Hike, Bike and Ice (part 2)

Any morning that you can wake up with the sound of the waves less than 50 yards from your front door, you know is going to be a good day! The waves also so relaxing that we didn't wake up as early as we originally planned!  Hitting the trail at 7am can't happen if you don't wake up until 7:30!

The fog over the lake left an almost eerie look to the morning and brought with it some chilly air.  This was not going to be the morning for the shorts out on the trail today!  We grabbed a quick breakfast in the room (hard boiled eggs and refrigerator oatmeal!) and headed out on the 20 minute drive to the trail head.

I didn't have a chance to get a photo of the parking lot of the trail but there were a few cars already here... which we figured were probably people that were out camping on the trails somewhere.  A few minutes later we were on our way!  The fog out on the lake was floating into the woods so it gave the trail a very calming, serene feeling.

Start of the trail

A few miles in on the trail, we came across Chapel Falls.  This is a high cascading falls that you can either see right from the top or from across the ravine.  When we got to the overlook to the falls from the other side of the ravine, it was so foggy you could hardly see the falls - but you still could hear it!

Chapel Falls

A short while later we made it to Chapel Rock.  We actually didn't even realize we were there until we were literally right next to it because the fog was still so thick!  In the below picture, the beach is actually just beyond the tree but you can't even see it below!  From here, our original plan was to head down toward the beach and head south, but yesterday when Darrin was looking at the map, he asked if we wanted to add a few miles to our adventure and head up to Spray Falls.

Chapel Rock

We hiked up towards Spray Falls, knowing that we had about a mile and a half to travel.  With the current pace we were hiking we guessed on how long we would have to hike to get there.  With the dense fog still around us, it was difficult to tell where we were and how for we had traveled.  After a while, we knew that we were getting close, however with the rain that fell the night before, the trail was starting to get really muddy and, although my shoes were already wet, I decided that I didn't need to get them covered in mud to. We opted to turn back around and head back to Chapel Rock/Beach.  We figured that we were probably only a short distance from the falls.  I guess we will have to come back another time to find Spray Falls!

Lunch stop @ Chapel Beach

Once we got back to Chapel Rock, we actually saw the first other people of the day on the trail!  We left the parking lot nearly 3 hours ago and did not see a single person on the trail, up until now!  The dense fog obviously kept more people at home early in the morning. We stopped and chatted with them for a while and then headed down to the beach to find a spot to have lunch.   

The beach was deserted except for us, a seagull and one gentleman walking along the shoreline.  We found a big log to stretch out on, have lunch and relax for a while,  With the fog and cold breeze, we didn't stay down on the beach for too long.  It was time to get back on the trail and keep moving!  Darrin was on a mission to get back to the motel in time for the Packers pre-season game.

The lake is out there somewhere!!

The fog still was just as thick as this morning, even though it seemed to be trying to roll back out.  We kept watching it roll out, only to have it roll back in a few minutes later.  When we got to Grand Portal Point, we came across a group that had actually camped on the bluff the night before.  They commented on their fabulous view that morning - a large white wall of fog!  

Mosquito Beach

We kept moving and before long we made it to Mosquito Beach where it was time to stop for a snack break.  While we were sitting on the shoreline, I noticed a bald eagle flying nearby, which landed right on the top of one of the nearby trees.  It was then that we noticed a second one soaring around the same tree.  We watched them for a while, until they took off, heading south and getting lost in the treeline.

Mouth of Mosquito River

 Next stop, the mouth of the Mosquito River. We had fun looking at all of the "rock men" stacked up on the bigger rocks!  Someone obviously was having fun building these little piles all over the mouth of the river! By this time, I lost track of how many miles we actually walked but I knew that we were on the last leg of our adventure - and we were both starting to get tired!  Knowing that we were at less than 5 miles to go, we kept us moving!

Mosquito Falls

After nearly a full day of hiking we finally made it to the final stop on our adventure - Mosquito Falls!  We had a mile to go, we were tired and getting hungry so we didn't waste much time at the falls.  We made it back to the car, scraped some mud off our shoes, exchanged those wet shoes for flip flops and headed back to town!

