We're Not Done Yet

Expect the Unexpected: Have an emergency kit

2012-05-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

For years I told myself I should have an emergency preparedness/survival kit at home and in my car, but never followed through. Then, after spending a day hiking in the mountains, my wife and I discovered the remote, one-way road we drove up in the morning had been blocked by a landslide in the afternoon. Luckily a crew was already working on clearing the road, but during the few hours we waited and I considered the other possible outcomes of my predicament, I decided the next time we drove up to the mountains we would have a few emergency supplies in the trunk.

After dinner that night, I started checking out recommendations for emergency preparedness on the internet. As usual with the net, I had to do a lot of weeding out. The "survivalist" sites were the first to go into the weed pile. I wasn't interested in gunning down my neighbors and repopulating the planet after the Apocalypse, I just wanted to get through a few days on my own, if need be.

I narrowed my search to "Emergency preparedness" and noted my search results could be divided into three categories: for profit businesses selling emergency preparedness kits and supplies; not-for-profit organizations advocating for emergency preparedness; and blogs. The not-for-profits sites like RedCross.org, and ready.gov had a wealth of credible information. The blogs? Not so much. The for-profits? Shocking!

I discovered there are no regulations or standards governing the emergency preparedness industry. Anyone can pronounce themselves an expert, hand out bogus advice, throw a few band-aids and a granola bar in a cheap day pack and call it a "72-hour emergency preparedness kit."

The one exception? Big 3 Survival (http://www.big3survival.com). These guys sell ready made 72-hour emergency survival kits that actually follow the advice and recommendations of the American Red Cross, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, the CDC and the U.S. Coast Guard. At first glance, the Big 3 Survival Kits seemed to cost a bit more than average, but when I looked closer, the cheap kits all came up way short of expert recommendations (in spite of claiming otherwise).

I considered building a kit from scratch, but it didn't take long to realize I wouldn't be saving any money and it would be a time consuming project - not to mention the future time and expense of replace perishables at regular intervals. After considering all the options, the 5 year shelf life, Big 3 Survival Kits actually looked like a bargain to me.

In the end, I ordered a one person Big 3 Survival Kit to keep in my car and a two person kit to slide under my bed at home. Hopefully, I'll never need either one, but the peace of mind they provide and knowing that I'm taking responsibility for myself and my loved ones is well worth the price.

How To Keep A New Year's Resolution

2011-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

In this post: How I lost 20 lbs. and enjoyed doing it & The Top 10 New Year's Resolutions

How many people do you suppose stick to their new year’s resolutions? My New Year’s resolution was, “to not make a New Year’s resolution,” but I broke that one as I was making it. Now I’m trying to settle on a new one. Lacking a national task force to help me cull the list of potentially beneficial resolutions down to just one, theoretically achievable resolution, I took it upon myself to browse the internet in search of the most popular resolutions. Based on what I found, I’d have to say I’m a regular Joe, straight from Main Street, USA.

It appears most of us think we could/should be doing a better job of looking after our health and finances and be more generous to others with our time and money. Specifically, losing weight, eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, drinking less, getting out of debt, enjoying life more, helping others, spending more time with friends and family and learning something new, top the list of popular resolutions.

Over the years I’ve made virtually all of these resolutions... most of them more than once. What I’ve learned from the rare cases where I’ve been successful is this: Like most of us, more often than not, I ultimately do what I want to do. Accordingly, I’ve achieved a desired goal more often when I discovered an enjoyable path to the goal, a path I wanted to follow, than I have by relying on self-discipline and sheer will to force myself to the goal line. In other words, "What works for me is focusing on the journey, rather than the destination."

Last year I journeyed down a pleasant path which led to me losing 20 pounds and improving on most of the other top ten resolutions as well. Not a bad year! Basically, I started with the idea that I could improve the quality of my life and expand my future prospects by adding a little more physical activity to my lifestyle. From there, one thing led to another and... here are some highlights from my path:

· Enjoy it! I found physical activities I enjoyed and sought out beautiful, comfortable and stimulating surroundings where I could pursue these activities.

· Keep it stimulating! I mixed things up by trying new activities, exploring new places and partnering up with a variety of people.

· Be a gear junky! Whatever the activity, it’s more fun for me when I have good gear. Researching, buying the good stuff and learning how to use it, keeps me engaged.

· Get a heart rate monitor (HRM)! My HRM makes it easy for me to maximize the benefits of exercising, allows me to observe small but steady improvements in my physical condition and makes it easy to record and track statistics on my physical activities. All that stuff helps keep me motivated.

· Buy local! I like to support neighborhood businesses where I’m likely to meet the local community of folks who are into the same things I am and have local knowledge.

· Share! Introducing someone new to the activities and places I enjoy is almost always a rewarding experience for me.

· Be a leader sometimes! Whether I’m just setting the pace, raising the bar a little or trying to keep a group excited about a goal and moving forward on a plan, leading always adds a new dimension to things. The challenge is to do it without ruining the experience for anyone.

· Be a follower sometimes! I'm not the best at anything I do. If someone wants to take the time to expand my horizons, be a leader, raise the bar, give me a hand up or show me something new… I appreciate it.

· Be a partner! Sometimes it’s nice just to be - or have - a partner. Many times, “Neither a leader nor a follower be,” is a good motto for couples engaging in physical activities together.

· Listen to the Buddha! Hang with wise, worthy, positive, uplifting and encouraging people.

So basically, I lost 20 pounds when I bought some toys, found fun and challenging things to do with them while hanging out with good people in beautiful and exciting places.

I'm an oak.

Happy New Year and good luck on your resolutions!

