The Inexplicable Realities of Life

I'm not sure when these words formed in my head the first time, but I know that they certainly stuck and have been of great assistance to me when I ask the age old question, Why? to life's many mysteries. Now, when I am presented with a challenging situation that I cannot begin to comprehend, I simply chaulk it up to The Inexplicable Realities of Life, smile, and get on with things!

Desiderata

The Desiderata is most certainly my favorite poem and written work of wisdom, so I thought I would share it here. A great website about the poem, it's history, and related resources can be found here.



Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

--- Max Ehrmann, 1927

2009 New Year's Resolutions!

Well, it's almost the new year and I decided to set some goals and make some resolutions for myself this year for one of the first times in my life. It's not like I feel guilty about being fat and need a resolution to make me carry through. It's just that it's fun to think that I can accomplish a bunch of great things in 2009 if I set my mind to it. And I figure that posting my goals and resolutions makes me accountable for them, so that I can hopefully report on my successes throughout the year.
As a matter of definition, I consider resolutions to be things that I would be less likely to achieve if I didn't really set my mind to them, and goals to be things that I plan or expect to do during the year.

Resolutions

1. Take an aerial photo using the balloon and gimbal system that I have been working on and off again for the past few years. I'm not far from being ready to do it, but like one of my previous posts said, it's one thing to talk about something and it's another thing to do somthing.


2. Learn to play the piano! Why? Well, it seems cool, and I always love to see my nephews, sister, and mom playing it. As a possibly practical goal, I want to be able to play Lovers in Japan by Cold Play.


3. Bombproof my kayak roll and kayak The Numbers on the Arkansas River. I have let my roll deteriorate and not progress with the rest of my kayaking, and it's time for that to stop. Kayaking the Numbers will be an achievable goal that I should feel comfortable with once I can roll on demand under any conditions.

Goals

1. Mentor the Fairview Robotics club for the FIRST robotics competition. I'm already underway with this again this year, and I expect to be spending a lot of time working on the new robot and hopefully having a positive impact on these kids.


2. Install a Zetec engine in my Westfalia van. I already plunked down the money for the sweet Bostig conversion kit that will allow me as an amateur mechanic to perform a heart transplant for my seriously underpowered Vanagon.


3. Attend EJ's kayaking clinic in Ottawa, Canada in July including a road trip with stops in NY and Cape May to visit my family. With my bombproof roll and souped-up van, this will be a great way to take my accomplishments to the bank!

Oma-riffic!

When I first found out that I was stranded in Omaha, NB in the middle of my long Christmas flight itinerary from Denver to Elmira, NY, I became angered but didn't take it out on the Northwest Airlines employees. Instead, I decided to make the most of my time Omaha. After all, when else would I find myself with 2 days to explore and enjoy this mid-western city?

I arrived just in time for one of the biggest events of the year in Omaha- the 2008 NCAA women's volleyball championships. I had never seen a real volleyball match before, but with nothing to do and this big event right across the street from my hotel, I found myself cheering on Stanford with the rest of the Nebraska crowd. But as fate would have it, Penn State was able to hold their ground and maintain their undefeated season en route to becoming national champions. It was really a lot of fun to watch this exciting sport at the top of its game!

Did I mention that although the Quest Center arena was just down the block from the hotel that it was also 0 degrees with 15-20mph winds outside! The minus 20 windchill made exploring the rest of Omaha on foot nearly impossible, but I was able to take the hotel shuttle to the Omaha zoo and the downtown restaurant/market district. The zoo is a really cool place with lots of indoor exhibits including the world's largest indoor rainforest and an enormous geodescic dome that houses the deserts of the world exhibit. After watching the 3D Wild Ocean movie in the IMAX theatre, I got to experience sharks, rays, and fish all around me again in the aquarium tunnel and snap a few photos on my iPhone.

I have to say that I never would have guessed that I would be spending part of my Christmas vacation in Omaha, much less having a really good time, but I've gotta say it's been a fun, unexpected diversion! Now we'll see if I can finish my itinerary tomorrow...

Gumby Flies Over Boulder!

You read that right, Gumby took to the skies and flew over Boulder, CO today on his quest to return to New York for Christmas!



I felt confident enough to fly with Gumby on the 3rd flight with the live video downlink after just completing this 2nd flight. The new Futaba 7C 2.4GHz RC transmitter worked beautifully and apart from some small video glitches, the EasyStar flew admirably with all the extra weight tacked on! Unfortunately, I didn't heed the lower battery warning signs and wound up with a broken plane. Oh well, nothing a little CA glue can't fix! Enjoy the flying!

In Search of Treasure

It's one thing to say that you can or are going to do something, and it is a completely different thing to actually do it!

