Saw this Beauty Today

Laurie and I went for a walk at Rocky Narrows in Sherborn, MA. While driving there we passed this guy while driving through Millis. Only the second pheasant I've seen this year. Before 2016, I hadn't seen one in a decade.

Getting my fish fix One way AND another (Mystic Aquarium and some Fishing)

Add caption

I haven't done much lately. With it getting dark so early, I really can't go fishing after work during the daylight hours. For the last few weeks, most of my days off have come on miserable weather days and the ocean has been dirty. This week my boss asked me to start working six days some weeks (which I'll gladly take the overtime since Christmas is coming). All I have really been doing is running and lifting weights. This may be healthy, but has not exactly been a barrel of fun.

So I really didn't want to waste my one day off this week. The problem was, the weather was going to be crappy again. It poured all day Thursday with high winds. I was pretty sure the water was going to be dirty. Friday the wind was going to be blowing stronger. Using my day off to go fishing was a gamble. So I decided to do something I wanted to for a long time first. I went to the aquarium.

Nemo?

I have wanted to go to Mystic Aquarium for a couple of years now. The last time I went DJ was a little kid. We had gone in February and it was freezing cold. The temperature may have been nice for the Arctic living Beluga Whales, but not so for humans. 

So I made my way down to Mystic which is just over an hour from my house. I pulled into the lot at 10 am. I actually thought ahead of time what time of year to go to avoid crowds. It made sense to go on a weekday to avoid crowds. It also made sense to go during the beginning of the school year. I'm sure the place is packed in the summer, school vacations and weekends. However, I assume it is also loaded with kids on school field trips in the spring. So to avoid those field trips, I thought it prudent to go early in the school year. This worked out to a T. There was barely anyone there during my three hour stay. 

If you are interested in going, all the info is on this link http://www.mysticaquarium.org/

The price for an adult is $35. For a kid the range is $25-29 depending on age. I think the admission is outrageous for a family of four. I told myself, since I went alone, it was worth the money since a trip to New Hampshire would cost more.

In the front  a trainer and vet are working with a Beluga. In
the back (standing in water) is a whale encounter which cost
$179 a person

As stated above, I spent three hours at the aquarium. There are outdoor exhibits of marine mammals. There are harbor seals, stellar sea lions (the male is 900 pounds), and white Beluga Whales. While I was there, a trainer came out and did a short talk with the Belugas. She had the female do a few behaviors. While that was going on, in the background was a whale encounter. This is where a person puts on a pair of waders and gets waste deep in the water with a Beluga and a trainer. You get to interact with the whale. The interaction lasts about an hour. I thought this would be very cool... until I
found out it costs $179. Then I no longer was jealous that I didn't touch a beluga whale. The whales seemed to be enjoying the patrons. They can be viewed underwater. The whales were coming right up to the glass and interacting with the people looking at them.

One thing I did get to touch were sting rays. There is a ray touch tank. For an additional three dollars, you can feed the rays out of your hand. The three dollars will buy you a total of three smelt. Needless to say, feeding the rays was fun, but paying three dollars extra for only three fish wasn't worth it especially since you can touch them for free.

Yes, I took pictures of angelfish

There is a main building that has fish exhibits. There is a central tank that has tropical fish. There are also smaller specimen tanks. There is a tank with a few sharks and African Rift Lake tank among others. The building is kind of small, you can see everything in less than a half hour.

Since I was alone and paid thirty five dollars, I took my time. I looked at all the exhibits multiple times. I am a fisherman and like fish so I didn't get bored. I suspect the average customer spends half the amount of time there. I do think that prices are very high for what you see. If I were a family of four, I would never spend $140 to go there. I could spend a week in New Hampshire on that. As a single person that likes fish, I thought it was worth it.

900 pound Stellar Sea Lion pouting because
the female barked at him

...Later that Day

After I left the aquarium, I went fishing. I tried Weekapaug Breachway. The wind was howling and
the waves were huge. The water was sandy. I did give the spot a solid half hour. I tried fishing in the current and casting parallel to the beach. Nothing.

