Post-Christmas Shopping

Today Jerilyn, Danny and I ventured down to the South Side shops here in Pittsburgh to see if there was anything worthy of our coveted after-Christmas cash. I had $100 to spend on some pants, so that was my main mission. The South Side is a redevelopment retail area that used to be occupied by all sorts of manufacturing along the Monongahela river south of the triangle in Pittsburgh, but was long abandoned by the decline of industrial business in the Pittsburgh area.

The first store I went to was H&M as suggested by my wife as a place to start looking. After about 3o seconds of looking around in this ridiculous array of trendy metro-looking mens clothes I decided that it just wasn't for me (as if the price tag wouldn't have deterred me anyway). The second store we went to was trusty American Eagle. I remember shopping in American Eagle when I was in college and it not being too unbelievably expensive, but I guess times have changed. I didn't see any single pair of pants in this store that were under $60. Call me a cheapskate, but $60 for a pair of jeans that in my opinion aren't even that great of quality is a little absurd. **Disclaimer** - I did find a pair of jeans for $30 on the clearance rack but they seemed like they were cut for some girlie man with skinny thighs.

On to REI. For the last couple years I've been shopping at REI both at the stores and online. I've always been impressed with their selection and quality of clothing (especially their house brand clothing). I went to the mens section and found 2 pairs of pants for 30 and one for 60 that has zip-off pant legs, now that's what I'm talkin' about!!! I walked away with 3 pair of good-quality pants for $120 that will probably last me 2-3 years. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't understand spending more for clothing that has no functionality to it other than just looking good.

So for all you guys out there looking for decent prices on good quality clothing, look no farther.

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Tonight we enjoyed out third trip to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (much thanks to Gracie). If you have never been to Ruth's Chris then you can only imagine just how good it really is. If you have been, then you know why this post deserves to be on an adventure blog such as this, eat your heart out FoodieRachel. Tonight I had the Fillet which I must say was superb. Last year I tried the Ribeye, and the year before I had the New York Strip. All were very different and all were VERY good.

PPG plaza in Pittsburgh was all lit up for christmas with the traditional ice rink in the middle with the giant Christmas tree. Here's our annual picture with the lights in the background. In the mean time, Merry Christmas and I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful time with family and friends this week. We'll be in PA with all of Jerilyn's family eating one giant meal after another. I plan on only eating when absolutely necessary so as to not gain 15 pounds in one week (it's happened before).

It's that time of year, and now that school is over, it's time to kick back and enjoy the Christmas Season.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas and everybody remembers the reason we celebrate.

We had a couple inches of snow last night, so I had to take a couple pictures of Oliver in the snow, so I had to make a Christmas card so I had an excuse to show the picture to everyone.

Enjoy!

A different kind of adventure

As some of my loyal readers may know, I have been taking classes over the summer and fall semester to prepare for starting Nursing school. I got accepted to start classes in January, which will be the start of a new adventure in my life. Having all ready been to college once, I have an idea of what is ahead of me, but this time it's different. This time I think this is actually what I want to do for a career, and this time I have a lot more responsibility in my life.

I really surprised myself with my first 3 pre-requisites by scoring an A in two, and hopefully the third (I'll let you know next week). For some reason I feel like I need to pay a lot more attention than when I was 18 and just going to college because that's what everyone did when they got out of High School. This time I feel like I actually need to apply myself as much as I can, but the irony is the fact that I have a LOT less time than before.

I remember telling someone that if I ever went back to school, I would be a better student the second time around, so we'll see if that theory holds true. I'm excited about next semester, and I hope all goes well. For now, I'm going to enjoy a break for a few weeks.

Running

Well, it's that time of year again. I'm scheduled to run the annual 5K Turkey Trot on thanksgiving day. Last year was the first year I participated in the event, and it gave me a sense of satisfaction that I was able to work up to a goal.

This year around September I decided that I would make it my goal to work up to running in the Turkey Trot again. I know it sounds silly to "work up" to running a 5K, but I'm not exactly a runner. Where am I going with this??? Tonight I ran 3 miles for the first time since last year this same time. I went out running tonight with the goal of running at least 2 miles, 2 miles turned into 2 and a half, and so forth.

See you at the Turkey Trot!

Wanna run too? You can register online at www.parkboard.org

Spooktacular 2007

Be sure to go to Spooktacular 2007 at the Dickerson Park Zoo. Here is a promo our dept put together for it.



