Tour de California – 21 Day (7/26-8/15) Trip Report:

My (69-years-young) cousin Neil from Florida came out to have an adventure with Carol and me...

Day 1, Wed - Breakfast with Carol, finished loading truck (had to rearrange to get all Neil's stuff in, aren't there baggage limits on Delta airlines?), drove down Hwy 1, Big Sur , to Kirk Creek. Explored the coast below Kirk Creek campground.

Day 2, Thurs - Up at COD, hiked up the Kirk Creek Trail until we were above the fog and got some good pics. Apparent poison oak capital of the free world. We really didn't want to start off the trip with an ER visit for acute poison oak poisoning. Miraculously, and via some fancy footwork, we avoided any rash at all. Back at camp, had lunch, went down the coast exploring and stopped at a nice waterfall. Neil needs to work on his hero pose. Nice evening in camp (brief interruption by the camp host with his weed whacker, good grief), plenty of refreshments that resulted in this video.

Day 3, Fri - Up at COD, drove to Cambria and had gut buster breakfasts. Decided since we'd be on the coast again later to head inland. Drove to Death Valley via Ridgecrest, camped at Wildrose campground (4000’). Set up to sleep on the ground, and then discovered all the little mammals that wanted to be our friends. Rick set up tent in case someone was uncomfortable with little sleeping buddies. Neil took advantage of it after seeing the cute little kangaroo rats exploring his pillow and sleeping bag - what a sissy. Rick slept on the ground until about the 5th nibble and then retreated to the truck.

Day 4, Sat - Up at COD again, drove to Telescope peak trailhead, off at 6:23 am. Sun had already risen. Neil discovers the pleasures of hiking at 8000 feet (we're headed for 11049). 4 1/2 hours later, Neil is standing on his first mountain peak - hero pose looks better! Then the bad news - we have to go down - ouch. BTW, Neil now understands why it's not the 14 miles, it's the 2900 feet up and 2900 feet down that matter the most. Many refreshments at trailhead celebrating the accomplishment and killing the pain. Back to Wildrose (4000’) for an excellent night's sleep - Rick slept on a picnic table (no visitors); Neil slept in the truck. We agree to sleep in.

Day 5, Sun - Up at COD - can't sleep past sunrise. Drove into Death Valley, went for a hike on the sand dunes. Drove to Badwater, took pics. Stopped at visitor center and Harmony borax works. Drove to Lone Pine, and stopped at an internet cafe. We seem to feel like some downtime before the next adventure. Spent the night at Grays Meadow CG (6000’).

Day 6, Mon – Resupply at Big Pine; drive up into the Inyo Mountains. Hiked the Methuselah Trail (4 miles, 8000’ elevation) at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Guess downtime didn’t last too long. Camped beside the road about 13 miles from our White Mountain trailhead at 10,700’.

Day 7, Tues – Up at COD, drove to White Mountain trailhead (11,700’). Cold and windy, start hiking about 6:45. We’re hiking at higher elevation than we’ve been all trip, so we go slow. Marmots everywhere. Never seen so many marmots.

Pass the Barcroft Research station – Neil says why are all those sheep here. I say, "Neil, do you see any women? Barcroft Research station – where men are men and sheep are skittish.”

I digress.

White Mountain is “just” a hike – no technical climbing, just one foot in front of the other for 7.5 miles until you get to 14,246’. We did bypass a snowfield on the way up and do a little Class 2 scramble over a talus/scree slope. Not Neil’s favorite part. Bifocals – bad – can’t see where to place feet. Get to top, sign in, take a bunch of pics, then it’s time to retreat – eek – it’s just as far back as it was up. Slog back, decide we’ve seen over 200 marmots (could have been 2-3 times as many ‘cept have to look down at the trail once in a while to keep from dabbing). Back at car, celebratory beers and other painkillers, but there’s a crit-sit on the beer supply. Back to Big Pine to resupply, off to Grays Meadow for the night after calling home.

We contemplate the accomplishment for a 69 year old flatlander to get acclimated to altitude in 6 days and climb a 14’er.

Your body wants to be strong...

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/200607CoasttoCoast

Day 8, Wed - Last night, hiking a couple miles up Shepherd Pass sounded good, this morning, the decision was to run to Bishop, breakfast at Jack’s. Visited the Mountain Light gallery in Bishop, got re-inspired to take better photos. If you're ever in Bishop, be sure to stop in.

Drove up to Convict Lake CG. Decided tomorrow was the right day for our hike. Took a lot of photos of the moon over Mt Morrison. Got acquainted with Mark the trout fisherman and his wife Ann who was interested in how to get to Mt Morrison for a climb.