This was a awesome day, but time to go back and put our feet up for a but while we contemplate dinner!

Dinner at Mudoon's Pasty Shop

We finished out this day with dinner from Muldoon's Pasties.  Last night was the best fish in town, tonight, the best pasties in the Upper Peninsula!  The rest of the evening was spend relaxing at the motel, chatting with the group of scuba divers that were staying right near us and watching football.

Total mileage for today = 16.5
trip total so far = 27.5

Tomorrow - final day of vacation, heading to the UP state fair!

Hike, Bike and Ice weekend 2014 (Part 1)

This past weekend was the 4th annual mom/son Michigan Adventure weekend.   From my last posted, I said announced this year's challenge of 50 miles of hiking, biking and running. We knew this was going to be a tough challenge, a lot of miles but we were going to give it our best shot!

 When we made it into town, our motel room was not quite ready (we anticipated this since we were getting to town before lunch!), so we left the car at the motel, grabbed the bikes and headed out to Sand Point and Munising falls. The falls are just a short ride from the motel and are one of the first stops that we make when we get to town.  We were going to head to Sand Point first, but for some reason, we decided to stop at the Falls first.

While we were hiking back town from the falls overlooks, we ran into group that was trying to get a group picture.  We offered to take the photo so they could all be in it. We started chatting with this group a bit and found out that the one young man was originally from the Czech Republic, currently living near Detroit, the other two young men were his friends and the older couple was his parents that were visiting from the Czech Republic for 2 weeks.  The boys were looking for waterfalls that they could actually walk it... They were on the mission!  Since Darrin and I have visited virtually every waterfall in the area, we knew exactly where they needed to go.  We gave them directions to Tannery and Memorial Falls, right down the road!  Darrin's favorite falls to walk though/under.

 After we got back to the parking lot, we decided that we didn't need to go to Sand Point.  We could just take this group to the falls.  We waited for them to get back down from the falls and told them that if they wanted to, we would bring them to the falls that we had mentioned.  They were more than a little excited when we offered this!  We spent the next hour with them, guiding them back to the hidden gems of waterfalls that were just down the road.  They boys all enjoyed getting into the falls, following Darrin's lead and walking right into water!  They all said it was really cold, except for Darrin - he said it was warmer than last year!  lol

 After the adventures at the falls, we headed back to check into the motel, change clothes and head into town for lunch.  Since our motel is only a short distance from town, it was a quick bike ride into town for lunch at "The Lunch Bag" - the awesome little cafe that we found at the end of our trip last year!  First place we stopped this year after checking into the the motel was the last place we visited last year!  Once again, we had great food and got some great ideas for places to visit all over the UP!

After lunch we stopped at the local winery so I could see what else new they might have, tasted some of their new creations and picked up a few bottles of wine.  As we were walking out the door, I spotted a brochure for the local frozen yogurt hot spot that was right down the road... so dessert was next!

By this time, we had put on a few miles riding around town, checking out the local waterfront park and were ready to head back to the motel. One of the places that the guys at The Lunch Bag told us about was a place the locals apparently call "Paradise"  It was a remote beach area just on the other side of Christmas.  So we figured we would see if we could find it.  Time for another adventure!

We found the road off the main highway without any issue and a few miles later we found the small dirt road.  This was definitely a typical Upper Michigan road - dirt, narrow and full of potholes!  We figured we were getting closer to the lake, but unfortunately with the rain the few days prior, the road ended up a little rougher that I was comfortable driving on so we ended up turning around.  Thankfully there was a small clearing there that we could turn around in - otherwise it would have been a long drive in reverse back to the other road!

Once we finally made it back to the main road it was smooth sailing back to the motel.  On the way back, it hit me.  We are on the shore of this massive, wonderful lake - I wanted FRESH fish for dinner.  We saw several signs for the local Elks fish fry and one other, but I didn't want some frozen, over processed, over cooked fish.  I wanted something that was swimming in the lake yesterday!  So, when we got back to the motel, we stopped at the front office to check with Pam and what she recommended.  She gave us the name of 3 different places, so we had a decision to make!

