Eagle Mountain Hike

Above: The trail starts off in a rather enchanting evergreen forest.




Last week we hiked up Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota. Despite having lived in Cook County my entire life, I had never done the hike before. It was something I really wanted to do, considering other recent "firsts" for me in the local area (hiking Devil Track River, visiting Thompson Falls on the Cascade River). The trail to Eagle Mountain is 7 miles round-trip and for the most part is a very rugged, rocky trail. We did the round-trip hike in just over 5 hours, including several stops along the way to take photos, and about a half-hour snack break at the summit.











Before too long, you cross the line and from this point on the hike is within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.











Even though this is not known as a fall color hike, we did see a lot of nice color in the underbrush along the trail.











A few boardwalks that cross some bogs and marshes along the way give the trail some nice variety in the scenery.











Lots of color along this portion of the trail! Photo by Jessica Barr











Clouds over Whale Lake - Photo by Jessica Barr











Photographing the clouds over Whale Lake - Photo by Jessica Barr











Photographing the view from the summit - Photo by Jessica Barr











Although not the highest point on Eagle Mountain, this location offered the best "overlook" view.











Jess checking out the survey marker designating the highest point on the mountain at 2,298.1 feet.

Fluffy Clouds

Yesterday the fluffy clouds looked like they were so close that you could reach up and pull them out of the sky and use them for a pillow.

Po Campo Loop Pannier: a Ladylike Briefcase to Fit Any Bike

Po Campo is a small Chicago-based company that has been making a variety of bicycle-compatible women's handbags since . This year they introduced a larger, briefcase-like pannier to their lineup and I acquired one in trade a couple of months ago. The Loop Pannier is available in several floral patterns, but I opted for the more subdued waxed canvas version. It is umber with tan straps, metal buckles, and honey leather trim. At 14"x10"x3.5" the size is small enough so that there is no heel strike on bikes with short chainstays, but large enough so as to fit some laptops. These bags are designed to be used on the bike as panniers, off the bike as shoulder bags, and as luggage attachments while traveling.



The Po Campo attachment system consists of leather straps with sturdy metal clasps.When I saw this, it was one of those "why did no one else think of this earlier?" moments. The benefit of this design is that it can fit bicycle racks with any tubing diameter. Other quick-release systems max out at 16mm tops, which means that they will not fit some heavy-duty Dutch and Roadster racks. None of our other panniers are compatible with the monstrous tubing on this Pilen rack - but the Po Campo straps have plenty of room to spare.



While using the clasps is not quite as instantaneous as the sort of quick release where you lift up the handle and the hooks open up, it is still easy and quick.



Since the straps are soft and flexible, they also offer the benefit of being adaptable to the rack's layout. Some racks have complicated rat-trap setups that can interfere with typical pannier hooks. The Po Campostraps can simply be looped around them. The more I used this system, the more I began to appreciate the design. Those who dislike plastic hooks will also rejoice at the complete lack of plastic here; it's all metal.



There are two short straps integrated into the pannier, and a longer detachable shoulder strap. While initially managing the system of straps seems complicated, it ends up being very intuitive.



The long shoulder strap folds over the top of the bag. Then, the second of the short straps gets tucked into the leather handle attached to the first, which closes with velcro. This keeps all three straps neatly tucked in and away from the spokes.



When the bag is off the bike, it can either be handheld, or used as a shoulder or messenger bag. I prefer the latter, especially since adjusting the shoulder strap on the go is very easy - the adjustment buckle slides freely.



I have walked around with the bag as pictured for a couple of miles and it felt fine. I've also shortened the strap and have worn it over one shoulder, like a handbag. Either way is pretty comfortable and the clasps absolutely do not catch on my clothing. It basically feels like a normal bag to carry, not like a bicycle-specific pannier.



Another feature of the Po CampoI appreciate is the way it is organised inside. There is a large main compartment, and a side compartment that they refer to as a "file/lock pocket." However, I use it for my laptop, which is a MacBook Air and is the perfect size for it. I use the main compartment for clothing, books, notebooks and my DSLR camera.



There are also three elasticised interior pockets that will each fit a wallet, phone, writing instruments, or even a small bottle of water.



The exterior pocket is quite roomy. It is especially useful for those times you need to remove a sweater or grab some water in traffic.



I tend to overpack whenever I leave the house, so this pannier is always bulging with stuff when I use it. Still, the structured design keeps it all looking neat and presentable.



The reflective strip along the back is nice for extra visibility.



I have tried the Po Campo pannier on five different bikes with different types of racks, and it works well on all of them. I cannot imagine a rack design with which this bag will be incompatible, and in my view that is one of its most valuable features. Other strong points include the durable construction, the professional look, and the ease with which the bag can be used off the bike. This is a small pannier and you will not be able to fit groceries in it; it is really meant as a briefcase/ professional bag and will accommodate only the smaller laptop models. But the compact size has the added benefit of preventing heel strike on bicycles with shorter chainstays.



