Anza-Borrego Day Trip

Since our Mammoth cross-country trip was canceled due to too much snow, Jyoti and I decided to head out to the desert for a trip.  The forecast was for a good amount of wind so we made it a day trip.

• Drove out in the morning along I8 with a stop at the Well Cafe in Alpine and topped off gas in Ocotillo.
• Headed north up S2 taking in the warm temps and lack of rain!
• The park website had some flower locations and the first for us was Bow Willow.  We turned off and headed to the campground which was full of people but few flowers.  We then headed back out and up nearby Egg Mountain which was covered in flowers and had great views
• We then started off road on South Carrizo Creek after airing down.  This road had lots of flowers.
• Made a short stop at the end of the road heading west.  I wanted to check out the stage station site but we didn't want hike out that far.
• Next up was Arroyo Tapiado and a quick stop at the mud caves.  Jyoti had never been to the caves.
• The highlight of the offroading was Diablo Dropoff.  We parked and checked out the action for a bit then decided on the "easiest" way down.  It was fun and made it through to Fish Creek without a problem.
• Once at Fish Creek, we turned east and up and back Sandstone Canyon.  The obstacles were pretty easy but the canyon was pretty cool.
• We then headed back out Fish Creek and stopped for a hike to the Wind Caves.
• Then we went through Split Mountain got on pavement for a bit then stopped at Elephant Trees Discovery Area for a very nice hike.  The Elephant Tree is a very interesting and fragrant tree.  Lily loved the hike and didn't want to get back into the car.
• Instead of going directly to the 78, we took Old Kane Springs Road westward.  It was very wavy and bumpy - not recommended.
• At the end of the dirt, we aired back up and go onto the highway.   Since it is PCT season, we picked up a couple of hitchikers at Scissors Crossing and dropped them off in Julian.  They looked pretty beat after all the rain lately but they didn't escape since it was raining in Julian.
• Took the usual route home after a long day.

Atop Egg Mountain

Jyoti and Lily in the Mud Caves

Rosie in the Desert

Overlooking Fish Creek from the Wind Caves

Elusive Elephant Tree

 

Radio Battery Box

Recently, I picked up a battery box from Napa that was on sale for a great price.  It was meant for car use so is big enough to fit a car 12v battery and had some 50A connectors.  But I wanted to use it for radio ops so made some modifications.  My guide was this great set of instructions on how to build a solar powered ammo can battery box.  I followed that fairly closely but with the following changes:

• Included the existing 50A Powerpole connectors since they were already there.  I made some pigtails with 15A Powerpole and inline fuse so you can connect a radio to them.  Note that the entire box is 15A regardless of the connector rating.
• Included the external wing nut connectors since they were already there.
• Added a Powerpole external connector for the solar panels.  This allows the panels to be connected while keeping the lid on.

With all the interfaces and pigtails, I can use to run radios, laptops, etc.  It is also big enough for me to carry a bunch of gear.  E.g. for VHF/UHF operations, I can fit a couple radios, antennas and other accessories. I can also add another battery if I need the extra amp hours.

Completed battery box

Inside the box showing the battery and charge controller

Powerpole pigtail with SB50 on one end

 

 

Disasters

As part of my experience with Scouting and the outdoors, I have become fascinated with accounts of high adventure disasters.  I take the opportunity to read books, articles, etc. that help me learn more about crisis situations and how people deal with them.  Even activities that I will almost certainly not be part of are useful.  One of those activities is climbing Mt. Everest.  Perhaps the most infamous Everest disaster happened during the 1996 season.  The incident was turned into several books and movies.  I read a few books and watched a couple of movies and recently came across Jon Krakauer’s response to another account of events, The Climb by Antoli Boukreev (and G. Weston Dewalt).  After going through all this, I still have the following questions about the event:

• Should Rob Hall have abandoned Doug Hansen earlier in their descent?  When in charge of a group, the hardest decision to make is to sacrifice part to same to save yourself and/or others.
• Why did Scott Fischer and Rob Hall die when Beck Weathers survived?  Did Fischer wear himself out going up and down the mountain managing clients as detailed The Climb; was it solely due to HACE or did some other illness contribute?  Both of them were hundreds of feet above Weathers, was the cold and wind so much more severe there?
•  According to Krakauer (and others, according to him) have blamed Boukreev for not staying with clients, but what about other issues that seemed to be the fault of the sherpas.  Mainly, why were fixed ropes not present on the Hillary Step and why was oxygen not available at the South Summit?

