Sunday snowshoe in the Plotterkill Preserve

AnotherKevin · Feb 16th 2014, 10:25pm

Foot felt better enough that I went snowshoeing for a few hours in the Plotterkill Preserve (a local nature preserve, in which the most salient feature is the many waterfalls in the deep gorge of a stream flowing off the Helderberg escarpment). Fun time.

Trip report with pictures.

[IMG:http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/12578687133_f0b75fe898.jpg]
Lower Plotterkill Falls by ke9tv, on Flickr

Socks · Feb 16th 2014, 10:30pm

Very nice Kevin, glad you were able to get out if only for a few hours. That picture of your pole down the post hole is the very reason I love my snow shoes...

BirdBrain · Feb 16th 2014, 10:34pm

Square holes likely equals Pileated Woodpecker. I love that bird. I just wish his bigger cousin (Ivory) was not extinct.

AnotherKevin · Feb 16th 2014, 10:46pm

RS: Yeah. I think this was the first time in about 30 years that I was snowshoeing in a 4-foot snowpack (with deeper drifts here and there). I'm clearly not ready to attempt the high peaks in a deep snowpack. Yet.

That's why I practice locally. Hunter last week was reporting a 70-110 inch base with 30 inches of new natural (not man-made) snow. (Yoicks!)

BB: I agree about the pileated woodpecker. I've seen red-headed, downy, hairy and pileated in that gorge. All I saw today was the chickadees. Oh, and a flock of robins out my bedroom window. Two-and-a-half feet of snow, a low temperature of 4 F, and ... robins. Those poor birds aren't going to last long in this. Wonder what made them come north so soon.

Just Bill · Feb 16th 2014, 11:08pm

I really need to move.

Toli · Feb 16th 2014, 11:24pm

AnotherKevin wrote:

Foot felt better enough that I went snowshoeing for a few hours in the Plotterkill Preserve (a local nature preserve, in which the most salient feature is the many waterfalls in the deep gorge of a stream flowing off the Helderberg escarpment). Fun time.

Trip report with pictures.

[IMG:http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/12578687133_f0b75fe898.jpg]
Lower Plotterkill Falls by ke9tv, on Flickr[/quote

FWI, I am not talking to you again... Until I GET SNOWSHOES!!!! And 'Socks, if you tell me 1 more time "you should get some snowshoes" I will road trip to NJ and punch you in the junk gif.010 ... Awesome pics brother, deff jealous... I did post hole to my AC unit today to knock all the snow and ice off it, so I got that going for me

Just Bill · Feb 16th 2014, 11:36pm

Toli wrote:

AnotherKevin wrote:

Foot felt better enough that I went snowshoeing for a few hours in the Plotterkill Preserve (a local nature preserve, in which the most salient feature is the many waterfalls in the deep gorge of a stream flowing off the Helderberg escarpment). Fun time.

Trip report with pictures.

[IMG:http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/12578687133_f0b75fe898.jpg]
Lower Plotterkill Falls by ke9tv, on Flickr[/quote

FWI, I am not talking to you again... Until I GET SNOWSHOES!!!! And 'Socks, if you tell me 1 more time "you should get some snowshoes" I will road trip to NJ and punch you in the junk gif.010 ... Awesome pics brother, deff jealous... I did post hole to my AC unit today to knock all the snow and ice off it, so I got that going for me

I'm normally not a big fan, but I have to say; your sex change operation went very well based on your new pic. I'd say you got that going for you at least.

LIhikers · Feb 17th 2014, 9:20am

Toli wrote:

FWI, I am not talking to you again... Until I GET SNOWSHOES!!!! And 'Socks, if you tell me 1 more time "you should get some snowshoes" I will road trip to NJ and punch you in the junk

While you're in NJ to get Socks, make a stop at Campmor and pick up some snow shoes

LIhikers · Feb 17th 2014, 9:24am

On another note, I got out on my snowshoes for the first time in years. We went to a local county park and tramped around for an hour or two. Right at the outset I got my feet tangled and fell face first into the snow. My friend didn't name me fallsdownalot for no reason :lol:

AnotherKevin · Feb 17th 2014, 2:35pm

LIhikers wrote:

On another note, I got out on my snowshoes for the first time in years. We went to a local county park and tramped around for an hour or two. Right at the outset I got my feet tangled and fell face first into the snow. My friend didn't name me fallsdownalot for no reason :lol:

I lost count of how many spills I took yesterday. A spill in that soft and deep a snowpack doesn't hurt. The first lesson in snowshoeing is all about getting back up. I was a little tangle-footed, too, because I usually use the snowshoes without the tails for better maneuverability in the wet snow we usually have. I needed the tails for flotation yesterday, and, well, the shoes handle differently with them on. In the one spot where I had to break trail, I also kept failing to lift the toe high enough and catching it in the snow. That's also good for a fall.

Socks · Feb 17th 2014, 3:17pm

LIhikers wrote:

On another note, I got out on my snowshoes for the first time in years. We went to a local county park and tramped around for an hour or two. Right at the outset I got my feet tangled and fell face first into the snow. My friend didn't name me fallsdownalot for no reason :lol:

oh yeah, I recently took a step backwards without turning....in snowshoes, that's a no no. :oops:

:pinch: :whistle:

1azarus · Feb 17th 2014, 9:25pm

AnotherKevin wrote:

Foot felt better enough that I went snowshoeing for a few hours in the Plotterkill Preserve (a local nature preserve, in which the most salient feature is the many waterfalls in the deep gorge of a stream flowing off the Helderberg escarpment). Fun time.

Trip report with pictures.

[IMG:http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/12578687133_f0b75fe898.jpg]
Lower Plotterkill Falls by ke9tv, on Flickr

Beautiful local stuff is wonderful... You go, Kevin!

pipsissewa · Feb 18th 2014, 1:20pm

Snow is really deep in SW Mass. Breaking trail is tough as you sink a good 6 to 8" and after the trail is blazed, the wind takes it all away

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