Cannell Plunge

Friday morning I walked around Kernville looking to see if I could find some fellow riders who were planning a ride that day.  Walking out the front door of Mountain River Adventures I came across Ryan, Seth and Paige looking like they were getting ready for a ride.  As they say, if you don’t ask the answer is ‘no’ so I approached them and asked if they were going for a ride, and if I could join them.  It turned out, they were trying to figure out logistics on how to get to the top of Sherman Pass with three bikes and two cars that could only carry two bikes each.  I said “I have a truck! If you can give me a ride to it after the ride I can put everyone in the truck.”  And a deal was struck.  I rushed back to the campsite to get my bike and gear.

On the way up to the top of the pass I got to know the gang a bit better.  Seth and Paige were out on vacation from Colorado visiting their daughter in San Diego.  And Ryan is from Lancaster.  It turns out Ryan is an adventure monster.  For fun the guy rides a bicycle from Lancaster to Santa Monica.  At this point I started to think “Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.”  Paige fortunately informed me that her and Seth were not quite so extreme.

Our ride started at the summit of Sherman Pass at 9200 feet.  The air up that high is pretty thin and I was feeling it on the climbs.  The first 18 miles or so was a bunch of up and down.  Through the forest, meadows and a little bit of fire road.  Its a generally well maintained trail but sandy, kind of like this kitty litter sand.  Going down, not much of a problem.  Its a little squirrely but you get used to it.  But on the flats and climbs it was pretty tiring.  Not all of the trail is like this, but there was a fair amount of it.  We only ran into three other people on the trail.  It was a small group of three guys attempting the same ride we were on.  I didn’t have good hopes for them as one was without a helmet, and another was saying he was toast, just an eighth of the way into the ride.  Not good!

Along the ride we got to see some really neat stuff.  You’ll have to take a look at the pictures to get an idea of it all.  Highlights (and lowlights) were the Cow Poop Swamp, Big Climbing Rock, Lord Seth’s Throne, Sandrock Pile and the Plunge itself of course!  The top part of the ride is in the woods and meadows.  Very green and lush.  Stream crossings every once and a while along with some rocky technical sections.

Once we hit the top of the Cannell Plunge we do a 7000 foot descent in 9 miles.  At two points there are climbs which are very technical and steep.  The second climb I couldn’t even ride it was so steep.  This is what Ryan called “Up-Plunging”  I preferred the term “Suck.”  It is a pretty awesome ride if you are in great shape and like a challenge.  The riding varies significantly and you get to apply your skills and fitness level to the test.   We finished off the day with a BBQ and watching the fire come down the mountain on the southside of the lake.

If you’re in the area, go for the ride.  I recommend taking munchies and plenty of water.  And be physically prepared.

cannell21

For more pictures of the ride: Cannell Trail Photo Album

Tubing and Rafting the Kern River

On Saturday we did some tubing and rafting.  From my prior experience at the Kern River I discovered that tubing and I don’t get along.  Seriously, this is one of the most idiotic things a person can do.  You sit in a tube, which has no directional control other than your futile paddling.  Most people wear no life jacket (myself included) nor a helmet.  You ‘flow’ down a rapid moving river over rocks and logs.  And hope you don’t get tossed.  Everytime I’ve done this, I’ve been tossed.  This time I was cruising down the river trying to avoid the first eddie and I ended up right in it.  There I was, stuck, and trying to figure out how to get unstuck.  I paddle some, try to bounce, and finally I get dislodged and tossed over a rock off of the tube.  Now, I’m being pulled downstream rapidly over rocks and branches trying to figure out how to get back onto the tube before I drown.  At some point, I thought it would be a good idea to try to stop myself with my feet on the rocks.  Bad idea.  I ended up smashing my left big and second toes.  Finally I got to the calmer area with Ted and Danny there and I said “This is just f%$#ing retarded” and stormed out of the river.  I had thought I broke my toe but it just turned out to be jammed badly and the nails were torn off their beds.

