Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Welcome!
Welcome to Wilderness Betty! Wilderness Betty isn't a single woman, but rather an idea - a moniker we've used to describe all women determined and passionate about the outdoors. We'll share with you our adventures, our favorite places to play and those places we hope to never see again. We'll share our favorite trail recipes and adventure books, swag we're diggin', swag we're getting rid of, and interesting tidbits learned along the way. Since we're all multi-taskers, we may even post knitting projects we've finished on the trail. You will find relevant postings and hopefully links to our favorite sites, such as WOMBATS and Leave No Trace.
To protect the identity of the weak and clumsy, we will sign our postings with the first letter of our names. For example, the fool on her knees in the red fleece in the picture to the left is Betty D. Betty D. was joined by Betty A. on this adventure (picture on the right). Some of us are Chatty Cathy's, others are workhorses who prefer silence...but we are all too busy sucking wind to be anything other than real...and because so, you will at times see the husbands and sons who are bold enough to brave a large group of sweaty and unshowered women. We rock climb, hike, backpack, kayak, snow shoe, ski, and mountain bike. We'll take you with us as we explore Aroostook County, Maine and New England.
Sweaty girls rock...rock on.
February 3, 2006
Place: Aroostook State Park, Quaggy Jo Mountain, North Peak Trail.
Who: Betty D. and Betty A.
Northern Maine's winter has been unusally freaky. We have just barely enough snow to play in, but we couldn't stay inside another day. Only Betty D and Betty A were free to play as all other Betties were busy with "real life." I've always wanted to climb the North Peak of Aroostook State Park (1.25 miles) and ski down the Look Out Trail to the Quaggy Jo Mountain Trail (4 miles). We borrowed what we thought were back-country skis (which actually turned out to be regular xc skis) and strapped them on our packs. We snowshoed up the North Peak to meet the clouds and wind, and tried to take a timed photo (didn't dare leave the camera unanchored in the wind though). Betty A. phoned her Mother in case she broke her leg on the ski down (just kidding...we're pretty good at assessing risk), then we swapped out the snowshoes for the skis and hoped that when we fell, the crampons on the snowshoes wouldn't dig too far into our scalps. We did make it down, 1hr. and 45 minutes later - with one tumble each, and no bloody scalps. We were, however, very sweaty and ready for a cafe mocha.
# posted by Betty @ 7:41 AM 