I was pondering this today and came to a realization that the story of lost treasure is as much about just accomplishing something as it is about gold, silver, and diamonds. You could imagine that this goal, however simple or complicated, is the fabled treasure. Many people know of this treasure and so you come across them in taverns speaking of it and how they hope to find it one day or how they would go in search of it, except for the fact that blah, blah, blah. Yes, many people know of the treasure, but to actually find the treasure takes time, hard work, a bit of luck, and the fortitude to know that it will all be worth it when the journey is over and the treasure is in the hand. But then again, some people like to talk about treasure, and others are obsessed with chasing after it.

Garmin Vista Cx Memory Card Usage

My Garmin eTrex Vista Cx GPS has an expandable microSD memory card slot that can be used for storing maps. I have Garmin's Topo maps as well as their City Navigator maps. The Topo maps are great to have when out exploring the backcountry, since they have topographical lines and various natural features that can make navigating the backcountry easier. Meanwhile, the City Navigator maps can be used to turn my little GPS into a fairly capable unit that can route me throughout the streets of the U.S. just like its big brother automobile units do. However, all of the expandability and flexibility comes at a cost- you have to know how to load maps onto the GPS!

For the most part, loading maps onto my Vista Cx is a pretty simple process based in Garmin's MapSource program, but there are a few tricks and choices that I made for the process to suit my taste. I am going to describe those specifics here.

There is no limit that I know of to the maximum size of microSD card that the Garmin units can use, however, there is a limit of 2025 map segments that they can access. This is a seldom documented feature, but here is a reference that can fill you in some more. There are a total of 111 City Navigator map segments with a size of 1.5GB, but there are over 6600 Topo maps with a size of 1.8GB! I had considered buying a 4GB card to stash all my maps on once and for all until I learned of the 2025 map segment constraint. It's a real bummer, but rather than mope over it, I decided to just make do with what I have and write down exactly how I'm using my 2GB card.

I decided to add all of the City Navigator maps and I chose a subset of the Western states Topos that got me up to 1897.6 MB with 1372 Maps. I suppose that if I come across a cheap 4GB card, I could add the rest of the western mountain states plus another few states of my choice before reaching the 2025 map limit. I have saved the map selection of these to Maps2GB.gdb, so I could always inspect exactly which regions I have loaded in the future.

If I decide to travel to a new location that I don't already have maps for, I will load them to my older 512MB card and just swap the cards before/after the trip. That way, I won't have to go through the hassle of completely reloading all the maps on the 2GB card.

Since I also use the microSD card to store recorded GPX tracks, I verified that the remaining space on the 2GB card would be sufficient. It turns out that 2 years of recorded tracks amounted to a whopping 5.5MB and there was over 34MB free on the 2GB card, so I don't foresee any problems with running out of room to record GPX tracks!

Finally, it's worth noting that to ensure the GPX tracks are actually recorded to the microSD card, you need to select the Track Menu, then Setup, then Data Card Setup, and finally make sure the checkbox is selected next to Log Track To Data Card.

My first attempt at FPV flying!

After much preparation that included soldering a custom video wire harness with +5V and +12V connections, configuring my computer to accept NTSC video via USB to video capture software, and fabricating a custom aluminum mounting bracket, I finally got my EasyStar RC airplane out with hopes to fly to it from the first person view (FPV). It was a lot of effort and I got most of it right, but as you will see from this video, I didn't test it completely and could have easily avoided the mishap that went with it!

My first Easy Star flights!

After an initial checkout of my recently built EasyStar RC airplane on Friday by Erik at LASP, I took it out Saturday morning near my house for my initial flight. The November day could not have been nicer- 60's, sunny, and very little wind. I wound up flying for nearly an hour on a single charge of the 1500 mAh LiPO battery, which encompassed 6 flights and only one minor crash :-) Because of the low weight of the LiPO battery, I added my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch into the cockpit as ballast and got some fantastic flight paths recorded! It took two small tricks to make this really useful. First, the GPS watch had to be set to record data every second in order to wind up with smooth flight paths. And second, in order to maintain the measured altitude, the Activity Option to use MB Gravity Elevation Correction had to be disabled in MotionBased prior to exporting the KML file. However once I did this, I was blown away with the flight paths that this little runners' GPS watch was able to record!

Take a look at this playback animation of my last flight which consisted primarily of unpowered gliding high above the ground. Be sure to choose Satellite and Large within the Google map frame, select the playback speed to be 0.5x or 1.0 x, and hit the Play button! Pretty darn cool!

Assuming that you have Google Earth (and you should), take a look at this 3D flight path. Now I want to figure out how to use the built-in flight simulator to fly the recorded flight path!

A more thorough posting that relates to autonomous RC airplanes is over at DIY Drones.

