Washington trip, part II, the week is saved!

After an afternoon frolicking in a bog of despair (due to the un-boardable conditions at Mt Baker) Ruth and I put our heads together and decided to make an attempt to save our trip. So we got up at 5AM and drove south and east to Stevens Pass Ski Area on the Cascade Divide. Of course, we had no idea what kind of mountain to expect but as it turned out, we were pleasantly surprised. The place was great! Though on the smallish side, the ski area boasted some entertaining runs, great tree skiing, and a fantastic terrain park. The powder off the runs was knee deep and untracked. And zero crowds. We skated onto every chair lift all day. After a whole day at Stevens we drove further east and stayed in the charming "bavarian village" of Leavenworth. Though the town was "Children of the Corn" quiet due to the off season, we saw enough indications that the town could be alot of fun during the spring and summer.

The next morning we drove back up to Stevens Pass and boarded 10 or so runs before the falling snow turned to rain. We packed up and started to explore the west side of the Cascades. We hit the towns of Skykomish (nothing there), Index (reminded me of the movie "Wrong Turn") and Snohomish which turned out to be a lovely little town with a diverse and interesting Main Street, numerous Victorian homes, and fantastic antique stores. We got a room and spent the night.

After one more day boarding Stevens we drove back to Bellingham and were looking at flying home the following day when we decided to extend our trip by a day in order to "do" the one tourist thing everybody in Washington does at least once: take the ferry over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. This is just alot of fun and during the summer orca sightings from the ferries are common. San Juan Island itself is the largest of the hundreds of islands in the Sound and Friday Harbor is it's nicest port. We found a charming little community with alot of the touristy stuff mixed with all the every day needs of a real community. All in all, we were very glad we went.

On our "new last day" we woke early and drove south to Seattle. We spent our free time while waiting for our flight visiting one of Seattle's most famous and historic locales: the Pike Place Market. We broused the hundreds of shops and stall while nibling on fresh smoked salmon, European cheeses, and fresh roasted cashews. We, of course, stopped to see the world renowned "fish throwers" of Pikes Place. Kinda fun watching these guy huck 20 pound salmon to each other.

We wound up having a great getaway, mostly because we were willing to throw out the itinerary when things didn't work out. Instead we had ourselves an adventurous and exciting week.

Too much of a good thing.

Sometimes you get what you wish for...and then some. I've been praying for a good dump of snow in the Pacific Northwest, preferably before our arrival in Bellingham. Well it's snowing, and snowing, and snowing. Mt Baker has gotten 4-6 feet since our arrival Saturday. It's all heavy, wet snow, AKA "Cascade Crud". And while it's beautiful, and great for the locals, who seem to be able to ski by Braille, it's not so good for the rest of us who appreciate being able to see where we're going.

The real problem with all this snow comes down to depth and visibility. Not only has the snow been falling massive quantities, but it has been accompanied by a thick fog. This combination has made snowboarding basically impossible for us. In addition, the powder has been up to 2 feet deep on the groomed runs. Off the groomed stuff the powder can be above waist deep. So we spent a few runs on Sunday not being able to see a damn thing and I got to dig out and hike a couple of times for venturing off the "groomed" stuff. It's just too much snow. For example, Ruth saw me go off a 70 degree incline that I had no idea existed until it was too late. It took me about 20 minutes to dig out and hike to a place I could resume descending. Oh, yeah. Baker is a local's mountain and they aren't renowned for their attention to clear and concise signage.

So the 2 days we've tried to board haven't gone so well. Sunday we managed just 3 runs before the elements won. Today we drove up but it was abundantly clear that conditions were even worse than they were on Sunday. Now, don't think that Ruth and I are just wimps. We came here because Mt Baker frequently has epic conditions and we'll for sure go up the mountain in storm conditions. It's just the combination of way too deep snow and true non-visibility that has put the kibosh on our plans. There just isn't much point in going if you can't see and you get stuck every 100 feet. And the forcast doesn't look any better for the rest of the week. Shit.





We did have a really nice day visiting with Scott and Liz yesterday (Monday). We played tourist and basically did a driving tour of the Pac NW. We drove to Anacortes, a sleepy seaside community that did nothing to warrant a return trip. After that we turned south and visited the bridges at Deception Pass State Park. This is one of the most picturesque of the easily accessed areas of the Puget Sound. We spotted a couple of bald eagles and hiked around a bit. We then drove over to Laconner, another sleepy little town with some interesting shops and restaraunts. To round out the day we stopped at Boundary Bay Brewery for dinner and were treated to some impromptu Irish dance courtesy of a local school.