Enjoy!

Petit Jean S.P. Arkansas

This weekend we spent a couple days at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas. This is the oldest state park in Arkansas, and although it's fairly small if you look at it on the map it surely has a lot to offer. My family went to Petit Jean a lot as a kid, and I hadn't been back for many years until we went last year. My wife Jerilyn liked it so much she decided we should go back this year, so we did. Our friends Dan and Tara decided to go along even though they had both just returned from a trip to New York City. Nothing like going from the center of the world to the middle of nowhere in a matter of 2 days.

We arrived late Friday night, set up our tent and built a campfire. My new tent is the biggest tent I've ever owned, it would probably sleep 6-7 people comfortably if you didn't have inflatable mattresses. I bought it from a co-worker who was trying to get back into camping, and had the misfortune of setting it up once in the rain and then vowing to never go camping again. I bagged the tent, 2 queen sized inflatable mattresses, a twin sized inflatable mattress, and an air pump for $50 bucks.

The next morning we cooked up a traditional campsite breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon, coffee, milk and OJ. We then proceeded to the trailhead of the Seven Hollows trail for our first hike. Seven Hollows is a 4 1/2 mile loop hike that passes several different features. The first interesting feature is a natural bridge that is at least 25 ft high to the bottom of the arch. At around the half-way point you reach what they call the "grotto," this is a small canyon like half-cave with a small trickle of a waterfall. The water was pretty mossy, I assume it is due to low rainfall and stagnant water, but it's still interesting. Moving along, there are some rock formations called Turtle Rocks, I have no idea how they are formed, but they're pretty interesting to look at.

After our hike we went back to the campsite to hang out where Daniel and I proceeded to craft our own bow and arrow out of sticks and rocks we found laying around. Oddly enough, it worked pretty well and we were able to shoot the arrow around 25-30 yards, I doubt you could ever kill something with it, but we were pretty proud of ourselves.

That night we made made dinner over the campfire. We had Turkey Cheese Brats (only 7 g of fat each), pizza mountain pies, Oreo cookies, and Pringles. It was a nice night, and we all slept good with full bellies.

Sunday morning we got up, cooked breakfast and decided to hike the Cedar Falls trail. This trail is only 1 1/2 miles, but the first half mile is descending a steep switchback, which can only mean the last 1/2 mile is spent going right back up from whence you came. It's probably the most popular trail at Petit Jean, which means there are a lot of people, but the falls are really pretty. Again, there wasn't much water flowing, but there's enough for it to be pretty.

I think everyone had fun, and I hope to go back to Petit Jean again sometime soon. It's a nice place that is pretty out of the way, but I always wish I could spend more time there. Maybe I'll get to spend 3 or 4 days next time.

Bicycling to Work

After a couple weeks of no real exercise, I decided to wake up a little earlier than normal and ride my bike to work today. It's really not that far, only 2.2 miles according to Google maps, but for some reason it's just far enough that it's not "easy" to wake up and decide to ride on any particular morning without a small bit of planning. I haven't ridden my bicycle to work since around July and I'm not sure why, before then I had been riding 2-3 days a week for about 3 months.

It's always interesting to me how people in general (myself included), have a hard time staying in a routine with some things (like exercise), but routines like getting home and turning on the TV is one that never seems to get old. I suppose it's just the amount of effort needed to keep one's self in a routine.

With all that said, I forgot how much I really enjoy riding my bicycle to work, and I hope to start a "routine" once again.

*Note - if you ever want to start riding to work on a regular basis, I recommend getting some sort of rack and bags for your bicycle. I bought some Trek interchange panniers for mine, but I have a friend who bought one of the Topeak MTX expandable bags with side panniers, and he loves it. All you really need is something that you can use in place of a backpack (or you can just use a backpack and get your back all sweaty before work).

Happy Riding!

POSTSEASON BABY!

It starts again. Possibly the most stressful, agonizing, and self-doubting times of the year for Cubs fans. The Cubs officially clinched the NL Central Division title on Friday. As we all know, the ole' Cubbies are not known for their post-season record in the past 99 years, much less actually getting to the post-season.

What are we all to think? My rational side says to just keep it to yourself, and don't get too excited because they'll probably choke after the first week, but the
side of me that dreams big (and usually ends up emotionaly scarring me) wants to believe that the Cubs actually have what it takes to make it to the World Series and take the cake! I think being a Cubs fan has made me into even more of a pessimist that I really am.

