El Remaro's Log

2010-06-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

Friday 4 June 2010
Scott Haggerty of Port Townsend, Washington drew a permit for the Selway this year, and invited me to join his trip. I was not comfortable with my ability to row the Selway alone, and invited Jiro Yamamoto, an experienced class IV raft guide to join me. We were to launch on Sunday 6 June, but on Wednesday 2 June the flow on the Selway was rising rapidly, and we began to consider our alternatives. The level at put in was 3.5 feet on the gauge the previous weekend, an excellent flow. .By Tuesday The flow was up to 4.2.feet, and Wednesday it was 4.9.feet. The forecast was for increased flow for the next week. Rain showers and 60-70ºF temperatures during the day were expected to melt lots of snow and add to the already high flow. Night time temperatures were expected to be in the mid to high 30s. By Friday we had firmed up our plans to abandon our Selway trip in favor of an Owyhee trip.

Saturday 5 June 2005. Jiro Yamamoto arrived at my house in Vacaville, California shortly before 0800. We wasted little time transferring his gear from his van to my 1961 Jeep Cherokee sport with 260,000 miles on it and heading up highway 80 to Rome, Oregon.. We stopped for gas in Sparks, Nevada, and again at a rest stop just west of Winnemucca, Nevada. Jiro took over the driving responsibility, and drove the rest of the way to Rome, Oregon. It was a beautiful drive. It was cloudy most of the way, but the visibility was good, and Nevada was very green due to the abundant late rain the entire west coast has had this year. We found the rest of our group at the put-in campground on the right bank of the Owyhee just east of Rome. We introduced ourselves to Scott, Jen, Marc, and Joe. I had paddled with Scott on the Rogue and Deschutes last year, but had never met the others before, and all of us were strangers to Jiro. Scott introduced us to Eire. Eire was waiting for some friends to join him for a trip down the Owyhee, but they had not shown us, and he asked if he could join us. We all agreed. Eire had spent much of the winter researching the Owyhee, and was well versed in the geology and history of the area. He had also built a dory of cedar. We rigged the rafts on the launch ramp, and made camp on the bank. Several other groups were there too. One launched about 1800, and planned to make camp a short way down stream. Another was rigging their rafts on the ramp along side our three rafts. I tied the boats to my Jeep before making camp. I put up my tent due to the threat of rain, and we snacked on finger foods for supper, and tasted Joe’s selection of scotches.

Sunday 6 June 2010
I awoke at 0400 PDT to a chorus of birds including quail, chuckar, pheasants, ducks, kill deer, robins, nighthawks, and a wide variety of perching birds. It is still warm. I did not pull my sleeping bag over me until about 0100. Eire was up by 0500 PDT making coffee over a wood fire. I packed my sleeping gear and walked down to the boats. The water level had risen very little over night, and the boats were secure. My Jeep was still out of the water. We had about 1700 cfs, a very adequate flow, but we were hoping it did not drop. The sunrise was beautiful. The rest of the crew got up about 0600 PDT. Jen made oatmeal with raisins and almonds and served with fresh oranges and grapefruit. We took our time breaking camp and loading the boats. Ken Haylett, our shuttle driver, arrived about 0900 MDT. One of his shuttle drivers was upset that none of the vehicles were ready to go, and the delay was causing him to miss a NASCAR race he wanted to watch on television. We launched and were headed down river about 1040 MDT. Scott rowed his cataraft, Marc his large 18’, raft, and I my 13.5’ raft. Jen, Jiro, and Joe were in kayaks. The first 5 miles of river were very flat, the river meandering through farm land. We stopped for lunch at 1200 MDT on a sand bar on river left, and were back on the river by 1300. Shortly after lunch we entered a deep canyon and ran several interesting class II rapids with some surf waves. Eire found some rocks on the right at Bull’s Eye. We stopped at a sandy beach on the right bank at 1430. We drank a beer while setting up the kitchen, our tents and my gravity filter. The muddy Owyhee water soon clogged the ceramic filter which filters only about a liter every 20 or 30 minutes under the best of conditions, so we abandoned trying to use it until we found some clear water in a side creek. Several of us went for a hike up the lava slope behind camp. We saw lots of wildflowers, a cottontail rabbit, and deer and elk sign. Scott and Jen barbecued salmon and served it with wild rice with lots of vegetables in it. I washed dishes and broke out my port and chocolate. I was asleep well before dark.

Monday 7 June, 2010
I slept soundly until 0615. Cody and Smokey were already quarreling, and Eire was trying to quiet them. I quickly packed my gear before breakfast I drank coffee and wrote some in my journal while Jen and Scott scrambled eggs with vegetables and cooked sausage. We launched at 1040 MDT, and stopped for lunch at 1215. We went for a short hike through the eroded volcanic landscape, and were on the river again by 1300. We made camp at 1500 just downstream from an unnamed hot spring on the left bank. There is a very wide surf wave next to the hot spring. After setting up the kitchen, groover, and wash station, we sat down with a beer and reviewed the guide books Scott had brought along. I carried Joe’s RPM up to the wave thinking I would surf a bit, but got into the hot spring for a soak before beginning supper. The water was quite hot, so I didn’t stay in it for long. I went for a swim in the river to wash off the hot spring algae before putting my clothes back on, and hiking back to camp through a field of mariposa lilies. Jiro and I lit some briquettes in the fire pan thinking we would cook two tri tip roasts and some vegetables on the coals. It was quite windy and we couldn’t get anything hot enough to cook on the coals. Marc saved us by recommending that we stur fry the vegetables (broccoli, sweet pepers, zucchini, onions, garlic, and cauliflower) on the stove, and put the tri tip roasts in the Dutch oven. Using those techniques we soon had supper ready to eat. We quickly washed dishes and hiked to a nearby ridge to the west where we watched the sun set and looked at trails people have used for millennia to cross the Owyhee canyon. I was asleep by 2200. The only star out was Venus. Since the sky was clear, I didn’t put my tent up this evening. I slept under the stars on my tarp.

Tuesday 8 June 2010
I woke up at 0300. I saw the big dipper, little dipper, the dragon, Arcturus, Cassiopia, Cephus, Cygnus, Lyra, Aguila, and scorpio. The sky was light in the east and the moon rose over the eastern rim of the Owyhee River valley about 0400 just before sunrise. I went back to sleep at 0430 and slept until almost 0700. The clear sky allowed the heat to radiate to the sky and the temperature to drop well below the dew point. My tarp and sleeping bag was very wet. I left it out to dry in the sun before packing it. I made some very strong coffee, and Jiro made oatmeal with chucks of apples, raisins, and almonds. We took our time loading the rafts, and started down river about 1100. I paddled Joe’s purple RPM Max today, and Jiro rowed my raft. I caught some good surf waves. There was one large glassy wave I was able to get back to a couple of times. We skipped lunch, and took a long hike through a badlands like landscape to a dome of bare rock from which we had great views of the surrounding landscape, and the river. We caught up with Eire at Whistling Bird rapid. He had thought we were ahead of him and had been rowing like mad to catch up with the rest of us. He rowed so hard he tore the oar locks out of the cedar. Marc helped Eire make a makeshift repair and we scouted Whistling Bird before heading downstream. Whistling Bird rapid was created when a large slab of rock broke off the cliff on the right side of the river and slid into the river still leaning against the right cliff. The main current piles directly into the rock with some water going both sides of the rock, but most to the left. It looks like it would be very bad for anyone going right of the rock. The kayakers went first. I eddy hopped behind the rocks on river left staying far away from the center of the current. Jen went almost directly into the center rock, but was pushed left off the pillow. Joe was rowing Scott’s cataraft, and he got a very good look at the rock and pillow of water just upstream of it. Eire’s dory seemed to want to go left in spite of the fact that he could not row hard without pulling the oar locks off his boat. We made camp on river left a short distance below Whistling Bird. I set up the groover near a dry creek just downstream of our camp, and decided to sleep under the stars again. We visited and drank Mike’s Lemonaid with my El Patron Añejo tequila. Toley lightly grabbed my hand in her mouth as I passed her. It scared me and I slapped her in the face. Jen gave me some treats to feed Toley, and Eire gave me some meat. I fed her, but she was not convinced that I was a good guy and continued to growl at me from time to time for the rest of the trip, and at other times came to me to let me pet her. It was a confusing mixture of behaviors. We had jambalaya with beans and rice and all kinds of vegetables for supper. The wind was at our back the first day on the river, but has been in our face much of the time since then. It was sunny most of the day today, but the cloud cover increased late in the day to nearly 100% by 1900. The water is warm, probably in the mid 60s F, and the air temperature is warm as well, probably in the 80sF. We are wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts in camp in spite of the wind. I wear a fleece vest or a second shirt in the mornings. My legs got a bit too much sun the first day rowing, so I have been wearing long pants except when in the kayak. We went for a short hike up a butte after supper, and sipped whiskey and El Patron Añejo tequila while visiting after returning from our hike. Scott and Jen played cribbage.