Rafting however went much better!  I had be kayaking on the Kern before and enjoyed it alot.  Even though I had be tossed on that trip too.  But, you at least have a paddle and some far fetched notion you are in control. (HAHA!)  This time, I decided to do the raft with the rest of the gang.  Six people + the guide can ride in the raft.  We had eight, so Carmen and Jerry took the inflatable kayak (IK) while the rest of us piled into the raft.  The most important thing they say to do is keep your hand on the T-handle on the paddle.  Apparently having one of those swing around can be very bad and give you summer teeth. (Summer in your mouth, summer in the raft, summer in the water).

They start you out by teaching you how to work together, for about 60 seconds.  Then they just go for it.  For the most part, if you do what he says, and do it together you’re good to go.  Paddle forward three means everyone paddle forward three times.  Paddle back four means paddle backwards four times.  Or, if they just say paddle forward you keep paddling until he says stop.  Along with following the front left persons pace, and some other tips you’re pretty much ready to go down the river.  Until you hit the first rapids.

The first rapids was an entertaining experience.  Jerry and Carmen were ahead of us in the IK.  The guide yelled to them “Follow the other kayak in front of you down!”  The look on Jerry’s face was priceless.  It was the look of “Are you f$%#ing kidding me?!”  They did as told and bounced through the first rapids and pretyt much aced it.  Then, it was our turn… Dan was front left, I was front right.  Behind us were the two boys, Jimmy and NJ.  Then Rob and Norma were in the back.  The first rapids we dipped hard forward and it basically turned into Dan and I paddling with screaming kids on our back and everyone all over the place.  We probably got spun around two to three times as we were pretty much flailing all over the place.  The guide is yelling “Paddle forward!!!! Paddle backward!!!!” Pretty hilarious actually.  After that, it was much easier.  There were a few more rapids but pretty mellow compaired to the first one.  We mastered the “splash your neighbor” skills as well as paddling in unison.

Giant Sequoias

On Sunday we took a short road trip up to see the giant sequoias.  I can’t even explain their magnificence and just encourage you to take a look at the photo album.

You can find more pictures of the forest in the Photo Album

As I mentioned earlier I had brought my trailer.  I wanted to bring it because it has a real bed, a shower, power, a fridge, and some other nice things.  Unfortunately everytime I’ve taken this trailer out I’ve had problems with it.  I’ve reached a point that I just plain done with it.  I bought it for two reasons.  1. Dirt biking in the desert and 2. Alison.  Well, I don’t have dirt bikes anymore and I don’t have Alison.  I can’t see any reason to continue to drop money into it anymore.  This last weekend both the generator failed to work and the fridge died.  These are things that have happened before and cost me a fair sized chunk of money.  Currently its in the shop and its already cost me $350 just to see what’s wrong with.  That’s not even including the cost it will be to fix it.  Like I said, done.  I’m going to get it working and get it sold.

Not to end on a negative note.  I had a good weekend even if I was a little baked from the sun.  At some point Sunday afternoon I decided I was just done with 95 degrees plus temperatures, dust, and the relentless Sun.  With smile and fond farewells we packed up and hit the road to go home.  It only took us five hours to get back home opposed to the six plus it took to get up.  I attribute it to driving ‘down’ the map.

Good weekend, fun adventures, and loving family members.  Love you guys!

Photo Albums:

Mountain Biking Cannell Trail
Giant Sequoias
Danny’s Photos (He has alot)

Currently I’m reading a book on Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Its interesting so far. I’ve got a stack of books at my house to go through over the next few months. But in general I want to take the time now when I am still fairly young and generally able to see what I can. Wish me luck!

The thoughts of a wanderer…

An interesting part of me that some people either; recognize and understand, recognize and don’t understand, don’t recognize and understand (oddly enough), or are completely oblivious. Is, that I’m never happy ‘here’ and I’m always looking to go ‘there’. Sometimes ‘there’ is a place, a time, or a being. But regardless, its never ‘here’. The problem with going ‘there’ is that once I’m there, its then ‘here’ and I feel the urge to find another ‘there’ shortly after arriving at ‘here’. I don’t think I’d be where I am today if this wasn’t a part of who I am. I’d probably be back at some old ‘here’ landing where ever my decisions and life put me. But, instead I followed the path of ‘there’.