Day 9, Thursday – up before dawn, at the trailhead and hiking by 6:00 am. Great light for photography. Lots of pics. Another beer crisis – which we solved (in a big way!) in Mammoth Lakes. Off to Mono Lake to camp for the night.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_ConvictCyn

Drove out into the Mono lake desert – 4WD won't engage, so gunned it through a few spots. Decide may not get out without 4WD, so we spent a pleasant hour or two fixing the problem. Celebratory beers – of course. Neil found some small chunks of obsidian to take home. Beautiful night in the desert – quiet, nice breeze, coyotes howling.

Day 10, Friday – Up early , long drive to Yosemite Valley. Had to stop and fix our 4WD fix. Started hiking about 9 am – with just a few other people on the trail. Good thing it wasn't the weekend! 7 miles round trip with a 2000 foot elevation gain.

I thought I'd seen everything until I saw the backpacker with a skateboard strapped to his pack coming down from Little Yosemite Valley. I love California.

The falls, as always, were awesome.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_YosemiteFalls

Couple apres-hike refreshments and off toward San Jose. Home about 9:30 pm, hi to Carol and look at the day's pictures.

Oh, and the first showers since last Monday. Not to overshare, but Neil says “It's kind of bad when you pass gas and it improves your personal odor” or something to that effect. Rick says “Neil, I did NOT need to know that!” Carol did not complain when we had hugs all around – either a real trooper or can't smell...

Day 11, Saturday – sleep in, Carol made breakfast, looked at pictures and e-mail Took a few pictures around the garden. Had a big 10-day stretch, for sure, so we decided to go to Santa Cruz and just chill. Had lunch at Riva, walked through the Beach Boardwalk, and then returned to watch the volleyball tournament that was taking place that day. Someone forgot to charge the camera battery, so there aren't a lot of pictures from Santa Cruz.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_Home

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_SantaCruz

Day 12, Sunday – breakfast then off to Monterey to do some kayaking. Carol wants to walk instead, so Neil and Rick take off in the kayak. Turns out Carol follows along the shoreline. After kayaking, we went to Fisherman's Wharf (what coast town doesn't have a Fisherman's Wharf?), had a little lunch and then home. Everyone's tired and turning in early.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_Monterey

Rick and Neil off to Point Reyes Monday morning, not too early.

Day 13, Monday – 'bye to Carol :( then finish loading the truck. Off up the peninsula through SF to the Golden Gate overlook. Couple pics, then off to Point Reyes (La Punta de los Tres Reyes), figured out the lighthouse was closed Tuesday and Wednesday so beat feet off to the lighthouse. Then hung out at the beach and had a couple refreshments. Camped at Olema Ranch Campground.

Day 14, Tuesday – Up early (not too early), stopped at the Bovine Bakery for coffee and breakfast. Out to Tomales Point, had a great hike. Saw over 100 Tule Elk, saw an osprey with a fish in its claws, lots of scenery, etc. Struck off for Bodega Bay, spent the night at the Dolan Beach campground, which is a spit of land with the Pacific on one side and Bodega Bay on the other – excellent! - though damp in the morning.

Day 15, Wednesday – Breakfast in Bodega Bay overlooking the water, priced a couple beach homes, drove north on Hwy 1. Stopped at Fort Ross (which I'd never seen), spent a couple hours there. Drove up to the Navarro river, went out to the beach. There was a grey whale in the surf acting really strange – rolling and breaching, etc. - wanted to take pics but felt it might be dying and therefore didn't. At one point it was within 20 feet of the sand. Neil and I estimated it to be 18-20 feet long. Watched for 45 mins or so, “we can't do anything for it”, went on to the Paul Dimmick campground.

Day 16, Thursday – Up at COD, off to go abalone diving. Neil and I unloaded the kayak, suited up, set out. Neil was not supposed to go diving, but...

Launched into the surf, paddled out around a rock horn (low tide, couldn't get through where I wanted to, so we went around). Got into a little cove, put on my fins, mask and snorkel. Got rigged for abalone diving, went searching for a little anchor spot – tied the rope to some kelp. Really rough surf. Just about to dive, kayak anchor loose from the kelp, kayak up on the rocks and Neil's in the water – kayak is turtled. Flip it over, start figuring out how to escape. Neil jumps in the kayak from the rocks; Rick gets almost in and over we go again.

Neil – nice and calm, “what do I do?”, I pulled the kayak out of the cove away from the rocks (I'm a strong swimmer without fins, give me fins and watch me go...), Neil holds while I jump in. With my diving weights on (and ample butt), I hold the kayak steady while he gets in. Paddle out around the rocks, then back to shore, surf dumps us again as we touch the sand. Life is good.

