12/30/12 Neighborhood

I have been feeling sub par the last couple of days and we got six more inches of snow last night , so after I dealt with the snow we walked around the neighborhood for an hour and a half. None of Kelley's dog friends were outside but there were  lots of people clearing their drives and she greeted them all. It is a pleasure to watch ( almost all)  people's  positive response to Kelley. She insists on going across streets or up driveways to greet anyone she sees.

A snowbank beside the road had small cracks in it and this blue light shown in them

12/28/12 Walden

Still close to home. Yesterday we stayed close because of the continuing storm. Today I had to clear the drive of about 8 inches of snow. We went for a walk before I dealt with the snow in  the drive. After lunch we went to Walden to see if we could walk the trails- it looked like one walker ( without snowshoes) had preceded us and we met four skiers in an hour of slogging. I didn't want to push it for Kelley's sake, though mostly she walked behind me in my tracks.

We followed another's track's on a side trail until they stopped and turned back which is what we did.

Kelley using ski tracks on another side trail

12/27/12 Neighborhood

Snow- first real snow this winter. It started early morning  so the first time we went out there were only a few inches but Kelley really wanted to get out in it. The afternoon walk had a lot more snow. It looks like about 7 inches total.

Kelley getting down into it

Kelley insisted we go to sarge's house and he was outside and happy to see Kelley

 Couldn't get a good one of the two of them as neither is into posing.

When we went by Homer's house. his owner was outside shoveling and Kelley had to go up and greet him.  He let Homer out so they too could play in the snow.

Some other things we found

12/26/12 Partridge and Ducktail Ponds

Cold and sunny with little wind. Big snow forecast for tomorrow so we wanted to get into the woods today.
We parked at the Partridge Pond  trail head .

A pretty day on the trail

There were lots of icy spots to work around ( Kelley doesn't like ice either) and some streams that crossed the trail were still running but nothing too difficult for either of us.

Partridge Pond

We then backtracked to the short trail  to Ducktail Pond

where we shared an apple and then headed back to the trail head. It had taken us less than two hours so I thought we would drive to the Ducktail trail head and do that trail too. I turned the wrong way and we ended up back at the highway so  we ditched that plan and headed home.

12/25/12 Neighborhood and Bomarc

A cold sunny day - not in the mood for driving and Kelley wanting to just get out. We walked around the neighborhood and then through the woods to Bomarc for an hour and a half. This was a missile site during the cold war but is now a small industrial park with many of the missile enclosures revamped as  buildings for small businesses with garage doors added etc.

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Kelley is still doing well.

12/24/12 Sunkhaze

Mostly sunny, cold , but little wind.  Though Kelley seemed fine this morning I was still concerned about the bit of lameness yesterday and wanted an easy hike. We did the Carter Meadow Road first. This starts as a gated service road which takes you to the loop trail and to the observation platform.

Little Birch Stream runs  near the road and today we could hear the water

This old stump was beside the road in shade but lit by a shaft of sunlight.

The first part of the loop trail was quite wet with puzzling conditions- patches of water, thin ice, and ice that would support my weight- I couldn't determine why there was this variation.

 View of the meadows from the observation platform

After completing the loop we took the road back to the car and drove the short distance to the  Johnson Brook Trail. This consists of some old woods roads and some more narrow trails. We followed the road to the beaver pond

 and then went back to do the loop.

There are several of these bridges and most have become quite warped. This was not the worst but Kelley wasn't sure she wanted to use it.

Bog bridges through the cedar swamp

Though there was little wind it felt colder than yesterday but it still turned out to be a good hike. Kelley showed no signs of discomfort during or after the hike. The trails each took about an hour to complete.

12/23/12 Hidden Ponds

Sunny but cold and very windy with low wind chills. Some dense woods sounded like a good idea so we went to the Hidden Ponds area.

We started from the parking lot on Rte. 182 and followed the trail to Tilden Pond (the 'no longer maintained' section is still in good shape and easy to follow)  . The woods protected us nicely from the winds which we could hear in the tree tops above us.

The trail gets less clear as you follow the shore of Tilden but we found a trail off to the right that we decided to explore. It looked to be the remains of an old woods road and was quite wet in spots. Finally the wet sections became longer and we turned back.

We went back to the new loop trail and took that around Salmon Pond and then followed the trail to Mud Pond to a spot we like for lunch. Today the spot was in the shade and wind and we went back to  near Salmon for lunch before hiking back out.  Did not feel as cold as anticipated and a pretty good hike. 2  1/2 hours

When we got home Kelley was a little lame which was surprising as the hike had been easy for her- maybe the cold water she waded through. Later in the evening and this morning she seems fine.

12/22/12 Downtown Bangor

More rain- the snow is gone and we are back to gray drizzle. We managed to get in an hour and a half between breaks in the rain. Kelley was happy in spite of the weather- people to greet, lots to sniff- and the occasional tidbit to get down before I stopped her.