It's Lonely at the Top

I don't know what it is about climbing things lately. For some unknown reason I keep ending up on the top of Mountains. It happened again on Sunday, the 17th of August. I hopped on my dirt bike and headed for the Stone House.

When I got there I see some work had been done. The big mud hole on the Bald Mountain Road entrance was in really good shape. That made it an easy job to get to the the blueberry fields above the Stone House.

Of course I just couldn't find a nice place to park and walk 50 feet to the top. No, I had to go all the way. Which meant I had to tackle the bank you see here to make it. Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done, miles from home and nobody really knew where I was. Although as it turns out, not my worst decision of the day.

After looking at this view for a while I headed back down the trail. I decided it would be a good idea to go towards Bucksport. A ways up the road I hit a trail that cross's over to the Diamond Match road. Seemed like a great idea, a side trip to the Diamond Match road. When I was about 15 I owned the Diamond Match road. Well not literally, I just mean I rode on it a lot, and knew it like the back of my hand. So off I went.

The caution sign should have made me reconsider, but I just kept on motoring. Didn't even slow down. I may have thought about it a little bit. I thought, hmmm wonder what that caution sign is there for? The trail was getting a little more challenging. It was narrower, grass covered with muddy tire ruts pulling you around. Fallen trees across the trail were starting to pick up a little, a minor annoyance. I figured that must be what the caution sign was about. And then I came to the stream.

Ah yes. The stream. Two choices here; go over a broken bridge, or to the left through a deep mud hole. Well, I wasn't wearing the proper footwear so of course I took the broken bridge. All I needed to do was get my front wheel across the span of missing boards. A little wheelie. I've done them tons of times. Just need to get the timing right, get the front wheel over, get my weight over the handlebars and let the back wheel bounce through. Done it a thousand times. Yeah when I was about 15.

So, for the sake of education for all of you out there that are still reading, when your front wheel doesn't quite make it across, and it falls in the hole, you stop quickly. OK. So now what to do. I'm stuck with my front wheel in a hole. No problem, I'll get off and power it through. So I give it a try, lots of throttle, bounce the front wheel.

Again, for your continued education, when you power a 400cc motorcycle on wood with the front wheel stuck, the back end will slide sideways. Yep, off the bridge. Hmmm. Now I have two wheels stuck.

Wait, don't go away yet. At this point I did start showing some smarts. Yes that's right, before continuing on I walked up the road to a dry spot and set down the bag I was carrying with $3000 worth of camera gear. Oh, did I forget to mention I was doing all of this with a camera bag dangling from my shoulder? Starting to look like a Darwin award opportunity isn't it? But I'm writing about it so that's out.

OK back to the story. After putting down my bag I went back and manhandled the bike, and got it through the ditch. By this time I'm exhausted, and thinking that an old fat guy like me may be just at about the limits of the old ticker. But I'm through the bad part right? Well that's what I thought, so I headed out again. Just ahead I ran into an incline. It must be at least 45, maybe 50 degrees uphill. That's no big deal, but it's washed out. It's nothing but big boulders and trees.

Of course when you hit one of these things you've got to think fast and make a decision. So what decision do I make? My 15 year old voice says "go for it, you can make it". Turns out I didn't. I made it about half way. I was bouncing all over the place, over rocks bigger then my wheels, over trees laying in the way. Bouncing from one side of the road to the other like a pro, dodging low hanging branches.

At first you pick you route. After a while you start getting bounced and you aren't picking the route any more, you're just trying to stay on board. Then I lost momentum, almost tipped over, caught myself with my foot, and stalled. I grabbed a bunch of brake and slid backwards 5 or 10 feet until a rock stopped me. Few. At least I'm stopped now.

Now I'm getting a little worried. It's getting dark. I don't know what more is ahead if I can even get going. I walk up the road a little to scope it out. All I can see is more washed out road going up. Can't tell what's on the other side. So I turn to head back to the bike. Oh no! I left the key on when I stalled. The headlight is on and those batteries don't last long. There's no kick start so I need that battery. I run back to the bike down the hill (bouncing and dragging the camera equipment) and turn off the light.

Now I need to make a decision. Up to who knows what over the top of the hill or back through where I'd already been stuck once. I decided back was the best plan. I'm not even sure if I could have made it up, but I knew I had made it through the stream once, so I should be able to do it again. So I started getting the bike turned around. That was a quite a chore, but I finally made it and headed down.

