C. Keith Wilbur Books

I ran through the canon of C. Keith Wilbur books at the library:

• Pirates and Patriots of the Revolution
• Civil War Medicine
• Tall Ships of the World
• The New England Indians
• The Revolutionary Soldier
• Woodland Indians
• Home Building and Woodworking in Colonial America

One Down, One To Go

We dropped Jaya off at LMU this past weekend.  It has been a great 18 years having her around and watching her grow into an awesome young woman.  She has wanted to be independent since should could walk and now is her chance.  Good luck, Jaya!

Whelan Hall

Dorm Room

Weekend Activities

• Hiked the newly opened Annie's Canyon trail in San Elijo Lagoon.  It was pretty cool for a urban hike.
• Ended my tenure as head usher at St. A's. - quite sad.
• Did some bodysurfing but the water is getting cold again :(

2016 Sierra Trek

This year's high adventure trek was in the Eastern Sierras.  The route was a loop out of Horseshoe Meadows going over Cottonwood Pass to Rock Creek and then back over New Army Pass.
We headed up a couple days early to get acclimated.  We drove to Lone Pine and got a spot at the Tuttle Creek Campground a bit uphill from town.  It was a pretty near camp but still hot.  We had dinner at the pizza place.
Next day, we broke camp and headed back to town for lunch.  Then we spent some time at Manzanar which was pretty amazing.  Our plan was to get Subway and head up to the trailhead to camp for the night.  However, the Horseshoe Fire started right as we were driving up the road.  We headed back Tuttle Creek to plan things out and spend the night.
Next morning, I headed back up the road and the guard said it was going to be closed for some time.  So I went back to the ranger station to change our permit.  In the morning lottery, I felt bad when I pulled number 12.  Since a lot of people were changing due to the closure, I wasn't sure anything would be left.  When I finally got called, the ranger said the only thing available for our group size was Sabrina Basin near Bishop.  I quickly reserved it and headed back to camp.  Looking at the maps, the Sabrina Basin TH only had a few miles of trail but lots of lakes.  We all agreed to drive the extra 1.5 hours to Bishop and start hiking!
At the trailhead, we unloaded and ate lunch before moving the cars to the hiker lot.  Fortunately, the super nice camp hosts at the campground offered to stash our leftover food in their bear box.  We then headed out.  The trail starts out following the lake in a gradual incline.  It was a bit hot since there wasn't any shade.  After a bit, the switchbacks started and we gained a ton of elevation.  Thankfully it was shaded most of the way.  We finally reached the top and Blue Lake.  The scouts picked a good spot and we setup camp.
Next day, the scouts decided to base camp at Dingleberry Lake so we packed up and made the quick hike over.  Dingleberry is a nicer than Blue and we had a great site overlooking the water.  Mosquitoes were a bit of a problem but not too bad.  I had my new A16 bug bivy so was very protected at night.
Next day, we day hiked up to Midnight Lake which is the end of the line for Sabrina Basin.  It was a pretty neat alpine lake with cliffs around half of it.  The scouts did a bunch of scouting.  They even made it up to some snow fields and I had to warn them about the pink snow.
Next morning, we packed up and hike out.  It was pretty fast going since it was all downhill.  We got to the cars, picked up our food stash and made the long drive home.  It was another great high adventure trek for the troop.

Tuttle Creek Camp

Scouts as Tuttle Creek

Lone Pine Cafe

At the roadblock

Horseshoe Fire

Let's Hike!

Blue Lake

Dingleberry Lake

Tarp Camping

Hiking to Midnight Lake

Chilly Evenings

Hot Weekend

• Attended Bengt's NYLT closing at Mataguay - it was hot but in the shade
• Visited Jyoti's cousin and family up at the beach house they rented in Malibu
• Spent the afternoon at the Getty Villa
• Dinner at Art's Table - expensive but good, I recommend the brussel sprouts

First Summer Weekend

Due to graduation, moving and vacation, this was really the first weekend of summer for me.  It was my also my first day of bodysurfing which happened to be during the Switchfoot BroAm at Moonlight beach.

