The meeting of Earth and Sky

Crazy cool, INCREDIBLE northern lights last night! What made the night totally unforgettable was not only the lights but the music of nature. Spring peepers and wood frogs were calling all night long and while I was shooting over a lake I could hear a barred owl calling from across the lake. It was one of the best nights I've ever spent in the woods with my camera! For the first hour of viewing, the Aurora held the form that you see in the photo above. To me it sort of resembled the funnel cloud shape of a tornado. This photo was taken at about 11:00 PM. A couple of hours later the scene was totally wild as the lights easily filled 75% of the sky and were moving much, much faster than they were when the above photo was made. The lights shown in the photo above were hardly moving at all. The variety that exists in the lights of the Aurora never ceases to amaze me!



The last few times I've gone out shooting the Aurora I've been trying to get more creative with some of my compositions. I've been trying new locations as well as new perspectives. The above photo is one such perspective, with the lights reflecting in the lake and the top corners of the image framed by pine branches. I personally really like this composition. To me it feels like I am looking through a window out into the scene beyond.



This was such an incredible night of photography, it's hard to imagine being able to top it. Between 1:00 and 2:00 AM the lights were some of the best I've ever seen. At the time the photos below were taken, the lights were flickering incredibly fast and it felt as though they were actually touching the tops of the trees. They were emanating from the sky directly overhead and washing down over the surrounding landscape. Indeed, the Earth felt connected to the Sky that night.

Princess Redd-Shift

Or, Emily's Sweet Schwinn
Since I started bike commuting, cycling has become a bit of a family affair. My daughter has a Trek children's mountain bike that's almost too small for her rapidly growing, long legs. My wife commutes to work often, and our son sometimes rides to the gym.
Since I got bike crazy, my daughter, Emily, has acquired a bit of a bike eye, and had begun to notice the difference between modern mountain bikes made for kids and more stylish vintage bikes. Since her legs are almost too long for her MTB, I started looking for a suitable lady's bike that she might like. One idea was to go the 650B conversion route and go with fat tires and fenders, perhaps adding a rack and/or basket.

Craigslist turned up an old Schwinn, the same color as my Le Tour II. We got a good price ($40) on the bike and proceeded to take it home to evaluate it. On the way home, I stopped by the Trek store to get some gloves and took the opportunity to ask Mark about the bike and how it might take new parts such as quick release wheels, new brakes, paint or powder coat, etc. His first remark was that the bike used Shimano's Positron shifting. This was an early attempt at index shifting using a freewheel in the pedals and a fixed rear hub. The idea was that shifting could be done while coasting. The system never really caught on, and it would be another ten years before indexing shifting really got into gear.
I'm not ready to attempt to convert the drivetrain to a traditional drivetrain, but the old rusty wheels had to go. I moved over the 27 inch chromed wheels from the Le Tour and so far, it seems to be a good fit. The shifting isn't quite accurate, but works. I think some play with the limit screws might help. I tightened up the brakes.
We went for an easy six mile ride to Blue Planet and Emily reported that the ride was super smooth. I guess the higher pressure, narrow and smooth tires were better on the bike path than her knobby MTB tires. The hills back home were a little tough since the heavy bike wouldn't shift down into the granny gear. There was a little pushing involved.
We'll add some new bar tape to replace the original cellophane orange stuff, replace the too-soft gel aftermarket seat, maybe get a paint or powder coat job and we'll have one spiffy looking, smooth riding vintage girl's bike with little investment.

First Ride of the Year

Beautiful afternoon. Sunny, about 33 degrees, light wind from the North. It was time for my first bike ride of the year. It was about 2 1/2 months since I rode one of my bikes. In that time, I have endured 2 surgeries
I decided to do a pavement ride. Rode from the nature trail parking lot at Lake Manawa. Headed West to Mosquito Creek and then on up to Highway 92. Brought by old digital rebel to take photos. (BTW, another rider at Xtreme Wheels said the Iowa side trails were pretty clear from The Marketplace shopping center up to N 25th St.)
Rode my "ice bike" - Trek 4300 outfitted with flat pedals and studded tires. Climbing on the bike, I was a little unstable. Think it was the studded tires and (mostly) the flat pedals and hiking boots. The boots kept my feet nicely warm.
There was no need for me to ride studded tires. The trail was basically clear where I wanted to ride.
Thought about riding down to the mountain bike trail area to check them out. But by the time I was there on the way back, I knew I would be too tired. As it happened, the 7.5 miles at about 9.6 mph was just right.
Tired and a little sore this evening. Good feeling. Should sleep well tonight.

