Ajak

Glad to see that the bay has finally skimmed over. It was windy yesterday and that probably help cool it down conciderably. I always look forward to watching the changing of the seasons on the cam.

Just got in from a 300 mile day (record for me) and a 450 day and a half. Got a late start at 11 AM on Friday...technical dificulties. Started in Fryeburg, up the fields to Kezar Lake. Across the lake and to Evergreeen Valley over Deer Hill (freshly groomed) up and over Evans Notch where there was about a foot of fresh light snow. Over the swinging bridge up 19 to Gorham to gas up and grab a quick bite. Then up 12 through Berlin, everything was very smooth the whole way until we were near Errol on 18 but we passed 2 groomers heading out to make things better. Got to LL Cote at 4:30 PM and gased up. Had a room at Akers Pond Inn (never been there) and figured we would check in and ride to Pittsburg for dinner. Well..... it took over an hour to find the inn. Must have circled the place a couple of times but signage was poor. We decided to go to Log Haven for dinner instead....150 on the clock at the end of the day. On the trail at 7:30 AM, the we shoot up to Pittsburg for breakfast at Happy Corner. Lost an hour at brakfast and then we gased up at Youngs and made a bee line for the East Inlet area. Screwed around in deep stuff off 145...buddy got stuck bushwhacking a bit. Then we headed over to ME into the backcountry for a run to the border. Played around in the drifts on Parmacheene and then to Bosebuck for lunch and gas. Left Bosebuck at 2:30 PM and got back to Fryeburg at 9:30 PM with a couple of stops for gas and food. Passed about 5 groomers on the way back.


Here's some pics...mostly of my buddy on a rental from Fryeburg Snowmobile. He likes gettting stuck a lot. We had a blast busting thought the drifts at the end.

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Tell us something we all don't already know. Gosh, I hope we didn't have to pay much for this study.



Dec 11, 9:35 AM EST


NH researchers say New England gets less snow




DURHAM, N.H. (AP) -- If it seems like there's less snow these days then there used to be, University of New Hampshire researchers say it's because New England's winter climate is changing.

UNH scientists have found that in the last 40 years, winters have gotten milder. Each decade, the number of days with snow on the ground has dropped about nine days, while the average temperature in the region has gone up about half a degree Celsius.

Researcher Elizabeth Burakowski says the results were not a surprise.

UNH associate professor Cameron Wake says the study should be noted because the data used was much more far-reaching than in previous studies.

What do you guys think? I just have to laugh at these kinds of idiots. They basically think that the river is a ride at Disney World and everything is safe and nothing bad is going to happen. "Make it safe for everyone" is one comment that I disagree with completely. It's like people hiking Mount Washington complaining that it too dangerous, not safe enough, and there were no signs telling them how dangerous it was. People are honestly too stupid to protect themselves from danger these days.





7/12/2008

Wild river or lack of common sense?
After frightening experience, Rhode Island mom wants river posted as a danger
Nate Giarnese

