This Makes No Sense At All

I have a vast appetite for avoiding doing the things at the top of my list, so when Susan got lodging discount tickets for joining Yosemite Association, and suggested a mid week weekend getaway, I was ready. My brain was Kindled out from digging into details about converting a book to Kindle. Off we went in the Subaru, expecting that we might need four wheel drive, based on snow forecasts. About 50 miles out, I realize I've left the chains at home, so we opted for the longer and lower route up through Mariposa rather than up and over the mountains via Crane Flat and down to Yosemite valley. For our last pct trip, we had invested in an Ipod Touch, so we would have some means of internet access at our resupply points. It worked well for that purpose, but I hadn't used it for much else, other than my calendar. I had loaded all our music cds down to it, but did nothing with them. A few weeks ago, I got this car charger for the ipod that also had a little fm transmitter, that wo...

The Dinsmores, and the pct-l forum report lots of rain. Fortunately the resupply points are five to seven days apart for strong hikers, so if everything is wet by the fifth day, just a day or two more till you reach civilization. I've already sent off my Stephenson's Warmlite to get endliners, which will reduce condensation in the front and back of the tent, should we ever be so foolish as to ever attempt such a trip again. I'm still investigating how to cook in the tent - seems risky at best. Even if we don't burn our shelter down, how much oxygen do two people need in a Warmlite, and how much is used up if you take 7 minutes to boil a liter of water in the tent? Maybe I should get one of those carbon monoxide warning devices, put it in the tent while we boil a pot of water.

I've been scanning the slides for our April-May 2004 walk from Le Puy to Figeac. This is a long process. One slide at a time, I place into the flatbed scanner with a slide adaptor. There is a prescan, then a scan, it goes into Photoshop and I have to adjust the lighting and name the slide. Maybe three minutes per slide. You would think this is a tedious process, but as I go through the slides I am reliving that wonderful trip. It was cold and wet, rained most days and for five days it snowed, but we were prepared and comfortable. I thought I would share some of those snowy day images. The most snow was on the stretch from Nasbinals through Aubrac and Saint Chely. Click on the images below to see them full size. To us, daffodils came from bulbs you buy and plant in your yard. Here they were everywhere:  In the morning there was a dusting of snow And then Daffodils through the snow  And then just a track through the sparsely populated high plateau Leaving Nasbinals ...

After a very long dry spell, we are finally getting days of rain, beating down, pound on the roof, flashes of lightning, rain. I'm not complaining. The reservoirs are still only 67% of what they should be - rain is good. However, it somewhat complicates our training efforts. Sometimes we don the rain pants, rain jacket, even sometimes waterproof socks, and venture out on our usual trails. Of course we still use our running shoes, and they sometimes come back caked with mud. Our hiking poles are vital for keeping us erect. Sometimes, though, we are lazy. Where can we hike in the rain and avoid the mud? We have some routes on the local streets that are interesting, and we may do them, but eventually we have to get out of town, and into the open spaces. Sunol Regional Park is one of our favorite wet weather hikes. They have a gravel road that runs out beyond Little Yosemite, and we can get a good 6 mile hike by following that out and then up to the gate for the back country route t...