1968. I don’t remember the occasion, but it was an assembly at high school when I was student body president.
In the 60’s there was something called “Flower Power.” No one knew what it meant or where it came from. It wasn’t a movement, it wasn’t a sect, and it wasn’t anything. It just was. People drew flowers, wore flowers, and pasted flower pictures on walls.
Flowers are wonderful things. We don’t have to celebrate flowers; we should just go outside and enjoy them. Flowers don’t give us power, nor do they heal. We don’t need “Flower Power.”
However, we do need flowers.
In a recent post I talked about flowers, or the general lack of a Spring full of flowers. What I didn’t relate was the rest of the story.
Two of my business associates live near Boston, MA. Boston is going through what might end up being the coldest winter and the highest snow year in history. They are still dealing with sub-zero temperatures and continuing snow.
Many bloggers who live in the Northeast seem to be writing quite often about the anticipation of spring. They can’t wait for spring.
This past weekend, here in our deserts, temperatures were forecasted to be in the 80’s in the low deserts and the 70’s in the high deserts. So we hooked up the trailer and headed for the later. We are enjoying spring weather, although spring doesn’t officially start until March 20th. Mother Nature could care less when we say spring starts. The reason we say spring starts on the 20th, is because for an instant the day will be exactly 12 hours long and the night 12 hours long. We often consider spring to be the months of March, April, and May. Tell my acquaintances in Massachusetts that!
Although we are in the midst of spring, there were few wildflowers on the weekend excursion to the desert. Mother Nature provides bountiful flowers when and if she wants. There needs to be a certain amount of rain over a certain interval, followed by a certain amount of temperature and sunlight. Those ingredients were not in perfect balance this weekend. That was okay, the view out our door was wonderful, expansive and devoid of people. But somehow we ran into a problem with time.
I don’t spend much time “surfing” the Internet. I use the Internet mostly as a research tool. There was a time, before the Internet, where research required copious amounts of time in libraries searching through microfiche, magazines, newspapers, and books. The Internet allows me do research quicker, freeing time to pursue activities that are my passion; mostly camping, hiking, and backpacking.
As I have written many times, I do enjoy reading a few outdoor blogs. In order to save time, I don’t bookmark these blogs and go to each one. Instead, I use a website that collects new posts from my favorite blogs. A single click pulls up all the new posts in chronological order. This way I can skim through them, pick the ones that interest me, and read them. This saves me time. As you know, I view time as something to save up and use on important things, which is mostly my outdoor endeavors. Time is a commodity; something tangible that can be saved and used in the future. I can bank time, just as one can save money for the future.
Picture from andrewskurka.com
Over the past month I haven’t had time to read any of my favorite blogs. This evening I checked the list and found one post that was somewhat disturbing. The post was authored by Andrew Skurka, a well-known adventure hiker. I don’t know Andrew, and have never met him. I know who he is, have read his book, and read his blog. I am not an Andrew “fanboy” – that is, I don’t view him as some sort of personal hero. He does provide some honest and extremely useful information when it comes to lightweight backpacking.
There are few places as diversified as California. We have dozens of mountain ranges, the crown jewel being the Sierra Nevada. Our deserts are seemingly endless, offering grand vistas and dapple-colored skies. There is the siren call of hundreds of miles of ocean beaches. Rivers and streams round out the enticement to visit.
Having spent considerable time in Arizona, there are two things California does not have: The Grand Canyon and Saguaros.
It’s been a while since my last post. I wish I could tell you I have been on an extended backpacking or camping trip – but that isn’t the case. I’ve been busy with work, family, and other obligations. It seems everything that can distract from the “getting out and play” things I enjoy hit at the same time.
Sheep Hole Valley lies adjacent and north of Joshua Tree National Park, with Highway 62 as its shared border. In 1994, as part of the California Desert Act, the area was designated as an official Wilderness area.
The western boundary is the Sheep Hole Mountains, which at their highest point, rise about 1,000 feet above the valley floor. The southern end of these mountains terminates at Highway 62. The eastern boundary of the Wilderness is the smaller Calumet Mountains. Sheep Hole Valley, contained by these two small mountain ranges is an alluvial plain that slowly descends to Bristol Dry Lake. For most people there are no outstanding scenic features in the area. For me it is an outstanding area that is rarely visited; remote, and desert.
Five days earlier I had hidden 3 gallons of water and food at this southern terminus of the Sheep Hole Mountains, covering, protecting, and camouflaging them under a pile of rocks. My cache consisted of two 1-gallon containers of water, four one quart plastic bottles of water, and five days of food. The food was in an empty 1-gallon water container I had cut open and then taped shut with duct tape. All food was in Ziploc bags to protect and minimize any odors that might attract animals, rodents, or insects. There are more secure and wildlife-proof containers to protect a cache, all of which weigh much, much more. I could have left any cache containers it this point, which would have required me to come back and pick them up. That wasn’t a practical solution.
Many backpackers with blogs do an end of the year review of their favorite gear. I spent most of the end of 2014 backpacking and camping, so there was no time or Internet access to write one.
Many of these bloggers’ favorite gear review includes only their favorite NEW gear of the year. And every year they have a dozen or so NEW pieces of gear to share. What’s up with that?
Alas, it has been almost two years since I purchased my last new gear item, a Victorinox “Little Vickie” paring knife for $9.95. I rarely take it backpacking; only on trips where I need to cut salami or spread peanut butter and honey. On most trips my knife is a lowly and simple single edge razor blade.
I have replaced a few inexpensive items that have worn out with the exact same thing, and I have bought a few items to repair or maintain gear: a couple tarp poles, some down wash, silicone sealer, guylines and linelocs. I call these “maintenance” purchases.
Backpacking gear is just a means to an end; the end being a safe trip with the lightest pack weight one cam assemble. I figure that if you know what you are doing and you backpack often, you don’t have time to be searching for the newest wonder gear, and you should probably have your gear dialed in so there is nothing you really need to buy.
It seems everyone has some sort of yearly recap on his or her blog. These recaps are typically interesting. So I thought I would do a little recap here. The best of 2014 actually occurred on Jan 1, 2015 when I woke up above ground. I think making it through the year intact and alive is a good thing.
In 2014 I was able to get in a lot of camping, hiking and even some biking. So it was a very successful year. Since I write about both backpacking and camping, I expect that there will be many more view of things camping related, which actually happened. But there was one big surprise…
In 1995, during a 3 month period, Cheryl Strayed hiked 1,100 miles of the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail. In 2012 she published Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. After an endorsement from Oprah, Wild topped the best seller lists. Cheryl became famous. She is a hero to many people.
In 2014 Wild was released as a motion picture, starring Reese Weatherspoon as Cheryl Strayed.
The online backpacking community (whatever that is) has been less than enthusiastic about Wild. Normally I don’t read these kinds of books – you know, the journey of self-discovery where nature solves all of a person’s problems.
