Of course, this meant strapping the canoe to the roof of our car. The folks at IUOA helped us the first time, but it took a couple tries to get it right. It was rather precarious, and the nylon straps made crazy noises as we drove down the road. I wouldn’t want to do a long drive in this configuration.

Originally, we wanted to put in at the Crooked Creek boat ramp, so we drove there. We arrived and were about to take the canoe off the roof of our car when a couple came in on their motor boat and said they didn’t recommend putting in there. They had, and they ended up pushing through 12″ deep mud.

That didn’t sound like a lot of fun, so we instead went to Pinegrove, our second choice. We had no problems getting the boat off the roof, everything set up, and heading out. We headed north, toward North Fork State Wildlife Refuge. This is a beautiful area and one that I’ve explored by bicycle before; it would be interesting to see it from the water.

The weather was wonderful. It had been close to 100 degrees two days before, but now it was in the 60s and overcast. We were actually chilly at times, and it was wonderful. Fall is definitely in the air. Also, the wind was pretty strong at times, which certainly made our trip more challenging.

That said, when we got in the water and started paddling, it was just wonderful. In sharp contrast to our last trip, the lake was very quiet, with very few other boats, and we were in the idle zone, so even those boats that had motors were slow and quiet.

Almost immediately, we started seeing many wonderful birds. Mostly herons and egrets, but there were others as well. I’m not a bird expert, so I couldn’t identify a lot of them but I still enjoyed seeing them.

I quickly realized that it was going to be very difficult to capture this experience in photos. Much of the wildlife was distant and hard to get photos of, but looked much more detailed in real life. And many of the scenes which looked dynamic and evolving and changing in person look similar in photos.

But, more than that, so much of the experience was aural: bird calls and squawking, the wind blowing through the trees, the swish-swish of our paddles as we glided gently through the water. Our movements felt incredibly smooth, thousands of gallons of lake water acting like a buttery smooth suspension.

Paddling was fun, but the best parts were when we stopped and looked, and listened, all around us. There was so much to see, and hear. Sometimes we were hearing the same animals we were looking at, and other times we’d hear distant sounds and wonder what kind of creature was making them. And the enveloping sounds far exceed any kind of artificial surround system I’ve ever heard. The depth of the sounds was incredible.

One thing that amazed us was that many of these vast expanses of water were very shallow, under a foot deep much of the time. We did get stuck in mud a couple of times, but were able to work our way out.

I tried to capture the pink/purple flowers in low-lying plants at the bottom of this next photo, and you can see them, but you have to look for them.

We also saw a few deer, and a turtle, though I didn’t get any decent photos of any of them.

The wind was more of a factor on our way back, and we had some trouble with it. I wouldn’t mind taking a class or reading about canoeing techniques, because I’m sure I’m doing everything wrong. Except the enjoying it part. That, I’ve got down.

I guess we paddled for around three hours. We only covered a little over three miles, but it was a gorgeous day to be out on the water, and it was a very relaxing experience, that also happened to have some exercise attached. We discussed how amazing some of this scenery would be in the fall, once the leaves change. It would definitely be worth a return trip.

One thing that was interesting to me about this trip is, I’ve gotten pretty good at capturing bicycle rides and telling those stories through words and photos. But the canoe trip is a very different experience, and it may take a while for me to figure out how to convey it effectively. Video might be a necessity here, and/or audio. Definitely something to ponder.

I have a map, but I’m at a campus computer lab right now, so I can’t post it at the moment. I’ll add it later, when I get a chance.

But, the weather has been incredible lately — lows in the 50s and 60s, highs in the 80s. Saturday the high was in the upper 80s, and Sarah suggested a canoe trip. A great idea!

We figured Lake Griffy would be our best bet — Griffy is a small lake on the north side of town — within city limits, if I’m not mistaken. It’s a beautiful lake, and canoe rentals are cheap there, so we headed up to go paddling.

Unfortunately, we found that the water level was quite low and the shallow, stagnant water was disgusting, covered in algae and who knows what else. Suffice it to say, it looked unappealing.

So, we headed out toward Lake Monroe instead. First we tried to rent a canoe at Cutwright SRA, which lies east of the causeway. This is significant, as the east side only allows idle speeds, whereas the west side has speedboats and the like. But, we came up empty-handed. They only rented pontoon boats at that location. They suggested we try Paynetown SRA, which is not far away but is on the other side of the causeway.

We headed to Paynetown instead, and indeed, they did have canoe rentals. We rented one for two hours. It was overpriced, at $35, but we really wanted to get out on the water, and the water looked great, so we went for it.

We’re not terribly experienced at canoeing, and it had been a while since our last trip, so it took a little while for us to figure out how to work together to move forward and, more difficult, steer. We were having a good time. We weren’t sure which direction we should go in, so we checked out a little inlet.

After some hemming and hawing, we decided we would make our way over to the quiet side of the lake. This meant we had to cross the lake, and then go under the causeway. It didn’t look too far … we were mostly worried about speedboats.

We were a little surprised how much the wake of the boats affected us on the water. The waves didn’t look big but they were rocking our canoe. Or if we were headed straight into the waves, the front of the boat would tip up and then smack back down, which Sarah found a bit frightening.

I think it’s a lot like riding a bicycle on a gravel road. It’s disconcerting the first few times your tires start to slip, but once you get used to a little float and realize it’s not the end of the world, you start to feel more comfortable. Sarah was a good sport about it, even though I know she was a little stressed during this part.

Pretty soon, we realized that it was a lot further across the lake than it looked. Also, we had to contend with some wind. We kept paddling and eventually we were going under the causeway. It’s a little weird paddling under it, as I have crossed it many times by car and bicycle, but I had never seen it from this perspective.

