Green Valley Campout

The troop headed back to Cuyamaca and Green Valley campground.  We haven't been to the campground for several years and it was good to get back.  In the meantime, the state has improved the handicapped sites and most of the sites are a bit overgrown with grass and bushes.  The falls were flowing nicely and I am sure they will be crowded as the weather heats up.  We also did the Airplane Monument trail and saw a fair amount of flowers.

Upper Green Valley Falls

Airplane Monument

My trusty tent

Lower Green Valley Falls

 

 

Winter Books

 Been a while since I posted a books list...

• Imperfect Union: How Jesse and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity and Helped Cause the Civil War by Steve Inskeep
  
• West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776 by Claudio Saunt
  
• Alone in the Fortress of the Bears: 70 Days Surviving Alaska Wilderness Foraging, Fishing Hunting by Bruce Nelson
  
• Mammoth Gold
• Tales Along Camino Sierra by Dale and Gayle Woodruff
  
• Experiencing Medieval Europe by Kenneth Bartlett
  
• Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War by Eliot Cohen and John Gooch
  
• Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer
  
• The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands 1942 - 1944 by Ian Toll
• History of Hitler's Empire by Thomas Childers
  

Grand Canyon Down and Up Overnighter

One of my bucket list hikes has been to trek to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  We had a trip scheduled last year that was canceled due to events beyond my control.  So this year I grabbed a permit and was determined to make the trip.

Jyoti and I drove out Wednesday morning and arrived near the south entry gate in about 8 1/2 hours.  There was a long line to get in that was backed up to Tusayen.  After paying, we made a quick stop at the closed visitor center to get a first glimpse of the canyon then drove over to the Yavapai Lodge to check in.  We were surprised how many people were there especially many of the rim hotels were still closed for winter.

After waking up and eating some breakfast we drove over to the backcountry office.  The shuttles were not on normal schedules but they had hiker express buses that left in the mornings to the South Kaibab Trailhead.  Arriving at the trailhead, we squared away our gear and headed down the South Kaibab trail. We quickly ran into ice covering the trail.  Since it was pretty steep, all the hikers were having issues getting a grip.  One one stretch we glissaded down on our butts.  Luckily this lasted only about a half mile and we back on dirt and rocks.  We cruised easily downhill to our first stop at Cedar Ridge.  We cruised another segment down to Tipoff Point.  From there the trail got steeper as we headed into the inner gorge.  We were both getting a bit tired at this point and started slowing down.  We eventually got to the Black Bridge and crossed the Colorado River.

Once in Bright Angel Canyon, we scouted out the campground for a good spot.  We found one that was near the creek and had some shade.  It is surprisingly hot down at the bottom and if we didn't have a nice breeze it would have been unpleasant.  After setting up camp, we explored Phantom Ranch and the area.  The mule rides were still running and the ranch looked to be on limited service although the canteen only had window service for limited snacks.  After a nice dinner, we went down for an early night.

Next morning, we ate breakfast, broke camp and headed out for the long trip up Bright Angel Trail.  We crossed over Silver Bridge and then took the River Trail for a bit to get to the canyon that the trail followed up.  As we wound our way uphill, we had to dodge lots of runners doing the rim-to-rim thing.  The trail followed the creek steadily up but then got really steep at the Devils Corkscrew section.  The it was a nice hike along the creek again into Indian Gardens.  We stopped there to rest, eat and fill up on water.  The next mile or so was mostly in the sun and it was a bit warm.  Then the switchbacks started as we trudged into 3 mile rest stop. We were now getting worn out and making only 1.5 mph but that was plenty up the steep trail.  There were loads of people happily cruising downhill that were in for a shock when they turned around.  We took another break at 1.5 mile rest stop to add a layer as it was getting colder and also mentally prepare for the ice.  Luckily it was later in the day so most of the ice was turning to mud but there were a few dicey spots.  It is also much easier going uphill on ice.  We finally reached the top after 7 1/2 hours which is a good time.

