2015 New Years Resolution: Achieved

Whelp.  I'm just realizing that it's been over a year since I last posted.  Probably because life has been pretty busy/rad since moving out Californy-ways.  I attended 7 weddings, went aboard 2 submarines for work (actually going inside the rocket I work on - my skin cells have gone to space!), ran the SF marathon, backpacked some stuff, ate a bunch of foods, high-fived a sea turtle.  Just normal stuff really.  But since the only person probably reading this is my Mom, you already know most of that stuff.  So instead I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about my 2015 New Years Resolution and how, in classic bucket-list-checkoff-champion fashion, I achieved the shit out of it.

I guess here is a good time to say what that resolution was.  Since I can't think of a funny transition sentence at this point in time, I'll just say it: to be on at least one mountain every calendar month of 2015.  Not very difficult given my propensity for outdoors adventures, but I wanted to make sure I had an extra fire under my ass to ensure I was properly exploring my new west coast home.  So follow me, readers (aka Mom) as I transcribe the outcome of this "lofty" goal.


January: Mt. Diablo

Ten days into the new year and I'm feeling pretty damn good about my progress

Thanks to a terrible Tahoe snow season, I was able to convince some great people to join me on a Bay Area jaunt up Mt. Diablo, the tallest mountain in the general area.  A fun little hike and so close to home left us plenty of time to go to Bootie SF after we got back to the city.
(Runner Up: I also went skiing at Bear Valley, so was on that guy too later in January)

February: Mt. Angeles

Ok Mt. Diablo was less than 4000 ft; this mountain is a ridiculous upgrade

Well that escalated quickly! (Do you get it?)  For a few weeks in February (including my birthday) I was sent up to Washington to work on a submarine base near Seattle for work, supporting a rocket test launch setup.  I can't get into the details (or else I'd have to kill you), but I spent a bunch of time scampering about a submarine, crawling inside a couple rockets (YES THAT MEANS THAT MY SKIN CELLS DID IN FACT GO TO SPACE SO I'M AN ASTRONAUT).  There was a little bit of down time, in which I was able to head over to Olympic National Park for a quick hike.  Normally, February would mean most of the park is pretty much off limits due to snow, but like I said earlier, it was kind of a shitty winter for the west coast in terms of snowfall.  Lucky for me, that means I was able to scurry up this beast of a mountain with only a little bit of snow to deal with; I only had my steel-toe boots for the submarine so I'd be up shit's creek if there was a lot of snow.  The views were insane: I could see the Olympics on one side, across the Puget Sound to Seattle on the other, with the Cascade Mountains being all epic all behind Seattle.

March: Mt. Tamalpais

Yeah I don't know either

One of the (many) benefits of having every other Friday off work is that I can go on little day hikes around the Bay Area without them being complete zoos.  Mt. Tam is a pretty popular hike given how accessible it is to SF and the relatively low difficulty level, so going on a Friday was great.  And Laura was a great Friday adventure buddy since she also had off work, so we summitted Mt. Tam with a nice layer of cloud beneath us over the Pacific and some cool views of SF and Oakland.
(Runner Up: I also went skiing at Squaw in Tahoe, and let me just tell you that being in a hot tub on top of a mountain after a day of skiing is pretty damn awesome)

April: Antelope Peak

Buffalos WTF do you think you're doing here, this is supposed to be a peak for Antelopes

Another work drip, this time to Salt Lake City, provided another opportunity for some sweet, sweet outdoorsiness.  One of the work days, after touring the rocket engine factory, I was able to drive over to Antelope Island, an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake, where Bison roam free (and theoretically also Antelopes?) and there's a little peak where you can hike up and crap your pants due to an overload of amazing views of the surrounding city and mountains.  The top of the peak was pretty damn slippery though, so I'm pretty pumped I didn't slide down the side of the mountain before I had a chance to drive over to Canyonlands (I mean, if work already sent me to Utah, might as well camp in a National Park while I'm at it, right?).

