Happy Birthday Carol

   Gail and I went to Madison to join the celebration of her mom's 90th birthday.  There was a fine party in the senior living apartment complex where she lives.  Her favorite accordion player, Sergei, played some tunes.

  The contra dance band Carol used to play with also played tunes.  Carol has been sidelined with arthritis and can no longer join them.  She has had to give up playing the saw too which was a disappointment to all.  No other complaints that I was aware of.

  An old favorite from the commune days, Tom, was there.  As were Gail's siblings, Martha and Geoff.

  There were cakes.  And gluten-free cupcakes.

   We all traveled pretty far to get there: Kristi, Geoff, Harper and Dusty came from California, Martha and Jeff drove 8,000 miles (as snowbirds returning north).  We stuck around for a few days and did other family things like dinner at a fine Mexican restaurant.  Gail and I got together with one of her college friends, and spent most of an afternoon walking around her old neighborhood and University of Madison campus.

 

    We went on a nice hike north of Madison with Geoff, Kristi, Harper and Dusty.

 

  

 

 

  We met up with Martha and Jeff for lunch and to try to see some bald eagles along the Wisconsin River in Sauk City.  A little time was spent at a playground where Auntie Gail showed the boys how to work the zip line.

 

 

 

   Before leaving town, we all spent a morning at the zoo.  Of course they had badgers, it's Madison.  They also had Tuesday/Thursday camels, and outside the zoo we got up close and personal with some sandhill cranes.

Local Winter Camping

 

  Instead of going to the Adirondacks for a winter camping trip, this year I stayed in Ithaca/Newfield/Enfield and spent a couple nights in the lean-to in Treman State Park.  I didn't take a picture of the lean-to so had to steal this picture from the internet.  When I was there, the hill behind it was snow-covered and there was more snow overall.  I got some good skiing in, but there was more ice-cover than snow.

 

  The view of downtown Ithaca and Cornell from the top of the hill above the lean-to.  Nice spot to watch the sun come up.

                                          

   The lean-to is located about 200 yards from Casella Waste Systems and the busiest highway in the county.  The back up beepers from the trucks, the drivers beeping their horns whenever they arrive and depart, and the dumpsters being dumped were all jolting at times.  Not the quietest camping experience I've ever had.  Fortunately, they were done by around 4 pm both evenings, and I got up and went exploring when they started up in the morning.  The wind mostly drowned out all but the jake brakes from semis on Rt. 13.

 

  The cabins would have provided a perfect spot to camp, even without access to get inside, but I was emphatically told I was not to set up on the porch of any of them.  I did go down to have breakfast and dinner a couple times to escape the horrendous noise at the lean-to.

 

  

  Though it's close enough to hike there via Buttermilk and the FLT in the summer, and I do that before heading to the mountains as a shakedown hike, I'd never even been to Treman in the winter. D'oh!  

  The banjo case was just the right height to set my stove on.  So versatile.  I got to play it when the afternoon sun filled the lean-to and my feet needed to cool off after several hours of skiing.

  A bunch of circumstances came together that made me decide to stay local instead of going to the Adirondacks.  I have been wanting to try out the skiing at Treman for many years and figured since we had enough snow at our house, and there was more than a foot in the hills east of town, there would be something in the middle there.  I was mistaken.  There was just barely enough to ski on.  The blue line of the top map is the extent of where I managed to get to over two days, about 15 miles.  I hoped to ski much of the Rim Trail, but it was too icy and was only accessible with spikes.  Outside of the gorge and with the exception of a couple hills, the Finger Lakes Trail isn't too hard to ski from the bottom of Lick Brook to Margaret's Woods Preserve.

  I had a visit from a bobcat right in front of the lean-to, but wasn't able to get a picture of it.  Lots of tracks though.  It doesn't seem to be bothered by the noise of the garbage trucks and lives in the area between the lean-to and the waste facility.  A couple bald eagles also flew right over and hung around the park for an evening and morning. 

  I thought I could ski down the park road to meet Gail when she picked me up.  I was mistaken.  Thankfully, I didn't end up like my friend who broke his leg when he camped here several years ago.

Snow, Ice, Skiing

 The cold and snow stuck around for a good bit of the winter, sometimes they were here at the same time.  Sometimes I had my phone/camera with me as I skied, walked the dog, and to work.

 

  On a day of work on a new ski trail in anticipation of more snow, I moved a log and disturbed someone's winter lodgings.                                                                                                                                             

  This deer has been around the hood for a few years.  After a probable encounter with a car early in its life, it has managed to continue to get around despite not learning the lesson to stay away from cars.

      

                                                                                                

 Views from the pedestrian bridge over Six Mile Creek.  Unusual ice/snow, the start of yet another huge apartment building, and the result of heavy rain switching over to snow.  

       

  During one spell when we didn't have snow in town, I made a trip to Hammond Hill.  I stopped at Tob's Bench for this picture and I might be mistaken, but I think that's Gibian Hill just right of center.

 

Local skiing was as good as it gets and even allowed some creek skiing.  This was a minor mishap and my feet didn't even get wet.                                                                                                                                    

                   

 Inspired by the Banff Mountain Film Festival, I decided to try to fill the unacceptable void of cross country skiing films.  It was late in the season, and I only got footage from the last outing of the season in Six Mile Creek and conditions were challenging.  This turn is tough under the best of powder and probably shouldn't be tried when it's icy, but I did.  For best results, go frame-by-frame between six and seven seconds.  I might get some additional footage next winter if we get more snow and a sunny day.                                                                                                     

  The Six Mile Creek ski trails are only partially represented on this website, but I contributed this picture (not taken on a trail) and like that it is on the homepage in the winter.  I can send you a map of the ski trails if you want.

100 Days

 Tommy celebrated his first 100 days of school.  He claimed that without the cane, he didn't look a day older than 80.

 Darby turned 50 (years) and still had enough lung capacity to blow out the candles.

Clown Show

 

 

We're sick. Let's hope laughter isn't the best medicine, but it helps.

From the West Coast

 

  Grandpa Frank got out to California for a visit with Matt, Jenica and the kids.  If I didn't know better, I'd say he photo shopped a picture of Matt in the shot from the beach with Cali.

Old Guys

 

    Bunch of guys who all turned 70 last year.  Not sure what year this is from.

  One of them wrote a book and dropped my name.