My book review-Your Playlist Can Change Your Life

[Additional info added 3/13/13, after writing the review. The following sidebar info (by Meaghen Brown) was published in the April 2013 issue of Outside magazine, page 76 in an article by Brent Rose entitled Play It By Ear. It's noted on their current magazine web page, but with no hotlink ( you gotta buy the mag):
Fatigue- music reduces perception of fatigue by 8%.
Time Flies- perception of time speeds up to 12%.
Get the Rhythm- as a beat generator, tempos of 120 to 140 offer the greatest benefit.]

Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: 10 Proven Ways Your Favorite Music Can Revolutionize Your Health, Memory, Organization, Alertness, and More by Galina Mindlin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quite useful, but repetitive, yet already dated (2012). Two medical doctors ( and a MBA) cite neuroscience backing up the practice of listening to music in order to moderate consciousness. The practice of ramping up and damping down via acoustic input has been a part of human existence for many thousands of years. Vibratory effects of sound have been well known, primarily in religious contexts. For example, Vedic tradition of mantra use for specific physiological effects.
Listening to my iPod while backpacking, bicycling, and walking has clearly resulted in elevated energy, increased happiness, surprising releases of emotion ( like crying), and help from boredom.
On my 2,700 mile Pacific Crest Trail, I used my iPod sparingly, due to battery life. It was engaged in late afternoons, when I was fatigued after 20+ miles, and had the effect of increasing my flagging pace. It is also effective on uphill climbs. In some instances the perceived effect was equivalent to the energy increase from eating a 200 calorie energy or candy bar.

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Avalanche on Mt Washington

Initial report of avalanche that occurred yesterday at 5 PM in Huntington Ravine.
Concerns about danger on thin ice in lakes and ponds in New England now extend to winter hikers.

Getting into Snowshoeing

Excellent snowshoeing conditions are going to end. It’s been great, white, fluffy, deep. I have been out four times in the past week or but showers and forty degree temps are expected for the next three days. It’s a primal shuffle that you get into out there, a gait that has been practiced for thousands of years in this part of the world.
Snowshoeing is more difficult than regular walking, while still a satisfying way to move about the winter country.
Sectionhiker just posted an excellent, brief, and accurate Beginner’s Guide to Snowshoeing. Required reading !
Rick and I spent three hours last night walking up to the top of Ragged Mountain from the Hope Street parking lot access to the Highland Path. Here’s the map:

Hope Street up to Ragged

Last night, it was cold, with winds up to 25 miles and hour. Rick and I were there by 5 , decided to head all the way up to the top, and felt we could be out by 8 PM. We never reached the summit. On the way up near the top, we missed a turn. The trail petered out and we realized we were truly bushwhacking. At this point we had been out for close to a couple of hours, the temps were dropping, and my headlight was not burning particularly brightly. So we backtracked our way back down. Here’s a bleak (but brief) video clip from that point.

Big Bunch of Bubbas on Snowshoes

The Bubbas are feeding the mountain biking spirit right up to the doorstep of 2013.

Packing the trail- photo by John Anders

Eight of us pounded down one of our riding loops over in the Rockland Bog this morning, donning snowshoes after the Midcoast region was blanketed with what must have been a foot of snow. We’re doing this in part to prepare the Bog for more winter mountain bike riding, hopefully with New Year’s day ride. This work will need to set up for a day of two, when the sub freezing temperatures will harden up the track. It’s what we are know for in these parts, riding through ALL the seasons.
Here’s the map of the hike. We’re going counterclockwise from the “S”.

Bog map

We parked on the side of Bog Road, across from the white house on the left then went backwards 50 feet from the cars on our usual exit route. We saw no evidence of anyone else but the deer out before us, with Jason Buck breaking trail for the majority of the distance. We wound our way along old woods roads up to The Culvert, where we picked up the George’s Highland Path (GHP) and followed it uphill all the way back to the Big Pine tree, where Ian and Suzy, Walter, and John A. took Exit Ramp back to the cars.

Rick on last uphill on Two Arrows

Nelson, Rick, Jason and I kept at it, on the GHP back down to loop back on Two Arrows and then doubling back to to Exit ramp and out.

Jason and Nelson crossing the powerline on GHP

The map and the descriptions of the trail should make it possible for any other bicyclists, snowshoeing enthusiasts, or even walkers to get out and follow our tracks, at least until the next big snow storm fluffs things up again.

