Quiet Time

Time for some chillin' off the farm.

I could have stayed home as the temps were supposed to be in the 80's again, but I thought I'd make my own breezes again. This time I promised myself to just pedal until I found something interesting and then stop and look at it. 

This was not a work out, it was a pleasure out. I took my ancient camera that I had converted to Infrared. I put on the hot filter to shoot in normal colors and traded off with some infrared filters of 665nm and 850nm. The 850nm presents in black and white with the greens becoming white and blues are dark.

One of the places I really enjoy stopping at is the pond that is near a place called Star Valley. Okay, it was a place called Star Valley. A community lived here from 1901 to 1962. In the 60's, the government started a flood control project called the LaFarge Dam Project. People's homes/farms were purchased and those who refused had their land appropriated.

There still is a lot of resentment over those actions as the project was abandoned in the 1970's.  I've referred to the project over the years. You can check out one of those posts here: Dam Hike & Forest Wandering.

By the time I got to the Star Valley Memorial after riding about 5 miles, I was so chilled out that I could have laid on the bench and napped. Instead, I sat and just let my mind wander while I ate an apple. Funny thing is, I never thought a bit about my schedules for the next week. 

I knew then, that this was exactly what I needed.

Here is the pond in color, then in IR Black and White, and lastly in 665nm.

The presentation of the foliage and the pond reflections are startling in IR. I guess that is what the biggest appeal to me is. The wild colors are pretty much up to the person who processes IR. I happen to like a pink tint to the 665nm foliage. Sometimes the Black and White is more appealing. I love how the clouds and the reflections stand out.

I couldn't resist bringing my mini-me and Charlie along. In real life, I couldn't do this!

The colors were starting to turn in various places but nothing spectacular quite yet. The sumac offered some beautiful reds.

Bridge 16 is in the background of this shot.

Here is some different colors and a different variety of Highbush Cranberry.

Fully mature Nanny Berries! They turn black ... 

Last but not least was some curious vines I'd seen before but never stopped to investigate.

I've seen it flowering in the spring but had no idea that it is a type of wild clematis, with a common name called Old Man's Beard.

It was a pleasure to have some solo time. It was a beautiful afternoon and oddly enough, I never saw another person on the trail. There was no sign of hikers, bikers, or equestrians. 

Fall is coming. It will be here eventually....

Surprises on another spring walk

Wednesday was going to be incredibly beautiful for the middle of March. Charlie and I took off for the Reserve again to check out some different ponds of water for wildlife.

Actually, we just wanted to get out and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. I should have stayed home and raked the yard.

Hmmm. I think we took the better choice.

I figured to get some chill out time alone as the next 3 weekends are booked with visitors. I hope my son and his crew are up for taking the kids hiking at the Reserve with me if it isn't raining. It will wear out the kids and being outdoors is easier than being inside our little house.

I'm still in the bird 'hunting' mode. 

We came up on campsite C which a few years ago had some great views of one of the ponds. Unfortunately, the briars have grown back in and I didn't have the means to cut them down. But the Canada Geese were there in droves.

I shot this through the brush so it gives it an interesting look.

I liked the reflections of the clumps of grass on the pond water, so I took this shot which is not impressive at all. Well, what I didn't see through the brush were the turtles at the bottom of the photo!
I was tickled to see turtles here as I don't recall ever seeing them before on my spring hikes. I'm sure they live there, I just never thought about it.

Those clumps of grass remind me of Cousin It on the Munsters. 👀

I promised myself to come back to that one spot and clear out the 10 briars that kept me from sitting close to the shore to watch the birds.

I was looking for more Sandhill Cranes, I heard them at the pond that was south of where I was. So maybe this pond is too crowded with Canada Geese for them to want to share?

This is a large meandering pond but this one spot was crowded with geese.

On the other side of the Old 131 trail is another pond. This one has a floating dock with a bench for folks to sit on and watch the pond.

Nothing terribly interesting was happening there. However my Lego Friends decided they'd like to use the dock to do some bird watching themselves.

I took a side trip down a trail that used to have a campsite on the river shore and was since moved. Charlie and I walked down to the river.

