Dogs in Springtime.... Hike #69

 

So far this spring, Bailey's had one 48-hour case of giardia and one full-body roll in gamy turkey poop. Now, whenever he disappears on the trail, I have nothing but bad thoughts. Like yesterday, I waited for him a half mile from Whitecap's summit just across the first bridge. I didn't run back up nor did I scream--I just whistled gently, then whispered an invocation that I couldn't repeat on a public blog. Sounds selfish, I suppose, but I didn't want to stay up with a pukey dog suffering from intermittent rocket-blasts of diarrhea nor did I want the aroma of turkey poop smeared in my car. I know, I'm a shitty dog dad. Fortunately, it seems Bailey simply found perfect smells in the blueberry fields, and in his own time came trotting down the Orange trail happily wagging.  

Zooming right out the back door

 

The Final School Zoom Meeting

On Friday, I spent 5 hours on Zoom in two meetings and a lunch-time lecture. I listened 99.00% of the time. When I did speak about the writing center philosophy of emphasizing the writer over the writing product, I felt grounded and in my element. I thought of my writing teachers--James Britton, Nancy Martin, Carol Ellis, Dixie Goswami, Anne Wood, the Wild Count, Michael Armstrong... and my student-colleagues through the years. Otherwise... my Friday was the stuff of a 3:30am wake-up call. 

For nearly 20 years I've listened to well-meaning university colleagues talk.  I've lived through 3-hour meetings that could have either been a 15-minute chat or a one-page email. There's something about an academic that kicks their mouths into overdrive when in a gathering of other academics.  I remember the few times this happened to me at UMaine. I started talking and could not stop. Is this what it is to be an academic? Those times that I've jibber-jabbered on and on, I left the lunch or meeting thinking to myself, "What the fuck just happened to me?" 

Maybe talking a lot is the way many university people learn. Or maybe there's something else behind their words. Frustration? Impotence? A need to be recognized? Or perhaps this is the way they negotiate the world. I can't imagine what it's like to be an administrative assistant or another staff member at a university. Think of all the listening they have to do. Honestly.  

Glassface for #67

 

The Presidential Range from Glassface Mountain, Rumford Center
Click photos to enlarge. 

Not sure if I've missed the Presidential Range in previous hikes or whether the sky was just a hair cloudy. Today, however, we saw Mount Washington. 

The last of the snow on Sunday River's White Heat

Mount Washington

Tick magnet

Celebrating UMaine's Graduation with Hike #65

 

We're not having a live graduation again this year at UMaine, so professors and staff from my college prepared a quick video of congratulations. Bailey and I climbed Whitecap to do the honors--last year, we hiked Black Mountain to the true summit for the video. On another note, as we came down, we met a group of 6, 20-somethings about half way up Whitecap. One of the hikers had her leg amputated at the hip and hiked with those metal crutches that balance on your forearms and come about waist high. I love people who push through and live life. In a way, I suppose, that's all of us, missing parts or not. HYOH. 

This picture will be at the end of the video. 
Click on photos to enlarge. 

"I'm pooped. Where's my treat?" 

Sunday River & Mount Washington

Two Rumford friends posing with the poser. 

Just below Bailey's cairn. 

Joe Pond Trails

 

Thinking about treats. 

It's the end of the semester.  My body aches from sitting too much––Zoom meetings, presentations, reading and responding to student work, and the tension of doing it all well. This afternoon, after responding to a collection of writing, and in the midst of reading the opening 45 pages of a student's novel, I decided to take the Joe Pond loop from the house, to the town garage, toward the pond, and then back down toward the Virginia School. I ached like an old man during the hike;  I think Bailey does, too. This could be my last semester.  At this moment, that'd be just fine by me. Time will tell.  

Grafton Notch, Screw Auger Falls, & Whitecap #64

Old Speck on the AT 

We toured Grafton Notch and Screw Auger Falls on Sunday and then on Monday, took hike #64 of 2021. I just loved the misty top of Old Speck in Grafton Notch. Reminded me of the movie, Gorillas in the Mist. Even though the eater is running well, we're in a dry spell. A friend posted he had never seen Richardson Lake as low as it is now in the spring. 

Up on Whitecap, we har firm hiking with some mud bars here and there. I forgot that it's school break, and was surprised with the number of hikers with dogs. 

Rumford's Whitecap Mountain #64

On the way down... he's pooped. 

  

Whitecap Snow Loop... Hike #62

What was supposed to be a nor'easter with 6-8" of heavy spring snow, fizzled out at the lower levels. Higher up on local mountains 6 to 8 inches did fall making hiking abysmal.  When we got out to Whitecap, we faced rain and snow with secure footing in most places and no other hikers. I didn't want to hike up onto the ledges with Bailey--I'm guessing he would have been fine, but I would have needed microspikes and that wasn't in the cards for this hike. Microspikes on ledge with minimal snow can be slippery.  

I bought 3 new sets of hiking boots and shoes this past month to last through most of 2022. I tried all of them, working to break them in, and that has created a problem with my feet. It's apparent I need to stay with one pair--break them in and let my orthotics adjust to one pair of new shoes. I write this here as a way of keeping track of this injury and to see how long it'll take to recover. I'll know more when I take a walk and perhaps a small hike today. We'll see. Foot issues come with the territory. 

Drenched but happy. 

We are headed back for treats, right? 

No more pictures. But thanks. 

The falls on the lower Connector trail. 

The second bridge on the upper Connector Trail. 

Soaking but moving...

On the Connector