Snowboarding - It Didn't Happen

2010-12-29T13:31:00.000-08:00

In This Post: Alpine Skiing, Big Bear Mountain Resorts, Snow Summit, Snow Valley Mountain Resort, Big Bear City

Map

Weather

End of the day at Snow Valley

Last week we were trapped inside, first by tropical storms that dumped more rain in Southern California than we usually get in a whole year and then by colder storms out of the north that dumped a couple of feet of snow in the local mountains. Being that the local ski season can be unpredictable, Simmons and I decided to take advantage of the fresh snowfall and get to the mountains while the get'in was good. We went to the Snow Summit website and signed up for a "First Time Beginner Board Package." The package included equipment, lessons and an optimistic guarantee that we'd be snowboarding down the bunny sloops by day's end.

The next day, we were on the road and heading up to the mountains for our first time snowboarding adventure before sunrise, but our day didn’t quite go as planned. Our usual route up into the mountains, Highway 330, was closed due to damage from the recent storms. The two alternative routes, Highways 18 and 38, each involved considerably more mountain driving. We choose Highway 38. It was a beautiful, wintry drive through the mountains, but we didn’t roll into our destination, the mountain town of Big Bear, until after 10am and we still hadn’t eaten breakfast.

We were hoping the "silver lining" of the slow economy would be a smaller than usual crowd of vacationers flocking to the local mountain resorts between Christmas and New Years. Not! I guess things are turning around. The restaurants were packed. The roads were packed. The parking lots were packed. We supposed the slopes would be packed too, but... we never saw them.

At one point we were really close, just a few blocks away from the main lodge at Snow Summit, when traffic control personnel intervened and contrived to send us idling around town on a meandering tour of "remote" and "over-flow" parking lots that apparently filled up just as we got to each one. By the time we were directed into a parking lot that seemed to be miles away from the ski area, it was obvious we weren’t going to make it to our morning lesson.

We never got out of the car. We called Snow Summit and found out we weren’t obliged to use our "First Time Beginner Board Package" on any particular day. We decided to come back on a less crowded day and headed down the mountain on Highway 18.

Highway 18 took us right past the Snow Valley ski area. The ski runs we could see as we approached didn’t look crowded at all. We pulled in, got a great parking place and bought half-day lift tickets. Simmons had his alpine ski gear in the car. He headed to the slopes and I headed for the rental shop.

Normally I am a free-heel (aka telemark) skier, but the rental shop only had traditional alpine gear, so I wound up skiing alpine style for the first time in 30 years. That Alpine gear had been steadily evolving during my 3 decade sabbatical wasn't a surprise, but I was amazed at just how easy and comfortable it was to ski on modern gear.

The combination of great gear, short runs and short lift lines made for a fun and easy half-day on the slopes. A beautiful day to be in the mountains and a terrific "opening day" for us.

Fitness Stats

This was the first time we wore our heart rate monitors (HRM) skiing. We were only on the slopes for a little over 3-hours and considering the amount of time spent standing in line and sitting in chairlifts, I didn’t think we’d be doing much for ourselves fitness-wise.

Now that I’ve had a chance to look over our HRM stats I can say I’m pleasantly surprise. Our heart rates were in ideal fat burning zones 40% of the time and good fitness improvement zones 33% of the time. Those two zones overlap, but if you remove the overlap, we were in good heart rate zones 54% of the time. Not bad. Not bad at all for doing something as fun as skiing.

Elevation: 6,850' - 7,890'

Comments: Skiing is sure a fun way to burn calories

Challenge: We still need to try snowboarding

Gear Report: Why Buy A Heart Rate Monitor/Fitness Computer?

2010-12-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

In this post: Heart rate monitors / fitness computers, Polar FT60, Polar RS300x, Polar G1 GPS, fitness improvement, weight loss

Mine is a common story. Somewhere in my mid forties, during a routine annual check-up, my Doctor pointed out that I had gained 3 pounds during the past year. He warned me I had reached the age where my metabolism was slowing down and predicted I’d be packing on a few pounds every year, unless I made some lifestyle changes. He was right. Over the next decade my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar went up right along with my weight.

Then, early in 2010, I was introduced to heart rate monitor/fitness computers (thanks Kathy!). These cool gadgets consist of two parts: 1) a chest strap with a small heart rate monitor/transmitter attached; and 2) a specialty wristwatch/receiver/computer that gathers, stores and interprets your heart rate data while you’re exercising.

The basic reason for using a heart rate monitor is to maximize the weight loss, health and fitness benefits of the time you spend exercising. In a nut shell, this is accomplished by monitoring your heart rate while exercising and varying the intensity of your exercise so as to keep your heart rate in the specific range that has been determined by the computer to most efficiently address your personal fitness goals (e.g. weight loss, cardio fitness

improvement, performance improvement, etc.). But wait…
there’s more.

The first thing everybody notices when they start using a heart rate monitor is, they don’t need to exercise hard to achieve a heart rate that most efficiently burns body fat; for most people a brisk walk is all it takes. The second thing they notice is, their heart starts getting stronger from day-one. For instance, if you walk for 20 minutes on Monday at whatever speed keeps your heart rate at 94 beats per minute and you do the same thing again on Wednesday, you’ll very likely cover a little more ground on Wednesday than you did on Monday and you’ll go even further if you do it again on Friday. It’s a subtle improvement that you probably would not notice without the aid of a heart rate monitor, but seeing and knowing that things are improving - right away - is a great, uplifting motivator for most of us.

Another nice thing about having a heart rate monitor / fitness computer (HRMFC) is, you can do any kind of activity you want (i.e. fun stuff), anytime you want, anywhere you want and the computer keeps a log of how long you're being active, how many calories you burn, your average heart rate and a bunch of other things depending on the model and accessories. Somehow, having a log of all this stuff turns out to be yet another great motivator (with an extra device, you can even upload the data to your computer).

