TravelStream™ news feed for member lifeofbrian on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lifeofbrian en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:20:37 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/6/1211865540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/6/1211865540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/6/1211865540/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:20:37 -0400 Washington State, sans Seattle

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Bellingham, Washington, United States

This was a business trip turned sightseeing trip. Bad weather the entire time I was there. Big surprise. Enjoy the photos.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213275600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213275600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213275600/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:02:05 -0400 Conquering Mount Shasta

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Shasta, California, United States

We left Red Bluff around 9 a.m. to drive to Shasta City and get our permits. Our plan was to hit the trailhead at noon and make the nearly 2-mile trek to Horse Camp by 2 p.m.

We picked up our permits at Fifth Season in Shasta City. Nice little store in town for last-second supplies. The staff was telling some other Shasta-ites the ins and outs of the mountain. Nice helpful staff. Wes and I got our permits without any hitches.

Bunny Flats is about 20 minutes from the Fifth Season. The trailhead is easy to spot. Just look for the parking lot with a jillion cars.

Almost as planned, we started heading up Bunny Flats shortly after 1 p.m. Lack of sleep and the elevation combined to whoop my ass. Even though the trail to Bunny Flats is relatively flat and short, I took an unusual number of rests and piss breaks.

We saw about a dozen hikers coming down from the mountain. None - yes ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NOBODY - made it to the summit. Morale was low. Most said it was windy. But a couple of people got elevation sickness.

The bad news continued to flow when we reached Horse Camp around 3 p.m. A lady hiker sitting alone at Horse Camp had to turn around because of fatigue and the havoc altitude reeked on her body. She also just got a radio transmission that said her friends who continued to the summit just slipped on Red Banks and the guided group was returning.

We found out later that three hikers were tied together. One slipped and sent the trio tumbling down the mountain between 100 feet and 100 yards (a discrepancy based on three different accounts). During the fall one of the hikers took a crampon to the face. He had 10 or so cuts on his face. The guy looked like he got blasted by a shotgun filled with rubber pellets, then sucker punched in the lip.

He was a bloody mess, and the situation scared the crap out of all of the hikers heading up. The two guides that took the group each came down with tweaked ankles. One of the guides said this was the last weekend they were going to take groups up Avalanche Gulch due to the poor trail conditions (lack of snow). This was the first time I was actually worried we weren't going to summit.

The rest of the day, Wes and I were nervous wrecks contemplating the situation we got ourselves into. Around 5 p.m., we talked to the first summiters of the day - a couple of younger guys (one around 14, the other around 25-ish) dressed in blue jeans and wife-beaters. They were using crampons and ski poles - not the high-tech trekking poles - and weren't using ice axes. Ice axes are "stupid," they said. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

A father and daughter team came down an hour after. They made the summit too. All of the people who bagged Shasta went right of the heart and up the chimney through Red Banks - hardly a coincidence. The other thing they all had in common was they were all one nut short of a peanut. We took their stories and advice with a grain of salt.

Horse Camp was a good place to get acclimated. There was a steady stream of passing hikers who gave us up-to-the-minute trail conditions and there are binoculars inside the Horse Camp hut to watch hiker's progress up the mountain.

The spring water at Horse Camp was the best water I've ever tasted - cold, clean and better than the bottled sh*t.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213584840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213584840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213584840/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:55:32 -0400 Conquering Mount Shasta

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Anaheim, California, United States

Home sweet home. Get me some aloe vera.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213489800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213489800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213489800/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:50:10 -0400 Conquering Mount Shasta

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Shasta, California, United States

Wes woke me up at 4:15 a.m., 15 minutes before the alarm. Neither of us got good sleep. We were both a little nervous from the impending doom of Shasta. I had a couple nightmares about Shasta.

In one dream, my friend forgot gear and we couldn't even make a summit attempt. In the other dream, the mountain looked so big that the peak touched space. Total hours of sleep: 4 hours.

I counted 22 people headlamps already making their way up the hill by the time we got out of our tents. A few stragglers at Helen and a handful of dayhikers who came up from Bunny Flats tailed them.

We set out shortly after 5 a.m. The sun was already rising and we never used our headlamps. The snow was nice and hard - perfect for the steep climb up to Red Banks. At the base of the heart, the trail climbed about 45 degrees. On the right side of the heart, some spots were about 50 degrees - seemed like it was straight up.