Wednesday 9 June 2010
I woke up at 0500, packed, made coffee, better than yesterday’s, and took pictures of myself before sunrise. Just before 0700 Marc added some eggs to the left over jambalaya, and served it with sausage, apples, grapefruit and oranges for breakfast. We were on the river by 0930. Marc, Scott, and I rowed rafts today, and Jen Joe, and Jiro paddled kayaks. We went through a beautiful volcanic gorge with some very nice rapids this morning. Jen swam after lunch, and we passed some cabins and another hot spring early in the afternoon. I got behind and while trying to catch up rowed my raft hard upon a wash rock. I was able to free it in a few minutes by using an oar as a pole and rocking the raft. We filled our water containers at a clear creek below a waterfall, and filtered it later in camp. We hung the gravity filter from a tripod of oars, and it worked well. All but Marc went for an extensive three hour hike to an arch, cave and the ridge behind camp. Eire was in the lead most of the way with Scott close behind. I ran sweep, and fell out of sight behind the rest when I stopped to pee and take pictures of wildflowers. I continued up a drainage while the others climbed down a steep volcanic talus slope. I caused them a great deal of concern when they could not find me. I eventually came into view as I came out from behind a hill that was between us. We were able to work our way down a drainage and back to camp. Marc had cooked another of his great Dutch oven meals, this time an enchilada pie with carrots and broccoli. I helped Joe and Jiro with the dishes, and then wrote and sipped tequila.

Thursday 10 June 2010
I woke up at 0400. It was beginning to drizzle. I thought that it wouldn’t really rain and decided to not get up to put up my tent or even pull a tarp over me. Then I noticed that Jiro and Eiro were putting up their tents so I decided to do the same. I had the tent up and was in it by 0415. It started to really rain about 0435. At 0500 I thought I heard someone start the stove, so I packed my sleeping bag and pad, got up, and found that Scott and Jen had rigged a tarp over the kitchen table and ice chest and were sleeping under the tarp with Toley. Scott told me to go ahead and make coffee, so I put water on to boil for coffee and oatmeal about 0545. Everyone was up by 0630 and we were on the river by 0800. It continued raining off and on most of the day with some thunder. There were no rapids to speak of and we rowed hard all day. We stopped at some hot springs shortly after getting to Owyhee Reservoir. It was the most developed hot spring on the river. There was a pool made of concrete and rockwith a valve to control water flowing into the pool and a drain plug so the pool is always clean and free of the blue green algae usually associated with hot springs. The water at the spring is scalding, but the pool is about 20 m down stream of the spring so the temperature at the pool is about 105ºF. There is a beautiful view of the river upstream. A fellow from Truckee joined us for a while. After a short soak in the pool I rowed shirtless until a thunderstorm overtook us and the air temperature dropped about 20ºF. Then I put on a Capilene shirt, a Smartwool shirt, my dry top and rain pants. We got to Leslie Gulch take-out about 1430 and had the rafts derigged, loaded on our vehicles and were in camp by 1700. Joe and I hauled Eire’s gear to camp. The campground has covered picnic tables, clean pit toilets, garbage pickup, beautiful views, and is free. There is no water. We put up tents between thunder showers. Marc, Scott, and Jen started cooking another one pot meal in Marc’s Dutch oven. While Joe drove to Jordan Valley to make a phone call. He left the back door to his truck open and lost some gear, but some people brought it to camp looking for the owner. I think Joe recovered all the gear that fell out of his truck. After supper Marc made apple crisp in his Dutch oven.

Friday 11 June 2010
I woke up at 0400. The sky was full of stars. The clouds were all gone, but it was cold and dew covered everything. I went back to sleep until 0630. Scott, Jen, and Eire were all up. Scott and I made coffee with water from my water bottles. Jiro and Marc made oatmeal. After breakfast we loaded up our gear and were headed up Leslie Gulch by 1000. We tentatively agreed to plan a self supported kayak trip on one of the upper runs on the Owyhee River next year. Jiro and I got fuel in Jordan Valley, and stopped at Rome about 1130 for a huckleberry ice cream cone. I drove to Winnemucca where we took on more fuel. We stopped again at the Thunder Mountain Monument near Imlay, Nevada. It is a very interesting place worth a visit if you happen to be traveling I 80 through Nevada. We had a great supper at the Isan Thai restaurant in Sparks, Nevada, and arrived at my house in Vacaville about 2230. Jiro spent the night and had breakfast at my house before driving home Saturday morning. I have posted more photos of this whitewater expedition down the lower Owyhee River from Rome to Leslie Gulch at Picasa.

Saturday 12 June 2010
I check the Owyhee flows after I got home and found that the flow increased from 1700 cfs to 2100 cfs just hours after we put-on at Rome. and were within 100 cfs of 2000 cfs for most of of our trip. The flow dropped back to 1600 cfs the last day when we had to row across flat water to the take-out at Leslie Gulch.

2010-05-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

We have had a very cool, damp spring here in Vacaville. Daytime temperatures are still in the low 70s Fahrenheit (22ºC), and in the high 40s (8ºC) in the early morning. I tried to till my daughter, Elaine's, back yard in mid April, but it was too wet. The soil is a heavy clay, and it is hard to catch it at the right moisture content for tilling. I didn't get the garden planted until 8 May; a month later than usual. Corn, beans, cucumbers, melons. squash basil, and cilantro came up thick last week. We will have to thin the corn soon. The okra seed didn't germinate, and some of the tomato plants look like they may die because we over watered them. I will probably have to replace at least two of them. I don't expect to have sweet corn to eat until late July.

2010-05-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday 15 May 2010
Bruce T, Bruce H, Kim Fondrk, Paul E and I paddled our kayaks from the Yankee Jim Road bridge over the north fork of the American River to the Ponderosa Road bridge. The shuttle was almost as exciting as the paddle. Bright and extensive displays of wildflowers were continuously in view from Ponderosa Road. There were fewer but different wildflowers along Yankee Jim Road. I was particularly impressed by the display of Indian Pink on the uphill side of Yankee Jim Road near where the pavement ends. The flow of 1700 cfs created some great surfing spots. Both Kim and I caught the wave at surf city and rode it for as long as we wanted. We found several other good surfing spots, and I was able to get a great stern squirt toward the end of the run.I have posted more photos of kayaking Shirttail Canyon run on the NF American River at Picasa, and you can read more about the day at whitewater kayaking on the Shirttail run North Fork American River .

