The Big Decision of the Week

As I write this is is 80 degrees and humid. It is 9 pm and the temperature feels like an  August night. Still, I know that fall weather is right around the corner. Any day now could go from a beautiful seventy five to a chilly 45. I'm still going to be outside during crisp fall weather. However, before that happens I want to do as many of my warm weather activities as I can.

Which leads to this week's dilemma, what to do on my days off this week? My two options are go to the ocean and fish for albies. There is certainly the chance they have left and won't be back again.

The other option is to go hiking in New Hampshire. Assuming the weather is decent, I could hike two more four thousand footers. This would leave me only three more hikes next year to join the 4000 footers club. One of my goals this year was to hike enough mountains to be able to finish them next year. It would be a lot easier to finish them with three hikes instead of five.

I won't go to New Hampshire and hike if twenty two miles if it is going to be rainy. So assuming the weather will be fall like, then the mountains are "a sure bet"

The albies on the other hand are a gamble. They could still be around, they might not be. You may be asking, why gamble on the fish, go enjoy your weekend? The answer, albies are here for such a short amount of time. If I have the opportunity to catch  them I should. I do think about them all year. 

I try to do pluses and minuses for decisions like this. I try to think about best and worst case scenarios. As I said, if its raining, I'm not going to NH. That said, if it rains, there probably won't be any albies either. 

I am going to 'gansett on Tuesday. I have a surfcasters meeting anyway. That day I'll go to the ocean and fish after I get out of work until the meeting. If I somehow walk into a bunch of albies then I'll probably stay home. If I don't see any, I will be extremely interested to know if any are caught on Wednesday.

The worst case scenario would be to go fishing on Tuesday and see just enough breaking way out to keep me interested. That would suck. If I saw some breaking a quarter mile from shore, I'd obviously hope they would come close enough to catch. If they don't I'll wonder if they are moving on or just not near shore that day. 

Decisions, decisions!

Author's note. I understand this is a good problem to have. There are much more serious problems we all face than wonder if I should fish or hike. That said, I'd prefer not to bring my real world problems onto my blog ( like I was robbed last week and my bank doesn't want to give me the money back from my stolen credit card!) so I concentrate on the things that make me most happy. That is why I write about hiking vs fishing, albies, and birding.   

No albies, I'll go birding instead

Not a great picture but the back bird in the
middle is a Caspian Tern

Since the wind turned east Thursday, my dreams of fishing dawn till dusk for albies on my days off were shattered.  I did not have a back up plan because the weather was going to be clear. When I woke up today I decided to get some important errands out of the way in the morning. I was productive and by 11:30 I was free.

I decided if I couldn't go to the ocean to fish, I could go to bird. I haven't been birding much lately. The shorebirds are migrating south from July through September. I enjoy seeing them so at noon I left for a day of birding.

My first stop was Charlestown Breachway. There were very fey birds there. Of the acres of mudflats, there were only a few birds. They were mostly semi-palmated plovers and black bellied plovers. However, I did have one really good find. I found a Caspian Tern. This was a life bird for me.

I gave myself two hours but since there were so few birds I was done in half that time. For once I was ahead of schedule. Next I went to Trustom Pond. There was a reported Pintail Duck there this morning. Pintails are the one fairly common duck I have yet to see in Rhode Island this year. I walked down to Osprey Point with my scope but did not find it.

From there I had a choice, it was almost 4 pm. I could have gone north and tried fishing in Narragansett. I would have been closer to home. Or I could go south to Napatree Point and see if the Marbled Godwit was still there. Marbled Godwits are a large shorebird with a slightly upturned bill. They are fairly rare around here. I have only seen one in my life. Also reported at Napatree were Red Knots. I had never seen one before.

Marbled Godwit to the left
Willet to the right

So I went south. I found a parking spot and made the long walk out. Napatree Point is a long sand spit that sticks out into the ocean in Westerly, RI. Along the way there is a small salt pond that was an outlet to the ocean. There were a lot of birds in this area. I saw fifty American Oystercatchers. Before today I'd seen maybe 10 in my life! There were also many Black Bellied Plovers and gulls. No Godwit.

