Hiking the Blackledge River In Marlborough, Connecticut

Yesterday was, well, yesterday. It snowed and it was pretty common for this time of year. Along with the typical March day came clouds and chilly temperatures. It wasn’t good.

Today, on the other hand, was simply fabulous. We knew it would be because we checked the weather about ten times yesterday. After the ninth time and when we were finally convinced that we would see the sun and temperatures in the mid forties, we decided to plan a deep snow hike. We’d never been on one before (for any extended amount of walking), so we thought it would be uber cool. And it was.

Last night, Laura and I had the conversation. She looked over at me and said, “The sun rises at 7.” I looked back at her and replied, “What are you telling me for? I ain’t getting up at 7.”

To make a long story short, we left the house around noon. As we pulled up the driveway, I said, “Let’s go grab something to eat. We’re going to get hungry today.” She didn’t argue so we headed down into Hebron for another Something Simple Cafe visit. We’ve been getting very decent food there and we like the atmosphere. I am truly beginning to appreciate the value that cafe is adding to town.

I walked inside and ordered two “Caprice” Paninis. I also asked that they add some mayo and pesto. I like flavor and today’s sandwiches were really good. We took them to go and ate in the car down in the dirt parking lot that leads to the trail near the river. While I was in the cafe, I left Laura in the car to take pictures. That she did and I’ll post them below. This is what happens when you leave her with time and a camera.

My goal for today’s hike was to get some nice video of the Blackledge River. This river is fairly long and runs all the way from Gay City State Park to who knows where. I’m sure it even starts before the park, but we’ll leave that for another day. Where our hike took place bordered on two towns; Marlborough and Hebron, Connecticut and was right at the end of North Parker Road. We’ve been to this general area before, but haven’t really taken advantage of the river. I mean, I’ve taken pictures, but haven’t any video the way I’d like to.

What I wanted to do was to simply capture nature and all its sounds. I was testing my camera’s microphone in a setting I was comfortable with. I’ve had a new mic on my list of camera equipment to order for a while and wasn’t sure if it was necessary, so today’s video shoot was two-fold; take some nice video and test out the microphone. I got what I needed in both respects.

Blackledge River – Marlborough, CT

Laura’s goal was to take mad pictures. I am guessing she snapped that shutter in the hundreds of times. I’ll post both our pictures below. You’ll see the difference if you look closely. I was using the wide angle lens at 10mm and she was using the 18-135mm.

While I’m still debating whether or not I need the microphone, I certainly would have appreciated a lighter tripod. My current tripod is the SLIK PRO 700DX Professional and it weighs just about eleven pounds. Try lugging that through the woods in over a foot of snow at places. I have a picture or two of it in action so you can see its use, but something similar, but less cumbersome would have been nice.

The video I put together came out perfectly. It’s just what I wanted. I’ve seen this type of thing on Youtube before and I really admire the style. I’m sure it’s what I’ll be doing more of. When you watch it, put the volume at a level where you can hear the water and be sure to watch the entire thing. I put six parts together so you can get all angles of the river. In the future, I want to do this type of work near the ocean, mountains, time lapse, etc.