Reminder: Deer hunting season in our area with guns, also known as “regular season” starts Saturday November 17th 2012 and ends December 9th 2012. Deer hunting continues after that with primitive weapons (archery and black powder). See NYS DEC website link below for exact dates on that. Please; whether you hunt, bike, hike or play: wear fluorescent neon colors (like “hunter orange” or “biker neon yellow”) so we can all see each other. The hunters in our area have an excellent safety record … but (for example) it is just as scary for them to think they hear a deer tromping through the woods only to discover it is a naive hiker wearing brown. So; wear neon! Oh and YES! hunting is permitted at Hammond Hill and Shindagin Hollow and generally all similar NYS forests. Deer hunting is not allowed after sunset. Regulations are stricter in areas designated “parks” like Treman or Buttermilk for example. Here is DEC’s web page with hunting dates: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28605.html

There is a special deer hunting season closer to Ithaca in January 2013. A lot of people are asking about it. Here is the link again. There is a very detailed map and full details at this link. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/82382.html

Sunday morning March 15th 2009. Click on the photo for a larger image. This was up on porcupine ridge. That is the north south running ridge east of and parallel to Hammond Hill ridge … there is very little snow left in the open areas where the sun hits, however.

From BikeSki Outings

Five of us snow shoed on the frozen base. Hammond Hill is still 99% covered. We probably could have used Yak-Trax or similar (Raylene did) because the snow was so firm! We hike to the radio toer and back via sauna, FLT and back on R2. The photo shows Jon checking out Megan’s primative survival shelter.

From BikeSki Outings

Conditions: Saturday 02.28.2009 3:10 pm Temp +24 F insignificant powder on frozen icy base. Sunday outing will be on snow shoes.

From Snow Pics for Canaan Institute Outdoor BLOG - BikeSki Group

We can host another beginner ski Saturday at 2:30 pm. This will be a “stay in the back forty close to home” style unless you all convince me otherwise. We can work on hill climbing and descending and other basics, close to home base, in spring ski conditions - it supposed to be warm! We have 2 feet of snow, so don’t worry about it melting! RSVP please! ;-)

Later in the day …. We had 8 skiers for this one! Best entry level turnout yet! Raylene and I as ‘coaches’, Brenda and Jordan, Laura and Will and also jane with her friend Alison. The air was warm and so was the snow. We skied around the back forty and polished our skills.

Saturday — I will lead an entry level 2 hour ski starting at my home at 2:30 pm Saturday 01.31.2009. Raylene will NOT be there to help, so we need to keep the whole group together, which means this will have to be called “advanced beginners” [ you need to be able to climb and descend with your skis on, no walking, sorry! ] - We’ll do the same 3.5 mile loop as last week, up the steep hill and one or two short steep downs to practice your snow plows on, followed by a long easy descent on a fire-road. Who is coming? Dan, Christi, Caren, Laura? RSVP please: let me know! … this is open to anyone at that skill level, but you should be on bikeski email list to attend, if not, please RSVP for directions and to introduce yourself … michael@canaaninstitute.org :-)

Sunday — the longer faster loop … intermediate plus skill  level. 11:00 am for about 2.5 hours (the “usual” rain or shine bikeski group outing) … this is open to anyone at that skill level, but you should be on our email list to attend, if not, please RSVP for directions and to introduce yourself …

See you soon,
-m

We had six skiers for the Saturday entry level outing. After experimenting in the back forty and ’sauna hill’, we endend up splitting intot two groups. Sara and Dan and I did a loop out to lady slipper and home on Red Man Run. Raylene and Susan and Alan hung out closer to home base and worked on hill climbing and descending technique.

The air was cold and little windy with fine mist like snow coming down. Air temperature was bout 10 degrees F. The snow was a tad crusty in the tracks (becasue of warm temps Friday) but was covered by a dusting of fresh powder from Friday night.

From BikeSki Outings

Some details on the Saturday 2:30 pm beginner ski at Mike and Raylene’s home near Hammond Hill on 01.24.2009

This will be our 3rd entry level outing and will be a notch up in difficulty for this Saturday beginner outing — We will try a short 2 hour loop this time. It means climbing the big hill behind our property, but not coming back down it. So we will be away from “home base” for about 2 hours. To clarify: by short I mean in miles - it will be about 3.5 miles with minimal downhills. In contrast; most of regular more advanced outings are 4-7 miles and involve many more hills and often in darkness with headlamps! :-)

Bring a small backpack to stash clothes in if/when you get hot and please carry some water for yourself!

You should have your own xc-ski gear and be familiar with getting in and out of it. :-)

RSVP is requested to attend the beginner ski session. Email me to RSPV and get detailed directions to our home if you need them. Email address here michael@canaaninstitute.org

For more information on previous entry level xc-ski outings click here and then SCROLL DOWN http://canaaninstitute.org/bikeskiblog/?tag=beginner-cross-country