Recently I spent a night camping in Frontenac state park. We enjoyed great views overlooking lake Pepin, and went on a fun hike.
Our campsite was in a nice spot, with no immediate neighbors, and easy access to a hiking trail. We set up our tent upon arriving, had a few snacks, and went on the hiking trail.
It didn't take long for us to realize the trail had the potential to be dangerous. Soon, we saw several people helping a man up the trail. As they got closer, we realized his ankle was wrapped. Not a surprising injury on a trail littered with leaves. We were careful as we hiked down from our campsite to the lake, heading down several switchbacks. Of course, when you go down, you have to go back up, so we had a scenic workout heading back up the bluff.
I slept in a 20 degree rated sleeping bag, and felt pretty good as it didnt get too far below 40, though we had some rain and wind.
I would definitely recommend Frontenac state park to anyone who wants to get out of town for the weekend and do some hiking and camping.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Lake Como
With unseasonably warm weather this fall, I have been able to enjoy summer activiies a little later in the year than I would have expected. One of those activities is riding my bike. I went for a ride around Lake Como (in St. Paul, not Italy), and enjoyed the fall colors.
Lake Como is 1.75 miles around, so it made for a quick ride, but it was definitely the best part of my 8 mile ride that day.
Nestled in a residential neighborhood on one side, and a golf course on another, it is a small lake surrounded by trails. There were many walkers and runners on the trails, but I had the bike trail almost entirely to myself. The trails were fairly flat, but I do remember a couple of small hills.
After I left lake Como, I headed towards the state capitol building, which is only a couple miles away. It was a great ride on a beautiful evening.
Lake Como is 1.75 miles around, so it made for a quick ride, but it was definitely the best part of my 8 mile ride that day.
Nestled in a residential neighborhood on one side, and a golf course on another, it is a small lake surrounded by trails. There were many walkers and runners on the trails, but I had the bike trail almost entirely to myself. The trails were fairly flat, but I do remember a couple of small hills.
After I left lake Como, I headed towards the state capitol building, which is only a couple miles away. It was a great ride on a beautiful evening.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Medtronic Twin Cities 10 miler
On Sunday, October 2nd, I ran the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 mile race. It was a very popular run, with over 7500 participants. We all ran from the metrodome in downtown Minneapolis to the tate capitol in St. Paul.
The weather couldn't have been much better, as it was in the 40s at 7:09 when the race began, and warmed up from there. The race went along the western side of the mississippi river, until we crossed at franklin ave into St. Paul, where we ran on the eastern mississippi river road. After a couple miles there, we turned onto Summit ave to finish the race to the capitol. I was very familiar with the last half of the race or so, as I have done many runs along Summit ave.
With the great weather, familiar course, and all of my recent training, I knew it would be a solid race for me. I ended up with a PR, and wasn't exhausted at the end. The rest of the day was great as well, as I watched other finishers in both the 10 mile race and the marathon.
The weather couldn't have been much better, as it was in the 40s at 7:09 when the race began, and warmed up from there. The race went along the western side of the mississippi river, until we crossed at franklin ave into St. Paul, where we ran on the eastern mississippi river road. After a couple miles there, we turned onto Summit ave to finish the race to the capitol. I was very familiar with the last half of the race or so, as I have done many runs along Summit ave.
With the great weather, familiar course, and all of my recent training, I knew it would be a solid race for me. I ended up with a PR, and wasn't exhausted at the end. The rest of the day was great as well, as I watched other finishers in both the 10 mile race and the marathon.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Willow river state park (Wisconsin)
Willow river state park is located just outside of Hudson, WI. With 13 miles of hiking trails, a lake, and camping areas, there is a lot to do in this park.
I chose to go hiking, and explored what looked like about half of the trails going throughout the park. There were a few highlights. The greatest of which was clearly the gorge with an impressive waterfall. I didn't expect to see it in Hudson, a town that I knew had cliffs along the St. Croix, but I didn't know of the beautiful river vistas.
On the other side of the park there is a dam, which was right next to a nice area for a picnic and a small beach. I didn't spend much time there, but I could see many families enjoying the park.
Willow river state park is somewhere that I will probably go again if I ever want to get away, but not go too far.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Minnesota State Fair
Before yesterday, I had never been to the "Great Minnesota get-together". I went pretty much knowing what to expect, as I've been to several other fairs, but there were still a few neat things.
I learned that if you aren't going to the fair for a concert, then you're likely oing for food, people watching, the animals, and maybe the rides. Though a day at the fair wouldn't be complete ithout a little of each.
I got a nice taste of the food, (I was sharing with someone) trying a pronto pup (corndog), fried ravioli, french fries, salad on a stick and a malt. The malt had to be my favorite, though nothing really wow-ed me. I do not endorse this diet, though, and cranked out a 12 miler this morning to help me mitigate the caloric overload (well, that and I'm training for an upcoming 10 miler)!
I got a ton of people watching in as well. The styles, attitudes, and sizes were all over the place. With so many people wandering around, this had to be my favorite activity of the day. It was something everyone was doing.