I knew fishing anywhere "out front" would be an exercise in frustration. So my next spot was in current where the water enters the ocean. The rushing water neutralized the big waves. I didn't exactly kill them. I caught one schoolie and one blue. The bluefish was huge. Maybe my biggest of the year. I am awful at guessing the size of blues ( I always underestimate) but  I'm sure it was at least twelve pounds!

After I caught the blue, the current slowed as the tide rose and I never got another hit.

All in all, I had a fun day. I was glad to do a fun daytrip. I wanted to go to Mystic Aquarium for some time. I was equally happy to catch my biggest blue of the year. The conditions were so bad, any fish was a bonus.

Spending a Rainy Day in Concord, MA

At the parking lot of the North Bridge

The weather this week has been beautiful. We tied the record high temperature for one day last week. Most everyday has not seen a single cloud, that was until my days off. Friday and Saturday forecast was for showers on and off both days. After the rain cleared, the temperature was supposed to drop into the forties and the wind gust over thirty miles/hour. I can verify the weatherman got this one right. It rained on and off the last two days. I just got back from a run and the air temperature was 43 degrees according to a gas station thermometer. The wind was blowing big time. We need the rain, so I'm not really complaining. It just made finding something fun to do difficult.

Friday I went to a movie, visited my brother and caught up on writing in my journal. I was bound and determined not to waste my day despite the weather. The surfcasting was out because the wind has dirtied the water for a week. I decided to visit my favorite town in Massachusetts; Concord

I've done almost everything in Concord. I've been to the old houses that once upon a time authors lived in. I've been to their graves in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I love the Minuteman National Historical Park and been to the North Bridge many times. So today was not going to be a day full of surprises. I was just looking for something to do that was more fun than sitting in my house.

I started my day at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The goal was to see a Northern Pintail duck. Although there were some Great Blue Herons and mallards around, I struck out with the Pintail. The water was drained and most everything as brown. I was hoping for nice fall foliage so I only stayed thirty minutes.

Downtown Concord was
busier than expected

From there I drove to Concord center. I realized of all the times I've been there, I never moseyed around town. I walked down the main streets for a while. I'm not into artisian cheeses and wine, but there were a number of places selling them along with antiques and books. I spent a total of a dollar fifty in a candy store on some Boston Baked Beans. The town does have a Visitor Center I walked over to it. There was a sign for a guided walk at 1pm. It was 12:40 when I saw it. I read the sign a little closer, I noticed the price of $20/ticket. To which, I snubbed my nose to, and kept walking.

After I ran out of streets to walk down I got in my car. I was heading back towards the highway when I noticed some cars parked at a little town forest. On a whim I pulled in. The name of the forest was the Hapgood Wright Town Forest. There was a kiosk in the parking lot with some maps. I decided to go for a walk. Within the boundaries of the forest were a few things worth walking to. Within a three minute walk there is a small lake named Fairyland Pond. The pond is a shallow lily pad type pond. It was at the bottom of a small hill. Then I walked to an old growth pine forest where I saw an immense White Pine. From there I walked on the blue trail back towards the pond.

Brister's Spring. Both Henry David Thoreau and
myself have watched the birds there

 I came upon a spring. The spring's name is Brister's Spring. It was named for a freed slave that lived nearby. Here is the best part; Thoreau used to sit by the spring for hours. Apparently he wrote a paragraph about it in his book Walden. While I was at the spring I saw a number of songbirds. I did not bring my binoculars. I pished to the birds to get them closer. There wasn't anything rare. Mostly they were chickadees and Titmice. I did see two Red Bellied Woodpeckers. As I was walking on, I realized that Thoreau, who was a naturalist, probably did the same thing in that spot a hundred and seventy years ago. It was surreal. From the spring I walked back to my car passing a stone marking the spot of Brister's house.

