Headed to South Portland, ME on Saturday for 3 weeks. We were there last summer, so looking forward to returning. We are bringing all 3 dogs (One is a 6 month old pup), so it will be entertaining!
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What Do YOU Do During the Off Season aka Summer?
- Thread starter surfsnowgirl
- Start date
I'm going to Tuolumne Meadows with my family (sisters, mother, aunt, nieces and nephew and brothers-in-law), for four days. Then I have foot surgery.
I love Tuolumne!
The foot surgery, I'm not looking forward to, but I am looking forward to my leave of absence from work. I'm also hoping to be able to be on my feet without pain (after I heal).
I love Tuolumne!
The foot surgery, I'm not looking forward to, but I am looking forward to my leave of absence from work. I'm also hoping to be able to be on my feet without pain (after I heal).
- Joined
- May 2, 2017
- Posts
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The weather is looking pretty good through next week. You should check out one of the Casco bay islands for a day. Also the fishing should be heating up in ME with the hot weather pushing the stripers north.
We will take the ferry out somewhere. I want to do the mail ferry. Last year we went to Peaks Island.
+1 Love the Tioga Rd/Pass area of Yosemite. So overlooked, and so much fun there. It's been too long since I visited.
I try to go every summer, but didn't go last summer because of snow. We somehow got last minute campsite reservations this year after not being able to get them on the day the reservation window opened! I save my Yosemite Valley trips for spring or winter, and usually do that every year too.
Kids playing in the Tuolumne River.
My daughter and cousins in the valley in winter.
Finally bagged a hike that has been vexing me since last year.
I had previously made it to the waterfall and the first lake, but the second lake eluded me.
The first time I tried it, I started in the afternoon. The trail faded in and out, the cairns didn't follow the actual trail, I was alone, and no one else was on the trail past the first lake as it got later in the day. Eventually, at some point after I slipped and fell in the creek, I chose discretion over valor.
The second time I tried it, I went with a friend, and we started with plenty of time. But then it started snowing. It obscured even the really obvious trail to the waterfall. We made it to the waterfall and then to the first lake, but again, we chose discretion. Even then, we lost the trail on the way back, picking our way down a scree field and sliding down some sections on our butts.
SO. This Sunday. Early start - check. Hiking buddy - check. Clear skies - check. How would the curse assert itself?
Well, within a quarter mile of the trailhead, Cooper started limping. He'd torn a small chunk of his right hind paw pad. It was on the side of the pad, not the bottom. I had actually packed my first aid kit, which includes several rubber dog booties - sort of like balloons. I'd never used them, and it seemed like it could end poorly, but dang it - I wanted to get to the lake! So I put the bootie on him and hoped for the best.
Then within a mile of the trailhead, I heard my dogs barking frantically. I figured they had encountered another dog, or maybe a squirrel. But when I got there, I saw that they were standing on a rock far above a waterfall - barking at a mama mountain goat and her baby. Oh shit. I was pretty sure at least one of my dogs was going to die, and that's not an exaggeration. I'd actually been looking for goats - far up in the distance, close to Quandary Peak. Not right at the start of the trail, where there are lots of people.
I called the dogs. I guess I used my "I'm serious" voice - the one I've only used once before, when Cooper ran out onto ice and fell into a pond and seemed to be giving up. Because, amazingly, they actually did back off. They kept backing off a few feet and stopping, and I'd order them again, and they'd move another 10 feet, repeatedly. Bit by bit, I called them off, while also calling to my friend to take a picture of that goat! It would be amazing to have a photo of that first moment - Loki and the goat, nose to nose, maybe a foot apart.
I'm still not sure why she didn't head butt him out of existence, maybe into the falls. She was focused on keeping herself between the baby and any threat, so maybe with two potential predators, she wasn't comfortable charging.
After that, the curse seemed to let up. The bootie lasted for quite a while, though unfortunately it did come off, and I couldn't find it. I would never litter intentionally, and that trail is remarkably clear of human debris, so I do feel guilty about that. I put a second bootie on Cooper, and that lasted until we were scrambling up a particularly tricky rock face. He couldn't get traction with the bootie and didn't want to go up. I took off the bootie and gave him a boost. Remarkably, he didn't limp. I guess the tear had at least scabbed up a bit and wasn't so painful. Dogs are remarkably resilient.
The trail was still hard to find, and the cairns still led off trail. The cairns take you up a bunch of rock formations; the actual trail is dirt with some small creek crossings, but it's obscured by overgrowth so that you can really only see it on the way down. And finally, finally, I reached the second lake. The lake itself wasn't that scenic, but the meadow before it was just in absolute wildflower abandon. Gorgeous. A little hard to breathe at 12.5k feet, but hey.
