Bikes and Hikes in Colorado (Jeff's story)

My friend Jeff Buchman (we go way back - to being aspiring kayak bums at BayCreek 10+ years ago!) describes a short weekend in November when I visited Colorado, where he lives. 

[Nena's comments in italics.]

Saturday, November 16th:

Nena arrived in Denver around 10:00 and we immediately headed up to Fort Collins with two bikes on the car for brunch and brewery tours. We decided to have brunch at Snooze, a local chain that specializes in creative and delicious breakfast and lunch foods. Since there was a 20 minute wait and Nena was hungry from her flight we wandered down to the food co-op and got some wasabi peas as an appetizer [I'm going through a meaaan wasabi kick lately]. On the way back to Snooze we also decided that stopping at the candy store would be a good way to balance out the spice of the peas. Once seated we did order actual food with Nena opting for the Late Harvest Benny (Wilted Swiss chard, fennel and leeks served atop goat cheese and herb polenta cakes with poached Niman Ranch eggs, cream cheese hollandaise and toasted pine nut crumb) and I went for the traditional corned beef hash. Breakfast over, we went to Brian and Emily’s house where we met their chickens and fed them from our hands, with mixed results. [It stabbed me!!]

We headed out on the bikes to visit a few of the dozen or so breweries scattered across Fort Collins. The first stop is the best know: New Belgium Brewery. While we were not able to take the tour (reservations have to be made well in advance), we enjoyed the tasting room and tried a wide variety of beers. The two most interesting ones we sampled were the coconut curry beer that tastes more strongly of Indian food than I ever expected and the sour beer, which I actually like but have been told is an acquired taste [grossss]. When we went back to the bikes to head over to the Odell Brewery we discovered that Nena’s bike fell victim to a goat’s head thorn which has flattened at least eight of my bike tires since moving here [bikes always seem to break the first time I ride them... hmm...]. Brian returned home to fetch the car while Nena, Emily, and I walked our bikes the short distance to Odell’s. We sipped beers on the patio until it started to get too chilly. We crammed two bikes and 4 people into Brian's Subaru Forester and headed home for some amazing home-cooked vegetable enchiladas a la Brian and Emily.

Brian, Emily, Nena, and Jeff posing for a cheesy tourist photo :)

Sunday, November 17th:
It was a brisk yet sunny fall day in Boulder when Nena, Brian, Emily, Katrina the dog, and I decided to go climb a mountain and see some snow because we are in Colorado and that’s what you do. The first hike we tackled was Green Mountain West Ridge Trail starting at Flagstaff Road. We weren’t sure we would be able to do this hike since Flagstaff Road was seriously damaged in the massive September floods, but luckily it had opened up the day before. While the hike is relatively short (2.5 miles, round trip), it has a considerable amount of vertical gain and a starting elevation of about 7,000 feet higher than Nena’s typical 0-30 feet above sea level [subtly telling my I'm out of shape.]. The hike starts on a fairly narrow section of trail, meandering along a ridge through pine forests dusted in snow (the ski resorts 1.5 hours west got 17” of snow that day). The climb begins with the trail pitching up sharply for 375 feet in about ¼ of a mile with some small scrambles and roughhewn stairs along the way. The top of Green Mountain was breezy, but protection from the rocks allowed us to sit and admire the view of Colorado’s Front Range [Colorado is so pretty!]. Being an out and back trail, the return to the car was eerily similar but much more down than up. Back at the car, we enjoyed avocado and drunken cheese sandwiches before heading on to the second hike of the day.

Only a few miles down the road, in the Walker Ranch Open Space overlooking Eldorado Canyon, our second hike featured more wind and less climbing. We decided to keep this hike a bit shorter, at 1.7 miles, as the loop trail is 10 miles and the snow/mud mixture made hiking into the creek bed a bit slippery. Katrina, the suburban dog, faced the frequent mountain bikers with curiosity and fear. We were able to see a train slowing climbing Eldorado Canyon to the continental divide about 30 miles to the west. With sunset approaching, and a persistent wind, we decided it was time to head back to Boulder. [Brrrrrr]

Total Distance Hiked: 4.2 miles

- Jeff Buchman

Another Memorial Day in Yosemite

A brief summary of this year's Memorial Day weekend in Yosemite. I can't guarantee you'll learn something from this one, but it was certainly a funny trip in many ways. Sara's brother Alex and his wife Jess were visiting from Boston, and Sara's friend Janelle joined us from SF.

