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I just hiked a section of the new england trail which is also part of the quinnipiac trail near naugatuck state forest -- past Roaring Brook Falls. Hiking the New England Trail is my favorite way to sneak away for an hour or two. Some of the trail sections are very seldom hiked and are surprisingly pretty. ...i hope i have my facts right here...

hello all. i am back, and it was another adventure... started out at Schutt road as AK suggested. muddy, wet trail circling around south and north lake. I had some relatively minor surgery about 6 weeks ago, and had a bad cold for three weeks but was desperate to get out, so I promised myself to take it easy. So... when I got just past north lake and it started to rain I figured camping was a great idea, even though i'd only hiked about 2 hours! I spent a lot of time under my hammock tarp, and u…

headed out tomorrow morning for four days in the catskills with perfect weather and lots of snow. I've been sick for weeks, so I've vowed to not walk crazy miles like an idiot and am taking a battery for every day so I can read on my phone and hang out. got snow shoes. got microspikes. gonna be carrying 24 pounds when I leave the car. that's an awful lot for me!!! will let you know how it goes...

Quote from LoboSolo: “Quote from BirdBrain: “I carry 1.4 lbs of very calorie dense foods per day and consider that about as good as I will get. I typically carry 6 days or more of food at the start of each leg. I have carried as much as 10. I do not find it convenient to visit every town for resupplies. 6 days of food is 8.4 lbs. I often carry 4 pounds of water. Now I am up to 12.4 lbs before I even think of gear. Hmmmm.....” there's no need to carry that much water on the AT” I agree ... And th…

ahhh. and good morning to you!!! well, you know me well enough to predict my plan, based on your help. given another few days of warmish weather -- snowshoes... no. microspikes... yes. crampons? ... no. i can always back away from something stupid -- i don't really have a fixed schedule or path. AK, as ever, thank you sooooo much for your kind help. you are my favorite engineer!!!!!

...so my wife was going to go with her sister to the Red Lion Inn in the Berkshires while I was away... her sister bailed on her, and ... I'm wimping out and going to go with her. trip postponed for two weeks. sure, laugh at me! that means those new show shoes stay, well... new. should be a different world in two weeks!!! at the very least, i'll have a full moon. no hiking in the rain, and lots of bonus relationship points. how good is that? thanks for all the info, AK. I can't wait for the trip…

hey rasty and traffic jam... funny thing is i think i like to hike alone largely because i can hike at the speed that works for keeping just right warm. that's hard to do with others. sometimes i feel like a lizard. i really most worry when its raining and in the thirties or forties -- like what is predicted this weekend. that can make the speed thing get harder to maintain. i call that "a race against hypothermia." oh -- and i am guilty of misspelling hypothermia all by myself -- can't blame sp…

so, the trip is finally, like... now! I plan on leaving saturday morning, afternoon or sunday morning -- depending on just how miserable the weather is, and finishing the loop wednesday morning. i couldn't resist buying a new pair of northern lites elite snowshoes to shave a pound or so off the weight of my MSRs... It appears as though they will be necessary. would you guys remind me how to avoid hyperthermia?

Quote from AnotherKevin: “How I use a pole in contexts other than hiking is ... not a topic for this forum. I don't know of any scientific work on the ergonomics of poles; it's all anecdote. (The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'!) That said, I find that as I switched from a staff to poles, I gradually shortened them. This seems to be pretty common: you see people who just got poles walking around with their poles up to their armpits, and the experienced people seem to use much shorter ones. Bu…

Quote from A.T.Lt: “Ive been told its not the length of your pole that matters its how you use your pole :huh:” a good laugh in the morning beats scientific research every time, and i thank you for it.

Quote from jimmyjam: “I'm 6 FT and I keep mine at 120. I like my forearms parallel to the ground.” sure, JJ, but what if using poles was like swimming -- a skill that, with practice, could be more efficient. everyone knows what feels good for them... i'm just not convinced that what feels good actually works best. so, using the swimming analogy, when you swim efficiently you get used to the movements and don't feel like cr87p. i'd like to believe that learning to use the most efficient pole leng…

I suspect that walking may use less energy with a shorter pole than is normally recommended... i'm 5'7 and really like using 105 cm poles -- clearly shorter than the guidelines would suggest. anybody ever hear of a serious ergonometric study? seems like lifting the arms up high enough to plant a longer pole/get more push might be a waste of energy.

Quote from Rasty: “Quote from TrafficJam: “Quote from Rasty: “Quote from TrafficJam: “Quote from 1azarus: “Quote from TrafficJam: “Quote from 1azarus: “I want to turn myself in for almost doing something responsible and mature. I've been thinking that I had a Catskills hike planned for this weekend, and have been looking at really seriously cold forecasts... So the pile of stuff in my to go corner was getting deeper. Then I thought I'd at least check to see if I could postpone the trip for a wee…

Quote from TrafficJam: “Quote from 1azarus: “I want to turn myself in for almost doing something responsible and mature. I've been thinking that I had a Catskills hike planned for this weekend, and have been looking at really seriously cold forecasts... So the pile of stuff in my to go corner was getting deeper. Then I thought I'd at least check to see if I could postpone the trip for a week, not seriously thinking I would. Turns out the hike is really not this weekend but the next! Yay! I've ne…

I want to turn myself in for almost doing something responsible and mature. I've been thinking that I had a Catskills hike planned for this weekend, and have been looking at really seriously cold forecasts... So the pile of stuff in my to go corner was getting deeper. Then I thought I'd at least check to see if I could postpone the trip for a week, not seriously thinking I would. Turns out the hike is really not this weekend but the next! Yay! I've never rescheduled a hike in my life, and am gla…

oh. and i won't bring my head net or bug repellant. is that a mistake?

good morning, AK!!! ... so, the forecast for next weekend looks like the same forecast we had for our harriman trip -- only difference seems to be the length of the day and the depth of the snow!!! you hearing anything about snow on that ridge? bring the snow shoes... bring the microspikes.., bring the real winter gear. right? i am sort of looking forward to my first attempt to melt snow using a wood burning stove. sort of. happy spring!

...I so appreciate the update. Sounds like I should pretty much plan on descending on the alternate route. We'll see...

Quote from Just Bill: “Quote from hikerboy: “starfail sent me an email shes off from 4/29 to 5/12, said she may stalk me in erwin. ive been singing tennessee jed ever since” Excellent news for you, her company was one of the highlights of your hike if I remember correctly. She interested in stopping by the cafe?” Just Bill, it would help me immensely if you could get your avatar to be looking weirdly off to the right instead of looking weirdly off to the left... that would call my attention to y…

Quote from LoboSolo: “"hiking the entire AT is major league. no one makes the majors when their only experience has been t-ball." WD” actually, the miracle is that a few t-ball players actually do make the majors... at least a few.