Last week, Sarah and I decided to hike the North Tower Loop, one of the mountain bike trails I ride regularly at Brown County State Park. I had never hiked it before, and she had never seen it at all.

It was a bit odd hiking a trail with which I’m quite familiar from bike rides. It was a completely different perspective, and most of the parts that are tricky on a bike are quite easy on foot. The slower pace allowed me to enjoy the scenery more and take some photos with my good camera, which I never take on bike rides.

We ran into my mountain biking buddy Dave, who was out riding. We talked for a few minutes before he took off. He was riding the trail in both directions, so we expected to see him again.

We saw Dave sooner than we expected. It turns out that the trail meanders so much that there’s a spot where two disparate parts of the trail come within about 30 feet of each other — we just never noticed before because unless someone’s riding on the other part at the same time, you can’t see the trail through the brush. You learn something new every day!

It was a really fun hike. I’ve seen this trail in all seasons and conditions, but always from my bike. It was cool to get a different perspective; we’ll have to go back and hike some of the other mountain bike trails sometime.

Sarah and I did some photography in town yesterday. For me at least, it was mostly a study in texture. I made a few attempts at HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. This isn’t my favorite look but it’s an interesting tool to add to the toolbox. I need to try it on some more varied subjects.

A few more images of interest (non-HDR):

IU Press

I figure it’s time to post some good things about our trip to the mountains — and while we had very little opportunity for recreation and my enjoyment of it was tempered by my injuries, we still took in some incredible scenery. First up is Jump Off Rock, in Laurel Park (near Hendersonville), North Carolina. It was a slow, steep, twisty drive to the top of the mountain.

View from Jump Off Rock

Sarah at Jump Off Rock

Mountain layers

Neighboring mountain

There were a couple of hiking trails, but I was in too much pain to hike. As you can see, though, there were some truly incredible views. Later that night we saw some other mountains on the other side of town.

House in the mountains

Sunset

On our way to Roanoke, VA from Hendersonville, we got caught in a couple of intense storms. We stopped at an overlook alongside the incredibly scenic Interstate 81. It was still raining and there was thick fog nestled in the mountains. My photos don’t do justice to the sheer size of some of these mountains or the atmospheric beauty we witnessed.

Fog rises from the mountains during a thunderstorm

One of many climbs on the interstate

Panoramic shot of the mountains and the interstate

In Roanoke, we made a trip up to the top of Mill Mountain, where the Roanoke Star sits. It’s a 100-foot lighted star on the mountain overlooking the city. This spot also offers panoramic views of the Roanoke Valley. Once again there had been strong storms and the whole region was enveloped in a thick fog.

Roanoke Valley

Roanoke Star

Roanoke Valley panorama

I also took a few infrared shots. It’s interesting how well the IR shots cut through the haze

Part of Roanoke Valley, in infrared

Infrared mountains

Steps on the short hiking trail

Trail leading back to the parking lot

We also took in part of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke. It was absolutely stunning.

Houses and power lines

Hazy mountains as darkness falls

Blue ridge panorama 1

Sky

The Blue Ridge Parkway — maybe someday I’ll get to ride part of this

Mountains

Blue Ridge Panorama 2

Sun setting over the mountains

As you can see, our trip was not exactly a bust in terms of scenery. And while we experienced the mountains from a more passive perspective than I prefer (driving, rather than hiking or biking), I feel lucky we got to go at all.

It’s true what they say. Virginia is for lovers. I sure was glad to be there with mine.

If I look out our kitchen window, just as the sun is setting, I see angular light streaming into the corridor of the adjacent apartment building. There are often bikes parked there, and every time I see it I think it’d make a great photo. Finally the other night we were about to leave and I saw this once again. I couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed my camera, and took a couple of shots. Here they are — I think they turned out pretty well.

This weekend was good, even though I didn’t ride at all; Sarah and I spent Saturday driving around the countryside, eventually ending up at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge near Seymour, IN. I planned to go on a nice long bike ride yesterday, but I wasn’t feeling well.

Saturday was a lot of fun, after getting some lunch, we set out with no real destination in mind. We drove east until we hit Columbus, IN, then headed south. In the middle of nowhere, we came across Granny B’s CDs and DVDs, a smallish shop that was just packed with CDs, DVDs, books, and VHS tapes. We were puzzled to find this shop in such a remote area, and bought a few things very cheaply. It was an intriguing find.

Shortly thereafter, Sarah saw a sign for the Chateau de Pique winery. We followed a couple of signs and found ourselves at this small winery that is new as of last year, and as the woman we talked to stated, is “poised to become the #3 winery in Indiana.” We tasted several wines, including their Sauvignon Blanc (good, and very refreshing), Chardonnay (more intense than the Sauvignon Blanc), the Chandelle Cherry wine (tart, and better than I expected), and their Cabernet Merlot (a little mild for my tastes). All were pretty solid, but we preferred the slightly stronger Chardonnay to the Sauvignon Blanc. We bought a bottle of the Chardonnay to take home with us and took a few photos of the surrounding land.

Tent

Rows of grape vines

Grapes

Tendrils

Barn and field

Sarah, with her new camera

Open

We didn’t stick around too long, and drove on to Seymour, then to Muscatatuck NWR. There are a number of marshy areas here, and we saw tons of wildlife, mainly in the form of dragonflies and birds. I even tried to get a few dragonfly shots … it’s more difficult than you’d think. They can be really elusive.

Dragonfly

Wildflowers

Marsh

Pond/marsh

Lilly pads

Creek

Geese

Great egret in the distance — there were several of these and a couple of Great Blue Herons

Ripples

We also hiked the Turkey Trail, a one-mile trail, although we took a wrong turn and hiked half of the bird trail, too. It was a lovely day for a hike.

We also saw a bunch of black and white dragonflies, like this guy

Sarah on the Turkey Trail

Brown dragonfly

We also kept seeing some green dragonflies but I couldn’t get them to sit still long enough to take a photo. Alas.

Wetland

After we finished hiking, we drove pretty much directly home. It was getting to be pretty late in the day. This was different from our normal outings, but we certainly enjoyed it. Muscatatuck is a cool place, but it’s more geared toward observation than hiking, overall. We had fun, but stayed a little too close to the car most of the time.