Rafting Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater Canyons

I did my last rafting trip of the year on the Colorado River through Ruby-Horsethief and Westwater canyons from Thursday, October 16 through Sunday, October 19. I had absolutely perfect weather for mid-October with temperatures in the 60's, not a cloud in sight, and none of the brutal afternoon winds that plagued my trip down Ruby-Horsethief last year. I spent the first two days on my own through Ruby-Horsethief and had a great time slowly working my way down the river and teaching myself to flycast. I met up with the rest of the crew on Saturday and we headed down river just barely into Westwater Canyon before spending the night. On Sunday, we blasted through all the major rapids and even managed to have a little adventure while doing so. I don't remember Westwater being as big as it was, and although I ran Skull and the rest of the rapids with great lines, my heartbeat really got going! And things definitely got interesting when Jon partially dislocated his shoulder right when he entered Skull rapid! Everything turned out okay, but it was a handful to get the rafts down the next few rapids and suffice it to say, River dog wound up rafting all by himself once again! All's well that ends well!

Unfortunately, my GPS broke on the first day, so I wasn't able to record a track for this cool trip :-(

Photo album

Autumn Hike in Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Mike and I went for a great autumn hike through Golden Gate Canyon on Saturday, October 4. The aspen leaves could not have been any brighter or more spectacular, especially on an otherwise dreary day!

Check out the photo album to see for yourself!

You can also view the geotagged photos in Google Earth along with our track, or you can play back the track at Motionbased.com!

Vinnie's Wedding

On Friday, September 26, I flew back to Philadelphia and Moorestown, NJ to attend Vinnie Balsamo's wedding. Vinnie was one of my best friends in high school, and it was great to get back there and hang out with all my old football buddies. It was an amazing reception, but as with almost all weddings I have attended, I end up appreciating the time I spend with people around the table at the reception and at the open bar as much as the ceremony itself. I got to see Chris Chesner, Maria, and their daughters before the wedding, and Joe Mure, Murad, Mike Meaney, and Coach Paris at the wedding. That definitely made the quick trip back completely worth it. And to top it off, I got to stay with Katie and Drew and eat at the White House and Webers!

Photo album (Photos courtesy of Joe Mure)

Autumn Hike in Rocky Mountain National Park

Autumn is a perfect time to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. The aspens turn bright gold, the elk are out in numbers, and the air is crisp and refreshing. Richele and I headed up to the park on Saturday, 9/20/08, and enjoyed a hike that started at Glacier Gorge trailhead and ended at Bear Lake trailhead. In between, we covered 7 miles past Alberta Falls, Mills Lake, Lake Halyaha, Dream Lake, and Nymph Lake. It was a gorgeous fall day to be outside and the views from Mills Lake are absolutely outstanding. Enjoy the photos!

Photo Album
GPS Track at Motionbased.com

Steamboat Springs- Labor Day 2008

I headed up to Steamboat Springs over Labor Day weekend with Richele, her friend Amanda, Matt, Antonia, and Lindsay. It was one last chance to really enjoy summer in the mountains, so we camped out nice and high on Forest Road 38 near Buffalo Mountain.


We all made it to camp at different times on Friday night, and some of us had some real excitement (not the good kind) trying to find blind Sierra dog who wandered into a deep ravine near camp just before dark. On Saturday, we went for a beautiful hike between Summit, Jonah, Whale, and Martha Lakes near Buffalo Pass. I would hikely recommend the hike, but since most of the hike required route finding away from trails, I would recommend a good map and compass. At the end of the day, Richele, Amanda, and I soaked our muscles in Strawberry Hot Springs before returning to camp for another great dinner by the campfire.

Sunday was a bit cooler and overcast, so we grabbed breakfast in town, visited Fish Creek Falls, and made the drive back to Denver via Winter Park. Every weekend camping in Colorado is a good one!

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Pat & Richele's Photos
Matt & Antonia's Photos
GPS Track Log (GPX File)
Google Earth Track with Photos (KMZ File)

Brown's Canyon with Richele!

Richele can officially put the Surf Colorado bumper sticker on her car now!

She and I and Pat Ringrose headed down to the Ark on Saturday, 8/9/2008 for one last hurrah for 2008 before the water got shut off. Richele's kayaking goal has always been to get good enough to be able to kayak the classic, Class III rapids of Brown's Canyon. And on that gorgeous summer day, not only did she do that, but she did it in style! She made the S-turns and boulder gardens and waves look easy after working hard on her technique for the past two years!

The boating season is unfortunately starting to wind down with only the Blue River and a possible raft trip remaining. Oh well, still too much to do here in Colorado.

Here are a few more photos of us going through Zoom Flume, including all the rest from my other 3 weekends on Brown's Canyon this summer.