Off to Mendocino for coffees, up to Fort Bragg for an anchor. Oh, yeah, my buddy Chuck said “you don't need an anchor, just tie up to some kelp” - so much for listening to Chuck (I'm learning!). Stopped at the local bakery, nice lady told us about some calm places to ab dive, will try them tomorrow if the weather is good. As the wise man said, “The ocean and the abalone will be there tomorrow, make the right decision today”, blah blah blah.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_06_PtReyes

Day 17, Friday – Up at a more leisurely hour. Drove out to the Navarro beach, looked at the water, Neil thought it looked too rough for him Not enough beer last night to erase yesterday's events from memory – not for lack of trying, mind you.

Messed around a little, went to Mendocino for coffees (a ritual by now), looked at the California Hiking book and agreed on a hike at Russian Gulch. Drove up to the Gulch, looked out at the cove and said – why not try for some abalone. Nice and calm and a big rock at the mouth of the cove to stay behind and miss the swells. Paddle out, Rick puts on the fins and jumps off the kayak – Neil stays in the kayak in an upright position – yea! Rick scouts around a little, comes back and gets ab iron, gets ready to set the anchor, Neil says “I think I can hold it.”. So Rick is off to dive for abalone. Deep water, can't see the bottom, so I dive and spot an abalone – pull it off the rock (poor thing, just minding its abalone business and then YANK – off to the surface to drown in the air), and turn and look up – yikes! - I've never been this deep before – getting to the surface is a sudden priority. Swim out to the kayak, check abalone with gauge, it's a keeper.

Let's go get another – dive again, spot a big one – yank it off, look up, even deeper. Cripes. Can't figure out (later) how I could get so deep without really trying. Back to surface, kayak is far off the rock – swim out, a little tired and over stimulated, “Neil, I thought you said you could hold it!”, check the ab and it's the biggest I've taken. Tow the kayak over closer to the rock, get it straight with Neil it would be good if the kayak were nearby when I surface. Neil later claims to have been "lost in the moment" - I get that.

Look around some more, couple dives and spot a really big one. Dive on it, it's really deep. Hmm, a little tired and right calf cramping – plus I'm essentially diving alone, Neil has no fins / snorkel / weight belt; can't really help – so decide to leave the ab there and live to dive another day.

Back to the kayak, get Neil prepared for me to pull my big butt back on the kayak, everything works – nice job, Neil. Paddle for shore, no drama, land and carry kayak to truck. Rick stops and fills out abalone license, ranger is there about 5 minutes later. Everything looks good, ranger thanks me for having the paperwork all filled out - “No problem, Mr. Ranger”, no desire to find out what ab diver jail looks like...

Couple pics, off to campground, spend a nice afternoon / evening telling stories, drinking beer, etc. Some foolishness with the camera.

Day 18, Saturday – Up at COD, actually have to get Neil up (adjusting to Pacific time, just in time to go home, ha). Off to Navarro beach again. Five divers – Rick, Chuck, Joel, Mark, Mike. Joel is a newbie. Neil declines to go out, so Rick takes boogie board and joins the others. Neil comes along to take pictures and report the location of the bodies if need be.

Out into surf, man, it's cold, swim a little, climb over slippery rocks to a beach, back out into ocean via more slippery rocks. Rick and Mark team up, head out and go fishing. No way to anchor dive tube or boogie board so we take turns. Lots of swell, so low visibility until 5-10' below surface. Mark snags an abalone, Rick dives and pulls up a 9-incher (biggest ever), Mark dives for a couple more. We're done, can't have more than 3 abs in your possession at once (I had two from yesterday).

Chuck and Mark are coaching Joel the newbie – Joel is real uncomfortable, never gets an abalone. Back on shore, Joel “Where's my weight belt?” - apparently he lost it in the surf on the way out, no wonder he can't get down in the water. Turns out we can walk back to the cars from where we are with just a little wading.

Back at cars, Mr. Ranger is right there to check us, congratulates Rick on the 9-inch ab, then off to check out the other guys. We're on the up-and-up, thankfully, Mr. Ranger showed up at campground later to check everyone.

Rick and Neil off to Mendocino for coffees and stop at the bakery – for Saturday's potluck we're providing French bread and Camembert – we've still got lots of Camembert – and a couple bottles of wine. We'll prepare about 10 abalones for dinner, Chuck and Mike are expecting 50 people or so. A quick scan of the pictures Deb Taylor took, I counted 59.

