hike/ski Mt Cardigan

My son Nicholas (13 next month) and I went to Mt. Cardigan to hike and ski. Here are some notes (actually, lots of notes) about our day and some links I found while researching or trip. I also am attaching some photos, and the notes I printed out and carried with me.

On the East Side is the AMC 1000 acre Cardigan Reservation, including the Class 3 Holt trail which is considered one of the more difficult trails in New England.
The West side of the mountain is Cardigan State Park.

Here's what we did (times are approximate).

• 6:45 AM – Left Winchester.
• 8:45 AM – Arrived at AMC lodge, bought a map and futzed around with our equipment (e.g., figured out how to carry Nick's ski boots, and put on our crampons).
  
• 9:30 AM – Hiked 1200 feet (vertical) up Holt to Cathedral Forest to Clark Trail.
• 11:00 AM – While eating a sandwich at the top of Alexandria Ski Trail, watched another skier get first tracks in the couple inches of new snow frosting the trail. (Note to self: eat at bottom of ski trail, not at top.) Then clicked into our skis and realized that Nick's boots didn't fit the bindings on his skis. Using my Swiss Army knife, we were able to adjust the bindings and hiking downhill was averted. (Note to self: check all equipment the night before.)
• 11:30 AM – Skied down Alexandria (800 vertical). The trail was fun, narrow and twisty. It must have been heavily skied after the last big snow, because it was bumped up with a couple inches of new snow on top. As we skied down, we hit hidden rocks and ice lurking underneath the light cover of new snow. We met the skier who beat us to the trail skinning back up as we went down.
• 11:45 AM – Tried to traverse along Allieway Ski Trail to Manning Trail. Quickly realized that without cross country skis or climbing skins we were not going to make it so we put our skis on our packs and post holed next to the ski tracks; very tiring. Then we hiked up Manning (for a total of 1000 vertical) to some ledges where a large group of hikers was getting ready to head back down. They didn't know where the ski trail was, but they shared some brownies with us. Then we ate the rest of our food (of course we had reserves in case we didn't make it back before dark—you can survive on dried mango and bison jerky if you have to) and looked around for the ski trail.
• 1:45 PM – After failing to find the start of Duke's Ski Trail, we decided that if we headed down slope and kept to the right we should be okay. The first 50 yards or so was through an open field of snow and we had some really fun turns. As we approached the forest ahead, we saw some blue blazes and then a sign for Duke's Ski Trail. The trail was less steep than Alexandria but the snow cover was better and the run was longer (1300 vertical) and took us right back to the lodge. Near the bottom we discovered the remains of the old rope tow, and the rusted out car used to power it.
  
• 2:30 PM – Put our skis and boots back in the car and sat around the fireplace in the lodge. Before hiking up for our second run, Nick wanted to do three or four runs. But after hiking up twice, I decided I wasn't carrying my skis and his boots another vertical foot. I was still up for snowshoeing the Nature Trail near the lodge or hiking out the waterfall and back, but after thinking about it over hot chocolate, Nick admitted his thighs were tired and he was ready to call it a day. The lodge was full of 60+ AMC members from the Boston Chapter who were there for a weekend of hiking. They shared their snacks and stories and made us feel welcome.
• 3:30 PM – Drove to Bristol for dinner at an Irish Pub called Cu Na Mara. We ate bangers and Boxti stuffed with lamb, garlic, and rosemary and drank Irish beer (Harp for me, Root for Nicholas).
• 5:15 PM – Drove home. Nick slept the whole way.
• 7:00 PM – Unpack then watch The Longest Yard on TV.

Below are some useful links I found while researching our adventure.

• Directions on how to get to Mt Cardigan Lodge
• First Tracks Online Ski Magazine
• summer photos
• more summer photos
• a report on BC Skiing Duke's Trail near Mt. Cardigan from MIT Outing Club
• another MIT OC report with videos of the skiing at Mt Cardigan
• Basecamp: Cardigan Lodge
• Snowshoe above treeline and summit Mt. Cardigan
• Skip the lift lines: classic backcountry ski and snowboard tours of Mt. Cardigan and Firescrew
• Down-mountain ski tour of Mt. Cardigan
• Cross-country ski or snowshoe Mt. Cardigan's lower elevations
• Stay overnight near the summit of Mt. Cardigan at High Cabin
• Winter Fun for Families week: spend February school vacation at Cardigan
• Learn winter skills: Cardigan mountain safety workshops and Sat. evening programs
• Cool photos from Mt Cardigan: rock in winter, trees in winter

what to wear

• thermal underwear
• wool socks
• fleece
• snow pants
• snow coat
• insulated boots
• hat
• gloves / mittens

packing list

• snow shoes
• crampons
• hiking/ski poles
• sunglasses
• skis (not this time, let's just hike and check out the skiing for another trip)
• extra clothing: including glove liners or mittens, hat, fleece, goggles, face mask
• food
• water
• camera
• binoculars
• compass
• map (but I don't have one)
• directions
• first aid kit
• emergency supplies

Michael wrestled in his 4th JV match yesterday.  He is 3-1 with 1 pin, 1 win on points, 1 win by default after the other grappler hurt his ankle during the match.  His one loss was a close one by points.
He wrestles in the same weight class, 152 pounds, as Jumper in the photo below.

from Sunday's Boston Globe

Winchester wrestlers continue to flatten opponents

Winchester's Mike Jumper (left) attempts to lock up North Andover's Derek Timpe in their 152-pound match, part of a quad meet that the undefeated Sachems swept. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

By Andrew Petrie Globe Correspondent / January 27, 2008

One might scoff after hearing Winchester wrestling coach Larry Tremblay describe his team's effort in a 57-9 victory as "flat." But that's where the laughs stop.

