Are your skies hazy from smoke?
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Not noticeably. And I’m asthmatic, so I’m pretty sensitive to that stuff.
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Trakai, probably the biggest tourist attraction in the country. The outdoorsy part is that I hiked all the way around the lake, though the path doesn’t offer much in terms of views other than “hey, it’s the castle again!”
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Just a couple more shots of the Mississippi River in St Paul, post-flood. I was back at Hidden Falls Park two days ago, in a different section of the park.
I’m always intrigued by the detritus that’s left behind up in the trees, even though it isn’t pretty.
The river crested at more than 18 feet above normal around April 19-20 iirc. (Major flood stage is 17 feet.) The day I took these photos it was at 3.8 feet above normal.
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Yeah, that bike looks like it’s just been sitting there. 
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A nighttime kayak trip. 6 hours, 20 miles between two dams.
Setting out
Came around a bend to see it’s lit up like it’s the Do Lung Bridge.
Destination dam, 4K away.
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Later in the week, same time, less smoke.
And a seaplane doing touch-and-gos while the traffic is low.
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We took 10 summer students kayaking yesterday. Only two had been kayaking before. Two were comfortable in the water but were not really swimmers. The rest had varying levels of comfortable-ness in the water. [I had cautioned everyone ahead of time that they were going to get dunked, that the river had some tough sections, that they’d likely fall out in rapids, etc etc. But 10 volunteered for the trip]
It started pleasantly.
Mostly some easy riffles and a few small churns for the first 3 miles. Then we get to some Class III rapids. They last around 100 meters, and there’s a nice 3-foot drop at the beginning, into some churn. It’s easy to flip.
Some of the students went around through 50 meters of Class II, but most went through. They did great. Only one person dumped. A bunch of them had never kayaked before, so they were absolutely stoked.
Then the trouble began. One of the students weighed around 300 or so pounds. He wasn’t exactly sure, but he knew it was above 300. Nevertheless, he really wanted to go. He wasn’t very coordinated, but in the beginning he did pretty well. He actually made it through the Class IIIs without falling. It was great.
But then . . . .
[Me, up against his overturned boat trying to hold it in place and get to his paddle before it went downstream]
After making it through the Class III he was unable to stay in his boat for any of the Class II or smaller sections. It wasn’t so much staying in the boat, it was when he fell out we couldn’t get him back in. He also couldn’t really swim toward shore or any mid-river rocks very easily. The last 2-3k is flat water with little flow, I had to tow him.
And yet, he had the time of his life. I saw him this morning and he was still riding a high from the trip.
10 students and five chaperones out, 10 students and five chaperones returned. No tears, no serious panic attacks. All in all a great trip.
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Always good to get in a little extra workout on a bike ride, right?
WPA (built 1936-37) limestone staircase. I’ve always meant to count the steps, and remembered to do so today. 112 steps to the top.
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3875, first reaction:
“WOW!”
Then:
“Ah, imperial…” 
On Saturday, I convinced a couple of friends to go for a two miles stroll close to Stockholm - I would have gone in any case as part of training for my trekking in August on Alta Via n.1 in Val d’Aosta.
Two Swedish miles, i.e. 20 km - 23 actually, the 3rd and 4th section of Sörmlandsleden, quite typical Swedish woods and lakes landscape., not much elevation at all, about 300 m.
They are not used to hiking, but both managed without serious consequences: I made sure to go at a quite relaxed pace, it took us 7 hours of walking time, instead of the 5 of the last time I did the same path.
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This is the first I’m hearing that Sweden counts 10 U.S. miles per 1 Swedish mile. Why not use kilometers?
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Imperial kilometers or Nautical kilometers?
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nautical km=1.609 nautical miles, nautical mile= 0.869 mile
(1.609×0.869x10=14 Swedish nautical miles? or do i have that backwards?)
oh! fuck you metric system!
are only used to enumerate yards of ale, IIRC.
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Wow, that’s a great-looking trail. Amazing.
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Wow, amazing difference.
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