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Today, Bobby and I went hiking out in Frederick County at Sugarloaf Mountain. Sugarloaf Mountain is a monadnock, or stand-alone mountain; all of the other mountains around it have since eroded away. (The Appalachians were once the highest above-water mountain range in the world. They're significantly humbler now, but they've earned the right. :) Because Sugarloaf is largely composed of quartzite, it has resisted the erosion that has destroyed its brethren.
The hike was beautiful. We started by getting the worst part over: climbing to the summit. We've done worse--it was about a four-hundred foot climb over a quarter-mile, so rather steep but not long, at least--but I am really out-of-shape. We hardly hiked at all last year, and I'm not even really sure why. That quarter-mile climb sure reminded me of our negligence last year, though.
The "east view" from the parking lot. We are looking toward home. Actually, Sugarloaf Mountain only has about 200 feet of elevation on our house.
A panoramic of the east view:
The view from the top was splendid, of course. To the south, we could see the Potomac River. It was an overcast day--actually, it rained most of the time we were there, but under the forest canopy, you can hear but not feel the rain--and hazy.
The view from the top:
Bobby!
Me!
Bobby and me together!
The summit:
I found baby pinecones and am very excited about them.
After we scrambled around on some rocks and explored the summit, we climbed back down, discovering in the process that, of course, luck would have it that we'd selected the most difficult of three trails for our ascent. Alas, the exercise and the challenge were both good for us.
Going down the green trail--the easy one!
Once at the bottom again, we did a short loop around back to the parking lot, more or less along a ridge partway up the mountain. There were frequent spectacular views from there as well. There are longer trails that we want to try next time, skipping the summit and going for the long haul.
A cool-looking 'shroom we found that we photographed in order to identify.
Finally, last year, we saw Sugarloaf Mountain too ... in Ireland. *whine*
In non-mountain-related news, I am no longer a squatter on LJ. I have purchased another paid account for myself. Which I said that I was not going to do, being as I was/am/something pissed off at LJ. But I've decided that 1) I know the place, 2) all of my friends are here, and 3) no matter what, LJ ain't going back to what it was. And I do believe in supporting groups financially when I use their service regularly, and I have been on LJ for over five years with five years' worth of rambling, pictures, and so on kept here. So I guess I'm back. And now I will have more than the same few icons that I've been using for the last year! And going to the full-page view of my LJ will use my layout and not the dull LJ layout. It's the little things.
(And no more ads! The big things too!)
The hike was beautiful. We started by getting the worst part over: climbing to the summit. We've done worse--it was about a four-hundred foot climb over a quarter-mile, so rather steep but not long, at least--but I am really out-of-shape. We hardly hiked at all last year, and I'm not even really sure why. That quarter-mile climb sure reminded me of our negligence last year, though.
The "east view" from the parking lot. We are looking toward home. Actually, Sugarloaf Mountain only has about 200 feet of elevation on our house.
A panoramic of the east view:
The view from the top was splendid, of course. To the south, we could see the Potomac River. It was an overcast day--actually, it rained most of the time we were there, but under the forest canopy, you can hear but not feel the rain--and hazy.
The view from the top:
Bobby!
Me!
Bobby and me together!
The summit:
I found baby pinecones and am very excited about them.
After we scrambled around on some rocks and explored the summit, we climbed back down, discovering in the process that, of course, luck would have it that we'd selected the most difficult of three trails for our ascent. Alas, the exercise and the challenge were both good for us.
Going down the green trail--the easy one!
Once at the bottom again, we did a short loop around back to the parking lot, more or less along a ridge partway up the mountain. There were frequent spectacular views from there as well. There are longer trails that we want to try next time, skipping the summit and going for the long haul.
A cool-looking 'shroom we found that we photographed in order to identify.