The coveted trophy

Among our friends, the most popular HRMFC has been the Polar FT60. Polar makes quite a few different model HRMFC's. Some are designed as training aids for specific purposes such as cycling, running and weight training, but the FT60 is a good choice for general fitness. What makes the FT60 special is the built in "STAR Training Program" which comes up with user specific targets every week (based on personal goals, age, sex, height, weight, resting heart rate and last weeks performance). If the user meets the weekly targets, a little icon appears on the watch face that looks like a trophy and remains visible for 1 week. It sounds really silly, but that little digital icon is a huge motivator.

The bottom line: Five of us (A.R., Kathy, Janet, Simmons & Alan) started using HRMFC's at the beginning of 2010. Our ages range from 50 to 64. As the year is coming to a close, we are all in better shape now than we were at this same time last year and we are motivated to do even better in 2011.

Tips for use: Be sure to wet the contact strips in the chest strap before each use and wash - or at least throughly rinse - the chest strap after every use, otherwise you're inviting poor contact problems. Also, remember that snapping the transmitter onto the chest strap activates the transmitter. For longer battery life, don't leave the transmitter snapped onto the chest strap when not in use.

Polar G1 GPS, RS300X, Wearlink heart rate transmitter

Gear Report
Polar G1 GPS Sensor:
I sometimes wear a Polar G1 GPS transmitter when hiking, running or walking. The G1 transmits speed and distance information to my Polar RS300X fitness computer (the G1 works with some other Polar models, too). The information can be viewed in real time or from the workout log later.

We've had two different G1 units. Both of them gave us fits until we figured out they were very sensitive to battery voltage. Apparently the G1's are programed to shut down when battery voltage drops below a certain point, which must not be much below a fully charged or new battery. We only get about two hours use from a new battery in a G1. What gave us fits was, when the G1's shut down we would remove the batteries and test them with an independent battery tester and the batteries would always test as "good." Not quite as good as a brand new battery, but good enough to make us think batteries couldn't possibly be the problem. Wrong!

From what I've seen on the internet, we aren't the only ones who have been similarly frustrated. To be fair, I must point out I've only recently figured this battery thing out and I haven't yet tried the G1 in power saving mode.

First 50-Mile Bike Ride!

2010-12-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

In this post: Bicycling, Billy's At The Beach (Newport Beach), La Palapa del Mar (Long Beach)
Note: This post is a follow-up to, "Beach Bike'n Fandango" (Dec. 5th)
Map

Weather

WE DID IT! Our first 50-mile bike ride!

The night before, the weather forecast sounded perfect; sunny, warm and no typical afternoon headwinds. A.R., Kathy, Janet and I had never ridden our bikes further than 40-miles in a single day, but we felt like we were ready to push our "personal bests" up. With a perfect day in the offing, we planned to get an early start, ride at a slow-to-moderate pace, take plenty of breaks, make a day of it and push our previous high mark up by 25% to 50 miles.

When we got to Newport, we decided to take the ferry across
the bay & ride to Billy's At The Beach for lunch.

After fortifying ourselves with our favorite "big day" breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and sugar-free Red Bull, Janet and I met up with A.R. and Kathy in Long Beach and started riding down the coast at 9:30. As predicted, it was a beautiful day. The beach trail in Long Beach wasn't too busy yet, but we anticipated we'd be sharing the beach trails in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach with throngs of our fellow Southern Californians.

Sure enough, clusters of senior surfers and families staking out fire pits lined the bike path going through Bolsa Chica State Beach (in Huntington Beach). A little further along, K9 lovers swarmed the path at "Dog Beach." As we approached the Huntington Beach pier, the surfing crowd crossing the path got younger, buffer and included more ladies. The usual caste of local characters, street performers, tourists and people watchers were gathered near the pier and the motorhome set was well represented south of the pier.

The bike path in Newport Beach, which was narrow to start with, was divided in half by a painted line defining north and south bound lanes. Sharing with everyone that wanted to take in the beach scene made for some slow going. Nevertheless, it was a fun place to be and we still managed to arrive at the Balboa Pier well before lunchtime and a little shy of 25 miles (our halfway goal).

We decided to take the Balboa Ferry across the bay and ride over to Billy's At The Beach for lunch. The Crab Louie looked like a good, lite lunch too me... and it was.

Back in Long Beach, we celebrated our
first 50 mile ride at La Palapa del Mar

Back in Long Beach, we wanted to celebrate our 50-mile achievement at La Palapa del Mar, our favorite beach front bar/restaurant, but we didn't want to celebrate prematurely. Before parking the bikes at La Palapa, we racked up a few extra miles on the bike odometers by detouring to the end of the peninsula and back. Good thing. We ended up watching a beautiful sunset from La Palapa and had just enough time to make it home before dark with a total of 51 miles behind us.

Polar Fitness Stats
Group: 2 women, 2 men
Ages: 53 - 64

Activity: Bicycling (Queen Mary to Balboa Pier & back)

Time (moving): 4 hrs 8 min

Distance: 50 miles round trip

Elevation: 10' - 40'

Calories: 1,511 - 1,948 (average 1,717)

Average Heart Rate: 108 - 122 (average 117)

Max Heart Rate: 159 - 160 (average 159)

More Treasure Found At Point Fermin

2010-12-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

In this post: Freedom Bell, Lookout Park
Note: This post is an update to "The Treasure of Point Fermin"
Map
Weather

I was checking out the satellite view of Point Fermin on Google Maps the other day and I noticed a few points of interest we had missed on our previous outings in the area. Today A.R., Kathy and I set out on an exploratory run/walk to check out the sites firsthand and evaluate the potential for adding yet another short loop to our menu of route options in the vicinity.

