First Hike to Eagle Mountain

My son and his wife has asked us to take them to the start of the Long Trail in North Adams Ma and they spent a week hiking the long trail before we picked them up the following Saturday in Danby, Vermont.
Zachary had given me his old Long Trail Guide so I enjoyed looking at it everyday imaging where they were hiking and what they were seeing etc.  It was wonderful when we picked them up to hear about their adventure and it really got me itching to start hiking again.



My birthday came up in a few months and I got a Long Trail Day trip guide along with some spiffy new hiking poles! Oh I was excited! So on my actual birthday I found a short hike to start with in the general area of where Anders and I were planning on traveling for the day.  I picked Eagle Mountain because they said it was good for kids so figured since we hadn't hiked anything other than our back yard slope in along time so this would be a good place to start.

Eagle Mountain is on the shore of Lake Champlain and over looks the islands. Its a 2-3 mile hike with a 560 ft accent. They estimated the hiking time to be only an hour up and a half hour down.  A great place to start as its only a little bit more than hiking out mountain out back behind our house!

We arrived at the mountain and both were very excited as Anders signed the traditional Long Trail Guest book at the Trail Head.  We read the sign as to which trail to take and we were off on our way with my handy Day trip guide and hiking posts in hand.  The signs were a bit confusing as the text at the bottom of the hill said one thing and this guide post said something else.  We went to the top First , honestly expecting a view but only thing up there was a few old stone walls, it was a beautiful hike though with well maintained trails and being in the woods was so peaceful, we talked the whole way up , not like Anders and I are ever at a loss for words..:)

After we did the summit we wandered our way back down to the guide post again and started our way to Hoyt lookout hoping to see a view of the Lake . We weren't dissappointed.

It was really wonderful to just sit and look at the lake, bringing such fond memories to me , since I basically grew up here.  Looking at the islands that we came up to see many times on my Dads boat.
After having a snack we wandered back down to our car again stopping now and then just to take it all in, it might have been a short little hike but we sure did enjoy being in the arms of mother nature. Vermont at its finest and look forward to another hike in our beautiful state!

A Learning Experience

So I've discovered that after living 4 years in the Southern Penninsula of Ontario Canada ( where the land is flat like its been ironed) that my legs don't really remember what its like to go up and down hills! I've got some work to do! Back in Ontario I would walk 3 miles a day and last summer biked over 250 Miles. Now the walking maybe easy but the biking its different as even though there are no hills to pump up, there are no hills for coasting down either so its a constant pedal , pedal, pedal. Not to bad with a heavy 15 year old mountain bike!

So now we live on the side of a mountain, I've been walking 2 or 3 times a day on the trails Melissa and Kyle have made on the land out back so figured okay, I'm going to walk to the post office down at the foot of our road. Sounds easy right? Hecks its probably only 2 miles max , could be less, I'll have to measure it just for curiosity now. I headed off on a cool afternoon with my camera in tow incase I saw some interesting things to photograph. Its so beautiful here with all the green coming in on the trees and the birds singing. I walked down the road and soon noticed that at one point I had to really lean back to walk down the steep part of the hill....hmmm what would this be like going up?

So it took me 1/2 an hour to walk to the post office, thats with stopping to chat with a neighbor and taking a couple shots with the camera, I visited with our friendly Post Master John for a bit and headed back home, my legs immediatly


 noticed that something was different in the terrain, as I started back up the road, it looked flat but for "flat lander legs" I could tell it wasn't indeed flat! :o)

I complained to myself and said " oh right Donna, and you said you were going to do this everyday! ha! yeah right!  But I was really enjoying the walk though, its so wonderful to be back in the Mountains again, even as good as being on the lake... :o)Shortly after turning around to go back home I noticed the grade going up hill a bit more after awhile but I just took a few stops "to take some photos of course!" :o)
So yep the hill turned into a bigger hill, and It came to mind that this winter we most always put our Jeep in 4 wheel drive to get up it and occassionally Kyle couldn't make it up the hill with Melissas little car....
I was really glad that Melissa got a magazine in the mail so I could read a bit after walking up the really steep part...:o)   Finally could see the top of the hill , I was enjoying the coolness in the wooded shade of the woods.
And then finally I could see the end of our driveway...:o)   And there was our house, yea! Okay, I'm not proud of it but it took me 1 and 1/2 hours to walk back up the hill! Yikes! So thats a goal for the summer! Course I did stop several times to take photos though too. :o)



 Before we actually moved here and I was still living in Ontario, I was worried that I'ld really miss living on the lake , I saw some amazing sites while living there and glad I got to experience the storms on the Lake. Now that I'm here I realize this truly is my home, Vermont is something that gets in your blood, the peace, the beauty, the comfort I get from being in the Mountains. Then of course its so wonderful to be closer to Zach and Melissa and Viola and Kyle too! Now alls I need is for Anders to get his butt home! Nice thing? As I am typing this thats just what hes doing, driving our Jeep to Vermont for a months holiday here at our home in the Mountains of Vermont.
mmmmm this is the life!