Neil gets his first taste of abalone – one slice of abalone, four Tums – ha. They clean it, slice it, beat it to tenderize it, dredge it in eggs, Italian bread crumbs with Ranch dressing powder mixed in, then fry it in olive oil – it could be anything in there by that time; can't taste much but – Italian bread crumbs and Ranch dressing.

Neil turns in early; late night around the fire for Rick.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_07_MendocinoPtOne

Day 19, Sunday – Up at COD again, Rick, Neil, Chuck and Jim off to Navarro beach for one last abalone dive. Neil kind of wants to stay at the campground; Rick says “but it'll be warm and sunny at the beach” - so of course when we get there, it's 50 degrees, overcast and windy. Rick looks out at the ocean, which is busy, says “This is stupid” - so of course Chuck picks the furthest rock out that's getting pounded by the swell and says “We'll go there!”.

So off we go into the surf (Chuck, Jim and Rick) – swim what seems like forever to the rock, Chuck says “We'll tie up on the lee side” which would be great except there really is no lee side, the rock is small enough that the swell just runs around it so we tie up in a washing machine. I dive a couple times, spot a legal abalone, yank it off the rock and it's in the bag. Dive a few more times, can't see any more abs (except youths that are too small to take), get swamped a bunch of times (when the swell breaks, there's lots of air in the water and I don't know if you've tried swimming in air, but it's pretty difficult), decide I'm done ab diving for the day – have the one I committed to bring home and that's good enough.

Hang around on the boogie board for a while, which is mostly underwater anyway, being designed for kids, not 200+ pound divers with wetsuits, weight belts, ab irons and abalones hanging from it. Finally tell Chuck I want to go in 'cause I'm cold – it would have taken too long to say “I'm getting freakin' pounded for no good reason and I want to get the hell out of here!” through a snorkel. In we go; Chuck and Jim visit a little spot where the abs are just below the surface and it's nice and quiescent.

Chuck asks if I had any fun, I say "not one minute" – if you'd told me the objective was to go out into the surf and find out what it's like to get pounded by the waves and flounder around in airy water, I'd have said “Hell yeah!” and enjoyed it, but since we were ostensibly out to hunt abs, it was kind of a bust. I don't hold back for my buddy Chuck - and he knows I still love him...

Back on the beach; Neil's hanging out with Andy, both are taking pics, collect Neil and off to the truck to get into civvies and we're off to Mendocino for coffees – a ritual, plus I'm now icing over. Our favorite bakery is closed, so coffees in hand, back to campground where we break camp, say 'bye to a few folks and off to San Jose. Home about 4:30 (based on time stamp of first beer picture), unload the truck, lots of dirty clothes, salty wetsuits and other assorted gear, and oh, yeah, a kayak to unload.

Quiet evening watching “Touching the Void”, our favorite mountaineering movie, Neil says “That was intense” and is off to bed. Carol has 17 (seventeen!) back copies of Jeopardy! to watch, so we burn off a couple of those and then it's off to bed for us too. I sleep very well...

Day 20, Monday – Up when I hear Neil stumbling around, I make coffee and a frittata for breakfast. Carol calls work and tells them she's staying home for Neil's last day here. We went for a walk in the Joice Bernal park, then back home. Neil and Rick make one last beer run then a quiet afternoon in the backyard with the birds, bees, squirrels, sun, airplanes, etc. Dinner is chilaquiles with avocado and Carol made a cucumber and onion salad. Yum. Neil packs 2 or 3 times to make sure he can fit all his new stuff into the baggage. Also looks like all the beer is going to be recycled today.

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_07_MendocinoPtTwo

Carol's friend Mike shows up to take his abalone home. I describe the process he'll need to execute to get it into eating condition - prying out of the shell, cleaning the gut sack, trimming off other gross stuff, scrubbing off the black gross stuff, and then - it's ready to slice and pound and whatever. Mike looks less excited as I describe each step of the process.

Day 21, Tuesday – up at 4:30 in the bloody a.m.; Neil's all ready to go; he's apparently been ready since 3:30 or so. Goodbye from Carol, off to airport, it's already busy, bye to Neil at the Delta curb, some freakazoid flips out when I pull out - to give her my spot at the curb - guess airports stress some people out more than others. Back home and in bed 'till 7:30.

Oh, and while we were on the Tour de California, we kept track of the different kinds of beers we had. After a (short) while, we needed a scorecard. Due to the nature of the sport, the scorecard may not be 100% accurate at all times - and some pics may be PG-IT rated (Pretty Good Idea at the Time)...

http://picasaweb.google.com/funintheslots/20060725Tour_de_CA_Refreshments

Summary of Significant Hikes We Went On: