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Backpacking, National Parks, Troy's Blog

Lewis Falls Trail

January 30, 2016 Troy

After a full day of hiking in Shenandoah National Park, it was time to retire to our cabin and get ready for our evening meal. The only thing was that the forecast for the next day was for clouds and periods of rain and we had one hike left to do in our short time in Shenandoah – Lewis Falls Trail. This was the most important of our hikes in this great national park because it was the trail on our National Parks Monopoly board. It was decided then, another hike that was longer and covered more altitude than the others we had completed earlier in the day.

This trail is 3.3 miles round trip from our cabin and back again. It’s not the distance that makes it more challenging, it the 1,000 feet of altitude that you change from the start to the waterfalls and then you have to climb that 1,000 feet again on the way back. To make things a little more challenging, we wanted to get back before 9 pm when the nearest restaurant closes otherwise there is not really a place to get food after a full day of hiking in Shenandoah.

The trail starts out relatively flat and easy to hike but eventually that drop in altitude finds you and it starts going downhill quickly. Downhill is easier but remember to watch out for roots and rocks in the trail that could trip you. We made it to the falls in pretty good time passing only a couple of other hikers on the way.

Lewis Falls is a nice waterfall and one of the highest in the park at 81 feet tall but at the time we were there the stream going over the cliff is not very large compared to several other waterfalls in the park. Getting a good view during the summer is a little more challenging because parts of the waterfall are covered with leaves and the steep cliffs around it make for getting a different and better view difficult. Still, I enjoyed this waterfall and the adventure to get to it.

Due to time restraints and wanting to get back before the restaurant closes we didn’t spend much time at the falls taking it in. Also, we weren’t well prepared to be on the trail after dark so we needed to do the most difficult portion of our hike at a faster pace. Along the way back we encountered a deer taking the trail toward us which was kind of fun to see but delayed our return both because of wanted to observe the deer and not wanted to chase it. After awhile of watching it decided to meander off the trail allowing us to pass and continue our trek up the mountain. We were all really tired and hot after this hike but we did manage to get something to eat before total darkness enveloped the area.

Family Ramblings, Troy's Blog

2016 Plans and Goals

January 23, 2016 Troy

Reflecting on 2015, which you can read about here, I came up with some things I would like to accomplish in this next year. First and foremost, I want to enjoy the activities and adventures we embark on. We did a lot of fun and exciting activities last year but I didn’t feel like I got the most out of them that I could because there was always another event coming up soon requiring attention to plan and prepare for taking attention away from what I was doing. It seemed like we were always in a rush to do whatever it was we were doing because there was something else that needed to get done or was scheduled. If I can help it that won’t be the case in 2016 for us!

My next goal is to explore Window Trail in Big Bend National Park, Padre Island National Seashore, and Hot Springs National Park. I’m pretty confident in being able to complete this in the next year as we already have some lodging accommodations, airfare, and a car reserved. I’m looking forward to this trip as we will be staying in Big Bend which will only be the second time staying right in a park reducing travel time and increasing exploration time.

As has been the case for the past several years, I want to continue learning and improving my photography. Originally I set the bar at wanting to take 3,500 photos this year. That just makes me laugh now after having taking over 11,000 in the past year. I’ve decided to up that to 5,000 photos towards the goal of improving. That means working on composition and technique, not just randomly taking pictures of family and friends or the dog. As part of this I want to capture images of individual snowflakes.

Along with the photography goal I would like to complete the Photography Experiment board by learning more about flash, fill flash, rock climbing, and travel portraits. This is a goal that would be nice to complete but if it doesn’t happen I won’t be too concerned. Still, working a little on it would be good.

Continuing to update and improve this site is another one of my goals for this year. Since I needed to re-build this website in 2015 I find several broken links that need to be addressed as well as some programming pieces that need to continue to be worked on to get them to work as I have envisioned.

I’ve wanted to put together a video from all of the photos taken on our trip to Alaska in 2013. It’s probably time to get this done so I can remove the photos from my computer and free up space. It is uncertain at this point if I will be able to post the video as I’m probably going to use music that is copyrighted preventing me from being able to use it on the internet.