The team, led by seniors Miguel Tirado, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Charlie Hale, and Zach Gramlich, blew out Watertown, Foxboro, and host North Andover yesterday. The Sachems improved to 22-0, but what is more impressive is their 53-match winning streak.

"We've had long streaks before, including winning 56 league games in a row [1993--2001]," Tremblay said. "I keep telling these guys not to pay too much attention to stuff like that. Once you think about it too much, you end up wrestling not to lose, which never works out."

Even Tremblay, who says he hates to rank his teams, admits his current squad ranks as one of his five best.

"Last year was this team's surprise season, we kind of snuck up on a bunch of people," he said. "Personally, I'd rather fly under the radar. It's not too easy playing with a giant bull's-eye on your back."

One of the few men who could relate was in the building. North Andover coach David Castricone, a longtime friend of Tremblay, had his own impressive streak of 76 straight wins (2004--06).

"[Winchester is] one of those teams that comes around only once in a while," said Castricone.

Castricone's wrestlers had no reason to hang their heads. Outside of the defeat to Winchester, the Scarlet Knights beat Foxboro and Watertown. The victories improved their record to 17-6 and helped Castricone move within 10 wins of the state record of 608 held by former Lowell coach George Bossi.

"I knew we had a strong squad heading into this season," Castricone said. "I wanted to go after the heavy hitters this year, and most of our losses are against top-notch teams."

That being said, don't expect Castricone to rush into facing Winchester again. "I'm just happy they're in Division 3 and not Division 2," he said with a chuckle.

In other wrestling action:

Lowell, the 2007 New England champion, hosted a quad meet that featured a battle with Timberlane, the defending state champions from New Hampshire. Lowell edged Timberlane, 28-27, behind strong performances from Christian McCarthy at 125 pounds and James Downing at 160. Victor DeJesus at 130 and Evan Connors at 140 both went 3-0 on the day.

The Slasher

It has been an interesting year for Michael's wrestling team.  Someone has it in for them.  Just before the holidays, someone slipped into the wrestling locker room during a school assembly and used a knife or scissors to slash all of the wrestling clothes.  They cut up all the shoes, headgear, warmups, singlets, and anything else that was left in the room.  The damage totaled $2800, and the police are handling it as a felony.

Then on Saturday morning, someone sent an email saying that Saturday's quad meet was canceled.  The email was apparently sent by a captain's parent and so some boys went back to sleep and others ate a big breakfast.  Someone detected the hoax and so calls went out to all the missing wrestlers, but one of them ate too much and couldn't make weight for his match.  Fortunately, the team was able to defeat all three of the other teams in spite of the turmoil.

Sunday the wrestlers and their parents met at the high school to get an update from the school officer about the harassment and to make plans to prevent further attacks.  The police are using their "elite high tech team" to track down the email sender.  The school is changing the lock on the door to the wrestling room and going to have an adult posted outside the door with a portable radio.

Michael pins his man

Michael is wrestling on the high school team this year.  Last year the varsity team was 31-0 and won the state championship.  Half way through this season they have won every match.

So far Michael has wrestled two JV matches and won them both.  On Saturday he pinned his opponent in the second round.

A few people have wondered whether Michael could out-wrestle me yet, and after he showed me some of his new moves in the living room last week, I wondered that myself.
So this morning I joined Nick, Michael and a couple of friends wrestling around in the snow in our backyard.  After thrashing around with Michael for awhile, it appears my extra experience (and extra pounds) give me the advantage, at least for now.

It's snowing

Schools were closed today, so I spent an hour shoveling with the kids.  Then Nicholas went sledding with some friends and Alexa and I went cross country skiing around Horn Pond for an hour-and-a-half.  It was almost magical; totally silent, trees bent under the snow and everything white and fresh.  Michael stayed in and did homework.

Unfortunately, no one considers cross country skiers around here.  The plows clear the paths leaving nowhere for the skiers.  And by the time we returned, people had tramped over our parallel ski track instead of walking next to it.

Tomorrow I'm going backcountry skiing with George and Rob at Mt Garfield in NH.

Fwd: Rats!

For the last month or so, there has been a gnawing noise in the kitchen.  Then we came down one morning and the throw rug by the refrigerator was all chewed up.  Phil the bug man, a patient of Julie's who happens to be an exterminator, came and pointed out where the critter had tunneled  under our patio and into the crawl space under the kitchen.  I removed the bricks and filled the space with gravel and then replaced the bricks.  Phil also put some poison and glue traps in the basement near the crawl space.  Over the next couple of weeks, the glue traps disappeared but the gnawing continued and every couple of days we had to clean up more of the gnawed up run.  When the snow melted, I checked and saw that the rat and dug all the gravel out from under the patio and more bricks were caving in.

So today, the boys and I took advantage of the warm weather to take up about 1 foot square of the brick patio.  We repaired the hole in the railroad tie border with hardware cloth (basically wire mesh) and a piece of 2x6, then filled the hole and the tunnel under the house with concrete.  We spread concrete where he had dug out under the bricks.  After the concrete cured, we put sand on top and replaced the bricks.  On the inside of the house, I pulled the refrigerator out from the cupboards and filled the gaps with rat poison, wood blocks, and foam insulation.  Then I nailed strips of wood along the base of the wall to seal the 1 inch opening between the wall and floor.  Finally, I used acrylic caulk to seal the tiny seams.

No way the rat was going to be able to get back in the house through his old tunnel.  After several hours of rat proofing the house, we sat down to watch the Colts vs. Chargers.

But what's that noise from the kitchen?  Sounds like gnawing.  Oh no!  I sealed everything up real well but I must have sealed the mouse into the house instead of out of the house.  Aargh!