For some friends this behavior is completely incomprehensible. It causes confusion and misunderstanding for which I deeply apologize to them. For others, they get it, or know that its not important that I’m not content with staying ‘here’ with them and that at some point our ‘theres’ will intersect and all will be good again. Sometimes when I’m on a journey I don’t think to let people know where I am. If that makes me inconsiderate, then I apologize. Its nothing personal, its just who I am. I accept my friends for who they are, I can only hope they all do the same for me.

But back to the topic of ‘here’ and ‘there’. It is very unlikely that I will ever be happy just being ‘here’, and I’ll be happiest going ‘there’. It doesn’t mean I’ll be happy when ‘there’ becomes ‘here’, but that I’ll be happy making the journey. Whether that journey is physical, intellectual, spiritual, or emotional. For me its the journey, its the new experience. It probably explains the issues with my relationships, because at some point I was ‘here’ too long and I couldn’t figure out how to get both of us ‘there’. Or, perhaps our ‘theres’ were not the same, thus our paths diverted. There is nothing wrong with that but unfortunately it leads to more misunderstanding and unhappiness of most parties involved.

So, my parting thoughts. If I am ‘here’ with you enjoy the time. And if you go ‘there’ with me enjoy the journey. And, if you stay in the ‘here’ do not fret for I shall always be your friend. Its just time for me to move on to the next ‘there’, and know that at some point our future ‘theres’ will cross, and we will be ‘here’ together again my friend.

I was talking to Diane the other day, who was trying to help me with the colors on my site. And, I explained that I’m red/green colorblind. The world I see is not the same as 91% of the rest of the world. Oddly enough, there are three people at work including me with the same colorblindness, and one of them is on my team. So we totally understand each other. Its funny how much this affects everyday life really. Websites don’t look the same, stoplights turned sideways can be confusing (Simon found that out in Calgary, haha), video games using red and green to indicate friend or foe. So, I thought I’d share some of my world with all of you. So, take a look at some of the cool stuff here!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness

I’m classified as Deuteranomaly.

Having a mutated form of the medium-wavelength pigment. The medium-wavelength pigment is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum resulting in a reduction in sensitivity to the green area of the spectrum. Unlike protanomaly the intensity of colors is unchanged. This is the most common form of color blindness, making up about 6% of the male population. The deuteranomalous person is considered “green weak”. For example, in the evening, dark green cars appear to be black to Deuteranomalous people. Similar to the protanomates, deuteranomates are poor at discriminating small differences in hues in the red, orange, yellow, green region of the spectrum. They make errors in the naming of hues in this region because the hues appear somewhat shifted towards red. One very important difference between deuteranomalous individuals and protanomalous individuals is deuteranomalous individuals do not have the loss of “brightness” problem.

(Wikipidea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness)

This site has a cool little tool that you can change how the picture looks.
http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html
If you rollover Deutan you’ll see how that picture generally looks to me.

This one is a tool that you can use to see the color pallet affect.
http://colorlab.wickline.org/colorblind/colorlab/

Stats:
8 days – 9/1/07-9/8/07
1743 Miles
Photo Album: Southwest Tour 07
The Route:

View Larger Map

Heading East – 9/1/07
I woke up around 3:30 AM with the intent to be on the road by 4 AM. I didn’t roll out of bed until 4:15, DOH! No worries, I had no real agenda heading up to Williams Arizona other than to be there before dark. My greatest desire was to beat the desert heat which was getting up to around 110 Fahrenheit. I hit the road around 4:30, double checking all my gear was strapped down, running through my checklist in my head. It was still dark, but warm so I didn’t have to bundle up. It was kind of nice being on the road that early, hardly a vehicle on the road, it was all MINE! My route took me through El Centro, Glamis (Which I had never been to before), Blythe, Prescott and then on to Williams. The ride was pretty uneventful, at one points I found I was Beyond Hope! Before going beyond Hope I stopped at the Kofa Cafe. Excellent breakfast! They made fresh squeezed OJ right in front of me. The road up into the mountains around Prescott is very nice. Twisty and a ton of fun. I passed several cruisers and notice a few ‘interesting’ parking jobs by sport bike jockeys. DOH! There was a big festival going on in Prescott and some Classic Porche club in town as well. I made it to Williams around 2:30, about 30 minutes after my parents. We were staying at some campground that was marginal, no table, no firepit, and hardly any level ground. We had great burgers, and crashed out pretty early. I had a 7 AM flight the next morning.

