Outside San Diego

There is a nice write up about Pyles Peak,  (on the main trail up Cowels Mountain)  by Declan Desmond in the paper today.  It chronicles the trip up the overused main trail to the peak.   A great hike,  and one I often take when I have a limited amount of time,  and I want to get some exercise.  But it is really crowded,  and very eroded,  so take care,  don’t cut the switchbacks and be patient with the crowds.   There are also a few other ways up Cowles Mountain that offer less crowded conditions.  Mission Trails regional park has a page documenting some of these trails,  and a bunch of other great hikes within the park.  Find it here.

Speaking of Mission Trails,   they are hosting an Explore Mission Trails Day this Saturday  May 17, 2008.  It looks like a lot of fun, and a great way to get to know the park.  More details here

When I am not outside (or even when I am) I often can be found reading about other people outside. I recently finished Bill Bryson’s lighthearted look at hiking the Appalachian Trail called A Walk In The Woods.  If you are looking for a read that will make you chuckle once in a while,  this is a book to pick up.   While he did not thru-hike the entire trail,  he gave it a good try,  and met some interesting characters along the way.  I can only imagine reading through the book,  laughing at the description of the gear geek without a jacket,  and then realizing  “hey thats me”!

I had the opportunity to attend the Red Bull Air Races this weekend in San Diego Bay.  It was quit a spectacle,  different than I ever expected.  The pilots  maneuvered their planes beyond anything I thought was possible,  and the ability to view the entire race from shore was fantastic.  If you have an opportunity to attend one I recommend it.

Will I save energy by replacing perfectly good bulbs with new CF bulbs?  The catch is in the bulb itself.  How much energy did it take to make that old bulb,  and how long will it take to make up that expenditure with the new more efficient bulb.  Am I really saving energy and recources,  or should I wait until the old bulb is bad?

There must be some hard numbers out there regarding this.  Anyone got em?

The family made a trip to San Diego Bay, via Tidelands Park on Coronado Island to try out my 7-year olds new Kayak.  She received a well-used Ocean Kayak Scrambler, and a new “kids sized” Werner paddle for her birthday last week, and as been itching to get it wet.  We packed up the 3 kayaks, and headed to the bay.

The weather was perfect for kayaking, despite the cooler overcast weather the day before, and the bay was fairly smooth with only a small breeze.  We paddled out from the sheltered cove, and my daughter was having some stability issues with her seat riding too high.   We worked this out, and she was off and going.

The smaller sized paddle was perfect for her, she was able to control it much easier, and did not tire as easily. We bopped around the bay for a while until the girls decided that relaxing on the beach looked good to them, so we landed and they spread out their blankets and pulled out the pails and shovels and prepared to enjoy a perfect so-cal Sunday.  I decided to get some exercise and paddled my Tarpon for an hour or so around the bay, burning out my paddling muscles that have not been used for a while.

Happy Earth Day everyone!   Today is a good day to think about all those little things you can do to make our world a better place for everyone always.  There is so much talk about the science behind global warming and the collapse of our environment.  It will never be conclusive until it is too late.   It is now time to take a more common sense approach.  Is it going to be better to reuse a plastic bottle,  or throw one away each time you drink water? Is washing a plate more damaging than using a disposable one each time I eat a snack?  Can I just take my fish tacos to the salsa bar and load them up,  or do I really need that little disposable plastic cup to carry the salsa 4-steps to my table?  We do not always have to be revolutionary,  just considerate.

So I was approached the other day, by a person who noticed me folding up my reusable shopping bags.   This person wanted to let me know that I was harming the environment by recycling,  and not using disposable products.   A little confused,  I politely asked for clarification.   He then admitted that the bags were not to bad (just a waste),  but that recycling was really harmful for the environment,  and that if we were smart,  we would continue to use disposable plastic products whenever possible,  because he heard on the radio that filling our landfills with plastic will add to the structural rigidity to the landfills preventing all kinds of problems, and the manufacturing process of recycling adds to pollution.  He apparently correctly read the dumfounded look on my face, and skulked off muttering “thats what they said on the radio”.

Occasionally, one gets a glimpse of what was.  This last weekend was just one of those times, and that fleeting moment where the past and present merge was both exhilarating and exasperating.  I spent the weekend in the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness, and it is (in comparison to what once was) a little piece of  Southern California, only lightly touched by civilization.  I say little, but with the inclusion of Camp Pendleton to the west it appears to be a massive swath of unspoiled coastal chaparral, and riparian canyon bottoms stretching all the way to the ocean.  As I crested the peak on the North Tenaja trail, I looked west and was presented with a view that is just about extinct in the area; an unspoiled view to the ocean.

I was fortunate to be tag along a weekend jaunt to the San Mateo Wilderness Area, in the Cleveland National Forest, as part of a make-up trip for the WBC’s desert/mountain backpack requirement.  We had a small but cohesive group on this trip who all worked together and had a great time.   The terrain of Tenaja canyon was just different enough from my recent treks in the Anza-Borrego desert, and snow camp that it makes the overnighter fun and interesting.   The teeming flora and fauna was such a bonus, and the perfect hiking weather made the trip.  The thick poison oak lining the low area of the trail were a concern, but so far I do not have any signs of a reaction to it.  I hope my fellow hikers did not get it too bad.