So tomorrow we've decided to head south to Stevens Pass ski area in hopes that conditions are a bit friendlier. My hope is that due to it's higher elevation we'll be above the fog. But we've decided that conditions be damned, we're gonna give it our best shot.

Trail Ride, Pine Mountain

I took the bike out for a ride yesterday. Had I really thought about it I would have gone somewhere other than Pine Mountain, which is at 6,000ft. The snow and mud on the trails made for an interesting, dicey ride. I don't recommend riding a motorcycle through 6 inches of snow. It's do-able but sketchy. I only rode about 10 miles. I'll be taking the bike out more as the hills dry out.

Back from Summit County, CO.

Ruth and I just got back from a great week in the Rockies. We arrived in Breckenridge on the 7th and returned home yesterday, giving us five days of primo boarding with an extra day to be tourists, which is easy to do in Breck. This was our third stay in the area and second stay in downtown Breck. It is such a quaint and charming old town, full of restaurants, shops, and galleries. It is difficult to have a bad dining experience in Breck, and I managed to find the world's second best carrot cake in the world (the best being our wedding cake).

Below is a photo I took of god-rays over Lake Dillon.

Our first day of boarding was at Breckenridge peak 9 and Peak 8. We had an extraordinarilly good day though the weather was overcast and breezy with snow showers. We took the following day off because the weather report indicated high winds, which is no fun while sitting on a chair-lift. It was a good thing we took that day off becuase all the weather prognostications came true.
Next stop: Vail.


We went to Vail for one of the days. A pretentious place, but great terrain and lots of it. We didn't venture into the back bowls because the light was flat and the terrain is impossible to read without some point of reference such as trees or structures, neither of which can be found in the Vail backcountry. We had a good day boarding the front side and later explored the numerous shops at Lionshead and Vail Village.

We spent the remainder of the week at one of our all-time favorite mountains: Keystone. Such a great mountain with long, wide groomers and fluffy tree routes. The enclosed gondolas are a great way to get spoiled and the facilities are nice. Ruth and I had that whole place wired by the time we had to come home. The remaining pics were taken at Keystone, a very photogenic mountain.

We got 1-2ft of snow over the first three days of the week with 1-2 inches overnight for the remainder. Needless to say, conditions were pretty good.

On the flight home we were treated to a great view of the Grand Canyon from about 40,000ft. It's easy to see why Arizonans refer to it as the Big Ditch.

Next trip is to Mt Baker, our all-around favorite place to board. We'll be up there in mid-March. Meanwhile I'll try to get in some local hikes.

This weather blows!

I am so sick of the Santa Ana winds. We So Cal natives get the fire winds usually in the fall but this year has been different and the last 9 days we have had temperatures exceeding 80 degrees. It's getting old already.

I went back to Tar Creek on the 17th for some R&R. I wound up doing 2 hours of trail work. I've taken to carrying trimming shears with me so I cut back a bunch of sage and manzanita and shoved some rocks around. I kind of consider Tar Creek to be mine so I felt that I had some house-work to do. As a reward for the day's efforts I was blessed with a glimpse of "my" condor doing lazy circles over the lower part of the canyon. I've seen him numerous times, as close as 5 feet away and have begun to take it granted that he'll make an appearance when I'm in "my" canyon. He even left me a blood feather once. Easy to forget that he's one of the most endangered birds on the planet.

I'm starting to plan for the spring mountaineering adventure. Split Mountain looks big and scary but Middle Palisade looks even more so. Dave and I have to work out which routes we'll take up those monsters but we'll be bringing rope, harness, and gear. No more scrambling up the Class 3 route to the summit, at least not this year.

Sorry, no pictures on this post. I'll try to live a more interesting life in the coming weeks.

The Suffer Machine, Topatopa Bluff, Ojai

*** Author's Note: 4/16/2012. Howdy. It's been a few years since I wrote this post and it's always been one of my most visited entries. I still love this hike and, even though I often link it with other near-by peaks, I still consider the Sisar to Topa hike the original "Suffer Machine". It's still long, steep, and salty. So, please understand that my perspective may have matured, but the bitch didn't get any easier! It is always going to be one of the best walks in our Southern Los Padres.

