Fall has arrived !

This is my favorite time of year, colors change and cooler temps, no humidity. Last week in Dallas it was in the mid 80s, but no humidity, very comfortable ! Don't anticipate any worktrips in the near future as our new fiscal year starts Oct 1 and we typically don't have travel funds for a month or so.

Check out the new REI Quarterdome T2 tent that I bought, take it out of the bag, throw it up in the air, and it comes down like this !





No I didn't sleep in it in my living room, but I'll test it out on the SHT this weekend when I go up for the guided hike from Crosby Manitou to Caribou.

Great week of workouts, so far. Ran 4.5 miles Monday morning, yoga class Mon evening, biked 45 min this morning and will rest tomorrow. I have a massage appt for Friday and will incorporate bi-weekly ones into my routine. Legs feel strong, and no pain, knock on wood. A year ago I was battling knee and achilles pain so this is a nice place to be. My focus is to maintain a base fitness level through the holidays of 5 mile runs, 1 mile swims and 15 mile bike rides on alternating days. I'll make Golds Gym my second home. Then I'll slowly kick things up when 2009 arrives. By the year's end I also hope to loose 4 lbs, getting to 150. Stating that publically will help me stay committed..... ;-)

Bryan called from JFK Sunday prior to his 16 hr flight to Johannesberg. 18 in his training group, all roughly his age with the oldest at 27 and all will teach in Malawi. I got his fly fishing gear and Jeff got the Mac laptop and Blazer that sits in the woods with the hood up..... :-), but don't feel sorry for him, he has another vehicle.

Have a great week everyone !

A new weeks dawns

Decided to make a 2009 goal ( yes I plan early) to sign up for the Minnesota Tri Series. Ten triathlon races during 2009 of varying distances. I wanted to make Buffalo a Sprint race because I have run that course twice already, and it was my first tri in 2007. This year I took ten minutes off my time and was hoping to take another ten off, which I think is realistic with my new roadbike and added conditioning. However, for this tri series to get points, one must compete at Buffalo in a Olympic distance, will have to contemplate that one. For the series, you receive points based on the percent you finish behind the winner, e.g. if finish 30% behind the winner you get 700 pts. It's all for fun competing against others who register for the year long series with standings posted within age groups or against the whole field.

Why consider this....to keep me motivated to train, gets one out of bed on days you may hit the snooze and roll over for those 5 am runs to trips into Golds. I have been described as driven, don't think I am crossing the line to obsessed as I felt I was in my marathon days.

Bryan leaves for Malawi today, their group of about 20 travels by bus from Philly to JKF, and they fly out this evening for Johannesburg, So. Africa, one night there and then into Malawi. Bryan if you read this prior to departure I will send a test care package out tomorrow, Monday, and we'll see how long it takes. Take care of yourself, stay safe, we all love you and we're all thinking of you constantly !

Jeff is coming over today for the Viking game, I will get to Golds prior for some lap swimming and maybe a quick stop at Dunn Bros for a cup o java. My work week will be busy. After the TX trip there is much reporting back into our Denver regional office, and nightly workouts afterwards on teh days I go in (each Mon, Tues and Thurs), get reacquainted with my violin. The Isle Royale and TX trips meant I haven't touched it in about 3 weeks. :-( Next weekend is a guided hike on the SHT I should be able to make and will camp out one or two nights. Jeff has a winnable football game at Zimmerman, they are still looking for win #1. Jeff played quite abit at runningback last Friday, having many 4-7 yard runs. The week after is Monticello, their only win of last year. That weekend is also Columbus Day weekend, my last reasonable chance for a solo longer weekend, considering SHT vs BWCA vs Isle Royale. Have not been to the BWCA since June with the boys, so with a possible added day I could have four days and three nights to any of these locations, after Jeff's Fri night game. The Fall northern fishing is always good. Bryan and I found a great northern lake two years ago, Phantom Lake, however it was two days out over some tough portgages, so will probably nix that idea and could stay with a better "solo" route, maybe the Number chain again, Lakes, one, Two, Three and Four. Many high bluff campsites and easy, short portgages. I will have to check the boat schedule to Isle Royale, this may be past their season's end.

Off to get that swim in, my competition is not sitting at home updating their blogs, have a wonderful week everyone !

