NENP Spring outing

It is time to talk about a spring outing for NENP. We need to decide a weekend, and a location. We were goign to look at the Catskill Mts this spring but winter damage to a couple of key roads would make the daily drive over 3 hours, and we will hold that till a later time.

I would propose that we try a weekend in May before memorial day weekend, and I would be very hapy to make the spring wild flowers a central part of this along with waterfalls, streams and other landscapes. Somewhere around the white mountains maybe Gorham, NH would be a good base to start from.
To avoid Mothers day we should look at the weekend of May 5/6 or the weekend of May 19/20. I am familiar enogh with that area to find some good opportunities, and Jim Salge may be able to point us to some good places as well.
Tell me what you think in terms of the location and the weekend. I am not tied to this idea, lets think creatively and propose somethign different if you have some idea's and local knowldge!!

I like the versitility of shooting in the Whites, but would happily travel to the Greens if I'm off those weekends. Might also, for more earlyflowers in the southern Whites, suggest the Tamworth/Chocorua area for easier accessability, and great access to the Kank, the Ossipee bogs, and the lakes region. And it saves an hour plus of driving from those further south.

Looked at some exifs for white mountain shots last year:
May 5/6 is a great time for waterfalls, and early woods flowers like hobblebush, and a few early trillium lower down. General forest is just starting to show some good bud green otherwise.

Trilliums, lady slippers, and gound cover flowers (bunchberry, starflower) as well as a few trees are getting in full swing by may 19th and 20th, but the hobblebush is done. You also are much more early spring greens, not yet full leaf out, but very close. Generally less water in streams, but still not summer levels...

Both these weekends provide good ops in my oppinion in the North Country.

I'm in if the choosen weekend isn't the 12th/13th (Sons graduation), or 19th/20th (Avon Breast Cancer Walk).

I'm more familiar with The Whites than I am with The Catskills, but I'm game for either.

One of the things that was suggested during the last trip was photographing the lupines in full bloom. If that is a consideration, then the week and the place might be determined by the bloom time for them. The early mountain wildflowers sound interesting and unique as well.

Pat

Pat,

The lupines in NNE tend to go off in June. I didn't find approximate dates for the Acadia area, but the popular route from Warren to Sugar Hill to Jefferson NH has a good deal of information on bloom times here: http://www.harmanscheese.com/lupinephotos.html

I'll be going there a few times, and would happily meet up on a separate trip from a proposed May wildflower and waterfall weekend!

Where in Catskills were you thinking about? Keep me posted I'd like either local.

We had considered the Catskills for this spring as Robert Near volunteered to look into the possibility ( Robert lives south of Albany, NY). He reported back that there was a major highway that was closed due to storm damage and the road would not be back until after the spring outing time frame , requiring a 2-3 hour detour. We will look at the Catskills for the Fall of 07 or the spring of 08. Charlie - if you live down that way maybe you can join with Robert and help host and guide the rest of NENP when we visit there.

Jim D and Jim S -
Depending on the timing, the May trip sounds interesting and there may be a couple of us interested in lupines in June. Looks like a busy spring!
Pat

There is no reason why we can not coordinate a weekend or a day in June to shoot the lupines. Last year they did not have much of a bloom and I don't know the cycles of the Lupines to know if we should expect another down year?

The dates in May are bad for me. A date in June to photograph lupines would be fine. As with Jim, I don't know the cycles of lupines. So lets try to coordinate a weekend in June.

John

Let me know the dates you choose for the wildflower trip in May and I'll try arrange my schedule around your pick. I went to see the lupines two years ago and I believe they were at peak the last weekend in June. I would also be interested in going then, but will let you know as the date approaches.

Dates in June too? I'll be in Colorado, the 9th doing Yellowstone and The Tetons and coming back around the 25th. Any other dates work for me.