email excerpts to family April 26 11am - 4pm
I'm at the Mt Home Library now. Expect to be back in Boise May 8th for
my VA appointment 1pm, and looking at attending the "Transportation
Community Conversation" the following evening. The following Saturday
I have that BumbleBee class in Burns, OR.
...I discovered that I can take a $13 shower at the Flyer's Truck stop
near the airport, but might at least want to rummage some more through
my stuff in the garage.
... Right now my plans are to be in the MT Home or Stanley area the next few
weeks, to take advantage of both cool weather and remaining snow (I
still have my snowshoes with me.) No extended backpacking hikes
planned, so could make it back to Boise any time to visit.
...BTW, I'm just uploading picts of my recent Stanly Lake snowshoe
...Also BTW, the library here is closing at 5 at which point I'll be
heading out of data coverage probably for a few days, might have
spotty txt reception tho.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
general recap and summer plans, Half-Marathon photo-op,
email excerpt to family Apr 22 2019 8:34pm
...
The day before, I "crashed" this "party", a big local cultural event:
https://www.halfmarathons.net/
...sort of by accident - I just happened to hear on the radio that
morning that it was happening that noon, and decided I could
"intercept" it at a strategic outcrop just above "Rocky Canyon" which
the route passes through, just to take pictures, so I parked my car
about three miles north from the start at a trailhead and took some
trails over another ridge about three miles to the vantage point, with
my 100-400mm lens as well as my usual 24-70mm. Took telephotos of the
early runners, then "scenics" of the crowd jogging and finally walking
through the canyon, then decided I would just join in and walk with
all the stragglers, after learning there would be busses taking people
back to town. Got caught in a thunderstorm while waiting for the bus.
I just finished posting photos:
https://www.muddyknees.net/201
learned I should have paid $12 to take the bus as spectator:
https://runsignup.com/Race/Rac
I'll contact them and volunteer a late payment.
A few days before that I was snowshoeing for a couple days near
Stanley in the mountains, and have been doing some snowshoeing closer
to Boise around the ski area a half hour drive above town. I also
recently took a half-week longer counterclockwise loop drive into
Montana (just short of Missoula) and then west through central Idaho
and back south, with a quick detour into the town of Elk City, which I
think Mark flew into on his crosscountry flight. Some day I'll get
around to posting the photos of that tour, showing that town in
winter.
Photography wise, I've also been trying to organize the scanned
results of the old slides and negs from high school on that I've now
mostly gotten scanned. I have about $200 worth of "credit" at
Scancafe due to a "cancelled" scanning order, that I'm not sure how I
would use up - I've been taking advantage of 40% discounted offers to
get my stuff scanned mostly via their "bulk" scanning which is sent to
Burma with a 2-3 month turnaround, while the "credit" I'll have to use
via their "standard" service. (You can search Scancafe to get more
details.) If you have anything you might want to scan, let me know
and I can arrange an address destination change to take advantage of
my credit. After reviewing all my slides and negs, I think I may be
missing a lot of negs or slides from our school days ...
(other than the snapshots of your photo albums
I took back when I visited - which I also still have to process and
post, although they were hastily-poorly copy-photographed with lots of
reflections and distortions.)
So as I hinted I might do last time I talked/emailed, I am now in
"travel mode", having moved out of the room I was renting just over a
week ago now, with all my stuff in ...storage. I quit my job, as
it so happens, a day before I learned about ... This is an
eerie coincidence - as if there was some cause-effect association.
The "reality" was that I was already planning to quit - but probably
effective about now -after easter or end of April. I had mentioned
that to my supervisor in the context of some changes that were
happening there. In fact the Friday before the Monday that I quit, I
had been reassigned to work in a different location. That Monday when
I showed up at the new location the supervisor there had no clue that
several of us were newly assigned there, and I was assigned some
really inane task, and by lunch break, I decided I would quit -
reasoning that I would not be missed, the timing was convenient. But
also, for some reason I had been feeling rather nauseous and
light-headed all evening. I guess it was the next morning that I got
your text about Ann. Ironically, had I known about ... earlier, I
probably would not have quit then like that. (I have not mentioned
this coincidence to anyone else.)
