Daddy/Daughter Day on Moosilauke 11/19/09

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Lengthening Shadows

Moosilauke 4802'

Glencliff Trail

7.8 Miles 3300' Elevation gain

Kevin and Emma, Jeremy, Fred, Dick, Skip, Tim, Clay, and Dave

Nope, I have no daughters just sons. My current retired status is allowing me the luxury of some mid-week afternoon hikes like this. Jude, who is still working, calls them, "Daddy/Daughter Days" because it's just me and Emma. It takes a new way of thinking on my part because Emma has always been Judy's responsibility and they both came under mine. Now I am totally responsible for her on these hikes. We've only really done a handful without Jude when compared to all the one's we've done as a trio.

Along the Glencliff Trail

Making sure I leave the house with everything I need for Emma to have a comfortable hike is kind of new to me as Jude always took care of it. Luckily she still helps me with it, I just have to remember to bring it. Last week I was so focused on this that I left my camera at home. This week I managed to remember it.

Setting Sun

The 11am northbound start of our trip was one of the easiest commutes to the mountains we've ever had. Traffic was light and we made good time. Arriving at the parking area I was relieved to find that it was just as warm at the base of Moosilauke as it was at home. I hiked to the summit in a medium weight shirt, and I changed to another at the summit. Though we had been to the summit several times, this making our third time this year, we had never been on the Glencliff Trail before. Besides being a section of the AT it is just a beautiful trail starting out through rolling farmland and entering a deciduous forest full of some huge Grey and Silver Birches before it abruptly turns over to a beautiful mix of conifers.

Enjoying the Sunset

I had met most of the group I was to meet at the summit along the trail. We continued the hike together having all started at different times. There is a very nice outlook to the west high up this trail where it passes a talus field. A quick scramble will bring you to an improvised "rampart" that makes a great lookout. Just above this the trail connects with the Carriage Road to complete the hike to the summit. We arrived at the summit, changed into dry things and donned an extra layer against the lightest breeze I have ever experienced on Moosilauke. It was a beautiful afternoon.

New Moon

We hung around the summit, each munching down on various things. Emma did her usual "Dog vs Food" show. She is ravenous after hiking to a summit. For me, there's sort of a bewilderment being on a mountainside at this time of day. I marvel at the glowing light, the lengthening shadows, the colors in the sky. There is a new moon to complete the scene. The mountains turn blue then purple. The light fades. A half mile back down the trail we are all back down to shirts, the temperature is amazingly warm. Emma leads us out in the dark.

Complete pics here:

http://ghostflowers.smugmug.com/Whi...silauke-111909/10382214_qwtfA#718926574_CckV8

KDT

 

[Tom & Atticus]

Kevin, that fourth photo is a beautiful shot...almost haunting.

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Thank you!

Well thank you, sir! I can't get much higher praise than that. I'm sure you have some similar! Hope all is well!

KDT

 

[Fisher Cat]

Awesome, what a way to spend a day and evening. Well done Kevin!

 

[audrey]

That meadow at the start is sometimes occupied by very friendly horses. A couple of years ago, I decided on the descent that I didn't want to take a chance having Genie meet up with them, so I leashed her and detoured through the woods to the right of the trail.

That's when she showed me what a bushwhacker she was. She dragged me mercilessly through those woods without a single dodge or detour. I tripped over logs and rocks, fell in the brook, and got branch-whipped until we finally exited a few hundred yards along, and there was the horse welcoming committee waiting. Neither they nor Genie paid any attention to each other and went their separate ways.

Gorgeous pics, Kevin!

 

[psmart]

Lovely sunset photos, all of them. They really evoke the feeling of a summit at sunset.

 

[loanshark]

sunset hike

Nice job Kevin. That hike was alot of fun. The only negative for me is that is forcing me to go out and get a better camera. My pictures didn't come nearly as good as yours.

 

[Silverfox]

Spectacular day and twilight shots gentlemen..sorry to have missed this event and hope to get asked to the next one..sure looks a lot more exciting than the Conservation Committee Meeting was..(though we did approve 2010 budget)

As for the sunset..while cruising home from Mt Washington on Rt 3 in the 430 range the sky was beautiful and I thought of you guys on such a stellar day. Great photos..great group..life is grand

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Life is Grand!

You said it, Mark! Wish you were there! Thanks Tim and Clay for sharing your photos, some very nice ones!

Clay: I stole the chance to do the TR because you stole my original name for Emma!

KDT

 

[forestgnome]

Kevin, great stuff! What a coincidence; my Sage calls me "daddy" as well.

Beautiful sunset pics! Exceptional!

What a beautiful November thus far...

happy trails

 

[Jimmy Legs and Little D]

Chase Scenes

(You didn't include any reference, though, to the hour-long discussion on the descent of the greatest movie chase scenes of all time.)