I did some research online.  One of the places was further out of town than we wanted to venture, the second was more of a supper club (and far dressier than any clothing options that we had with us!).  The 3rd was the steakhouse and bar that was on the corner where we had to turn when we were looking for "paradise" just an hour before. So we were off again!  Back to Christmas we go!

Foggy's did not disappoint!  From the outside, this steakhouse bar/grill looks like your typical small bar.  Nothing fancy on the inside but I was pleasantly surprised that it was not just a bar that served food.  The front half of the building was the bar and the back half the restaurant.  They even have a huge grill in the middle of the dining room where you can grill your own steaks!  You can read my full review of the restaurant here.  Fabulous food, great service and reasonable prices!

After that awesome dinner, we made out way back to the motel to relax and figure out our game plan for tomorrow.  Darrin opted to add and extra section of trail to our hike so we needed to figure out how early we needed to hit the trail so that we could get back in time for kick off of the Packers Pre-season game!  As we were sitting outside, enjoying the view of this amazing lake, we decided that we needed to get out and move a little!

We jumped in the car and made the 20 minute trek out to Miner Castle - another must stop each year that we are here.  We made it out there about a half hour before sunset and decided to stick around to see what kind pics we could get...  The scenery did not disappoint!  The colors in the sky were amazing - the pictures that we were able to get could not capture the true uber awesomeness of the fire in the sky!


When we finally made it back to the motel, we were beat!  We tried sitting outside to enjoy the calm quiet of the lake, but the mosquitoes were ready to dinner... and we didn't want to me the main course so we headed in and called it a night!

Day 1 total miles = 11

I leave you with a few images from Miners Castle...

Part 2 coming soon - we tackle 14 miles of pristine wilderness and cliffs!

50 Miles in one weekend? It will be a challenge, but we are going to try!

With back to school creeping up on us quickly and cooler fall days around the corner, it's time for the 4th annual mom/son weekend up in Michigan.  This weekend, Darrin and I are grabbing the bikes, hiking shoes (and running shoes of course!) and heading up to Munising to spend the weekend on the shore of Lake Superior.   Last years adventures can be found HERE (you might just have to scroll down to find the 4 day adventure)

  Over the years, on these trips, we have had the opportunity to explore so many areas of the Munising area, Kayaking around Grand Island one year and biking around the entire island the next, finding remote waterfalls, biking the Valley Spur bike trail and so much more.  This year, our goal is simple, between the hiking, biking and running, our goal is 50 miles.  Ok, maybe the goal itself is simple, but accomplishing it might be a bit trickier!

How are we going to accomplish this?

1.  When we arrive at our hotel, the bikes will come off the car and, aside from driving out to the remote trail heads for the hikes we are considering, we are walking, running or biking everywhere.  Our hotel is only about a mile or so from town, so when we head in for lunch/dinner, there is no need to take the car!  We are also only a short distance from several other local waterfalls, so bikes will be the main mode of transport.

2. Chapel Rock/Beach hike.  Last year we made a quick hike out to Chapel Rock and decided that this year we are planning ahead and doing the full loop and hitting Mosquito Beach and Falls.  Total - about 10 miles.

3.  Morning run!  This will mainly be me so that I can get a few more training miles in.  Distance yet to be determined each day.

Over the 3 days that we are gone, I will report our total miles for the day to my daily post!


Of course there will be the food adventures too!  When Darrin and I travel together, we have 3 food rules that we always try to follow:
1.  No chain restaurants - mom and pop/local places all the way!
2.  No restaurant that we have dined at before.
3.  If we do need to repeat a restaurant, we have to order something different.  This amendment helps when visiting small towns or when we have found a local hot spot that we really enjoy!

What are you doing this weekend to challenge yourself?

Lets to this thing!  (and here's to hoping the weather cooperates!)