Matt & Antonia's Wedding

Richele and I headed East to Boston and Vermont the first weekend of August to attend Matt and Antonia's wedding. We flew into Boston late on Wednesday, 7/30/08, and crashed at Arrin's house in Cambridge. The following day, we groggily made our way sightseeing through Boston despite the high temps and humidity. Fortunately, we were able to enjoy a few cold beers at Cheers during the heat of the day! Later that night, we drove up to Salem for a ghost tour in the rain!

On Friday, we drove up to Saxton's River, VT and met up with the wedding couple and the rest of the guests. The outside wedding rehearsal went just fine in the bright sunshine at the farm, and back to the Saxton's River Inn we went to celebrate at the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday, 8/2/08, was the big day for my friends. Us boys played volleyball at Bryce's quarry, then got ready in our nice clothes, and headed back to the farm for the ceremony. Meanwhile, Richele met up with her friend, Amanda, for the first time since they were in high school together. Despite the sunny preview at the rehearsal, the wedding day called for rain and it was fortunate that the last minute decision was made to move the ceremony into the barn along with the reception. The ceremony was cozy with everyone in the barn, but it was a beautiful place for Matt and Antonia to exchange their vows and was certainly memorable! And within minutes, we were celebrating the reception in the same location! It was a great weekend and wonderful to see my friends get married!

Here is the photo album from the weekend.

Pumphouse River Rafting

For the second year in a row, I took Beth, Eric, Clare, and Daren rafting down the scenic Pumphouse stretch of the Colorado River. We camped at the put-in in the Westfalia van on Saturday, July 12 and were on the water at a decent time the next day. The weather was gorgeous, the water was flowing higher than last year, and we had a great time!

Check out some photos in this photo album!

Wyoming Road Trip 2008

I finally gotten around to writing up a description of our road to Wyoming in July and posting photos. The write up is pretty long, so I decided to add some links to photos and other goodies right at the beginning of the post but I hope you end up reading all about our trip!

I also finally got around to publishing a book on Blurb.com and am really happy with the results, so I added a link to that here also. And of course, I was not only armed with two digital cameras, but also with my trusty GPS and SPOT, so I have included detailed tracks of our backpacking trip and an overview map in Google Maps.

Wyoming Road T...

By Patrick Brown

Book Preview

Hope you enjoy and maybe you'll be inspired to go visit Yellowstone and the Tetons yourself!

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Photo Album
Blurb Book
Google Map
GPS Track Log (GPX File)
Google Earth Track with Photos (KMZ File)

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It only made sense that the first big roadtrip in Harvey, the Westfalia camper van, should be to Yellowstone, America and the world's first National Park. This wonderful summer road trip was dreamt up by Richele and I while we were stuck in the cold, dark ski traffic on I-70 this winter. We talked about how fun it would be to own the Westfalia that we had recently seen parked with a For Sale sign at the Southern Sun and take it on a road trip in the warm sunshine to some far away place that we wouldn't ordinarily travel. I had not been to the Tetons in the 7 years since I moved to Colorado and had never really explored Yellowstone, so I eagerly suggested this location. At 10 hours away, it is not so far as to limit the number of days that can be used exploring the park. And as we learned, with an area as large as the greater Yellowstone-Teton park, you need all the time you can get to see everything. After purchasing Harvey in February, we both blocked out the week of July 4th to take this Wyoming Road Trip.

Our trip began with a late departure from Denver on Friday 6/27 at 9pm, but fortunately for us, we only had to drive 2 hours to reach Vedauwoo, WY where we pulled off the side of a National Forest road and made quick camp in the van for the night. Vedauwoo is a very neat rock outcropping just off of I-80 that is popular with climbers for its multitude of short routes on granite boulders of all sizes. The cool thing about pulling over and camping there was that I woke just before dawn and drove away from that beautiful little spot while Richele was still sleeping in the bed in the back of the van. And within 20 minutes, we were in Laramie, WY where we quickly fueled up on Starbucks for our long drive ahead. Ah, the good life in the Westfalia! We took highway 287 from Rawlins up towards Yellowstone for about the next 7 hours and were blown away by the view of the Tetons as we descended the pass at the end of the highway. I would highly recommend this route if you drive to the Tetons or Yellowstone, since the view is the perfect beginning to your time in that area. From there, we headed North up into Yellowstone to try to arrange our 5 day backpacking trip.

The ranger station was about to close when we finally arrived in the park and we desperately wanted to get our backcountry permit, so we could begin our backpacking early the next day. But as it turned out, fate didn't want us to be so expedient. The nice ranger who was working the desk explained to us in her own words that she didn't have a clue about backpacking in the park and that she was new to this job and that the guy who we would really want to talk to was not working at that station this summer. And then she proceeded to tell us that the trails that interested us in the Southern end of the park were too muddy, snowy, and flooded to consider hiking. We had really hoped to avoid the Northern part of the park, since it takes a few hours to drive from one end to the other, but it began to look like we would have no choice. We continued on to Yellowstone Lake and found a nice little campground where were able to sit by the lake and enjoy the evening sky.

