Being a Woodsmith

This here is a run-through of what Lars would call, in reference to Thoreau, my "Wintering".

Liz built the wheelchair ramp, without assistance. I just use it. At the very beginning of any wood splitting and/or stacking experience I use it.

I have split and stacked a fair portion of the wood shown, but only a portion. This splitting and stacking has pretty much been my biggest exercise and about my favorite project in the past two months.

"The Attitash Experience"

Attitash Mountain Front Page
The Trails on Attitash
Adaptive Skiing at Attitash

~headed down the hill~














~nearing the bottom~















~closing in~

















~all the way down~

the Basin, Franconia Notch, NH

This is the actual "Basin". Is it maybe 20 feet across? Of course it was made by rocks swirling around in an eddy for thousands of years. The picture is taken from a 100% wheelchair accessible location.







Next are two photos showing the paved path. It is part of the Franconia Bike Path.







The paved path is smooth. There is some slope from the parking area. Access is excellent. Many natural features are at hand.







And if you are looking for hardship, there are steps available on the downstream side of the basin, opposite the accessible viewing location.







Moss, trees, exposed roots-- color, texture, detail.







Larger and smaller details-- natural variation can manifest as oddity.







Finer yet, slender columns of ice lift grains of sand and gravel quarter, half, and whole inches above the ground.







Ice on puddles and at edges-- concentric curves created by air held beneath the ice.







Two examples.







Spray from the stream's turbulence freezes to thin branches and builds a crystal chandelier.







The water, the rock around and through which it flows, the moss and eventually trees that take hold-- the poetry- the respite- of which Muir speaks.







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Mount Minsi

Mount Minsi is the name of the crest at the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Water Gap, where the Delaware River cuts through the Appalachian Mountains.













Above is a map showing the Gap and the River above. On gthe left is a local map showing the Appalachian Trail route to the top of Mount Minsi.

Dingmans Falls

Bushkill Falls

To Vernal Falls on the Mist Trail

Zodiac

Mauna Kea

Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire

On Mount Evans

Near Eldora Ski Resort but before Ski Season

In Ward then Brainard Lake

Disscussion with Coach on Mount Washington

Leaving Lee's .... under construction...

In New Hampshire, practicing for the Auto Road ascent, I stayed at a house in Intervale with the Lee family. Almost every time I went out to do some distance, I parted through the woods and out to Route 16. This road took me northward from town and offered a number of training choices.

First there was the improvised wheelchair ramp out of the house.

Then there was the "rabbit hole" which brought me into Whittaker Woods.

Then the woods. Here are pictures of the trail,

some of its acorns readying to sprout,

and a few which have actually sprouted back to the beginnings of oak trees.

Leaving Lennon's

Okay, this was staged- but then again, life does have a way of imitating art.

Breckinridge Outdoor Education Center

Yosemite Set Up

Mount Washington bottom

This is Head Coach and Team Photographer, Tim Martel, taking the first picture of our journey up Mount Washington's Auto Road. Guess what time we started.....

Here's the view looking East.

Here's the view from in front of me.

And here's the view from behind me a little later in the morning.

Mount Washington middle

Marc Durant and I during the dirt road section. The Auto Road is unpaved for about two miles starting from around the 4 and a half mile point. That's all road we've come up behind us and to our left.






Tim Martel climbed up a bit to get this shot.

The road goes back to paved at about 6 and a half miles. Here we are passing the 5ooo foot altitude marker.

Eventually we were not only above the tree line but (for me) also above the familiar experience line. We are getting toward the top now and it has gotten dark, cold and windy with thick fog. Very neat.

Mount Washington top

Convenient photo opportunity- this building at the top of Mount Washington is actually chained down so it can't blow away. I've added a few more feet past the height of the wheelchair on the ground with the aid of one of these chains.



The hands made it up the road without taping or using gloves. Not having to tape up blisters saved some time.







Below the 'Tip Top House', as part of the journey to this highest place on the East Coast, we built a cairn.

While most rocks in this cairn are rough and angular, like the boulder upon which it was assembled, the topmost rock is smooth and rounded- a riverstone.

These ancient bits of the earth are gathered in memory of a young child whose initials are D. M. . He is mourned by mother and family.

Inclines

Here I am in the woods, crossing a drainage ditch that runs along the dirt road to which I plan to return. The road side of the ditch is steeper and taller than the woods side. I didn't have much trouble getting in, but getting out I expected to be problematic.

The first image is going down the woods side of the ditch.

The second image shows me heading back up the road side of the ditch.

and Friction

Coach Tim said the ditch was do-able.

Here's me making Tim laugh by adding weight in an effort to give the back wheels more traction.

Nextly, here's me gaining ground thanks to the extra traction.

In the end though, it wasn't the rocks atop my feet but the one which can be seen beneath my feet in the last image. The trick wasn't the extra weight, but simply lunging up and getting the right wheel above that rock where it would be stopped from slipping downhill.

part I: Confidence

To get to the top of Cathedral Ledge sends one up a road about a mile long that rises about 800 feet. The first time I climbed this road I was taken on a tour of a bit of the granite which protrudes through the dirt and pine needles at the top of the cliff.

The first image shows the road, but without a good sense of it's incline. I was fairly confident that the road wouldn't do me in. (It was sort of difficult though.)

This next image is me in the process of wangling my way onto a granite cap.

part II: Bravado

Then we see me showing off, glad to have gotten on top. That's Assistant Coach Laura Jones to the side. Her job is to spot me, that is keep me from tippping over at steep places.

part III: Intimidation

Then finally, here is Sean swallowing his pride and feeling intimidated. It doesn't look too scarey from the angle at which Coach Tim Martel is photographing, but I was not confident of success going the way the coaching team was leading me.

Like all of Coach's plans, it worked out fine.

Now and (Someday) Then

Okay, so this is one of the two which are these. These are the new wheels on the front of my chair. They remind me of a Paul Bunyan story. The cook was making pancakes for Mr.Bunyan. Him being a giant, the griddle was giant. The cook strapped a very large slab of butter to each of his two feet. He ice skated back and forth across the griddle to ready it for pancake batter.

Well, every time I move my chair since I got new bearings, stem bolts, and these sweet new wheels- I think I feel like that cook felt when he greased that pan.

Mount Washington, route 16, see you each soon.

Soon I hope

Okay, so I wanted to put this image on the sidebar of just the 'Kinetics' page but it didn't happen and I'm using it as a post instead.

Mount Washington assessment

Philly Art Museum steps