CONWAY—A flurry of e-mails by a “panicked” mom detailing her frightening ordeal on the Saco River has river guides reminding inexperienced canoeists that common sense is key for a good time on what is generally considered a family-friendly river.
Pamela Bhatia was on vacation when she was sucked under by a swift current that dumped her young son out of a canoe during what she describes as a heart-stopping brush with death over the July 4 weekend.
“I can’t get these knots out of my stomach of what could have happened and I can’t wipe out the image of Kamran’s head in the water under that canoe,” wrote the Rhode Island mom in an email widely circulated among river watchers and officials.
“Kamran’s Warning – this river can be swift and unpredictable and is unsafe for small children and inexperienced swimmers,” she said is a message that should be posted. “This would have been enough to stop us — it is a start to help other parents.”
The rental company where she got the canoe says it's not that simple.
Northern Extremes, says the woman ignored simple directions and safety instructions and refused to take responsibility for her own children, returning to the shop yelling and in tears after floating too far down an “extremely safe” stretch of river.
The company said it was her own panicked reaction that caused her boat to flip somewhere east of First Bridge in North Conway, and her inability to swim or even float that was at the root of the scare.
“At some point Americans have to start to take responsibility for their actions,” said Stephanie Manson, who owns the Conway outfit with her husband. “It's not a dangerous river, this is not white water.”
Bhatia, who declined to give her phone number and could not be contacted beyond by e-mail, overturned the same day a Massachusetts woman who apparently couldn't swim waded over her head in Albany's Iona Lake and drowned in seven feet of water, with friends perched nearby in a boat.
Bhaita said hers wasn't the only boat to flip that day. She left New Hampshire feeling regulations and warnings were not in place to prepare her to fend for herself in the “middle of nowhere.”
“There are more precautions taken before you ride the t-cups at Story Land than on a 7 mile stretch of running river in the wilderness,” she wrote.
Bob Tagliafferi, head of a river group promoting safe, eco-friendly recreation on the Saco in Maine and New Hampshire, said it sounded as if Manson handled it properly, including having the woman sign a safety waiver. While Bhatia, he said, suffered “an unfortunate series of events that happened quickly,” and walked away “looking to assign blame.”
“No doubt she had a frightening experience,” he said. “Thankfully no one was seriously injured, hopefully something can be learned from this.”
Manson said she gave Bhatia standard instructions and warned the family their two kids wouldn't fit safely in a canoe. Yet Bhatia's husband was “adamant” that they go out, Manson said, so the family opted for a rubber raft which they lashed to the canoe with a rope.
“We won't even rent to somebody with kids if no one in the group can't swim,” Manson added. “I know I did everything right.”
She said the woman was too preoccupied listening in on another rental agent discuss alcohol policy with another group to pay attention.
Still exhaling from her terrifying plunge, Bhatia e-mailed many, including state Rep Tom Buco, D-Conway, at midnight Sunday detailing her plight and begging for her message to be spread. She offered to pay for signs warning the river is unsafe for children, urging the rental company to remove a picture from its Web site of a baby in a kayak with its parents because she said it sends a false sense of safety.
“I told her I was sorry she had such a terrifying time on our river,” said Buco, who planned to discuss the incident with outfitters and said safety standards must be set at a level to protect even the least prepared boaters. “It has to be safe for everybody.”
Mary Seavey, a local woman who helped rescue a woman floundering in shallow rapids Saturday, said a glut of rude and foolhardy tourists venturing out unsafely or disrespectfully has made the river a must to avoid on holiday weekends.
“It was a nightmare,” said Seavey, who was out for a paddle when a woman, whose story is strikingly similar to Bhatia's and on the same day, went under. It was unclear whether it was the same woman or a separate incident, but Seavey saw a multitude of boaters behaving badly.
“People didn't care what their kids were doing,” she said. “The river was full of rude people. Kids were throwing rocks.”
Seavey stopped to attempt to help the “panicked” woman, who despite wearing a life vest, was being dunked underwater in a stretch in Conway near rocks and steep sandy cliffs.
She said the heavy-set woman, who she doubts was Bhatia because of the description of the boats and her husband, was thankful after she was helped. But she clearly had no idea what she was doing. She had kids on a raft tied to her craft by ropes stretched across a wide expanse of water. They snagged and the woman went over when she hit a rock, she said.
“What these people did was absolutely ... I can't imagine tying things up like that,” Seavey said. “The kids were rude, they were screeching.”
She noted with disdain that a group on shore ignored the struggling woman who was eventually pulled from the river by two teens.
Seavey has since sworn off hitting the Saco on big weekends, despite the best efforts of rental outfits to educate their renters — Tagliafferi said outfitters' boats comprise only a third of the as many as 3,000 folks who can be on the river at one time — because of a lack of “courtesy” and the safety risks it presents.
“I'm sure Stephanie gave them all the rules. She's not the river police, she's running a good business,” Seavey said. “It was people who think they know what they're doing but don't.”
Bhatia, who hails from the Ocean State town of North Smithfield, complained on her trip of brushes with booze, including two girls whose canoe she said was lodged in the rocks and whom she said she hit. She said she didn't know whether to blame her own family's inexperience, or that of the “partying” duo, who had loaded into their canoe a cooler and a dog.
Either way, she said rafting rental companies turn a “blind eye” to alcohol, and that officials should better regulate the waters.
Manson rents floating coolers, but says she tells renters she does not “condone” public drinking, even though for many boaters and riverside campers, beer is an entirely legal staple of a relaxing trip.
“I can't tell people they can't have a good time and have a beer on the river,” Manson said. “I say, 'I don't have the right to look in your cooler'.”
Tagliafferi said there are no state laws against alcohol on the river itself, but laws governing drinking at landings vary by state and location. Moderate drinking he said can be part of safe, responsible outing. It's only a “small percentage” — heavy problem drinkers — he said his group has set out to chase off.
Conway police Lt. Christopher Perley said Conway's scarcity of open beaches where large groups can congregate contributes to Conway having fewer problems with alcohol and disturbances than across the border in Maine, where agreements with large landowners provide ample public party spots. “There's less places to stop,” he said.
Tagliafferi, executive director of the Saco River Recreation Council, said the wild Saco, while not a controlled amusement like a theme park ride, is an “extremely safe river.” Still, it should be approached with respect. “It is not without risks,” he said.
The council is working with state and local authorities to educate boaters about responsible camping and to bring more policing “to curb this activity no one wants to be around.”
Tagliafferi said police this weekend will be at put-ins along with council members, part of a bid to remind boaters to pick up trash and to fend off those who badly abuse the river.
“Sooner or later they will find somewhere else to go, realizing they're not wanted around here,” said Tagliafferi, who owns outfitter Saco Bound. “It's a busy weekend coming up and there will patrols out there.”
His advice to unsure boaters new to the river: “If you don't know, ask questions. Overall it's a great activity for families,” he said. When in doubt, you can always get out of a canoe in shallows before approaching uncertain waters.
One warning could be a lifesaver: Watch out for fallen trees, called strainers. “Even with a life vest, it can drag you under,” he said. Tree trunks and limbs don't impede the speedy current, whose force likely eroded a dirt bank and caused the tree to drop, but branches can strain out boats and people, a “very dangerous” situation.
This time of year, though, water levels are low and the current is mild, unlike spring when ice melt and rains can swell rivers over their banks and to unsafe heights. A week before Bhatia's incident, Manson said the flow was considerably higher when Northern Extremes sponsored 30 boats for a Girl Scout river clean-up. Like most days no serious incidents were reported.
“I was a beautiful day. It's a really safe river,” she said, adding still, “It is a river in New Hampshire, there's no McDonald's on the side or EMT's on that river.”
The Saco River Recreational Council headquarters at Swan's Falls can be reached at (207) 935-3395.
“Everybody is out there to have fun, you have to have courtesy on the river,” Seavey said.

Hiked Mt. Washington over the weekend and still found pockets of snow up there. Pics are of both Huntington and Tuckerman ravines.

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