May 3, 2010
~ pseudo intergenerational hike: China Wall, Owyhees ~
For several months, I have been attempting to schedule an intergenerational hike between myself, some friends, and our parents. Scheduling is a beast and I have not been successful. Last week, Elizabeth's parents were in town and on Thursday evening we confirmed plans for a hike to China Wall in the Owyhees on Friday. I invited my Dad and got the day off work, and that was that. Those who have been anticipating the Official Intergenerational Hike need not fret, for this was a pseudo intergenerational hike, and the official version will become a reality come hell or high water.
The above photo, incidentally, I find hilarious. Elizabeth's Dad, Steve, took it and I nabbed it from Facebook - - as Steve and I are now FB friends.
The hike was excellent. In considering that there had been a somewhat significant amount of rain in Boise several days that week, I was very concerned that the trails out to China Wall would be muddy. I was also concerned that the weather would be crappy - - what with it expected to be cloudy with winds up to 22 mph that day. Instead, it was sunny, warm, mildly windy, and the trails were 100% dry.
I believe we did the hike in a little less than three hours, which includes our numerous stops to enjoy the scenery.
More photos on my photoset
December 19, 2009
~ night life ~
Photos from some nighttime excursions, hiking and biking.
On Friday night, Josh and I did a hike around the foothills. The trails were frozen but the air temperature was comfortable. We brought lights, and chose to hike in the darkness.
Fog limited what visibility there was and rendered the night eerie.
Later, we used our lights to search for nocturnal creatures.
Below is a photo from a night ride through the snow several days ago. The snow had good traction that night and we had an excellent ride.
Josh and I are not the wealthiest of individuals: notice how Josh affixed duct tape to his booties rather than purchase a new pair.
October 13, 2009
~ Hagerman Horse Fossils & Box Canyon ~
On Saturday, Josh and I had an adventure in Gooding County. The ultimate destination of our adventure was to trek over to the Hagerman area to learn about the famed horse fossils and to have a hike down and through Box Canyon. However, we began the day's adventure by first going to Wendel because I had read that Wendel would be celebrating its 100 year anniversary. We were thus expecting some kind of celebratory happenings in Wendel, however, we found no festivities. We found, in fact, not much even worth celebrating. Of all the southern Idaho small towns, Wendel is one of the least noteworthy. We decided that we had to experience something in Wendel, and so we had lunch at a Wendellian Mexican restaruant, thereby throwing some dollars into the community. The Wendellian Mexican food was, much like the town, unremarkable.
Compared to Wendel, Hagerman (a much smaller town, population 800ish) is a super cute small town. There is a quirky antique shop along the main road, it features typical 'Old West' building fronts, and is settled in an interesting valley filled with basalt boulders that was formed by the flooding of Lake Bonneville in Utah millions of years ago (as we subsequently learned).
Upon arriving in Hagerman, we immediately went to the National Parks Visitor's Center for the Fossil Beds. Welcoming vistors who walk through the door, is a complete fossilized horse. The horse is positioned so close to the door that it's a little alarming. Josh, in a typical moment of silliness, after almost running into the horse, asked the Park Ranger if there were any horse fossils around that he could check out. Nyuck, nyuck.
The Center is fairly small, but very informative. I found myself feeling enriched from the learning experience. I read everything, learning all about the history and the geology of the region, including the various theories about why there is such an abundance of horse fossils in the Hagerman Valley. Being the only visitors at the Center, the Park Ranger took some additional time to talk with us. One thing I found interesting was the difference between Mastadons and Mammoths (as there are also fossilized Mastadon remains in the area). We also watched an educational video about the Hagerman Valley as it was millions of years ago.
Then, we went to the Historical Museum and perused their exhibits. Josh engaged the museum attendant in conversation for most of the time. That seems to be the best way to experience these small town museums - - the exhibits are few and the most interesting information is contained in the hearts and minds of the local museum attendants..
Adjacent to the museum is a cute cafe. With its discovery, I had wished that we hadn't eaten lunch at the Wendellian Mexican restaurant, as this cafe was a more quality establishment. We did, however, procure some coffees to go. Josh said that his mocha was particularly good and I was very impressed with my drip coffee.