Hawaii 2016

The extended Osten family had another exciting trip to Kauai!  We and the extended Martin family had an awesome time.  Here are highlights:

• Sleeping Giant hike - highly recommended!
• Smith Family luau
• Zip lines - awesome!
• SUP at Kalapaki Beach
• Sams Oceanview
• Kilohana Plantation train tour 
• Osten Family Olympics - cornhole, tennis and bocci
• Waikiki - too crowded
• Pearl Harbor - Arizona Memorial, Pacific Aviation Museum, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin
• OC - Borrego Canyon trail at Whiting Ranch
• OC - Lolo Gaspar for Kevin's birthday

Graduation!

Jaya graduated from SDA this weekend.  Jo's parents and sister came into town and my parents drove down for the occasion. Grandmas had lots of balloons.  One down, one to go as Jaya heads off to LMU.

3 Peak Challenge

For Memorial Day, we hooked up with Troop 782 to attempt A16's 3 Peak Challenge.  The challenge involves summitting San Jacinto, San Antonio (aka Baldy) and San Gorgonio.  There are different times allowed but we were going to do it over 3 days.
First on the list was Jacinto and we drove up on Friday night to the Seven Pines trailhead.  There is a yellow post campsite there.  Unfortunately it was already taken by some noisy drunk yahoos.  But we set up camp in near the trail sign for the night.  The next morning, we all got on the trail by 7:30.  Seven Pines is not really maintained and no one in the group had hiked it before.  We had some trouble in spots locating the trail but there was lots of ducks to help out.  The trail crosses Dark Canyon creek a few times before hitting the PCT/Deer Springs Trail.  From there it was a long haul uphill to the summit.  Many in the group were struggling due to the distance and altitude.  Once on the summit, we took our required pictures with the A16 flag and then started heading down the same way.  The last couple miles seemed to take forever but our troop got the cars around 6pm.  Bengt left with Torti's while I waited an hour for troop 782 to make it down.  It was much later than was planned so rather than head over to Baldy, we decided to eat in Idylwild.  Unfortunately almost everything was already closed but ended up getting some good pizza at the Idylwild Pizza Company who were good enough to stay open.  Finding a place to camp, we drove to the nearby state park but it was full.  So we decided to head back to the Seven Pines site and our raucous friends.
The next morning, we headed out for Baldy.  We made a stop at Subway to get sandwiches for the trail and thankfully a doughnut shop was right next door.  I have discovered that maple bars are great pre-hike meals even though they are anti-paleo!  We got to the trailhead at the optimal time as the early hikers were done and starting to leave.  That opened up some prime parking spots within yards of the starting line.  Hiking up to road to Baldy Notch, a couple of us went fast and got to hang out at the lodge for a while.  After everyone made it up, we ate lunch then headed out.  The first mile or so up Devils Backbone is a horrible slog up ski runs.  After that, then next few miles along the knife edge were great hiking.  The summit push was steep but short and we all made it in good time.  After some discussion, we decided to head down the Baldy Bowl Trail to save time.  Shortly after reaching the ski hut, thunder pounded down from the summit.  I think it was good did not take the Devils Backbone as it might have been pretty dicey up there.  After getting to the cars, we went to Manker Flats campground and grabbed a spot.  Then we headed to Mt. Baldy Lodge for giant burgers and some cool live music.  I tore through a double grubby and was still a bit hungry!  But we had to get back to camp since he had an early rise in the morning.
Waking before 5, we broke camp and drove to Vivian trailhead, stopping for gas and breakfast at Jack-in-the-Box (we had lots of non-paleo eaters).  We were on the trail at 7:20 and started the long slog up to Vivian Creek camp.  After that, it was cruiser all the way to High Creek.  By now, the scouts were starting to wear out and we had to keep encouraging them.  After a break at High Creek, we slogged up to the ridge and then up Turd Hill.  With the summit nearly in view, the pace was quickened until we all made it!  After pictures, we headed down and everyone was going much faster.  We stopped for water at High Creek.  Along the trail down one scout got bad altitude sickness and I smacked my head on a low branch.  We finally made it to the cars after 12 hours of hiking.  A couple cars went to eat dinner in Mentone while the other left for home.
Overall, we did 42.2 miles and 13,000 feet of elevation gain.  I am super proud of everyone made it.  You can check us out on the 2016 3 Peak Challenge finishers page.

