BSP Maine winter trip II

“Twig i hope we see the Nrthern lights while we are up there. I have seen them a couple times in Vermont and once in Pa. The Pa show was awsome, we saw them while driving in a car late at night and actually pulled over and watched them for a couple hours.”

“Yep. red paint strokes on the night sky. faint, but there.”

“Does anyone have a star chart? I wonder if barnes and noble has one. If it's a clear night it'd be fun to go out and find the constellations.

In January we were wishing we had one. We go out walking at night, and we had one of those clear black nights where every star in the universe was out. It was particularly awesome looking through the leafless hardwoods at them - the black silhouettes of the trees covered with sparkling lights. And howling coyotes in the background.

Anyway if the pond is safe, it makes a nice place to star gaze from. If not, the road is good too.”

“I just found a star chart online skymaps.com”

“So... Twigeater, you're telling us about the Northern Lights because.....?

Have you scheduled them for display on the nights we are there? You have!!! You have!!! I know you have!!!! What a nice treat you have scheduled for all of us.

Last summer you delivered on a male moose, and the year before that, you delivered on moose and a fox, and... I mean you are just incredible!!! And now, you have the Northern lights scheduled for us!!!!!”

“Hmmm all we saw on our trip was Moose poopie!”

“that's true Lt, but we also heard weird screaming in the night and had pond soup.
:D

LOL, I'd love to see the northern lights next week, but the site I looked at said it wasn't likely.”

“oh phooey!!!”

“Weird screaming? Ahhh I don't remember that. Was that after we drank all that Schnapps?”

“Dude, if we see the aurora borealis, I'll officially sh-- a brick!”

“Aw crap, just read the later post that less likely next week. Still, I have hope. :-)”

“well, didn't we drink schnapps every night? LOL...

It was the night we stayed at Webster Stream, night two. Some critter screamed off in the woods. Seems we heard coyotes over toward Little East that night as well. And don't forget the UFO at Webster Lake and the weird jet noises at Hudson Pond.

See, there was lots of interesting stuff on our trip too! No moose...maybe next time!”

“Artex, we WILL get you to see the northern lights one of these days...and hear a real loon call...the loon is an easy one.
(I think you said once you hadn't heard one yet. I have some pieces of loon egg shells)

I found a planisphere...which is what I think I want for star gazing.

I wanted to be the one to show my grandkids the northern lights. Too bad they were passed out in the back seat from a St Pats party we went to. :(”

“Wow, great memory about the loon call, twiggie! I still haven't heard one.

Six more days!!!!!! :-)”

“NOTHERN LIGHTS?!?!?!
"Dude, if we see the aurora borealis, I'll officially sh-- a brick!"
Artex

Why does that image have me praying for cloudy nights?

Ok, back on topic but speaking of light...... I brought my Coleman propane lantern last year but many many posts I think someone mentioned bringing one this year. Lt, was that you? We sure won't need both lanterns, but if you want to bring just your lantern, I can bring 2 extra tanks.

Oh, one more thing that hasn't been said in a while:

HIKE FREAKING MAINE!!!!!!”

“

KLAATU BARADA NIKTO!!!!!

oonga boonga, cold cold cold! oonga boonga, cold cold cold!”

“Shhhhhh... not so loud. We're already supposed to get 4-8" overnight here. That is gonna make my drive to West VA interesting. We don't need anymore here so make sure to point that chant NORTH.”

“I remembered it Artex, cause I though it was WEIRD! LOL...the things I take for granted ya know... :)
trivia: did you know that since loons are built for diving, their legs are too far back for them to walk on land? so their nests are hidden shoreside or in a tuft in the water. While one parent sits on the nest the other one is on guard in the water to warn harm away. The babies ride on the parents backs.

While kayaking one 4th of July, we got off on an island and almost walked right into a nesting loon, who didn't even flinch. They are way more huge than I ever thought!

I went back after they'd hatched and left and got some eggshell pieces.”

“That's cool, I didn't know that. Interesting.

I see a different species of loon down here while ocean kayaking all the time. They don't make that infamous call though. Fun birds to watch.

Funny story: My friend down here, Erick, and I like to dare each other and see how far we can swim offshore. One time, we swam probably about a third of a mile out. It's kind of scary, just because you don't know what critters will swim by, but that's half the fun. We swam to a crab trap and dove down to check it out. A loon zipped right in front of us underwater, scaring the crap out of us. Erick grabbed on to me like a little girley-man. I've never let him live it down since. Funny as heck, but you probably had to have been there. :-)”

“Pennsy my lantern is a white gas model. so no cannisters. But if you want to bring extra white gas...