Going down was a lot easier. I got off the bike at the stream and walked it around. That worked out pretty good other then I wasn't sure how much more the old ticker could take. I worked through it, and made it back to the main trail. From there it was an easy trek home and a great story to tell (even though I don't come out looking to good in it).

One final note. After all of this, riding through tight spots with a camera dangling from my shoulder, I took no pictures. Now that is dumbest thing I did (or didn't do) all day.

Anyway, dirt bikes rock.

Bald Mountain

I went on an adventure today. Yep. Climbed Bald Mountain. I went alone, and never saw another person. It was great. Beautiful Views.

It's been a long time since I've been there. I used to ride my motorcycle up there when I was a teenager. I didn't think I would recognize it, but although it has changed a lot, there's a lot that stayed the same too.

The most significant change is of course all the antenna's up there. I have no idea what they all are, but there are tons of them. One of them (the biggest one) belongs to United States Cellular, according to the signage. The rest I didn't check out that closely.

One thing I didn't expect to see was the old fire tower. It's still there. The bottom steps are gone, so you have to be a monkey to get up into it. I made a lame attempt and gave up. Since I was all alone I didn't think it would be a good idea to fall off it and break my leg.

I explored quite a bit at the top. I found some old concrete footings that I think might have been where the old chairlift stopped, but I can't be sure. It looks so different without snow. I thought that I could make out some of the old trails, but again I can't be sure. Really made me search the old memory banks. And it turns out I have lost quite a bit of that information. I was trying to remember the names of the trails and I just couldn't. If I was in the right place I didn't remember remember it being that steep. We must have been crazy to ski down that mountain. It seems like it is growing up a lot. If you didn't know what to look for I don't think you would ever guess there had been a ski mountain there.

Anyway, the walk up there brought back a lot of memories. Rick and I spent a lot of time on that mountain. I remember walking there with our skis, a two mile walk from our house in the dead of winter. I remember getting stuck on the chairlift. I remember the rope tow. I remember the tee bar. I remember the old Ski-doo snowmobiles the employees used to get around the mountain. I remember jet sticks, the coolest invention ever.

All in all it was a good hike. Great exercise. That is one steep hill. Good for the body, good for the mind.

Stuff

So I've done a lot of thinking since I was born. Here's something I just can't seem to get past. It seems I'm almost always in a state of wanting something I don't have. I know this realization is not going to go down as the most original thought in the world, but I still can't help thinking about it. It just bugs me why I'm like that. Was it the way I was raised? Is it because I'm an American? Am I just stupid (rhetorical, please don't answer)?

I get great joy out of watching my granddaughter push aside an expensive toy to play with the box it came in. Here I am a grandpa, supposedly setting an example and teaching my children but really, it's them that hold the valuable lessons, unspoiled by our society.

OK, now things are starting to come into focus. Fredrick the Field Mouse was always one of my favorite books. I've just now put together the fact that Fredrick was a mouse that was able to find great joy in the simplest things, like a day of sunshine. The same concept that keeps coming back to me time and time again.

Somehow I need to learn these lessons and learn to enjoy what is here and now. I should probably sell everything I own and move to a cabin in the woods, grow my own food, yada yada. But I want to continue blogging about it, so I'll need to keep my computer. In fact I may need a new one. Yeah one with huge batteries and satellite Internet so I can connect from anywhere in the world. Then I'll need a new motorcycle. One with storage space for hauling all the computer equipment. Of course if I get a new motorcycle I'll need new gear, a matching helmet, etc. Of course I'll want to document this all in pictures, so I'll probably need some more camera gear. Oh and of course I'll want Marsha to come with me, so she'll need a new 4-Wheeler, and . . .

I'm hopeless.

I'm Back

Yep. Time to start blogging again. It's been a while. Guess I haven't had much to say. But now I do.

Speaking of Motorcycles, I got another one. A 2008 Suzuki B-King. Loving it. My 10 day plate ran out, so I haven't ridden for a while, but I hope to get it registered this week. The weather hasn't been that great here, but hopefully that will be changing.

Anyway, I'm planning some adventures this summer, and I'm planning on blogging about them. Stay tuned.