For two years, there has been a project underway to improve the condition of the two paved access roads to the summit, which -- for as long as I can remember -- have typically been quite bumpy and potholed in places. During this process, the roads have been closed to the public... which is a bummer, because it's a great ride or drive to the top, with wonderful views.
Jim Lawson informed me a few days ago that he had ridden up to the top, and reported that the new pavement was a huge improvement. And he was right -- I rode up the Pittsfield side and came down the North Adams side, and not only had they removed virtually all of the bumps and potholes, but I could swear they widened the road a bit. They also added new guardrails in places which were pretty scary before.
Here's a shot of the bike I rode -- the Honda Fury -- about halfway up the Pittsfield side of the mountain.
And here's a panorama made from photos I took near this location, looking west.
Further up, abut a mile from the summit, I stopped and took some more photos to make this panorama of the view looking east, out over the town of Adams.
The weird kinds of distortions you can get when making panoramas with this method are evident in this image -- check out the wooden guardrail on the left, which is actually the same one as on the right (not the one closest to the Fury) and where I took the photos which make up this panorama, that guardrail is actually almost straight.
On the last leg of my ride home, I stopped near a little beaver pond. I always check it out as I ride by, hoping to see one of its Castor canadensis inhabitants. This time I was lucky, and even managed to get a little video of the action. -- PL
11 comments:
What kind of camera are you using? That video was wonderful quality.
That is really cool. I do a pretty good amount of hiking, a lot of it by beaver ponds actually, and while I have no trouble spotting their dams, I have never been lucky enough to actaully see a beaver in the wild. They're cool creatures. Sounds like you had a blast on the whole.
Cool. I've never seen a beaver in the wild.
I saw Jerry Mathers once.
"Splinter's Iroonna said...
What kind of camera are you using? That video was wonderful quality."
I'm currently using a Casio Exilim EX-FS10, a small marvel of pocket-sized technology. The video was imported into iMovie so that I could reduce its size before putting it up on my blog. -- PL
" Daniel Schwarz said...
That is really cool. I do a pretty good amount of hiking, a lot of it by beaver ponds actually, and while I have no trouble spotting their dams, I have never been lucky enough to actaully see a beaver in the wild. They're cool creatures. Sounds like you had a blast on the whole."
I haven't seen them too often -- and when I have, it was typically for a few seconds before they dove underwater... or maybe a little bit longer, but then it would be just the tip of a nose cutting through the water. This one actually swam around for the whole time I was there, apparently not caring at all about the intrusive human. -- PL
"Stan said...
Cool. I've never seen a beaver in the wild.
I saw Jerry Mathers once."
I think that counts... sort of... -- PL
I saw a family of beavers in the Llano River out in the Texas hill country over Memorial Day weekend. I was really surprised to see them so far south.
-->> Will we be able to see a vid of you on that Honda at some point ?!
Blogger ~ tOkKa said...
-->> Will we be able to see a vid of you on that Honda at some point ?!
Who will he get to hold the camera? The beaver?
:P
-->> No Eric, the Beaver Cleaver.
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