When author Heidi Hill was writing Fit Family, she received advice from many parent/athletes.  Two of the most helpful were Dave Blumenthal and his wife, Lexi Shear.  They provided stories of hiking and skiing and several photos which we used in the book.  Dave is the tall fellow in the photo below.

Dave was killed in a bike/truck collision in Colorado last week.  Dave was competing in the Tour Divide race  which runs the length of a 2,745-mile trail that crisscrosses the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.  It has been described as the toughest mountain bike race in the world.  Here is a writeup from our local paper.

One of the ideas we used in the book was the Young Adventurers Club which was conceived by Dave and Lexi.  It's a wonderful example of how active parents can engage their kids in a variety of outdoor activities.

Dave and Lexi also shared with Heidi Hill some examples from their two-week hike in Austria when their daughter, Linnaea, was an infant. They noted that while they had to carry more because of lugging an infant, going hut-to-hut gave them many options.   Let me share a few of their thoughts:

 

 “We usually had breakfast and then Linnaea would just about jump in the pack. She’d fall asleep within ten minutes and we’d put our noses down and hike. She usually slept for about an hour and then would look around for another hour, totally content. We’d stop for an hour – some place useful for a stop. We usually hiked about seven hours a day, but it varied depending on when we arrived at a hut as we’d have to make a decision whether to stop or go on to the next one.

Linnaea is an aggressive eater and eats anything we’re interested in. This was fortunate since a lot of what was served at the huts wasn’t kid fare. In town, she was eager for fresh fruit and yogurt. We also carried the European equivalent of graham crackers. These were easy to feed her in the pack and they were handy if she was restless and we had another half hour before getting to the hut.

A challenge was that the sleep set-up was different every night. The huts varied from being like a cheap hotel room to haylofts of a barn to a rustic cabin. The best scenario was when there was a line of mattresses on the floor. We could move them into a corner and move furniture around so Linnaea didn’t flip into anything. We learned a lot about how she slept – how she flips around – which is typical for a child… We were worried about how she’d sleep in a new place every day, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Austria was a good location for hiking with kids for a couple of reasons. We didn’t need to bring extra equipment because we stayed in huts. Also, the hiking was pretty but it was never really remote. If the weather was too cold or she wasn’t into it, we could walk downhill a couple of hours and get to a bus or a train and go to a village. It was easy to bail out.”

A memorial service will be held at Green Mountain Club on July 10, 2010 at 3:30pm with a walk on the Short Trail (a one-mile loop) to follow. 

 

 

The Vermont weather is downright miserable -- cold and rainy with little sign of spring.  It's too cold to bike or paddle, there's no snow for xc skiing, and the back roads are too muddy for running.  However, if you pick your trails, it's a good time to hike.

I've been out with the dog every day this week on a hike of an hour or two.  Earlier in the week, the ground was frozen and the wet areas were passable.  Today, I picked an area called "Irish Hill" in Berlin which has a series of hiking and mountain biking trails that are well-drained and suitable for early season hiking -- or at least they were today.

 It's wonderful to have protected land (this is within the City of Montpelier's watershed) so close by and to have them so interesting.  Forested and steep, this is an area which has been hiked for decades.

It was raining lightly and the temperature was 35 degrees but the dog didn't care, nor did I once we got climbing.  I followed the mountain bike singletrack which serpentines back and forth up the mountain -- lost it a few times, but could easily keep oriented by the highway noise for I-89 not too far away.

I had my binoculars but no birds were about -- I heard a purple finch and flush a ruffed grouse and had a few blue jays commenting on our passage.  Penny got a great workout, as did I, and we were both surprised to meet four hikers and their four dogs as we neared the trailhead.  

 There's a trail to the summit with a couple of lookouts and a geological item called a "roche moutonnee" or "sheep rock", a landform sculpted by the "Big Ice."  We'll go that way next time.  

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I’ve just finished a great book called “On Watching Birds” by the late Lawrence Kilham -- who was widely known for his work with viruses and infectious diseases and later in life, became a distinguished expert in the behavior of birds, particularly woodpeckers.  It is a fascinating book.

I was thinking of his philosophy today when out hiking with the Vizsla.  I had binoculars along and was hoping to see some early migrants.  We’ve had a taste of winter and the ground is frozen, the wind nippy, and the birds pretty quiet.  As we climbed and climbed and there was nothing moving -- except the dog who was running to and fro, having a great time -- I started to get a little frustrated.  (Two weeks ago, I was hearing all sorts of bird calls and seeing 20 species or more on a walk .. in Texas.)  Then I thought of the book and Kilham's writing, particularly this passage:

“Enthusiasm for the beauty of life helps to keep the brain alive.  And there is a practical aspect to it. Things do not always happen when one goes out to watch birds.  There can be long stretches when nothing much seems to be going on, as when watching by the nest of a Pileated Woodpecker.  At these times I switch to thinking about how beautiful the world is, and instead of being impatient that the bird does not return, I find myself at peace with the world.”

What a great attitude -- although easier said than done.  I did mentally shift gears, noting the beautiful sky, the trees starting to show signs of budding, and my crazy dog, running joyfully through the woods -- not caring what the weather was nor whether she saw birds, squirrels, or deer.  

Combining those two attitudes: Dr. Kilham’s  “the world around us is beautiful ... slow down and notice it” and Penny’s “Hey, we’re out in the woods, let’s have some fun” sounds like a good strategy for walks.  I’ll test it as we struggle through the coming weeks, impatiently waiting for green and warmth and migrating birds.

