teejay
New member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2003
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I left early Saturday and headed to Petersburg Pass. I followed the Taconic Crest Trail South from the parking area. The trail is wide, well-marked and easy to follow as much of it is on old ski trails and service roads from the ski area that used to be there. After a short climb followed by a longer and steeper climb a junction was reached with an old trail coming in from the right. After turning left here and walking a few hundred feet the trail to the summit of Mt. Raimer turns off sharply to the left. After another few hundred feet of easy climbing, I was at the lofty 2500' summit, elevation gain ~500'. It would have been a nice picnic spot, open and grassy, were it not for the steady, but not hard, misty rain that was falling. I had some lunch sitting on the old concrete lift tower bases. There are some views to the north and west but the ceiling was quite low and distances were limited due to the rain.
With the rain picking up and knowing the weather that was following me from the west, I headed down. I met one solo hiker who was heading up and he was the only other person I would see on the trail. It was obvious, though, that at least one motorcycle had been on the trail (illegally) recently.
Hardly an epic hike, just under an hour and about two miles round-trip, but nice and relaxing to be (almost) alone in the woods.
Leaving the parking area I headed into Williamstown in quest of a map of the area which I was lucky to locate at The Mountain Goat. This seemed to be a very nice, small gear shop though I didn't take time to shop other than to buy the map. I think others may have mentioned it here.
I then spent the next hour or so scouting the area for campgrounds for the next Gathering, but in vain. That will have to be saved for later.
Next it was off to Darren's to crash in preparation for the Ride for Research on Sunday. Darren, Carmel and I enjoyed burgers and great chit-chat before turning in for a good night's sleep in spite of a nasty "crick" in my neck.
Sunday we were up early and off to the Ride. We met up with skiguy (Wayne Stanton) just before reaching the ride then hooked up with John Saterlee. Darren and Carmel spent time looking for our teammate Roxi, whom none of us had met, but before they could find her, she had left on the 50 mile ride. Wayne and John both also rode off.
Darren, who has been traveling a lot and with the rotten weather in New England, hadn't had much time to train, decided to scale back and embarked on his 25 mile ride somewhat later.
Carmel had decided to only do the 10 mile ride as one of her knees was bothering her. I had also decided on the 10 mile ride, but mostly because I had no idea what it would be like to ride 10 miles.
Carmel and I stuck together pretty much through the ride and were joined by Darren when his route came back to ours. He left us shortly but then rejoined us near the finish. Triumphantly, we crossed the line together. Darren, feeling as well as could be expected after his minimal training. Carmel, who had done it pretty much on one leg. And me, I was simply glad to be there at the finish, not being scraped up off the pavement or carted back ignominiously by one of the rescuers along the route. One important lesson learned, biking is not hiking. Walking after the ride was, indeed, a very strange sensation. 10.9 miles, avg. speed 10 mph, top speed 21.8 mph, yeehaa!!
I started walking back to the car with my bike, when I heard "Hey, VFTT." I turned to my left and there she was, Roxi. She had seen my VFTT shirt. The team was complete. After we had all stowed our gear we chowed down on the great food served up by a host of local and national sponsors.
As Darren has said, this is a wonderfully well-organized and very inspiring event. Almost 1200 riders took part. It was my pleasure to have been a part of it and to have met some new VFTTers. My thanks go to those who supported our team through their generous donations and to the hundreds of volunteers who were so helpful at every turn, literally. I look forward to being a part of it again next year. And still remembering how to ride a bike.
Then I headed off to pay SherpaK a visit. We had a great time together including watching the rerun of the bizarre Preakness on Sherpa's TiVo. I'd been almost two days with no news whatsoever and had no idea what had happened.
Sherp is, as every one has said, in good spirits, considering. Certainly one of the highlights of his recovery was being able to play his drums, though briefly, with MadTownie and Gris. We're all looking forward to the day when he gets back out on the trails, or into his kayak and can do a bit o' flyfishing. He doesn't talk about if these things will happen, but when. This is the spirit that heals. It's just a matter of time. The shorter the better.
What a great way to end the weekend.
teejay
With the rain picking up and knowing the weather that was following me from the west, I headed down. I met one solo hiker who was heading up and he was the only other person I would see on the trail. It was obvious, though, that at least one motorcycle had been on the trail (illegally) recently.
Hardly an epic hike, just under an hour and about two miles round-trip, but nice and relaxing to be (almost) alone in the woods.
Leaving the parking area I headed into Williamstown in quest of a map of the area which I was lucky to locate at The Mountain Goat. This seemed to be a very nice, small gear shop though I didn't take time to shop other than to buy the map. I think others may have mentioned it here.
I then spent the next hour or so scouting the area for campgrounds for the next Gathering, but in vain. That will have to be saved for later.
Next it was off to Darren's to crash in preparation for the Ride for Research on Sunday. Darren, Carmel and I enjoyed burgers and great chit-chat before turning in for a good night's sleep in spite of a nasty "crick" in my neck.
Sunday we were up early and off to the Ride. We met up with skiguy (Wayne Stanton) just before reaching the ride then hooked up with John Saterlee. Darren and Carmel spent time looking for our teammate Roxi, whom none of us had met, but before they could find her, she had left on the 50 mile ride. Wayne and John both also rode off.
Darren, who has been traveling a lot and with the rotten weather in New England, hadn't had much time to train, decided to scale back and embarked on his 25 mile ride somewhat later.
Carmel had decided to only do the 10 mile ride as one of her knees was bothering her. I had also decided on the 10 mile ride, but mostly because I had no idea what it would be like to ride 10 miles.
Carmel and I stuck together pretty much through the ride and were joined by Darren when his route came back to ours. He left us shortly but then rejoined us near the finish. Triumphantly, we crossed the line together. Darren, feeling as well as could be expected after his minimal training. Carmel, who had done it pretty much on one leg. And me, I was simply glad to be there at the finish, not being scraped up off the pavement or carted back ignominiously by one of the rescuers along the route. One important lesson learned, biking is not hiking. Walking after the ride was, indeed, a very strange sensation. 10.9 miles, avg. speed 10 mph, top speed 21.8 mph, yeehaa!!
I started walking back to the car with my bike, when I heard "Hey, VFTT." I turned to my left and there she was, Roxi. She had seen my VFTT shirt. The team was complete. After we had all stowed our gear we chowed down on the great food served up by a host of local and national sponsors.
As Darren has said, this is a wonderfully well-organized and very inspiring event. Almost 1200 riders took part. It was my pleasure to have been a part of it and to have met some new VFTTers. My thanks go to those who supported our team through their generous donations and to the hundreds of volunteers who were so helpful at every turn, literally. I look forward to being a part of it again next year. And still remembering how to ride a bike.
Then I headed off to pay SherpaK a visit. We had a great time together including watching the rerun of the bizarre Preakness on Sherpa's TiVo. I'd been almost two days with no news whatsoever and had no idea what had happened.
Sherp is, as every one has said, in good spirits, considering. Certainly one of the highlights of his recovery was being able to play his drums, though briefly, with MadTownie and Gris. We're all looking forward to the day when he gets back out on the trails, or into his kayak and can do a bit o' flyfishing. He doesn't talk about if these things will happen, but when. This is the spirit that heals. It's just a matter of time. The shorter the better.
What a great way to end the weekend.
teejay
