Winter Backpacking Trip to Kettle Moraine, Near Chicago

Went on an amazing winter backpacking trip on a section of the Ice Age Trail (which stretches across the entire state of Wisconsin) in Kettle Moraine State Park Northern Unit.  Incredible terrain, big rolling moraines with the trail often following the ridgelines, big sweeping “kettles” or giant rounded indentations, often with water in the bottoms. 

Hiking the second day up a moraine

 Beautiful weather – that is if you’re into winter camping.  We had about 40 degrees and clouds the first day, snow then blue sky the second.  The first day we hiked about ten miles after a couple hours of driving up to the park.  Ten miles is a long ways let me tell you, especially in uneven terrain with thirty or forty pounds on your back and a pretty nasty cold to boot.  We finally straggled into camp, all twelve of us, with plenty of daylight left, surprisingly plenty actually.  We had the tents set up, fire made, gear organized and were well into our dinner before it even turned dusk, around 7:30 or so.  And thank goodness we had followed Will’s suggestion and set the tents up immediately because a snowstorm rolled in – which was very fun to have.   A thick blanket of snow covered the ground and grew deeper through the night, probably six inches worth.  Ryan, the trip leader brought his Samoyed, a siberian-bred dog, big puffy white fur – he was about as happy as a dog could be, he was born for that weather and played and thoroughly enjoyed himself. 

Jason and Cirque - happy campers

 Food was excellent, and eventually after some storytelling and laughing and huddling around the fire as the snow gathered on our backs and hats, people retired to their various tents.  I and several others slept in the shelter on the benches along the side.  We were all perfectly warm with our winter sleeping bags.  I slept like a champ as did the others.  The next morning we gradually broke camp, no big rush, getting out of shelter #3 finally at eleven and meandered another six miles, which again is a good bit of distance.  And the second day the terrain was quite rugged, especially considering we were so close to Chicago – it was a true wilderness experience.  The trail crossed a few roads but we saw only one other hiker out there the entire trip – amazing.   The shelter was very cool – I had heard they existed in the midwest but had never seen one.

Shelter #3, fire and snow

  It very much reminded me of the Appalachian trail shelters.  At the end of the trail a few folks had to drive the car we dropped back to pick up the others at the trailhead where we’d left them the previous day, took over an hour – no matter as we all laid down on a dry section of concrete and enjoyed the sun – many getting a good bit of color.

Crashed out waiting for the shuttled cars to arrive

  A great time was had by all.  We all met up at Perkins a few miles down the road for a well-deserved late lunch, and then made our way back to the city, refreshed, tired, sore, and generally refreshed, mentally, spiritually, and physically.  I left my blackberry off the entire time, what a great feeling.

Things to do in Denver if you’re alive

Lots to do in Colorado in early March.  It gets quite warm and sunny in Denver, and the snow is often the best up in the mountains.  See below for some ideas:

Ski the steeps at Snowmass with your brother-in-law and the brother of your brother-in-law (did I say that right?). 

Scott and Mark Baby about to go big

Watch Big Air Friday at Snowmass from the best Apres Ski bar in Snowmass, the Cirque

Big Air Friday from the Cirque bar

Go Rock climbing in Morrison Colorado, outside Denver. 

Bouldering

Do some backcountry skiing into Francie’s Cabin near Breckenridge

Francie's Hut in the backcountry outside Breckenridge, Colorado

Go mountain biking at Matthews/Winters Park near Denver 

Mountain biking Matthew/Winter Park with my friend Pete who lives out there now - lucky bastard

Apres Ski with a ski bunny or two

Apres Ski in Snowmass

Take your little nieces sledding 

sledding with my amazing nieces

Take your nieces sledding at the Snowmass Club

Ski Breckenridge 

Skiing Breck with Ryan Weaver, in from Chicago for the weekend

Ski Arapahoe Basin

A-Basin

Snowboard Loveland Pass and hitchike back to the top of the pass.

Hitchiking up Loveland Pass after an embarassing attempt at snowboarding

Stay and visit with old friends in Denver and eat a yummy meal

At the Reichardt's from grad school at DU - maybe not the best pic...