Crouching above the upper Ojai Valley is a massive escarpment of rock called Topa Topa Peak, or depending on who you talk to, Topa Topa Bluff. This mountain has loomed in the background for much of my life, from my childhood in Santa Paula to the present day. The peak is unmistakable, with red and brown bands of sedimentary sandstone crossing it's face, and enormous bluffs rising vertically from it's steep foothills. Views of the peak are common in the west Ventura county and it is easily seen from the Ventura Harbor and much of Oxnard. The peak recieves annual snowfall due to an elevation of 5,800 ft, which is pretty tall for our coastal mountains, the highest peaks being Hines, Alamo, and Pinos. Unlike those others, Topa Topa can be day-hiked, though it is more a test of will than it is fun.

To day-hike Topa Topa requires a degree of masochism. I call that trail The Suffer Machine. The name is derived from all the elements that combine to make the day agonizing. The trail runs 17.5 miles round trip, and it is almost entirely exposed to direct sun. The trail is mostly uninteresting, and it is unholy steep. Every step on the way up is elevation gain, and it just never ends. In fact, the angle of climb gets steeper the closer you get to the summit. To put it plainly, it sucks.

Why go, you might ask. Two reasons: one, it's a great way to test my overall fitness; two, the view from the top is outstanding. My best time truck>summit>truck stood, until today at 6 hours and 17 minutes with a half hour lunch on the summit,. Today I did it in 06:08 with the same 0.5 hour break on the summit.

The trail starts at the top of Sisar Rd. off the 150 in Ojai. The lower portion of the trail is fire road and sees frequent foot, cycle, and equestrian traffic. The fire road crosses Cesar Creek twice as it climbs out of the valley, and continues steeply upward onto the side of a seemingly endless ridge. As the fire road hangs an abrupt left, continue straight onto a much more pleasant single-track trail that winds its way up to White Ledge Camp and from there steeply up until the main ridge, which becomes fire road again, is gained. The single track trail is known as the Red Reef Trail. Before long the trail leaves the fire road for the last time and starts a seriously steep summit climb. It is the kind of summit trail that takes everything you have left and then, without ceremony, you find yourself on the summit. Nearly dead.

The summit is really nice. There is a kind of bench made from slabs of native sandstone and the summit register is somewhere under the bench. I've signed that thing 9 times now (as of 04/2012: I lost count after about the 30th time), and thumbing through it, I noticed that I've been up there about three times a year since 2003. Today was probably the 15th time I've been to the summit.

An additional note regarding today"s bluebird weather. Usually I would expect to see Ana Capa, Santa Cruz, and San Miguel islands. Today was clear enough to also see San Clemente, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, and Catalina islands. A fantastic weather day.

The descent isn't neccessarily nice. For those of us that have a bad knee it can be just as irritating as going up, and the constant miles of downhill groundpounding put the hurt on your feet. I just got home from another round with The Suffer Machine and I ache. I'll probably be living in the jacuzzi, munching Vitamin A (Advil) for the next few days. Now that I've talked it all up, give Topa Topa a go and tell me if I'm wrong.

Matilija Creek, Ojai, 01/04/09

Good Day! Bad, #!*@!ing expensive day!@#*!!!

Dave Rivas and I busted out a 13 mile day hike up to the three waterfalls on Matillija Creek. It's a great hike which covers a variety of terrain and I always feel worked when I get back to the truck. I hit this trail at least five times a year, usually in the summer months due to the abundance of primo swimming holes. Today was made for speed with cool and clear conditions. Averaging 3.5 mph in a creekbed translates into an excellent workout.

Here's the expensive, jacked-up part. I fell off a boulder, eight feet down into a deep pool, got totally submerged. The tradjedy is that I had Ruth's digital camera in one pocket and my i-pod in another. The camera be dead. It is now an ex-camera. I'm holding out hope for the i-pod. The camera was older and wasn't working right all the time but I wasn't ready to replace it yet, though I already know which camera to buy: the Olympus Stylus. Compact, powerful, shock-resistant, and, best of all waterproof! Okay, I'm over it. Oh shit! I forgot to mention that my sunglasses are somewhere on the bottom of that icy pool! Now I'm over it...sort of. I keep telling myself it is all part of a grander purpose that I wasn't meant to comprehend. Maybe it's like paying your medical deductible for the year, only it's for replaceable material goods. Maybe it's a pricey reminder to pay attention when I'm STANDING ON THE EDGE OF A ROCK OVER A DEEP POOL OF ICE WATER!

Now I'm over it. I've been meaning to expound on the numerous qualities of this trail but I don't have the time right now. I'll blog it later. Tonight I've got to sleep. Ruth and I are leaving at 5AM for a day of snowboarding in Big Bear. We've got to be in good shape by the end of the month when we go to the real stuff in Colorado.