On the Road Again

As my mother said, my section in her address book tells quite a story. I spent a couple months this winter living in Mississippi. For the most part I did a lot of hanging around. We lived in a little house right on a little lake so I got out kayaking every now and then when it warmed up. I also joined the fire department and spent a few weeks working at a restaurant.

Our house in Mississippi

But I was saved from Mississippi when Jeff got sent on a detail to Colorado National Monument. So we spent a couple days driving cross country. We stopped at the Big Texan in Amarillo, TX where we watched several men attempt to consume a 72oz steak dinner in an hour for the lure of getting the meal free. Ahh Texas.

From there we cut across northern New Mexico and into Colorado. We stopped at Capulin Volcano NM and Great Sand Dunes NP but it was snowy and windy with little to no visibility. The next day the weather cleared for our drive across Wolf Creek Pass and into Durango. Durango was a cool little town. We walked around and I actually got sick of going into outdoor gear stores, something Jeff couldn’t believe was possible.

Cows on the road outside of Great Sand Dunes NP

The next day we drove north through several high passes and into some old mining towns. The views from the passes were awesome, and at several of them there were people getting out to go skiing and snowshoeing; I was jealous that I didn’t have the gear to travel off the road. All along the road you could see ski tracks coming down the slopes above—it looked really nice.

And then as you came around the bends coming down from the pass, the little towns appeared suddenly. Silverton was a mining town surrounded by tall mountains. The type of place where you could easily get stuck for a while in a big snow storm that closed the passes, and in front of the fire department, instead of the usual fire danger sign was an avalanche danger sign. Looking up from main street you could see ski tracks coming down the mountains above.

From there we crossed another pass and into Ouray, home of the Ouray ice park. We walked around the ice park for a while and watched a few people climbing. It was cool to see it in person after reading about it in magazines.

And from there we left the mountains and drove north into the red rock desert near Grand Junction. We live in the park, on top of a mesa, about four miles up a winding, narrow road that hugs the canyon’s edge. No internet and almost no cell service but it’s a great location. There are still patches of snow in the area; the red rock coming through the snow is really pretty.

The location is also great in that it is surrounded by many other really cool places that we hope to visit; the Rockies are a couple hours to the east and Utah is just 30 miles west. Tomorrow we are headed to the Moab area for Jeff’s first days off.

Death Valley: Not so wicked hot

So I just got back from a few days in Death Valley National Park; it was an awesome trip. It seems that every place I go introduces me to a few more places that I want to visit, it is a never ending cycle and this trip was no different.

We spent the first day doing road-side touristy things, visiting places that fit the image I had of Death Valley. We drove in the south entrance of the park and up to Badwater--the lowest point in the western hemisphere at 280 feet below sea level. It was a flat, dry lake bed with lots of salt crystals. There was also a spring which made a pool with floating salt crystals. And you could look up and see a sign on a cliff above you reading "sea level".

Then we drove further up the valley to Artist's Palette, an area of colorful rock formations. Then on to the visitor center and Borax museum (Death Valley was a big area for borax mining with the use of mule teams). Finally we went on a short walk of Mosaic Canyon--a canyon with really cool rocks, both finely polished marble and mosaic like conglomerate.

The next day we headed out of the valley and up Telescope Peak--11, 049 ft--the highest point in the park. It was a nice hike--though I could definitely feel the altitude. There were lots of really gnarly, big trees and some colorful shrubs. The top was cold and windy but with great views. We could see Death Valley and Badwater to the east and the Sierras to the west. From that one point, one can see the highest and lowest points in the continental US.

On our last day we headed to Panamint Valley, on the western edge of the park. We were warned by the book that the valley was frequently used by the military for low elevation flying and indeed they were flying over our heads all day. We camped out on a dry lake bed and then hiked out to the Panamint Dunes. Distances are deceptive in the desert, it certainly didn't look like 4.5 miles to the dunes, but it did take us an hour and a half of walking to get there. The dunes were really cool, especially the dramatic ridge lines. I felt a little guilty walking on them and messing up the windblown patterns, though judging by the scarcity of footprints, it doesn't take the wind long to erase our steps.

