steeper and more snow

steeper
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

As I approached the summit, the trail got even more steep, and there was about an inch of snow over everything. My pace slowed a bit, but it was still very doable. At this point I had decided that I should probably go back the way I came, rather than attempting a loop, since I wouldn't know what conditions existed on the other end of the trail.

Despite the snow, the trail was still busy enough. I passed about five small groups of two or three people during the entire trip.

boots in the snow

snow close up
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Once you leave the ski trail, the climb becomes more straightforward - up and up. It's rocky, and fairly wide, but steeper than the trail had been up till this point.

Soon, snow completely covered the trail and clumps of it clung to the evergreen trees around me. Fortunately, the snow was very sticky. I was careful about how I stepped, and avoided any serious slips.

My boots performed well in the snow. I'm still pretty happy with them, although I did get some pretty nasty rub marks just above my heels, despite the judicious use of Dr Scholl's blister treatment cushions. Those have been helpful so far. I think they helped again, here, but not as much as I'd hoped.

view from the ski trail

view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Soon after recrossing Tecumseh Brook, you can take a short spur to the left of the trail to walk out onto a ski trail, where there's a great view.

The vast ski trail which sprawls below you is kind of ugly, and I framed this photo to exclude it!

snow at brook crossing

snow at brook crossing
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

As I hiked on, the amount of snow on the trail increased. Here, at 1.1 miles, the trail recrosses Tecumseh Brook. There was a light smattering of snow over most of the trail at this point.

The trail is relatively easy up till here. There's a gradual uphill climb, but nothing too strenuous. That worried me a little, because it meant that a lot of the 2200 feet in elevation gain still had to be climbed over the next mile.

Just looking at the map now, it appears you've gained about 700 feet or so here, more than I had realized.

I was also beginning to wonder just how much snow I'd find as I continued on. I definitely had it in my mind that I might have to turn back before reaching the summit. A dismal thought!

sky is blue

sky is blue
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I enjoyed looking up and seeing blue sky - excellent day for a hike! There's still quite a lot of beautiful fall foliage, too.

go right, here

go right, here
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The AMC White Mountain Guide says that the trail crosses the brook at about three-tenths of a mile in - that's here. There's a small cairn to mark the spot, and a small pile of branches "block" the trail just beyond it.

However, I was oblivious and wandered on up beyond the cairn for a while, where the trail slowly petered out. I had only been walking for about 10 minutes, and didn't expect to reach 0.3 miles so soon. At this point I "noticed" that the trail was unmarked - surprising, since the guide book had not mentioned that the trail was unmarked! In fact, the trail was not unmarked; what I had "noticed" was that I had wandered away from the trail.

I strolled back down the trail wondering what to do, and then I realized that I had missed the brook crossing, which now appeared to be clearly marked with a cairn. There were yellow trail blazes, too, but there's no big yellow arrow pointing the way at this spot.

the white stuff is snow

the white stuff is snow
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

As I walked along beside Tecumseh Brook, I looked down and noticed a bit of snow. Charming! Must be left over from that bit of precipitation a few days ago.

trail beside stream

trail beside stream
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The Mt Tecumseh trail starts out as a nice ramble past Tecumseh Brook. Beautiful day! At this point, I was beginning to leave behind my frustration at the parking fiasco.

tecumseh trailhead

tecumseh trailhead
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Here's a close up view of the trailhead sign at Waterville Valley Ski Area. It's 2.2 miles to the summit from here, and 5.4 miles to Tripoli Rd.

In the back of my mind, I was considering hiking over to Tripoli Rd and then walking back along the road to make the hike into a loop. At this point, I had no clue that I'd find snow on the trails. The temperature was in the thirties right here, but I figured it would warm up as the day went on.

tecumseh trailhead waterville valley

tecumseh trailhead waterville valley
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I thought about parking without paying the fee, but decided not to risk it. As I searched my mind for other options, I vaguely recalled that the Waterville Valley Resort has a parking area which is mysteriously fee-free. And coincidentally, it is the other end of the Mt Tecumseh trail! So I threw out any plans I'd had to climb Mt Osceola, and drove on over to Waterville Valley.

As I passed by the Mt Osceola trailhead, I slowed my car to a crawl to take a look. I was shocked to see that the lot was nearly full! This was around 10 am... I'm guessing either a group had planned to do a hike there, or else this area is incredibly popular because it's one of the easier hikes in the Whites. In any case, I wasn't so dismayed anymore that I wouldn't be able to hike it; it must have been unpleasantly crowded.

It took a little hunting to find the Mt Tecumseh trailhead at Waterville Valley. I drove up past the main building at the top and circled back before I found it. It's just across from parking area 1, which is where I parked.

In the photo above, center right, if you zoom in, you can see the sign for the Mt Tecumseh trail head.

Note that although the weather forecast had mentioned clouds with a possibility of rain, I was happy to see quite a lot of blue sky at this point.

no more self serve??

no more self serve
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Possibly the biggest annoyance to hiking in the Whites is that you must pay to park at any trailhead. I believe New Hampshire should change their motto from "Live Free or Die" to "Pay Fee or be Fined" (I also pay $3 in tolls during each visit to the Whites).