I kept walking toward the point. I was walking into the sun. My plan was to walk almost to the point and then turn around. This way I'd have the sun at my back and it would be easier to identify birds. After I turned back toward the car I found the Godwit. It was hiding in some tallish grass. It came out and was surrounded by Willets as they wanted to hang out with the cool kid.

After I left the Godwit I came across many other shorebirds including Red Knots.  In the spring these guys are actually red. Like most birds there plumage fades throughout the summer. They turn grey just like every other shorebird. However they are a little bigger and more plump than most shorebirds

The chunky bird in the middle is a Red Knot.
Notice that most shorebirds are grey. It makes identification
extremely difficult for all but the experts which I am
not.

so they were fairly easy to pick out.

All in all I had a fun afternoon. I stuck out with the pintail but had other good species. I saw two lifebirds in the Caspian Tern and Red Knot. I also got other first of the year bird in the Marbled Godwit. I saw tons of other birds most notably all the Oystercatchers and Black Bellied Plovers.

It was fun while it lasted

I had known I'd have Thursday/ Friday off from work this week in September since February. In my opinion, the best time to fish for albies is between September 11-18. I had off Sept 15, 16. Better yet, my days off this week are Thurs/Fri so I could avoid the weekend crowds.

I got up extremely early on Thursday and was fishing by 7:10 am. There were fish breaking all along the Narragansett shoreline. I hooked a fish on my second cast but it came off. I caught a couple in the next hour. At 8:40 all hell broke loose in front of me. Albies were busting bait all over the place for a couple hundred yards for ten minutes. Birds were diving, bait was jumping out of the water, it was wild! I caught two in this time period.

After the fish stopped showing, they were still around and I was catching fish. It was dead calm when I got there. There was a light breeze out of the north. Around 9:30 the wind shifted east. Of course conditions were still calm at first but I could clearly tell the water was getting choppier.

I was still catching. At 12:30 my total for the day was ten hits, fought nine, released eight (one came
off during the fight). Any day when you can catch an albie from shore is a good day. So having fought all those fish made for a great morning!

However, during this time, the east wind was getting stronger and the waves were building. I never got another hit all day. I fished for four more hours.

I'm sure other fish were caught during the calm conditions of the morning. Hazard and Newton Ave were so busy I couldn't park there. By mid-afternoon there was barely a fisherman around. Many guys would come down look at the water for a minute and leave or talk to others doing the same. I didn't just look, I casted and casted. The fish took off in the damn east wind.

This wind is not going to let up for a few days. Will the albies return when the wind turns west? Who knows. I sure hope so. I dream all year of fishing for albies. I got down to the ocean three times for them this week catching 2, 4, 8. I sure hope they come back, if not, I will be crushed, but it was fun while it lasted

More 4000 foot mountains

Before the albies came in, I went back to New Hampshire on my days off last week. I got up there early enough to go for a short hike. I did a quick loop of Ammonoosuc Lake. It was close to dark, but it was a short flat stroll. I was just happy to be in the mountains.

 The next morning I climbed Mt Waumbeck. To get there one has to go over Mt. Star King. There are great views on Star King. Sadly, it was overcast. Most of the view was blocked by the clouds. By far the highlight was this Grey Jay. These guys are not shy and will eat out of your hand

                                                   
                                                     Waumbeck's Summit is wooded, but I climbed it hoping to enjoy Star King.

 Waumbeck is in the northern Whites. After I got down at 1 pm, I drove around the area. I came across this spring and filled up my water bottles

And turned around in the Santa's Village parking lot

I was aggrivated that I climbed a mountain without a view thanks to the clouds. The weather cleared throughout the day. I decided to climb Mt. Avalon in the evening. Although much shorter than Waumbeck, I found it difficult. The view of the Presidentials was amazing though.

The cliff scared mountain is Mt. Webster. This was a great place to admire how rugged it is!

I was almost even with the clouds

There was a very steep pitch with jagged jumbled rocks that slowed me down.

The next day I hiked the Kinsman's. First stop was  Lonesome Lake. North and South Kinsman's in the background.

The cairn on S. Kinsman. The Kinsman's were hard. I knew it was a long hike. Ten miles round trip. I did not expect the steepness climbing from Lonesome Lake to North Kinsman.