Once we were on the other side of the causeway, things did calm down considerably. It was much quieter and I would have loved to explore further east, toward Hoosier National Forest and some other areas that are familiar from land, but by this time we were getting tired. We made a small loop on the “quiet side” and headed back.

Our return trip was a lot more pleasant than the trip out. Instead of cutting directly across the lake, we more or less followed the causeway and the land. We did cut across a bit but it seemed like once 5:00 rolled around, about half the boats left the lake and it was much quieter, even on the side that had been hectic before. We enjoyed a peaceful paddle back.

We saw this crazy house, which I guessed (and later confirmed) is owned by John Mellencamp.

We returned back at the rental place in almost exactly two hours, having traveled 4.3 miles.  Here’s a map of our trip.

After that, we decided to head out to the Scenic View Restaurant, which was right on our way home. We had heard good things about the place, but had never actually been there ourselves.

It was Saturday night, and there was a long wait for a table. At least the View was excellent, as promised.

I did think this statue was a little over the top …

However, once we got our table we really enjoyed ourselves. There was a live jazz band playing and the lake looked beautiful as the sun set.

We enjoyed some beer samplers (the beers are not all the same, I swear, even though it looks that way), some great food (including a corn fritter appetizer that was amazing) … and great conversation, of course.

Once the sun set, the torches were lit and the environment continued to be just wonderful. We’ll definitely be making a return trip, both to Lake Monroe and to the restaurant.

In the future, I’m considering renting a canoe from IU, which we could then take to any location we want. There are quite a few areas I’d like to explore by boat, and I’d rather not have to put in at such a busy location again, if we can avoid it. Plus, IU’s rates are cheaper for a whole day than what we paid for two hours …

After we arrived, we set up camp. It was late afternoon, and this place was a lot busier than we had ever seen it. Not surprising, since it was a holiday weekend, but there were tons of campers (unusual) and a lot of loud dogs and kids. A lot of the kids were riding bikes around the parking lot, which was good to see, but they weren’t being very safe about it.

Our tent (the camper is our neighbors)

My hiking boots (photo inspired in part by Mr Macrum’s “Leather Friends” post)

After we pitched the tent, we decided to go for a hike on one of the shorter/easier trails. I think the trail we did was trail 6, about two miles long. We walked to the trailhead.

 
They drained the lake for … well, some reason

Bridge

There was something in the air, a mystical atmosphere from being back in the lush forest with the sun low in the sky, light filtering through the trees.

Glowing leaves

The fog is really lens flare from a cheap filter, but it turned out to be a nice atmospheric shot

Me

The trail was fairly flat and wound through the woods gently. It wasn’t a difficult hike, but it was great to be outdoors together and enjoying the scenery.

Ferns

Soon, we came to a clearing. This was an interpretive trail and we had a pamphlet describing some of the features, but after reading a couple of things we simply ignored it. Most of what we read wasn’t too interesting. We did look up the explanation of the clearing, and apparently they do some testing with cross-pollinating various species of certain trees here.


Clearing

Rays of light

Rob, looking very dramatic

Tree, moss, groundcover

After a while, we came to a lake, the name of which I can’t remember. The sun was reflecting off the water, at times it was a bit blinding but overall we had a stunning view of the lake. As soon as Rob saw the lake, he ran down the steep hill and jumped in the water. He ran back up immediately, and of course got us wet.

Lake

I spent more time looking at Sarah though … she was flattering the light.


Sarah

Us … the focus isn’t how I intended but it ended up being an interesting shot.

The trail took us across a boardwalk for a while, which I tend to have mixed feelings about. I prefer more natural trails, but on the other hand the boardwalk lets you walk across a wetland. In this case, it was very cool.

Boardwalk

Hills, lake, marsh

Rob and me

Before long, we came across the remains of a house or some other building. The trail went right through it. The walls had partially crumbled, and parts of what remained were covered in thick moss and vines. This added to the mystical atmosphere that the whole hike had, and we spent a few minutes here taking photographs. None of them really seem to do it justice.

Mossy wall

Sarah

There was a staircase leading us out through the other side of the house.

Stairs

As we continued hiking, we saw remains of other houses, none as cool as what we had just seen, but interesting nonetheless. An entire chimney still stands where the rest of one house is mostly gone.
 

Chimney

The trail ended shortly after this, and it was getting fairly dark. We should really do more hikes late in the day like this one, it was truly fantastic. We really enjoyed this trail, as it had a variety of scenery, especially for such a short trail.

Returning to the campground

We got back to the campground and found it was still pretty noisy, maybe moreso. The campground at Jackson-Washington State Forest has “primitive” campsites (no electricity). Normally, this keeps things quiet, but in this case a number of people had turned on generators attached to their campers! I was pretty stunned at this, and it was pretty annoying to have what is normally such a quiet, peaceful event punctuated by generators, but we were able to tune them out pretty well after a while.

I built a fire, which always seems to take longer than I think it’s going to take, and we cooked burgers over the fire. They turned out pretty well, and we had a great evening being together, eating burgers and s’mores, and generally goofing around.

Some goodies

Cooking burgers

Sarah

Tending the fire
 
The next morning, I went for a bicycle ride, which I’ve already written about here. After that, we went canoing at Starve Hollow Lake. We took Rob, as we’ve done in the past, and we all enjoyed ourselves. Rob kept shifting his weight, making it difficult for us to keep the boat steady. Eventually he laid down. He is so lazy! We got a good, close look at a Great Blue Heron and saw some other wildlife as well. A great end to a wonderful trip. Here are a few photos from our canoing outing.

Hills

Great Blue Heron

Lilly pads

Me

Rob, lounging

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.