Snowshoeing started today

Since the last appreciable snow feel here on Halloween, the ground has been bare, until yesterday, when we had 6 inches blow in from the northeast. I spent the morning inside, with a package of fluorescent highlighters, plotting possible route for an upcoming hike through New Mexico, but that’s another upcoming story.
Snowshoeing started today. I decided to spend a couple of hours walking around the route just outside my door. Reading the data on the GPS, I was stunned to see that all of the walking I did was within one square mile. I wanted to listen to my iPhone while I walked, so I tracked my progress with my Garmin eTrex30 and this time, was able to successfully upload the file from my computer right into my Strava app to register my progress.
Here’s the map:

Up over Moody Mountain, down around Moody Pond

I’m still totally pleased with my MSR Lightening Axis snowshoes. They are still perfect after two seasons. The bindings are ” lightening fast”, and never need adjusting on the trail.

Most folks own large pieces of property here, ranging from 130 to over 1,000 acres. In fact, just three families own all the land on both sides of High Street for 1.3 miles heading up to Moody Mountain road. I have permission to walk all of it. I cut the “Uncle Tom ” trail that runs up to the summit of Moody Mountain on one of these tracts.

Once I got up to the ridge, my navigating was aided by a deer path.

Natural directional

I had just a Patagonia Wool 2 long sleeve shirt on top under a soft shell, but 500 feet of elevation in a mile of snowshoeing had me sweating profusely. From the top, I bushwhacked down beside Moody Mountain road on an ancient road that probably is a couple of hundred years old. I heard that there were several families that used to live on the north side of this mountain, way back. I’ve not yet found old foundations where they lived.

Normally, I use High Street to walk home, but today I wanted a longer workout with the snowshoes, so I walked down hill and turned left onto the closed gravel Martin Corner Road where I followed fresh ski and snowshoe tracks around Moody Pond. The tracks eventually stopped and doubled back, so I broke fresh trail all the way back home.

I was exhausted when I reached the house, and still am. Snowshoeing is tougher than hiking, especially in powder. You have to widen your normal gait to account for the width of the shoes, and despite the claws underneath, you are not immune to sliding as you traverse sloped terrain.

I’m hearing the distressing, high-pitched whine of a snowmobile outside as I write this. Looks like the Pugsley has a freshly packed trail that will freeze up nicely overnight. I’m riding snow this weekend.

Moose River in Winter Day 3/3

Frigid in the tent, below zero.  BI’s cheap thermometer is broken, so no measure, but the frost covering the outside of my sleeping bag and the thickness of the ice over out water hole in the river this morning spelled COLD. The wind was loud enough to hear, and thankfully we were sheltered from the full force of it’s chill.
Unfortunately, Birdie is still not doing well. She shivers, even when bundled up in the down over quilt that is covering her. She’s still demonstrating some type of unfathomable pain, with intermittent sharp yelps that now happen when you don’t even touch her, when she’s walking outside. She runs outside into the cold and wanders back and forth, hunched up.  BI is worried enough about her that he decides to get her to a vet, which means walking out today, in the cold, and right into this wind. We’re baling.
Not that we could have done much else but hang right here, and maintain the camp for another day and night. After cutting more wood, we would stoke the stove, read, sleep, drink coffee and tea, and eat the piles of food from our feed bags.

Shelter

We tried going down river yesterday, but the over flow stopped us.  I would explore the edges of the open leads around Attean Falls nearby, plus walk out to poke around on the lower reaches of Attean Pond.
There are ample opportunities to explore animals tracks on this snow. Yesterday, Birdie led us to an otter den that was clearly active, marked by characteristic snow troughs and cylinder shaped scat.

BIrdie tracks an ottter

A great resource for learning about ice, snow, animal signs, and how to forecast and deal with winter weather is Exploring Nature in Winter: A Guide to Activities, Adventures, and Projects for the Winter Naturalist by Alan Cvancara.
So the tedious procedure of breaking camp was launched.  Packing up on a cold morning in winter is one of my top least favorite activities, but it comes with the territory.  My hands have the circulation of turtle feet,  especially my left index finger, which was partially severed some 35 years ago when I slipped on ice while I was chopping wood. I use packets of chemical heat warmers out here. This morning I had brief periods of exposing my fingers while we released all the strings, bungees, and ropes that held the tent upright, and then we packed away the various bundles onto the two toboggans.  I’d work fast for maybe three minutes, then my hands would become unbearably cold and I’d have to slip them into my chemically heated expedition mittens for three minutes and then repeat the cycle until done.
Eventually we hit the trail, and after struggling up the only bump in the route, around the Falls themselves, we came upon a newly created crater in the ice where it appeared a snowmobile had plunged.

