From The Blue Bubble To Shasta

I was in San Fran for a couple days to relax and refit.  Not unexpectedly I quickly grew restless and hit the road.  I spent the past few days in Bend, Oregon.   Here's some photos, and as you can see, Christmas is done a little differently in the Bay.

While in SF I came across a Santa-themed bar crawl.  

The mistletoe at a Chanukah party. 

Hold my beer and watch this.  I was soaked from head to toe, and my D200 was drenched.  Thankfully it continued to function without a hitch.

It never hurts to ask:  "May I take a picture?" Mind you, in the rest of America I would never attempt this photo with someone I did not know.  My mother always said to be bold, but I don't think this is what she had in mind.

Heading north on I-5.

Mt. Shasta from the town of Mt. Shasta.  I was originally going to make an attempt, but the Forest Service dissuaded me from doing so because the avy (avalanche) danger was too high with all the new snow blowing in.  So instead of a summit attempt I camped out and skinned up 1400 feet and skied down.  (Memo To File: Skiing in 3 feet of soft snow/fresh powder is hard as hell).

I went up with my new friend Mike, who I met in the parking lot.  Mike as over 1500 ski days in the past 18 years, so skiing with him was a very educational experience.  Mike brought his labs along, who by the end of the day were tired little doggies.

Looking down from above the treeline.  It does not get much better than this.

I felt right at home in Oregon.  The owner of this establishment, Jack, is one hell of a character with a fascinating life story.  We discussed guns, booze, hunting, scuba, and Democrats.  I wonder who he voted for....

Next stop -- Driggs, Idaho, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons and the granddaddy of then all Yellowstone.

Flesh Lice or Fresh Lice?

While putting on the mandatory tire chains to access the upper regions of Sequoia National Park, I was approached by a petite asian woman asking for help.  It, was dark and snowing. The following exchange ensued:

Q: Do you flesh lice?
A: No. I don't have lice.
Q: Fresh lice please?
A:  I'm sorry I don't understand.  What about fresh lice?
Q: Yes, fresh lice please?
A: (Internal Monologue:  "What the hell is she talking about, what do lice have to do with Giant Sequoias?"  Queue dumb look on face.)
Q: Fresh lice please?
A: You want to borrow a flashlight?
Q: Yes.

After leaving Death Valley National Park, Emil and I traveled to Sequoia National Park to check out the giant trees.  Before arriving at the park I was confused as to the difference between Redwoods and Sequoias.  As the Giant Tree Museum made clear, Redwoods live on the Northern California Coast and are generally taller but thinner than their Sequoia cousins.  By volume and mass however, Sequoias are the largest living organism on the planet with some being over 2000 years old.  The Bristlecone Pine however is the oldest living organism on earth with some having an estimated age in excess of 4000 years.  Unfortunately, there are very few of these trees, and none of them live in SNP.

The Sequoias are so large that it is not unreasonable to assume they are made of concrete and were created by Disney in draw tourists to Cali.  Because of an incoming blizzard we limited our time in SNP so as to not get trapped in 3-feet of snow for several days.

If you look closely, Emil is standing at the base of tree in the dark crack.

Again, a little "abstract" but this is a picture of snow on the roots of a fallen Sequoia.

The trunk of a burned Sequoia.

Being on the road for weeks on end requires the occasional  laundromat vist.  Here's my whip on the streets of Fresno at about 8 a.m.

After doing some laundry and stocking up on supplies, head off to Yosemite National Park.

As many of you are aware, El Capitan is the home of big wall climbing and may be the most famous rock face in the world.   We did some scrambling on the first few feet of the Nose route and on a large bulge a few hundred feet to the left.  Good times all around and I plan on coming back for some of YNP's easy trad routes.

Now it's time to play America's favorite at-home climbing game -- Spot The Climber.

In case you are wondering, the face of El Cap is in more than 3000 feet.  

I'm in San Fran right now visting with some friends and relaxing for a day or two before I head out to Bend, Oregon.  Look for another update soon, with photos from San Fran and Point Reyes National Seashore.

J-Tree Heresy

Joshua Tree, known as "J Tree" in the climbing community, is one of the top climbing destinations in the world.  Entering J Tree long after sunset, I was hoping to awake to soaring cliffs, dotted with multi-pitch climbs of every imaginable difficulty.  Unfortunately, I was greeted with a barren landscape containing what I would consider to be nothing more than grossly oversized boulders.  Wondering where the multi-pitch climbs were, I visited the local climbing shop only to discover that there were not any such climbs in the park.

After picking up my friend Emil at the airport, we did a quick tour of the park and started our climbing adventure at Trashcan Rock.  We did a couple short climbs, and came away unimpressed with the routes and the overall J Tree experience.  Although the rock was extremely textured and very sticky, J Tree was just not as fun as Seneca Rocks. Being so uninspired, I was not motivated to take that many climbing photos, but here are a couple anyway.

A team rapping off of Intersection Rock at sunset.