May: Olomana (Three Peaks)

Those are the steepest goddamn peaks I've ever dealt with

After a series of eliminations, here we have the successful completionists of the Olomana hike

Holy shit this might be the scariest hike I've ever done.  It's like 5 total miles of hiking round trip, but includes three of the steepest climbs I've ever experienced.  And since it's an out-and-back that means 5 summits where we had to trust our lives to random shitty rope and twine that some random dude tied to some tree roots who knows when.  Sometimes not even rope, but ethernet cable instead.  WHAT IS GOING ON, HAWAII?  I feel like people are so cavalier with their lives in Hawaii that it doesn't even phase the residents to ascend/descend, completely vertically at times, up sheer cliff where a single slip or trip means immediate death.  I had some reservations.  11 of us started this hike.  Everyone else was sane enough to decide "no I actually value my life" and call it quits along the way, leaving nly Ryan, Steve, and me.  Long story short Oahu is a blast.
(Runner Up: I was exploring Hawaii for 2 weeks, so there were a bunch of awesome hiking on volcanos all over the place, including the top of Haleakala on Maui - and no I don't care that I fucked up the spelling on that)

June: Cherry Lake

Yosemite, are you even capable of being less than 100% gorgeous at any time of the year?

Emmy invited me to come backpack with her friends up in the northern stretches of Yosemite, where you actually start outside the park and backpack in from Cherry Lake.  We weren't intending on summitting any mountains, but after reaching our destination and setting up camp, we went for a little romp around the mountainy cliffs surrounding us.  And that's when the thunderstorm rolled in.  Catching us the exact moment we reached the exposed peak.  You can't tell from the photo, but less than 18 hours before it was taken Emmy was more terrified than I've ever seen another human (not counting horror movies I guess?)  This storm was insane.  Luckily I found a mini cave we could hide in and wait it out, but still the pouring rain-turned-sleet was only small potatoes compared to the tremendous, deafening thunder crashes directly above us.  That lightning was stalking us.  But hey we survived with an awesome and terrible new story under our belts to a brand new world of rain-induced waterfalls that did not previously exist around our hiding cave.
(Runner Up: I was at the top of Angel Island too.  It was foggy though so the views were meh)

July: Mission Peak

That weird thing that everyone on Tinder has a photo of

Yeah it's not the most impressive hike in the Bay Area, but whatever, Jimmy and I had a fun day so go to hell.  Plus the Sun is oppressive as fuck and there is no shade.  But yeah we reached that weird thing that everyone takes a photo standing on and there were some cool views of Silicon Valley, so I'm ok with it.
(Runner Up: Angel Island... again.  This time was super clear so the ferry was a fun ride and also, yeah definitely the best views of the Bay Area come from the Island that is in the MIDDLE OF THE BAY)

Angel Island gives SF residents a chance to be Bay Area tourists

August: Sourdough Mountain

Ok this isn't even Sourdough but it was in the North Cascades and was the best campsite I've ever experienced so I don't give a damn

This whole park is just shit like this

Ok THIS ONE is from Sourdough.  Am I in America?

The North Cascades has solidified it's place as one of my favorite National Parks after Steve and I backpacked around before Scott and Anne's wedding in Seattle.  Our backpacking campsite was easily the most impressive place I've ever slept, with a view to make action hero stalwarts cry.  Definitely the most beautiful place I've ever taken a dump... ever.  And Sourdough Mountain was an amazing day hike, listed as "strenuous" and yeah it certainly was.  Fairly steep, but the views of the lake and mountains were enough to make me forget my destroyed leg muscles.  We were even able to fit in a spur of the moment white water rafting trip through the park between hikes!
(Runner Up: a crapload of mountains and hiking around the North Cascades, so yeah there was a lot going on.  Also I did a day hike at Big Basin later in August, but comparing it to the North Cascade mountains would be embarrassing.)

September: Sentinel Dome

Ok so Half Dome is just going to hang out looking epic at sunrise and nobody but me is going to scream up to the sky in excitement?  Fine.

Also I had a buddy to hang out with while watching sunrise

And then after some hiking I earned myself a relaxing beer by the water

A bunch of friends were all at weddings this weekend so that means I go solo camping at Yosemite.  It was insanely smokey from a bunch of forest fires all over the Sierras, but it just added a nice flavoring to my beef jerky.  Sentinel Dome was not the most impressive hike of my weekend, but had some cool views of Half Dome through the smoke.  The next day I was BLASTED IN THE EYEBALLS by the best sunrise I've ever experienced, complete with a bear friend climbing the trees for pinecones as I watched the Sun climb over Half Dome.  The fuck?  That was insane.  Then I went for a hike over to Nevada Falls and then treated myself to some lazy rivering in Yosemite Valley.