Hang out at the Hotsprings pool in Glenwood Springs

Hanging out at the Glenwood Springs pool, late February

Eat lunch up on the mountain and watch people compete in skiing off cliffs freestyle at Snowmass

Snowmass Freestyle cliff jumping competition from Gwyn's

Go to the greatest mountaineering store ever, Neptune Mountaineering, in Boulder, check out their museum and talk about famous climbers with the famous staff and owner Gary Neptune.

Incredible Ice Axe selection at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder

Party and grill out with thirty  new friends at the amazing Blue Sky Basin at Vail, gorgeous view of several 14ers including Mount of the Holy Cross and Mt Elbert.

View from Blue Sky basin in mid March, 2009, lots of folks grilling and enjoying

Go bouldering in Morrison, Colorado.

Bouldering

Stay with some old friends in Boulder that have become quite a bit more successful than when you knew them a few years back!

The super fun and terrific Teegarden family from Boulder!

Take your girlfriend snowshoeing in the backcountry after spending the night in a backcountry cabin

Backcountry snowshoeing and telemark skiing

First day, hiking in to the cabin

Hustle Up the Hancock 2009

I raced in the Hustle Up The Hancock on Sunday.  It’s a race up 94 floors to the top of the Hancock building.  I really enjoyed it – similar to mountain climbing.  They start a racer every eight seconds from 7am to about one in the afternoon.  The stairs didn’t really get that crowded, but I had to pass people every so often, which takes extra energy as you generally have to pass them on the outside, and need to take the stairs two at a time to get enough speed during the half-flight of stairs before the turn.  I did it as a team member through Lakeshore Athletic Club where I work part-time as a climbing instructor (and they sponsored part of the race).   They actually have water stations in the stairwell.  Timing chips on your shoe and the whole deal.  Very cool experience.  I hadn’t counted on the hand rail being such a help – I pulled myself up, probably 20-30% of my weight with my arms – mostly left arm.   I began running them two at a time but all my training was on the stair machine, and I did them one at a time in training so went to single steps – still made good time, besting my goal of 18 minutes, coming in at 17 minutes, 30 seconds.   Below are some videos I took with my Blackberry on the way up – gives a feel for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJpWCux7t18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu0arx88heI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8PlAOle9oQ

Apparently a fellow with a double lung transplant does the race each year – one of the happiest men around I’m told.  As would most of us be I suspect, were we given a new lease on life and been blessed with that forced appreciation of every minute and day on this earth.

I went to a free carbo-loading dinner the night before the race generously sponsored by the Signature room on the 95th floor of the Hancock and met the fellow who runs the race, terrific fellow and very committed to the Respiratory Lung Association of Metro Chicago whom the event benefits.

A couple points to note.  My friend owns the company that sells Better Whey of Life yogurt -it’s delicious low sugar all natural yogurt with 15-17 grams of whey protein in it.  I ate one before the race and two after.  I had right around zero soreness the day after the race and none two days after.  I did eat a bunch of other good food but I wonder if there’s a connection…

Hustle Up The Hancock Medal 2009

Hiking at Yankee Springs

Went on a winter hike at Yankee Springs over the weekend.  It is in central Michigan near Hastings, a large state park with a number of lakes inside.  They have all sorts of activities available including mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing cross country skiing, and more.  I was quite impressed with the park.  Many more hills and larger ones than I expected.  Worth the trip if you have a chance.  Also a much larger park than I remembered, plenty of space to get lost in.  Click here for a map or see below.  We hiked for about two hours and got a pretty solid workout, moving fast.  Saw the “devil’s soupbowl” which is a huge pit created by glaciers and climbed Grave’s peak, the highest point in the park.  We spent the night at a B&B called Androunie House in Hastings - loved it, delicious breakfast and very friendly hosts.

Ice Climbing in Illinois

Went ice climbing at Starved Rock State Park on Saturday.  It was quite a bit more difficult than I remembered, and pretty fun excepting the fact that we were climbing up a waterfall that had a bunch of ice under it – making it quite wet.  Call me stupid but I never quite put two and two together to realize ice climbing is most often done where waterfalls used to be – on icefalls, and this means on lots of days water will still be running down them.  Duh.  Went with good friends and had fun – got pretty cold, of course.  Climbed “Wildcat”

Ice climb "Wildcat" at Starved Rock

and hiked down to the icefall Tonti and checked it out – quite a cool formation this year, see the photo – it’s like it broke off, but didn’t fall all the way down.  We watched some guys lead climb.  It seems  so nuts, screwing ice screws into the ice and clipping the rope onto them as they went.  I’ve heard the best ice placement is worse then the worst rock climbing placement, not sure if that is rumor of fact.  Still seems scary for a guy to fall off and hope to be held by a screw in ice.  But that much more exciting.

