Mike's Adventures

Xterra Black Diamond

2011-08-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

At 7 pm the night before the race, I went to the local Rite Aid and picked up a digital thermometer. Luckily I didn't have a fever. I bet you can guess where this race report is going.

Saturday Morning: I woke up and could not breath through my nose at all, completely plugged. Yikes didn't look good. By the time I got to the raece site, my nose had slightly unclogged, but breathing still was a bit of a struggle. Got a late start and my warm up was cut short--a couple 100 meter swim starts. not good.

Xterra Black Diamond is a tricky swim start. There is a 15 yard break in the lilly pads or a 5 foot break on the left side. I got squeezed last year on the right, so I went left. Oops. I ate lilly pads big time. The turn around was a 15 yrd run on an island. "Wilson" Tom Hank's buddy on castaway was on the island. I felt like I had put a lot of effort into the swim and when I saw 9:50 for a 500 I knew it was going to be a long race day. On the way back, the ability not to breath slowed me down and decided to just work on skills. I was shooting for right at 18 minutes. Oh well...

Getting into T2, I slipped on a brand new pair of Gaerne MTB tri shoes. Pulling a totally rookie move, I had only used these for a 20 minute MTB ride before the race hoping the lockttight on the pedal cleats was enough to hold the cleat on. I must say, my first impression I was blown away. Not only are they super smooth to put on, comfortable, but man they were as stiff as some carbon soled MTB shoes I have tried. Stiff is awesome for power transfer. I can get over the absurd "white" MTB shoe for the fact that they use the uppers from their top end road TRI shoes. I like it! I actually would pick these for a ride over my pair of SIDI Domidators for MTB riding. Can't wait to practice with these sockless.

But equipment is only as good as its motor. And this motor had its air intake filter completly clogged. I tried to take off and put down a good MTB ride since this is a super technical bumpy course where good lines can make up minutes. But no, all I did was make myself tired and cause a couple guys who didn't want me to pass to fall over going too hard. Still can't get over why folks, when asked to pass, don't let you pass, instead push themselves into failure and crash. Oh well. By the second lap I was feeling really tired, but the legs felt fresh, just no O2 going to them. I focused on a clean 2nd lap and it felt more like a good MTB skills day rather than a race pace. Took it easier. Overall, I was only 3 mins down from last year, not

I made it a point to going through T2 as fast as possible. Boy did those new MTB TRI shoes make a difference. So easy to slip off and leave on the bike.

T2: Mike 36 seconds: Mike's Coach 37 seconds(hehe)...BUT...he also ran 14 minutes faster than I did, so that 1 second only made Mike feel good. I give props to Coach Jason:
Set Coaching

Run: I went out and settled into a really good rythm. I was quite suprised as I picked off 6 people and felt like I could still push it. But by the time I got to the water, the hills and roots took their toll and my HR went into the redline zone and had to slow down. Took a gel shot and never recovered. I guess you can only run a motor without proper air intake for soo long before it shuts down. I got passed by 2 folks near the finish line, but really didn't care, because at this point it was all about the finish line photo.

At Ironman Couer D'Alene I was to weak to pull off a cartwheel, but at Xterra Black Diamond, my motor died, but my muscles were barely phased and quite strong still.

I pulled off the carthweel finish. Note: Make sure you finish before your timing chip crosses, otherwise it won't count.

I somehow managed to pull off a 3rd place age group finish. The best part of the whole day was when they handed out Podium finisher glasses and the manufacture swapped Xterra Black Diamond's with Anglea and Teddy's wedding. That will make for a fun wedding :)...note the photo next door.

Post race: I made it home and slept.
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Ironman Coeur D'alene 2011

2011-07-03T16:15:00.001-07:00

Race Morning:

With a 4am wake up alarm, I got ready for the day, made some oatmeal and at the advice of my coach, chugged down an ensure. Man 4am is early.

Getting to the race start, I ran into Scott Archibald from Multisport Ministry. After a brief chat, we got back to setting up the final bike stuff and prepping for a good start. Good to know there is at least one other MsM member out on the race today.

As I approached the start line, I realized this was the first time in many months, my legs didn’t feel sore-infact, they felt super strong. I was feeling good, fueled up by what seemed like a ridiculous amount of calories the previous couple of nights (thankful I did that) and ready to go. Photo" The start line is that way!

