Another beautiful day. I had planned to take a significant bike ride today, but Phil and I planned to get in a bit of StarCraft first. Toward the end of the game, I got a call from Tom who was in town, hanging out at Rao's. After the game, I got on my bike and rode to Rao's and we hung out for a hour or so chatting. He and Kirsten had brought a friend to take hiking. After I bit, I suggested that Buffam Falls might be a nice place to take his friend. It's a beautiful trail that runs along a series of small water falls near where Buffam Brook joins Amethyst Brook. I was pleased because it was a perfect bike ride to get there. It's a serious climb up to North Valley Road and then there's one more brutal climb. I rode my bike and called them when I had made the turn. I also called Alisa who brought boys, so they'd get a chance to see Tom. We all arrived at the parking area at pretty close to the same time.
The trail is in a Hemlock and White Pine forest. There is a small wooden bridge the crosses the brook and the trail runs along the east side. We found the typical plants: wintergreen, partridge berry, and Lycopodium. We were hoping to see the ladyslipper orchids, but we were a bit early I'm afraid. Luckily we were early enough to avoid the black flies. I got Tom to take a couple of pictures of me striking heroic poses with my bicycle near the water falls.
The ride back is downhill until the Amherst Town Line and then there's another big hill to climb to get home. When I got home, I checked my cyclometer and was disappointed to see my average speed was only 6.24mph -- then I realized that it included walking my bike down the waterfalls and back up. I guess it's not too bad considering that. Coming down North Valley Road, I hit 31mph. With the knobby tires I have, its actually kinda dangerous to go that fast -- I need to get some cross training tires. They'll make the long rides a lot more pleasant and give me better cornering.
StevenBrewer