When the Cubs made the NLCS in 2003, I really REALLY thought they had what it took. But oh no...that stupid billy goat came back to bite. I wonder what Steve Bartman is doing now. I think they should have done more to that stupid baseball rather than blow it up in a Plexiglas box. Why not charge $10 a pop to take a whiz on it and give the proceeds to charity? So much wasted potential...

Just for the record, I really don't see the Cubs going past the Division Series. But if they do, I hope for the sake of all Cubs fans everywhere there isn't some fluke play in game 7 of the NLCS that ruins it all again. Otherwise the whole north side of Chicago will have to be put on suicide watch. MLB.com had a pretty good article on it all yesterday.

**UPDATE**

Well, it's Friday night, and I'm still mourning the last 2 nights' losses to the Diamondbacks. Does anyone see what I'm talking about. I'm still keeping the hope alive...stranger things have happened...unfortunately those things never seem to happen to the Cubs.

**UPDATE #2**
It is Saturday night now, and I did not get to see the Cubs game, but they lost...

Stockton Lake

Last weekend Jerilyn and I went with our two friends Dan and Tara to Stockton for a one night camping trip. We went to to the Master's area which seems to be a good choice for a quick, poorly planned camping trip that usually has a decent camp site to choose from. I like it because the particular camp loop we use is out on a point and there isn't many trees, so you have a great view of the lake. Not much else to say about this trip, but in a few weeks we'll be going to Petit Jean S.P. in Arkansas, so I'll be sure to have a good post about that. Thanks to everyone who participated in the "Favorite Lake" poll!

It's Dove Season!

I sound a bit like Elmer Fudd I know, but those pesky doves can't be allowed to just fly around wherever they like ALL the time! Which is precisely why man invented dove season...no that's not really why, but man it sure is fun!

I went dove hunting Saturday morning (opening day) with some people from work. The last time I went was some time in high school with another friend from that time in my life, but we didn't go on opening morning. My second experience, needless to say, was much different than the first. The moment 6:18 a.m. rolled around (the time you can start shooting) you would have sworn you were inside an Iraqi war zone (minus the terrorists, but still including a bunch of true americans carrying around big guns.) I know some people say it's "mean" or "insensitive" to go shooting poor defenseless little doves that "never hurt you," but I don't really give a rip! I've never been wounded by a chicken either, and they taste great! Plus, doves lead much better lives up until the point they're killed, so I don't really think anyone whose ever eaten a chicken strip has a valid argument. Besides, I reside at the TOP of the food chain, so I MAKE THE RULES!

Did I mention that doves are an absolute blast to shoot? I counted it, and I think I expended around 62 shells and only killed 11 doves, so I think those "defenseless little doves" have pretty good odds! It's the deer you should be worried about, I have much better accuracy with them (plus I use a much bigger gun!) Man, I can't wait till deer season!

Beaver Lake, Arkansas

This weekend I left town with my two closest friends to see what we could find in northwest Arkansas. As usual, we left late Friday evening during a thunderstorm (after all, camping isn't any fun unless it's during a storm where you're going to get wet.) I admit, I wasn't too excited to go camping in the rain, but I always get over it once I get out of town and start down the road. I made a little reference map of our stops along the way, so be sure to follow along!
We ended up getting to Lost Bridge South (Marker #1) campground around 10:30 or 11 that night and thought as if we may have eluded the severe thunderstorm I had seen looming on the radar just 2 hours before. We pitched the tent, and I unrolled my Therm-a-rest mat on the ground outside the tent and just lay there under the stars. There was a slight breeze and it felt so good that I actually fell asleep after about an hour of getting relaxed. Tyler followed suit and we ended up sleeping on the ground until about 3 a.m. when raindrops woke us up. So we crawled into the tent and not a moment later the clouds opened up and it poured till the sun came up. We always complain about sleeping in a tent in the rain AFTER we get back from the trip, but when you're actually in there while it's raining, and you realize that you COULD be outside getting soaked, you never really feel like you're in a that bad of a situation. Once the sun came up, we rung out all our gear and packed up everything.

There was a sign by the lake telling of the history of Lost Bridge but I won't bore you will all the mundane details, but I will tell you that it reflects a little of how backwards the Ozarks can really be.

