Great Trails - Part 1

Trails Beckon

One way to ease cold, dreary February gloom is to think of glorious, warm, sunny days, like those during our 2007 summer trip to the Canadian Rockies.

This picture, from a beautiful bike trail along the Bow River in Banff, makes me feel better already. The trail was rather short, but featured some gorgeous scenery along the way. C is standing on the trail with her rented bike.

We finished riding the bike trail fairly quickly, and decided to continue riding around scenic roads near the Banff golf course. On the way we came upon the following sunlit scene guaranteed to warm a cold February day.

At this spot I felt pleasant sunlight warm my skin. Mild, fragrant breezes feathered past. It was hard to leave the beauty of this wonderful place.

On another day we hiked on a magical trail at Lake Louise, probably my favorite place in the whole world! We have been there twice, the first time in 1991, and then once more in 2007. Each time we were lucky to have lovely sunny days. The hiking trail starts in front of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and ends high among receding glaciers. Look at these stunning scenes along the lake near the beginning of the trail.

If this trail doesn't beckon, I don't know what does! As the trail approached distant glaciers it got narrow and rocky.

Eventually, the landscape opened to the following panoramic scene. (Click on the image to see a larger view.)

At the trail's endpoint we viewed a dramatic glacier while struggling to keep upright on a scree-covered slope.

Looking back from this high trail terminus we could see the lake, the distant hotel near our starting point, and the bare ski runs of the Lake Louise Ski Resort.

A few hours of return hiking brought us back to this exquisite spot in front of the hotel. What a magnificent sight!

When this photo was taken, conditions were absolutely perfect - perfect temperature, perfect humidity, perfect sunshine, at the end of a perfect hike on a perfect day. I wanted the moment to last forever. With strong emotion and teary eyes I turned away, realizing I'll probably never return to this special place again.

Nothing in my experience has ever topped the Lake Louise hike, but we had another good hike a few days later at Mount Edith Cavell. A rough hiking trail there rises above a glacial melt pond.

The very top of the trail was inaccessible, blocked by snow even in early July, but we still saw some pretty alpine scenes along the way.

This marmot posed majestically against a mountain backdrop.

The glacial melt pond was on display below the trail.

Angel Glacier could also be seen hanging on the mountain above the melt pond.

The day was cool and partly cloudy during the Mount Edith Cavell hike, but still warmer than most days in February. There were more wonderful hikes ahead on our 2007 trip. I'll relive those in my next post.

Annabelle's Happy Universe

Annabelle in Space

My granddaughter, Annabelle, has joined her sister, Sophie, in our solar system.

Annabelle lives in a very small universe at the moment, but she is very happy to be here.

Someday, Annabelle, I hope you will see the stars. Your Dad and Papa will help.

Bike Crash

Cycling Disaster

On December 27th I was finishing a great year of biking, the most miles ever in 30 years of cycling. It was wonderfully mild for late December, and I rode in summer gear. To avoid wet pavement and slippery bike path wooden bridges I pedaled on relatively safe roads and made wide, slow, careful turns to be safe. While cruising along, feeling good, at the 18-mile point of a planned 41-mile ride, disaster struck.

Near completion of a short 40-meter bike path segment, I approached a right angle turn onto a residential street. The first picture below shows my view of the upcoming disaster. Imagine a car about to turn onto the street from the left. Notice the yellow-striped vertical traffic barrier ahead.

As I approached the intersection I watched the oncoming car about to make a turn in front of me onto the residential street beyond the traffic barrier. I slowed to allow the car to turn and clear out of the way. While watching the car and braking, I momentarily lost track of my line of travel on the bike trail. When the car completed its turn and my gaze returned to pavement ahead, the traffic barrier was suddenly only inches away!

It was impossible to avoid hitting the obstacle. Bang! There was a sickening collision on my right side at somewhere between 10 and 15 mph. In an instant I was lying on my back, stunned.