Amazed

This is a weather forecast for Lake Erie where I live, the forecast was issued on Sunday morning the 23rd of December

...STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM EST MONDAY....OVERNIGHT...SOUTHWEST STORM FORCE WINDS TO 50 KNOTS. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AND SQUALLS. WAVES 17 TO 22 FEET.

.MONDAY...SOUTHWEST GALES TO 40 KNOTS BECOMING WEST. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. WAVES 15 TO 20 FEET.

I woke up Sunday morning at 5:30AM to the sound of wind blowing hard at the house from the southeast , our house basically faces SSE so it was hitting the house pretty hard. Our "windometer" was readying 48MPH , it was really loud and with the sound of the lake out front it was like standing next to a jet engine.

Now for those who don't know who might read this, my Husband is a Ship Captain so hes out on the lakes, along with many other ships ( something I never thought of when I lived in Vermont) I never imagined what a 15 to 20' wave looked like, never really thought about it, but go outside and look at the roof of your house, now imagine a wave that high...lots of them...

The wind, well yes we've all experience wind but again when you live on the shore of a lake, there is nothing in front of you to break the wind. Like when you stand in the shelter of a building to break the wind when your waiting for a bus or something, the house here is pretty much out in the opened so that wind was hitting us pretty hard.

I was worried for a few reasons, 1st one was my Husband and his crew of course out there in the storm, luckiy not on Lake Erie where this time the storm was to be the worst of all the Great Lakes but still in bad weather. 2ndly we have our house for sale here on the lake as we've decied to move back to Vermont to be closer to our family. I was worried with the wind that the house would be damaged in some way.

Well, I did what most Christian people will do when they are worried, I prayed, first I sent a request out to my Christian friends and to 4 different churches and then I went to church Christmas Sunday.

The wind switched direction as the weather forecast said it would to a direction where our house has more protection and no , there was no damage. But the most amazing thing is, my husbands ship, he never even had to anchor for the weather , of course My Husband weather routed to keep the Ship safe, but I find it amazing that while we were riding out the 50MPH winds here on Lake Erie, where his ship was on the biggest Lake on the Great lakes there was no wind hardly at all There was wind in the southern half of the Big Lake but in the north where his ship was riding he said, no wind, the lake..it was calm.......the company he works for said he was one of the only ships actually moving as most of the others were in parts of the lakes where the weather was too bad for them to move. They were anchored in Bays and rivers to stay out of the wind.

I sometimes wonder what I did to be so blessed, but I tell you I am so grateful and thankful to God for looking out for my Husband and I, if it wasn't for God I don't see how I ever would of met him in the first place and ever since then , well just amazing things in my life I have been witness to. Now I'm sure that our move to Vemont will go just as planned and I'll smile again and our blessings. Sometimes you just have to be reminded, and boy I sure was over this one.

Reflections in Ontario

I wrote this back while I was living on the shores of Lake Erie a moment I'ld like to share with you, I'm looking forward to many more moments like this now living in the Green Mountains of Vermont again!

March 2005,
The day was going by very quickly when I realized I hadn't got my daily walk in after lunch. Right after dinner I decided it was time I went. My walks usually take place in the mid afternoon when the sun is high and shinning bright but today I waited and I'm so very glad I did. I got Bandit and McKenzie's collars and leashes on and headed down the road. We started out at our usual pace of about 3 miles an hour, my big Rottweiler and German Shepard having to trot along to keep up. We were heading west along our quiet little lakeside road. As I rushed the dogs along I barely looked at the seagulls and ducks fishing in the lake, and I had to pull the boys along as they stopped frequently to explore interesting smells they were finding. By the time we got to the spot where we turn around to go home the sun was just starting to set in front of us. As we turned and I looked at the field of wheat beside me the rows and rows showed golden as the sun cast shadows on them. I stopped to look, and as I did, I couldn't help but hear all the sounds around me. Birds of every sort were singing their songs, each one wanting to be heard above the others. Robins, Grackles, Redwing blackbirds, Chickadees, and more singing as if to say listen to me! As we started to walk back I took my time to listen and look at the wonderful place I was in. All of a sudden everything was in my ears, the sound of the birds, the loud flapping of wings as a flock of white swans took flight right as we went by, the ducks and seagulls arguing over their fishing spots. I could hear the water flapping against the shore, with the occasional clunk as some lingering ice chucks bounced about in the currents. Streams of water coming from the fields into the lake, gurgling and splashing. The wind was blowing gently against my face as we continued on our way back home the sun now casting a pink hue on everything it touched. The dogs even realizing that I just wanted to walk slowly along my way weren't pulling to smell everything they could but walking quietly at my side. I couldn't help but think how lucky I am. I sometimes wipe away tears thinking I am all alone, but at that point I realized how very wrong I am. I have been blessed and I feel Gods love around me everyday, but at that moment in time it was like he was saying. “Stop, look, enjoy the beauty of this place.” There is no camera that can capture a moment of this sort, the sounds, the smells, and the enormous world around me. I thank God for everything he has given me, my two beautiful children, my wonderful husband, and the life I can now life in this beautiful place

Thoughts byDonna Mae Rasmussen