Gentle alternative

And a gentle easing back into blogging for me. I did consider a huge, attention-grabbing post, but I haven't been doing huge, attention-grabbing things, so here is life as it has been in Scotland this summer.

Some might say that 'the' T in the Park is the rock festival with international names and epic mud and all the standard, repeated across the country rock festival ingredients. I prefer the sound of the Glenlivet version. We didn't manage to get there, sadly, but we hope to make it for the 10th annual event. There's still just time to catch it, if you happen to be in the area this weekend.

CAMBA Trails - Telemark

Today was the first day of scoping out the CAMBA (Chequamemon Area Mountain Bike Association) Mountain Bike Trail System. The CAMBA trails area located in NW Wisconsin. The Trails System boasts some 300 trails, utilizing paved and grave, roads, fire roads, ski trails, single and double track bicycle trails.
The trail system is divided into "clusters". A cluster will be comprised of a couple of trail heads and the trails emanating from those trail heads. The clusters are located near the towns from which their names come - Hayward, Seeley, Cable, Drummond, Delta, and Namakagon.
Before coming up here, I checked out the CAMBATrails.org web site. Here, you can view and print trail maps. However to ride these trails, I recommend buying the CAMBA Map packages. These maps will be MUCH more readable than the ones coming off your printer!
For a first look at the trails, I selected the Telemark trails of the Cable Cluster. The main reason is that there was no parking fee at that trail head. There is a $5 parking fee at Sawyer County parks trail heads.
Yesterday I stopped by the Hatchery Creek trail head (a Sawyer County park). There you see a location with envelopes and a drop-box for paying fees. The envelopes showed monies went to a ski group and a $10 fee. For me, that is a bit high. So, i stopped in the Hayward Lakes Visitors Center. They called the county and told me the fee is $5. But, this weekend (Saturday/Sunday) all trails in Wisconsin are fee free (guess because its National Trails Day).
Telemark has been a Nordic ski resort out of Cable, WI. Recently the lodge was closed. But the trails are open.
The directions on the CAMBA map is easy to follow as far as parking. I had some problems making sure where the trail starts. I had decided to ride the "Out and Back" trail - a short trail to check out the terrain. The photo above is of "Out and Back".

The topology of the region gently rolling hills. No "mountains" here, but some good climbs.
The trails is a combination of bike trail down ski trail and singletrack. Most of the trail I was able to ride. I should have been able to ride all of the section I rode, had my legs a little weak from the pavement ride a couple days ago. That and not sure were I was going as I was riding on unfamiliar trails.
Telemark trails has ATV, ski, and bicycle trails. Each group going their own way. I started to understand the signage, but did not to go too far. Headed back to the motel after a paltry 3 miles.
Nap time (I had not slept well last night) then dinner at the Angry Minnow (a sponsor of Festival of the Trails). The Angry Minnow is on Hwy 63 about 4 blocks south of junction of 63 and 27. Its an old lumber company office building. The lower photo is of the Angry Minnow.

Baying for some water

Saturday morning I had another change of plans. Getting on the bike early in Brisbane, I decided to head out to Wynnum -- largely because I haven't been there in years, and have a look at Moreton Bay. The ride was through largely uninspiring suburbia, but I eventually made my way out there after some of Brisbane's notoriously long red lights. Personally, I'm beginning to think that Moreton Bay should be re-named Moreton Mudflats.

This was about the only decent view of the water that I got:

Riding in drizzle at 7 degrees C probably isn't the smartest move in the world when trying to recover from a cold, and I compounded that mistake by getting lost on the way back, meaning I ended up spending more time doing it. It was perhaps surprising just how much better I felt after the ride.

Spring Fever and...

I think I'm in love.

This is Jackson, and I met him way back in September at the Squaw Valley Art Bark Fest. Some of you may remember that I went there for a fun dock diving event and then went on a spectacular hike up to a mountain lake. But one of the highlights of my weekend at Tahoe was meeting Jackson. Here's a picture of him and us at Squaw. I've never forgotten him heheh!

Isn't he handsome? I was lucky enough to have a playdate with him a couple of days ago on...yes - you guessed it! Yet another hike, where we found out how much we had in common, sigh....

Since I've blabbed so much about all the amazing lands and trails we have to hike on, I'll keep that to a minimum. We chose the Dawn Falls Trail in an area called Baltimore Canyon. Janis Joplin used to live practically on the old trailhead. Our goal was to see Dawn Falls, swim a lot in the overflowing creek and hike up far enough to check out the views and just chill.
A pretty waterfall, but not like Cataract or Carson Falls, because, well... I was with Jackson, of course and who pays attention to such things when you're hiking with a hunk!
We took a dip in this gorgeous little pool. Jackson quite possibly enjoys swimming more than I do! Well, he's a champion dock diver, so I guess he better love the water! What a stud!
"Hey Sam, what's your nose doing down there? Come and swim!"
Just LOVE watching him glide through the water!
Here's a collage of some of the activities we shared.
Some redwoods along the trail...
And look what an enormously high rock Jackson dared to jump up to!
Another collage of other pastimes we indulged in along the path and then a little movie of some swimming in that little blue pool.
You certainly are handsome - smack!
A dip halfway up the trail off the first fire road we crossed. That was delicious!
Ahhhh - the views! Only I'm not talking about what's behind me. Look at that big smile on Jackson's face! Now that's what I'M talking about! Thanks for sharing an unforgettable day with me, Jackson! Hope you come back for another outing soon!

