ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

  Thomas Jefferson described Meriwether Lewis (Jefferson's personal secretary and man chosen to lead the Corps of Discovery) as having undaunted courage and "firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from it's direction..."  I tell kids that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were  ordinary people who did extraordinary things.  Their story is one of perseverance, determination, and courage.  For that reason, Lewis, Clark, and the Corps of Discovery has always been a favorite of my history students.  On a personal level, I enjoy the story of Lewis and Clark because it focuses on exploring, learning about, and enjoying the natural world around us.  There is a lot that we, over two hundred years later, can still learn from the Corps of Discovery.  Thanks, once again, to the good people at YOUR TRUE NATURE , those lessons can be learned through seven pieces of simple advice.  So here is my own personal t...

This past week really has been "like Christmas" for me.  Mark and I both have the week off for Christmas vacation and, even though the wind chills have been in the single digits, we've managed to get out on our mountain bikes for a couple of very cold, but equally amazing, rides...both of which were in locations I had never ridden before.  Two super cool, and unexpected, presents. The intersection of Old Farm Trail and Ridge Trail at Gifford Pinchot State Park. -- December 27, 2017  That's been a theme for me in 2017.  Since April, when I was cleared by my doctor to begin riding my bike again, I've mountain biked in six new places:  Codorus State Park, Stony Valley RR Trail, The Parkway Trails in Harrisburg, Tuscarora State Forest, Gifford Pinchot State Park, and even in the City of York.  Over the past eight months I've also revisted trails that I haven't ridden for almost a decade...like the York County Heritage Rail Trail and Ohiopyle State Park...