There is a great flat ledge on North Kinsman. It was a great view of the Franconias. It was clouding up with rain showers in the afternoon. Lincoln was under the cloud ceiling, but Lafayette a couple hundred feet higher was hidden

White blazes in the mountains are the Appalachian Trail. All other trails are marked by different colors.

                                                   Kinsman Pond

 This is the view from Lonesome Lake of Franconia Ridge. I was there two winters ago.

 This was the view in March 2015. The air temp was about ten degrees. That does not include the wind which was easily blowing at thirty miles an hour.

I had a good couple of days. Both Kinsmans and Waumbeck are four thousand footers. Both Avalalon and Star King are under the catagory of "52 with a view". I only have five more hikes left to join the "Four Thousand Foot Club".

Things I learned- I was glad to find the spring on Rt. 2. It is south of the junction with Rt. 115.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It! (or pretend this is a news program) Albies are here!

We start off the news tonight's broadcast with our top story. The great gamefish known as False
Albacore (Albies) have invaded the Rhode Island shoreline. For those that don't know, albies are a warmwater fish. They come up to southern New England in early fall. They are unpredictable however. Some years to the disappointment to many, they just do not show up. Last year was a big year for them. By all accounts, it was predicted this would be another banner year thanks to the amount of bait around.

For a report lets go to our man in the field- Nick Pacelli

News person " Nick, what can you tell us?"

Nick- "Well, the albies are definitely here. I have seen them popping up all over the place. In multiple spots I have seen them in various numbers."

News person " Have you personally seen any or caught any?

Nick " Yes, I spent this afternoon fishing for them. What a great fish. I caught four of them and had a couple other hits. It was a great afternoon. Besides the ones I caught, I saw many others caught, at least twenty.  I talked to another fisherman that started fishing before me who caught the mind blowing number of nine!"

One of Dave's nine fish today!

News person- How does one catch an albies?

Nick- "Albies are very very difficult to catch. They are extremely fussy. That said, the techniques to catch them are quite simple. Most anglers use metal lures like Deadly Dicks and Kastmaster XL. The guys that seem to catch more fish use a wooden egg as a float and cast out a fly with a three foot mono leader. That is how I caught my fish today. An alternative method if you don't make flies would be to substitute the fly for a Zoom Fluke on a hook.

I made the fly myself. what a great feeling to catch an albie on a fly (and float) that you made yourself"

News person- It seems like the fishing is great in southern Rhode Island right now. We will let you get back to fishing.

Nick- Thanks guys, back to you in the studio

My Letter to the White Mountain National Forest

There are new proposals for passes in the White Mountains. People can comment on them until mid-September. I disagree with many of the changes and wrote a letter to them. To see the proposals click below

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/whitemountain/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5281515

If you feel strongly for or against their proposals, I do not know if your opinion (or mine) will do any good, but it might make you feel better to have your voice heard

Hello, 

I'd like to weigh in on your proposals for changing the fees to the White Mountain National Forest. I respectfully disagree with many of them.

1. I do not understand why you would make the proposed trailheads free? Places like East Pond and Greeley Ponds are tourist meccas. First off, tourists (and not real hikers) should have to pay to hike the same as a dedicated person should who hikes out to the Bonds or Passaconaway. It seems to me that if you are going to charge for trailheads, there should be a fee at all trailheads. The exception  would be picnic areas and waysides. I don't think a family on vacation should have to pay for a day use pass to eat some peanut butter sandwiches for thirty minutes at a Wayside. However, I see you plan on charging for Zealand picnic area use.

2. Although, you use the reason as cutting administrative costs as a reason to eliminate the weekly pass, I feel it is unfair to folks that go up for a week in the summer. I go up to the Whites for a weekend multiple times a year so this does not effect me. However, I have had years where I only got to visit one week for the summer. How can you justify making a family pay for a yearly pass who is only up there from Saturday to Saturday. Please reconsider this option

."Realigning the White Mountain Pass lowers overhead and operating expenses freeing up more funds to support recreation facilities."(copied form your website) This seems wrong to me, as weekly passes are just a piece of paper like any other pass. Having weekly passes, literally costs you nothing. I would understand if you raised the price to ten dollars but to delete them all together really is unfair to a vacationer.

