About three times per week, I walk my dog just under four miles. I walk down the same street each time. Fifteen long city blocks, turn right, walk one block turn right, walk 15 blocks, turn right, walk one block, and I am home again. Once in a while I make small deviations, but otherwise this is the plan. Last week, on a lark, we arrived to the normal turnaround, and I thought, Why not keep going? Almost immediately, both the dog and I were “off.” My boots kept coming untied. I couldn’t picture our exact location on the “map” in my head. I took like three wrong turns. The dog didn’t know where to turn. Unlike our normal route, I couldn’t picture each house as we went past. The dog actually grew anxious at first, looking back to our normal turn. Pathetic, I thought, we go off route and things fall apart. I smiled to myself. Why are we such creatures of habit? Is it good to be so predictable? Could it be bad? Before I settled on any answer, the dog calmed down and forgot the stress. I figured out where we were on the “map,” and all was…Continue reading One hundred steps more
Category: Outdoors
A winter hike around the Louisville Swamp on the Mazomani Trail
Mere miles from the 16th-biggest metropolitan area in the United States lies an underutilized gem. At 14,000 acres, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge hugs the Minnesota River in stretches along 70 miles of the Minnesota River. And, get this, parts of the refuge come as close as eight and six miles from the skyscrapers in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul respectively. The refuge is a good spot for hiking and hunting. The refuge affords Twin Citians the opportunity to open their day hunting waterfowl in a swamp and end it bowhunting deer from a tree while working a full shift in between. The refuge truly is an oasis for the urban outdoorsman. One thing I like about the refuge is that it increases the likelihood I will raise my family in the Twin Cities metro area. The refuge provides some real outdoors activities near a thriving metropolis. I am a big fan of winter walks (see my recent post on the topic here), and–despite having grown up near it–I had never been to the Louisville Swamp. I decided to marry the two together. So last week, I dragged my sister along with me to hike the Mazomani Trail around…Continue reading A winter hike around the Louisville Swamp on the Mazomani Trail
Photos from walks
Here are a few of my favorite “recent” photos that I’ve captured on my walks:
Walking outside in the winter: a recipe for a healthier you?
I love walking. Because I “retired” from running in 2012 I had to find a replacement. I tried walking and loved it. As Forrest Gump might say: from then on . . . I. was. walking. The mental and physical benefits I get from walking are second only to my weightlifting and require way less energy. My left knee and lower back don’t allow me to run for distance any longer. After I got out of the Marine Corps, the negatives outweighed the positives for running. It wasn’t worth it. And I hated it by the time I was done in the Marines. But I still need some sort of cardiovascular workout for heart health and weight control. So for a couple years I’ve walked. I try to make at least ten miles per week. Extrapolated over a whole year, that’d be over 500 miles. But I never walked in the winter. Once the weather dropped below freezing, I focused on weightlifting and saved walking for summer and—primarily—Minnesota’s best season; fall. This year, my life changed a lot. I gained not only a wife but also a husky. And huskies need exercise. So I committed to continuing my…Continue reading Walking outside in the winter: a recipe for a healthier you?
A bachelor party in the North Country (and the Little Fork River)
I recently celebrated my bachelor party in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region. As a part of the trip, we paddled 5.5 miles down the Little Fork River. The Little Fork River is a north woods river through-and-through. It’s remote and beautiful. We did not see or hear another soul during our time on or near the river. Even traffic on the bridges over the river was very sparse. There were only a few homes and farms along this route. The river’s flow rate was only scrapable during our trip, but we forced the issue since it was my bachelor party. It was a bit of a risk: “Scrapable” for the Little Fork is 100 cfs or less, and we’d be trying it at 50 cfs. Would there be many portages? Would everyone be miserable? I wanted my friends to experience my favorite outdoor activity, but the risk of a day full carrying canoes and kayaks over water only a couple inches deep would ruin it. We decided to give it a whirl. Normally I head up and plan my kayaking trips. On this trip I abdicated that responsibility to my soon-to-be father-in-law. He did a great job finding us a scenic part…Continue reading A bachelor party in the North Country (and the Little Fork River)
A short trip on the Crow Wing River
Along with my soon-to-be father-in-law and fiancé, I took a short, half-day trip on Minnesota ’s Crow Wing River. We were on a camping trip in Park Rapids, Minnesota and needed an easy trip to keep us occupied. I researched this map and we settled on a 5.5 mile trip. We put in at the Anderson’s Crossing, just below mile marker 71 and landed at the bridge in Nimrod. To launch out of Anderson’s Crossing, drive north out of Nimrod on County Road 14. About three miles north of the town, you’ll see a sign for Anderson’s Crossing. Turn right and you’ll follow a bumpy, curving dirt road 1.5 miles until you reach the country campground on the river. The campground was big enough to support at least five different groups of campers with no problem. It does have outhouses. The county maintains the campground and even provides campers with complimentary firewood. The Crow Wing is one of Minnesota’s so called Minnesota State Water Trails. Whether county, state, or federal, these trails are made with thru-paddlers in mind. Because of this, the rivers have abundant public campgrounds. On the Crow Wing, there’s some sort of public campground at least every seven…Continue reading A short trip on the Crow Wing River