Photo by Chris White - Beantownfstop.com
My friend Chris called me up and wanted to find someplace neat to explore. After some thinking I remembered the old abandoned quarry in Becket, MA… I checked this place out when writing the book, but it didn’t make the cut. It is plenty cool just not easy to give navigation directions. Chris brought his camera gear and got some neat shots – check them out over at his blog BeantownFStop.com.
Here is a little more about the Quarry from the Becket Land Trust website:
The quarry, known during its operating days as the Chester-Hudson Quarry, played a key role in the early development of the Town of Becket and the surrounding area. Granite from this quarry was used for monuments in many states. The quarry was operational from the 1860′s to the 1960′s.
When the quarry was abandoned, much of the equipment and structures were left just as it was (as if the quarrymen had gone for lunch and never returned). The site has stayed the same, plus some rust, until now.
The Historic Quarry and Forest is open year round, dawn to dusk, and admission is free to the public.
You can find directions, maps and all kinds of other info on their website: Becket Land Trust
Find BeantownFstop:
Photo by eliduke
Dr. Welch is a professor of pediatrics at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. He is also a licensed professional guide, a certifying instructor (and field course instructor) for the Wilderness Education Association and a member of the Wilderness Medical Society. Welch has drunk from many water sources with no filter other than his teeth.
While at the University of Cincinnati, Welch conducted a 1995 survey where 48 of 50 U.S. state health departments responded to a questionnaire about giardiasis in their jurisdictions, the agencies studied 80 outbreaks of giardiasis in 1991; 19 outbreaks were linked to contaminated water, and just two were associated with campers or backpackers.
Two departments considered water-associated giardiasis to be a problem for backpackers in their jurisdiction, though the study found neither had any data to reinforce the claim.
“This was a classic food/hand epidemic in all respects,” Welch says. Read more »
Enjoy the Outdoors!
Saturday September 24 2011, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, along with 31 other trail clubs will be launching Family Hiking Day. In part, supported by REI, Family Hiking Day is a great opportunity to get families to enjoy the outdoors together. The event will be held on National Public Lands Day and coordinating with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative.
So I urge you to grab your family and head outside. Whether it be a short stroll with the grandparents or an all day hike with the super fit family spend some time together in the best place of all… in the woods!
The ATC has a few links to help your family plan a hike:
If you are looking to plan a hike in Western, MA I can help pick a hike for your family, just contact me.
If you do participate I would love to have you share your family hike story here at huskyhiker.com… contact me!
My Book! Out Now!
random.org picked Matthew Sawyer as the winner, congrats!
Last summer things were a bit slow here at HuskyHiker.com, but I was busy. I was working on a guidebook for Falcon Guides (Globe Pequot Press) featuring 20 easy day hikes in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Most weekends were spent on the trail exploring some great places and talking with other hikers learning a lot about the area. Weeknights were spent in the library editing GPS routes into maps and writing about the weekend’s adventures. I visited a bunch of neat places and shared the best of the best in the book. Although a lot of work now that I get to see it in print it proves worth it. I can’t wait to get back out on some of these hikes again this year… Who know maybe I will see you on the trail!
Read more »
photo by gregor_y
Your first aid kit should be more than a few ibuprofen and a couple band aids. How much you choose to take is really up to group size and the length of the trip. Do you need the same kit on a 2 mile hike with the family as you would on a seven day trip in Alaska, I doubt it? Should you still bring the kit with you on the family hike? Most definitely…
Items that can be used elsewhere are best for you kit. So think out side the box. For instance, you already have 20 feet of duct tape on your hiking poles do you need more? The hand sanitizer you have on your hip belt can be a great first aid item.
You could have the best most well stocked first aid kit in the world and it will not do you a bit of good without proper training. Everyone should take a wilderness first aid course NOLS and SOLO both offer wilderness first aid courses. If you can’t take a course at least buy a good book on wilderness first aid and READ it!
Here is my suggested list of first aid kit items, keep in mind this is not a survival kit… Read more »
Trashed Campsite
Leave No Trace, also known as LNT is something we should all follow to the best of our ability in the backcountry. Keeping the land that we love as pristine as possible for other to enjoy for many years to come.
The beginnings of can be traced back the 1970’s and 1980’s when the US Forest Service and the National Park Service started to teach their visitors how to have less impact on the land. The Sierra Club, Boy Scouts of America, and the National Outdoor Leadership School had all played a big role in what LNT is today.