In fact, the fee, which is only $3/day (soon to be $5/day) is not so painful to me. Rather, it's the effort that I have to make to pay the fee which annoys me. If I have to buy it in advance, I might as well not go, since I rarely know more than a few days in advance what my plans will be. If I have to go to one of the few WMNF offices to pay, I waste time and gas just to pay a fee which is only a few dollars.

Fortunately, WMNF addresses this issue with self serve pay locations at many of the trailheads. You can stop at any of these areas, grab an envelope, pay the fee, and you're good to park anywhere in the Whites.

Two weeks ago, I used the self serve pay area at the East Osceola trailhead off the Kancamagus Highway. After that worked out so perfectly, I made the foolish assumption that I could continue to rely on these self serve areas for all my trips to the Whites from now on.

Well, yesterday, all of the self serve pay areas along Tripoli Rd were closed. The self serve pay area for camp sites was still available. But I checked the parking lots at East Pond, Mt Tecumseh, and Mt Osceola trailheads. They were all closed - there were no envelopes, and the deposit box was wrapped up in plastic as shown in the above photograph.

I was stymied, and kind of angry - there's no notice as to why this was done, not online and not at the site. It screwed up my plans, and my time had been wasted by driving to a spot where I couldn't park. If I'd known, I would have gone directly to a WMNF office to get a pass. It's out of my way, but close enough that it would have been possible.

[Edit (Oct 24 2009): today I called the ranger station and asked about this. I was told that you don't have to pay for parking wherever the pay stations are covered and the envelopes are gone. Apparently this is standard for some of the self-serve areas once winter approaches. I wish they had posted a notice to make this clear!]

mt tecumseh - second 4000-footer

tecumseh trailhead
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Yesterday's hike: 5.5 h | 10.4 mi | 1.9 mph

For my second 4000-footer, I decided to attempt Mt Osceola and/or Mt Tecumseh. I thought I could park along Tripoli Rd and do both in one day. The Mt Osceola trail from Tripoli Rd is reported to be very easy, compared to my last trip up East Osceola.

The weather has been getting colder, so I was not planning on doing an overnight. Nevertheless, I took my backpack to hold extra clothing in case it rained, or it got colder than I expected. The pack weighed about 15 lbs, including water.

appalachian trail view

view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

On our third day of hiking, we did 7.1 miles along the Appalachian Trail in CT, between Rt 341 and Bulls Bridge Rd. We kept a good pace, 1.8 mph or so. My sister has a Garmin Forerunner, and it was fun to try it out.

highest point in connecticut

ma ct
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

After passing over Brace Mountain, we followed the red trail blazes to Mount Frissell and on, coming to this little pin which marks the highest point in CT. It reads "MASSACHUSETTS - CONNECTICUT - STATE LINE - 1803 - 1906".

From there we hiked on out to Mt Washington Rd, where we'd placed another car.

view

view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

The following day, we did an end-to-end hike over Brace Mountain and Mount Frissell, which turned out to be shorter than expected. We started our hike from the South Taconic Trail trailhead off Quarry Hill Rd in Millerton, NY. The trail up this way is pretty steep, with a few scrambles up rocky ledges, which can be fun, although I wouldn't want to try it in the rain

tory den on tunxis trail

tory den on tunxis trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I took a short vacation with my sister this weekend. The first hike we did was along the Tunxis in CT. This is a look at Tory Den.

Tank ninety-four

Total miles: 33913. Trip miles: 421.4. Gallons: 7.724. Price per gallon: $2.339.

Screen mileage: 53.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 54.6 mpg.

Two longer trips of about 3.5 hours each, some back roads driving but mostly highway miles.

Tank ninety-three

Total miles: 33492. Trip miles: 235.9. Gallons: 4.99. Price per gallon: $2.399.

Screen mileage: 53.1 mpg. Tank mileage: 47.3 mpg.

Filling up before a long trip.

outside greeley ponds lot down the kancamagus

outside greeley ponds lot down the kancamagus
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

When I finally hit the parking lot, I saw that my car was the only one left. It was almost 6 o'clock.

I took a little time to rest, and view the fall foliage along the Kancamagus Highway, something I hadn't bothered to do when I first got there.

The elevation gain from the Kancamagus Highway to the peak of East Osceola is 2216 ft, over a distance of 2.8 miles, and it took me about six hours of hiking to do it. That's a pace of about 1 mph, which seems to be about what I normally do when hauling a backpack over heights. I think I will try to do the two summits again another day, probably without a backpack.

Today, after a good night of rest, just about every muscle in my body is stiff and sore. I can't wait to go back, though!

first view of greeley ponds

first view of greeley ponds
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I got to Greeley Ponds trail at 4:30 p.m. The sun was setting around 6:30, so I had more than an hour to get back to the car. I decided to take a side trip to Greeley Ponds. I went out about 15 minutes till I hit the first little view by a sandy beach, and then turned back.

