97-Tie In, Go Ahead... Tie In Already Glancing over my left shoulder I gauged the speed of the sun seeming to fall down over the distant ridge that outlined the Red River Gorge. This was more than just a beautiful sunset from Eagle Point Buttress, overlooking a sharp bend in the river nearly 300 feet below; it was a race to get our team to the bottom for much needed water and to set up camp before the rain caught
94-Rain, Rain, Go Away... Then Come Back In An Hour I checked my weather app one more time, even though I had swiped through it only a couple of hours prior—still thunderstorms every day? Really God? Help me to have a good attitude and capability to make this trip not stink. The drive down brought me closer and closer to my second home, the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. With a small window between potential storms, Chris, Jen and I
93-Swimmin' In The Moonlight How many spots have we passed already? The sun had disappeared behind the thick collage of green, browns and blacks that made up the Kentucky forest in the cool of the evening. Scouting out the perfect campsite for an OCD outdoorsman can prove to be quite the challenge sometimes. Would the Tentsile fit between these trees? Well, this one maybe, but it’s under a huge widow-maker that would not end well in the event of a
91-When Lemons Abound... Forty-two degrees is unseasonably warm for the frozen shoreline of Lake Superior as February snow typically pushes back the sandy Chapel Beach deeper beneath it’s growing weight. The ice formed by persisting water seepage atop the cliffs and the blasting falls that fight against the slow formation that freezes its power in its tracks, yielded to the even stronger ball of fire that dictates our life on this planet. Dropping in the middle of this fire and
90-Flint City Originals The air was brisk as I knelt down in the snow to fasten on Tony’s snowshoes. He had never been snowshoeing before, along with the other four guys from Flint who willingly stepped way outside of their comfort zones to join this Project Forty adventure. Munising sat quiet and still just across the bay formed by the Superior waters between Grand Island and the mainland Upper Peninsula. The ice shanties yielded small, steady streams of smoke, the
89-Don't Be That Guy... “Excuse me, do you know much about the mountain biking trails up here?” Gary pronounced in my direction in search for some local insight. Never passing up an opportunity to engage with a stranger, I turned my attention toward the voice. I was a little surprised to see a man standing with his purple Schwinn bicycle that appeared to come straight from the late 80’s, complete with mechanical rim brakes, street tires and a big ‘ol
87-Risky Business In 2020 The Kentucky air was damp in between the torrential downpours that created small lakes on the sides of the roads and parking areas as we drove back to what we called home for the last few days. Our group of five was camped out in the Red River Gorge forest high up on a ridge-line above the river that was surely flowing much harder since 4pm that afternoon. Our particular site was still intact, a small
81-This Blog Is Not About COVID-19... My eyelids pried themselves open against my body’s will to ignore the predawn fight to beat the inevitable heatwave coming our way. It was already 25 degrees and climbing to 40 degrees by 3pm, not the ideal weather for climbing frozen waterfalls. I stole an extra ten minutes of sleep as I assessed my aching body from the first two day’s battles of might and power. Somewhere in the daze I tuned my ear
80-We Came, We Saw, We Conquered... Now What? The cold, Superior air exited my lungs with a smooth stream that clouded my limited view by headlamp. The sun had gone down hours ago and I was still on the move, staying warm and stepping face to face with the climb that we had trained so hard to conquer. The only vision my guide partner and I had was the faint glow of a wall of ice in the full moonlight
68-Stick A Fork In Me Jerry, I'm Done! The Alder Trees have finally outgrown their torturous phase, providing a beautiful canopy shielding you from the hot sun, which in full illumination would draw out even more pesky droplets of salty water for your eyes to manage as you continue to work at full strength to ensure you make your boat time. Then to your disbelief, the trail makes a fork. “Why does there always have to be fork in
