The caption sucked you in didn’t it?  “Drive By Shooting”…it’s a sad commentary on society and the state of art when this kind of story get’s attention but that is the way our MTV, FOX, iPod, Twitter, Facebook, etc. media generated minds work now.  Back to the ‘Drive By’…

The drive south down 99 from Whistler to Vancouver was brilliant.  The sun finally pushed through the five-week canopy of cloud and the curtain opened to five meters of fallen snow in the past 24 days.  Meanwhile, I realised almost immediately that I had fallen into the three most regrettable pitfalls of renting a car. 

Number one: never get into a rental car without you sunglasses.  Granted it is November on the wet coast so a sunny drive on a day forecast for heavy rain wasn’t expected but I own a store that sells three of the coolest brands of sunglasses out there, have shades stashed in back packs, in my glove box (my wife had my truck) and otherwise scatter them in any number of places around my home and office on ledges and window sills where I meant not to forget them…but step into a shiny new Hyundai from Avis…you get the picture.  Note to self, when you get home put a pair of sunglasses in every bag.

Number two: no tunes.  No hook up for my HTC Mp3 phone (no iPod dock…not that I have an iPod), no Bluetooth, no CD’s (although the player is marked clearly ‘MP3′…even Hyundai gets that we burn them)…just the radio.  Mountain FM? God no.  I mean, yes it works, but no.  Enter XM Radio (XM2 actually…do they need 2?).  Leave it to Hyundai to add XM but no jack for auxiliary hook ups…and to add insult to injury they call it a ‘full size’?  They must be made in, well, somewhere with very small people.  XM and I develop an inevitable love hate relationship within minutes.  Every specialty commercial free station you can imagine categorized by music genre, decade, nationality, a million talk stations from comedy to sports to news, even religion (do they still have that?), every station that is except one that is playing a song I want to listen to.  Seek, scan, stop, XM Elvis, 60’s Pop, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s…end of a good song, damn! OFF!!

Finally, the third and hardest to swallow of all rental car pitfalls – especially for hardened Whistler locals like myself who drive full size 4×4, 4 door, Chevy Silverado pick-ups with one of the coolest line ups of stickers ever assembled on a vehicle and, by the way, gets better gas mileage than the Hyundai – the rest stop photo op.  It doesn’t matter how core I am or what hoody I have on or what time my meeting with Patagonia at Granville Island to see the 2010/11 winter line up is (yes, already) when I sit down in a rental car I know I will drop my camera ready to shoot in the passenger seat beside me and be resigned to stop at the first rest stop with a view and take a few shots like every other tourist and be humiliatingly recognized and at the same time welcomed as one of them.  I can’t fight it, or bother to explain to the guys in the big truck – like mine at home – loaded with sleds who are obviously local and only stopped for the call of nature that happens whenever there are more empty cans of Monster than passengers.  I give in to the urge and like a bar star who says she only smokes when she drinks, I pull over and suffer the loss of inner discipline that self righteously drives locals everywhere from interrupting their commute by selfishly enjoying magnificent surroundings like ours…dummies!

The tragic irony of the rental car is that, for me anyways, it is the ultimate excuse and licence to not be cool (except of course for the dorks in Hawaii who insist on renting the Mustang convertibles thinking they are cool).  So my pride intact, I pull up on the Tantalus view-point, grab my camera from the seat beside me, fold myself out of the Hyundai (still squinting from the drive south into the sun…no shades), dressed in my city clothes – black shirt, black jacket, black Vans – and lose myself in the grandeur of this place I am so blessed to call home.  Go ahead, I think to myself, “Screw the cool guy standard…Claim it!” (MSP, In Deep 2009)

The rolling summit due north is a scene straight out of Alaska…’click’…every rock and tree and shadow line a canvas of white beneath the pale blue sky of morning, and down the valley the snow line on the pines is churning in the smokey mist and warmth of the sunlight seen so rarely this time of year…’click, click, click’.  I love the pure imagination of it all…even the digital sound of a shutter release embedded on a chip programmed to echo from the little speaker on my camera to add to the nostalgia of my experience every time I snap a shot like I am Ansel Adams in 1930’something 3 months into a cold winter in Yosemite…brilliant.  Another car drives up and snapped back to reality I wonder for a moment what time it is, put the lens cap back in place and fold myself back into the Hyundai and stop.  I look again through the windshield at the smokey trees…and get back out for a few more…one more for the road.  I laugh to myself and think, ‘I love being a tourist’, and head on down the highway listening to Mountain FM.

It’s awakening to find inspiration in my own time…in my own back yard.  What have you passed by lately? or daily? Is there some place you know you’ve always wanted to stop but never have the time?  (ie. When your on your way to wait 10 minutes in the line at Starbucks or Wal-Mart or London Drugs? – sorry, no line ups there.)  It’s right there outside your window, just a step outside the comfort of your shiny metal box, yes, it’s right there.  Stop.  Just stop. 

(Aside: I would love to hear the stories of the people who just sopped after reading this…) 

Back to the ‘Drive By’…need to hit Vancouver, Granville Island by noon.  Bathroom break in Squamish, resist the ridiculously priced CD’s at Chevron even though they have a copy of ACDC’s Dirty Deeds…where will I ever find that on CD again? Answer; right there, forever…and don’t even think about the shades on the shiny spinny chrome rack thingy on the counter.  Three words, ‘Made In China’, and while I’m at it, why not add one word to that oh so familiar phrase stamped across some ridiculously growing double-digit percentage of our economy that might just sway the buying and manufacturing habits of the western world, ‘communist’.  If every second item you purchased was labelled, ‘Made in Communist China’, would you think twice?  Just a thought.  Two Mocha Monsters for $5.00, an old school chocolate puffed wheat square and I am back on the road.

The drive by shooting begins somewhere on the descent to Stanley Park on the Lion’s Gate Bridge.  I look in the rear view and see the perfect reflection of the suspension towers behind me, the city scape in front just above the mirror, wrap the neck cord of my camera around my wrist – just in case – open the window and fire off a round of black and white’s (I pre-programmed a B+W high res mode on my digi) at arms length out the window from the driver’s seat.  The first shot amazingly catches an oncoming car completely obscuring the city view above the mirror but captures a perfect mirror image of the bridge and the traffic behind.  The next two or three catch the view of downtown Vancouver between the cars, through the suspension cabling, above the tree line of Stanley Park.  Here we go.

I rattle off a few more down West Georgia; homeless guy in the soft focus silhouette of the moving trees (moving @30km/h past Burrard), big sign on the Vancouver Art Gallery, cool soft cover on the back of a Silverado like mine, the underside of the Granville Street Bridge at False Creek, a painting through a wood framed window where I parked, and think to myself, “Drive By Shooting…Drive By”.  Don’t call the MOT (BC Ministry of Transport) for an opinion on this one, don’t even take mine or think what you think I am suggesting (I accept no liability, blah, blah, blah…).  Just think of the possibilities.  We have all done it (haven’t we?).  Eaten a grape at the grocery store, pocketed some cool meaningless trinket, ridden to the store without our helmet, gone into the back country alone…snapped shots from airplane windows, on the bus or train, taken pics of funny road signs, people, other cars, vistas…this is just the natural progression of the art of every day.  It gives new meaning to ‘Street To Peak’ (ha, ha…just thought of that now!).  What better place to get it started (not that I am starting anything) than Street To Peak. 