October: Mt. Hoffmann

I found a pleasant little seat with a nice view

Hiking with a cast of characters > hiking with boring people

Just throwing this in there because this might be my favorite photo ever taken (THANK YOU KENDALL)

There is no such thing as too much Yosemite.  I went up to my favorite place in the country with a group of fantastic and energetic people for a great camping weekend.  Our hike of choice was what turned out to be John Muir's favorite view in Yosemite, and I can now understand why.  It was a nice little hike with a bonus ICE COLD DIP INTO AN ALPINE LAKE at the end.  Super refreshing.  Then we had some fun with campfires and long exposure photos at night.  Did I mention I love Yosemite?
(Runner Up: I went to Washington again for work, climbing some peaks in Olympic National Park and doing a phenomenal hike around Mt. Rainier.)

See what I did there?

Just banana time up on ole Hurricane Ridge

November: San Bruno Mountain

Surprisingly there were some cool views of Pacifica and SF from up there

This place is super close to SF and had a real short trail, so I just went up for a little trail run.  Nothing too exciting.  Moving on.

December: Cone Peak

oh mountains AND ocean.  Come on California, at least give other places a chance

After Thanksgiving, a magnificent crew went backpacking in Big Sur in, what I should be used to by now, amazing California weather.  But we were hiking along a ridge and down to some natural hot springs, so that trip didn't count.  But the following weekend Katie was visiting and we went backpacking in Big Sur... again.  We did a loop around and up to Cone Peak, which has some awesome views of other Big Sur mountains and the ocean and it's just ridiculous up there.  Oh and we were SURROUNDED by hooting owls all during the nights.  We also explored some of the Big Sur/Monterey area by kayaking with some sea otters, romping around Point Lobos shores, and enjoying some beer right on the coast.  Not a bad weekend.

I'd say I'm fairly pleased with the success of the New Years resolution.  I think the trick is to do something where your progress is measurable.  I saw some cool views, got some great exercise in some amazing places, and I didn't die!  Win-win-win.

SF to Vancouver Adventure Part 4

This adventure is grander than I remember.  But the pictures don't lie I guess.


Tuesday 7/1/14 - Portland/Seattle
Today I woke up on Ryan's small couch and like the good friend that I am, I drove him to work.  He then gave me a tour of the Nike campus: kind of a symbiotic relationship.  It is gorgeous and has tons of great fields and facilities.  Then he went off to work or train or workout or whatever he does there, and I started on my way to Seattle.
I drove directly to Von Trapps, a German beerhall that Cronin took us to last year.  It was showing the USA World Cup game, so I met Cronin there with some of his resident friends.  The food was so good.  The game was not.  Oh well, let's go Germany.
We then went to a park/beach right on Lake Washington.  The water felt great and it had INCREDIBLE views of Rainier.  There was even a little dock with a high dive board.  Imagine jumping off a high dive with Mt. Rainier as your backdrop.  Now die because your life just peaked.

Just the view while swimming.  HOW DO YOU ADJUST TO THAT???

The adventure continued as we went to a delicious burrito place in Belmont neighborhod.  I stuffed myself with what might have been a five pound burrito (living in the Mission District in San Francisco now, this is a pretty common occurrence.  But at the time that was so magical.)  Then Cronin, his resident friends, and I went over to Gasworks Park and met up with James.  We chilled in the park for a bit with some beer; it was great hanging out with these two.  And I love that park.  Someone had the fantastic idea to turn an old gasworks facility into a beautiful park.  And it has a great view of downtown Seattle from across Lake Union.

Dat Skyline

Just a couple of champs champing it up

Gasworks!  YOU ARE ART NOW.

James, Cronin, and I then went to a dive bar with "zoo" in the name (so you know it's good) and had a few beers whist reminiscing until it was time to head home.  Such a great laid back day.  I love Seattle.