Jim ( enjoying the Fall colors in Big Lake)

Howdy from Texas Ya'll from Mr. 1.56

Learned this past Friday that I would be coming down to the Dallas area for work, so left Tuesday and will return Friday, I took Monday off as when I return Bryan will be gone to Malawi, no big deal other than not being able to see him for 27 months :-(, but should be able to fly over after a year or so. His blog address is : Bryaninmalawi.blogspot.com. Mail service is painfully slow so I am hoping he can maintain his blog on a somewhat regular basis. We spent Monday contributing to the profit of the REI store in Maple Grove and making some other stops. At the end of each year, a 10% customer dividend is returned by REI, as much as I've spent this year I will be able to buy myself a nice gift, or big bucks towards one anyway. I had to be home by 4 to attend the funeral of a friend, so I was very glad to see that day end. The funeral was attended by many from town, the high school where she worked, and the municipal liquor store, where she also worked. I saw folks I hadn't seen in ages.

Once home from this week's adventure, I will start planning for Fall and Winter. I should be able to get in a few more SHT trips, return to a regular exercise regiment, make holiday plans, and a possible a trip with my parents to Branson. I am slowly recovering from the Isle Royale trek, I became a bit overzealous with the hiking but am recovering well, the blisters are now healed ! No specific exercise goals other than to maintain fitness, I would like to be able to do a triathlon down here in Texas this winter. Often my trips are on short notice so if I can stay in shape, can get a bike down here, and find the added personal time ther preceding or following weekend, I would like to do one or two as the tri season in Minnesnowta is long gone. With that in mind, I stay focused and dedicated to my exercise program. I was reading in the last issue of Mens Health that a 1.6 ratio of shoulder size to waist size in optimal from the female viewpoint.....no clue how 1.6 was arrived at, but when I get home I'll see where I am at, probably 1.56 or 1.55, so will have some work to do !

No photos to add this time around fans......maybe the next posting, but I wanted to get this one published as I have been getting many calls as to why I haven't posted recently, concern for my welfare.

Hope everyone is having a great week !

Isle Royale

Devil's Kettle Falls

The trip started with 4 of us departing from my home in Big Lake, we drove to Judge Magney State Park, north of Grand Marais, and camped for the night. Great sleeping with temps these first two nights right at 40. Arrived early enough to hike the nearby Devil Track River and view the Devil's Kettle Falls that evening. This photo above that I took is exactly like the one on one of the SHT posters, same viewpoint and water flow level. The mystery is that the fall on the left goes into a hole, with no visible sign of where the water then flows......it's going into the Devil's Kettle.

Day 2 - We arrived at the dock in Grand Portgage for 8 am departure on the Voyaguer II for the 2 1/2 hr ride to the southern end of Isle Royale, at Windigo. On the trip over we got acquainted with 8 women on a paid adventure trek, led by the only Minnesota lady, Ann, from Duluth. The ladies were from all across the US, they went on over to Rock Harbor, northern end of Island, after a brief stop to let us off at Windigo, and listen to Ranger Val's talk about the Island, what to do and not do. The entire Island is a National Park with the expected rules and regulations. There are pros and cons to being a Ntl Park, there are outhouses vs latrines as the SHT and BWCA have, yet few places where campfires are allowed, even in wet conditions, due to the protection of resource issues. Ranger Val was entertaining, when our boat pulled up to the dock she was jumping up and down, waving her arms as if we were the first folks she'd seen all Summer, hardly the case we all knew, but a great, fun greeting.

We gave our itineraries to the Ranger as requested, and took off for the nearby Huginnin Cove campsites. I guy from New York was hiking solo and joined us, interesting guy who was completing visits to all Ntl Parks in the US.

Voyageur II not the most impressive vessel, but darn sturdy to take on all that Lake Superior offers, as we later discovered.

Our group (Michelle, Virginia, me and Kurt)

Fully loaded for the week-long adventure


Huginnin Harbor on Lake Superior, many of these harbors were used in the late 1800s to load timber and copper mined on the Island, taken by boat to the Mainland.

Day 3 - Kurt and I split from Virginia and Michelle to trek the Minong Trail ridgelines. Kurt wanted to do high miles per day, 15 or so, and Virginia and Michelle wanted fewer, wanting to be down some days, day hikes, then explore the Feldtman Loop. So we split, agreeing to meet back at Windigo Saturday for our Sunday trip back to civilization.

Kurt and I's first day took us up the Trail falling off and climbing back up onto numerous high, narrow rock ridgelines, many great vistas of the Lake and Minnesota's far north shore, and Canada. We agreed to compromise with long days Tues and Sat, of about 13 miles, and shorter 6 -8 mile days the other 3 days. The ridgelines were just amazing, hiking from one cairn to the next, they are small piles of rocks to show the trail path as there is no other way to follow it when hiking on rock. When in the thick vegetation off of the ridgelines, the blueberries, raspberries and thimble berries were numerous and tastey, a late season as it has definitely been, and very little evidence of changing tree colors yet. We arrived at Lake Desor's northern shore campsites for the night, it is one of the two inland lake we would camp on, very nice lake with many islands and clear water.

