Late fall overnighter

So, the fall has been really wet, it has been about 6 weeks since the last overnighter, and you are at work day-in day-out. On Friday, 28th of October, I tweeted this:

"I really need to go for an overnighter soon, work is getting on my nerves."

Peter replied soon:

"@tonilund Overnighter tomorrow?"

We decided to go to the Wilderness of Marttila, as there are still some trails that we haven't ridden yet, and also third lean-to where we haven't been. The wet conditions could make things difficult with normal mountain bikes, but with fatbikes it should be a lot of fun. And it truly was...

Peter came to my home with car and we started our little adventure there.

A fatbike rolls much more easily on asphalt and gravel with higher tire pressure. When we arrived at Marttila, Peter dropped the tire pressure for better grip and a little suspension that the huge tires gives.

Riding in the dark is a lot of fun with powerful lights.

The trails were really technical at some places and there were some big rocks so some bike pushing was necessary.

Getting closer to the lean-to of Lotikko.

Destination reached!

Peter started a campfire and I did a little more firewood.

The sky was clear so we took some experimental photos of the stars. Not bad.

We went to sleep just before midnight. The temperature dropped to +4°C from the +8°C. My McKinley Yukon 3-season sleeping bag is really comfortable in these conditions, and with an extra pair of regular socks and a pair of wool socks my feet stayed warm. I slept fairly well, especially the first part of the night.

Because of the daylight saving time change we had an extra hour more time. In the morning it was time for the usual coffee and porridge chores.

The views from the shelter.

A very nice place indeed.

We figured out that we would get back to the gravel road by riding the trail ahead.

And we had very nice sunrise.

And then back to home.

It was great outing again. These small adventures are a real pleasure for all senses. It's like immersing with good music. It's no wonder that it's easier to live the hectic everyday life when you can have spare time like this.

Thanks Peter for the company, and check out his report and brilliant photos!

I took some video clips also, and I will try to edit a video later. Here are some more photos.

Fall Review

It has been a way too long break from my blogging, but despite the lack of activity here I've been very active and taken a lot of photos. So here is a little recap of my fall, as the winter is just around the corner.

This fall has been very rainy and wet - actually it all started in the late summer and has continued that way. We managed to put together with Jan the night version of our local trail ride, Paimio's Nightrevenge, on 14th October. The weather was great and it was a cool evening, temperature dropping close to 0°C. The ride was awesome but my photos didn't succeed. I need more practising with the SX130 in dark conditions.

All eyes are now on the forthcoming winter. The winters 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 were fantastic with lots of snow and practically subzero temps all the way. Could we have a third hard winter in the row? Maybe, and I really hope so, but everything is possible. At the moment things doesn't look too good. The weather is fairly warm as temperature ranges between +5°C and +10°C. If the winter turns out bad here in South Finland, I'm hoping to do a some kind of trip to Lapland.

A couple of extra photos in the slideshow HERE.