Bear Valley Road Wildflowers

Wildflowers in Bear Valley, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

After hearing much about the wildflower displays in remote Bear Valley, I decided to take a trip up there to check things out. The wildflowers were indeed spectacular, with seas of lupine and cream cups extending all the way to the base of the mountains. It was a beautiful day.

Phaeton Prep Well Underway

Tuesday, November 13

Can’t say that we’ve settled our stuff into the Phaeton, but we made considerable headway these past 3½ days. I’m much too tired to write a proper blog post, so this is going to be a quickie entry — after all, wouldn’t want to leave the story of our fulltiming prep incomplete.

(We were too busy working; what photos we took were usually an afterthought.)

Phaeton Prep Day 1 was focused on the basement.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather during the long weekend that saw us working at the Phaeton. We had beautiful blue-sky days with temps reaching into the 68-72F (20-22C) range through mid-day Monday when the clouds started moving in. It was perfect weather to work outside — empty and vacuum the basement, sort through what was already there, and reorganize the compartments. It was also nice to have good weather to unload the toad and carry stuff inside. That we didn’t have to run the furnace to stay warm was an unexpected bonus for this time of the year.

November days that are warm enough to sit outside for our snack breaks — what a treat!

This morning, the temperature was at 40F (4C) and falling, and there was rain, sleet, and hail. But by then, the work outside was done and we had just a few plastic bins to carry from the toad to the Phaeton, so it didn’t matter.

Prep Days 2 and 3 found us working inside to organize the living space.

Our goal was to move most everything we plan to take with us into the Phaeton. We accomplished that. We even managed to get most of the cabinets and closets organized; that was a bonus. The good news is that we’re not bursting at the seams as I feared we might :-) There’s still plenty of room in the cabinets and basement compartments. We anticipate that our load will lighten further as our fulltiming lifestyle evolves and we become more comfortable discarding some of the things we feel we can’t live without at the moment.

Perfectly sized storage drawers make using the overhead cabinets in the bedroom much easier;
we can use the space between and on top of the bins to store rolled up spare towels and whatnot.
mounted on the back wall of the closet, one of Mui’s old tie racks is perfect to hang my purses.

The Phaeton has a lot of storage space, but not all of it is easily accessible. Our My frustration challenge was to organize stuff such that what we think we’ll be using regularly will be handy, and put nice-to-haves and spare items in the less accessible places. I think I managed to do that, but time will tell. I see “settling into the Phaeton” as an ongoing process. I’m sure we’ll find that we need to make some changes to what is stored where. So be it!

16 days and counting!!!

From castle to cottage

Just outside the gates of Glamis Castle is the tiny village of Glamis. As you would expect of somewhere with royal connections, the village is beautifully kept. This photo was taken a few weeks ago, but the tourist season is well and truly over, and Glamis is settling down for its winter rest.

What time is it?

The Hiatus is over!
Back to the saddle and down to business. Man, I'm chomping at the bit to get pedaling again.
A junk train from Ogden, unbelievably obediant to my instructive cooing stopped to let me off right in Ol' Downtown Laramie.
I made a hasty dash to the home of Adam and Danielle (Sorry again guys for barging) to see the sight I'v been dreaming of: Mybike. The sight of Samu the savage mule slightly dusty and tucked away patiently waiting for me was an emotional expierience that left me a bit teary and choked up.... Ok I'm over it. But man, is it good to be back.
The trip out West was good though. Alot of things got accomplished and some damn good times were had.
So the Hiatus and the train trip back out? I'll elaborate later. I got some riding to do!

Thanx to Lily for the new tattoo! Check out Lily's art work at: www.lilymosaics.com

Ride on the Duluth Lakewalk

Cool morning and the forecast was for scattered showers. After coffee and pastries at the hotel, I found a place to get a haircut. I had been getting pretty shaggy!

Weather.com was showing some showers heading through the area late morning. So, I killed some time chatting online. Soon, the clouds were getting thinner, so kitted up for low/mid 40 deg weather.

It was a little over a block from my hotel (Days Inn Duluth) to the Edgewater entrance of the Duluth Lakewalk. Took the hybrid off the car rack and loaded up for the ride. It was a 3 mile ride along Lake Superior to Canal Park. Rode around Canal Park before riding back to the hotel.

Was a bit brisk ride back as I had a stiff headwind. While I was a little chilly, I was not uncomfortable. Guess I had just the right layer of clothes. Felt great to be back on the bike. Was not sure I was excited about riding in this weather, but sure glad I did. Just over 7 mile ride.

