3/3/2011 Blue Trail 66 to 68

So yesterday myself and Mr. D went on hike, more like a continuation of the Black Pond hike from 3/27/2011.  We started at the same spot just off route 66 in Middlefield and hiked to the spot where we turned around the last time, this time though we just kept going.  I don't think either of us had the intention of hiking as long as we did Sunday but it's ok we just kept walking until we came to a road in Durham which is, you guessed route 68.  During the hike we both kept talking about how you don't realize where things are when are driving by them at 100mph.  When you are walking you get a different sense that things really aren't all that far apart, but at the same time they are.  It's funny what you see in the woods when you walk through them, for example yesterday we saw an abandon car, which we have no idea how it got to the location it was at because it was in the middle of the woods.  We also came upon some train tracks that we cut through a hill so there was cool bouldering to do, so of course we did it.  The rock was loose but it was still good.  We climbed up one side and the I said lets do the other.  Little did we know that we had some surprises instore for us when we got the top.  I went up first then Mr. D went up.  When I got to the top I noticed that in the trees there were several pairs of womans underwear and bras hanging in the branches so I was like weird.  This wasn't even half of it though.  So Mr. D gets to the top and I let him in on this secret that we just came up Victoria's Secret in the middle of the woods.  He was like wow, then I saw this garbage bag sitting there and I was thinking yea, some chicks head is probably under that bag, but it wasn't instead it was more women's underwear, a used condom and a sex toy which I don't have to describe just look at the picture and draw your own conclusion.  Pretty weird considering that it was near a major road that ends up connecting to a major highway, again weird.  I wonder what Sherlock Holmes would say?

random car in the middle of woods

slopes at powder ridge and chair lift

good view from back side of Besek MT. looking east

Mr. D having a flashback

abandoned lift station powder ridge

lift machine not being used?

the ghost of powder ridge

powder ridge

thought it had 2 heads until we realized in was fornicating

two snakes making babies

train tracks cut through the hill that we climbed

Mr. D getting in some climbing

getting in some bouldering

yes this is the site of the murder?

better pic of the surrounding country side

good pic of the surrounding country side

So it was an eventful day based on the pics which I have posted.  We saw a couple of snakes making babies, almost got killed by some people on motorbikes but it was a good day.  The unfortunate thing is that the motorbikes, atvs and such destroy the trail because alot of thier trail is on the Blue Trail which is a national historic trail.  Some of the trail was so beaten up by being repeatedly rode on.  It's kind of sad because the trail is being destroyed, erosion is going to wash away the trail with the help of some people who are too lazy to use their legs and walk.  Not that anything is wrong with riding but there needs to be a seperate trail for that, because it was so windy we couldn't hear them coming and one time they almost rode right up my toosh, which would have put a damper on the rest of the day. 
Another thing we talked at length about during the hike was how the town of Middlefeild has let Powder Ridge go to waste.  It's nice up there and can be used for many different things.  Mr. D proceeded to relive his youth with me about him being  the "man" up there while he was younster.  He used to all sorts of narly things on his snowboard until he rigged up some contraption to hold his binding on, it broke during midflight and he broke his collar bone, but he is a machine so he just spit on it, strapped it up with some duck tap and continued to turn Shawn White into the monster he is today.   You could use Powder Ridge for yes, skiing during the winter, but also for mountain biking in the summer and you could have guides to take people hiking all through the area, but this is just me tring to be optimistic we all know that polictics gets in the way, and we all know politicians can't get out of their own way, so no surprise it's still a ghost town. 
Here so fun info from Mr. D's gps device that we use to track our progress during our hikes.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77182687

Go to the link and you can see all that stats about the hike, pretty neat stuff, atleast i think so. 
Here is some gear review for you.  Boots where good, though by the end of the hike we had been walking on so much broken rock that you could feel every little peeble you walked on, but I love my Merrells.   They are like sneakers and I have had them for so long that now they are just super great.  My pack is great.  It's a nice little day pack from Osprey which I like alot.  It stuffs everything I need and I can put a nice 100oz water bladder in there which is a good thing because I don't want to carry 3 Nalgenes, they get heavy.  As I say I love my convertable pants.  The reason is I am not a big fan of hiking in shorts, for obvious reasons I think.  However, during this hike it was warm out so I made myself some air conditioning by unzipping the bottoms a little bit.  It was so windy that it cooled my legs off nice and convertable pants are just plan cool.  The shirt I was wearing was an REI hiking shirt that is vented in the back for nice airflow between my back and my pack.  Sometimes just carring the pack can make you hotter so this is nice because it allows some sweat to dissapate and keep me cool.  Also, I was wearing my shirt I got from the Frigid Infliction race which is made of some kind of nuclear fabric that stays warm in the cold and cool in the heat, it makes me feel like an X-man.
Now the end of the hike and maybe the hardest part.  So needless to say we were hungry after hiking 11 miles for over 4 hours.  So we decide to go to Eli Cannon, which is now becoming a Sunday post hike tradition.  We are both members of the beloved mug club there, so we get a couple of beers and eat some food.  Now neither of us ever eat dessert, myself because I am on a twigs and berries diet and I don't really like sweet foods, but today I was like lets roll the dice and see what happens.  I will tell you what happened.  I was not prepared for the monster of cheesecake burrito that was put before It was massive.  I ate half and threw in the towel, and the proceeded to be uncomfortably full, neat. 
Overall it was a great day of hiking. There will be many more to come.