On the way back I had to cross the couple of deep streams that I'd passed pretty easily on the way up. They had become deeper now, but fortunately they were still passable.

trail to mt osceola

trail to mt osceola
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is the trail downhill, as it heads to Mt Osceola from the summit of East Osceola. It's calling me onward!

Once I had reached the cairn, I was curious about how the trail would proceed if I continued towards Mt Osceola. I knew there was supposed to be a steep chimney on the way. There's a trail you can use to avoid it, but I definitely wanted to climb the chimney.

It was tempting to continue on and ascend Mt Osceola, but it was already around 2:30 p.m. at that point, and I knew the descent was going to be arduous and time-consuming. So I decided that pancakes were the better part of valor, and retraced my footsteps.

I had noticed that the boy scouts were using hiking poles on the ascent, and I thought I would try using mine on the way down. After a brief attempt, I decided that they were less than helpful, and stored them away again. Instead, I made my way down most of the rocky parts by climbing down backwards (i.e. facing the rocks, the way you would when climbing up). It was slow going, but my knees thanked me. I've rarely had to do this on a trail before, but this trail is especially difficult, without doubt the most difficult trail I've ever hiked. Normally, I'd slide down the bigger rocks on my butt, but it wasn't comfortable doing that with my backpack on (the bottom of the pack sinks lower than my butt, which made maneuvering difficult).

The trick to climbing backwards is to take a moment to reorient yourself when you turn around again. I found that when you've been climbing down backwards for a minute or two, and then turn around, you can experience a flash of vertigo. This is fine if you just stand still for a moment to reorient. The first time it happened, I nearly lost my balance; vertigo doesn't go well with a loaded backpack on a steep trail.

I traversed the rocky slide this way, as well. I think I could have gone down it face-first if it had been dry, but I decided that it would be helpful to have a handhold for security.

The trip down was actually fairly uneventful. I think I'd become overly nervous at the summit because I had gotten cold. But that's fortunate; if I hadn't been as nervous, I'd probably have attempted the summit of Mt Osceola, which would have been cutting it close - I might have ended up hiking out in the dark. So I think I did the smart thing to head back down when I did.

cairn at east osceola

cairn at east osceola
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is the cairn which marks the summit of East Osceola. East Osceola is the first peak that I've reached among the 48. I guess I will have to start a list now...

At this point, I was feeling too trepidatious about the climb back down the way I had come to do any sort of victory dance. I decided to celebrate when I reached the parking lot again.

the view

the view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is the view from the outlook at the top of the gully, described in the AMC White Mountain Guide (p 349).

I think it was about 5 or 10 minutes after passing over the rocky slide that the trail passed through a steep, sandy, slick gully, and then rapidly leveled off. The troop leader was waving me up, saying that we had reached the summit. The scouts were sitting around taking a break at a short spur trail to the right where there was, in theory, a view. However, there was no view today.

Before leaving their spot, the troop leader invited me to stay at their campsite further on, which was very nice of him. By now, though, I'd become convinced that I'd be wiser to turn back. I looked around at the non-view, and then turning around, I noticed that the trail continued on upwards. So the troop leader had been incorrect, or at least I had misunderstood him; this was not the summit! Still, the trail looked much easier now, so the peak must be near. I continued on up, past a few more steep rocky bits, until the trail went completely level and easy.

rocky slide

rock slide
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view of the rocky slide! It's hard to tell from this photograph, but it's pretty steep. You'll know it as soon as you see it. I guess it's called a slide because you get the impression that you could easily slide right down it off the mountainside.

To give you some perspective, it's about a 20 or 30 foot climb to get from the lower side of the slide to the upper side where the trail continues. It looks more difficult than it is, since there are lots of little horizontal mini-steps to set your feet down on. It's actually kind of fun. It would have been more fun if it hadn't been wet, and I hadn't been carrying a 26 lb pack on my back.

As I crossed it, I was thinking how not-fun it would be if I decided to abort my mission, and had to travel back down this way to get to the car. Going up steep grades is always easier for me than going down. Less slippery.

steep and rocky

rocky trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view down the Mt Osceola trail, on the way up from Greeley Ponds trail to the summit of East Osceola.

After a reasonable uphill grade, the trail became steeper, and filled with huge rocks that made the climbing difficult. I wound up doing a lot of climbing with my hands, to avoid putting lots of weight on my knees while they were bent.

I had seen several descriptions of a "rocky slide" that was supposed to be along this part of the trail. I kept wondering if I had found it, since I wasn't sure what a rocky slide was supposed to be. In my mind, it would be a long smooth slab of rock; a slide that was made out of rock. I had crawled over numerous slabs of smooth rock. I kept asking myself: "Is this the rocky slide? Is that the rocky slide?" But perhaps they meant a "rock slide", an area where a lot of rocks had fallen down. The entire trail in this area could be called a rocky slide, in that case.

The trail kept getting steeper and more rocky. Around noon, I decided to take a break to eat. I was a little disappointed, because I was hoping to eat at the summit, but the trail seemed never-ending. For lunch, I had an Art's Original Pro Bar (IMHO, it's one of the better bars out there with a good amount of fiber and protein, tastes fresh, and doesn't make you gag).

