Sunday, August 26, 2007

Castle Peak

Castle Peak from the saddle. The trail goes right up the obvious ridge. If you look closely you can see three rocky knolls on the summit. The highest point is the one furthest to the east (to the right in the pic).



The summit rock. Not hard to climb, but probably too much exposure for most people that come up here. The route goes right up that crack in the southern face.



The summit register.



From the summit looking south.



Castle Peak. 9103'. 7 miles. 1815' vertical feet each way.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

California State Fair



At Kristen's urging we ended up at the California State Fair on Friday night. The best part about the fair is the strange sights. For example, the petting zoo that not only had goats, chickens, pigs, and baby cows running around freely for your petting pleasure, but also a doe and a couple of random kangeroos. Hmmm. Or the guy sitting in front of me at the "12 Dog Training Tips" show that was wearing a camo hat with a patch that read, "Certified Terrorist Killer" and had an image of the Iraqi flag. Or, the turkey race (six turkeys chasing a remote controlled bucket of food around a track). Of course, there was also the food. The deep fried Snickers bars, deep fried Coca Cola, cheese on a stick, egg roll on a stick, funnel cakes, giant corn dogs, smoked turkey legs, brisket sundaes, and artichoke sandwiches.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Dams.

I went to see some of PG&E's dams and diversions on Butte Creek and the West Branch Feather River yesterday. It's always amazing to see the huge environmental damage that is accepted in order to generate relatively little power. As someone pointed out, these dams may be "renewable" but they are certainly not green.

Round Valley Dam.



Snag "Lake" behind Round Valley Dam. All that dam for this? This place was obviously once an amazing meadow. Now it's just dust. Where's the water?



Down there?



I like this shot. This is Hendricks Head Dam on the West Branch Feather. You can see the river on one side, but not on the other.



Looking upstream above the dam.



Looking downstream after the water has been removed by PG&E. PG&E removes as much as 90% of the total flow of this river.



This is supposed to be a fish ladder. Nice try.



This is where the water goes. Into diversion canals that lead into a tunnel bored through the mountainside. The tunnel takes the water to a completely different drainage over six miles away.



This is where the West Branch Feather ends up, in a pond (a forebay actually) waiting to be dropped through a powerhouse. Isn't it purdy?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Ok. Summer happened.

Lying in on a grass slope of Mount Price.



Maybe the most relaxing 30 minutes of our summer, in 30 crappy quality seconds of video.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Mt. Price

Mount Price, Crystal Range, Sierra Nevadas. 3000' vertical feet up and back. 10 miles. 10+ lakes.



Panorama from near the summit of Mount Price.



Island Lakes with Mt. Price in the background.



A great little lake above Island Lake. Peak 9318' in the background.





Kristen picking her way through the talus with Peak 9441' looming behine. Despite its cool looking SW face, this one doesn't get much attention for some reason.



Going up...with a view past Peak 8925', Two Peaks, and Union Valley Reservoir towards the Central Valley.



On top of the pass SW of Mt. Price and above Lyons Lake.



The icy tarn beneath Mt. Price. Despite being mid-August, after one of the driest winters on record, at only 9400 feet, this little tarn was still frozen over with a thin layer of ice.



Looking north along the Crystal Range from the ascent chute.



Boulders on the way up. Our route went straight up from here to the little weak spot visible on the ridge.



Dora as near to the summit as she would get. She freaked out when we stood on the summit so we couldn't stay up there for long.



The Rockbound Valley.



Crystal Range. Aggasiz and Pyramid Peaks to the south.



Coming down.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Brinn and Travis Pond

Portland, Oregon. August 4 2007

The bride.



The Bride and Groom.



Guess who "caught" the bouquet?