The Long Cold Winter

After three weeks of bone chilling temperatures it finally got warm enough for a ride. So how cold was it? It was so cold that a stalagmite formed below my furnace vent. The flew gases from my furnace vents out the side of the house and contains a some water vapor. The water vapor usually just evaporates into the air but because of was so cold the water vapor immediately condensed then froze. After a week it was 3 feet tall. I was going to knock it down so it won't clog up the vent but on Friday we had 60 degree weather and rain that melted the snow and stalagmite.

The rain stopped early Saturday morning but the temperature was 35 degrees and heading lower. Laura, Pete and I had a email discussion, Friday night, about road vs trail ride. Road would be cold and possible icy but trail would be muddy. On Saturday morning with a 20 mph winds a blowing we decided to do the Lawrence Hopewell Trail because the wind made it too cold to ride on the road and the LHT trail is mostly pavement and would not be as messy.

Both Pete and Laura biked to the starting point on Princeton Pike where we started. It was around 30 degrees for most of the ride but the paved part of the path were ice free. The gravel parts were a little mushy in spots but mostly passable. We did avoid a couple of sections which we knew would be two wet to do easily. It was a tiring ride but not as bad as when I did it in the snow. You can see more details about the ride on Laura's blog

On Sunday to make up for some of the exercise that I have missed because of the cold weather I did a hike with Jack up Bald Plate mountain. On the drive to the hike I stopped at Washington Crossing park to take a picture of the semi frozen Delaware.

In parking lot was Chris who was going to do a mountain bike ride on the canal path. I talked to him for a few minutes before meeting Jack for the hike. We ended up doing an 8 mile hike. It was a hilly hike since we walked up to the top of Bald Plate but I'm glad it was a bit strenuous since it was 20 degrees out. I didn't have a problem staying warm though after the first half mile.

I had never hiked here before and didn't realize how big the park is. We also got some clear views of the Delaware and surrounding hills. I know now that hiking in 20 degree weather isn't that bad so if we get another cold spell I have another way to get some exercise in.