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Hiking and Rappelling June 7th in Hocking Hills

A while back Dave (CaverDave) informed us that he was going to be with a group (I believe from his local Cave Grotto) doing some rappelling in the Hocking Hills area near Conkle's Hollow.

I'd left my directions and the email describing where to find the group next to my laptop. I'd brought my GPS in to program it with an intersection that would get us close.

The GPS didn't give the optimal routing, and I couldn't remember the transit details very well, so it took us about 2.5 hours to get there from Cincy.

Right before we arrived, I got a text from Dave saying how far away that he was. Just when I tried to text back, I lost the signal as we entered the "communications Black Hole"!!

It ended up that we pulled into the Conkle's Hollow parking lot and waited..... and as we did, we decided to take a short walk down the trail to read the signs.

Shortly after we got back to the vehicle, Dave pulled in and told us we needed to go down the road to a different parking area... oops... I didn't understand that, but then if I'd not forgotten my instructions, I might have figured it out. Sorry Dave!

When we got to the other area, we piled out and sized up equipment. Not realizing how far away the rappelling area was away from the vehicle, I'd packed food supplies into a medium sized semi-hard-to-wield cooler. Oops.. I'll know better next time!!

Penny tested out her gear.


I've not done any hiking of significance in the past several years, so even though it was a scenic hike to the rappelling area, it definitely showed I need to get out and do this more!




It was a very picturesque and serene area to hike through..... a great change of pace from diving!




Dave setup the ropes and talked us through the process and various schools of thought ... and made good use of my quote "There are a dozen correct ways to do this, but we're going to do it my way." Finger Cow was in agreement... suck up!!



Here was my response to Dave's "My way or the Highway!!" Yes... Finger Cow was shocked at my audacity!!



Dave quickly got us into our rig and familiarized.



When Dave asked who wanted to go first, everyone took one step back and left me "hanging"... so my response was "I guess since I'm the heaviest person here, I'll check out the ropes for ya!"











What a blast!

Penny soon stepped up to the plate!





Penny was beside herself having a great time! I can see I might have to sell the Air Compressor in order to afford Cycling, Caving and Vertical equipment.

Dave was incredibly patient and informative! Now I understand what he was heavily involved in prior to diving.







Dave also demonstrated how to climb back up the rope after a rappel.




We had an opportunity to go many more cycles in the practice area before we moved over to the 100+ ft drop.





I tried to get pictures of the "big" drop area, but I still had too much adrenaline pumping after my rappel so they didn't turn out... bummer!!

This is a very nice area to spend the day in and I think Penny is "hooked" on this activity...









What a blast! Thanks for inviting us Dave and all your tireless work!! You da Man!!

Here's any other pics that we might have from the day.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/sho...ry.php?cat=752


Some Additional photos on Facebook album
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...d&id=750695834

Our Second Day of Cycling Together in June

After our initial trail expedition yesterday, Penny and I initially thought we'd just tool around the neighborhood tonight.... but instead.... seeing as how the bike rack needs a bit of a workout, we decided to pack up the bikes and hit the trail again. This time, we headed over to the industrial park where the Lebanon-YMCA trails intersect. We figured if we parked inside one of the company parking lots, we could take this trail the 1 mile back to the Little Miami trail and head for Foster instead of toward South Lebanon like we did yesterday.


With the exception of the 2 mile section between the Kings Mills Powder Plant and Fosters, this was mostly the same we'd done Sunday. We were just hitting it from a different start location.

Nothing leisurely tonight.... we ended up doing an hour ride and 8 miles.... my butt complained and thumbed the "ride". I'd picked up a couple of different seat pads today that helped, and we swapped them about 1/2 way which I liked... not sure if Penny did.

More than I'd figured we'd do, but it was nice to get out and ride!

Air Temp: 83F Sunny
Wind Speed: about nil
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Approx Distance: 8 miles

Here's a couple of pics from my phone of us getting ready to unload bikes:



When we got back home, we did some maintenance checks and adjustments. Seems that the bike I was riding had been assembled with the front wheel forks backwards... which made the balance a bit odd and explained why the front brakes didn't grab real well!!! I guess I need to pack better lunches for my bike assembler!! D'oh!

Cranking up the Cycling

This year has been about developing a diversity of activites... walking, cycling, and possibly dry caving. I've been solely focused on diving since '99 and like getting into more activities.

I've been slowly getting my bike tuned up this year, and Penny got a couple of cycles (one for her and her daughter). We've been doing some "check out" rides, and yesterday had a fun excursion around our sub-division that took about 45 minutes.

Today, we ran up to Dick's Sporting Goods and got a 4 bike rack to put on my Jeep trailer hitch. To give it a test, we put two of the new bikes on the rack and drove a couple of miles to the Little Miami River cycling trails.

The cycling trails are a very nicely shaded area along the river, with other trails intersecting it at various intervals. We entered near Kings Mills and started down toward the town of South Lebanon. A short distance down the trail, the trail to the City of Lebanon darts to the left. We decided to head down that way and take it easy. Our goal for today was to get an hour of seat time (I've got to build some callous' up on my butt cause that tiny seat is killing me even with padded shorts!!!).

The trail toward the City of Lebanon is about an 8 mile spur. I figured we could get a mile or 2 down this section at a leisurely pace before turning around. About a mile down this spur, the trail leaves the shade and goes through an industrial park. Not the most scenic venue, but mostly down hill riding. When we got to the stop sign/"road crossing" before the 2 mile mark, we decided to turn it just short of our projected time because across the road was a sharp incline. Rather than get to the top of the next hill and then have to turn around, we turned early.

After making short work of the turn-around and getting back to the Little Miami trail, we decided to head toward the town of South Lebanon again, rather than back to the vehicle. It was a pleasant ride to that town where we turned around and headed back to the vehicle.

Our target was about a 60 minute ride, and we ended up with around 70 minutes. It was a great day with beautiful weather! I'm glad we got out. Hopefully the bruises on my butt get over it quickly!!

Wind Speed 10mph
Air Temp 86F
Seat Time 70min