I raced in the 4 Field at the 2012 Blue Hill Classic.  There were strong racers in the pack.  While I was racing…I suspect that everyone was trying to work that Yemini station.  We had a crash in the field towards the end.  Everyone was lining up for a massive sprint.  Approximately 40 remain in the field and all of them including myself are heading for the finish line.

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Westbound Intermodal in Buffalo

I have a few pictures from New York State from a trip that I had taken in the year of 2006.  To the left is a fast moving intermodal train which must be headed towards Indianapolis or Chicagoland.  This shot had been taken in the Buffalo City limits.  This is not far the ex-NYC Frontier Yard.  This is part of the original water level route, which is no longer.  It served faithfully under Conrail, but the split has left this portion with CSX.  This train will not travel over the waterlevel route in Ohio.  If the train had been heading for St Louis, then it will actually go through Indianapolis.  It would actually stop in the former NYC ex big Four yard.  Afterwards it would run on the former Pennsy line to St Louis.  If, so then this train would cross the IC at Effingham.

Traversing the once mighty main line.

Here, we see a mixed manifest.  Often you can see trash containers in these types of trains.  Selkirk has been busy loading a lot of the trash from New York City.  This train has a few tanks, boxcars, and auto racks.  There used to be two more mainline tracks, here.  Now, only the passing siding remains far to the side and its’ location has served as the only indication of former greatness.  The argo business is not the same, either.

In the final picture is a short line switcher.  This unit has been on a run towards the lakes.  It is on a former NYC branch.  I also stopped to visit the Finger Lakes railway to the south.

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See it !

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Snow tracked covered bridge in New Hampshire

I went skiing in Jackson, NH.  I stayed at the AMC facility entitled as the Joe Dodge Lodge.  The Joe Dodge Lodge was named in commeration of Joe Dodge, W1UN.  Dodge’s son, Brook Dodge, was a faster downhill skier.  Brook Dodge pioneered new routes in Tuckerman’s Ravine.  Joe Dodge used to time the ski races in New Hampshire during the 1930′s.  I believe that Joe Dodge timed all of the Inferno ski races with the assistance of another ham.  In the day of modern timing equipment people probably do not realize that only hams could really time events in the golden days of skiing.

I had lots of fun at the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation system.  They have a lot of miles.  The system is built around a hub at the offices on the Golf Course.  You start from the golf course which is adjacent to the town.  You can ski in one direction towards the Black Mountain Inn.  There is a nice set of loops in a open field, there.  You can ski into a nifty little wooden section – which is one way – and upwards to a few nifty loops in the treeline.  Some of the loops are not groomed and they are suited for BC skiing.  This is the place for BC skiing!  Or you can ski another direction and head towards the Ellis River.

I tried both directions.

I did not try the branch up the Wildcat trail.  This trail leads to the Wildcat Mountain.  It is best to start from Wildcat and ski down.  This is one of the other BC style of trails.  If the snow is really fluffy, then you might be able to do it on touring skis.  I do not know, yet. There is not much snow.  This winter has been short on snowfall and the warmer temperatures than average have thinned the base.

On one day, I went to the Ellis River Trail.  I went past the warming cabin.  I took the left and went up the Hall Trail.  At some point you have gained approximately 500 feet in elevation.  I was moving at slow pace.  I was trekking upwards at 3 mph, perhaps.  I did have some decent kick on my new skis.  I was diagonal striding upwards on good sections.  I  did use the herringbone, a bit.  I saw skate skiers fly up the hills.  The Summit of Popple Mountain is approximately 2,100 feet.  The bottom of the resort is at 1,100 ft.

So eventually I had climbed a lot of miles.  Some of the trail had appeared to be a summer road.  The Hall trail was wide and an easy grade for most of the way to the top.

Going downwards had a few curves.  At one juncture past a scenic loop a steep incline began.  After this climb I finally reached the top of the Hall trail.  It was downhill to the Junction with NH Route 16.  There was a long downhill section with some curvature.  There had been a few bumps in the way, but most of the trail was very smooth.  I think that it was approximately 7 miles from the center to the end of the Hall Trail by Route 16.

There is a non-groomed BC trail leaving at the end of the Hall Trail.  There is also the other end of the Ellis River Trail.  I believe that you can take the BC trail to this junction from the AMC Joe Dodge Lodge.  So you could actually traverse 10-12 miles from the AMC to the center of Jackson by ski in good snow conditions.

I elected to take the Ellis river trail and return to the center.  The Hurricane Irene had increased the water flows.  This set much of the water above the normal flood stage.  Significant damage had occurred along the Ellis River in a few spots.  The XC trail runs precariously close to the Ellis River.  A good segment of the original trail had been washed away.  The Jackson Ski Touring Foundation had obtained the rights to land upwards.  They built a steep incline up the side of the hill and a zig zag.  They continued the trail to another Zig Zag downwards to the original trail level.

There were some nice views on the first incline.

New Incline on the Ellis River Trail

You were required to look backwards in order to see the views, here.  After this point a zig zag to the right and a turn to the left brought you to the top of the ellis river trail profile.  As you can see Mount Washington in the picture it is quite the spectacle.

I had a nice jaunt down the other zig zag to the bottom.  I was moving along.  I think that I averaged 5 to 6 mph heading across the overall downward profile of the Ellis Trail.  There were a lot of skiiers mingling on the tracks.  This is a very popular trail for beginners.  Experts also like to work out on this trail.  It is big!

I stopped at the warming hut for a little while.  Afterwards I raced backed to the center.  I put the skis in Railfan 3.  I took a quick walk to the sandwich shop.  AFterall this resort is in town.  No need to eat expensive resort food.

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The next video is the full link to their song which was featured on American Idol.

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