Warrior Dash WI! If you don't get muddy, you are doing it wrong!

Mud, Sweat and Beer!  Get ready to get muddy!

Time once again for Warrior Dash WI!  This was the 3rd year that I conquered this crazy, muddy, awesome run.  This was a little different tho - I was facing these obstacles with John!  We knew that we would not be running the course and time was not even going to be a concern for us.  We were going to do this and  accomplish the beast of a course together!  John was not sure if he was going to be able to do all of the obstacles.  I reassured him that if there was something that he was not able to do, there were ways around most of the obstacles.

John and I Pre-race - i.e. No mud yet!

We could not have asked for better weather!  When we got to the Hunt Club where event is always held, the sun was shining!  This was a nice change from the storms and near flash floods from the night before!  Since we decided to leave from Madison early enough, we didn't have very long lines to wait in to pick up our packets and get ready to have some fun!

I knew that they made a few changes to the obstacles this year and from the finish line we were able to see the Collosus Slide that  they added to this years course... It looks A LOT higher than I thought it would be from the pictures! This is gonna be interesting!

Best part about this year (aside from running this with my husband!) was that we remembered to bring the rugged camera!  That shock-proof, water-proof camera was finally going to really come in handy!  In the several years that we have owned this camera, aside from a few trips out on the lake, it has not seen much action!  We were going to make up for that today!

The wall that I was not sure I was going to get over

We were only walking today and agreed that we were going to make a point to enjoy the morning and have as much fun as we can!  We spent the next hour and a half laughing, working together to get through, over and under everything that was in front of us!  At one point, John actually accidentally hit the button on the camera and actually took a video of himself falling into one of the mud pits.  I will have to see if I can get that posted out here - or at least put a link to it!

There were a few obstacles that we each thought that we were not going to be able to get through.  The biggest one for me was the Warrior Peak (pictured to the right).  I was not sure if I actually had the upper body/arm strength to pull this one off!  I am proud to say that not only did this obstacle NOT give me any trouble, but I almost ran right up the wall!  The worst part was actually getting over the top!  I am also happy to report that John also made it up an over on this one!

In the end, we may have taken our time, but we had a blast!  The Collosus slide at the end was awesome - the climb up to it, on the other hand was tough - but it was not going to stop up!  John is anxious to sign up again for next year too!  I also have a group of friends that have already said that they want to join us next year!

Here is to more fun to come guys!  I am working on getting pics from this year's Warrior Dash posted, so stay tuned for the link!!

5th Annual Packers Training Camp 5k

This past weekend marked the 5th annual Packers Training camp 5k.  Since I have run this event every year since it started, it was one that I didn't hesitate to sign up for when registration opened.  This is one of 2 times during the year that I know I will get inside Lambeau Field (the other time is each spring with the Cellcom (Half) Marathon or 5k).  This is always a fun race to run and it brings out so many people - why not, when you can run through Lambeau Field.  There have also been times when several of the Packers players were spotted running the course.  A few years ago, I actually ran with Mark Murphy, Packers President and CEO, for a while, but he quickly left me in the dust!

Each year this event has been slightly different... the first few years, it was at 10am.  Now, normally, I don't mind the 10am start, but when you are talking the end of July, by 10am it was always too warm.  I can understand why they went with a slightly later start time - they were looking to make it a family event and a 7am start time is not practical when you are looking to get families together to come out and run/walk.  During the second year, I think it was 85 degrees by the time we finished!  Then they changed the run to the evening.  Last year, this was awesome!  It was unseasonably cooler than the year before - low 60's and cloudy!  It it was not for the bottleneck getting into the stadium, this would have been the first time I broke the 30 minute 5k time.  My official time last year was 30:08.

This year was a little different for my family!  This was the first time that the entire family was participating in the event!  I had a bunch of friends that I was going to be running with, John decided to sign up to walk and Darrin was going to be running with myTEAM TRIUMPH.