Avoiding the pit

There were numerous tracks all over the  bend in the river that were not there when we came in a few days ago.
We were careful to keep our toboggans from plunging into the hole. We both worked each toboggan around the pit, where we took turns standing on ice pieces in the hole itself as we braced against the loads as each sled passed along the foot wide shelf.
We made quick work of reaching the mouth of the river. Looking out over the expanse of ice and swirling surface snow ahead of us, we both exchanged a glance where we recognized that we’d be heading into the vortex of cold.
The next couple of hours of travel were among the most difficult I can recall. The cold was unbelievable.  To avoid frostbite, ever inch of your face had to be covered.

Uncle Tom covers up

I remember being in this same situation walking across Moosehead Lake, where stopping was not a reasonable act. It was zero out, and the wind was strong, steady and powerful enough that it pushed our loaded toboggans over more than once. Mine was heavy enough that it took me considerable effort to haul it upright.   BI and I slogged north over the frozen expanse, and survived by chunking down the work by aiming for the lee side of several small islands that were along the path ahead.

Extreme hiking

It was dramatic how calm, settled, and more tolerable the space was when we sat on the lee side of the islands.  I treasured the hot, rich, black coffee that was in my thermos. I devoured roasted nuts, peanut butter crackers, and cookies as we brought our pulses down to reasonable levels.  The cold soon had us up and moving; our rests never lasted reached 10 minutes.
Eventually the path veered toward the east, toward the parking lot. With the wind now from the rear, our lagging energy relished the good fortune. It was still cold and difficult for my hands. I stuffed all my gear haphazardly into my empty Voyager, and was done.  I high-fived BI.  We made it.  Our homes would now be cradles of comfort and warmth.  The wonder of the shower world, oh those hot showers.

Moose River in Winter- Day 2/3

Late yesterday afternoon BI’s leg busted through the thin ice near the water lead while he was chipping a hole through the ice for drinking and cooking. It submerged up past his knee, so his mukluk, felt liner, sock, long underwear, and pant leg were saturated with icy cold water. I had him kneel in some powder snow and we pressed it against  his leg, wicking off as much of the moisture as we could.
This morning we fired up the stove around 7 AM and kept the heat going  up but the wet footwear was still not dry. BI had left  his rubber boots in the car, which would have been his walking option, so our plans changed a bit.  He suggested that we use the day to head upriver to scout out a possible campsite for tomorrow night. With a lunch, axe, snowshoes, and a saw we could move much quicker than we would with loaded toboggans. We hoped to  pack down a tent space and even prepare the firewood for an easy arrival afternoon tomorrow.  I let BI use my rubber boots until I would need them, if  ever.
So, after breakfast, we stayed here a bit, found another half dozen standing dead spruce, limbed off the branches and had a complete day’s firewood sawed up ready to go when we got back.

The base camp that we hauled in

I also propped up the stove legs with wooden “floats” . The legs  had sunk down into a pool of melted water under the firebox, which refroze during the night when we let the stoves go out.

Unfortunately, I misjudged just how much the stove had cooled off, and the arm of my down jacket came into contact with the surface, quickly melting a series of holes in the sleeve that I patched with McNett clear non-stick tape, that held the down in until I could make a more permanent repair at home.
The air wasn’t too cold, and although there were snow showers coming on, the skies eventually broke  from the west.
There were two snowmobile tracks still heading upriver and we stuck to them.

Birdie and Bad Influence head upriver

There were sections of the river where the machines had  burned through deep slush that had refrozen. Mostly. We had been walking quickly for about 90 minutes when I stepped on the frozen track and my boot broke through the crust and went into slush.

Not Good

It is the bane of any winter walker, as it not only soaks through the moose hide of the mukluks, but if and when you shift over to snowshoes, which you eventually need to float on this icy soup,  they ice up in sub- freezing temperatures, gathering increasing thickness of ice, as the water cakes onto the snowshoes. It you are hauling toboggans it freezes to the bottom.  Both situations require stopping and beating or scraping off the ice on the toboggans with the axe head  in order to just keep  going forward.  It is not good.

The Grey Road to Unlimited Saturation

For more on the topic of overflow, and skill-based winter camping knowledge, I refer you to Snow Walker’s Companion, by Garret and Alexandra Conover. I consider them my mentors on all aspects of winter walking. No better guide exists.  They are also excellent writers.
Within the next steps, BI and I were both breaking through, in a section of river where the brush on the sides of the channel was so thick that it would have been close to impossible to move toboggans up and around the slush, which at this point appeared to be a hundreds yards or more long.  Of course, there could have been even more, or no slush around the bend. When 50 pound Birdie was repeatedly breaking through until mid leg in whatever direction she bounded , we both realized how fortunate we were to have used the day as a reconnaissance mission.
There wasn’t much discussion. We turned around and headed back, in relief that we hadn’t disassembled our camp and brought it up here to an impasse. Both of us plugged into our respective iPods while we walked back, and I got in a little air guitar to the tune of  Please Stand Up, by British Sea Power.

