April is here , we have a few nice warm days ...woohoo
Lori and I went hiking the last 2 weekends , this weekend the hiking was great , last weekend ....well...
We went to middletown ct , and hiked a trail called bear hill loop. It was to be a 4mile , moderately difficult trail. Well , about 5 miles in we realized that this damn trail was not LOOPING... and by moderately difficult , they meant at points we are on our hands and knees climbing up or down rocy faces. Then....
It starts to downpour ...Hard. Now I`m in a bit of a panic as we were COMPLETELY UNPREPARED for a real hike , I left my phone in the car , we had one 12 oz water , no backpack , flashlight , layer of clothes , compass , blah blah blah , All those things your supposed to have if you are hiking.
Well we find another trail that seemed to be going in the direction we wanted , Down and out...we walk this trail at like 20 miles an hour ...I may be exaggerating. And then ...
We find a road ....woo hoo , hee
This is NOT the road by our car ... This was NOT the Loop !
The road goes both ways as far as the eye can see , NOWHERE
I pick a direction
Left
Walk Walk WAlk WALK
2 1/2 miles later we see what looks like civilization
Its not
Its a pratt and whitney plant - and a DEAD END
Turn around
WALK WALK WALK WALK
back to where we started
Keep walking ...1 mile later we are at the road that takes us to our car
2.5 more miles
UPHILL (no lie , this time i`m not exaggerating)
A half marathon and 5+ hours later we end our hike and hop in the car
NOW we have a hiking backpack , a gps navigator , my phone always , first aid kit , flashlights , batteries , maps , water bottle , etc; etc;
Today we hike , with our stuff
We go to burlington ct , Sessions wildlife Park
3 miles , It actually is a real loop and the entire trail is gravel laid.
We don`t really need the gps system
We bring it all anyway
It was a pretty cool trail , had a lot of side trails (in and out style) that had Blind overlooks at dams , wetlands , beaver dams , tree and bird sanctuarys etc;
like the zoo , it had a bunch of signs with animal or habitat blurbs and info
The reason I picked this trail was the waterfalls , which didn`t disappoint
Not super long , tall , large or voluminous but was still one of the prettiest falls we`ve seen (appx 10-12)
Split boulders allowed 3 fingers of downward drops , in between sharp rocks and down a pretty stream. It was pretty neat
That was why we hike...
oh yeah , hit a nice chili cheese dog shack on the way home
2 comments:
new info on evolution
LONDON (Reuters) - An international team of scientists have discovered 4.1 million year old fossils in eastern Ethiopia that fill a missing gap in human evolution.
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The teeth and bones belong to a primitive species of Australopithecus known as Au. anamensis, an ape-man creature that walked on two legs.
The Australopithecus genus is thought to be an ancestor of modern humans. Seven separate species have been named. Au. anamensis is the most primitive.
"This new discovery closes the gap between the fully blown Australopithecines and earlier forms we call Ardipithecus," said Tim White, a leader of the team from the University of California, Berkeley.
"We now know where Australopithecus came from before 4 million years ago."
Found and analyzed by scientists from the United States, Ethiopia, Japan and France, the fossils were unearthed in the Middle Awash area in the Afar desert of eastern Ethiopia.
The area, about 140 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, has the most continuous record of human evolution, according to the researchers.
The remains of the hominid that had a small brain, big teeth and walked on two legs, fits into the one million-year gap between the earlier Ardipithecus and Australopithecus afarensis which includes the famous fossil skeleton known as Lucy, which lived between 3.6 and 3.3 million years ago and was found in 1974.
"It is fair to say that some species of Ardipithecus gave rise to Australopithecus," said White, who reported the discovery in the journal Nature.
The fossils from about eight individuals include the largest hominid canine found so far, the earliest known thigh bone of the species and hand and foot bones.
The finding also extends the range of Au. anamensis in Ethiopia. Previous remains of the species were found in Kenya.
White said the large teeth suggest the hominid was able to eat fibrous foods and roots, compared to earlier species of Ardipithecus that had smaller teeth which restricted their diet.
Along with the hominid fossils, the scientists discovered hundreds of remains of pigs, birds, rodents and monkeys as well as hyenas and big cats which gave them an idea of the habitat in which they existed.
"Here, in a single Ethiopian valley, we have nearly a mile-thick stack of superimposed sediments and twelve horizons yielding hominid fossils. These discoveries confirm the Middle Awash study area as the world's best window on human evolution," White added.
Have you got the idea that this forum isnt working. Bring back the old. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say and then only comment on that. You might as well just start a page on My space. Bring it back, Bring it back, Bring it back.
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