We tried to get going early Sunday morning and wound up speaking to a wonderful ranger who echoed the fact that it was a bit early in the season to explore much of the park. After a bit of conversation, we decided on a favorite hike of his through the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River. The only down sides were that it was only a 3 day trip, and it was located in the far Northern end of the park. Oh yeah, one more thing. The biggest problem bear in the park had been raiding camps for the past week along that trail, so half the campsites were closed while the rangers attempted to trap the problem bear. A quick stop at the general store for another can of bear spray and a rope to hang our food away from the pesky bears and we were headed North.

We finally got started hiking around 4pm under a hot, sunny sky not far from Montana. We quickly descended the switchbacked trail to a suspension footbridge high above the roaring rapids of the Yellowstone River. Unfortunately, the park doesn't allow whitewater boating on the rivers, but there are stories of intrepid raft guides sneaking into the park at night to make their way down these huge waters. After an hour of crossing open meadows with gorgeous views of surrounding hillsides, we found ourselves at the aptly named Hellroaring Creek and our campsite for the night. We were both relieved to only have 2 miles of hiking on our first day, since the heavy packs and the hot sun were proving more difficult than expected. It was wonderful to be in the middle of nowhere with such beautiful scenery and weather. I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to backpack into such places.

The following day, we got a late-ish start around 11am and finally saw a few people on the trail. There was a ranger cabin on the other side of Hellroaring Creek where a group of rangers had been staying, presumably dealing with our nemesis the bear. The trail began a detour from the creek across from our camp and began to ascend the hillsides through wide open meadows. Although beautiful, the heat from the sun, then mosquitos, then the threat of our bear-friend, and finally concern of lightning resulted in a more challenging hike than we had anticipated. This whole backpacking thing was tough! We finally stopped for a bite to eat at the highest elevation of the trail, so I took out the map to figure out where we were and still had to go. My heart skipped a beat when I realized we were in Montana and no where near the river! Oh no, had we missed a turn off and had we hiked in the wrong direction altogether? Nope, it just turned out that the trail took a different path than I thought it would. And after a few more hours, we found ourselves in a nice, riverside campsite where we could take off our shoes, eat a hot dinner, and relax.

We were sure to get an earlier start for our third day on the trail, and we quickly found ourselves at another suspension bridge that took us back across the Yellowstone River. At that point, we met two rangers on horse back who were patrolling the area and had already completed in that morning the same distance that we had covered over the past two days. Our conversation eventually led to the problem bear and the discovery that he had come in on horseback to kill the bear. But as fate would have it, this bear had escaped from rangers in year’s past and even had managed to avoid fake campsites that were set up as traps. Poor guy, some day his luck might just run out. After the bridge, the trail steeply climbed out of the canyon and up to the high, exposed grasslands. We ran into the ranger once again while resting and eating a snack. He warned us not to dilly-dally, because the trail ahead was exposed and lightning would soon be arriving. So we shouldered our packs and moved ahead quickly. I really hadn’t anticipated such a long hike across the grasslands or that a thunderstorm would roll in so quickly. But once we were up there with no cover from the looming storm, all we could do was move forward as fast as possible. Fortunately, we made it back to the road before the rain and lightning, but within seconds we were caught in a ferocious downpour and hail. The problem was that we weren’t at the same spot we had started and we needed to hitch a ride back to the van. We figured that passing motorists would take pity on two backpackers caught in the hail and lightning, but we were wrong. Trucks, vans, cars, you name it, all passed us by as we huddled by the side of the road, until finally a nice Indian couple in a tiny rental car stopped to pick us up. We were thrilled and thanked them profusely. I have no idea how we fit ourselves and our packs in that tiny back seat, but I know that the graciousness of those people is something that I will aspire to in the future.

Once again, it was late in the day and we didn’t know where we were going to sleep, but we did know that the North entrance to the park led to Gardner, MT with pizza and beer! After that diversion, we found ourselves back at the park headquarters of Mammoth Hot Springs where we showered for a fee at the lodge and then plopped ourselves down in the campground for restful night of sleep. That little village is really quite a neat place. It’s fun to think about people entering the wilderness of the park on horseback and in carriages a hundred years ago and staying in the old hotel before visiting the massive thermal pools just down the road.

On Wednesday, July 2, we headed from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Lamar Valley in the Northeastern corner of the park where wolves were reintroduced in 1994. Most people arrive before dawn with hopes of catching a glimpse of a wolf trotting across the valley floor, but we didn’t arrive until mid-morning. Fortunately, it was a cool, damp, overcast morning and we were treated with far off views of the wolves as soon as we arrived! Spotting scopes, powerful binoculars, and massive cameras were all on hand to help view the canines. Although we could barely see them, it was fun to see their dark, almost black bodies run and play across the valley from us. I would love to come back and get to witness them again in the future.

