Nature and Spirituality

[hallow]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Thursday brought 4 or 5 inches of snow and overnight into Friday a quarter inch of freezing rain. Friday brought 7 or 8 more inches of snow and power was lost from 3 PM to half past midnight. I'm not sure how many lost power in eastern NY, but in the three counties I heard numbers for it was approaching 100K.

It was a brilliant, clear and cold day today after the front moved through and I decided to take a short hike up a mountain I haven't been up in 40 years. Kipp isn't a large mountain, standing around 1,600 feet, but it has a shear 300+ foot drop-off on the west side that provides great views of Loon Lake and some of the local terrain of the southern Adirondacks.

After putting my generator back in the shed I slipped into suitable clothing and gear and took the short drive to the trailhead at a little after 10 AM. It was 5°F with little wind when I hit the trail, however there was a good wind at the summit, probably around 20 mph. Sitting here I'm applying some Burt's Bees lip balm as they are definitely chapped!

The first 4 pics are of my generator, across the street, dog and garage. The rest are on the trail up to the summit.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...OldestToNewest

Nature taketh and giveth! Two days of struggling with blowing wet and heavy snow and ice, generator and gas and then 3 hours of hiking in pristine snow and the solitude of nature and some stunning views from the summit of Kipp to top it all off.

Nature has always been a way for me to connect and especially solo. It's truly a place one can easily remain present and today was no exception.

great pictures! We got 9" of snow from the same storm you mentioned. I love the snow, the brightness, and the glitter affect it gives in this dark time of the year. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's so very uplifting. The clear skies and the full moon doubles the affect!

Originally Posted by hallow

great pictures! We got 9" of snow from the same storm you mentioned. I love the snow, the brightness, and the glitter affect it gives in this dark time of the year. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's so very uplifting. The clear skies and the full moon doubles the affect!

Yup! After my hike Saturday I took a drive to Glens Falls to do my weekly shopping. Coming back late in the afternoon on the Adirondack Northway I looked to the east and saw a stunning scene of a full Moon rising over the forested and snow-covered mountains into a clear and crisp neon pastel sky. It was truly breath-taking!

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

The summit of Kipp is a mere 1,600 feet, so the furthest visible peaks are 20 or so miles. I've never been up Marcy but I have been up the second highest peak in the state - Algonquin - and the views from there are in the range you mentioned.

where I live, there is a mountain range to the North, one to the East, another to the South and one to the West. I found a street intersection one day in which if you looked in each direction, the mountains all look to be the same height. Our mountains have a tendency to rise over 9000 feet.

I have been to Marcy numerous times. As for snow: snow brings freshness and a beauty all of her own. The twinkling of the snow brings charm and a since of magic.

[Altair]

Nature is my church/temple/monastery.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy

Yup! After my hike Saturday I took a drive to Glens Falls to do my weekly shopping. Coming back late in the afternoon on the Adirondack Northway I looked to the east and saw a stunning scene of a full Moon rising over the forested and snow-covered mountains into a clear and crisp neon pastel sky. It was truly breath-taking!

BEAUTIFUL SCENE!

A few years ago, I went to Tombstone, Arizona one day and on my way back, saw a reddish/orange full moon. I went over to my favorite mountain range and climbed a small mountain and waited for the reddish/orange full moon suddenly to disappear as a result of an eclipse. The darkness was exceptional. I unexpectedly bumped into a cactus that loves to give 'away' her sharp 'thorns' which completed the adventure.

Originally Posted by BigJohn

where I live, there is a mountain range to the North, one to the East, another to the South and one to the West. I found a street intersection one day in which if you looked in each direction, the mountains all look to be the same height. Our mountains have a tendency to rise over 9000 feet.

I have been to Marcy numerous times. As for snow: snow brings freshness and a beauty all of her own. The twinkling of the snow brings charm and a since of magic.

Give the Adirondacks a few more tens of millions of years.

It's a very young range and rising at a faster rate than the Himalayas. It's also part of the Canadian Shield, the ancient core of the North American continent and not part of the Appalachian chain. I also believe the exposed peaks are very ancient rock, over a billion years old and for all intents and purposes monomineralic. That would be anorthosite and more than 90% plagioclase feldspar. I once heard it said somewhere (can't find it now) it resembles some of the moon rocks brought back to Earth.

Animals too.

https://youtu.be/w8TkAiIXXRY

Damian has a red fox friend. It's come as close as a few feet from the corner of the fence and just stood there for 15 or 20 seconds, moving its head back and forth as Damian barked at it. LOL!

I need to get a recording of it.

[FoxTracks]

Wow! That has only happened to me with a Fox one time! It was beautiful and I hope it happens again.

I was walking the nature path near my neighborhood, and had been seeing and hearing foxes around for a while. This was when I was first feeling the call to my current path. My dog was with me. But one day while on this path, a fox happened to be at the edge of the path. I got maybe the length of a man from her, got down on one knee, and locked eyes with her for a while. She had beautiful eyes. Fox came to me when I had asked for aid and that,s how fox became my first power animal :)

Originally Posted by FoxTracks

Wow! That has only happened to me with a Fox one time! It was beautiful and I hope it happens again.

I was walking the nature path near my neighborhood, and had been seeing and hearing foxes around for a while. This was when I was first feeling the call to my current path. My dog was with me. But one day while on this path, a fox happened to be at the edge of the path. I got maybe the length of a man from her, got down on one knee, and locked eyes with her for a while. She had beautiful eyes. Fox came to me when I had asked for aid and that,s how fox became my first power animal :)

Yeah, it is pretty cool, though earlier in the year there was a pack of coy dogs in the vicinity and they would get too close by half to my back fence, somewhere up on the hill. My dog would be out there barking at them and they'd be barking back from different positions. Not that I would have enjoyed it but I had a couple of clips for my Ruger loaded just in case they got so bold as to get in the yard. After a couple of weeks and one night when they were yapping, yelping and howling up a storm maybe a half mile or so from my house someone started popping off rounds from a high power rifle, half a dozen or so and it was past midnight. Never heard them again.

There was one place in the southern Adirondacks, a large wilderness area where I'd solo backpack for 5 or 6 days and do some trout fishing, and there were coyotes back there. One night at around 3 AM I awoke to at least two separate packs howling. Had to be a couple dozen at least. Very, very cool.

Same place (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) I was once awakened in the middle of the night by a large beaver slapping it's tail on the water. Don't know if you've ever hear that but it's incredibly loud and had me bolt-upright in my tent still wrapped in my sleeping bag. LOL!

[FoxTracks]

Never heard that one. The only real wilderness i've been in was Costa Rica, which was beautiful but very foreign and filled with dangerous things. I'd take coyotes over a venomous snake in the bushes. North America for me from now on.