We checked back into the Yavapai Lodge, took showered then searched for food.  There were tons of people and not many places were open.  We finally got takeout from El Tovar and some drinks at the Yavapai Tavern.  Sleep was welcome.

Once the sun came up, we saw an elk right outside our room.  I then took a quick walk out to the rim for one last look, then we drove home.

At the top of South Kaibab trail

Icy trail

Great views to the north rim

All smiles at Cedar Ridge

Tipoff Point

Down the inner gorge

Crossing Black Bridge

Our camp at Bright Angle Campground

Bright Angel Creek

Crossing Silver Bridge

Waterfall along the trail

A bit more to go

Almost there

Almost there

Ice going uphill

Done!

Joshua Tree - Indian Cove Campout

We finally got a campout together with the troop!  We headed up to Joshua Tree NP and the Indian Cove campground.  Jyoti came along as well for her first trip to JT. We got great weather, sunny during the day and cold at night.

Hiking Barker Dam and Wall Street Mill

Joshua Tree - one of many

Indian Cove campsite 99

Campfire

Leaving Northrop Grumman, Again

I left NG back in 2017 and went to GTRI.   I then went back in 2018 to get on a really cool project down at Seaside.  That lasted until the end of 2019 then I did some internal and contract work for 2020.  Things were going great until the CEO decided she needed to raise some cash and announced she was going to sell off the services business which included my group. Northrop has been good to me but as part of the deal, we didn't get a choice to stay with the company so starting now I am involuntary employed by Peraton.  Hopefully it goes well enough to get me to retirement.

Jackson Flat Snow Camp

Since HALT classes have been canceled for the year, Rich and I decided on an overnighter in the local mountains.  Due to some recent storms we were confident of snow coverage in the San Gabriels.  We drove up to Grassy Hollow via Wrightwood.  It was good to see Mt. High ski area open with plenty of snow.  We made it through all the snow play folks and parked alongside the road at the Grassy Hollow ranger station. We geared up and started hiking up the road to Jackson Flat.  Rich towed the sled and I walked in my snowshoes.  However the road was pretty sparsely covered and were grinding our gear pretty good.  The campground had plenty of snow thankfully and we found a good spot near one of the group sites.  The wind made it pretty cold so after dinner we hunkered down in the tent for a long night.  In morning, we made some coffee and quickly broke camp.  Overnight a slight dusting of snow covered the road a bit more but also added quite a bit of ice.  It was great trip and good to get out with friends.

North Face four season tent is rock solid

Didn't have to dig out a table

Morning dusting

Mt. Baden-Powell from Jackson Flat

This sled was retired after this trip

More San Diego Hikes

 Jyoti and I have been getting in some good local hikes:

• Daley Ranch Engelmann Oak Loop - nice hike especially when you get off the main trail
  
• Stanley Peak - fairly long and strenuous but worth it
  
• Boden Canyon - nice secluded oak-lined canyon 
• Fletcher Point - great spot along Lake Hodges
• Double Peak - surprisingly hard hike and crowded
  

Along the Engelmann Oak Loop

Summit of Stanley Peak

Fletcher Point trail run

Summit of Double Peak

Snack time in Boden Canyon

 

 

Stop policing, murders go up...who would have thought

I guess if you stop policing, the bad guys just don't go away.

Mini Ham Field Day

Sunday was a mini field day to test out my Nooelec SDR dongle and 40m dipole.  I drove up to our condo rec area parking lot and found some palm trees to throw my antenna over.  I quickly discovered that you need to secure the ends of the dipole lest they get into a big tangle when hoisting the feed line :(  The other big lesson was to set the offset when using the upconverter (-125Mhz for the Nooelec Ham It Up).  After getting the antenna up and CubicSDR software configured and running, I was able to get some 40m phone.  I didn't get any JS8Call traffic though.  Overall a good success.

