Just returned from my Yellow Springs trip - and while it rained almost the entire time I did manage to get in a good amount of hiking and even a short 15-mile bike ride! I had hoped to do a lot more riding than that, but it was raining, and cold, and damp and...hiking is a lot more fun at that point.
I am strongly resisting the urge to post lots of pictures from the hiking, but wanted to show how I tired Stella out in that 15 mile ride - she had to take a rest :p Seriously, I wanted to show the full fence in this shot, it really makes her look tiny. This is on the Little Miami Rail-Trail and is a fence over a little creek. There are a LOT of these, and as I went on I found most of them had benches!
The middle shot has got to be the oddest tree that I've ever seen. It has got to be totally dead, not one leaf or green anything on it, but it almost looks like a gnarled, hand-rubbed carving or something when you first see it. Amazing that it is still standing! And, of course, what nature preserve that has cliffs are without stairs?
I did notice something odd on my bike ride yesterday though. When the changing clouds made me decide to turn around and head back to the B&B, it was a LOT harder pedaling back than it had been going out. It did not LOOK like an incline, it looked pretty darn flat to me! However, my knees even started complaining! I shifted into the granny gear and things got much easier. I was in a hurry so I didn't stay there long.
It just seems odd to me that there would be that much of an incline when I couldn't really SEE one. Interesting!
