Boy, I didn't think I would ever say I was glad to be back on the internet! I'd like to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth; I was offered a second summer job (and as many of you know, college students can't really turn down a summer job offer). Unfortunately, this second job was a necessity and hiking is only a pastime. :-/ So, my life got put on hold, now that I've finally gotten settled into it, I have some time for other things: yay!
Since I had to put outdoorsy fun on the back burner, I don't have many exciting things to pass your way. But fortunately this week has started out well; I got to watch Toy Story 3 (throwback to my childhood, woot), a sac of baby spiders hatched on my ceiling (sounds gross, but it's kinda cool to watch them), and MD and I finally got to get outside.
Unfortunately, we were misinformed about the weather and decided to stay closer to home. But despite all the calls for thunderstorms, all we met was a hot, muggy sky in the Saratoga Battlefield. There is a great, one-way tour road through the park that we decided to bike down; it was definitely something we wouldn't have attempted, had we known more about its 10+ miles of hills and shadeless road, but I'm glad that we did tackle it.
We met up after church, pulled into the visitor's center some time after 2:00 and purchased our bike passes for the day. Then we took to our bikes with only a few granola bars and just one Gatorade each (light blue, as MD repeatedly specifies). We went to all of the stops on the tour, read almost all the signs and listened to all of the recordings of 'soldiers' and 'farmers' (we lovingly named these poor voice-acted bits as 'voices in a box'). I can't say that we really learned much of the history that we were presented with, but we were physically distracted and learning wasn't really our goal for the day.
All in all, it was a great trip, our muscles ached, our endorphins were high and we slept like rocks that night. I would love to recommend the park for biking, history, or just a casual walk (bring your dogs).
I'm not sure how soon I will be able to get back to the great outdoors again, but I will definitely give you something to run with weekly.
Comment, message me and use the links to follow MD!
G
(Haha, this was posted at 1:11, nice!)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Useful info
Hey guys.
So, this week our plans again felt some confusion. Unfortunately MD was feeling rather ill, so instead of traveling an hour away and then 2 more hours up a mountain, we stayed close to home and made use of our local businesses. However, this local fun was completely unrelated to hiking and was very low key.
Now, rather than relaying our inactive outing to you, I decided you would be more entertained (seeing that this blog is related to Adirondack hiking) with some relative and useful information.
Here are a few of the links that I frequently use to set up our day hikes into the Adirondacks.
The Backpacker.com - is extremely useful for gear reviews. There is even a link of the home page that reviews the basics for the gear you will want.
Adirondack Mountain Club - is by far my favorite site. I use it to find trails I might be interested in. I will also take a moment to recommend that you check out their online store. You may think that buying printed books is a waste when you can just look online, but there is nothing more comforting than having a trail guide in your backpack just in case. (I highly recommend the Day Hikes guides: one for the Adirondacks, and one for the Catskills. There is also a nice book of dog hikes and if I still had a dog, this would be the first book I would buy.)
The Backpacker Magazine - is also available in print. It is extremely convenient to have, if even just to browse through. The site has a nifty skills page that offers articles from doing dishes and taking good photos during your outing, to navigation and weather prediction tips.
The ABC of Hiking - is another good site for product reviews. It also gives tips and tricks like The Backpacker.com and Magazine
Backpacking Lightweight - is pretty much what it says it is. In addition to hints for packing light, the site also sells some gear and offers basic knowledge and tips for hikers.
Lastly, this isn't a link so much as a little blurb of info. Obviously when you are looking to make a significant purchase (such as a backpack or heavy duty boots) you are going to want to compare prices. Don't just head straight to our good friends at eBay; do a little research. Check out items at some of the sites above, look for what you need as opposed to what you want (extra things may mean extra weight), then head out to REI and Dick's to check out the gear first hand. It is always better to see something for yourself than to just buy from a picture.
So that's it for this week, I hope these sites prove as useful to you as they have to me. I hope to come back next week after a day in the great outdoors! :D
G
So, this week our plans again felt some confusion. Unfortunately MD was feeling rather ill, so instead of traveling an hour away and then 2 more hours up a mountain, we stayed close to home and made use of our local businesses. However, this local fun was completely unrelated to hiking and was very low key.
Now, rather than relaying our inactive outing to you, I decided you would be more entertained (seeing that this blog is related to Adirondack hiking) with some relative and useful information.
Here are a few of the links that I frequently use to set up our day hikes into the Adirondacks.
The Backpacker.com - is extremely useful for gear reviews. There is even a link of the home page that reviews the basics for the gear you will want.
Adirondack Mountain Club - is by far my favorite site. I use it to find trails I might be interested in. I will also take a moment to recommend that you check out their online store. You may think that buying printed books is a waste when you can just look online, but there is nothing more comforting than having a trail guide in your backpack just in case. (I highly recommend the Day Hikes guides: one for the Adirondacks, and one for the Catskills. There is also a nice book of dog hikes and if I still had a dog, this would be the first book I would buy.)
The Backpacker Magazine - is also available in print. It is extremely convenient to have, if even just to browse through. The site has a nifty skills page that offers articles from doing dishes and taking good photos during your outing, to navigation and weather prediction tips.
The ABC of Hiking - is another good site for product reviews. It also gives tips and tricks like The Backpacker.com and Magazine
Backpacking Lightweight - is pretty much what it says it is. In addition to hints for packing light, the site also sells some gear and offers basic knowledge and tips for hikers.
Lastly, this isn't a link so much as a little blurb of info. Obviously when you are looking to make a significant purchase (such as a backpack or heavy duty boots) you are going to want to compare prices. Don't just head straight to our good friends at eBay; do a little research. Check out items at some of the sites above, look for what you need as opposed to what you want (extra things may mean extra weight), then head out to REI and Dick's to check out the gear first hand. It is always better to see something for yourself than to just buy from a picture.
So that's it for this week, I hope these sites prove as useful to you as they have to me. I hope to come back next week after a day in the great outdoors! :D
G
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