Bruin Lake Camping

The camper went out two weekends in a row! Last weekend Grace and I took it to Bruin Lake for an overnight trip. The original idea was to go to Fort Custer, but the weather foiled our plans. I will have to admit that the weather was not optimal at Bruin Lake, either, but since it's only about 40 minutes from home we decided to chance it. The rain (mostly) held off, but the the temperature was a little chilly. I don't think the temperature ever broke 50 degrees, and Saturday night was down in the mid 30's. But with plenty of clothes and blankets we still had a good trip.

After setting up camp Grace went for a hike and I went for a ride. I kind of wandered around; a little trail, a little road, a little more trail...you get the idea. It was a nice ride; all places I have been before but I just linked trails and roads together as I saw fit. The dirt roads and trails were finally nicely packed again after such a dry, dusty summer.

And the fall colors were getting quite bright!

This patch of sumac was so brilliant it almost seemed fluorescent.

On Annarbor.com recently there was a short video of Matthaei Botanical Gardens Horticultural Manager Mike Palmer talking about fall colors.


After some good riding and hiking we got a fire started for dinner. When packing for the trip we more or less just threw in whatever food was available, and figured we would at least not be hungry. Fortunately, one of the things we had "just laying around" was a nice, big T-bone steak. Along with some potatoes in the fire and some various cut-up vegetables, we put dinner together.

After dinner we burned up the rest of our firewood trying to stay warm. The temperature was a little chilly but we stuck it out.

As the night went on, I noticed that the eastern horizon was staying light, as if the sun was just a little below the horizon. The sky was quite cloudy and I can only guess that the city lights from Ann Arbor, Ypsi, and Detroit and its suburbs were lighting up the night sky. I played around with the camera settings and got some pictures. The light from the sky is reflecting on Bruin Lake, making for an interesting view. In the first picture I maximized the light, making a grainy, but bright picture. The second picture is pretty close to how the sky actually looked that night.

Sunday we got up, made some oatmeal, and took a walk around the campground. It was pretty cold out and we decided to head on home. Not quite the weekend trip we had in mind, but we also did not let the weather completely spoil our plans.

Camping with Dad

We finally pulled it off! I have been trying to go camping with my dad for most of September, and either the weather did not cooperate or we had other plans. But last weekend the weather forecast looked good and we were both available.

So the camper went on the hitch and away we went! The plan was to go up to Port Crescent State Park at the tip of the "thumb," were he and my mom went many times before selling their motorhome a few years ago.

We got up there in good time Friday night and, after some eye-balling of different campsites, picked one out near the lake, relaxed with a little beer, and hit the hay.

Saturday greeted us with hardly a cloud in the sky and remained that way all day. I made some of my low-gluten pancakes (while I don't have celiac disease, my innards don't tolerate very much wheat/gluten), which seemed to go over pretty well with my dad, and we set out for the day. As an aside, if you're interested in trying to reduce or eliminate gluten and want some ideas, send me a message and I will be happy to discuss some of my solutions.

Off to our adventures for the day! We first went to the day use area of Port Crescent.

We stopped in to take a look at Lake Huron, where there are some nice boardwalks along the beach. The water was as calm as it ever gets on a Great Lake. It would have made for good canoeing, but we didn't have a canoe. And with miles of great of hiking in front of us, we were not really searching for ways to entertain ourselves.

 There are some nice trails through a sandy, dry hardwood forest of primarily white, black, and red oaks.

The trees were fairly widely spaced out, allowing quite a bit of sunlight to filter down. The oaks here were just starting to show fall colors, but the maples and aspens in other areas were getting quite brilliant.

 A nice, bright yellow aspen can bee seen standing to the right in the background of this sandy clearing.

We stopped back in at the campground to grill hotdogs over the fire, and realized we had forgotten ketchup or any other condiments. With a little creative thinking we sliced up tomatoes and put some salsa on the 'dogs. They made good enough toppings we really didn't even miss the "normal" toppings.

After lunch we headed out again. We were looking for The Huron County Nature Center & Wilderness Arboretum. My mom and dad had been there a few years ago, and Grace and I stopped in the parking lot while on a bike ride last year. The only problem on this day was that neither one of us knew the name or the location. The rangers at Sleeper State Park were helpful and able to help us find our way. The Huron Arb is a little wetter than the day use area at Port Crescent, more of a mesic hardwood forest. In the back area it it even wet enough for a boardwalk, with the forest being more lowland hardwoods.

