First of all, it’s Sarah’s birthday today! She is 23 years old. Head over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday.

July was a pretty good month for me cycling-wise — I rode a total of 425.19 miles, the most I’ve ridden in any month so far. The funny thing is, it didn’t even feel like I rode that much. However, I did do my longest ride to date (56.6 miles), which took me through Morgan-Monroe State Forest and Mahalasville. I only went mountain biking once on singletrack trail (18 miles), and once on the Bloomington Rail-Trail with Sarah and my family.

Also, Sarah and I did a lot of camping, hiking, and canoeing in July. This cut into cycling somewhat, but it’s great to do more things outdoors that we both enjoy (we went cycling a couple of times together, too), and those things can exercise different muscles and more importantly, result in a wide variety of exciting experiences. I also posted 214 photos to Flickr.

In August, Sarah and I are going on vacation to the Smokies and North Carolina. We hope to do more hiking, camping, and canoeing, visit one of my best friends from college, go white water rafting, mine rubies, stay in a cabin with a mountain view, go mountain biking in real mountains, ride part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, see more waterfalls, watch the sun rise, get lost (getting found is optional), take a few thousand photos, and fall even more deeply in love than we are now (it never seems possible, but it keeps happening).

Hiking (part of) the Tecumseh Trail

Sunday was a very busy day for us. It started with a hike with my mountain biking buddy Dave at Yellowwood State Forest. Dave has done a ton of hiking, especially in this area, and even wrote a hiking guide that covers many local trails — but this was the first time I had hiked with him. We had planned this hike last week — Sarah and I wanted to pick his brain about our trip to the Smokies and North Carolina, and Dave has been down there probably 30 times, so he is full of great information.

We met by Prange (some spell it “Prang”) Pond, which is just off Dubois Ridge Road (which is just off Lanam Ridge Road, where Dave and I have ridden on the road a few times). It’s fairly out of the way and in the outskirts of Yellowwood, so it doesn’t see a lot of traffic. We hiked part of the Tecumseh Trail, which is a huge, 42-mile trail that goes from Martinsville all the way to part of Lake Monroe that’s in Brown County. We only hiked about three miles of it.

Prange pond; a scene on the Tecumseh Trail

It was a really cool hike, with some hills, but none were too hard. Dave is a fountain of knowledge and pointed out some sassafras, an old well, and some very valuable trees (not having any branches until about 3/4 of the way up). It was an interesting hike because it wasn’t just a linear section of trail — we hiked on the Tecumseh Trail, a horse trail, some logging roads, and a gravel road, creating a pretty cool loop. We were glad to have Dave as our guide, because it would have been easy to get lost.

Dave hiking; a huge spider

The trail was pretty overgrown in some sections; we wished we hadn’t worn shorts. I’m not sure I have any pants that are well-suited for hiking.

Sarah, Dave, and the dogs; pines leading to a clearing

I was really glad that Sarah and Dave got to know each other a bit. I have spent quite a bit of time mountain biking with Dave, and told her a lot of stories, and conveyed a lot of things Dave told me to her. But this was the first time they spent any significant amount of time together, and I thought that was pretty cool.

The pond with some cattails, and some wildflowers

Dave brought his dogs (we left Rob at home), and they were good. It was fun having them with us. Maybe next time, we’ll bring Rob. Rory, one of Dave’s dogs, went for a swim in the pond when we got back, ending up a disgusting mess — exactly how dogs love to be.

The Abandoned Homestead Hike

Sunday afternoon, we talked about how much we enjoyed the earlier hike and decided to go for another one. We picked a couple of possibilities from Dave’s hiking guide, and ended up doing the Abandoned Homestead Hike, which is near the Ransburg Boy Scouts Reservation near Lake Monroe. The defining characteristic of this hike (aside from the abandoned homestead) was the lack of a trail. A few parts had a proper trail, but it was either overgrown or nonexistent for much of the time. After a false start that took us down near the lake, we went back to a different trailhead.

When you go the wrong way and see something like this, you begin to question whether it was indeed the wrong way to go.
We saw a guy on his way out as we were going in, and asked if we were heading the right way. He said we were, and that there was a baby vulture in the attic of the homestead. He said it was making a horrible shrieking sound.

Glad to have some assurance that we were on the right track, we continued hiking. We basically had to find our own way much of the time, due to the lack of a trail. That gave this hike an interesting challenge. It was a really pretty area, and we were hiking along a ridgetop. However, there was a lot of noise from boats on the lake that was pretty distracting. It detracted from the feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere. It was enjoyable nonetheless.