 

Dipole in V hung from palm tree

Mobile ham shack

 

 

Open Letter to Rep. Mike Levin

Hello Rep. Levin,
I too share your thoughts on the despicable acts in Washington DC and am glad you and your staff are safe.
I have a few questions in response to the message you sent to your constituents on Jan. 8:
* You claim the Constitution must be defended "every day" and I wholeheartedly agree.  However, your stance and actions against the Second Amendment are opposed to this claim.  I know the discussion on reducing gun violence is too much for this forum but how do you reconcile these contradictory stances?
* Although DC riots were more targeted at government itself, the ongoing riots attributed to Antifa, et. al. were much more widespread and damaging to property and life.  What is your office doing to stop those acts and hold those responsible accountable?

I response would be very much appreciated.

 

Mr. Levin's message:

Dear Neighbor,

I wanted to reach out and address the recent attack that occurred in our nation's capital on Wednesday.

For the first time since 1814, the United States Capitol Building was breached by an angry mob. More than 200 years ago, it was British troops. This time it was domestic terrorists, inspired and encouraged by President Donald Trump. 

I started that day preparing to uphold my oath of office — an oath I took this past Sunday at the launch of the 117th Congress to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That is an oath I upheld later that night by voting to certify the results of the Electoral College and declaring Joe Biden and Kamala Harris our next president and vice president.

While I was forced to shelter in my office for most of the day, I am thankful for the Capitol Police officers and other law enforcement agencies who tried to keep everyone safe. There are many questions that must be answered for how this security breach occurred in the first place, and there will be a full investigation. 

As for the domestic terrorists who sought to overthrow our democracy, they must be prosecuted. 

We must also acknowledge how these terrorists were inspired. Despite 81 million votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, multiple recounts, and more than 60 failed lawsuits challenging the election results, many of my Republican colleagues followed Trump’s lead and pushed outlandish conspiracy theories and baseless claims of voter fraud without any evidence, entirely void of reality.  

Many congressional Republicans sought to overturn the results of a free and fair election because they didn't like the results. They didn’t realize — or didn’t care — that their actions could result in a violent coup attempt. That’s exactly what happened Wednesday.   
  
The question now is a vital one: Where does our country go from here?  

For many decades, we have had passionate but peaceful political disagreements — a shining beacon of democracy. We Americans do not support insurrection or mob rule. 

In short, we are so much better than this.  

We are now at a crossroads in our great nation’s history, a moment where we see two divergent paths in front of us. We can continue down a path of hyper-partisanship, divisiveness and democratic decay, or we can try to heal our country. 

We can come together to reject the violence we saw Wednesday and recommit to upholding the values that unite us as Americans: democracy, justice and equality. It is paramount that we choose the right path.  

Our Constitution must never be taken for granted. We must continue to support and defend it every day, as our oath demands. 

After this unbelievable attack on our Capitol and democracy, we can't afford another day with President Trump serving in office. I am calling for Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment or for Congress to impeach and convict Trump immediately.

I also want to send my condolences to the family and loved ones of the Capitol Police officer who was killed during the attack on Wednesday, as well as at least four others who died during the insurrection. Those responsible must be held accountable.

Newsom School of Economics

Comrade Newsom has a great idea to restore the California economy he ruined: buy electric cars!  Surely this is much better than a 5 year plan consisting solely of tractors.

New York v. Florida

Interesting comparison between NY and Florida and you could substitute California in for NY in these comparisons.

Mattis Interview

Great interview with General Mattis. I particularly like his story at the very end.

Survivalist Books

 Been reading a lot of survivalist books, fiction and non-fiction.

