Tag Archives: mountain

Door County Adventure

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This past week I had an interview with the Door County Adventure Center and decided to do a little camping on the peninsula while I was their. With summer being the peak season the spring peninsula was pretty quiet and I had most of it to myself. I decided to hike into a camp site on Europe Lake in Newport State Park which is located northeast of Ellison Bay. Newport is a 2,400-acre “wilderness park” with 11 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 3 miles of sand beaches. Newport has more than 40 miles of hiking and mountain bike trails. The park features 16 backpack, walk-in campsites, including several along Europe Lake. The shore’s of lake Michigan can get pretty cold at night especially this early in the season so I brought two sleeping bags placing one inside the other and brought a light winter coat as well. Usually when I am expecting it to get cold I prefer using the ground set up for the Tent Hammock but it was a still evening and without much wind I figured I would be fine to hang it next to the lake and still stay warm. A tip for anyone who uses tent hammock (use a sleeping mat inside your hammock it does wonders for your insulation. I actually had two and was warm all night despite the under flow of air which usually keeps people away from the hammock set up in colder weather.) I went about the usual business of setting camp up before it got dark. Strung the hammock, rolled out the sleeping bags, filtered some water, and gathered fire wood. It was some quality alone time and as the sun set over Europe Lake it defiantly reminded me of why I think of the peninsula as on of the top 5 place in the U.S. I fell in love with this place back in 2009 when I had my Pearson 26 sailboat. Spending the summer exploring the islands, small walking towns, sea caves, high bluffs, state parks, and cookie cutter harbors was defiantly the best summer of my life. Door County is also known for their cherries and while sitting in a small café the previous day I over heard locals talking about how they might have lost 75% of this years cherries do to the unseasonably nice weather and a recent frost. Nevertheless there is more than enough to do in this Northern Paradise besides stuff your face with cherries. Check out the Adventure Center for some guided sea kayaking or zip line fun. Rumor has it that sailing lessons are new this year. Not only can you stop in with your family but they also have a lot of group team building programs so check it out for your group as well. Depending on how well I was able to communicate in the interview my love for adventure, people, and door county I might just see you there. For now here are a few photo’s I snapped to get you excited to visit that peninsula that I would consider Wisconsin’s heaven.

This is some of the coast line on the east side of the peninsula. I believe this was taken at Cave Point near Whitefish Dunes State park. One of the area's the Adventure Center explores by kayak

I spent a lot of time with my little brother this week and when that happens a good throw down of Cripple Creek is usually not to far behind. Enjoy!

 

Day 6 (twenty-nine palms) 34 Miles

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Solo and Unsupported Run across America blog rerun. Posted every weekday at 8am. Buy the now complete book and full story at www.abrahamlouis.com/runningwater

Last night was pretty rough. I ended up camping in the back of Monongo Valley’s wildlife viewing park. For 3 hours I attempted to find a place to string my hammock. Trees are now sparse. After changing my hammock location four times, I finally settled for a less than perfect location. Two huge hills that came together formed a slopping ravine. I tied one end to a three-foot palm tree, crossed the ravine and tied the other to the base of a bush.

It was almost sunset as I unloaded the necessary gear from Ruby. A couple hand fulls of trail mix and a few pieces of beef jerky would serve as my meal for the evening. I put on all my clothing, took my 10 inch flat bear knife, bear pepper spray and crawled in for the night. It was a nightmare trying to get my sleeping pad and sleeping bag properly arranged in the swinging tent-hammock. I was exhausted. I was out cold the minute I was situated.

I woke up to find myself barely off the ground with little assurance that I wouldn’t end up rolling down the ravine. I checked my watch. It was 8 pm. I was in for a long night. The wind would blow up under my rain fly and lift the thin layer of insulation exposing me to the cool night air. If I breathed into my sleeping bag and didn’t venture any body parts off my sleeping mat, I was warm. The night wore on. At one point I heard cats meowing and thought nothing of it till the next morning. A sign read something to the effect of, “mountain lion warning, do not venture from trail.” I was happy I hadn’t discovered the sign yesterday for I’m not sure what my reactions would have been!

As the sun rose I started packing up camp. Ruby had survived the night as well, minus the small rodent that gnawed a hole in my trail mix bag. I found my way out of the park with only a few stares from avid bird watchers and was back on hwy 62. I felt accomplished having survived the night.

I jogged out of Morango Valley, and a green sign read 32 miles Twenty-Nine Palms. The highway was wide and long with gradual sweeping hills. It was all runable and I made good time. My hips ached from sleeping pinned between the hill and the hammock. Fortunately, my brother found two marines for me to stay with in Twenty-Nine Palms, and I couldn’t wait!

Day 5 (Marongo Vally) 26 Miles

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Solo and Unsupported Run across America blog rerun. Posted every weekday at 8am. Buy the now complete book and full story at www.abrahamlouis.com/runningwater

My troubles started soon after I began running. It’s incredibly frustrating when a road leads us to a dead-end. I was able to get around the barbed wire fence and made some decent time on a dirt road that serviced the billboards. This area was the start of the Mohoby Indian Reservation. The dirt road was direct and easy on Ruby’s wheels, but in the back of my mind I knew a barbed wire fence was waiting to block my exit.

Sure enough, I approached the fence and decided to make a run for it. With a determined rush of adrenaline, I threw Ruby over the fence . Just like that I was on the road again. This type of travel went on all morning. I had to fight for every foot. Some of the terrain I crossed would have been just as difficult with or without Ruby’s 70 lbs to push. None of these roads were on the map and the day was completely frustrating.

Throughout the entire day the wind was ripping through the valley, and I could hardly hear myself think. I was trapped in a wind tunnel created by the two large mountains on either side of me. When I thought that it couldn’t get any worse, I came to a fork in the road. On my left was a steep single dirt road leading up to fields with windmills. On my right was a sign that read, “ends in 500 ft.”

I started up the dirt road when a huge dump truck came around the turn a quarter mile ahead. Their was no shoulder on this road, and I instantaneously turned around and bolted down the hill. I took to the road that would eventually end and it turned into a small dirt path. Once again a barb wire fence separated me from the free way.

Not wanting to be forced on the free way, I checked the GPS and found route 62 a mile and a half away. Not wanting to run out of my way, I tightly hugged the edge of the free way. I ran fast, easily completing 5 minute miles. The wind was howling and cars where blowing by. I stared straight ahead whimpering, “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” The hill finally gave way to a ditch and I thrust Ruby to the left as my eyes scanned the unknown. It was extremely rough and I’m proud Ruby stayed in one piece. I made it to route 62 and was relieved when I started along the old 29 Palms Hwy. The road was empty. The scenery was breathtaking and I reached for my camera…

Devastation hit when I reached for my camera only to find it missing. I couldn’t believe it! I had just come through the worst stretch imaginable and had to go back. My heartbeat began to rise as I wheeled Ruby into the bushes. It was a risky decision to leave her, but I had to go alone. I ran back over the path, my eyes scanning the desert ground. I was back to the ditch along the freeway with no defined path. I wound my way through the mess and continued searching for two miles. I put my hands on my face and slowly began to lose it.

I looked up to scan the area one final time and miraculous saw my camera a few feet ahead lost in the brush! After catching up to where I left off, I knew I had one more climb before Morongo valley. Four miles up hill hwy 62 cut through the hills. Traffic was fairly heavy and it took a lot of will power to finish off the day. I made it to Morango Valley at 3 pm and began to look for a place to camp.

The Mountain Lion Attack

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I thought this was a fascinating story. It is always amazing what heroes do on instinct and always makes you wonder how you would react in the same situation. Here’s the story…

Jason Hobbs, like many of us, owns a pocket knife. But unlike you and me, Hobbs has within the week plunged his miniature blade into the muscular chest of an aggressive mountain lion. I guess when you turn around to see a gigantic cat dragging your six-year-old son by his face into the underbrush you have to use what you’ve got.

Here’s how it went down:

Hobbs and Kristi Harris took their son, River, on a family vacation to Big Bend National Park over the weekend. They’d hoped to go camping but opted out after bumping into another family on the trail who informed them that they were being harassed by an aggressive mountain lion. Instead, they decided to rent a room.

On a walkway, en route to their room near the main lodge, the mountain lion attacked. River was in front of his mother, with Hobbs in the lead. In a flash of fur and fangs the big cat sprinted around Harris and pounced on the child. Harris grabbed her son’s hand but the cat prevailed, pulling River to the ground and out of her grasp with a jerk of its powerful neck. It then clamped its fangs onto the boy’s face and began dragging him away.

At this point Hobbs pulled out his pocket knife and *insert heroic music here* jumped into the fray, plunging his blade into the animal’s chest, causing it to let go. The animal then fled the scene.

River survived the incident. He required 17 stitches to close the wounds on his face and will most likely be left with a hell of a manly scar to show for his troubles. When reporters asked him if the attack hurt, the six-year-old victim replied with a show of true Texas grit that would make his father proud:

“No, not that bad.”


This story was written and and taken from WEND blog 

Minimalist Running Shoe’s

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First of all what is a Minimalist Running Shoe?

A minimalist running shoe is all about less. Basically empowering the foot to decided how to run vs the shoe telling the foot how to run. This changes everything. It hurts to run on your heel that’s why we don’t when we run barefoot. Running on the heel is an unnatural forward motion. It’s a braking motion, a stopping motion. When you have a shoe with a lot of cushion in the heel we can’t feel anything. Our foot is blind. However the jarring / jamming of the knees, hip, spine still happen. So just throw more cushion in the shoes right? Wrong. Take the cushion away and let your body figure out what’s best. It’s smarter than you think.  Traditionally running shoes have had a 10mm to 12mm drop from the heel to the toe (a.k.a the extra cushion) Minimalist Running Shoes have a 4mm to 8mm drop from heel to toe and are also more light weight (10 oz or less), also less structure and material in the upper part letting the foot to be more free. From there it goes all the way down to 0mm drop or flat and the barefoot craze of vibram fivefingers. 

There has been a huge movement in running towards minimalist running shoes that is hard to ignore if you are a runner. This past week I was speaking at Revolutionary Natural running clinic and was of course asked about the shoe I wore running across america and what I am wearing now. I’ll say right off the bat that I am a fan of the minimalist approach but believe there are a few major mistakes that people make when making the switch. During my 2010 run across america I averaged 154 miles a week for 4.5 months. Every step of the way was in multiple pairs of acics cumulus running shoes. Nearly every mile was on pavement or packed gravel and I did not get injured. In fact I have never had a serious running injury. (knock on wood)  On the flip side of that the same year a guy by the name of Tellman attempted to make the cost to cost crossing BAREFOOT! He made it 650 miles before giving it up due to blood blisters and deep tissue contusions in both heels. Now that is an extreme but it’s basically my point. Find the happy medium people! Why are we so extreme? Vibrum Five Fingers look stupid! Am I the only person to say that out loud?  People rush into wearing Minimalist foot ware and you can’t, you will get injured. You can not simply buy a 0mm drop shoe and expect it to fix all your running issues. Change takes time. Below are the main training shoes that I have worn over that last 10 years of my running. Notice the mm drop and the gradual progression down to my current and favorite shoe thus far the La Sportiva Crosslite’s . By reading the chart you can see that I was in a 12 mm drop shoe for a long time. I never had problems with it and so why change? The big reason was that I got into trail running a lot more. I running on the toes on technical trail is a big plus. Minimalist shoes help strengthen and allow your foot to do that. I find it funny that every one is trying to get into “natural” running shoes yet

A very natural running surface! Mud :)

they still run on pavement or side walks (a very unnatural surface) The fact of the matter is the foot does need to be protected (Thats why we made shoe’s in the first place) There are so many types of feet and shoes out there that it can be hard to find what works for you. All that being said I think everyone should be moving towards minimalist shoes but just think how long we were not in minimalist shoes. You can’t expect your muscles and tendons to change over night. That’s when people get injured and frustrated that there new shoe did not magically make them stronger, faster and rid them of all their nagging injuries. The most important concept of running is consistency. Your body is amazing it will adapt to almost anything but you need to be patient and consistent with it. Find where you are currently at and slowly start dropping the mm heel. Another way to make the transition is to do a % of your training in a minimalist shoe. Find one you like and do 20% of your easy miles in them. Or just your speed workouts. Keep track of your mileage you log in each shoe and make the transition slowly. Below are a couple of minimalist shoe’s you can check out trail and road. I have only trained in the one’s I listed above and am very happy with the La Sportiva Crosslites. My brother is on his second pair of New Balance MT101 and really likes them. Revolutions Natural Running has over 60 lines of minimalist shoes and a very knowledgeable staff that can answer any questions you might have. So check out there site or click-through some options I put together off amazon. And remember all good things take time!