Imagine you are a tourist today.  Yes, at home or sitting where ever you might be reading this.  How many photos did you take on your last week or two escape to somewhere else?  How many letters and/or post cards  did you write? (Better question – how many did you send?) Did you get out your journal or a pile of napkins and write? and fill more pages than you have in the past six months of the every day?  Imagine you are a geeky tourist in a rental Hyundai with no iTunes, squinting into the sun, drinking Monster Mocha, eating Fish and Chips from Tony’s (the best on Granville Island)  from a box on the passenger seat, searching for a good song on the local radio, snapping photos of the sky on a dark rainy bridge after a day of stopping a view points and rest stops just because life is good and you don’t know for sure when you will ever be here, right here, right now, again.   Imagine if that today was every day.

Where to start?  Wait a minute…before you dust off your SLR, load it in the car and hit the road, don’t miss the point.  (I can see the type A’s and OCD’s packing their sunglasses and CD’s already.)  In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”

On this day when we all think of the many reasons we are so thankful, I wanted to share something I came across recently. It was written by my son when he was 10 years old. That was 14 years ago. Boy, how the time flies (Jerry Wallace…1958).

He wrote about Yosemite, which is my favorite place on this earth. Luckily he did write it 14 years ago because I could read it. If he wrote it today, I would not be able to make out many words. His penmanship got worst as he aged. I have fixed up the few misspellings and less than stellar English. It is called “The Day Nature Spoke”

The Day Nature Spoke

It was summer of 1994. I was alone. Just me and nature. It was in Yosemite. One of their short trails. It was just me and the animals, trees and pine air. I was under a tall blanket of trees. The ground was filled with twigs all over.

I saw a raccoon in a distance. It came close and I stood still. Acting as if I were a tree, still, though I wanted to move. I couldn’t breathe. Why? What had just happened to me? The raccoon came up and rubbed its tail against my leg. In a distance I heard a waterfall as if it were a roller coaster.

I kept asking myself, was I alone? My hiking boots were stable to the ground. Somehow I felt as if I were being drawn toward something in the wild. Today nature was my friend, whether I liked it or not. To me it was just being there that excited me tremendously. It was breath taking.

I would see that nature was alive. I smelt the pines off of every tree, which now looked like skyscrapers. The water has all turned into a mist; each little drop of mist was like a single piece of sand.

It was time to go. I didn’t want to leave but nature will come another time in my life. This walk has changed my view on nature, not just there but in the whole world.

I would like to experience that again with nature.

I am so proud of my little nature boy! I am headed for Yosemite after Christmas and through New Years. Perhaps we can coordinate our schedules and see a little snowy nature together.

Hetch Hetchy Moonrise

Discover Yosemite’s best-kept secret, Hetch Hetchy Valley.

John Muir once described Hetch Hetchy as “a wonderfully exact counterpart” of Yosemite Valley. It is a funny twist of nature to create a valley this close to Yosemite Valley that looks so much alike. Today the infamous O’Shaughnessy Dam blocks the flow of the Tuolumne River, flooding the entire valley with 300 feet of water. The San Francisco Bay Area needs the dam to satisfy its insatiable hunger for power and water. A lot of controversy surrounds the dam and the accompanied destruction of a pristine valley within the borders of Yosemite National Park.

Despite the controversy, Hetch Hetchy is a fantastic destination for day hikes, backpacking and of course, photography. One of the easiest and by far the most popular day hike is the 5 mile round trip to Wapama Falls. The falls plummet 1400 ft from the northern cliffs of the valley, an impressive sight, although not easy to capture in photographs. The easy and pleasant round trip hike offers good views of the dam, the reservoir and the falls.

The reservoir leads to fantastic opportunities for photography. Imagine an entire Yosemite Valley standing on a mirror surface.

I cannot help admiring the remarkable engineering accomplishments of such an immense undertaking and the determination people showed at the turn of the century to accomplish such mammoth projects like O-Shaughnessy Dam. Comparing it to the quibbles of modern day projects and the projected costs of necessary repairs on the Bay Bridge, I must bow to the people constructing the dam.

Only a tiny fraction of visitors to Yosemite come here, although I believe that number will increase rapidly in the near future as crowds simply spill over into this fantastic place. There is also a slight chance that one day the reservoir may be drained to restore the valley.

Visit this little known corner of Yosemite today and claim your photographs.

How to get there

The Hetch Hetchy turnoff (Evergreen Road) from Highway 120 is at  37°48′54.02″N 119°52′31.16″W just outside Yosemite, west of the Big Oak Flat Entrance Station (Hwy 120). The exit is clearly marked, but you need to pay attention since there is only a single sign.

Hetch Hetchy Parking Area(click to enlarge)

On this first map, I have marked some good spots for photography near the main parking lot.

Hetch Hetchy Wapama Falls Hike (click to enlarge)

On this second map, you can see the trail destination of Wapama Falls in relation to the parking lot. The distance from the dam to the falls is approx. 2.5 miles.

GPS position

37°56′47.18″N 119°47′15.13″W

How to photograph Hetch Hetchy and Wapama Falls

Hetch Hetchy O'Shaughnessy Dam

The drive into the valley is just as exciting as the drive into Yosemite Valley from Highway 120. The narrow winding road suddenly reveals a view of immense beauty.  I immediately was awestruck by the beauty of this sight and had mixed feelings about the dam. Although this man-made lake destroys the valley floor beneath it, the water provides a unique opportunity to photograph this magnificent valley presented on a mirror. The reservoir is beautiful in its own right. In the photograph at the start of this page, I was even able to capture the reflection of the moon as it rose above Kolana Rock. I took this photograph from the dam, which doubles as the main viewpoint into the valley and the spot where you can watch the sun set (obey the closing hours listed below).

Wapama Falls

You can photograph the dam either from the parking lot west of the dam or from the trail to Wapama Falls and Rancheria Falls. Both views give you a unique perspective. The side light, illuminating the trees, drew my attention during the late afternoon, as I returned from my hike. I stopped briefly, set up my tripod and took the photograph above. The lighting in the canyon at this time of the day is dim, requiring a tripod or a lens with image stabilization (IS,VR,VC,OS).

A tripod is a good idea for other reasons. In fact, I took all images on this page with the help of a tripod. This allowed me to shoot in relative darkness (first two images), slow the flow of the water in the third image and compose the high dynamic range photograph shown below. I struggled to get a decent composition of Wapama Falls. I ended up climbing underneath the footbridge and almost fell down a crevasse, but I was not too happy with the results. The waterfall is too large for any useful composition from this close distance. I found the compositions from the opposite shore more interesting.

Wapama Falls Footbridges HDR

Fortunately, Dani pointed out a pleasing composition looking back towards the footbridge. With the low winter sun forcing me to shoot against the light, I decided on a wide-angle composition to take advantage of the star streaks they create. Deliberately including the sun, I took three photographs and combined them in Photomatix.

Best Time of the Day and Best Season

Currently the entrance gate hours are:

• 7am to 8pm for April
• 7am to 9pm May to Labor Day
• 8am to 7pm Day after Labor day to October 31
• 8am to 5pm November to March 31

You need to obtain a wilderness permit for overnight backpacking trips. Plan sufficient time to return to the entrance gate, the punishment for tardiness is severe. Upon your entry, the ranger will hand you a numbered parking permit and will note your license plate and the number of people in your party to ensure everyone returns safely from their trip and leaves in time.

Time required

We hiked to Wapama Falls in under one hour, passing other hikers. You are on the safe side if you schedule 3 hours hiking time (90 minutes each way) and about 1 hour for photography at the falls and on the trail.