2010-05-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday 2 May 2010
I had an omelet and hash browns while visiting with two local fellows at the Griddle before heading home at 0800. I stopped to take a few photos just west of Winnemucca, got fuel in Fernley, and stopped in Reno to look for a pair of hiking boots. I stayed for a class on ultra light backpacking at the Sierra Trading Post outlet, and bought a backpack weighing less than 1 Kg. I drove straight home from Reno and arrived home by 1800. You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday 1 May 2010

I made potato pancakes with the mashed potatoes left over from supper. I added garlic powder and onion salt. Harold fried 4 slices of his favorite thick sliced bacon. I fried my potato pancakes in the bacon grease. I thanked Harold and Helen for their hospitality and bid them farewell and about 0800. I took some photos at the Bonneville Salt Flats, and got gasoline and coffee in Wendover, Nevada. I was getting sleepy, so I took a nap in Battle Mountain. I didn’t drive far before I felt sleepy again, so I got a room at the Pyrenees motel in Winnemucca. I had supper at the Winnemucca Hotel, a historic business where they serve Basque boarding house style meals. When I entered the hotel I noticed that the dining room was empty. There were three people sitting at a table in the bar and one person at the bar. I took a bar stool. Mike, the owner/bartender, said to me, “I hope you aren’t going to interrogate me.” Not being easily intimidated, I said “Yes, I do have a few questions; the first and most important being are you serving dinner tonight. He said, “Yes, seating begins at 6:15”, and looking at his watch said “That’s now.” I was followed into the dining room by everyone that had been in the bar. I joined two brothers and their mother for supper. They were on their way home to Nebraska after visiting relatives in Sacramento, California. After supper I visited with Mike until he closed the place. Mike is an interesting, if challenging, person to visit with.

2010-05-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Friday 30 April 2010.
There is a fresh cover of snow on everything this morning. It is about 2 inches thick. Harold got up and joined me in the kitchen while I was heating water for tea and oatmeal. He made me a bowl of 7 grain cereal sweetened with a very special honey. Many years ago Harold’s brother-in-law, Leo Eves, had given him a large container of dark honey from Newcastle, UT. Harold still had some left, and I used it to sweeten my 7 grain cereal. I knew Leo well as he and my cousin Virginia had visited my parents several times when I was a child in Selma, California, so the honey brought back many memories.

I arrived at Elizabeth’s house about 0845. She drove up a couple of minutes later. Her house is a red brick building that stands out among the mostly white houses of this Salt Lake City neighborhood. I showed her my ancestry.com web site. We added some information about her and her sisters. Her boyfriend wanted some information about his deceased sister, and I quickly found her birth, marriage, and death information. Elizabeth was very excited. I followed Elizabeth to the Family History Center where we worked until noon trying to identify the parents and siblings of my great grandmother, Joanna Petty Hardwick Teel. We had free access to numerous web sites and the help of experienced genealogists. Elizabeth left for work at noon. After lunch I returned for a couple of hours.

On the way back to Harold and Helen’s, I stopped at Cabela’s, a large outdoor equipment store and museum. Geese are flying over the entry; glass display cases usually reserved for merchandise contained mounted birds and mammals in dioramas of their native habitat. There is a large mountain in the middle of the store covered with mounted animals. There is a large room dedicated to North American wildlife, and another with large aquaria containing North American fishes. The store also has the largest display of firearms I have seen anywhere. It is worth a visit.

Harold and Helen had a supper of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green salad waiting for me when I returned at 1800. After supper Harold and I looked through a large album of family photos he had gotten from his sister Louise. Most of them I had not seen before. I urged him to have Elizabeth scan them and distribute them to all interested family members.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday. 29 April, 2010
I slept soundly until 0630, the first time in a bed since I left home last Sunday. I went outside to take pictures of the house and barn. The wind was still blowing hard, and a few flakes of snow were falling. I didn’t stay outside long because it was so cold. I put water on to boil, and Carolyn got up to offer to cook me breakfast, but I told her I had oatmeal to cook. After Jimmy, Ron, and Kay got up we took pictures and I headed for Salt Lake City.

I stopped at the auto parts store in Dove Creek to buy a splitter for my cigarette lighter so I could charge my GPS and listen to my ipod at the same time. The manager of the auto parts store was a very friendly fellow. He offered to help me open the plastic packaging. I accepted his offer, telling him I would avoid buying anything packaged in this manner if I had an option. He agreed that he too disliked it.

It started to snow seriously, so I called home and my cousin Harold Wilcox in Salt Lake City while I was in Dove Creek to discuss the weather and whether I would be able to get over the Sierra at Tahoe or would have to go south to Tehachapi. Harold said there was less snow in Salt Lake City than in Flagstaff, Arizona and recommended that I come through Salt Lake City. I told him I would try to get there that evening. I took some photos of the Abajo Mountains from somewhere between Dove Creek and Montecello.

I stopped at the Mountain View RV Park in Montecello to pay for the shower I took there yesterday, and took a few more photos of the snow covered landscape just north of Montecello. I drove north on 191 through some very scenic country, then west on I 50 and north on 191 again to Helper where I took a nap next to a display of mining equipment and got fuel. Helper is an interesting town; one that I could have spent a day in. It is the home of the Western Railroad and Mining Museum, and the historical buildings have been preserved so that the town looks much as it did a hundred years ago.

I arrived at Harold and Helen Wilcox’s home in Highland, UT before 1800. They had a supper of spaghetti and green salad waiting for me. Their daughter, Elizabeth, came by after supper. Elizabeth is a bubbly, high energy person with the best hug I have ever experienced. She offered to show me the Family History Center in Salt Lake City tomorrow. Harold and Helen have a large basement with bedroom, bath, large living room and wet bar. I helped Elizabeth make up the bed, and Harold got out an electric heater in case I got cold. I didn’t need it.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 28 April 2010

We had coffee in camp before driving into Blanding for breakfast. Bob headed home after breakfast, and I called Kay Garlinghouse. I told her I was in Blanding, and she enthusiastically invited me to come on over to Lewis, Colorado for a visit. I drove to Montecello, Utah. I stopped at the BLM visitor center to ask where I could get a shower. I fueled the Honda and stopped at the Mountain View RV Park for a shower before driving to Lewis, Colorado. I greeted my cousin Jimmy and his wife Kay before going next door to greet my Cousin Carolyn and her husband Ron. Ron and Carolyn had just arrived from their winter quarters in Arizona the day before. Carolyn had just taken some cinnamon rolls out of the oven and offered me one. I gleefully accepted. Ron soon joined us, and then Jimmy. A repairman was trying to get their telephone working. We visited most of the afternoon, discussed taking a ride on ATVs to see the 234 acre ranch, but the wind was blowing up a lot of dust, and it did not look like a good day for an ATV ride. Jimmy has irrigated pasture for his livestock in the summer, and grows 50 acres of alfalfa hay. He sells about half the hay and feeds the rest to his livestock in the winter. He has about 50 head of sheep, 50 head of Boer goats, 40 head of cattle, and his son Marc has half a dozen horses on the ranch. Marc’s daughter Hunter Jo joined us for supper in Dolores. She is 11, in 4 H with projects in goats and sewing. Her sewing projects went to the state fair last year. Kay had to go to work; she is the medical emergency coordinator at the Ute Mountain Casino. Marc is an EMT, and he got called out on an emergency. Jimmy and Kay’s daughter Monica is a respiratory therapist in Denver. After supper, Carolyn invited me to spend the night, and made up a bed in the spare bedroom for me.

2010-05-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 27 April 2010

I slept in until 0630. I started the stove and went back to my pack for my breakfast food. When I returned to the kitchen, Bob was making coffee. I added raisins and walnuts to my oatmeal this morning, and had a cup of tea afterward. Bob thought it was colder this morning than the previous morning, but last night was the first time I didn’t zip my sleeping bag up during the night.

We began hiking at 0930. Bob showed me more ruins and we saw more wildflowers. We hiked to a location where we can hike out of the canyon and not far from where I left my Honda Civic hybrid. We ate lunch of tuna wraps at 1300, and Bob filtered more water with his gravity powered filter. We are using plastic bladders to hold our water. Mine still gives my water a bit of plastic flavor so I began adding lemonade flavoring to my water this morning. The water here is quite alkaline and leaves white and blue stains on the red sandstone. There are a few thin blue layers of rock (limestone?) in the red sandstone. I ground some into a paste this morning and rubbed the blue paste into a piece of red sandstone. When it dried it seemed to be fairly difficult to remove, and may be one of the colors used in creating the snake pictograph we saw earlier.