Korean Bell of Friendship

We started at the harbor and ran/walked up the hill to Point Fermin Park. The exploring started when we made a right turn and continued up the hill to Lookout Point Park. After taking in the terrific view of the Long Beach/L.A. Harbor complex, we made a U-turn back to Angels Gate Park to check out the Korean Bell of Friendship, followed a short trail from the Bell back down to Point Fermin Park and returned to the harbor.

An unobstructed view of the harbor awaited us at
Lookout Point Park.

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 56 - 64

Activity: Run/Walk

Time: 1 hrs 26 min

Distance: 6.11 miles

Elevation: 10' - 280'

Calories: 971

Average Heart Rate: 100

Max Heart Rate: 144

Comments: A short but worthy optional addition to our regular route

Challenge: Run all the way from the harbor to Lookout Point

Beach Bike'n Fandango

2010-12-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

In this post: Bicycling, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach, Seal Beach, Newport Beach, La Palapa Del Mar, The Crab Pot, River's End Cafe, Sandy's Beach Grill, Rockin' Baja Lobster, Billy's At The Beach, Jax Bicycle Center, Trek Bicycles

Map/Directions

Weather

This 50 mile round-trip bike ride, which connects three of Southern California's beach bike paths via some street riding, isn't a good ride if you're in a hurry. For one thing, there aren't nearly as many restaurant/bar/cafes right on the beach in SoCal as you might think and this route takes you right past three good'uns.

Winter wetsuits are de rigueur for the holidays in SoCal

The other slow-down is, whenever you're riding on a bike path that is right on the beach, chances are you'll be slowing down from time-to-time to slalom through beach goers crossing the path, pedestrians strolling obliviously on the bike path, dog-walkers, runners, power-walkers, roller-bladders, roller-skaters, skateboarders and people on all sorts of oddball, human-powered, trendy conveyances. You might even be required to walk your bike in really congested areas. If your okay with all that, this is a unique urban ride; if not, you can speed things up by taking PCH through Seal Beach, Sunset Beach & Huntington Beach.

Kathy & A.R. on Treks

Today, five of us started riding in Long Beach, near the Queen Mary, followed the 2nd Street and PCH route to the Huntington Pier and took a break at Sandy's Beach Grill. This was the maiden voyage for Kathy's new Trek road bike; a gift from A.R. which the two of them picked out at Jax Bicycle Center in Long Beach yesterday.

That makes three of us in today's group riding Treks from Jax. Kathy and A.R. are riding road bikes - 2 Series and Madone respectively - and I am riding a hybrid FX7.6, which is basically a road bike with straight handle bars (instead of the swoop down type), which give me a more upright riding position. I'm not sure any of us are actually worthy of such nice bikes, but we're subscribing to the theory that we'll ride more if we have really nice bikes to ride.

Up until now, Kathy has been riding a mountain bike on all of our road rides. It was a very cool, high-end mountain bike, but today she immediately saw the advantages of her new road bike, fell in love and proclaimed bicycling as her new fitness passion.

The advantage of a nice road bike is, you go faster for the same amount of effort, which means you can ride further and last longer in the saddle. For those of us over 50, a big part of getting in shape and staying fit comes down to how much time we spend being active and staying motivated. A nice road bike can help accomplish both goals.

The crew testing the one-time-use lock at Sandy's

Gear Review: Another new product we tested today was a one-time-use bike lock. Here's how it works: you unlock your bike lock before leaving home and leave the key behind. When you get where you're going, you lock up your bikes as usual. When you're ready to resume your ride, you simply call the bike shop where you bought a new bike the day before, get them to graciously send someone to cut the lock off your bikes, throw the lock away and your on your way.

The bottom line: I dunno 'bout one-time-use locks. The only plus I could see was people who use them seem inclined to buy drinks for their friends.

Polar Fitness Stats

Group: 2 women, 3 men

Ages: 50 - 64

Activity: Bicycling (Rainbow Harbor to Huntington Beach Pier & back)

Time (moving): 2 hrs 18 min

Distance: 30 miles round trip

Elevation: 10' - 40'

Calories: 1,162 - 1,958 (average 1,443)

Average Heart Rate: 114 - 144 (average 127)

Max Heart Rate: 153 - 172 (average 161)

Comments: There are fewer people on the beach bike paths on cool/cold days and in the morning vs. afternoon. Afternoon northwest winds are common on this route.

Challenge: 1) Ride the whole 50 mile route. 2) Don't bump into anyone on the bike path.

Dec 12, 2010 - Update
WE DID IT! We rode the whole 50 miles!
For the whole story go to: First 50-Mile Bike Ride!

When we got to Newport, we decided
to take the ferry across the bay & ride
to Billy's At The Beach for lunch.

Back in Long Beach, we celebrated our
first 50 mile ride at La Palapa del Mar

The Treasure of Point Fermin

2010-12-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

In this post: Cabrillo Beach Park, Point Fermin Park, White Point State Park, Brooks running shoes, walking, running
Map
Weather

If your over 50 and trying to get in shape or stay fit, it’s nice to have a running or walking route close to home that you really enjoy for its special esthetic qualities; a route that speaks to you for some personal - probably unknown – reason; your own little get away; your personal retreat; your happy-place where you can’t help but stop and smell the roses. It’s especially nice around the holidays when we’re all pinched for time. The Point Fermin area in San Pedro (CA) is my close-to-home, treasured place.

The Big Splash

Whether running, walking or a combination of both, this diverse urban route with a few short but steep hills, takes you on a tour of the yacht harbor, through quaint residential neighborhoods, to a bluff top park with spectacular beach and ocean views, down to a palm lined beach, up into the hills for terrific views of Catalina Islands and back to the harbor.