Equipment

• Tripod
• Cable Release
• Split ND filter
• Bear Spray (find it at the Bass Pro Shop in Manteca or other outdoor stores)
• Bear Bells
• Mosquito Spray
• Sun Lotion
• Water (it gets hot on the trail as the water reflects most of the sunlight back at you)
• Picnic  (don’t store smelly food in your car, which attract bears, use the bear safe containers at the backpackers parking)

Fees

The entrance fee is the same as at other Yosemite NP entrances, $20.

Difficulty Getting There

Bears, rattle snakes and Poison Oak are among the most obvious hazards.

Close Locations

• Yosemite Firefall   Horsetail Fall
• Views of Yosemite Valley
• Yosemite Valley in Fall
• Merced Grove
• Wildlife of Yosemite
• Mirror Lake
• Yosemite Falls, Sentinel Bridge and Swinging Bridge
• Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall Trail
• Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, Taft Point
• Tioga Pass road
• Tuolumne Meadows
• Mariposa Grove
• Columbia SHP
• Locke Historic Town

Useful Resources

Day Hikes in HH (NPS.GOV)

Hetch Hetchy Brochure (this is how it could look after moving the dam)

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We spent the weekend in Yosemite, where it seems everyone has a camera and is using it constantly. How many millions of pictures of waterfalls and Half Dome are taken every day?

So I won’t be posting THOSE shots.

I favor the other views, little details and textures, water trickling over granite.

My previous post about acorns reminded me of a bear, Green 52, who provides a good example of how far bears will go to get acorns.

Green 52 was a black-colored bear (fairly rare in the Sierra) who appeared one spring and was often seen grazing in the meadows. He caused frequent and long-lasting bear jams, which allowed him to slowly get habituated to people (as he got comfortable as people ventured closer and closer to him). Despite becoming habituated, he didn’t seem to get much (if any) human food. One day, he passed through Curry Village, and followed his nose to a tent cabin (illegally) containing quite a bit of food.

He was never quite the same.

We started seeing him more and more in campgrounds and other developed areas.  He even broke into the Village Store (a grocery store) via an open window. (Later in summer, apple trees have lots of apples in Yosemite Valley, so it’s somewhat amusing that the first food he went for once inside the grocery store was… apples. He later found his way to the pastries.) What goes through a bear’s mind when it finds itself inside a grocery store?

Green 52 picking acorns out of the snag.

Even the most food-conditioned bears seek out their natural foods, and Green 52 was no exception. With the arrival of fall, he tried to eat as many acorns as possible, although he may have been a bit more ingenious doing this than other bears. One day, the wildlife crew found Green 52 up a snag near their office. It turns out that acorn woodpeckers had converted the snag into a granary (as they do to many snags in Yosemite Valley), where they had stored hundreds of acorns. Green 52 had climbed the tree and was painstakingly removing the acorns from each hole the woodpeckers had pecked and filled with an acorn.

It just goes to show you that bears will leave no stone unturned as they search for food, particularly in the fall, when they’re hyperphagic (very hungry, consuming 10,000 to 20,000 calories per day).

As for Green 52, I don’t remember all the details, but we relocated him north of Yosemite Valley. After that, he left the park and began getting into trouble in areas outside the park near Highway 108. As a result California Fish & Game trapped and killed him.

Otto Bahn vient de livrer le 8e épisode de Yosemite Groove chez www.robertneveutpaslire.com. Les épisodes 9,10, 11 et 12 seront livrés prochainement, puis les 7 premiers épisodes seront entièrement réécrits et le tout sera édité aux États-Unis, traduit par Roxanne Sanders. Il sera publié chez une maison d’édition papier de San Francisco et contiendra des photos et de la musique originale. Ainsi prendra fin une expérience qui était partie pour le moins modestement.
L’original français numérique sera bien sûr disponible chez Robert.

Next up was Mono Lake. We managed to plan this visit towards the end of the day, so the light conditions were fairly good. Ideally I would have gone there a little bit later and used my tripod, but this did just fine for my first attempt at Mono Lake. I was quite lucky that the wind had died almost completely, and the water surface of the lake acted as a perfect mirror.

“Mono Lake Reflections III”
Mono Lake, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/160 s at f/6.3

“Mono Lake Reflections V”
Mono Lake, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/160 s at f/6.3

The next stint of our road trip brought us over Highway 120 and Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park. This highway is in my opinion, together with Highway 1 along the Pacific coast, the most beautiful in California. We passed some very crowded vista points, but also stumbled onto a quiet trail directing us towards picturesque Yosemite Creek.

“Yosemite Creek”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 200, 18 mm, 1/125 s at f/7.1

“Flower in the Sun I”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 640, 225 mm, 1/250 s at f/5.6

On our second day in Yosemite National Park, (of course) we visited the Yosemite Falls. Even a better view than we had in the winter, since now the whole rock face was basking in the sun. It remains very very very impressive.

“Yosemite Falls”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 200, 36 mm, 1/60 s at f/7.1

On the last day of our 6-day road trip, we drove from Fish Camp to Pasadena through Sequoia National Park. That is definitely a place I would like to come back to and have more time for photography. Next time! See for more shots the Photo Gallery > Locations > Cali Roadtrip.

Later in February, René was visiting, and we decided to make a winter trip to Yosemite. We had been there before in the summer, but the low-season quietness and the sheer change of season were highly attractive. The difference with visiting in June was impressive: only a handful of people ventured into the park, and we basically had all the great spots to ourselves. Even the Tunnel View parking area was empty!  The following two shots were taken from that point. For more, check the Photo Gallery > Locations > Yosemite in Winter.

“Half Dome I”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 100, 116 mm, 1/400 s at f/5.0

“El Capitan II”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 100, 250 mm, 1/200 s at f/5.6

After heading to Yosemite Village, we explored the snowy Yosemite Meadows. Extremely quiet both due to the lack of people and the thick layer of snow smothering all sounds. There was a lot of indirect light reflecting off of the snow, resulting in good conditions to shoot portraits. This is one of the nicer ones I have ever taken (granted, I haven’t taken too many, but still).

“René”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 200, 46 mm, 1/60 s at f/6.3

And you cannot visit Yosemite without doing a round along the waterfalls. As we found out, late winter is a great time for this, they were incredibly full. This is a view of the lowest part of the Lower Yosemite Falls, spraying whoever decided to come within a radius of fifty meters.

“Falling”
Yosemite National Park, CA
ISO 1600, 250 mm, 1/2000 s at f/5.6

]]> http://jeffreytrust.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/whats-the-most-important-tree-in-yosemite-valley/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:40:06 +0000 jeffreytrust http://jeffreytrust.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/whats-the-most-important-tree-in-yosemite-valley/

At this time of year, a black bear could eat 10,000 to 20,000 calories per day as it bulks up in preparation for its winter hibernation (during which time it won’t eat, drink, urinate, or defecate). The typical person eats about 2,000 calories per day. So, if you were to eat as much as a bear, you would need to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner five to 10 times, each. Every day.

Black oak acorns. (Photo by Steve Ryan)

What kind of tree can feed a bear this much?

The black oak. And, at this time of year, it provides most calories bears in Yosemite are getting.  A bear eating only acorns would have to eat over 1,600 acorns every day!

Aside from feeding bears, black oaks also feed deer, acorn woodpeckers, squirrels, jays, and probably some others I’m forgetting. Before 1851, acorns were the staple of the diet of the people living in Yosemite Valley (and, I imagine, throughout much of California).