• Survivalist series books 1 to 5 by A. American - gold standard for prepper fiction
  
• Bound to Survive series 1 and 2 by Charley Hogwood - mostly fun, sometimes serious but always educational
  
• 2050 series books 1 to 3 by Phil M. Williams - seems much closer than 30 years in the future
  
• Turn Red Tomorrow by Michael Zargona - a lot going on in this book
  
• Charlie's Requiem book 1 by A. American and Walt Browning - another take in the same Survivalist universe
• Build the Perfect Bug Out Vehicle by Creek Stewart - not exactly a daily driver
• Small Unit Tactics: An Illustrated Manual by Matthew Luke - technical, but not FM, for small unit ambushes
  
• Contact! A Tactical Manual for Post Collapse Survival by Max Velocity - less technical than Luke's book
  
• Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery - title says it all
  

Weekend Activity

• Rucks at the local reserve and Torrey Pines SB
• Zoo at Night - haven't been in a long time and a lot has changed; we got in before the lockdown and saw many animals

Wanted: Director of Health Services - no experience necessary

Biden chooses health expert lawyer to be next head of HHS.

Dictator Newsom

 I guess its only tyranny if you disagree with the tyrant but ok if you agree.

Update: Dictator disregards his own rules.

The Meaning of Science

Watt's Up has a good discussion on the process of science and how it applies specifically to climate change.  Hopefully our dear leaders will read it.

Ruck and Hike

On Saturday, I loaded a pack with 48 pounds of bricks and water jugs and headed for a nice ruck at Denk Mountain.

On Sunday, Jyoti and I went for a hike at William Heise County Park.  The Desert View Trail had a great overlook that had 360 degree views to the desert, mountains and foothills.  One of my new favorites.

New England Fall Vacation

As vacation plans get changed weekly, Jyoti was able to put together a New England trip for us and Kevin and Robyn.

We first flew to Portland, Maine.  Portland is a nice small city, bigger than I expected but not crowded.  It had some great restaurants as well.  I highly recommend BlueFin, they had the best lobster dishes of the trip.  We visited Fort Williams Park and took the obligatory photo at Portland Head lighthouse.  Later in the day, we took a ferry to Peaks Island and rented a golf cart to take a tour around the island.

The next day, we headed up the coast. Along the way we stopped in Bath to visit the Maine Maritime Museum.  The museum had great indoor exhibits as well as outdoor ones.  After a few hours driving through some rain, we made it to Bar Harbor.

At Bar Harbor, we spent two days exploring Acadia National Park.  We did a few hikes and drove the loop (after figuring out the experimental reservation system).  Hikes included the Beehive, Jordan Pond, Wild Gardens, and South Bubble.  We drove up to Cadillac Mt. but it was super foggy and we couldn't see anything.  Acadia is beautiful but feels more like a big city park than the massive open spaces of the western parks.

Leaving Bar Harbor, we drove south.  We stopped at several attractions, small towns and lighthouses along the way to Bailey Island.  The island is way off the beaten path but is very nice.  We stayed at a small motel, the Bailey Island Motel.  It was very quaint and had the best homemade muffins!  Since it was pretty much the end of the season all the restaurants were closed and there weren't many people there.  We did a nice short hike to Giant's Steps and visited Land's End.  I would love to visit the island again and spend more time there.

Next stop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  We were able to tour the USS Albacore which was really cool.  Strawbery Banke was great even though the houses were not open to walk through.  We had a great dinner at Black Trumpet overlooking the river.

Last stop was Boston.  We spent a day here to visit relatives but got in some sights as well.  We hiked the Freedom Trail from the Commons to Bunker Hill.  Many things were closed but we got into the Paul Revere House.  The Charlestown Navy Yard was closing when got there which was a bummer.  However, our flight the next morning was canceled.  So with an extra day, we headed back to the shipyard to visit the museums, USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Peaks Island gold cart

Jordon Pond

Top of South Bubble

Beehive summit

Hiking out to a lighthouse

Lands End, Bailey Island

Paul Revere House

Bunker Hill

How To Open Schools and Outdoor Activity

 One of the big debates this COVID season is how to safely open up schools. Anecdotally, the schools that have opened up have had decent results. One of the local school districts has enlisted the support of UCSD to help them figure out the risks and how to manage them.  They have some interesting points.  But the main point IMO is that there is very little risk when outdoors.  The data (at least that data that government allow us to see) shows that there are no outbreaks attributed to outdoor activity.  Maybe we should hold the governor and health departments responsible for their bad decision to close the beaches, parks and playgrounds.