And back to winter

After the glimpse of spring in my last post, here's the other side of January in Scotland. When we left Speyside on 2 January to travel back to Edinburgh sleet was beginning to fall. Between Grantown on Spey and Aviemore the snow started - 'blin' drift' in Scots (translation: 'blizzarding snow, blown by strong winds so that it obscures your vision. 'Blin' pronounced as in 'pin'. I'm feeling rather Inuit-ish with my Scots snow terminology!) - and the road filled up very quickly. South of Newtonmore the traffic halted completely. We were comforted by the sight of a snowplough/gritter a few cars ahead of us, but all the same it was sobering to sit in a car rocked by a gale, on a desolate stretch of road, with only a food stock of left-over Christmas cake, mince pies and kettle chips. Plus the survival blankets which we always carry in the winter.
We eventually got moving without any digging out being required, and by the time we reached Perth there was no snow to be seen. Yesterday and today we're back to gales, so the year has got off to a turbulent start.
Among the pictures of this week's storm damage on the BBC Scotland website, I noted the irony of a house featured in the 'Grand Designs' programme which had lost its roof (it's the 7th photo along). On either side the stolid, very ungrandly designed houses appear unscathed.

Northern Hawk Owl

For the past couple of weeks a Northern Hawk Owl has been hanging around near the Grand Portage Trading Post. I have seen him several times, but until today he was always perched on the power lines (not the best for photos!). Today I spotted him in the trees and promptly reached for my 100-400mm lens. I watched him (or her? I'm not sure how to tell the difference in owls) for close to half an hour. During that time the owl flew to 4 or 5 different trees, and from each tree was listening for sounds of mice down under the snow. Every now and then he would swoop down towards the ground, but he never did catch anything while I was there. He sure gave me some nice opportunities for photos today though!

Five questions for: Surf fanatic Keith Wikle

We caught up with Keith Wikle, friend and fellow paddlesport blogger, as he was about to begin a three-day Essentials of Surf Kayaking Instructor Certification Workshop in Jacksonville, Florida with Instructor Trainer Nigel Law, co-ownerof Savanna Canoe and Kayak. Nigel, who is well-known forsurf kayak coachingat every level, is someone Keith has long admired and wished to work with. Snow and ice pelted our car as we spoke with Keith, who was taking a cab to a campground the night before the start of the ICW.


HKWT:Why are you doing a surf instructor certification?

KW: I really like surfing. It's the most dynamic part of the sport, and it's probably the thing I enjoy the most. I've spent a lot of time doing it. I've had a number of people approach me about surf coaching, and I wanted to get a better idea about how to become a better instructor for surfing, especially for dedicated surf kayaks.

HKWT: How does this connect to sea kayaking and sea kayak coaching?

KW: All of the surf stuff I've learned has made me more aware of surf dynamics: what's safe and what isn't, what's fun, and how to take advantage of the dynamics of the surf zone in any boat. And if anything, it's made me less fearful of surfing in my sea kayak. For sea kayaks, you get a much better idea of whether this is going to be fun or it's going to be death on a stick.

HKWT: What are you expecting the certification process to be like?

KW: The initial part of it is surf zone safety and coaching in sit-on-tops. There's a big part of it that doesn't have anying to do with surf kayaking itself, but more has to do with making sure people are safe and learning rather than scaring the hell out of them.

And I'm just excited to go out and play on the waves in Florida in February!

HKWT: What do you expect to do with your new certification?

KW: I would like to run some courses on Lake Michigan, especially late summer and early fall, more sit-on-top than sit-in courses. Sit-on-top kayaks are a great way to get people involved in surf, making carves and performing turns without a combat roll. That's what I'm envisioning.

HKWT: Will you be writing this up on your blog?

KW: Yeah, I'm sure I will.

Spearfish Canyon

Spearfish Canyon spans 20-miles along a scenic and unique State and National Scenic Byway. Geologist point to the origin of the canyon about 62-million years . Geologists note that the canyon is 12-times older than the Grand Canyon with rocks of similar age.

Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s renowned organic architect, proclaimed Spearfish Canyon as ‘the’ most magnificent canyon in the west in his visit of 1935. He stated that had this canyon been on the through way to the west, it would today be as appreciated and recognized as the Grand Canyon

Spearfish Creek, runs south to north and runs year round. The creek is unusual in that it freezes from the bottom up, instead of icing over. This unusual phenomenon occurs due to the very fast rate at which the creek flows

The Spearfish RiverIt truly is beautifulOur first hike is to Spearfish Falls. It is great on a hot day because the wind was blowing the mist from the Falls right onto the viewing area.Part of the hike goes over the river. There used to be railroad that crossed the top of the Falls but the tracks were washed out during a storm and never rebuiltThe next hike is to Roughlock Falls



We continue to drive thru the Canyon and go by Bridal Falls

We stop in the Town of Spearfish to try the original Sanford's for lunch. Smaller but every bit as good!

Next stop Belle Fourche (pronounced foosh) The geological center of the Nation.

Till Later,Meanwhile we keep on Trek'n

Melissa and Gary