All things considered, I only have one critical suggestion for Po Campo: Think about making a version for men. When I ordered the waxed canvas finish, I was hoping that the Co-Habitant could use it too. He was delighted that the bag fit the unusually fat tubing of his Pashley Roadster rack (no other quick-release pannier we've tried will fit it), but he thinks its shape is too feminine. While Po Campodesigns their products with women in mind, I think the versatile attachment system and the elegant briefcase construction of this pannier is too good not to share with the menfolk.

Excursion to Antelope Island

Wednesday, May 25th - - Today was a “play” day! Carol's husband, Man, had informed us yesterday that today was supposed to be a gorgeous day, and rain free at that!



Antelope Island, which is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, was our destination. At the entrance to the State Park there was a sign warning us that the biting gnats or “no see ums” were out in full force and the midges, which don't bite, were swarming along the causeway.





We made it across the causeway and up to the visitor center, where this photo was taken.



These are midges. They covered the windshield and front end of the truck. Gross. And yeah, the biting gnats were biting. Bigtime.





The Fielding Garr Ranch was established in 1848 and was in continuous operation until 1981. This is a corner of the barn where a wide variety of objects are on display.









That white stuff on the ground (and floating on the breeze, everywhere) is the “fluff” from numerous cottonwood trees around the ranch. In some areas it literally looked like it was snowing.





Indiana has cottonwood trees but I've never seen this much of the fluff before. Definitely soft and fluffy.





Little bits of the white fluff even landed on the Iris. It just adds a little texture!

It was a most pleasant day. The clouds moved in during the late afternoon but no rain came. Man sure picked a great day for a little excursion! Thank you for a wonderful time, in spite of all the icky, little bugs!

Rambling

I promise I'm not going to post pictures of our new kittens every day.



I'm starting to think that Ginger (left) is a male rather than a female. My husband thinks Ginger isn't a proper boy's name. "Ginger Baker," I keep saying, but he doesn't know who that is.

He doesn't know who anybody is.

"Tom Cruise."

"Who?"

Well it's not that bad, but almost. Celebrity Who's Who is not something he's spent much time studying.

"Nicole Kidman."

"Who? Never heard of her."

"She used to be married to Tom Cruise. She played the mother in that movie The Others, remember?

"Oh yeah."

On the other hand, I tend to remember useless trivia, such as:
Denis Lawson played Wedge Antilles (Red Two) in the original Star Wars movie. According to IMDB (Internet Movie Database), he inspired his nephew to go into show business. His nephew is Ewan McGregor, who plays the young Obi-wan Kenobi in the newer series of Star Wars movies.

My husband can't remember Ewan McGregor's name though, he just calls him Obi-wan.

Sometimes we have nutso ideas for little projects. Once we decided to have a meal featuring the cuisine of whatever country the Formula One race was in that week. For some reason that one never got off the ground.

Another time we decided to see all the films that a certain actor or actress was in. Since we had just seen Attack of the Clones and Black Hawk Down, we decided that Ewan McGregor would be a prime target - we were already two movies up without even trying.

It's a harder thing to do than you might imagine, though. Ewan McGregor has made an awful lot of movies. I think we saw 17 of them before we gave up on that project too. (But if you ever see that The Pillow Book or Killing Priscilla will be showing on one of the movie channels, let me know.)

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Edited to add: All the celebrity talk reminded me of this hilarious post I read the other day: Jennifer Aniston Is Controlling My Brain. Actually the whole blog is great. Beautiful writing.

On The Road Again, Again!

Monday, May 2nd - - After 12 days back home in Indiana, I'm on the move, heading west. I traveled 350 miles today, through Indiana and most of Illinois, and not even one of those miles was on the Interstates!



I think we only had two days of sunshine the entire time I was home, and today was more of the same cloudy, overcast skies. It was raining when I left Columbia City but it quit shortly thereafter. My stopping place for the night was Argyle Lake State Park, about 15 miles southwest of Macomb off of US Route 136 in western Illinois. It was late afternoon, and as so often happens at that time of day, the clouds began to move off and the sun finally made a most-welcome appearance.



After a quick bite to eat, I went for a short walk – on the paved, level road through the campground then down to the lake. Just taking it easy but getting a little exercise to get the old legs moving again. And trying not to do whatever it was that I did before to cause the pain!





Lots of these pretty blue wild-flowers were near the edge of the woods alongside the campground. Each flower in the cluster was about an inch in diameter.







I opted to not attempt these stairs leading down to the lake – they didn't look very sturdy and they were much steeper than they appear.





There was no clear view of the setting sun, which was blocked by the forest on the other side of the meadow.





As the sun set further, the sky filled with color.



A very nice ending, to my first day on the road again, again!