Why do people, bears, deer, birds, and squirrels rely so much on acorns? They are incredibly nutritious, being rich in fat, protein, and carbohydrates, and containing a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.

So, aside from entertaining us with its yellow leaves in fall and sheltering us with its shade in the summer, the black oak truly is the tree of life.

10-27-09

Took our bike to Bicycle Outfitter because it needed some TLC in order to make it safely to the Mexican border.  The bike shop gave us some really old loaner bikes.  Then we got supplies at the grocery store for a baking spree.  Scott has been missing his kitchen, more specifically, his oven.  So he went full boar on the cooking – baking pizza, chocolate chip cookies and bread.  Dinner was quite decadent that night.  Tom left before the cookies came out of the oven.  Poor guy.

10-28-09

Biked to the train station and hopped on the train to San Francisco.  Ate Pho in China town, walked up and down Russian Hill (didn’t find any Russian food), and explored Pier 39.  Bought a sourdough loaf at Boudin Bakery and stopped at Ghirardelli for a chocolate sample.  Then stopped at a bar on the way back to the train station for happy hour.  Then we saw a Rogue pub and had a beer there.  We didn’t get far before seeing the San Francisco Brewing Company, so we stopped there too where we met George the nudist who ran for mayor of San Francisco and Ramon.  Then we walked off with Ramon on a mission to see more of the city and he took us to a little café, Trader Joe’s, another café, and a park next to the St. Peter and Paul Church where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married in 1939.  Ramon knows a lot of people, so we stopped a lot to talk to his friends.  We were having such a great time that we lost track of time and didn’t make it to the train station for the 10:40 train.  Got to the train station six minutes after the train left and had to wait for the 12:01 train.  Scott let me sleep on his lap while we waited and we also slept on the train.  Biking back to Venice Way didn’t take long because there was no traffic, but we got home at 2 AM.  Scout the dog growled a bit to let Barb and Ed know that we were home.

10-29-09

Slept in later than usual and Scott made waffles for breakfast.  Did a bit of house cleaning and some work on our websites.  Then we walked to the European market, but didn’t buy anything, although the selection of salami and smoked fish was plentiful.  Ed made delicious enchiladas for dinner.

10-30-09

Took the train to Stanford.  Beautiful campus with an amazing church.  The bike mechanic called and said the bill would be $280, which sort of ruined our Stanford visit.  The fact that the bill was $170 more than the estimate didn’t set well with us, so we discussed our options on the walk to Palo Alto down Palm Avenue.  Found Barb’s car at her work and drove it home.  Stopped at the train station to pick up the bikes, but the car wasn’t big enough, so Scott decided to ride back with both bikes.  Barb made delicious pork shops with dried cherries.

10-31-09

Went to the Farmer’s Market.  Barb gave Cameron $10 bucks and sent him on a mission to find a vegetable that he’s not familiar with and find out what it’s called and how to cook it.  I joined him on the mission and we found a Sinqua and an entire stalk of sugar cane.  That cost $10, so we didn’t get any Kettle corn.  The Farmer’s Market was full of delicious samples, and tempting food.  One of the best markets I’ve been to.  Then we stopped at a pumpkin patch and bought three pumpkins.  Barb prefers buying locally to support the local economy, which is great.  After we got home, it was time to go pick up the tandem bike.  Ed and Barb coached us on what to say to negotiate a lower price, and my mom gave me some tips on the phone.  We called ahead to make sure the manager would be there and biked there in a hurry because we just wanted to get that confrontation over with.  It went pretty well.  We were able to patiently reason with the manager and the bike mechanic and they knocked $85 off the tab.  We were very happy to have our bike back, it works really well now.

Back at home Scott, Cameron and Barb carved pumpkins while I worked on our website.  Then Barb made fondue, roasted pumpkin seeds and Scott made oatmeal cookies.  Scott and I took Scout for a walk.  When we got back, Barb had lit the Jack-o-Lanterns, and some candles inside the house.  The smell of the candles and fire made the house feel really homey and Halloween-y.  It felt like fall.  We ate the delicious fondue as trick-or-treaters occasionally knocked on the door.  The kids were super adorable, and so were their parents who stood back and smiled as Barb tried to guess the kids’ costumes.  Right as we finished a bottle of wine, Steve, a friend and neighbor, came over with a bottle of wine and we had a good time talking to him.

Ed and I had a great conversation about parenting and relationships with family members that made me realize how my mom feels about me.  The night ended when Cameron and Laura came home.

11-01-09

Scott made waffles again for breakfast.  Laura had a soccer game so I decided to go to that, while Scott went to St. Andrews to church and to paint an oil painting of the big oak tree for a fundraising auction at St. Andrews.  Barb sings in the choir and Cameron played the drums in the band.

Laura’s team won the game 5-1.  On the way home we stopped at Subway, and ran into trouble when Ed tried to pay with a $20 bill because the cashier decided that the bill was counterfeit.  Ed didn’t like that at all, which is understandable, and the confrontation ended when Ed handed her all the cash he had, which was less than the tab, but she didn’t bother checking the other bills.

While everyone was away, the dog got into the garbage, ate a lot of it and strewed it all over the kitchen and the living room.  So we’re waiting to see whether he’ll get sick.

Scott and Uncle Ed

We weren’t home long before we left to go for a short hike.  Barb stayed home to pay bills and Laura had a lot of homework, so Scott, Ed, Cameron, Ben (Cameron’s friend) and I went hiking.  The hike felt great and the view at the top of San Jose was beautiful.  We saw two deer and a lot of quail.  A full moon was rising over the city.

For dinner Barb made her award-winning chili and Ed made corn bread.

11-02-09

Went back to San Francisco today, but instead of going to the touristy sections we decides to check out the other side of town.  On the walk to the Castro district we went under some overpasses and were a bit concerned about our safety.  The Castro district showed signs of an insane Halloween party, smashed pumpkins, condom boxes, and fast food garbage littered the streets.  We did get great doppios at a little café though.  So we kept walking toward Haight Ashbury and walked up some very steep hills through Bueno Vista park perched on top of a big hill which afforded a marvelous view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge.  After savoring the vista we continued to Haight street.  Once there, we realized that we had walked right into another tourist trap.  Cafes, head shops and trendy clothing boutiques lined the street.  On the way back to the train station we stopped for sushi at a place that just opened six days ago.  We engaged the server in a conversation about Alaska, which somehow happens all the time, and the conversation led to us telling her that we’re going to Japan in January, so she told us about love hotels in Japan.  They are affordable, pay-by-the-hour hotels that are places for people to commit adultery, but locals opt to stay here when they are traveling because they are so much cheaper.  We thought that was interesting, but I’d have to see one of these hotels before I can bring myself to book a room there.

On the way back to the train station we managed to wonder into a really sketchy part of town and were really freaked out by the people we saw there who were engaged in drug deals, pan-handling (not that unusual), and prostitution.  We walked past all that as quickly as our legs could go, and were relieved when we crossed the street to a safer block.  Amazing how the drastically the scene changed just across one crosswalk.  Stay away from Howard and 12^th.

We managed to catch the train at a reasonable hour this time, and made it home by 6 pm.  Uncle Ed was nice enough to give us a ride from the train station.  For dinner we reheated Barb’s delicious chilly and Scott made a fresh batch of corn bread.

