No lists of stuff from the last year? Everyone's doin' it. What were some highlights of 2012. Me? Meh, not much outdoor related crap. Took a cool trip to Honduras other than that not much.
-------------- I'd rather be Facebooking watching videos of cats licking themselves
I'll give it a go. Short list. I'll prolly remember more later.
1. More jaguars seen in southern Arizona. 2. Rosemont copper mine proposal (in southern Arizona along the eastern flanks of the Santa Ritas) still facing opposition from citizens and Forest Service. Thankfully. 3. Light rail system in Tucson getting closer to being completed. 4. I'm halfway through the 800 mile Arizona Trail.
-------------- Seek Higher Ground Can you feel the silence
Several good camping/fishing's trips. Including one with a horizontal hailstorm and 108F temps.
-------------- "Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again...They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."
1. Kayaking in the Everglades went so well, I bought a kayak specifically for there and had it shipped to Tampa so I would have one there. No need for renting any more.
2. Italy was a fun 10 days, highlighted by Pompei and the Collosseum.
3. A week in Evolution Valley with GBH is a lesson in humility. I needed that.
4. A week in the Grand Canyon in March is a rejuvenating experience, even if the knees do not agree.
5. HOTB is more fun than PG, but less drinking involved.
6. Xmas gifts need not cost $, just some time and thoughtfulness.
-------------- Everything I know, I learned by doing it wrong at least twice.
The easiest way to ruin a Friday is to realize it is only Tuesday.
I also climbed Mt. Washington in January, did a couple of intense free solo rock climbs, and visited Wetterhorn Basin. See my "WWBF's Summer Adventures" series in the Storytelling forum.
-------------- When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
My best trips last year were: BPing at Grand Island MI BPing at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Canoe trip for 5 days 4 nights on the Manistee River in MI Canoe trip for 4 days 3 nights on the Namekagon River in WI
-------------- “I’m just hanging on while this world keeps spinning and it’s good to know it’s out of my control. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this living is that it wouldn’t change a thing if I let go…” Jimmy Buffett & Martina McGraw
Lot of short weekend trips as usual though less than usual due to droughty conditions. With one of poorest winter snow season in my lifetime, just a half dozen or so skiing days. Other highlights...
Three April visits to remote poppy slopes in Merced River Canyon below Yosemite:
Four total backpacks, late June backpack Ebbetts Pass and late August 3-day backpack into 20 Lakes Basin. Early August 9-day backpack into Minnor Creek basin of the John Muir Wilderness.
1. Feb 23 brought my son into this world 2. March 19 took him on his first hike in Joshua Tree NP 3. May 19-20 took him on his first camping trip in the Angeles NF 4. August 22-23 took him on his first backpacking trip in the San Bernardino NF 5. He has 9 bagnights so far and just turned 10 months old Looking forward to a couple more this weekend.
Got my front yard landscaped and it actually turned out great. Finally got my dream winter trip up into the saddle. Didn't make it but I have a new trip planned for this winter. We'll know on Monday most likely but it looks like we really do get our house, free and clear (pinches self). A very successful year of volunteer work. I was able to do massive amounts for our community this year. It felt great to be able to give back. Christmas decor bucket list complete. It was over-the-top and awesome.
-------------- If I'm going to be lost, in the woods is where I want to be...
Cumulative stats for the year: 58 hiking/photography trips, 621mi, 146,050ft of elevation gain. I was hoping to do one more trip and go over 150,000ft of elevation gain, but came down with the flu last week...
Here's a link to selected photos from this year: Best of 2012
1. Camping on the summit of Mt. Rainier 2. Scaring up a mountain lion and having it growl at me 3. Meeting a WWII vet who lives in the middle of the Ventana Wilderness 4. Sharing a backcountry hot spring with a bunch of college kids 5. Working on trails and going back to hike them later
1. Feb 23 brought my son into this world 2. March 19 took him on his first hike in Joshua Tree NP 3. May 19-20 took him on his first camping trip in the Angeles NF 4. August 22-23 took him on his first backpacking trip in the San Bernardino NF 5. He has 9 bagnights so far and just turned 10 months old Looking forward to a couple more this weekend.
Love it.
-------------- Of all the ridiculous things to micromanage. Even for a lunatic megalomaniac.
5. HOTB is more fun than PG, but less drinking involved.
I think it may vary. I went to both this year and there was more booze in Colorado but more alcohol consumed in LA.
I don't have a list but I had probably my favorite and best year ever. It started off kinda crappy and skyrocketed to excellence.
Maybe I do kinda have a list. Quit smoking First 14er HOTB PG Started running First 5K Got some sweet tats My faith has never been stronger Work kicked ass-Love my job Kid is doing great Mom dodged a bullet Just a really good year and 2013 is looking like more of the same. It ain't easy being me but I like it.
-------------- Of all the ridiculous things to micromanage. Even for a lunatic megalomaniac.
Training my 3-year old in the ways of camping and hiking. Starting simple and easy. Car-camping only. He LOVES the tent now. Great Sand Dunes Colorado Nat'l Monument Backyard camping
1. Son advanced to the 2013 US Figure Skating Championships in Omaha, NE - Juvenile Boys 2. Bagged #98 of the 104 highest peaks in Colorado - six to go 3. New vehicle - 2012 Subaru Outback 4. New motorcycle -2012 BMW R1200 GS 5. Turned 60
Designed and am building a two story house. Solo. Five months left to go. Turned 51 One wonderful wife of 27 years this past August Two great backpack trips this summer. Great Backpack Elk Hunting trip and biggest bull to date Two wonderful kids in College, one in film school, the other nursing.