Within a few hours, we were exploring the various hiking trails and views of the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Breathtaking is the best word to describe this little area of the park. If you find yourself in Yellowstone, be sure to stop and take a look at the falls from a few vantage points. The view from Inspiration Point was, well, inspiring, but going to the top edges of the falls was really my favorite. The sheer power of the water gushing over those precipitous drops was truly awe inspiring. And if you want an up close and personal view of the bottom of Lower Falls, be sure to take the hike down the steep staircase but remember that you will need to trudge back up it!

As if we had not done enough that day, we then headed down to Geyser Basin, the location of Old Faithful and numerous other geysers and thermal pools. Despite what some tourists may believe, the geysers aren’t controlled by the rangers as if it were the Bellagio. Instead, they spout steam and water on a somewhat period basis that has been characterized by scientists over years and years. And so when you arrive, you can view a “schedule” of all the geysers and their predicted eruption times. Well, when we arrived, Old Faithful had recently erupted and was due to again in another hour. But three others were also due to spout around 7pm, including Grand Geyser and Riverside Geyser. Exhausted from hours of driving and sightseeing, we proceeded along the boardwalk that skirts the dozens of spectacular thermal pools en route to Grand Geyser, since it is purported to be the highest predictable geyser in the world. After waiting for a while among the large crowd, we began to walk away, only to have the geyser erupt right behind us! We doubled back and got a ton of great photos before heading on towards the rest of the pools and geysers. At some point, Daisy Geyser erupted in the distance and as we got farther along, Riverside Geyser began to erupt over the Firehole River! We ran ahead, got a few photos, and were excited to witness our second geyser eruption in only a few minutes. It was somewhat disappointing to know that we had missed Old Faithful, but we got to see two geysers and then after a few minutes of walking, we got to check out the beautiful Morning Glory thermal pool which I had been wanting to see for several days. Thoroughly exhausted and not sure where we would stay for the night, we headed back towards the van. There were no campgrounds with vacancy in the area, so we would need to drive a few more hours all the way to Teton National Park- ugh. On a whim, Richele checked for vacancy at the Old Faithful Inn and found out that we could get a room discounted for $70 because of the late check-in time! The Inn is the poster child for classic lodges of the National Parks and is probably the coolest hotel I have ever stayed in. We then decided to relax with a drink on the deck after the long day only to discover that the deck faced Old Faithful which was about to erupt- amazing! We were very happy campers! We reveled in the luxury of a hotel and fine dining, even if just for one night during our road trip!

On Thursday, we sadly left Yellowstone behind as we headed South to the Tetons. With July 4^th weekend only a day away, we made sure to get a campsite early near Jackson Lake and then we were off to the Snake River. We kayaked the flatwater stretch of river called the Oxbox section just below the dam at Jackson Lake. The views in the first mile are outstanding with Mt Moran and the Northern peaks of the range jutting high above the surroundings. Farther down river, the focus turns towards the wildlife, with numerous bird species inhabiting the oxbox water. We came across 3 elk swimming across the river, bald eagles flying high above, and young ospreys in a nest along the river’s edge. Although there was no whitewater, it was a wonderful way to experience the Tetons from below.

On July 4^th, we expected to kayak another stretch of the Snake River that offers magnificent views of the Tetons, but without a way to get back to the van at the end of the run, we decided to try to meet some other folks who we could shuttle cars with. We probably had our earliest departure that morning, since I wanted to make sure we could find some friends to share a ride with. But as fate would have it, we weren’t meant to kayak that day. We spent several hours at the put-in waiting to find some private boaters to share the shuttle, but they never arrived. And the commercial guides and drivers were anything but friendly and willing to help our cause. After dealing with the initial disappointment, we found a nice spot on the side of the Snake River near the Oxbox and we just hung out and relaxed for the remainder of the day. With all the go-go-go that we had been doing throughout the trip, it turned out that what we really needed was just a little time sitting on our kiesters in a nice setting. When evening arrived, we made our way into the town of Jackson for a steak dinner at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and fireworks right in town. This was one of the most spectacular fireworks shows I had ever seen, which was particularly amazing considering the small size of the town. Then again, with enough money anything is possible.