I saw some barn animals, including pigs, goats, sheep, and cows. This was a pleasant way to get away from the massive crowds in other areas of the fairgrounds.
Finally, the rides. I didn't actually go on any, but I was up close to a few, and realized that none of them looked too special. I'm pretty sure had I gone on some of them, I would have lost my lunch.
Will I go back to the fair? Probably not, but the sensory overload is undeniable, and it makes for an interesting afternoon.
I learned that if you aren't going to the fair for a concert, then you're likely oing for food, people watching, the animals, and maybe the rides. Though a day at the fair wouldn't be complete ithout a little of each.
I got a nice taste of the food, (I was sharing with someone) trying a pronto pup (corndog), fried ravioli, french fries, salad on a stick and a malt. The malt had to be my favorite, though nothing really wow-ed me. I do not endorse this diet, though, and cranked out a 12 miler this morning to help me mitigate the caloric overload (well, that and I'm training for an upcoming 10 miler)!
I got a ton of people watching in as well. The styles, attitudes, and sizes were all over the place. With so many people wandering around, this had to be my favorite activity of the day. It was something everyone was doing.
I saw some barn animals, including pigs, goats, sheep, and cows. This was a pleasant way to get away from the massive crowds in other areas of the fairgrounds.
Finally, the rides. I didn't actually go on any, but I was up close to a few, and realized that none of them looked too special. I'm pretty sure had I gone on some of them, I would have lost my lunch.
Will I go back to the fair? Probably not, but the sensory overload is undeniable, and it makes for an interesting afternoon.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wilderness camping in Yosemite National Park
I haven't had a post for over a month now, but this one is a real treat (not like my ice cream posts, I'll get to those eventually). I spent a few days backpacking through the wilderness in yosemite National park.
Located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of north eastern California, Yosemite has so much beauty that I was only able to witness a small fraction. There are around 800 miles of trails throughout the park, and I saw roughly 30.
The trip began on a Friday morning, where my friends and I waited in line in the Touolumne meadows area to get a permit to backpack in the wilderness. The permit was free of charge. We made friends with some of the other people in line and waited for about two hours. We had a pretty good spot in line, maybe seventh. When it came time to pick a trailhead, we decided on rafferty creek. All of the options seemed good, but we knew we wanted to make it into yosemite valley, and we didn't want to take the most direct route, but didn't want to add on too many miles. I think it was a good compromise.
On Friday night, we camped in the backpacker's campground in toulumne meadows. It was a comfortable location, and cost $5 per person. We woke up at a decent time, and after we cooked breakfast, picked up some last minute items, and squared away our bear boxes (canisters we rented to keep bears away from human food), we got on the trail. It was still morning, and we were pretty excited to get moving.
The first few miles weren't too exciting, but we still snapped a few pictures. Our packs began to get quite heavy, and as we made our way to higher elevation, we took several breaks. There were 4 of us, and at one fork in the road we had a disagreemet on which way to go: the "easy" way or the "hard" way. I was interested in an adventure, but the voice of reason eventually stepped in and said that we had to go with the easier route. The views were still quite beautiful on the easy path, so no hard feelings now.
We spent the night in a meadow, not too off the trail. When it was time to get up in the morning, we were a bit slow- moving. It was quite cold, as the bear boxes had a considerable amount of frost on them. We cooked up some oatmeal and got on our way, what would eventually be around 11 miles of switchbacks and forest. We took at break near Merced lake, near where an established camp was set up. I remember filtering water and eating a lot of trail mix there. We moved along, and eventually found a great campsite in a wooded area. We had the best dinner of our time in the wilderness, burritos, that night. We also had a fire going for a while, which was easy to start with the abundance of dry sticks in the area.
The next day ended up being very relaxed. We walked a couple miles, and saw that the backpacker's campground for those that want to climb half dome was nearby. We were fortunate enough to get tickets for this when we picked up our wilderness permit, and we figured it would be much more comfortable to hike up to half dome from the campsite than from yosemite valley, an additional 4.7 miles from that point. We spent most of the day at a beach alongside the river and collecting wisdom from a variety of visitors.
After our rest day, we had what amounted to be the most painful (and most rewarding) day of our hike. We woke up early and made our way to half dome. Between where we camped and the top of half dome was about 2700 feet of elevation gain over 3.5 miles, so the trail was no joke. We made it to the top using the cables and enjoyed the views for a while. On our way down, it was starting to get a little busy, and I could see how accidents can happen there. We made our way back to camp and packed up. Next was the mist trail, which is appropriately named. We saw nevada falls and vernal falls on our way down into the valley, where we ended our trip.
Yosemite national park is definitely a beautiful place, so I can understand why so many people flock there each year. With that said, experiencing Yosemite by backpacking was a way to see the incredible sights and still (surprisingly) have solitude. I would recommend a trip to Yosemite for anyone up for a beautiful adventure.
Located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of north eastern California, Yosemite has so much beauty that I was only able to witness a small fraction. There are around 800 miles of trails throughout the park, and I saw roughly 30.