As a couple of added bonus, we’ve occasionally spotted whales from the bluff top and once, when conditions were just right, Janet and I witnessed waves exploding off the rocks in truly spectacular fashion.

Today, A.R. and I started at the harbor, ran all the way to the turn-around point at Royal Palms Beach and fast-walked back to the harbor via the White Point Loop, but we often do shorter versions of the route and eliminate some or all of the hills.

Gear Report
Brooks Adrenaline ASR 7 running shoes: I wore my Adrenaline ASR 7 trail running shoes from Runners High today. This is the second outing for these shoes. Today we ran on cement. asphalt, grass and dirt trail (including one really steep downhill section). So far, I have no complaints.

Unfortunately, the hula girls saw me coming and ran away,
so I had to settle for this shot of A.R.

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 57, 64

Activity: Run/Walk

Time: 1 hrs 53 min

Distance: 8.3 miles

Elevation: 10' - 320'

Calories: 1043,

Average Heart Rate: 125,

Max Heart Rate: 153,

Comments: This route offers lots of fantastic ocean views

Challenge: Run it all.

One Wrong Turn

2010-11-27T17:45:00.001-08:00

In this Post: Hiking, Crystal Cove State Park, Perimeter of the Park Trail, Brooks running shoes, Keen hiking boots
Map
Weather

A little over a year ago, AR, Kathy, Janet and I (Alan) hiked the Perimeter of the Park Trail in Crystal Cove State Park on a warm summer day. Today we decided to drive down to Orange County and see what this 11 mile trail through coastal hills looks like in the fall.

A wrong turn took us into Moro Canyon

Except for all the intersections, the Perimeter Trail is a pretty straight forward hike on a combination of dirt roads and single track trails. Traveling clockwise, the trail leaves the parking lot ($15 parking fee) at 100’ above sea level, takes an up and down route to reach 900’ above sea level around the midway point and then follows Moro Ridge back down to the start. Since there are lots of possibilities for shorter loop trips that only follow a portion of the Perimeter Trail, we encounter quite a few hikers, runners, walkers and mountain bikers on this beautiful fall day. Most of them seemed to be familiar with the trails, but anyone who isn't (like us) will need a map.

We printed a map from the Park's website and picked up a free "El Moro Canyon Backcountry Map" at the Ranger Station. The website map is easier to read and use, but even with two different maps and AR's allegedly infallible memory, we managed to make a wrong turn today and ended up in Moro Canyon instead of on Moro Ridge.

The canyon was nice and we can now claim to have hiked 14 of the Park's 21 miles of trails. Just the same, I think the views from Moro Ridge are the highlight of the Park, so I was a bit bummed about missing them after putting all the uphill part of the trail behind us.

Gear Report

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 7 running shoes: Today I wore a new pair to of Adrenaline ASR 7 running shoes that the folks at Runners High recommended for trail running. Didn't do any running today, but the shoes were a great fit (thanks to Runners High staff), gripped well and didn't give me any problems.

Keen Voyageur hiking boots: In spite of hiking, backpacking and mountaineering for more than 3 decades, Janet is a tender foot. Over the years, Janet's tried a lot of boots and these Keens are the first ones that don't give her blisters.

HR Fitness Stats

Elevation: 100' to 900'

Comments: There were some moderately steep uphill and downhill sections, but this was mostly easy hiking at low elevation.

Challenge: There are 21 miles of trail in the Park and we've (accidentally) hiked 14 of 'em in just two visits. Most of the remaining 7 miles are fairly steep and somewhat disconnected from each other, so I don't think we can cover them all in less than 2 more visits. Our challenge: hike all 21 miles of trails in 4 visits.

A Death Valley Tale - Day 2

2010-11-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

In this post: Bicycling in Death Valley, Furnace Creek Ranch

Map
Weather

Today we thought we'd tackle a 40 mile round-trip bike ride to Badwater. Biking in the Valley was fabulous, but the road consistently alternated between uphill and downhill. We were never on a level grade. It wasn't long before we started thinking, if half of our planned ride was going to be low speed uphill riding, 40 miles might be a bit too much for us.

It looked easy from here.

Ten miles into our ride we took the turnoff for Artist’s Palette. The road immediately turned into a relentless 20% grade. We trudged along in our lowest gears for two miles. Finally, when we couldn’t peddle any further; we dismounted our bikes and forged ahead on foot, pushing our bikes alongside.

Two and a half miles of uphill and
we're still not at the top!

Unlike the day before, we were better prepared to fend for ourselves in the desert environment. We had water, snacks, sunscreen and hats, but still didn't have a map. When the bike odometer showed we were 2½ miles from the main road and still climbing, I found myself trying to reconcile memories of maps and verbal descriptions of bike routes in Death Valley. The valley floor looked to be more than 2,000 feet below us now. Things weren't adding up to fit the“moderate bike ride” assessment I remembered reading back in our comfy room. Once again it crossed my mind that we might become characters in a modern Death Valley tale.

We reckoned we were at the point where turning back would be about the same distance as going forward. Thus convinced that every step was now taking us closer to a lounge chair at the pool, rather than further away, we continued on and presently came to a crest.

"The" crest, aka the highest point on the A.P. Loop

We could see the road wending through a barren plateau below, but there was no sign indicating we had reached a named pass, so we wondered, “Was this “the” crest or just a teaser?”

We mounted up once again and started down. At first, the uphill side of a few deep and steep dips disheartened us, but soon we were rocketing downhill through a narrow, twisting canyon.