We then made our way to the Box Canyon trailhead for a hike. It was about a mile from the trailhead to the canyon, along a fairly unremarkable trail. As we approached the canyon, Josh and I took the opportunity to poke fun at some overly dramatic signs.
We hiked along the extremely dangerous canyon rim for a while, until we found a trail that took us down into the canyon. There, we hiked a trail that took us along a creek that emerged from the rocks at the beginning of the canyon. It was very pretty. The water was perfectly clear and we could see green algae and colorful rocks under the water. Along the creek was lush folliage of a remarkably diverse variety. I took a ridiculous number of photos.
At some point, I had a rude startling while minding my own business, taking a bazillion photos. I had found these pretty flowers and they all had bugs on them. I was trying to get the perfect photo of the flower and bug, when one of the bugs jumped out and hit me hard in the eye. Ouch!
At another point, while I was taking some other photos, I swept my person along some poisonous plantlife and instantly developed a stinging rashy thing on my leg and hands. Eep!
The trail in the canyon was neat. The creek travels partially underground, and at several points along the trail, it is evident that you are walking over the water. There are a few sink holes in the trail where a person could easily slip and fall into the underground waters.
The trail eventually comes to a diversion dam, where the water pools into a very pretty space along the canyon. Here, there were all of these eerie dead trees in the water. I tried to photograph their eerie-ness...
More photos on my photoset.
September 6, 2009
~ Saddleback lakes, Sawtooth NRA ~
On Saturday, Josh and I got up at 6:00 a.m. and embarked on a big day trip to Red Fish Lake for a hike in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The drive was a tad too long for a day trip, but the day was excellent nevertheless. We hiked roughly 2,000 feet to reach Saddleback Lakes, nestled next to Elephant Perch.
When we set out, we didn't have an actual plan for where we wanted to hike. We decided to hit Saddleback after a recommendation from a family who was able to give us directions.
To that end, we hitched a ride on a shuttle boat traveling to the other end of Red Fish lake. From there, we hiked a fairly mild trail for several miles until we came upon this creek crossing.
After this point, the trail was frequently indiscernible, and when it was discernible, looked something like this...
or this... up and up the rocky steepness.
Apparently, the trail ascends over 1,500 feet in about a mile. Scampering up the rocky hillside, climbing over boulders, we were unaware of how high we were ascending until we looked out and over the treetops and saw nose-to-nose with the granite peaks.
Above us was Elephant Perch. The higher we hiked, the closer it got. At some point when I looked up to behold its hugeness, I was overcome with vertigo and stumbled on the steep and rocky terrain.
The first of the Saddleback Lakes was a sight for sore eyes. We were a bit surprised by how small it was, but its clear waters and huge boulders provided us with a lovely place to enjoy our lunch.
After lunch, I reclined on a giant rock and enjoyed the view of the clouds coming over Elephant Perch. Until the day that I climb to its summit, here's a shot of it with my boot.
We then hiked around that lake and came to the second of the Saddleback lakes, this one more magnificent than the first. Here we took photos and laid out on the rocks, listening to the sounds of the water rippling and the wind blowing.
Eventually, we were able to pry ourselves away from the peacefulness and begin the long hard descent. Climbing down was nearly as difficult as climbing up - - if anything, descending required more balance and agility, as well as a set of strong quadriceps.
Hiking down, we were able to gain a better appreciation for how high we had hiked.
When we reached the stream, we decided to run most of the way back in order to get the 3:00 shuttle boat. What took us roughly 45 minutes to hike up, took us about half that time to "run" down. During this trail running, I felt several large blisters forming on my feet, but found that my feet hurt just as much walking as running, so I continued to run. A few times, I almost tripped over the rocks or tree roots along the trail, but in general found my ninja-trail running skills totally awesome.
We then got a ride on a boat going back across to the other side of Red Fish Lake.
Once back, we changed into our swimming suits and spent the next several hours relaxing on the beach. Josh played in the water quite a bit, while I felt more than satisfied to sit on the beach and relax. Eventually, we got some delicious food and enjoyed the live music. Food always tastes especially good after a good physical exertion.
More photos on my photoset
August 9, 2009
~ Bogus Basin Hike ~
The weather has been crazy for the past several days. In one week, it went from 100+ degrees, to under 70 degrees and torrential thunderstorms. At work, I'm fortunate to have an office with a window - - and last Wednesday and Thursday, I would be sitting at my desk with a view to the outside dark and storminess. There was thunder and lightning, and the rain came down in thick sheets. Very cool.
