Poppies

It's been about five years since we had a good crop of poppies here, but 2008 is a good year. Here's a vid (no sound, 472kb) from my visit to the reserve today.

Hiking in Sespe Wilderness

Had a foursome for hiking this weekend in Sespe Wilderness near Ojai. First time there, and it's quite a scenic place, with lots of open space and running water. It's the home of the endangered California Condor, AND as it turns out, the endangered Arroyo Toad. Geez. Seems like, out here you can't even swing a dead sea otter around your head without hitting some endangered species. Anyway, it's a good thing for both animals that we don't protect endangered species based on good looks. (Disclaimer: no toads were harmed in the making of this blog entry.)
Check out Mark's awesome pano stitch here.

Canoe Trip On the Colorado River

Spent the weekend on a canoe trip downstream from Hoover Dam, where it's called Black Canyon. A great trip. This was as much a scouting trip for our hiking club as anything, as a few of us glommed on to a Honda Hiking Club trip.
After an awesome hike from Boulder City to Hoover Dam on Friday, on Saturday we put in at the base of Hoover Dam and canoed ten miles down Black Canyon to a place on the Arizona side called Willow Beach. Most of the time on the trip is exploring slotcanyons and visiting hot springs. We camped Saturday night at the canyon mouth at Arizona Hot Springs. There was a group of Icelanders there, and probably they thought our hot springs were pretty lame. Anyway, a slideshow of photos is here.

Photos from Superstition Wilderness

Photos from hiking in the Supers are now up here.






Today was the March club hike, to Echo Mountain in the San Gabriels. It was a great day for hiking!

It's The Grobber

I just got back from the Phoenix area, where I spent a few days hiking, and while there I stopped in to see my old buddy from 1st grade, Dan "The Grobber" Gronseth. Sure, Dan is an artist, Phoenix Park Ranger, great family guy, and all that, but most importantly, if you ever found yourself in Grand Rapids MI in the early 1980's, and wondered, "Who is driving THAT CAR?!", it was The Grobber.
Dan and I lived a few houses apart in Wheaton, IL, and we were in the same grade. We walked to school every day together, usually with his older brother, whose favorite kid to beat up was me. I also remember once defending his sister's honor by punching a big third-grade bully named Cook in the eye. He should have beat the tar out of me, but he just ran home crying. I know - fantastic, but true. Wheaton was pure violence. But I digress. Anyway, it was great to see Dan, and he's even exhibiting some of his art right now in Phoenix.
I have pics from my hikes in the Superstitions, and I'm still sorting through them to make a slideshow. Check back soon...

Hiking Club In Downtown LA

This month's club hike was different: a guided walking tour of the LA downtown. Left at home were the hiking sticks, bug juice and water filters. Weather was spectacular today, 70 degrees and clear. The 'hike' included a visit to a swanky rooftop bar in a midcentury modern hotel where I'm sure Austin Powers would have felt at home. Enjoy the photos, or watch the video here. The last bit was shot inside the city library, which is four stories below ground and three above, so the platform I shot from is dizzyingly high...

Snow

After several days under rain clouds, today the sun is out shining bright and the mountains are covered in deep snow. Here's the view from the Mt Wilson cam this morning:

A PCT Workday

Today was a PCT workday out by Green Valley, here's a photo of me and some of the volunteer adopters. Today was one of those beautiful sunny winter days when being out in the sun feels great.

Lunch in Holland, MI

Happy 2008! So now I'm back in Lancaster, with the remainder of this week off. Today I'm hanging out in my friendly neighborhood internet cafe. And quite predictably, I have a head cold, which I'd have gotten regardless of where I went for the holidays, it doesn't matter because I always get a cold right after Christmas, so I'm resigned that it's just my lot in life to be sick every New Years.
The weather is supposed to turn rotten tomorrow, so I might go in to work for a few hours anyway. This Saturday is a PCT workday, but right now it looks like several days of rain are in front of us.
Anyway, included in Lu's pics was this one she took of Paully and me last week when we had lunch in Holland MI. That was a fun day...

Wheaton, Il

Paul and I visited our hometown in Illinois today, and Paul snapped this pic of me in front of the ice cream parlor we'd ride our bikes to in downtown Wheaton. We saw the houses that we lived in, our school, and lots of fun places that were part of our youth. It was a really cold day.

Holland SP, Michigan

Visiting Lake Michigan with Paully 'n Lu following a big storm.

Canyonering in Rubio Canyon / Verdugo Hills Night Hike

I spent the morning with PCTA compadre Matt Maxon and his canyoneering friends in Rubio Canyon in the foothills of the San Gabriels. I think we were a group of seven or eight.

Here's a stitched photo of me starting down 80' Thalehaha Falls. WAHOO! Normally a lot more water pours off this falls. This was the highest of 7 rappels.

Then in the evening, a 3.6-mile hike brings our group of 14 Northrop hikers to the summit of the Verdugo Hills in LA. Here's the view looking south at downtown LA and beyond to Long Beach. I took this photo with my little Casio camera on a tripod with about a 4 second exposure.