First out and back MTB ride in Utah!

 I set out from the house to ride the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from North Ogden to the 12th St Canyon. It was my first full out and back ride since I've had my bike in Utah. It was an excellent day and perfect time of day for a nice ride. Having a trail system accessible from my house without the need to haul it to a trail head is priceless!

Some super sweet flowy singletrack sections accounted for about half of the trail

Nice shade spot under a cedar

Driving on top of the canal that runs from Pineview Reservoir all the way to Brigham City

The first/last couple of miles are beyond technical, at least by my standards

The literal fear of having severe injury or even death as a result of one wrong move takes mountain biking to a whole new level for me. There are sections that simply must be walked, and many that require super safe conservative riding, speed is not a factor on these sections. Yikes!

I went down twice today and have some pretty significant superficial flesh wounds, I'll spare you any pictures. The first, I was trying to get a little air off the end of the concrete canal, second my front tire slid right off the trail and I went down hard on the very same elbow, wrist, and knee. But thanks to my sweetheart I'm all bandaged up and expect to make a full recovery. :) Thankfully no injuries to report. I will be investing in some armor here soon.

It was a nice 15.3 miles with 1611 ft of elevation change. Just right for my first time out.

Kayaking in Louisiana

It has been some time since my last posting. As the winter of 2011 came and went I had a number of significant changes take place. In February of 2012 I changed my place of work from NE Ohio to Louisiana's Gulf Coast. 

They say that Louisiana is a "sportsman's paradise" and after spending only 5 months here I can truly appreciate their claim. From the blue water off shore to the bayous, marshes and swamps, this place is very diverse and its beauty is beyond words and something that has to be experienced to appreciate.

Bringing my kayak down with me from Ohio has enabled me to venture off of the pavement and I have seen some very nice places. Here are just a few pics of the fun I've been having.

I had scouted this lake on google earth, unfortunately the only launch point that wasn't posted with no trespassing signs was impeded by a carpet of moss about 200 yard which I wasn't about to try to paddle through. Just look at that lake beyond the moss, amazing! I can't believe people would try to keep that all privately to themselves. THANKS!

When laying pipeline through the swamps they will lay these temporary roads down made of wood. Pretty cool driving on a floating road through the swamp!

After a number of being defeated by my worst hated signs (No Trespassing/Private Property), I actually came across a place that shared my opinion on public access to private property. "Clean... Share"

The Calcasieu river as it heads down to Lake Charles

The colors!

Mountwood West Virginia, MTB

Crossing the Ohio River

Foggy hills of West Virginia

The remains of an oil man's mansion. In the 1820s it was built at a cost of $63,000 and had around 25 rooms.

Huge cistern for holding water

Fall colors

Heading back to Ohio

Little Sahara Sand Dunes, Utah

On my latest trip home to spend time with the family we had the opportunity to make a day trip down to the dunes. Its only a 3 hour drive or so and I had never been there before. Amie was the expert and she was right about how beautiful it was.

A perfectly cool cloudy day to go to the desert.

Sand Mountain

Our family cruiser with the make-shift orange flag which helped save us from having a four wheeler fly over us on at least one occasion.

Did I mention that it was a perfect day?

Hitting the hills with the boards and discs!

We LOVE the Utah desert. Almost as much as the mountains. . . well, almost.

As the sun went down we left Sand Mountain and headed for the other side of the park to the White Sands area. We had an awesome fire, which the winds helped to start, and roasted our dinner at the campsite. We climbed all over the dunes and watched an awesome lightning storm move in from the west. After playing capture the flag, with our orange safety rig-job, in the moonlight well in to dark, we packed up and hit the road just as the lightning storm was upon us.

The colors of the impending storm were stunning.

Awesome sand blowing in the wind.

 

We’re all looking forward to many more visits to the sand dunes in the future. Add this little gem to the countless reasons we love to call Utah home and find it nearly impossible to consider departing from again.

Allegheny River PA, Kayaking

July 30-31 I took a paddle trip with some folks from the Trumbull Canoe Trails Club out of Youngstown Ohio. It was a fantastic trip and we got to paddle through some of the most remote parts of the Allegheny River in Western Pennsylvania. It was the first time I've been to PA and the more I see of the North East the more I become a fan. The river itself was crystal clear in most parts and the temp was nice enough for a quick dip at the end of the day. It was only a 2 hour drive from Medina where I live. I look forward to exploring more of Pennsylvania in the future, hopefully with the family next time. 

Only a two hour trek in to Western PA. There is much left to explore of the SE mountainous parts of the state

Around 24 miles or so with the campsite just short of half way.

 

We put in about 4-5 hours the first day and about 6 solid hours the second day finishing in the early afternoon. I would have liked to have spent quite a bit more time on the water but the guys I was with had these super long race-like yaks and seemed to be in a hurry so I paddled my much wider tank-like yak as hard as I could to keep up with em. They were patient though and waited for me in the rapid sections.

The Allegheny 5; Matt, Aaron, Jim, Jim, Me

Put in at O.A.R.S. in Franklin PA. We used Outdoor Allegheny River Services for the shuttling and after getting lost following a detour to our parking area we eventually made it back and hit the water and were underway

Remnants of an old bridge just south of Franklin

Lunch break day 1. Come to think of it, we didn't even take a lunch break on day 2...

Stopping to check out an island for a potential camp site. Super clear water the whole way was super nice.

This guy used my boat as an aircraft carrier attack platform. As he sat there I looked to my right and saw this medium sized green moth descend down and touch the water then become airborne again and flew behind me. As I looked over my left shoulder up flew that dragonfly who snatched him right out of the air, then he landed on the back of my boat and proceed to consume him as he chilled out miles (in dragonfly distance) from the shore. Crafty little fella.

Ahhhhhh finally made it to camp. Going on only 3 hours of sleep I hit the sack and slept for about 4 hours in to the evening.

Early morning sunrise and we're back on the water.

Kennerdell Bridge, about the half way point on our journey.

That steam rising up and filling the valley was the neatest part of the whole trip.

This part, near the end, was the nicest part under water. There were other kayakers fishing there catching small mouth bass and the grass just waved in 4-8 foot depths with a fairly mild current. I just wanted to take the kids swimming here with goggles and snorkel through the bright green grasses.

A sweet rope swing along the last one mile stretch before Emlenton.

Emlenton bridge take out with Interstate 80 in the background.

It was my first trip down a river in a kayak, having only been down one river before in my old canoe. There were only two rapids sections that produced waves high enough to completely drench me and fill my kayak with a few inches of water. It was pretty refreshing but if I were planning to run rivers with waves much bigger, and I do plan to, I will be investing in the spray skirt to keep the water out!