Rafting on the Merced River
After years of being a kayak snob, I agreed to go on my first rafting trip. It was fantastic! Thanks to those lovely "footcups" (new favorite word), and much to Alex's dismay, no one fell off the boat. We successfully surfed a little wave and managed to survive amongst 6 other rafts of very hungry boyscouts. We found piles of river booty (RV parts...) because an RV had driven into the river the night before.

Crane pulling the RV out of the river.

I'm adding this picture of me and Jess to spare Alex a belly shirt picture, but those will end up on Facebook soon enough...  

Gorgeous sunny day in the river!

Holiday Traffic in the Valley
As predicted, two minutes after we passed the first turn around point we hit stand-still traffic in the Valley. We made it a more exciting experience by policing/blocking the right lane (where only buses are allowed) and trapping people trying to skip the line. Alex and Jess got their fill of Valley traffic and we were happy to turn around as soon as we got to the next turning point (~ 2 hours later).

Camping at Yosemite Lakes Park Campground
It took us a while (and an entire camp re-mobilization) to find and occupy the right campsite (thanks to a strategic pee break). The bathrooms were pretty luxurious with hot showers and mirrors. We really didn't spend much time at the campground, but overall it treated us well. I only had to make one polite 4am inquiry to ask our neighbors to shut-the-hell-up! :)

(Not) Hiking to Sunrise Lakes
The next day we set out on a hike to Sunrise Lakes, which are just southwest of Tenaya Lake. Five minutes in a group of hikers informed us that the trail was completely snowed in, so (thanks to another strategic pee-break discovery) we made a left turn and forged our own trail up the rocky side of a mini mountain. The rock face was covered in little streams that we refreshingly waded across in bare feet.

Janelle and Sara crossing a chilly stream at the beginning of the hike.

Wandering up the rock face in our bare feet.

Beers-On-A-Rock and Limited Wandering in Tuolumne (The Unpronounceable) Meadows
I say limited because we promised the park ranger that we wouldn't stray from the short road between the visitor center and Soda Springs. We listened, only adding a tiny wander to a group of roadside rocks where we cracked the Bud Light Lime and enjoyed an afternoon the sunshine.

Hot springs bubbling into Tuolumne Meadows.

So remote. Universal symbol for "I'm Okay".

Budweiser commercial, during a heated Budweiser debate.

Dinner and Sunset at Tenaya Lake
Not much to be said here except BURRITOS (unhealthy ones). Except for a spying deer we had the lake to ourselves for sunset.

O'Schaughnessy Dam and Hiking around Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Wapama Falls
We walked across the dam and through a tunnel in the cliff to get to a trail along the north side of the reservoir. It was a pleasant hike, with a few ups and downs. We reached Wapama falls a little over an hour later. Maybe some day I'll come back and add a little blurb about the dam and valley's history - it's pretty interesting. But for now, I'll leave you with some pretty pictures :)

Hold your hats! It was pretty windy at the top of the 450 ft dam.

Huge spillway!

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

Wapama Falls, about 2.7 miles from the dam on the north side of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Crater Lake, Oregon: Not, in fact, formed by a meteorite hitting the top of a mountain!

Annotated Log Style

Friday, May 10th
9pm. After a weary work day for both of us, Sara and I met in downtown Oakland to catch the Coast Starlight [a 34 hour train route from Los Angeles to Seattle] at Jack London Square. As we boarded, the Coach Attendant directed us to assigned seats on the second floor of the Klamath Falls car. Our initial concerns that we'd be exhausted after the overnight ride eased upon reclining into our wide, soft chairs. It didn't take long before the gentle train rhythms lulled us to sleep!

Saturday, May 11th
6:30am. Awoken by a peaceful sunrise on the train near the CA/OR border.
7:45am. Early arrival in Klamath Falls.
8:30am. Bridget arrives. Coffee and bagels at a The Daily Bagel. Halfway decent for west coast bagels! On the way to Crater Lake we stop at some "viewpoints" where the waterfalls were just barely viewable and meet a family of roadtrippers who title us "City Girls," much to everyone's offense.
10:30am. Arrive at Crater Lakes's Rim Village where Beth and Trevor are waiting.

11:30am. During a descent down a relatively steep snowy slope, Sara and I decided to do some tricks: I basically do a summersault towards a rock and sara drops her massive water bottle into a more massive crevasse. We both survive and Trevor descends into the crevasse to retrieve the water bottle. We avoid crevasses/schisms/holes/pits/abysses for the rest of the weekend.

Trevor in the crevasse

On the return hike we mostly stuck to the road, which was was perfectly plowed next to 10+ feet of snow. Crater Lake is the third snowiest place in the U.S., receiving 483 inches (40 feet) of snow annually! It's a miracle the roads are plowed at all.

