A Bloy and his Blog

No pictures on this post, just a story about an encounter with a bald eagle and the photo that didn’t get taken.

While on vacation last week, I was biking the trail along Trout Lake, hoping to get some photos of loons. That portion of the trail runs along the lake shore, with a buffer of trees of about 10 feet. The trees make for a decent blind, so the birds don’t get scared away. I had seen loons (fairly close by) along that section of trail in the past and I was hoping for a good shot. I had my camera setup with its telephoto zoom lens, ready to go in my bike’s saddle bag. At one point I did see some loons off in the distance a bit. I took a few photos, but they were a little too far away. Back on the bike I went, continuing to scan the nearby shore. Suddenly, a shadow overhead caused me to look up. There was a bald eagle swooping by, about 20 feet above me.

read the rest of: The one that got away

I came upon these gorgeous tiger lilies while biking Madison’s southwest bike trail yesterday.

read the rest of: Tiger lilies

I just returned from camping at Wisconsin’s Northern Highland State Forest.

read the rest of: Camping “up north”

Last night I went with some of my family to watch Rhythm & Booms from the other side of Lake Mendota (along Observatory Drive). The fireworks display was pretty good, and it was fun being outside on a beautiful evening. While listening to the radio before the show (the display is choreographed with music over the radio), we heard the announcer say it was the “largest annual event in Wisconsin.” I beg to differ.

It was another gorgeous summer day today, so I returned to Mendota, and went for a long bike ride along the lake. One of my favorite places to ride in Madison is where the bike path runs along the lake shore in the middle of the U.W. campus.

I ended up biking for most of the afternoon. I stuck to the shore as best I could, riding through where the rich people live, and made it up to the northern side of the city.

After I got home, I decided it had to be one of the best rides I’ve done this year.

About two miles north of where I was camping last week, was the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge.

read the rest of: Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday I returned home from a camping trip to northern Wisconsin. My goal for this trip was to explore some of the bike trails in Vilas County that run through the Northern Highland – American Legion State Forest.

read the rest of: Biking the north woods

Yesterday I returned from a camping trip to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. One of the reasons I like to go there is the park has 20 miles of the best biking trails in Wisconsin. When you bike along the lakeshore and through the woods on those trails you can understand why Peninsula is one of the most popular parks in the midwest. I was fortunate to have excellent weather while I was there and was able to hit the bike trails every day.

read the rest of: Camping at Peninsula State Park