Kinsman Mountain Backpacking

We went backpacking in Kinsman mountain in the White Mountain National Forest, New England. This is the second backpacking of 2019.

There are many spring stuff coming, however, still there is a lot of snow above 3000 feet high. It is a good mixture of the spring and winter, and nice to see the changing of seasons.

Trailhead

First, we started at Mount Kinsman trailhead. There were only three cars parked. 

As you can see in the picture, there is no snow at all! It has been a while to walk on soil without seeing snow. 

Glacier Lily

 

 

There are several small streams crossing the trail.  Last weekend, I saw Glacier lily preparing to come out. Now this weekend, flowers are there. Not only Glacier lilies, but also trillium are there, too.

Trillium

Stream

Small Falls

 

 

 

 

As hiking, there are some more stream crossing. Because snow is melting a lot in this season, there is a lot of water. Spending time in drought in California, I feel this amount of water everywhere is stunning. When I was in California, I hiked everywhere, and I would see dry creeks ALL THE TIME. 

This tremendous amount of water is the key for the New England's forests. 

Junction

 

 

After 1.9 miles, there is a junction. One is to our destination, Mount Kinsman, and the other is to a view point, Bald Peak. Because it was only 0.2 mile detour, we checked it out. 

Bald Peak

 

After 0.2 mile, suddenly mountain range showed up. It is possible to see Vermont mountain as well. It is a good view. 

On the way back, there were people going only up to Bald peak. It would be a nice short hike for local people. For only going to Bald Peak, there is no need to bring microspikes. The local groups had dogs. Dogs are very cute. 2 dogs growled at Mr.N.  (1 dog from first group, and the other from female group).

 Soon after this junction, uphill is steeper, and snow showed up. There is a monorail all the way and microspikes are essential. 

Along monorail is postholy, so it was tough to stay on the monorail.  Before heading to Kinsman peaks, we first went to Kinsman pond tentsite and set up the tent. Then with only light amount of stuff we climbed the peaks. Under the condition of monorail, it was so much easier with light backpack.

North Kinsman

2 more miles of uphill, then first pek is North Kinsman was there! The view is very good. The last few weekends, we hiked and found us in the clouds without view, so it was a great pleasure. It was very nice to see the mountains to the edge of clouds. 

rock chair

Then 0.8 mile more walk, south Kinsman appeared. The view is mostly similar to the North peak, but there was a chair made from rocks. It reminded me of Boulder Peak in Glacier National Park.

After we checked the two Kinsman mountains, we went back to the tentsite and had pasta, tea, salmon crackers, and chocolate. The air at night was a little cold, but with multiple layers and winter sleeping pad, I was able to survive. 

The really good thing was that the place we camped was pretty forest covered with moss. 

Tree with moss

A long time ago, one hiker said to me, "Wow. This tree is covered with pretty moss. This is amazing." and he stopped for a long time. At that time I thought, "What are you doing? Come on. I don't care about the moss. Let's go to the summit! "

Now after decades of hiking, I started understanding the beauty of moss. This was a little good discovery of myself. I thought that I reached to the point where I see the deep beauty of trees covered with moss. Moss forest is pretty partly because it represents the piece of long time. 

 

 

 

Forest

今週末はキンズマンマウンテンへバックパッキングへ出かけた。2019年2回目のバックパッキングだ。2日間で１６キロ、１８００メートルの上り降り。

キンズマンマウンテンはニューハンプシャー州のホワイトマウンテンナショナルフォレストの中にある山。

トレイルヘッドは１枚目の写真。なんと低い標高では（１５００メートル以下）雪が完全に溶けていた！やはり雪がないと歩きやすいなぁ。そして春の印として２種類の花が咲いているのを発見。

一つ目はグレーシャーリリー。先週は蕾を発見したのだが今週は花が咲いていた。春の訪れは嬉しいものだ。そしてもう一つトリリウムも咲いていた。これらが２枚目と３枚目の花の写真。

雪がすごい勢いで溶けていることもあってそこかしこに流れている小川の水量がすごい。３枚目と４枚目の写真がそうだ。森の中に流れる小川の音が心地よい。時々、滝になっているところもあって綺麗だった。

そして ４キロほど行ったところでジャンクション。３２０メートルの寄り道でボールドピークに行けるということでちょっと寄り道。そこのジャンクションの写真が６枚目の写真で７枚目の写真がボールドピークからの眺め。なかなか良い。犬を連れてハイキングしている人がいて（別々の２グループ）、犬たちが可愛かった。なぜかMrNは両方の犬から唸られた（笑