Mt. San Jacinto summit

Mt. San Antonio summit

Mt. San Gorgonio summit

History and Adventure Books

American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 by Sally Denton - fascinating story of an unreported American tragedy
The Diamond Caper by Peter Mayle - not Mayle's best effort
Economics of Uncertainty by Professor Connel Fullenkamp  Ph. D. - decent lecture
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten Ware That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger - OK history of the first Barbary Wars
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko - must read account of the fastest rafting of the Grand Canyon
The Rope by Nevada Barr - one of my favorite of the series
Bone Deep Broth by Lya Mojica and Taylor Chen - making some broth
Into Africa: the Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard - wondrous adventures of two men

COPE at Mataguay

The troop had a date at Mataguay for COPE.  It started Friday night and didn't stop until Sunday noon.  The scouts did team building, low ropes, high ropes and zip line both in day and in pitch darkness.  Unfortunately I suffered from a cold and allergies but that didn't affect my dutch oven chili and peach cobbler!  Overall it was a great weekend and the scouts can't wait to get back especially when they get the new higher and longer courses built.

Bobcat in Gonzales Canyon

Jyoti and I headed to Gonzales Canyon for the first time.  Right after leaving the parking lot we saw a bobcat carrying its prey down into the canyon.  It was my first bobcat sighting and was pretty cool.  Overall, this hike is pretty good considering all the nearby housing.  Be aware of the poison oak jungle along the creek.

San Mateo Camp

The troop headed up to San Mateo campground (part of San Onofre State Beach) for the first time.  We had some good sites that had the adults behind a screen of bushes and trees.  On Saturday morning, we hiked out to Trestles beach and enjoyed the sun and sand for a while.  We saw some whales that were very close to the shore.  We later found out we missed a dead whale washing up on shore by a day. After lunch, we did some skills and advancement.  In the evening, we an very nice campfire.

Laguna Mt. Hike

A couple friends are I headed up to the Laguna Mountatin Recreation Area for a good hike.  We parked at the information center along Sunrise Highway and headed out along the Sunset Trail.  After some incline and then a gentle decline, we headed south on the Big Laguna Trail.  We stopped for lunch and coffee at a nice spot overlooking Big Laguna which had a decent amount of water.  We then followed the trail back to the car ending up hiking 11+ miles.  The weather all day was threatening rain but we never got anything more that some light mist.  The rain threat kept most of the people away and there were only a few on the trail.  Great hike on a great day.

Diet, Exercise, History and Geology

A slew of books were read about a variety of subjects

• The World Was Never the Same: Events that Changed History by Prof. J. Rufus Fears
• FastExercise by Michael Mosely and Peta Bee
• FastDiet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer
• Surf, Sand and Stone: How Waves, Earthquakes and Other Forces Shape the Southern California Coast by Keith Meldahl - highly recommended book on the forces at work in California
• Primal Connection by Mark Sission
• Vimy by Pierre Berton
• Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills

Hayduke Is the New PCT

Is everyone doing the Hayduke Trail this year?

Wrightwood Hiking

We had to cancel our troop outing up near Wrightwood due to logistics but I decided to drive up and check it out.  I headed up early in the morning and got to Wrightwood in just over 2 hours.  I stopped for coffee and headed to see the campsites.  Apple Tree and Peavine are pretty nice campgrounds and are good candidates for future outings.  I then headed up Angeles Crest Highway for some hiking.  I stopped at the Grassy Hollow Visitor Center and chatted with the cool volunteers for a while.  They warned against hiking Mt. Baden-Powell due to icy trails but gave me some great tips on some other hikes.  I drove to the trailhead (which was where the road was closed for winter) and started on the Vincent Gulch Trail down into the canyon.  I stopped at the cabin on the way down.  I hiked about 3 miles down to where the river was flowing pretty well.  At this point, the trail was hard to follow so I turned back for the long slog back up.  After some coffee at the car, I headed on the popular Big Horn Mine Trail.  This lead to the remains of a old mine.  There were lots of people and their subsequent trash but it was pretty cool anyway.  I had dinner back in Wrightwood.  Due to the lack of snow, things were pretty slow but it was fun.

Weekend Activities

• Some dash-n-caches
• Another Troop 774 Eagle Project for Jacks Pond in San Marcos
• Wonderful time with the family and Sophie at Del Mar Dog Beach
• Discovered the official MST3K YouTube channel

First the Koalas, Next the Pandas

That fat old koala was probably the easiest meal P22 every had.  Hopefully it will move on to pandas next.

Weekend Activities

• Picked up some more geocaches in Cardiff and Solana Beach
• Hike to the Penasquitos Creek waterfall from the east