I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing. The original idea was to
hike further portions of the Idaho Centennial Trail, which I did
probably the nicest chunk of last year, on weekend trips, through the
Sawtooths, from near the town of Mountain Home north through the
Sawtooths as far as Stanley lake. The snowshoe hikes I mentioned
above were also partially on that trail, just north of Stanley Lake.
The loop drive Missoula-Elk City also included some "scouting" hikes
on the ICT, a "western option" of which which passes by Elk City. I
was planning to do portions south of Mountain Home this spring before
it got too hot in the snake plain, and I have done some "scouting" in
that area, but so far have chosen the snow over the high desert there.
I'm actually planning, finally, to do some hiking there this weekend,
probably last chance before it gets too hot.
Then I was planning to head north and explore the Idaho panhandle,
that the ICT passes through. I had in mind crossing into Canada,
maybe revisiting Banff/Jasper, inspired by my newly scanned slides
from my trip there in high school, then completing an 8 mile trail on
the Canada side connecting to the northern terminus of the PCT, that
most north-bound through-hikers do, but I had turned around at the
border, not having planned the required paperwork to cross legally a
few years ago. Ironically, speaking of paperwork, I happened to check my passport, it expires this June, and I learned that It needs to be at
least 3 months from expiration to use, so, too late, I'll have to
renew, waiting 6-8 weeks for a replacement.
Other options include a trip back to the Bay Area, visit the rest of
the family there, and finish the Bay Ridge Trail "project" that I also
started, and have only a south part of the east bay portion to do,
ideally done in spring, now essentially too late. I'm also now
considering coming back east, but my car is approaching 300,000 miles
and not sure If I should push it that far, so that would be by bus or
train, probably. I'm also thinking of continuing the Bumble Bee
monitoring I started last summer, and doing enough other volunteering
to maintain my status as "master naturalist" here in town, and make
some more social connections.
...
The day before, I "crashed" this "party", a big local cultural event:
https://www.halfmarathons.net/
...sort of by accident - I just happened to hear on the radio that
morning that it was happening that noon, and decided I could
"intercept" it at a strategic outcrop just above "Rocky Canyon" which
the route passes through, just to take pictures, so I parked my car
about three miles north from the start at a trailhead and took some
trails over another ridge about three miles to the vantage point, with
my 100-400mm lens as well as my usual 24-70mm. Took telephotos of the
early runners, then "scenics" of the crowd jogging and finally walking
through the canyon, then decided I would just join in and walk with
all the stragglers, after learning there would be busses taking people
back to town. Got caught in a thunderstorm while waiting for the bus.
I just finished posting photos:
https://www.muddyknees.net/201
learned I should have paid $12 to take the bus as spectator:
https://runsignup.com/Race/Rac
I'll contact them and volunteer a late payment.
A few days before that I was snowshoeing for a couple days near
Stanley in the mountains, and have been doing some snowshoeing closer
to Boise around the ski area a half hour drive above town. I also
recently took a half-week longer counterclockwise loop drive into
Montana (just short of Missoula) and then west through central Idaho
and back south, with a quick detour into the town of Elk City, which I
think Mark flew into on his crosscountry flight. Some day I'll get
around to posting the photos of that tour, showing that town in
winter.
Photography wise, I've also been trying to organize the scanned
results of the old slides and negs from high school on that I've now
mostly gotten scanned. I have about $200 worth of "credit" at
Scancafe due to a "cancelled" scanning order, that I'm not sure how I
would use up - I've been taking advantage of 40% discounted offers to
get my stuff scanned mostly via their "bulk" scanning which is sent to
Burma with a 2-3 month turnaround, while the "credit" I'll have to use
via their "standard" service. (You can search Scancafe to get more
details.) If you have anything you might want to scan, let me know
and I can arrange an address destination change to take advantage of
my credit. After reviewing all my slides and negs, I think I may be
missing a lot of negs or slides from our school days ...
