Today on my morning bike commute I spotted an anomaly that caught my attention, a Canada goose with an odd coloring. The bird's feathers didn't have any pigments. Once at the office I did a quick google check and Leucistic/albino geese are quick common. Here is a link to more pictures
When I go out camping and hiking I like to keep the amount of gear I have to carry to a minimum. I recently discovered an new innovation, the Sea to Summit mug and bowl. When you are not using them the mug fits inside the bowl and the result is a disc four inches in diameter by 1/4" thick. To use either of them you push out the centre of the disc and you are ready to go. Before putting the mug to a test in the wilderness I decided to test it out in my kitchen. I added my favourite hot brew to the mug and discovered that it is best to the grip the cup by the black rim and to use two hands when drinking say a cup of hot coffee or tea. I was impressed by how well they worked. The next test will be to see how they operate in the arctic cold of Adirondack winter camping or a local trek in the Ottawa environs.
http://www.rei.com/product/767560 Sea to Summit bowl
http://www.rei.com/product/787278 Sea to Summit X-Mug
Tonight, I did something that has been on my "ToDo" list for a while is some Jetboil cooking. On Friday, I was over a MEC buying some bike stuff and grabbed two package of AlpineAire dinners. The idea is to test out meal in an urban setting before experiencing them in the wild only to discover that they are no good. I sort of wanting to make an adventure out of cooking dinner so I loaded my Jetboil, Nalgene bottle, utensils and roll of toilet paper into my backpack and headed out along the Ottawa River. The sun was starting to set so I couldn't travel too far but a handy park bench was nearby.
Both dinners required two cups of water and the nice thing about the Jetboil is that it has a 2 cup/16 oz mark on the inside of the pot. I set up the stove and had my first load of water ready to heat. The first dinner was AlpineAire Wild Tyme Turkey. The Jetboil was steaming in under a minute and I loaded the water into the pouch and gave it a good stir and set it aside for 10 minutes. The second batch of water was heated even faster and was loaded into the AlpineAire Pepper Steak Rice pouch. At this point it was time to get out the toilet paper for all the wrong and not obvious reasons. While both pouches were steeping I dried off the inside of the Jetboil pot and the lid and put the stove away and waited.
The Wild Turkey dinner was tasty but not as filling as the Pepper Steak Rice. A note -to-self to really stir the Pepper steak before serving as the salt and pepper tend to accumulate at the bottom of the pouch. The Pepper Steak Rice dinner would feed two people well. The Wild Turkey when combined with something else would feed two people satisfactorily.
Today I learned about the perils of poor packing first hand but was able to make a quick recovery. In my last entry I talked about how I wanted to try running to work soon. Today, I awoke really early and decided to run to work. I packed all my work clothes and shower stuff into my backpack; it was a full and heavy load. I made a critical mistake of not closing my zipper sliders at the top of the bag and not to one side. With all the giggling of my bag the zipper started to peel open and things started to fall out along the route. One of the first things to fall out was my winter hat and office access badge. I only discovered when checking into the office of my fatal error and was lucky that I had other identification. After showering I decided to retrace my steps and found my access badge hanging from a tree as someone had seen its value and picked it up. My loss was only a winter hat. As I run home tonight I'll stopp by MEC to buy a replacement and will most likely carabiner my zipper slides together.
My second adventure today deals with Starbuck Organic Chai tea. For a long time, I have been a fan of their Early Grey teas but found at times it contains too much caffeine. I switch every so often to the Tazo Organic Chai Tea. To the folks at Starbucks when you say you want Chai tea it brings up two connotations, one cheap and the other expensive. The cheap version is some hot tea with a Chai teabag and the other is the Chai Tea Latte. Today, I was downtown for a meeting and asked for Chai Tea and tried to be clear what I wanted and jokingly the barista just gave me the tea bag in its package. I said sort asked where was the hot water and which we all rolled around laughing as they wanted to figured that I wanted hot tea.
Yesterday, I was out geocaching and with the expectation that it would be cool and quiet afternoon. This was not too be. As I was driving up to the trailhead I passed two groups of army recruits decked in cammo, face paint and carrying an assortment of rifles, sniper scopes, and machine guns. They looked like a serious and dangerous bunch. At the last moment, I noticed that most of the guns were plugged. They were hoping to ambush another platoon concealed much deeper along the trail. Lucky for me the first geocache was in the opposite direction and an easy find. I continued along the trail and noticed a guy in cammo sitting midway up a tree keeping very calm and quiet. Later I would find out that the woods were occupied by deer hunters with bows. The third cache find was what I call a "gotcha." The cache was suspended 15 feet in the air and hanging from the nub of a branch. Standing on a three foot stump and using a 10 foot long branch I was able to knock the cache down. As I was lifting the cache back into place along came a couple of deer hunters wanting to know what I was doing. I showed them the cache and my GPS and explained what geocaching was all about. Before they headed back along the trail I asked them what to do when in the woods during deer season; do you move silently or make some noise. They suggested to make more noise that you would expect of a deer prancing through the forest.