Lunch stop at Artist's Palett

A few miles later, we stopped for a light lunch at a beautiful spot overlooking the colorful geology of Artist’s Palette. When we continued on, the canyon narrowed, the turns became tighter and the road became steeper. We braked hard for a sharp right turn marked by a “15 mph” caution sign and came to another steep uphill section. This time there was no shoulder. The road was bordered on both sides by vertical rock walls and very narrow. Prudence (and tired legs) dictated we walk our bikes through this section, keeping as far to the side as we could. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before we reached the steepest downhill section of the day. We blasted out of the canyon, coasting at 30 miles an hour! We spotted the Furnace Creek Ranch as we descended back to the main highway. Once we reached the intersection, we knew the pool and Margaritas were just 6 ½ miles away!

Back at the Ranch, we settled in on the porch of the saloon with a couple of Margaritas. Janet recognized the bike shop manager as he walked by. We told him we had changed our minds about riding to Badwater and, thinking it would be easier, opted for the Artist’s Palette loop, instead. The look he gave us suggested we would soon be part of another Death Valley, “Stupid Tourist Tale.”

Gear Report
For this ride we brought along a few items we don't always carry: high pressure bicycle tire pump, water bottles filled with electrolyte replacement, bicycle multi-tool, tire patches, slim wrenches, inner tubes, set of nesting tire levers. I've had the slim wrenches for years. Everything else we picked up at REI before our Anza-Borrego trip earlier this year.

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 53 - 57

Activity: Bicycling (and a little walking/pushing)

Time: 4 hrs 12 min

Distance: 26 miles

Elevation: -200' to 900' (that's right, we started out at 200 feet below sea level)

Calories: 1364

Average Heart Rate: 97

Max Heart Rate: 126

Comments: Although there are no bike lanes on this route, we felt safely visible almost all of the time and the few cars that passed us gave us wide berth. One exception was a steep, uphill, rock-walled, one-way section after Artist's Palette that was so narrow, twisty and strewn with fallen rocks, that it seemed safest to walk our bikes on whichever side of the road gave cars coming up from behind the clearest view of us.
The hills on this ride gave our legs a work out. Some were too tough for us to ride up today, so we pushed the bikes and walked along side. Not too stylish, but we made it. The scenery and fun downhill sections made it all worthwhile.
Challenge: Next time I hope we can ride all the way to the top of the 2½ mile long hill climb.

A Death Valley Tale - Day 1

2010-11-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

In this post: Running in Death Valley, Furnace Creek Ranch, Brooks Ghost 3 running shoes

Map/Directions
Weather

It was our first morning in Death Valley. We could see rays of sunshine lighting the highest peaks of the Panamint Mountains from our room at the Furnace Creek Ranch. Sipping coffee and tea, we watched the sunlight slowly descend from the peaks, down the parched mountain slopes and onto the Valley floor. It looked like the beginning of a hot day.

Hoping it was still early enough to beat the heat, we headed out for a morning run. About 1 ½ miles into our run, we spotted the ruins of the Harmony Borax Works just off the highway. We turned onto a trail that led us around the ruins and gave us a slightly elevated view of the valley floor. From here, we spotted a dirt road wandering off into the desert. We decided to follow the dirt road and see where it led to.

Harmony Borax Works

Where's she going?

Initially, the road appeared to be heading off into the great expanse of the Valley floor, but after passing a few more ruins the road turned right and suddenly we were running in a narrow wash surrounded by mud hills.

Is there any water out here?

It seemed like the road might curve back and connect with the paved highway, so we kept going, but it was on our minds that we hadn’t told anyone where we were going, we had no map, we had no water and I hadn’t bothered to wear a hat. Was there another classic Death Valley tale of survival or tragedy in the making?

No. Just a nice morning run. Eventually we found our way back to the paved road and ended up stopping off at an art show and taking in some live music before heading over to the warm mineral pool.

Gear Report

Brooks Ghost 3 running shoes: I thought we would be running on pavement today, so I wore my Brooks Ghost 3 running shoes. We ended up running on dirt roads about half the time, but I have no complaints to report.

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 53 - 57

Activity: Running (slow)

Time: 1 hrs 28 min

Distance: 6 miles

Calories: 598

Average Heart Rate: 106

Max Heart Rate: 119

Comment: Beautiful morning run over easy terrain with slight elevation changes, fantastic surroundings with interesting sights.

One Mountain In The Bag

2010-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

In this post: Hiking, Peak Bagging, Mount Baden-Powell, Angeles National Forest, San Gabriel Mountains
Map

Weather
How To Climb A Mountain

A “Peak Bagger” in mountaineering circles, is a person who gets to the top of a lot of mountains, usually by the easiest and fastest route. You can identify a serious, active peak bagger simply by asking, “How many peaks have you bagged?” If they instantly come up with a precise number, you know they’re into it.

Today, A.R., Kathy, Janet and I are heading up to the San Gabriel Mountains, hoping to bag 9,399 foot Mount Baden-Powell, one of southern California's highest peaks. Technically speaking, you only “bag” a particular peak the first time you reach the top of it, so Janet and I won’t be doing any bagging today, but A.R. and Kathy will… if they reach the top.

It's just a hike in the woods, right?

As real mountain peaks go - and there is an official list - this one should be relatively easy to bag, thanks to a high elevation trailhead and a well maintained trail with lots of switchbacks. Then again, mountain hiking is never easy and a lot of people would say, "Ain't ya'll gettin' kinda old fer that stuff." Naturally, we disagree.

Since we'll be hiking in the Angeles National Forest, we stopped at the ranger station just outside of Wrightwood to pick up a National Forest Adventure Pass, which is a really exciting sounding name for a parking permit. From the Ranger Station we drove to the trailhead at Vincent Gap and parked the car. When we stepped out of the car we were 6,600 feet above sea level, 2/3 of the way to the summit! So far, so good. We shouldered our day packs and headed out for the high lonesome.

As the summit team gained altitude, the trees began to thin out.

On the ridge just below the summit, only the heartiest trees - and Kathy - can survive.
Guess how old these Limber pines are?

