Stealth

 

Yeah...Corky is such a bad ass he rides two bikes

 Recently the weather here in the twin cites warmed to above normal temps just before going back into the crapper, covering everything in snow. For about a week we saw 60 to 70 degree days and all the snow was gone and things were drying out. I was out for a solo ride in a pretty amazing area when the idea for an over-night camp out began calling my name. Spring and fall seem to be the best times here in Minnesota....basically when the bugs (mosquitoes) are all dead and it's not to cold to enjoy lazing around a campfire in pants and a sweatshirt. A call-out to the Imperial Fat-Bike Riders Group was sen,t and details were set for the following Friday.

fan out

most of you locals know where this is....sssssshhhh

some of you don't know where this is 

  Four of us left my house in the late afternoon and arrived about an hour and a half later at our destination....a large mass of sandstone. I had not camped here before but have been visiting this site for well over twenty years. In those years the area has seen massive changes, mostly for the better, but along with that you can't really just do what you want anymore. Back in the day we used to hunt on this land, drive four wheel trucks, smash things and shoot items like bottles and TVs. Now, that's not accetpable and we were going stealth. Stealth meaning.....we would go into the woods, out of sight, build a small fire after nightfall, clean up all of our trash, and for the most part, leave no trace of our being there.  It was a fantastic night hanging with old friends Corky and ArcFlash as well as getting to know how freakin cool and funny Lizard Man is.

Heck yeah we bring cheese cake

take my word for it....the sunset was spectacular 

meat on a stick

Lizard Man and Corky

  The next morning was chilly, around freezing...a good 30 degrees colder than when we rode in and windy to boot. AF and Lizard Man took off early due to commitments. Corky and I had a little more time to kill and took a longer route home. Our plan to get a nice sit-down breakfast was foiled by my error in the location of a cafe' I had my mind set on. We had to settle for Mc Donalds.....ick, which was just fine for both of us. We were very cold and pretty hungry when we sat down in the warm building. After breakfast we had just a few more miles and we were back at my house.......completely satisfied with a sub 20 hour bicycle inspired camp-out. This is why I love the over-nighter...I get my rejuvenating "fix" and I'm home before most of the family has even had breakfast.  By the way...it snowed that night (Saturday), which sucked, but also made me feel like pulled a fast one on mother nature.

Sunny and beautiful, but cold and windy

Micky D's in  Awful Valley

Make Your Own Gear

A certain amount of satisfaction occurs when you can make your own gear.....and if all goes well...it works.  My do-it-yourself projects tend to favor things I can build out of metal. I enjoy making fabric items as well, but things I make from black iron,stainless steel, and aluminum is where I usually separate myself from a lot of DIYers. My latest creation is the Any Muther Fuckin Thing Cage which is very similar to one out on the market, except mine is aluminum, and it was .....FREE!  I haven't seen the need for theses yet but now that I have them I'll try em' out. If I don't like them, I'll throw them in the scrap bin. If they work well I'm sure I will be making a few more for my friends.

The cages are bit thick , made from .125" aluminum. My next set will be .080 or possibly .063 

finished and ready to have the holes drilled for mounting

Muther Fukin'     Trademark 

straps can be found at any camping store or some home improvement centers...they just have to be cut down a bit

I'm hoping the weather will clear up a bit here and I can try theses out 

 

Man Trip 2015

The first full weekend in March typically marks the time for the annual Man Trip on the north shore of Lake Superior. This year we jumped the gun a little and settled for the last couple days of February and into March. Only three of us, Best in Schow, ArcFlash, and myself, would be able to make the trip that has seen as many as seven individuals in previous years.

Duluth skyline

breakwater

Amity Creek.....studded tires a must

 Friday morning the three of us headed north from the twin cities, AF and I in one van and BinS in another. We met at Park Point for the now classic, must do fat-bike ride in Duluth.....ride the beach. It's a fun route, deceivingly long and never the same twice. We spent a good two plus hours, messing around and exploring, including riding out on the lake ice. Riding on the lake didn't last too long, it was a little spooky and was nothing but ice heaves and broken, loose, chunks that made forward motion difficult even with studded Dillingers. After the first ride we headed over to Amity Creek and Lester River for a ride on the river bed. This didn't work out too well....Amity was a bit difficult with overflow varying from open flowing water to solid ice. We turned back at one of the water falls that was a too steep to ride up and would have required a different type of foot wear other than cycling shoes fixed with sheet metal screws.Back near the confluence of the two rivers we rode the lester river MTB trail, instead of the river itself, which was in perfect fat-biking condition.

