Upta Camp (If you're on a laptop, click on photos to enlarge)

River remnants on the Burt Camp Beach--
between the Little House and Burt Camp

Two weeks of rain this spring--including torrential downpours--flooded Lake Webb and Burt's Point The water rose to the bottom beams of the camps, but did not enter. The high water misplaced steps and carried old chairs left out over the winter to new resting spots. The beach between the Burt Camp and the Little House had a river run through it. A large tree washed ashore on the Edwards Beach while another split behind the Kent Camp. The grass has lots of silt. Fortunately, however, the Burt Point Elf and his able assistant, Pam-Ella, return tonight from their 2-plus month Florida escape.  Get the rakes out, Ma and Pa!  

Behind the Kent camp

That's one of the Adirondak Chairs that floated
from behind the Little House toward the Kent camp.

River remnants 

Winter wash-up

In front of the Edwards' Camp

Brush

Branches

Click on this picture on a computer. Huge piles of 
sticks along the brook. 

Bailey enjoying the Mt Blue view

Byron Notch

Debris swept in to the Kent camp.  

Kent camp steps misplaced. 

  

Androscoggin River in Rumford

Note the water gauge on the far right. 
That's what happened when the heavy rain hit
after 2 weeks of off and on rain. Wild.

An Early Birthday Hike on Whitecap

The weather this Tuesday was cool, so it made sense to do our bigger birthday hike today. We did okay. Well, I should say, Bailey did fine but I slugged up and down with a bit of patella tendonitis. It's all good, though. I got good pictures of the old dog and thought about our many trips up Whitecap over the past 13 years. 

Second slab

Old Speck

Second granite slab

Looking west

Treat? 

Sunday River with the snow

Bridge

Sunday River with snow

Post hike

Pre-hike excitement

Shaking after a swim

First steep ascent

First slab of granite

Nice view! 

 

Beyond Beef

No cows were harmed
in the production of this burger. 

I try not to eat red meat too often. And the more I hear about slaughter houses, the less I want to support the industry. But throughout my lifetime, boy have I supported the beef industry. This is a Beyond Beef burger. It tastes good--it's $2.50 per patty--you cook it 4 minutes on each side. The burger might not kill me, but those fries...  

Waiting

 

Keeping an eye on the garbage guy  (me). 

Bailey often follows me out when I take down the garbage. Some days he stands in the driveway facing picture window and stares as I drag down the bags. I should calculate what portion of his days are spent waiting for me to do something or give him something. It's a lot. I wonder if dogs ever get bored or impatient. 

                                         

Six days and counting

 Up on Mystery Mountain 

the day after hiking Red Hill. 

Selfies take a good deal of patience and many treats. 

At this writing, Bailey is now 6 days from his 13th birthday. Honestly, I was prepared for him to die at 7 or if we were lucky 8 years old. Mortality statistics show Bernese Mountain Dogs dying at 6.5 to 7 years. But, the old guy has kept on hiking and eating and eating some more. 

The past 48 months=768 mountain hikes

 

 

This morning, I fed Bailey some arthritis medicine and just after lunch we headed for a short, somewhat steep hike on Bald Mountain. We met up with a number of friendly dogs and friendly people while tiptoeing up and down over slippery, leftover winter leaves.

Back in April of 2019, I downloaded a hiking app known as AllTrails. Since that time, I've kept track of most every hike I've been on. I remember forgetting my phone once or twice; I also recall leaving the app on as I drove down the street! On the AllTrails app, I looked like a speedster. Pretty funny. The bottom line, however, is since I got the app, we've hiked 768 mountains in the past 48 months and one week for a total distance of 2300 miles on hiking trails and approximately 1000 miles on neighborhood walks, totaling 3300 miles in the past 4 years. 

Now, we were not cranking out as many hikes in Bailey's first two years of life. He'd go running with me on mountain trails. I do have them listed in my calendar but haven't counted them up yet. But let's just guess that starting when he was 1.5 to 2 years old, we did 40 mountains each year for 2 years and then started upping the mountain count. A wild guess has us at 2000 total hikes and 3340 miles of neighborhood walks in his almost 13 years. I need to do better research and open up my computer calendar. Nevertheless, we done some walking! Yay! \o/

Trucking along

Shagg Pond

Old Dog, Shagg Pond

Speckled Mountain

Treat? 

Old Guy

Bald on the left, Speckled on the right