Summertime Drifting

Summertime Drifting

Saturday July 9, 2011

Yet another date with my good friends Old Rag and its denizens.    

Just a long slow hazy summertime drift.  

Had a very friendly Towhee fly inches past my left knee and land four feet ahead of me on a rock.   It did not say anything but it did stay there looking at me for about 20 seconds.   Reminded me of a Chickadee that followed me around one cold  sub-zero winter day in my early teens in the State Forest near my parents except that my Chickadee friend would sometimes land as close as a foot from my head and sang to me a lot.    I am sure it had something to do with the GORP I was sharing before I knew better.

My paternal grandfather had backyard birds that would feed out of his hands and on more than one cold winter he was willing to share his home, hearth, and some food with a field mouse of two.    

A lazy drifting day on Old Rag is hard to beat.

Credit to The Carpenters and Muppets for the Rainbow Connection sound byte.

WATER

Hey folks it is hot and steamy out.    Bring lots of water and it would not hurt to load up with electrolytes calcium, potassium, etc. before you start.    I am beginning to run into lots of folks with cramping and no water.    I can only carry so much extra water and maybe  a banana or two.   I do carry water treatment tablets but if you have already thrown away your one 16 once sports drink bottle (you should be carrying closer to 100 ounces not 16 ounces per person) then you will have nothing to fill and add my treatment tablet to when you get to an open water source.    You have also been the most RUDE of hikers by trashing what should be a pristine natural area.  

Start of Sarcasm:

By the way, blaming the Rangers(whom I think the world of) for not telling you how hard the hike would be or how much water you would need will probably only make me laugh, think you were not listening to the Ranger, or not  telling the truth.     I will probably ask if the Ranger forgot to put out matching socks or double tie your footware for you this morning?

End of Sarcasm: 

Putting sarcasm to the side for a moment, no person or organization is perfect and I always  carry complaints or suggestions back to the Rangers when I check in with them before my next hike day on the mountain. 

PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE

THERE ARE TONS OF GOOD INFO RESOURCES FOR THIS HIKE 

YOUR BRAIN AND ETHICS

PLEASE USE BOTH

Fourth of July Weekend

Fourth Of July 2011 Weekend

The view from the first false summit of Old Rag.



Hours and hours of just relaxation.   Theme song for the day:

 I Just Dropped In  To See What Condition My Condition Was In, Kenny Rogers

Was able to watch some rappelling and ascending activities over the weekend.

This Silk Tree, Albizia julibrissin was really looking good.  

One amazing thing that happened over the weekend was that in order to get a Sharpie out of a pack I use I had to take my camera out of the pack first.    I set the camera down and then used the Sharpie and returned it to the pack but forgot to put the camera back in the pack.    By the time I realized what I had done I was about a mile away.    It was incredibly lucky for me that a hiking group had picked it up and we connected and they were able to return it to me.    THANKS GUYS YOU WERE AWESOME!