pike's hikes

Wild River Hike Wild River Trail to Black Angel Trail to Basin Trail  Evan's Notch Maine July 18 2016 Overview: This was an approximately 7 mile hike with  1300/1400 feet in elevation. It took us about 5 hours-we didn't walk fast, but also the terrain was rougher than I anticipated--the Black Angel trail, in particular, was where most of the elevation gain occurred.    My hiking partner had a mild injury so picked this as a relatively easy hike.      I thought this hike was going to be low-key and boring (I like hikes that take you above treeline ideally, or at least to good views).  I was wrong. This one didn't have views out over the mountains but was one of the most beautiful hikes I've done.     The Hike: We started at the Wild River Campground (about 5 miles up Wild River Road, a left off of Rte 113 -the beautiful narrow road that winds its way through Evan's Notch).  The Wild River Trail (an old railr...

Nature News Black swallowtail eggs hatched! Young caterpillars-early instars-  feeding on fennel.  I don't get how such a tiny egg produced such a large caterpillar-8 mm-in such a short time.  (photo of egg in previous blog) That white stripe is due to uric acid deposits   that are thought to protect the caterpillars from  a toxic chemical (furocoumarin) found in their  diet. Members of the Umbelliferae family, like  fennel, dill and carrots, all of which are host plants  for black swallowtail caterpillars, produce  furocoumarins as a defense against micro-organisms.

HIKES  Alpine Gardens on Mount Washington July 15 2015 Overview:   My dog and I wanted to hike up to the Alpine Gardens on Washington (not sure about the dog, but I did). Two easyish ways to get up there are Tuckerman's Ravine Trail up the headwall until you intersect (on the right)  the Alpine Garden trail or up Lion Head trail, which intersects with the Alpine Garden trail.  I hadn't hiked either the Tuckerman Ravine trail or Lion Head trail with a dog before.  I decided to go up Lion Head because I was worried about Glacier (the dog) on that steep part of the headwall that you always hear about people falling off of. I had forgotten about all the steep scrambles on Lion Head (had only previously hiked down it). After scrambling up the steep spots I was worried about Glacier coming down.  I am a big baby about scrambles-you won't see me doing anything that involves climbing or cliffs.   Glacier turned out to be fine both going up and down but ...