Swim: 2.4 miles, 2 lap course.

Having watched the Youtube videos of past IM CDA start, I didn’t want to get caught in the instant mosh pit of swimmers (I’m a newer swimmer), so I started toward the back of the pack. The announcer came on and said “the only thing you can control today is your attitude, so go have the race of your life” U2’s it’s a beautiful day came on and Boom, the cannon went off. Took me 35 seconds to even reach the water.

Swim Start link below: What does 2600 athletes mass starting into the water look like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFE5V91f7JI

(Not sure who to give credit to for this video)

Instant chill with the 55~56 degree water, but I started off slow with my face ½ in and out of the water to slowly adjust. After 100meters, I settled into a grove and then hit a mosh pit of stopped swimmers ~250~300 meter mark. I popped my head up, saw the guy next to me going for it thru the maze, tucked behind him and made it thru. Soon I noticed I was passing everyone around me. I did a quick level of effort check and realized I was still really holding back knowing this was a long swim, so I went with long stokes with lots of hip rotation and glide. Continued to pass lots of people until the first turn.

Remembering back to the Xterra World Championships swim where 550 people turned in 300 meters, I decided to go really, really wide around the first corner and swam ~40~50 feet past the buoy to make the turn. This worked out great as I only had to do the doggie paddle for a short turn then got to swim between buoys. Later found out that it was a mess closer in to the buoys and I made a good choice.

When I got out of the water for the first lap/beach run, I was expecting to have gone 45~50 mins due to the traffic and feeling like I swam really slowly. Nope, 40 mins out of the water and at 41 mins I was back in the water starting lap 2.

At the first buoy my arms/lats could tell I had been swimming for awhile. Rounded the buoy just fine and on the way back only got a fist to the right goggle from a dude that decided to make a random 90 degree turn. Getting a little tired and a bit grumpy, I checked my attitude and decided to pray for him instead. Then smack, my arm ran into a lady that randomly stopped in front of me. Had a few toe taps from a guy drafting, but I guess I was going a bit fast for him as he soon dropped off. Way less physical contact/mosh pitting than I expected. The arms and feet a flying was much less than I thought.

I stood up out of the water in 1:20 shocked that I went that fast because I felt like I was swimming really really slow (remembering I had at least 10.5 hrs more to go). After navigating traffic to the exit arch, I had a time of 1:21. Very happy with the results. My Goal was 1:20 to 1:40. With all the traffic, I was really happy.

Transition: T1:

Controlled Craziness. Some dude took my bike gear bag, after searching for 30 seconds he came back handed to me and grabbed his. Got changed, was freezing, so I added a vest and arm warmers. Got a bit lost in transition (but found my bike on the first try).

Bike: 112 miles. Approx 3300 vertical climbing.

For the first 1.5 hrs, I tried really hard to stick to a HR of low 140s. This put me at 20 miles in 61 mins, just slightly under 20mph. The next 25 is where the rolling hills came in. Again tried not to spike the HR and focused on keeping to my eating, electrolyte, drinking routine I had practiced.

*Best quote of the day. “I am sure glad I have a disc wheel, aero bike, aero helmet, aero water bottle, and aero bars, so I can chug 7mph up this hill!” (random guy next to me).

First lap of the bike (56 miles) came in at 3:01 and I was feeling strong. Somewhere around mile 80 I started noticing something wasn’t right. I could blink and no longer get tears to form…looking at my electrolyte pill bottle, it was only 1/3 gone…oops, I should have been over ½ done with it. In the process of catching up on electrolytes, my energy started to slowly go down and my sustainable HR dropped from 146ish to 130’s. My first wall. Started getting foot cramps in the ball of my left foot (they went away after 10 mins or so). This is where I went from having lots of extra power in the tank, to this is about all the faster I am going to go. I just kept going knowing that it would pass and to just keep pedaling. Somewhere around mile 105 I started to get some strength back and finished out the bike (though my right ball of my foot started cramping randomly).

-Temps were prefect-mid 70’s, winds were barely noticeable, except when doing 30+mph and it hit you sideways… The course was gorgeous. Part along lake Coeur D'alene, part country side near Hayden Id.

