Just a few days after returning home from our eastern Sierra vacation we headed out for another short trip. This time Joshua Tree National Park. I know, we go there a lot. Good news is that it is summer and the park is just about empty.
Reason I picked JT was because I missed the boulders.
Back from our Sierra Nevada vacation. Most years we go camping in the Southern Sierra. We know about some special camping areas where few people venture. Those places have great views and solitude. These camping trips usually find us hiking everyday and dabble in a little trout fishing. No planned activities, no agendas, no places to see. Perfect.
It seems that many folks are playing around with different kinds of Cuben Tech variants to make waterproof and breathable clothing. I guess they missed my Search for the Holy Grail article on this fallacy.
Aside from this fruitless search, many people feel that Cuben Tech clothing is not visually appealing — I think the term is aesthetically.
I think folks are missing the positive unintended consequences of my Cuben Tech poncho.
Continue reading Cuben Tech Clothing: Unintended Consequences
Okay, I haven’t posted much during the past couple of months. I have been busy using up my inventory of recreational time by hiking and camping.
I saw a post over on backpackinglight.com that I had been “tagged” for the Liebster Award. Of course that is the only way I could find out because this website doesn’t allow comments or emails to me. I value my privacy too much to have to deal with other people who might want to communicate their thoughts here.
The fellow who “tagged” me is a nice guy who happens to live in Sweden. So I thought I would discuss this Liebster thing.
My last post was a review of the book Grandma Gatewood’s Walk. Toward the end of the article I mentioned that she was a founding member of Ohio’s Buckeye Trail Organization. One of Emma’s favorite hiking places was a section of the Buckeye trail in Hocking Hills, Ohio near a place named Old Man’s Cave.
So not much more than a week after I read about Emma Gatewood, I decided to head to Ohio and do some Buckeye Trail backpacking. This, like many of my trips, was a last minute spur of the moment decision.
In 1955, at the age of 67, Emma Gatewood walked the entire 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail (AT). This is a quick review of the book, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman who Saved the Appalachian Trail, by Ben Montgomery.
What makes this book a good read isn’t necessarily Mr. Montgomery’s writing ability, but that Emma Gatewood was such an incredible person. Before her through-hike of the AT, not many people had heard of the trail that runs from Georgia north to Maine, and only a handful had hiked it in its entirety. Emma would become the first woman to complete it. No one before or after her did more to popularize the trail.
Over the past several years I have made a Memorial Day Weekend tradition of hiking what I call the San Jacinto Loop. One would be hard pressed to find a more varied and diverse 60 mile route in just about any place in North America; maybe anywhere in the planet. Due to a route that passes through 5 climatic zones, Memorial Day timing is about perfect. Not too hot in the desert and not too cold in the alpine zone. You can read about the 2009 and 2010 trips.
But this year I had to cancel.
Continue reading backpacking trip cancelled. went camping instead.
Sometime in the last generation Renaissance Man passed away. Also known as Polymath,
he lived for almost 2,400 years. The cause of death was apathy and specialization.
He was the child of Reason and Knowledge. His greatest achievement was ethical egoism.
His illegitimate children Specialized Man, Minimum Man, and Social Networker survive him.
Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and a long list of polymath relatives predeceased him.
His passing was not noticed and there will be no funeral. Everyone is too busy texting, tweeting, and face-booking.
A month ago we camped at Guajome Regional Park in Oceanside, CA. I wrote about it here.
Upon our return home, I noticed there was a group from PUX (https://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/) planning a camping trip to Guajome the first week of May. Sounded interesting and I posted the following:
We have never been ones to camp with a group. Actually we have only done it once; in 2005 we went to the PUX gathering in RMNP —
But the RMNP gathering was a lot of fun and I made several friends there.
To be honest we have gone camping with others only 4 times in addition to the RMNP trip. We once camped in Oak Creek Canyon, AZ with EveryBodyHauls (who no longer posts here) and thrice we have camped with my wife’s boss.
In fact we rarely even camp in an improved campground. All this being said… we have camped at Guajome twice. Once was last week at site #21. We had a nice time.
Plus I think Wayne and I have a lot in common and it would be nice to meet him (and of course the rest of the group).
So… we have reserved site #21 again for May 2 – 4. Be nice to us, this is a new endeavor and we may not know how to socialize. 🙂
Recently returned from a vacation in the Humboldt area to visit my daughter Nicole and son-in-law Will, who are expecting their first child in late June.
Great conversations and dinning with both of them.
And of course… some great hiking.
Continue reading A tête-à-tête with Nicole, the Redwoods, and the Ocean