After our lunch of tuna wraps we cached our backpacks and hiked downstream with our day packs. The canyon widens here with wide terraces first on one side of the creek, then on the other. The Anasazi farmed these terraces. We found a large habitation site at the foot of the cliff on the left side of the creek, and a bit farther downstream a habitation and food storage site near the top of an isolated portion of the mesa. We hiked to the top and investigated the site.

It is quite windy, and getting cloudy. It looks like it might rain. We returned to our backpacks about 1600 and after a short rest, began the climb out of the canyon. The trail is well marked until we approach the top of the mesa. There the trail becomes hard to follow and we lost it several times, but Bob’s local knowledge took us right to my car.

We drove to Mexican Hat for a 6 pack of Polygamy Porter before driving to Bob’s Toyota pickup. Lots of people were camped at the trailhead, so we drove to another trailhead where we made camp. Bob cooked supper while I put up my tent for the first time this trip. The wind has been blowing since about noon and the sky is now thick with dust obscuring the views of distant mountains.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

Monday 26 April 2010

The moon is nearly full so I can’t see many stars. I did see the winter circle Saturday evening and this morning about 0300 I saw Arcturus and the summer triangle as well as the big dipper and Polaris. Bob set up his stove and a pot of water within reach of his sleeping bag before going to sleep last night. I lit the stove and put the water on to boil. Bob made coffee with Starbucks instant. We drank our coffee and made oatmeal. After finishing my oatmeal I hiked back up the creek to look for my camera. I found it on the left side of the creek where we crossed it just above two waterfalls. It was hanging in a shrub about a foot off the ground. Apparently the woven fabric wrist strap was hanging out of the camera case on my backpack hip strap and snagged on the shrub pulling the camera out of the case.

When I returned to camp, Bob was packed and writing notes. I packed and we began hiking down the creek about 0900. We explored a very large ruin not far below our first camp. We were about ready to leave when Jeff and Holly walked up. They had yodeled at us from the right rim last night, but we had no idea it was them until we met them in the canyon. They are day hiking. We hiked another hour downstream and had chunk light tuna wrap in the shade of a cottonwood tree on a stream terrace probably farmed by the Anasazi. They grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton. We have been seeing a small deciduous oak the past hour. It is usually no taller than 2 m (6 or 8 feet). The buds have broken in the past couple of weeks and there are several leaves and catkins on at the end of almost every twig.

We made camp under a cottonwood tree where dead cottonwood logs surround several flat stones. Bob set up the stove on the flat stones before going for a hike to a nearby spring where water drips from a layer of rock 15 to 20 m (50 feet) above a deep pool of water. This dripping water creates a habitat different than any we have seen this trip. It is early spring here, and the plants are just beginning to grow, but I can see that the walls are nearly covered with vegetation later in the year. Bob says he has seen columbines here. The pool is surrounded by a dense copse of willows.

We returned to camp, made supper and finished off Bob’s vodka. Bob mixed it with flavored EmergenC powder and water, and it makes quite a nice cocktail. I hiked up the left slope and sat on top of a large boulder. While there I saw a mammal running towards me along a ledge about 200 m away. He continued towards me until about 30 m away where he or she disappeared into a crack in the rock. The mammal had a bushy tail nearly as long as its body and half the diameter of its body. Its legs were short, and its nose pointed. It looked somewhat like a weasel, but much larger, about 60 cm long. Bob suggested it might have been a fox. That seems like a possibility.

2010-05-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday 25 April 2010
After breakfast we left my Honda Civic Hybrid at the campsite and drove Bob's Toyota pickup to the trail head. Bob showed me some pictographs and a ruin on top of a ridge with great views of the surrounding country. The ruin may have been a lookout or guard station, and the occupants warned their people of impending attacks. My legs started cramping about 1530. We filtered water, After resting for an hour I was able to resume hiking. We tried to climb out of the canyon on the left, but could not get out. We hiked for another hour. When we stopped to inspect another ruin, I discovered that I did not have my camera, so we began looking for a place to camp. We were well short of where Bob had planned to camp. He was bothered that we were camping on the floor of the windy canyon where cold air collected rather than on the top or a thermal belt where the cold would drain off of the campsite. Bob explored the ruins while I stretched and massaged my legs and wrote notes.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T05:13:00.001-07:00

Saturday 24 April 2010

I was on my way to Bluff, Utah by 0600. I got coffee in Prescott Valley and ate a granola bar as I drove east on highway 69 to Dewey. I took 169 from Dewey to I 17 then north toward Flagstaff. I stopped a couple of times to photograph views of Mt Agassiz. I bought gasoline in Flagstaff, and bought a Navajo taco in Kayenta. I took a few photos from the road in Monument Valley and one of the bridge in Mexican Hat.

I got into Bluff, Utah about 1600 Mountain Daylight Time. I found Far Out Expeditions at the east end of town. I didn’t see anyone around, so I called Bob Helmes on my cell phone. He told me to look behind the house. I found Bob and several friends drinking beer in the back yard. Bob introduced me to Vaughn, Marsha, Desa, Holly, and Jeff. Vaughn and Marsha own Far Out Expeditions, and live next door to the office. Desa, their daughter, is working on an archaeological dig. Jeff is a kayaker, rafter, whitewater outfitter, former owner of a kayak manufacturing company, building contractor, and was with Walt Blackadar, the famous kayaker, when he died. We went to dinner at 1800, and Bob and I headed to our campsite at 1930.

To protect the archaeological resources of this outdoor museum I won’t say exactly where we went. We slept under the stars on top of a mesa. The moon was almost full so we saw few stars, but I could make out a few stars of the winter circle in the west. Before sunrise, the summer triangle was near the zenith.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-09T05:02:00.000-07:00

Friday 23 April 2010
I was on the highway headed to Prescott by 0630. I got fuel in Kingman. There was snow on the junipers near the tops of several passes, and a misty fog drifted through the junipers in the high valleys giving the landscape a mystical, fairyland appearance. I stopped to photograph the mist in the junipers twice. The first time I pulled off the pavement I ran over a rock that hit the undercarriage of the Honda.

I got into Prescott, Arizona about 1100. I visited with my cousin, Bruce Hardwick until 1230. He is in the Veterans Administration hospital. He mysteriously lost the use of his legs about 6 months ago, and the doctors haven’t been able to restore his use of them. He sold his house, a historic landmark, and bought another about two blocks from downtown that can be modified for wheelchair access. He hopes to have the modifications completed in a couple of months so he can move there. I went to a garage where a friend of Bruce’s put my Honda up on a rack. I had put quite a dent in the exhaust pipe and pushed it up against the frame so it made quite a bit of noise. The mechanic used a crow bar to pull the exhaust pipe away from the frame, greatly reducing the amount of noise it made. At 1800 I met Bruce and three of his contra dancing partners at The Raven, a very popular pub downtown Prescott. They have a large selection of beers on tap. I ordered the barbecued ribs and Bourbon Barrel Stout. The stout was served in stemware. I really liked it. It was smooth, malty, with the mouth feel of cream.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2010-05-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday 22 April 2010; Vacaville, California

It is partly cloudy and the street is wet. I suspect it rained a little bit last night. I left Vacaville in my 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid at 0710; destination, Prescott, Arizona. I took highways 113 and 12 through Rio Vista to I 5; then south to Stockton where I cut over to 99. It rained continuously, but lightly from Stockton to Selma. I ate lunch at Sal’s in Selma. My parents lived in a house about two blocks from Sal’s when I was born, and my family ate at Sal’s frequently when I was a child. I also went the high school and college with Sal’s younger sister, Lupe Salazar Vargas who I still see at Selma High School class reunions.