Scrum Master Attributes

Mike Cohn has put out a great list of attributes for a scrum master.  Over my scrum career, I found myself going from scrum purism to a more pragmatic view of scrum.  Most of that is due to the nature of the custom and project.  But I think these attributes are valuable for all scrum team members.

 

Prescott Weekend

We headed out to Prescott for the weekend to finalize the site alignment for our house.  While we were out there we did a few excursions.

• Spruce Mt - drove up to the fire tower, partially in the snow
  
• Senator Hwy - drove a few miles south through the mud and snow
  
• Hike around Goldwater Lake
  
• Dinner at El Gato Azul

Top of Spruce Mt

Spruce Mt

Spruce Mt

Our house is in the background somewhere

Spruce Mt fire tower

Map of Goldwater Lake

Goldwater Lake

Tucson Christmas 2022

 Family time in Tucson!

• Old Tucson has reopened and we had a great time.  The shows are really well done.
• Trap shooting at Tucson Trap and Skeet Club
  
• Pistol shooting at Five Points range/Tucson Rifle Club
• Did the Queen mine tour at Bisbee and walked around the little town.  The tour was very interesting.
• Short hike to Recoil Peak
  
• Lots of poker, puzzles and games

Yuletide at Old Tucson

Trap shooting

Atop Recoil Hill

Lily on a rock

Downtown Lowell (near Bisbee)

Taking the train into Queen Mine

Bisbee Museum

Shooting at TRC

 

2022 Thanksgiving Weekend Activities

I have some medium sized projects that I started over the long Thanksgiving day weekend.

Also camped in the desert with a buddy.  Did some shooting and had great fire-roasted tri-tip.

First batch of handloads

Making a battery box

Camping in desert

Encinitas Police State is Happening Now

What could wrong with the city tracking every car in town.  No worries, Mayor Kranz's understanding is that the information can't be misused.

Trans Catalina Trail

One of my bucket list hikes is the Trans Catalina Trail which traverses the entire island.  A couple years ago, Jyoti and I did the northern part so this time we tackled the southern part.  We chose SOBO so we could spend some time in Avalon after the hike.  We used Hiking Guy's guide for much of our planning.

Day 1

We woke up early and drove up to San Pedro to catch the boat.  Due to a rescheduled beer festival, we got on a direct boat to Two Harbors.  After a smooth ride over, we had lunch at Two Harbors general store, then started the climb up the ridge to Little Harbor.  The climb was tough but the views along the ridge were stunning.  There was steep decline into camp.  We setup the tent and explored the harbor a bit.  We then had dinner and started a campfire since we opted for a wood delivery.  We did forget a fire started but bought one from the nice ranger.

 

Camp at Little Harbor

Overlooking Little Harbor

Starting the TCT

On the boat

Day 2

The hike out of little harbor was a long but not to steep climb almost to the other side of the island.  Turning north, we encountered a fox that walked right by us, not caring at all.  We also saw a small herd of bison.  After a dusty road walk, we made a welcome stop at the airport for food, drinks and cookies.  After the break, the trail headed down and out of canyon before getting us to Blackjack Campground.  We were the only ones at Blackjack to start so Jyoti took an outdoor shower while there was still sun.  After an early dinner we went to bed early.

Looking back to the west

Airport in the sky hangar

AVX flight line

Camp at Blackjack

Day 3

We left early on our last day hiking.  In the morning light we saw several deer and a few coveys of quail.  There were a couple of tough canyons to traverse and then a long ridge before we got to the Hermit Gulch overlook.  The trail down into town was very steep   On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the golf course for lunch.

Great views along the trail

Lone bench

Foxy lady crossing

Looking down into Avalon

Last high point

 Avalon

We spent the next day and half in Avalon and had a great time.  We picked food at Vons and had dinner on the roof of our hotel, Seacrest Inn.  We also took a ecotour with the Catalina Island Conservancy.  It was great to see some of the sights like Middle Ranch and learn more about the island.

Downtown Avalon

Rooftop dining at Seacrest Inn

Us in Avalon

Avalon Casino

Cold and rainy on the ecotour

Eagles Rest Lodge has seen better days

Avalon at night

 

HALT Specialist Desert Training 2022

We had our fist desert field class for a few years.  Since there were only four of us and we all fit into the 4xe, we decided to head through Arroyo Tapiado and park at Diablo Dropoff.  From there we hiked to our normal parking spot and let the students loose to find Skull Rock.  On the way out, we re-discovered the pass and headed out through the wash.

Looking down Diablo Dropoff

Desert scenery

Skull Rock

Coming down over the pass

Lots of caterpillars

Crossing the desert