I awoke as the filtered light of the morning began to glow through the orange fabric of my bivy.   As I snuggled a little deeper in the warm cocoon of my sleeping bag, I realized it was not the morning light that awoke me, but the rhythmic patter of falling snow tapping near my head.  Awaking a little more, I began to make out the light pressure of snow covering my bivy.  I was now ready to get out and enjoy the day.  I gathered my gear from around me, and kicked off the snow from around my feet. As I unzipped the cover, the magnificence of the day hit me.  Snow was falling gently but relentlessly, and the accumulation from the night had erased all traces of existence from my sight.  I was in the center of an untouched landscape dominated by huge pine whose branches were hanging low from the snow.

This was the morning of day two of snow camp.  Snow camp is the cumulating event of the Wilderness Basics course that has been such a big part of my life for the last few months, and we could not have planned a more fitting final trip for the 100+ students who made the long bus journey to Mammoth Lakes to experience backpacking in the snow, and were scattered through area on 8 different trips.  The trip I was acting as an assistant leader, arrived at the trailhead, strapped on our packs and snowshoes and began our hike up a wide trail to our intended campsite.  We traveled slowly through the sunny morning as we all had full packs, and none of us had fully acclimatized to the 8500 ft elevation that we found ourselves in.

After a little scouting, and some map orientation, we found a protected ridge that was a perfect place to make camp.  The group then separated for a bit as we went about the business of setting up tents, unstuffing sleeping bags, and the chores that are so important to making a comfortable camp.  We gathered together a short while later to eat lunch and to construct a snow kitchen to provide shelter for our evening meal.

When our camp chores were complete, I eagerly put together a light daypack in preparation for a hike up to Inyo-Craters. All this time, the sunny skies were reluctantly yielding to the clouds that were blowing over Mammoth Mountain, and dropping the temperature.  We hiked up to Inyo-Craters, enjoying the thick stand of lodge pole and Jeffery pines piercing the thick snow and soaring towards the heavens.  You could smell the vanilla scent of the Jeffery Pines as you walked through the dense stands.  The clouds were thick, and the wind was picking up as we reached the craters, but the cold and the wind became secondary to the view of the craters and the icy blue lakes at their base.

The trip back to camp was somewhat quicker than the trip up, and as we arrived back to camp, everyone was ready to change into dry warm clothes, and sit down to hot beverages and some dinner.  We gathered together lit the buddy burners and began to melt snow in preparation for dinner.  The mood was light and the conversation lively through dinner, and into the evening.  We enjoyed each other’s company as one by one my fellow campers drifted off to bed.  The last of us secured the snow kitchen, and wandered off to bed, enjoying the brief break in the clouds to admire the stars of the dark night.

As you read earlier, I woke to snow in the morning, and was out of bed and starting breakfast before the others were awake.  I fired up a stove, and busied myself taking pictures of snow-covered tents.  My hour alone in the falling snow was one of the most serene moments I have ad in some time.  There is something about the isolating quality of a gentle snowfall in the outdoors that clears the mind, and calms one’s soul.  Despite the serenity, I was glad to see my camp-mates stirring a short while later as I was eager to share this amazing morning.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, and began the process of breaking camp, and loading packs for the snowshoe trip back to the trailhead.

The trip back to the trailhead to meet the bus was uneventful, but nice.  It stopped snowing a short while after we left our camp,  and the sun broke through,  warming us as we trekked toward home.

I made it out this week for a quick overnighter in the Anza-Borrego. I arrived at a good parking spot near Piedras Grandes in the southern part of the park, threw on my pack, and hiked a short ways just as the sun was starting the set. I made camp in a natural rock amphitheatre slightly above the desert floor, with a great view of the rising full moon, and the twinkling lights of Brawley and El Centro in the distance. The wind kicked up for about 15-minutes as the sun set, and then settled down into a silent beautiful evening. I sat back cooked a little dinner, brewed a cup of tea, and watched the bats flutter across the bright moon chasing dinner. I turned in early, and slept soundly through the calm night.

I woke as the sun was rising over the same area as the moon the night before. I contemplated getting up early, but the fluffy warmth of my sleeping bag won out, and I snuggled back in for another hour or so. I climbed out of my bivy, and was greeted by a lizard looking down at me from his rock perch. He was no doubt wondering what this strange being was doing in his territory. After a quick breakfast, I packed up, and went on my way, admiring the landscape flush with the flowers of spring. I was startled from silent bliss a short while later as I flushed a covey of quail, shattering the silence I had grown accustomed to.

I arrived at my truck an hour or so later, and loaded up my daypack with my 10-essentials and water, and drove up to Indian Hill, to scout it for a trip I will be leading in a couple of weeks. I parked and headed cross-country to Indian-Hill, and then turned north to check out the area between the Hill and Corrizo Gorge. I was in search of an old abandoned mine camp that I knew was in the area, but had never seen. I was also hoping the track down a second set of pictographs that I have not as yet seen. I did find the camp, but was unable to locate the pictographs. Next Time!

click here for the rest of the photos