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Assorted Bob Fitness Bob Gravity's Rainbow Uncategorized VR Bob

The end-of-the-semester-head-clearing hike

Map of the hike. Athens in in the lower left; Dow Lake/Strouds Run in the in the upper right
Map of the hike. Athens in in the lower left; Dow Lake/Strouds Run is right of the hike outline.

As the semester grinds down, I catch myself looking intently at any stand of trees I encounter. For 16 weeks, I’ve allowed my urge to hike, bike or kayak be suppressed by teaching duties. It’s bullshit, really. I could easily carve out time to spend in the woods during the semester. But I don’t, leaning on this convenient crutch to indulge my sloth.

And then it’s over. No bang. A few whimpers. Grades submitted. Crutch splintered. Time to go hiking.

The bridge over Cucumbertree Run on Rockhouse Trail
The bridge over Cucumbertree Run on Rockhouse Trail

As Fall 2016 fell into the rearview mirror, I set off for Sells Park, a short drive from my house that I’d bike in warmer weather. From Sells, I can hit the Athens Trail and create several interesting little loops to get my hiking mojo back.

The Rockhouse Trail blaze
The Rockhouse Trail blaze

I headed out Rockhouse Trail to Turtlehead Cave, where I shot a few 360 photos, then picked up Athens Trail, Finger Rock Trail and Trace Trail to do a big loop around the ridge that slices between Athens’ east-side strip-mall hell and Dow Lake. It’s a wonderful contrast. Half the hike snakes above east Athens and all it has to offer — Walmart, Lowe’s, Kroger, McDonalds, a confederacy of cars and lots and lots of asphalt. The buzz of traffic on East State Street rises up into the leafless woods, tires squeal, and dogs bark in the buffer zone subdivision between my sylvan retreat and the chaos of East State.

Benz selfie on Rockhouse trail
Benz selfie on Rockhouse trail

The trail zags north, a dog threading its owner through rabbit-infested fields, until it turns north, following the ridgeline toward Dow Lake. It enters Strouds Run and gets quieter and quieter and … bird sounds. A random tumbling branch finding the leaf-strewn forest floor in a muffled snap. Solitude.

This is two separate hikes.

First, the urban hike, one of my favorites, wherein I get to smugly float above city sprawl. My life has been filled with variations on this hike. A bucolic stroll through Denver’s Washington Park, enjoying green space and lakes in the Mile High City. A romp with Ozzy through D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, a wonderful green knife that slices into the heart of the District. Commuter cycling along the daybreak arroyos of Albuquerque, watching dawn traffic on the Big I,  pedaling cloudlike above it all, troubled only by potential encounters with the occasional passed-out homeless person strewn across the bike path.

Second is the remote ramble. Sometimes, I need to get farther from the exhaust and crush and cacophony of civilization. I retreat to Big South Fork, Mount Charleston, the Buckeye Trail. Or the second half of this hike.

Moss-covered boulders along Rockhouse Trail
Moss-covered boulders along Rockhouse Trail

The trick now will be to keep going. I always close the semester with an orgy of activity only to sink back into my day-to-day sloth. A head cold already is conspiring to lead me in that direction. But I’m determined to make the most of this intellectual cease-fire between semesters. Aside from my other goal: to finish off the wily, elusive Gravity’s Rainbow.

Here’s a 360 photo I shot at Turtlehead Cave:

Topo map of my hike
Topo map of my hike
One of the coolest things about hiking in and around Stroud's Run is the informational signs along the way. i always stop to read them, even if I've already done so multiple times. This one is for Turtlehead Cave, a key sight along the Rockouse Trail
One of the coolest things about hiking in and around Stroud’s Run is the informational signs along the way. i always stop to read them, even if I’ve already done so multiple times. This one is for Turtlehead Cave, a key sight along the Rockouse Trail
This sign is on a stretch of Trace Trail that I hadn't hiked before. Love these informational signs.
This sign is on a stretch of Trace Trail that I hadn’t hiked before. Love these informational signs.
Categories
Assorted Bob Fitness Bob Uncategorized

Stroud’s Run Vista …

The view of Dow Lake from Vista Point.
The view of Dow Lake from Vista Point.

The day was crap. Overcast. Cool. More March than June. Perfect day for a hike.