ボールドピークから戻りさらに登り。８枚目の写真にあるようにやはり標高が高くなると雪が残っている。春の雪はモノレールと呼ばれる踏み固められたところは大丈夫だがそこを外して着地するとポストホールといって足が雪の中にズボッと沈んでしまう。春の雪は柔らかくなっているからだ。何度かポストホールしたが膝程度の深さで済んだので大丈夫だった。（先週の山ではMrNは胸まで両足＋体全体がポストホールした）

途中でテントサイトへ行ってテントを立てて、寝袋などはテントの中に置き、必要なジャケット等のみを持って山頂へは行った。やはり重い荷物がないと楽だ。特にモノレールの雪の上を歩かなければならないので重い荷物は負担になる。

そしてまずノースキンズマンへ到着！やったー。連なる山々と雲海がいい眺めだ。木がなく遮るものがなくて全てが見晴らせた。ここでコーヒーを飲んだりして眺めを楽しむ。ここのところ天気が悪く頂上へ着いても雲の中。。ということが多かったのでこれは良かった！

そしてサウスキンズマンへ。眺めはほぼ同じだったが、岩で作られた椅子があり（写真）、そこに座ってお姫様気分で眺めを楽しんだ（笑

そのあとテントへ戻りテント泊。テントは苔の蒸した森の中。

静かで神秘的。そして美しい森。

かなり前、ハイキングしていた時にある人が苔の蒸した大きな木を見て、”見事だなー、写真に収めよう”などと言ってかなり長い時間写真を撮っていた。その頃私は、”えー、苔？早く頂上へ行こうよ”と思っていたが、長年ハイキングし続けて苔の蒸した森の美しさを理解できるようになった。以前は山頂だけを目指す傾向にあったが、こういう森の美しさに気付くようになった自分時自身を発見したバックパックだった。

Sakura in Boston

I love sakura. Sakura is a Japanese word for cherry blossoms. For Japanese, sakura is a national flower and it is a part life.

Today's post is not very "wilderness", but still about beauty of nature.

Sakura. It blossoms between end of March and mid-April in Japan. It is a symbol of spring. Living in a country with clear four seasons, sakura reminds us of coming of spring. Coming of spring is joyful and hopeful for people. The sakura color of pink makes people feel crisp deep inside.

Sakura is not only a symbol of spring. Sakura is a symbol of graduation and entrance to school. Academic year ends at the end of March and starts in the beginning of April in Japan. So saying goodbye to friends and teacher, then meeting new people are always with sakura. Some life events, such as becoming professional worker from students, breaking up with girl/boyfriend at graduation, or meeting future siginificant other come within the view of sakura. Sakura reminds Japanese bitter sweet memories. This is why sakura is very special to Japanese. 

Sakura is everywhere in Japan. The biggest culture event related to sakura is ohanami. Ohanami is a picnic under sakura trees. Usually with friends, coworkers, or family put picnic sheet under sakura trees and eat and drink. Some people focus on eating and drinking (especially drinking), rather than looking at sakura (well, you know).  

A lot of companies do ohanami at night after work. In these cases, the youngest person in the company has to go to sakura spot and reserve good ohanami place under sakura before other senior members go there. Many cases, that reservation takes place from noon or even from morning for the night. That's reservation is by putting sheet on the ground. In Japan, nobody removes it, if sheet is there. That is the culture as well. 

Sakura in the mountain is also very beautiful. There are many more sakura strains in mountains. No crazy crowd for ohanami in the mountain, and it is absolutely specific in Japan to do sakura hiking. It is hard to go to the mountain in a perfect timing of blossom, but because of that preciousness, the beauty is even more appreciated. 

I am glad to know that sakura is also famous in the U.S. Probably sakura gift from Japan to the U.S. in the Washington D.C. is the most famous. I have never seen them in person, but someday I would like to see them. 

Sakura in Boston

This spring, I was surprised how many sakura is here in Boston. One of the prettiest I saw in Boston was a line of sakura trees along Charles river. Charles river is the iconic thing in Boston. Seeing sakura over Charles river was really appreciating walk for me.

Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop Backpacking Day2

日本語は英語の下にあります。

This day we passed two passes. The first one was West Maroon Pass. The amazing aspect of this loop is it is always great view, not only at the top of the pass. Besides in September, there are many wild flowers. I hadn't expected there would have been such many flowers. In the picture below, so many cute yellow flowers are on the slope. Then there is a lake and mountains. Such a gorgeous view. 

 

Next pass was Frigid Air pass. The last part of the climb was a butt-kicker. It was so steep. At the top, the view was amazing, but as the name of the pass indicates, it was frigid. Frigid air was there. I wore all the layers on the top, but still cold. Mr.N wanted to take a nap there, but I refused. I needed to walk to warm body up.

Mr.N and I discussed the future possibility of doing CDT, because I was amazed by Colorado hike. There are many great places to hike even only in Colorado. 

In the evening, we set up a camp and Mr.N went to restroom (in the wilderness). Then deer came to greet me.

The deer was a kid and with  adult deer. The small deer was very curious and looking at me for a while. Looked like she wanted to play with me. It was attempting, but I limited myself, because it is wildlife. 

 

マルーンベルループ２日目。この日は２つのパスを越えた。

最初のパスはウエストマルーンパス。このマルーンベルループは素晴らしい。なぜなら、どの瞬間をとってもとてつもなく綺麗な景色なのだ。全く飽きないし、上りの部分の辛さも半減する。綺麗な山々、緑の草原。そしてたくさんの野花が咲いている。１枚目の写真は可愛らしい黄色の花が山の斜面に咲き乱れている様子。まさに黄色い絨毯だ。景色を楽しみつつ次のパスへと向かう。

この日２つ目のパスはフリジッドエアパス。登りがきついが眺めは最高！フリジッドは英語で”ものすごく寒い”を意味する。そして、その名の通りフリジッドエアが頂上にはあった。うわー。ダウンジャケットとシェルを重ね着して岩の上に座り景色を眺める。

パスからの景色が私は大好きだ。峠なので今まで登って来た方角の景色、そしてその次の景色２つが楽しめるからだ。そしてパスまできたという達成感。こういうハイクができる体があることに感謝。

そしてパスから下っていき、この日は少し標高の低い森の中でのキャンプ。テントを立てて、MrNがトイレに行った。その間に鹿が挨拶をしに来てくれた（３枚目の写真）。MrNがトイレに行ったり川に水を汲みに行くと、必ず動物が現れるのだ。ヨセミテではコヨーテが現れた。その時もMrNは川へ水を汲みに行っていたのだ。鹿はこの後もう１匹登場した。どうやら親子だったようだ。そしてディナーを食べて寝袋へと潜ったのだった。

Mount Eisenhower Backpacking

日本語は英語の後にあります。

This is the first backpacking of 2019. 

We went backpacking in Mount Eisenhower. The route was via Crawford path, then Mizpah cutoff to tentsite, then out and back to Eisenhower summit, stay a night at tentsite, then back to the trailhead. Total 9 miles, 3300 feet elevation change.

Gibbs Falls

It was a very cloudy and wet weekend, so it was not an ideal condition, however, it was a good workout, and water amount and falls was impressive.

The most memorable view of this backpacking was Gibbs Falls. It is a half mile from trailhead. Until here, there is almost no snow and no need of microspikes.

To go to Gibbs Falls, there is 2 minute detour, but it is worth checking out. 

After here, gradually snow increased during next 0.5 mile. After that microspikes are necessary. There is a clear monorail until the tentsite. However, I did posthole due to yield the monorail to hikers coming down. Even if miss a monorail a little bit, you will posthole. 

Inside the hut

Campsite sign

Our tent

 Then we reached the Mizpah hut and tentsite. Although already the hut was open on the May 4th (one of the hikers who stayed there said it was the first weekend of hut open this year), we stayed in a tent. We are the tent people. Although we didn't stay overnight there, it was okay to hang out in a dining area. So we had lunch there. It was nice to sit on a dry area: otherwise snow would be the seat.

Tentsite is 0.1 mile from the hut. Once a caretaker comes in summer, it costs $10, but now in winter, it is free. In my opinion, $10 is a ripoff. It should be always free! There are platforms to set up a tent, but all of them were buried in the snow even in May. Because nobody goes to tentsite in winter, there are great chances to posthole. Actually Mr.N postholed until the level of chest!

We set up  a tent, and carried only necessary items and went up to Eisenhower. 

