February Hike

MINBURN, IOWA - As the winter of 2014-2015 continues on and we edge ever so slowly toward spring, it's been a lot of fun to hike around the wooded areas of the Raccoon River Valley.  I've been on the lookout for deer sheds.  After a freshly fallen snow, it's obvious there is a healthy population of deer throughout the area but I've yet to find my first shed.  Signs are everywhere - small trees where deer have obviously been rubbing their racks.  We'll keep looking on our subsequent hikes through the woods.

Sunset over the Raccoon River Valley

     Another noticeable noise as of late have been the owls - both great horned and barred.  Great Horned Owls actually begin nesting this time if year.  Most evenings, it's a regular occurrence to hear both great horned and barred owls singing.  Even during the daytime, crows occasionally uncover a resting owl and create a lot of commotion causing the owls to take off for a daytime flight.  We've also observed a screech owl who, at least for a couple of weeks, liked to perch at dusk near or on the bird feeder in the backyard.  Not sure if he ever found any prey, but he didn't stick around too long.

     I still insist that winter time is one of the best times to hike through the woods - no bugs, no poison ivy, better visibility, and the wind is usually not a problem.  It's a great way to burn off some steam and enjoy the winter season which causes may folks (myself included) to often become quite restless.

Snow

Trudging through our heaviest snowfall of the season thus far

MINBURN, IOWA - As we get a bit closer to spring time here in Central Iowa, it's a good time to reflect on the winter we've had so far.  About two weeks ago, we had our largest snow event of the season which dumped over a foot of snow here.  The snow was wet and heavy, and made for quite a serene scene in the woods.  It took some time to dig out from, and only two weeks later most of it had already melted away as mild temperatures returned for a short bit.  On a quick hike through the local county park today, snow shoes were still helpful in a few protected spots but for the most part one can hike pretty freely across most of the trails nearby.

Enjoying a view of the Raccoon River Valley

BRR Ride 2015

PERRY, IOWA - Temperatures in the upper 40's combined with light winds made this year's annual bike ride to Rippey one of the most comfortable in recent memory.  As expected, the nice weather drew a big crowd and when I returned to Perry after the 24 mile ride there were still several cyclists just leaving Perry headed up to Rippey.  I look forward the the BRR ride each year as it helps to break up the monotony of not being able to do much cycling in the winter time, plus this event is a big "boon" to the local businesses in Perry who feed, house and welcome 1,500 visitors to town for the event each year.

Participants start gathering in front of the Raccoon Valley Bicycle Shop and Hotel Pattee as Raccoon Valley Radio broadcasts live in the background.

Minutes before the starting cannon is fired and cyclists head up Perry's historic business district.

Westbound toward Rippey.  Although it looks cold, I saw some cyclists just wearing T-shirts and shorts.  I wonder if they caught a cold?

Cyclists enter Rippey's downtown area.

The Rippey Lions Club were serving chili and beef sundaes among other goodies inside their newly remodeled community building.  Here's the scene outside.

Cyclists, including this unicycle, come and go east of Rippey.

Happy New Year

HUBBARD, IOWA - Winter is still a great time to enjoy the outdoors in Iowa, even though temperatures can be quite miserable and many of the warm-weather activities take a pause until the snow disappears.  Activities like snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and hiking are a great way to get outside and keep moving.  The past couple of weeks have brought some relatively light snowfall to the area and has made for some perfect conditions for these types of activities.  While on some of my recent hikes, I've encountered several bald eagles, a nice buck deer, a barred owl and even a flock of robins that apparently decided to stay here and feed on the fruit of some fruit-bearing trees instead of migrating south.  The woods take on a much different ambiance in the winter time, and because the leaves have dropped there's much greater visibility to see wildlife and other features than you might see during other times of the year.  Plus no need to fight the mosquitos or other critters you might normally encounter on a hike!

Thanksgiving Trekking

NEW PROVIDENCE, IOWA - Well, it's been several months since I've posted anything and much like last year, I seemed to "fall off the wagon" once training for RAGBRAI started in earnest and haven't paid much attention to the blog.  Well, RAGBRAI came and went as well as most of the the summer and fall.  During that period, there's been many things to enjoy outdoors, as well as some exciting news "back home" in regards to the development of a new recreational trail being developed from Marshalltown to Steamboat Rock on the former right of way of the Iowa River Railroad that I have been getting involved with from the standpoint of creating and maintaining several web pages on Hardin County Trails web site promoting the project (vs. keeping my blog up to date!).  It's been fun working on that project, researching some of the history of the corridor as well as helping to promote the future trail knowing the amazing potential that project will have for the seven communities along the IRRT.  More to come on that project here in the months to come.

     Well, now that it's cooled off outside (and daylight much shorter) there should be ample opportunities to up date the blog with some photos and other thoughts from the past several months.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we took advantage of the very nice weather to hike around and through Reece Park in Hardin County.  The creek level being as low as it was enabled us to get right on the creek and in spots literally walk across the stream.  One of the neat features of Honey Creek are the outcroppings of large boulders found in spots along the waterway, what geologists say are remnants of the Wisconsin glacier that once covered this area.

     Saw a couple of bald eagles circling the park as well as many other species of birds.  It was a nice way to burn off some calories after eating way too much!

Colorful Palatte

MINBURN, IOWA - On one of my early morning rides on the Raccoon River Valley Trail this past week, I was greeted with a gorgeous sky in the west as the rising sun in the east illuminated a small thunderstorm off on the horizon.  Such a gorgeous time of the year on the trail with the lush, green corridor sprinkled with colors from the native prairie wildflowers along the trail, the songbirds along the way and even the sky!

Iowa Monsoon

GRANGER, IOWA - Recent analysis by the State Climatologist shows that we just went through one if the wettest, if not THE wettest spring, on record in Iowa.  It's June 10th and the crops are at least two weeks behind where they should be in a "typical" year.  There are wet spots and ponds all over the place.  Quite a 180 degree difference from a year ago.
     I took this picture during one of the many storms we have experienced this spring.  It's actually quite powerful and beautiful at the same time.  This line of storms actually produced several reports of funnel clouds and radar indicated tornadoes in Polk and Story Counties.