The Land of Cut-Off Jeans: Travels through the Mid-West into PA

Link to Photo Album of this Trip/Blog Photo Roll

This chronicles my travels through the Mid-West and ending in Carlisle, PA

So... I Actually Left California- so may as well ride bikes along the way

Leaving CA

I should change the title of my blog. But yes, I left the Eastside. The Range of Light. The Eastern Sierra. It is happening. It is real. Wow.  If I'm going to leave, then I need to at least enjoy my drive to quaint New England.
I currently am wishing I owned a truck and had the whole summer off to bike and tour the West and British Columbia.  However, my knee needs a'fixin, so I'm doing a "Sampler Tour" of the West, and trying to mountain bike or bike in every stop along the way.  I'll have to go to more National Parks and do some dispersed camping on National Forest lands in the fall, unless that fire outside of Fort Collins is still going then.  Then I'll just re-route.

HIGHLIGHTS of my Mountain Biketastic Adventure in an Easterly (sigh) Direction

Parting with the Sierras and the Great Basin (I hate goodbyes) .  

I decided to meander up 395 and over Monitor Pass to the best little towns South of Tahoe... Markleeville and Woodfords. You do blink and they are gone, but oh I love them.

Mammoth Lakes Interagency Welcome Center- Where Dreams Come True
Where my love began (and my first USFS job and first job in the Sierras)

Day at the Beach 2

Yesterday was a nice day for a bike ride in Bishop.
Today it's snowing in Mammoth. Happy Memorial Day weekend. Always seems to snow or rain.

REAL canoli from Schat's in Bishop
The Carson City Schats= gross canolis 

Slow Down the Pace... Take Out the Adventure?

Having injured my knees constantly since exploring the Sierra's, makes me realize that some people can recreate outdoors solely, but I need to and should have always supplemented with the gym. Needless to say, what's done is done.

I've been venting to friends here as I had some tough "career" front type decisions (as I do every year multiple times) and we have concluded that it is hard to live here without feeling like every adventure needs to be challenging. Sure there are days where you may do a short hike to a lake to swim in the frigid water, or the casual trail run on 3S__(insert 08, 02, or whichever Forest Service Road is to our liking), or a day of (gasp) reading by the creek.

The Pie's the Limit

Nostalgia is starting to take over my life.  There are lots of things I want to see and do and probably will need years more time to do them.  The knee, time, and distance are always factors. The seacoast and Redwoods will have to wait. British Columbia and Montana will have to wait. I also am going to physical therapy three times a week.   I suppose I could not go, but my knee is pretty important to me right now.

This weekend aside from getting ripped off at the Subaru dealer repair shop in Reno,  I went to Tahoe.  I love the North Shore and my friends were so kind as to take time out of their busy wedding planning lives to hangout with me.  I took a friend along, as his job doesn’t start right away and he’d never really been to Tahoe.

My "Guest Post From the West Coast"

Last week I sent in a fairly personal blog post to my good friends at My Backcountry Vermont . I sometimes have an issue with being too personal, but once in a while it's okay. I still don't like using iphoto because I can never remember the best way to send the photo files, so they came out a bit small... so I reposted the blog and made the photos bigger.

Guest Post from the West Coast

Introducing our newest guest blogger, Silvia, for our first edition of Guest Post from the West Coast! This is a great reminder to live in the present. And, Silvia, I, too dream of someday living out of a car -- a vintage vw van, actually.  ( :

Peace from the East,
Sarah


Author’s Note: I wanted my first “Guest Post from the West Coast” to be about adventure.  However, I recently tore my right ACL (did it last year to my left knee in a stupid telemarking breathtaking view type situation) backcountry skiing Mount Gould in the Central Sierra.  I can write a post about that later. So as a now “ACL-less” person, I’d rather talk about something else for now.  I’m not sure who will read this, as I typically don’t write blogs this long, nor with footnotes.

Kneading Dough to Pass the Time

A recent spacebook update from my USFS friend in Mammoth reminded me I haven't quite finished this post.  I have led the life of a hermit... or a hermitress this winter and I want to explain why.

