteve.com or visit www.outdoorsteve.com.