Tonight I did something I had planned to do last weekend but got rained out. This is cooking with my Jetboil. I loaded up my backpack with my utensils, flashlight, Nalgene bottle, fuel canister, the Jetboil stove and packaged dinner. My destination was the bike path that runs along the Ottawa River. The idea was to test out the stove in a familiar setting before putting it to test in the foul elements. I assembled the stove as dusk was setting in. I reached a point of indecision, should I light the stove before or after mounting the pot. I opted to light the stove first. The stove lit on it's first try. In the meantime I started to prepare the grub. Before I knew there was a geyser of steam coming out of the stove's portal. I poured the steaming water in the Mary Jane Mac N Cheese and waited patiently. A little while later I was eating my first Jetboil assisted meal. A quick thanks goes out to Jason for the stove.
Yesterday, I went geocaching along the Ottawa River and eventually located a sneaky geocache. The GPS told me that I was within a couple of feet of the cache but where could it be. This link shows where the cache is. The cacher had transported the tree segment home, sliced off the top, ground out the core and the put dowling support to secure the top. From a distance it looks like a large tree stump sitting next to the river. Afterwards I was reading the logs and noticed that the tree had stumped a lot of people.
While on my run tonight I had a MacGyver moment. When I packed my running gear this morning I packed my large winter overpants. They are designed to be worn over a couple of layers. As I started out on my run they started to slide down. Every so often I would pull them up a bit. At the midpoint of run there is a construction site with miles of yellow caution tape laying around. I grabbed a foot of tape and used it to secure my pants. My run back to the university was at a faster and more relaxed pace.
The first weekend in August we have a holiday that has many names, Civic Holiday, Colonel By day or John Graves Simcoe day. I decided to head to Montreal to see if I could achieve my geocaching goal of 900 finds. On Friday night, I joined a long line of people at the bus station heading to Montreal. In all there were 180 folks in line for the 5 p.m. bus. Security was heightened as they had undercover cops and sniffer dogs checking out everyone’s luggage. Once at the McGill residence, I found that the place was overbooked for the weekend. They have another nearby residence which I checked into and was upgraded to a better room at no additional cost. On Saturday, I joined a line of five people eager to buy the iPhone. I bought a white 16 gigabyte phone. WooT!
Over the next couple of days I did a geocaches marathon finding 26 geocaches putting my finds tally at 902. On Monday, I headed up to the Apple store which is located in the second largest mall in Canada, the le Carrefour de Laval. I was talking one of the specialist (blue shirt) about my challenge in getting the native Yahoo mail on the iPod touch to work and he suggested seeing one of the Genius (black shirt). After an hour the genius couldn’t get the Yahoo Mail app to work. I opted to use some custom IMAP and POP settings to get it to sort of work and not work. All in all it was a great holiday weekend.
Wright Peak/Algonquin/Iroquois/Phelps/Colden
Friday June 27
One of my goals is to eventually climb all of the 46 peaks in the Adirondacks whose elevation is above 4,000 feet. This past weekend I added one more to the tally, Iroquois. On Friday morning, Chris Mc and I headed down to Lake Placid and stopped in at the Price Chopper to get lunches and groceries for the long weekend. Once at camp we setup a tarp and bug net over the picnic table as suspected we would meet the bugs and/or rain over the weekend. Na, Paul and Ben would arrive at the campsite a little while later. After supper we started a fire and contemplated when Wendy and Erin would arrive. We took bets on when they might arrive and I won. They wouldn’t arrive until mid-afternoon on Saturday.
