Month: August 2021

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August Adventure Month: Day 19


I declared August 2021 Adventure-a-Day Month (yes, I can do that)! Every day of August, I embarked on some type of adventure, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. It’s my way of making adventure part of everyday life. I write about each adventure below.

Day 19: Thursday, August 19
Mt. Tom hike with my nephew and sister

I could almost hike Mt. Tom in my sleep at this point, or at least in the dark with no headlamp. It’s that familiar. And yet, it never gets old, especially when introducing it to someone who hasn’t been up there on the Mt. Tom ridge before. The initial climb gets the blood pumping, then you scramble through the tight rock chute that spits you out atop the ridge. From there, you traverse up and down for two miles of breathtaking views and sheer drops of hundreds of feet off the ridge cliffs. Easthampton and the Valley stretch below and the view, on a clear day, extends to New York in the east and New Hampshire to the north. My nephew, Lee, lives in Texas. In all of that vast state, we agreed, there is no hike quite like Mt. Tom.

Adventure: Mt. Tom hike.
Distance traveled: About 5 miles
Challenges: Moderate climb up and steep climb down through shale.
Risks: Slipping and falling off a cliff with drop offs of hundreds of feet.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4.5
Highlights: Spectacular views, glorious breezes, the joy of sharing this local landmark with someone who hasn’t been up there before.

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August Adventure Month: Day 18

Float, Easthampton, Mass.

I declared August 2021 Adventure-a-Day Month (yes, I can do that)! Every day of August, I embarked on some type of adventure, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. It’s my way of making adventure part of everyday life. I write about each adventure below.

Day 18: Wednesday, August 18
Floating/sense deprivation therapy

You’re lying motionless in a tank filled with salted water such that you floating, suspended and touching nothing. It’s pitch black so you can’t see even your hand held in front of your face. You’re wearing ear plugs obscuring the slightest sound. This is float therapy, also known as sense deprivation. Floating removes every external distraction, leaving you alone inside your head and, presumably, able to relax and destress. It definitely has that effect, as it forces a kind of meditation, a total relaxation that eventually may lull you into an infantile nap, carefree and lethargic. At first, floating is slightly disconcerting as you are disrobed, alone and out of familiar context. But little by little during the hour or hour and a half in which you recline in the tank, you let go of concerns and allow the total absorption of literal senselessness to enfold your consciousness.

Adventure: Float therapy, first time.
Distance traveled: One mile, to Eastworks, Easthampton.
Challenges: Remaining still, letting go, being present.
Risks: Very little risk, but potential for slight fear of dark and disorientation.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 1.5
Highlights: Total relaxation, meditation, euphoric feeling.

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August Adventure Month: Day 17

Blueberry crepes

I declared August 2021 Adventure-a-Day Month (yes, I can do that)! Every day of August, I embarked on some type of adventure, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. It’s my way of making adventure part of everyday life.

Day 17: Tuesday, August 17
Make breakfast with my daughter, Livvy; bike to/up Mt. Tom

My daughter Livvy snuck in a visit home for a couple days, and we always enjoy cooking a meal together, so we decided to make a massive, delicious protein-packed breakfast of crepes with fresh-picked blueberry topping and egg scramble with cheese and (fake) sausage. So. Good.

Later, after she left to return to the White Mountains, I snuck in a bike ride up over Mt. Tom, wishing she could have stayed longer.

Adventure: Making and eating power breakfast; bike ride to Mt. Tom
Distance traveled: Back and forth in my kitchen; bike ride: ~10 miles
Challenges: Achieving delectable flavor; timing two dishes to be ready simultaneously.
Risks: Runny eggs, heavy crepes, tart blueberry topping, undercooked sausage.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 3
Highlights: Eating amazing crepes and scrumptious egg/sausage scramble, and spending time with Livvy!

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August Adventure Month: Day 27

Green River Festival, Franklin County Fairgrounds, Greenfield, Mass.

Day 27: Friday, August 27
Ride bike to the Green River Festival

I’ve been going to the Green River Festival for so many years I can’t count them. But I never rode bike there from my house in Easthampton. So that became today’s adventure. At the festival I caught these wonderful Soggy PoBoys, a dixie band out of New Orleans (I think), and the night show stage lights lit up the Franklin County Fairground fields, where the festival took place this year. The bike ride was wonderful once I turned off of Route 5 just north of Sunderland. Back country Franklin County roads, plenty of hills, and a nice glide into Greenfield for the festival along with other cyclists (carrying an amazing assortment of chairs, blankets, kids and other items!). The GRF is always an impressive display of organization, togetherness and great music, and we are all thankful for this festival’s return.