Did you guess 1,500 years old?
That's older than our whole team combined!

It's official. 9,399 foot Mt. Baden-Powell is in the bag.
A.R. & Kathy have bagged their first peak!
. Congratulations!

Polar Fitness Stats

Group: 2 women, 2 men

Ages: 52 - 63

Activity: Hiking

Time: 6 hrs (apx.)

Distance: 8 miles (apx.)

Elevation: 6,600’ – 9,400’

Calories: 1,700

Average Heart Rate: 115

Max Heart Rate: 150

Comments: This is a popular trail, for good reason. The trial is relatively easy to follow and not too strenuous by mountain standards, the views and mountain scenery are great and you actually get to “bag” a peak if you make it to the top.

Challenge: 1) Make it to the top! 2) Bag1 peak a month.

Swimming Pools, Dinosaurs and Bicycles – Day 3

2010-03-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

In this post: Borrego Springs, bicycling, Peg Leg Smith Monument

Map/Directions

Weather

Questions: "When is a pile of rocks not a pile of rocks?"

Answer: "When it's the Peg Leg Smith Monument."

In the many decades Janet and I have been coming to Borrego Springs, it's always been about 4-wheeling, hiking, backpacking and camping, so this motel and road-bike trip is showing us a new side of the area. We've known about the Peg Leg Smith Monument for years, but since it's right next to a paved road, we never stopped to check it out as we high tailed it to put some distance between us and pavement as soon as we got here. So today we bicycled 10 miles (one way) to finally see the fabled "monument" with our own eyes. Luckily, it turned out to be a great bike ride, because the monument was just a small pile of rocks. Guess we should have expected that the sight of the annual "Desert Lier's Contest" would be over rated.

Henderson Canyon Road

The monument turned out to be the only disappointment of the day. The rest of the 22-mile ride was full of sensational desert scenery, spring flowers, a fruit stand selling delicious locally grown fruits, Ricardo Breceda sculptures and more.

We were back at Stanlunds for lunch and spent the rest of the day at the pool.

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 53, 56

Activity: Bicycling

Time: 2 hrs 55 min

Distance: 22.4 miles

Elevation: 600' - 800'

Calories: 994, 673

Average Heart Rate: 123, 83

Max Heart Rate: 154

Comments: This ride serves up a nice sampling of desert offerings. We found ourselves stopping frequently to take in the sights and road side attractions (e.g. grand views, spring flowers, sculptures, fruit stand, Peg Leg Smith Monument, etc.). All-in-all, a very nice way to spend a spring morning in the desert.

Swimming Pools, Dinosaurs and Bicycles - Day 2

2010-03-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

In this post: Bicycling, Borrego Springs, Ricardo Breceda sculptures, Pablitos

Map

Weather

The flower bloom this year, lacked the volume and intensity of some of the really spectacular years, but even in an ordinary year like this one, the road side flower displays are diverse and beautiful and so were the saber tooth tigers, elephants and horses. What? Saber tooth tigers, elephants and horses in the desert? That's what we were wondering.

The desert has a long history of attracting eccentric folks with a dream. Apparently the tradition is not dead yet. Ricardo Breceda is a man with a dream... and a sponsor to boot (Dennis Avery). This collaboration has resulted in an amazing proliferation of life sized metal sculptures of "the original inhabitants of Borrego Springs" being randomly scattered throughout the Borrego Valley. The sculptures are quite good and the random, unexpected appearance of one of them in an otherwise undisturbed natural setting is magical. One of the best, most creative and original art displays I have ever experienced.

A good sign

Today, our bike ride took us through an area where we could see maybe 15 or 20 of the sculptures spread out over several acres. Some were close to the road, but others were way off in the distance - which is a long way in the desert.

Just as impressive / shocking / stunning were signs on the privately owned land (aka Galleta Meadows) granting permission to anyone and everyone to picnic, hike, horseback ride or camp on the unfenced property. When I read these signs, I thought for sure the desert heat must be boiling my brain, so we headed back to our room hoping we could make it before I went completely delirious. Unfortunately, I think we were too late... or maybe it was the margaritas we had with lunch at Pablitos.

Pablitos

Polar Fitness Stats

Ages: 53 - 56

Activity: Bicycling

Time: 2 hrs 22 min

Distance: 20.2
Elevation: 500' - 700'
Calories: 600 - 800

Average Heart Rate: 83 - 122

Max Heart Rate: 151

Comment: We dilly-dallied a lot today
Challenge: Ride further & faster

Swimming Pools, Dinosaurs and Bicycles - Day 1

2010-03-21T19:00:00.001-07:00

In this post: Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, Circle of Art, Stanlunds Resort Inn & Suites

Map/Directions
Borrego Springs Weather

The desert isn’t for everyone. To some the desert is a beautiful, mysterious, enchanting seductress; to others it’s just a bunch of dirt, rocks and weeds… or even less. My observation is, “There’s no learning to like the desert. You either like it or you don’t.” Janet and I happen to love the desert and the Anza-Borrego region of California’s low desert has long been our favorite desert destination.

Downtown Borrego Springs... it's a really small town!

The hub of the region is Borrego Springs, a very small town surrounded by California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. On this trip, our first destination was the annual Borrego Springs outdoor art show, the Circle of Art. There seemed to be fewer artists exhibiting this year, but the quality was impressive, as usual, and there weren't many duplicated mediums so the variety was still good.

Stanlunds

Following the art show, the next two things on our agenda were, scouting out potential bike routes for tomorrow and checking in at Stanlunds Resort Inn and Suites. We didn’t expect to find any dedicated bike lanes or bike paths in the area, so our scouting trip was mainly to satisfy ourselves that the local 2-lane paved roads had wide enough shoulders for safe biking. We were quickly satisfied on that point and, as it turns out, the road right in front of Stanlunds actually has a bike lane. Cool.