This may be a little off topic but:
What chase scenes were considered?

Here's one list:
10- Ronin
John Frankenheimer set out to make the chase scenes in this movie so memorable that future directors would refer back here when they wanted to create incredible chase sequences of their own. We think he succeeded. You'll have white knuckles from gripping the arms of your seat in this one. And between the chases, there's a darn good action flick.

9- Bullitt
Ask anyone over the age of 40 about car chases in movies and this one is likely to come up. This Steve McQueen classic came out during the peak of the muscle car era and imagine the fun of 400 horse power on the streets and hills of San Francisco.

8- Gone in 60 Seconds
Arguably the best pure car chase movie ever filmed. It spends maybe 10 minutes setting it up and the remaining 80 minutes or so is one long chase with some outstanding car stunts. If you haven't seen it yet, it's because it only came out two days ago. So what are you waiting for? There's nothing like watching car chase scenes on the big screen.

7- Vanishing Point
This 1971 cult classic stars Barry Newman as Kowalski. His task? Drive a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. A bit of a post-Easy Rider hippie flair, but the chase sequences set against the back drop of the open territory of the western states are spectacular.

6- Smokey and the Bandit
The movie that made Burt Reynolds one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the late 70's and helped Pontiac sell a ton of Black Trans Ams with fire breathing chickens on the hood. Reynolds stars as "The Bandit" running block in the Trans Am for a truckload of bootleg Coors beer leading to the destruction of dozens of cop cars spanning from Texas to Georgia.

5- Thunder Road
Robert Mitchum stars in this 1950's classic. This one played in drive-ins for years and years. Mitchum plays a bootlegger being pursued by the revenuers. The 1950 Ford in this movie has a wonderful rumble when he puts the spurs to it.

4- The French Connection
Although this is not a car movie, the chase sequence is largely credited as being responsible for one of this movie's 5 Oscars. This is a crime thriller about cops on the trail of a heroin shipment. But it contains a chase scene that was heralded as the best ever at the time it was filmed. Many of the stunts in this chase were actually real and unintentional such as the lady with the baby carriage who nearly gets mowed down.

3- White Lightning
If Smokey and the Bandit made Burt Reynolds the biggest star in Hollywood, playing lead-footed moonshiner Gator McCluskey in White Lightning is perhaps the precursor for him portraying The Bandit. Gator drives the wheels off of a souped big block Ford shine runner.

2- The Road Warrior
The movie that made Mel Gibson a major star. After the apocolypse one of the toughest things to find is gasoline. So what do these guys do? They ride up and down the highways at very high speeds looking for it. These highly modified vehicles have such toys as nitrous and super chargers and their drivers will stop at nothing to run their adversaries off the road to claim their fuel.

1- The Rock
If you're going to steal a car to run from the cops, why not grab a Hummer? If you're pursuing an escaped con in a Hummer, and you need a really fast car, why not take a Ferrari? And where better to stage a Ferrari chasing a Hummer than San Francisco! This great action flick starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery only has this one chase scene, but what a scene it is!



Mike

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Chase Scene

Actually only two of these came up, Bullit and Smokey and the Bandit and we all endured a youngsters explanation of why these were the best chase scenes of all time.

My vote was for Duel, the story of the guy who crosses the desert in a cat and mouse game with an 18 wheel fuel tanker. Remember that one?

...but then I remembered the chase scene in the Blues Brothers. Through the shopping mall. everyone said ,"Oh yeah! The Blues Brothers!"

KDT

 

[--M.]

10- Ronin
John Frankenheimer set out to make the chase scenes in this movie so memorable that future directors would refer back here when they wanted to create incredible chase sequences of their own. We think he succeeded. You'll have white knuckles from gripping the arms of your seat in this one. And between the chases, there's a darn good action flick.

9- Bullitt
Ask anyone over the age of 40 about car chases in movies and this one is likely to come up. This Steve McQueen classic came out during the peak of the muscle car era and imagine the fun of 400 horse power on the streets and hills of San Francisco.


4- The French Connection
Although this is not a car movie, the chase sequence is largely credited as being responsible for one of this movie's 5 Oscars. This is a crime thriller about cops on the trail of a heroin shipment. But it contains a chase scene that was heralded as the best ever at the time it was filmed. Many of the stunts in this chase were actually real and unintentional such as the lady with the baby carriage who nearly gets mowed down.

...

Some "Connections":

I believe the man responsible for getting the "French Connection" chase job was the same one who did the "Bullitt" scene. I have also heard it said that the very same guy also did a chase scene in "To Live and Die in LA" that pioneered the wrong-way-on-the-highway technique that is seen in "Ronin."

I went down Zeacliff once. Did not have a '71 LeMans or '68 Mustang Fastback providing motivation.