Redwood Crossing - October 2005
This was our second trip to Redwood Crossing this summer (that trip is called "Shake Camp"). We took this trip with our good friends Brian and Heather. Brian is the guy I hold mostly responsible for getting me into backpacking in the first place. We started out at Shake Camp and hiked the ~2 miles to the campsite just after crossing the fallen redwood that lies over the Tule river. We had a great time exploring on Saturday and eating Alder berries. On our way out Sunday we decided to go the easy way taking the trail to Hidden Falls which is all down hill. From there Brian had the idea to pay some campers twenty bucks to drive us to our vehicles at Shake Camp. This turned out to be a great idea as the distance was more than I had first thought.
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»Jason
Chicken Spring Lake - September 2005
This was a spur of the moment trip, we were just sitting around on a Friday night and decided to checkout this place called Chicken Spring Lake. We got up before the sun on Saturday morning and drove to Lone Pine to pickup our permit. The trailhead started out at just under 10K ft. and the hike which took us up over Cottonwood Pass was about 3 1/2 miles. The lake was beautiful and quite. Only one other tent spent the night by the lake. It turned out to be a bit chilly that night, Brinkley's water froze. But we were prepared, so we stayed nice and toasty in our tent, however the full moon on the white alpine rocks made the night as bright as day. I kept waking up think it was morning. This was a great trip, something I could stand to explore further on another hike.
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Shaver Lake Trip - July 2005
Ever since the first time we went to Shaver Lake it has become a favorite place to go car camping. On this weekend we escaped the 100 plus temperatures and setup camp at Shaver Lake. The first day we spent most of our time at the lake, Brinkley had a blast. The second day we went in search of a waterfall Michelle found in her waterfalls book. The search took us past Huntington Lake, up Kaiser Pass Road about 9-10 miles to Forest Road 5 on the left. From there we drive about 2 miles on a dirt road to the Sample TH/Cutoff (The Sample TH actually begins back on Forest Rd 5 where we turned off the pavement). On this drive up I missed Forest Rd 5 and went another mile or so past, the good news, we came upon an absolutely beautiful view, there is a photo of this in the slideshow. After finally arriving at the trailhead we crossed into Kaiser Wilderness almost immediately, 3.5 miles up the trail we came to Upper Twin Lake were we relaxed and Brinkley took a swim. Then we continued on toward George Lake hiking an easy 1.1 mile trail before seeing Smalls Falls off to the left. From here you had to bushwhack to the waterfalls. The falls is about 20 feet high, we sat at the base of it and just relaxed, watching the water tumble down. After hiking back to the trail we decided to go on to George Lake since we were so close, this was a great decision. At around 9000 ft there was still snow around George Lake, we noticed a campsite near the lake, we wished we could camp here but we had just come for the day, so after a brief break by the lake enjoying the silent beauty we retraced our steps back to the truck. On drive back to camp we passed a hydro-electric powerhouse, pretty amazing check out the photos. The next day we went for a morning swim in Shaver Lake and then packed up the truck and headed home.
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»Jason
Clicks Creek - Two Gals, a Guy and a Retriever - July 2005
This backpacking trip was neat because my sister came with us. We had originally planned to go backpacking
in Yosemite; I had made the necessary reservations six months in advance. Unfortunately the snow levels were
really high this year, so by the time we were ready to go, the trail we were going to take was still covered
in snow. So we changed our plans and decided on a trail in the Golden Trout Wilderness. We started out at
Clicks Creek Trailhead (elev. 8000 ft) and hiked down to the Little Kern River where the Mountaineer Creek merges
with the Little Kern. For about the first mile there were patches of snow melting in the shade and on the trail.
We crossed into the Golden Trout Wilderness after the first mile and continued on crossing Clicks Creek many times
before reaching the Little Kern. On the way down I almost stepped on a rattlesnake, who let me know he wasn't
impressed by giving me a good rattling. At the Little Kern we setup camp on a sandbar next to the river and
fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. The next day the plan was to ford the Little Kern and hike to Lion
Meadows. Crossing the river ended up being quite a task, it took us two hours to find a place to cross.