Saturday June 28
The five of us were up early (0630) and eating breakfast by 7:00 AM. Our goal for the day was to hike the mountains near Algonquin Peak much of this would be dependant on our stamina and the weather. At 8:21 AM we headed out from the ADK Loj trailhead and made our way south-west. After 30 minutes the trail splits, one direction leading to Marcy Dam and the other to Algonquin. We took the right path and headed south. The trail very gradually climbs and is a Mecca for boulders. Along the way we took in the sight of a waterfall. After climbing for about an hour we reached another trailhead. Half of the group climbed Wright Peak while the others continued on the trail to Algonquin. The view from Wright was good but we could see a storm approaching in the distance. As continued our ascent up to Algonquin it started to lightly rain and in rolled the mist. It was hard to spot the next cairn. We stopped for lunch at the summit. The mountain steward was standing on watch. The group split again and most of the people headed down Algonquin. The remainder continued east to Boundary and Iroquois. The intensity of the rain increased and the fog grew thicker. It was at this point that the GPS proved its value. At breakfast time I punched in the coordinates for all the peaks we would be climbing. A father, his son and a large poodle mistook Boundary for Algonquin. I shouted that the GPS said we had another 300 yards to hike. They were not happy by this remark. The final 300 yards involved hiking through shoulder height trees and boggy mud flats. My knee high gators kept the spruce trees from scratching my legs as well as keeping the mud away from my boots. Once we reached the summit we retreated back to the valley between the mountains. We had a choice to head back by Avalanche Lake or return the way we had come. Three groups were making the same decision and all opted for coming back the way they had come. It would be better to head back on familiar terrain that to take a longer route with an uncertain terrain. The constant rain made this choice obvious. As we headed across Algonquin the rain became more intense and my heart went out to the steward huddled next to a large rock. It would be another three hours before he could head down. Once below the tree line the rain let up and we could take off our rain jacket. The forest was steamy hot. A little while later the sun came out. As we were heading by the falls I saw some naïve hikers making there way to Wright Peak. They were wearing button-down white and blue shirts. I wonder how long they would stay clean and dry as another storm was an hour away. Once back at the camp I had a piping hot cup of tea to celebrate my ascents. Wendy and Erin had arrived by this point and prepared a marvelous pasta dish for supper. Paul and I trimmed up a standing conifer tree and as a standing dead tree is a dry tree. A blazing warm fire was a welcome site to the group.
Sunday June 29
Most of the group was awake at sunrise and we started down the trailhead early in the morning. Our goal was to climb Phelps. At the first trail junction we headed east towards Marcy Dam and took in the sights before heading further east. There was much relief as we were climbing the Phelps trail as it had fewer rocks than the trail leading to Wright. We ate lunch at the Phelps summit. The knats and black flies were swarming on the summit so we headed down shortly after lunch. We were at our campsite by mid-afternoon. After a Chinese stir-fry meal we headed into B&J for ice cream. There were black clouds hanging over Lake Placid. As we were heading back to camp it started to pelt. There would be no fire tonight. It would rain for most of the night.
Monday June 30
On Monday morning, Na, Paul and Ben packed up and headed back to Ottawa. Chris Mc, Erin and I set out early to climb Mt. Colden. We headed over to Marcy Dam before hiking in a southerly direction towards Avalanche Lake. By lunch hour, we were climbing over the ladders that take you along the shores of Avalanche Lake. The edge of the lake ends in a steep cliff so they have wooden ladders and platforms hanging from the edge of the cliffs. Our trek along Colden Lake was muddy. Midway down the lake we started our steep ascent of Mt. Colden and reached the summit after much exertion and heavy breathing. It was a bright and sunny day on the summit. We ate our lunch while admiring the views, of Marcy Dam, Avalanche Lake, and the three other peaks we had climbed two days earlier. The hike down to Lake Arnold was a pleasant one as the switchbacks allowed us to gradually drop elevation. We pumped water at Lake Arnold despite the black fly infestation. Within an hour we were back at the Marcy Dam trailhead. We all headed into town for steak dinner at the Lake Placid Boat Club which sits on the edge of Mirror Lake. Erin and Wendy headed north to Ottawa after dinner. Chris Mc and I headed back to camp for the final camp fire.
Tuesday July 1 – Canada Independence Day
We were both up at 5:00 AM. I spent a little while packing my thermarests and sleeping bag before leaving the tent. Meanwhile, Chris Mc got the Coleman stove alight. We had all our gear packed and heading north by 8:00 AM.
http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/2008_Adirondacks_July
I spent the past weekend hiking in the Adirondacks and visited two peaks I had climbed last fall (East Dix and South Dix). A recent microburst and the unmarked and unmaintained herd trails made the trek more challenging. On Friday afternoon four cars headed south from Ottawa and rendezvous in Keene Valley at the Rock and River lodge. On the way down we stopped at Price Chopper to buy lunches for the Saturday and Sunday hikes. I replenished my stock of fig newtons. Our group stayed in one of the largest chalets which was a converted barn and had a climbing wall on the back side of the fireplace.
On Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast we headed 20 km south to the East Dix trailhead. I fired up the GPS and punched in the coordinates for the East Dix summit. At the critical point on the trail we forded the Bouquet River learning from our mistake from last year. As we meandered along the river the GPS “distance to final” fell very slowly. At times we were slowed down due to downed trees but soldiered on. Our OHOC group (12) broke up into three smaller groups and the distance between them grew. Every half-hour we would regroup. Brian and I were the first to reach the East Dix slide after a three hour hike. There is a well defined path to the west side of the slide which takes you about halfway up at which point you have to cross to the east side. One had to be aware of your colors. A black or brown colored rock is slippery while a gray will give a firm purchase. With the GPS running I could watch the feet to the summit ever so slowly decrease. It was slow going up the slide. Our goal was to climb toward a cliff that looked like a hammerhead. There is a path along the edge of the cliff that leads to the summit. It was a big relief when we reached the summit. We took a couple of pictures and started our one mile trek to the summit of South Dix. We made the hike with a certain amount of urgency as there were looming dark clouds overhead. Once again the GPS allowed us to keep our bearing. As we were taking pictures on the cliffs of South Dix it started to rain. I fished out my rain jacket and Brian and I headed back over to East Dix. Midway along the trail the rain stopped but we continued to wear our jackets as the forest was wet. Once back on East Dix the sun came out and quickly dried off the rock face. It was mid-afternoon by this point and I ate my sub quietly and pushed back some fig newtons and diet coke. We would spend the next 40 minutes climbing very slowly down East Dix and in some cases walking on all fours. With a little luck I found the trail that runs down the east side of the slide and eventually leads to the campsite. Once off the slide I sighed with relief as we were out of harms way. The journey back along the trail was more brisk than I would have liked. By this point I had consumed three liters of water and only had one more to spare. The forest was warm and muggy. We bumped into the other group midway along the trail which was a relief for me as we as there was no longer a need to travel at a breakneck speed. We learned that the other groups had made it halfway up the slide but missed the cairn that tells you to cross over to the other face. They turned back as it was raining and thundering overhead. Once back at the car I headed down to the Bouquet River and stood in the cold river for 15 minutes to cool myself down. It felt awesome. As we were driving back to the lodge the skies opened and it pelted with rain.
Once back at the lodge I had a blistering hot shower and washed the caked mud from my legs. We had a group pasta dinner. After supper I bedded down really early as I bushed.
On Sunday morning I awoke really early and headed over to the lodge for a hearty breakfast with the rest of the crew. The goal for the day was a short four hour hike up Pitchoff Mountain. It was a good day hike as long as you kept moving. Our turnaround point was “the ridge” which had a great view of Cascade Mountain. At is at this point that we experienced our first bugs of the trip. The black flies were out but they were not in a bitten mood and were more of an irritation.
http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/June2008_Adirondacks_EDix_SDix
In just over a week, I’ll be heading down to the Lake Placid area for my second hiking trip of the year. The plan is to climb East Dix (4012 feet) and South Dix (4060 feet). Last year, Chris Mc, Kevin and I camped at the base of what we thought was East Dix and later confirmed once we were at the summit. This year we are taking a different approach and staying at a hostel overnight in Keene Valley and to summit both Dixs peaks as part of a long day hike. Now that we have the GPS coordinates we can start at the car and just follow the GPS arrow as it counts down the kilometers/miles to go. Chris Mc and I are leading a group of OHOC hikers this time round. There is still one unsolved mystery and that is, will there be bugs and how fierce/intense they might be as this is the earliest in the spring that I have been hiking in the Adirondacks.
Today, I decided to have lunch down near the Ottawa River along the bike path. As I was walking along the path I was approached by a spitting Canada goose which is a sign that it was upset. I moved along a little further and it started to follow. I opened up a 200 yard gap and sat down to eat my Ruffles. A short while later along comes the waddling goose. It started to spit at me again so I walked a little further along the path. At this point the goose backed off and it was happy to munch on dandelions. Is this normal goose behavior sort of, as this is the peak season for mating and reproducing. The goose wanted to guard its turf against invaders even if they are six feet tall and it is a mere two feet tall.
Close to where I live there is a railway bridge that runs across the river a goose has setup camp underneath one of the abutments. It has built a nest and laid a couple of eggs. I pass by the spot a couple of times a day and notice the progress. I’ll try to get down there with the camera to capture some of the sights. As I meandered back to the office I kept a safe distance from the goose who was keeping a watchful over me.
