Home trail

Once again, I've had a little time, and a little money at the same time to work on my trail through the "40 acre woods"........ and no......I didn't see Christopher Robin, Eor, or Pooh. What I did see however, was this........ do you see the trail here?

I do.........

This sort of gives you the idea of what I've been cutting through to make this trail through my woods. It's been fun though, and rewarding in it's own way. It's actually only a ten acre woods, but I couldn't help compare with the imagination of A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie The Pooh. So far, it's been going pretty well, with about a half mile of established trail so far. I decided the other day that I've worked so hard that I needed a place to rest, so I built a trail bench......

And what do I enjoy from this bench, you might ask? Why this, of course........

Admittedly, still in it's winter color scheme, but there has been some green popping up now and then. So, who enjoys all the fruits of my labor, besides me.........

She not only enjoys going for a walk on this trail, but actually begs me to take her around. She won't go by herself, too far out of sight of the house I guess, but she can't wait to go along. If she see's me heading that way, she comes on the run.
I've been clearing more, and concentrating on trimming back trees and other brush from around the trail. In some places, there are vines from the trees that Tarzan would be proud of, some as big around as my thigh. These things will choke the life from a tree, so I cut them off when I get to them. I'll pull them out of the tree if they're not too entwined in the upper branches, but if I can't get them down, I just cut them off, and when they die off, the Oklahoma wind'll take care of bringing them down. A week or so ago, it snowed, so I had a lot of fun with my mountain bike in the snow here......

It's not been all work and no play. I have a full loop and part of another to play on now, and it gives me something to do, as well as gets me out in nature and away from reality for a bit. Wait.......isn't that Tigger????  ..............

An addition, Feb. 28th,........ my simple little trail bench has "Evolved"..........

  
So, as you can see, my "Nature Trail" is very much a work in progress.

Mount Scott Ride

Much ado has been written about climbing Mt Scott in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, but I will offer you a little different view here. First of all,  the rest of the group I went with, all mostly 30's and 40's type individuals the talk afterwards was all about how fast, how quick, who got there first. Well.....I went too..... and while I wasn't the fastest, nor the first to the top,(actually I was because I cheated and started earlier)...... but the point that I need to address here is that I Made It! All the way to the top! And back down! And in one piece! And I am happy with that. One of the group bragged that he hit 51.6mph top speed (speed limit 25) coming down off that mountain top with gusty 20-30mph winds coming at us from all directions. Good for him. I hit 37 mph and felt very uncomfortable at speeds higher than that, mostly because of the gusty winds. The youngsters regrouped at the stop sign at the bottom and were just leaving the stop sign as I pulled up behind them. SO???? The one statement I'll make here is that I made it to the top, and back down to the bottom. I still have all my skin in place, and all my teeth where they belong. One of these days luck will run out for people who push the envelope, and believe me, a crash at 51 mph on that winding steep mountain road won't be fun. I guess with age comes caution, but for good reason. Old bones take a long time to heal.
For a little background....Mt Scott is in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Preserve close to Fort Sill, Ok. It is not the highest, nor the most prominent, but does boast the highest paved auto road in the State. It is 2484 feet above sea level which doesn't sound like much until you take into consideration that the mean elevation at ground level is around 500 feet, then it becomes a bit more impressive. It is a very impressive looking mountain anyway, without being built up with any hype. .......

The road winds around the mountain twice and ends up at the very top. The views from there are impressive, and the entire preserve is a thing of beauty. The road climbs up the mountain at a steady 8% with occasional short sections that exceed 12% in a few places. It is a tough climb on a bicycle. Looking up the road on any section would look like this.......

And looking back down from there looked like this.......

Just so you can tell that it is one steep mother-mountain road. You can already tell that the view from the top will be amazing. And, it was. Mount Scott is a jumbled mass of boulders and rocks and is hailed in the local area as a rock climbers mecca. You'll find climbers from all over testing their skills on these rocks. I also noticed several of the soldiers from Fort Sill running up this road and back down. Now that would take some moxie. This a view of Mt Scott from the Medicine Park area where I left my car.

And a little Artistic view of a couple of dead trees on the way up

And then there is this...... I really don't know what to say about this...... A Boulderlanch?