One final goal for 2016 is to volunteer more. I feel like I failed at helping others in 2015 and that is something important to me to get back to this next year. Sure I volunteered to help coach my daughters basketball team and spent a number of hours volunteering at our church. I guess it comes down to volunteering at food shelves more. Seeing people starving is something that affects me and a priority for me to help reduce to the best of my ability. We are so fortunate to be able to have all that we need and it is up to us to help those that we can. Food and shelter are at the top of my list to help with when possible.

That should keep me busy this year and hopefully allow me to enjoy our adventures. If not, there are more homeowner projects to undertake and a potential hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains.

Family Ramblings, Troy's Blog

A New Year, A New Site

December 31, 2015 Troy

This has been a much longer journey than I expected but we’re finally back with new content. Back in March MonopolyTraveler.com had some uninvited guests who destroyed portions of this site. There were many attempts by a number of people to revive and restore things back to normal without success. Each time we thought we had the website back to normal and secure from these intruders new issues would pop up causing the necessary action of taking it down. By the end of March it was determined that MonopolyTraveler.com would have to be completely re-built from scratch requiring a significant amount of time.

One of the projects on the to do list was to make it more mobile friendly so this seemed like a good time to accomplish that and way over due. At that time a decision was made to look over all aspects of the website and decide what we liked and what should be updated in addition to making it more mobile friendly. Some of the components of this website were no longer functioning correctly and needed to be replaced or re-programed so those were addressed along with bringing more focus to the photographs. After some debate between putting time and energy into re-building the existing site with some improvements or going with an entirely different theme it was decided to use the time towards a new theme so here it is.

Unfortunately existing commitments and unexpected events required more time away which continually delayed the completion of MonopolyTraveler. In spite of our best efforts there always seemed to be something else that was a higher priority taking time from assembling a new site so there it sat for months and months. Finally it has become a high enough priority and my last goal of getting this ready before the New Year is somewhat met. It has been a nice break from blogging but there are many photographs and experiences I want to share and a stress relief by having this off my to do list. There are still pieces that are being worked on and noticeable changes may come up as the mobile version is not completely satisfactory but for now here we go.

By the way, I said new content – not necessarily better or useful content, just new.

State Parks, Troy's Blog

Waterfalls at Tettegouche

December 16, 2015 Troy

While hosting a student from France this summer we took a couple of days to head to the North Shore of Minnesota to see Lake Superior. A great place to stop is Tettegouche State Park to see both Lake Superior and the highest waterfalls entirely in Minnesota (there’s one slightly taller but it borders Minnesota and Canada). This was in the middle of August so the waterfalls are not gushing with as much ferociousness as earlier in the year but still a beautiful sight. It was raining and nearing nightfall during our time here which actually allowed us to have these falls all to ourselves. A rare opportunity this time of year.

The Baptism River is cold (yet warm when compared to Lake Superior) people like to swim near the falls and jump from a nearby cliff. A dry towel to wipe the water from your skin and warm clothing to put on shortly after was a good idea on this day as the temperature was not very warm and there was no sun to warm up in so hypothermia was certainly a possibility. If you’re ever in the area I highly recommend a stop at Tettegouche State Park to explore the high falls. There is a short hike of just under a mile to get there from the nearest parking lot which is worth it if you can make it. There are a couple of smaller waterfalls to see if you have the time to hike to them. Darkness was approaching so we were unable to check out the rest of the smaller waterfalls. That will have to wait for another time.

Michigan, Troy's Blog

Lake Michigan Labor Day

November 18, 2015 Troy

Is there a better way to spend a beautiful Labor Day than going to the beach? The water is about as warm as it will get for the year and the temperatures are still warm enough to sit in the sand and soak it in. A recent trip to southern Michigan brought the opportunity to explore Grand Haven State Park. This is essentially a state park on a large beach. The biggest issue with going here on Labor Day Weekend is the large numbers of people. Parking can be a challenge but the beach is definitely worth it.

The sand is amazing – very soft. I’ve been to several beaches in the Caribbean, Eastern, Southern, and Western United States, and Mexico and this beach easily compares to many of those. At least during the summer months. If you grow tired of playing in the sand you can take some time to stroll on the pier and check out the lighthouse. There is also a large musical fountain that puts on a show during the nights. While it may be difficult to imagine, this area is basically a sand dune. When I picture sand dunes I think of deserts. This one has a lot of plants growing on it to cover most of the sand but where these plants have not populated or disappeared you can see the vast areas of white sand making this an area to enjoy.

Gaining Life Experience