It was hard to believe that on Saturday, July 5, our trip was almost over, but we still had a great day available to kayak the whitewater stretches of the Snake River downstream from Jackson. Based on a tip from a local raft guide, we decided to check out the more mountainous Hoback River tributary to the Snake and as luck would have it, we found another group of kayakers in this land of few kayakers to share a ride and trip down the river with. The Hoback is a beautiful Class II-III stretch of cold water that flows into the Snake at Hoback Junction. Although the run only took a little over an hour to complete, we were thoroughly satisfied with our whitewater experience. That evening, we made our way up into Granite Creek Canyon and were absolutely stunned by yellow wildflowers and mountain views. We got to see Granite Creek falls and set up a gorgeous camp not far away before dark, which left us time to soak in the National Forest run hot springs at the end of the road. The canyon felt like one of those amazing places that you only stumble upon once in a great while, and we were thrilled to have done so on our last night of the trip.

On Sunday, we finally pulled away from our camp to head back to- Idaho? Yeah, we sort of got the day started by going the wrong direction altogether. Oops! It turns out that we could have left almost right from camp, but instead we took a little 3 hour detour to Idaho and back. Live and learn. The 10 hour drive home was, well, long. And windy. We managed to split the time behind the wheel pretty evenly, which meant that when it was time for dinner and I was in the back, I had to cook! That’s right, I fired up the stove and proceeded to make burgers, mashed potatoes, and rice all while Richele was driving! I can’t say that it was the best meal I ever had, but it was certainly one of the most fun to prepare. A few hours later, we were shocked by the bright lights and traffic of Denver after our week of quiet in the Wyoming wild. There was comfort, however, in knowing that Yellowstone and the Tetons would always be there 10 hours away when we decide to return…

Wyoming vacation follow along

Richele and I head up to Wyoming this Friday for a little over a week of backpacking, kayaking, and playing in the Yellowstone/Teton National Park region. If you are interested in where we are, I will be checking in with my Spot satellite messenger (see previous post) on a daily basis, so you can see whether we are car camping or hiking near grizzlies, bison, and geysers in the Yellowstone backcountry. Just check out my Spot map page to see our recent locations.

(Note: The Spot site was down as I wrote this, but I hope it will be active by the time the trip begins...)

Brown's Canyon at 3550 cfs!

This past Saturday which happened to coincide with the Summer Solstice and a nearly full moon, I headed down to the Arkansas River with Matt Ewald, Lou, Andy W. , and Andy S. to celebrate the last weeks of Matt's single days. We decided to take my raft down Brown's Canyon as a paddle rig, never mind the fact that I had never really paddle guided before or that the water was raging at a season high 3550 cfs!

By noon, we had inflated the raft, run the shuttle, I had given my safety speech, and we were on the water. We began to feel pretty good about our paddling after the first several miles of easy water, but then we entered the Canyon Doors rapid and we found out our real abilities! I steered us right at a big, crashing wave that I thought would be fun, but that instead resulted in me getting catapulted out the back of the raft as it snapped back after we crested the wave! When my head surfaced out of the water, I found my paddle and spotted the raft starting to drift away from me and the rest of the crew didn't even know that I had been ejected from the boat! I guess that I shouted a bunch of commands to get the boat closer to me and then I pulled myself back into the relative safety of the raft. Within a few seconds, our raft that had been unguided for half a minute found itself heading sideways right into a hole, and the awkward angle shot both Andy's and myself out of the raft! Uh oh, this isn't going well. Our first real rapid and we were already having major problems. The raft was left nearly uncontrollable with Matt and Lou on the same side, and the three of us castaways careening through waves and into holes. Somehow, Matt was able to pull Andy W. back into the raft, I pulled myself in again, and we headed after Andy S. to pick him up. He has definitely had better days than his swim through these rapids! Eventually, another raft offered help and to pick him up into their boat, but just as he reached for the paddle that was extended to him, the paddle was pulled away- psych! It turned out that we were as close to Andy at that point as the other raft, so we just picked him up instead, but that must have really sucked to have been that close to rescue and then get dissed like that! I was able to pull Andy in, get the boat under control, and land at the underwater beach at the top of Zoom Flume.

Wow, we were all really quite shaken up from the experience, but we all sort of kept it to ourselves which resulted in a very uncomfortable silence as we then scouted Zoom Flume and ate our sandwiches. Watching rafts go through Zoom Flume made us question being on the river that sunny afternoon, but then I bumped into John Leventhal and got enough encouragement to rally the troops for a run through the rapid. It turned out that our fears of Zoom Flume were much worse than reality. We set ourselves up on a perfect line and crashed down through the center of the rapids with all of us remaining in the boat! We stopped at the next eddy, drank a beer, and celebrated our successful run through the intimidating rapid. The rest of the rapids continued similarly in a successful fashion, although our heart rates and attention levels stayed high for fear of what would happen otherwise.

