Mancation hit the road for it’s fourth installment. This year featured a never before seen 7th member, Tim’s nephew and bad-assed rock rider Jeremy. Another change for this year was the addition of a 4th day. Everyone could get away on Thursday.
The regular crew: Tim, Mike, Wes, Doug, Scott, Guy.
We hit the road later in the year than usual, an Oct 13 Thursday getaway. The weather was terrible, it rained hard all the way up north. And yet, when we floated a five mile section of the Flambeau, just north of Park Falls, the rain relented and while it was a tad gloomy, everything went fine. There are no photos of this event. From there we rolled to our cabin via Hwy 77.
We once again stayed at our small cabin on Lost Land Lake. It’s hard to pass up the Hayward area, with its proximity to CAMBA (Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association) and it’s 300 miles of trails. Being so late in the year, the scene was much different than the warm glow of autumn, resplendent with trees in full color. Every leaf was down on the ground this year. The temps were colder. The wind howled.
First night’s repast was Mexican by Chef Hankard, who also mixed up some high quality, natural ingredient, completely deadly margs for the group. The margs were concentrated enough for one senior member of the group to take the next day off, nurse his sore ribs, and go shopping.
Friday breakfast featured Jeremy’s Outstanding omelettes. Rave reviews by all.
Friday’s ride was reportedly tough, with the wet, downed leaves causing visibility problems and slippage.
Friday dinner was out. We kayaked over to the Lost Land Lake Lodge, had a boatload of fish, watched St. Louis take it to the Brewers in what was becoming a familiar beatdown. Paddled home in the dark, heavy winds, threat of rain, no incidents.
Saturday’s weather improved. Sunny, very cool, very windy. Saturday breakfast was by Tim, who dished up his version of huevos. Spicing options were “mildly hot”, “smoking hot”, or as one person put it, “Asian hot”. A few weenies went with “mild”. Tim was very, very disappointed in them. No one went Asian. Otherwise it went down well with the crowd.
Saturday’s ride was not as hard as Friday’s, and the weather was much better. Sunny, cool, windy but no problem with that in the trees. The best part was that the leaves had dried out. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief when a “certain delicate person” finished without crashing, bleeding, or requiring a stretcher. Kudos to Jeremy for flashing Wallstreet without a second thought.
Here’s pictures of the cabin and some from the ride.
Saturday dinner was some awesome wheat free pasta and killer sauce. Who did that? Wes? Great salad. Our own organic farmer Scott made every meal better with the addition of fresh and varied produce. Saturday night was the only calm night, perfect for late lake kayaking and sitting around the fire. Or sleeping around the fire in an ice encrusted sleeping bag, as Scott would have it.
We all noticed that Scott doesn’t seem to need a coat. What’s with that?
Sunday breakfast by Scott, an explosion of vegetables in a potato dish, eggs, bacon. Delicious.
We broke camp and headed home, stopping for a five mile float on the Namekagon. Clear weather, again very windy. This section of the Nam is very scenic, and there was plenty of water. Pictures from the float:
Rejected pics here:
Post trip assessment:
1) We need to get our butts up there a week or two earlier
2) It is hard to ride on wet leaves
3) We need a bigger cabin