Shumps outdoors thread: summer-fall.

[Rob]

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[Never_Scurred]

I need to get back on my outdoors game. I'll just have to settle for the YMCA pool.

[EmperorIng]

I want a bike again - it'd be a great way to get out and about without relying on the bus and trains.

Only fishing trip is in August, to northern Wisconsin. Something must be up, because I don't remember catching a [worthwhile] fish there in the last 5 or so years. The place is the location of the world-record-size muskellunge, which is a fish I secretly hope makes its way into a Darius game one day. Pure, mean muscle.

Other than that, work pushes outings into the weekends, and being in a city means those outings are more social than outdoorsy. When the night ends in drinks and watching Road Warrior, I can't complain.

Summer does mean gardening though.


Not as picturesque as mountains (nice picture by the way), but the lake is always very calming for me. I suppose I can say I live in the "urban canyon."

Spoiler

Or more accurately "a small neighborhood 40min away via subway from the 'urban canyon.'"

Pic was from a walking tour of the city - 2.5 hours of guided tour. Very Fun!

[LordHypnos]

Unfortunately, I haven't really done too much outdoor recreation yet this summer
I have been commuting by bicycle the majority of the time basically since there stopped being ice on the roads, though. That's been pretty nice. I gotta say that there are few feelings nicer than biking on a clear night after a hot summer day. Feels good. The past couple weeks have been unfortunately rainy though, which is less fun.
Hopefully I'll get out for at least some camping or a bike trip sometime this summer, though.

[Rob]

Biking at night is a truly great summer pleasure. Still fairly light here around midnight.

[beatsgo]

For me it's going to be a summer of 8K and 10K running training. Otherwise relax, hangout at cafes/bars, make new friends, go full shmup, go full puzzle bobble mode and play folfing.

[Some-Mist]

jeep offroading/4 wheeling/shooting in upper peninsula Michigan and a bouldering trip in Chattanooga within the last month.

Spoiler

Michigan lakehouse this weekend for the 4th, hopefully Cedar Point next month (first time in 10 years that I've been there), and nothing else really planned yet except for a bunch of concerts and a Lemon Lake disc golf visit. There might be another Chicago shmupsmeet closer to the end of summer that I'm hoping works out too.
And then unfortunately but fortunately probably going to spend the rest of my summer in an ice rink for my men's league hockey teams.

Chicago is way too hot/humid for me in the summer and I'd love to be in Alaska or at least a bit more north.

[jonny5]

The missus and I have taken up kayaking this summer, and been at it pretty much every weekend(and Friday evenings if we can) in preparation for a 1 week solo kayaking/camping trip in Algonquin Provincial Park at the end of the month. Pretty excited, I haven't been camping in probably close to 20 years and I'm also really looking forwared to kayaking on more pristine natural surroundings rather than the busy Toronto harbour/island.

I have some pretty awesome pictures from some of our kayaking adventures so far, mostly of the Toronto downtown skyline from across the lake by the Toronto Island, will post some when I get home if I remember.

We are also pretty avid bike riders, I use a bike for transportation 90% of the time, and we ride everywhere in the nice weather when at all possible.

I've also been back on my skates(rollerblades) this summer a few times at the skatepark with my buddies; makes me laugh when I realized I started skating in '93

I tend to hibernate as much as possible through the winters, so as soon as the nice weather hits I'm chomping at the bit to get outside and enjoy the weather and get out of the house.

So far this summer has been pretty awesome!

[ratikal]

I'm in upstate New York for the Fourth. I hope to go jetskiing today.

[President_Obama]

I'm currently enjoying going for 10k walks listening to old Lavender Hour and Duncan Trussell podcasts, getting high every day and drinking lots of ginger beer over ice.

[Rob]

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[system11]

27 degrees here today.

Fuck summer.

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

I spent yesterday standing in Hyde Park drinking beer and watching bands, hopefully that qualifies for this thread as I'm not much of an outdoorsman generally. Excuse the terrible photo but I was a little worse for wear by this point (the band in the photo is Arcade Fire, they were good and they had confetti which was lovely).

[Weak Boson]

My bike was stolen. I guess I can still do some walking but seriously, fuck.

[LordHypnos]

My bike was stolen. I guess I can still do some walking but seriously, fuck.

Aw man, that's terrible. Happened to me once Good luck finding a new one, because I think bike thieves pretty much never get caught.

There was some nice weather around here the past couple of days (in MN). Nice to have a break from the rain, though I imagine it won't last long. It's kinda shitty how wet it's been. All the lakes and rivers are flooded.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm very fortunate to have the yearly Battle Creek Field of Flight airshow happening just down the road. Too bad they don't say exactly when the Thunderbirds perform, but I'll probably be back and forth 2 or 3 times today.

http://www.bcballoons.com/air-show

[Obiwanshinobi]

Spent some time in Lusatia last month, visiting the family. June happens to be the most gorgeous month up there.










The sow is half-Vietnamese, half-boar. The farrow is 3/4 boar.

I'm very fortunate to have the yearly Battle Creek Field of Flight airshow happening just down the road.

Speaking of airshows, pics taken last autumn.

[LordHypnos]

Nice! Biplanes are cool

Are several-years old pictures acceptable? Here's some pictures I took in the Andes, when I was lucky enough to be able to go to Peru a few years ago.
A glacial lake!

Spoiler

Another glacial lake, but also with a glacier in the background!

Spoiler

Kind of shitty photo quality, but what can you do? (I already did auto color correction)

[Rob]

Kind of shitty photo quality, but what can you do?

Were you on a top secret mission with that James Bond pen camera? ;]

Mountain retreats are the best. Looks cozy.

[Vexorg]

Nothing all that exciting for me this Summer so far, but I will be doing an Alaska cruise with some friends in September. If nothing else, I suspect I'll manage some decent photos out of that. My friends are also talking about taking a trip down to Mount Rainier at some point this Summer too.



In the meantime, here's one from a couple of years ago. This is the view from Rattlesnake Ridge, a popular hiking destination near Seattle. A couple other pictures of the view from here at this post:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/20 ... hest-high/

[LordHypnos]

Kind of shitty photo quality, but what can you do?

Were you on a top secret mission with that James Bond pen camera? ;]

Mountain retreats are the best. Looks cozy.

lol. It was the digital camera equivalent of a disposable camera (I think it was like $50 new, but maybe even cheaper, I don't really remember) and actually started to stop working by the end of the trip. It doesn't work any more

@Vexorg: That's really pretty. Seems like there's some nice landscape out in the Pacific Northwest.

[Rob]

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[CMoon]

Rob, you're killing me here. Every summer I've always been up in the sierras hiking, but my hiking buddies have moved out of state, and I've been busy with online classes. Need to get off my ass and hike!

[Cagar]

I'm just eating ice cream and playing games

[rapoon]

I'm just eating ice cream and playing games

Enjoying that, are you, my darling? A bit cold and pointless, isn't it, my lovely?

[Rob]

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[Stevens]

Damn Rob that looks nice, my brother in law lives outside of Anchorage.

I spent two weeks up there back in 99' when I was 22. Started in Anchorage, drove down to Seward, headed up to Fairbanks, back to Seward, and then took the train to Anchorage before flying home.

LH - I don't live in the Pacific Northwest yet, but my wife is from Seattle. I like it a lot.

[opt2not]

British Columbia is probably the most beautiful province of Canada - the true north, strong and free.

Which works for me since my wife and I share a love for hiking to beautiful views and vistas.

This year we did a moderate hike (3 hrs up) to another one of our favourite spots, Joffre lakes, just 40mins north of Whistler, BC. The Whistler/Squamish region hosts some of the best outdoors areas you can find, and offers a lot of vistas and grand-views of the mountains along the Northwest coast.

The turquoise water is actually run-off from a glacier, and is completely clean to drink/swim in.
Also, the trail up passes a plethora of waterfalls.









I have this theory that all humans have an innate magnetism towards nature. Even though we are all lazy assholes, getting the motivation to go out into the wild is sometimes difficult, but once you get to places like this it's hard not to enjoy and appreciate these areas that are untouched by human industry.

[Rob]

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[LordHypnos]

Such pretty vistas, Rob and opt2not. I'm so jelous! I totally agree about people being drawn to nature. At least in my case. There's a certain serenity to getting away from civilization and being surrounded by lush vegetation or barren rocky hills or anything. How far do you guys have to go to get to the wilderness? Is it like practically in your back yards, or is it a fair drive or whatever? Glacial water is definately the best tasting

MN is not too bad, I think. No mountains, of course, or not really, anyway, but there's a lot of fairly pristine forest in various parts, not to mention all the lakes and rivers. There's some good places to escape to, at any rate, even if they're not as striking as those in Alaska or BC.