Finally, last year, we saw Sugarloaf Mountain too ... in Ireland. *whine*
In non-mountain-related news, I am no longer a squatter on LJ. I have purchased another paid account for myself. Which I said that I was not going to do, being as I was/am/something pissed off at LJ. But I've decided that 1) I know the place, 2) all of my friends are here, and 3) no matter what, LJ ain't going back to what it was. And I do believe in supporting groups financially when I use their service regularly, and I have been on LJ for over five years with five years' worth of rambling, pictures, and so on kept here. So I guess I'm back. And now I will have more than the same few icons that I've been using for the last year! And going to the full-page view of my LJ will use my layout and not the dull LJ layout. It's the little things.
(And no more ads! The big things too!)
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 12:10 am (UTC)I have purchased another paid account for myself.
It's funny to read this at this point in time, just because I just got myself another paid account today. Admittedly, just for 2 months - and then I'll see how it goes - but I was just sick and tired of the ads! I'm not even fussed about the userpics. (But I was on a sponsored account before, so the main upgrade is with the lack of ads, I think.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:26 am (UTC)I was just sick and tired of the ads! I'm not even fussed about the userpics. (But I was on a sponsored account before, so the main upgrade is with the lack of ads, I think.)
I was on Basic, so I had, I think, six userpics, which were my default and the last five I'd uploaded. I made them work (I could have switched them out but was too busy/lazy). When I let my paid account expire, I think LJ defaulted me to Plus, but I couldn't bear the ads, so I switched back to Basic. On Basic, I still saw ads on other people's journals, which was pain enough and reason to celebrate my return as a paid LJ customer! :)
ETA: Your icon is gorgeous, btw! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:52 am (UTC)I always hoped to *try* to hike it one summer (even though I am more of a couch potato) but my health is too bad.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 02:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 02:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 02:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:31 am (UTC)It is. We are so lucky where we live. (Being only 200 ft lower in elevation than Sugarloaf, we have similarly spectacular views at the end of our street. That was definitely a motive when we chose this house! :)
And you and your Bobby are such a cute couple! Now I know what you actually look like. (I have this tendency to imagine my friends looking like their icons. Isn't it odd that so many of them look like a hobbit?)
Thank you! I do that too; imagine people as their icons. Was I a crappy Tengwar D and F made in Illustrator after working with the software for no more than an hour? :D *points to default icon*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 03:25 am (UTC)I remember how much it blew my mind to learn how the Appalachians (and other east coast mountain systems) used to be so much larger than they are today--even bigger than the Himalayas, apparently. There are scratch marks on top of my local mountains (not Appalachians, but still) that give a hint at how insane some of the glaciers during the ice age were, and then it makes you wonder at how incomprehensibly old things are...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:03 pm (UTC)It's pretty amazing to consider the Appalachians as the sorts of tall, jagged mountains like the Himalayas. When we get annoyed, digging in the garden, which grows rocks, since we live in the foothills of the Appalachians, we sigh and say, "Well, millions of years ago, our house would have been on top of a huge mountain--what else should we expect?!" At least we don't dig down and hit solid rock!
The geology of Sugarloaf is particularly fascinating. Apparently it was once at the edge of a Cambrian sea that deposited piles of sand that, under intense heat and pressure, became the quartzite that makes up the mountain today. And that protects it from erosion where its neighbors have all disintegrated into the rocky hills like where we live. Walking there and thinking on that, I felt how profoundly deep time is and how impermanent, by contrast, our time is. And how insignificant human problems! :) In all, it was a very cool place.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 03:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 07:12 am (UTC)The mountains are probably the one thing I miss about living in NC. I love NY, but when I think of Bilbo's wistful longing for mountains, I totally get that. So your pictures actually brought a tear to my eye. So beautemous!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:11 pm (UTC)I can understand missing natural environs too. When we lived in Ellicott City, I missed the peace and quiet of the country so much. We had briefly considered living in Baltimore--that nixed that! :) This is my first time living within view of the mountains. I can see how one could become attached; after only three years, I am. The view from the end of our street, looking west at the Blue Ridge Mountains, was a motivating factor when we chose our house. :)
Hey, if ever you want to visit them in person ... we're not that far from NYC. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 09:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 11:37 am (UTC)Looks like you had a lovely hike - some impressive scenery you've got there! And Bobby and you look so happy and content. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:14 pm (UTC)We did have a lovely hike--I can't wait to go back and do some of the longer trails! And we are scarily happy too. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 12:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 01:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 02:50 pm (UTC)I am always so curious to know what happened that they are no longer the highest. Errosion is what the site says, but perhaps seismologic changes as well?