I had been nice and warm due to exertion, but while I stopped for lunch, I began to get cold. I noticed a few things. My feet and hands had rapidly become cold once I stopped moving. My arms had become wet due to water dripping down through my rain jacket cuffs when I lifted my arms climbing rocks or just eating. When I drank from my water bottle, the water felt like it had been in the refrigerator - pretty cold, 40 °F or less.

I began to have second thoughts about camping out overnight. Of course it would be colder at these higher elevations, but I had no way to be sure it would be bearably warm overnight, even further down. The weather report for Waterville Valley had predicted temperatures in the 40s overnight, but if they weren't (and possibly if they were), I might be in danger of hypothermia, especially if I stayed wet. The fact that I'd gotten cold so quickly kind of worried me.

As I was sitting on the rocks deciding what to do, I was approached by a group of backpackers. It turned out to be a boy scout troop! They were using poles, and traveling pretty rapidly up the side of the mountain. I asked the leaders how much farther it was to the summit, and they thought it would be perhaps 10 or 20 minutes, so I decided to hike onward.

view from mt osceola trail

view from the trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view from the Mt Osceola trail, before it gets very steep.

From the intersection of Mt Osceola trail with Greeley Ponds trail, it's a distance of 1.5 miles to the peak of East Osceola, with an elevation gain of 1856 ft. The AMC guide is terse about this section of the Mt Osceola trail, just describing it as "steep". Chris Oberg and Robert Havasy have a more picturesque description of the hike up this section.

So I knew things would get steep. But the start of the trail is a very gentle, uphill slope, so the steep part kind of smacks you in the face when you get there.

mt osceola intersects greeley ponds

mt osceola crossing greeley ponds
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Here we are at the intersection of Greeley Ponds trail with Mt Osceola trail. Up till here, the trail is reasonably level. It's kind of root-y and rocky, and awash with puddles due to the rain.

At this point, I was feeling reasonably upbeat. The rain was holding off, the temperature was comfortable (it was 56 °F in the parking lot), the walking had been mild. Even the heavy weight of my pack was bearable.

view from Greeley Ponds trail

some peak
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view of a distant peak, taken while traveling along Greeley Ponds trail. I suppose it might be Mt Osceola or East Osceola, but I'm not sure. It was in the right direction for one of those, to the southwest.

I deliberately hiked very slowly, for several reasons. I was not in great condition; I hadn't done so much hiking this year - very little of it with a loaded pack, and most of it more than a month ago. Now, I was carrying a pack weighing about 26 lbs. Sometimes a lot of hillwork can give me knee pain. I wanted to avoid that if at all possible, and going slower seems to help. Also, I wanted to avoid getting blisters in my new boots, if possible. Further, I wanted to dole out my energy use slowly, knowing that between here and Mt Osceola was the most difficult part of the trail.

My new Asolos performed very well. Soon after starting on Greeley Ponds trail, I had to cross a couple of streams that couldn't be managed without stepping into the water a few inches. No leaks! There were pools of water everywhere along the trail, and my feet never got wet.

It took me about 50 minutes of hiking to cover the 1.3 miles of Greeley Ponds trail before it intersects with the Mt. Osceola trail. At this point, I stopped to apply Dr. Scholl's Blister Treatment cushions on some spots where the shoes were rubbing my heels. I've only used these before on actual blisters, but I decided to try them out for blister prevention. In the end I think they worked pretty well, but I still managed to get a blister just outside of the cushion on my left foot. Other than that, no blisters, excellent!

The Plan

greely ponds parking lot uncrowded
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view of the Greeley Ponds parking lot, with signs pointing the way to Greeley Ponds and Mt Osceola. This shot was taken around 9:30 a.m.

It was incredibly quiet there, which was nice; I guess people were scared off by the threat of rain. In fact it had rained on and off during the drive up, but once I got there, it stopped raining, and didn't start again until noon.

I planned to do one night out in the Whites. I had decided on a loop involving Mt Osceola. I would start at Greeley Ponds trail off the Kancamagus Highway, then follow the Mt Osceola trail over the peaks of East Osceola and Mt Osceola, and then loop back either by East Ponds trail to the north, or Greeley Ponds trail to the south, the following day.

Getting to the summit of Mt Osceola from the Kancamagus Highway sounded steep and difficult, but I figured that it would be better to do that first, while I was still relatively fresh. There was a danger that I might decide to bail at some point, which would mean I'd need to turn around and descend it again. I knew that would be really tough, but decided to risk it.

new boots

new boots
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

These are my new boots, as I stand in the Greeley Ponds parking lot on my first trip to the White Mountains.

One of the reasons I didn't do as much hiking this summer is that my boots, a pair of Lowa Renegade GTXs, are in such bad shape. They're nearly ten years old. They've become leaky with some pretty big holes in the toes. And the soles are worn unevenly; in some places the treads are gone.

I tried to buy a pair of identical-but-new Lowas because I was so happy with their fit and flexibility. While Lowa still makes the Renegade GTX, it seems they have resized them. I bought a new pair, same size as my old, but my orthotics, which were cut to fit my current pair exactly, did not fit into the new boots. And the next size up was far too big.

