Recently in Outdoors Category
Things that go bump in the night
Last night around 2:10am Minette and I were awakened by a big shake of the whole house. "Earthquake!" we said simultaneously. It was just one shock wave, quite strong but orderly. Thankfully the children slept through it. It's not uncommon to hear of analogies between Wellington and San Francisco, what with all the steep hills and large bay. Sitting on top of a major fault system is another similarity.
Carrots. Lots of tiny carrots.
I dug out my little patch of carrots today. I guess I didn't thin them out enough to grow past "baby carrot" size. It was a monumental cleaning job, attending to all those little carrots, but now the job is done and soon they will be cooked with some mustard and honey... ummm.
Glaciers of the '80s
I stumbled upon some photos from 1983 when my family visited Glacier National Park. I remember riding this cool bus with huge snow tires up to the base of some glaciers.
Harvest time
It's harvest time! Well, almost. The first zucchini has arrived. I will eat it tomorrow.
The ultimate food-mile friendly food source
Over Christmas holiday, I built a veggie garden in the backyard, which had been on my "todo" list for a long time. I found extra decking material under the deck, and was able to build an extension from the bottom-most step out to one side, and fill it up with 1000 liters of soil and compost. Armed only with an old hand saw, a hammer, and some nails, it took a few days to complete.
It is befitting that I am also nearing the end of The Omnivore's Dilemma at this time (which I highly recommend if you're interested in some fascinating history of corn in the US and an exploration of the modern industrial food supply).
I planted beets, lots of lettuce, carrots, zucchini, beans, chard, and rhubarb. One zucchini plant in particular is growing like gangbusters, and full of these gorgeous golden blooms that open in the evening and close up late in the morning.
I can't wait for our first harvest!
John Muir Trail photos
We've finally got our John Muir Trail photos organized and consolidated from my own, Minette, and Brahm's cameras. I haven't finished sorting out the titles and comments, but that might take me the rest of 2006. There are 347 divided between the 5 segments we did the trail in, down from 4,587 of which 4,000 were of me ol' favorite series: Dead Trees of the Sierras.
If you are interested in those dead tree photos I can easily make them available for your viewing pleasure.
Out of the mountains
Minette and I have made it out of the mountains. Almost, that is. We've traded the Sierra Nevada for Utah's Colorado Plateau. But we finished the JMT, Mt. Whitney and all, and now are relaxing for a week before making our way back home. Since we exited the wilderness, we've been eating like horses and our full bellies are the source of much happiness.
Into the mountains
Minette and I are off tomorrow morning, to hike the John Muir Trail. We plan to finish by the end of July, then we're off for some more vacation in Utah for a week. At least, if the bears aren't too friendly.
Chirp chomp
A couple of weeks ago Minette and I saw this little chick hop across the trail we were walking on over in the Berkeley hills.
It just sat in the trail with its moth wide open, staring at us. Probably in fear, especially when I shoved my camera closer and closer...
Ostrander Ski Hut
Last weekend Minette & I joined up with some friends and ran out to Yosemite to snowshoe to the Ostrander Ski Hut out in the wilderness above the Yosemite Valley. We lucked out with some awesome weather (especially considering the weather in California lately) which made the 10 mile hike rather enjoyable.
Maybe we'll gather the courage to try this trip again, but on skis. Being out there certainly made me want to take up telemark skiing, especially when telemark skiiers glided by!
Don made his photos available here.
Trinity Alps
Minette & I stole away last weekend up to the Trinity Alps Wilderness, which is west of Redding in northern California. We didn't see any bears, unfortunately, but everything else was fantastic. I put some photos of the trip here. One more thing, if you're ever traveling up there along the 5 and are getting hungy, pull off in Willows and visit the Brown Bear Diner! Ummm... good find.
Earthquake today
We got a little quake today that I felt... my desk rocked gently for 10-15 seconds, then went away. I saw a report about a 5.9 or so out in the Central Valley...
Kings Canyon bears all
Minette & I, joined with friends Don & Rebecca, recently did a 6-day hike in Kings Canyon National Park. It was totally gorgeous, and aside from a little thunderstorm at the start and a weird condensation problem one night, we had glorious hot days and cool, star-filled nights. The trail started at the end of the CA 180, due east of Fresno, at 5,036'. We climbed as high as 12,466'.
I've put some pictures up from my camera (Minette hasn't developed her film yet). We saw no less than 3 bears, all on the last day, and plenty of deer, a rattle snake, a marmot, some horses, and despite the ranger telling us on the outset that he "hadn't seen any" mosquitoes lately, plenty of mozzies below 7,000'.