Our next stop (Marker #2) was Pea Ridge National Military Park. This place was pretty cool and I thought it was really interesting. There is a video in the visitor's center that is well worth watching as it explains in detail exactly what took place during the battle, who was involved, what their strategy was and how everything played out. For five dollars you can drive around and look at all the areas of interest including the Elk Horn Tavern, and a lookout at the top of the mountain (we call them mountains) where you can see the majority of the battlefield. Tyler and Daniel also did a re-enactment in which Tyler sustained a groin injury compliments of a Civil War cannon....I know you're wondering...don't ask! I can now say I have visited 3 Civil War battlefields: Wilson's Creek, Gettysburg, and now Pea Ridge. I've been on a little history kick lately...first it was Williamsburg, and now it's Pea Ridge.

Moving on...we ate lunch in Rogers, AR (Marker #3), where they were having some sort of a festival that Tyler and I wanted to walk around and look for somewhere to eat at, but Daniel was being weird about it, so we just ate at McDonald's. Did you know that Daisy has their BB gun warehouse and air gun museum in Rogers, AR?

On to Hobbs State Park (Marker #4), this is a pretty big area that is a combined State Park and Conservation Area located on the south side of Beaver Lake. Driving around a little, we found a public boat ramp where we jumped in the water to cool off a little. There was a dog named Chester that lived in a house near there that wanted to play the whole time, so we just kept throwing sticks and driftwood into the water for him to retrieve.

We found a couple trails that we stopped to look at. The first one was the Historic Van Winkle Trail. This one was only a half-mile or so, but it was kind of cool. They really put a lot of money into this one to make it handicap accessible, as there is a paved path and concrete tunnel under the highway. There really wasn't much to see other than some old stones from building foundations, and a spring they used to keep things cold. The most interesting thing I saw was an old road that was used for supplies that led to the Elk Horn Lodge (pictured to the right) which we had seen at Pea Ridge earlier. The road is grown over since then, and now parts are flooded by Beaver Lake. The second trail is Pigeon Roost Trail, which looks pretty cool. We picked up the map of the area, and if I get a chance I'll scan it and post it. This looks like an area that would be cool to come back to. There are 2 loop trails, and one of them has some camp sites on the north side of the loop that overlook Beaver Lake.

Leaving Hobbs State Park we found a place called War Eagle Cavern (Marker #5), so we thought we'd stop to check it out. I was surprised to find out how nice this place was. They had a small restaurant on site you could eat at, and a gift shop. They give 2 different tours of the cave, one is a guided tour that goes about a half-mile into the cave, and the other is a longer tour where a guide follows you, but doesn't lead, in order for you to explore where you want to go. I think we'll probably come back here to try this out sometime.

On our way to find some dinner, we stopped again at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (Marker #6). Tyler and Daniel paid to go in, and now I wish I would have. We arrived about time for dinner for all the big cats. They feed them chicken donated from a Tyson plant, and from what I heard, it was gruesome. If I'm ever around here again, I'll probably stop in to see what it's like inside. There's nothing quite as awesome as watching a 600 pound cat crunch through a chicken.

We ate dinner in Eureka Springs (Marker #7). If you've never been here, it's worth just to go and see what it's all about. I really like just seeing the architecture because it's so different than anything around our area. I like stopping by on my way back from somewhere else, but I don't think I'd ever make it my primary destination. There are a lot of good places to stop and eat, and the atmosphere is great!

Our last stop was Roaring River State Park. It's not on my map, but it's just north of the Arkansas border south of Monette, MO. I went here as a kid, but you know how that goes, everything is different and you don't appreciate what's around until you grow up. It's a spring that feeds the Roaring River where they have a trout hatchery and designated fishing areas with a pretty decent camping area. It's a pretty popular place and it can get pretty crowded during certain times. I think I'd rather go to Bennett's Spring instead, it just seemed nicer.

It was a pretty good weekend, but I'm tired now...and it's time to go back to work and school. If you enjoy my commentary let me know, it's good to hear feedback on what I write. Feel free to leave comments, that way I know who is reading!

Frisco Highline Trail

We finally got a break from the sweltering heat today, so you know what that means...it's time to get outside and do something cool before it gets hot again! Today I went on a ride with 2 guys I work with (Jared and Joe), on the Frisco Highline Trail which is now the second-longest rail-trail in the state of Missouri. The trail was created and is maintained by Ozark Greenways. They are a local organization that develops trails throughout the Springfield area. Be sure to check out their website and see if there is a trail near you.

The Frisco Trail runs between Springfield to Bolivar. You can get the map from the Frisco Highline Trail's website. The trail is about 35 miles, but today we didn't really feel like doing the whole thing. In the past I have done sections of this trail (Springfield to Willard, Willard to Walnut Grove, and Walnut Grove to Wishart), but I hadn't done the section from Wishart to Bolivar. Today we started in Bolivar and rode to Walnut Grove, which is essentially half the lenth of the trail.

Last summer there was vandalism to the Little Sac River bridge. The bridge was constructed of treated wood, and someone thought it would be a good idea to torch the whole thing. Needless to say, it created a stopping point for many people riding the trail, and it was near impossible to get around the bridge in any way because the river was fairly deep in that section. Today was the first time I had seen the new bridge, and I must say it was very nice! Congrats to the Greenways folks for making a bridge that is a bit more difficult to burn, unless there's some way of burning concrete that I am unaware of.

Looking back, I'm glad we only rode 18 miles, I was unprepared to ride the entire distance because I didn't have enough water and I'm not in that great of shape. All I can say is that I was glad to see the car! I downed two bottles of Gatorade I bought in Walnut Grove, which tells me I was a bit dehydrated. Enjoy the pictures, it was a beautiful day!

Where did the time go...

Man, I sound like an old guy huh? It's almost midnight and I'm not tired, so you all are going to hear my thoughts right now. I went running this evening in an effort to get back into working out. Last year around this time I started running to prepare myself for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day. I know, August may be a little early to start preparing for a 5K in the middle of November, but I thought I'd give it a go again this year. Getting back on subject a little, running gives me a chance to ponder things I don't normally think about. Tonight I started thinking about how the summer is almost over. It's hard to imagine, considering it's only August 14th, and the high temperature for today was 103° F , but I start school next Thursday for the fall semester (so technically it is almost over). It just seems like summer started a month ago, and I haven't been able to do everything I wanted to yet.

I really wanted to make a trip to Colorado this summer, so I started thinking of how I could take a couple days off work and make a long weekend trip just to get a hike or two in. My friend Tyler and his wife Annie went a couple weeks ago, and hearing their stories of a hike they did made me feel sick with how bad I would have liked to go. Jerilyn and I went 2 years ago with them for 10 glorious days of hiking, flyfishing, and just enjoying the summer in Colorado. If you have never been..well, you just don't know what you're missing. The pic to the right shows Jerilyn almost to the saddle ridge between Gray's and Torrey's Peaks.


These are my wishes for today, if anyone could grant me one I'd appreciate it.
1. I wish life wouldn't get in the way so much of things you want to do in life. (maybe this one is my fault)
2. I wish Colorado wasn't 12.5 hours away.
3. I wish it wasn't 103° F every flipping day this week, because I'm sick of being stuck inside.
4. I wish the Cubs would start winning baseball games again. (Maybe Lou Piniella needs to go on another rant and get kicked out of the game, that seemed to help last time.)

I know it might be stupid to wish for things that you have no control over, my time could probably be spent more productively on things that I could actually change...maybe I need to focus on #1 in my list. But writing it sure makes me feel better.

If anyone is interested in going to Colorado soon let me know!

One Year Ago

Ok, I promise to start posting on current adventures of mine, but IT'S TOO DANG HOT to do anything right now! So I looked through some pics from last summer, and I thought I'd share.
We took a trip with Jerilyn's family to Nags Head, NC. It was a nice trip. I really enjoyed the area, sans all the millions of people from New York and New Jersey that were down there that week. I rented a surf board, and tried my hand at that, although the waves just weren't right (or at least that's what I like to tell myself.)

I went on a wreckfishing trip with Jerilyn's uncle Hossein, her cousin Steven and Chris. We had a blast, but in this picture Chris wasn't looking so good. I think we brought back about 5 times the fish we could eat, but Matt (Jerilyn's other cousin) graciously took it to his place in Virginia Beach...I know it was hard!

We took a trip one day down to Cape Hatteras to see the famous lighthouse. That was well worth it, even though the 268 steps up to the top of the lighthouse were a bit gruelling! The view was really cool, and it's one of those things you're glad you did at the end of the day!



