Sarah and I went hiking on Saturday at Lake Griffy. We made the mistake of not checking to see if there was a basketball game (there was). This meant we had to sit in traffic on the Bypass for a while on our way to the trails. It wasn’t a big deal, but we ended up hiking shorter trails than we’d planned. We settled on hiking the Ravine Trail and the Overlook Trail. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors, with a high temperature of right at 32 degrees F and a bit of snow on the ground. We brought Rob with us.

I brought my new/old camera with me, the Yashica Lynx 500, this time loaded with normal color print film. Once again, without a functional light meter, I had to guess at the exposure. I mostly got it right.

Sarah and Rob

We had never hiked here before, and we really enjoyed the trails. The ones we hiked mostly follows the contours of the side of some hills, never fully descending into the ravines below but offering great views of them and hiking over some rolling terrain. There were a couple of waterfalls that were frozen and looked really neat.

Waterfall

Rustic handrail

Old railroad right-of-way that was never finished

Rob, running

Sarah

Ravine

Hill

A view of the lake

Rob and me

Sarah and Rob climbing the stairs

We once again appreciated how much better hiking can be in the winter. There weren’t many people there, we didn’t have to carry as much water, we didn’t work up as much of a sweat, and many of the views we enjoyed would have been blocked by leaves on the trees.

Lake Griffy is interesting because it’s just north of town and part of campus in particular. But once you hike back a little ways you don’t hear much road noise. As we looked down toward the lake, we realized it was frozen over and people were walking and skating on the lake! I was surprised it was frozen enough to allow this, but we did have a pretty cold spell for a while so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Hiking distance: about 2.8 miles.

After our hike, we headed down to play on the lake’s frozen surface. Some people were playing hockey, there were a few dogs, and everyone was having a great time. It sure was weird to walk where we’ve been canoeing before.

Lake Griffy

Sarah

Ice skate designs

Stick

Me

Hill

Docks

Dock

Dangling my feet in the water

Lake Griffy. The black specks on the surface, in the distance, are people.

A few words about this camera: in short, it rocks. I noticed some vignetting on some of these shots that I wasn’t expecting. It seems to particularly flatter people, the lens has a crispness to it but simultaneously just enough softness to make portraits look really great. So far, guessing the exposure is working surprisingly well — in fact, the prints look better than these scans, which were done rather poorly at CVS. At any rate, not bad for a camera from the 60s, for $30 on eBay, including shipping.

Sarah and I went hiking on the Pate Hollow Trail yesterday, a 7.7-mile hiking trail near Paynetown SRA by Lake Monroe. We did the shorter 3.8-mile eastern section. Initially, I thought it might be better not to take Rob (the dog), as I figured it’d be really muddy and didn’t feel like giving him a bath after our hike. But as we started getting ready, Rob somehow figured out what was going on (I know I didn’t tell him) and got really excited, begging to come with us. We couldn’t resist, so Rob joined us for this hike.

It was a dreary, slightly foggy day in the upper 20s, snowing a bit on and off. Really the kind of day that makes you want to sit at home and not do much of anything, but it really was beautiful once we got moving. Sarah and I have found that we much prefer winter hiking to intense summer heat. Granted, it hasn’t been extremely cold on our hikes thus far, but in colder weather, we can always add layers. In the summer, the heat can be brutal, and there’s little you can do about it. We don’t have to carry as much water during the winter, either.

Pines along the Pate Hollow Trail

The trail starts right behind the Paynetown DNR office and is pretty close to the highway at first, but before long you are away from it and it’s surprising how quiet it is, given its proximity to the highway. The trail starts on a ridge and gradually descend into a valley. You barely even notice you’re going downhill. The trail crosses a creek a couple of times and then begins a gradual climb that doesn’t feel too difficult, but before long you realize you are way above the valley, and in fact higher than you were at the trailhead.

Rob, running

The trail was well-marked, with maps with yellow arrows indicating your current location, at each intersection. Since we were doing only part of the trail, an old dirt road served as a shortcut.

The old road

The trail followed the ridge tops for a while longer, climbing higher before descending into another ravine and climbing back up the other side.

Rob peers across the ravine

Creek

Rob and Sarah

Hills in the distance

This was a really cool trail, and we want to go back and hike the whole thing. The western half of it goes near Lake Monroe, so it should be even more scenic.

I won’t call these New Year’s resolutions, exactly, but I’d like to set some cycling goals for 2008. Here are my goals, in no particular order.