The interesting part: Crater Lake is a caldera lake, which formed when Mount Mazana erupted and collapsed on itself. It's the deepest lake in the U.S. and the 9th deepest lake in the world. For the hydrology nerds: the only inflow and outflow to the lake are precipitation and evaporation, resulting in a 250 year residence time. Compare that to ~ 6 years for Lake Ontario and only a few months for San Francisco Bay - that's old water! Wizard Island (pictured below) is one of many cones that have erupted since the major eruption. It's the only one that reaches above the water surface. And last but not least, a view of the spectacular lake!

~3pm. Return to cars and have lunch on a log overlooking the lake.
4pm. Arrive at Umpqua Hot Springs where we encounter large groups of free spirits who seem to be living at the hot springs. Although we found a nice campsite next to a beautiful river (see below), we decided to leave after a long-term-camper/panhandler asked us for money so he could buy cigarettes (I swear I'll only buy cigarettes!).

~6pm. We set up camp at Toketee Lake Campground and cooked up some pesto pasta and veggies for dinner. Beth treated us to some Korean sweets that she'd transported herself after her worldly travels.

Sunday, May 12th
8:30am. Rise and shine! Bridget spread the breakfast table with delicious muffins and bananas. Did you know that bananas naturally break into thirds, lengthwise? Fascinating.
11am. Start hiking up towards Diamond Peak. Hike around on a dirt trail until we reach snowpack.

Mount Diamond

1pm. Lunch-on-a-log followed by more snow hiking.

The lunch log.

~3pm? Return to cars and drive to Diamond Lake. Clouds of mosquito-like-buzzing insects surround us and swarm into the car. We sprinted towards the lake where it was windy and bugless. Bridget does her trademark dip in the freezing lake and we make friends with a fisherman on the dock. I sneakily hinted that we were interested in going for a ride in his boat, but he was oblivious to our hinting (or I'm terrible at hinting) and points us to the boat rental shop. At this point we parted ways, with Beth and Trevor heading north towards Chemult where Trevor was catching the train back to the Bay. Bridget, Sara, and I laid out on the bobbing docks and enjoyed the warm sunny weather for a little while longer.

Enjoying the sunny day on a bouncy dock, far away form the hoards of buzzing flies.

In La Pine we stopped at a diner to order milkshakes (which had been the topic of many hiking conversations). The milkshakes came in mason jars and we tried almost every flavor on the menu thanks to a convenient mistake by our server.
8pm.  We arrive at Bridget's beautiful house in Sun River where we pack our things, eat some rice cakes, and snuggle with amazingly comfy Costco blankets on the couch.

Monday, May 13th
12am. Still awake, thinking about having to return to Oakland and brooding how to move somewhere safer as soon as possible.
3am. Alarm. Empty the toilet bowls. Did you know that if you dump a bucket of water in a toilet it will empty completely? Fascinating, especially at 3am. Apparently the iron-heavy water leaves stains...
4:30am. At the Redmond Airport
5:30am. En route to San Francisco

Pinnacles National Monument (a belated first post in California!)

Here we are again, with 8 months since my last post. To be honest, I have at least 5 posts started in my draft box with the best of intentions. I think it stems from my desire to document the details of everything. It's just too overwhelming once you've missed a couple months. Where do you start!? For now I'm letting myself skip the last 8 months. Maybe later I'll be motivated and fill in the (more-exciting-than-my-current-life) gaps, including some more Iceland posts, a few paddling posts, 6 weeks of unforgettable/hilarious/adventurous cross-country road trip posts, and 5 months of exploring my new state of residence (California!). Oh! How could I forget? My new job, which involves a lot of analyzing and a little bit of exploring beaches and rivers!

I'll start small, I guess. Pinnacles National Monument is pretty small (maybe that's why it's called a monument?). It's a national park about an hour southwest of Monterey Bay, in the town of Paicines (which, from what I can tell, consists of an intersection between two small county highways). The drive to the park was lovely! This is assessment likely has more to do with the fact that I was taking my new (used) car on a trip for the first time, the sun was out (68 degrees!), and it was a Sunday morning so the Bay Area traffic was somewhat tame.

Since all the Californians were in Tahoe pretending to ski in puddle of slush, the park was very peaceful. I only encountered a few hikers on my 8 mile loop.

