The Monday after fathers day was going to be a day on the bike. This will be the official first day of summer for me, as I have had to work each of the days since school has ended. I brought my Single and decided to take it to the top of Bear Creek to see the windmills that were installed up on the mountain in the late winter. I knew there were trails up there, and I wanted to do some exploring. I also wanted to see these windmills up close.
I ride regular trail patterns, but I think I am a true all mountain rider at heart. I like to go on adventures and look for new trails once in a while. The area around my parents house is great for it.
On sunday I went with a drive with my dad because he loves drives in the woods, and I wanted to find a way to get onto the trails that would lead me to these windmills. I found the place, and even a place to park. The parking was a bit scetch since I dont feel comfortable parking my car out in the woods after having my car broken into in the woods a little less than a year ago. I made sure my car was as clean as it would be if I were parking in north Philly, and rode down to the trail head.
The climb up there was pretty brutal as it was on a grassy doubletrack that was filled with baby heads. There was just no way to get any momentum going on the single, so I decided to hoof it up to the top. When I got up there I was rewarded with mill #12 right at the end of the trail. Once I was up there I could feel the wind, and knew they picked the right place. Mill #11 and #12 were on one level pretty much even with eachother, while 10-1 were up on a higher part of the mountain, with an access road leading to each of them. This picture shows how steep the road from #11 and #12 was.


This picture shows a few of the other windmills as they go southwest on the Mountain Ridge. This should give you some scale to see how big the mills are. That is my single speed at the base of one of them. The trail back to the car is off to the right side of the picture.
This is #12 from the ground

I rode along all of them and then onto another powerline trail that continued southwest on the mountain. I decided to turn back and give it another day, as I was out there for over two hours looking around and riding, and I still had some other stuff to attend to in the day. The way back was a nice ride as much of it was downhill, and some of the uphills were a challange, but I got to do it with my single. It is my BMX mountain biking roots I guess.
On the way home on one of the rocky downhills, a rock got the best of my rear tire. Luckily it was only a few hundred yards back to the car. You may be able to see in the picture that it was about a 1" cut in the sidewall of the tire. It was even too close to the car to make a tire boot, so I walked the rest of the way. I was able to add a picture of "trail cars" to my collection.
After I got home and relaxed/showered, etc. I gave Carrie and Ed a call and went down to see them and their new daughter Nora Ann. I have known Carrie since Kindergarten (we even went to prom together) and Ed since I was in Middle School. It was strange to be in their wedding, but seeing their baby is even stranger. It is a great feeling, but still just strange. The world is grabbing me and making me grow up. I am ready for it, but it is a strange feeling.
The baby was asleep, but what do you expect from a 8 day old baby? She finally did wake up and I got to see her cute little smile and her wide open eyes. There will be many more years that I could see her."Grandma" came over and took care of her for a little bit while I got to talk to Carrie and Ed. This is a pic of mommy and baby.
After seeing Mommy, Daddy, and the little one I went home and joined up with my sister and headed down the the nursing home to see my grandmother who is recovering from a stroke. She is doing very well and I am proud of her for being so strong. We got to talk for a while and we talked for a while. I told her about visiting Carrie's baby, and about my trip to the windmills that she could see from her window. She seemed to like to hear from a different person, as I am sure she has talked to her sons and daugters about everything under the sun. One of the nurses came to take my grandmom to play bingo, and my sister and I went home.
I drove back to philly with stella and I later that night. It was a long drive, but I got to talk to my new boss Brian about the shop and I got to stop to buy an EZPass tag as I will travel over the Ben Franklin bridge often for work at the new Keswick shop.