• Ride 4,000 miles.
• Ride at least one century.
• Complete at least two Sub 24-Hour Overnight (S24o) camping trips. Preferably more.
• Go on tour.
• Ride with Sarah more often.
• Ride with my friends and family more often.
• Make some new friends with whom to ride.
• Run more errands by bicycle.
• Do the Brown County Breakdown again.
• Do the Hilly Hundred again (this may get traded for a short independent tour).
• Ride in some real mountains again.
• Improve my photography and writing.

The only potential problem I see is that I also want to do more hiking this year, and I’m not sure I can find time for both more cycling and more hiking. So, some cycling miles may get traded for hiking miles.

It was around 40 degrees on Saturday, and Sarah and I took advantage of the warmer weather to go hiking at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. We hiked the 2.7-mile Mason Ridge Trail, which was cool despite the fact that it crosses the road a few times. The downside was that part of the trail was closed for logging. The more I learn about (and see first-hand) the logging that goes on in our state forests, the more it upsets me. They claim it’s sustainable, but I’m not sure I’m convinced. We had a good hike though, despite that and despite the fact that we had trouble following the signs and maps we had.

It’s incredibly warm here now — it was around 60 degrees yesterday, with a high of 69 predicted for today. For January, this is insane. I took advantage of the warm weather to go for a bike ride yesterday. I chose the Ride Around Lake Monroe route, which  I’ve ridden once before. This ride also goes to the same area as Dr. T’s Funky Fifty.

Despite the warm weather, it was a pretty dreary day. It wasn’t raining while I was riding, but it had been earlier, so the roads were covered in water and grime. And it was overcast to the point where I wasn’t sure how well my camera would work. Fortunately, it did work. Anyway, I set out on Smith Road and took Moore’s Pike over to 446, which took me away from town. Traffic was light but winds were harsh, gusting to some 30 mph, and I rode into the wind for the first 12 miles of my ride or so.

Riding across Lake Monroe is always a highlight of any ride that takes 446 across the causeway. The lake had a weird blue-green hue, not the kind of green that makes you think of algae, but something a little brighter. Contrasted with the grey clouds and dark hills in the distance, the color of the lake seemed emphasized, and it looked almost surreal.

Lake Monroe had a weird blue-green hue

After Lake Monroe is a big climb that took a little more out of me than it should have. The lack of riding as of late is taking its toll.

Hill after crossing Lake Monroe

Limestone lines the road on another part of the climb

After that hill, 446 is pretty easy for a while, a little curvy but not very hilly. I took 446 to Chapel Hill Road, which is a fun road to ride on. At some point I realized that this route is roughly the same as the Hoosier Hills 60K route and for a while followed Dan Henrys. Chapel Hill has some rolling hills and a patchwork surface from workers patching potholes many times. For some reason I love riding on this kind of road more than roads with a perfectly smooth surface. It has a lot more character, each patch reflecting some part of the road’s history. It also makes things more challenging, choosing a good line, rather than ambling down the road without giving it much thought  — which is also great, just different.

I passed Krazy Joe’s Trading Post, which I’ve written about here before. I didn’t stop this time and I took some photos, but don’t feel the need to post more. For more about Krazy Joe’s, see my blog post Food, fiddlin’, and fun … plus caskets.

I rode further and the map didn’t match what I was seeing. To make matters worse, a number of roads didn’t have street signs. So, I got lost. Well not lost exactly, but I wasn’t sure what road I was on, or how to get to the road the map said to get on. I passed a church with a cemetery and a tattered flag, like so many flags around here have been since the winds hit a few weeks ago.

Point of view riding shot

Chapel Hill Pentecostal Assembly

Tattered flag

I took what I later determined to be a wrong turn and started noticing a weird squeaking sound as I pedaled. I thought it was my bottom bracket at first, but then I realized my tire was flat. I wasn’t sure, really, if it had just gone flat or if it had been slowly losing air, or what. I stopped and pumped some air into it to see if I could hear where the hole was. I couldn’t hear anything so I inflated the tire the best I could and continued riding back toward where I thought I had made the wrong turn. My tire continued losing air. I got onto what I thought was the right road and stopped by a forest across from an abandoned house to fix my tire.

Abandoned house

Normally, I would patch my inner tube and try to keep using it. Since I couldn’t find the leak, I had no choice but to install a fresh tube. A dog at a neighboring house took an interest in me and I almost moved elsewhere to get away from the dog, but he stayed on his property and watched intently without disturbing me. I felt the inside of my tire and the rip strip to see if I could find anything that might have poked the inner tube, but couldn’t find anything. I installed a fresh tube and it seemed to be holding air. After pumping for what seemed like forever, I was on the road again. I couldn’t help but feel a little jinxed because 2/3 of my rides in this area have been plagued with mechanical problems, first my cracked rim on Dr. T’s Funky Fifty, and now this. And every time I’ve ridden out here, I’ve gotten lost.

