Sequoia

R and I spent two nights in Sequoia National Park about a month(!) ago. I would have posted this entry sooner, but I've been business traveling since then (more on that in a future entry) and didn't have access to photo editing software while I was away. And an entry like this absolutely requires photos posted along with it.

The camping trip was great. I'm surprised it worked out as well as it did, considering how spontaneously we planned it. We went in the middle of the week -- pretty late in the fall -- which made for some serious solitude. We passed only two other people during the five-mile hike to Emerald Lake, where we spent our second night. The campsite was at 9200 feet, making for some brisk weather and great views.

I've been trying to expound on the trip, but I find myself restarting again and again. Maybe too much time has passed and my thoughts have lost focus. The bottom line is I enjoyed being out in the woods again. The mammoth features of the rugged terrain, the unpredictable weather, the howling of wild animals... it makes a person feel powerless to nature, yet rewarded for surviving a few days among it. The experience was quite a contrast from my urban weeks that followed. I think maybe that was the point.

More photos from the adventure are posted here.

P.S. We saw the largest tree in the world (not to be confused with the tallest tree in the world). Apparently Sequoia trees are the larger ones in terms of mass, but Redwood trees actually grow taller. Those are at another park.

Mist trail

This weekend we’re dealing with the weather being too dry (see my previous post). Last weekend it was too wet. I guess that’s the difference six hours in a car can make.

We were looking for adventure last weekend, and that’s exactly what we found. We also fulfilled one of our goals for 2009 by succeeding at an overnight backpacking trip. In retrospect it was a modest goal, but the idea of sleeping in the woods -- far enough away from our car to make the situation slightly dangerous – requires a certain set of equipment and knowledge (not to mention an open weekend) that we simply didn’t possess until recently. It didn’t hurt that we camped with some friends, at least one of whom really knew what he was doing.

We drove up to Yosemite National Park after work last Thursday night and got there pretty late. We set up camp near the car and hit the sack. It started raining shortly after, but we stayed dry that night thanks to a sea-worthy tent.

It took us a while to get going the next morning because we wanted to cook a big breakfast and had to pick up camping permits, rent bear canisters, etc. We were on the Mist Trail by late morning. The first few miles were strenuous and included passing by two huge waterfalls that gave the trail its name. The spray of the falls soaked us first… and then it started raining.

Our plan was to hike 13 miles to Merced Lake on that first day and then spend the next two days hiking back, with a few detours, at a more leisurely pace. Well, about 10 miles in we realized we weren’t going to make it to make the lake. The rain was really coming down. Setting up camp and making some dinner before nightfall was becoming increasingly important, so we found a place next to an absolutely roaring river and pitched our tents in an all-out rainstorm.

Each of us was shivering that night (maybe SoCal is softening us up). We cooked dinner in our tents’ vestibules, which is not advisable because of the bear situation but necessary because we had already skipped lunch and we needed to put some calories back in via a hot meal. Afterwards, the dishes were done in a mad dash to the river in an attempt to keep the last of our warm clothes dry. What a night it was! I felt so miniscule in the dark, surrounded by the enormous rock structures and the constant power of white water. Nature could have just wiped us off the face of the earth.

Sleep was sporadic. Our self-inflating mats seemed a little low on air. I had to flip my body over every half hour or so because that's about how long I had before the ground made me sore. R ventured out of the tent at one point to use the ladies room and found there was fresh snow on the ground. I'm surprised I didn't notice a sound softer than rain drops hitting the tent during that time. It was a long night, but I sort of enjoyed it -- it gave me time to think. And how often do we get time to think anymore?

We would have kept going on the track to Merced Lake if the weather had been sunny the next morning. All of our clothes were quick-drying and would have been fine by that night, but the rain was still coming down as hard as ever. We packed our wet tent into our wet backpacks along with our wet clothes. One of my shoes was half-filled (half-empty?) with water. I put it on anyway. It’s easy enough to stay warm as long as you’re moving, so we moved the 10 miles back to the cars.

Facing defeat wasn’t easy, but that’s what we did. It was a rewarding trip in its own right, but I would feel more satisfied if he had made it to the lake. That’s still hanging over us, and I think it will be worth making another attempt one day.

I did still have an awesome time. Yosemite is an amazing park, on par with New Zealand in sheer breathtaking-ness. As usual my photos don’t do it justice -- partially because it’s hard to be an agile photographer with a backpack on, partially because the moisture kept me from pulling out the camera as often as I would have liked, and partially because there is no way to truly capture a place like that with anything other than your own eyes.

You can see the fragments I did capture here.

Desert excursion

The specific Joshua tree that inspired U2’s album by that name is actually located in Death Valley, but that didn’t stop R and me from playing the album a few times while driving to and around Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend. The park is located southeast of LA, making for about a 4 hour drive for us if you include a stop for lunch along the way.

We arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday, set up our camp, and hiked to 49 Palms Oasis. This was pretty cool… a group of towering palm trees growing in the middle of the desert thanks to a fault-created spring. Following that expedition we got back in the car and drove around the park, stopping at a few sights along the road and eventually at a star-gazing party. I wish we could have stayed there longer, but we gave into our hunger and went back to the campsite for some chicken sausage, couscous, and a bottle of red wine that disappeared way too quickly. We’re still trying to decide if the bottle tipped and we didn’t realize it or if we were just really thirsty from the dry air. My money is on the latter.

We didn’t quite have the courage to try an overnight hike yet, especially in an arid climate we knew very little about, so instead we slept next to the car in a campground. The idea of carrying everything we need for a night or two on our backs and finding some solitude appeals to us; being attacked by a coyote/snake/scorpion does not. Thus backcountry camping will have remain a goal for 2009 a while longer. We’ll get there.

On Sunday, we broke down the camp and drove to Key's View, from which we could see as far as the Salton Sea. Then, before beginning the drive home, we got out for one more hike, this one up Ryan Mountain. The scenery really was amazing and very distinct from any land we’ve seen before. There were huge flats littered with the namesake trees and other little bushes. Wildflowers are in bloom this time of year, making for colorful little highlights over the otherwise dry land. There are number of outcroppings of what R so perceptively called “cartoon rocks” because they look like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon. The rounded, cracked boulders were easy to climb, and I had some fun clambering on them, as you’ll notice in our photos found right here.

The weekend went way too fast, but it was great to get away. This was a brief, initial visit that we made without any advance preparation. Heading back to the park for a more in-depth exploration sometime in the future is a must.

New Zealand: one year later

[Photo by Christine]

[Photo by Don]

[Photo by Karen]

[Photo by Karen]

I've been thinking a lot about our trip to New Zealand lately, probably because this month marks our first anniversary of being there (here's the post from then). Among other things, it was an adventure that inspired us to do more exploring of the outdoors. As a result, we camped more in 2008 than any other year in our lives (if you exclude R's summer as a camp counselor), and we are planning to get out even more in 2009. Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and Big Sur are on the list... and that is just this spring. The goal is to try more overnight hikes as well. We're gearing up so that we can carry everything we need for a couple of days on our backs, leaving the car and associated crowded campgrounds behind. California is a good place to attempt it.

Speaking of CA, the trip to NZ was what first seeded the idea of living here in our heads. I remember talking to my dad afterwards and telling him how we were "California dreamin'." This was even before transfering here for R's job was a known possibility. A number of the people in our travel group were from CA and spoke highly of the place. One of them, from Pasadena, was in charge of hiring some engineers for his company. R checked into it at the time. That opportunity didn't work out, but when we she was up for re-assignment in the spring and luck placed Santa Barbara on the list of potential locations, we pushed for it. It meant leaving some great friends, giving up my membership in the Delaware Independent Filmmakers club, and having to spend a lot more money to buy a smaller house... but I, for one, have not regret the decision, as you I'm sure you can tell. In fact you're probably tired of reading how much I love it here.

The photos above were not included in our original gallery from the NZ trip. They were taken by other people in our group and were sent to us after our own photos were organized. So I'm posting a few of them now for an alternate perspective of an amazing country. If you ever have the chance to see the place for yourself, I highly recommend going for it.

Dream beneath a desert sky

Whew. December is off to a busy start. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with work and with life in general right now. Don't expect much blogging from me this month because there are so many other things to finish up before the holidays. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't even touch my video project this month, which is a bummer since I'm getting so dang excited to share it with you.

At least the next few weekends are looking relatively uneventful. Last weekend was sort of our final hurrah before we buckle down and face the weeks before our Christmas vacation in Minnesota. We drove out to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents and then up to Zion National Park in Utah for some hiking and camping. If you've been following me on Twitter, Facebook, or email, then this is probably not news to you, but I feel the need to document it here anyway simply because it was such a wonderful extended weekend.

It was pouring rain when we left last Wednesday morning. We cruised across the desert in an unexpected fog, arriving on my grandparents’ place mid afternoon. That evening the four of us hit a buffet, where I showed great restraint and managed to avoid getting the hiccups! It occurred to me while I was there that the first time I ever got what I call the "Killer Hiccups" was after eating at a buffet during my last visit to Vegas (I was thirteen or fourteen at the time). At the wise old age of 29 I finally overcame them by simply not eating so much. I wanted to stay at the top of my game when it came to playing computerized BINGO. That's right -- they have machines that do all of the work for you now. The numbers are still read aloud, but there’s no need to daub cards with ink anymore. Your only responsibility as a player is to yell the word when the machine tells you that you won. So in our case, we had no responsibility at all. Oh well, it was fun to get an inside perspective of my grandparents' night life. They appear to be some sort of BINGO royalty at Boulder Station.