We also drove up to check out Williamsburg, VA. I think everyone had been there except for me. It's really cool to see some of these old buildings that have been there since the early 1700's. I admit, even I enjoy a little history lesson every now and then. I would definitely recommend visiting this place at some point in your life. It's a little pricey, but we all need to understand how our country got to the place we're at, and what it took to get there.

McGraw's Ford

It's a sad day in the world of Springfield kayakers looking for a close place to drop their boat in the river. Missouri Dept. of Transportation announced today they will be closing McGraw's Ford, located at the intersection of Hwy 125 and the James River. Citing drugs, violence and bridge vandalism, the river access will be barricaded to prevent people from easily accessing the River at this location.

This is a great example of how the actions of a few low-life members of the group of people we like to call human scum ruin things for everyone. You can read all about it on the news-leader's website.

Ahh...the Lake!

The lake. It's probably the most popular Ozarks pass time during the summer. Considering we have around 7 lakes within an hour and half driving time of Springfield, there's a lot of places to go. Some friends of our family allowed us to use their cabin this last weekend, so we did. They have a small cabin around the west side of the Indian Point area on Table Rock Lake. It has 2 bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a nice little back patio looking down several hundred feet to the dock.

To be honest, I think I could probably just move there and be happy the rest of my life. I try to make it a point to go down there at least once during the summer to hang out on a weekday. The lake is so peaceful during the week it's unbelievable! No boats pulling skiers, and no jet skis.

Growing up we went to the lake a lot and I used to take it for granted. It was just something we did on the weekend...every weekend. I can't even remember how old I was when I learned to water ski. Now if I make it to the lake a few times during the summer it's a good year. It's hard to justify spending at least a hundred bucks in fuel just for one day of fun in the sun. So now I just go to the dock with my people-powered boat.

I usually go by myself or with someone else, but this year we went with a whole group (8 of us), and spent a few days. This is definitely the way to go! Our dog Oliver went with me last year and seemed to like the water fine, so I decided to take him again. Here is a picture of Oliver and Jerilyn floating in the water just enjoying the day. Oliver seems to prefer floating on an inflatable raft rather than being directly in the water...after all, he is a herding dog.

I ended up fishing pretty late a couple nights and got up early 2 mornings to try to beat the fish, but they just didn't seem to be biting. I did see a pretty niced sized Longnose Garr floating by the dock the first night we were there. That's the first time I've ever seen one up close in the wild.

A great big THANK YOU to the Nicholsons for a great weekend!

Jack's Fork River

Back in late April I took my kayak out for it’s first real voyage. I went with a guy here at work who is a retired police officer, and we floated the Jack’s Fork River in South Central, MO. Our trip started at the Prongs and went to Bay Creek. Here is a map of the river to refer to. If I remember correctly, this was about 25 miles.

We took a pretty leisurely pace and spent 2 nights on the river. If you look closely (or not so closely), you will notice my kayak had not yet suffered it’s fatal falling-off-the-truck experience. That would have been on the way back home after this float. I can always look back on this trip as the one where my kayak was still perfect. I think I like it better now, it almost looks like it’s been in a battle!

As you can see by the pictures, the leaves had not really budded on the trees yet, which was probably due to the hard freeze we experienced around the 1st or 2nd week of April.

We only spent one entire day on the river, but it was a long day with temps in the upper 80’s. Here’s a pic of myself by a sand bar we stopped at that afternoon for a snack and to stretch our legs. (I must insert comment here about my awesome long hair!)


The 2nd night we found a nice spot to set up camp with a trickling waterfall on the other side of the river, so we had some nice sound effects to fall asleep to. We had the truck shuttled down to the take out point by a guide service around Eminence. This is a pretty good option if you don’t want to take 2 vehicles. I think it costs around $50, but you’ll spend that driving 2 hours each way to and from the river, plus wear and tear on your truck. I would definitely consider this for any other float that is a fair distance from home.

Quandary Peak Winter Hike

Some of my friends share my outdoor adventures with the same enthusiasm. Dan Kersten and Tyler Bowen joined me for a climb of Quandary Peak in the Colorado Rockies last December. Here you will read Dan’s account of that very challenging, but rewarding, climb.