I refueled in Bakersfield. There was fresh snow down to 4500 feet elevation at Tehachapi. I began seeing displays of yellow wildflowers just north of Tehachapi. Those displays continued intermittently to near Needles, California. I stopped to photograph them twice. There were very small poppies, goldfields, a larger orange composite, a purple Mimulus?, very tiny popcorn flowers, fiddleneck, and a small plant with white, bell shaped, Manzanita like flowers. My granddaughter, Marley, called when I was near Barstow. I told Marley, Kooper, and Betty about the wildflowers, snow and rain. I talked Marley through a reboot the Dell desktop computer and log back on. I wished Kooper luck in his baseball game and urged Betty to tape the ankle he sprained last week. It rained again most of the way from Mojave to Needles. I was tired by the time I got to Needles and decided to stay there for the night. I drove around Needles looking for a motel next to a brew pub. I got a draft hefeweizen and Caesar salad at Juicy’s.

You can see more photos of this trip at Picasa.

2008-12-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

Dia de Tonancin
12 December 2008
Vacaville, California, USA

Betty and I are quite healthy and had a great year full of memorable events. Our daughter, Elaine, and her family, husband Matt and children Marley and Kooper, still live only a block away. Marley and Kooper still spend about 4 hours a day at our house. Betty and I take them to school, pick them up, help them with their homework, play ball, swim, and hike, climb trees and rocks and supervise many craft activities for them and many neighbor children.

We hiked Southhampton Bay shoreline and Marley and her friend, Jaycee, went for the first swim of the year in our pool mid February. We went to a Sacramento River Cats Baseball game for Kooper’s birthday in May. Marley and I had a great time kayaking Putah Creek with my good friend, Bob Langley in July. Betty and I once again helped Elaine coach Marley’s soccer team. We actually coached two teams this year. And we celebrated Marley’s birthday aboard Rob and Nancy Forest’s, Matt’s parents, boat at the Suisun Bay Yacht Club lighted boat parade.

Oliver, our youngest son, bought a house less than a mile away. I helped him build a greenhouse to keep his cactus collection in. Having at least some of our children and grandchildren so close has been a great joy to Betty and me.

Betty and I visited my cousins Louise and Lowell Smith in Chico in January. We found them enjoying life and family. We had lunch with them and their daughter and son-in-law Ruth and John Dunbar and several of their children. We took the back roads to Chico and back. The weather was stormy so we saw lots waterfowl and scenic views of wetlands. You can see some of the pictures I took at Picasa.

Later in January I made some new friends while kayaking Rancheria Creek in Mendocino County. In June I rafted the Rogue River in Oregon with these new friends and some of their friends from South Carolina, Sacramento, and Oregon, once again making some great new friends who later invited me to raft the Grand Canyon with them in November. Photos at PhotoBucket. Although I did not kayak much this year, I was able to spend more than 30 days on western rivers mostly rowing a raft.

We made several trips to Calaveras County to visit my sister, Barbara, her husband, Stan, and her son, Scott, his wife, Angie, and their children, Logan and Brenna. We attended the Calaveras Celtic Faire in March. We saw some beautiful displays of wildflowers on the drive through the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Betty and I took a trip to eastern Washington and northern Idaho in April. We visited my third cousin, Lenora Good in Kennewick, WA. She is a professional writer, and her first novel “Brother Rat” will be published this summer. We continued through the Palouse to visit my cousin Doug McFall and his wife, Holly, in Moscow, Idaho, and my good friend and colleague, Helen Kevo, in St. Maries, Idaho. It was a very good time of the year for photography. Those photos are posted at Picasa as well.

I worked for California Fish and Game almost steadily from January through September this year. I was the Oil Spill Drills and Exercises supervisor most of the year, and wrote a report on the Cosco Busan Oil Spill of November 2007.

Once again Betty and I spent Halloween and her birthday in New Jersey with our oldest son, James, and his family. We greatly enjoyed visiting with our New Jersey family. The highlight for me was an apple picking expedition with our two grandchildren, Alison and Adam. As you can see from our active life, we are enjoying our retirement.

Best wishes for good health and happiness to y'all.

Jim and Betty Hardwick

2008-07-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 30 July 2008 Lake Solano, Winters, California

Marley and I drove to upper end of Lake Solano. We unloaded our gear and began blowing up our new Aire Lynx II inflatable kayak. We met Guillermo Santana formerly of Guadalajara, Jalisco. He has lived in Winters the past 20 years, and all of his family is here now. He plays guitar at his church. He helped us blow up the raft. He had wanted to fish, but didn't have a license. I told him that was very risky, and advised against it. I gave him some water and loaned him my tarp on which to rest in the shade. He was getting eaten up by ants down by the river.

Bob Langley arrived just as we began inflating the kayak. Bob and Guillermo helped us gear up and carry the kayak down to the lake. The water was exceptionally clear and cold. We paddled down stream for a while. Bob instructed Marley in good paddling technique, eddy turns, and ferry angle. We practiced in the flowing water. Large basalt boulders and sand bars provided eddies where we could practice moves. We eddy hopped back up to our put-in. Marley noticed some white water up stream. We paddled upstream as far as we could.

Marley wanted to paddle in the white water, so we put the boats in Bob's truck and drove upstream about 2 miles to the gauge. There are several easy rapids between the gauge and the lake. Marley really enjoyed them. She wanted to paddle them a second time, but while Bob and I were deciding how to do the shuttle, she remembered that she had promised her friend, Kaylen that she would be home by 1430. We stopped at the taco truck in Winters. Marley ordered a bean and cheese burrito, Bob and I split an order of 6 tacos.

2008-07-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

2008 June Rogue River Trip.

In late May Bill sent me an email to let me know that some friends of his in South Carolina, Cat and Tom, had drawn a permit to kayak the Rogue River in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon from June 24 to 28. One of the couples, Rob and Betsy, who had planned to provide raft support for the trip had backed out due to some major life changing events, like getting a new job, moving to New Mexico, and getting married. Cat and Tom now needed another raft and invited me to provide that raft support. After making sure that no one at work would be too upset, I accepted the invitation to join the trip. Since I had never provided raft support for a multi day trip, I had some preparation to do. I cut and varnished a piece of plywood to provide a firm surface to tie my cargo to, and ordered a lot of new straps with which to secure the load. Photos of this trip are posted at Picasa

0600 Sunday 22 June
I began loading my 1992 Jeep Cherokee with my rafting gear. My son, Oliver, helped me put the oar frame on top of the Jeep.

0900 Don arrived at my house. We tied his Necky Rip on top of the oar frame, and stuffed his gear wherever it would fit in the back of the Jeep.

0930 Don and I left Vacaville, California en route to Grant’s Pass, Oregon.

1300 We ate lunch at Casa Ramos in Mt. Shasta. We shared the molcajete del mar which I had never ordered before. As everything else I have ever ordered at Casa Ramos, it was delicious. I stumbled upon Marco Ramos' second restaurant in Mt. Shasta soon after he opened it in the late 1990s, and have been following the growth of his chain and eating in his restaurants whenever I have the opportunity ever since. I am especially fond of the Borrego or lamb shank.

1700 Don and I arrived at the home of Paul and Steph in Merlin, Oregon. We were greeted by Bill and Sue, Tom and Cat, David and Merridee, Dennis, Paul and Steph. We visited and drank beer on the SE corner of the wide deck that encircles Paul and Steph’s beautiful new home near the Rogue River. Paul took several of us on a hike to the river. I identified ten different kinds of wildflowers on the hike. Tom and I made a beer run into Merlin. We selected a wide variety of pilsners, lagers, ales, porters and stouts to satisfy the wide variety of tastes in our party. Steph, Cat, and Tom made a supper of hamburgers, green salad, beans, and watermelon. Some of the sweetest onions I ever ate were served with the hamburgers. One of the ladies told me they were Vidalia onions. After eating and putting away the leftovers, we visited on the deck enjoying the twilight and cool evening air. When several people retired for the evening, I spread my bedroll beside my Jeep and was asleep before the first stars appeared.

Monday 23 June
I woke up just before Arcturus slipped behind the mountain to the west. The summer triangle shown brightly overhead and the waning gibbous moon was low in the SE. It had probably been up for an hour or two. I heard a bird that whistled three times every ten to fifteen seconds, wheet, wheet, wheet, ten second interval, wheet, wheet, wheet. A grasshopper or cricket was chirping, there were peacocks calling in the distance, and a bull frog croaking in an nearby creek.

