Day at the Gorge

I managed to get to the Gorge on an absolutely perfect Friday (4/24). Got to the trailhead about 10:30 and temps were right about 50 and no clouds. Started up the Douglas trail to explore Eagles Point, by the time I was 30 minutes from the from the car, I needed to take off my fleece, never needed it again.

Falls from Below

An "eagle" from the bottom of the falls

A seep about half way to the top

From Eagles Point

Looking down at Eagles Falls

There were lots of birds, not much doubt where the name comes from. I spent a lot of time just watching the birds soar and enjoying a beverage.

Based on this picture, I think the eagles are actually vultures

Surprisingly, there were not many wildflowers, I saw one iris that was just beginning to bloom and a couple redbuds, and these unknowns. (edit:Thanks to "copper creek" on kywilderness.com I now know that the purple flower is wild geranium and the yellow is ragwort.)

The Red River looked very inviting, but it was cold.

Based on a previous visit, I think these are otter tracks.

A redbud and a "white" tree near Copperas creek

I took my tripod so I could play with shutter speeds a little more than last time. The falls were still impressive, but the creek was a lot lower than a month ago.

I passed a couple groups of backpackers that almost certainly ended up wet if the weather in the gorge on Sat. was anything like Lexington, still a perfect Friday is hard to beat.

Saison #1

 Saison #1

The first of many saisons in my attempt to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Brewed 2/4/15
5.5 gallons
Intended SG: 1.046
Actual SG: 1.046 @ 5.2 gallons
IBU: 27 (modified Tinseth)

Grain
------------------------------
Weryerman Bohemian Pils - 8#
Weyerman Munich (6L) - 1#

Total - 9#

Hops
------------------------------
Wilamette (5.3%)
1oz @ 60 mins
1oz @ 10 mins

Yeast
------------------------------
Starter cultured from Dupont

Mash @ 148 for 60 mins
Mashout @ 168
Fermented at 75 degrees
gravity dropped to 1.003 in 7 days

Bottled on 3/7
1/2 got Orval dregs and 1/2 plain


4/26: Just mowed my lawn for the first time this spring. This must be how a field worker in Belgium felt 100 years ago :)

5/12: The Orval version in a Duvel tulip
A: Very nice almost perfectly white head, it eventually drops to a thin film leaving no lace.
S: Hint of spice, slight graininess, very muted.
T: Very dry with a slight Pils malt sweetness, the Dupont yeast is there, but the Orval dregs have not done too much, even though this has been in the bottle for 2 months.
M: Started with a lot of tingly carbonation, but that has faded by then end, very dry/lingering on the tongue.
O: A good, but definitely not great saison. I will happily finish off these bottles, but definitely needs improvement. Maybe a higher fermentation temp and another pound of Munich.

My ugly burner stand

Based on this thread (or something similar) on homebrewtalk.com I decided to build a very basic stand to hold my, at the time, new hurricane burner.

Here are a couple of pictures. Homedepot and Lowes did not have the correct right angle connections that I needed and the online place was temporarily out of stock as well. They did have right angle connections with an "extra" side that sticks out, but I decided that this was going to be ugly no matter what I did :)

I used two 90 degree angles, on three sides to support the burner, it is not attached, it just sits on top of the connected angles.

Robust Porter

Robust Porter
6 gallons
brewed 1/27/14

Intended SG: 1.055
Actual SG: 5.5 gallons @ 1.052
SRM: 31
IBU: 46

Grain
-------------------------------
Gambrinus ESB Malt - 7#
Weyerman Munich (6L) - 4#
C80 - 1#
Chocolate Malt - .75#
Chocolate Wheat - .25#
Special Roast - .5#

Total - 13.5#

Hops
------------------------------
Mt Hood (4.5%) 2.5oz @ 60 mins
Mt Hood (4.5%) 2.5oz @ 5 mins

Yeast
------------------------------
Wyeast 1968 cake from brown ale


Brew
--------------------------------
Mash at 152 for 60 mins
Mashout at 165

Fermented at 68 for ~2 weeks
Kegged 2/14/14 left in basement for almost a year

Review
--------------------------------
Finally tapped this at the end of Jan 2015, so almost 1 year in the basement

3/28/15
A: Almost completely black, but when held up to a bright light, there are hints of dark ruby highlights. Very thick light tan head that leaves a ton of lace, I would assume this is the chocolate wheat but there is only .25# out of a total of 13.5# so not really sure.