Adventure: Bike to the Green River Festival, Greenfield, MA
Distance traveled: About 27 miles cycling one way.
Challenges: Battling the wind corridor of Route 5; climbing hills of Franklin County; finding a secluded spot to change out of bike gear and into festival clothes (trees, a cemetery, it worked out).
Risks: Typical cycling risks: traffic, slipping on slightly wet pavement during a rainy stretch. And slight risk of getting caught changing clothes in public.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 6.5
Highlights: Wonderful late afternoon ride along country roads; the festival itself, with the usual great music and lots of people watching/sharing.

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August Adventure Month: Day 26

Day 26: Thursday, August 26
Walk to/around downtown Northampton, MA RT

Every day can’t be a big, exciting adventure, there’s just not the time and creativity to churn out that level of activity. So today’s adventure was one of those low-key ones, an aimless, unplanned walk. I like these adventures for the uncertainty, you never know what you will see just walking out your front door and leaving two or more hours open for wandering. There’s an accentuated freedom that comes with this exercise, the lack of commitment and the openness to possibilities. I walked, and continued walking. That’s all, simple and beautiful as that. Onto the Manhan Rail Trail going north, to Northampton, past the Oxbow Marina and through the meadows around the Oxbow, into and around downtown Northampton, and back. This walk included some of everything: seclusion, woods, trails, gravel roads, paved paths, rural homes, city streets, water, shops, jazz, people. These unplanned excursions are necessary from time to time.

Adventure: Walk out the door without a plan (to downtown Northampton, as it turned out).
Distance traveled: About 8.5 miles RT walking.
Challenges: Allowing the absence of structure and plan; accepting to go where my feet take me; walking nonstop for 2.5 hours; slightly sore feet.
Risks: Boredom (though that didn’t occur); slight traffic risk.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4
Highlights: Walking around the Oxbow, viewing the water, enjoying the solitude of the woods; catching live jazz downtown; watching people go about their lives.

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August Adventure Month: Day 16

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 16: Monday, August 16
Host a party

Originally, I had plans for a large party. In fact, when I was out on the adventure road riding my bike across the country, I had visions of a grand party with a hundred guests, all the people who followed along on social media sharing in a backyard barbecue, kegs tapped, music playing loud, congratulations flying through the air. But after returning home, I just didn’t have the energy for that grand of a soiree. So I settled for a smaller, more intimate affair with family and a few friends. Beers and ciders popped, burgers grilled, music played, the fire pit glowed and stories were shared. All had a good time. It was a party. Of a smaller sort, but a party just the same. It’s still possible a large, raucous party with a much broader group of friends looms in the future.

Adventure: Hosting a party.
Distance traveled: hundreds of feet paced back and forth between my house and back yard, for condiments, drinks, fire accessories, music-making instruments, etc.
Challenges: Maintaining a robust fire, making sure everyone is fed, sated and entertained, cleaning up afterward, keeping mosquitoes at bay.
Risks: That people will hate your party and deem you a poor host! Scary social interaction.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4
Highlights: Sharing a summer evening with friends and family.

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August Adventure Month: Day 15

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 15: Sunday, August 15
8-mile walk: Manhan Rail Trail

You could call today’s adventure a fill-in. It’s not easy coming up with a creative adventure every day, but a good, fast, long walk can go a long way to providing a workout and a mini-adventure. Because you never know what can happen when you’re out there.

Today, I just walked. I set out from my Easthampton home, turned left (south) onto the Manhan Rail Trail and walked. I didn’t know where I would end up, it was more about being out there. Just walking. So simple. I ended up walking to the end of the trail in Southampton, about 4 miles, then turned around and walked back, with some variations through downtown Easthampton, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred. It just ended up being a nice 8+-mile walk. That was fine for today, it was enough.

Adventure: Walking along the Manhan Rail Trail, etc.
Distance traveled: 8+ miles, about 2 hours
Challenges: Keeping up a fast walking pace for the duration of the walk.
Risks: Tripping and falling?
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4
Highlights: Being outside, breathing fresh (ish) air, getting exercise.