The trail from here was mostly clear, but some portions were faint. So sometimes we needed to take out GPS and searched the trail. During the searching we postholed A LOT. There was not clear monorail always.

Top of Mount Eisenhower

We took 2.5 hours to reach the summit, even though it was just 2 miles. Then the top was in the clouds.

Surprisingly, there were some hikers on the way to Eisenhower in a cloudy day. 

When we came back to the tentsite, cloud was a little bit clearing up. So I took some pictures. 

A little blue sky came out

At the hut probably 3 groups were staying that day. 10 people already in May. I guess it will be very crowded in summer. 

Then we came back to the campsite and ate dinner and went to bed. With winter sleeping pad, it was not cold at night. Indeed it seemed it was above freezing point, because I found my water bottle water in liquid form in the morning. 

In the morning we had coffee and breakfast, then hiked out. This year April was so rainy in New England and it is still rainy in May. I heard the idiom, "April showers bring May flowers". Mr.N found some Glacier lilies' leaves on the ground on lower elevation.  I hope the idiom become true soon! 

２０１９年初のバックパッキングはアイゼンハワー山。ニューハンプシャー州にあるプレジデンシャル山脈の一つだ。約１６キロ、＋ー１０００メートルの行程だ。

週末の天気は曇りで山日和の天気とは到底言い難かったが、良き運動になったし、川の水の量には圧倒されたので、よしとする。

雪解けの川の量はものすごく、その水の量からできたギブス滝（１枚目の写真）はなかなかの見応えだった。カリフォルニアに住んでいた頃は５年ほどずっと干ばつだったのでやはり滝を見るのに飢えていたのかもしれない。

５月に入ったにもかかわらずまだニューハンプシャーの山は雪に埋もれたまま。それでも雪解けのため雪が柔らかくなっており、モノレール（真ん中の踏み固められたところ）を外して着地してしまうとポストホールと言って膝や腰まで雪の中に沈んでしまうことになる。１０回以上ポストホールしたため予想以上に時間がかかった。MrNはなんと1回は胸までポストホールした（もちろん両足！）。ぎゃー。

途中にある山小屋は今週から開いている。我々はもちろんテント泊、だが食堂エリアには入ることは可能（写真）。そこで持参したサンドイッチを食べた。雪の上に座らなくていいのは楽。

そして山小屋の近くにあるテントサイトへテントを張り（写真、もちろん雪の上）、アイゼンハワー山頂を目指す。ここからはトレイルを時々見失ったりし、GPSを見ながら山頂を目指した。トレイルを探すとやはりポストホールする。７−８回は膝までズボッと雪にはまった。山頂までは山小屋からたった４キロ程度だったが２時間半もかかった。山頂や雲の中だった（写真）。そしてテントサイトへ戻り夕飯の焼きそばを食べて就寝。やはり温度は冬ほど低くなくダウンの寝袋の中は寒くなかった。

アメリカのイディオムに”４月の雨が５月の花をもたらす”というのがあるのだが、近いうちにそうなってほしいものだ。

Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop Backpacking Day1

Backpacking in Colorado. It had been always on my bucket list. 

First time I heard about Colorado is as a place where Rocky Mountains are. Even most Japanese have heard of Rocky mountains. I knew about Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). So first, I put RMNP into the plan. However, I knew that there are many more place to hike, because there are so many mountains there.

Several years ago, I visited Colorado to attend a conference. It was held in Keystone, a ski resort. Many scientific meetings are held in Keystone. There was some free time during the conference, and I snowshoed in the Colorado mountains. I was amazed by the beauty of scenery. Then after conference was over, I went to Boulder and walked in the snow local park. That was very beautiful, too. 

The reason I was interested in Boulder was because of my favorite marathoner, Naoko Takahashi, who is a gold medalist on Sydney Olympic marathon. She trained in the mountain at 7000 foot high in Boulder. It is quite unusual for athlete to train at such high altitude. Of course they train at higher altitude to increase red blood cells and hemoglobin, but not at that high mountains, but only a little high place. Naoko Takahashi was different. She ran and ran and ran on a trail in Colorado mountains. Since I heard that, I had been interested in seeing mountains in Boulder. I was amazed by seeing mountains in the Boulder area and impressed by the fact training there. 

Since then backpacking in Colorado had been on my bucket list. I wanted to explore more the Colorado mountains.

However, I didn't have a specific area I wanted to go. I quickly looked up on the internet and the 4 pass loop in the Maroon Bells came up. I immediately booked an airplane ticket. 

