Tour de Providence

Beavertail State Park

BYO gallon jug of water

source: NPS

I’ve been taking a journey through the Everglades via Ted Levin’s book, Liquid Land.  Much of the focus is on the ecological response to altered hydrology due to surrounding land use.  There is no silver bullet to point the blame, but many examples are discussed like the levees designed by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Levin routinely throws in compelling facts:  A man could walk the nearly the entire length of  the Everglades without getting his hair wet.  He even threw in some wisdom from John Muir regarding the Everglades naturally dawdling flow, saying that no stream he crossed had appeared to have the least idea where it was going.

Nemo has come and gone through these parts, leaving its mark on New England.  I’d be interested to see satellite images of the resulting snow cover, but I’ll have to wait and see what is available.  Until then, here are some from storms past.

 

cyanobacteria blooms

Lakes Mendota and Monona. Credit: UW SSEC and WisconsinView

In the midst of research ideas, I thought I’d pause… take a step back, and admire the aesthetic benefit of cyanobacteria blooms as seen in (enhanced) aerial photography.  Nevermind the detrimental effects to lake ecosystems and potential human health.  I’ll return to that another day.

Baltic Sea. Credit: SMHI

Back to Vermont: winter camping(ish)

Marking the hometown of each thru-hiker passing by the Inn at the Long Trail this past year.

Went up to the Killington area last weekend with 4 PA friends.  After considering a number of pricey lodging facilities, I plugged my Inn of choice.  Inn at the Long Trail, along Rt. 4 has been place I’ve frequented in the last 4 years.  The owner keeps a log of all thru-hikers passing by since the 70’s, so I looked up both 2008 and 2010 registries for my name.  Camping has been allowed in the lot across the street where there is trailhead parking, so we racked up a few days of bar tabs, dinners, and breakfasts in return.

The weekend consisted of snowboarding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing to complete some sort of trifecta.  If ever in a bind for lack of equipment, remember this advice, with one pair of the following, 2 hikers can get by:  snowshoes, trekking poles, gators.  Gator and snowshoe on opposite feet to compensate for foot sinkage on the sans snowshoe foot, and trekking pole on the side opposite the snowshoe to balance.

Resolution 5K Beach and Trail Race 2013

Its that time of the year.  Resolutions are made and soon forgotten.  Luckily the Resolution 5K Beach and Trail Race is the first week after the new year.  Part of the South County 4th Season Race Series, this race is one of 5 that took place last winter, and most are scheduled, or tentative for this winter.  See ya there

reflection on the soon to be recycled planet

Last weekend was the peak viewing of the Geminids meteor showers, which can be seen Dec. 7-17 each year.  This shower is attributed to the Palladian Asteroid, which is worth noting because most meteor showers result from trailing an orbiting comet.  Apparently the viewing has intensified through the years, so check it out next December- it’ll be even better.

Star gazing, I was reminded of a stand out meteor shower from my youth:  Hale Bopp comet, passing through the view of earthlings in 1997 was the best of the 20th Century… and if you missed it, move on because it won’t be back around until 4380.  Heaven’s Gate “Away team” did claim, however, to be there for both occurrences of the comet’s perihelion.  The cult’s mass suicide of 39 members drank the pineapple Kool-Aid in their Air Nikes to catch a ride on a space craft that was trailing behind the comet.

This got me wondering if any cults are planning an exodus this week for the end of the mayan calendar.  There may be a few meteor stragglers to catch a ride on.  Who’s with me?

 

Boomtown, PA

It’s hard to believe the marcellus shale play has been booming for 5 years already in PA.  I’ve watched opinions change with the addition of money circulating, but at least Pennsylvania counties are getting a share of the impact fee pie.  I have removed myself from PA’s mess, but find myself missing the constant updates.  State Impact Pennsylvania, a collaboration between NPR and local Public Radio Stations, has kept me in the loop while out of the mid-atlantic.  Boomtown is their latest social media project, focusing on Towanda’s boom and bust history.  It gave me a dose of central PA comfort.

Sorry for the disturbance hunters and horseback riders

I lent a helping hand toward a video in Arcadia Management Area off of exit 5B this weekend.  A friend, Rob Macinnis, was looking for an optimal dirt road for distruction… not too fine grained, yet flat enough to pick up some speed in a rental mini van.  The van was pulling a 7 foot wooden horn.  A gorgeous bowed octagonal structure, yet this horn was made to be destroyed.  I will be sure to link to his video when it is complete.  Until then, here is the background on another Rob video:

Late spring of this year, I led Rob to a secluded patch of pines along a pond in Big River Management Area as he wanted to project deep sea sounds from my 4×10 bass cab to be received by the forest. For a look and listen to the product check his vimeo.  (Once again, headphones please).