Day 4 - finished up the Minong, camped at Little Todd Harbor. This evening one of the Park Rangers, Robert Bell, and his son Seth, came into the site beside us. We invited them over for supper and spent a couple of hours visiting. Seth was hiking for a week with his father, who occupies one of the Ranger cabins at Daisy Farm for the summer, no electricity but solar power for one 120 v outlet. This was his first season as a Ranger. Being an EMT and trail runner his "speciality" is rescue. If someone is injured, another from their party has to get to the nearest ranger station, then then notify Robert, he prepares a small pack and trailruns to the injured person. This entire process can take a couple of days. He has a radio, but with limited reception. The task is to then get the person out, typically to the nearest harbor where a NPS boat will take the person to one of the NSP harbors, or directly in. My first visit to Isle Royale was many yrs ago for a day boat ride over and back with my family. When we arrived someone from our boat needed medical attention, a helicopter landed on the Windigo dock as we all watched, airlifted the person down to the Duluth Hopsital. Robert said most injuries are broken limbs, 2 this summer, and burns, from spilling boiled water. These two had hiked the entire ridgeline from Huginnin Cove in one day, about 20 miles, that took Kurt and I two tough days. This was the only campsite Kurt and I encountered that allowed campfires. Yes we made one while talking with Ranger Robert and Seth.

Day 5 - the day of rain. I expected many days of rain due to the time of year, however, we were very lucky to have only one on this trip. This day we made it into Hatchet Lake where the 8 ladies happened to camp beside us. We expected to see them on our return down teh Minong as our departure was the same day. All soaking wet and tired but Ann said their spirits were good, many laughs could be heard from their site, a good sign. Kurt and I spent the afternoon under a tarp drinking hot coffee, tea and cocoa, plus a few cigars, little else to do when camping in steady daylong rain.

Day 6 - Hatchet Lake to south Lake Desor, our only close encounter with wildlife. Isle Royale is known for many moose, 600 some, and wolves, no bear. We heard a moose near camp during the night, and the next morning at sunup it was grazing nearby, but due to heavy vegetation we couldn't see it clearly, or get a photo. Interestingly enuf, on this area of the Island we saw very little moose or wolf scat (waste droppings), yet others who also hiked different parts of the Island saw moose and wolves that were too friendly, Lisa, a friend who was also on the Island' s other side, and Virginia and Michelle who were on the south side saw wolves and moose. Lisa is a tough lil cookie who chases away bear from her family's home near Duluth, on her trip she chased away a wolf from their camp, brave soul she is. The moose were starting rutt, mating season, so their activity picks up. We could occasionally hear moose in the woods in the afternoons. Ranger Robert said on warm days like this, over 60 is warm for moose, they stay low in the swamps under the cedar trees staying cool, feeding at dawn, night and dusk. Also, this day we got into camp early at 1 pm, ample sunshine to dry all gear rainsoaked from the prior day's rain. I could easily see that if a person hiked, setup and took down camp, that in two or three days of rain, how demoralizing it could become trying to keep all gear, and oneself, dry.

drying all gear, the ropes were very handy this day

Day 7 - down the Greenstone to Windigo, long flat trail stretch about 12 miles this day. Vastly different ridgeline from the Minong as this was wide, flat, tree covered. These last two days we leaped frogged with the women's group as we both traveled down the Trail. By this time my hips and legs were hurting quite a bit but taking more frequent breaks I made it back fine. The women had split up into a slow and fast group, easy to guess which group I gravitated to. The sweep, co-leader of their group, was a lady from Utah, an Aussie. We started talking about triathlons, I asked her what distances she'd done, "all." "All?" Yes, including Iron(wo)man distance. So that conversation took my mind off the tedious trail trek, the sore hips, blistered feet, the mileage, and to plans for next summer's tri season.

The view of Lake Desor from the Greenstone Trail above the south Desor campsite. A steep climb up to the Trail from the campsite, but then fairly flat treking all the way down to Windigo.

The shelters available at the campground next to Windigo, little cabins with one side screened, nothing inside but a wood floor. Nice to have shelter, however my worst night of sleeping of the entire trip, the floor was too hard even with the Thermarest pad. Some campsites around the Island have shelters, but on the loop Kurt and I took we saw none.

A large fallen Cedar ( I believe) note the twist going up the trunk





The only boardwalk on the Minong, the Ranger described it as "rugged" which it was compared to the Greenstone which goes up the middle of the Island. This boardwalk was 6 - 9 feet above the muck, tallest boardwalk I have ever crossed.