Ice climb Tonti with lead climber

On a different note reading a book called “Deep Survival” – excellent study of the commonalities survivors of plane crashes, boat sinkings, mountain mishaps have.  I love that stuff.

Winter Hike at Chain O’ Lakes State Park

Lisa and I drove up to Chain of Lakes State Park today to do some winter hiking.  Cold day out, started sunny but ended cloudy.  Enjoyable hike, we did the yellow and the white trails. 

Winter hike at Illinois Chain of Lakes State park

Saw some wildlife including a hawk which circled high overhead and screeched repeatedly.  Lisa saw some deer but I was behind her and missed them, though on the drive out a bunch crossed the road and bounded through the tall grass, erect white tails flashing with each huge bound.  Those guys can move.

Giant Pinecone

  We discussed how amazing it is that they manage to eat and be active and outside all day and all night, all through the winter, regardless of weather.  Seems lots of animals hibernate, including of course the bear, but also some others that maybe you wouldn’t think about such as the Chipmunks, ground squirrels (also hide food – good strategy!), echidnas, possums, hedgehogs, hamsters, skunks, bats, prairie dogs, marmots, badgers for mammals, and for the cold-blooded folks I’ve read you can find species of lizards, frogs, toads, newts, snakes, turtles, and insects like bees that hibernate.  Glad I have a nice warm home to live in.

Hiked about 3.5 miles, got the heart pumping.  A bit of a long drive for an hour and a half, but good to explore.

View during Winter hike at Illinois Chain of Lakes State park

2008 What a Year in Adventure-ness

Reflecting on the adventurous aspects of 2008…  One of the best ever for me second only to 2000 when I travelled the world for 6.5 months.  This year I was so fortunate.  Five foreign countries, two new mountains climbed, fourth Chicago to Mackinac sailing race, surfing, skiing…  I must list all the adventures and trips I was lucky enough to participate in this past year, and be so grateful for the opportunities I was blessed with.

1. Elwha Trail hike in the Olympic Mountains West of Seattle with four good buddies.
2. The 100th running of the Chicago to Mackinac Sailing race, on a J120 named Valkyrie, placed well in our class, finished in around 55 hours.
3. Cruised the North Channel of Lake Huron on a 38 foot Ericson sailboat owned by my parents with a highlight being Topaz lake.
4. Nantucket Massachusetts for several days with my oldest friend Spencer and his family, driving on the beach, catching bluefish from the shore, enjoying old friends, meeting my namesake, Cormac Thomas Carney
5. Upstate New York at my girlfriend’s grandparents’ “camp”, waterskiing, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming.
6. Climbing the highest point in New York State, Mt Marcy, ticking off the 12th state high point on my quest to do all 50 of them.
7. Jamaica for work, Kingston.
8. Cayman Islands to visit my cousin Megan for a few days.
9. Jazzfest in New Orleans for a bachelor party
10. Numerous mountain biking excursions around Chicago
11. Numerous sailing parties on my boat, a 28 foot Ericson christened the Imjatse after a Nepalese mountain I climbed.
12. Rock climbing in Red River gorge, Kentucky
13. Rock climbing at Mississppi Palisades twice
14. Summiting Mt Belford, a 14,000 foot mountain in Colorado, then sleeping in a bivy sack on its flanks overnight in about 15 degrees.
15. Pilgrimage to the original Chipotle in Denver
16. 35 person white water rafting trip sponsored by the adventure ministry I run at church, running class III and IV rapids.
17. Kayaking the Vermilion River in very high, fast water.
18. Costa Rica!  Staying at my friend’s resort, surfing, jungle hikes, four-wheeling.
19. Talon’s Challenge at Vail, skiing thirteen black and double black runs in a single day with a reward of a free beer and a free hat.
20. Skiing at Aspen with the family
21. Moving my friend’s sailboat 200 miles down the intracoastal waterway from Norfolk to Beaufort NC, just my father and I.
22. Two winter attempts of Mt Humphries, the tallest mountain in Arizona, each a failure, but getting closer and I lived to climb another day.
23. Thanksgiving in Boston
24. Ten person caving trip that I led through Buckner’s cave in Southern Indiana.
25. Ski trip to Wausau Wisconsin and Granite Peak Resort.
26. Raced the Cohasset Triathlon
27. 40+ person sea kayaking trip led by my group

What a wonderful year, with lots of love and great relationships started, nourished, and deepened during all these adventures and trips. 