So I knew I was doomed to have to go shopping for hiking boots, an activity that I dread, and I procrastinated.

It got to the end of the hiking season and I still hadn't gone on a backpacking trip, mostly because of the boots. I had one weekend targeted to go backpacking, so I could procrastinate no longer. I went to REI and EMS, and after much suffering and despair, I finally wound up with a pair of Asolo Styngers. These are about as light as my Lowas (about 2 lbs), and seem to fit me about right (not as well as the Lowas, unfortunately).

I was going to use these boots under non-ideal conditions. I had bought them one week before my backpacking trip, so there was no time to break them in. And I'd be hiking in the Whites, unfamiliar terrain. It would be a good test of the boots!

Tank ninety-two

Total miles: 33256. Trip miles: 398.8. Gallons: 7.22. Price per gallon: $2.589.

Screen mileage: 53.5 mpg. Tank mileage: 55.2 mpg.

acorns

acorns
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went hiking for about 2 hours over by Crow Hill Ledges today. There's already a bumper crop of acorns out there. Summer is gone too soon.

I listened to Moby's new album, "Wait for Me", on the way out and back. It's not bad, but doesn't instantly grab me the way his last couple of albums did. It doesn't help that for the couple of weeks I've been playing Radiohead's "Amnesiac" over and over again, to the point where it's making me a bit crazy. I don't think any other music would resonate with me at this point.

Tank ninety-one

Total miles: 32857. Trip miles: 399.3. Gallons: 7.900. Price per gallon: $2.569.

Screen mileage: 57.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 50.5 mpg.

Tank ninety

Total miles: 32458. Trip miles: 242.3. Gallons: 4.25. Price per gallon: $2.559.

Screen mileage: 55.4 mpg. Tank mileage: 57.0 mpg.

Weird, lost my receipt, all numbers are estimates. [edit: Found my receipt Oct 13 '09, numbers are accurate now.]

the wall

the wall
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I've only been rock climbing a few times, a long time ago. Then I went rock climbing a few weeks ago, and remembered how much fun it was, and wondered why I wasn't doing it more often.

So I immediately ran out and bought a pair of shoes and a harness. Yesterday I did a short indoor climbing session, for about an hour.

It was fun, although I didn't find it as much fun as outdoor climbing. The climbing wall was weirdly plastic-smooth, unlike the outdoor climbs I've done where the rock was very ragged, with a lot more places to grab on without slipping.

Despite that, it's the only economical way to practice on a regular basis, so I think I will join a club. My immediate goal is to learn how to belay, which I've done before, but I've totally forgotten how to do by now. Longer term, I'd really like to learn lead climbing. Actually I'd probably be quite happy to do bouldering, too!

Tank eighty-nine

Total miles: 32215. Trip miles: 395.8. Gallons: 9.078. Price per gallon: $2.599.

Screen mileage: 58.1 mpg. Tank mileage: 43.6 mpg.

Tank eighty-eight

Total miles: 31820. Trip miles: 462.0. Gallons: 7.318. Price per gallon: $2.599.

Screen mileage: 52.4 mpg. Tank mileage: 63.1 mpg.

Very long drive in there. I think that tank mileage is the highest I've ever seen. Super!

Tank eighty-seven

Total miles: 31357. Trip miles: 454.2. Gallons: 7.813. Price per gallon: $2.599.

Screen mileage: 57.9 mpg. Tank mileage: 58.1 mpg.

Longer drives. The weather has been exceptionally warm.

scary computer incident

I've been watching a lot more DVDs on my desktop computer than on my TV, for the last year or so. A few times, I've left a DVD in the machine, and after booting up I find that the drive is not recognized. I can't even eject the DVD. I have to restart the machine and cross my fingers. So far, that has worked. But it has made me more careful about removing DVDs before shutting down the computer.

Thursday night, as the computer was shutting down, I realized I had forgotten to remove a DVD. I hit the eject button before the machine finished shutting down, and managed to get the DVD out in time.

Next morning, I turned on my PC, only to be greeted with a horrible high-pitched whining noise. At first I thought the sound was coming from outside. Then I realized it was coming from inside, and in fact was coming from the computer. The boot process had stopped progressing with the monitor displaying "www.dell.com" up at the top (probably not the kind of thing that Dell wants engraved in my mind).

I tried rebooting several times and had no joy. I did some surfing on my laptop to look for the cause. Amazingly, I could find no answers to the few existing questions about a Dell XPS 400 failing to boot with a nasty high-pitched whine. I found the Dell support page describing beep codes and diagnostic lights. None of the "1 2 3 4" lights were on in my case, so that was useless. In addition, I was clearly not getting a beep code. I suppose it's possible that the weird high-pitched whine was a manic non-stop beeping, but there's no error code for that.

I found a discussion that said to hit F12 when the computer starts up, to run diagnostic tests, but no description of what use that might be. Anyway, I tried it.

