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.

 

Guatay Mt. Hike

 I braved the heat and headed out to Cleveland NF to hike Guatay Mt.  This has been on my short list for a some time.  Although it was hot the weather was very tolerable and I had plenty of water.  The trail was pretty step, eroded and rocky in many place.  But it was worth with great views from the summit.

View to the north and the peaks of Cuyamaca

Tecate Cypress

 

 

Truncated Sequoia NP Backpack

I had a nice, remote 4 day/50 mile backpack planned in Sequoia NP.  My loop started at Lodgepole and went clockwise through Deadman's Canyon. However, due to various reasons (AMS, skeeters, so-so trails), I bailed after one night.  Still had a great time though.

Mandatory park sign selfie

Mountain creek

Green tunnel

Twin Lakes

Looking over Ranger Lake

Cowboy camping

Book Potpourri

• The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
  
• Who Was Davy Crockett by Gail Herman
  
• American Revolution for Dummies by Steve Wiegand
  
• Adventure Expedition One: Plan and Execute Your First Successful Expedition by Aaron Linsdau and Dr. Terry Williams
• Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade
  

Pacific War Books

• Combined FleetDecoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy during World War II by John Prados - extremely detailed account of US intelligence in the Pacific War but overly detailed on operations and tactics
  
• USN Carriers v IJN Carriers1942: The Pacific 1942 by Mark Stile
  
• World War II US Fast Carrier TaskForce Tactics: 1942 - 1945 by Brian Lane Herder
  
• Carrier Warfare in the Pacific: An Oral History by E. T. Woolridge
  

Parsons Landing Overnight

Well before current travel restrictions were in place, we had reserved a spot at Parsons Landing on Catalina Island.  However, the the boats were shutdown until right before our scheduled departure.  We took the morning drive up to San Pedro and took the 1:15 hour ride over to Two Harbors.  After checking in, we started hiking along the road to Parsons Landing.

As the crow flies, it is probably only a couple miles to Emerald Bay, but you have to traverse all the intermediate canyons and landings to it ends up being a 2 hour hike to Emerald Bay.  From there, you head overland a bit to get to Parsons.  We got there early and without shade it was kind of boring although the views were great.  All eight sites were booked but it didn't seem crowded at all.

After a great night's sleep, we slowly packed up and hiked back to Two Harbors to catch the boat back.  There were lots of people at Two Harbors on Sunday morning.  They even used a big boat to fit everyone.  We got in line early to ensure we got an outdoor spot.

Overall, it was a fun little overnight backpack.

View from site 8

Our tent

Jyoti hiking in the grasslands

No summer camp this year :(

Overlooking Two Harbors

Enivornment Pushback

A couple of interesting items in environment news.  Its seems that some folks are having seconds thoughts about the "end of the world" narrative about "human-cause" climate change.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/06/29/schellenberger-on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare/

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/09/michael-moore-backed-doc-planet-of-the-humans-tackles-false-promises-of-green-energy/

Interesting take on herd immunity

Peak Prosperity has some of best commentary on COVID-19 and this article has some good analysis of herd immunity.  If you aren't interesting in asset prices, scroll towards the bottom.

Oregon Wine Country

Travel has opened up enough to allow us to reschedule our Oregon wine country trip that was canceled earlier in the year.

Leaving San Diego, the airport was pretty empty.  The only shop open was a coffee shop and everyone was wearing masks.  We flew on a brand new Embraer E75 which has 2+2 seating.  Couples and families occupied the same side but others were had empty seats next to them.

Once in Portland, we headed south to McMinnville, our base camp for the trip.  We stayed at a renovated old building that was very nice.  About half of the business still looked to be closed.  The restaurants that were open were doing pretty good business and were glad to have customers.

Over the next 3 days, we visited many wineries.  I overdid the tasting the first day but remembered to use the spit bucket later.

San Gorgonio Overnight

A couple friends and I headed up to the San Bernadino mountains and San Gorgonio Wilderness for a long awaited return to backpacking!  The plan was to drive up to Forsee trailhead and hike to Trail Forks and camp for the night.  Then, hit the summit and see how many of the 9 peaks we could bag before camping at either Shields Flat or Trail Forks again.  Next morning, quickly hike down and drive home.  Things didn't go quite as planned.

Weather

The weather this trip was the most difficult I have had to deal with. It was lightly raining the entire drive up.  Then at the trailhead, it was sunny and warm.  We sweated the first several miles.  Then a bitter cold wind started up.  By dinner time, it was very cold (low 40's) and windy (~20 to 30 mph gusts).  Thing is none us were really prepared for much colder temperatures.  Night was nice for a while until the wind picked up again.  We estimate it was mid 30's by morning.  At the summit, it was even colder and we only stayed for a few minutes to take pix before rapidly heading down to find shelter among the stubby pines for lunch.

Gear

Everyone had forgot some piece of needed gear.  I forgot my rain jacket (grabbed my rain pants by mistake) and took my warm weather quilt.  I would have been fine in warmer base layers but don't own any; that might be my next gear purchase.

The Ray-way tarp did great.  I pitched it perpendicular to the wind at the lowest I have pitched it.  I avoided most of the wind and didn't get any flapping.

I carried my BV500 in my new Zpacks Arc Blast.  It fit nicely and wasn't a bother.  I think the arc in the pack does a great job of keeping the hard plastic away from your spine.  I did get some rubbing along my hip bones but that always happens.  Overall, the Arc Blast is welcome replacement pack.

Hiking

I have been keeping in good shape during the lock down but nothing compares to alpine hiking.  Rich and I bagged the summit and Jepson but were too beat to try any other peaks.  The ups and downs along the ridge trail between Anderson and Dollar Saddle were tough.  There were also many snow patches to cross which slowed us down some.

Food

I found a great website for backpacking recipes run by a nutritionist: Backcountry Foodie.  It is vegetarian focused which I am trying more and more.  I also enjoy the thought put into each recipe and the instructions.  I tried out the Garlic Parmesan Ramen and White Chocolate Coconut Pudding.  They were very good.  I highly recommend getting a subscription.

Get the gear!

Crossing a snow field

Above the clouds

At the summit

Extra low tarp pitch

Trying to keep our stoves out of the wind

Tucson Road Trip

We finally got out of the house and made a road trip to visit my parents in their new home in Tucson.  it is a bit of a drive but not too bad.  The weather was hot but quite nice with cool mornings and breezes.

My parents' house backs up to Tucson Mountain park and they get quite a bit of wildlife passing by.  We saw deer, quail, coyotes and many types of birds.  They have seen bobcat and javelina as well.  We did some hikes in the park, played games and had a good time with my parents and my aunt and uncle.