Result? It was spectacular.

Maroon Lake

On the first day, we started at Maroon Lake. There is no parking at the lake. You need to park several miles away, then need to take a bus. 

Maroon Lake is already stunning. If you are not a backpacker, just walking around scenic loop along the lake is very good. 

After a little walk along the lake, the trail goes up into mountains. On the rocky part, I saw pikas. Pika is a cute animal. Pikachu is named after a pika. The pika in the picture below, he might be monitoring the surrounding area. 

Pika

This day we didn't hike to the pass. The day2 has two passes. On the first day, we hiked to the head of West Maroon Creek. On the way the view was beautiful. Mountains, meadows, rocks, snow patches, animals, sun, blue sky......I had everything I can ask for. How delightful the hike was. It is always happy being on a trail.  

コロラドでバックパッキング。ずっとしてみたいと思っていたことで、バケットリスト入りをずいぶん前にしていた。

最初にコロラドという場所を聞いたのは日本にいた頃だろう。 確か、ロッキーマウンテンがある場所として知ったと思う。ロッキーマウンテン国立公園がコロラドにあるのは知っていたので、コロラドバックパッキングの旅を計画した時、ロッキーマウンテン国立公園はすぐにスケジュールに入れた。しかし他にも数え切れないほどの山がコロラドにあるということも知っていた。

最初にコロラドを訪れたのは数年前に学会に参加した時だ。スキーリゾートのキーストーンでのミーティングだった。キーストーンでは数多くのサイエンス系の学会が開かれる。その学会中に自由時間があり、私はスノーシューを雪の山の中で行った。これが素晴らしい景色で魅了された。

キーストーンでの学会後に、日帰りでボルダーを訪れた。ボルダーに興味があったのはシドニーマラソンの金メダリストである高橋尚子さんがボルダーでトレーニングしていたからだ。私は高橋尚子さんのファンで、ボルダーの山での特訓ということに興味があったので、ぜひ一度この目でボルダーの山々を見てみたかったのだ。高橋尚子さんは２５００メートル級の山で赤血球・ヘモグロビンを増やすためトレーニングをしていたそうだ。ほとんどのアスリートはここまで高い山でトレーニングはしない。やはりQちゃんは違う。

ボルダーでは雪のトレイルを少し歩いてみた。白の景色はとても綺麗でQちゃんへのリスペクトを考えつつ綺麗な景色を楽しんだ。

この時からコロラドでもっとバックパッキングしたい！と思っていたのだ。しかしロッキーマウンテン国立公園以外は特にどこに行けば良いのかがわからない。そこでインターネットで検索すると、マルーンベル４パスループというのが出てきた。写真も綺麗そうだし、プランに入れることにした。そしていざコロラドへ！

１日目のマルーンベルループはマルーンベルレイクから始まる。この湖、すごく綺麗だ（１枚目の写真）。高い山に囲まれ、魅惑的な緑色の湖。いきなりすごすぎる景色から始まるハイキング。もし時間がなければこの湖の周りを歩くだけでもここまで来る価値があるだろう。そしてトレイルは登りに。岩がたくさんあるところを歩いていく。岩にはたくさんピカが（２枚目の写真）。可愛い！ピカチュウの名前の元となった動物だ。１日目のハイクはウエストマルーン川まで。３枚目の写真にあるように、草原、山、雪、青空、空気を堪能。トレイルにいるというのは本当に幸せだ。

Katahdin Backpacking

日本語は英語の後にあります。

Katahdin, also called Baxter Peak, is a mountain located in Baxter State Park in Maine. This mountain is pretty and famous. It is famous, mostly because it is a northern terminus of 2200 mile of Appalachian Trail. So far, I don't have a plan to hike Appalachian Trail, so I thought that it might be a good idea to hike up to Katahdin. 

Maine state park is kind of harsh to non-Maine residents: the fee if much higher for non-Maine residents. Anyway, we did it. 

On the first day, we started at Chimney Pond trail. The destination was Chimney Pond. There are lean-to to stay overnight. It was interesting. I had never slept at such thing. The next day we planned to hike up to Katahdin, but check-out time is 10 a.m., and we didn't know if we would be back by 10. So Mr.N went to ranger station at the pond and  asked if it was okay to leave our backpacks past 10 at a lean-to. Mr.N was told to bring backpacks to the peak. What the hell?! It is soooooo ridiculous. It is super common to leave backpacks at a junction and check out peaks. I saw it everywhere. The most famous one is for JMT hikers to leave huge backpacks at trail crest and check out Mt.Whitney. He argued and got successful for ranger to say yes. 