Darci, Kim, John and Myself before the start

This year they once again went with the 6:30pm start time and the weather was not as mild as last year.  As it turned out, Matt and I were signed up for wave 2 (7-9 min mile pace) and then Darci & Kim were in wave 3 (9-11 min mile pace), so we headed to our respective corrals while John and Molly headed to their corral with the rest of the walkers.  Darrin was already hanging with the rest of the crew from mTT.  He was running with Captain Tristan and fellow Angel Adrianne this year.  At the time the start gun went off, it was 87 degrees and virtually not a cloud in the sky!  This was going to be brutal.  There was no way that I was going to attempt a 5k PR in these conditions.  Our goal for tonight - not to die!  Ok, and hopefully hit under 35 minutes.

Matt and I waiting at the start line

I would love to say that I had a fabulous race and that I was able to put the heat out of my mind and just run, but that was not the case.  Matt and I started out strong and made it through mile 1 in 9:30.  Unfortunately, that was the only mile that was under 10 minutes.  Shortly after the 1 mile marker, the course begins a long gradual uphill stretch.  I was determined to make it to the top of this hill before I had to walk, but the heat really started to get to me.  I had to stop to walk for a bit.  Thankfully this part of the hill was somewhat in the shade so that helped.  The entire second mile was a combination of walking and running, just trying to survive and not over heat.

The anxious crowd awaiting the start of the race

As we came around one of the last corners, and the stadium was back in front of us, I felt like I was running on near empty.  Matt was my godsend in this race.  He slowed and walked when I had to but yet pushed me to keep going.  He was determined to get me to the finish line, and I am truly grateful for that!  Just before we reached the parking lot back to the stadium, we passed the second water station.  Since I had my Nuun with my in my water bottles, I was ok yet on hydration that way, so I grabbed 2 cups of water and poured them over my head to try and cool of.

Feeling a little more refreshed, it was time for the motivation run through the tunnel and around the field in Lambeau Field.  I pushed that last mile for everything it was worth.  As we ran through the tunnel on the final approach to the parking lot - and the finish line, Matt turned and said "there's the finish - time to kick it in and finish strong"  Normally I would do just that, but today, there was nothing left in the tank.  I pushed with what I had left and we did finish side by side.

Matt and I crossing the turf at the finish line!

I honestly didn't even see the clock as we crossed the finish line.  I had one thing on my mind... I needed to find water and needed to cool off.  Around the corner from the finish, they were handing out medals!  I honestly had forgotten that they were giving out medals this year!  5 year anniversary of the event = medals for all finishers!  OK, that works for me... but I still need water!

Finally I got to the water and kept walking.  After a few minutes of standing in the shade of the food tent I could feel that I was finally cooling off a bit - plus I had dumped half my water on me, instead of drinking it.  That was by far one of the most brutal, warm runs that I have ever done... but I finished!

We may be warm, but we ROCKED that!

We slowly found everyone else in our party - Kim and Darci finished just a few minutes later.  Thankfully by the time we finished, the temps had started dropping so it was not as hot and sticky anymore.  Kim was extremely proud of her first official race medal - smile away Kim - you earned that one! My official time came in at 32:04 - much better than I thought it would have been with how I was feeling out of the course!  All in all, we all agreed that we were happy that we were done, we were happy with what we did and we all needed showers!

Darrin, Adrianne and Captain Tristan!

This race was definitely a challenge but we all kept each other going and got through to the finish!  I am very proud of all of us for encouraging each other to keep going, helping push each other to do our best and celebrate our success at the end!  You guys all rock (and this includes you Jeff for getting the awesome finish line photos!)  I am proud to call each of you my friends and family! Together we can accomplish anything!

What kind of extreme's have you dealt with during your outdoor fitness activities that have pushed you to your limits?  How did you deal with it?  Did it change anything about the way you train?

Super Sunday's Hill Challenge, Renegade Style!

Just one of the may quotes that gets us through our workouts at the gym took us outside from an insanely fun and challenging workout.  Colleen spread the word that she wanted to head out to Bairds Creek/Triangle hill for some hill climbs! She was even bringing some tires with her so that we could make the climbs back up the hill even more of a challenge!  What was I getting myself into?   Better yet, I dragged my son along for the fun! 

