Thanksgiving week adventures

I headed back to Maine for Thanksgiving and undertook several small big mountain adventures. 

I went with my parents to the north entrance of Baxter State Park for a hiking adventure.  Started at Trout Brook Farm and hiked to Long Pond, Billfish Lake and Littlefield Pond.  We saw several grouse in the morning and several massive trees that were in different states of beaver chew.  But the highlight of the day was seeing a lynx on the road just as we left the Park.  It was just hovering in the woods for a while, so we got a (not very good) picture.  

I went out for two bike rides, which qualified as big mountain adventures when you considered it was anywhere from 12 to 25oF.  One I started in the light and ended in the dark, the second with my father we were in the dark the whole time.  It was also an adventure riding his old bike, which would fit me okay, except for his 8 inch stem. 

Finishing up in the North, we headed down to Belfast to my grandmother’s for the turkey day festivities.  We also went on a big mountain adventure in Acadia National Park doing a loop hike up Sergeant and Penobscot Mountains.   Most of the way had boot to ankle deep snow and we didn’t put on gaiters until lunch.  Needless to say, we all had soggy feet by the time we were done. 

The next day was a loop hike at Camden Hills State park up Mt. Megunticook and then Mt. Battie.  Much less snow, but lots of puddles and slush, so once again soggy feet. 

And now the big adventure of flying back to Utah.  

Disappointment Draw

Two weeks ago I wanted one last adventure before heading to Maine for Thanksgiving.  I had gotten a new bag for my bike and hadn’t had a chance to try it out yet, so a bike packing adventure was in order.  Small snow storms had made everything up high on the Forest impossible on bike and not yet possible on skis, so a desert adventure was in order.  I knew people who had biked the Yampa Bench, so I thought that would be a good destination.  I packed up my stuff, trying to manage to get our smallest tent somehow strapped to my bike and camelpack, but eventually gave up and went with the usual tarp setup.  Hopefully it wouldn’t be too cold!  Maybe this time Ida would learn how to sleep under a coat and on her ridgerest.  And maybe pigs will fly. 

On previous adventures, I had been to the western end of the Yampa Bench, when going down to Echo Park, so this time I wanted to explore from the Eastern end.  We packed the car and headed for Colorado.  When we got to the dirt road that leads towards the Monument, it became apparent that the car was the wrong vehicle of choice.  So I tried a different road in, getting turned around at that point as well.  Time for the backup plan.  In my internet searching on biking the Yampa, I had run across the mention of some people biking down Disappointment draw, so we headed to the eastern most entrance of Dinosaur and loaded up the bike and headed out.  Disappointment Draw could have been named by a mountain biker, as it wasn’t very good biking.  The scenery was nice though.  My original plan was to bike up Disappointment Draw, hit BLM land and continue through until we hit the road we would have been driving on to get to the Yampa Bench.  Then take this road for a short ways, until hitting another 2 track that cut back down a parallel canyon to Disappointment.  4 miles later, which took over 2 hours, I decided that plan wasn’t going to work.  The biking just wasn’t going very quickly.  And, I wasn’t even sure if the other 2 track through the parallel canyon would be ridable.  I’d checked out the part where we would finish, but there was about 6 miles that could or could not suck.  Since I’d gotten such a late start, at this point it was pretty much dark out (thank you time change), and I decided we would just camp at the first nice spot I found.  Somewhere on BLM land….

There was a sandy wash that had a nice flat spot next to some junipers that, with the bike, would make an easy setup for the tarp.  I set up camp and Ida proceded to sniff around and find cow poop to eat.  Apparently she found something more delicious than cow poop, because when she came back to see me she had dug something until her nose was bleeding.  MMM, yum, dead things. 

Dinner was curry couscous and dog food for Ida.  While I was eating, she curled up on top of my sleeping bag and mattress, and was rather disgruntled when I insisted she us her own.  Still working on this camping when it is cold thing with her. 

The down bag and the bivy sack kept me warm all night, even when the wind picked up.  There was a coating of sand over most everything when I woke.  Packed up while having breakfast and made the executive decision to go back the way I had come.  It started flurrying shortly thereafter.  One highlight of the ride back out was finding an elk antler!  While strapping it to my bike didn’t really help with the handling on the front end, it did make me think of the Grinch that stole Christmas.  The trip back to the car went much faster due to the downhill factor and I didn’t have to route find.  We stopped to check out a couple other neat looking areas and then headed back to Vernal.  Small bikepacking adventure complete.  The new bike bag worked great.  Now for more successful bike packing adventures where the biking is better!

Playing Catch Up

We’ve been meaning to start a blog for a while, since starting big mountain adventures in Utah, so there is a little catching up to do. We had some great adventures this summer/fall and feel like we have to share a couple of the more epic ones.  So…..

Leidy Peak hike and ski adventure: June 4-5, 2011

Kevin arrived home from Iraq a bit later than anticipated and missed all the easy to get to spring skiing.  But since he hadn’t been skiing since our trip to British Columbia in February, we had to make it happen. Minor obstacle of him not having skis here yet was overcome by borrowing some from one of my friends/coworkers.  We scouted the map and I was able to scout out some roads when doing water samples for work and our destination of Leidy Peak was chosen.  In the summer time, you can drive to treeline at Leidy Peak, making it a very popular short hike to over 12,000ft.  Early in the season, that is a different story when the majority of the roads on the forest aren’t open yet due to snow pack.  We were going to have to approach Leidy from the north, leaving from Browne Lake. 