Lastly I went to the Visitor Center. It was still early and although I wasn't having a jolly good time,

being in Concord was better than being home. On my way to the VC, I got pulled over by a very friendly Park Ranger who informed me I had a brake light out (which I fixed when I got home). There was an actor dressed as a British soldier at the VC. He was explaining a lot about the British army during the Revolutionary War. I watched him communicate with kids. He was very good explaining things to kids of all ages. He let them touch the ostrich feather on his officers hat.  This guy was unbelievably knowledgeable. I really enjoyed talking and listening to him.

I hung out at the Visitor Center for thirty minutes. There was no point of staying for the movie, I've seen it at least five times.

Fairyland Pond on this gloomy day

An update on the Clubs I joined this Year

Ron Arra demonstrating
casting and fishing at the October
meeting

Earlier in the year I did a post about a couple of new clubs I planned to join. http://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/04/new-clubs-to-try.html


I have been in both the Ocean State Bird Club and the Narragansett Surfcasters for most of the warm weather months now, and couldn't be happier about my decision to join them.

Ocean State Bird Club

Ocean State Bird Club is exactly what the name implies. It is a bird club in Rhode Island. The bird club has many walks throughout the spring and fall seasons. I have gotten to go on a couple. The one I wrote about was at Great Swamp in April. There were quite a few people on the walk including some real experts. I have to say everyone was really nice. I think birders can have a reputation ( not necessarily unwarranted) of being a bit snooty. I met a lot of birders that day from half my age to double my age, and everyone was extremely friendly.

The club also has banding demonstrations and the occasional talk. I missed one last week about feeding birds nutritional foods in your feeder because I fell asleep after work. I was really looking forward to going.

Members of the OSBC at Great Swamp

I appreciate the fact that not all of their walks are on weekends. Since I have every Friday and some Saturdays off from work, I should be able to go on some of the winter walks. Being addicted to my New Hampshire camping trips has made it difficult to go on some of the field trips, but I am still grateful they are offered.

Narragansett Surfcasters

I joined the Surfcasters in May. Just like the OSBC I am very happy I joined.  The surfcasters meet the third Tuesday of each month. The meetings are really fun and I look forward to them. Usually their is a guest speaker that puts on a seminar. Every speaker that they have had since I joined is someone I had heard of. Dave Anderson, Joe Lyons and Ron Arra have been speakers.

During the summer months instead of meetings they have a cookout. I got to the June cookout, but was busy in July and August (that damn NH addiction again). The cookout is at Snug Harbor. The food is delicious.

Many of the guys in the club are hardcore fishermen that fish almost every day. I have gotten to know a few of them. From my first meeting some of the guys made me feel at home right away. They would make a point to come and talk with me a few minutes usually about fishing.

Once September came about and the albies came in, I was in 'gansett a lot. I was fishing the same places as these guys. One of them ( who reads this blog, and has made me feel comfortable since the first meeting) even asked how I got down there so often. This did two things. It gave me credibility with the guys that fish. Since they saw me fishing, I became more of an equal. More importantly, because I was fishing with them, I got to know more members. By the September meeting, I felt like "one of the guys."

In Conclusion

I am not the most social person in the world. I'm not the hermit I pretend to be either. Joining these two clubs has put me in contact with people that share my hobbies. I've picked up a few pointers. I saw some birds because someone else recognized a song. I've been frustrated by albies side by side with another member while one other guy caught them on almost every cast. All in all being a member of both clubs has been a positive experience

I'm not going to sit here and tell you to join the clubs I've joined. They work for me. However, if you have outdoor hobbies, and I would guess you do if you've read this far, you might want to check out the local chapter of a club in your area. You might make a friend or two. You will certainly pick up a pointer. If nothing else, the snacks might be worth it!

Packing 101

When I went to New Hampshire last week, I had worked a ten hour day. Laurie was already at my house when I got home. I hadn't put a thing in my car. Yet, we were out of my driveway twenty minutes after I pulled into it, and that included time for a quick shave. How?