After hitting F12, you get a menu of options. I tried the hard drive diagnostics, and got this output:

Hard Drive Diagnostics running, please wait...
Drive 0: WDC WD1600JS-75NCB3 - Pass
Drive 1: No device
Drive 2: WDC WD1600JS-75NCB3 - Pass
Drive 3: No device
Drive 4: HL-DT-STDVD-ROM CDR8164B - Diagnostics not supported
Drive 5: PHILIPS DVD+/-RW DVD8801 - Diagnostics not supported

That was hopeful; the hard drives (the ones passing) looked OK, at least.

I tried another diagnostic and noticed the following boot sequence description:

Boot Sequence
1. Onboard or USB Floppy Drive
2. Onboard SATA Hard Drive (not present)
3. Onboard IDE Hard Drive (not present)
4. Intel ARRAY
5. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive

Hm, OK.

One of the other options from the "diagnostics" screen read "Intel ARRAY". I decided to try that. Surprise! Choosing "Intel ARRAY" from the diagnostics list caused the machine to boot in a healthy fashion. Apparently that option is actually not a diagnostic test.

Leaving the computer on, I immediately rushed off to Staples to pick up some CD-ROMs to do a thorough back up of all my files, since I've become really negligent about backing things up over the last year (you'd think I would learn, but no). At least I remembered to back up my Desktop items and my Firefox profile this time.

I suppose it's possible that the machine was trying to boot from the empty DVD slot, but the failure seems completely insane to me. It makes me worried that something more severe is going on with my computer, and that perhaps the end is near.

blue hills view

blue hills view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked for 3 h 20 min at Blue Hills Reservation today. I carried a pack weighing about 14 lbs.

It was unexpectedly crowded. And blisteringly hot at 90 °F. I was feeling tired and mostly slogged along.

smiling rock

smile
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I came across this smiling rock while hiking at Blue Hills Reservation today. Cute!

graffiti art

graffiti art
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today I hiked for 2.75 hours, about 5 miles at Blue Hills Reservation. I hadn't seen this graffiti art before. It can be found along Accord Path. Weird, interesting! What does it mean?

view from pratt

view from pratt
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Soon after passing Binney Pond, I came to signs for a spring, and from then on it was uphill all the way. I was hoping I would make it to the top of whatever I was climbing before having to turn back.

Up till this point I hadn't met anyone since the trail runner at Watatic. But lo and behold, coming down the trail at me was the same trail runner! He said "hello again!" and passed on, sprinting down the trail like a deer. He had done the two peaks, just as I was doing. I wonder where he started?

Soon after this, I reached the summit of what turned out to be Pratt Mountain. There's a nice view here of an intriguing mountain to the NW. It looked sort of bald on top. There's also an overlook of Binney Pond, which I avoided because it was occupied with a small crowd of people. I'll have to come back for that some day.

From there, I pretty much retraced my route, although I did avoid the "detour" to the north of Watatic and stayed on the Midstate Trail on the way back. The trip out took me 3 hours, while the trip back took only 2.

On the Midstate Trail south of the MA state line I ran into a couple of really big ATVs, which was incredibly annoying. This kind of traffic is really aggravating on the trail, and I don't know if it's legal. Other than that, it was a very nice day for a hike. Cooler than normal for this time of year, and the bugs were still pretty quiet. Nice!

binney pond

binney pond
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I don't yet have a map for the Wapack Trail. I'm still debating whether I really want one, since the trail is only about 20 miles along.

From the N.H. line, I knew I just had to follow yellow triangles to continue on the Wapack Trail from the Midstate Trail. Not having a map, I had no idea what to expect of the trail other than that. Eventually, I crossed into Binney Pond State Forest. This is a view of said pond.

It's a huge pond.

midstate trail end

midstate trail end
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is another terminus marker for the Midstate Trail, alongside the first one. It looks like it would make a nice bench, but I didn't try it.

It reads:
MIDSTATE TRAIL
N.H. 1985 R.I.

midstate trail end

midstate trail end
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I hiked rapidly down from Watatic on a gravel trail - so rapidly that I missed the turn off into the woods. (Coming back, I didn't see a clear blaze pointing the way, either).

Heading down, I saw a trail runner coming up the gravel track. We gave each other a smile as we passed each other. Trail running looks fun, but strikes me as too risky. I have a tendency towards sprained ankles.

In any case, before long I was certain I had missed my turn off. I came to the bottom of the gravel trail, where I found another giant granite monument to Watatic from the year 2000 (there's also a smaller one at the top). The whole place down there looks strangely abandoned, with a giant concrete foundation bordering on some wide open space, and some phone wires running over the ground. In fact it felt a bit creepy.

I had two choices - I could head back up to Watatic and look for the Midstate cut off, or I could look for a trail heading west. I decided on the latter. I found a poorly maintained track which crossed a brook, went up some hills, meandered around. But I finally made it to the Midstate. I'm not entirely sure that I was on public land all the way, hm.

From there, I easily made it to the New Hampshire state line. I found the same marker that I found last year, which reads "Borden 1834". Since I wasn't so tired, I had the energy and common sense to follow the wall a little further west, and found this post which reads "A & A MASS 1894". Is this really from 1894? Very cool!

