Category Archives: Snowshoeing

Eagle!

 

 

Though it’s becoming less rare for me to catch a glimpse of a bald eagle in the wild while I’m out hiking, I’m still awed each time I see one.

 

 
Recently, I went hiking/snowshoeing at the Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge in Steuben, Maine. The trail I was on, the Birch Point Trail, has some sad memories attached to it but I won’t get into that. At the point on the trail that comes out to the bay, there’s a small island where eagles are known to nest.

 

 
While I was relieving myself of my pack and getting ready to enjoy my lunch, I heard the call of an eagle and decided to see if I could spot him or her. The tide was in at the time so I couldn’t venture out onto the rocks, but I did manage to spot the eagle in its nest out on the island.

 

 
I managed to get several shots though I only wish the camera I use while hiking zoomed in further and took better quality photographs when zoomed in.

 

 
Anyway, here’s one of the shots I got of the eagle…

 

 

PMWR Bald Eagle

 

 

 

 

Until next time…

 

 
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~A.M.

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Go Away, Snow…

 

According to the calendar it was officially spring last month.  I guess no one told the snow.  There’s still quite a bit of it hanging on in my state, especially on the hiking trails.

 

Last week I went hiking only to encounter this…

 

 

PMWR - Birch Point Trail Snow

 

It may not look like much but this snow was up to my knees.  And it was so soft that even my snowshoes didn’t help.  Crazy, huh?  Snowshoeing in April.

 

But, that same day, I ended up over at the beach near where I live.  It was cold because of the wind, but there wasn’t much snow around and none on the beach itself.  While walking, I met this little guy.  His name is Tuffy (or Toughy, I’m not sure how his owner spells it).  Funny, because he’s not tough at all!  But, he’s cute.

 

Tuffy

 

Hopefully the snow will get the message that it’s spring so I can hike my favorite trails without having to struggle through knee deep snow or use my snowshoes.  It’s mid April for crying out loud!

 

 

 

Until next time…

 

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~A.M.

First Day of December

 

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is right around the corner.  That’s right, it’s the first day of December already.  How time flies, huh?  It seems like yesterday when we were ringing in the new year that was 2014.  Now, we’re getting ready to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015.

I hope everyone had a safe, fun, and happy Thanksgiving.  And, if you’re reading this, congratulations on surviving that whole Black Friday thing.  I hope that if you ventured out to brave the insane crowds, you made it through unscathed.  And, in the same vein, I hope you left everyone in your wake unscathed.

I don’t buy into the whole Black Friday thing, personally.  I’m a savvy shopper year round, so I have no need to wake up before dawn, stand in long lines (I got enough of that in grade school, thank you very much), and fight crowds of mostly rude and greedy people all for some material goods that will most likely never be used, or, in the case of technology, be obsolete in less than a year.

No.  Instead, I sleep in on Black Friday (and Cyber Monday too) and, if the weather is relatively nice, I go hiking.  With a majority of people crowding the stores, hiking trails are nearly deserted this time of year.  Just how I like them.

This past weekend, I ventured to one of my favorite places.  You know the one.  Yep, that’s right, Quoddy Head State Park.  Now, before I left on my little adventure, I loaded my snowshoes into the car because I always like to be prepared.  I figured, with the amount of snow around my house, I’d probably need my snowshoes for the hike.

I was wrong.

The closer I got to Quoddy, the less snow there was.  The trees were bare, unlike those at home.  The roads were clear and totally dry, unlike those at home.  And I could still see the bare ground, unlike at home.  So, my snowshoes stayed warm in my car as I ventured out for my hike at Quoddy.

Dreamy Quoddy Trail(And yes, if you couldn’t tell, I did some editing on this photo to give it a more “dreamy” quality. [-_^])

I challenge you, yes you reading this, to try something different next year.  Instead of following the masses to the stores on Black Friday, get outside (weather permitting of course) and spend some time connecting with nature.  It’s a good stress reliever.

Until next time…

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~A.M.

Finally, Some Snowshoeing!

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while might remember me mentioning something about snowshoeing back in…wow…2009.  It’s kind of hard to believe it’s been that long.  But, it has.  Over the past few years, there hasn’t been enough snow in my portion of Maine to make snowshoeing worth while (it’s actually difficult to snowshoe when there isn’t enough snow).  But recently, there was quite a bit of snow on the trails I tend to frequent.  And finally, I got to use my snowshoes for the third time since I bought them back in ‘08!

I went to one of my trusted standby trails, the Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge.  It’s a four mile round trip trail (and surprisingly I’m not in agony from the trek like I was the first time I ever tried my snowshoes on that trail).  It was nice and sunny when I started out, but not even a quarter of the way into the trail, it started snowing like a son of a *insert expletive here*….  But, I trudged on hoping the flurried wouldn’t turn into a squall (Eskimos aren‘t the only ones with several words for snow!).

Like usual, I had my camera with me and took some shots along my trek.  Here’s one of the better shots for everyone to enjoy.

Winter on the Birch Point Trail

Until next time…

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~A.M.

Snowshoeing 101

No, this isn’t a blog to instruct you in the ancient arts of snowshoeing.  I do have a few things to say about snowshoeing but this blog is mainly for the photography I was doing WHILE on my first snowshoeing trip.

Now, for those of you who have never gone snowshoeing before or are intimidated by the look of said shoes, don’t fret my friends.  Granted it is a bit awkward when you first try it, but it’s not half as difficult as you may think.

My only advice… Start slow.

Don’t do what I did and go on a four mile hike your first time out.  I guarantee you, you’ll be hurting something fierce when your done.  And for a few days after.

So anyway,  I headed to the Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge since that was the only place with a trail decent enough for a first time snowshoe participant such as myself.  Bringing my camera along was good in a few ways.  First, I got some nice pictures, but that’s a given.  Humility be damned! [^_^]  And the other was that it gave me an excuse to stop and rest when I got tired.
It went kind of like this:  *gasp* *wheeze* “Oh look, that’s a pretty snow covered tree.” *click* *rest* *sigh*

Yeah, so here are a few of the better shots I took.

Camera: Sony HX1, Focal Length: 5mm, F-Stop: 8, Shutter Speed: 1/100, ISO: 125

Camera: Sony HX1, Focal Length: 5mm, F-Stop: 4, Shutter Speed: 1/250, ISO: 125

Camera: Sony HX1, Focal Length: 11mm, F-Stop: 4, Shutter Speed: 1/160, ISO: 125

So, that’s all for now.  I’m off to make and send Christmas cards.  Hopefully they’ll get to where they’re going before Christmas.

Keep on rockin’ on.

[-_-]

~A.M.