Wednesday 7/2/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today I got up early with Cronin and his roommate Becky.  While they went off to work, I drove the two-ish hours to North Cascades National Park.  A beautiful park in the North of Washington, near Canada.  I spent most of my day driving to various viewpoints to see sweeping vistas of these magnificent mountains.  Especially Diablo and Washington Gap overlooks.  I could stay at these two all day.  And the weather is great, so driving through the park is just a really pretty, fun time.
The river running along the main highway (where I stuck to most of the day) is home to three hydroelectric dams that help power Seattle.  These dams offer some pretty great views as well, especially since you can drive or walk over two of them.  So freaking pretty.  It's just really cool to see a work of engineering art in the midst of a gorgeous mountain range.  Hard to beat.  I basically just found myself snacking or eating lunch by the river most of the day just taking in the sights.  What a lazy bum.  Tomorrow is my day to venture forth and do some intense hikes up into the mountains.  There's still a fair amount of snow, but I should be all set with my microspikes.

I had to photoshop this to look uglier so it wouldn't completely blow your mind

SO FREAKING FUNCTIONAL

Nature makes electricity for us sometimes

It's July and that's snow over there

"Oh I didn't see you there, you caught me hanging out by this hydroelectric dam and mountain"

I started getting annoyed by all the "normal" timer pictures

Also there were random mountain goats

And some birds.  Whatever.

For now I'm just hanging out at Diablo overlook, trying to see i the sunset will be decent.
It was ok... the mountains were so close that the Sun just went behind them and didn't really go through enough atmosphere to make the really crazy colors that I'm used to at this point.  But it was still a nice night, cooking up some dinner back at camp.  I'm heading back up to Diablo overlook later at night to see how the stars look up there.
Yeah I didn't do that.  I was tired and the sky looked overcast.


Thursday 7/3/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today was nuts.  I hiked 18 miles today amidst some of the grandest mountains I've ever seen.  I ended my day super exhausted, but happy about that accomplishment.
I started early, driving about an hour over to Cascade Pass trail.  This requires you to leave the park and come in on a gravely, dirt road.  Thanks, that's always a fun and not-nauseating ride.  I started the hike up to Cascade Pass at about 8am, originally intending to hike up to Boston Glacier.  But the entire morning I was fogged in.  I couldn't see anything, even after the path turned to snow and I had to pop on my microspikes.  Oh well.  At least I made it to Cascade Pass... I think?  The trail kind of disappeared in the snow, and then got dangerously steep, which is where I think the trail continued to the glaciers.  Risking my life for fog wasn't worth it, so I turned around.  The views cleared a bit on my way down though, so you know, that's fun for whoever got to see that later in the day.

Wow, such a great view from up here!

That's pretty cool... it'd be nice if I could see this stuff when I was higher up maybe.  No?  Ok don't worry about it.

I then immediately drove to the town of Diablo to hike Sourdough trail, which I was advised against by a park ranger.  She didn't realize I have my microspikes though, and that I'm a complete baller.  Snow can't hold me back.  The trail description was "steep and strenuous."  No.  Fucking.  Joke.  Definitely one of the steepest trails I've hiked before.  I made fast time at first though, running up these steep switchbacks; I was motivated by the fact that I started hiking at 2pm and wanted to finish the 10.5 mile round trip hike before sunset.  It was definitely strenuous too - a lot of parts weren't maintained (I think it's too early in the season possibly), so I was climbing over a lot of downed trees.
And then I got to where the snow started.  Kind of scary, because the trail just disappeared beneath the snow.  But I saw a pair of boot tracks, so I followed wherever that guy went.  There was supposed to be some sort of fire lookout at the end of the trail, but nope, I never found that.  Instead, I followed my mystery guide's tracks around through a snowy meadow and up a steep, STEEP incline to the top of a mountain.  I was worried on multiple occasions that I would slip, which would have resulted in me sliding down the entire fucking slope to the bottom of the mountain.  But I had faith in these random footprints.
I passed treeline to see some breathtaking views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the lake waaaaay down below (I think this mountain was an elevation gain of 5000 ft).  At the snowy top of the mountain is was 360 degree view surrounded by amazeballs mountains.  Surrounded.  It was beautiful and incredible.  So glad the fog had cleared.  Words can't describe the feeling of romping on top of a mountain completely surrounded by the Cascades.  Absolutely astounding.