I was delighted to have found this marker, which I missed last year!

view from watatic

view from watatic
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Yesterday's hike: 5 h 0 min | 10 mi | 2 mph

Mileage is approximate, and I'm probably overestimating; I didn't have a trail map. I did a section of the Midstate and connected with the Wapack, carrying a pack that weighed 14 lbs to start.

I began at the Ashburnham State Forest parking lot, which was pretty crowded. The hike over Watatic to the NH state line is supposed to be 1.06 miles, according to the trail guide. It always takes me an hour. It was 38 minutes from the parking lot to the summit, which is about 400 feet or so uphill, and I'm nearly certain that's how long it took me last year. This year I was much more fresh, but I was also taking my time.

This is a view from the top of Watatic. I looked around, but I could not find the geodetic survey marker that I found last year. Very strange. There were a few people up there, so I didn't stay long.

deer

deer
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I was surprised to come across three deer along the pipeline trail, on the way back to my car. One seemed to be a fawn, and it's not in this photo because it had already scampered into the woods on the left.

The other two were relatively bold. They seemed more curious than afraid. They moved off into the woods as I approached, but didn't go far. I made cooing baby noises at them, and they stared at me.

skyline view

skyline view
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view of Boston from Chickatawbut, yesterday. It was cloudy, hot. But hikable. Nice and quiet, too.

very nice

very nice
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went hiking for about 2.5 hours at Blue Hills Reservation yesterday. Mostly I meandered around the eastern section, trying to follow trails that I haven't been on before.

At some point I noticed a thin track going uphill and followed it. It was mostly marked with faded purple and yellow blazes, but sometimes I'd suddenly come across a bright green circle like the one in this photo. Garish, but clear!

I stopped here to sit down, and it felt so incredibly peaceful that I was reluctant to get up again. This was a great spot, and I will have to come back soon.

birthday celebration in progress

consuming the cupcake
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

It was an excellent birthday party! The treats were delicious and the view, harmonious. Happy Birthday, A!

birthday candle

birthday candle
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I decided to do the birthday celebration atop Crow Hill Ledges. I managed to get the birthday candle lit, with some difficulty, due to a mild breeze. I didn't even get to finish the birthday song before the wind blew out this flame!

I got to a late start, but it was still morning, so I brought a birthday latte with me. In addition, I picked up a birthday lottery ticket, which promptly refunded the $2 that I spent on it.

crow hill ledges

crow hill ledges
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

It's that time of the year again. My friend's birthday was yesterday, but I didn't have time for the celebratory birthday hike until today. I went out to the Midstate Trail and did a hike up to Crow Hill Ledges. It was pretty hot, and strangely quiet - no climbers.

Tank eighty-six

Total miles: 30903. Trip miles: 413.3. Gallons: 7.92. Price per gallon: $2.439.

Screen mileage: 53.4 mpg. Tank mileage: 52.2 mpg.

Mix of short commutes and longer drives of about 30 minutes or so.

tell no one

tell no one
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I was feeling wiped out from a more than usually difficult work week, so I decided to completely kick back this evening and enjoy a movie. In fact, I wound up renting three. This felt incredibly indulgent, which was just what I needed, psychologically speaking.

I watched the first movie, "Tell No One", this evening, while enjoying a chocolate biscotti, some hot cocoa, and a big bag of popcorn. It's a good suspense/thriller. There are scary goons, thick-witted French cops, a dodgy criminal with a heart of gold, and, of course, Paris. There are some weird plot twists that I didn't always quite get. And there are some very large plot holes, but I didn't mind since I found the movie absorbing. Very entertaining!

30K miles

I've got about 30K miles on my car now, so I took it to the dealer for a 30K mile service. The base price was a jaw-dropping $425 (with coupon). According to an undated article at Edmunds, the price is more likely to be $300, or something like that. I live in one of the costlier areas of the country, so the higher price is unsurprising. In any case, I had no idea what to expect and hadn't bothered to do the research, so I just took it on the chin.

The bill is remarkably difficult to deciper. Here's what they did:

• oil change plus new drain plug gasket and air filter
• "replace non-platinum and non-iridium spark plugs" - not sure if they actually did anything there
• test: battery, hoses and belts
• drain and refill cooling system
• "clean throttle body" - what is that?
• drain transmission assembly (hopefully they refilled it too)
• service differential assembly (hm)
• inspect: exhaust system, suspension, steering, brakes
• lube as needed (so did they do anything)?
• top off fluids as needed (did they...?)
• rotate and balance tires
• clean and adjust brake system
• new wiper blades

I notice I was charged $18 for "BK-44 cleaner" and $25 for something called "super long life c" (apparently the printout only allows 17 characters, to help keep you in the dark).

The parts cost about $150, with $275 going to labor. I wonder how much of that goes to the guy doing the actual work.

Despite the cost I'm happy. The dealer gave me a loaner car for the day, making the experience pretty painless. In addition, I had a slow leak in one tire, which was patched for about $20, nice to get that done at the same time.