On down the trail I saw a garder snake in the underbrush. We tried to catch it, and soon realized that there were two garder snakes, and we were each chasing a different one. My dad caught the one he was chasing, but the other one got away.

We also walked out on the breakwater piers at Caseville and Port Austin. A wedding was just finishing up at the pier in Port Austin, complete with bridesmaid gowns and tuxedos.

Dinner time! If you know the two of us, you know we like to eat. The menu for Saturday night consisted of a flat iron steak, potatoes, and corn on the cob; all cooked on the fire.

 Cooking also gave us some time to relax around the fire, and enjoy a little beer while watching the fire.

After dinner we took a walk around the campground. It initially seemed surprisingly busy for this time of year, but we realized that almost everyone was down by the lake, where we set up, and the rest of the campground was not very full.

Port Crescent has a great beach for watching the sunset, and we made it there just in time to see the sun dip below the horizon.

It was a nice night for a campfire, with the sky an interesting mix of stars, full moon, and fast-moving clouds. We sat around the fire until 11:00 and then called it a night.

Sunday greeted us with some clouds a wind, but the temperature was not bad. We decided to pack up and work our way down the east side of the thumb. The first stop was Eagle Point. The first picture in this post was taken at the Eagle Point parking lot. Grace and I put our canoe in here last fall and paddled to Turnip Rock. It was quite a long way to carry the canoe out to the water last year, and this year the lake level is down another foot or so. You can just see the water on the horizon. I am guessing it is 0.3~0.4 miles from the parking lot.

From where the water starts, there is a long, rocky point that goes out another 0.3~0.4 miles. The water stays very shallow until just past that point, where the waves break on the drop off.

To give perspective, I turned around and took a picture in towards shore from the same place.

I don't have much to add to this picture, other than I like how it turned out.

From there we went through Grindstone City, which, not surprisingly, was named after the industry that started the town. There are quite a few large grindstones throughout town for decoration. And despite what the linked article says about it being a ghost town, there seems to be quite a few people living in there.

A short drive down the road is the Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse. There was wait of 20-30 minutes to go up in the lighthouse, so we just looked at the museum, walked down to the water, and moved on.

Our last stop of the day was at Four Mile Park. It initially looked like simply a roadside pull off with a nice view of Lake Huron from on a bluff.

As we were pulling out we saw some stairs leading down to the lake, but we didn't stop since we were already moving.

The next stop was in my driveway. Overall we had a great weekend, and could not have asked for the weather to be much better.

Drivetrain woes

So the plan tonight was to go out for a dirt road ride after work.

I have two wheelsets for my cyclocross bike; one for road use with appropriately skinny tires and one for dirt use with appropriately non-skinny tires. The 'cross bike had the skinny tires on, since I have been riding some pavement (eek!) lately. I swapped the wheels over and headed out on my merry way.

A few hundred feet from my driveway is a nice little technical uphill singletrack into County Farm Park.

This is a picture from a few years ago and the trail has gotten much more washed out and since then.

Anyway, I started putting a little power down, and...pop! pop! pop! The chain was skipping on the third cog. That was the only gear that skipped, but the top half of the cassette felt pretty gritty. I tried to stick it out for a while, telling myself maybe the shifting was off a little or there was some junk in the cassette, but to no avail. The cassette was buggered up and my ride was not going to be right with only half the gears working.

Oh, did I mention I recently put a new chain on? It was fine on the road wheels, but that cassette has far fewer miles. I finally gave in, went home, and swapped cassettes over. Life was good, and the drivetrain  was again happy.

By then the sun was getting low and it was too late for a "real" ride at that point. I swung by the local auto repair shop to see what interesting was sitting in their lot. Hey... an early Volvo 240 wagon, and BMW 320i. That makes me smile a little bit.

From there I tried to get a look at the new shopping center being built on Washtenaw across from Whole Foods, but the construction area is pretty effectively fenced off and there was not much to see. Hopefully something other than chain restaurants will move in.

