ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Two weeks ago, Tim, Brent, and I had our best ride of the summer in Michaux State Forest .  We started off on familiar trails...and in the typical fashion...but along the way we ended up finding two "new to us" trails that I have been re-riding in my head ever since.  When I looked at the school calendar, and realized that I didn't have school today, I knew that I just had to head back to Michaux and ride those trails again. Today's ride...like my ride with Tim and Brent two weeks ago...began with a ride up to the Vista which overlooks Michaux State Forest.  It had rained the whole way up the ridge....but we were seemingly above the rain clouds once we got up to the Vista. -- August 31, 2018 Just a little ways above the Vista the trail comes to a "T."  I've always turned left...simply because, well, that's the way we always went.  Besides that...there literally are pieces of bark wedged into the tree branches at the "T" pointing ...

Traditionally, Tuesdays, in the summer, are set aside for riding with Tim.  It's the only day of the week he has off work...so we maintain a standing date for a weekly ride.  Our rides, this summer, weren't very long...but what we lacked in miles we more than made up for with adventure, mud, rain, rocks, and exploration!   Posing with my bike at my favorite vista in Michaux State Forest.  Photo by Tim Sindlinger. -- August 14, 2018 Tim and I set out for six Tuesday mountain bike rides over the course of the last few months...five in Michaux State Forest and one trip to the Parkway Trail System in Harrisburg.  Unlike the summer of 2016, we weren't plagued with mechanical issues (we only experienced two flats this summer) and, unlike the summer of 2017, we saw very little wildlife (with the exception of the typical squirrels and deer).  As in years past...the more the merrier!  Tim's buddy, Adam, joined us for our ride on the Parkway Tr...

Matt, Tim, and I were taking a short breather after finishing one of my favorite rock gardens (near the intersection of Piney Mountain and Slate Roads) in Michaux State Forest when I made a comment about how beautiful the forest was at that moment.  The green of the mountain was totally engulfed in the heavy white clouds that had settled over us.  In all of the years I've been mountain biking in Michaux, I have never ridden it in conditions in which Tim, Matt, and I found ourselves riding in last week...and yeah, it was a blast! Making a splash in Michaux!  Photo by Tim Sindlinger -- July 31, 2018 For two straight weeks, Central Pennsylvania has been ground zero for more continuous rain than I've ever seen.  The forest, usually bone dry this time of year, was turned into a tropical rain forest...the creeks and streams were raging, the white clouds hung low over the forest, and the air was thick.  The whole experience was very surreal...and just as...