The first part of the trail took me to the Bear Gulch Caves and Reservoir (Californian for murky puddle). The entrance to the cave had a daunting sign that read, "Caution: Flashlights Required." Since this was my first longish solo hike experience, I started having flashbacks of 127 Hours. I took a 3 minute water/digging-for-headlamp break before entering the CAVE. 2 minutes later I was back in bright daylight and feeling rather sheepish. The next few caves were similarly brief, but still fun to squeeze through. Apparently the caves are often closed due to wet conditions and for bat habitat, so I got lucky!

Bear Gulch Caves

At the end of the caves I arrived at a cute little reservoir. I didn't spend too much time there since it's apparently the place for romantic couples to hang out at 11am on a Sunday - awkward. Onwards!

Bear Gulch Reservoir

The next bit was pretty steep and dry. Here I'd like to pause and say that what I really miss about the east coast is the lush-ness of the woods. Even when you're in a forest in the middle of winter in California, it feels like the moisture is being sucked out of you.

This steep trail took me up to the "High Peaks," which are the spikes most commonly documented in photos taken at Pinnacles. These neat geologic formations are thought to be part of the Neenach Volcano, which was split by the San Andreas Fault. The Pacific tectonic plate moved up and took the Pinnacles with it. Since this particular type of rock is very erodible, it led to the visually appealing smooth rock outcroppings that remain today. (Here ends my attempt at knowing anything about geology)

The trail through this section is very narrow and steep (up long staircases cut into the boulders) - it was a lot of fun! Since there aren't really any trees you have a great view from pretty much any angle. I paused here for a delicious lunch featuring the amazing avocado (which is affordable year round!):

The High Peaks (left) in Pinnacles National Monument

On the way down I accidentally missed my turn for the Condor Gulch Trail and ended up adding a few extra miles, but I ended up seeing 3 condors circling above my head for the rest of my hike. Pinnacles is part of the California Condor Recovery Program. On my hike I saw one of the resident ornithologists monitoring the condor populations.

Here are a few more pictures from the hike down:

Manzanita trees have really stark red bark. They're evergreen and drought resistant! And very pretty...

A little bird with a blue back... not sure exactly what kind!

I'd really like to get back there and hike up to the Pinnacles in the evening or early morning, when the sun is at an angle that makes for interesting lighting - I think it would be a spectacular sight! Oh, one more thing I should mention. This park is an excellent place for outdoor rock climbing, so I need to make a point of meeting climbing gear-heads in the Bay Area to take me climbing... if you have any connections let me know! :)

Nepal #10: Snapshots of the Trek

This post is to share some of the beautiful scenes we witnessed during our 7-day trek. Below is a map of the route. The river on the right is the Trisuli River.

Balche 

(Night 1)

Gonga 

(Nights 2, 3, and 4) 

After the first night we decided to move our tents to a spot that was more sheltered, but the morning view was almost worth the cold, windy night! 
Photo by Rabindra Parajuli.

 Porters staying warm around the fire as the chilly clouds breezed through the pass. 

 Sunset over the camp

 Sunset through the trees

Phyukhri  

(Peak of trek at ~ 12000 ft on day 5)

Me at the top! The above photo was taken by ??? (not me).

The whole group together by the prayer flags. The above photo was taken by Katie Walker using Rabindra Parajuli's awesome camera.

Here's a video from Phyukhri. There wasn't much of a view from the top since a big cloud decided to roll in just as we were summiting. It does, however, give you an idea of how out of breath we were up there! The altitude definitely made it noticeably harder to get enough oxygen (and colder!). Okay, feel free to make fun of me now.

Jhyawati 

(Night 5)

The above photo was taken by Ryan Arams using a timer shot with her super sweet camera. We were enjoying the sunrise before the second-to-last day of the trek.

One of the porters heading into the kitchen tent before breakfast.
Langtang Ri in the background.

Here's a short panning of the site at sunrise:

Tower 

(Night 6)

I don't have any special pictures of our last campsite, but here's one from the walk:

Heading back to Mhanegang after night 6. This photo was taken by Rabindra Parajuli as we headed down into Satdobato. 

Nepal #9: Trekking in the Himalayas!

A typical day on the trek... it's a long one, I apologize!

"Chiya! Chiiiyyyaa!"

After a few days on the trek I've become accustomed to waking up as quickly as possible when I hear those words. Ratna and Sarita, the Nepali students I am sharing my tent with, are rustling out of their fluffy down sleeping bags, which are about 2 feet too long for them. I hesitantly unzip the tent to see two blurry smiling porters handing me a metal cup filled with steaming Nepali chiya, a delicious black tea that Nepalis drink multiple times per day. "Namaste didi!" (hello older sister!) they say. I take it with my right hand and pass it to Sarita on the far side of the tent (which isn't very far since the three of us are squeezed into a 2-person tent for warmth). After handing another to Ratna, I take my cup and try to find a place to set it to cool as quickly as possible since the metal sides heat up ridiculously fast. Finally, a metal platter covered in biscuits comes into focus and I grab a bunch of those to share. We ate these Good Day cookies twice a day for the entire trek, and I'm starting to believe the name!

