Gold Hill, New Mexico

Before we left Carlsbad the week prior I thought that I would bag Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in New Mexico. However, two considerations made Gold Hill the better destination. The first concern I had was the thunderstorms, it had rained every afternoon for 3 or 4 days and the forecast called for more. The second and more important issue was that I needed to get back to celebrate my 2nd Anniversary with Alina.

Gold Hill is one of the highest summits in northern New Mexico. Since the peak is separated by several miles from any other peak, it commands tremendous views of the northern New Mexico. They say the peak provides views almost as spectacular as Wheeler Peak, but has far fewer people. This was true for me, the first person I saw on the trail was on my descent after having summited.

The trail head elevation is 9,390 feet and the summit is 12,711 feet, so the total elevation gain is 3,321 feet, 11 miless round trip.

Mt. San Jacinto

Hakomaki & I did a 4 day 3 night backpacking trip in the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. We started at the top of the Palm Springs Tram, spent the first night in Tamarack Valley and the second and third nights in Little Round Valley. I went up to it the peak 3 times. On Saturday the peak was a zoo (30+ people) and the visibility was poor. On Sunday morning I enjoyed the view from the peak at dawn, alone. On Monday Hako & I summitted again as it was much clearer than days prior and there was no one around. Total trip distance was about 19 miles and roughly 4,500 feet of elevation gain.

Joshua Tree - Boy Scout Trail

Nov. 8th 2008 was a beautiful day to tick-off one of the "50 best trail runs in Southern CA". It was a long one, 16.4 miles completed in 4.5 hours. A good portion of the trail is not runnable in my opinion, so I may have walked as much as I jogged. Click on the picture above to view photos.

The Boy Scout Trail spans an 8 mile transition zone between the high Mojave and low Mojave Desert, showcasing an extraordinary range of plants, cacti, trees and terrain along its path. The southern portion travels through an archetypal Joshua Tree forest, then edges higher into the lower reaches of a pinyon-juniper ecosystem. Moving north, the trail drops sharply into a rugged canyon, emerging in a broad plateau that hosts a variety of plants and succulents from the low Mojave and Colorado deserts.

How to post a Picasa album link in Blogger

If you'd like to create a post with an album link like the one you see in the post prior to this one, here are the instructions...

After you've opened a new post in your Blogger account, select the "Edit Html" tab, which should have opened by default. Then in another browser tab navigate to your Picasa photo album page, e.g. http://picasaweb.google.com/hookcraig/MtBadenPowell. Select "Link to this Album" on the left-hand side (see below) and copy the second field down (Paste HTML..) into your Blogger "Edit HTML" tab.

The copied HTML includes table formatting that we don't want and the easiest way to remove it is in the "Compose" tab rather than dealing with the HTML code. In the "Compose" tab, select the photo and drag it below the black boarder and album title and place it there at the bottom. Then move your mouse between the remaining lower black border and the album title. The mouse cursor will display a 4-way arrow in the proper position, right mouse click and select delete to remove the table and title. This procedure does not work using the FireFox browser, so use Internet Explorer if at all possible. Now the photo which links to your Picasa album can be positioned (left, right & center) using the toolbar at the top of the "Compose" tab.

The last modification I make to the photo album link requires a change to the HTML code. This change causes the photo album to open in a new tab or window. Select the "Edit Html" tab, locate the text img style and insert target="_blank" directly before the preceeding ><.

That's it, just add text above or below the photo link in the Compose Tab and you're done.

Mount Baden-Powell

On August 3rd 2008, I woke up at 4:30AM in Hesperia, CA. I didn't plan to get up so early, but that's when my Dad wakes up so he can get the good deals at the swap-meet. Mine was the 2nd vehicle in the Mount Baden-Powell trail head parking lot. At 6:10AM and 6,500 feet elevation, I hit the trail. It took about 2 hours to gain 2,800 feet and I was very pleased to find nobody on the summit. After an hour and change of solitude I made my way back down. My timing was fortunate because there was a stream of hikers coming up the hill, I passed about 50 people in all (mostly Korean, by the way). By jogging part of the way down, I made some good time and was out of the parking lot at 10:30AM. It was hot on the side of that mountain, there was precious little breeze, but the view and cool wind at the top made it well worth the effort. Someday I hope repeat this hike on a clear day. Click photo below to view album.

Think twice about 4th class routes

This post is written as a reality check for climbers that are not experienced mountaineers.

Last summer myself and 3 others attempted to climb Thunderbolt Peak, one of California's fourteeners. Our route would be using the Underhill Couloir (right-hand). This peak along with several other fourteeners are located in the John Muir Wilderness above the Palisade Glacier. I could go on about how much work the approach to route was, but I won't. Suffice it to say, you'd better be in excellent physical condition.
After reading several on-line trip reports and Peter Croft's "The Good, the Great, and the Awesome", I felt up to the task. I'd climbed for over 4 years, several times a week in the gym and at least 30 times outside. Much of this climbing, both indoor and out, was on lead. I'm in excellent health, I'd run a 1:25 half marathon 6 months prior. Unfortunately, my climbing experience and stellar cardiovascular condition were of little consequence.

click for photos

In my preperation for the trip, I had focused on the 5th class technical climbing (5.5 to 5.6), which was below the level of what I had lead many times outside. What actually got to me, was all the class 4 climbing. It's not the technical aspect of 4th class, it's the mental. It's not having a rope tied into my harness, or having a single piece of pro in place in case I lost my footing. On this route we did a lot of 4th class climbing, hundreds of feet above the glacier. If I had slipped or a loose rock had given way, there could have been serious consequences.

We left camp at the base of the glacier around 6:30AM and did not reach the notch above the Underhill Coloir until noon. At this rate, there was little chance we could summit T-Bolt and make it down to the glacier before dark. There's just too much 4th class involved that if you can't cover it quickly, you're simply not going to have enough daylight. So after an hour of taking in the beautiful view to the west, we swallowed our pride and headed back down the couloir.

I'd like to add that the "traverse" from the notch we gained up to Starlight is far from trivial, something I would not even begin to attempt without a rope. But I'm no Peter Croft nor am I in the league as the other folks who have posted similar trip reports on-line.

Windows Mobile Contacts w/o Outlook

If you have a Windows Mobile phone and do not own Outlook, here's an easy way to import contacts..

1.) Export contacts to .csv file from your email program
2.) Import .csv contact file into Outlook Express or Windows Mail (Vista) (assuming you use Windows OS)
3.) From Outlook Express or Windows Mail export contacts to vcard (.vcf)
4.) Copy vcards to phone using ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center
5.) Browse to vcard using phone's File Manager, select and save
6.) Repeat step 5

I understand this is a low tech solution but it requires no additional software and saves time if all you want to do is populate your contact list.