Part of the “trail;” Sarah and me

Just when we were beginning to wonder where this homestead was, Sarah spotted it. We had to maneuver over a tricky area to get to it. It was a rickety old house — although as Sarah pointed out, it couldn’t have been too old because it had electricity. We saw no other clues to help date it, but we did wonder how somebody picked that spot to build a home, and how they got the materials there. We saw no evidence of any vultures, babies or otherwise, but we weren’t about to try looking upstairs.

The abandoned homestead

Wondering when the thing will collapse; a view of the inside

A chair sitting behind the homestead; the side of the building

Meadow

We hiked a bit further and found ourselves heading down a big hill. We ended up back where we had started hiking before at what we thought was the wrong trailhead. It wasn’t the one we were looking for, but it was just another part of the same trail. We turned around and headed back, having some more trouble finding the trail on our way back.

Nighttime Canoeing on Lake Griffy

Sarah had signed us up for a nighttime canoeing event on Lake Griffy, so after eating some dinner, we headed over there. There was a limited number of boats, and I think they chose a good limit — there was enough space that nobody was interfering with anyone else’s enjoyment of it. A man and his son were in the boat ahead of us, and as they were backing up away from the boat ramp, the man looked back to check on his wife and daughter, who were in the canoe ahead of them, and their canoe capsized right there by the shore. The guy was really embarrassed, and his son was pretty scared, but nobody was hurt. The guy did lose a sandal. He turned the canoe upright, but it was filled with water. I helped dump the water out of the canoe and turn it back over. They headed out. I felt his son was being pretty brave, not complaining and giving it another shot. We were next, and nervous after seeing that, but we didn’t have any problems.

The night paddle was timed such that we got to see the sun set over the lake, and also paddle some in the dark. It was an incredible experience. It was a beautiful sunset to begin with, but the way it reflected off the water was truly magical.

Sunset, and a paddle. No pixels were harmed in the making of these photos. No effects were used. “Sunset” scene mode was used, however.

Looking at the above shot, I can still feel us gliding over the surface of the lake, even without paddling, and hear the water dripping off of our paddles and falling in the water.

Sarah and me

We spent most of our time in the middle of the lake and in a small cove, hidden away from everyone else. We saw a Great Blue Heron standing in the water majestically, who later took flight and swooped to a different area. We saw another one fly overhead a few minutes later. There were geese over near the dam — they didn’t seem to notice our presence at all. Then again, we mostly sat awestruck and silent.

The lake is liquid gold

Clever portrait of the two of us taken by Sarah

Pastel sky

The array of colors was impressive, from blues at first to oranges, pastel purple and later deep reds.

Sarah, silhouetted, with some geese in the distance

As we sat in our cove, with darkness falling, we started to see bats flying around, sometimes swooping down to catch a meal on the surface of the water. We heard something swimming not too far from us, and I turned on my flashlight to see if we could figure out what it was. Sarah guessed it was a muskrat, but we didn’t get a good look. We also heard some unidentified creature jump into the water, making a splash and startling us. We didn’t get a good look at that one, either.

Impressionist pastels

We paddled back without turning on our flashlight. The air was beautiful and hushed and our eyes adjusted to the light. It’s surprising how much you can see if you’ll just let your eyes adjust. The moon was glowing behind some clouds, not providing much light, but adding to the atmosphere. We paddled back to the boat ramp, wishing we had more time — more time to paddle on the lake, and more time in our weekend, which was quickly coming to a close. But we felt satisfied that we had made the most of it and spent every possible moment together, outdoors, at one with each other, and with nature.

Sarah and I went camping last weekend, but things did not at all go as planned. She has an excellent blog entry about it. In fact, I was stunned by how succinctly she summed up the weekend. My account will probably be a bit more narrative, because well, that’s how it usually comes out. I’ll put a slideshow at the end.

We left Friday evening. Sarah had gathered most of our stuff and loaded it into the car by the time I got home (I rode my bike to work). It still took a while to get the rest of our stuff together and run a few errands before leaving town. On the way out the front door, I jokingly asked Sarah if she had remembered the tent. She thought for a moment, and we looked in the closet to find the tent still in there. That was a close call!

The drive to Versailles is about two hours. The sun set during our drive, but fortunately, we were able to see some beautiful country before that happened. We had been anticipating this trip all week and couldn’t wait to get there — but we enjoyed the drive itself a lot, too.

We arrived at Versailles to find that the campground was full. Fortunately, I had looked up the location of Clifty Falls State Park before we left, so we drove there (about 30 minutes away) and ended up camping there. We got there just before the offices closed, and had some trouble getting them to give us a spot. Eventually, they did. We put our tent up in the dark, and we were both pretty irritable. We also had some loud neighbors, who really irked us.