My loaner car was a Camry. It was actually a rental, and it had a kind of stinky smell like someone had smoked in it, but other than that it was fine. After driving around in a Prius for a couple of years, I found the Camry engine annoyingly noisy. I notice it humming all the time, and I kept thinking about how much gas it was wasting when at stop lights. It made me appreciate the Prius more. I was also very happy when I got back into my own car and could immediately make use of the backup camera. I love that backup camera!

attack of the monster whitefly

I recently picked up a new houseplant. It's a jasmine or false jasmine - I can't recall what the lady told me at the store anymore. I picked it up from a greenhouse, somewhere I'd expect to get a very healthy plant. However, I noticed that it began to do poorly about two weeks after I brought it home.

At first I thought it just couldn't stand the heat in the apartment, or that it was getting too much sun. I didn't realize it was diseased! A few days ago, I noticed some small white fuzzy areas at the leaf nodes, and recoiled in horror. It's infected with greenhouse whitefly!

If anyone wants to make a really scary movie monster, they should think about basing it on the whitefly nymph. Those things give me the shivers.

I spent part of this evening attempting to eradicate the critters. It kind of looks like they've invaded my other plants, too.

skyline trail

skyline trail
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I did 2.5 hours at Blue Hills Reservation today. It wasn't bad to start, but got increasingly hot and humid as noon approached and the sun came out.

The mosquitoes are still being fairly laid back, which was nice.

July 2009 - Dreamers of the Day: A Novel

I just finished Mary Doria Russell's Dreamers of the Day: A Novel. This is a sort of timely travelogue and historical fiction piece about the middle east and western imperialism in the early 1900's.

It starts out pretty slow going. We follow the narrator through a rather dull, dreary childhood. In that sense, it brought to mind Of Human Bondage. The plot picks up when the heroine inherits a fortune and kicks up her heels. Unfortunately, the story does not wander off into Somerset Maugham's transcendentalism, but instead follows the narrator through some rather more mundane experiences.

The book is marginally worth reading. Mary Doria Russell is an accomplished author, no doubt about that, so anything she writes is probably worth reading. But I've never been keen on historical fiction because I'm never sure what's supposed to be real and what's made up (even though this book has a short appendix going into some of that). I didn't like the way the book ended, with some pseudo-mysticism or magical realism, whatever that was. And like I said, the beginning was a bit of a yawner. I found the narrator only mildly interesting - i.e. sympathetic, but kind of boring. I suspect this book was much more fun to research and write than it was to read. Perhaps fans of historical fiction would differ with me.

I see the author has a new book planned which is based on the life of Doc Holliday. I'll definitely take a look at that when it comes out; sounds more interesting to me.

See more progress on: Read one book a month

boston skyline

boston skyline
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is a view of Boston as seen from Wampatuck Hill, this afternoon.

I meandered all over the eastern section of Blue Hills Reservation for 4 solid hours today. I was carrying my backpack for practice. To start, the pack weighed about 20 lbs, and I drank about 2 liters of water along the way. I don't know what sort of pace I was making, since I didn't track my mileage.

I mostly stuck to the flat bits, but I did a few short climbs, like the one up Wampatuck to get to this view. It was a great day for hiking, breezy and dry. The mosquitoes are still being very restrained.

I should sleep well tonight!

relaxing!

This evening, I was feeling enjoyably fatigued after my afternoon hike. Tired enough to feel like kicking back and relaxing in a non-productive way. So I'm settling in to watch a French movie, Qui a tué Bambi?. I've made myself a nice cup of hot cocoa, topped with some delicious tiny marshmallows. I found the marshmallows at Whole Foods. They are branded "Bread and Circus Bakery", and they are soft, fluffy, and far superior to any other marshmallows I've eaten in my lifetime.

Watching a French movie is in keeping with my goal to learn French, so the evening won't be completely unproductive.

oops!

rock
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went hiking for about 3 hours at Blue Hills Reservation today. I carried a pack weighing about 12 lbs, to do a litle training for a backpacking trip later in the season. I didn't follow any specific route, so I don't know how far I walked. I meandered quite a bit.

At about 2 hours in, I decided I should make my way back to the car, so I stopped to take a look at the map. And then I realized I'd left it in the car. Doh! Fortunately, I'm fairly familiar with the trails, and I had a compass, so I made it back without trouble. Silly me!

Tank eighty-five

Total miles: 30490. Trip miles: 465.1. Gallons: 8.333. Price per gallon: $2.679.

Screen mileage: 57.3 mpg. Tank mileage: 55.8 mpg.

A couple of longer, 3.5 hour drives, plus some short commutes.

tower

tower
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 2 h 15 min | 4.25 mi | 1.9 mph

Nice day for a hike! I did another hike along the Skyline Trail at Blue Hills Reservation today. It was pretty crowded. I guess everyone is happy to get out in the sun after the last couple of rainy weeks.

Tank eighty-four

Total miles: 30025. Trip miles: 273.7. Gallons: 5.290. Price per gallon: $2.679.

Screen mileage: 55.9 mpg. Tank mileage: 51.7 mpg.

Mix of short and long drives.