There’s been a lot of activity around Pondside since the last blog posting. We’ve put the garden in, just in time for the tropical heatwave this week. Also, after threatening to do it for a year, I finally did go fishing. That was the Friday before last. And yesterday there was another mountain hike.

I’ll start with the mountain, as there are many readers that come here from some of the hiking trail report websites, and only seem to be interested in the latest from the trails.

Yesterday I kicked off Phase 2 of my preparation and conditioning regimen by climbing Mt. Pisgah over in Westmore, Vermont via the North Trail. This was the first time I broke out the “serious” backpacking equipment- a 60L pack, complete with sleeping bag and air mattress, ground tarp, cooking gear and the rest of the emergency and convenience items always carried in my slack pack. Including the two 1L bottles of water the rig weighed about 18lbs. I’ll need to add some food, the one-man tent and clothing items as I go along, with the goal of keeping the whole mess under 25 pounds.

I arrived at the trailhead at 9:30AM. It was a bright and sunny day, and was forecasted to get extremely hot. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been having quite the heatwave this week, with daytime temps in the high 80s. When I started up the trail it was 70°F.

The first thing you see at the trailhead is the “Only In Vermont” sign saying the trail is closed due to mud season. Mud season is over. The sign should have come down days ago.

The North Trail ascends Pisgah from the north through a well canopied forest of deciduous trees that become mingled with evergreen the higher you go. The trail was very dry for the most part, with a few damp spots at the beginning of the walk, and near the stream crossings. All were easily navigable by rock hopping.

The trail is fairly gentle for the first mile and a half. It gets much steeper after the junction with Long Pond Trail. At that point you’re only 7/10s of a mile from the summit. Up you go over the multiple staircases and then you are there. On Mt. Pisgah the overlooks are the thing- the summit is a sign with no views.

The overlooks have tremendous views, though. My favorite is the North Overlook. Here’s a photo and video taken yesterday.

It took me 2 ½ hours to go up & down the hill, and I met only one other hiker climbing up as I was heading down. The hike was just under five miles with an elevation gain of 1650 feet according to the trail guide. It was 89°F when I returned to the trailhead. There were bugs floating around, but nothing that bit me, and no swarms. Carrying the larger and heavier pack proved no burden at all.

Here are more photos of the North Trail taken during my previous visit to Mt. Pisgah last November. The trail hasn’t changed, just the weather!

It’s been a week since we put in the garden for 2023. Wife and I started by planting 315 onion seedlings across three raised beds. I followed up planting the rest of the seedlings last Saturday, just in time for the heatwave. Everything is in now- broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers and squashes- the whole catastrophe.

Dealing with the heat and lack of rain over the last week has been an unusual start to the growing season. Usually it’s the cold and wet that’s the challenge up here in late May and early June. There’s not much you can do except make sure the plants get plenty of water on a regular basis. So far the only casualties have been some of the eggplants, and hopefully that will be it as the weather pattern is supposed to change over the next day, with thunderstorms today and much cooler temps beginning tomorrow. We’ll see.

Memorial Day weekend was fairly quiet around here this year. Traffic along the roads seemed lighter than usual, and the activity on the pond was light as well. Usually the river and pond is choked with kayakers and canoeists heading downriver and across the pond, but not this year. Youngest Son and I took the canoe out on the Clyde last Sunday for a 4 hour cruise down the river and back to the house. We only saw one other party on the entire trip!

Early last week I finally got out and tried my hand at fly fishing again after 15 or so years. I used to fish a lot when living in Maine, and have had a return to the sport on my to-do list for some time now.

I went over to the Nulhegan River where it joins the Connecticut and waded upstream for a while, casting a dry fly to spots that looked like a trout might live there. The biggest surprise I had was the casting came back to me like I’d never stopped doing it. Obviously I lacked some accuracy, but the overall mechanics were still there. I guess it’s like riding a bicycle, it’s not something forgotten? It was an encouraging discovery, and will probably keep me fishing through this summer, at least.

I fished for perhaps two hours, saw no fish or other fisherman, and caught nothing. Got off the water just before the rains started that day. They were the last rains we’ve seen over the last two weeks, I think.

That’s it for now. More hikes and climbs are in the offing, and I’m sure I’ll mention garden-related items worth noting. There is a Canadian excursion planned for later this month that will be completely different. Unsure if that will come off as we are awaiting tickets from a reseller. More about this later, regardless of what happens.

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