Transition 2: No issues. Gave the bike to the volunteers, found my gear bag, got in the tent, someone helped me out, stopped by the sunscreen lady for a quick touch up on the shoulder's and off again in a little over 5 mins. Outside of an Ironman, I would be appalled at the transition time, but perfectly happy on this race.

Run: 26.2 miles: Approx 1700ft climbing (by Garmin 310xt)
Running out of transition, the crowd lined the streets, cheering on, really neat feeling. After 3 miles I had settled into what I thought was a reasonable pace for my energy level. Somewhere in the low/mid 10 min mile range. Felt ok until the Bennet Bay hill approx mile 5.5…my legs said walk time. Got to the top, ran down the other side, turned around, and ran back up the hill and kept going back. Started to feel a bit fatigued, but still doing ok. At this point, I could still pass few people. I was still following the 4 Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes an hour and 1 serving of Hammer Gel every 40 mins or so.

After the turnaround (2hrs 30min) I met up with the folks coming out of transition and got behind a big dude (my height &235lbs). We were running the same pace. I wanted to applaud him and ask about his story.

Here is where the amazing volunteers and aid station energy really really helped out. There was a little girl on a microphone (8 year old maybe), with the energy of a squirrel on Red Bull, cheering everyone on, calling them out by name...really nice.

Somewhere around mile 15ish, my legs (from knee to feet) decided they had enough. I lost the argument with them and walked. I had been playing leap frog running/walking the big dude trotting along and decided to keep with him for awhile. Got to the hill again and it was walk time. Actually, walked up the hill, down and to the turn around, back up the hill and back down.

On the final 6 miles I made baby goals, first to jog to the next aid station, then walk. I ended up jogging almost 4 miles there.

I had a song from the band Jesus Culture stuck in my head the whole time, so I kept singing and praising God along the way. The legs didn't feel any different, but man that gives you a complete refresh in mental energy.

As I would trot by other athletes, I would try to encourage them. One guy soon past me and said "Hey Multisport Ministries, you got me going again, feel free to send some prayer my way." Kinda Cool to see how my actions made a difference.

-Electrolyte wise I had taken 3~4 endurolytes an hour, still not enough, so I started sucking down Ironman Perform drink. Tasted like fruit punch flavored chicken broth-yuck. Outside of a race, I don't think I could enjoy that drink. I had gone through 5 servings of Hammer Gel in 4.5 hrs and took in powerbar gel around hour 5. Nutrition on the run I was happy where I was.

Between mile 24 and 25 my legs really told me NO this time. I could feel the big muscles were hammered and the stability type muscles were on the verge of failure as my feet were starting to not feel so stable. I power walked that mile.

Mile 25. To 26, huge crowds lots of energy and a frat house party (200+ people) with a huge, very drunk, cheering squad. I wanted to go by quickly so I trotted the best I could. I could smell the alcohol emanating from them…maybe my senses were hyper sensitive or they were just really really drunk. Will give them props for lots of energy cheering us on.

Mile 26 to finish: Hard to describe the feeling and excitement to almost be there. Turned to the guy next to me and said “we are almost there, we did it”. After a celebratory handshake we turned to the last ¼ mile finish down the road.

He busted out YMCA hand signals getting the crowd even louder and several of us started waving, little kids wanted hi 5s’, its like my legs sucked the energy from the crowd.

No real way to describe the energy running that last bit. Will never forget that feeling. I gave the guy some space in front of me, and decided my legs were too hammered for a cartwheel finish, though could have been really fun!

So I did the next best thing:

Spread the arms out and pretended to be an airplane giving kids hi 5’s along the way swooping from side to side of the road. Looking back folks must have either thought I was completely gone or I was a bit excited. Probably a little of both.

Crossed the finish line, was greeted by “the catchers”, got a heavy medal, finishers hat & shirt and a space blanket to keep warm.

They asked how I was and could only think of Forrest Gumps quote “I think I’ll stop running now”

They got a chuckle and helped me through until I looked coherent enough to be on my own. Sat down to eat some pizza (post race), got 2 pieces down, a banana and other snacks, then started to get cold and stiff. I looked at my finishers medal and saw 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run and my first thought is wow that is a long distance, who can do that…wait I just did…wow.