Cross River

The pool on the left is way over our heads with lots of current...the ledge on the right is the only way around.....pass

Black Canyon from the top

Best part of the day....campfire and lunch

Two rides down we had one more to complete for the day, a group ride that was part of the Duluth fat-bike weekend at 8 pm that night. We had a little time to kill between rides so we checked in to the posh, Motel 6 in Duluth, and grabbed a bite to eat. It was very tough to get motivated to ride again, I was tired, had a little chill going and it was going to be a cold windy night.  It was great meeting up with a bunch of friends from Duluth and the trails were in great shape for riding, unfortunately I forgot the camera and didn't get any pics.

lots of overflow,  not typical on previous rides up this creek 

it's like 80 deg f in here and about 15 outside

Easy Muther Fuking Bake Oven....in action

Dinner provided by ArcFlash

 The next day we headed further north for more riding and to check out a river I have not previously explored. First up was the Cross River, specifically the Black Canyon portion. I wasn't sure what to expect but was hoping for something  similar to the Devil Track River with steep walls and hopefully a rappel. We decided to travel up stream from the lake just in case we got into something we couldn't get out of by going down stream.  The Black Canyon would have been very dangerous if not fatal taken from the top. At the point of narrowing up the canyon is a series of frozen waterfalls and open pools with a lot of flow. There was no way around these open pools and surely would have drown the three of us. We did however get to preview the canyon from the bottom and then the top by climbing out of and around the nasty section. On our way back to the vehicles we stopped for a campfire and lunch. with several hours of daylight left we got the bikes out for a ride up one of my favorite north shore rivers. The recent weather played a big part in the way this ride would shake down. It was very similar to Amity creek done on the previous day and would be less than ideal with all of the overflow and sheer ice. I was a little bummed for Best in Schow's case, since it was his first time on the man trip and I promised him a great ride......it was not all that great.

we need more beauty sleep

more treats from the easy bake

home sweet home

 After the ride we again went north and set up camp at Cascade River State Park from the back of the van. I brought my wall tent and stove which we all fit inside of and spent the evening very warm and dry. The next day we went for the classic ski down the Devil Track River with the Barrier falls rappel. Although I have done this route a bunch of times I never tire of it and the conditions of this trip down were top notch. We all had a great day on the river and enjoyed a bit of a warm up from previous days as well as lots of sun. Once at the exit, Best in Schow bid us farwell and ArcFlash and myself were off to one more adventure of the long weekend.

doesn't get much better than this 

Wanting to tryout ArcFlash's new tent and my new up-sized mini stove, as well as a couple new pulks, we planned a short walk-in over-nighter on the Split Rock River. We arrived at our starting point just before dark and set off up river donning  head lamps. The moon was full or pretty darn close so we were able navigate most of the route au naturale'. It was a good test of new gear...AF's tent went up easy, was roomy, and did it's job well. The new stove worked great in the dropping temps and pulks were a breeze to pull. I have to give a shout out to Grant of Ski Pulk for the awesome poles and harness that worked exceptionally well. I've pulled pulks before with crappy home made pvc and rope systems that totally suck. The Ski Pulk system is by far superior to any of my previous construction attempts and worth every last cent if you want something that works very well.

bombs away

gear explosion

the sky's gone out

sign above AF's head reads...."one person on the bridge at a time"

 The next morning we pretty much just packed up and headed home. It was a good weekend as well as a good work-out with a couple great friends......... Man Trip 2016 will be the first weekend in March, that should give ya'll enough time to get your gear ready and join us.................D Rider....out       PS......it's late....I'll fix this post soon...enjoy the pics...and your day

we were too cold and it was a little late to cook hot dawgs over an open fire....this worked nearly as good 

AF's new tent......built out of sheets 

SHT

Split Rock on the Split Rock River

Farewell...Man Trip 2015