Cairns - placed by past travelers to show others where the trail goes as one follows the ridgelines
Each ridgeline got steeper as we hiked further up the Island on the Minong, northeasterly. This is as steep as it looks, Kurt on the top.



The Greenstone, flat easy hiking, much downhill, but then again we were heading south............



The "rugged" Minong included this log bridge, two logs side by side, one decayed and fallen, our only way to cross this creek, careful footing required. During the weeklong hike I often stumbled, but fortunately never fell. When one falls with a 63 lb pack there is little you can do but hope for a safe landing, I have only done it a few times.




Re-entry..................Sunday the winds were forecast to be 20 - 30 knots (roughly MPH) out of the north. The boat left at 9 am rather than the noon scheduled departure as the seas would only build. What a ride ! The first 1/4 of the trip was the roughest as the waves caught the entire stretch of Lake from the north, as we neared the mainland, leeward, the land blocked the wind more resulting in lower waves. The captain would occasionally drop the boat speed quickly and turn 45 degrees to diagonally ride the crossing waves when larger ones would come. It was easy to tell who had taken seasickness meds as they were peacefully asleep on the inside boat floor as we ventured back, or maybe it was all the hiking. I love this type of weather, stayed in the back visiting with a guy who used to fly airforce jets landing on aircraft carriers across the world. He told many stories and made this trip seem like a walk in the park. I countered with a few sailing stories. These conditions would be fun to test a strong sailboat in, will sails mostly reefed, size reduced. Once one gets into a sailing rythm in these conditions, wave heights, windspeeds are sailable, with caution.





One of the larger waves, amplified by our wake, but large non-the-less.



Back to the Cities with brunch at the Northern Lights Roadhouse near Silver Bay. Salmon and glazed ham..... that didn't require re-hydration................wow !




Another Day in Paradise ends at Huginnin Cove.

And the next adventure is..................

Off to Isle Royale in the morning for 7 days. Spent just about all of today preparing, I ended up with more room then I expected so was able to add in more cold-weather clothing. I will be well fed, warm, and hopefully dry. I've added two water-tight bags for clothing recently, plus have a backpack raincover, Granite Gear is awesome !

I love this backpack, Kelty Comanchee 6600, that I bought 4 yrs ago, tough as nails, lots of capacity, nifty storage pockets and it's easy to adjust for varying weight loads higher or lower on the back, on the go. They now make lighter weight ones, but it would be tough to ever part with this one. My next piece of gear to update will be the tent, mine is sufficient, stays perfectly dry in wet conditions, but lacks ventilation so moisture on the inside walls is common, a sponge is on my "backpack camping" list of items to take.

Started today with a local 8K race, haven't been to a running race in many years, it was great to reconnect with some of the local runners in our town, perfect weather, plus met some new folks. There is a local group that meets each Wednesday evening, after Sept I'll try to make a habit of making those runs, adding them into the weekly exercise regiment, years ago I regularily made them, it was a great time.

Next post will be a trip report summary of the Isle Royale adventure, have an awesome week !

Superior Hiking Trail Floral ID

Pretty exciting day in Minneapolis, Ms. W, Mc Cain and Palin were all staying in the hotel next to my office in MPLS, heavy security as one would imagine. I had my dig cam with me at work due to downloading pics of house inspections I had recently done, but each time I went down nothing was happening. When one of those big shots leaves the hotel, it's quick, and of course not announced. Many delegates are staying in MPLS hotels, altho the convention is in St. Paul, I saw many in the skyway with large credentials around their neck saying....DELEGATE...how original !

Had a fantastic run this morning, Tuesday was my last run and at 5 am it was 75 degrees and humid, today 47, and of course low humidity, much more energy during the run.

Thoughts now turning towards Sunday's weeklong Isle Royale trek, four of us heading up, with the cooler temps recently it will be great camping and hiking ! I'll take many pics and share later. Local high school FB game tomorrow but Jeff is still nursing his sprain, then Sat will be trip prep day..... last minute groceries, packing, taking care of household things, ect. We also have a local 5 K running race/fishing tourney/motorcycle ralley which is a fundraiser for a local teenager who drowned in one of our local lakes a few yrs back. I will probably run the 5 K race, a good fundraiser for scholarships and chance to re-connect with the local running crowd, now that I can run again.... :-) after injuries.......plus the fishing weigh-in is entertaining, see what really is in the depths of that lake !

