Today is the first day of Fyr Bal in Ephraim!!  Fyr Bal pays homage to early Norwegians celebrating Midsummer’s Eve. Tomorrow we’re going to have our annual Fyr Bal tour, where we will paddle Eagle Harbor and get an amazing view of the flaming fires that welcome in the Summer Solstice. Aside from an awesome opportunity to paddle with us, Ephraim will have tons of fabulous fantastic activities such as: artists, musical entertainment, shopping, trolley rides, family activities and of course, a classic Door County fish boil on the shoreline. We are going to paddle at dusk, where we will be able to enjoy the sunset, then watch the 9 or so bonfires blaze then fireworks to end a great night. I’ll be wearing my Fyr Bal hat and Norwegian earrings all day long! A warm Scandinavian welcome awaits you in Ephraim anytime of the year but especially so during Fyr Bal!

 For the complete schedule visit- http://www.ephraim-doorcounty.com/fyr_bal.html

written by Sara

As new comer to the Door County area, I have already fell in love with the sights, sounds, and amazing atmosphere here in the north east peninsula of Wisconsin. I have had some great experiences so far including kayaking out on the water and viewing, for the first time, the caves that truly are a sight to see, hiking around on Eagle Trail in Peninsula State Park, cooking some amazing food, meeting a wide variety of unique people that are all pulled together by the love of the outdoors and the atmosphere that comes with it, and many more. One thing that I continue to find breathtaking every day is how stunning the sunsets are and how they leave you with this amazing feeling of serenity. I can’t wait to kayak a sunset tour soon and be able to view one from the water. I already know this is going to be one incredible summer and I can’t wait for those consistently beautiful summer days and all the fun that comes along with it. Living out at ‘Camp David’ on county highway F has also been a blast and Fishstock concerts are definitely going to be a highlight. This is the type of summer fun you just do not want to miss!

written by Aja

As the hardest of the snow follows exodus into the ground water and beyond,

joining the river in its triumphant run,

spring finds the aspiring rocky faces nearby

suddenly populated.

>>

In short, I joined some other students on a where the St. Croix River separates Wisconsin from Minnesota

and spent the day climbing some of the adjacent cliffs. Excellent photo op.

This was the first day above 10 degrees in a while.

Single pitch, about 5.9.

Two old-fashioned river boats, that would no doubt be full of tourists in the summer, sat dormant at the landing.

-Get outside.

written by Kalen

This past Wednesday David, my friend Jack, and I went for a paddle down Mud Lake at the Ridges Sanctuary.

The weather was gorgeous, but the water temperature was a tad chilly at 40 degrees F.

During the trip we saw a variety of birds, frogs and fish. The Ridges Sanctuary is known for a large variety of flora and fauna in the wetlands area and boreal forest. We heard the potent call of the small spring peepers. Although we didn’t see any, they were very audiable. Frogs are indicator species, which means they are the first to be affected by pollution and changing habitat conditions. With this said, it was quite a joy to hear such an ample amount of these frogs. Besides the Spring Peeper, we heard the Western Chorus Frog, and possible echoes of the faint but resonant call of the American Toad. Also, I have included some short audio clips of the frog calls. They’re pretty easy to hear once you know what they sound like.

Spring Peeper

03-spring-peeper.m4a

Western Chorus Frog

-western-chorus-frog.m4a

American Toad

05-american-toad.m4a

In the Aves department, we had a few sightings. Although none of us are experienced birdwatchers, we managed to decipher a few species. Some of the most exciting sightings were:

Peregrine Falcon Cardinal Sucker Fish

We also thought we saw spawning salmon, only to realize that they were in fact, “large lipped” sucker fish.

As we were returning from our paddle, Jack and I decided to take the “easy” exit, while Dave decided to brave the ominous tunnel rapids. We were mystified as he flew through the spider- infested tunnel towards Moonlight Bay.

Overall, we all had a marvelous time and learned a lot. I even got to drive the kayak bus for the first time. And let me tell ya, backing up is surely an art that takes a lot of practice!

written by Sara

Had a fun weekend traveling down to my uncles place,

We took a midnight paddle on his pond.

Then traveled on down the coast past some clear cuts, how they get away with cutting down all the trees is beyond my imagination. They also spray pesticides to kill off any leftover vegetation so that they can replant only what trees they want after they clear cut. The pesticides end up running into the rivers and contaminating the local salmon population.

The tree houses were funny as each one had its own character. It was exciting to walk around 50 feet off the ground from house to house.

The best activities other than the horse swings made from old tires were zip lines that ran from tree to ground and from tree to tree.

We were lucky to end our drive home with a few full rainbows.

written by dwrack \\ tags: , Tree houses, zip line

The day started out with Katie, Randy and myself heading up to Mt. Hood at 7 in the morning. As we neared the Mountain, we found out why I had made a goal of not going on the weekend. There was a line of cars backed up about 5 miles…Not my idea of getting out into the wild, so a quick decision was made after an hour and a half of driving to whip a shitty and head back to grab our kites and rehead back out east to explore unkited territory.

Scooting back to our house, we did some quick research (northwest kite forum) and decided to head to hood river to scope the surrounding area, or more specifically, Mt. Dalles. It was a wild idea to think we would hit all of the variables but, as we left Portland on our second mission of the day, the sunlight appeared! That is a sign in Portland, where the sun barely shines in the winter.
Following the directions led us to a steep climb up a snowy back country gravel road. Luckily, the road was windswept enough to allow Randy’s vw to make it most of the way, with a little help from Katie and I pushing I areas. No car adventure is an adventure without some car difficulty:)

As we approached the summit, the wind had picked up to get me grinning from ear to ear. I hopped out and was running around setting up my kite, by the time I had it launched, the wind had picked up considerably. 20 minutes into my kiting, I with my helmet!!!was being dragged along the ground, dodging rocks reaching for my safety release! My kite had burst its leading edge(envisioning this is probably over the head of most readers) basically my kite broke and I had no way of controlling it other than pulling the safety release and pulling in the kite with one line.

This doesn’t happen often, but with the cold weather, the increase in wind speed, the exposed rocks(i must have hit one with the kite) and the fact that my kite is going on two years old have a lot to do with it breaking!

Luckily for me, Randy had a back up kite which was smaller, and more easily controllable in higher winds. Comparing snowkiting to kiteboarding on water, is apples and oranges. Pushing snow around is much more tiring on your legs, and so Randy and I took turns on his red 9meter Best Waroo. It took a few minutes to adjust to the speed of the kite and retime my jumps, but I eventually got it down and was boosting over the small creek.

I even got to throw in some grabs.

While Randy was riding I was able to give Katie some basic kite flying lessons on the 2meter trainer kite, she picked it up quickly and i hope to get her on a larger kite next time, although she is in Mexico now working with an organic farm.

I am getting my kite back from the repair facility in the next week. A trip to Idaho is in the planning stages. I can’t wait!

See you in the stratosphere!

David

written by dwrack