I woke a second time just as the last stars were fading from the sky, probably about 0500. I listened to the peacocks, doves, crows, and other birds, probably gold finches and woodpeckers among them.

0530 – I dressed; found my camera, watch and notebook; went through my backpack, and began writing in my journal about events of the past 24 hours. I looked at the shop Paul is building. The walls are well insulated and he has installed skylights in the roof.

0630 – When Paul came out of the house, I greeted him, and we went in for breakfast of a very sweet flavorful cantaloupe, cherries, bagels, cream cheese, figs, and coffee. Steph is going to work today. Tom has a sinus infection, and is going into Grant’s Pass to see a doctor this morning. Most of the rest of us are going to kayak.

0900 David, Meridee, Sue, Bill, Dennis, Cat, Don, And I kayaked a 3 mile section of the Rogue near Paul’s house. Paul took us to the put in at the launch ramp on Lower River Road. We took out on river right on Straton Creek Road just below the yellow bridge where Galice Road crosses the River. Paul had left Bill’s truck there. This was a very easy class I or II- section of river. We saw quite a variety of wildlife and wildflowers.

1230 – We returned to Paul and Steph’s house and ate lunch. We napped and organized gear throughout the afternoon.

1600 – Don, Sue, Cat, Merridee and I left in my Jeep. Don and I dropped Sue, Cat, and Merridee off at a thrift store in downtown Grant’s Pass so they could look for dresses to wear on the river. Steph met them later in the afternoon to take them to Jacksonville for the evening concert. Don and I went to the Wild River Brewery to check out the options for taking some good beer on the river. The deposit on the keg and tap was more than we were willing to pay considering the wide variety of tastes in beer among our group. We decided against buying the keg and drove to Jacksonville where a local couple directed us to their favorite pub, the Bella Union Saloon. Don and I shared bowl of steamed clams. Don ordered baked cod, and I had soup, salad, and a sausage.

0900 – Don and I found Paul, Steph, Dave, Merridee, Cat, Tom, Sue, Bill, and Dennis at the Britt Gardens, and settled down on the lawn to enjoy the Britt Festival concert. Taj Mahal opened and put on quite a show. Keb Mo was the second act, and Taj Mahal joined him for one or two songs. It was a great evening.

Tuesday 24 June
I woke up at 0500 as usual even though I didn’t get to sleep until after 2300 last night. I promptly stuffed my sleeping bag into its compression sack even though it was still damp with dew, and began packing my large dry bag. I helped Tom, Cat, and Sue cook a breakfast of chicken sausage, eggs, cantaloupe, and salsa.

We packed the vehicles and headed for Merlin to top off our fuel tanks and a few last minute purchases before going to our put-in at Almeda County Park. I borrowed Paul’s electric raft inflater to blow up my raft, and topped off with my hand pump after rigging the oar frame, ice chest, and dry box. Merridee helped me load and secure my cargo of food boxes and dry bags.

We were on the river by 1230. We didn't even consider running Rainie Falls. All of us ran the sneak route down Fish Ladder on the far right side of the river. Paul, Dennis, and I were in camp at Whisky Creek by 1430. Don and Bill had paddled ahead to secure the campsite. Dave, Merridee, Sue, Cat, and Tom arrived about half an hour later. We ate lunch at 1530. We had frozen lunch meat, cheese, and fresh tomatoes on flour tortillas, with gorp and fig newtons for dessert. Most of us were asleep by 1600.

I went for a refreshing dip in Whisky Creek after lunch and slept soundly until 1700 and lightly off and on until about 1800. I hiked to Whiskey Creek Cabin, and filled my filter bottles in Whiskey Creek. I got eaten up by mosquitoes while filling my water bottles. Steph hiked into our camp site after she got off work, and joined us for supper. Tom grilled chicken breasts while Sue, Cat, and Merridee made a salad. We ate about 2000. I spread my bed roll out on a high river terrace on the left bank of Whiskey Creek made by a flood decades or maybe centuries ago. I was asleep by 2100.

Wednesday 25 June
I got up at 0515 and hiked up river. I got back into camp about 0600. My river companions were packing and preparing breakfast by 0615. I transferred day 4 food from a plastic box to my dry box. There was about ½ cup of water in the plastic box and a cardboard box of crackers was quite wet. Steph began her hike out immediately after breakfast. She was going to work. She had planned to take scout with her, but when she saw how much fun Scout was having, she didn't have the heart to take him home with her, so he was with us the whole trip and ate whatyever we ate if he liked it. We were loaded and on the river by 0900. Paul, Dennis and I got ahead of the kayakers and stopped at Black Bar Lodge. We visited with some of the staff and looked at the cabins. The lodge and cabins are quite nice with lots of character. They cost $120 per person per day, but I would be willing to pay that on a cold, wet winter day.

The kayakers caught up with us before we got back to the rafts. We continued together to Horseshoe Bend camp. I camped here with Tom Swaffer and Bruce Thomas in 2001. We arrived a few minutes after 1200 and were eating lunch by 1230. I was asleep by 1400. I woke up at 1600 and played a game of bocce with Tom, Cat, and Merridee.

At 1700 I climbed the ridge upriver from camp. I crossed a lot of ground dug up by gold miners, and an old ditch. Finally, high above the river, I found the main river trail. I walked up river, crossing a couple of dry creeks without finding anything that inspired me to take a picture. Finally I stopped to write a while and catch up on my journal before returning down river. On the way back to camp I met Don where a piece of orange surveyor’s tape marked the trail back down the hill to camp. Don had taken this trail up to the main trail. We got back in camp about 1830, just in time for margaritas and a few chips and salsa before a dinner of fajitas.

After supper, Don, Dennis, and I were inducted into the secret society of the Moose. While waiting for my induction I heard stories about the day’s river carnage. David had a long swim at Russian Rapid followed by a long hike to his canoe that had washed far downstream before someone got it ashore. Sue had a short swim at slate slide, and Meridee went over, but Tom helped her right her kayak before she exited. Dennis was stuck on a rock mid river at Tyee for a while, and I hit his cataraft as I followed him through the same rapid. After being inducted into the Secret Order of the Moose, Merridee shared her Tullimore Dew with us, and Paul and Dennis serenaded us on the guitar. I was asleep at 2130.

Thursday 26 June
I woke up at 0530. We had boiled eggs, yogurt, bagels, coffee, and granola for breakfast. We were packed and on the river by 0900. We hiked up to Zane Grey cabin and made camp about 1200 at Rogue River Ranch. After lunch several of us hiked to Rogue River Ranch. Dennis found a swimming hole near the ranch house, and Paul hiked back up river to where there is a house size boulder mid river. Several of us napped. Some were bothered by flies, but I covered my face with my hat, and slept for a couple of hours.

Sue and Bill cooked spaghetti and meatballs. They served it with French bread, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, and a green salad. I ate seconds, washed dishes, and broke out my Cuervo 1800 reposado tequila, ice cold from the bottom of my ice chest. I had a couple of mosquito bites, so I put my long pants and long sleeved shirt on.

Friday 27 June
I got up about 0500, made coffee and boiled water for decaf coffee and tea. We had cantaloupe, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast. Don made the pancakes. I helped him some. We cooked them in the Dutch oven and it took us a while to get the heat adjusted properly. The first pancakes were pretty black on one side.

We were packed and on the river by 0840. Paul described the rapids that we would run today, and asked Tom where he wanted the rafts to be relative to the kayaks. Tom said he would rather have the rafts ahead of the kayaks, so Paul, Dennis and I took off ahead of the kayaks. We ran a few small riffles and rapids before entering Mule Creek Canyon where the river bed narrows to as small as 5 meters between vertical hard rock walls 10 meters high.

