10-3-10 A Few Notes

View from the Mt. Washington Weather Observatory's North View Web Cam at 5:45 am
on 10-10-10.

Shivin M., a blog reader, sent in this gorgeous photo of a Rhodora (Rhodendendron canadenses) blossom taken in the southern Presidentials back in May. Rhodora is one of 20 members of the Heath family (Ericacea) found in the White Mountains.

I've been getting emails from a number of readers which I find exciting as well as gratifying. I want to extend my thanks for the comments from all of you and the suggestions. I'm particularly pleased to have heard from some old friends some of whom I've not seen or talked to in decades. One I'll mention is Mike Jones who I met at Carter Notch hut on New Year's Eve 12-31-99. He writes that he's working for the US Geologic Survey "coordinating a small NGO with a focus on biodiversity of the eastern alpine areas: New England, of course, but also Quebec, Labrador, & Newfoundland. It's been an interesting few years. Lots of time in Canada and a few projects that really interest me. About ten OH (former hut croo) are involved either on field projects or at the advisory level. Looking for ways to get the word out. Please take a look if time and interest allow: http://beyondktaadn.org.



Jim Doing, my chum and partner in "high crimes and misdemeanors" during our elementary school years in North Conway, sent this photo which he took from Wildcat Mountain looking pretty much straight down into Carter Notch. The photos excell in showing details of the boulder field, called the Ramparts, that are just behind Carter Notch Hut. Jim was focusing on the helicopter which, if you can find it, gives a sense of scale to the boulders. The helicopter is difficult to see in this photo. It's in the top right quarter of the photo, not above the mass of rocks, and at the edge of a swath of medium green. You can just make out the tail fins and the rotor. It's tiny.

In this photo the chopper is almost over the hut and near the southern (right) end of the lake (pond). It's dangling something white from a long cable. The helicopter was taking a day off from the Madison airlift to get fall/winter supplies into those huts that stay open all year, Carter, Zealand and Lonesome, and taking trash, etc. out. I'm including the photos because of the excellent perspective they give of the Ramparts. They show the mass of "mass wasted" rock that's peeled off Carter Dome over 10,000 years, or so. Thanks for the photos Jim and Shivin.