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Category Archives Trip Reports
Yosemite Valley and Cathedral Peak

Posted on October 27, 2008 5:34 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com 1 Comment

“Remember when sex was safe and climbing was dangerous ?” — Chuck Pratt.

Monday, Oct 20th – email from nephew Mat pops up:

“Do you guys have plans for thursday/friday possibly the weekend? seems like i might have some unpaid days off work. leaning twards some last min outdoor activity.”

Well, no, we’re free. Long story short, we negotiate a trip to Yosemite for “some rock climbing” – little knowing it would turn into the biggest rock climbing outing of our lives.

Wednesday – truck packed, guidebooks and gear, Mat shows up late in the evening ready to go. Throw his gear in the truck and take off. Twenty miles down the road, stop to get him some food, and I discover I’ve left my wallet at home in all the excitement. Decide to forge on without driver’s license and park pass. Camped overnight, late, on forest service road just outside the west gate of YNP.

Thursday – slept in a little, drive into Yosemite Valley, get a campsite with the tourists for the night. Head for Glacier Point Apron and spend some time practicing friction on slabs on The Goblet. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Rock Climbing Trip Reports
Lover’s Leap – “How does the rope get up there?”

Posted on August 23, 2008 5:44 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com 2 Comments

Last Tuesday, campah loaded with food, beer and climbing gear, Carol and I departed for Lover’s Leap, which, according to our guide book, was a great place for trad climbing newbies (that would be us) to practice their craft:

“There are few places as conducive to learning trad climbing as Lover’s Leap. Most climbs are well-protected and offer rests to place gear.”

Sounds like a plan. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Rock Climbing Trip Reports 📎and tagged Photos
Kayaking, spearfishing, ab diving, feasting

Posted on August 9, 2008 2:26 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com Comment

Saturday morning, the abalone divers were Chuck, Mike, Tom and Mark. Mike, Tom and Mark headed off together and Chuck and I teamed up. We drove to the beach, got suited up and the kayak inflated (in reverse order, so as not to get overheated), and off we went.

In addition to abalone equipment, we also had Chuck’s fishing spear on board. I have to say the sharp pointy spear thingy kept my attention focused, being in a soft sided kayak full of air and all. We paddled out to a spot and Chuck jumped out to spearfish. He spent a good hour at this; I could tell it was quite a challenge to swim through the kelp with a long spear, load it, aim it, and try for a fish. Chuck reported he saw lots of fish, and had many good shots, but his aim “sucked”. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports 📎and tagged kayaking skateboarding spearfishing
Shaking down the new kayak, skateboarding

Posted on August 8, 2008 2:19 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com Comment

Friday, 7 a.m., I hear Chuck stirring and get up. Chuck shares coffee, I have milk and peaches again, break down the camper, then we pack up and are off. Mike and Tom follow in Mike’s pickup.

I have a new inflatable kayak that’s going to have it’s maiden voyage today, so Mike, Chuck and Tom set off to the ocean while I dragged the kayak over to the Navarro river to try it out.

New Kayak Good Things: it’s really portable, pretty light, stable (really stable) and easy to set up.

New Kayak Bad Things: Lots of foot pumping to fill it. Not having much of a keel and no rudder, it’s kind of squirrely in the water, requiring constant attention to keep going in the desired direction. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports 📎and tagged kayaking skateboarding
Deep Sea Fishing

Posted on August 7, 2008 8:15 am by funintheslots@gmail.com 2 Comments

Thursday morning, 5 a.m., Mike knocks on my camper door, “5 o’clock, ‘bro”, up and after a breakfast of milk, peaches and coffee we’re off – we have to be in Fort Bragg by 6:45. Good grief – later, I heard someone say Haley (7 YO girl and a charmer) asked “Dad, why do the fishes get up so early?” Well said; why get up so early to get yanked out of the water and suffocated in a burlap bag? The smart fishes sleep in… Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports
Travel to North Coast and Microbrewery Tour

Posted on August 6, 2008 8:49 am by funintheslots@gmail.com Comment

This Wednesday last, I finished packing and headed over to Chuck’s house to pick up him and his tent trailer. We were headed for the north coast to camp at the Paul M. Dimmick (link only renders correctly in IE) campground and then go fishing, kayaking and abalone diving. The rest of Chuck’s family would head up Friday and my Carol was home pet sitting for the neighbors. I imagine we made quite a parade what with a camper pulling a camper and all.

Pulling the fully loaded tent trailer with my fully loaded camper managed to make the BFT grunt a little, but we had no real problems. We stopped at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company for samples and a tour. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports
Alaska pics

Posted on July 20, 2008 8:33 am by funintheslots@gmail.com 1 Comment

Last night we went to friends Chuck and Deb’s house where in addition to dinner and beers, we got treated to a slideshow of their trip to Alaska with Chuck’s parents.

Great stuff – mountains, glaciers, strange cultures, they went dogsledding on a glacier, animals, flowers, carnivorous plants…

We wanted to go before, this all elevates the urge.

Trip Reports 📎and tagged Alaska Photos
Ridge Scramble

Posted on July 10, 2008 4:19 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com Comment

This morning we woke up and Dena was still non-ambulatory from our previous two days’ activities, so Carol, Jordan and I took off to climb up on top of a ridgeline we could see from our campground. There was no trail; we were making this up as we went. Dena stayed behind to have an easy day. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports 📎and tagged Photos
Giant Sequoias

Posted on July 9, 2008 6:58 am by funintheslots@gmail.com 2 Comments

Today we decided to leave our little piece of paradise as the temperatures in Yosemite Valley were forecasted to remain in triple digits. We headed for Tioga Pass on the east side of Yosemite NP with the hope of snagging a campsite at Tioga Lake campground. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports 📎and tagged Photos
Yosemite – Mist Trail

Posted on July 8, 2008 2:21 pm by funintheslots@gmail.com Comment

Having camped overnight at Yosemite Lakes and gotten going early, we arrived at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley a little after 8 a.m. Our plan was to hike the Mist Trail up to Vernal Fall. This is an easy 3 mile round trip hike with 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Continue reading → Post ID 401

Trip Reports 📎and tagged Photos Yosemite