In (one of) his North Country Trail (NCT) hats.

The GG has come across a wonderful opportunity to hike in the Adirondacks with our friend Joan this summer. I don’t know exactly what their mission is but apparently it has something to do with mapping (re-mapping?) some of the existing NCT trail system. The existing trail maps are not very good (or complete?) and they are working together to try to sort them out. I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong with them and am not trying too hard to learn but there he is working with little “stickies” and other tools.

We had the great pleasure of Joan’s company for a while today. Joan has hiked the entire NCT (4800 or so miles from N. Dakota to Vermont) twice. She did not do this from end to end either time but by carefully planning segments she could get to between other obligations. The GG hiked with her and helped support her during her second trip and they became great friends. She is a NCT celebrity in any case.

She was traveling from somewhere to her home in Michigan and we were on her way there so she paid us a visit. They were into the maps almost as soon as she walked in the door. They then packed the maps up to hike downtown for breakfast (and look for more maps at Bivouac, an outfitter downtown).

When they returned, they got the maps out again and much more conversation ensued. This was all very interesting to me although I only understood what they were talking about at a VERY high level. In some ways it isn’t all that different than what I do for a living.

The GG has hiked in the Adirondacks a bit. Joan knows the area very well. I greatly enjoyed half-listening to their conversation (I was supposedly working). Joan is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met and I hope I am not insulting her to say that she has a memory a lot like mine. Which is to say very good.

That’s our Landfill “dining” area in the pic, front door and front side window. I dunno if it looks like there is snow on the ground but there is not. All snow is melted and all the (f*cking) ice is gone (again) and Mr. Golden Sun is making everything look a little white in the late afternoon. The bookshelf holds nature books and most of my cookbook collection. Cookbooks I have bought or been gifted and The Commander’s collection (from her *house*, not the moomincabin, if any nefarious folks are lurking ). I don’t use the cookbooks a lot but I also don’t feel like getting rid of them. There are a few recipes that I still pull out from time to time if I haven’t entered them into Plan-to-Eat. And then there are those that are firmly in my head, like the Vegetarian Epicure’s eggplant parm.

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