THE MANHUT COMES BACK TO LIFE!!!.....

Saturday night the Manhut came alive once again with a lively night of libations, Laughs & Poker! The biggest surprise was a newly installed beer tap (see photo) which kept us in good spirits until after 2:00am. This new addition stores the kegs outside where it's cold with the tap inside where it's cozy (Thanks Weave!). Looking forward to a winter of fun and BEER at the Manhut this year. Yes there's new spirit at the Manhut, as we wave goodbye to the the old and welcome in the new... New friends, a New spirit and a New joy for life here on the Sack! Cheers!!!....

.... So where was I?

.... So where was I? Oh yes, today we got back up to high point. Been a little while since we last got there. it's gotten much harder to get up there since many of the old trees we used as markers have fallen and many of the pathes we used in the past are now blocked. But that's the fun of it, you know blazing new trails. We even took a moment to re-errect the stone monument at High Point that fell over, but its better than ever now. Enjoy!

We Completed the loop today…

Well that’s it! Today Grizz, Loo and me completed the loop. We got up to fishbowl, over the creek, hugged the ridge and ended up where we left off on January second at Mystery point. We were pretty psyched that we completed the loop. Starting at the Manhut, looping up to high point and back down to the Manhut. It’s a pretty long trek but we only needed to clear a few obstacles to connect the path from the last trip. We are happy……

Year end ride with the newest Quadster…

Thursday December 29, 2011. The year ended with what by now has become a Holiday tradition, a quad year end run to the top of the mountain. This year was a little different with the newest Quadster “Grizz” on his brand new Yamaha, 2012, Grizzly 450. It was Grizz’s first ride to the top and it was an awesome sunny, cold, crisp day for the ride. We left at 9:30 and returned to the Manhut at around 1:30. Weavo supplied Brewmation fresh beer, Sausages supplied by Smokehaus, rolls by Mario and the celebration continued into the early evening.
Memorable day that we all wish never ended.

SIDE NOTE: We were soooo close to finishing the big loop that we could just about taste it. Weave got down to the creek bed, me and Grizz found a way to the other side and a pristine loggers road… And if you don’t know what I’m talking about than you just don’t.

Cheers!....

Oh Deer!....

These photos were taken with a Tasco 5-Megapixel IR Trail Camera, a new toy Big Loo got from Santa. Pretty neat thing, you strap it to a tree out in the middle of the wilderness and leave it there. If it senses any motion it snaps a photo day or night (see photo). Then at some later point, you retrieve the thing and see what you caught. These photos where taken with the camera. Some pretty interesting stuff; a one antlered buck, the close-up deer eyeball is cool and the human shots where just taken to test the camera for range and such.
More Manhut news later.... Man Hut Rules!
Cheers!...

Frozen Pond Runners…

We took a ride this cold sunny morning up to burning bush. With a fresh 6 inches of snow on the mountain the ride was a bit more challenging than usual but a real blast on this beautiful morning. When we got to the ponds they were frozen pretty solid so we decided to play. Note Big Loo’s fine techniques...

Watch the for the last "Bump" when Loo's rear left tire smashes through the ice...
(see you at the Manhut next week boys and girls)

Winter Scenes…

We’ve been doing quite a bit of riding in the last few weeks and spending more time at the Manhut. Here are a few photographs from some of our most recent outings.
Enjoy!...

From left to right: A Doe from the Manhut window, B-Man shadow, Spooky tree, Stone totem at High Point, Max's Pond frozen with a light dusting, a nice day, From a window of the man hut (deer in background), Weavo on Quado, home sweet home.


click to enlarge

The Weave’s Big Ride…

Weave and the kids decided to use the backyard as a ski slope today.
Nice one Weavo!...
Cheers!...

A Stone Cold Freeze…..

Last night we had a quick cold spell, got down to below 10 degrees. But with the ground still moist from previous hard rainstorms strange things can happen; ice crystals sprout from the ground and create some interesting sites. I saw this stone lifted up off the ground 5 inches as these crystals bear the weight.
Quite cool… Literally.
Cheers!...

Impromptu Party Pix…

Last night a few of us got together for an impromptu drink or two (maybe three or four).
Note my very creative photograph (click to enlarge)… It took three separate shots to build this one photo that expresses the excitement of the evening…. Gotta love The Weave’s expression.
Cheers!...

The Great Deer Hunter Bags Two….

Big Loo hit the mountain at the crack of dawn both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Nice job!
Them looks like “Good Eats!”.
Cheers!...

Back to High Point!....

A great day to get back on the quads and up to the top of High Point Mountain. Everything just as it was left way back when we were there last in 2009. Wow has it been that long?

Good times, Good times....

Louy-Louy, WoWWW-Baby, He-Got-To-Go….

