snow

Cheney Takes Visa

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

North Branch of The Grass RiverWe got an earlier start today and were on the trails by 10am. After hearing that Easter dinner would be ready when we got back we had to make sure we put on the miles early and were back in time for the feast. We put on roughly 100 miles again and made it back by 6pm.

First stop today was Camp. Along the way we crossed the North branch of the Grasse River as well as a branch of the Oswegatchie. The scenery was beautiful as were the trails. We certainly hit this trip perfect. In most sections there was several feet of hard packed snow and ice. Step off the hard packed groomed trail though and you were likely to sink up to your waist.

Cheney’s CampIf you need a place to stay out on the trail just stop by Cheney’s Camp. Apparently they take visa or MasterCard so you should be good to go. Fortunately no friends were shot in the face while filming this cabin.

The sleds were running great today and yesterday with the cold weather and hard packed trails. If you punched it you’d lift the skis right off the ground which makes for tricky cornering. We hit 75mph on a few of the straightaways without even pushing it.

Cranberry LakeThe last stop of the day was The Pinecone at the southern end of Cranberry Lake in Wanakena. Once we got on the Setback Trail to Wanakena the trail got pretty rough. You can definitely tell the difference between groomed trails and not. The setback trail was miles of moguls and switchbacks. Eventually it let you out in Wanakena and we were able to take a quick rest at The Pinecone before heading home.

It’s amazing the amount of scenery you can see up here while riding the snowmobiles. It would take you months on skis to see what we’ve seen in two days. That’s easily the best part of riding. You are in remote locations that are often inaccessible any other time of the year. 4-wheelers are not always allowed on the same trails which makes it difficult to cover a lot of the ground. I would love to take a snowmobile trip into remote sections of Canada. Maybe next year we’ll take a week and head up to the big country.

Littl Blue and Horseshoe

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View From Little Blue MountainAfter the battle of the skags and a great hearty breakfast by my aunt Pauline we headed out for the day at about 11am. We got lucky lucky with fresh groomed trails and absolutely beautiful snowmobiling conditions. First stop for the day was Littl Blue Mountain which is a short mile or so jaunt up a steep non groomed trail filled with switchbacks. The Scenery was stunningly beautiful from the top. It was such a clear day we could see all the way to White Face Mountain and Big Tupper’s Ski trails.

Horseshoe LakeFor our next stop we headed on to the most southern point in the St Lawrence County Snowmobile trail system, Horseshoe Lake. The last 5-10 miles of the trail to Horseshoe is on state land and the 4 big storms from this year have put their toll on the trail. Unfortunately because it’s on the ‘forever wild’ state land the trees criss crossing the trail can’t be cut until approval is given from the state. This made for a rough few miles getting to Horseshoe but the view is always worth it. The Lake is still frozen and a few people have ventured out on it. We were not among them. We had a quick snack in the blistering cold wind and then headed for home.

Overall we had a great ride today. We covered approximately 100 miles and met about 15 sleds. That’s what its always like up here. Beautiful and practically void of people.

Mountains out of Mole Hills

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While in New Hampshire we took the time to climb a few mountains. No we didn’t strap on our hiking shoes and packs and trek up the mountains but we did make it to the top of both.

To get up Cannon Mountain we took the Gondola. On the way up we didn’t get much of a view because it was snowing! Yup we’ve already seen the first snow of the year. It was a little below freezing at just over 4k feet. We hiked the 1/2 mile trail around the top and even managed to climb the weather tower where the wind blew so bad it hurt. On the way back down the skys opened up and we had great views of Echo Lake.

Gondola Up Cannon Mountain Rachel at the Top of Cannon Mountain View of Echo Lake from Cannon Mountain

Our trek up Mount Washington is less exciting. Well, the trip up is interesting but the hike at the top and the views are night and day from Cannon. To get to the top we took a Cog Train. This isn’t a trip that winds around the mountain speedily going to the top while at the edge of thousand foot cliffs. No, this train goes straight up the mountain at a 37% incline inch by excruciating inch. It’s not only painful but it’s expensive. Oh and you can’t see anything because its so cold (6 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill) that the people in the cabin steam up all the windows, not to mention the cloud cover. All in all a worthless ride, and one I would only recommend in the middle of summer. Even then I’d suggest a drive up instead. It’ll take less time and you’ll have better views. At least now we can say we’ve been to the top of the tallest mountain on the east coast.

Train Returning from the Top of Mt Washington Rachel and I at the Top of Mt Washington

A Few Things

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1. Snow
Where the F expletive deleted is it? Ok sure it snowed today but fairport only saw a dusting and my parents place got only a few inches. What they did get is fluff not enough to really ride (snowmobile) on. AND to top it off the rest of this week it’s going to be in the 40’s. I was calculating the other day and my snowmobile has cost me somewhere around $15 dollars per mile ridden not counting gasoline (which at 10 miles to the gallon and 3 dollars per gallon out on the trails…. adds up quite a lot). Let’s figure that in real quick shall we? just for fun…Ok so the gasoline has really only added 33cents per mile but still!!!!???

Thank ‘YOU’ global warming! (for those of you who get the Chuck Norris reference)

2. Goals

I’ve decided to start keeping track of my personal goals. This is my first post on the subject and I will most likely expand upon it later. I think the system society forces you into of working your whole life and saving everything you can so that you can enjoy that last 5% of your life is retarded. That being said, i’m going to try to ‘screw the system’ so to speak. Steps to completion:

– Gain 100% financial independence.
This means no loans, no debt. all transactions paid for with cash (where appropriate). Not to say that i’m really that far off, but a car, student loans and a house all subtract from that
– Retire after 10 years. This may seem impossible but i’m already taking steps to make this a possibility. Rental property being one of my key proponents.
– Learn to Fly. No not by flapping my featherless wings. I’m not on LSD don’t worry. I mean with a plane. Its something I’ve always been interested in but the barriers to entrance are large. lots of time with an instructor which means lots of money. given step 1 and 2 this shouldn’t be as large of a problem as it is now.
– Buy a (pontoon) Plane. This may seem silly to you if Flying is just a weekend Hobby but see what i want to do next…
– Start a Shipping Company that runs cargo to northern Canada. by now some of you are probably thinking I’m off the handle. That may be so. Even more so when I tell you I want to do this in the dead of winter and north of the Arctic Circle if there’s anyone up there.
– Buy a professional (DSLR) camera setup with some very high mm lenses. This will be what I use for wildlife/nature photography on the trips north. Lately Photography has become sort of a hobby and I’d really like to make use of that. Plus it’ll keep me from getting bored on the long long flights.

So that’s it. Now you know at least part of my crazy plans. Maybe you can help make it happen? Maybe you know some people you can get me in touch with to help it along? Maybe you think I’m absolutely crazy and will never talk to me again because of these crazy ravings? Who knows?

To sum it all up: This “working for the other guy” BS is crazy and I cant believe so many people just put up with it. I’ve got 3 ideas for companies (well 4 really but the 4th I’ll talk about some other time) and I just wish I had some capital to get it all started. I’ve started on the 1st (Real Estate/Rental) and I’m going to look into classes to start on the 2nd (photography).