OH, I had the GoPro on the bike. Still have problems understanding when the camera is running and when its not. Did not get the footage I thought I was getting.

Was thinking of getting out last night - sampling the local night life. But the exercise and fresh air made me too tired. Instead, I feasted on a chicken fried steak at Perkins (2 blocks from the hotel) and called it a night.

World's Most Spectacular Pedestrian Bridges

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is one on the World's Most Spectacular Pedestrian Bridges, according to Travel + Leisure Magazine. From my experience with the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock/N. Little Rock, Arkansas, I knew the "Bob Bridge" would become a destination in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area.
Here's what Travel + Leisure said about the importance of bridges like the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge...
"The most successful fall somewhere between spectacle and conduit because they blaze a path where no one felt the need for one before. The newly built Bob Kerrey Bridge linking Omaha, NE, to Council Bluffs, IA, surely attracts tourists, but it has also changed life for the locals. Footbridges encourage new patterns of development geared toward human-powered pace, especially along the nearby waterfronts."
On top of that, the cover photo of the Iowa Transportation Map (free road map) is of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge!

In Japantown

The Peace Pagoda in Japantown, San Francisco.

Teakettle frostflower

I've written about Frost Flowers before, but I don't remember ever seeing them this early.
This teakettle was formed from the stem of a White crownbeard flower (Verbesina virginica). Dr James Carter has the definitive page on Frost Flowers. He's also done a lot of fun experiments on extruding ice from pipes (also here).
The forecast was for 23°F last night (-5°C), but here in our glacial little microclimate, it was 13°F (-11°C) when we woke up this morning. Too bad it's not always 10° cooler in the summer too.

The first of Autumn

The Autumn leaves have arrived in this little corner of the world, lighting up parts of the countryside shades of red. In truth this webpage has probably missed out on the greatest display, as I left my camera at home for Saturday's 100km warm up. I made no such mistake the next day.

I opened with the almost customary climb over the Macpherson Range at Tomewin before continuing south through Murwillumbah and Uki, where this ride really starts. The rolling hills of the Tweed Valley offer a seemingly eternal blanket of green, and Mt Warning a.k.a Wollumbin or "Cloud Maker" almost always lives up to it's name early in the morning. Today I was pushing against a south-westerly wind, but the rolling hills effectively killed it. 76km from home is the Cadell Road turn off to Mebbin National Park, now it was time to climb again.

In truth, this climb could be best referred to as "rolling", but each roll gains height, some of them steeply, and virtually all of them on dirt. At the higher points, the scenery seems to have difficulty choosing between rainforest or spectacular mountain views. This time I could look upon the Border Ranges differently, having visited there relatively recently. These climbs are followed by a screaming descent, this time made a little more treacherous by some loose gravel that some bright spark had dumped on the road. They almost qualified for a Tosspot of the Week award, except that it happens so often in these parts.

I continued through the gravel, over more rolling hills, before climbing out of the campground, beyond the National Park, and back to Brays Creek Road on the old Tweed Valley ride. This really is familiar territory now, but always beautiful. A large portion of the dirt road has now been sealed, but even that can't detract from the beauty of this area. There's little wonder that I've spent so much time here in recent years.

Beyond this really remains little to tell. The south-westerly wind was still hanging around when I came out of the forest and headed north for the ride home, with the traditional Stokers Siding detour. A brief shower came through at Urliup, but didn't stay around for long, and the tailwind on the ride home meant that i made short work of what was left of the 179km day. Another day, another pretty century. I'm still left wondering if we'll actually get a 'winter' this year. So far I've seen nothing to indicate it's likely to happen.

Captions Button

Hi Everydoggie! Thanks so much for the supportive feedback on my captions idea. You made me Harooo ( as Khyra and others say...) so much that I think we'll continue doing this. As Mom wrote in my last post, you can also send me your pix to be "captioned" if you have some at Samanthae17@gmail.com and we'll have tons of fun with this.
If you want one of Mom's feeble attempts at the capture button, here it is to copy and paste. Let Mom know if it doesn't work. I hope it does, cause Mom might not know how to fix the problem - you already know about her computing skills hehe! Happy Thursday and Lotsa Love and Licks xo Sammie

Autumn Climbing

A small break of warm and clear weather, after the major storm cycle, let multiple teams summit early this week. A climbing ranger climbed on Saturday morning and reported 'great-for the end of the season-conditions' on the DC. Climbing rangers at Camp Schurman had a similar report about the Emmons/Winthrop route.
End of season operations are underway. Helicopter flights for refilling propane tanks and human waste removal occurred last week over the mountain. Stairs to the half-doors on the public shelter are being put in place and the solar dehydrating toilets at Camp Muir will be closed. The larger ADA compliant vault toilet with a half-door will be opened at Camp Muir for use during the winter.
Be sure to double check registration requirements for the dates of your climb. The transition from summer registration regulations to winter registration regulations has begun. See the regs. link to the right for more info.