Traditionally in college, when I wanted to get away (from my thoughts) I'd borrow someone's dog or dogs, or start baking,  ride my bike, or I'd just do things by myself or with one or two of the same people. Having a conversation over a cup of coffee and horrible "cider" today with someone I haven't seen in ages reminded me of how time flies and it's so great to catch up with old friends.  I haven't been purposefully trying to be anti-social, but merely, that after a summer of wandering the wilderness in a job I was so lucky to have, I needed time to further reflect on where I am going.

Hiking North toward Ebbetts Pass.
Love this trail shot. Where am I going? Where does it go?

In the land of apple cider doughnuts

I used my last Mardi Gras costume contest plane ticket (thanks Rafters of Mammoth Lakes) that I won and went home to Vermont for a few weeks. I forgot my camera charger, but I did take a few photos.  I really needed Vermont time. A time to see good friends and family and new babies.  I also visited UNH and UVM to see about their Graduate programs. I almost got to SUNY Cortland.  It was fun to be in the Boston area a few days and learn I'm not so great with the train schedules, and spend time (or try to) with some great long-time friends from home and college.

Many times when I visited my parents in Southern VT, even when I lived in Vermont- I wanted to see everyone I knew and do everything I could. That is virtually impossible. Even though I had more time this visit, I still didn't accomplish seeing everyone and doing everything. Next time. 

A foggy view of the Green Mountains/ Appalachian Trail ridges from Mt. Anthony hike with Mom.

Glass Mountain Trek

Glass Mountain Summit

11,160', 3,402m

12.07.11

 We don't need to be on the Humboldt-Toiyabe to get things done.

What two Backcountry HT Ladies decided to do instead of ski the groomers. 

There was some snow on the "official" cross country route, so we planned our own route which eventually met up with the cross country route.  We found it once we were almost to the summit.

All in all, it is one of the distinct peaks in the Glass Mountain Range that can be seen when in the Long Valley Caldera, and if looking Southeast from Mammoth.   The route we took was mainly soft pumice, and soft-silty soil mixed with pine needles.  As we got higher, the pumice got a bit bigger in size.  It was a great calf-building exercise.  I recommend trekking poles and microspikes.  It got to be snowy and frozen granular at the summit.   What a fun day!

Summit Post's Write-up

Heidi taking photos

Mashed Potatoes

A collection of random things I've seen since September on.

Hat says, "Carson Ranger District, We do it Right the First Time".
Don't know who's hat it was... 

Go Ahead, Jump!

This is a post about exactly what it sounds like.

Everywhere I've ever worked, except maybe all the outdoor stores... er I guess not at VYCC... okay maybe just at the Nursing Home I worked at in highschool and part of college... people took "Smoke Breaks".  Well Sarah and I, as Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Rangers Extradinare, though Jump Breaks were WAY better.

As my season comes to an end and I debate what should I be consuming my time with now... a simple Van Halen song may inspire me to just go for it. Whatever it maybe. 

Mt Rose

Ebbetts Pass South

I did a 7 or 8 mile mini trip South on Ebbetts Pass to Noble and Asa Lakes. Noble isn't within the Wilderness Boundary, but that's where I camped.  The whole time I had "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros in my head. So play that and enjoy.

Noble Lakes

I went to Maine. Ayut.

I went to Maine for the wedding of my two beloved UMaine Alfond Arena friends.  I made my way from Boston, up to Dover, NH where a handsome young chap picked me up at the train station and took me out on the town.  From there we ventured to a cabin on a lake, then Portland, Maine to TamTam's new house and the Old Port... Where things were SO amazing that we didn't even take photos.
Thanks again to all that helped and made me smile in that branch of the trip! I'll be back. Soon.

My rental car and I left TamTams and set forth with Maine plates to Belfast, Maine for the wedding of two of my favorite people.  It was beautiful and well-thought out, and fun as expected.

Then I meandered along up through to Orrington and Fields Pond to just see if anything had changed, but the two tall pines still stood. Didn't get to catch up with the Beal's- we tried!!!

In Orono, Jim and I went biking (with my bike, but a loaner) to hit the root filled trails of bliss. It was mud-tastical.  Followed by beer with some of the Rose Bike Crew now and then.  And Bicycle Bob missed out on the ride, so maybe we'll have to execute planning better next time.

