Sunday, May 31, 2015

Books, Books, Books

Hard Truth by Nevada Barr - very creepy but one of Barr's best
Ancient Greek Civilization by Jeremy McInerney - decent but somewhat slow going; interesting to hear the links to our current culture
Ancient Rome by Duncan Hill - good intro to Roman civilization
Blood and Iron by Harry Turtledove - next chapter in the Southern Victory series covers the period right after the Great War
The Center Cannot Hold by Harry Turtledove - the march to war continues; I enjoyed the mounting tension
The Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove - this last volume of the set ends right before the next great war
The Creative Thinkers Toolkit by Gerard Puccio - listened to the first few lectures; good content but not what I was looking for
Thinking about Cybersecurity by Paul Rosenzweig -  a good intro to cyber security that is not too technical
Winter Study by Nevada Barr - another creepy Anna Pigeon mystery; I hope the next has a different villian

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Joshua Tree NP Backpack



Last time the troop was at Joshua Tree National Park, we car camped and did rock climbing.  This time, we were going to backpack the backcountry. We drove out on Saturday morning and stopped at the North Entrance trailhead.  We then dropped cars at XX, Geology Tour and XX trailheads.  The first two were water caches due to the lack of water in the park.  We then headed out.  The first 5 or so miles was a steady incline in lower desert terrain.  It was overcast so the heat wasn't bad.  The trail flattened out and the joshua trees started appearing.  We got to the first cache and loaded up on water.  Regulations state you have to camp at least one mile from roads.  So we trucked our water another mile along the trail to a great camp.  Everyone setup tents, cooked dinner and had a great evening.
In the morning, we hiked a few miles to the second cache.  All the scouts got an extra gallon to carry to our next camp.  We hiked about 4 miles with water up into the hills.  Our camp was located in some brush with a lot of mining debris.  Cans and other metal containers littered the area.  We even found the remains of a couple of old cabins.  The highlight was an open mine shaft.  The scouts had a good time throwing rocks down it.
In the morning, we hiked out the remaining few miles to the last car.  After some shuttling, we all headed back home.  Another wonderful trip.  We will have to be back to hike the rest of the trail.


At the trailhead

Water cache

Open mine

Bathroom break

Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday, May 04, 2015

Chino Air Show

My dad, Bengt, Roy and my dad's old friend and his wife headed out to Chino for the air show.  It was quite hot but the planes were great.  I very much enjoy the WWII warbirds.  The sound they make is unforgettable and the flying is much more elegant than the brute force of the modern jets.