The trip began on a Friday morning, where my friends and I waited in line in the Touolumne meadows area to get a permit to backpack in the wilderness. The permit was free of charge. We made friends with some of the other people in line and waited for about two hours. We had a pretty good spot in line, maybe seventh. When it came time to pick a trailhead, we decided on rafferty creek. All of the options seemed good, but we knew we wanted to make it into yosemite valley, and we didn't want to take the most direct route, but didn't want to add on too many miles. I think it was a good compromise.
On Friday night, we camped in the backpacker's campground in toulumne meadows. It was a comfortable location, and cost $5 per person. We woke up at a decent time, and after we cooked breakfast, picked up some last minute items, and squared away our bear boxes (canisters we rented to keep bears away from human food), we got on the trail. It was still morning, and we were pretty excited to get moving.
The first few miles weren't too exciting, but we still snapped a few pictures. Our packs began to get quite heavy, and as we made our way to higher elevation, we took several breaks. There were 4 of us, and at one fork in the road we had a disagreemet on which way to go: the "easy" way or the "hard" way. I was interested in an adventure, but the voice of reason eventually stepped in and said that we had to go with the easier route. The views were still quite beautiful on the easy path, so no hard feelings now.
We spent the night in a meadow, not too off the trail. When it was time to get up in the morning, we were a bit slow- moving. It was quite cold, as the bear boxes had a considerable amount of frost on them. We cooked up some oatmeal and got on our way, what would eventually be around 11 miles of switchbacks and forest. We took at break near Merced lake, near where an established camp was set up. I remember filtering water and eating a lot of trail mix there. We moved along, and eventually found a great campsite in a wooded area. We had the best dinner of our time in the wilderness, burritos, that night. We also had a fire going for a while, which was easy to start with the abundance of dry sticks in the area.
The next day ended up being very relaxed. We walked a couple miles, and saw that the backpacker's campground for those that want to climb half dome was nearby. We were fortunate enough to get tickets for this when we picked up our wilderness permit, and we figured it would be much more comfortable to hike up to half dome from the campsite than from yosemite valley, an additional 4.7 miles from that point. We spent most of the day at a beach alongside the river and collecting wisdom from a variety of visitors.
After our rest day, we had what amounted to be the most painful (and most rewarding) day of our hike. We woke up early and made our way to half dome. Between where we camped and the top of half dome was about 2700 feet of elevation gain over 3.5 miles, so the trail was no joke. We made it to the top using the cables and enjoyed the views for a while. On our way down, it was starting to get a little busy, and I could see how accidents can happen there. We made our way back to camp and packed up. Next was the mist trail, which is appropriately named. We saw nevada falls and vernal falls on our way down into the valley, where we ended our trip.
Yosemite national park is definitely a beautiful place, so I can understand why so many people flock there each year. With that said, experiencing Yosemite by backpacking was a way to see the incredible sights and still (surprisingly) have solitude. I would recommend a trip to Yosemite for anyone up for a beautiful adventure.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Canoeing the chain of lakes
On a recent day, I set out to go canoeing, starting on lake Calhoun, and through the chain of lakes in Minneapolis. The weather was nice and the boat rental shop was busy, but we still got a boat quickly.
I haven't done a lot of canoeing in my life, but I've always enjoyed being close to the water. On a hot day in the summer, this made for an excellent activity. After renting the boat, we were off into lake Calhoun, and very shortly into a channel between lake Calhoun and lake of the isles. Naturally, the lakes were full of people on kayaks, canoes, pedal boats and a paddle boarder or two. I didn't go out for peace and quiet, though, I went out to see the scenery and get some exercise in the process.
Eventually, we made our way across lake of the isles and into the channel before cedar lake. Once we got into cedar lake, we paddled our way over to a tunnel that led t brownie lake, where we were rewarded with a large dinosaur in the water. After touching the dinosaur (don't worry, he was nice), we made our way back towards lake calhoun.
We ended up canoeing for a little under 2 hours, and really enjoyed it. Does this mean I will buy a canoe someday? I don't know for sure, but it is definitely a nice way to enjoy the outdoors.
I haven't done a lot of canoeing in my life, but I've always enjoyed being close to the water. On a hot day in the summer, this made for an excellent activity. After renting the boat, we were off into lake Calhoun, and very shortly into a channel between lake Calhoun and lake of the isles. Naturally, the lakes were full of people on kayaks, canoes, pedal boats and a paddle boarder or two. I didn't go out for peace and quiet, though, I went out to see the scenery and get some exercise in the process.
Eventually, we made our way across lake of the isles and into the channel before cedar lake. Once we got into cedar lake, we paddled our way over to a tunnel that led t brownie lake, where we were rewarded with a large dinosaur in the water. After touching the dinosaur (don't worry, he was nice), we made our way back towards lake calhoun.
We ended up canoeing for a little under 2 hours, and really enjoyed it. Does this mean I will buy a canoe someday? I don't know for sure, but it is definitely a nice way to enjoy the outdoors.
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