Quandary Proves Challenging, Rewarding for Novice Climbers

Quandary Peak
Dec. 16, 2006

The three of us begin our ascent at about 7 am with clear skies, temps in the high 20s, and no chance of precipitation in the forecast so we feel confident that conditions are optimal for hiking.

We have arrived less than 30 hours previous from southern Missouri so our bodies are still acclimating. This makes the hike much more difficult than we initially plan for it to be.

Our array of gear includes down-filled jackets and pants, your typical hiking packs complete with multiple zippers and secret compartments (secret compartments, though not very useful, are a high commodity in our little expeditionary force), other winter gear, two liters of water each at least, and snow shoes.

We tramp through snow at least one foot deep in the alpine forest for about two hours. Along the way we notice ski tracks leading downhill (as if ski tracks would be going uphill at this point), evidence that this is a popular location for skiers to hike up and ski down. I feel a sense of envy at those who were smart enough to provide a means of swift descent.

As we emerge above the tree line around 11,000 feet, after about 2.5 hours of hiking, we look up and see the full splendor of Quandary Peak in the late morning light. A thick layer of snow and ice cover both visible slopes flanking each side of the trail ridge. Rocks jut out from the ice in large patches. We decide to keep our snow shoes on. None of us have invested in crampons and the snow shoes prove very convenient.

One other hiking party, a group of six, passes us, making very good time compared to our slog-along pace. It turns out to be a good idea to wait and let them pass because they stay in a close line and their snow shoes pack down and carve out a good trail in the ice and snow for us to follow. This makes our ascent easier.

By the time we reached 11,500 the wind gusts slightly. At this point it is about 11:30 am. We rest for a moment, hydrate, dehydrate, check our equipment, and continued on the 3,000-foot home stretch.

The incline for this final 3,000 feet climb is much steeper than we had been ready for. The going is very slow and we rested 30 seconds after every 50 paces. As we make it to about 12,500 feet wind gusts become extreme and violent, and we are forced to hunker down to keep from being blown off the trail ridge.

Tinny needles of jagged ice brushed off the slope to our left by the gusting wind fly upwards, under glasses, up nostrils, into cheeks and any other chink in our wintery armor. The stinging these ice needles bring is harsh and relentless.

I have trudged ahead to the front of our group by about 20 yards. A sudden surge in the winds propels thousands of ice bullets upwards at me. I see the white glistening cloud rising towards me from the left about 40 yards distant. I turn quickly to my right and lay prone against the mountainside. As the storm of ice sweeps over me I chance a look back down to my right and notice Nick and Tyler in the same position. For the next three or four minutes our climb is halted by the pummeling of wind and ice shards.

When the winds subside we press on with greater effort, unsure of when the next wind gust will postpone progress. We summit Quandary Peak at 14,265 feet around 1 pm. We stay up there for about 20 minutes for photos. The summit of Quandary, on a clear day, provides a stunning view of the Tenmile-Mosquito range. Quandary is easily the tallest peak for many miles.

Along the west side of the summit, one can look down thousands of feet to see the old dam and a sprawling frozen valley before it. To the east is another valley with forested highlands flanking each side. We identify Mt Evans and Longs Peak in the distance.

Standing on Quandary’s summit and observing the frozen landscape surrounding it, one can easily fantasize of being at a much higher peak in a distant land. Then you realize that 14,200 feet is nothing compared to Kilimanjaro’s 19,300 or even Everest’s 29,100.

On the descent, the winds again prove to be violent and extremely dangerous. We estimate gusts of about 70 mph sustained for as long as 60 seconds with 2-minute intervals for about 2,000 feet. We also guess that such winds combined with sleet or other precipitation or thick cloud cover would make an ascent or descent to be extremely difficult or, at the very least, dangerous.

The descent takes about 2.5 hours and we are totally exhausted when we arrive at our vehicle. Our bodies have not had time to acclimate and we end up going from about 9,000 feet to 14,200 in just 6 hours, having driven from southern Missouri’s 2,500 feet least than 24 hours before. We are stunned to calculate that we have ascended approximately 11,700 feet in just over 36 hours, which is a big deal to the three of us when you consider that none of us have put our bodies through such a test before. It is encouraging for Tyler and I because we know we will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa in less then 3 months.

We feel very good about what we have done and confident that we can do it again. However, we note that we should spend more time at Rockies altitude before attempting another climb.