11-03-09

In the morning we drove to the store to get some supplies and almost got hit by a Camero, so that turned us off of driving because we’re kind of paranoid about driving Barb’s Lexus.  We were going to drive to downtown San Jose and Los Gatos, but Uncle Ed told us about a bike trail that goes from Campbell to Los Gatos, so we opted to ride our bikes to the trail, which was very close, and then biked all the way to Los Gatos.  The ride was very nice and really reminded us of the Coastal Trail in Anchorage.  Los Gatos was a cute little town.  Ed gave us a mission to find the gourmet kitchen gadget store and find a gadget for Barb, who loves kitchen gadgets.  It didn’t take long to find the store, but once we were in the store, we spent awhile perusing shiny gadgets.  Good thing each one was labeled, otherwise I’d never know what some of them were for.  So we bought a citrus press because Ed and Barb have an orange tree and a lemon tree, and we couldn’t believe they didn’t have a citrus press.  This was big hit with Ed and Barb.

For dinner Ed made his special clam fettuccine, which was delicious.  We’ve been eating very well here – a gourmet feast every night.  Scott had been working on Julia Child’s croissant recipe all day.  So after dinner, it was finally time to bake the croissants.  He made plain ones and chocolate ones.  They were so delicious, there were only three left out of sixteen by the end of the night.  The croissants inspired all of us to brag about them on Facebook, and Dick chimed in from Anchorage.  Good times.

11-04-09

Napa Valley

We decided to drive up to Napa Valley today, so we Googled the route and drove the Lexus for about an hour and a half to Napa.  Ed gave us a couple suggestions, and we decided to check out a small winery that specialized in red wines called Cuvaison.  To get there we had to drive nearly the entire length of the Valley, which was very scenic with fall colors.  The downside of driving is that we felt rushed by the string of cars behind us on a road with a speed limit of 55, so we couldn’t fully absorb the scenery at such a high speed.  We wished that we were riding our tandem.  The tasting at Cuvaison was lovely.  We were asked where we are from, so we told them the story of how we got here and that scored us some extra tastings – wine from a bottle worth $88, port, and Sauvignon Blanc.  We bought a bottle of Zin that we were told would pair well with a garlicky pesto that we were going to have for dinner.  Scott made the pesto from scratch before we left.

We were starving, so we stopped at the first place we saw, which was a pizza place that made terrible pizzas.  I got a stomachache on the drive back.  Surprisingly we didn’t run into traffic, eventhough we hit downtown San Jose right after five, so we made it home in time for dinner.  The wine was good with the pesto, but not so good with dark chocolate, which is unusual.  After dinner Ed passed out on the couch as Laura, Cameron and I worked and played on our laptops.  I started a new blog called Stupid Things People Do to Destroy the Planet.  Also, Scott had the genius idea to start a dinner club called First Attempts.  The point is to host dinner parties for fellow club members once a week and cook something you’ve never cooked before.

11-05-09

Stayed home today.  Cameron had the day off from school, so him and Scott made amazing brownies from scratch in the morning.  Then we all cleaned the house by dividing and conquering the chores.  Made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner in honor of Papa Mac.  Didn’t quite turn out the way we intended, but was edible nonetheless.

11-6-09

View from the top of stormy Mount Diablo

Drove to Mount Diablo, a state park about an hour and half from San Jose.  On clear days the view from the top is incredible, but today the mountain was shrouded in clouds and we encountered a healthy rain storm at the summit.  We managed to have a great time anyway when we found Rock City, a grove of sandstone boulders that were really fun to climb.  The views were magnificent and Scott did a little painting in the rain.

11-07-09

Dick arrived early in the morning.  We went to Laura’s scrimmage game, the last day of varsity soccer try-outs.  Came home and watched two football games.  If I had known that both were happening in the Bay area, I would have gone to one of them.  One was at Stanford, the other at Berkley.  Barbara made some amazing beef roast for dinner and we had a great time talking around the dinner table.

11-08-09

El Capitan

Woke up early, packed our bags and drove to Yosemite NP.  This was one of the most amazing days of my life.  I couldn’t believe how incredible the views are at Yosemite.  The granite rock formations are really tremendous.  We hiked to the top of two waterfalls, about six miles, and then drove home in the dark.  Stopped at In-n-Out burger, the Alaskans hadn’t been to one ever.  I liked the simple menu and the reasonable prices.  The food wasn’t bad for fast food.  Scott and I want to visit every National Park in the U. S.

11-09-09

Dick, Ed, Scott and I played tennis for about three hours today.  Ed used an old Soviet racket and Dick used one of Ed’s oldest rackets to play against Scott and I who are complete amateurs in tennis.  Then Ed introduced us to his kids’ favorite sandwich shop – Mr. Pickle’s in Los Gatos.

Ed made French bread from an old family recipe that was just sinfully good and we ate it with ribs for dinner that night.  Poor Dick had to fly out before dinner.  For dessert Scott made short bread lemon cookies by combining two family recipes, his grandmother’s short bread cookie recipe and the lemon meringue pie recipe.

Laura found out that she made the varsity soccer team, which was a big deal.  Everyone was really happy and relieved, so we celebrated a bit.

Las Tortugas: Dance of the Dead IV

Umphrey's McGee performs at this year's Las Tortugas

This Halloween I attended Las Tortugas: Dance of the Dead IV in the Evergreen Lodge at Yosemite National Park. I had the opportunity to write about the music festival for two music and culture magazines, Vermont’s State of Mind and New York’s Impose. Check out my stories and photos below!

State of Mind:

“The west coast sure has a lot of music festivals‚” fellow farmer and transplant from the Midwest‚ Erica Bell‚ remarks as we sink our hands into the cool‚ organic soil of Sonoma County.
We’re planting garlic and reminiscing about our most recent music adventure at Las Tortugas: Dance of the Dead IV‚ where we traded in our Carhartts for wigs and torn tutus in celebration of Halloween.
Point taken. The west wheels in a lot of fests: Coachella‚ High Sierra‚ Hardly‚ Strictly… We begin listing. It’s enough to make us never want to leave. Read More

Impose Magazine:

Dancing with the Dead in Yosemite
I’m riding to Yosemite National Park in a funky green camper. A forest of sequoias gives way to the remote campground where Las Tortugas: Dance of the Dead IV unfolds. The music reflects the spirit of its surroundings: raw, rustic and real. Read More

The day after all the hard climbing that Queen Rockstar did we decided our bodies could use a day off and we embarked on the three hour drive to Zion National Park. We arrived around noon to an overcast park. We really weren’t planning on doing any climbing while we were there, and we really didn’t know how long we’d be there anyway, but my curiosity decided it was worth the 25 bucks for the climbing guide – that we would at least return at some point in the future. I quickly became submerged in the book and started to see all the potential at Zion. Kristine was on somewhat of a desperate search for a pair of Native American earrings. The seed was planted when we drove through Bishop, CA and she saw the perfect earrings. She decided against buying them since they were at the gas station next to a casino and she thought that was a bit shabby and that she’d run into something a little more authentic. Well, she hadn’t up until this point and has regretting not buying the earrings ever since. The town just outside Zion had a number of Indian craft and jewelry stores, so while I drooled over the climbing guide she left me to wander and look for ‘the perfect earrings’. She finally found them after having lost all hope and it was at the last store that we entered at the end of the day that she saw them. It was love at first sight and her ears tingled with anticipation as she tried them on. I admit they were very much her, although nothing like the earrings she saw in Bishop.

That first day, we drove around Zion and scouted a few climbs, which made my finger tips sweat from just looking at them. They were beautiful, clean cracks with very few or no face holds. It was a type of climbing that I dreamt about but had yet to climb. We decided on climbing the following day and so that day we simply let the anticipation build while we check out the climbs. In the late afternoon the heavy grey sky parted and gave way to a sun that lit up the rock and the sky and everything. It was mystical. Zion has been called a Yosemite with the rock from Red Rocks, which is a multicolored sandstone. I totally agreed!

