Wednesday, June 8, 2011

• Picked Dad up at the Columbus airport
• Picked up dinner (Hot Head Burrito) & gas in Florence, KY
• Grocery run in Winchester
• Arrive at River Roost cabin in the Red River Gorge at 11:15pm
• Fight off moths and enter a steaming hot cabin
• Notice the cabin is absent an oven, insulation, food disposal, etc. but homely nevertheless

Thursday, June 9, 2011

• Make a hearty helping of bacon & eggs after sleeping in
• Meet the caretakers’ nephew, Kai
• Drive to Gladie Visitor Center for advice on what to see & do
• Hike Sky Bridge,
• Drive to Whistling Arch and Dad make a nice 6 foot ascent using fixed ropes J
• Drive up a gravel road to enjoy the views of the Gorge from Chimney Top
• Walk over to Princess Arch and almost miss seeing it
• Drive down Rock Bridge and eat a quick lunch before the mosquitoes discover us
• Walk the 1.4 mile Rock Bridge trail and climb around the arch perched over the river.
• Go back to town to pick up a few items missing at the cabin
• Dine on steak, bake potatoes, pale ales, and a salad topped with an impromptu beer & mustard dressing (missed that one at the grocery store!)
• Drank chocolate milk for dessert, the result of not having a freezer.
• Heard the Dallas Mavericks bombard the Heat with 3-pointers in the 4th quarter to pull ahead 3 – 2 in the NBA finals over the car radio

Friday, June 10, 2011

• Healthy breakfast of oatmeal & OJ
• Drove down to Martin’s Fork to hike to Gray’s Arch
• The hike started off under a dense canopy of trees and beside a small creek.
• The flies and mosquitoes mugged every inch of visible skin until the trail climbed up.
• Once above the trees, we though we found the arches and looked for a way over to them.
• The trail instead lead us to an unexpected fork revealing the actual location of Gray’s arch was still a 1+ miles away.
• Hike 2 miles and crisscrossed a backpacking couple, which confirmed to both parties that we had somehow missed Gray’s Arch.
• Thanks to the help of their map, we retraced our path and found a very discrete trail leading off to Gray’s Arch
• Marvel at the unique geology of the sandstone formations.
• Continue to marvel while climbing around and taking action pictures
• Low on water and food, we hike 2+ miles back to the car.
• Our pace quickened as thunder shook the valley just ¼ mile from the car.
• Run to the car just as it a major downpour rolls in
• Eat lunch in the car along the highway and return to the cabin to take a much needed nap
• Grill pork chops with broccoli and corn
• Savor more chocolate milk over backgammon.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

• Stay with the oatmeal & OJ for breakfast with a few slices of bacon
• Swat down the fifth consecutive spider web spun overnight across the driver’s side-view mirror.
• Launch a couple kayaks into the Red River at the concrete bridge along Hwy 715 with the help of our caretaker.
• Enjoy the scenery of the upper section of the river
• Strategically guide the kayak over numerous shallow water sections – lots of bumps
• Rock skipping contest
• “Cliff” jumping from 20 feet up
• Grinded out the lower section which was characterized by slow current, fallen trees from a recent tornado, and less interesting scenery.
• Hooked the kayaks together using the bow and stern handles and the forward kayaker supplied all the power over the last mile
• Ate lunch back at the cabin and took a power nap
• Drove over to Natural Bridge and started hiking to the Sky Walk just as thunder struck
• Our calves burned after quickly gaining 300 – 500 feet elevation
• Reach the Sky Walk just as the rain starts to pour
• Decide to take the ski lift down, which leaves us more vulnerable to the rain than originally planned
• We arrive to the car 30 minutes sooner than if we hiked down, but soaking wet.
• A quick run over to the grocery store to pickup that salad dressing
• Last supper of delicious leftovers
• Drink more chocolate milk

Sunday, June 12, 2011

• Take a scenic detour through rural Kentucky
• Learned Dad’s flight was cancelled and now departed ~3 hours later
• Cross the “Ohio” River – which is nearly all in Kentucky.
• Reroute after discovering that flying out of Cincinnati is quicker than Columbus
• Say goodbye after a splendid Father / Son trip.

Related posts:

1. Hiking the North Shore
2. The Last Frontier #7
3. Cycling Rallarvegen

Click to watch the video (I can’t seem to embed into WordPress)

Rallarvegen is an old service road built for the construction of the rail line built from Flåm to Myrdal and has been converted into a biking trail. Converted should be used loosely given the number of large rocks waiting to throw a biker, but this is Norway. I took an early morning train from Oslo to Haugastol and nearly had a wipe out when my tires found the tram tracks. Once there, the rest of the crew gathered and we started off on the 80 ride to Flåm. Just after lunch, we made it to Finse, which is Norway’s highest railway station at 1222 metres above sea level.