On Saturday, we weren't sure how the trails in the foothills would be for riding, so Josh and I made the trek up to Bogus for a hike. Despite the mountains being saturated with water, the trail conditions were good for hiking - - not at all muddy. It was also gorgeous outside. The temperature was in the 70s, and the mountain air felt crisp and invigorating. It was a tad chilly, but the chilliness felt wonderful (an excellent contrast to the scorching summer heat).
We hiked up Shindig and down Deer Point. I'm not sure what time we set out, but I estimate the hike took about an hour and twenty minutes.
Did I mention that it was beautiful? For the duration of the hike, we couldn't stop making comments to how nice it was outside. The colors were particularly vibrant, the plants were especially lush, and the sunlight perfect. It was an autumn sunlight - - bright, but not burning.
On the drive back to town, we saw a number of deer along the road. The last time we came down, we saw foxes.
Oh, and the last two times that we've driven up the mountain, we've seen this interesting fellow riding an old cruiser bike. He is in stark contrast to the more serious road cyclists doing the Bogus Basin climb - - wearing casual daily-life clothes (not cycling clothes), he rides up and down Bogus Basin on a rickety old green cruiser, with a messenger bag on his back.
November 11, 2008
~ autumn outdoors ~
Per the obvious, I've fallen out of blogging, something I hope to rectify post haste. I've got lots of exciting knitting adventures to share with you, but that will have to wait for the next post (and I'm certain you will all be waiting on pins and needles to read all about my knitting!). Right now, I'd like to recount a few outdoor adventures and direct your attention to my view that nature can offer some lovely scenery.
Swan Falls, Snake River Canyon
Several weekends ago, Josh and I treked over to Swan Falls to explore the area on our mountain bikes. While it wasn't the greatest bike ride of all time, it was a beautiful day. The trail we rode was not in the best condition for bikes, mainly because the area has cattle grazing (a lot of cattle grazing, as I inferred from the quantity of manure and cow-prints), but I had some fun moments pretending I was a moo-cow and riding along the cattle-made paths. Also, I am deathly allergic to sage brush, but I think it is a very pretty high desert plant variety and the area was covered in sage brush. At some point, we pretty much gave up on the trail and turned back. We rode our bikes along the dam and crossed to the other side of the river, where we noted a trail in better condition (which we wished we had noticed at the beginning of the adventure). We also read some of the placards about the history of Swan Falls and then loaded into the car to return to town. On the drive back, we took a bit of a detour over to Kuna Cave. I'm not a fan of enclosed dark places, so spelunking has never been appealing to me. Also, we were wearing inappropriate footwear and had no flashlight, so we did not go down, but we saw the mouth of the cave and then turned around. All in all, there was some beautiful outdoor scenery that we experienced that day.
It is almost mid-November and Josh and I are still riding our bikes. The chilly temperatures are not keeping us away from the trails, nor is the darkness. I recently bought a new front light for my bike because we keep getting caught after dark riding on the trails. It's so hard to change one's ways when the sun goes down by 6:00. Last week we rode Hulls and Trail 5, getting caught in the dark right at the end both rides, and then on Saturday we rode Three Bears. Granted, we've been putting in more time at the gym, but I think it's so awesome that we're still going mountain biking in November and am hoping to keep it up as long as possible.
Orchard Trail
Saturday was a good physical activity day. In addition to riding Three Bears, we also went on a nice hike up Orchard Trail. We were biologists and discovered some gross varieties of insects, including a huge disgusting spider that we think was a brown recluse. Yuck! But it was lovely up in the hills and I took a few pretty photos.