Anyway, I did struggle in places on this hill on the way up, took my time, kept my breathing sustainable, and my heart rate within reason, and made it to the top. Again, I really don't see the reasoning behind the need to race up a hill like this, just making it to the top was enough for me. There was a small group of youngsters that pulled up to the summit parking lot while we were all there and I got one of them to take this group picture of us at the summit. He looked at all of us (he was probably all of 25) and exclaimed.... "You guys rode those bicycles all the way up here...... AWESOME!" I felt the need to agree with him, as I, for one, felt awesome indeed.

There were a few scraggly wind-blown cedars that manage to survive up at the summit, but mostly just rock.

Again, the view from the top (near the top here) was truly outstanding... you can look down and see the ribbon of road we started up from......

Winter just does not do this area justice, as in the summer, all is so very green here. After our quick descent down, we travelled west to the visitor center. I wanted to take in the center, but the rest were eager to get on down the road. So, we parted company here, they going south toward Cache and back to Lawton, and me to the west end of the preserve. On the way, here is some they missed.

There is a sizable wild bison herd in the preserve, there are no fences and the bison are allowed to wander where they want. One must use caution around these creatures as they are not pets, but wild animals in their native settings. They can be dangerous, they are very large and strong, as well as much faster than you might think looking at their bulk.
A little bit down the road is a remnant of better days. The ruins of an old gas station and trading post.

There were many beautiful scenes that people in cars never knew existed, but I noticed them on a bike right away.

And the old homesteaders rock cabin that people were driving on by without even seeing.

And so it went, 38 miles of history and scenic wonders went by as I rode along on my bicycle. I was thoroughly enjoying the things that obivilous car drivers ignored. This is why I like to ride my bicycle. Not to see how fast, nor how quick, nor even how many miles I can do in one day, but to enjoy what is there and see things that others fly by and miss completely. Time is endless while you are on a bike, so you can borrow a bit of it and explore what is there to see.

I even managed to see things on the way back that I missed on the way out. So you see, for me anyway, bicycling is a nivana thing, not just something to add stress to an already overstressed world. Kick back and enjoy what is offered, look, see, and take your camera with you so you'll always have memories. I've been wanting to do this ride for a long time now, not so much to test my mettle, but to see what I might have missed. Turned out, a lot! I may have to go back again to find some other things I missed on this trip. But one thing for certain, if I never climb to the summit of Mt Scott again in this life, I've done it once....... and that was awesome!

Clear Bay Mountain Bike Trails

January..... traditionally a "stay in" month here in Oklahoma with ice storms and snow and strong winds making cycling difficult if not impossible. Traditionally....but..... this is not a traditional January however. We have been on a temperature roller coaster, one day 20 degrees and 30 mph winds..... the next.... 70 with light winds. And so, I have been able to get out and ride. I really can't do the indoor trainer thing, just don't have the patience and endurance for it. These days my rides may at times take on a different form, if it is too nasty out, but maybe still rideable, I may take my mountain bike off into the woods. The other day was like that, temperatures in the fifties, but winds howling at 30 mph and above. They don't reach into the woods however, so once I got beyond the parking lot, it was calm and nice. For this particular ride, I took my mountain bike to Lake Thunderbird, Clear Bay .....where they have a large complex of mountain bike trails ...... all provided for use, free of charge in the State Park. At the start, they have a change house, and restroom, drinking water, and an informational kiosk.

The trails here are heavily wooded, and parts of them are extremely hilly. Trails will give one a really good workout for a rather short distance. Starting out, it's just a ride in the woods.......

 This first shot is just getting started from the parking lot, the first couple of loops being "family" oriented

Even though there are few leaves on the trees in January, they still effectively block the wind. By the time I had gotten in this far, the day had become quite pleasant.









This would change however, as I got further into the trails. I looped around these beginning trails twice, just to get my "mountain biking legs" back. It's been a while since I've done any actual singletrack, being content to do my mountain biking on our local gravel roads. One forgets how much fun this is until you get back on a trail again. The next loop, which is a route they term intermediate difficulty had a few hills and gullies.