We did take the trail on the way down, and I have the scratches down my legs to prove it. I think there's a catch 22 problem where people can't find the trail, so they follow the cairns, meaning that the bushes grow more, making it hard to find the trail, etc. The cairn route isn't bad, but it does require using hands. The trail is more mellow, although there's one part where the best route involves actually climbing vertically up maybe 15 feet - but the holds are huge, so even people without any climbing experience shouldn't find it hard. Your average 8 year old wouldn't hesitate. The dogs found some alternate route (there was a trail option, but it looked really annoying and honestly more tricky).
Altitude suppresses appetite - as we approached the car, I began fantasizing about the massive plates of food at Hacienda Real in Frisco. We managed to take the time to get showered before driving to Frisco, where the massive plates of food disappeared with alacrity.
Anyway, I am SO happy to have finally gotten to the lake, and it was beautiful, and it was a challenging and interesting trail, and I had great company. A++ , would do again.
Full album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMkkf5ZZWAc12qvZ6
I had previously made it to the waterfall and the first lake, but the second lake eluded me.
The first time I tried it, I started in the afternoon. The trail faded in and out, the cairns didn't follow the actual trail, I was alone, and no one else was on the trail past the first lake as it got later in the day. Eventually, at some point after I slipped and fell in the creek, I chose discretion over valor.
The second time I tried it, I went with a friend, and we started with plenty of time. But then it started snowing. It obscured even the really obvious trail to the waterfall. We made it to the waterfall and then to the first lake, but again, we chose discretion. Even then, we lost the trail on the way back, picking our way down a scree field and sliding down some sections on our butts.
SO. This Sunday. Early start - check. Hiking buddy - check. Clear skies - check. How would the curse assert itself?
Well, within a quarter mile of the trailhead, Cooper started limping. He'd torn a small chunk of his right hind paw pad. It was on the side of the pad, not the bottom. I had actually packed my first aid kit, which includes several rubber dog booties - sort of like balloons. I'd never used them, and it seemed like it could end poorly, but dang it - I wanted to get to the lake! So I put the bootie on him and hoped for the best.
Then within a mile of the trailhead, I heard my dogs barking frantically. I figured they had encountered another dog, or maybe a squirrel. But when I got there, I saw that they were standing on a rock far above a waterfall - barking at a mama mountain goat and her baby. Oh shit. I was pretty sure at least one of my dogs was going to die, and that's not an exaggeration. I'd actually been looking for goats - far up in the distance, close to Quandary Peak. Not right at the start of the trail, where there are lots of people.
I called the dogs. I guess I used my "I'm serious" voice - the one I've only used once before, when Cooper ran out onto ice and fell into a pond and seemed to be giving up. Because, amazingly, they actually did back off. They kept backing off a few feet and stopping, and I'd order them again, and they'd move another 10 feet, repeatedly. Bit by bit, I called them off, while also calling to my friend to take a picture of that goat! It would be amazing to have a photo of that first moment - Loki and the goat, nose to nose, maybe a foot apart.
I'm still not sure why she didn't head butt him out of existence, maybe into the falls. She was focused on keeping herself between the baby and any threat, so maybe with two potential predators, she wasn't comfortable charging.
After that, the curse seemed to let up. The bootie lasted for quite a while, though unfortunately it did come off, and I couldn't find it. I would never litter intentionally, and that trail is remarkably clear of human debris, so I do feel guilty about that. I put a second bootie on Cooper, and that lasted until we were scrambling up a particularly tricky rock face. He couldn't get traction with the bootie and didn't want to go up. I took off the bootie and gave him a boost. Remarkably, he didn't limp. I guess the tear had at least scabbed up a bit and wasn't so painful. Dogs are remarkably resilient.
The trail was still hard to find, and the cairns still led off trail. The cairns take you up a bunch of rock formations; the actual trail is dirt with some small creek crossings, but it's obscured by overgrowth so that you can really only see it on the way down. And finally, finally, I reached the second lake. The lake itself wasn't that scenic, but the meadow before it was just in absolute wildflower abandon. Gorgeous. A little hard to breathe at 12.5k feet, but hey.
We did take the trail on the way down, and I have the scratches down my legs to prove it. I think there's a catch 22 problem where people can't find the trail, so they follow the cairns, meaning that the bushes grow more, making it hard to find the trail, etc. The cairn route isn't bad, but it does require using hands. The trail is more mellow, although there's one part where the best route involves actually climbing vertically up maybe 15 feet - but the holds are huge, so even people without any climbing experience shouldn't find it hard. Your average 8 year old wouldn't hesitate. The dogs found some alternate route (there was a trail option, but it looked really annoying and honestly more tricky).