Off to the Wedding – 9/2/07-9/4/07
I flew up to Calgary early in the morning from Flagstaff via Phoenix. Met up with Simon (Kevin’s close friend) in Phoenix. We landed in Calgary and stood in the customs line for quite some time. We noticed that the secondary line was all asians, and I made a crack to Simon “Don’t get stuck in secondary!” (Simon is chinese). I clear customs, and I’m waiting on the other side and Simon comes through and says “Uh, I have to go to secondary.” I laughed pretty hard, and then proceeded to wait for about 2 hours for him to get through there. The drive to Canmore was pretty uneventful, its alot like Colorado up there. Flat, then all of a sudden MOUNTAINS! Sunday night we got fairly wrecked, some far more than others (*cough* Kevin & Yuri *cough*). The wedding itself was very informal and a really nice. The food for the whole weekend OUTSTANDING! I was really happy to be a part of their wedding and was honored to be invited.

To the Grand Canyon – 9/4/07
Flew out really early on Tuesday. Had to leave the B&B by 4:30 AM to make the 7:30 flight (What the hell was I thinking). Sat next to a guy who was heading home after a 16 day rafting trip down the Colorado River. Sounded like a great time, I’ll add that to my list of things to do. Simon and I went our own ways in Phoenix, and I got a message from Iris that she’s landed in Phoenix! We lucked out and got her on the same flight into Flagstaff, how awesome. We got back to Williams and Iris and I hopped on the bike and rode up to the Grand Canyon.

Off to see a big hole! 9/5/07
Iris wanted to go see the Meteor Crater about 35 miles east of Flagstaff. So off we went on the bike! On the way there we stopped at saw the White Buffalos! Basically, they were buffalo, but white. The goats they had there were more fun, and Iris tried to coax an alpaca to come over to her. The meteor crater is worth seeing, once. Its neat, its a big ass hole in the ground formed about 40,000 years ago when a meteor smashed into the earth. We took a few pictures, but the best part was hanging out with Iris and the ride itself. On the way back we stopped at one of the tourist traps so she could get some presents for the family. We spent the night hanging out with the family around the campsite.

Down the River – 9/6/07
Today we hopped in the cars and went up to Page AZ to take a smooth water raft ride from Glen Canyon Dam. It was a pretty laid back trip both fun and relaxing. The canyon walls are anywhere between 700 to 1400 feet high on each side. We got to stop and see some Petroglyphs left by the Anasazi. While on the beach we got the opportunity to go for a swim. I waded in up to my knees and within 30 seconds I couldn’t feel my feet. The water temperature was 47F. Fricken cold! Our tour guides were awesome and showed us a good time. I’d recommend the trip to anyone who wants to see the river from the bottom, rather than peering over the edge. Most of the area is surrounded by the Navajo Nation. On the way back we got see how most of them live. Its kind of sad actually…

Iris heads home and I hit the road – 9/7/07
Today we rushed to get Iris to the airport on time. We got here there late, but just in time for the flight crew to let her on the plane. Flagstaff Pulliam airport has a 30 minute cutoff before flight departure. We got there 20 minutes before departure. Fortunately, she had no checkin luggage so they let her on. Fond farewells were made with promises to see each other soon again. What most people know is Iris and I only found out about each other about a year and a half ago. She’s the daughter of my older brother whom I never got to know until I was an adult. Very awesome young woman and she’s got a bright future ahead of her. I had breakfast with Mom and Ted in Flagstaff, and then we all bought hammocks in the outdoor store down the street. I found a nice camping hammock with a mosquito net attached. I figured I’d use this for camping for the rest of the weekend since it was just me. My plan was to head up to Lake Powell and camp up there somewhere. After visiting a few camp spots, I changed my mind and aimed my front wheel at the Grand Canyon North Rim. Lake Powell is pretty desolate and offered no shade or cover. The ride over to the Grand Canyon was spectacular. Check out the photo album!