At night the wind picked up. We cooked an Indian fare for dinner and had to bundle up to stay warm. A beer a piece also helped, but the 4000 foot elevation at Zion was definitely much cooler than Red Rocks had been. While falling asleep I heard what might have been a few rain drops tickle the top of the van. I popped my head outside to assure myself it was dust or some other UFO, but not rain! I fell asleep without hearing any other suspicious sounds, but was woken up around 2AM to the sure sound of rain falling steadily. I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe the rain was coming from a ’snoopy cloud’ that was only raining down on our van in an attempt to depress me. I guess it worked since I cried myself to sleep knowing the chance of climbing that day had been crushed.

The next morning I found solace from the grey somber clouds in warms pancakes, apple-sauce, an egg, and plenty of maple syrup.

Video: The Shants at House of Shields

I’ve been so swamped with work stuff, school stuff and music that I’ve barely noticed that this year is almost done. Still, I’m planning on taking a few stints of healthy downtime, starting this weekend… I’m heading back to Louisiana for a few days to celebrate my nephew’s birthday, and probably eat myself into oblivion.

Next weekend, The Shants, will be heading up to a Russian River cabin to hang out and record a few demos. Our first show at House of Shields went swimmingly — you can see video of a few songs above. I’m really excited about the sounds we are creating…

To end the year with a bang, Sabrina and I will trekking back to Louisiana for holiday and New Years’ fun. Guess I better start fasting now. Will make a longer “year-end recap” later on, but for now here’s a few images from the last few weeks (including some shots with my new fisheye camera!):

South of Market, SF

Oakland Zoo

Brief visit to Yosemite and Sentinel Dome

mountaineer

Tomales Bay

birthdays

Hey folks,

Lets continue with the American tour by pictures. This time’s destination is the Yosemite National Park, located in the center of California. The park itself is a collection of big rocks mountains, big ponds lakes, and big trees forests. I guess in the past, the American managed to get this piece of land through a “compromise” with the Native American tribes (“It’s a compromise, u give us your land and we will give you the gift of life.”)

Anyway, again I managed to pull out a really good video clip about the park, so enjoy the clip, folks

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Oh, and btw Thanksgiving is coming. Thanksgiving Day is a traditional holiday in the U.S. (Not sure if they do have this in Canada. How could I know, I dont speak Canadian, (^.^)) Basically, its a harvest day, and then the ancient folks use the products and the ancient folks used their newly harvested products to tribute to God (yeah, God is good, and he expects us to be good) for a good season. They also shared the stuff with their neighbors (who they just made the above “compromise” with (^.^)) for giving them this prosperous land and helping them out during their first steps in the new land…

The traditional dish for Thanksgiving is turkey, stuffed with all types of unrecognizable and unidentifiable stuff inside. Basically, a family will buy a turkey, then try their best to stuff the dead body of the poor chicken with all the stuff they can come up with (vegetable, bean…). Then they tie up the corpse of the chicken and throw it in the oven, burning it for a while. Then they use a VERY BIIIIG KNIFE to dismember the chicken (or should I say the turkey), and then… of course… enjoy their Thanksgiving dinner (^.^)

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On the evening of Thanksgiving, there will be several football matches, mostly from college football teams. Oh yeah, the DETROIT LIONS also host a match during this day and only to have their butt kicked badly by their opponent. (thats their tradition since WWII, as I remember). Wait, do they still have a football team in Detroit??? I’m confused now (^.^)

Well, thats it for today. Now I have to go and look for some more random stuff.

May the Force be with you, and with the Detroit Lions, if they still there, mwahahaha.

A week celebrating the some of my favorite hiking videos on the Internet would not be complete without Beautiful Places In HD by Tony Farley. Farley is a skilled videographer, whose camera and voice capture the comeliness of an experience in the American wilderness, from the sound of gentle breezes and the tune of songbirds to the myriad of natural color spied from any trail.

In composing the second season of Compass Points TV, I’ve looked to Farley’s work for inspiration and guidance. What’s most notable about Beautiful Places is how Farley puts his mark on the production. You get a sense of Farley’s personality and what places such as the Zion Narrows, Mirror Lake and Havasu Falls mean to him – locations which prompt reflection, relaxation and a sense of wonder.

Even as Farley narrates each video, you never get the sense that he’s trying to talk over the sights and sounds of the trails he’s capturing on camera. Instead, his personality is as much a part of the experience of watching Beautiful Places as the canyons, mountains and skies which are shown. You couldn’t have Beautiful Places without Farley, and that’s the mark of an excellent videographer.

Below is Farley’s dazzling video for Havasu Falls in Arizona.

Over the last month I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this post.  Thinking about how to share this story, this experience, this accident and what it all means to me.  After a month I still don’t quite know how to convey all of those things and sorting out how events impact me is always an ongoing process that I hope writing about will further.

Just so you know the gist of this story: I climbed, I fell, I broke my back… literally.  But I’m okay.

I live a pretty adventurous lifestyle.  Outside of this latest accident and a torn ACL 9 years ago, I’ve managed to get through a dozen years of activities like mountain and road biking, wilderness hiking, downhill skiing, backcountry snowshoeing, rock climbing and simply being a male in his 20’s without much health drama.  While the average American might look at my lifestyle as dangerous or crazy, to me it’s a lifestyle of being alive and one that I’m perfectly comfortable with.

What you are comfortable with is an important thing to always keep in mind.  Knowing when you can push that comfort zone and when you should stay in it.  Comfort and confidence are strongly tied together and we mostly limit our lives to what we’re confident doing because well, it’s comfortable.  But to continue growing as a person we need to expand what we’re comfortable with and increase our confidence in new dimensions.  We all do this by learning new things, meeting new people, starting new relationships and many other ways.  It just happens that one of my dimensions is exploring myself in nature and over the years I’ve become very confident  in this area.

I mention this because I don’t want the lessons I’ve learned to be lost via dismissive thoughts like “he’s crazy” or “he was asking for it”.  The reality is that we’re all crazy, we’re all asking for it and every now and then it catches up with us.  So here’s the latest story of how I was asking for it and how it caught up with me.

“We did it because it’s fun and mainly it was fun… every now and then it went wildly wrong” — Joe Simpson, Touching the Void

The Stage

If you’ve been reading my previous posts, you’ll know all about the events leading up to my fall so this section will be a bit repetitive.  For those that haven’t, I was in Yosemite Valley for a 6 day climbing trip and on a route called Selaginella (5.8).  The entire trip was going fantastically and the climbing couldn’t have been better.  We were making great time, the weather was awesome, both Ben and I had done some great leads and the views were beyond spectacular.  Everything was so fantastic that even the fall that I’m about to describe can’t tarnish those experiences.

I had just finished leading a 200′ rope stretching pitch to one of the coolest rock formations and belay stations I’d ever seen.  From this location it was about 800′ straight down to the valley floor and about 170′ to the top of our climb.  So with Ben taking the next lead I was assuming that once he reached the top I’d just have to follow up behind him and clean the gear along the way, piece of cake.

I couldn’t see Ben’s progress on most of the route so I was judging how things were going by monitoring the amount of rope I was letting out.  Knowing that it was 170′ to the top I was surprised when Ben went off of belay with 60′ of rope left.  I couldn’t hear him at this point so I wondered if I was mistaken about how much climbing we had left or if the beta in the topo was just wrong.  Either way I started climbing up to him.