After Finse, we ran into a group of marathon runners, but this wasn’t a normal marathon. They started at sea level in Flam and ran out of the valley with nearly nearly a full mile in elevation gain. After a good dinner near a small lake, it started to rain, and we looked for a camping spot. One group found a cave, while I pitched a tarp against two bikes for shelter.

We were startled in the middle of the night when a fox started stealing food from inside the tarp. I was using the food bag as part of my pillow and that stupid fox still managed to take it. Thankfully, it wasn’t able to eat through the food bag, but it did puncture my apple.

The second day was absolutely incredible. According to visitnorway.com,

The final 20 km goes through Flåmsdalen, a valley famous for its beauty and Northern Europe’s most exciting railway journey. The line falls 865 m over the course of the valley. The upper section has 21 sharp curves, and at this part it is wise to get off your cycle and walk!

It was so beautiful, we rarely stopped to take pictures. Those 20 km were simply spectacular. I’ve never had more fun on a bicycle.

Also, Amber wrote a very good entry with lots of great pictures about the trip here and here. It’s certainly worth clicking over to see.

Related posts:

1. Grocery Shopping
2. The King and I
3. Red River Gorge

Ok, what do the robots at Google know?! To my knowledge, I’ve never been arrested. Not yet, at least. Of course there was a near miss on my way home from church this winter. Yeah, there was that time the night before A&M – texas tickets went on sale and suddenly found myself on Kyle Field talking to the police. Oh, sure I may have been involved in a drive-by water ballooning that lead to a car chase. But how did Google know about the last two? Oh… well, now they know.

Apparently, I’m not the only Reese Hopkins in the world and there was a radio DJ with a criminal past. Whew…

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3. Northern Adventures, Week 3

In Norway, snow lingers through April and sometimes May each year. So, Norway’s “spring” sports are really winter sports in disguise.  Lucky for me, the Winter Olympics provided an excellent way to understand this Norwegian obsession.  At the suggestion of my co-workers, I watched the traditional Norwegian events: cross-country skiing, biathlon, and ski jumping.

The newly reconstructed Holemkollen Ski Jump on Opening Night

Cross-Country Skiing

Given my mis-adventures cross-country skiing, I thought it wise to take lessons from the Olympians, themselves. So, I made plans to tune into one of the first ski events, the men’s 15km “sprint”. The competition had 95 racers, each beginning one minute after the other. Yes, it really took over an hour for the race to begin. Seriously, who could actually watch this?!   Not me, I had to changed the channel. Eventually, I returned to the race, mainly to watch the Norwegian superstar, Petter Northug, All the newspapers had been whispering predictions of Petter sweeping the cross-country events. Midway through the race, Mr. Norway was already two minutes behind the leaders. He didn’t improve, and finished 41st. Immediatley, theories started appearing. The most popular was the wax. Huh? Wax? Would LT blame his cleats? Pujols the pine tar? Or LeBron the backboard? Well, apparently the wax guy was Swedish. Ummm… that’s just weak sauce.

I had to give cross-country spectating one more try to redeem itself with the men’s relay. I learned from last time and tuned in late. Of course, this time everyone started together, and I feared I had missed a full leg of the relay. At the 15 minute mark, a note appeared “Leg 1 – 6.3km”. What?? This is just Leg 1? Oh no, I’ve got at least another hour of racing. Well, at least I didn’t miss first exchange, which I imagined to be as critical as the baton hand-off in the 4×400 track relay.

Finally, 30 minutes into the race, the leg 1 skiers touched their teammates’ shoulders and off they went. That was it?? I was hoping for an exchange of poles, maybe even skis. Now, that would be a relay. The race soon got interesting when a half dozen skiers broke from the “pelton”. Actually, cycling is very analogous both in terms of distance and “why am I watching this” factor. Still, I was entranced. It’s embarrassing, I know, but these athletes fought each hill as if it was the last (and I was secretly hoping so, too).