The river was still running high and fast. Finally after getting across we used our GPS to find the trail. We
decided that fording the river was too difficult to repeat so we changed our plans and decided to hike to the
Little Kern Stockbridge to get back across the river. After regaining the trail we passed quite a few cattle,
which made Brinkley quite curious, he thought that perhaps he should chase the cows. Something I failed to mention
is that Brinkley had worn down the pads on his feet on the last trip. After chasing cows Brinkley lost two of
his four boots that he wears to protect his feet, and he was beginning to show signs of fatigue. We crossed
Sagebrush Gulch, which ended up being dry; we passed through Burnt Corral Meadows and saw some cowboys laying in
the shade under some trees taking a nap. Finally we came to a muddy little stream just before Round Meadow, where
we filled our water bottles and took a brake. The trails going through Burnt Corral Meadows and Round Meadow where
very difficult to follow with the numerous cow paths going all over, I was thankful to have a GPS to keep us on
track. At Deep Creek we were very pleased to find a nice cool stream of flowing water where we relaxed and cooled
off before continuing on to the Little Kern Stockbridge where we made camp. The next morning we crossed the bridge
and hiked to Grey Meadow. On the way we crossed Fish Creek, a wonderful mountain stream where we cooled down from
the 80 degrees plus temp. By this time Brinkley was really slowing down, his feet were really sore and swollen. At
Grey Meadow we met a forest ranger that asked, "Are you the two gals, a guy and a retriever that passed through
Burnt Corral Meadow yesterday?"
Apparently some of the cowboys had made it here before us. Michelle told the lady about Brinkley's feet and the
lady found some vet-wrap and wrapped up his two front feet and then we put his two remaining boots on his front
feet. Brinkley seemed better, so we continued on for about another mile and made camp right near where the
trail crosses Clicks Creek. In this section of Clicks Creek there is a neat swimming hole that we took an
icy cold swim in. The next morning we got up early to make the uphill (about a 1,600 ft gain) hike back to the
trailhead.
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Shake Camp - June 2005
A loop backpacking trip exploring a significant portion of the lower Middle Fork of the Tule River
drainage. It's a beautiful hike with lots of variety, but is much more strenuous than it seems since there are
lots of steep ups and downs. The hike is 10.6 miles and begins at Shake Camp in Mountain Home State Forest.
Total elevation gain is about 2,050 feet, but by the time you exit the trail it feels like much more than that.
From the Shake Camp trailhead we hiked about 2.5 miles to Redwood Crossing where there is an enormous downed
sequoia that we used as a bridge to cross the Tule River. The tree lies at a steep slant and can be a bit tricky
with a pack on. About half way across Brinkley decided he wasn't going any further, I had to go around him and pull
on his leash to get him across! After crossing the river there is a nice campsite along the river which would
make for an easy overnight shuttle trip. The trees in this area are giant redwoods making for a neat place
to explore. Just past the campsite we picked up the Eastside Trail which was badly in need of maintanance and
only got worse the further we went. After going about a mile along the Eastside trail Brinkley started getting
excited and took off running. I called him back and then I saw it, a good sized brown bear about 50 yards off
the trail! Michelle had stopped to tie her shoe and hadn't seen it. I took out the camera and snapped off
a few pictures before Michelle caught up and we moved on. The bear decided to move on too and took off down the
side of the mountain. Exciting times! This was the first bear either of us has seen in the wild. At about 4+ miles
we crossed Galena Creek and then around 5.5 miles we crossed Silver Creek and setup camp in a nice established
spot just accross the creek. The next morning we hiked to mile 6.2 on this trip and turned right (southwest) onto
the Griswold Trail. In the next 2 miles we dropped about 1000 feet before recrossing Silver Creek, Galena Creek
and the Tule River. Down among the creeks and river there is an old minor's cabin with a campsite next to it.
At the Tule River we again found a large downed tree to use as a bridge. Once across the river the last 2+ miles
were tough as we regained the altitude we had lost and then some, before arriving at our truck parked at the
trailhead.
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Father's Day - June 2005
Jason and I headed down to "The Palace" to spend Father's Day with my Pops and Susan. On Sabbath
we participated in the customary after church photos and 12 course meal. The food is always spectacular at
The Palace due to Susan's cooking. Also, props to Susan for figuring out how to get my dad to help in the kitchen.
For Father's Day we went to an Angels baseball game in Anaheim with Susan's family. I have no clue who won but
it was fun to hang out and use the noise makers they gave us at the entrance. I wouldn't mind seeing a Red Sox game.
The Little Kern - May 2005
After waiting rather impatiently for the snow to melt and the roads to open we were finally able to check one
trip off my list. We started out at the Jerkey Trailhead and hiked the 5 miles to the Little Kern horse
bridge. The Little Kern was roaring with ice-cold water, it hurt to put your feet in just for a few seconds.
We crossed the bridge and setup camp on a rock about sixty feet above the river, a great view. The next day we
decided to just relax and enjoy the area we were in instead of moving on, something Michelle has wanted to
do for a long time. I spent several hours lying in my wife's hammock reading a book. Ahhh. That night we read
good old Patrick McManus while we sat by our campfire. If you haven't read one of his books you really should,
they are hilarious! The next morning we packed our gear and retraced our steps back to our truck.