Organization and planning

No one likes to pack, and unpacking is even worse. So I do my best to keep my gear organized. I may be a bit of a slob about some things, but when it comes to my camping gear and fishing equipment, I am meticulous.

My already packed first aid kit on the
left. Hygiene Box on the right

The beginning of my packing actually starts at the end of my last trip. When I pull into the driveway, the first thing I do is take out my tent usually wet from dew the night before and dry it out. If my sleeping bag is moist I dry that too. I'll hang them outside on a rope. If it is raining like it was on Sunday last week, I will dry them in front of a fan in my room.

The second thing I take out is my dirty clothes. I wash them right away. The faster they get washed and dried, the faster they get put away. From there, I just clean out my car asap. I hate doing it, but hate having to clean later even more. I know exactly where I put my gear whether in my spare room or the shed so it is easy to find next time
                                                           
Clothes

When I pack for a camping trip, the majority of the stuff is ready to go before hand. I keep a bag of clothes in a duffel bag. You probably think it is crazy to keep clothes in a bag or it is a waste of money, but in reality, it makes perfect sense. For hiking clothes I keep a pair of shorts, 2 polyester shirts, and two pairs of hiking socks. I am only wearing this stuff while hiking anyway so it may as well stay packed. Next up is under clothes. I keep a couple pairs of white socks and 2 pairs of boxers. Is it really a big deal to take them out of your top drawer anyway? Of course not.

I keep specialty items packed such as a towel (which I use as a pillow), bathing suit, dish cloth, bandannas, knee brace, and sweatpants for cold nights. Again, are you going to miss having one less towel or bathing suit in your closet?

This leaves real clothes. I never wear pants, so I keep one pair of shorts two tee shirts, and one nice white t-shirt for when I am actually clean. That covers it all. The only other clothing I need (from spring-fall) are a sweatshirt and my raincoat which is always in the car anyway.

When the clothes are dry from a washing after a trip, I put them back in the duffel, and I'm ready to go.

Big Stuff

The majority of my space in my car is taken up by the few biggest items. In my shed are my two tents, sleeping bags, and pads.They go directly behind the passenger seat in the car. As they are the first things I'll take out, I want to make them the easiest to get to. I put my backpack under all of this stuff on the seat, that way when camp is set up, it is the next easiest thing to get to. They go in the same place every time. The backpack always has a raincoat along with most of the "ten essentials" such as matches, space blanket, etc)

Little stuff

This would be the time consuming stuff that wastes the most time. When I was a kid, my mom would make up a list before every trip and it would be so long, but it would be little annoying stuff. Now I keep most of it packed but have it broken down by groups.

Hygiene and first aid kits.

At the beginning of the school year Walmart was selling big pencil boxes for a dollar. I bought one and use it as my hygiene box. In it I carry my toothbrush, paste, soap, etc. It stays packed and actually stays in my car for those times you forgot to put on deodorant after a shower.

My first aid kit also stays in the car because I am much more likely to get hurt hiking/fishing than I am watching tv at my house.

Camping gear/ Food-

There are other small essentials for camping that stay in a cardboard box year round. They might all be needed on a trip, but they come for the ride anyway. To start, I need to eat, so I having a camp stove, fuel canister, sauce pan, bowls,
plates, and silverware. Yes, I went out and spent two dollars on plastic bowls, well worth not having to pack dishware every time out.

I have a water filter, some rope, lantern, toilet paper, shovel all packed in the box. I would have sunscreen and bug spray in the box also, but keep them in my car at all times anyway.