Get out of here

So yeah just mountains in every direction

I "like" this stuff apparently

So now I have to go down there again

Meh, it's ok I guess

The trip down was certainly quicker, but not without its dangers (namely, getting lost and/or falling and breaking a leg).  With the Sun setting, I admit that a few scenarious that would end in me dying popped up in my head.  Since I was on the trail alone (I literally didn't see another person the entire hike), it wouldn't take much.  A broken leg, a random slip, or just getting lost in the snowy, trail-less area would certainly be it for me.  I shook those fears off.  Sliding down the snow was quick, nothing would stop me until I hit a tree at mach speed.  I pondered this when I noticed the Sun creating a perfect rainbow circle in the sky, thanks to the thin mist of cloud above me.  I couldn't take a picture of it, so I will have to remember it as a truly unique and awesome sight.
The remainder of the hike down, past the snow sections, were very tiring (it was a long way up).  My dogs were barking beyond any level dogs had previously barked in all history.  So glad to take my soaking wet boots off.
I combined my dinner with my new campsite neighbors, which is great, because i'm down to half a bag of raisins and a can of beans.  Plus it's good to have someone to talk to.  Back to Seattle tomorrow.
One last note about the North Cascades in general - there is no reception for radio stations in most places.  Literally no stations.  I can press the "seek" button and it will scan through the entire frequency range and keep looping until I stop it.  I hadn't seen that before.


Friday 7/4/14 - Seattle
I got up early and started my way toward what I assumed was Seattle.  I didn't have reception for most of the drive, so i was driving blind (in terms of directions, not vision.  That would be a horrible way to drive).  But hey I made it, so everyone wins.  I met up with James in Capitol Hill at a bar to watch a couple World Cup games.
I met some of his friends, and at this point had enough beers in me to decide to join them as they took a ferry over to Bainbridge to watch fireworks.

Sweet views from the ferry

More of those same exact sweet views but actually different views

Just a couple of champions riding a boat

EVERY FREAKING TIME with this thing!

Now we're on the other side of the Sound because TECHNOLOGY

Drinks were had, fireworks happened, the view of Seattle was insane - it was just a blast.  We had to make the last ferry over, but had enough time to hop into the Sound for a swim.  I also got slightly lost on my way back to Cronin's.  But nothing crazy, just hitchhiking for an hour and hopping into an Uber car that was not at all meant for me.  It was a grand day overall.


Caturday 7/5/14 - Vancouver
And today was the day that I took a hungover drive up to Vancouver, British Columbia with Cronin.  It is only a 2.5 hour drive... depending on how long the wait at the Canadian border is... so it's actually way way longer.
But hey we made it... to Canada!  Our hotel, however, was in the absolute worst part of Vancouver.  Shoddy buildings and completely insane people.  A LOT of homelessness.  So yeah we were experiencing some trepidation as we started exploring the city.  But by the time we reached the Gaslight district the city looked pretty nice.
Our first task was to immediately find some food because we were starving.  So we ate a ton of Japanese food and then had a drink at the brewpub down by the harbor (Canada spells it "harbour" though).  Whistler beer.  The port area was beautiful.  We walked around for a good long while and went to the Vancouver Lookout, grabbing a beverage while checking out some cool views of the city as the restaurant revolved 360 degrees.

Cronin's gonna Crone

And then some Olympic torch thingy thing

That's something too!

Pretty good setting for a Bloody Mary

And then there's this spheroid that is possibly vaguely museum related

We walked around a ton more - we seriously walked so much today holy crap.  And then went back over to the Gaslight district for a drink and some doner kebab.  We didn't stay out too late, but had a good time with a drink here and there.  So we called it early after a long day of walking around the city.  This city reminds me of a cross between Chicago and Seattle - lots of skyscrapers made of glass in a pretty setting.


Sunday 7/6/14 - Vancouver/Seattle
Today was raining when we got up.  It's weird; the only  times I've been in the rain on this trip were one night in Yosemite and in Canada.  But it was a short day in Vancouver.  We woke up, had the shitty continental breakfast, and drove North to Stanley Park.

Vancouver in the rain - it's like regular Vancouver but with rain.

Totem Poles!

We really didn't have much impetus to walk around in the rain.  But we did end up seeing crazy totem poles and a lighthouse.  So that's good.  Anyway, after that we drove back to freedom aka the US.  And back in Seattle it was sunny and we had some delicious salmon!
Unfortunately now is the time that I have to pack.  And it is going to take some doing.  And that rental car reeks.  This redeye back to Boston is going to be tough.


Fantastic west coast road trip!  I guess it's time to start planning the next one.