The Swedes eventually took a commanding lead in the 3rd leg and Norway drifted 45 seconds off medal range. Norway’s anchor for the 4th leg was none other than Wrong Wax, Petter Northug. To my complete surprise, Petter closed the gap to 15 seconds with 5km to go. I guess the new wax guy was Norwegian (or Mr. Miyagi) Now, I was hooked. How could someone go that fast on skis? With less than 1km to go, there was a 3-way contest for 2nd place. In the last 100km, Petter blew past the Czech and French teams to win the silver. Still, the Norwegians were doubly insulted; they didn’t win gold and the Swedes did. Me? I was just astonished that watching cross-country skiing on TV could be entertaining for 5 minutes let alone 100. I know, it’s embarrassing.

Biathlon

If cross-country can be entertaining by itself, then imagine adding guns! Yeah, biathlon is just cool.  Enough said.

Ski Jumping

Taking Flight One of the first jumpers of the night. The best jump was about 130m (25m beyond where we stood)

Last week, some fellow trainees and I ventured out to watch the inaugural jumps off the on the reconstructed Holmenkollen ski jump. On the way over, I decided I could set a world record if I jumped with a fully-padded marshmallow suit to cushion the landing. I mean, it can’t be that hard, right? As we walked up the hill, the massive steel-concrete structure grew bigger and bigger, and I felt smaller and smaller. Ok, maybe I’m a bad example, I can feel small next to an ant, but I bet even Yao Ming would feel small next to Holmenkollen. When Anette Sagen made the historic first jump, everyone cheered, and I immediately reconsidered my marshmallow idea. Did you know they fly over a full football field?! No marshmallow suit will save my bones from that kind of impact. Anyway, we stayed to watch another 10 jumps and called it quits early because of the cold (15F with wind isn’t standing weather). Yep, just a typical Spring week in Norway… it’s March Madness.

[inspiration comes from chatting with Aaron Brown about how the Aggies trounced his Longhorns in college hoops. It was so refreshing to talk real sports.]

Related posts:

1. Cross-country Skiing
2. Norway Street View
3. Through the Woods

One of the rare upright moments on my first try

My goal is simply to stay up downhill and not slide down the uphills. Cross-country skis are thin and not made for manuvering like alpine skis, which makes descending difficult. To complicate matters, you typically ski in tracks (picture, grooves in the snow).  These tracks are basically “foot traps”.  Swift your balance incorrectly or let the ski catch the edge of the track, and you’ll end up face first on the ground with a smile of snow.

Cutting a groove: A snow plow prepares fresh tracks for skiing

Going uphill is even more difficult.  When done incorrectly, you slide backwards.  It’s very humbling to watch young kids sprint up hills the hill you’re struggling up.  In the time it took me to go 5 feet, a guy my age completed the whole hill.  I was speechless and tried to imitate his form, but it only produced more backsliding.  Needless to say, the sport is incredibly demanding and encapsulates much of the Norwegian culture.  It’s a ritual for Norway to take home multiple medals in XC.  Look for the same in Vancouver.  Not to be outdone, I’ve included some of my “medals” (i.e., the GPS tracks from the trips this season).

Team Building

I work with a team of six clever and friendly consultants/engineers and joined them for their annual team building a few weeks ago. This year’s trip was to the mountains for some skiing and relaxation. Being my first XC-skiing trip, I had no idea what to expect. The first few steps I tried to walk normally, and instead of moving, I stayed in the same place.  A very new and strange experience.  With each step, my foot would slide right back to the same spot. Madness! Eventually, I learned to glide, shift my weight, and use poles.  As soon as I began to feel comfortable, we ventured downhill, and I must have set a record for falls (about 10-20 times).  Toward the end, I finally got the hang of it and had an excellent time.

Sognsvann to Ullevålseter

I joined a few co-workers for a night of skiing at Sognsvann (sounds like, Song Swan). The first half has some challenging uphills. I was so happy to reach the top and refuel at a charming little cabin/caffe at Ullevålseter. The downhill was fast and fun. To my surprise, I only wiped out once.  Click on the icons for pictures (via www.skiforeningen.no).

Track near my Apartment

Yesterday (Saturday) I decided to take a solo trip to the tracks right next to my apartment. Thankfully, it wasn’t crowded, allowing me to go even slower and work on technique.   I don’t think it improved much, but it was fun (though exhausting!) On the very last downhill, I saw an elderly lady.  I tried to control my speed to avoid a collision (my #1 fear). In the process, I completely wiped out a full 15 yards away from her, which caused a very rare and pleasant conversation. Typically, it’s hard to start convesations with my neighbors, but that’s a story for another day. Here’s the track, which I completed counter-clockwise.

Related posts:

1. Through the Woods
2. Norwegian Sports
3. Grocery Shopping