When we reached the Hecla's Junction take-out, it seemed wise to stop and gather some information about Seidel's Suckhole, which was just down river and the most formidable rapid of Brown's Canyon. Everyone said that you run it left at this water level and that it is quite forgiving. Forgiving? That's the kind of expression that is used when you go to meet your maker, but after my encounter with this rapid last year, I might have to agree that it was the correct expression. We forged on, determined to finish the run, and after two stops on river right to scout the rapid, we finally approached the beast. We ran it river left, just like everyone had indicated, and we crashed directly through the huge wave that forms in place of the hole at this high water level. Just like that, our collective stress level dropped, but around the corner we faced one last challenging rapid that nearly bent the raft in half and that got our hearts pounding once again. At around 6 pm, we floated under Stone Bridge leaning back into the raft to avoid decapitation (The bridge has to be portaged at 4000 cfs, and there was barely enough room to clear under it at this level.) and finally stepped onto dry land at the take-out! We celebrated once again with beers, packed up, and proceeded back to Buena Vista and the national forest for more beers over a big bonfire.

FIBArk 2008

Another weekend and another great time boating on the Arkansas River in Colorado. This time, Richele and I headed down to FIBArk (First in Boating on the Arkansas River), which is a very cool festival that is centered around whitewater kayaking and rafting. It is one of the biggest festivals of its type and it attracts the best of the best to compete in various disciplines, including slalom, freestyle, downriver, Class V boater-cross, and the Hooligan race.

Saturday
The weekend really couldn't have gone much better and it all started with a lunch worth of free samples at the Safeway Grand Reopening and then me winning an iPod Shuffle in the checkout line! Shortly after that, we met our kayaking hero Eric Jackson! Not only did he insist that we take out two of his Hero line of kayaks (hmmm, maybe he was the one playing up the whole hero thing...), but he also sang You Got Legs to Richele! Let's just say that I've been wanting to meet EJ for the past several years, so this was a real treat for me. So then we geared up in our kayak attire, grabbed the two big, purple kayaks (Barney the dinosaurs) and plopped into the middle of the kayak course and competition right after Assad went by us! Neither of us had kayaked this stretch from Salida to Rincon and all we really knew of it was that there was a Class III rapid called Big Bear. A short while later after getting somewhat used to our borrowed purple dinosaurs, we encountered a turbulent maelstrom (well it felt that way!) of waves crashing from every direction! We both made it through without flipping, but we were both very surprised by the power of high water on the river. After a quick eddy break, we entered the main stretch of Big Bear rapid and I turned to my left to see Richele heading almost into the big hole that gives the rapid its name! The look on her face as she skirted the giant beast could only be described as awe, although a few beers would bring out many other names during the rest of the evening! At the end of the run, our luck continued as we immediately found a ride for us and our boats back to Salida with some nice folks in a big, ole Suburban. Once back in Salida, we got to watch the Hooligan Race, drink some beer, wander around the festival, listen the Hell's Belles, and watch part of the Pro Rodeo that EJ was competing in. Maybe it was winning the slalom competition or the boater cross or the fact that he was competing against athletes half his age that led EJ to finish second in the rodeo. But after it was all finished, he couldn't even stop playing. He got back into the hole under the spot lights and proceeded to out-do his previous moves all without a paddle, AND I was lucky enough to capture it on my little digital camera and get it posted on Youtube! So check out EJ with and without paddle tearing it up under the lights at FIBArk 2008!

Hand Surfing Video


Loop, Cartwheels, & More


Sunday
The second day in the Arkansas River Valley turned out to be every bit as good as our first. This was one of those weekends that felt like it lasted about a month, but in the good way! After meeting up with Colleen and Greg mid-morning, we dropped a car at the Hecla Junction take-out, inflated and rigged the raft, and were on the water mid-morning to raft Brown's Canyon. The day couldn't have been any nicer- not a cloud in sight, low 80's, no wind, and fast moving water on the river. The first several miles went by uneventfully and I don't think we really appreciated how high the river actually was. As we approached Zoom Flume (the main rapid of the run), I opted for scouting via proxy, which amounted to yelling over to some kayakers to ask if the run looked okay. They said to run it center, then right, which is my usual line, so no biggie. Then we got to the top of the rapid and got to see what it looks like at 2800 cfs! WOW! This aint your daddie's Zoom Flume, that's for sure! We set up perfectly in the center and rode the giant green tongue like it was a roller coaster and crashed through waves that made the 14 foot raft feel tiny. The girls paddled like pros up front and Greg had the time of his life hooting and hollering in the back! We made it around the huge hole at the bottom and were drinking Tecate a bit later to celebrate our safe passage. I grabbed these photos off the web of us near the crux of the rapid, and since whitewater photos never look as impressive as the first person experience, you can only imagine what it was like to be crashing through those waves! I can't wait to paddle raft it again this coming Saturday with Matt and friends for his bachelor party. The rest of the run went equally well, with huge waves that we blasted through while hooting and hollering! When we reached the take out, we all felt a bit of disappointment that such a great ride was over. In my mind, that's the perfect way to end a day on the water and a great weekend.