ku # 835 ~ river ice on a river bank

River ice (breakup) ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 879-87 ~ Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Approaching rain ~ Rt. 9N between Upper Jay and Jay, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowstorm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThis past weekend we had quite a weather event here in the Adirondacks - a March snowstorm that dropped 24-36 inches of snow across the region. A March snowstorm is not that much of a rarity but one that starts with 45˚F+ temperatures and 10-12 hours of driving rain isn't exactly a textbook March snowstorm.

The problem that results from warm temps + rain + snow is flooding. The warm weather breaks up the river ice sending it down river to the nearest obstruction, usually a bridge, where the ice (in chunks that can be up to 3 feet thick, 8-12 feet long, and 6-8 feet wide) creates an instant dam / ice jam. The river backs up behind the ice jam and flooding is the result.

During a "normal" Spring-melt ice breakup, the flooding is quite benign when it comes to property damage. In fact, most years there is no property damage at all. However, add 12 hours of driving rain to the the normal snow melt and all bets are off.

All of that said, what began on Saturday as a rain storm (top picture) that morphed into a delightful (IMO) snowfall on Sunday AM (next 3 pictures) turned into a heavy snowfall by mid afternoon. It was a great day to make a fire and just relax and watch the snow come down.

However, during all of this weather, a massive ice jam built up at a village bridge and some very serious flooding resulted. Basements were flooded to the rafters and many residents had to be evacuated. By the time I heard about all this and had moseyed on down to the river, the ice jam had broken up and, although the river was running very high, the water was confined to the river banks (next 3 pictures).

A steady and heavy snowfall continued throughout the night. By Monday morning, the entire world (as far as we could see) had come to standstill. Amongst many other things, cars were totally buried under a couple feet of snow (bottom left picture) and the snow continued to fall. The only sounds to be heard were those of snowplows, snowblowers, and a few invectives being hurled at the elements and a snowplow that filled in the end of a driveway just after it had been cleared.

In any event, by mid-afternoon the snowfall had stopped, the sun came out, and the world was returning to a state that resembled normalcy. Although, as can be seen in the bottom right picture, even though some driveways had been cleared, the end of the driveways at the road were still awaiting snow removal.

Update on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 11:21AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Sven W (no link provided) wrote/asked: "... the barn is a-kilter ... is that to emphasise it's rustic nature? Or is it actually crooked? I ask because I'm pretty anal when it comes to level horizons and plumb verticals!"

my response: The barn is, in fact, in no small measure leaning stage left.

FYI, you may be "pretty anal when it comes to level horizons and plumb verticals" but I'll bet I have you well and truly beat on that score. in any event, if something appears to be leaning in one of my pictures, you can bet your bottom dollar that it is, in fact, leaning.

civilized ku # 878 ~ visual "echoes"

Trees and shadow ~ Williamsport, PA • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 877 ~ once again, looking down from a hotel window

Hotel parking lot ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggen

civilized ku # 874-76 ~ dashing through the snow

Snowmobiles ~ Gabriels, NY (or there about) - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowmobiles / Power lines
~ Gabriels, NY (or there about) - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Snowmobiles / in the trees
~ Gabriels, NY (or there about) - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenFor the first 60+ years of my life, I have managed, with no great effort involved, to avoid going for a snowmobile ride. That's quite simply because my preferred choice of snow-based travel, off-road wise, are those of human-powered methodology - snowshoeing, x-country skiing, and good 'ole feets-do-yo-stuff locomotion.

There are reasons aplenty why I prefer feet-based off-road snow travel. Most prominent among those reasons is the fact that one of the features I most enjoy about feet-powered snow travel is the otherworldly quiet of the forest / wilderness during the winter. To my ears and sensibilities, that quietness is a very transformative sensation, one that makes winter wilderness excursions decidedly different from summer experiences.

Sure, there's also the very enjoyable and challenging matter of, say, a 100˚ difference in temperature: 80˚F on a pleasant summer's day vs -20˚F on what I consider to be a fun winter's day. But, when all is said and done, it's that wonderful and otherworldly winter/snowy quiet that really rings my bell and, I might add, my chimes.

That said, and leaving aside entirely the questionable nature of petroleum-based recreational activities, snowmobiling - riding one or being near one - is a less than quiet-enhancing experience. Even with the introduction of 4-stroke machines, which are quantum leaps better, noise and odor wise, than their 2-stroke brethren, snowmobiling still does not qualify as a quiet pastime. That's especially so when you're perch on top of one.

Nevertheless, I recently found myself piloting one of these nervous-nelly 2-stroke variety screaming-meemie (read - twitchy and loud) machines. The purpose, conflict of self-interest wise, was for me to make some pictures that will help a friend promote his guided snowmobile touring business. So, off we went, with a client family from Philadelphia, for a 3 hour tour of some very nice and scenic winter Adirondack countryside.

True be told, I took to it, riding technique wise, like a duck to water, primarily because there are a number of similarities between horsing around one of these machines and doing so on my (note to the wife: no comments from the peanut gallery please) screaming yellow zonker (note to Aaron - this summer, the 4 years are up). However, enjoyment wise, it was a different story.

My friend and I spent most of our time flying (45-50mph) ahead of the family (and the other guide) in order to get to some photogenic locations and get ready for picture making. That said, as I discovered, it really takes a lot of concentration and no small measure of physical effort to keep a fast moving snowmobile on the straight and narrow, not to mention the twisty bits*. Assuming one can meet the challenge, it's the speed thrill (one to which I am not entirely immune), not enjoying the scenery, that is the main attraction in fast-paced snowmobiling.

That is not to say that, at a few stopping points along the way on the trails, fields, and meadows we traveled, there is not some spectacular scenery to be seen and enjoyed. Unfortunately, on this particular day, the wonderful High Peaks vistas were totally obscured by the snowy and foggy overcast. Despite that fact, the Philly family did seem to have a good time.

But, that said, I can confidently state that, a run or 2 with Hugo aside, there will mostly likely be as much snowmobiling in my future as there has been in my past.

*not unlike x-country skis, the front skis/runners on a snowmobile want to follow ski/runner tracks in the snow. The non-turning rear belt that drives the machine only want to go forward. Therefore, at speed, on all but the most perfectly groomed and virgin trails, there is a rather constant and utterly discordant disconnect between the front and rear of the machine that results in a very twitchy forward motion - the front end / steering feels very "loose". It's up to the driver to maintain a light touch on the hand grips, avoid the impulse to over correct the twitchy-ness, and trust that, ultimately, the machine will go in the general, if not precise, direction in which it is pointed.

Add to that fun factor, the other characteristic that snowmobiles, at speed, do not turn, per se - it's that non-turning-only-go-forward rear driving belt at work again. Snowmobiles, at speed, can only power slide/drift through turns. That characteristic requires the driver to literally hang out off the machine (to the inside of the turn) and apply throttle to set up a (hopefully) controlled power slide/drift in order to negotiate a curve/turn, and, the sharper the turn, the more throttle / hang / drift required.

Admittedly, done properly, this can be fun. It's a classic "be-one-with-the-machine" - both mentally and physically - endeavor in action. But, as mentioned, with all this attention and physical effort devoted to driving detail, you can forget all about enjoying the scenery.

civilized ku # 873 ~ on idiocracies and confederacies of dunces, pt I

It's not a damned PARK ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI'm feeling a bit under the weather and that might be the reason I am feeling particularly cranky. Whatever the reason, my cranky quotient was dialed up by a couple encounters I have had in the last 24 hours - encounters that really are just the tip on the iceberg of stupidity which is afloat on an ocean of morons who have bobbed up to the surface from the murky depths of ignorance.

Encounter/exhibit # 1 was with the bumper sticker pictured in this entry. As coincidence would have it, 2 weeks ago an amiable gentleman from the Hudson River Valley drove up to Au Sable Forks to view my The Forks ~ there's no place like home exhibit. While viewing the exhibit, he inquired as to why, on this blog, I capitalized the word "PARK" in my picture descriptions. In answer, I told him I did so in response to an idiotic bumper sticker I had seen a few years ago in the Central Adirondacks - as it turns out, the very same sticker I encountered yesterday, right here in Au Sable Forks.

The bumper sticker proclaims that "It's (the Adirondacks) is not a damned PARK". That statement, taken at questionable word use face value, is correct - to my knowledge, the Adirondacks has not been damned, which is to say that the Adirondacks have not been condemned or doomed to any form of eternal punishment that I am aware of of.

Quite the opposite - many, most likely most, Adirondack residents ("It's our HOME / It's where we WORK") and visitors, in fact, consider "it" to be an earthly manifestation of Heaven / Nirvana / Paradise or the like. Some may even believe "it" to be the "blessed" Adirondacks.

Nevertheless, and completely independent of how one feels about "it", the Adirondacks is, in fact and in deed, a PARK.

"It" has been a PARK - larger than the State of Vermont (and 4 other states), or of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined - since 1892 (that's about 120 years for the PARK idea to sink in or penetrate some rather thick skulls). The state-owned/public lands within the PARK (roughly 1/2 and growing) have been protected, by an 1894 amendment to the State Constitution, as "forever wild". Quite apparently there is a whole confederacy of dunces who have missed or, more likely, simply dismissed this not so subtle and inconvenient truth/fact.

As a resident of the PARK, I feel both lucky and privileged. I get to live in a PARK, a PARK in which I have access to approximately 3 million acres of public land. A PARK that has more than 3,000 lakes, 30,000 miles (48,000 km) of streams and rivers, and over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of hiking trails. It is also a PARK that will never be overrun buy un-restrained commercial interests.

That is, of course, unless ignorant fools and special interest groups (primarily real estate developers) convince an ever increasingly gullible population*, aka - the idiocracy, that "it" is not a damned PARK. Fortunately, there is a very daunting NYS Constitutional hurdle to get past** in order for any action to be taken on that mistaken / ignorant delusion.

All of that said and in defiance of incontrovertible facts, there is, nevertheless, an alarming and ever-increasing number of gullible and misinformed dunces who are queuing up to be active participants in the dumbing down of America.

*Obama's a non-American born Socialist whose death panels will kill grandma, teachers / unions are destroying America, government is not the solution, government is the problem, corporations are people, tax cuts for the wealthy will create jobs and help the economy grow, etc.

**amending/removing/adding an amendment to the NYS Constitution requires approval by 2 separate, successive legislative sessions (with a general election in between). Then the amendment goes to the voters and must be approved by a majority before becoming part of the constitution.

A Constitutional Convention may also be convened but only if a majority of NYS voters approve of it (they rejected the last 2 - 1977, 1997 - CC proposals). Even if voters allowed a CC, any results from it must also be approved by a majority of NYS voters.