Trump Taxes

Assuming the NYT has it right about Trump's tax returns, I congratulate Mr. Trump on paying so little in taxes.  The NYT is showing that it is ignorant about tax law or is so biased they willfully make false/misleading statements regarding the tax code.

Bigger Pockets has a great review on the terrible Time article. 

Note that Biden uses all the tax "loopholes" available to him to lower his bill.

Forgotton Depression of 1920

There are some great lessons to be learned from the depression of 1920.  The playbook that works is pretty much the opposite of what the government is doing now.

Vintage Rifles at the Range

 Spent some time at P2K shooting a 03 Springfield and an M1 Garand.  The Springfield shot very nicely at 25 yards but the sights on the M1 were low.  I didn't stick around long enough to fiddle with so that will have to wait for the next trip.

03 Springfield

M1 Garand

San Diego DA Admits Protests Infiltrated

In a town hall style meeting, the San Diego city district attorney Summer Stephan, admitted that she had information that the peaceful protests were infiltrated.

According to the DA, the infiltrators were organized enough to remove license plates from vehicles and bring generators.  These were the ones responsible for the violence.  Ms. Stephan declined to mention any other details of the group but it was obvious that she had more information.

Hopefully more will come out about this "movement" and its members.

Adventure Weekend at Mammoth

 After having many trips canceled, we finally got out of town and headed up to Mammoth Lakes for a long adventure-filled weekend.  The drive up was uneventful but the view of the Sierras from 395 where obscured by haze and smoke.  We got to the Devils Postpile and drove and found there were plenty of campsites still available.  We found a great one at Red Meadow right next to the creek.  After setting up camp, we hiked to the resort for a milkshake and headed to Rainbow Falls.  We then hiked back to camp and went to bed.

Next morning, we woke up, broke camp and made the short drive over to the Devils Postpile overnight parking lot.  After packing our packs, we headed.  The trail started with a steady uphill of the west side of the river valley.  We got a great view of the basalt formations on the way up.  It then dropped into the King Creek drainage.  Then the real uphill started for a few miles before leveling out before reaching the Fern Lake outlet.  At the lake, we poked around for a site and found one just barely 100 feet from the water.  The lake was very nice and spent time on a small beach near our camp watching some anglers.  Another early night for us as we read before going to sleep.

We were awoken by somebody walking nearby and talking loudly.  It turned out to be a rather grumpy old guy patrolling the lake and complaining about the other campers.  He was particularly upset about the folks camped right along the water. Pretty odd.  The hike back was mainly downhill but with a butt kicker climb out of the King Creek.  Jyoti's IT band really started to hurt but she made it back to Devils Postpile ok.  We drove over to Minaret Falls campground and found a nice picnic bench to have lunch with views of the falls.  After eating we headed into town to await our check in time.

There is tons to do in Mammoth during the summer time.  Here is a digest version of our activities:

• Took the gondola to the top of the mountain.  On the way down, we stopped at the halfway point to checkout the information displays.
• Checked out the earthquake fault.
• Drove around the lakes with a stop at Horseshoe Lake; it was pretty crowded.
• Drove down Old Mammoth Road to see some of the old mining stuff.
• Visited the Mammoth Museum.
  
• Took the bus to Twin Lakes and rented a row boat.

 

Jo along the trail

Atop Mammoth Mt

Fern Lake selfie

Fern Lake camp

Peaceful Protests

Here are some examples of "mostly peaceful" protests:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_sit-ins

The stuff going on now is something different.  Certainly many supporters of the cause are peaceful and law-abiding.  But there is obvious influences that cause things to spiral out of control.  It is shameful that few people, regardless of their chosen team, can talk about it factually.