A team working on a 5.8 route on the southeast side of Intersection Rock.

One of the famous joshua trees along the trail to Lost Horse Mine.  A few years ago a major fire swept over this area of the park, but this tree was lucky enough to survive.   Amazingly, many hearty grasses have already retured to the area helping to stabilize the soil and prevent mass erosion during the occasional rain storm.

Jumbo Rocks early in the morning.

After leaving J Tree, Emil and I drove across the Mojave National Preserve heading towards Death Valley NP, stopping along the way to take some photos and chat up some of the locals.

I like this photo, taken on the side of the road on someone's front lawn, just outside of Twentynine Palms (Twentynine Stumps, as some Marines would say).

Salt mine just south of Route 66.

Getting closer to DVNP, we came across a city of massive RVs parked in the desert.  I introduced myself to Paul and Brad who were happy to have me photograph their dune buggies.

Paul's buggy -- powered by twin Caddy V8s pushing 800 HP.

Brad's buggy -- recently repainted and repaired after it rolled 6 times in a nasty accident.  Brad proudly showed me his finger that was nearly amputated in the crash. 

Brad and Paul were kind enough to tell us that a few miles up the road there was even a bigger gathering of off-roaders, complete with sand dues hundreds of feet high.  And boy were they not kidding, even though the weekend was just getting underway, there were already hundreds of RVs with thousands more en route.

I fit right in with these OTV enthusiasts.

Our next stop was Death Valley.  Honestly, by this time I was kind of burned out with the desert landscape.  Still, DVNP had some amazing sights.

Some very tough women riding in the hottest and lowest place in the USA.

The scale of DVNP, the largest National Park in the lower-48, is hard to comprehend.  I jokingly said to Emil that Delaware would fit in this basin.  A few moments later an interpretive sign informed us that New Hampshire would fit in the basin.  

Being a lover of snow and trees, it's time for Sequoia National Park and Yosemite.  Look for an update soon, along with some better photos than I was able to produce of the Mojave.  And, we're off....

No Zionists In Zion (But Plenty of Spaniards)

I spent the night before last in Vegas, but was not willing to pay the hotel $12.99 for the privilege of using in-room internet.  Little high it seems to me, when compared to the free and fast Wi-Fi here in Yucca Valley, CA.  

Zion National Park is centered around the Virgin River which created and continues to carve Zion Canyon out of the soft sandstone of southern Utah.  The river is literally the wellspring of life in this part of Utah, with all the flora and fauna depending on its water.  O.K. I'm tyring to hard to sound like John Muri.  Moving on.

ZNP is small but very interesting and I highly recommend it to any travelers, especially those with limited physical abilities.  The Park Service has done and excellent job of making the park accessible by paving the main trails and providing a wealth of interpretative signs.  The trails are paved primarily to prevent erosion, as the desert landscape is very fragile and any disruption of the thin vegetation can lead to a cascade of erosion.   I understand that Zion in the high season can be difficult because of the high temperatures and obscene crowds.   Because of constant traffic jams during the high season, the NPS instituted a mandatory shuttle program.  Free of charge, the NPS operates shuttles in a loop between the Visitors Center and the main sights in the park.  With 2.7 million visitors in 2009, most of them arriving in a 6 month window, ZNP would be an awful experience without this change.  Lucky for me, private vehicles are permitted after November 1, so I was able to make my own schedule.  With the park in "winter" mode there are only a modest number of visitors and no crowds to speak of. 

There is not a statue of Theodor Herzl in ZNP but for some reason, I managed meet a bunch of Spanish tourists.  One couple invited me to their house in Madrid if I am ever in Spain.  Another group I talked to was about to tackel an 8-pitch climb.  Given the geology of the canyon, the climb was probably a very stiff 5.10 c/d, but they were not aiding it.  I hope that made it without incident because the rock in ZNP is very soft to say the least.

When I go to a place like ZNP I avoid taking the stock photos that often find their home in coffee table books and on glossy post cards.  What I do see a lot of in these parks are photographers, with tons of high-end gear, taking these same photos you can find on the internet in a matter of seconds.  Everyone also seems to have a tripod regardless of the photos they are taking.  I'm willing to bet the bulk of these tripod shots were 1/500 sec at f5.6 with a 24mm lens.  Really -- you need a tripod for that.  Of course there are plenty of instances when a tripod is indispensable, but I get the impression that instead of studying the landscape and lighting, a great many shot are missed while people are playing with their Bogen tripod, changing lenses and otherwise not paying attention.  Just my two cents.

This picture is of window in a mile long tunnel that cuts through the canyon wall, enabling access to the eastern enterance to the park.

 

Look closely ......

Closer...

Water percolating out of the canyon's walls supports a wealth of vegetation.

Finally, some Virgin River photos.  Some of these are "abstract" but I can assure you, they are not staged  or photoshopped.

And, I'll leave you with this last photo.  Look for another update this week from Joshua Tree with climbing action photos.