Are those actually loons down there Artex, I've seen cormarants and snake birds.

FYI do not paddle to close to a cormarant sitting on a piling. They can projectile poop about 4 frrt.”

“The white gas model is probably more efficient. Ok, I'll bring extra white gas.”

“Woo Hoo It is snowing! At least in CT.”

“Yuck they are calling for rain in Patten This weekend!”

“more bird trivia: cormorants stand on rocks and pilings with their wings out in order to dry them. Their feathers are not water repellent (so they can dive deeper I think?) so they have to come up and dry off or they could drown.
Fisherman up here call 'em "shags" and they don't like them.”

“Just out of curiousity - where do you get your weather reports LT? I checked it out after you said that, and I see is snow flurries in Patten this weekend.
Course it's supposed to rain the day we hike in...”

“Have a great trip everyone.”

“I meant the weekend that we are there.

:(
Any word from up there on the snow conditions?”

“oh yeah, I see that. :(

I'm gonna call Matagamon Tuesday or Wednesday and get snow conditions from them.”

“Thanks lumberzac.

Hey, cool link Twiggie. So there's a chance then. I'll be keeping a close eye on the skies at night.”

“Artex just drink enough and i am sure you will see something.”

“Hmmmmmm, good idea.”

“Well I just gave my sled its first test pull, with 75lbs, wet sticky snow sucks! The sled seems to work well it doesn't turn really easy, shouldn't be a problem on Snowshoes but skis might be different.
Overall I am happy with it.”

“ski wax or silicone work well on the bottom of the sled.”

“Or a set of wheels.”

“I was thinking about trying a wax. I think I have some spray on ski wax somewhere.”

“Party at Twigs house in 5 DAYS!!!!!!!”

“Complete with live music and flamenco dancers!”

“A major side bonus to this trip is that my body is going nuts with all the spring pollen down here. There's a ton of it, and my body feels as if it's been hit by a Mack truck. Cold, clean, pristine Maine mountain air will probably make this crap go away almost instantly.”

“I made a huge batch, and the bag weighs a ton. Please help me eat it on the trail:

dehydrated strawberries
dehydrated honey-coated bananas
almond m&ms
peanuts
raisens

Best CRAP known to mankind!”

“Thread derailment...

I've been meaning to say that Artex reminds me of the one dude from "The '70s Show"

ok...carry on”

“Quiet, you.”

“BUT YOU DO!”

“So Artex is gonna play music and dance for us? yahoo! and that trail mix sounds yummy!
LOL...you would've loved the smell of the air here today - all clean and clear and crisp like it was gonna snow - and it finally did.

I got a small planisphere tonight, I hope we get a clear night to try it out. My grandkids are gonna love it too!”

“Dancing?! Well, feed me some moose meat, and I just might.

Cool deal with the planisphere. If you want to take it to the next level, there's some really great astronomy software out there that can generate printable starcharts. The Red#&%!$ series used to be really good, but I'm not sure if it's still around or something better has come on the market.”

“moosemeat? you got it! :)

The RedWHAT series, LOL...
I saw some on the 'net when I was searching for auroras and star stuff but didn't check it out - maybe I will. My grandboy seems to be fascinated with the sky.”

“Whoa! Redshift! Did that come out right? Red s h i f t.

I'm on allergy medication + Nyquil, so I'm in my own little world. But it's a happy place.”

“LOL at Artex. Don't mix too many drugs”

“No worries, I checked with a nurse first. :-)”

“Aside from picking up some tortillas or pita bread and some bagels at the store, I have my food all set to go:

Breakfast:
bagels (4) and/or ramen noodles (2)

Lunch/snacks:
Big ole bag of Trail Mix of Death
6 clif bars
4 foil packets of flavored tuna (to be eaten in tortillas)
1 log of summer sausage and 1 block of sharp cheddar (to be eaten on tortillas)

Dinners:
2 dehydrated cans of chunky soup
1 large packet of dehydrated mashed potatoes and gravy mix (soup to be poured over potatoes)
2 packets of deydrated brown rice
2 servings worth of dehydrated black beans (to be poured over rice)
2-3 servings worth of dehyrdrated tortilenni.
1 jar of dehyrdrated pasta sauce”