My right knee absorbed most of the impact. In physics terms, kinetic energy was converted to a little heat and lots of deformation. It was no contest between my knee and the solid traffic barrier! Guess which one deformed more. It happened very fast, so I'm not exactly sure where my knee hit. But as you can see from the picture above, there were many lacerating opportunities as my knee slid from left to right across the bolts and rectangular metal edges.

I cursed my stupidity and wondered if I could complete my planned ride. My knee took quite a strong blow and was initially throbbing. A kindly passing motorist named, Terry, stopped to ask if I was ok. I told him I thought I was going to be alright. Then he looked at my knee and said, "You're going to need stitches!" When I looked at my knee for the first time I saw a deep gash about 1.25 inches long and maybe an eighth to a quarter of an inch deep below the kneecap. That shook me up! Soon blood started running down my leg. Terry gave me some paper towels to press on the wound. Then we put three band-aids perpendicularly across the cut to hold it together.

I was so lucky to be helped by such a nice man! Terry loaded my bike into his car, got an ice pack for me from his nearby home, and drove me home where I met C who just arrived home from her own bike ride. This was my first chance to closely examine the bike for damage. My leg wasn't the only thing ruined. The top tube on my carbon fiber frame was gouged and cracked! This added to my distress. Not only was my knee smashed, not only was my biking mileage goal for the year unobtainable, but my beautiful, beautiful road bike was ruined! I love that bike! The top tube was gouged and shredded as shown in the next picture.

There was no time to mourn the bike. We drove to Urgent Care where, after more than an  hour wait, six stitches eventually closed the gash below my kneecap. Soon my swollen knee became very stiff and painful.

I'd been laid low. No running, no biking, no weight lifting. It took 30 seconds just to get up from a chair, and minutes to limp painfully from one room to another. Sleeping was difficult. In addition to the knee injury I had also jammed one of my fingers. But, slowly, the swelling eased, and flexibility returned by fractional inches per day. Eventually, I could walk almost normally and begin light weight lifting again. After 10 days the stitches were removed. My knee is much better, but still not normally flexible. It won't bend back completely. I'll have to wait at least another week before trying to run or bike again.

Now I'm wondering what to do about my ruined bike. My beloved damaged bike is only three years old with 12,000 miles on it, but it's unwise to ride on a damaged frame with uncertain structural integrity. As far as I can see, only the top tube is wrecked. All other components are in excellent condition. Apparently, it's possible to repair carbon fiber frames, but there are no repair shops nearby. It would be great to buy a new replacement frame. Unfortunately, Trek no longer makes my particular frame. Perhaps I can fit the wheels and other intact components onto a new frame from a different model bike. Or, I could buy a completely new bike. I need to explore the options. 

In addition to the obvious gouge in the top tube, there are many fine cracks radiating from the gouge. You can see cracks on top of the tube in the next picture.

The gouge has crumbled the tube side into separate flakes.

 From the bottom even more cracks are visible.

Every time I look at the broken bike I want to cry. It was such a perfect, beautiful machine! I would gladly have traded more temporary leg damage and pain for an unblemished bike. It's particularly disturbing to have crashed when I was consciously trying to be safe! Now I'm wondering if I'm getting too old to ride and risk more crashes like this.

Gifts

A Great Day For Kids

What's more fun for kids than Christmas morning? This year Sophie helped fill plates for everyone's delicious breakfast. She was very patient waiting for the presents.

Sophie holds her new Furby while Ellen reads basic Furby language. "Can I get a what, what?".

Really, really big presents are always fun!

Annabelle enjoyed opening presents in Daddy's loving arms.

Riding a new tricycle in the house is fun, but it's more fun outside with a backpack in mild December weather.

When morning ends it's nice to know there will be more presents before dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Goodies cover the floor and kids are safely enveloped in a happy family embrace.

My best present this year was sharing the day with Ellen, Keegan, Sophie, Annabelle, and C.