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San Simeon - April 2005
For Michelle's birthday we took a trip to the coast to one of our favorite places, San Simeon. We like it there
because it isn't crowed with tons of people like the other beaches and they let you take your dog on the beach
which Brinkley really enjoys. The hotels don't seem to mind dogs either. Saturday night we order take-out from
the restarount next to our hotel which turned out to be quite an ordeal. Michelle found a rock in her salad, not
a small pebble, but an good sized rock! And the Egg plant parmesan we had ordered turned out to be chicken
parmesan. On Sunday, after a little more fetch on the beach, we reluctantly headed back home.
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Mill Creek Trail - April 2005
Back out on the trails. This was Michelle's first backpacking trip of 2005 and my second. It was a good warm-up
trip that we did very little planning for. We only hiked a few miles out from the trailhead and did a lot of
relaxing. On the hike in we had to cross a seasonal creek 4 or 5 times before we came to our campsite. Brinkley
had a great time running around and playing in the water. This was our first trip with our new sleeping bags
and sleeping pads, which turned out to be phenomenal! After setting up the tent Michelle relaxed in her hammock,
while I tried to make fire using a hand drill (two sticks). By the time I had a little smoke rising I noticed I
had blisters on both of my hands. Not cool, I called it quits on the hand drill and decided to go with the lighter.
For supper we had the Mountain House Mac and Cheese and the Mountain House freeze dried peas which we mixed
together. Mmmm...good stuff! Sunday morning while we were making breakfast a guy came buy with his GPS in search
of a geocache which I helped him locate under a fallen tree right next to where we were camping.
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»Jason
Bowling - April 2005
Saturday after church a large group of the young adults got together at Misty and Blake's house for a potluck
lunch. After eating, we spent most of the afternoon playing all kinds of strange games.
Saturday night tried our hand at black light bowling. We revisited the 80s by rolling up our pant legs to show
off our glowing white sox while we played.
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»Jason
Dave's Texas Tour - April 2005
We finally went to Texas for the tour of Dad's childhood tour of Texas.
It was quite a trip, complete with seeing the garage Dad and all his
family lived in, walking from the ghetto to Dad's old school, and the
tour of Tenaha. Highlights of the trip included Steve's search for Texas
long horn cattle, Dad's search to find the old ranch in the toolies he
used to live in, and Susan getting interviewed by a local news team.
The bummer of the trip was that the CD Steve had made especially for
our traveling enjoyment did not work in our car's CD
player, however we've enjoyed it plenty at home!!
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Guys Backpacking Trip - March 2005
By 1:00 on a Frday afternoon the annual guys weekend was officially under way. The five of us were bouncing down
the road in Mike's truck listening to a mixture of Christian and Star Trek music as we headed to our planned
destination a trail in Saquia National Park. Upon reaching the trailhead we encountered a volunteer Park dude
who after asking many questions succeeded in turning us away. A bit bewildered and with daylight burning we decided
take the Wishon trail that we had gone on last year. On our way we stopped at a gas station where I was
introduced to the deep-fried bean burrito. By the time we arrived at the trailhead the sun was just setting.
We pulled on our packs, turned on our head lamps and started up the trail. After about a mile or so we
began to see spots of snow along the trail, and before long the trail was covered in snow as we trudged along in
the dark. Eventually we arrived at our campsite, setup camp and made supper. Everything was very wet so it took
about two hours of coaxing and pleading to get the fire going.
Saturday morning Nick and Brian kept us entertained by taking a quick dip in the ice cold Tule river. After lunch we hiked around the area looking for a way to cross the river. We ended up making a bridge of our own out of some fallen trees. That night we had a terrific campfire to warm up to before crawling into our sleeping bags for the another night at snow level. On Sunday we broke camp and headed back to the truck. However during the packing process Nick and Brian carefully stoad quite a few rocks in Mike's backpack, which he didn't notice until we informed him about half a mile down the trail. Back at the truck we loaded our gear and drove to Dennys for lunch, after which Guy's Weekend was officially over and we headed home.
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»Jason
Life in Death Valley - March 2005
Crawling out of bed at 5:30 AM on a Saturday is no easy thing, I know Michelle wasn't any to excited about
it. However she was consoled with my promise to let her sleep during the 3 hour drive to our next adventure.