We stopped at Stair Creek to view the falls and wait for the kayakers. We had been there 15 minutes when the rafters that had been camped next to us at Rogue River Ranch brought Sue to us. She had her paddle, and said she had swam before she reached Mule Creek Canyon and her boat had gone on ahead of her.

Merridee arrive about 10 minutes later and finally a full 30 minutes after the rafts had gotten to Staircase, the rest of the kayakers arrived with Bill towing Sue’s kayak. Paul tied Sue’s kayak on to his raft, and Sue rode on the raft until we were through Blossom Bar. We scouted Blossom Bar Rapid. Paul described the critical move at the top, and several options below the picket fence. We watched Paul row the rapid. The kayakers then ran it followed by me and then Dennis. I made the critical move behind Half Dome just as I had planned, but made the next move to river right a bit low and touched the lower rock enough to change the angle of my raft by about 45 degrees. I had to work harder than planned to make my next move back to the left. Otherwise it was a good run. Devil’s Stairs, a class III comes up shortly after Blossom Bar. The last 2 of 3 sections push a raft into the rocks on the right requiring rowing to the left.

At Paradise Creek we began seeing jet boats bringing loads of 50 or more tourists up river. We frequently had to get out of the channel to make way for them. Paradise lodge has a fine dock and staircase to the lodge. Jet boats bring people to the lodge for the night and /or fine dining. All the rapids from Devil’s Stairs to Tate Creek are easy.

We had planned to camp at Tate Creek, but there was some confusion about which camp is Tate. An Echo raft guide told us that the place we camped at is upper Tacoma, and that Tate is a very tiny camp site just below Tate Creek falls. Upper Tacoma was a very hot campsite with little to no shade. We ate lunch and hiked to Tate Creek. We hiked up Tate Creek to a swimming hole and water slide. I got there first, went for a swim, and took a few pictures. Bill was the first to climb to the top of the falls and slide down the falls. Don did the same later. Paul and Scout raced for sticks thrown by others. Paul won the first of three races, but Scout stole the stick right out of Paul’s mouth.

Scout is an inspiring dog. He is 5 years old. He lost his right front leg in an automobile accident when he was 2 years old, but he doesn't seem to miss it at all. He runs and swims just like any 5 year old chocolate lab. Paul got the biggest kick out of racing Scout for the stick. He laughed heartily when Scout took the stick out of his mouth. The relationship between them was wonderful to see.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the river drinking all manner of liquids. I fell asleep while sitting in the water, and sunburned my legs below the knee even though I was sitting in water nearly a foot deep. We were reluctant to abandon the coolness of the river, but at 1800 we moved to make supper of beef stroking off, green salad, and guacamole. Tonight was dress up night. Cat, Sue, and Merridee had bought shirts and skirts for all the guys on the trip. They presented each of us with their selection and asked us to wear them, which we did. Paul and Dennis took turns serenading us on the guitar while we washed dishes, put away food, and sipped tequila and Tullimore Dew. Once again I fell asleep before the stars came out. It was so hot I used my sleeping bag for a pillow.

Saturday 28 June
I got up at 0500, made coffee, wrote, read, and packed until everyone else got up shortly after 0600. We had sausage, fruit, yogurt for breakfast and were on the water by 0900. We had only easy rapids this morning and were at take out at Illahe by 1100. I put the back seat of my Jeep up so I could carry more passengers. I put much of my gear in Paul’s trailer and Bill’s truck. I rolled up the raft and put it on top of the oar frame on the Jeep. We drove to Agness for root beer floats and ice cream before heading back to Grant’s Pass. We stopped at a vista point for lunch. The sky was smoky from the time we left camp this morning until late in the afternoon. I at first thought it was fog, but it soon became clear that it was smoke.

At Paul’s house we each got a cold beer, unloaded the food, and rearranged gear so Don and I could take Tom and Cat to the airport in Medford at 0430 in the morning. I put lots of gear in Bill’s truck. I took a shower, shaved, and washed my hair. We ate food left over from our raft trip. We had several creative cooks who put together a pasta with cheese and lunch meat casserole, and a bean salad for supper. The wind came up mid afternoon, and I had moved my bed roll from along side my Jeep to the deck. After supper we went out onto the deck to watch the lightning show to the south. It began to rain so hard that I moved my bed roll into the house. It was a beautiful storm, but we were glad to be off the river before it began. I slept upstairs rather than outside as planned. The sky was beautiful and it was plenty warm outside, but I didn't want to have to pack a soggy bed roll before heading home in the morning. I was asleep shortly after 2200.

Sunday 23 June
Tom, Cat, Don, and I got up at 0400, said our goodbyes, and were on the way to the airport by 0420. Don and I dropped Tom and Cat off at the airport by 0515. We had quite a bit of difficulty finding the terminal. A new terminal was under construction. There was cyclone fencing and orange plastic everywhere. I drove into a parking lot took a ticket and then tried to find the exit. When I told the parking lot attendant that I didn’t want to park, I was just having difficulty finding the terminal, she laughed. She said the signs were blown down in the storm last night. She didn’t charge me for parking, and directed me to the terminal. We finally got Tom and Cat to the terminal, bid them a good trip, and found our way back to the freeway. We got gas in Weed, and breakfast in Dunsmuir. The Cornerstone Bakery was closed. We asked some locals where to eat, and they directed us to Penny’s Diner north of town. We had a hearty skillet breakfast, and Don drove the rest of the way to Vacaville. I slept much of the way. We had lunch at my house in Vacaville and Don headed to Oakland for a sea kayak rescue event that Donna was attending.

2008-01-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Betty and I drove from Vacaville to Chico on the morning of Saturday 26 January 2008. We returned to Vacaville shortly after sunset the next day. We avoided the freeways driving up state highways 113 and 45 from Woodland through the small villages of Knight's Landing, Grimes, Colusa, and Glenn. We crossed over the rain swollen Cache Creek just north of Woodland. It had been raining for several days, and there was lots of standing water in the fields. We saw hundreds of snow geese and swans in the rice fields a few miles south of Grimes.

We spent 5 hours visiting my cousins Louise and Lowell Smith at their beautiful home in Chico. We met one of their daughters and her husband, John and Ruth Dunbar, and several of their children. Louise made muffins to serve with a wonderful vegetable soup, and Lowell showed us his historic vehicles and plans for enlarging their home.

We checked into the Goodman House Bed and Breakfast Inn at 1730. After a brief visit with the proprietors, Tom and Margo Graham, and another guest, Don, attending the Snow Goose festival, we unpacked and relaxed with a glass of wine and cheese and crackers.

Betty was hungry so we walked to the Red Tavern one block away. The Red Tavern really isn't a tavern, but an upscale restaurant with cloth tablecloths and napkins. They do have a good selection of beer and wine, but we had already had plenty of wine. We shared a Caesar salad and a small pizza. The food is excellent with a good selection of soups and salads served with plenty of sour dough French bread. I didn't pay much attention to the entres as I seldom eat that much for supper.

Tom and Margo served strawberry scones, fresh fruit, juice, and eggs Benedict for breakfast. We visited some more with Don who had to leave at 0800 for the snow goose festival activities. We spent another hour reading in the parlor before packing and checking out. We visited Philadelphia Square where Louise and Lowell own an office building. Philadelphia Square is a collection of office buildings built to resemble historical buildings of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There are probably 20 or 30 two story buildings in the collection so it looks like a colonial city.

We drove buy the Sierra Nevada brewery and restaurant. We had planned to eat there either Saturday evening or Sunday dinner, but were not hungry enough either time. At 1000 we toured the Bidwell Mansion. After the tour we visited the carriage house and walked around the gardens before returning to the visitor's center to buy T shirts and coloring books for our grandkids.

We drove to upper Bidwell park took a short hike along Chico Creek. We stopped by the Nature Center where we studied some very good maps and aerial photos of the park. We drove to the nearby community of Paradise where we visited a Jeannie's consignment shop that was a bit like a perpetual garage sale.

