making owls cool (since 1986)

R.I.P. Jason Molina

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:04:00 +0000

VICE - Willis and Geiger

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:20:00 +0000

Next time you cram your silicon nylon jacket into a tiny stuff sack or throw on your favorite Marmot fleece, think of Willis and Geiger, a company that pioneered expedition clothing. The company was born out of an arctic expedition in 1903 and continued to produce excellent adventure clothing until the late 1970's when they briefly went out of business, only to be revived by Burt Avedon and continued for another twenty years until their current owner, Land's End (yep, the crummy Sears brand), liquidated it in 1999. VICE recently interviewed Avedon. You can read the whole thing here.

Gates Pass Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:10:00 +0000

Suspicious Spam

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:36:00 +0000

If you received a spam e-mail from me, I apologize. Obviously, I didn't send that. I got one too at my other e-mail address. Strange stuff has been happening since I posted the anti-Rosemont Mine video below. People don't comment on my posts that often, but I got a negative response and a link to a video defending Rosemont and Augusta (obviously funded by them, too) literally minutes after posting. I also got a weird spam email asking to buy ad space for a "self defense" client on mocs1986 at an email address that's not associated with the blog at all. I'm not saying that's related, but it's kinda fishy...

Anyway, I sorry for any inconvenience. I don't suggest you click on the link.

1980's Paragliding

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 02:09:00 +0000

I found these over on this fellow's Flickr page. Go check out more of his cool shots.

Cyanide Beach - John Dougherty Exposes Forces Behind Rosemont Mine Effort

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:25:00 +0000

More here at Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.

Sign the petition against the Rosemont Mine in the Santa Ritas here.

Danny Macaskill - Industrial Revolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:55:00 +0000

Reverse Flatiron

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:54:00 +0000

The Flatiron is a notable mountainous formation in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. It towers over the popular Lost Dutchman State Park. The most popular way to the top, Siphon Draw, is noted for being a tough, but fun, hike. Going up the backside of the mountain, however, adds a whole new dimension. You start in Tonto National Forest and end in Lost Dutchman Park. It's a vertical bushwhack up the side of the mountain and over a couple really treacherous scree shoots. It's a blast and the views of Four Peaks and the surrounding wilderness are breathtaking. Click on these panoramic shots for full views.

Mantis Visitor

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:38:00 +0000

It's been raining a lot here in Tucson, so sometimes interesting critters take shelter in the house. I found this little mantis on the floor of our office before the cats did. I subjected it to a few pictures in a big pickle jar before transferring it outside to a bush for a final photo. When I was a kid I raised mantises in ten gallon tanks filled with grass. I caught grasshoppers and crickets and fed them to the mantises. I kept them alive all summer until they mated, the females ate the males, and laid egg sacs on the grass stems that hatched into enormous broods of ant-sized mantids too small for the mesh cover of the tank to contain. Those mantises grew to be much larger than this fellow. Maybe it has growing left to do.

Cave Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:33:00 +0000

A Hohokam site.

Tonto National Forest, Cave Creek, Arizona.

Knoll Lake/ Mogollon Rim

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 06:29:00 +0000

There's a vulture in there somewhere.

Storms

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 06:22:00 +0000

Mosquitoes in the Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Scientists have used high-speed videography to reveal how mosquitoes withstand getting hit with raindrops. It appears their small size and ability to go with the drops, rather than get hit by them. Read a lot more from the Smithsonian.

West Clear Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:48:00 +0000

I bought a plastic Vivitar Focus Free PN2011 panoramic camera at a Savers in Worcester seven or eight years ago. Actually I bought two and they were a dollar each. The only control on the camera is the switch between regular and panoramic photos. It's a lot of fun because you can't miss the view trying to adjust the camera. It works on film and faith. Sometimes you get a lucky shot.