I took a misstep and let a couple cantaloupe-sized rocks tumble down the mountain towards an old man who was hiking alone. I yelled, "Rock!" And he didn't hear me. It took a few times before he looked up and saw the tiny boulders of death tumbling towards him. The rocks tumbled about 10 feet from him. (Phew). I didn't want to hike back down the hill to have to patch the guy up.

Minutes before this incident, we passed a nice young woman who was heading back to camp crying. We asked her why she turned and she said that there was a rock slide near the heart and a softball-sized rock pegged her on the ankle and she was forced to turn around.

She wasn't hobbling, but maybe she was more scared than anything. Four others turned around within an hour of our hike. Two due to fatigue from "being old," one because of altitude sickness and another because his friend was sick and he felt bad leaving him at camp.

About 3/4s of the way up to Red Banks, the snow turns to doo-doo, then quickly to rock and ice. 24 hours ago, this exposed stretch measured 100 feet or so. Today, the trail deteriorated and we traversed loose rock and ice for about 200 feet. Luckily since everything was still frozen over, our crampons did a lot of the gripping. Can't imagine what this is like for the late starters who will climb this when it's softer.

We made good time up through the heart - despite the choking smoke coming from the Nor Cal wildfires. The trail was made easier because of snow cups. They acted like nice little steps to the top. It took us about two hours to get to the bottom of Red Banks.

A lot of people see Red Banks and just assume that you go through one of the chimneys and all of a sudden you're at Misery Hill. When I finally stuck my head into one of the 8-foot-wide chutes, I realized that Red Banks was a monster in itself. The "chimney" is about a 500-foot vertical climb at about a 50-degree angle.

Most of the terrain here is really icy since the snow is shadowed in the banks. At this point, Wes was an energy-filled jack rabbit flying up the mountain. My lungs felt like they shrank to the size of a walnut and I couldn't breathe after taking 10 consecutive steps.

One hour later, we got to the top of Red Banks and saw a comforting sight - Misery Hill. I expected Misery Hill to be hell. But they should really rename this section to Misery Mound. The hill isn't too big - we got to the top of MH in about 45 minutes.

Winds made Misery Hill interesting. A couple of hikers turned around because of the 50-60 mph winds. Wes and I found no problem dealing with it. At this point my lungs might as well have stopped working. I couldn't breathe.

I ended up following a guided group that took two steps then took a deep breathe. I followed their pace for 30 minutes without stopping and we made good progress. Wes, the jack rabbit, was just moving too fast for me. He'll pay the price later.

From the top of Misery Mound, the real peak comes into sight. At this point Wes and I are 100% confident that we'll make the summit. We already start talking about how we conquered the mountain, forget about the thin air and our exhausted bodies.

About 20 minutes later (around 11 a.m.) we were standing on top of the summit. No wind, not too cold and beautiful blue skies surrounded us. It was the mountain god's reward for fighting through ice, wind and snow.

Summit was pretty busy - about a dozen people up there. Half of the dozen was a Mormon Boy Scout troupe from Reno. None of the half-dozen kids had water, their leaders carried all of the water. Only a few of them had crampons, and only a couple of them had helmets.

I should've called child protective services.

Our stay at the summit was rather short, about 15-20 minutes. We knew we had a long trek back to camp. The deteriorating snow and steep hills made the return trip a bit tricky.

On the way down, Wes got a major headache and spats of dizziness. On the heart, he had to lie down and just relax. This was his first time above 12,000 feet and his body finally reacted to the thin air. This was also the first time Wes used a lot of ice gear, so coming down for him was a little tricky.

I slowed our duo going up, and he was the extra weight on the way down. Funny how mountain gods work.

We glissaded down a few slopes for a total of 1,500 feet or so. I went with the go-as-fast-as-you-can-then-go-spread-eagle-to-stop technique while Wes used his crampons to go slow and steady. We both got down safe.

After a quick 30-minute nap at camp, we headed down to Bunny Flats to meet up with the awesome PT Cruiser. At 8 p.m., more than 15 hours after we started our day, we finally made it back.

We were both sore and sunburnt and crashed at a hotel in Redding. Best bed ever.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213381800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213381800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213381800/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:38:06 -0400 Conquering Mount Shasta

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Shasta, California, United States

Helen Lake is a 2-3 hour hike from Horse Camp. Our goal was to camp at Helen tonight and summit tomorrow. After a 10-hour sleep and a nice big breakfast, we headed to Helen around noon.