The other side of the river is where the Little Canada Trail is. The river is quite low now due to the lack of rain. I am standing on an old campsite that got washed away in a few floods. Across the river one of those pines used to have a rope in it. 
Campers and Canoers would beach their canoes and take time to climb the bluff and swing out over the river and drop into the deeper waters for a swim. 

That tree was swept away in the 2018 flood.

 

I decided to take Willow Trail back to where we parked so we didn't have to backtrack.

I was stopped by a familiar bird song. I could hear it but couldn't tell where it was coming from. I just stood still for a while and finally a little brown bird flew into a nearby bush.

I hear this bird every spring and summer and delight in its song. You would think I could recall that it is a song sparrow.

I let her serenade me for a while before we returned to the car and went home.

Charlie was warm and tired and eager to lay in his crate in the car.

I felt relaxed and happy.

Easy Hike

My Buddy Bill had to dog-sit a friend's lab so we decided to take a short jaunt. We parked at Willow Camp and head down the Willow trail to old 131 and spend some time exploring a bit at bridge 16.

Charlie took the lead as if he knew where we were going. He is pretty good at being the trail leader for such a small dog. The temperature was a brisk 10 degrees with a slight breeze from the west.
Willow Trail is section #14 on our Trail Challenge and is a short .5 mile walk. In the summer months, it is a busy horse trail. Hiking is allowed on it all year 'round. Though during the summer the horses have the right of way and hikers are expected to have their dogs controlled so as not to spook the horses.

Willow trail is section 14 on the challenge form. Our plan was to just to take it easy as the trails were tricky and frozen with all sorts of rough tracks in it.

Willow Trail 

in IRChrome

Old 131 was much smoother. It is groomed for cross country skiing. Though it was too slippery and icy for that.

We wore our YakTraks and had no trouble walking on the hard flat surface.

At Bridge 16 we walked up and explored the old campsite H that has been removed and placed on higher ground.  This was done to protect people from getting trapped in flood waters from the Kickapoo in heavy rains.

A wise move since the campsite was on the bend of the river and at the end of a very steep valley with a small stream that runs through it. During a heavy rain event the water would flood the campsite from two directions during a flash flood.

Behind old Campsite H

Charlie had other ideas when we turned around to head south on old 131. He wanted to head over the bridge and continue on.

I do love the IRChrome filter. White is white and foliage that has chlorophyll in it is red and the sky is blue. I thought it would be fun to experiment in the winter with it and I was surprised by the amount of plant life that reflected red.

We walked south towards Star Valley Road and stopped to look at the ponds. We noted x-country ski tracks across the pond on the east side. Bill wondered out loud about walking out to the little island and taking a look at it.

I pointed out that if he fell in it would take ages to get help. We nixed that idea.

Here is Bill taking a break and sharing a bit of apple with Charlie.  It has become a thing in the past two years to bring an apple in our pockets or backpack and share bits with our little trail guide.

We made a discovery that could be fun this spring. If one were to walk back to Camp C, they could see into the back side of the west pond. This could be helpful while birding in the spring. I plan on coming back and exploring the ponds while the waterfowl come to visit. Last spring I saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans.

Star Valley Monument

taken last spring

The rest of the hike was rather uneventful. We enjoyed the walk up Star Valley Road. We tried to figure out a plan for next week, it would involve a point to point hike in an area we haven't ever seen in the winter.

It wasn't too demanding of a hike and only was a couple of miles, but we knocked off two more sections.

Do over?

I wanna do Thursday over. Can I?

The photo above was an attempt at an experiment with AF Starry Sky. Auto Focus Starry sky comes with the Olympus M1 Mark iii. Actually it sort of turned out pretty okay but I can try this on a much warmer night. I stink at this, but will try and get better.

Our hike at KVR was nice. The weather was perfect, the footing was not perfect but we knew that. The trails were a mix of slush, compacted rough ice, and mud. But we took it slow.

All in all, the adventure was very uneventful. Bill checked out some campsites and we just enjoyed the weather and bright sunlight. 

I got home and walked into the house. Rich greeted me with a few problems. He'd taken a glass of water to the table and spilled it on himself and the chair which included the little pad on it. He'd tried to clean it up as best he could.