If we’re not camping out, our idea of a place to stay in the desert is a place that doesn’t isolate the guests from the desert in an artificial environment; we’re not afraid of the desert. Stanlunds looked like a place that would suit us just fine; simple, casual, cozy, quiet and content to let the desert play the starring role in anyone’s stay. Our room had a small kitchen and private patio and, like every room at Stanlunds, was close to the pool and BBQ area.

Gear Report: Yakima Car Top Bike Rack

2010-03-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

In this post: Yakima Car Top Bike Rack , Borrego Springs, CA, REI

We left Long Beach about 8:00 in the morning and arrived in Borrego Springs 3-hours later. Prior to this trip we had made a few local trips transporting our bicycles on top of the car, but this was our first out-of-town trip to put our Yakima rooftop bike rack to the test. The Yakima rack system is advertised to work on almost any vehicle and adapt to carry all kinds of fun outdoor toys. We bought ours on sale at our favorite outdoor adventure store, REI.

On the way to Borrego Springs - Montezuma Grade

The first step at REI was to find our year and model car on a chart that listed the specific Yakima components we would need to fit a basic rack to our roof. The second step was to pick the accessories we wanted to carry and secure our bikes. Since the list of options for both steps was fairly extensive, having the guidance of the REI staff sped things up for us.

The “options list” included built-in locks for securing the rack to the car and for securing the bikes to the rack. All the locks are the same type and Yakima offers them in keyed-alike sets with 2, 4, 6, 8 10 and 12 per set. I have a thing about keeping the number of keys I carry around to a minimum, so I recommend buying a set with more locks than you need to start with. Otherwise, if you need more locks in the future and want everything keyed alike, you’ll have to buy a whole new set and replace all of your original locks.

My other recommendation is to spring for a fairing. I was skeptical that a simple piece of plastic attached along the front edge of the rack could really cut down on wind noise at freeway speeds, but it made a remarkable difference on our car. With the fairing installed, wind noise went from “impossible to ignore” to “barely noticeable.”

In the past, whenever we wanted to take the bikes somewhere in the car, we had to remove both wheels from each bike and wedge everything into the trunk and backseat. That didn’t leave much room for anything else. Now, with the bikes on top of the car, we had plenty of room down below. By the time we arrived in Borrego Springs we we’re completely satisfied and convinced that a roof top rack was the way to go for us.

Tips for use
Before loading up the bikes, make sure the pedal arms are in a horizontal position so there is minimal chance of the pedals hitting (and scratching) the vehicle roof.

The rear wheel on one of our bikes was so skinny it rattled around even when the securing strap was synched down to the max. We stopped the rattling by wrapping an old sock around the tire and rim before strapping it down.

Considerations
A roof top bike rack (as opposed to carrying the bikes on the rear of a vehicle) keeps the bikes out of the way for easy access to the trunk, hatchback or rear door, but loading up the bikes on a tall vehicle could be awkward. Our impression is that the bikes are more secure from tampering on top of the car and - as long as we don’t forget the bikes are up there and pull into a low overhead clearance situation like a parking structure or garage - less likely to get smashed.

Day Hiking from Zion Lodge Is Neatokeen!

2009-11-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

In this post: Zion National Park, Zion Lodge, hiking, Keen sandals, REI
Map/Directions
Weather

Day 1: I don't know how we keep doing it, but once again we've lucked out. First we got a big discount on our room here at the Zion Lodge, without even asking for it. Then, we arrived here just in time for a heat wave so it's going to be in the high seventies for the next few days (instead of the low sixties and fifties). And to top it off, we just happened to plan our trip to coincide with the full moon!

Zion Lodge

We hiked about 6 miles today without ever getting more than a mile from the lodge and our cozy room. Now that we're warmed up, we plan to get an early start and hike to Angels Landing tomorrow.

Angels Landing

Angel's Landing is a small peak that rises 1,500 feet above the canyon floor. The hike is supposed to be a big deal here abouts: very steep, narrow trail with a terrific view at the top. If we make it, we'll post more pics tomorrow.

Day 2: The park service did an amazing job on the spectacular trail to Angels Landing. We started out from Zion Lodge, crossed the East Fork of the Virgin River on a small bridge and soon found ourselves on a trail that reminded us of the Great Wall of China.

Eventually the great wall trail led to a narrow ridge that dropped nearly 1,500 feet on either side (you can just make out some tiny cars in the parking lot on the right side of the picture).

An attractive couple on the summit of Angels Landing

Even though most of the exposed areas had chains to hang onto, only a few folks crossed the ridge and scaled the summit. Since neither of us fell to our death today, we're going to try a longer, more difficult hike tomorrow that climbs to a higher point on the east rim and looks down on today's summit by a thousand feet.

OutDoorGal observing from Observation Point
(Angels Landing in the foreground)

Day 3: We hiked another amazing trail today. I'm getting the idea there wouldn't be any hiking here in Zion National Park at all, if it wasn't for the incredible amount of work the park service has done to carve beautiful trails into the shear canyon walls. It's really stunning. About a quarter of today's 8-mile hike to Observation Point wended through narrow canyons, but the other six miles were perched on south and east facing cliffs on the east side of Zion Canyon. The narrow canyons gave us our first taste of something they call "Canyoneering" here abouts.

Another view of Angels Landing, taken near the day 3 trailhead.

Our Keen sandals were neatokeen for day hiking in Zion.

Gear Report: We did all of our hiking in Zion (about 20 miles) in our Keen, Newport H2 sandals. I wore some thick hiking socks with mine (for warmth). OutDoorGal went commando in hers. Neither one of us have any problems to report. We bought ours at REI and just love the things.