About 50′ from him he informed me that he hadn’t reached the top and that I’d understand why when I got there.  I was curious what was going on but Ben didn’t sound remotely worried so I wasn’t either.  He had stopped on this 20′ long ledge that was about 18″ wide and about 30′ from the top.  He didn’t finish it off because the climbing below was pretty strenuous and he wasn’t sure if we were still on route or not.  That was cool with me.

The Fall

So we looked at our options, we had two of them.  Over to the left was a large flake that was totally separated from the wall and looked like you could just push it over.  In front of us was a face section with some very thin and detached flake and what appeared to be a small crack.  The face looked quite featured and I thought I’d be able to get a piece of protection in 10′ off of the belay.

So I used these very thin flakes as foot holds while walking my hands up this seam in the rock that I thought turned into more of a crack.  These flakes were about 1/8th of an inch thick and I could feel them moving a bit when I stepped on them.  Needless to say I wasn’t looking to hang out on them for too long.  When I got up to where I thought I’d be able to get a small nut in I realized that it wasn’t going to work out as I expected.  This didn’t concern me too much because while the rock was sketchy, the climbing was easy and I wasn’t worried about falling.

Looking up at what I had left to climb I spied a nice pocket in the rock about 4 inches tall and 3/4 of an inch wide making it big enough to fit a solid cam into.  I became a bit fixated on this pocket and when I reached it I discovered that I had run out of solid footholds on my right side.  So instead of resting on the rock my foot was mostly holding on with friction.  My left foot was on the sloping section of this seam in the rocks so it didn’t have a great amount of purchase either.  I had a solid right hand in the pocket that I noticed below and a good left hand on the seam.

In order to place the cam into the pocket I had to remove my right hand from it, select an appropriate sized cam from the rack of gear, place it into the rock and clip my rope into it.  The first cam I selected turned out to be a bit too small and the lobes on the cam were tipped out.  What this means is that the cam was fully extended in the rock and it’s holding power would be drastically reduced.  So I removed the cam to replace it with a larger one.

At this point I found myself starting to get nervous.  My right foot started to Elvis (shake uncontrollably) which isn’t a good thing when it’s gripping the rock with friction.  I managed to get myself to calm down and my foot stopped shaking.  So I went back to looking for the right size cam and was having real trouble finding one that I liked.  The nerves kicked up again and this time the shaking in my foot caused it to slip.  Because my left foot was on an even worse hold and I only had one hand gripping the rock, I couldn’t hold on and fell.

At the time that I fell I was about 20′ above the belay and about 5′ from the top of this climb without a single piece of protection between me and Ben.  This is called a factor 2 fall and it is the worst type of fall that a climber can take.  When you fall on lead you fall twice as far as you are above your last piece of protection plus a bit for rope stretch.  When your last piece of protection is the belay itself, that means you’re going to fall twice as far as you have climbed plus some rope stretch.  For me this translated into what we are estimating as a 50′ fall.

At 190 lbs, I’m not the lightest climber and after 50′ of gravity doing it’s thing it takes a good amount of force to stop such a moving mass.  When the rope started to come tight Ben initially couldn’t stop the fall and the rope started running through his right hand.  Being an extremely good belayer he quickly found where the rope was leaving the ledge and stepped on it.  Outside of being a fantastic person, this is reason I climb with Ben.  Without his quick thinking my fall could have been 220′, I can’t thank and praise him enough.

The Aftermath

The rock I was climbing wasn’t quite vertical, it was sloping just a little bit.  So when I fell I slid down the first 20′ which wouldn’t have been bad except for that 18″ ledge.  When I hit that Ben said that I just crumbled onto it and then off of it, this is what caused most of my injuries.  This sent me tumbling down the remaining 30′ of my fall.  When the rope came tight I found myself upside down and a bit disoriented, kind of like the scrambler amusement park ride if it were to end with you inverted and hanging by your waist.

Ben shouted down, “are you okay?!”  I replied very quickly with “yeah, I’m fine”.  He didn’t believe me and proclaimed that he saw my fall and that there is no way I could be fine after something like that.  I felt pretty beat up but I didn’t feel broken and quickly swung over to the route we had climbed up and told Ben that I was going to start climbing up to him.  He shouted down for me to hold on because he was “dealing with some pretty bad rope burn”.  My heart sunk and I felt incredibly guilty about the injuries I caused him.

But in no time he told me that I could start climbing up to him and while doing so I noticed that my left heel was hurting a bit as well as my right knee and my lower back.  But I honestly didn’t think too much about it at the time.  I made my way back to Ben pretty quickly and got myself secure into the anchor that was now proven to be very bomber.

We hung out there for at least a half an hour.  In that time my injuries were starting to become quite noticeable and I was growing anxious for a plan of what we were going to do.  Our options were to rappel down the route leaving behind an enormous amount of gear and probably taking a least a couple hours to do so, have one of us try once again to finish the climb or wait for a party far below us to catch up and have them help us out.

With how slow the party below us was moving it would be at least a couple hours until we got to the top if we waited for them.  Rappelling the route was not only unappealing for the massive amount of gear we would leave behind, it was also pretty dangerous.  So we decided to get the guide book out and see what it suggested for our route.

Turns out we were suppose to go up the large flake over to our left.  After thinking and talking it through, Ben said that he’d be willing to lead it and I could follow up behind him.  Even with very severe burns he managed to climb up the flake and finish the route without any troubles.  The adrenaline was starting to leave my body by the time I started climbing so it proved to be pretty painful.  But even in my state I managed to finish it off without weighting the rope.

The Descent

At the top Ben asked if I wanted to take a moment to at least enjoy the view, I said “nope”.  The pain in my knee was excruciating and while I was happy to be at the top and next to a very popular hiking trail, I was pretty worried about the mile of hiking and the 1000′ of descending that was now in front of me.  I couldn’t put any weight on the heel of my left foot and the pain in my right knee kept me from stepping down with that leg so the many sand covered steps of the trail were bound to make things interesting.

So I set myself little goals.  I’d focus on getting to a landmark that I knew of or to a specified elevation.  Along the way we ran into a couple of hikers that warned us that there was a bear just off of the trail in front of us.  I thought about how ironic it would be to survive the fall but be eaten by a bear.  So we approached the area slowly and made a bunch of racket.  We noticed the bear above us and it seemed pretty content to mind its own business so we continued on our way chatting with the couple that warned us of the situation.

They, like almost everyone else that a climber runs into, was very curious about how we climb such things.  I left the explanations and demonstrations of how the gear worked to Ben.  While I was very worried that I had torn a ligament in my knee, I was very pleased with my ability to keep up with two hikers who were injury free.  Plus the conversation helped keep my mind off of things and we were back at camp in no time.

At camp we got out the first aid kit.  Ben cleaned up his burns and threw on some tape while I put an ace bandage on my knee with some ice.  After hanging out a bit and sharing what happened with Dustin and Katie we walked back to the trailhead to pick up my car and went to the grocery store for some food.  When we got back to camp I was still very sore but feeling surprisingly well.  Well enough to make us some breakfast burritos for dinner and then hang out by the fire for a couple hours before heading to bed.

I was tempted to visit the medical staff in Yosemite but figured if the swelling in my knee and heel didn’t get any worse I could wait until I got back to the Bay Area.  The next morning I woke up very stiff but was mobile.  We packed up the car and started the drive home.  Along the way we chatted about what had happened and bigger picture stuff around our climbing futures.