November 4, 2006
~ Hiking the 8th Street Interpretive Trail, Drinking and Riding to Wineries, and costumed parties ~
This past Saturday was a great day for me. On Friday after I got off of work, Josh and I hiked the 8th Street Interpretive Trail. It was a beautiful fall evening. We spent the majority of the hike brainstorming what we wanted to be for halloween. A few months ago, I came up with the idea of being an activist for planetary rights, protesting the demotion of Pluto to less than full planet status. I thought I'd wear a garbage bag fashioned into a dark orb, spraypainted gray, with leggings and a protest sign proclaiming "Pluto is a planet, dammit!" No one seemed to think this as brilliant as I and the idea withered along with the fame and fortune of the once glorious Pluto. At about the time that I had this flash of brilliance, Josh decided that we should go dressed in Mormon temple garments which are not all that attractive. The plan went so far as to investigate the distributor of these elusive underpants, but we discovered that one needs one's Mormon identification numbers to even register one's garment size, so that idea was out the window. On our hike, we threw out hundreds of ideas. We were focusing on couple costumes, like Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin, Pamela Anderson & Kid Rock, and once he came up with the idea, Josh simply would not let go of the idea of going as Mr. Rogers and the Cat. And I found his manner of persuasion most unconvincing; he kept turning to me and articulating several "mew, mew, mew"s. I dunno, I feel very OVER the whole "going as a cat" thing, even if it's the Mr. Rogers cat. Me, I was obsessed about going as our pre-cool selves. By the end of the hike, we disagreed on the matter as though we were disagreeing over the quantity of some lifesaving elixir to administer to a dying person. Which was kind of ridiculous. Here's some photos of the hike.
And then there came Saturday.
I had been looking forward to the possibility of sleeping in on Saturday morning as a person wandering the Sahara would crave an oasis...my bed, the warm little nook tucked away from the street and city noise, where I have all my sweet little dreams and snuggle in my bundly pillows...yet there was to be none of that on Saturday morning. Somehow, the chi wasn't there. I couldn't find that spot of amazingness that I get lost in every morning when I need to get out of bed to go to work. It was something of a travesty. So I just got up and got ready for my big day.
At 9:30, I picked up Josh and we drove out to Nampa for a coffee at the Flying M coffee garage, which is a very quality place for a morning coffee experience. What makes it super satisfying are the TWO wonderful yarn stores and the THREE great used book stores within walking distance. That downtown Nampa, seriously, people need to appreciate it.
From there, we drove out to the St. Chappelle winery and had a good sampling of their wine selection. I didn't say anything at the time, but I felt that the wine pourer was being much more generous with Josh than with me. Neverthehoo, it was fantastic. Once imbibed, we changed into our cycling gear and set out on a bike ride. I have no sense of direction and didn't consult the map, so I don't have a clue what our route was. I know that we rode for a good distance. After maybe ten miles, we turned onto a dirt road that was difficult for me to ride my road bike on. This led us to the Sawtooth Winery, where we bumped into some folks that we had had an interaction with back at St. Chappelle (they took our photo) and they said that they had been cheering and toasting our cycling up the dirt road. At this winery, the wine pourer was extremely generous, pouring us a third of a glass of each wine...and I think we may have had about seven wines??? Granted, that is not all THAT much wine, but since we were on a bike ride, I feel that my blood stream had opened itself up to all liquids that I delivered to it, in the hopes of remaining hydrated. So the wine quickly made me tipsy. Speaking of tipsy, somehow I fell in love with this silly wine bag with a woman named Tipsy, described as a happy lush. I dunno, had to have been there. We spent some time at this winery outside, where there were some lovely roses that we stopped to smell.
As we mounted our trusty steeds, I was giggly and smily, clearly drinking and riding. We set out down the road and I found it quite a challenge to direct my bicycle straightly. At least it was a vacant farmroad. Oh yes, the scenery! It was beautiful. Farmland, but near to the Owhyees it was stunning, as is evidenced in my photos. At some point, we pulled over for a bio break and I became extremely alarmed when I realized that there was a bunch of idiots on the cliff above us firing shotguns. A dude in a truck pulled over and we all had a conversation about how horrid that was, but yawhatever free country bit, so they assured me that we were too far away for the bullets to hit us, but I was totally freaked. I mean, they were SHOOTING GUNS IN OUR DIRECTION!!!! Yea, I had something of a cow. 
As we were driving back into town, we remembered having seen a sign at K-Mart for 40% off on Halloween costumes. We stopped at the K-Mart in Nampa and selected two cheap standard costumes. We then spent some time seperately resting up and then united once more to get ready for the evening. We donned our costumes and makeup and hit the Balcony Dance Club for hours and hours of dancing. I became utterly intoxicated over my vodka redbulls and was a dancing feind.