Panamint Valley with Telescope peak in the background (tallest mtn on left)

Panamint Dunes

Hitch 1: The Work

By day we wonder the desert, collecting branches and digging holes; by night we sleep out under the moon and stars. Overall, I really can't complain.

Our primary task is to restore illegal OHV (off highway vehicle) trails. The Rand Mountains are a limited use area so OHVs are allowed on marked trails/roads, they are not allowed to create new trails or ride across the open desert. Our task is to disguise the illegal trails and to promote re-vegetation.

Since most desert plants look rather dead for most of the year, our primary tactic in disguising trails is to build fake plants out of dead branches. So we wander around collecting dead branches, then dig a hole where we want the bush, and arrange the branches to look like a living bush. We also decompact the soil (the soil gets really hard from being ridden on) and spread seeds to encourage real plants to take over the area.

While out there, we saw a horny toad, two desert tortoise shells and a bunch of tarantulas. And the local ranger stopped by with fire wood and marshmallows.

Horny Toad---Baby Tortoise Shell

Bird skeleton found with a pack rat skeleton in a piece of pipe

Aircraft fly overhead frequently, and whenever they do, we stop work and stare up at the sky for a while. There are also periodic explosions from the mines.

Our group has definitely reached the storming stage of group development. People are no longer pretending to be overly patient with each other. This has caused a number of conflicts, though so far I have mostly stayed out of them.

When the clouds come, it make for great sunrises and sunsets

So that is what we do, though I am still not convinced that this is an effective method. It seems like a labor intensive project that is easily ridden over or around. The problem in the open desert is that short of a fence, people can easily drive around just about any barrier we create.

Yosemite

While it has now been several weeks since the trip, I did not get to write about it because our internet crashed and then we headed back into the field for work.

Anyway, one of the benefits of this job is that we get 4-6 days off at a time, and we are based in Ridgecrest, CA which is surrounded by many cool places. So on our first set of days off, a few of us headed up to Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite Valley --- Fall leaves near Mirror Lake

Terry and I did two good days of hiking from the valley. On the first we hiked up to the top of Yosemite Falls and then over to North Dome. The beginning of the hike was packed with people but once we got past the falls, we saw only a handful for the rest of the day. The trail offered many great views of the valley and also wandered through groves of giant sequoias covered with awesome green moss.

Top of Yosemite Falls ---Sequoias

Trail up Vernal Falls --- Half Dome seen from North Dome

The next day we woke up to a bear cleaning out our neighbor's bear bin. Then we hiked up the other side of the valley, up Vernal and Nevada Falls and then along Panorama Cliff to Glacier Point. Again the views were awesome.

It was really nice to be in an area with changing leaves. I find the desert disorienting when it comes to seasons; it is like summer during the day, winter at night, and plants look dead most of the time.

On our way out of the park, we drove through Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass. That brought us into higher mountains and even a little snow. Seeing that area of the park made me want to return to go skiing.

Circle Time

That's right, during our 17 day training, we spent a lot of time in circles. We talked about PPE and LNT; we talked about swinging tools and sharpening tools and not hurting ourselves with tools and what to do when we hurt ourselves with tools; we talked about talking to people and feeding ourselves and cleaning up after feeding ourselves; and then we talked about restoring illegal trails and about driving on legal ones. It was a busy training.

We wore closed toe shoes in the kitchen, long pants when washing dishes or making tea, boots when working, gloves when handling tools, hardhats when swinging tools, and full riot gear when working outreach. Ok, not quite, but there were a lot of rules.


It is difficult to live in such a structured environment and with so many people after growing used to living alone.

And actually training was kinda fun. It was nice getting to meet people from all of the crews (there are 6). We played a lot of games and made a lot of music. The stars were awesome and we slept out under them every night.