Dramatic Solar Landscape

Sunspot and Prominence

December has been unusually warm this year in Virginia. December 16th was an especially beautiful day! Late morning temperature stood in the low 50's. Seeing was good, no clouds were visible in the blue sky, and only a gentle breeze puffed from time to time. I was quite comfortable wearing only a sweater.

On the 16th the Sun finally displayed exciting features after many nearly blank days. One large sunspot and one giant prominence were neighbors on the Sun's eastern half. The first image below shows a wide view containing most of the interesting features. It is a 16-panel mosaic made with a 5X Barlow lens. Each individual panel was made by stacking the best 100 frames from 2,000-frame videos. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

Next is a 6-panel mosaic capturing the two outstanding features. Each individual panel in this image was made by stacking the best 80 frames from 1,000-frame videos. Sunspot group 2470 has one large umbra on the right and a collection of smaller umbras on the left. A magnificent prominence arches up on the limb.

The sunspot and prominence were close enough together to fit in one frame in the following dramatic scene.

Finally, lots of complicated structure can be seen in sunspot group 2470 in the next image. There are gradations of darkness in the large umbra on the right, and smaller umbras on the left look like they want to join up. Good seeing revealed fine details in the penumbra. This image was made by stacking the best 100 frames from a 3000-frame video. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

The Sun was so beautiful on this rare lovely December day!

Thanksgiving Sunspot Parade

Modest Sunspots

By 10 am on November 26th, Thanksgiving day, the temperature was 52 degrees. Thin clouds had completely cleared. There was no wind. It was an amazing mild day for late November, warm enough to sit without a jacket at my telescope.

The following 24-panel mosaic shows most of the solar features on display this balmy morning. A large prominence floated above the limb on the right. Three modest sunspots were on parade along a diagonal line across the disc. Two filaments were on the right. Seeing was not particularly good while capturing images for this mosaic. Consequently, some component parts are a little blurry.

The previous mosaic was constructed by stacking the best 40 frames from individual 400-frame video clips. Seeing improved a bit while the next mosaic was captured. Next below is a 10-panel mosaic with each panel made by stacking the best 100 frames from individual 1,000-frame video clips. The three sunspots are sharper here. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

Seeing kept improving, so I tried capturing 2,000-frame videos to make the next 4-panel mosaic spanning only the three sunspots. I stacked the best 100 images from the 2,000 frame videos. From left to right the sunspots are numbers 2459, 2458, and 2457. The detail is really good in this image! (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Some nice prominences and spicules on the Sun's western limb are shown in this 9-panel mosaic.

Next is a closeup view of sunspot 2458.

Finally, a close view of sunspot 2457.

The temperature rose to 56 degrees as the Sun approached the meridian. Unfortunately, seeing kept getting worse after the brief excellent spell. I quit before noon. It was a pleasant surprise to get these images on Thanksgiving.

Dramatic Filament Ring

Tiny Sunspots

As fall proceeds solar observing opportunities diminish. The Sun is low in the sky, and it gets uncomfortably cold. Remarkable solar features have been rare lately. On November 14th, however, a giant filament was on display. Conditions were good before noon. It was completely clear, 52 degrees, and somewhat windy. Seeing conditions were better than predicted.

The dramatic, long-lived filament ring was nicely centered on the Sun's face as seen in the following imperfect 36-panel mosaic. Tiny sunspots are almost invisible. (Click on the image for a larger view.) Can you find any sunspots in the larger view? One tall wispy prominence hangs above the right limb. Seeing was good for most of the 36 images used to construct the mosaic, but it deteriorated during capture of the last few blurry images near the top of the Sun.

An inverted view always displays filaments nicely.

The large curving filament was captured in good detail in the following cropped portion of a 13-panel mosaic.

Only one small sunspot was easily visible on the disc. Sunspot 2454 is right of center in this region from the left side of the large disc mosaic above.

The filament ring lifted spectacularly off the solar surface and disappeared on November 15th. I was lucky to find it intact and so well placed on November 14th.