(other than the snapshots of your photo albums
I took back when I visited - which I also still have to process and
post, although they were hastily-poorly copy-photographed with lots of
reflections and distortions.)
So as I hinted I might do last time I talked/emailed, I am now in
"travel mode", having moved out of the room I was renting just over a
week ago now, with all my stuff in ...storage. I quit my job, as
it so happens, a day before I learned about ... This is an
eerie coincidence - as if there was some cause-effect association.
The "reality" was that I was already planning to quit - but probably
effective about now -after easter or end of April. I had mentioned
that to my supervisor in the context of some changes that were
happening there. In fact the Friday before the Monday that I quit, I
had been reassigned to work in a different location. That Monday when
I showed up at the new location the supervisor there had no clue that
several of us were newly assigned there, and I was assigned some
really inane task, and by lunch break, I decided I would quit -
reasoning that I would not be missed, the timing was convenient. But
also, for some reason I had been feeling rather nauseous and
light-headed all evening. I guess it was the next morning that I got
your text about Ann. Ironically, had I known about ... earlier, I
probably would not have quit then like that. (I have not mentioned
this coincidence to anyone else.)
I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing. The original idea was to
hike further portions of the Idaho Centennial Trail, which I did
probably the nicest chunk of last year, on weekend trips, through the
Sawtooths, from near the town of Mountain Home north through the
Sawtooths as far as Stanley lake. The snowshoe hikes I mentioned
above were also partially on that trail, just north of Stanley Lake.
The loop drive Missoula-Elk City also included some "scouting" hikes
on the ICT, a "western option" of which which passes by Elk City. I
was planning to do portions south of Mountain Home this spring before
it got too hot in the snake plain, and I have done some "scouting" in
that area, but so far have chosen the snow over the high desert there.
I'm actually planning, finally, to do some hiking there this weekend,
probably last chance before it gets too hot.
Then I was planning to head north and explore the Idaho panhandle,
that the ICT passes through. I had in mind crossing into Canada,
maybe revisiting Banff/Jasper, inspired by my newly scanned slides
from my trip there in high school, then completing an 8 mile trail on
the Canada side connecting to the northern terminus of the PCT, that
most north-bound through-hikers do, but I had turned around at the
border, not having planned the required paperwork to cross legally a
few years ago. Ironically, speaking of paperwork, I happened to check my passport, it expires this June, and I learned that It needs to be at
least 3 months from expiration to use, so, too late, I'll have to
renew, waiting 6-8 weeks for a replacement.
Other options include a trip back to the Bay Area, visit the rest of
the family there, and finish the Bay Ridge Trail "project" that I also
started, and have only a south part of the east bay portion to do,
ideally done in spring, now essentially too late. I'm also now
considering coming back east, but my car is approaching 300,000 miles
and not sure If I should push it that far, so that would be by bus or
train, probably. I'm also thinking of continuing the Bumble Bee
monitoring I started last summer, and doing enough other volunteering
to maintain my status as "master naturalist" here in town, and make
some more social connections.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Stanley area ICT snowshoe walks, Easter Boise visit plans
email (edited) to family Apr 17 6pm MtTime
Today I snowshoed north on Cape Horn rd off of hwy21 west of Stanley, with nice views of the Sawtooths looking back across the broad Cape Horn Creek valley. I looped back crosscountry up the ridge above the road, to tree-screened views of the area. Tomorrow I plan to snowshoe the ICT south of hwy21 around Elk Mt (north of Stanley Lk,) finishing up that section of ICT.
... may be quite stinky from sweating today and tomorrow. I'm planning to attend the BREN talk at the library on Boise River History, and that afternoon may do more volunteering on Table Mt through MKNC
Today I snowshoed north on Cape Horn rd off of hwy21 west of Stanley, with nice views of the Sawtooths looking back across the broad Cape Horn Creek valley. I looped back crosscountry up the ridge above the road, to tree-screened views of the area. Tomorrow I plan to snowshoe the ICT south of hwy21 around Elk Mt (north of Stanley Lk,) finishing up that section of ICT.