Of course food is an issue camping. I try not to make a special trip to the grocery store for camp food. I'm a guy and hate shopping. So if I go to the store on Sunday for weekly groceries, I buy my camp food then. I put it in a box and it is ready to go (sometimes I do have to make a trip closer to departure day to buy fruit)

On trips that I plan on fishing, I take my kayak which includes accessories of backrest, life jacket, and paddle. I take my fishing rod and box for the species I'm targeting, usually trout in NH

Following these steps allowed me to be fully packed in less than twenty minutes when I got home from work last Thursday. I was with Laurie so I wasn't going to be fishing.

1. I went to the shed and grabbed tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads and camping box

2. I went into my spare room and got my duffel full of clothes.

3. I put the food box in the car.

4. In my car at all times are my camera, battery charger, hygiene and first aid boxes, sunscreen, and bug spray.

5. I grabbed my sandals and hiking boots. Because I thought I might be birding, I grabbed my binoculars also.

Pulled out of the yard

I completely understand that my gear is not your gear. You may want to take a small grill. You may actually want to bring a real pillow instead of using a towel. If you have kids, you obviously need much more clothes. Still, having the clothes already to go is great. How much would it cost to buy an extra shirt or two from a thrift store. Having spare toothbrushes paste and soap is nice. I assume, if you have enough money to go on a camping trip no matter how small your budget, you can afford a spare toothbrush (or use the old one you were going to throw out anyway).

I hope these tips help. Any time saved when packing can be time spent doing something more fun or for getting an earlier start

New Hampshire Foliage with Laurie

For the third consecutive year Laurie and I went to New Hampshire during the peak of the fall foliage and probably my last time for the year. Sometimes the weather is nice for us and sometimes it is not, it is October after all. All week we were checking the extended forecast to see if was worthwhile to go camping. By Tuesday we were sure we could go even if would be a little chilly camping. I asked weeks ago to have Sunday off from work. I already had Friday and Saturday off so I was pretty excited to have a three day weekend. We left Thursday after we both got out of work. It was almost dark when we left home. Luckily, we found a campsite very easily even in the dark. We have set the tent up so many times by the light of our headlamp that it is almost second nature, so that was no big deal.

Friday

We did not have a far drive on Friday. The overnight low was roughly 48 degrees so it was a little chilly getting out of the toasty sleeping bag. The day was perfect though, There wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire day. The daytime high was predicted to be over sixty with very little wind. We had planned to do the Franconia bike trail on Friday. When I found out it would be so clear, I begged Laurie to do a mountain with me so we could get big views and save the bike ride for Saturday.

Because my best friend is so awesome, we went hiking. We actually did a four thousand footer. The mountain we hiked was Mount Garfield. It is 4500 feet high. The hike is ten miles round trip with 3000 feet of elevation gain. We started very early and finished up an hour before sunset. The reason it took so long? We stayed up there enjoying the huge views for as long as we could.

When we got on the summit about 12:30 there were a bunch of people on top. However, most of them left by 1 pm. There is plenty of room on the summit for a few groups of people. But there was never more than six people on top after the first thirty  minutes.

One thing that was kind of fun; the cover photo of the book that describes all of the four thousand footers "The 4000 Footers of the White Mountains" by Steve Smith was taken on top of Garfield. While we were up there we tried to recreate the photo. I found the rock the hiker was standing on with Owl's Head in the background. The light was bad and the best view was backlit. It was still fun and the scenery was amazing. I'd say we took over fifty pictures trying to get the photo. We also saw a Black Backed Woodpecker which is a north woods specialty and a lifebird for me

Just like my hike last week up Isolation, just as we were about to leave, some Grey Jays showed up and wanted some food. For the third consecutive trip I got to feed the jays out of my hand. Laurie did also, the first time since we were in Colorado in 2010. After we fed the jays, we hiked the five miles back to the car. We had about an hour before dark and still needed to eat supper. We drove to the Eisenhower Wayside and enjoyed a close up view of the Presidentials while eating supper as the sun was going down.