One of the goals I set for myself in January was to have found between 900 and 1000 geocaches. This past week I was able to go geocaching on three occasions. (current tall 886) I set a new weekly record by finding 18 geocaches. Yesterday my geocaching got off to a rough start as I spent much of the afternoon searching for geocaches underneath light standards at shopping malls. I don’t really enjoy this sort of urban caching. By mid-afternoon, I stopped in a Starbucks to log my finds using my iPod touch and to see what other caches were in the area. I copied down the coordinate for six caches which would take me into some of the wooded areas and parks in Kanata. As dusk was starting to descend the forest drew cooler and quieter and the wildlife started to appear. From a distance, I could see a furry black blob walking towards me at a slow and steady pace. It could either be a skunk or a raccoon. As we got closer the raccoon decided that I was a larger animal and headed off the trail while keeping a watchful eye on me. My next animal encounter was will a flock of deer. I was headed down a railway bed that has been converted into a jogging trail. To my right, I heard a branch break and I stopped dead in my tracks. The wind was blowing towards me. It was a family of deer that were planning to cut across the trail. I stood still, held my breath as they came with ten feet of me. They were suspicious but quickly headed into the woods without flapping their tails (a warning sign of problems).
Today, I had a meeting on the outskirts of the city. In the case of Ottawa this means a heavily wooded area. I decided to pack my GPS and to do some geocaching after the meeting. Over the course of a couple of hours I found five geocaches. The forth find was the most memorable. I had hiked down to the end of the trail to find my third cache and noticed that the next one was 1,500 meters away in a southerly direction. This is where the fun begins! I set a reference point for the next cache and started walking through the woods. Along my trek south I spotted a couple of cotton-tail deer, I navigated around a beaver bog, hiked through a couple of (cedar) deer-feeding yards, spotted a couple of deer hunting platforms and finally forded a couple of streams by walking across downed trees. It was a fun afternoon.
Tonight, I did my first hill workout of the year. It was six repeats of 400 yards up a gradual incline. The rest of the team did eight but I opted to slack off a bit as my legs are still recovering from the race. Over the next couple of weeks, the number of intervals with increase as well as the length of each intervals. It felt good to be running with the team again.
First off, I want to start off this entry by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. 2007 was a good year for me and I am looking forward to a better one in 2008. My Christmas holiday has been a good one this year. I was pleased with my Boxing Day 10 mile race which suggests that I will have a good half-marathon race laster this month in Arizona. I have cross-trained over Christmas, swimming every second day at my alma mater. The break from running will ensured my legs are well rested for the race. I was excited when I got a hammock as a Christmas/birthday present. Jason got one a couple of years ago and loves his so it was a must-have piece of hiking/outdoor gear. I want to thank Jason for his giftlistit website as it made the Christmas present buying process really easy and fun this year. As well, it was a lot of fun doing some end-user testing of giftlistit. My parents were able to purchase the hammock without me knowing using the wonders of giftlistit. My relatives were able to use the website as well, simplifying the process of buying 10 Christmas gifts.
Late last week, my holiday plans were uncertain. I had a couple of modes of transportation for getting home for the holidays. While surfing I was able to locate a cheap flight to Toronto at an incredibly low price. It bought the ticket as quickly as I could. The past couple of days at my folks place have been relaxing and given me chance to get some much needed rest. I've read two books over the last little while. The first, "Cold Mountain," by Charles Frazier and the other is "Replay," by Ken Grimwood. Both books are a good read. I am glad that I had a chance to read "Cold Mountain" as it answered many questions that remained unanswered when I saw the movie. Jason's father gave me a list of recommended books to read over the holidays and "Cold Mountain" and "Replay" were highly recommended.
Yesterday, I decided to check some of my local geocaches and will head back to them over the next couple of days with a camera. There are some bouldering faces that I want to get Jason's opinion on as they could be climbable once the weather improves.
The UOttawa fitness center is located in the basement of one of the large complexes. Tonight, as I was heading out for my run I had to walk upstairs counter to traffic flow. A massive herd of students/ants (so many) were heading down the stairs to write their final exam in the gym. They all looked worked up/agitated. It became clear quickly as they were clutching third year accounting textbooks. The conditions outside were equally as challenging, a fresh bed of 2" of snow had fallen over the afternoon and was still coming down quite hard. The main purpose of the run was to get some exercise with the hope of relieving a migraine that I have had for the past couple of days. Running in the snow was a unique experience as it felt as if I had pillows on my feet as the compression of the snow underfoot had a springy feeling to it. As the run progressed the conditions go worse and I cut back at the earliest chance (6.6km).
