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.

Stinchfield Woods

Last week, well, almost two weeks ago now, we got the biggest snow of the season.  Sunday night into Monday we got about 10" of wet, heavy snow, and we seemed to get a few more inches of snow every day throughout the week.  The temperatures got above freezing every day, melting the snow a little bit, but it overall came down quicker than it melted.  By Saturday morning, February 27, there was 12" of snow in our back yard, and it was time to get out to Stinchfield Woods!  "Stinch" is 777 acres of U of M owned land; wooded, hilly, and full of good skiing trails.  I went out there with my friends Nate and Jen for about 2 1/2 hours.  I could have stayed longer, but other obligations were looming.  But there is always tomorrow...

Grace and I went out there Sunday.  The temperatures were near 40 degrees and the snow was melting fast, but with so much dense snow down there was plenty on the ground.

 Starting from the "doctor's office," where everyone parks, there is a ski up a gated road with a slight incline.  It is not exciting, but it gets you warmed up and into the rhythm of skiing.  Grace already looks warmed up!

Once off the road, the trail soon comes to the first hill.  It is not particularly large, but at the end of the outing you must also ski down it.  If you have much skiing under your belt it is a fun, curved downhill.  If you are fairly new to skiing, it's a little tricky!  I still remember my first time out at Stinch, and this was one of many hills that was just short of terrifying.

I am not sure where I took this picture, but I like the "ski's eye view."  You can see there is plenty of snow still on the ground.  The sun started peeking out later in the day, and any sunny areas were getting pretty soft, but we still had fun.

You can see that at some point, maybe 50-70 years ago, many areas of Stinch were replanted with red pines.  They are planted in neat rows, as is common throughout Michigan.  There are not many places in Michigan that have not been logged sometime in the past 200 or so years.  If you want to see some virgin forests and interesting logging history, take a stop by Hartwick Pines.

This is looking straight up in the location from the previous picture.  Not too much to say here, other than occasionally a randomly taken picture comes out quite interesting.

A little while later, I figured I should get myself in at least one shot.  We are getting near the radio antenna in the northeast corner.  From here we did a little off-track skiing down a fairly steep ridge.  I think I got Grace in a little over her head, but she was still smiling afterward and did not appear injured in any way.

Shortly after we got back onto the track, we made a new friend!  This little shrew was out on the snow and not as excited to see us as we were to see it.

Stinchfield shrew from Ed Brewer on Vimeo.

Our little shrew friend stuck around long enough to even get some video footage.  Go Shrew!

The shrew was not the only critter out and about.  Snow fleas were out in force, and the entire forest floor seemed to be covered with them.  Apparently snow fleas are vegetarians, so no flea collars were needed.

 This is the infamous Wall.  As usual, pictures don't do it justice, but the ground goes pretty much straight up.  You can see that people either have to do a very wide herringbone to go up, or my preference for this hill, side stepping.  judging from the tracks, someone had recently skied down.  While the hill itself is only mildly daunting, there is a sharp turn right behind me that makes it a little more tricky.  So far I have not skied down, and for reasons of self preservation, may never do so.

From the top of the wall it was a short ski back to the car.  We had to conquer the curving downhill at the beginning of the trail, but it no longer poses too much of a problem to either one of us.  The trail finishes with a few hundred feet across a cornfield.  By the time we finished the sun was blazing down on the snow in the cornfield, and skiing across it was closer to water skiing than snow skiing!