He then decided to cut up and apple when he saw us parking the car. Instead he cut his thumb.

He has Essential Tremor which gets much worse when he is trying to eat things like soup or work on a project. Both of his parents had issues with it. Some mornings he can't get his own coffee and when he insists, I have a coffee trail on the floor and coffee down the side of cabinets.

So I walked into the door with him dripping blood everywhere and apologies. I grabbed a clean brown colored washcloth and told him to put pressure on the cut after we washed it. It was deep but clean. 

He is on blood thinners enough so that if he falls, I am to dial 911. 

As I was cleaning up blood and cutting up gauze to wrap up the thumb, the Oxygen guy came.

Apparently he called while I was out and Rich just let it go to voicemail.

Blood on the floor, blood on the table, a dog going crazy and the 02 guy coming to check the concentrator. 

I grabbed masks and let him in to deal with the concentrator [maintenance work]. It hadn't been touched or checked on since Memorial Day Weekend last year.

Pressure on the cut, blood seepage.

I shut off the heat and opened the windows. [Thinking to air out the house with a person that is NOT from our household. He was masked with a neck gaiter.]

More seepage and blood spatters on the wall from where the blood was still dripping.

The 02 guy had pulled around my Subaru and into the Dreaded Muck. Now I had a bleeding thumb and a huge van stuck in mud.

I ran out and told him to stop spinning the wheels.

Now he was frantic. But at least I'd finished cutting up Rich's apple and had something soaking up the blood.

I asked the guy if he now understood WHY I'd parked the 'Ru to keep him from going towards the house. 

Um. Yeah.

I walked to the junk pile around the back of the shed an yanked out two large pieces of expanded metal. I set them under the rear tires of the van and told the driver to ease forward and not to stop once he got going.

The metal gave him grip and stability and off he went.

I finally got the bleeding stopped and Rich took a well deserved nap. I finished airing out the house and took the opportunity to also clean the heater before I turned it back on.

I think I got all the blood too. 

Rich and I had a discussion after he got up. I asked if maybe he shouldn't be cutting things up when I wasn't around. He shrugged. 

I'm noting this day. I'll be talking with the CareGiver lady at the VA next week. I might just give them an update.

And then there is this thought. Do I dare leave him alone for an hour or two? 

We'd discussed this very thing last year with his Psych doctor. Rich is adamant about not having a Baby Sitter. He DOES not need watching over. 

And yet....

Dear Dad

Thank you so much for those skis you gave to me before you moved to Virginia.
I set them to the side in the large shed to 'do' something with them after I got a pair of proper cross country ski boots.

Well, a few years went by and I sort of forgot all about those yellow skis. Then my interest in cross country skiing peaked again and I grabbed those skis and had new bindings put on. I'd purchased some back country skis that were shorter and wider for breaking trails.
But somehow they didn't satisfy my want for those long strides and glides.

Those Epoke 1000's did the trick.
Today I did my first long trek in years. And nothing beats a pair of good ol' fashioned Nordic skis. In fact...Vintage Skies!

Dad you would have laughed when I decided I could go down a hill and make a quick turn and go over a culvert. Um. I ended up on my ass in the snow on the other side of the culvert. The Vintage skis don't have the edges for turning like the newer ones. But I didn't mind as I was never great at that anyway and I wouldn't trade these skis in for anything.

I finally got on a good track and then those skis really performed. Long strides, long glides, lots of boot slapping lift. Just me, blue skies, puffy clouds, and the swish of skis through the bright afternoon.

I had the place to myself which allowed me to comment aloud to you how cool this was and how you would like the trail. And... how much I missed you.
Glide glide glide...slide.

All that beautiful snow and 9 miles of groomed trails.

"Dad you would like this place. We could go skiing on a full moon night like that time we went around Half Moon Lake." 

I stopped at Star Valley. My 'map my walk app' had told me I'd gone about a mile and a half.
I still had to keep track of my time. My goal was to do about 6 miles, but my legs were telling me that 4 would be good.

"Look at that Dad! Wouldn't we love to take this and break our own trail?"
That was not Dad's favorite thing to do, but I would have gone first.

