Mountain Biking the Grotpeter Trail

Iron Horse Maverick 4.2 on Grotpeter Trail

On Saturday, I went on my first bike ride of 2010. My last outdoor bike ride was in November 2009. It was a great day to go out and ride. I rode from my house to Castlewood State Park and entered the Grotpeter Trail. The total climb for the ride was 509 feet and the total descent was 456 feet -- a good workout! The trails are well maintained and busy depending on when you go riding. The trails are shared by bicycles, hikers, and horses, which left lots of evidence for me to avoid on the trail. 

Example of the trail

Sportypal Track of Ride

My bicycle is an Iron Horse, Maverick 4 series (basically a 2007 model). Here are the specs from the 2007 catalog:

FRAME 4" TRAVEL XC DUAL SUSPENSION, SINGLE PIVOT WITH SEALED BEARINGS, 1-1/8" ZERO STACK HEADTUBE, REPLACEABLE DERAILLEUR HANGER, INTERNATIONAL DISC BRAKE MOUNT 

REAR SHOCK FOX VANILLA , 6.5"X1.5" 

FORK ROCK SHOX DART, 100MM TRAVEL 

CRANK FSA DYNA DRIVE 

R. DER SHIMANO ALIVIO 

SHIFTER SHIMANO ALIVIO EZ-FIRE 

BRAKES SHIMANO DEORE MECHANICAL DISC, w/6" rotor F. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H R. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H 

RIM WTB FREEDOM MTX 2.4 

Columbia Bottom Conservation Area

This past Saturday Kit and I went to Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in North Saint Louis. The park is 4,300 acres at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. This entire area was under about 15 feet of water during the great flood of 1993 -- the year I first moved to Saint Louis. Kit and I walked just under 7 miles. The first half of our trip we walked along the river's edge; the second part we walked along the concrete road. At the confluence point, there are benches with sayings about Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. One saying said, "The Missouri River is to think to drink but too thin to plow." The park also has about 4 miles of paved trails that suitable for walking, jogging, or cycling. We saw deer on our walk along the river, an eager, and flocks of water fowl. See below for photos and maps.

(Click Photo for Larger Size)

SportyPal GPS track of the first part of the walk.

Kit at the River's Edge Trail

View Along River's Edge

Muddy Boots after Leaving Trail

(Click Photo for Larger Size)

SportyPal Track of Return Walk

Flocks of Birds

(Click Map for Larger Image)

Columbia Bottom Conservation Area

Powder Valley Winter Lunch Walk

Nestled between I-44 and I-270 is Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center, a 155 acre park on the border of Kirkwood and Sunset Hills, MO. . Fortunately for me, Powder Valley is about a 7 minute drive from where I work, allowing me to go walking there during my lunch break. The park has four short trails, each of which can be walked in 30 minutes or less. The longest trail is about 1.1 miles. Powder Valley even has a blog site describing current conditions, featured animals, and upcoming events. The park provides a little respite from the city and a break from the office. One of my goals this year is to visit as many of the 50 plus conservation areas in the greater Saint Louis, MO area. After I visit the site, I will post something on the blog with a few photos and my hike from SportyPal. I do not know many metropolitan areas that have such a rich park system as Saint Louis.

Today, the trails at Powder Valley were open but snow covered. I wore the wrong shoes, as my dress boots do not really have the necessary traction for slippery conditions. The trails are paved with asphalt, making it a relatively easy walk (except in icy conditions). A variety of wildlife can be seen in the part ranging from frogs, to birds, to deer. The park also has a very nice nature center that features a number of exhibits including a Missouri River exhibit of live fish. A visit to Powder Valley is worth your time.

Two of the Eight Deer I Saw

Creek in Powder Valley

SportyPal/Google Earth View of Powder Valley (click for larger image)

Map of Powder Valley (click for larger image)

Snow, Lime Kiln Loop Trail, and SportyPal

Snow in the Rockwood Reservation

Today was a rather good day all around -- the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord, Valentine's Day, and snow in Saint Louis, MO. I grew up in Michigan and always have enjoyed the snow. It is a rare treat to have nice, fluffy snow -- the kind of snow that comes when the air temperature is about 29 °F. The snow brought back memories of cross-country skiing in Michigan, so I went hiking. Several inches of snow fell, making the roads slick -- in fact, I watched two teenage girls drive their car into a guard rail on a hill and then helped them get their car back on the road, as I drove to the Rockwood Reservation (Click Here for the Missouri Department of Conservation Page) in Wildwood, MO.  

Missouri has many great parks suitable for hiking and cycling (my major outdoor activity from April through October). According to the brochure, the Rockwood Reservation "was established in 1938, making it one of the oldest Conservation Areas. The 1,880-acre area provides opportunities to enjoy and learn about Missouri's fish, forest and wildlife resources through hiking trails, the Education Center and naturalist-led interpretive programs." Rockwood Reservation has springs, caves, and interesting rock formations as well as a variety of animal life.

Old Lime Kiln at head of the trail

I hiked the Lime Kiln Loop Trail, which features a lime kiln from the 19th century. The trail itself is about 3.1 miles long, one of the longest trails at the Rockwood Reservation. From the lowest to the highest elevation of the trail, a person will climb 300 feet -- not quite like hiking House Mountain in Knox County Tennessee, which is a climb of 900 feet over a mile -- enough to get a pretty good work out. The snow was quite a contrast to the tropics of Haiti. After a few pictures, the text continues with a brief discussion of SportyPal.

View Along The Trail

The Red Circles Indicate Deer

Creek Along the Trail

Rockwood Reservation (Click on Map to Enlarge)

When I go hiking, cycling, or walking around the neighborhood, I use a program called SportyPal. This is a great program that runs on your smart phone. Currently, the program runs on Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android phones, phones that run Java, and a few others. When you start the program, you tell it what kind of a workout you plan to do -- walking, cycling, free-style, running, skiing, etc. The program uses the GPS feature of your phone to track your speed, altitude, and distance traveled. Based on the type of workout selected, the program estimates how many calories you burned while exercising. While exercising, your phone continues to work as normal -- so you can receive text messages, email, phone calls, etc. The program also allows you to take photos along your exercise path (the photos above were taken while SportyPal was running). Once you are finished with your workout, the program allows you to upload the data to a website. This is where things get cool. Your path is plotted out on a Google Map (see below). Best of all the program and the web account are free. I highly recommend it.

My Hike at the Lime Kiln Loop (click to enlarge)