7-22-16 thru 7-29-16 Roanoke, VA

Altec has a factory in Roanoke Virginia and I was invited out for a "train the trainer" event. The training focuses on tools that are available to the Quality team and how to use and implement them to other facilities. 

I flew to Roanoke and arrived at Midnight on Friday. I came back to the room a fell asleep. I woke early on Saturday and checked the forecast. 95 deg with a lot of humidity. I went out and walked along the greenway trail and climbed up Mill Mountain to find one of the lower trails. Definitely a warm day but I had fun exploring around the hotel on foot. Later in the day I walked to a bike shop to rent a bike so I could go Mtn Biking at Mill Mountain and Carvins Cove. While at the shop I found out there is an indoor climbing gym in the same building. 

The view from the hotel

Hiking on Mill Mtn

One of the trails on Mill Mtn

An air conditioned climbing gym

On Saturday night I decided to go out for dinner and checked Yelp for establishments nearby. I walked to the Wildflower Cafe which was about 1/2 mile away. A very warm walk and the AC in the Wildflower wasn't the coolest but I had a great meal. 

The dining area

The cake cases. They do a lot of catering/weddings

My burrito on the right

The front of the Wildflower Cafe. Tucked away in a historic neighborhood. 

After dinner I walked around and explored. Some amazing old homes in this city. 

An awesome garage apartment. 

On Sunday morning I woke up early and reviewed a map of Mill Mtn and started climbing. I climbed all the way to the summit and took these photos at the top. 

A road biker who had climbed up to summit with me. 

I had a good time riding down the mountain which allowed me to cool off a little bit and dry off. 

Mill Mtn at night

I spent some time at the hotel and then packed up the bike into the rental car and went to Carvins Cove to see the top notch trails of Roanoke. 

I rode for about an hour and did an out and back. There are around 50 miles of single track at Carvins Cove. The heat of the day was approaching and I was amazed again at how warm and humid it is out here. 

My rentals. The Santa Cruz Superlight was a nice bike. 

The temps rose to 98* in the afternoon and spent some time indoors. As the temp started to drop I walked over to HITS frozen treats on the greenway to get some ice cream. A classic establishment with homemade ice cream and a lot of different flavors. 

7-16-16 Rock Climbing at Ely's Peak

I was really excited when I heard that there would be FREE rock climbing outdoors. I also wanted to bike the Munger trail in that area. I loaded up panniers with food and climbing gear and took off on the bike. The trail around Ely's peak is beautiful because there are hardwood forested and large sections of bedrock that had been blasted for the train tracks. I hiked up the SHT with my panniers and made it to the mouth of the train tunnel. The rock climbing was off to the side of the tunnel. 

Jarrett and I stayed there till about 3pm (I arrived at 10am). I had a nice bike ride home and felt pretty exhausted in the end. These type of days are great reminders to be thankful that I live in Duluth. 

Early July Canada Trip

July 1 2016

We were on the road at 9am on a beautiful sunny Friday. The drive up the north shore is always enjoyable and we were both excited to ride new trails. Our first stop was the Sugarbush trail head off the Sawbill road in Tofte. Some black flies were out and biting which encouraged us to get a move on. 

Most of the trail was pretty new construction and was interesting to ride. 

Emily challenging herself in the rock garden. Tried it multiple times before cleaning it. 

After riding most of the trail at Sugarbush we headed to Grand Marais to have some lunch by the beach. A strong wind from the West which cooled the air off by the lake. Emily motivated me to get out and ride the Pincushion trails just up the hill from Grand Marais. 

The trails definitely felt different in terms of terrain. The in and out trail reminded me of Colorado with all the rock and roughness. Fun times. There are more Expert loops that I want to ride in the future. 

The view exiting the trail

Look down on Grand Marais 

We continued on North and passed through the border crossing without issue. The bluffs in Canada are very different in comparison to the Saw tooth mountain on the north shore.

Emily and I found a great Indian Restaurant on the North side of T-Bay for dinner & then made our way to Towbridge falls campground. We found a spot next to the river and folks celebrating Canada Day weren't too rowdy. 

On Saturday morning we went into town to find the farmer market while the dew dried on the trails & plants. The market is an impressive place with a lot of vendors and two stories inside a large building. Lot of baked goods downstairs with clothing and soft goods upstairs. Quite the scene. 

We hit the trails mid morning and were thrown back in time. The trails were definitely old and nothing like we currently have in Duluth. It reminded me of Hartley 8 years ago. 

There was some newer construction and expert level riding. Thunder Bay has seen a lot of rain so the trails were especially muddy. It was a challenge to try and find the dry trails in the system. A fun experience and a good reminder to be thankful for all the work COGGS does in Duluth. 

We explored more of T-Bay later Saturday and into the evening. We even found some improv comedy downtown. 

7-3-16 Sleeping Giant Park

Emily was excited to see the park so we were up early and on the road north. Once you are out of T-Bay there isn't much for homes or people. A lot of bedrock and forest. The park is pretty quiet but there are homes along the road. We checked in at the office and found out that biking to the trailhead to summit one of the peaks makes the day a lot shorter (instead of walking the whole way). The parking lot was busy with people gearing up and putting bikes together. We started out the journey on bikes with decent amount of descending and mud holes. A group of trail runners were ahead of us but we were the first people to lock up bikes at the bottom of the mountain. 

The hike up the mountain was exhausting at times especially because mosquitoes were biting me. We climbed 290 feet of elevation and it was great to see the terrain on this peninsula. 

A view from one of the overlooks. Tea Bay

The trail up goes right by the lake in the photo

A bench at the top. Toasty warm

I thought we were at the end of the trail but Emily looked at the map and the path continues on to the other side of the Mtn. We hiked on. 

The other side of the Mtn with a look toward the west (Thunder Bay)

We hiked on to the true end of the trail and found a tall canyon with a stream running at the bottom. 

A look at the bottom of the canyon

The lake at the bottom

We bumped into many people who were summiting later in the morning/day and I was thankful to beat the crowd. 

When we locked up we were the first bikes. Now...so many bikes locked up all over the woods. 

Right after I took these photos I hopped on my bike and was riding a long the trail & hit something in the mud and flipped over the bars. I landed on my left leg and arm. I was OK but my leg was really sore with a big Charlie Horse. I limped around and got back on the bike feeling quite a bit of pain. It got better and better as I pedaled on. By the time I made it back to the car I could move around OK. 

After dinner we rode out to the end of the peninsula and took in the views. A beautiful area. 

We drove home on Monday. We explored Thunder Bay and visited some stores and went out for breakfast. The drive over the border wasn't too bad. We spent some time exploring Grand Marais. 

 Bike mower in front of the bike shop. 

Artist Point

Artist Point

When I got home I took some photos of the flowers around the house

Overall the trip went really well and we had a great time in Canada