S: Not much going on in the nose, slight hint of roasted malts

T: Chocolate, light roast, slight bitterness, distinct maltiness (Munich?)

M: Creamy and dry at the same time, might be a touch of tannins, but probably just the roasted malts and the Munich coming across as dry on the tongue.

O: I really like this beer, I am going to be disappointed when this keg kicks. I don't know if it is the long "lagering" or something else, but this beer just works. The only thing I would do different is to sub a little C120 for C80, maybe .25# to try to add a little sweetness/flavor. Will definitely brew something similar again.

Note: picture taken on patio after 14 inches of snow (3/5/15)

Pine Mountain State Park

We rented a one bedroom cabin at Pine Mountain State Park. I got to do a little hiking both with and without the kids.

Honeymoon Falls

For my alone time, I started at the bottom of the Laurel Cove trail and headed up to Chained Rock. Along the way, the trail passes under Powderhorn Arch

My guess is this trail is one of the original in the park and was built by the CCC. It basically goes straight up and only switchbacks where it absolutely has to, a tough way to gain 1000 ft in about 1.5 miles.

Then up to Chained Rock. I first headed out the Timber Ridge trail and around Rock Hotel (nothing worth a picture since my battery was low), then back down to the car. A decent hike, but a good workout, about 5 miles and 1500 ft in 2 hours.

Up a creek, no paddle needed

I was given permission to abandon the family for one night in the gorge. I had already figured out where my next trip would be after seeing a waterfall picture on kywilderness.com. I had never been hiking in this particular area before. This is a pretty well known area, but I see no reason to publicize the actual location more, so I won't mention the specific creek other than to say it is a well traveled unofficial trail.

I got to the trailhead around 11 and headed up the trail. The weather was about 45 degrees and cloudy. The multiple creek crossings were cold, my guess is the water temperature was mid to upper 30s. There were a lot of crossings.

It was not long (about an hour) until I started hearing noise and then came around the corner to a very large waterfall.

I had brought my Nikon 5100 because it was such a short hike. I am glad I did, I had lots of fun remembering the basics of photography and was able to play with exposure times and shutter speeds. I took lots of pictures. There was an added benefit that the sun finally broke through the clouds.

I then spent some time exploring the area. It was pretty easy to get up to the top and see the small creek that was making so much noise, kind of startling because it really was not that much water in the creek bed, but it made a very impressive waterfall.

In the exploring, I found some interesting sandstone formations. Again, a lot of pictures were taken.

After that, I decided to hike back down the creek to see if I could find a couple arches in the area. The GPS on my phone was acting squirrelly and when I found a nice campsite, I decided to just relax. I gathered wood for a fire and enjoyed an Two Hearted Ale, got a fire going, cooked dinner, read my book, and enjoyed a Ten Fidy and some bourbon with the fire.

Obligatory campsite pic, note the "chair" that someone built. I have never understood this behavior, but I will use them when I find them.

The next morning I decided to save the arches for another day since there was another waterfall in the area I wanted to see. I hiked back down the trail to the car. Along the way, I saw an otter in the creek.

I got to the car with no problems and talked to a gentleman who had been out for a couple days and was waiting for his ride. Then, I started up another unofficial trail to the next waterfall. My understanding is that this is usually dry and it takes a lot of rain to make a waterfall.

Again, lots of pictures were taken.

I was hoping to climb to the top of the waterfall where I have heard the view is awesome, but I had promised to be home at a reasonable time. I headed back down the trail and to the car and an easy drive home. All in all, a great 27 hours in the gorge.