September 24, 2006
~ Blue Lake in the Fall ~
On Saturday, Josh and I went to Blue Lake. As usual, it was absolutely stunning. I've never been there so late in the year, and I found the fall colors beautiful. We hiked around the lake and captured some views, relaxed a bit. Then we continued our journey up to the top of the mountains where we were able to see on both sides to the east and to the west. It was awesome. Josh spent a good time with his gazetteer to determine what all of the different landmarks were that we could see. What was particularly amazing was that we could actually see far enough to the east to see the tips of the Sawtooths, which were 58 miles away as a crow flies. Here's a link to my flikr set to view the photos. See if you can see me in the below photo.
July 22, 2006
~ Dancing at the Arcade ~
I've finally gotten around to posting my photos from the camping trip to Upper Payette Lake onto my flickr dealie. If you depress your mouse button on the above photo, your browser should be directed there. I've decided to refer anyone interested in the narrative of the camping trip to Josh's Camper's Log as I feel that it does a very nice job of capturing some of the camping moments.
Anyhoo, last night Josh and I found ourselves in something of a pickle as we tried to decide how to spend our evening together. See, we work kind of incompatible hours, and Friday and Tuesday are the two weekdays that we have the possibility of spending a decent chunk of time together. Which is why I like to embrace my Friday evenings...that, and you know, celebrating the end of the work week. So, part of the problem of deciding what to do was the fact that it was over 100 degrees outside, which basically precluded doing anything outdoors. Josh was attempting to persuade me to go to a movie with him. I, however, was hesitant because I feel that I've had a disappointing several months of trying to go to the movie theaters. A few weeks ago we saw the latest Pirates of the Carribean movie and Josh was so bored that I think he fell asleep (we also saw the LATE showing) and I just sat there and sat there and sat there wondering why the movie wouldn't end. I thought it was terrible, it duplicated so many of its scenes and gimmicks, and the plot failed to substantiate the duration of the film. So we left before it was even over. A few weeks earlier, we saw that Nacho Libre film by the director of Napoleon Dynamite. I believe that I already provided the internet with my thumbs down review, but aside from the fact that I was so annoyed with the teen boys behind me talking for the entire movie, the movie sucked. And we walked out of that one before it was over too. Which makes me feel like both of those experiences were just a waste of money, and I am of the opinion that wasting money is lame. So Josh had quite the task ahead of him if he thought he could convince me to go to another summer blockbuster...
Instead, while I was in the shower after having a workout at the gym, I was brainstorming things to do. I didn't feel like sitting down at an establishment (like a bar or restaurant...or movie theater) so I began to think about what sorts of places would provide airconditioning as well as amusement. And it hit me! A video game arcade!!!
So we went to PoJo's Arcade and played a variety of shoot'em-up games, motorcycle racing, and other standard arcade games, as well as several rounds of that Japanese dancing game (which is quite a workout!) and bumper cars. We left around 10:30, which is my bedtime. By the time that we got to my apartment, I realized that I had locked myself out of my apartment. Which was this complete freak occurrance. I was stressed out because it was way too late to call my landlady to let me in (I've been thinking recently - about the last year - that I need to get a spare key, but I've been putting it off...). Josh and I wandered into the alley behind my apartment and he shimmied up the concrete wall and managed to open my alley window (which was totally latched and locked from the inside) and hoisted himself through. While I was delighted to get back into my apartment, I was alarmed at how easy it was to break into my place of residence.
This morning I got up at 7:00 and went on a two hour road ride before the heat hit. I think it's almost 105 degrees right now. Which is fine because I've already got my exercise in and now I can just relax at an airconditioned coffee shop all day playing on the internet.
July 3, 2006
~ Bogus Star Party ~
There are several adventures and projects that I have directed my attention to remember as needing a blog post. I have some catching up to do in the way of my personal reporting. I have been busy lately... Screaming mad busy. Anyhome, I have selected the Bogus Basin Star Party as the first item on my list to recount.