Not wanting to have a total loss of a good ride, I headed over to Sylvan Park, not far from home. Sylvan borders US-23 and has a few extra trails running through it that are not on the map. Mind you, this is not really a destination sort of place to bring your mountain bike, but it is some dirt that is close to home for me. I wound my way down to the little creek running through it and was nearly deafened by the frogs/crickets/locusts/critters. I'm not sure who was making all the noise, but they were really going for it. I stuck it out on the trails as long as I could, but daylight was failing quickly and my little commuter light is not very trail-worthy.

I had one last stop over to see the progress on the sidewalk being built on Washtenaw under US-23. It's about time! Ten to twelve years ago I did a group ride that involved riding though that section. Not fun. I have avoided it like the plague since then. So it makes me happy to see that area getting more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

So not the most exciting ride of the year, but at least I didn't let a mechanical keep me home.

Poto! Poto! Poto!

You guessed it; I rode the Potawatomi trail today. It seems that this year I have not made it out there as often as other years. I might be getting too used to not driving anywhere for my rides. Anyway, I loaded up the bike and headed out.

I put up a post on Poto about three years ago. Take a look if you like.

How about a little background? Pinckney Recreation Area (PRA) is about 11,000 acres, making it the fourth largest Michigan state park, and the second largest in the lower peninsula. First place goes to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness, second is Tahquamenon Falls, and third goes to Pinckney's neighbor, Waterloo. PRA got its start with George Reeves moving to the area in 1830 and purchasing a sawmill and about 1000 acres on Hell Creek in 1841. Over time he added gristmill, distillery, and tavern. The Reeves family sold the property to some investors in 1924. The investors increased the size of the millpond by increasing the size of the dam, creating Hiland Lake, which became a popular resort and vacation destination. Michigan state government set up funding in 1944 for creating state parks, including PRA. Through the 1940's and 1950's more land was acquired, to create the patchwork of property we have today that is PRA.

And a little background on the Potawatomi Trail itself. Mr. Eby seems to have thoroughly researched it so I will let his sign tell the story. You can find it at the top of "The Boy Scout Hill," right where the trail from Camp Munhacke joins in.

 

This year marks 20 years that I have been riding Poto. I still remember feeling a little faint after my first full lap. I passed two people riding a tandem and then had to ride way too hard to stay ahead of them.

The trail has changed quite a bit over the past 20 years and had many rerouted sections. Today I checked out some of those long-lost trails, along with a few other offshoots. I keep thinking that some of these old trails will eventually fade away, but there seems to be just enough traffic on them to keep them alive.

The trail above is pretty faint, but you can see the tread going straight away in the picture. It makes a sharp switchback and leads to where my bike is leaning. It's a great trail; challenging and scenic, but also probably not very sustainable if it received all of Poto's traffic.

Another rerouted section. To the right is a healthy patch of poison ivy. Even poison ivy can have nice fall colors!

In all, I rode 26 miles today. A mile and a quarter on pavement, maybe two miles of dirt road, and the rest singletrack. Not a bad way to spend part of Sunday.

Blog revival

It's alive! My ol' blog has been sitting here, patiently waiting for me to get some inspiration again. I have been feeling like doing a little writing lately, so let's pick right up where I left off a year and a half ago.

The weather report was not great today, at least if you were planning to be outside. The original plan for this weekend was to go camping with my dad at Port Crescent State Park, but the forecast was not great there, either. So we will try again next weekend. But this morning I managed to squeeze in a city ride before the rain started.

A new feature around town for this year is the Argo Cascades on the Huron River. Not surprisingly, it is near Argo Dam on the west side of town.

It has been immensely popular; there are always people walking along it and canoeing, kayaking, or tubing down it. It is certainly more appealing than the old weed-choked backwater that was there before. Somehow I have gone all summer without going down it myself. There is still time...

I rolled on into the Bluffs from there. Wow, I just took a look at the map in that link. Good luck finding your way around in there using that map. Plus, it's not very accurate. On the bright side, maybe that will help keep the Bluffs relatively wild.

From there I took a few passes through Kuebler-Langford. It is possible to link up the trails to make five different passes through it. Ever since I started riding the city loop in 1996 I have said that the Bluffs is the highlight of the loop, but Kuebler-Langford has really developed into a great ride and I think now rivals the Bluffs. The terrain has benefited the last ice age leaving a glacial moraine, specifically the Fort Wayne End Moraine of the Valparaiso Glacial Moraine.