Area Man Kicks Babies Asses….By I.P.Daily

Last night, between the hours of 7:30pm and 2:00am local time, retired firefighter Grizz Wingnut, kicked the collective asses of several infants in what was supposed to be an innocent game of “Go Fish”. “It was Awful,” said one eyewitness, ”He sat there silent and motionless with a blank stare, then he would strike with no mercy! He was the devil I tell you, THE DEVIL!” Witnesses say there was simply no way to explain the phenomena. “I would pull three kings, he would pull three aces. I would pull three aces, he would pull four kings… It was insane!”

When asked for comments the assailant mumbled something about the chair. “It’s the chair, the chair, the chair is HOT!”

Google Manhut…

Yesterday I typed “Manhut” into Google Images just to see what came up. I instantly got 4,310 hits in 0.10 seconds. It was pretty amazing to see how many hits I got (none of them were of us), but still it was kind of interesting to see what other people consider a manhut. I put together this compilation photo together from some of the shots I found there. I even found a bunch of guys doing the kind of stuff we do in New Zealand ( capitalquadatv.org.nz ), check out their photo album.
Cheers!....

It Snowed Yesterday…

Yesterday the Northeast was hit with yet another snow storm/blizzard. The forecast was so severe offices around the area were closed for the day…. Including mine.

See photo….. Nuf said!

Cheers!...

A New Direction….

Just a quick update on our quest for a new route up to high point. Last weekend me, Loo and The Weave went back to the point of “most resisdence”. This is the spot that I flipped my quad and the others needed to be roped down because of the steep slope. The three of us faced our fears and went back to continue the quest for a new path up the mountain to High Point. I admit, I was a little apprehensive going back to the place where we all faced some of the toughest challenges on the mountain, but we all succeeded to face our fears and continue our quest. We got to the point where Loo and Weave needed to be winched down on that snowy New Years Eve Day ride and realized that without snow, the path was much more approachable (note to self: going up steep mountain slopes in the snow is stupid). We passed that point and cleared log blocked paths with the chain saw for several hours until we landed at a place we named “The Fish Bowl”. Loo coined this name observing that we had reached a flat landing surrounded by steep slopes….. We where close. We were probably 100 feet away from reaching the top of the mountain. From this point we could see the scruffy pines that marked the beginning of the original High Point route. But the way up was still hidden and we were exhausted. Loo walked the slopes and over a dry streambed to find a route which might be passable…. But my friends this is a story for another day. We ended our trip happy to have gotten as close to the top as we did. We will come back another day to the Fish Bowl and begin where we left off….. This was a great ride!
Cheers!....

Happy New Year Ride!...

Well Happy New Year Everyone! What an eventful end and nice beginning to another year! First, on New Years Eve Day the Quadsters took a long awaited ride up the mountain. As we grouped in my driveway for the morning ride, the snow was coming down fast and heavy but we were not deterred. We began our trip where we left off last time; blazing a potentially new route up to High Point Mountain. The snow was coming down fast and things were definitely getting slippery. Reaching the far point from our last trip, we realized that there was no easy way to go from there. Looking for alternative paths up, Weave and Loo decide to deal with a steep winding curve while Bobo and I dealt with a longer less steep route with ruts and some lateral sloping. As I attempted to cut through a left pass the sideways gravity and an unseen snow and leaf covered ditch were just too much for the machine and me. Bobo watched from behind as I tilted right past the point of no return flipping the quad and ejecting myself to a safe landing right on my feet. A tree had stopped the quad from flipping more than once and within a few minutes all the guys walked there way over to help right the machine… It started right up and neither of us had a scratch. The snow was really changing the dynamic of the ride now, so after my little episode Weave and Loo were starting to fret about getting down from the steep winding perch where they had left there machines. We decided we would play it safe, tie on ropes and ease the machines down using trees as pulleys and muscle power. Once down we made the decision that today was not a good day to blaze new trails (Duhhh) and instead we should continue on our old familiar route up to High Point. A great ride and all went well until we got to the last 500 feet. At that point there’s a steep portion and between the snow and ruts Bobo was having a struggle. He re-started a couple of times until a slippery rut got the better of him; he gunned it but the gravity and speed couldn’t overcome the slippage and the machine tipped up backwards going completely vertical. I mean really vertical straight up like a bowling pin. Boobo climbed out and was just fine… We think it was his hard shell Tamarack storage bins on his rear rack that held the machine up and prevented it from flipping backwards end-over-end. Using the winch on Weaves Fourtrax his bumper behind a tree as a chock, the quad was pulled back horizontal (the weight on the bumper broke a weld). Within a few minutes, the quad started right up and neither machine nor Bobo had a scratch, we were back on our way. We made it to the top quickly. We drank a toast to the New Year over High Point Monument…It was beautiful as always. We returned to the Manhut for a few libations (of course), but most of the time spent was reminiscing over the day’s trip - These are our stories of which our legends and myths are made.

The second part of the day was equally as cool with a Grand New Years Eve party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Grizz. There was food and drink and lots of high energy song singing as Grizz and his Bro made merry sounds with their geetars!... It was 3:15am before we knew it. What an awesome way to end a year and start a new one!
Cheers!....