I have to give a lot of credit for this year to Tim  Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek for his writings and inspiration to live like this – thanks much Tim and all the best to everybody in 2009.  I always wanted to live like this but never knew anybody who did – I didn’t think it was really possible until I read Tim’s stuff and embarked upon the adventure.  Inspirational.  This year has been the best to date for my business, relationships, and adventures and experiences.  I hope for an even better 2009 and hope for the same for everybody.  I have to copy some of Tim’s stuff from a mentor of his here  – good food for thought:

“While many are wringing their hands, I recall the 1970s when we were suffering from an oil shock causing long lines at gas stations, rationing, and 55 MPH speed limits on Federal highways, a recession, very little venture capital ($50 million per year into VC firms), and, what President Jimmy Carter (wearing a sweater while addressing the Nation on TV because he had turned down the heat in the White House) called a “malaise”. It was during those times that two kids without any real college education, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, started companies that did pretty well. Opportunities abound in bad times as well as good times. In fact, the opportunities are often greater when the conventional wisdom is that everything is going into the toilet.

Well…we’re nearing the end of another great year, and, despite what we read about the outlook for 2009, we can look forward to a New Year filled with opportunities as well as stimulating challenges.”

Summitted Mount Belford in Colorado

Jeff Lemaster in front of Mount Belford

Mt Missouri from Elkhead basin

Made it to the top of Mount Belford! Great climb, cold but with blue skies, very pretty, amazing valley and pretty mountain. I was pretty tired by the top but felt so good. I love the mountains and get such a high when I’m in the rockies. Was so fired up the whole time. I used to live out the for about five years and grew to love all different mountain activites. We actually spent the night at 11,300 feet after climbing the mountain.  We camped on about a 30 degree slope, each of us in a bivy sack.  Every time I would roll over I’d slide down a foot or so, so had to get up every so often and drag my sleeping gear up.  We went to bed when it was dark, about 6, and laid there until about 7 the next day – long night.  Clear, many stars, spectacular.  Saw people hiking by at what must have been 4am.

We did 4600 feet of elevation over only 3.7 miles – tell me that isn’t steep!  Got a very late start so weren’t able to do the doble of Mt Oxford too – but truth be told I’m not sure I could have handled it.  It was an  extra 1400 feet of elevation gain, and another couple miles – I was pretty shot by the time I got to camp, and the following morning was pretty painful on my knees as it was.  At the top of every fourteener and most every major mountain and many minor ones for that matter, is a summit log.

Sailing in the North Channel of Lake Huron

After the race to Mackinac Island Lisa met me up there for the party.  Then we drove four hours east into Canada to meet my folks on their sailboat in Little Current Ontario at the Spider Bay Marina.  They cruise on their sailboat every summer for 4-6 weeks.  How cool is that?  They have their 38 foot Ericson totally decked out for living aboard.   They sleep on the boat every night that whole time.  It’s so cool – all sorts of little hidden coves and bays inlets and islands – similar to cruising the Carribbean in some ways but a much more wilderness experience.  We went hiking one day to

View of Topaz Lake and my feet from a cliff

Topaz Lake – a deep gorgeous, big blue lake surrounded by quartz mountains.  So stunning.  You could jump off cliffs into the water.  Craziest thing was it is a dead lake – so no seaweed, algae, anything.  The perfect temperature.  We spent four nights on the boat and they went by so fast.  Parties on shore or on other boats in the harbors most nights.   We drank and partied on “Rum Rock”

View from Rum rock into the Harbor, folks boat is far right

one day in Baie Fine – couples from five boats met on shore for ‘cocktail hour’ and drank a 23 year old bottle of rum, ate appetizers, swapped stories and generally enjoyed life.  It’s the craziest subculture, all these sailboats out there cruising around, enjoying nature and each other, all with a great attitude.  My father I don’t think I’ve ever seen so happy, he absolutely loves it up there and loves his boat so much.  The entire cockpit is screened in and can be opened to the air, screened in, or glassed in if it gets too cold.  Grill on the back, dinghy, solar panel.  they can go completely off the grid.  Pretty exciting stuff – makes me feel like a slacker, just doing daytrips on my boat.

