Sunday, September 02, 2007

2007 LABOR DAY WEEKEND CAMPING TRIP
PART 3 - A 15.4 Mile Ride, a Long Walk, & Time to Leave
Sunday, September 2, 2007



Sabattis trip photos
15.4 mile ride photos

I was right... another early morning when Ann got up around 6 AM to go swimming. Of course, it probably didn't help that all around us were terrorist red squirrels chattering away, dropping pine cones... not the easiest of things to sleep through...



I dozed for a little while after she left and then got up, ate a quick breakfast, and changed into my gear for a short ride on my ATB. It was very foggy, but I expected that to burn off while I was riding.


15.4 Mile Ride



Last night I thought I might retrace my run from yesterday (to determine the actual distance) and then just extend it a bit further down the road into the Reservation, but when I rode out today I decided I wanted to see something different. So I headed down the road, through the Reservation and past the ranger's house, and down to the dam at the end of Lows Lake. The road surface is sandy and a bit loose in spots, so it was slow going. After spending a few minutes checking out the area around the dam, I headed up a gated doubletrack - harder packed and much better riding, as well as being very scenic to boot.







After about 2 1/2 miles I came to another gate and another sandy dirt road, so I turned around and headed back. When I got back to the entrance road to our camping area, I continued on for a bit to extend the distance, stopping at the top of the first big hill (no need to work too hard!)





Once again, Ann had saved some food for me (or rather, had asked folks cooking to do so) - they fired up the stove and made me a huge plate of scrambled eggs. A nice finish to a short but at times strenuous ride.

A LONG WALK
Later in the morning a group of us went for a walk down the road and around some of the more remote parts of the Scout Reservation, guided by one of the fellows who does a lot of work for the Reservation. We spent part of the time walking down various dirt roads, but also hiked some fairly nice singletrack along the edge of the lake. Part of the time we also checked out two possible places to relocate the camp site, since there has apparently been some talk of the Reservation selling Lookout Point to the state (in which case it would no longer be available for camping.)







After a quick lunch, it was time for me to pack the car and head back to Albany. I can't say that I'll miss not having access to a shower, using an outhouse, and sleeping in a tent... but it was great to be out in the woods, and it was great to spend most of the weekend with my sweetheart. And the folks we were camping with is a nice bunch of people - Ann couldn't ask for a better bunch of friends, and they even put up with me!



JMH