From Horse Camp, Helen Lake looks a stone-throw away. You see one rocky hill and one semi-snowy hill then a nice flat plateau - presumably Helen Lake. During the hike, we were surprised to find hill after hill after hill after hill. It was torture hiking up and finding another hill when you've just crested one.

Halfway up to Helen Lake, we heard a high-pitched snap, then a deep rumble.

One of the monolithic pinnacles that hugs the Heart snapped in half and sent a ton of rock and debris down the mountain. Apparently this is a common occurrence on the AG. Everyone on the trail stopped and watched in amazement. Everyone higher on the mountain was screaming "ROCK" trying to alert other hikers.

Other than the rock slide that pretty much made me piss my pants, the hike itself isn't that bad. But don't get deceived by your view from below. We reached Helen Lake around 4 p.m. - a little more than the three hours we planned.

Helen Lake was busy. About 20 tents lined the ridge. We settled into the last of about 10 sites. We had a great view of Shasta City and some of the surrounding mountains, but we got very little wind protection.

A fellow mountaineer brought up some 2005 merlot and offered me some. I gladly accepted. I wish I knew which vineyard it came from. The wine slipped down my throat smoothly. Then I realized that the wine was going to dehydrate me, so I had to toss the rest. Wine helped me to bed at 8:30 p.m.

Alpine start the next morning at 4:30 a.m.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213216200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213216200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/7/1213216200/tpod.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:25:14 -0400 Conquering Mount Shasta

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Anaheim, California, United States

My pal, Wes, and I left Orange County for our first extended trip together in our rented metallic blue PT Cruiser. Not quite the pimp car, but it gets about 32 mpg and the car was going to be parked at the base of Mt. Shasta for three days so we didn't really care.

We broke the Orange Curtain around 4 p.m. with minimal traffic through L.A. It was a hellish long drive in the dark through flat boring farmland and the cow doo doo burnt my smelling follicles right out of my news.

But the good news is our god-awful PT Cruiser didn't need to be refueled for six hours. $66 to fill up. We arrived in Red Bluff, 2 hours south of Shasta, around 1:30 a.m. Sleep time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192406580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192406580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192406580/tpod.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:24:59 -0400 Possibly my final extended trip before I face reality and get a job.

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Springdale, Utah, United States

Heights didn't scare me away from Angel's Landing. There's no way some cold water was going to keep me away from the Virgin Narrows, a river hike where the river IS the trail.

The big goal of the Narrows is a portion of the canyon four miles down where the walls are hundreds of feet tall and only 15 feet apart. I was going to get there, no matter what.

Day users gathered at the entry point to the river and gawked at how crazy the hikers were. Today the water was a chilly 45 degrees. I'll admit that it looks crazy, but once my body adjusted to the cold waters, I managed to hike without too many complaints.

The river was waist-deep at its deepest and about an hour into the hike my feet started to numb and my legs began to burn (hypothermia anyone?). Footing in the river was tricky. The basic rule of thumb was hike towards the light parts of the river. Any dark parts of the river were about chest deep.

You couldn't see what you were stepping on. My technique to hiking the river was to wedge my foot and/or ankle in between two rocks before making a step. I didn't trip or fall once.

More than 2 1/2 hours after I started the hike, I made it to the famous slot canyon. The view was breathtaking. The canyon walls were so high you could barely see the tops of 'em. The walls were blue and the sound of a rushing river overpowered the canyon. Not many people made it this far.

Many turned around early as their legs wore down from fighting the current of the frigid waters. My legs were numb as I reached the slots and I lost control of my numb feet.

I found a small patch of dry land to warm my feet up a little bit before turning around. The trip back was a thousand times easier downstream and I reached the trailhead in about 1 1/2 hours.

The hikers coming out of the river all had a hop in their step and smiles on their faces that made the day users wonder what was in the canyon.

What's in the canyon? It's more beautiful than any woman and it's better than sex.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192323780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192323780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192323780/tpod.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:38:12 -0400 Possibly my final extended trip before I face reality and get a job.

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Springdale, Utah, United States

I got to Zion in about 2 1/2 hours after I left Vegas. The drive felt more like 45 minutes. The scenery is beautiful. There are a lot of Mormons in the park. Not too unexpected, but about 75% of the visitors seem to be BYU students.

