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