RAC (Ride-A-Curly) Adventure Blog

Zoe and I had  nice relaxing ride yesterday up the mountain and down.. winding through varying wooded terrains   and loads of melting snow. Keri was happy it was Mister T for her excursion partner.

This mountainside was logged off last year - so it's still pretty messy and rough. I have been wanting to get up here to check it out but with all that snow, there was not much to see until now.

I wish loggers would go back and fill in their skidder ruts before they leave a job.

From the near top -- now that so many trees are gone -- a view of the farm is pretty clear as we turn to look back.

Mister T stopping for a pose.

Heading further up to where it flattens out

 Up here we have a full vista.. if you look closely in the middle of the mountain horizon, you can see the ski trails on Okemo.  

We enter the piney hemlock woods onto a route we have traditionally called the silver disk trail.  I think of Pooh and the Hundred Acre wood when I am in here.

You can see we've had a tumultuous winter this year... the forest is littered with broken branches and hemlock "leaves".

This trail has a few options.. head toward Zoe's house or pick our way back down to the road.



Today, we decide to head down, cross the road and enter another old stand by trail. Pop through these two trees and up into another nice tract of land with great trails.

Plenty of variation in here -- snow, water, mud

water crossing ahead.

Keri - as usual - likes to poke and sniff the water.

Exiting the woods - through pasture. There are a lot of farm ponds in Vermont it seems. This one is still frozen. My pond back at the farm thawed pretty much all the way the day before.  There are some towns that actually have betting on when certain ponds will thaw.  During the winter, an object like a wooden crate is placed in the middle of the pond on the ice. Then, come spring - the townspeople place their bets on the time and day for when the object sinks.


    This spot obviously receives a LOT of warm sunrays. No snow, no ice on the pond at all. This turkey hen is like a neighborhood mascot. Last fall she had a big brood of chicks. She is pretty distinctive with so much white.

   Headed home, we stop to view the first of the spring colt's foot on the side of the road.  

A cheerful little brave flower... pretty much one of the first around here in the spring. The leaves can be dried for medicinal teas- useful at the end of a difficult winter.

What a relaxing tour we had with the magnificent
two :)   Spring is closer every day. April showers are predicted for the next few days. We hardly need more water as the streams are at flood capacity now.. but Mother Nature sends what she wishes no matter what we think of it.


Perhaps we'll do some more obstacles in the indoor during the rainfall.

Enjoy ~
Betsy and Keri in Vermont