Mt. Whitney

What an amazing place this is. We stayed the night in Lone Pine which is maybe 20 minutes from the Mt. Whitney trailhead. The trail up Mt. Whitney is a definite overnighter (although people do it in one day), so we jost hit the first 3 miles, which include a 2200 feet altitude gain. Stunning rock formations everywhere, slight snow, waterfalls, and that amazing alpine forest feel. This is truly a remarkable place to hike. Also, for us this was quite a workout. The last half mile or so we took 5 minute breaks every 100 yards. The little fella in the pic (Blue Jay) followed us for a mile or so and sat within 2 feet of each of us at times.

So anyways, it was Myself, Mom, Dad, and Bobbi and we had a blast! Boy were we tired at the end of this trip though. The PCT travels right past this site and I am more eager everytime I hike.

I bought some new equipment, a water jug, drink/soup mug, the worlds most difficult to open velcro on a water tight plastic bag, nylon stuff sack, and a first aid kit. Tomorrow night I'll attend the Map and Compass class at REI Rancho Cucamonga as well as purchasing my weekender backpack. I'll try to post more details tomorrow or Friday on the new bag.

Bobbi and I plan to hike in Wrightwood this weekend and it should be beautiful with the new layer of snow that came down on Monday night.

So much has happened...

Okay since my last post there have been some significant events in my life. First, I became part owner of a business. I am the president of ScoDaCa Inc., the corporation formed by myself and parents to purchase 1-800-Radiator of High-Desert (or possibly of Victorville depending on what they will allow). The picture to the right is of the front of our location, after I've touched it up with MS Paint to show how it will look when we get it cleaned up. This has been a significant life adjustment, especially considering all the extra work and stress fixing the problems the previous owner left us. So there have been no new hikes to report as life has been craaAAaazy!

Next, I came down with the flu on day one of the new business thanks to the guy sitting behind us at our showing of Zodiac. (Damn the zodiac, he's struck again!). Horrible flu too.

This all coincided with my new diet. I was on the diet for three days before the business opened and will return to it as soon as I am well. Probably Thursday. Here's the diet:

Fruits and absolutely nothing else before lunch. Lunch is a sandwich or salad consisting of these items, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, lettuce, tomato and carrots. This lunch can be easily done at Subway (GO CHEW ALUMINUM JARED!). and then raw nuts for a snack in the afternoon followed by a sensible but not all too picky dinner.

This felt great! I had amazing energy and boy did I clear out some colon (sorry).

The point is that at this time I am 269.5 in t-shirt and pj's. So thanks to a short diet and a long flu I've gotten started. I have a new friend in my life, Bobbi, and she wants to go on some hikes, so things are progressing. I will post more soon.

Owl Canyon, March 3, 2007

On March 3, 2007 I hiked into Owl Canyon with my mother and father. The hike proved to be quite an adventure. First what we took:

6 dasani bottles of water, digital camera, Silva Compass, Topo map of the area, 3 zone balance bars, almonds.

The trail is located north of Barstow at the Owl Canyon Campground launching from campsite #11. The labeled trail is a 2 mile hike through Owl Canyon and it's stark but colorful canyon walls. We however took another tack. About .6 miles up the trail there is a cave that leaves the trail to the right side (east). As we trekked along we entered this cave and followed its narrow 30' dark path to the other side of a hill. We then scrambled up a wash to the ridge above. The view here is amazing as you can see back to the west where Rainbow Basin is located. Rainbow Basin is similar to the painted desert in that it includes rock strata of many colors. From this ridge we hiked into another wash.

This is where the story really gets good. After hiking through to a beautiful view of the Barstow area we attempted to head back the way we came only to discover that every creek wash looked the same and that we were not sure which one we came through. This proposed quite a problem as the ones we attempted ended in 10, 20 and 30 foot drops. After some discussion of how beautiful the area would be during a rainstorm and how much it would really suck to be stuck out in this baren destert with our limited supplies we eventually (2 hours later) found our way back to the main trail.

For the future we have decided to bring matches, space blankets, and more water if we are to undertake the risky endeavour of leaving the trail again.

You may be asking your self at this point, "didn't he have a map and compass?" Well, this is true but if you have ever seen a topographic map you know that there are contour lines which show changes in elevation. A quick look at the map of Owl Canyon will reveal that the elevation changes are so extreme that you almost can't see the map for all the contour lines bunched up together. I did plot our path on our map and I am pretty confident it is accurate, but this did not show us where these cliffs would lie and we had to use a tactic of striking out in many directions which ultimately proved fruitful.

Side note on this: this was my first hike in my new hiking shoes and they are very comfortable and secure.

Initial Story

Well, for a few years now I have contemplated the National Pacific Crest Trail. A short jaunt through the United States on foot. By that I mean, 2,660 (or 2650 depending on where you read) miles of backpacking grandeur. I at this date am not prepared for this trip but I am commited to it. Here is my status as of this date:

I weigh in at 273.5 pounds in my pajama pants and t-shirt. I have started to get the equipment I need for this trip and I am in the planning process as far as mapping the route and deciding how I will attempt it. I have started hiking. In this blog I intend to keep my history of my planning and successful attempt on this amazing trail.

"There is no try, only do!" said Yoda, and that will be my warcry.