There was one kid, though, who was a constant source of amusement. He’d walk across part of our campsite to go to the playground and announce whatever was on his mind. “We’re waiting on breakfast! We’re going to the park!” he said once when he walked by with a friend. Later, it was “We’re going to eat bacon! Honey bacon!” And finally, running across the site and shouting to our dog, “I’m not giving you this mushroom! I’M NOT GIVING YOU THIS MUSHROOM!”

Saturday morning, we changed our plans (I was planning to go mountain biking at Versailles at this time) and went hiking at Clifty Falls, since we were already there. It’s a beautiful state park with several waterfalls, rugged, rocky trails, and wooden platforms and steps in some places.

Clifty Falls

We really enjoyed the hike. We hiked trail 7, which goes from a picnic area to Clifty Falls, then over to Little Clifty Falls, and almost up to an overlook. What we didn’t realize was that the part that goes up to the overlook is actually trail 6. We thought trail 7 was going to loop around, but it didn’t seem to do what we thought. Since we were both irritable, we argued a bit about which way to go, and ended up going further on trail 6. Fundamentally, this was OK, because it was more of the same great type of trail. There were switchbacks and short, steep climbs, heavily rooted sections and jagged rocky surfaces. We were also testing out new hiking boots, and both pairs seemed to be great. Sarah’s have especially good grip — she scaled up one very steep section that bypassed a staircase with no trouble.

Sarah
After hiking and tearing down the tent, we drove over to Versailles. I called Saturday morning and got a reservation for Saturday night, so we knew we’d have a place to camp there this time. It ended up costing $25 for the reservation — apparently, they charge pretty hefty fees for reservations, especially same-day reservations. The way I put it to Sarah is, it’s normally $8, but since we were in a bind, they charged us $25.

We arrived at Versailles to find the place crawling with people. The pool area was especially packed. We went to our campsite first, and discovered the campground to be a zoo. People playing cornhole, kids running around and yelling, riding bikes and skateboarding, lots of campers, and we ended up with a horrible campsite, too. We were stuck in a corner, wedged in a tiny spot between two other sites. We decided not to set up camp yet, and instead go canoeing.

We double-checked to make sure we could take Rob canoeing with us. They said it was no problem, so we rented a canoe. I had to lift Rob into the canoe, but once he was in there, he was very good. He seemed a little unsure about the whole thing, but he tolerated it admirably. As we were about to depart, a park employee asked us if we could paddle out by a paddleboat across the lake and make sure the kids on it were OK. They had gotten lost and/or stuck and had been on the lake for over three hours. Their parents were worried. We agreed. We went over by the paddleboat and talked to the kids — they said they were fine. I waved my paddle back at the park employee to signal that the kids were OK. As we paddled on, we heard one of them say, “Man … we’re never going to hear the end of this …”

Versailles Lake

After we went canoeing, we went back to our campsite and debated what to do. I really wanted to go mountain biking, but the campground really was terrible. We weren’t sure we wanted to stay there. I called one of my buddies from college and asked him to Google state forests near where we were. We’ve had great success camping in state forests. He found some things, but nothing very close. Finally, we decided to head to Jackson-Washington State Forest to camp. It was about an hour away, but it seemed like the best option. I figured I’d drive back to Versailles on Sunday and go mountain biking then.

We arrived at Jackson-Washington and were greeted by two small but very beautiful lakes and a campground with plenty of large, available spaces. We chose a spot, and we could tell that this was going to be vastly superior to camping at either Clifty Falls or Versailles. Some neighbors played music fairly loudly, but they ended up turning it off before it go too late. We pitched our tent and I rode my bike down to the office to drop off our registration and $8 camping fee.

Our night was perfect, complete with a roaring campfire, over which we cooked hamburgers (which took forever, but were delicious), and lots of just-us time. We even did a science experiment we had talked about recently, putting a paper cup with water in it in the fire and watching the water boil.

We took a walk down to one of the lakes late at night and I attempted some long exposure shots (which either didn’t turn out or were so dark that the lab thought they were unexposed film). We let our eyes adjust to the darkness and saw perhaps the most star-filled sky we’ve ever seen, complete with a few shooting stars. The moon was nowhere to be found, but it was still surprising how much we could see once our eyes adjusted.