As you can see, the difficulty did increase as I moved from trail to trail. By this time however, I was feeling a bit more confident, and my old skills were coming back. Unfortunately, I also discovered that I should have checked the air in my front fork before I left as it was obviously low. Not low enough to cancel my ride, but low enough to cut it a bit shorter than I wanted. I don't want to damage the fork seals. I'm not really sure I like the air shock innovation or not...... it's definitely lighter, this bike weighs 5 pounds less than my last one ...... but certainly not trouble free. I've had this fork in to Cannondale for a rebuild once already, and they tell me that this is a regular maintenance item. Hmmmmm ...... I really didn't have any issues with my heavy springs in that way. Still, I wanted to make the ride worthwhile for my 40 mile drive over here, so I continued, the shock still had at least 60 pounds of air in it, so it kept it off the seal, but was a bit uncomfortable riding over drops and roots that-a way, plus it was a bit worrisome.
Still, the terrain got a little rougher and more hilly the further in I went, by the time I got halfway through the number four (blue) trail, I found "Table-Top".......

Once you got up on top....there were rock outcroppings that were as flat as a "table top", hence the name, but getting there was a different story, almost like climbing a table leg to get there. I'd like to be able to tell you I rode right on up this..... t'isn't so..... I got up about halfway.....about where I took the picture, and walked the bike the rest of the way. After this, it was a pleasant ride back, enjoyable with no more surprises. The woods can be quite pretty, even in the dead of winter.....

Even though there were a number of cars in the parking lot, it was like I had this all to myself. There are eighteen miles of trails included in this complex, so it is rare to find another rider. Not impossible though........

All in all, a really fun day. Not a really long day, nor was there a lot of miles ridden, just 9 1/2, but I felt I had gotten a pretty good workout and an enjoyable ride on the trails. Every so often, the trail builders would throw in a "close call" to make sure you were on your toes.......

And so....my mountain biking odyssey comes to an end. An enjoyable day that added a few miles to my bike log for January, a month of very few miles normally, but this year, I should top 500 miles in January. Keeping innovative rides like this one in the schedule has helped raise the total miles for the month. I don't worry very much about time spent, or average speed, or even top speed..... but it's nice to be able to keep track of my total miles.

Snowy Bike

We have snow here in Oklahoma, some times a lot, some times only a little. Every year we get some. It's always fun on the first snow of the year to get out and play in it. By the time we've had three or four, the fun slips away. Studded tires on my mountain bike helps when roads are icy, but I usually only put them on once during the winter and then end up taking them right off after the ride. I don't like the way they ride on a dry road. For most snowy conditions (no ice) just plain Kenda Nevegals work just fine. The first series of pictures was taken as the storm was just starting......My daughter braved the cold and blowing snow to go out and take pictures of her "Crazy Dad"......

These two were taken the next day, after the storm was over. Really was a nice day, just very cold. Had lots of fun.

All Play and No Work

My Mom always used to tell me that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", and I always took that to heart. But, once in a while, if you want to play..... there has to be a little work involved. In this case, the art of trail building. A duo of clubs and a few individuals are helping to carve a new mountain bike trail out of the wilderness on land donated for the effort by the local Episcopal Church, who happens to own about 700 acres for a retreat east of Seminole. I like to do a little mountain biking in the winter months when you are protected from the cold wind by the trees somewhat, and if I want to use this trail, I felt it only right that I contribute my labor toward helping to build it as well. On the day I went out there, it was windy, and not too pleasant for riding on the road, so a perfect day for volunteering to help build trail. As you can see by the road going into the site, it IS rather isolated.....

Finally, after finding some vehicles, I got out, grabbed my tools and started hiking in looking for fresh trail builders. It took me a while because, while it's a fairly new trail, they have about a mile and one half built already. Finally, here they were.......

I decided they had enough help doing what they were doing, so I went on ahead and found a few more workers cutting a new section of trail . Pitching in, we managed to clear about another 500-600 feet of new trail by mid afternoon, and by that time, this old guy had about enough. I did, however, grab my leaf rake and set about walking the trail and raking leaves away so you could actually see it as I explored what they had built already. The scenery was outstanding.

This picture is of one of a couple of small lakes on the property. The trail goes down along the shore before climbing back up the slope back to the start. Very heavily wooded, and very scenic all over the entire length of it.

Eventually, the trail is designed to go entirely around the lakes and start and end at the buildings of the retreat.  It will be around 14 miles altogether. All the labor on this trail is done by the riders who will be using it. Some of the rock formations are quite interesting..... like this rock formation we dubbed "Whose Fault"......  Whose,  Indeed!

This is a Bald Eagle nesting area, and I was so hoping to be able to get a shot or two of an eagle in the wild, but it wasn't the day for it I guess as I never saw one.
After making the loop on the trail, and clearing it of leaves and debris, I rejoined our little group of builders who were discussing how we should build one of many little jumps ....

And of course, after we got it built, we had to test it out a bit........

And, it looked like it passed with flying colors. You didn't expect this was all going to be about work did you? A little fun was had by all. The rider got a lot of razzing about not having a helmet, and he really should have had, but it was a work day, and he had left it in the car..... yeah....
After riding a part of it on a borrowed bike (I didn't have a helmet either, not even a bike), I decided that this was going to be a very fun trail, and I'll be out here from time to time.

Route 66, Up Sitgreaves Pass

Today is the day I try to catch up on the finish of the Kingman Route 66 ride. We started out in Kingman, AZ on this leg, and worked our way west on the old part of Rt 66 up toward the old gold and siver mining town of Oatman, Az. First, however, there is the advent of a little hill called Sitgreaves Pass to take up a bit of our energy. The scenery on this part of old 66 is far different from the route north of Kingman, definitely much more mountainous, both in terrain as well as wildlife.

The area is not only much more rugged, but also much more colorful as well. The first several miles that we traveled on this route were fresh chip-seal, still loose and challenging to ride on. This part of the ride would have been better to do with mountain bikes. This was very recently done however, but what was even worse was that they had gone ahead of the chip seal operation and sealed all the cracks first with tar and produced a very rough surface for us. On backsides that were still a bit tender from the long ride to Seligman the day before, the jarring from the hardened tar fillings definitely were noticed. After a little less than five miles however, this was gone, and the old highway was still in good shape as we started up the grade. The monolith above was prominent from a considerable distance, and the overcast skies just made the desert even more beautiful as we worked our way up.

We soon found ourselves climbing vigorously as we tackled the beginnings of the long grade up to the summit. Time constraints would limit us to a round trip to the summit today because my riding companion had to start back by early afternoon in order to return to work the next day. About halfway up the hill, and about the part where the REAL climbing was about to commence, there stood a relic from the past ..... now turned gift shop, and "sorta-museum".....

Ran by a character by the name of George, who was as interesting ....... and as unusual as the place iteself. They offered free water, and welcome outhouses (very clean by the way), and we ended up spending at least a half hour there talking and looking at all the interesting things he had on display inside and out. Very worthwhile stop for anyone going up that way, by bike, or car. While we were looking around the outside we were paid a visit by one of the "locals"......

He was not only a character with a personality all his own, but a bit of a mooch as well. Certainly very photogenic however. From here, it was going to take a bit longer to get to the top however as the road became much steeper, narrower, and much more wild as we progressed up. Lydia led the way as we left the gift shop/ gas station.

There was still another 5 miles to go before we could reach the summit. The weather turned out to be absolutely a perfect day for riding after the morning clouds burned off. The wind was almost non existant, and the scenery spectacular. As we were climbing we kept hearing these strange noises coming from up ahead, and finally found what was making them.......

The Jack was not only protecting his Jenny, but also the rest of his "family as well, Unfortunately, the little one was pretty quick to follow on his mom's heels and never really presented me with a good shot, this was about the only one I got with him in it.

He was such a cute little tyke, but our presence made both Mom and Dad somewhat nervous. These burros are wild creatures, relatives of the many domesticated burros the prospectors used to carry their tools and equipment up to the mines in the 1800's. When the mines played out after a few years, the miners left, and just left the burros behind. They flourished in the hills and now are a fairly common sight.





After our photo session with some of the local "wildlife" of unusual origins, we made a turn in the road, and came upon a sight not viewed by many.

An entire flock of Desert Bighorns. They are actually fairly common to this area, but are seldom seen because they are normally quite wary. This was a long telephoto shot as we could get no closer and they were across the canyon from us. I was wishing for a bit longer tele capacity on my camera about then however.

We found that soon they were bored with us and moved on around the corner of the canyon they were grazing on, and out of sight. We climbed on up to another vantage point but were unable to get another picture of them. I did, however get a great picture of some of the better scenery of our ride.

The further up we went, the more spectacular the scenery became, and the more twisty and steep the road became.

Certainly a bit of a challenge for a morning's ride. We did, however, prove ourselves up to the challenge .......

And....soon found ourselves at the summit....

Going back down was quick, fun, and uneventful. We were back at Kingman in a short time, and unfortunately, the weekend had to come to a close as we had to head our separate ways to return to our homes and jobs. Much fun, and such an enjoyable time exploring a very historical area of our country. We both vowed to continue this at a later date.