Altitude suppresses appetite - as we approached the car, I began fantasizing about the massive plates of food at Hacienda Real in Frisco. We managed to take the time to get showered before driving to Frisco, where the massive plates of food disappeared with alacrity.
Anyway, I am SO happy to have finally gotten to the lake, and it was beautiful, and it was a challenging and interesting trail, and I had great company. A++ , would do again.
Full album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMkkf5ZZWAc12qvZ6
For me it's been backpacking and fishing.
Here's a brook trout from Ten Lakes
And lower Tuolumne Valley below Glen Auldin... about 12-14 miles downstream of Tuolumne Meadows.
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^^My sisters and daughter and I backpacked into the Ten Lakes Basin a few years ago. I'd love to go further into the canyon sometime.
Thread Starter
TS
Work has been hell lately so I wasn't able to go sailing last night which bummed me out. Another 5 weeks of sailing left so I'm hoping to make another couple wednesday nights.
Tomorrow we're off to the scottish highlands. 3 nights in Glencoe, 3 nights in the Isle of Skye and 3 in Edinburgh. I know we'll be hitting the nevis mountain region as I dig going to ski resorts in the summer, we'll be hiking here. Also plan to hit Oban and Talisker. I bought a backpack cooler so we can grab n go meals from tesco for our hikes. Our friend Tracey is stoked because we're staying at the Clachaig Inn in Glenco and I guess she's ALWAYS wanted to stay here but it's always booked so finally we get to sleep here. Looks slightly picturesque.
Here's where we are staying on the Isle of Skye
Here's where we are staying in Edingurgh
I may skip the edinburgh castle tour as I've done that already so I'll probably go find a pub to hang out in on the high street while they do this.
Tracey's my friend with the house in vermont and we go overseas every other year. We love traveling with her because she's not into motel/hotel chains and finds these awesome, unique places for us to stay.
Going to europe in 2 years so I can't wait to see where she has us stay then.
Tomorrow we're off to the scottish highlands. 3 nights in Glencoe, 3 nights in the Isle of Skye and 3 in Edinburgh. I know we'll be hitting the nevis mountain region as I dig going to ski resorts in the summer, we'll be hiking here. Also plan to hit Oban and Talisker. I bought a backpack cooler so we can grab n go meals from tesco for our hikes. Our friend Tracey is stoked because we're staying at the Clachaig Inn in Glenco and I guess she's ALWAYS wanted to stay here but it's always booked so finally we get to sleep here. Looks slightly picturesque.
Here's where we are staying on the Isle of Skye
Here's where we are staying in Edingurgh
I may skip the edinburgh castle tour as I've done that already so I'll probably go find a pub to hang out in on the high street while they do this.
Tracey's my friend with the house in vermont and we go overseas every other year. We love traveling with her because she's not into motel/hotel chains and finds these awesome, unique places for us to stay.
Going to europe in 2 years so I can't wait to see where she has us stay then.
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I celebrated Colorado Day with another trip up Sanitas tonight.
Yep. In fact, the Americorps volunteers were reaching the bottom as I started up. They've made significant progress since my last trip. I should have taken pics on the approach but it's a series of stairs ('cause there aren't enough on that hike!) but I'm not sure what they'll do with the dirt part to the side.
Many PUGSKI people know that I like home owner projects. So one more project off my "Honey Do List".
Install carpet runner and brass retainer bars on 15 steps. Drilling all the pilot holes in the oak steps so I could screw in the brackets was a bit of a challenge.
Install carpet runner and brass retainer bars on 15 steps. Drilling all the pilot holes in the oak steps so I could screw in the brackets was a bit of a challenge.
I threw out an entire 13 gallon trash can full of paperwork last weekend. Kept maybe 5 sheets of paper out of all of that. Eric's old papers, not mine. Nobody needs grocery receipts from 2002 or whatever. It barely made a dent, though, in the clutter.
Starting to collect and advertise things to sell - a carbon frame road bike, a Garmin InReach, and I'll have to figure out what the hell all his pilot stuff is.
Starting to collect and advertise things to sell - a carbon frame road bike, a Garmin InReach, and I'll have to figure out what the hell all his pilot stuff is.
You do know that drilling through oak is not like drilling through pine? Also four holes per step and 15 steps that is 60 holes. After the first few steps it just gets down to putting up with the same job over and over again. BTW the top photo is a "Brace" that is the handle for a boring bit, the bottom one is a drill.
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