Uncle Tom shreddin'

Volumes of prepared stove wood awaited us when he returned to camp about 2 PM. The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking hot cocoa, and eating nuts, dried fruit, chips, and hummus.

Winter Digs

We both drifted in and out of naps as we took turns stoking the stove.   BI’s mukluks dried, ready for tomorrow’s adventures.

Rescued hiker says White Mountains are out | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Photo by John Clark

What brand and model of snowshoes broke?   How bad could the break be that it couldn’t be fixed with the all-essential backup ziptie ( it was just one shoe)  to be able to move through the snow?  Where can we find out the answer?  Clarkie, Guthook? Help!

“I think I’m done with the Whites for now,” Embrey said from his home in Buxton on Saturday, the day after guides with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department had to rescue him near the summit of Mount Lafayette, bringing him a replacement showshoe and helping him find his way back to the trail.

Rescued hiker says White Mountains are out | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

Snowshoeing the Loneliest Trail in Camden

Craig Nelson and I just spent a chilly two and a half hours crunching out a five miler in the Camden Hills.  Here is a link to the map of this hike.

I consider the Frohock Mountain trail the loneliest in the Park, because it just doesn’t connect to anything- it’s out and back,  and the summit (at least in the warm weather ) doesn’t have a view, it is leafed in.

Standing on the lonley summit

During this time of year, the leaf drop allows one to look out to the east to see glimpses of the Bay, and to glance west brings views of the ridges of Lincolnville/Searsmont in the distance.  We had our boil up, as usual.

Nelson boiling up

I feel it is excellent practice to ignite wood, or even alcohol stove fires in the windy sub freezing temperatures.

Even though it was below 20 degrees and breezy out, my clothing selection was adequate.  I had on for skin base a ultra-thin Ibex wool short sleeve t-shirt, covered by a wool blend long sleeve Trek bicycling shirt.  I like the bike shirt in the cold because it affords a double layer of fabric over the kidney area.  My outer layer was my Patagonia Houdini shell. The Ibex wool gloves I had on were inadequate.  My hands were painfully cold.  I have yet to figure out an acceptable hand cover for when I am using my hiking poles. Wrist straps complicate things.  I think it should be shelled mittens with inner liners.

Later, at home, after rising from the couch, I experienced a terribly painful episode where both my thighs cramped up , a seriously uncomfortable bout of pain that had he shrieking like a baby.  I would very much like to understand what I have to do to prevent this type of reaction after a day of harder than average leg exertion.  Any good ideas?

Winter hiking warrants precautions !

Good article in the Bangor Daily News Today:  Winter hiking warrants precautions, by Brad Viles.

I had used the Essential Winter Gear  list recommended by the Appalachian Mountain Club  to prepare for last weekend hike in the White Mountains, and found it lacking a few critical ( to me) items.

Viles got it right, though, by including the rest of the things that I had in or clipped onto my winter pack: a whistle, emergency shelter ( space blanket), chemical hand and foot warmers, insulating bottle covers, face mask or scarf, a cell phone( but don’t depend on reception in the puckerbrush), down jacket with hood, plus a thermos of hot cider, cocoa, or coffee. Viles didn’t list coffee for that thermos, I recall from a previous article that he believes it is a diuretic. Updated research disproves the “coffee is bad for you in the outdoors” school of thought.  If you are a regular coffee drinker, there is no additional fluid loss, plus it is a legal performance enhancement.

Here’s Viles’ recommendations that I  formatted into a tabular format that can be downloaded and use as a check off list:
Winter Day Hiking List
Trekking poles or ski poles
Day pack
Map
Compass
Water bottles (2)
Insulating bottle holders
Headlamp
knife
Waterproof matches
WHISTLE
EMERGENCY SHELTER ( SPACE BLANKET)
CHEMICAL HAND AND FOOT WARMERS
Cell phone
Extra Food
Thermos of hot cider, cocoa, coffee
Clothing
winter hat
NEOPRENE FACE MASK/SCARF
Sunglasses
Goggles
Lightweight long underwear top
Midweight long underwear top
Waterproof/breathable shell
jacket
Insulating gloves or mittens
Lightweight long r
pants
Waterproof/breathable pants
Liner socks
Wool socks (wear one and bring
an extra pair)
Gaiters
Boots

Here’s me on yesterday’s snowshoe hike with my own personal additional gear ( headphones–>  iPod–> rocking tunes!)

Gotta have the tunes ( except in rattlesnake or bear country)