These were shot near West Clear Creek in central Arizona where you can go swimming under a canopy of cottonwood and sycamore, watch phainopepla and their flycatcher kin feast on flies clustered just above the stream, see plenty of fish and crayfish as big as your hand. No shortage of scorpions or gnarly spiders either. Great place to escape the heat. Click on the photos to see bigger, better sizes and more panoramas.

WTF

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:35:00 +0000

’Evil mind’: Spiked boulder meant as booby trap for unsuspecting hikers?

R.I.P. Earl Scruggs 1924-2012

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs revolutionized banjo playing with his syncopated picking style. He started playing banjo at 5 years old, developed his signature three-finger style when he was 10, joined Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys in 1945, and left the group with Lester Flatt in 1949. They performed together as The Foggy Mountain Boys or Flatt and Scruggs for 20 years. Scruggs won two Grammies, was awarded the National Medal of Arts, and even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

First Day of Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:23:00 +0000

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so
pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.

He that walks among briers and thorns will be
very careful where he sets his foot; and he that passes
through the wilderness of this world had need ponder all his steps.

- Anne Bradstreet

Meditations, Moral and Divine

1664

Wasson Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:50:00 +0000

A modest 4687 feet gains Wassan Peak the title of the highest peak in the Tucson Mountains, which are partially protected by Saguaro National Park West. The walk to the summit is about seven miles or so, easy to follow, and popular. Lots of good desert plants and birds and a nice view at the end. I might suggest going during the week if possible. It's worth the trip out there because you can also visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and see the raptor presentation.

Unfortunately, my long-suffering camera is fading fast. The lens doesn't communicate with the camera body and I'm not sure the light sensor is quite right. I can usually finagle a few good shots out of it. Sometimes I get weird ones like this above, which is pretty cool.

Crested saguaro are uncommon. Desert four-leaf clovers.

Old mine shaft for what I think was the Gould mine...

BASE Jumping

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:16:00 +0000

It must be rad to go BASE jumping. I can't say I can begin imagine the nerve it takes to step out over the edge of some precipice thousands of feet up and place my faith in a little fabric parachute stuffed into a pack and strapped to my back, but I admire those who do and I hope the reward is worth it. It sure looks exhilarating.

Jumpers are recognized with a number when they have completed jumps from each of the four categories referenced in the BASE acronym - Buildings, Aerials (antennas), Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliffs). The first person to accomplish this earned BASE #1. Numbers are now being awarded around 1500. The clip is from Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk. It's on it's way from Netflix. The music in the clip is a Boards of Canada remix of a Boom Bip song called Last Walk Around Mirror Lake.

Coghlan's Backpacking Trowel

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:59:00 +0000

I've had this discussion on a couple occasions while talking about backpacking gear:

Me: I still carry a Coghlan's trowel.
Friend: A what?
Me: Orange shit shovel.
Friend: (recognition) Oh yeah. Ha ha. I have one of those.

The Coghlan's Backpacking Trowel might not be high-tech or fancy, but it's cheap and it's light. How cheap? Under five bucks. How light? 2 oz. This page here has a helpful comparison of several brands of trowels. Can't beat it.

Gambel's Quail

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Gambel's Quail are ubiquitous desert neighbors in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. With their characteristic bobbing headdress, they scurry across roads and peck around in the chaparral. They're certainly some of the most amusing birds to watch. They resemble the California Quail but Gambels are a unique species and the two quails' habitats don't overlap. The female and young are more modestly dressed than the males. They spend a lot of their time on the ground foraging and even nest on the ground, but they can and do fly. When a hawk soars overhead, quail tribes explode in a whir of wings and scatter into the bushes. If you're hiking and you startle a group of quail, prepare to be startled yourself!

Erin took these photos of a particular group of quail that hang out on the wall in our yard. A few months ago, many quail in this group were just little chicks chasing their parents in their signature single-file line across our driveway.

The mourning doves and quail seem to enjoy a sort of truce. The doves' range vastly exceeds the quails' - it stretches across most of sub-arctic North America.