Well this was Cambridge, MA the day after the big 4th birthday 

Passes Are Closing

Ebbetts Pass, almost to the summit. 

89 Monitor Pass and 4 Ebbetts Pass are closing tonight for "Storm Preparation" (so maybe temporary, but for winter for sure will be soon enough).  Perhaps I will prepare for the GRE and winter myself.  God knows I need to make a life-sized, freshie snow angel.

Too bad my chains are in Mammoth and I am Subaru-less, but not for long!

Happy Fall! Hope to get back to Vermont for a bit. Keep posted!

Snow Angels for Peace in snow off of Ebbett's Pass Last week.

Ebbetts Pass North on the PCT

Early September, my Supervisor and I did a tiny section of the PCT for "Wilderness Lake Monitoring".  We started at Ebbetts Pass/Route 4 and hiked North past Kinney Lakes and into the Mokelumne Wilderness.

 It was other-wordly.  The 'Northern California Pacific Crest Trail' book by Schaffer says, "...your trail bends noreast up to a broad ridge to begin an incredible route past one of the most bizarre, yet beautiful, landscapes to be seen along the PCT...your odyssey continues with a diagonal comb north to a windcropped sagebrush saddle...".

Land Before Time



Why We Build the Wall

I've had a few weekends of office work, with a computer looking at a wall.  The Fire Prevention Officer shut the lights out on me one Sunday.  I said loudly, "Nope!", and he popped his head in and said, "Sorry didn't realize you were in here. We're going to have to cut a window infront of your desk so people know you're in here".

Haven't done that yet. But I did get to listen to a good ETown, from Burlington, VT episode.  The last song is Anais Mitchell and "Why We Build the Wall".  I love this song!

She Walked in the Wilderness with a Shovel

Farewell to my co-worker, Sarah, and enjoy your new adventures.

It is always a bold and daring move to...well... move across the country after quitting your job... to do a Student Conservation Corps internship, and then go back to school.   I was very fortunate to have such a wonderful person to hike with all summer who did just this.

I went to Utah and ...

all I took was pictures from the summit of Snowbird. And my cousin Chris took pictures of the tick he pulled off of my scalp.  Awesome! Thanks for the help cuz!

 Chris and his wife had a baby boy recently, so I went to visit.  My Grandma and Aunt flew to Utah. So we went to the top of Snowbird on the tram.

6000' Vertical Work Weekend

So all the lakes in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness you really have to work at to get to. There are less lakes than the Inyo, and people who want to go to them are either determined, or have pack animals!  We wished we had a pack llama named ... Edgar... (I just picked his name just now) to haul our tools. 

Either way, there's a lot of fishing in the CI, but a lot of areas in the Southern Region that are protected for two trout species.  The Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and the Paiute Cutthroat Trout.  Where we went hiking was in the border area where you couldn't fish, to where you can.  Tamarack Lake outlet North is fishable. 

Sarah and I added it up... but our work week of 4 days was a lot of up.  But we hiked Mt. Rose (2300') on Friday.

Rare fish sighting in Lake Tahoe 

Work Can Be Distracting

As I sat and struggled with Excel the other day during my "office day" I realized I am lucky to have my job, and that although I often feel like I want to be somewhere that I am not (VT or Inyo where there are "real" peaks), I really shouldn't be complaining.  
 Read the text of the photo below.  The Wilderness I patrol and monitor is very little used.  It is WILD! The bear that was walking toward me sniffing the ground the other day was a perfect example.

There are some days where I'd rather have a faster pace of life, maybe on a bike, maybe at the shores of Lake Tahoe or June Lake, and there are days I want to be with friends.  I started to finally study the GRE (I applied to UVM without this score) in my tent at night.  Each night I think of all the things I want to see and do out here. Ultimately, I feel very far from home, but I am thankful for my friends out here for keeping me occupied and distracted enough not to go home yet.  My summer will be filled with things until mid-August.  Maybe then I'll get to some things on that tick list.  

Until then, I wish you all epic swimming holes and stunning sunsets, and as always the best of times with those you care about.

Stanislaus National Forest's Sonora Pass Trailhead. Part of sign. Leads into the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. My area.