I drove up to Stroud’s Run, where I pulled into the trailhead at White Pine Trail, which is a spur trail connecting to Vista Point Trail. As is the case with most of the trails at Stroud’s, it’s in rough shape … but still quite serviceable. Where White Pine intersects Vista, I tool a left and headed north onto Vista Point Trail, hopping over to the Thunderbunny bike trail at one point and then back to Vista Point, which runs along a ridgeline before dropping down the opposite side into the campground. A quick walk through the campground allowed me to pick up Vista again near the amphitheater, where the Vista trailhead is.

Boulder's along Thunderbunny trail.
Boulders along Thunderbunny trail.

After climbing back up to the ridge on Vista, I came across Vista Point and a great view of Dow Lake down below. Not much wildlife was out during my late-afternoon hike, but I did encounter a few mountain bikers on Thunderbunny and a woman hiking with her lab. Finding Vista Point and checking out the campground make the hike well worth it.

The route I took during my White Pine/Vista/Thunderbunny hike.
The route I took during my White Pine/Vista/Thunderbunny hike.
Categories
Fitness Bob Paddle Bob

Testing, 1, 2, 3 …

The route for my ride as recorded by the Trails app.
The route for my ride as recorded by the Trails app.

I’ve been using the Cyclemeter app to track my rides, but a recent Wall Street Journal story listed several other activity apps that are worth a look, including Trails. I like Cyclemeter, but it’s just for cycling; Trails tracks a range of activities, including hiking.

So I downloaded Trails (it costs about $5/year) and set off on my bike to check it out. Overall, I was happy with it. It gives me pretty much what I was getting with Cyclemeter and allows me to use it for hiking and kayaking, too. For the ride, I headed out toward the Eclipse Company Town at The Plains. It was a great afternoon for a ride, though some ominous clouds were circling. No rain on this parade, though.

Love this place. It's on the bike path right before a beautiful, shaded stretch starts en route to The Plains. Apparently, they're now selling greens and eggs ... though I'm not confident the eggs would make it back with me.
Love this place. It’s on the bike path right before a beautiful, shaded stretch en route to The Plains. Apparently, they’re now selling greens and eggs … though I’m not confident the eggs would make it back with me.

Highlight of the ride was north of Eclipse when a yearling doe jumped onto the bike path about 100 yards ahead of me and turned north when she saw me. I followed her for about a minute or two. I kept pace with her but didn’t want to gain on her for fear of scaring her into doing something that would result in an injury. After running along for a bit, she veered off the trail and into the woods. On the way back, I came up on a four-foot blacksnake crossing the path. He was completely unfazed as I steered into the grass to avoid running him over …

The bike ride was about 16 miles roundtrip and left me pretty happy with Trails so I decided to try it out for paddling.

My route on Dow Lake via the Trails app
My route on Dow Lake via the Trails app

I got to Stroud’s Run at about 11 a.m. just as the kayak rental place was opening. For $10/hour I got the largest non-tandem kayak I could find (an Old Town Heron XT that looked to be about 12 feet and definitely had seen better days). I put the boat in near the beach, started the Trails app and started paddling around Dow Lake, essentially circumnavigating it during the next couple of hours.

After three or four strokes I was reminded how much I miss paddling. Saw a couple of herons while I was out and a river otter, which is always a treat. The otter went under as soon as he saw me but then surfaced and hung around near the riverbank for a while as I watched from 10 or so feet away.

Pasddling up Stroud's Run, which feeds into Dow Lake.
Pasddling up Stroud’s Run, which feeds into Dow Lake.

For the most part, I had the lake to myself. A couple was out in a paddleboat and an angler was working the area near the dam, but I didn’t see anyone else on the water till I paddled back to the boat rental area, where a small navy of kayaks and canoes was heading out for an after lunch paddle. All in, I paddled 5 miles, which wasn’t bad for the first time I’ve been out in about a year.

After these two tryouts I decided to switch to Trails. While it sacrifices some of the granularity that Cyclemeter has, I really like being able to use it for multiple activities. And I’m not so hardcore that I need to go big data here. I’m mostly looking for info on distance traveled, average speed and area covered, all of which Trails provides.

Paddling Dow Lake
Paddling Dow Lake