-------------- Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. – Socrates
Your trips look soooo boring. Only one charging polar bear?
Ha ha ... Well, yeah, only one that I caught on video.
What did I NOT catch on video? Wolverine ran right by me 2 weeks ago, as I drove down the road. He jumped the guard rail, crossed a frozen lake and disappeared into the forest about 3 seconds before my camcorder started up.
Highlight of the year for me was DEFINITELY seeing the wolverine.
1. Camping on the summit of Mt. Rainier 2. Scaring up a mountain lion and having it growl at me 3. Meeting a WWII vet who lives in the middle of the Ventana Wilderness 4. Sharing a backcountry hot spring with a bunch of college kids 5. Working on trails and going back to hike them later
That's a really cool list.
I think I hiked or climbed in 10 or more countries last year.
-------------- When you are out West Please, at my behest Since you are Nature's guest Do something to help the rest:
Dismantle a fire ring; Take a stone and give a swing. You may find that it will bring A lift of goodness 'neath your wing.
Michaux/Mont Alto Before I had hiked this, I was starting to wonder if I had made it to all of the good trails in Michaux State Forest in southcentral Pennsylvania. I had not. Parking is at either Mont Alto State Park, or near the junction of PA-233 and Staley Road. I recommend the first to extend the hike for a nice trek along Antietam Creek, and the second to avoid the poison ivy that can be copious on that trail (but not on the rest of the hike). Highlights are many. There is Antietam Creek and its obvious iron making history. Numerous old charcoal roads. Nice streams, some with dark hemlocks and rhododendrons. An expansive clearing. A small old spring house, a view of the only golf course in a Pennsylvania state forest. An expansive wetland atop a mountain. Large rock spines and formations. A view down into Mont Alto and the Cumberland Valley. An old stone culvert along an old roadbed. And then there is The Narrows. Lightly cascading stream, rock and talus walls. Big boulder in the middle. And a giant rock face at the front. There are a few ways to do this hike, depending on where you want to go and how far you want to hike. There are no good maps of the area showing all the trails; I had to make my own by compiling numerous GPS traces found online.
Trough Creek State Park Trough Creek State Park in Pennsylvania sounded like an interesting place, with a fair amount of natural wonders. There were also enough hiking trails to make up a good hike. Parking was present at a small lot along the Park Road; there are other, and larger lots in addition to the one used. Highlights include a rhododendron and hemlock lined creek, a view of Raystown Lake along with other vistas of the surrounding landscape, large rock bluffs and overhangs along Trough Creek, and a balanced rock. But the best is clearly Rainbow Falls along Abott Run in its picturesque gorge. The state park has a good trail map online.
Michaux Triple Vista After my Mont Alto hike, I realized that there must be other good Michaux hikes left. I had heard of some good trails north of Pine Grove Furnace State Park on some mountain biking forums, and was able to devise a good loop hike of about 10-11 miles. Parking is near the Furnace Stack in the State Park. The first highlight is a pleasing streamside hike next to Toms Run. At the top of the mountain are some good rock formations which the trails wander through. One includes a small fissure cave. Numerous blueberry bushes would have made this a good hike in the summer. And then there are the vistas. I call it the "triple" vista hike, but in reality there are at least five, but three stand out. The first, an expansive view from a logged area looking into the Forest and Park. The second atop some rocks looking out to the northern end of South Mountain. The third from an outcropping looking out at the Forest, no signs of civilization. Like the Mont Alto hike, there is not a good map of the area showing all the trails.
Dolly Sods North In the area, one of the places where you hear as being on must-do lists is Dolly Sods, a Wilderness in Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Since I only day hike, and Dolly Sods is some distance away, I've been putting it off for a while. This year, however, I decided that it was doable, and just needed the right weather. Parking is available along FR-75, across from the Bear Rocks Trailhead, and just north at the sharp turn of the road before it descends the Allegheny Front. Highlights... well, it almost all of it is a highlight. Endless meadows with expansive views, dark spruce forests, vistas into the Canaan Valley, wind sculpted rock formations, Red Creek. The hike is a little over ten miles. There are many maps for the area, one example which I took with me is here.
Meadow Branch/Devils Nose This hike is located at the north end of Sleepy Creek WMA in West Virginia, between Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs. I had done a shuttle hike a while ago in this area, and realized that the area along the Meadow Branch and Devils Nose would be a great place to explore. Acquiring a few maps and GPS traces later, plus doing a few other hikes nearby, allowed me to plan out a reasonable loop. It took a while to finish this hike. The first time it started heavily raining about two miles in, so I turned around. The second time I tried it I didn't even make it out of the garage as the car did not start. Third time was the charm. Parking is available at the end of Maverick Lane, or, for a slightly different hike, the end of Audubon Lane along the northeast border of the WMA (both roads gravel). Highlights along the eight mile varient I did include old exploratory coal pits from the 1800's, likely from the Berkeley Coal Mining and Railroad Co., the hemlock forest, wetlands, and rock formations along the Meadow Branch, vistas along the Tuscarora Trail and old TT along the escarpment of Sleepy Creek Mountain. And then there is Devils Nose, a large narrow curving rock formation jutting out and making some bends in the Meadow Branch. Views, crevices, rhododendrons make this a great place. The best map of the area is PATC Map L, and a GPS trace (not mine) of a similar hike can be found here as Hike #8.
Highlight for me ... didn't die on the PCT. hahaha I do feel bed I spoiled the trip for hoosierdaddy and have been wracking my brain on how to make it up to him.
Rumi
-------------- “This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.”
Looking forward to a couple more this weekend. 
Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