50 Year Trail to Baby Jesus Ridgeline

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Who could resist walking trails with such fascinating names - 50 Year Trail...Baby Jesus Trail? I based this hike on this description on Hike Arizona. I modified it by beginning at the Equestrian Center trailhead at Catalina State Park. I didn't follow the 50 Year Trail to the end, but I did go somewhat beyond the intersection with the Baby Jesus Trail. Not sure how far. So, I ended up walking the 50 Year Trail to Baby Jesus Trail, then a very rocky walk down the Sutherland Trail. A right down the Link Trail brought me through acacia stands that resembled orchards. I met back up with the 50 Year Trail and retraced a couple miles back to my truck. I calculated the trip around 19 miles or so. Not bad for one day.

I bought a new pair of shoes at The Hike House in Sedona. They're Roclite 315's by Inov-8. My long-suffering hiking partners have heard me bemoan the long-suffering in my feet. A uniquely bad combination of foot ailments - mostly terrible blisters - has plagued me through many, many hikes. I quit wearing hiking boots about a year ago, but running shoes lack badly needed grip. The Inov-8's have really helped out. A nearly twenty mile hike in one day, over rocky terrain, without a foot injury was unthinkable for me, but I made it all the way unscathed. Inov-8 claims these shoes are engineered for long-distance trail travel and, though I haven't logged too many miles on them yet, I think they live up to that. They're actually really comfortable and I like to wear them around.

This trough full of goldfish is the second one I've encountered, the other being in Saguaro National Park.

Happy 100 Years, Arizona!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:20:00 +0000

On the morning of Feb. 14, 1912, the headline of The Arizona Republican read "The 48th State Steps into the Union." George P. Hunt became the state's first governor shortly after Joe Melzer and Hazel Goldberg became the first couple to get married in the new state. Phoenix only had 11,300 people back then, slightly smaller than Tucson's 13,900. 100 years later, Phoenix has grown to 1,445,632 people; 520,100 folks call the Old Pueblo home, including us.

It's a cloudy morning in Tucson, 53 degrees, quail sing in the chaparral. Clouds cover Tanque Verde and Rincon Peak and a train creeps parallel to Interstate 10 in the distance. The Catalina Mountains rest in fog. A Gila woodpecker is raiding our hummingbird feeder. A wet winter called the flowers and leaves back early, a pair of cactus wren are building a nest in an abandoned woodpecker hole high up on a saguaro. They're lining it with mourning dove feathers. Just like they did in 1912. And 1812. And 1712.

The Arizona Republic, still the state's flagship newspaper despite the slight name change in 1930, celebrates the state's birthday again after 100 years. Read all about it!

Grand Canyon to Ban the Sale of Plastic Water Bottles

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:51:00 +0000

The Grand Canyon is set to discontinue sales of plastic water bottles within the park. Shaun McKinnon of the Arizona Republic explains the whole decision and history here. Plastic water bottles account for 20% of the overall waste at the Grand Canyon and 30% of the recyclable material. It's good that people are getting the message that they need to drink when they visit the Canyon, but the Grand Canyon is a fragile environment that undergoes heavy traffic. Limiting the number of plastic water bottles in the park helps keep trails clean, animals safe, and the views unmarred. All national parks are set to eliminate sales of water bottles within park boundaries, but each park is free to establish its own time and method for getting the bottles out. The Park Service plans to sell refillable bottles and provide water stations so visitors can still stay hydrated.

Vanadanite

noreply@blogger.com (Eric) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000

A geologist friend of mine was kind enough to invite me a long on a mineral collecting trip. We were looking for vanadanite, a really neat, hexagon shaped, red mineral. We ended up finding some; the geologists said it's fairly easy to get.

The process of extracting the vanadanite was a bit more exciting than I expected. These folks pulled huge boulders off a rock wall to expose new material. The boulders crashed down a hill and broke up on a pile of previously dislodged rocks.

The spot was in or near Patagonia, Arizona. It's a beautiful, open place.