On Sunday, I decided it wasn’t worthwhile to drive back to Versailles to go mountain biking — so I didn’t get to do any the whole trip. However, I didn’t really care. I can always go back. I didn’t want to waste so much of the day driving around, and Jackson-Washington was fantastic. We drove through part of the state forest on Skyline Drive, which goes up a huge hill and follows the ridgetop for a while, with some vistas. I wouldn’t mind cycling on Skyline Drive sometime — it’d be difficult, but it would be great hill-climbing practice, and it’s very beautiful. We stopped at a vista to get some photos. These are very different from the overlooks at Brown County State Park, where all you can see are trees and hills. We saw some farms and villages, as well as some pretty incredible natural formations.

View from a vista on Skyline Drive

After our drive and photography session, we went to Starve Hollow lake for some more canoeing. Rob enjoyed it more this time, looking around a lot and even leaning over the side of the canoe to drink. He almost jumped out of the canoe once, but I stopped him. I have no idea how we’d get him back in the boat if he jumped out. We are definitely improving at paddling, and were able to move pretty quickly and control the boat very well this time.

Rob, resting his chin on the side of the canoe.

Jackson-Washington State Forest was truly awesome. I really want to go back there soon — based on what I’ve read, it sounds like the hiking trails are excellent. We didn’t have time for a hike there this time, but it’s only about an hour from here, so it shouldn’t be hard to go back there to go hiking.

Here’s the slideshow. It contains the above photos, and others.

It’s been a bad week for cycling. It started out great, with my 56-mile Mahalasville ride on Sunday — the longest ride I’ve done to date. But I was feeling sick Sunday night and Monday and didn’t ride at all. Then, it rained Tuesday through Thursday. Fortunately, there was some time in the evenings when it didn’t rain. Still, I didn’t want to go too far, lest I get caught in a storm.

I did some work on my old mountain bike (a mid-90s GT Timberline — the green bike in the photo). I’m going to repurpose it as a foul weather/backup commuter, around town, and general trekking bike, to explore dirt and gravel roads. It needs more work, but I think that if I fix a few things and add fenders and a rack, it’ll be great for these purposes. I already put some slicks (road tires) on it that I had on hand, and it works pretty well on the road and on gravel.

The high point of the week in cycling terms was on Tuesday, when Sarah was in a bad mood and I tried to cheer her up with a bike ride (it worked). She wrote a great blog entry about it. We rode across Lake Lemon and back on South Shore drive. Sarah hasn’t cycled very much in a number of years, and I know she feels intimidated sometimes riding with me. But I enjoy riding slowly and enjoying the scenery (by “scenery,” I mean her — the lake was nice, too). It’s also great just to see her on a bike.

We rode about four miles, and Sarah did a great job. None of the hills on this road are huge, but she did great on the hills that are there. I’m proud of her for giving it a shot even though she didn’t feel like it, and I’m glad she had a good time.

I am excited about this weekend. We’re going to Versailles State Park, a couple of hours away, to camp. We’ll also do some hiking, biking, and canoeing while we’re there. It’ll be great to get away, just the two of us (well, the dog is coming, too), for a whole weekend. That hasn’t been possible since Sarah has had class on Saturdays, but the class doesn’t meet tomorrow. It’ll also give us a chance to break in our new hiking boots and streamline the camping process for our trip to North Carolina in August. I’m sure we’ll also take about a thousand photos.

I have been to Versailles once, Thanksgiving weekend last year, when I went mountain biking there with my mountain biking buddy Dave. Here’s what I wrote about it then. We were only there long enough to ride the trails, which are fantastic. I plan on mountain biking again this time, but most of our time will be spent doing stuff together. We’ll also be near Clifty Falls State Park, so if we get bored (not likely) we can always head over there to check that out.

It’s been far too long since I wrote anything here. This weekend was too full of living life to take the time to write about it. Yesterday and today have been too filled with illness and work to allow it. Note: there are three sections to this entry: Paddling, Hiking, and Pedaling. There’s even a video taken with my digital camera mounted on my helmet at the end.

Paddling

Sarah and I both intended to get up early on Saturday — she had class, and I wanted to go for a long ride. But we were too tired and weary from a difficult work week and slept late instead. We ate breakfast sometime around noon, neither of us feeling as guilty as we probably should have for slacking off and sleeping in. It was a beautiful day to skip everything and just bask in the sun. We debated what to do — the ideas of hiking or going on a short bike ride together surfaced, but neither seemed like exactly the right thing. Finally, Sarah suggested we try something new, something we had been wanting to do for some time, and never got around to: canoeing.

Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves at Lake Griffy, a small lake in Bloomington, renting a canoe and asking the kid working there for any advice he might have, since neither of us had really done this before. Not surprisingly, he was no help. He did say that generally the stronger paddler should sit in the front, so that’s where I ended up.