A pretty place to change my tube

Pine trees

I soon determined that I was on the wrong road again, but I was on Coveyville Road, which was the next road I was supposed to turn on. So I kept going, knowing that this would get me to where I needed to be. This turned out to be a more fun way to go, I think, and it had me ride down a big hill and then climb up to the intersection of Hardin Ridge (I think) and Coveyville, which looks out over some farmland and a pond, with hills in the distance.
Coveyville Panorama

After descending into a valley, the road becomes straight and flat for probably 3/4 mile, quite a dramatic change from the twisty, hilly roads I’d been on.

Flat, straight road

After this brief and easy flat section, the road turns and begins a climb labeled “The Alps.”  While I’ve never seen the real Alps, I suppose this name is apt. There’s a really long climb and once at the top you can, at this time of year, see through the trees to see valleys and hills after them, and the lake appears to be suspended on a hill; presumably I must have been seeing the dam. It was beautiful, but I knew my camera would focus on the forest and miss the scenery beyond.

I eventually got lost again. I was supposed to find Ramp Creek Road, but I saw nothing with that name. I need to look at some real maps of this area and see if I can’t figure out how things connect. I always get lost here and the Bloomington Bicycle Club maps do not at all seem to match the roads as I see them. I’m a decent map-reader, so I really do think it’s the map.

Lake Monroe

From here I decided to try to find Ramp Creek Road, which turned out to be a bad move as I passed where I feel I should have turned and ended up taking a really stupid route through town. Something similar happened on a past ride, but this was worse. I’ve never gotten lost so many times on one ride before … especially in my own town! I also ended up riding on some much busier roads than I would’ve liked. Drivers were courteous, but this was not a good way to go. I’m not sure what I did, but I need to familiarize myself with these roads. Perhaps a drive out in that area is in order.

Despite my flat tire and getting lost, I very much enjoyed this ride. I’m glad I took advantage of the rare January warm weather and rode longer than I have for a while. My ride ended up being just shy of 45 miles.

Silo silhouetted against the sky

Sarah and I hiked the 4.5-mile Lake Trail in Yellowwood State Forest today. Fortunately we didn’t see any logging going on in Yellowwood. I brought my Nikon D50 on this hike instead of the point & shoot camera I’ve been bringing, and I think it made a world of difference.

We had never hiked this trail before, and I was really looking forward to it, since it goes around Yellowwood Lake, one of my favorite lakes in the area.  It starts out following the Jackson Creek Trail, which we had hiked before, but soon splits off. And follows the west side of the lake fairly closely. It has numerous ups and downs as it goes winding in the nooks and crannies of the shoreline, then going uphill, further inland, and back down to the lake again. It’s a great time of year to hike this trail because with the leaves off the trees, you have a great view of the lake this whole time.

Lake Trail

Jackson Creek

The lake sprawls into the distance

Sarah by Yellowwood Lake

Trees on a hill

We approached the end of the lake and hiked across the dam. We had picnicked here before when we hiked the High King Hill and Scarce o’Fat trails before.

Crossing the dam

Another view of the lake

We then had to cross the creek by the spillway, which was probably the most challenging part of the hike. It didn’t help that the trail, which had been well-marked to this point, was incorrectly marked here so we ended up trying to cross the creek in the wrong place. There was also a steep slope up to a sketchy stairway, and Sarah slipped on the wooden slat forming the stair, smashing her leg on a piece of rebar.

Creek Crossing

Dangerous stairs

The hike on the east side of the lake is much more difficult, and it goes pretty far from the lake, so the scenery isn’t as good. The trail twists and turns, seemingly going uphill at every possible turn. It also joined up with a horse trail for a while, which was OK, but not ideal. It was still fun and the woods are beautiful in their own right, but the first half of the trail was much more to our liking.

Sarah

The trail joined up with an interpretive trail for a bit and some trees were labeled, which would be educational if I could ever remember anything like that.

Labeled trees

Tree sign

We noticed that for a while there were two blazes on the trees, but one of them was crossed out with red paint. It appeared someone made a mistake and put blazes for the interpretive trail on the wrong trail. This made me think of Doug and his painting blue blazes along the Superior Hiking Trail. Reading about his efforts there really make me appreciate those who paint blazes on our trails. But whoever made this mistake must have been pretty mad at themselves, both for making things more confusing to hikers and for having to go back, paint over the incorrect blazes, and paint the blazes on the right trail.

Botched trail blazes

All in all, it was a great hike. We discussed possibly doing this trail in the opposite direction next time to finish with our favorite section and lots of great lake views.

Yellowwood Lake