The Hospital

When I got home I didn’t want the doctors to be repulsed by my smell so I took a shower and headed to Stanford Hospital.  I tried to get an appointment with a sports medicine doctor but none were available so I headed over to the ER.  They admitted me and by 3pm I was in a room getting checked out and having some X-rays taken of my heel, knee and back.  Around 5pm they decided that they wanted more info about my heel so they ordered a CT scan of it, fine by me.  Around 7:30 they said that they couldn’t see anything wrong with my heel and started to discharge me.

Cross section of my L2 vertebrae

Just before signing my discharge papers the doctor came in and put an end to the fun.  He said that a more senior radiologist looked at the X-ray of my back and spotted a compression fracture in my L2 vertebrae.  My response: “you’re shitting me”.  Just like that I went from being a beat up guy to the most interesting person in the hospital and while everyone loves some attention, you don’t want it from doctors.

So I asked what this meant.  They said that they needed to get a CT scan of my spine to determine if it was a stable or an unstable fracture.  If it was unstable I’d have to go in for surgery and get my vertebrae fused and if it was stable they’d put me in a back brace for a month and I’d be on my way.  What a contrast that is, I could be fine in a month or my entire outdoor life could be over.  I started freaking out a bit.

So I called Ben and told him what was going on and asked if he could keep me company, he said that he’d be on his way.  After getting of the phone I went in for my CT scan and was very nervous about it.  I was so nervous that my entire body was shaking and all of the techniques I knew to calm myself weren’t doing the trick.  This continued for another 20 minutes until Ben showed up.

Not only was it nice to have Ben around to keep me laughing and distracted, he was a better witness to what happened to me than I was and could tell a side of the story that I couldn’t.  It also gave me a chance to hear about his struggle to find an burn specialist for his hand that his insurance company approved of.  After a series of “recommended” doctors that no longer existed, he thankfully managed to find one that was truly interested in taking care of him and he needed it.  With bandages covering the severe third degree burns on his palm and finger tips, it was pretty obvious to the staff that he was there to see me.

At about 9pm and the parade of doctors was just about to begin.  Seems like everyone that was on staff that night came to check me out and hear my story.  Each one of them performing their favorite barrage of neurological tests on my body, one of them even wanted to check the “tone” of my rectum, fun for everyone.  I kept hoping that one of them would be as attractive as Elliot Reid from Scrubs, but alas that was not the case.  As a reward for going through all of this they ordered me a dinner but the kitchen was closed so instead they got me a few packages of graham crackers.

The hours past and I got no conclusive information from the doctors.  They seemed to be debating about how bad my fracture was and nobody wanted to make a call so they kept bringing in people with more experience hoping to clarify the situation.  It seemed like some doctors just stopped by because they wanted to hear the story in person, one guy was even a rock climber.  But at 4am they seemed to acknowledge the fact that a decision was not going to be made and they’d have to wait for their senior spinal guy to show up in the morning.

Not wanting to admit me into the hospital and not being able to send me home they decided to stick me over in a corner of the hospital where I could spend the night.  I affectionately referred to this area as purgatory.  I don’t care what the religious folks say, purgatory was really pretty nice, they had food, comfortable beds and some pain meds which allowed me to get to sleep.  They even offered to let Ben stay in a room next door if he wanted!  While a gracious offer, home has a pretty strong pull over a hospital, especially after 8 hours and there was really no point in sticking around.  I was out shortly after Ben left.

In the morning the spinal guy checked me out and kind of laughed at me still being there, that made me feel good.  It was clear to him that my fracture was stable and they threw me in a brace and shoved me out the door.  I was to wear this brace for the next month or so and even though it was pretty annoying I was just thrilled to not need any surgery.

The Lessons

Like almost every other accident, there isn’t just one thing that went wrong in this one.  Nothing in life is black or white, safe or unsafe and this is why textbook rules are impossible to apply to all situations.

Some climbers my criticize me for not following the best practices and getting some protection in sooner but anyone who has done a good amount of living knows that things don’t always work out that nicely and trad climbing is no different.  I could have possibly clipped the rope to one of the pieces of the anchor but even that practice seems to be subjective and would not have changed my personal outcome in this case.

I could have and should have taken a look at the topo before setting off on this lead.  It would have been obvious that the face was not the way to go and would have likely avoided the whole accident.  I think about this one a lot and it frustrates me that I had this information and did not use it.

I could list off a number of other things that would have made a difference and kept us safer.  But I feel like doing so would be like telling someone that 2×2 is 4 instead of telling them why 2×2 is 4.  You could spend your life learning lessons about specific climbing situations and never know how to climb safely.  So instead I did a little 5 whys exercise to see if I could find a deeper lesson.

What I came up with is the feeling like this accident was brewing for a while.  So even if I had avoided the accident in this specific case, the risk of a similar accident would not have been removed.  I’m not saying that I got injured because it was fate and I’m not saying that I deserved this because of the activity I was doing.  What I’m saying is that the way I was escalating my climbing made a preventable accident inevitable.

In less than one year I’ve gone from no climbing experience to leading routes that 60 years ago were considered to be almost at the limits of human ability.  I spent a lot of time measuring my success and gauging when to move up in difficulty based off of being able to complete a climb at some level.  That’s a totally reasonable and safe approach to take in a climbing gym where things are predictable and you don’t need much margin for error.  Trad climbing has a different set of requirements.

So instead of some blanket rules that every climber has heard, what I have come up with is the more abstract realization that I should have been paying more attention to what was fueling my confidence.  I was comfortable leading a section that I shouldn’t have been because I had confidence in my abilities to do it.  But that confidence was founded more on ego than reality and when things didn’t go just right it caught up with me.

If you’ve done something long enough that it becomes second nature, that’s a solid thing to be confident about, that’s what I’m calling reality driven confidence.  Talking yourself up and increasing your ego driven confidence is fine, that’s a good way to push the envelope, but you should recognize when you’re doing that and avoid doing it when you’re betting a lot.

I continue to find that rock climbing closely parallels life and I think that’s why I love it so much.  You have confidence you climb, you loose confidence or find that the confidence was misplaced and you fall.  I don’t care if it’s rock climbing, building a relationship, running a company, the stock market, the housing market or anything else that involves humans, the same rule seems to apply.  The more reality based confidence in the system, the safer the climbing.

One year I hiked to Half Dome before the cables were up (no railings, no 2×4s to step on). I lifted up one of the cables and walked myself up to the top, which I then had to myself. I stayed an hour, then snapped this shot just before heading back down. Descending was more “interesting” than going up. I think I walked it down facing forward.

Now that I’m older and wiser I wouldn’t do it that way again. And in fact, a young woman was killed last year or the year before going up the cables before the season. If I remember right the rock was wet in places when she attempted it. Half Dome rock is slippery enough when dry.

Until I hit my seventies I used to hike and backpack solo, but after a couple of “incidents,” I promised to hike with friends (mostly) and stick (mostly) to places where I’m unlikely to get lost.

words are not very useful at a place as breathtaking as yosemite. three times i have visited this magnificent place so far. one in summer, one in fall, one in winter. each visit has been completely different and capturing in its own particular ways. seeing hare and fox paws leaving their print in the snow, feeling the wind and water emanating from the roar of a gigantic waterfall, observing the patterns and colors, cracks and crevices etched in the stone. the observations, memories and recollections are endless. this shot is capturing that same fall that at one point is deafening in its size and force, but at this time is just a trickle of water in comparison, revealing the stone and its beautiful marks, where only water was visible before.