So we set out, having to first figure out how to back away from the shore, turn around, and then start moving. We had some trouble at first, but improved fairly quickly. I had some trouble trying to steer the canoe, but I later learned that whoever is sitting in the stern is supposed to steer. So, I should have sat in the stern or let Sarah steer.

Lake Griffy

Neither of us is accustomed to boating, so the experience was pretty novel. It was great to be out on the water, and since I have a thing for human-powered transportation, I really liked canoeing. We went around the lake clockwise, exploring some coves as we went around. I should note that these photos were taken with an underwater film camera I got at Goodwill for $2. We saw a bird sitting on a log that I think may have been a Great Blue Heron (Maybe Marty can have a look at the first one below and let me know if that looks right).

We made it all the way around the lake in about an hour, and only spent $5 on the canoe rental. That’s probably the best $5 ever spent. We had a great time, and are planning on doing more canoeing soon. We’re planning to make a trip to Versailles State Park this weekend for some camping, canoeing, bicycling, etc.

Hiking

After that, we relaxed a little bit and went for a short hike at Yellowwood State Forest. With both canoeing and hiking, it sounds like a busy day, but it really wasn’t. We did everything at a very relaxed pace, and savored every moment.

Hiking at Yellowwood State Park

Pedaling

We slept in later than planned again on Sunday, but we really needed the sleep. Still, I was a little irked with myself, because that meant I’d be going for a long bicycle ride in the hottest part of the day. It wasn’t a super hot day, but it was sunny, humid, and a bit windy.

Since I wasn’t sure how much riding I was really up for, I planned a route that allowed for short and long options and let me make a decision once I reached the point where the routes split. I started off riding pretty hard, which is what I tend to do, unless I make a concerted effort to ride more slowly. I’m not sure why, but I actually have to think about it to make myself go slower.

Once I changed my mindset and started riding at a more leisurely pace, the heat bothered me a lot less, and I enjoyed the ride more — not just because I was cooler, but also because I had more time to enjoy the scenery. I rode up to Morgan-Monroe State Forest, through the forest, and down the other side to Low Gap Road.

I made some videos along the way, using my digital camera and the Gorillapod I got at Best Buy recently. At first, I tried mounting it on my handlebars, but there was too much vibration that way. It worked better attaching it to my helmet, even if it did look ridiculous and make riding a bit awkward. Actually, you can see in the video the antenna-like shadow of the camera on the Gorillapod on the helmet on my head.

I decided to go the long way, taking me on Mahalasville Road for a while. It was truly beautiful, with some rides along ridgetops that afforded some great views and rides by cornfields swaying in the breeze.

Mahalasville Road

As I approached Lick Creek Road, a guy on a motorcycle stopped beside me and asked how to get to State Road 45. I told him I was about to take Lick Creek there, although this was my first time riding in this area, so I wasn’t too sure of where I was going. He asked, “It’s not too far, is it?” Of course, I had no idea, but I thought it was a funny question, with him on a motorcycle and me on a bicycle. I figured if I could make it without an engine, he could make it with one. I didn’t check the mileage, but it took me a long time to get down to 45 — it must have been 15 miles or so.

I saw a guy with a motor scooter stopped along State Road 45 later, and he couldn’t get the damn thing started. I would’ve stopped to help, but I know approximately nothing about engines. Too bad his scooter didn’t have pedals!

I stopped at the Need More Grocery store for some water and additional gatorade. This was a strange little convenience store, with most of the refrigerated shelves empty. You had to walk to the back of the store to get to the beverages. I noticed they also sell fishing and hunting licenses, as well as ammunition.

I rode back home on State Road 45. I could have gone down and ridden across Lake Lemon, and I probably should have. There’s about a two-mile stretch of 45 that is almost completely uphill. You have to climb the same amount the other way, but it’s not quite as bad. However, staying on 45 took me on a section of it I hadn’t seen in a while. I snapped a photo to compare to the ones Sarah and I took there during the winter.

State Road 45 in summer

State Road 45 in winter
I was certainly tired when I finished my ride, but considering the fact that it’s the longest ride I’ve done yet (56.6 miles), I felt pretty good. Riding slower had made it much more doable, and I definitely could have kept riding a while longer if I needed to.

Here’s the video. Look for these things:

• A pedestrian going the other way waving to me.
• My hesitation at the intersection, deciding whether to go the short way or the long way (As Sarah pointed out, it didn’t take long to decide).
• My shadow, complete with a dorky antenna-looking camera mounted on my helmet.