The Elysian Fields

So today was the makeup day for the string-trimmer fest set for last Saturday... naturally, no rain in the forecast last night... ummm, early this morning... and, naturally, when I wake up it's "light showers" and everything is wet.

Cold and wet, no less. While I was loading the truck it looked, for a moment, like it was debating being snow, or at least ice.

Just took the one string trimmer - the heavy duty one is currently down and out. I think it has some homemade varnish in the tank. I had it running the other day and it actually kept going for a few minutes. Couldn't get it started, and you don't want that when you're half mile along the trail.

aequitaslevitas was out of commission - he caught the cold that Mr. B had, and he caught it from Rachel - so it was a solo mission.

Joined up with a couple of the guys from the Allentown Hiking Club on-site, though, and we took to the trail. Apparently, just before I pulled up, I missed the golden eagle - or a large immature bald eagle - that hung around at eye level off the side of the parking lot. (You can kind of see the view in this shot of aequitaslevitas from back in July.

It was still raining when we were getting ready, but that stopped at some point in the first thousand feet or so of the trail. Shortly after that, I realized I'd better go back and grab the gas can so I could minimize the distance backtracked for fuel. Also removed the coat, on account of no rain and plenty of warmth.

Most of the trail was cleared nice from our earlier efforts so there were spots we could just cruise through. Trailhead to trailhead, on the access road, is more than a mile, so the trail - which goes up and down the side of the ridge - is probably on the order of 1.5 to 2 miles. Much fun lugging along a metal two gallon tank of gas and a string trimmer! Might look into a gas backpack (they make them for wildfirefighters) sometime down the line.

Found a bear run - or, possibly, it might have been made by a hippopotamus or a 500 lb. otter. It was a clearer trail - and flatter! - then the one we were making. Looked like a three to six foot wide streamroller went down the mountain.

Found coyote tracks on the mile-plus hike back to the truck

During the debriefing with Dan back at the Osprey House, we had an immature bald eagle give us a nice flyby. Of course, the camera was back at the truck. Oy.

Had a falcon or hawk outside the bedroom window later in the afternoon, but when I went out with the camera, the only thing I saw were mushrooms and fall foliage. I couldn't even get a bead on the crows that circled when I was going in!