Backpackers are outnumbered by skunks (the codename my friend and I gave to dayhiking tourists) about 75 to 1. It's easy to spot the backpackers. They're the ones that aren't groomed and don't really care.

Rangers in the visitor's center were extremely nice and helpful (the young lady rangers were the hottest rangers I've ever seen). I got the latest weather and trail conditions for the weekend. My first hike is up Angel's Landing, a hike that has claimed the lives of five visitors since the park opened in the early 1900s.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192321860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192321860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192321860/tpod.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:36:59 -0400 Possibly my final extended trip before I face reality and get a job.

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Springdale, Utah, United States

There were two trails must-hike trails in Zion - the Virgin Narrows river hike and the Angel's Landing cliff hike. The sky was perfectly clear and winds were low, so I chose to hike Angel's Landing.

I've seen hikes described as "strenuous" or "very strenuous," but never "grueling." The Angel's Landing hike climbs about 1,500 feet in 2.5 miles. That might not sound too bad to the experienced hiker, but the last 1/2 mile of the trip is along a cliff that at times narrows to three feet wide with an 800-foot drop-off on one side and a 1,200-foot drop-off on the other.

Most people know that I'm deathly scared of heights, but once again I find myself on another white knuckle, teeth-chattering hike.

The first two miles is mostly paved along steep switchbacks. A lot of the day users struggled up the hill, stopping every 20 yards to catch their breath. The switchbacks were so steep that on the way down I had to show three groups of people how to tie runner's knots so their toes wouldn't get crushed in the front of the shoe.

Most of the day users called it quits at the top of the switchbacks. The view from the lookout point was good, but I knew the view from the top of Angel's Landing would be better. Despite what my body and better judgment was telling me, I pressed on to Angel's Landing.

The last 1/2 mile of the hike was hell for me. The trail narrows with drop-offs on both sides and I repeated "oh sh*t" in my head about a thousand times in the first 10 yards. I didn't see much of the trail on the way up. My focus was on my footing and grabbing on to the chains that kept me from falling off the cliff.

To make matters worse, the trail was busy with BYU students (go cougars!) and other tourists. Things got a little tricky when hikers coming down and hikers going up met on the trail. Someone had to let go of the chain to pass. I must've looked like an abandoned child in skid row. Nearly everybody let me hold on to the chain.

I took one hour to traverse the last 1/2 mile, but the view and the sense of accomplishment was worth it. There were about 20 people on the summit. Most of them ate lunch and took photos. I saw quite a few couples spooning and cuddling. I wonder what they would've done if they were alone up there. It would probably be amazing.

Thirty minutes after I reached the summit, it was time to head down. I had nobody to spoon with and there were some nasty storm clouds entering the canyon. I didn't want to risk anything.

The hike down was much easier than coming up. I was comfortable with the heights, the risks and the dangers (plus I just saw the most amazing view of the canyon) so I wore a huge smile on my face and hopped down most of the trail. I probably looked like a suicidal mad man to the people hiking up.

I reached the trailhead at 4 p.m. and I haven't had a single meal all day. Time to grub - hardcore.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192211400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192211400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lifeofbrian/zion_-_2007/1192211400/tpod.html Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:37:51 -0400 Possibly my final extended trip before I face reality and get a job.

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

I used all of my tricks to get to Vegas in a timely and economically efficient way. First, I took the 57 north all the way to the 10 east before getting on the 15. I do everything possible to stay away from the unpredictable 91 and the ghastly smell of cow dung in beautiful Chino.

Also, I drove like a grandpa on the freeway - setting my cruise control on 72 mph. About 1,000 cars passed me on the way, but I got to Vegas with a half-tank of gas. Pretty damn good mileage for a Honda Passport.

My parents and a handful of family friends are in Vegas for my dad's 40-year college reunion. They wanted me to shoot photos at the party in exchange for a free room and VIP service for the night. I gladly accepted (then figured out that I could extend my trip into Utah).

I'm completely bored of Vegas. New Year's Eve, CES (the big electronics convention), the NBA All-Star game and a random trip with some friends already drew me to Vegas this year. That's about one trip every two months. Vegas overkill.

After I shot a few photos, I ate my free buffet and gambled away about $50 on the nickel Wheel of Fortune slots and I threw down on roulette. I was up about $60 then, of course, lost it all by night's end.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I turned in around midnight. Need to get up early for an early start to Utah.
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