... may be quite stinky from sweating today and tomorrow. I'm planning to attend the BREN talk at the library on Boise River History, and that afternoon may do more volunteering on Table Mt through MKNC
...leaving again Monday after Easter.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Bruneau Dunes-Jarbidge Nv ICT access scouting
emails (edited) to family
Mar 28
I'm considering going there. Sandy, not muddy, and cool this time of yr, though maybe cloudy this weekend so evening telescope gazing fri and sat 6:30 may be better next week. If that seems a possibility to go with you I'll hold off going by myself as soon as tomorrow. I also hope to scope out back road conditions to ascertain ICT access this time of year.
...
Apr 1
I was there last Saturday evening and skies were clear overhead though
some clouds with virgo rain streamers to the east, which were quite
colorful at sunset. This seemed consistent with the partly cloudy
forecast that Saturday morning for MtHome.
There was a large group of people walking to the planetarium just at
dusk, as I returned from the dunes. I didn't stay for the planetarium
show, wanted to find an overnight spot ideally before completely dark
along the road south toward the Bruneau Canyon overlook.
I ended up driving south along Jarbidge Cyn well after dark before stopping
at a large gravel mine turnout. Sunday I continued south checking out a few
of the ICT access spots, walking bits of those I could find. Took a midday
walk to the NV border along the ICT, then drove further south to the
town of Jarbidge beyond which the road through the Jarbidge Mts to
Elko was closed. I hoped to make it back to the ICT either just
northeast of the Bruneau Dunes or just N of Mt Home around the Bennet
Hills to overnight then hike a section of ICT there today, but was
running late due to too many roadside photo-stops, got to the highway
at dark and just drove all the way back to Boise rather than trying to
stumble around in the dark to find an overnight spot, although I
should have done that - too long a drive for nothing!
Back to Saturday evening at Bruneau dunes... The campgrounds were
posted as full at the visitor center when I got there about 5:30pm.
Looking at the reservation site now there are still a few tent sites
available for this coming weekend. But looking at the MtHome weather
just now, looks like rain, you're right.
Mar 28
I'm considering going there. Sandy, not muddy, and cool this time of yr, though maybe cloudy this weekend so evening telescope gazing fri and sat 6:30 may be better next week. If that seems a possibility to go with you I'll hold off going by myself as soon as tomorrow. I also hope to scope out back road conditions to ascertain ICT access this time of year.
Apr 1
I was there last Saturday evening and skies were clear overhead though
some clouds with virgo rain streamers to the east, which were quite
colorful at sunset. This seemed consistent with the partly cloudy
forecast that Saturday morning for MtHome.
There was a large group of people walking to the planetarium just at
dusk, as I returned from the dunes. I didn't stay for the planetarium
show, wanted to find an overnight spot ideally before completely dark
along the road south toward the Bruneau Canyon overlook.
I ended up driving south along Jarbidge Cyn well after dark before stopping
at a large gravel mine turnout. Sunday I continued south checking out a few
of the ICT access spots, walking bits of those I could find. Took a midday
walk to the NV border along the ICT, then drove further south to the
town of Jarbidge beyond which the road through the Jarbidge Mts to
Elko was closed. I hoped to make it back to the ICT either just
northeast of the Bruneau Dunes or just N of Mt Home around the Bennet
Hills to overnight then hike a section of ICT there today, but was
running late due to too many roadside photo-stops, got to the highway
at dark and just drove all the way back to Boise rather than trying to
stumble around in the dark to find an overnight spot, although I
should have done that - too long a drive for nothing!
Back to Saturday evening at Bruneau dunes... The campgrounds were
posted as full at the visitor center when I got there about 5:30pm.
Looking at the reservation site now there are still a few tent sites
available for this coming weekend. But looking at the MtHome weather
just now, looks like rain, you're right.
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