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The Vizsla needs a run -- she’s been waiting patiently all day and the rain has let up to a fine mist.  I’ll grab my poles and take a hike (nordic walk) up in the woods.

We start out on the loops on our land, which we walk several times a day, and she’s off on her “check the new smells” romp.  I’m caught up in thinking about some publishing issues I’ve just struggled with -- missing fonts in older documents because they were done on older computers.  I’ve been trying to create some ebooks using pdf and it’s a hassle -- I’ve got 900 fonts but not a couple we used five years ago.  So, let it go and enjoy the early fall afternoon.

The leaves are turning but mostly yellow here.  We’ve got soft maples and they seem to get speckled with brown -- although some will get red later on.  Higher up, there’s lots of red showing on the mountains.  The ferns, chest-high in spots, got frosted and are bronze.  The asters and daises, often head high, are untouched but soaking wet.

I’ve got my new LL. Bean slicker on and with the poles and climbing, find it pretty warm.  Robins are flocking up in every clearing -- they’ll likely be heading south on the next cold front winds.

We head up on to abutting forest and Penny flushes a couple of partridge.  She doesn’t point them, just chases them.  No wonder she flunked out of hunting school years ago.

I’m reminded of a time years ago when I was working on one of my mountain bike books and trying to tape record the ride description as I rode along.  I was climbing up this rocky trail, gasping into the mike about it, when a whole covey of young partridges exploded out of the weeds near my front wheel.  I wish I had saved that tape -- it was a breathless  “the trail gets more technical .... S.O.B...” accompanied by the beating of a dozen wings.  It was funny to hear when I was transcribing later on -- and still makes me chuckle as I remember it.

Then my mind veers to the photos I used to try to take on these rides.  You don’t meet riders on most of the rides I was doing and rather than just taking another photo of the bike against a trail sign, I’d try to set up the camera and use the timer.  I’d set up the small tripod I carried, set the self-timer, and then run back, try to hop on the bike and ride toward the camera.  What a joke -- it was either out of focus, or I was half on the bike, whatever.  I don’t know that I ever got a usable shot.

The rain has picked up a bit and I’m glad for the slicker.  It’s loud on the leaves and all I can hear is Penny’s periodic shaking to dry out.  She’s loving it, ranging back and forth, nose to the ground.  There are still some stone walls to check on the way back -- where she remembers critters from former walks.

We’ve been out a little over an hour and it feels great -- the trail is soft due to the rain and the temperature is perfect.  My hiking shoes and jeans are soaked.  We’ll head back and dry out a bit -- and Penny will smell like ferns all evening. 

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A couple of young friends of mine just completed the Presi Traverse over the weekend, updating their Facebook friends with photos as they hiked along.  I admired their efforts but in spite of my love of fitness and the outdoors, was just as glad I was walking in my woods instead.

The Presidential Range Traverse, popularly known as the “Presi Traverse,” is one of the classic hikes in New England.  It is twenty-four miles of New Hampshire’s boulder piles, grassy “lawns,” and historic bridle paths.  It crosses eleven peaks, including Mt. Washington, the highest mountain east of the Mississippi and north of the Carolinas.

Reading their updates made me think of a day hike I took a few years ago with my adult sons, to climb nearby Mount Hunger.  It’s a popular local hike to a modest peak that we can see out our living room window.

The hike started fine, with an easy trek up an old road and on to a typical Vermont hiking trail with roots and rocks and a steady climb.  At one point, we came to a little climb that had a knotted rope to help and soon broke out of the trees to a smooth rocky slope.  We were moving up that slope, following the arrows on the stone, when I paused and looked back.  Big mistake.  I froze at the sight of open air and scenery -- froze to the point where I could not move.  I am very afraid of heights -- "Acrophobia should be my middle name".

“But you’re a pilot!” people say when they hear me say that.  Yes, I’ve flown all sorts of planes for decades but it’s different, even with the cockpit window open.  But get me in a car climbing up a winding road with a dropoff on the side, or even driving up over the Delaware Bay Bridge, and I’m very uncomfortable.

I thought we’d have to bring in a helicopter to get me off the mountain.  Robb went up ahead to see if we could climb up and find an easier way down -- with no luck.  So both he and Rich somehow, by staying on each side of me as we eased down, got me to the trees and I could relax.  It was an interesting reversal of roles -- pay back for times I extricated them from situations when they were kids.

So, how can you hike in Vermont, or anywhere with mountains, if you’re petrified of heights?  With the Long Trail running the length of the state and the Appalachian Trail cutting through it, and hundreds of hikes to the peaks of the Green Mountains, do you have to stick to bike paths and back roads?
I searched for information on “hikes for height-fearers” with no luck.  I know there are many sections of trails that don’t have narrow paths along cliffs or open traverses across rocky faces.  Perhaps I’ll start a list.  Maybe it’s a book.  I know I’d buy it -- I’d like to take my grandchildren hiking on a number of spots in the Northeast -- but I’d rather not run into another Hunger Mountain situation.  Got any suggestions?

As a bonus, here’s a link to a video of a place where you'll never meet me.

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"Hiking with kids presents an exciting way to hike. It can also create a new challenge. With a little preparation and the following ten essential items, you and your children are sure to have a great hike..." 

Read the whole article by Jessica Linnell

 

photo by respres    

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