Camp

On one off day a group of us went on a hike in Surprise Canyon and that was awesome. It was about 45 minutes away but the ecology of the area was starkly different. We hiked up a stream bed which was flowing with water, and there were many green plants in the area. The canyon walls rose steeply on each side, in short it was awesome.

Surprise Canyon

On another off day we went for a hike up above the canyon where we were camping, and that was pretty cool too.

And now we have 6 days off so I am headed up to Yosemite tomorrow morning to do some hiking.

On to California

This begins what I expect to become a series of blogs from a new adventure. I am spending the next 8 months on a SCA Desert Restoration Crew out of Ridgecrest California. As one person said, Ridgecrest is a great place from which to go places.

Downtown Ridgecrest

Most of my first week here has been full of getting things ready for the year. Lots of sorting through gear, repackaging our bulk food order, and going through the obligatory trainings such as defensive driving, policies, and risk management. While the work itself hasn't been terribly thrilling, it gave us a chance to meet our crew members. So far, so good--though admittedly I probably wouldn't post it here.

A rock in the Rands

The highlight of the week came yesterday, on one of our day's off, when a bunch of us went for a hike up nearby Owens Peak (8400 ft). It is in the southern Sierras and just outside of town, though getting to the trail head took about an hour and a half on winding mountain roads. The vegetation changed quickly as we headed into the mountains; Joshua trees started appearing, became plentiful and then disappeared during the drive. By the time we started hiking there was a bunch of scrub oak and pitch pine. The views from the top were awesome. On one said we could see down into a dry, dusty valley and Ridgecrest, and on the other we looked into the Sierras.

Something smells like burning

Next it is off to training with all of the other crews for the next two weeks.

Headed Home

Well the time has come; I am packing up for the trip home. It has been an amazing trip--walking around Kathmandu, riding elephants in Chitwan, touring the country on top of a public bus, climbing, trekking, seeing the Everest region, summiting Island Peak, hanging out at base camp, meeting lots of interesting people, and living with Chandra, Lisa, Prushant, Shova and which ever other children and pets were around.

There are definitely things that I will miss about Nepal and things that I look forward to at home. It has been great to travel around seeing amazing places and meeting interesting people, but it will also me nice to come home and see family and friends again. I have also enjoyed the relaxed nature of Nepal but I do appreciate things happening on a schedule in the US. It is a remarkable idea for scheduled events to actually happen and more or less on time; something that is generally not the case here in Nepal. I will also be glad to get away from the dual pricing and generally dual treatment of foreigners and locals throughout the country.

We had some frustrations with the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) this past week. At the beginning of my trip we had met with the chairman and he told us about a rescue course that they were offering this week. Chandra and I expressed interest and asked to be sent a course schedule. We even met with the chairman again and he again mentioned the course. Since then, however, they have not responded to us. This past week Chandra called again to find out what was going on and was told that the course was full. We asked if we could observe a piece of it just to see what they were doing and were told that they would give us a call. That never happened. Turns out they did not want any foreigners involved, nor did they want Chandra apparently. Unfortunately, they would not come out and tell us this until midway through this week, they just decided to ignore us.

We both found the experience rather frustrating and at the same time were amazed that an organization that operates in such a manor is functioning, and relays so heavily on western doctors to staff their medical outposts. It may partly be a result of a Nepali mentality where they don't want to disappoint people by saying no. (This will sometimes result in one getting really convoluted directions to places that don't exist or are really far away.) I for one find it far more frustrating to be given the run around though than told that something isn't going to work.

On a slightly funnier note, early in my trip here I was trying to get involved with the HRA and I sent an email to the chairman following up on a meeting we had had and asking if he had any further thoughts on what I could do. I never heard back from him. When we went to talk with him a couple weeks later he said that he had received my email but was waiting to get back to me until they had my office set. Funny, I wasn't aware of having agreed to do anything yet and certainly not sit in an office.

Anyway, enough ranting. I have packing to do and a few last minute errands to run. And then my 23hr and 55minute flight from Singapore to JFK.