Leave No Trace can be summed up in seven principles,
1. Plan Ahead and Prepare: Plan your trip thoroughly, when presented with unexpected situations most resort to solutions that can degrade the outdoors or put themselves at risk. Common scenarios are improperly located campsites, excessive trash, and improper campfires.
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces: Damage to land when surface vegetation is trampled takes a long time and lots of work to repair. Trampled land leads to unusable campsites and soil erosion. Keeping pets leashed is helpful to this principle. Plants grow by the inch but die by the foot! In high use areas LNT suggests people hike and camp together to avoid further damage. In areas of little use or off trail travel LNT suggests spreading out when hiking and camping to avoid new trial, and campsite creation. Read more »
-
Simple hiking etiquette can go a long way in making trail experience more enjoyable. Most state parks have rules and regulations posted but trail etiquette is a bit more.
Share the trail – Common rule is bikers yield to horses and hikers. Hikers yield to horses and horses yield to none. This is the common rule. I like to yield to bikers as well. I feel it is safer this way. Greet others as you pass. Uphill hikers should yield to downhill hikers.
Leave only footprints and take only pictures AKA leave no trace – Taking rocks, carving trees, damaging plants, etc. Not cool man, don’t ruin it for the next people! Even biodegradables like orange and banana peals should be packed out.
Stay on marked trails – This keeps you safe and protects flora and fauna. Even when navigating a tricky area like a big puddle, stay on the trail, get them boots wet. Staying on the trail helps prevent further trail erosion.
Keep the noise to a minimum – Noise travels in the wilderness, others might be trying to enjoy the quiet.
Clean up after pets – Bag the poop and carry it out.
Keep a leash on your pet – Use it when others are around. Not everyone loves your muddy dog as much as you!
Report any problems to park authorities – trail damage, vandalism, suspicious people, etc. The rangers will thank you.
Survive!
I finally finished up the original survival man Les Stroud’s book Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive. As a fan of his show I really wanted to read the book. If you watched the show the book just reiterates most of was covered in episodes of the show, just more in depth. Les goes into detail about water, shelter, food, navigation, etc. for various locations worldwide. The best part of the advice he offers is you know it is tested and true. Les has spent years in the wilderness practicing his skills.
In the book, he covers building survival kits for auto, home and wilderness. If you carried everything he recommends on every day hike you would have legs of steel.
The book was informative and kept me entertained. The added survival stories were fun to read. If you are a Les Stroud fan pick it up. Survive! Would make a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors.
Guest post by Charles Martin
http://www.webcudgel.com/
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com? E-mail me
(Author’s Note: I use a few keywords in the place of actual names as the names are interchangeable. This is for every outdoors-man and almost every #sport# out there.)
You will read many articles/books/magazines on #SPORT# and most will emphasize not skimping on the gear and equipment you will use. While this is true for specific sports (rock-climbing, for instance), most of the gear tends to be variable based on budget and does not have to be the latest and greatest pieces you read about in #SPORT# magazine. If you are truly a beginner, you may not have even experienced #SPORT# and need to identify if you are truly cut out for it.
Whether you are truly a beginner, or an intermediate or advanced outdoors-man on a budget, there are several possible sources we do not consider when purchasing clothing, footwear, gear and equipment. The purpose of this article is to remind you of the other opportunities waiting out there. Read more »
Photo by Gerry Gosselin
Guest post by Gerry Gosselin
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com? E-mail me
Every hiker should have a compass right? Eventually I got around to picking one out, not because I felt I needed it, but because I’m a gadget whore and that itch needed to be scratched. A Suunto A-10 found it’s way into my possession for about $15 US. Then it sat in my bag for 2 years barely getting any use. I’m a novice day trip hiker who usually sticks to marked trails. Every now and then I get turned around but the areas I hike in Western MA don’t usually extend more than 10 miles in any direction before hitting a road. Getting truly lost was never a concern, only a minor nuisance.
This last Saturday June 12, 2010 I took a Compass, Map, Survival Course offered free by the State of Massachusetts. It’s a 10 hour course, half classroom and half in the field. The course was light on survival but very detailed on the map and compass work. Read more »
outdoors, random fun | Husky Hiker - Jim Bradley | 
1/2/2012 9:50 AM | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe
