Walking 'n Biking

We did so much driving Monday we stayed home yesterday and just walked the 3-mile loop on the road. This morning we walked to the dam and back. This afternoon when the forecasted rain did not materialize we drove the bikes to Fish Creek and did 2 loops, for a total of about 9 miles.

Hiking 'n Biking

With the beautiful weather we have been having, we exercise outdoors most days. But I frequently don't blog about it; then we forget what we've done. So this is just a note to say that yesterday we hiked/walked about 4 miles along Bloomingdale Bog, going in from the southern end. We had hoped to find lots of blueberries, but didn't see many. Then today we drove the bikes to Fish Creek and did a couple of loops, adding up to about 12 miles. We had been biking around town but decided to brave the camping crowds today. And it wasn't bad. There really wasn't much traffic, so we'll probably do that again soon. The trick seems to be to go early afternoon when everyone is already wherever they intend to spend that part of the day. A little later, the new campers are coming in so the traffic picks up.

I Did It....

Biked 16 miles, that is, on hills no less. And that is something from a resident of the coastal plain. I'd never biked that far, ever, and certainly not on hills. We parked at the little park in Gabriels, at the intersection of Route 86 and the Gabriels-Onchiota Road. Then we biked south on Route 86 for a little over a mile, then turned onto the road to Bloomingdale. Going that direction was definitely the way to do it, since we got a nice ride down a very long hill that I wouldn't want to try to bike up. Then in Bloomingdale we turned up Oregon Plains Road and rode its length to the Gabriels-Onchiota Road as we did last month. The final leg took us back to our starting point. The weather was great and there was little traffic, but I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it. It was certainly great exercise and I'm sure I'll get better at it if I get my legs (and my butt) in better shape. It had been a couple of weeks since I'd been on the bike. We'll have to be sure we get out at least once a week if we want to do more long trips.

Biking to Hitchins Pond

Today we and Jim and Cindy drove to Horseshoe Lake, turned left at the end of the road and continued to the gate. Then we unloaded the bikes, amid swarms of mosquitoes and deer flies, and rode the ~3 miles to Low's Upper Dam (shown in red on the map).The bog along the way was full of pitcher plants in bloom. We walked down to Hitchins Pond,which we had to ourselves, then rode back the way we came. The ride was nice (if you ignored the deer flies) but a little difficult with our hybrid bikes. I got bogged down in the sand a couple of times and it was quite bumpy in places. But still a nice excursion.

Another Beautiful Day

It is another nice day, but too windy for boating. So we have added another activity to our busy schedule - biking. We brought our bikes to camp this season and today was just my second ride. We drove to Bloomingdale and parked at the southern end of Oregon Plains Road just north of the crossroads. Then we rode the 5 miles to the end and back again. It was fairly hilly so it was plenty of exercise.We enjoyed it so much we talked about doing the whole loop sometime from Gabriels, to Bloomingdale, up Oregon Plains Road to the Gabriels-Onchiota Road, and back to Gabriels, for a total of about 16 miles. But we need to get a bit better in shape first.

Then this evening we and Jim and Cindy went to Hemlock Hall for their chicken and biscuits dinner. Yum. And it was just the 4 of us in the whole place, which was kind of strange, but nice and quiet and we had a good time.