I arrived at the North Rim after dark. The 67 which leads into the area is a nice ride, but at night there are herds of deer roaming around near the road. I took my time making my way through here hoping the whole time that I don’t hit a cow or deer on the way down. By the time I got to the park, it was around 7:30 and was really dark. To top that, the campsites and lodge rooms were all taken. So, my options are ride north 60 miles to Fredonia, camp outside the park in the national forest, or mooch a spot from another camper. I figured I was here so let the mooching begin! My first thought, find other motorcyclists. I wandered around for a bit with no avail and then asked another camper “Hey there, have you seen any other motorcyclists around?” He pointed towards the other side of the camp area and said “Yeah, there are three guys over there somewhere.” I thanked him and wandered off to find them. Sure enough, there were three guys all around a campfire. I approached them and asked if I could share their site being a fellow rider. They were tentative until they found out I was also from San Diego, all three of them were from SD as well! I setup the hammock, and we all hung out at the fire until it burned out. The ANT Squad were pretty cool. I named them that as their names were Adam, Nick, and Tyler. It helped me remember their names, haha. That night, I woke up freezing about an hour after I went to sleep. Fortunately I had the sleeping bag Iris used and I laid that out underneath me which made a big improvement. Then about 2 AM there was a huge crashing sounds. Scared the hell out of all of us. We looked around in the dark, couldn’t figure out what it was so went back to sleep. Turns out a tree had fallen on a car in the site across the road from us. The trunk fell to the side of the car but the branches broke their sun roof, and scratched the side of the car up.

On to Zion and Home – 9/8/07
I packed up camp, said farewell to the ANT Squad, and snapped a few pictures of the north side of the Grand Canyon before hitting the road. I decided that morning to head to Zion, then head on home from there. This time of year the desert is just too hot to roam around on the bike for extended periods. I made my way north through some high desert. Not much to really report other than the hills and the dirt were very red. There were also sections of asphalt there were blood red. I’m assuming because of the local rock they use in making the road. Kinda neat and interesting. Very nice ride through there, took some pictures which you can see below. The rest of the ride, was just a test of endurance at this point. I shot over to I-15 and bombed on home towards San Diego. The day totaled out at 608 miles. I got home around 9 PM to a welcome party (Thank you Gregg, Amanda & Alison)

Now I’m off dreaming of the next adventure!

From Tombstone: Wyatt: All I ever wanted was to live a normal life. Doc: When will you wake up? You wouldn’t know a normal life if it bit you in the ass. Wyatt: That’s great coming from you. Doc: I played the cards I was dealt, Wyatt. Your problem is you’re always trying to play someone else’s. Allow me to tell you the truth and thus set you free: There is no happiness, Wyatt there is no normal life. There’s only life, that’s all. Just life. The rest is relative. Wyatt: Then what do I do? Doc: First you can grab that black-haired woman and make her your own. Wyatt: All right. Then what? Doc: Run. Take that girl and start running. Run and don’t look back. All your life you been running and looking back and just barely existing and calling it getting by. This time run and don’t look back and call it living. Live every second, live it right up to the hilt. Live, Wyatt – Live for me.

See you all again in 10 days!

But, the other day my niece Iris called and when I answered the phone she said “Uncle Jason?”

I have to admit, I’ve never been called Uncle before, and it was kind of a surprising but good feeling experience. We spent a while talking catching up on life. Turns out we have a lot in common. She rides motorcycles, likes things with engines. And is considering joining the Army. Pretty cool…