Once in the park we reserved a campsite at the Stovepipe Wells' campground (which is just a gravel parking
lot). From there we went to the sand dunes, took off our shoes and played in the sand. Then
we drove past the Devil's Cornfield and began seeing desert flowers everywhere in all colors. We stopped and
ate lunch near the Harmony Borax Works before continuing on through Furnace Creek and stopping at the Devil's
Golf Course. The Devil's Golf Course was probably one of my favorite things that I saw since it was so differant
from anything I had seen in the past. Next we stopped off at the Natural Bridge, and then we went on down to
Badwater. By down I mean 282 feet below sea level. Badwater turned out to be pretty interesting as well. While
we were at Badwater the large flat lakebed was covered with very very salty water. With water covering such a
large area it appears like any other lake except that you can walk way out into the lake and it barely covers
the tops of your feet. Michelle took a picture of me walking barefoot out in the lake and it looks like I'm
walking on water. By the time I got back to the car my feet and legs were white from the salt. After
Badwater we made our way back to camp at Stovepipe Wells. Back at camp we found an RV parked in our site, which
we had reserved and put our ticked on the site post. The RV owners were nowhere to be found and the camp host
said that even though we had payed for and reserved the site the RV was the winner because it was the first to
occupy the site. A bunch of whoey-whoey if you ask me. We went ahead and parked our truck next to the RV and setup
our tent behind the RV. While making supper the RV folks (an elderly couple) returned and I discovered they
just had not seen our tag on the post, so we agreed to share the site. Sunday morning we were up with the sun,
ate breakfast, packed our gear and headed for home.
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Day Hike in the Piute Mountains - March 2005
After attending early church, Sabbath school and eating some lunch Michelle, Brinkley and myself went in search
of wild flowers in the mountains. I had been perusing through an old outdoors book a friend had given us, and
had found a very inviting day hike. But after driving for over an hour we came to the trailhead which no
longer existed. All that remained were two posts where the sign once hang, in its place a barbed wire
fence with "No Trespassing" signs. Disappointed we drove on. A few miles down the road Michelle found two other
trails which we stopped to check out. The second trail turned out to be a really neat hike up to the top of
a green grassy mountain top were we could see for miles. We sat on the grass, munched on fruit roll-ups and
almonds and took in the warm sunshine
and the beautiful scenery. The bees buzzing about the wild flowers, two black lizards crawling out from
under a rock and into the sun, the hawk riding the air currents, and Brinkley running about trying to smell
everything. It sure felt nice to relax is such a place, but then as the sun began to sink we had to head back
down the mountain and to the city. I can't wait to come back.
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Badger Pass Ski Trip - March 2005
Each year Michelle and I try to go on at least one ski trip. This year we planned to go to Big Bear over
Presidents Day weekend, but due to the weather we had to cancel the trip. After a couple of weeks we decided
try again, this time we decided on Badger Pass in Yosemite. Saturday night we stayed in Oakhurst, where I got
my picture taken with a wooden Statue of Liberty. On Sunday we got up early and arrived at Badger Pass just
as it was opening. We picked up our rentals and hopped on the lift. On about the third trip down I followed
my expert skier wife off the groomed trails and through the trees where I proceeded to take a tumble in some
ice crusted snow cutting my face. What a great start! The rest of the day went fine, we spent most of our
time taking trails through the trees. It sure was fun playing in the snow, I am already looking forward
to next years trip. Hmmm, I wonder where that will be.
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»Jason
A Weekend at the Palace - February 2005
For President's Day weekend we headed down to "The Palace", as we teasingly refer to my dad and Susan's house
in Yucaipa to go skiing. As we headed down THE 5 to THE 210, etc. we had an ephany - President's Day weekend must
be the second most traveled holiday. It took us a rediculously long time to get to Yucaipa and back again on
Monday. Saturday night we hung out with Dad and Susan, ate popcorn, and watched America's Most Wanted.
Due to the expectancy of bad weather on Sunday and too many crazy President's Day weekend vacationers we opted not
to go skiing and did something I love almost as much - shopping!! I was able to visit an old friend often confused
with a mall by the name of Ontario Mills. Jason agreed to go shopping because he was promised time
at an REI store. Our most exciting purchase of the day was Jason's mummy bag which will zip up with mine!
Winter Snowbirds - January 2005
Well, I'm happy to say that my mom and Jerry have finally decided to try being snowbirds, at least short flight
snowbirds. This winter they left the subzero temperatures of South Dakota in January to visit California for
2 1/2 weeks. While they visited us over the weekend we took them to the central coast. Jason and I really enjoyed
our hotel, as we do all hotels with a jacuzzi and heated pool in the winter. On Monday we toured Hearst Castle
and stopped to watch the hundreds of elephant seals on our way back. Jerry said this was his favorite part of the
whole coastal adventure. However, nobody really enjoyed the smell of all those elephant seals. We also hiked a short
distance to show my mom and Jerry Salmon Creek Falls. Even though the hike was challenging for my mom, due to the
uneven terrain, she was an extrememly good sport about it, as was Jerry, whose britches she hung on to to keep
her balance. Hopefully, we'll see them again next year when South Dakota turns into the South Pole.
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»Michelle