At 1400 we headed home via Oroville, Biggs, Gridley, and Sutter. In Oroville we stopped at One 62 for coffee. We saw hundreds of sand hill cranes near the eastern foot of the Sutter Buttes, and hundreds of swans and a few goldeneye near the southern foot of the Sutter Buttes.

View photos taken on this trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ElRemaro/SacramentoValley

2007-10-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Betty's Birthday Trip
7 October is Betty's birthday. We often stay in a bed and breakfast for her birthday present, and since her birthday often falls during the peak fall color in the Sierra Nevada, we frequently to go there on her birthday. This year we reserved a room at the Feather Bed in Quincy, but before I tell you about the B&B I'll tell the story about our trip there. We drove our 2003 Toyota Prius since we didn't expect any snow or even rain, and did not plan to drive any dirt roads. We headed east on US highway 80. We began to see what appeared to be groves of quaking aspens near the high ridges after we passed Emigrant Gap, but none were bright yellow. They were only a yellow green color. We continued east to Norden where we turned off the interstate to collect snow, and drive the old highway to enjoy the views, revisit the site of a couple of oil spills I helped clean up about ten years ago, and take some photos. We drove along the north shore of Donner Lake, and into Truckee where we had long, leisurely lunch on the warm, sunny, south facing, second story deck at the Dragonfly.

We left Truckee about 1500 and drove north on highway 89, The willows, cottonwoods, and aspens along the creeks were a mixture of yellow and brown. We stopped in a campground along a north flowing creek to take a few photos and a short nap. We found the Feather Bed Bed and Breakfast Inn. Bob Janowski, the proprietor, showed us around. We rested and read in our room for an hour or so before driving around town to see what might be open.

We finally went into the Moon's Restaurant, one of the few places in town open on a Sunday night. It is a very cosy, warm feeling place with rustic wood walls, ceiling, and furniture. We waited nearly half an hour for a table. Betty was ready to walk out the door when the hostess told us our table was ready. We ordered garlic bread, onion soup, an antipasto plate, and draft beer. The garlic bread is fresh baked, warm, soft, white bread with a wonderful flavor and texture. The onion soup, was delicious with lots of cheese and croûtons on top. The antipasto plate had mild Swiss cheese, Italian salami, black olives, carrot sticks, pickled cauliflower, celery, and pepperonis. Betty and I would have preferred green olives and a stronger flavored cheese, but understand that we are probably in the minority with those preferences. We returned to the room. I read a while and drank a glass of port before falling asleep.

Monday morning we packed and went down to the living room where there was a gas flame on in the fireplace. I made a cup of tea, and ate two chocolate chip cookies to mix with the vitamins I had taken with water before coming down to the living room. I chose to sit on the large couch because the light was good there. I had brought the book I had found in our room, and began reading before I went to sleep last night. It was a large collection of writings. The piece I chosen to read was written by Dylan Thomas about the interaction between European lecturers and their American audiences.

However, I didn't have an opportunity to read much in it. A large, long haired, black cat with striking white whiskers was sitting on the other end of the couch. He was sitting on the corner where the arm and back of the couch came together facing the back of the couch where he could see the front door, into the dining room, the hall to the kitchen, and therefore, observe the comings and goings of everyone. Betty sat on the other end of the couch and petted the cat briefly before the cat decided to walk down the back of he couch to check me out. I petted the cat for a long while until he decided to check Betty out again. I was able to read for a short while, but the cat soon returned to me.

Another guest from San Diego, whose son is the Quincy football coach, came in to tell Connie, a cook and housekeeper at the inn, that his son and his wife would be joining them for breakfast. He stayed to visit with us for quite a while. He had been the president of Pop Warner Football league in San Diego when his boys were young. We had a lot to discuss given our experience with AYSO and high school soccer coaching and administration, as well as what we have learned from my nephew, Scott Edwards' experience coaching football at colleges and high school.

As the manager, Noreen Lee, was leaving to go to the health fair before going home, the other guest engaged her in conversation. We visited with her for a long while. She grew up in east Los Angeles, and knew the San Gabriel Valley, where my father grew up, when it was all orange groves. Her husband was an artist and a descendant of Robert E Lee. He had died several years ago. We also visited with Connie. She expressed an interest in rafting. I told her I would contact her when the upper middle Feather River became runnable and take her rafting. Connie grew up in Fairfield in the 1960s, and knew Vacaville when downtown and the Nut Tree were the only business districts.

About 0900 Connie served strong coffee, peach smoothies, baked apples, Ortega chili egg puff, hickory smoked Italian sausage, and finished with a lemon cake. I ate all of my food and some of Betty's. Most of the guests diluted their coffee with hot water. Connie said she made a mistake, and used twice as much coffee as she should have. I told her they would consider her coffee quite weak in Spain or Turkey. The peach smoothie was made with peaches she had picked on the grounds of the Feather Bed. Connie offered a mild salsa with the ortega chili puff. I enthusiastically accepted the salsa, but used little of it as I found that it overwhelmed the delicate but exquisite flavor of the puff.

Betty and I checked out of the Featherbed at 1000. We had planned to return home via La Porte, or Bucks Lake, but views of the mountains and valleys in those directions were obscured by dense smoke. In hopes of escaping the smoke, probably from control burns, we quickly escaped the smoke by driving north on state highway 89 going down Spanish Creek to the North Fork of the Feather River, and then up Indian Creek.

There were some bright yellow maples along Indian Creek. The creek was quite low and looked like it would be an interesting kayak run at twice the flow. We turned off highway 89 to drive to Taylorsville where we hoped to visit The Sierra Institute for Community and Environment. We didn't find it, probably because we didn't drive far enough, but we did see lots of deer near the cemetery. Two were three point bucks, there were several spikes, and lots of does for a total of about 15 that we could easily see. Every time I moved the car a bit, we saw more, so I suspect that there were more than the 15 we counted.

We returned to highway 89, and drove north and west through Crescent Mills and Greenville. We picked some apples just west of Greenville. They were quite good in spite of probably being from a seedling tree that grew from an apple core tossed out of a car window and not cared for.

We drove across Canyon Dam that backs up the waters of the north fork of the north fork of the Feather River creating a very large shallow lake in what was once a very large meadow, marsh, and much smaller lake. The straight road along the south side of Lake Almanor presents some clear views of Mt Lassen, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade mountains.

We drove into Chester on the northwest side of lake Almanor to get fuel for our 2003 Prius. It took only 9 gallons. We briefly resumed our westward journey on state highway 36/89 before turning south on highway 32, Deer Creek Canyon Highway. Here we unexpectedly saw the brightest fall colors of the trip. We had expected to see the brightest colors at high elevation, above 1800 meters (6000 feet), and here we found vibrant color at less than 1000 meters (3000 feet).

The Indian rhubarb growing in the creek was bright red, and the alders, willows, and maples on the creek banks a bright yellow. The dogwood growing along the road and in the mixed evergreen forest varied from green to pink and deep red. There are several US Forest Service campgrounds along this road. The creek looks like it is runnable by kayak at higher flows. I will definitely return to this beautiful creek. (Plumas County used one of the photos I took at Deer Creek in their fall colors web site. This area burned in June/July 2008.)

About ten or fifteen miles down the creek the road climbs the ridge to the east of the creek. The top of the ridge is a table top mountain. Although table top mountains are common in the Sierra Nevada foothills, roads seldom follow their tops, because they usually end abruptly, making descent into the great central valley difficult. This ridge is an exception, sloping gently down to Chico.

I can imagine beautiful views from this ridge, but today the valley was filled with smoke, and there was one great mushroom shaped cloud of smoke rising from somewhere south west of Chico. We decided to avoid Interstate 5 where the densest smoke appeared to be, and drive south from Chico on highway 99. We stopped to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat in Yuba City, and arrived in Vacaville about 1745. We drove directly to the park where our daughter, Elaine was just about to start soccer practice for our granddaughter's team. We presented them with an ice chest full of snow that we had collected at Norden mid day on Sunday. More than half of it had melted, but the girls still had great fun throwing slushy snowballs and putting it down one another's backs.