We leave for home the following morning, just barely ahead of one of the biggest snow storms in recent history in Colorado. The interstate across Colorado and Kansas is closed in many areas and dozens or motorists are stranded and require evacuation. We are thankful that we chose this weekend to do our climb. We look forward to the 2007 climbing season when we will choose another challenging peak in the Rockies.

Finley River Float

It's always nice to get a Saturday where you can go do something you don't normally get to do. Today, we (Tyler, Daniel and I) floating the majority of the lower Finley River located just south of Springfield. The Finley is a tributary of the James River, which flows into the northwestern part of Table Rock Lake. Two years ago Tyler and I floated the entire length of the lower James River from Springfield Lake dam to Galena, MO. I think that float ended up being around 50 miles....which we completed in a 24 hour period....not to brag or anything.

Getting back on subject, today's 15 mile float further completes me and Tyler's unstated goal of floating everything that is feasibly floatable in this area of the Ozarks. The unusual nature of this float is the fact that we did it in the middle of July. Normally the Finley river is nothing more than a mere trickle. This year has provided unusual amounts of rain to our area, so we have been able to float rivers that are impossible to float during the summer months.

Our trek started at Linden, MO where there is a small spillway and parking area near the creek bed. This is a popular site for people during the summer to come to the river since the spillway dams up the Finley forming Lindenlure lake. I'm not sure if this is actually recognized as a formal lake, but that's what it's called. I found a watershed website explaining some of the places we went through today.

The first 5 or 6 miles was very pretty with large bluffs and some decent pools of water. I think this was actually my favorite part of the whole float because of the bluffs. Eventually the river flattens out as you approach Ozark, MO. When you get to Ozark there is a park on the left and several private docks. Just past the park and no more than 200 feet past the McCracken road bridge is a large spillway by an old mill. This spillway proved to be the most challenging part of the whole day. Tyler and Daniel were able to hoist their kayaks down a stair step part of the concrete spillway, but my kayak is significantly larger and I didn't even want to try it, so I found another way down.
From Ozark, MO down to Riverdale Dam was the second 5 mile(ish) stretch. This part of the river was nice, but we had to drag 4 or 5 times through some pretty hairy brush. I was suprised to see how many canoes were on this stretch considering the blockages we came across. I think overall this was my least favorite part, but I really can't complain because it was still pretty nice and clean.
From Riverdale Dam to the end bridge we took out at (I think the road is called 2 rivers road), was the last 5 mile stretch and I don't think we had to drag at all on this stretch. This leg also had the fastest current of all. If someone wanted to float a part of the Finley I would probably recommend this section as it was the widest, and also had pretty good access to the river. If you want you can continue on down the James and take out at Hooten Bridge where there is a nice parking area for people wanting to access the river.

For those of you wanting to know how my kayak repair held up, it did very good. I think I even banged it on a few logs and rocks and there is no sign of damage or cracking whatsoever. I'll give it a couple years and see if I can still sing it's praises...

There were several people fishing today and I think everyone was doing pretty good. I overheard some guy saying his kid caught his first, second and third smallmouth and 2 goggleye. If you want to know anything about local fishing conditions there is a great website I found this year that had just about every body of water that is fishable on it and people can post to it telling their fishing stories of what they caught, on what and where. The site is www.ozarkanglers.com. Here is the link to the Finley River section on that site.

My Kayak Repair

Ok...so the first thing you must be wondering is what did I do in order to have the need to repair my kayak. Well, that's a story all in itself. Ok..I'll tell you in a condensed version. I went floating back in April and the kayak flew off the rack on the way back...except it didn't fall all the way off...the front strap came loose (actually it came completely off) and the nose found the shoulder of the highway.

Needless to say, it ground a nice sized hole in the nose leaving me with an interesting challenge on my hands. I apologize in advance for not getting a picture of it after it happened, but this is almost as good. The first two photos show the nose after I filled the inside with that "Great Stuff" expanding foam to slightly re-shape the nose in order to have a backing for the patch.

With a small bit of Google searching, I found a repair kit designed for such a problem as I had. Old Town makes it, and it is available on their website www.oldtowncanoe.com or from another place called www.adventuresports.com. It is the one designed for their Royalex boats, but it works on Polyethelyne as well. I bought it...and it seems to have worked...we'll see how well it holds up.

The last two photos show the almost finished product. I still plan on painting it, but then again...maybe I won't. It looks pretty raw in it's current form.