It’s been too long since I wrote anything here. We’ve had a lot of rain, although I have done some riding when it hasn’t been raining.

Last week, I went mountain biking at Moon Lake. I love mountain biking in general, but I haven’t done much of it since moving to Pennsylvania. So, I decided another trip to Moon Lake was in order (the trails were covered in snow last time I rode there).

Unfortunately, this ride confirmed what I had already begun to feel: I don’t enjoy mountain biking as much here in Pennsylvania as I did in Indiana. Most of the trails are just too rocky to be much fun. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy myself, but the suffering-to-fun ratio was a bit less than favorable. The trails weren’t as technical as those on Moosic Mountain, but there were still enough rocky sections that I had some trouble.

Part of the problem was, despite the fact that a lot of the trail intersections had signs, I got hopelessly lost again. There was a lot of mud, even though it hadn’t rained for a couple of days. I figured these trails would drain well, but I was wrong.

Big Blue trail

Rocky trail

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Logs

Ferns

Trail flanked by ferns

Mud

More rocks

Mayapples

Rocky trail

More ferns

Rocks

I expect mountain biking will be relegated to the back seat, and I”ll continue doing more road biking and riding on gravel/dirt roads. These more-technical trails don’t do much for me. That said, riding on the trails was a nice change of pace. I also tried something I’d never done before: listening to music while riding. I must say, I really enjoyed it until I started sweating too much and my earbuds would no longer stay in place. I have another pair of earbuds that will probably work better.

I haven’t done a lot of riding in the last week or so. I wasn’t feeling well during much of last week, and we’ve had quite a bit of rain. I guess you could say I’ve been in a bit of a rut.

Yesterday, I managed to get out for a relatively brief, but very beautiful ride. I did a variation of the Bunker Hill-Schooley ride that’s becoming a bit of a regular loop. The new route only added 4 miles of riding, but resulted in over 350 feet of additional climbing. I’m still a little sore, but it’s a good feeling.

It was a cool, in the 50s. I wore shorts and a short-sleeved jersey, and while I was a bit chilly at times, overall the cool air felt very nice. Everything is getting so green and lush. I love spring.

I saw many rabbits, some groundhogs, and even some porcupine roadkill. An interesting ride in terms of wildlife.

Waterfall

View from Bunker Hill Road

Curvy climb

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Manor Road

A farm on top of the mountain

Cows

Abraham’s Creek

The Trucker in a field

The Trucker, the road I rode in on is visible below, in the distance, right in the middle

Whence I came

Young pine cones

Pond and barn

Silhouette

Descending on Schooley Road

Looking back at the mountain, from a few miles away

Last weekend, we hiked the Skyline Trail at Hickory Run State Park. We had hiked this trail before, back in November, and I also went snowshoeing there in December. We were looking forward to seeing it again, now that things are getting green. Here’s a map of the hike.

View Skyline Trail @ Hickory Run 05/10/2009 in a larger map

The first mile and a half or so is a pretty, but fairly unremarkable walk through the woods. The rest follows the edge of the Lehigh Gorge, and offers views that just get better and better as you go.

Wide trail near the beginning

Sarah

Wildflower

Climbing

The trail follows the edge of the gorge

Sarah’s new hiking boots

Rob on the trail

Looking across the gorge

Sarah

Wildflowers, gorge, mountains

Trail

Across the gorge

Lehigh Gorge

Sarah got me a green enhancing (“green field”)  filter for my birthday. I have been waiting for a good opportunity to try it. The effect is more intense than I expected, but it’s pretty cool, and I think I can do some neat, stylized shots with it.

Lehigh Gorge, enhanced with a green field filter

Leaves, with the green field filter

I tried some infrared shots, even though I didn’t bring my tripod. My hiking staff/monopod helped some, but wasn’t steady enough.

Infrared gorge

Motion blur with the monopod