 Most of Kuebler-Langford is wooded with large hardwoods, giving the appearance of an old-growth forest. But there is a section that must be too gravely and well-drained for trees to grow. The native grasses seem to like it, growing about four feet tall.

A quick zip through Bandemer Park and I picked up the "M-14 Trail." Part of this area on the east end is Cloverdale park, but I think part of it is just left over from a never-developed ramp onto M-14. Now it is a nice greenway, and a number of years ago the state even made a nice tunnel under M-14, replacing the older, smaller viaduct.

That picture is from a winter ride a couple years ago. The temperature was a little cool today, but no need yet for a jacket and bar mitts.

You probably know that today is the first day of Fall. What does that mean? Aside from the scientific definition, basically saying that daytime and night time are each exactly twelve hours, it means that the trees are starting to change color. This little white oak has really got a jump on the season.

A little further up the trail there is a nice field of goldenrod. When in bloom it makes quite a show, and apparently is not a source of stuffy noses for allergy sufferers such as myself.

 If you look carefully in the background, you can see the sky is starting to look a little ominous. Rain clouds were gathering and I was across town from home. I hit a few other choice trails, but mostly high-tailed it home.

Stay tuned...

Stay tuned...this ol' blog may get some new life.

Riding in April

Last weekend turned out pretty nice.  The weather forecasting folks didn't give it much hope, but I saw a fair amount of sun and the temperatures were not too shabby, either.  So as you might guess, that means the bikes come out to play.

Saturday I went for a city loop ride and found a couple random daffodils blooming on top of the old Girl Scout area.

Just below that is Huron River Drive.  Getting out in the woods before the trees leaf out is nice, as you can see the contour of the land over much greater distances.  A lot of scenic hills and valleys are nearly hidden once the leaves are out.

There is some great terrain in the Girl Scout area/Kuebler-Langford park.  A little stream runs through it, and judging from the size of the valley it runs in, that little creek has been there a very long time.

This is the same creek valley, just looking the other way.  After taking this shot, I hopped on the bike only to find the front tire flat.  A big ol' thorn, that looked like it came from a rose bush, was the culprit.  That was my third flat in just a few weeks...hopefully the third time is the charm and I am set for a while.

A little while later I ran across this spectacle in Leslie Woods.  These two stuffed monkeys were tied up about 15 feet in a tree.  Not sure how someone got them up there, but it's pretty random and pretty funny.

Sunday I went out for a road/dirt road ride.  I took paved roads out to Dexter, then dirt roads most of the way back home.  Dirt road riding on the trusty Surly Cross Check is one of my favorite ways to get out on a bike.  I have been sitting here for a few minutes trying to verbalize what I like about these dirt road rides, but so far I have not come up with anything very poetic sounding.  I guess it is some combination of the speed and rhythm of a road ride, the crunch of the gravel of an off-road ride, and the feeling of "getting away from it all" by being out in the country/woods/farm land.  Plus the Cross Check just feels right.

Self portrait, compliments of the sunny day.


Dirt road ride, April 11, 2010 from Ed Brewer on Vimeo.
And finally, a video to wrap things up.

Hopefully there will be a couple more weekends in April like this one. The weather was great for riding and what ever else you might want to do on a spring day. Michigan is greening up for another summer and I want to be there to see the action!

Canoe!

Well, time is flying, and now that spring is springing I find myself with much less time for blogging.  I suppose that is good...I am outside playing instead of sitting inside poking at the keyboard.

On March 31, Grace and I took the canoe out for its maiden voyage.  My old Yakima rack has been put back into use again atop the truck cap for transporting canoes, kayaks, and whatever else is too long to fit inside.

Since both Grace and I were in the canoe, it was a little tricky to get a picture of it on the water.  So you will have to settle for a bit of the bow and a nice sunset on Gallup pond.

I took it out for a little solo paddle.  The center seat I made worked fine, but my J-stroke needs a little refinement.  Occasionally I could get the canoe to go straight, but more often I was trying to go in circles.  Practice, practice...


Untitled from Ed Brewer on Vimeo.



Untitled from Ed Brewer on Vimeo.

Next up for the canoe is to make a couple paddles, but that is down the list of projects a ways.  In the mean time, I will thank Vince for loaning us a couple paddles.