And a happy!Dawn and a relaxed!Bobby :D
LJ= as far as I can tell, no big screw ups of LJ happened, they have been behaving.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 03:48 pm (UTC)The information at Sugarloaf definitely indicated that there were seismic upsets that caused the formation of the mountain; it was so long ago, that I can't believe that that wouldn't have been an influence, somewhat, on the diminishing of the Appalachians. Also, if I'm not mistaken--and I'm no geologist--wouldn't the presence of mountains that dramatic indicate significant seismic activity in the first place? So I'm sure it was many things. :)
LJ= as far as I can tell, no big screw ups of LJ happened, they have been behaving.
It seems that way to me, though I'm not following
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 04:32 pm (UTC)As for SixApart, I love their product Vox, its very reliable and haven't caught them in any asshattery so far. I just think that SA and LJ users was a very bad romance to begin with :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 09:57 pm (UTC)I just think that SA and LJ users was a very bad romance to begin with
I agree. I think SA came in here without realizing that the site had a deeply entrenched culture that tended to be ... well, countercultural. :) Was Nipplegate SA or when LJ still owned itself? I don't remember, but I do remember the "child porn" incident that had half of fandom in a panic. SA clearly didn't get at all the culture of a large number of communities on its site.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 06:12 pm (UTC)What lovely landscape, so close to your home. One of the most serious drawbacks of Buenos Aires is that nothing interesting landscapewise happens in under 500 kilometers so there are no weekend hiking expeditions :( - I felt exhausted just by looking at the slopes
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 10:00 pm (UTC)I felt exhausted just by looking at the slopes
They were wicked ... probably the third hardest climb I've done.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 06:18 pm (UTC)Since LJ wasn't prepared to post comments for me last week, let me wish you all the best in your future career here! I'm sure you'll have a great time :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 10:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-06 08:04 pm (UTC)LJ's slide into evilness seems to have slowed considerably since SUP bought it, so I don't feel as guilty about continuing my paid account here as I once did. And like you, I feel bound to financially support sites I visit and use often. (I can't stand the way people refer to ad-funded sites as "free." They're not! paying a bit of cash is, in my opinion, far preferable to abusing my eyeballs and risking my privacy, which is what the ad-driven places do.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 10:06 pm (UTC)I agree that SUP--who were heralded with full-blown panic, if I remember correctly--seems to be handling things much better than SA ever did. And yes, I so totally agree about the ads! Most people live in a sort of la-la land where the Internet is concerned; I'm not sure where they think the money to run a website comes from if the site is truly "free." If I'm going to inhabit a site, like I do LJ, then I don't want to be looking at garish, blinking, possibly virus-ridden "Wanna Hook a Hottie?" ads that look like the guys being offered could be my students ... I'll suck it up and pay my almost-$3 per month! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-10 09:31 pm (UTC)Most people live in a sort of la-la land where the Internet is concerned...
Exactly. There's no "free" on the internet, you're going to either pay with money or pay in other ways. When you're paying with money, at least you know for sure what the price is going to be!
(Mind you, I might have had a different opinion if online advertisers had exerted even a modicum of self-restraint. But they didn't, and there's no reason to think they will in the future, and there's only so much blinking, moving "punch the monkey!" crap I can take.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-07 01:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-08 10:06 pm (UTC)