This was Ida’s inaugural big mountain adventure with us, also we presumed her first time camping and skiing.  She had been with us a little over 2 weeks at this point, and was slowly adjusting to her new life.  She still wasn’t eating normally, which worried us, especially when setting out to hike 9 miles.  But we figured things would work themselves out.

After Kevin and I had breakfast, and Ida left hers untouched, we loaded up the car and headed to the north slope to Browne Lake.  We started out on the old Carter Military Trail, which was the old way across the Uinta’s from Fort Bridger to Fort Thornburg. The hiking was fairly easy, as it is an ATV trail, although we had to try hard to keep our feet dry. 

During a little lunch stop on a log, we decided that we were going to give Ida a little food since she hadn’t eaten dinner last night, nor breakfast this morning.  So we set out her bowl a ways behind us, in hopes that if we didn’t watch her she would eat.  I glanced out of the corner of my eye when I saw her approach her bowl and watched her as she proceeded to take her food and bury it.  Yes, we have a dog that buries food!  We wondered if she would stop at the same log on the way back down to find it again?

About 3 miles up the trail we finally hit enough continuous snow to put on the skis and skins.  This definitely made the packs lighter!  About 6 more miles of skiing and we decided it was time to camp.  Well, I decided it was time to camp because I needed a water refill.  I’d brought 2 liters, expecting to have it all to myself, but for some unknown reason Kevin decided we were going to share and I was going to carry it all??  Anyway.

We dug out a trench in the snow and set up the tarp over the top.  Ida sat a little ways off and watched us the whole time with a quizzical look.  We made dinner and Ida kept trying to head back down the trail we came up.  We tried to explain camping to her, but I don’t think she fully caught on until it got dark and we got inside our sleeping bags.  Speaking of sleeping bags, Kevin’s was still back in New York with the rest of his camping gear.  So he had my winter bag and I had my two summer bags and a bivy sack.  I just hoped we were both going to be warm enough on the snow for a night. Ida settled in between us and appeared to relax just a little bit.  She had even managed to eat her dinner!

The next morning we headed out with light packs for Leidy Peak.  The summit was only about 2 miles from camp, so it took no time to skin up there.  The top was quite flat and it took us a while to locate the actual summit at 12,013 ft.  Ida’s first 12,000fter!  There was no time for dallying as the wind was ferocious.  We took of the skins and made some great turns on the way back down.  Who knows if Ida had ever seen skis before, but she absolutely loved it!  We ate lunch at the base of the steeps in the lee of a clump of trees.  Ida buried her food again, this time in the snow!  After lunch we skied back to camp and picked up the rest of our stuff to head out. 

The 5 miles on snow down the ATV trail was absolutely treacherous.  It was a warm afternoon and the snow grabbed you and threw you onto your face.  Turns were almost impossible.  Snowplowing was almost impossible.  Soft spots next to trees gave way under your skis.  It wasn’t very fun, but entertaining to think about after the fact.  We managed to make it back to the walking part with minor scratches and scrapes and headed out the rest of the way on foot.  First big mountain adventure with Ida complete! 

The Namesake

The term big mountain adventure was coined many years ago by myself and a skiing friend at our local hill, Big Rock, in Mars Hill, Maine.  What Big Rock lacked in number of runs, it made up for in “big mountain adventures”.  We would always ski on the groomed trails for a while, but eventually the woods, or the bushes, or the backside, or whatever would be calling our names and we would launch, for better or worse, into a big mountain adventure.  You never came out unscathed.  Gore-Tex coats were adorned with moss and bits of tree.  Ski helmets or goggles had fresh scratches from whipper-snappers hitting you in the face.  There was a core shot to your skis because there really wasn’t quite enough base underneath that fresh snow yet.  Everything on you was soaking wet from the combination of face planting on the variable terrain and the exertion of the trek back to the base of the hill without wax, skins, or scales.  Since those first Big Rock big mountain adventures, the term has evolved to encompass anything that is out of the ordinary adventure wise.  Even ordinary outings can turn into big mountain adventures if the stars align properly.  Our preferred mode for big mountain adventures is either by ski or by bike, but we aren’t opposed to hiking or snowshoeing either. 

Over the years I’ve had many friends partake in big mountain adventure experiences.  Some come back for more; others seem to always be busy washing their hair when you invite them.  Big mountain adventures don’t suit everyone.  One person who lives big mountain adventures to their fullest would be my father.  He is my big mountain adventure role model.  In our family, a big mountain adventure is synonymous with a Hendrickson adventure.  Over the past 6 years, my partner in crime for most big mountain adventures has been my husband, Kevin.  Hopefully I can convince him to give his perspective once and a while.  We’ve recently acquired a new partner in crime as well, Ida Mae, a border collie who lives for big mountain adventures like it is her job. 

Hopefully you enjoy reading our posts.  We know that when we try to look up some crazy idea we have for an adventure, there is usually a lack of information.  With this blog, we hope to share some of our experiences we’ve had since moving to Utah and started exploring the Uinta’s and beyond.  Enjoy.