View from the top!  Doesn't look too bad...

We knew that we were in for a challenge as the temps we in the high 70's when we got to the part and there were not many clouds to be found to offer any reprieve from the sun.  However we were on a mission to get this workout in before the rain started... we figured that we had a few hours.

But from the bottom of the main hill, it's deadly!

We wasted no time in hitting the hill, letting the tires roll to the bottom on their own... wherever they stopped, that's where you had to pick them up from!  Carrying a tire up this hill was no easy task!  Not carrying a tire?  Ok, then bear crawl up the entire hill! Katelin actually bear crawled up that hill TWICE!

Colleen with 1 tire, Ty bear crawling up the beast of a hill

While the rest of the crew was having fun on this one hill, I decided to take this up a notch and run a few of the other hills in the facility.  Between the tubing hill, small ski/snowboard hills and tow hills, I had plenty of options in front of me!  This is the same park system that is the home of the Run for the Hill of it trail run - my  first 5k trail run that I ever did, (and am running again this fall) so I was anxious to get out and run a few more of the hills!

Ran up and down this beauty at least twice!

After my first loop out to the other hills, I came back to find that the rest of the crew had upped the ante a bit.  The challenges were flying!  they had moved on to hauling 2 tires at a time up the hill!  They were in beast mode!  Colleen was ready for any challenge that Ty threw at her!  If he did it, you bet she was going to give it a try too!

Two tires at a time!  We got this!

But if two tires wasn't bad enough, "how many tires could we carry up the hill?"  That challenge was on!  They started to really live on the wild side and go with 3 tires!  How do you get 3 tires up the hill?  One either around your waist or around your neck and on in each hand!  Colleen decided that she was thankful for hips today.  She was able to actually carry 2 tires around her waist/on her hips and only had to actually CARRY one in her hands.  

Colleen and her 3 tires, climbing the hill with style!

Of course since Colleen accepted and conquered Ty's challenge, he had to do it himself too!  Best part was that when Darrin was helping roll the tires down the hill, he made a point to make sure they were spread out across the bottom of the hill so Ty had to work that much harder to get all his tires in one place to start his climb.  :-)  Then to try and make him work harder, I made a few runs up and down the hill while he was climbing... yeah, I was able to move a little faster with no tires, but my personal rule - no tires, means I have to RUN up the hill.  No walking for this girl!

Ty and I heading up the hill - hurry up Ty!!

Of course, not to be left out of the fun, Jay hit the hill next with his 3 tires!  Spartan training at its best!  These guys are going to rock the Spartan if they keep up training like this!  Thankfully by this time in the afternoon, we started getting more of a breeze, ahead of the incoming rain!  

Jay's hill climb with 3 tires - showing those tires who's boss!

This was by far one of the most entertaining, grueling, challenging afternoons in a long time!  But don't let the tough workout fool you, we had a lot of fun too!  A quote from Colleen on FB "I can neither confirm nor deny but I may or may not have grabbed Ty's tires and tossed them further away from the hill so he had to go father away from the hill to get it back... might have happened once or twice"  All in all,  we had a great time, worked up a good sweat and finished as the dark clouds were rolling in.  In fact, just as we were getting ready to call it an afternoon, I used that cool breeze to my advantage and got a few more hill runs in before we finally finished!

Grab your tire and lets go! Its Beast Mode time!

In the end, between my climbs up and down the tubing hill as well as 2 loops around the rest of the hills, I put in 2.85 miles.  I had 8-9 miles on the training calendar, and this was a great change from the normal run I had planned.   My original plan was to see how many miles I put in during this hill workout and then get out and run the rest of those miles later, but after 15 hill climbs in that 2.85 miles, my legs had other plans for me!

The long run will have to wait!  My legs are done!

So what did you do to challenge yourself this weekend?  What will you try for the first time this week?