I reach into the tent pocket for my watch and glasses. It's about 7am (in Nepal, time doesn't really matter - all that matters is that we just had morning chiya). We start packing up our sleeping bags and getting ready for the day. We leave the tent two at a time so the third person can change inside -- it's not appropriate to change in front of anyone, regardless of whether they are male or female. I don't really mind though - the time passes quickly when the view from your tent looks something like this... This mountain is Langtang Ri.

Once we're dressed and have had time to use the latrine (see below), we head over to the dining tent to wash our hands for morning dhaal bhaat. See this post if you're curious about what we ate!

After breakfast we pack up our tent, which has hopefully dried in the strong high-altitude sun. We put the tent on the pile of tents for the porters to carry to our next campsite. They are responsible for carrying our shelter and food. We just carry our personal belongings and a few group-gear items in case of an emergency. I really can't complain about the set-up - my pack feels heavy enough already without adding a tent, a huge bag of rice, and a couple fuel bottles!

We meet in a central location with the rest of the group. By now most of the porters have packed up their baskets and left for the next campsite. The leaders of the day tell us the plan, and before we depart Alex (American student in charge of all things medical-related) facilitates a pulse check. We've been checking our pulses a couple times a day, at rest and during times of exertion, to gain an idea for what each person's normal pulse is. If Mike gets injured on the trek, for example, we will know that his resting pulse of 50 isn't abnormally low!

The first half hour is always the hardest. Our packs feel so heavy, and the uphill is so steep! We walk slowly though. The leaders of the day are in charge of maintaining a good pace that keeps the group together. On the uphills, especially on the snowy and higher altitude days, we only go one or two steps per breath. Every half hour we stop for a pee/snack/water break. This continues for 3 to 6 hours, depending on the day. Along the way we pass locals carrying huge loads of fodder, packs of firewood, and freshly chopped logs for building houses.

Even though it's cold out, the sun is ridiculously strong at higher altitudes. I was initially skeptical when told that it's because there is less atmosphere for it to penetrate, but a couple migraines later I was convinced! Mid day attire included sunglasses, a baseball cap fitted with a bandanna to protect my neck and cheeks, and multiple thick layers of sunscreen (especially on the backs of my hands!). Somehow I managed to avoid getting burned, which I rarely achieve at low altitudes...

Some time in the afternoon we arrive at our new campsite, where we are welcomed with a steaming cup of chiya or hot chocolate and more Good Day biscuits! We search for a flat spot to set up our tents, which is not always easy - everything in Nepal seems to be on a slant.

After a couple hours of relaxing, taking pictures, playing cards, or exploring the campsite, the sun starts to set and the temperature drops significantly. Frost forms on everything that is exposed to the sky, so we learn quickly to put everything in the tent! Chilly clouds form and sweep through the pass:

We layer up - swapping sun hats for wool ones and adding a couple layers of long underwear, top and bottom.  It's time for evening dhaal bhaat. The porters did a great job of including some variety in our evening meals. Some examples include pasta with tomato sauce, spring rolls (hand made!!), other beautiful filled pastries, potatoes at almost every meal (sometimes as french fries), ginger soup, noodle soup, and sometimes veggies. It was all very carb-intensive, but we definitely burned it off during the day! Yum!

After dinner we gather around the campfire (well, more like blazing bonfire) that the porters have set-up. They are singing our favorite song - Resham Firiri - and we join in. It's fun because the chorus stays the same, but people make up the verses and usually say something funny or tease someone else in the group. It usually resulted in a lot of laughing with very little understanding!

Soon we hear a call for tato paani! It's time to take our BPA-filled nalgenes to the dining tent and fill up with boiling hot water. This serves two purposes: treated water without the nasty taste of iodine treatment and even more importantly, sleeping bag heaters! During the entire trek I consistently got the best sleep from bedtime until about 2am, right around the time my water bottle failed to be warm...

We dash from the warm fire into our warm sleeping bags. After a few minutes of reading or journal-writing, we are exhausted.

Did I mention it's about 7:30 or 8pm?

P.S. Post soon about the route we trekked and a brief description of each campsite!
P.S. (again) Thanks to major jet-lag I'm actually writing these posts at about the rate I'd hoped... Alright, time to go back to bed (it's 3:45am).