Nice Weather, for Ducks ;)

[peakbagger]

Yup, its been a washout long weekend up in the Whites. No road local road washouts that I have heard of, but western Maine along Rt2 and north of there is another story, I heard one comment that it is a "slow motion hurricane". My guess is the Rainbow folks in the York Pond area are having a wet time with possible hypothermic temps impacting the minimal clothing trend. The out of town ATV folks seem to still be in town as the rental agencies and motels all have non refundable deposits so folks head up north and try to make the best of it. The weather forecasts are decidedly optimistic with hints of clearing including the stereotypical clearing forecast for 4th of July to keep the visitors in town for one more day. When the weather does break, hot and humid seems to be the forecast.

Good time to be selling tarps

 

[DayTrip]

Today in CT was brutal. I had planned on redoing some pavers in a deck area I have and figured with just "showers" in the forecast I'd go ahead and do it anyway. By the time I gave up I was standing in 2 inches of water leveling the mud underneath the brown water with my foot. Not surprisingly I got water in my basement too. Haven't had rain like that here in awhile. I even had grassy paths in my yard with an inch of water traveling down them like brooks.

 

[Shoe]

Looks like another wet weekend ahead as well

 

[Daniel Eagan]

Very bad in Hudson Valley, up to 10 inches reported in West Point vicinity. Route 218 around Storm King washed away. Rail lines closed both east and west of Hudson River. I am guessing that trails around Breakneck, Beacon, Manitou, Bear Mountain, and Harriman are closed.

 

[Rhody Seth]

We camped at Crocker Cirque Campsite up in Carrabassett Valley on Friday afternoon and hooboy it opened up on us just as we were making camp. Big thunder. It rained on and off up until midnight. Saturday and Sunday were both ultra humid with a side of bugs but no more rain to speak off.

 

[CaptCaper]

I picked the perfect spring,summer,fall to host a campground for the USFS in Black Hills SD. Perfect weather compared to New England. Also no bugs,dry air,cool nights. Amazing. Lot's of good hiking in the hills. 2nd oldest mountains in the world.

 

[DayTrip]

I picked the perfect spring,summer,fall to host a campground for the USFS in Black Hills SD. Perfect weather compared to New England. Also no bugs,dry air,cool nights. Amazing. Lot's of good hiking in the hills. 2nd oldest mountains in the world.

I've had that area on the edges of the radar for awhile. I friend of mine who is a big overlanding fan recently spent 2 weeks cruising around there and it looks pretty awesome. I'll have to remember your user name for future questions.

 

[CaptCaper]

I've had that area on the edges of the radar for awhile. I friend of mine who is a big overlanding fan recently spent 2 weeks cruising around there and it looks pretty awesome. I'll have to remember your user name for future questions.

I've been all over the West camping hiking the NP's etc. and I choose these Black Hills for a reason to stay for 5 months. Under utilized here. Trails are awesome. Hiking the # 9 trail thru the Wilderness to Black Elk Peak at 7244 ft is amazing. Ponderosa pines cast out a Vanilla sent thru the bark coupled with the dry air,grass between the forested pines the smell is so nice while hiking. Many large sizes of Rose quartz, and other rock formations loaed with minerals. One can see whey the area produced much Gold. The trails are laden with Mica. I would love to hike at night with a led lamp to light it up like Diamonds. Many crash just one night here heading off to Yellowstone,etc. I always tell them they should at least tour the Needles highway on the way out. More laid back and better camping,hiking,etc. But also not far from civilization.

 

[MikePS]

A question. How are the trees holding up in the Black Hills? On my last trip there, 2015, the area was experiencing an insect infestation that was doing a number on the pine trees, leading to fire issues.

 

[CaptCaper]

A question. How are the trees holding up in the Black Hills? On my last trip there, 2015, the area was experiencing an insect infestation that was doing a number on the pine trees, leading to fire issues.

Seems good. No sign of dead or dying ones. Fed's set up money for forest management. They went out and culled out infected trees. I see they just appropriated more to management here.

 

[hiking lady]

I picked the perfect spring,summer,fall to host a campground for the USFS in Black Hills SD. Perfect weather compared to New England. Also no bugs,dry air,cool nights. Amazing. Lot's of good hiking in the hills. 2nd oldest mountains in the world.

We are flying out on Sept 5th for 2.5 weeks, we will have to check that area out! Sounds magnificant!

 

[TCD]

The Black Hills is truly a wonderful place. We are heading there in late August for our fourth visit. Mostly for rock climbing, but the hiking, gravel biking, caves, and general tourism are all great. The people are wonderfully friendly too. The area is a model for well done recreation management. (Sadly unlike my local Adirondacks, where NY State can't seem to get anything right.)

 

[egilbe]

We spent one night in the Black Hills, camping out, on our way to pick up the camper a couple years ago. I guess it's been three years now. Didn't see any bison, just lots of deer. Was suggested we go to Custer State park, but go early in the morning. The wildlife tends to move away from the road once traffic starts moving and the tourons start walking about. Devil's tower is pretty cool, it's in the area. Kept waiting for a spaceship, but nuthin. It was 4th of July weekend so we skipped Yellowstone. I think that may be a shoulder season visit.

I can see why the Sioux want the Black Hills back. Besides being sacred to them, it's a beautiful area.

 

[TCD]

The Kiowa probably want it back too.

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigra...lacies-behind-ben-jerrys-stolen-ground-tweet/
https://blackhillsvisitor.com/learn/native-american-culture-the-black-hills-until-1759/
https://blackhillsvisitor.com/learn/native-american-culture-and-the-black-hills-1750-1865/

 

[CaptCaper]

Yea.. Ben and Jerrys should give back their land to the natives. Most places and things are scared to the Natives it seems.

 

[Grey J]

The Kiowa probably want it back too.

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigra...lacies-behind-ben-jerrys-stolen-ground-tweet/
https://blackhillsvisitor.com/learn/native-american-culture-the-black-hills-until-1759/
https://blackhillsvisitor.com/learn/native-american-culture-and-the-black-hills-1750-1865/

Appreciate those historical links. History is seldom neat and clean, nor is it simple or one-sided. The Native Americans were ruthlessly pushed aside, dispossessed of their land, lied to, cheated, and almost exterminated by the European expansion across America. Their descendants have legitimate grievances. However, in 1874, during the midst of the so-called Indian Wars in the West, a US Army officer asked a Cheyenne chief why his tribe preyed on their Crow neighbors. He responded, "We stole the hunting grounds of the Crows because they were the best. We wanted more room." * His answer was an eerie echo of the justification used by the white Europeans as they enacted what they believed was their manifest destiny.

* Peter Cozzens, The Earth is Weeping, The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West.

 

[JoshandBaron]

It continues. Crossings were decidedly dangerous yesterday.

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like the upper crossing of Thoreau Fall trail ?. Luckily that one has a bypass via the AT bridge and a bushwhack.

I expect the FS would have tough time making the case to remove the former lower TFT bridge this year.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Looks like the upper crossing of Thoreau Fall trail ?. Luckily that one has a bypass via the AT bridge and a bushwhack.

I expect the FS would have tough time making the case to remove the former lower TFT bridge this year.

That's what we ended up doing for that crossing. Unfortunately, we camped on the west side of the North Fork Saturday night and had a fun ford a couple few miles south of there.

 

[peakbagger]

For those who have not contemplated that upper crossing, its "leap of faith" with little or no chance of recovery, fall in the water there and its likely a one way trip down Thoreau Falls. which is series of cascades. The bushwhack from the AT bridge along the bank is quite wet even in dry weather as the hill side heading down to the stream is constantly wet.