Barry-Roubaix

Another sign that spring is here: Saturday, March 27, was the first big bike race of the year!  Grace and I raced/rode the Barry-Roubaix, which is a mostly dirt road race.  It takes place in and around Yankee Springs State Recreation Area, a little southeast of Grand Rapids.  While we were not as excited as we could have been about getting up at 5:30am on a Saturday, we both had a great time once we got there.  The event was well organized, the course was great, the weather was sunny (though a touch cool), and we saw quite a few friends there.

There were three options for length; 23, 35, and 65 miles.  If it was a little later in the year I might have gone for the 65 mile route, but my legs didn't have too many miles in them, so 35 miles it was.  As each mile rolled by I seemed to feel better, and I found myself seemingly floating up the hills with no pain!  I suppose I could have rode for a faster time, but I had found a comfortable groove that I did not want to disrupt.

Grace rode the 23 mile route since she had only been out for one significant ride before the race.  But she did it on her single speed mountain bike, and it sounds like she charged the hills in proper single speed style!

We were both too busy riding/racing to take any pictures on the course, but afterward we could take time to pose for the camera between making sandwiches and opening beers.

Heading home after the race, we took back roads for a while since we were not in a rush and it was much more pleasant than the interstate.  My GPS can be seen stuck to the windshield, hard at work.  It is indispensable for my job, and comes in mighty handy for some of our trips, too!

Home again.  I made a rack for the bed of the truck to carry bikes.  Having had a couple Rangers in the past, I knew exactly what I wanted.  The fork mounts for the bikes are readily available from most bike shops, and they are attached to a contraption I made that attaches to the plywood "bedliner" with three screws.  A third fork mount could be added in the middle.  Being an engineer and tinkerer, my rack contraption is set up for road trips.  My large cooler fits snugly in between the bikes, and my Coleman stove nestles in on the right side.

Spring is here!  Time to get out and enjoy the warm temperatures and longer daylight.

Spring!

It has been a bit since I last posted...last time I was still enjoying a recent snowfall with my cross country skis.  Well, the snow is just a soggy memory and we are getting some sunshine and warm (for March) temperatures.  Last week we saw nearly 70 degrees on Friday, and this week is still holding on to the 50's.

So what has been happening since March 5?  The biggest news is that my canoe is done?  D-O-N-E!  What a great project it has been.  Jeff and I started, or at least started planning, in September or October 2008, and bought wood shortly after.

 And on March 17 it received its last coat of polyurethane.  Very shiny.  Not it just needs some curing time, but maybe will be ready to hit the water this weekend.

I have a paddle I made 20+ years ago in Boy Scouts, but my friend Vince was kind enough to loan a couple until I either buy another one or two, or make some.

I have also been getting out on the road bike lately.  I don't have any pictures of my rides since I have been too busy riding, but this is what I have been riding.  It's a Surly Cross Check from 2002, which serves double duty as a road bike and a cyclocross bike.  I have yet to do any cyclocross races, but it still serves me well for dirt road rides, light trail duty, and of course, road riding.  I have two wheel sets, one with skinny road tires and one with fatty 'cross tires.  Much easier than changing tires, and less expensive than two complete bikes.

Today Grace and I got out on our road tandem.  In the canoe pictures you can see "Pig," our cruiser tandem, but we also have a Trek T1000 road bike tandem.  It was her first road ride of the year, and the tandem is a great way for us to ride together.  We might even break it out for the One Helluva Ride this year.

We also bought a "new" car recently.  Anyone who knows me, knows I don't buy a new car.  But this is pretty close; a 2009 Ford Ranger Sport with only 9669 miles.  We got an incredible deal on it and just could not pass it up.  One of Grace's criteria for a new car was "something that will make me want to go camping."  If this truck does not do it, I don't know what will!  Short of maybe a Westfalia VW Bus...  It will allow us to carry bikes and camping gear safely inside, away from sticky fingers and bad weather.  And once I get some mounts on the cap for my Yakima rack, we will be able to easily carry kayaks and canoes.  Obviously a truck also works well for all my various woodworking projects as well.  And to top it all off, so far we have been averaging about 26 miles per gallon.

Now that spring is here, both on the calendar and weather-wise, you have no excuse to not get out and enjoy the outdoors!  I hope to see you out on the road/trail/river/garden/etc.