"Dang it. I miss you. And I think you would absolutely love this place in the winter."

I doubled back and headed out towards the partially built dam. I know the ski trail went around it and rejoined the Old 131 Trail.

The 'tick tock' of the clock said I needed to get home and get ready for chores and make supper.
I took a side trip through the woods and then stopped in my tracks.

I simply was enjoying myself too much.

Vintage yellow skis
Memories of my father
Trails of fond places

Old Harrison Trail + More KVR Trail Challenge

I decided that this hike should be shown to my son who says I cannot take a hike without stopping numerous times to take photos.
He is absolutely correct. I am trying to develop an attitude that while on these hikes I bring just a small pocket camera to carry plus some food and water items.

I've been working with Dixie to see if I can get her to climb into the dog kennel in the back of the Subaru. She can.
So yesterday was her maiden car ride and she did pretty well. Lots of whining but she didn't use her loud hound voice to bark in protest.

I started this route at the Visitor Center. I followed the Old Harris Rd Trail to Old 131 and headed north to Star Valley Trail, I peeked in at the 4H trail and headed east.
Star Valley to Willow Trail.
Willow Trail to Old 131.
Old 131 south to River Crossing Trail to the Kickapoo River crossing and backtracked to Old 131 again.
I headed south through the ponds and headed back to the Visitor Center. I completed 8 segments in one fell swoop.
However, the segments were not hard and only had one elevation on Star Valley so it was pretty straight forward and flat.

Back tracking can't be avoided in some instances because the trails aren't laid out with loops so you have to create your own 'loops'. I really like this hike as it was swift and I was surprised at how much I saw and how beautiful it was.

Harrison Road Trail:
Shadows of Dixie and I

 Pretty straightforward trail with some interesting landscape.

Old 131 Trail headed north towards Star Valley:

Some 'lovers' kissing on the side of the trail. I thought they might stop and look at us while we walked by...but they were too busy.

Dixie was off leash for most of the walk. We stopped at the Memorial at Star Valley Trail.

We must never forget these people. I like that.
I can't imagine how life must have been in this area. The land is very fertile and the river floods here often. I do love this area.
I had some water and a snack while sitting on a bench near this memorial.

We then headed up Star Valley Trail:

At the equine campground we found the trail head to Willow Trail. I am glad we chose to go this way because the trail sign was missing at the other end on Old 131.

Dixie was very curious about my finger puppet buddy. I set Stinky down to take his picture and she came and nosed him over into the dirt a few times before I finally got a shot.

Later we played "Where's Dixie!"

Dixie kept 'photo bombing' most of my shots.

But that was okay because she kept checking in with me all of the time.

I went to Campsite "G" and followed the horse trail.

~~ Nearly the same spot in the beginning of December ~~

At that point an Eagle flew over us and we watched him glide to the dead trees in the ponds.

I was excited and Dixie wasn't.

I finally checked my cell phone and decided to head straight back towards the Visitor Center.

Some pretty birch trees:

Dixie had her first real bridge crossing and she suddenly did NOT like it!

I had to lead her across and then she was okay with it.

We headed towards the Visitor Center and went up the stairs.

I leashed her up and we found the Subaru.

She was pretty sure that she didn't want to get back into the crate. But I asked her nicely and she did.

Our first 'doggone' adventure went well. Dixie settled in and quit whining. When we got home she jumped out of the car and trotted around as if nothing ordinary had really happened.
I'm wondering if she'll want to go next time.
I figure it will only take a trip or two for her to figure out how much fun we can have together.

This was my 3rd hike out. The logistics of the trails will now be a bit more difficult. So I need to sit down and figure out how to do them.

My neighbor has offered to follow me out and let me drop a vehicle off at the end of a trail and then she'd drop me back to at a starting point.

I am having a blast.
I'm loving this challenge.
And I am really getting to know the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. There is nothing like hiking all the trails to really get to know a feel for the land.

This route was rather easy, the footing was good and there was only one hill to really walk up and that was a rather easy elevation from Old 131 up Star Valley. There was more to see than I thought there would be even with the dull landscape of February with very little snow.