Looking for a prince

Triathlon with an Olympian, Nantucket Fish Haul, Mount Marcy Climb

Just took a week long vacation – haven’t done that in a few years.  It was action packed.  Started by flying into Boston and eating at Lisa’s folks – they always make amazing dinners – had pasta for us Saturday night in preparation for the Cohasset Triathlon on Sunday.  My good buddy from age five, Bill Burnett, puts it on, and what an amazing job he does.  This year Jarrod Shoemaker (representing the USA in the triathlon in Beijing!) and 900 other people raced it, including a number of elite competitors.  Jarrod beat me.  In just two years it’s become a huge deal in the northeast.  They had a giant stage and all sorts of gear and food available.  Super foggy and a heavy surf in the morning but they did the swim anyways, which added that much more difficulty to it.  I finished on a mountain bike, next year I’ll get a real bike, though I’ve said that for the last 8 triathlons I’ve done and never have.

Wayne and I before the Cohasset Triathlon

The next day we left for Natucket to stay with my very close family friends the Carneys in their beautiful home in the town of Nantucket, overlooking the harbor – such a nice place.  But boo, it’s on the market, bummer.  My best bud Spencer was there with his kids, including new baby Cormac Thomas – named after me!  How cool is that?  2 months old, and amazing.  Also his older sister Daley, who at three is super fun to hang out with.  Went out to a super nice dinner at Orin Moore’s with Spence, Sue, Lisa and I, highlight was when the waiter brought a french press and pushed down on it at the table, spraying coffee and grounds all over the table and putting out the candle – we found it hilarious, the head waiter not so much.  Went sailing several times on their Rhodes 19 in Nantucket harbor and through the cut in the jetties to the open ocean, a little sketchy coming back in but fortunately the tide had shifted in our favor.  And a highlight was driving out on the beach on Coatue and surfcasting – we caught four huge bluefish!  I can never get over how you can stand on the beach up to your ankles in water and take this giant rod, cast out a huge lure, and reel in these 4 or 5 pound (guessing) fish.  Plus the added bonus of driving on the beach which is always a good time.  Letting the air out of the tires first so they are somewhat flat is fun too.

Fish in hand

 

After Nantucket we went to Lisa’s grandparent’s place in upstate New York, on Indian Lake.  A terrific two houses they have, on the water next to each other, a bunch of waterfront  with docks, ski boat, swim platform, rowboat, kayaks, canoe, and sunfish.  And over the course of five days we used them all!  Taught Lisa to sail one day which I expect will do wonders for her confidence on my boat here in Chicago – so much easier to “get” sailing on a small boat.  Swam every day and showered and shaved zero days – just an “Adirondack shower” in the lake each day.  So fun.  For the 4th we went and climbed Mt Marcy – 3200 feet or so of elevation gain, 7.2 miles up and 7.2 miles down – it took us 4 hours up and I couldn’t believe it, but also four hours down.  Weird.  The last couple hours seemed to take forever.  The summit was really beautiful, above tree line so huge views, 360 degrees.  Count it as my 12th state high point! 

Nearing the Summit of Mt Marcy

Actually quite incredible fireworks that night on the lake for such a small town – we took the rowboat and speedboat out to watch.  The next night I went on about an hour long mountain bike ride around Indian Lake, which is no small feat considering the trails are for snowmobiles not bikes – and are overgrown and mosquito infested and swampy in places.  Kevin, Lisa’s uncle, was in better shape and kicked my butt up the hills – one particularly long one – tough to train for that kind of stuff in Chicago.  Was a blast, and really cool and pretty.  A interesting aside – at one trail intersection in the middle of nowhere out in the woods there were advertisements on the trees for bars, hotels, restaurants, etc – for the snowmobilers.  Was something I’d never seen before.

Managed to chop a whole bunch of wood for Lisa’s grandfather, he appreciated it and I enjoyed the physical labor.  Small repayment for such incredible hospitality and relentlessly delicious meals, one after the other.

Got back late Monday night, tired but refreshed.  I need to figure out how to do more and longer trips!  Actually in a couple weeks we have the Mac race and then a few days sailing in the North Channel with my folks – so good stuff.