The Star Party, which took place a week ago last Friday at Bogus Basin Mountain Resort, was (as might be inferred from the name) a party to celebrate the stars. There was a variety of astronomical nerds and aficionados, including their star gazing equipment, in attendance. The organizers chose, from all of the music in the world, the soundtrack to the Star Wars films to be the audio experience for the evening. Josh and I drove up to the Lodge in time to enjoy the last bit of a spaghetti feed. We quickly ate our overpriced and rather stale spaghetti and rushed to join a large group of people for a nature hike. The nature hike was annoying. The group of nature hikers had gathered next to some trees and were listening to a lecture on fire safety. Smokey the Bear was on hand to give a thumbs up to good answers to the fire safety questions posed to the attendees. At some point, my glory was stolen as Josh articulated to the group the answer to a fire safety question that I had mumbled so that no one could hear me except for him. Smokey the Bear provided Josh with a thumbs up which should have been mine! Some time later, while the group was still discussing fire safety, I got really bored. Josh and I wandered off a ways and took some photos of the view.
We rejoined the group once it continued the hike. This, however, was short-lived because they stopped again for another dull lecture, on some subject such as the solar power lighting installation at the resort. I suppose that solar power and fire safety are interesting topics, however, the manner in which they were presented in lecture format I found painfully tedious. At the point of our maximum tedium, we quit the group and went on our own hike. It was beautiful. We saw some lovely flowers and plants and stopped to watch the sunset. It was almost dark by the time that we returned to the Lodge. The party section of the Star Party wasn't quite underway, so Josh and I located some beers and drank them over some witty banter. When our beers were done, we made our way to the telescopes and proceeded to examine various objects in the night sky. Unfortunately, the objects were way too far away for the telescopes to pick up very much, so they appeared as not more than a dot. Nevertheless, it was a neat way to spend the evening.
April 23, 2006
~ Bruneau ~
On Saturday, Josh and I drove out to Bruneau with our mountain bikes. We forgot sunscreen, developed sunburns, and, despite no lack of effort on our part, failed to locate any good mountain biking trails. I may have come off as a little cranky, yet I did have a lot of fun. When we got to Bruneau, we were struck by how unhelpful the rangers were in directing us to some trails. The first thing that we did was to climb the tallest dune.
This was quite challenging. We both wore inappropriate footwear for hiking up a dune and quickly removed said footwear (which tends to be the norm, I believe). It was steep and sandy. I found that it was easier to hike up backwards. Once at the top, we admired the view, ran up and down the edge of ridge, and caused some sand avalanches onto unsuspecting insects. For the descent, we located the steepest portion of the dune and ran down it. This was quite an exiliarating experience. With one leg rotation, we decended a surprising length of dune, and once we started to run we could not stop, the possibility of falling proving more thrill than fear.
And that was that. We located some sunscreen at a visitor's center up the road (but the damage had already been done) and drove down to the edge of the Snake River to locate a wicked mountain biking trail. We unloaded the bikes, changed into our spandex and protective gear, and headed down some kind of restricted sportsman's access road. I became quickly cranky after seeing the dead body of a snake, which indicated to me that we might be venturing into snake territory, and after being somewhat-severely scratched, cut, and poked by these massive bushes with thorns growing all over the road. Incidentally, today my cut legs are all swollen and I have multiple thorn splinters in my legs and hands. Another thing that was making me cranky, was that the sportsman's access road we were riding on was anything but a wicked mountain biking trail. Eventually, we turned around and rode down the highway in search of another possible wicked trail. We located another sportsman's access road which seemed to travel parallel to the River and rode it for a time. This was much better, no fear of snakes and no thorny bushes, but we came to a dead end. Again, we turned around in search of the elusive wicked mountain biking trail. This time we headed towards the horse park of Bruneau and, being careful not to surprise any of the horses, rode down an overgrown road. This area was carpetted with very dead versions of the thorny bushes and I felt some satisfaction crunching over them with my tires without being cut. A persistent difficulty, was that the dead thorny bushes branches kept getting lodged in my spokes and it was kind of annoying. Soon the road became unridable because there were simply too many thorny bush corpses to ride a bike through, and I came up with the brilliant idea of "Hey, why do we need a trail? Let's just ride this way" and by "this way" I indicated towards a space with less thorny bushes, no trail, and lots of sand. It proved really brilliant, my idea, except, you know, the opposite of that and eventually we turned around for the final time and rode back to the car.
In sum, Bruneau is not an area to find wicked mountain biking trails.