3. Lastly, I admit I go to your national forest as often as I can. I usually sleep ten nights a year in my tent in the mountains. I love it there. That said, your proposed fee hike to thirty dollars will put you at the same price as Yellowstone. It seems a little off to charge the same for a yearly pass as one of the greatest national parks in the world. Just something to think about. That said, I will still pay the annual fee.

My disagreement is really with the first two proposals. If I have to pay to hike Middle Sugarloaf or a real mountain like South Twin, then others should have to pay to hike their trail. On the other hand, if I get to use the mountains for weekends all summer, a struggling family from Manchester shouldn't  have to pay for the same pass as me for a week in the mountains.

Thank you for your time, but please reconsider these proposals. I think a much better way to make some money would be to ticket violators at trailheads without passes and to check on people at the dispersed camping sites on Gale River Road and North Twin Road and make sure they do not stay longer than the allotted time. Some of which I believe were there all summer. Making people pay at the more popular trails as they already do seems to make sense to me. The more popular trails such as East Pond and Sawyer Pond are the ones that require the most maintenance  because of litter and such

Sincerely, 

Nick Pacelli

Laurie and I went back to New Hampshire on my days off from work this week. After a hectic day on Wednesday, we got to the mountains well after dark. So we started having any real fun on Thursday. We had to be home mid-afternoon on Friday because we had concert tickets Friday night.

Our main goal on Thursday was to hike Hedgehog Mountain. While not a big mountain, it was the mountain we turned back on last week because Laurie developed half dollar sized blisters.

Hiking up Hedgehog, our first view was about a mile from the car on a ledge

Although the trees are growing up the view at the summit was quite impressive

Right next door was the huge mass of Passaconaway

Laurie enjoying the view

After we got down, we drove west down the Kanc. We stopped at Sabbaday Falls. Although the stream leading to the falls seemed like a trickle, the falls was still pretty nice

It's about a ten minute walk slightly uphill to the falls

We stopped in Lincoln for some fuel, then took a round about way back to our site in Twin Mountain. Down Rt. 112 past the Lost River is the very pretty Beaver Brook Pond. It is a roadside pond with a picnic table. 

With an hour before dark we tried to think of something to do. I wanted to hike up Artist Point, but Laurie was done hiking for the day. So we went to the Old Man of the Mountain Memorial. I remembered this sign from my childhood

Laurie at the memorial. 

The mountain just doesn't look right without the Old Man's profile 

As if we hadn't done enough, we watched the sunset from a little bridge at Exit 34C. It is a memorial to a New Hampshire governor. The view faced west toward Vermont.

The next day (Friday) we got an early start and drove to Mount Cardigan. Cardigan is in the lakes region not the Whites. It was a long drive. From the highway it was about 45 minutes. It was well worth it. The hike is easy. It is only about 1.5 to the top. There is a firetower and a 360 degree view. I would absolutely recommend this hike to anyone. We took a slightly longer way up the mountain than most people do.  This way we got another view than just the top. Our first viewpoint was at a spot called Rimrock

It was a good spot to have a bag of fruit snacks before pushing to the summit

Laurie on a little footbridge.

It was extremely windy on the summit. I'm glad I brought my raincoat to block the wind

A bay of Lake Winnipesaukee

The firetower on top

The parking lot was quite full when we got down

On our way back to the highway we came across a sign for the Daniel Webster birthplace. It was only a couple miles off our path. We took the detour. His burial site is in Marshfield, MA near an Audubon Sanctuary I go to, so I figured I should check out his birthplace also

The cabin is obviously locked. We looked in the window and saw the cooking area

We had a great couple of days. Although we did a lot of small things, my favorite part was the hiking. I would have been satisfied with the great views from Hedgehog. However, Cardigan is one of the most fun mountains I have ever hiked. It reminded me of Monadnock in so many ways. It has trails from all sides. It is a state park. The top of both mountains is bare granite. On clear days you can see fifty miles or more. It truly was a spectacular hike and a great way to end another chapter of my New Hampshire adventures.