The next day was Thanksgiving. My grandma made a turkey and all of the fixings, and it was very tasty. I was glad to be with family after spending the holiday alone last year. After dinner and some good old-fashioned relaxing, R and I went off to explore the city. This was her first time seeing The Strip and it had been 15 years for me. The place has changed a lot and so has my perspective. We walked a long way, in and out of casinos, stopping in a few shops and for a drink in the Eiffel Tower. Of course we had a good time, but after seeing this town that is all surface we couldn’t help but appreciate the real Eiffel Tower or the real New York City or the real Michelangelo’s paintings more. Maybe that’s the point of Vegas. The façade itself is impressive, but it leaves me with a sleazy, empty feeling. It's a good place for wild night life, but as you all must know, that's not really what I'm looking for.

We got up on Friday and drove northeast to Zion National Park in Utah. Ideally we would have had enough time to see Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon as well, but Zion was plenty for two days. It’s quite a spectacular place, a deep canyon carved out of sandstone. Camping was cold, but we had a couple of fires and bundled ourselves up pretty well inside our sleeping bags. We took three separate hikes, the highlight of which involved following a narrow spine with 1500 foot cliffs on both sides to Angels Landing. It was a little daring and quite outstanding. We really fell in love with the park. The only disappointing aspect was high volume of people present over the long weekend. It’s hard to revel in the glory of a landscape when there are screaming kids on the trail ahead of you or a big group of people rushing you out of the way so they can get a photo in front of the vista on which you are gazing.

Check out our photo gallery from the trip. We took 350 shots, kept 150, and posted 80. Many of the shots were scrapped because the light had either too harsh a contrast or was too dim. An improperly exposed sky or a little unwanted blur is sometimes (but not always) enough for me to hit the delete button. But I guess it works out because if I posted a gallery of more than 80 photos, it would be too overwhelming for anyone to view entirely anyway. If I made you wade through a bunch of garbage, you'd surely miss the few decent shots. That's the value of editing.

Montaña de Oro

What a terrific little getaway we had last weekend. We originally considered taking a couple of days off and driving the six hours up to Yosemite, but it didn't happen mainly because we've both been busy at work and didn't want to leave it behind (maybe "want" isn't the right word). So instead we spent one night at Montaña de Oro state park, which is about two hours north of here. Hiking along the rocky coast and up the treeless peaks was amazing. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. We also enjoyed cooking dinner--and drinking a bottle of wine--in front of a campfire, under a bright Milky Way. I didn't even attempt to capture that magic with the camera.

Oh, and you can see R's new haircut in the photos too.

New England expedition

Beantown:
Hoofing it:
Rugged terrain:
Heading up Cadillac Mountain:
Hazy sunset: Finally getting the chance to watch the Inland Empire DVD:
R and I returned home on Saturday from a week of exploring the upper east coast. It was an adventurous vacation--impeccably planned by R--and a success for a multitude of reasons but particularly, at least for me, because I felt completely refreshed and renewed. Yes, the circles under my eyes had disappeared (but have since come back due to a harsh re-entry to the grind).

Our trip began with a drive up to Boston where we spent three nights at a bed & breakfast in the city's South End, a neighborhood known for its selection of excellent restaurants. Be assured we made use of this fact by consuming three memorable dinners while we were there. Luckily we also did a lot of walking to counter the calorie intake.

On our first full day in town we walked the Freedom Trail, which led us to a bunch of historic sites from the Revolutionary War (e.g. Bunker Hill, Paul Revere's house, churches, cemeteries, naval ships, etc). For those interested in not-so-distant American history, we also came across the bar from Cheers : ). That afternoon, we made our way through both the Harvard and MIT campuses, with a stop at a Havud bah for a drink in between. There was mental energy in the air, or maybe it was only enthusiasm over the Red Sox game airing on the TV.

Our second full day was spent seeing Boston by water. We took a harbor tour on a boat with stops at a few islands to see an old fort, some modern art exhibits, and some great views of the city. On our way back we dropped by the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum for some additional culture. To be honest, I didn't connect with the museum. The art seemed murky and repetitive. Maybe the collection was too focused on a time and style I'm not into. Or maybe my feet were too sore by then to really give it a chance.

Boston is a cool city. It seems more realistically livable than NYC, but it's crackling with character all the same. Definitely worth visting.

The next day we headed north--way north--to Acadia National Park in Maine. We had a blast there as well. Again, there was a lot of walking involved. We basically hiked for two days with a day of bicycling (on rentals) in between. It's an amazing park because it contains these mountains right along the coast, making for some beautiful vistas and rugged terrain.

There were probably a lot of people in the park, but for some reason it seemed really easy to escape the crowds and get out on a hiking trail on our own. We'd also build a fire at night and it would blacken out the rest of the campground. The park was the perfect place to spend some quality time together, just the two of us. We drank red wine and ate s'mores that fueled some crazy dreams during extra long nights of sleep.

Our good eating continued into the camping trip too. One night we went out for some very large, very fresh lobsters. The other nights we cooked at the campsite--salmon cakes with asparagus, chicken sausages with zucchini and squash, not to mention some killer blueberry pancakes for breakfast on two mornings. R might also want me to mention that she started each of our six campfires with only one match each. She's a pro.

Getting away from a computer screen, breathing fresh air, and seeing the stars again was a treat. Ah, I miss the vacation. Good thing we have another one coming up REALLY soon. Details next week.