Ritzhikes

Where: Farmington River, ColIinsville When: June 10-11, 2017 With: The Stupids Mar 24, David Bachrach email "A call to arms, or rather kayaks, “Back to Bugle” because Jack is no longer with us. When: June 9-11 Where: Collinsville U.S.A. (Next to the Dam)   Why: We all need this so don’t argue, “just do it” Who: The Mutual Stupids (of course) Please RSVP (or we will simply show up and kinap you)." And so it began. After 13 years, we were heading back to Collinsville and the Farmington River.  It was 22 years after we first visited, 21 years after our first camping trip on the river, and 20 years after we first camped at The Pool. We exchanged emails over the next few months, and at 8AM on Saturday, Chip arrived in my driveway. He’d offered to take care of the cooking duties this trip, so I left my cookpots, stove, kitchen tools, etc. behind. Actually, packing for this trip had been interesting. I hadn’t been camping in a long time, and I cut back to ...

When: Sep 17, 2016 Where: Wachusett Mt. With: Wilma I don't recall what route we took, but I have photos from this hike that provide some clues. There's a shot of a wind turbine from near the base, and another photo taken from Josti's Vista. We probably parked at the Westminster Road corner (near Machias Pool) and took the Stage Coach Road and Harrington Trail to the summit. I do remember large crowds on the summit, and this may have been the day that ham radio operators were conducting some test/event. For the return trip, I believe we got on to the Jack Frost Trail, then took the High Meadow Trail past Echo Lake and finally walked the Echo Lake Trail back to the car.

Where: Lake Whitehall, Hopkinton MA When: 2 May, 2015 With: Chip & Dave Another Stupid kayak gathering, this time at Lake Whitehall, 5 minutes from my house. We put in at the dam, then paddled out to the islands and the beaver lodges. More pictures

Where: Wachusett Mt. When: Aug 24, 2014 With: Wilma Somehow I got it into my head to hike up Wachusett Mountain. I'd been on part of it many years ago, in the winter, but I don't believe I'd ever climbed to the summit. I picked a route from the north, starting at the Bolton Pond trail head. Part of the route passed through old growth forest, I think, so that influenced the choice of route. I don't remember a lot of details from the hike, though the pictures help. We started about 11AM and were at Bolton Pond 15 minutes later. We passed Balance Road, then got on the Old Indian Trail, crossed the ski trails, and arrived at the summit around noon. We took the Harrington and Semuhenna Trails back (had a brief tussle with another dog on the Semuhenna), rejoined the Old Indian Trail and were back at the car around 1:30PM. More photos

Where: Pillings Pond, Lynnfield MA When: 8 June, 2014 With: Chip  Chip invited me to his house for an afternoon of kayaking, horseshoe throwing, and hanging out. More photos

Where: Charles River, Elm Bank (Wellesley MA) When: 3 May, 2014 With: Chip & Dave A gathering for some kayaking on the Charles River. Recent storms had the river running high, but we didn't have any problem. The Elm Bank reservation was chosen because it was pretty much the same distance from each of our houses. We met/parked at a lot a short distance in from the entrance, and discussed our plans. We either didn't know about the boat launch spot on the other side of the reservation or couldn't find it, and wound up carrying the boats down the road and though the woods to the river. We had a nice float downstream, and an easy paddle back up. More pictures

Where: Hopkinton Town Forest When: 9 March, 2014 With: Chip & Dave Some good snow, so I invited Chip & Dave to join me for some XC skiing on the trails outside my neighborhood. We headed in by The Cave, then followed the trail running parallel to 495. We made a stop at a couple of old, abandoned cars, then continued up into the Cameron Woods property. A fairly steep downhill was a bit more than we thought we could handle on a trail, so we cut across the slope into the woods before making our way back to a trail. From there, we went up behind Sylvan Way, then into Phipps' land. A side trail took us through a hemlock grove and back to the main trail, where we began heading back toward home. Chip & Dave groaned when they saw another hill looming ahead, but were relieved when I turned onto another side trail just before the ascent. That trail took us back to the start. More pictures