Saturday

The weather forecast for Saturday was sixty degrees but clouding up early and possible rain showers . I knew that hiking a big mountain was not going to be worth it. The plan for the day was to bike ride the Franconia Bikepath in the morning. If it was still nice out in the afternoon I wanted to hike out to a mountain lake. Late afternoon we were going to be "tourists" and hang out in Lincoln during the predicted rain showers.

We got an early start for the bike path. We didn't make it very far before we realized we were too sore to enjoy riding our bike up the hilly path. Laurie turned around very quickly. I chose to ride a couple miles and have her pick me up at the Basin. Because we didn't bike for long, we had plenty of extra time. We drove down to the Kanc to go to our mountain pond.

 I have never seen so many people in New Hampshire. We drove through Franconia Notch. The number of cars parked to hike Franconia Ridge was mind blowing. The cars were parked along the interstate for over half a mile! I heard later the cars ended up backing up a full mile from the trailhead!. This is the busiest weekend of the year in the mountains, but the amount of people was insane. We got off the highway at Exit 32 in Lincoln. The cars were backed up all the way to the ramp. It took us a full half hour to get through town! While we were driving down the Kanc, every viewpoint was full with cars. People were taking pictures not only by the carload, but also the busload. At all the trailheads things were no better. Cars were parked along the road for places like Greeley Ponds and East Pond.

Needless to say, I was disappointed to know solitude was probably not going to happen. There were so many people in the mountains it really didn't matter where we could go, there was no escaping them. Can't blame anyone for being there, the scenery was amazing. The foliage was at its peak and the weather was really nice for October standards.

The mountain lake I chose to visit Saturday was only a flat mile from the road. However, it is out of the way. Not too many people know about it. Still, I figured even if a few people knew about the pond it would be crowded. The trail had one thing going for it to deter people. The very beginning of the trail crosses a river right near the parking lot. The river is wide enough and deep enough where you have to get wet to cross it. There is no way to rock hop.

When we pulled up to the parking place to my surprise no one was parked at the parking area! We took our shoes off and crossed the river in sandals. We hid our sandals behind a rock and walked to the pond. The pond did not disappoint. There were views of big mountains right behind the pond in all directions. All the mountains were dressed in their best bright colors. We found a nice flat rock to eat a picnic. It was so peaceful and relaxing we stayed on the rock for almost two hours before we went back to the car.

After we got back to the car we drove back to Lincoln to be tourists. There was a traffic jam by one of the viewpoints. Back in Lincoln the traffic was no better. I found a parking spot and we walked around. There was a large craft fair going on that we walked through. Then we went to the Mountain Wanderer book store and talked with the owner/famous hiker/author Steve Smith for a few minutes. Then we bought a pizza before going back to camp. Soon after we got back to camp the rain started. It rained most of the night.

Sunday

Big Cherry Pond

Having a rare Sunday off, I didn't want to waste it. Even though we woke up to crappy weather, I didn't want to just drive home early and throw away a Sunday off from work. We got up early and drove to Cherry Pond. There were a few people already there. It turns out there was a birding group there for the day (my people). We talked to them for a while. They had scopes and were trying to see how many species they could find from the boardwalk. I contributed to there count by finding a Great Blue Heron on the opposite shore. By far the highlight was not a bird but a moose! It was the first moose I've seen in three years. It was already across the pond and we only saw it for a few seconds.

Elbow Pond

After a few hours at Pondicherry we packed our wet tent in the car and drove towards home. We stopped at Elbow Pond in North Woodstock first. It wasn't raining but it was a raw windy day. We cooked some mac and cheese and took some pictures. I'd never been to Elbow Pond so it was nice to explore another mountain lake before making the three hour drive home.

Things I learned


It is a waste of time for me to bring my bike to NH. I'd rather walk up a mountain than ride a bike up one. It was a pain in the ass taking the bike rack on and off.

Next year it would be better to go up on my Thurs/Fri off from work than the Saturday. There were so many people it was uncomfortable.

I'm going to try to go to Pondicherry next year during the breeding season. The area is very birdy.

I forgot how grand the view is from Garfield