by elizabeth5047 | Mar 21, 2011 | Uncategorized
Hard to believe but the snow is coming down again. I have been hoping to trim my grape vines and give the spirea a spring haircut but they are still under too much snow. This weekend I did uncover the hat and scarf that had melted from the huge snowman in the yard. Yesterday it was 50 degrees and so sunshiny I was skiing in one layer at Whiteface and I saw and heard the first Red-winged blackbirds of the season. Today I am stoking the fire again. Looking forward to the New York State Outdoor Guide Association Rendezvous next...
by elizabeth5047 | Mar 18, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today may have been the last day at Van Hoevenberg for the Trailmarkers program for this year. It was a gorgeous day and the students might have thought they needed their bathing suits when they got off the bus and saw the water draining off the stadium into the parking area. The temperature was almost 50. I taught a great group of seven 3rd grade girls from Cumberland Head. Only one had been skiing before so I was incredibly surprised to see them ALL skiing like pros in a very short amount of time. It is a beautiful and satsifying thing to see children fall in love with X-country skiing. They can enjoy it for the rest of their lives. I think all these girls were hooked. The trails are fantastic and the snow in the woods is holding up. I’m going to try to get back once or twice before it’s time to get on my...
by elizabeth5047 | Feb 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
My view of the Adirondacks Ice climbing at Pitchoff
by elizabeth5047 | Feb 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today I had the pleasure of showing Sonja Stark of Pilot Girl Productions around the area. We had a great day, checking out otter and mink tracks on the West Branch of the Ausable River, hiking to Owen Pond, and going into High Falls Gorge. After a bite to eat we looped back via the East Branch of the Ausable and caught up with a few ice climbers on Pitchoff and still had time to ski at Cascade Ski Center before dark. She caught a few quick frames of dog-sledding on the lake as we pulled back to the Mirror Lake Inn where Sony and her mom are staying. They were headed for dinner at the Cascade Inn, then a go around the Oval and a quick toboggan ride before bed. Their own perfect day, very much inside the map. Read more about it on Sony’s blog. Thanks to Carol Treadwell of the Ausable River Association and Sue Cameron and Kim Reilly at the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism/Lake Placid CVB for connecting...
by elizabeth5047 | Jan 6, 2011 | Uncategorized, Wildlife
A friend let me know she had seen an owl every day this week, sitting in the same place along the roadside. I checked it out on the way back from an outing this morning. It stared at me for several minutes but flew into the white pines across the street when I approached too closely. They are beautiful birds and seem to be high in numbers this...
by elizabeth5047 | Jan 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
This morning in Split Rock Wildforest I had the extreme pleasure of hiking with four great outdoorsmen. We tracked a group of three coyotes for about 30 minutes, noting this very deliberate scent mark by one of them. The story was pretty east to read. The coyote came from one direction, scratched the snow off the ground, apparently paused to mark the soil and small branch and then headed off where it came from, as though marking a boundary line. Both the soil and the twig gave off a distinct odor of urine. The tracks were all fresh, being set in the snow that fell yesterday over bare...
