Sunday, March 29, 2009

New Phone Plan

I broke down and did it. Never thought I would really. I had planned on getting a pair of Blackberry phones for Barbara and I. We are now on a shared phone plan. But, that was the plan. It wasn't what was unexpected. What was unexpected was the two of us walking out with iPhones. Yeah. iPhones. We both played with the Blackberries. We also played around with the iPhones. I started messing around with them just because. I had no real intention of actually getting them. However, the ease of use and the flexibility of the device won me over. Same price as well. The Blackberry Curve was $199...with $100 mail in rebate, which I would probably end up either never sending in or getting screwed out of for some reason. The iPhones were also $199. No rebate. The data service price was the same for either device. Barb loved the iPhone and didn't have many nice things to say about the Blackberry. I like the Blackberry, however, and carried one for almost a year. Did everything I needed at the time. But, I felt that the iPhone had more flexibility and expandability. It seemed more like a small application platform that just happens to have a phone app on it.

I'm still getting used to typing messages on the infernal device though...

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Snow Camping on the PCT

Several weeks ago I got invited on a hiking trip with Jacob, a friend of Barb's...Yes, I know that I should have posted earlier. Bite me! I've been busy. I was told that we were going to summit San Jacinto. It's been too long since I've been out and I was free that weekend so, what the hell! I'm in. I was later updated that the itinerary had changed and that we'd actually be hiking part of the PCT north of Lake Arrowhead. I had never been up there, so again, what the hell! I'm in. I went and picked up a couple items from REI that I would need. The biggest piece being a decent topo map...which I have still yet to find. I'm going to have to breakdown and buy the National Geographic topography software so I can print my own maps when nobody provides them.

Pat was decent enough to lend me the use of his JetBoil system so that I could eat. That's one piece of gear that I have yet to pick up. The other crews have that covered. Both Pat and Trent have JetBoils. Rich has a stove (don't quite remember which one). I've never really needed to get one. It would be redundant. I supply the water purification. At any rate...I borrowed Pat's stove.

This was going to be winter backpacking; snow and cold. I got some snowshoes rented from NomadVentures here in Escondido that Barb was good enough to pick up for me. REI was sold out of snow shovels. But, I figured that someone on this crew would have one (Sure enough, there were 3 shovels among the 6 of us). I went through my pile of gear and chose items that would keep me warm and comfortable. Got everything into the pack and then pulled everything back out. Filled the water containers and reviewed everything. If I couldn't convince myself that any piece was *required* to be in the pack, it went back into the storage container.

Saturday Morning, Jacob picks me up and we head off to rendezvous with the rest of the crew. Six in all; Myself, Jacob, Chad, Shawn, Matt & John. Good guys, all of them. There are some strong friendships in that group. They seem to have been together for quite some time. We transfer Chad into Jacob's Jeep and we start the 2 car caravan to the trail head.

We stop at a service station at the base of the mountain to make one final "rest stop" with ready facilities ("Facilities be damned, I gotta use the bathroom" -Max). There are signs posed on each pump stating that they are out of gas and diesel. Jacob, Chad and I go into the store to pick up some energy drinks and find out that they are out of change...not much service to be had in this service station. No gas, no diesel, no change. We don't need gas and a couple of the guys get good deals on their tasty beverages because the lady behind the counter has no change. With that done we head up the mountain.

We get to the point of the road in which "normal" vehicles are encouraged to stay out of. It's a mile drive from here to the trail head parking. We figured that we have a jeep that we can ferry the six of us and gear down the hill and park the jeep there. That way the hike doesn't end with a grueling uphill, ice/snow covered death march. I'm in the first shuttle down. I'm white knuckled the entire way down as we're slipping and sliding all over the place. Seems that Jacob wasn't especially thrilled with the experience either, as the second shuttle never arrived. Instead, the remaining members geared up and hiked down to us. Looks like the death march awaits me at the end.

I enjoy hiking. I really do. I do not, however, enjoy snow hiking. It's a pain in the legs (thought I was going to say something else, huh?) to constantly sink down in the snow. We hiked for several miles this way...with snowshoes strapped to our packs. I know what your thinking. No need to call me an idiot. I know all about that fact. You see, I guess most of us, being novice snow-shoe'ers, were waiting for the lead hiker to put *his* shoes on. So, when we finally complained about sinking into the snow during this hike, we said screw it and put on the shoes. At that point we also agreed to hike back a bit to a nice flat area between two streams that would make a decent campground.

There was a fire that had ravaged the area some time ago. So, with the white snowy ground everywhere and the black, limbless trees, the area that we were hiking through reminded me of an Ansel Adams portrait. It was still fairly beautiful. The open outdoors. As long as you didn't look back in one specific direction (towards some sort of resort), there was nothing man made around us.

In the middle of the night I found that my Thermarest pad gave up the ghost. So, I lost the small amount of cushion-like comfort that it provided. Eh, I can deal with that. However, I also lost it's insulation value. That made me sleeping almost straight onto the snow. That, my friends, sucked. I spent the restless night sleeping rotisserie style. I slept on my side until that got too cold. Then I switched to my back until it got to cold. Then to my other side. And so on and so on.

I did learn several things on this hike. The big one was that water resistant is not waterproof. I had thought that my boots were the later. Apparently not. They are good boots. I've gone all over with them. However, never again will they go into the snow with me.

On the way out we came upon a guy in a brand new Ford Explorer (just down the road that encouraged "normal" vehicles to stay out) who was stuck in the snow. We helped (OK, the other guys helped. They were almost done by the time I got there) him get dug out and pushed back some to get grip for his tires. I think he now knows that he has one of those "normal" vehicles that shouldn't leave asphalt and concrete.

We grabbed some Mexican food in Lake Arrowhead Village and headed off for home. All in all, a good trip.