Chimney Pond

On the first day hike at Chimney pond where it was pretty, one family was chatting. The kid was chatty and said to their mother, "You got married only once!" It made me laugh. It is very....very American. It is not unusual for Americans to get married several times. In contrast, in Japan, it is very rare to get married multiple times. I always find culture differences in the wilderness. It is interesting and funny. 

Going up in the early morning

The next day we started at 5 a.m. On the way up, we already saw one party coming down around 7 a.m. They went up there to see a sunrise. Wow. Hardcore!

From the top

Some portion was hard: it was scrambling, even though it is a normal trail on the map. In California, (nanny state), it doesn't happen like this. If it is steep, there are many switchbacks in CA, but there is not a single switchback in New England. After steep hiking up, we reached a top. It was a really good view. I felt charismatic environment at Katahdin. So many hikers must have been celebrating here at the top. I remembered the moment I completed my JMT at Mt.Whitney. AT must be much longer and tougher. 

At Katahdin, I was above the clouds. I saw a carpet of clouds. I wish I could walk on that. It was pretty. I think this is one of the best hikes in New England. 

カターディン、バクスターピークとも呼ばれる山はメイン州にある。この山はハイカーの間では有名だ。なぜならこのピーク、アパラチアントレイルの最北端、つまりアパラチアントレイルの最終地点だからだ。

アパラチアントレイルとは、アメリカ合衆国のジョージア州からメイン州まで 続く長距離トレイルだ。距離にして約２２００マイル、３５００キロ。アパラチアン山脈に沿って作られたトレイルだ。そのゴール地点がこのカターディン。私は今の所アパラチアントレイルを歩く予定はないので、カターディンに登ってみようかなと思い、キャンプに行った。

カターディンはメイン州の州立公園の中にある。バクスター州立公園だ。まず入場料金がメイン州民は安いのだが非メイン州民は高い。差別が激しい！と思いつつ、入る。

カターディンに登るために今回は一泊のバックパッキングをした。泊まったのはチムニーポンドのそばにある”リーンツー”。リーンツーとは小さな小屋みたいなものだ。屋根はあるがドアはなし。壁は３方向にある。日本の屋根付きのバス停みたいなものだ。底上げの床があるのでそこに寝袋を敷いて寝る。風があっても風除けにはならないし、風があれば雨も入ってくるという感じだ。リーンツーの大きさとしては、寝袋４つくらいは並べれば入る程度。この日はチムニーポンドのそばでディナーをとった。写真にあるようにこの湖、いい景色だ。ニューイングランドにしては予想外に美しい。

次の日のチェックアウトは朝１０時と書いてある。朝早くにカターディンに登るつもりだが１０時までに帰ってくるかはわからない。小さいデイパックだけで登り、寝袋などはリーンツーのそばに置いておいて、降りて来てからそれらと一緒にトレイルヘッドに戻る予定でいた。一応、公園のレンジャーに１０時過ぎるかもしれないが寝袋などを入れたバックパックを置いておいても良いかMrNが聞きに行った。レンジャーは機嫌が悪いのか、全部山の頂上まで持って行けという。ハァ？どう考えてもおかしい。普通、バックパックの途中で脇の山に寄り道で登るときは小さいデイパックだけで登り、大きな荷物はトレイルジャンクションに残していくのが山の常識だ。メインでは違うのか、それともここのレンジャー（おそらくこのレンジャーだけ）が非常識なのか？MrNもうんざりした様子でさらに交渉し 、なんとかオーケーをもらったが、これはややおかしなレンジャーだなと思った。

次の日朝５時に登り開始。これぞニューイングランドという感じでスイッチバックが全くなく、一直線に登るトレイル。とにかくニューイングランドにはスイッチバックがない。急なセクションでは４つんばいにならないと登れない箇所もいくつかあった。ぎゃー。やはり一筋縄ではアパラチアントレイルは終われないらしい。

そしてついに頂上へ。３枚目と４枚目の写真が頂上からとった写真。すごく綺麗だ。メイン、ニューイングランドの中では一番綺麗だと思う。草原と山が混じった景色が美しい。そして反対側を見ると雲が。雲の上まで上がって来たのだ。雲が絨毯のようにふわふわと浮いている。幻想的な景色だ。

カターディン、これまでのニューイングランドで行った中で今の所一番綺麗だと思った。ニューイングランドのハイクの中でお気に入りとなった。

Kyaking on Assabet River no.1

We went kayaking on Assabet River.

This is our second kayaking of the season, finally after frozen river got melted.

We kayaked on Assabet river near the town of Maynard, . Maynard is west of Concord, Massachusetts. Speaking of Concord for this blog readers, there is my favorite coffee shop, Haute Coffee. Of course today before hitting the water, we had pour over coffee there. 

After enjoying the coffee, we went to the boat launching area. Nobody was there, so it was easy to inflate our kayak. Then, we started kayaking. Again I recorded my 1-mile paddling. During this 1 mile, only I paddled. I like to record the things.

The app I used, Runkeeper, does not have an option of kayaking as an activity. So I had to use rowing. Rowing uses much less energy to move 1 mile, so I hope I burned more than 91 kcal. Also the reason why there are so many stops on the activity map is that we stopped for seeing turtles and swans.

Be on the water is nice

This area is nice. It was calmer than last weekend's kayaking. The nice thing about this area is that it is along the wildlife refuge. So there are many birds in the area. It was nice to hear birds singing along the river. Not only birds, but also we saw many turtles, swans, and ducks. 

Turtle

I really liked the turtles in particular. Turtles were soaking up the sun on the logs floating on the water. Usually kayakers pass by, they get plummeting into water, even if kayakers are not very close.

One point, one of plummeted turtles came up again to the log and my camera caught it. The turtle was soooooooooo cute!

On one log, more than twenty turtles are in line. We passed the log and all of them plummeted into the water. The order they jump into the water was smaller ones to the bigger one. One biggest turtle didn't go into the water. He looked like, "Who cares". It was funny.

Swan

It was also nice to see swans. They are bigger as we got close to.  Total we saw five of them. One of them one point flew a little. Think carefully, I believe I had never seen a swan flying. It was nice to see it. 

There was a couple of ducks. We kayaked a little close to them, and they seemed annoyed and they flew 5 meters away. 

We probably kayaked about 4 miles (2 mile in and 2 mile out). It was nice. 

I feel now I am more into kayaking. 

とある土曜日にアサベット川へカヤックへ出かけた。今シーズン2回目のカヤック。今回はメイナード市の近くのアサベット川でカヤック。メイナード市はマサチューセッツ中央部の市でコンコード市の西側に位置する。

コンコードといえば。。。。このブログのハードコア読者は思い当たることがあるのでは？そう、オートコーヒーがあるところ。私のお気に入りのコーヒー店だ。もちろん、カヤックする前に寄りポアオーバーコーヒーを楽しんだ。

そしてボートエリアからカヤック開始。途中でランキーパー（アップ）を使って１マイル（１、６キロ）だけGPSで記録。この1マイルは一人でカヤックを漕いだ。１枚目の写真が記録。途中でやたら止まっているのは亀を見たり、白鳥を見たりしていたから。

このエリアはワイルドライフ保護地区なので、鳥がいっぱい。カヤックを漕いでいると鳥のさえずりをずっと聞くことができる。静かな川で聞こえるのは鳥の音と、カヤックで水を 掻く音だけ。素敵な時間だ。２枚目の写真がこのエリアの様子。

そして亀が可愛い。水に浮かぶ倒木には亀が必ずいて日光浴をしている。カヤッカーが来ると水の中に入ってしまうのが常だが、一匹すぐに木に這い上がって来る亀がいてかわいかった！（写真３枚目）。通常何匹か一緒に一つの倒木にいるのが常だが、今日は二十匹以上の亀が一列に一つの倒木に並んで日光浴しているのを見た。すごい。小学校の１クラス全員が一列に並んでるみたい。カヤックが近くにつれ亀たちは水に飛び込んだ。小さい亀から最初に飛び込む。警戒心が強いのだろう。そして一番大きい亀は飛び込みすらしなかった。ふてぶてしそうな顔で”誰が木にするか”と言っているかのようだった（笑

さらには白鳥とマガモなども見ることができ、楽しいカヤックだった。

カヤックはアメリカに来てからはじめ、ニューイングランドに引っ越してからマイカヤックを持った。現在、カヤックにハマり始めているかもしれない。