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August Adventure Month: Day 14

paragliding


Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 14: Saturday, August 14
Paragliding lesson

I’ve always wanted to fly. Who hasn’t? One day last year, when I was hiking with my sister along the Mt. Tom ridge, we came across a few paragliders preparing to jump off the ridge cliff and fly. We watched them as their kites (that’s what paragliders call the glider) filled with air and lifted overhead, as they turned around and ran in the direction of the cliff, and as their feet lifted off the ground and they soared out off the mountain and climbed up the thermals with the vultures and hawks. It was inspiring seeing these people fly! The next day I called Morningside flight school in Charlestown, NH, the only paragliding school in the area, and made an appointment to learn. That was last fall, and the calendar ran out of suitable days for flying. Then last spring, when the school opened up again, I was on a bike trip across the country. Finally, I made a couple appointments to return to Morningside in August. Today was my first. As an introductory lesson, we quickly learned the logistics of the harness and the kite, studied up on wind and air dynamics, then humped our kites out partly up on a hill. There, we practiced lifting the paragliders into the air and running down the hill to get some lift. It worked a few times and I lifted off about 10 feet. That was enough of a thrill for me to sign up for a second lesson.

By the way, the pic above: not me, except in my dreams.

Adventure: Paragliding lesson
Distance traveled: About 300 feet, mostly running, a few feet of flying; repeatedly
Challenges: Fighting to pull the kite into the wind, struggling to keep the kite straight before takeoff, working up enough speed (~14 mph) to get airborne, keeping cool when you lift off into the air, landing.
Risks: Getting tangled paragliding lines, tripping and falling during launch, screwing up something while in the air, and falling too quickly toward terra firma, breaking something in the process. (A few paragliders die every year, but it’s usually from avoidable, stupid behavior, like not checking the weather enough.)
Difficulty scale 1-10: 5.5
Highlights: Flying!

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Small World Stories

Everyone has at least one small world story. You know, those miraculous coincidences when you run into an acquaintance in the unlikeliest of places, or meet someone who seems uncannily like someone else you know.

My most bizarre small world story happened years ago. I was about 10 years out of high school when I traveled to Brazil on a rickety bus through the Venezuelan and Brazilian jungles. On my return trip, while stopped at a little thatch-roofed jungle refreshment stand, I heard my name. “Eric?” asked a nearby bearded guy as I chatted with a Swede who was riding the same bus. A quick, though faint, glimpse of recognition. “Mario?” We didn’t know each other well in high school, but we were mystified at the forces that pulled us together thousands of miles from home on a remote jungle bus at the same time.

I had another, though different, small world story, just last week. I was doing a one-day climb of the high points of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Near the top of Mt. Frissell, which leads to the high point of Connecticut, I met Topher,

who happened to be dressed exactly the same as me.

Not only that. Topher and I are near the same age; he, like me, has one son and one daughter in their 20s (and, as in my case, his son is the eldest); and after running into him on Mt. Frissell, I met him again on the summit of Mt. Greylock. We both had the same high points plan at exactly the same time and dressed in matching climbing outfits (and I almost never wear that shirt!), and we hadn’t discussed our plans at all. In fact, we only talked briefly; I was curious, and a little afraid, of what we might have discovered of our commonalities had we kept talking.

This wasn’t as out there as my Brazil encounter. Still, it gives one pause. What is going on in our universe to cause such odds-defying coincidences? Are we meant to infer something from these strange trysts, or learn something from the people we run into?

I am open to theories. What is your small world story?

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August Adventure Month: Day 13

Mt. Holyoke Summit House, South Hadley, Mass.


Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 13: Friday, August 13
Bike ride: to and up Mt. Holyoke, Skinner SP, Summit House, RT

The ride to Mt. Holyoke in South Hadley makes for a nice outing. It takes me along the Norwottuck rail trail through Northampton, then across the CT River, onto Bay Road and to Route 47 with a straight-on view of the Holyoke Range. It takes about 40 minutes to reach the Skinner Park entrance and begin the thousand-foot steep climb up to the Summit House. Among the three Pioneer Valley mountains with paved roads – Mt. Tom, Mt. Sugarloaf, Mt. Holyoke – the climb to the Summit House is, I think, the hardest. It’s the longest and highest. The first half-mile is steep and unforgiving before it eases the incline a bit and actually flattens for one stretch where it crosses the NET Trail. Then it gets very steep again with a couple hairpin turns to the top. I always complete the climb by riding up the ramp onto the Summit House wraparound balcony.

Adventure: Bike ride to and up Mt. Holyoke, Summit House, RT
Distance traveled: About 20 miles cycling
Challenges: Maintaining good mph; bike climbing up a steep 1000-foot incline
Risks: Cycling risks: dumb ass drivers; rider error leading to hard crash; losing control on fast mountain descent.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 7
Highlights: This makes a great, compact workout out and back; and of course, the view from the Summit House is among the best in the Valley.