OK...all you self-proclaimed naturalists................without looking any of these up.....on the honor system..... and sorry for the lack of focus, these darn dig cams are like computers...........but.... do what you can.......give it your bestest effort..........again no books, but ID the following. All pics taken along the Trail on July 20 by Judge Magney St Park. Bonus points if you can ID the River in the last photo !

focus Jim... focus ...........I'll work on that at Isle Royale

And for 10 bonus points .................................

Have a great weekend.

Jim

TACO Tuesday

Quiet day in Minneapolis today, I think the rain kept the RNC protesters away. A few more police and security on the streets and skyways, but otherwise another workday for most of us. The highlite of my day was Taco Tuesday at Taco Johns in the skyway, 69 cent tacos, I know.... I need to get out more. Morning run was a struggle, 75 degrees and humid at 5 am, but it was worth getting up for none-the-less..... the cold front came thru later in the day, and with it we are instantly into Fall, highs in upper 60s rest of this week.

This pic is of Jeff from last year's HS football season. The coach's philosophy is to send our littlest player out alone for the intros/handshakes, so before every game, Jeff, at 5 6" and 160 lbs, would go out alone against often the other team's biggest guys.

This is Juaquetta's (my Sis) setup at fairs, flea markets and festivals. She loads and unloads all this from her van under a portable tent, selling yarns she's spun and dyed, and her knitted clothing, she spins while there, you can see the wheel in this pic, an impressive setup I thought. This was her first of the season in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, on a weekday evening during Bryan and my Amtrak trip visit in June.

Not only workouts, backpack campin and hikin, but.....

The month of September should prove to be a busy month, in one week I am off to Isle Royale for a weeklong trek with 3 others, back into this life for a week, then possibly a worktrip to Dallas, the month will conclude with yours truly turning 52, Sept 29, and Bryan heading off to Malawi, Sept 26. He received his final itinerary, flying into Philly for a day of meetings and an overnight stay, then off to South Africa, the following day onto Malawi to start the 3 mths training with placement into his village at a later date.

Jeff and I had supper tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings, he starts his senior high school year tomorrow and is already in the midst of football season, spraining his ankle a week ago he missed their first game last Friday, but is hopeful for this week's home game, their games will get easier as the season rolls on and they are hoping to improve on last year's season inwhich they had only one win, Jeff plays running back and linebacker.

Back to work into the City tomorrow for me, the week will be interesting with the RNC in town, while the convention is held in St Paul, much activity also happens in MPLS and the Hilton Hotel across from my office is the RNC headquaters hotel. A week ago we had a sitdown protest in our office's lobby, targeting HUD for not sufficiently helping the homeless. Since then we have added security and much law enforcement will be present in the entire downtown area of each city.

I enjoy daily workouts, being in the woods, hiking, ect, but also this year I bought a violin after renting one on a trial basis. I took lessons for awhile, but during the summer months my free time was all dedicated to triathlon training, however, the past few weeks I have made practicing a priority again. I have always loved the sound of this instrument and learned to read music while playing alto sax in high school. This is not an easy one to master, but I have a lifetime, once I am satisfied I would like to give the cello a try.

This past weekend was mostly a weekend of R & R, easy lake swimming, bikerides, a movie, baking bread...... until I purchased a new DVD player, as the young man at Walmart said, " You just hook that wire there , and this one here......." It still looks like the mess above, does play DVDs, but no cable, my den tv does get cable fine tho, a work in progress........

This pic is from my last tri on Aug 10 at Spicer, the short course and long course races were run the same time on the same course. For the swim, the short distance racers went to the white buoy in the center of this pic, turned left, and went to another and back to shore, 1/4 mile total. My distance was out to the small red buoy and back, you can see the buoy in the distance at the top and center. With goggles on, I had trouble seeing it and teh waves were high going out, but as those of us going that distance went out, the safety boats in this pic formed a line and we could just stay between them. The buoy looked small from shore, but when I got there it was 5-6 feet tall, 3/4 mile total distance. I am somewhere in this photo, the first group out, each "wave" was released in 3 min intervals.

This pic was taken during Grandma's Marathon, Bryan's first this year, as all days in Duluth are, sunny and mild, clear sky, does it ever rain there ? I watched the race at various parts along the upper half of the course between Two Harbors and northern Duluth. This pic was at the elite runners' aid station, where their fluid bottles are lined up on the table, each elite runner has a specific spot for their bottle and aid station workers are not allowed to touch or handle them. Bryan was about 5 minutes ahead of these guys.

I took many floral pics this summer at the BWCA and along the SHT. This was in the BWCA at one of our campsites, a Wild Rose, right ?

Dangerous wildlife in the BWCA !

The mantra "another day in paradise" definitely applies when one is fortunate enough to spend time in the BWCA !

Have a great week everyone !