It doesn’t matter if you finish in 9 hours or 16:59:59, 140.6 miles is 140.6 miles. There are no shortcuts. Anything can happen come race day. You have to want to do the race, want to finish, even if the 70 year old guy passes you. If that happens, it should be inspiring enough.

Stopped by Sharis on the way home and very quickly got to the point where I could not control body temperature. Started shivering, then too hot, so I put on a jacket and went inside. Had 3 big Cokes, Hamburger and a salad. Still had issues with keeping warm walking outside and crashed soon after getting back to my buddy parents place.

The next morning I felt like a Hobbit, 1st breakfast, then smoothie, then 2nd breakfast, then lunch at 10, then again a 1pm, snack at 3:30, dinner at 5:30, and another small dinner that evening. It was like I could not eat enough.

Final Thoughts:

During an Ironman, one person physically races, but it takes a team of people to get that one person there. I want to make sure I say thanks!

If you ever get the opportunity to race an Ironman, take some mental time during the last 1/4 mile at the finish to take in the crowd, take in the energy, take in the cheering, work the crowd a bit, this is your time to shine. You spent the last 6 months to 2 years preparing for a race, don't forget to enjoy it.

Costa Rica-Day 3 part 2

2009-07-13T20:59:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

As we were hiking, this was part of the beautiful country we enjoyed.

The further we went the mountains, trees, valleys and mountains were breathtaking.

Below is a shot of our trail as we went further into the jungle. The roads got smaller, muddier, the bugs came out, the bugs and birds got louder and louder.

Here is the village we stayed out one night. The village was quite small, had one covered area, a patio for cooking and a couple of tables. The people were very nice, friendly, and the place was spotless. A cold shower felt soo good. The surrounding areas were coffee fields, which are really mountains.

Enjoying electricy, I got a kick out of this meter. Note the 120V disconnect switch with exposed leads, bare wires going into the switch and cable right next to a metal roof with NO ground. Oh yah, the school was next door and little kids played here...

As we were walking a Tucan fly by and into a tree. The shot below is from 100meters with a 300mm lens. Give it up for RAW format for croping.

If it looks wet this day it was...90% humity and 90 degrees.

The higher we went the more mountians valleys and trees came out.

This creek was soo nice to stop and get some shade and cool. At 90 degrees and 90% humidity the shade is a welcome moment.

The higer we went, the more valleys were visable.

Jairo was our guide by day and chef by night. He wipped up some really good food.

The valleys, mountain ridges, trees and farming fields were everything and more like Athe image of Costa Rica in my mind.

Across the valley we spotted this waterfall. This was at least 1/2 mile away.

A closer shot of that Tucan. The stripped underside is more visable here.

Delay in Posting

2009-06-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

I haven't posted in awhile because I have been traveling like a mad man. A quick catch up. Once I got back from Costa Rica, I had an opportunity to go to Japan for a couple months and left the next day. After Japan, I used frequent flyer miles to visit Hong Kong and Macau. I've decided to stop traveling and enjoy a summer at home...or at least 1 days drive around home. Hong Kong Blew me away...never have I seen such a diverse place. No wonder English in the Business language, there are so many you have to have one common.

Should have pictures comming soon of continuing in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica Day 3: Leaving Pacific

2009-04-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
I will start this day out with leaving the Pacific Coast from Quepos Costa Rica. The three of us were energized ready to go. Early morning start, but that turned out to be a good thing as the heat for the day would soo increase to astronomical levels for a guy who less than 3 days previous was in snow. The brochure mentioned a swim in the morning, but that water was kinda nasty for swimming. No thanks, but enjoyed the water at Manuel Antonio

As we rode on, we past all sorts of interesting signs, houses/shacks and then we would find the random electrical
boxes that were not so on the safe looking side. I had to take a picture of these for the electrical safety guys out there.

We transitioned to mainly gravel roads, much softer on the body than the Morocco Bike Hike Adventure. This was much easier MTB, but still good. Every time we stopped the Scaidas (spelling) would make such a racket. They were these little tiny cricket sized animals that made this horribly loud buzz. If you didn't know better, you would thing an electrical fence with 150kV was buzzing all around you. Never did see one of the little guys, but they kinda creep you out at first.

All, the lovely hills. I would soon appreciate the hills of Costa Rica. They don't mess around. None of this nice gentle up and down they just went straight up and straight down. Made for a good challenge. Glad I got a few good rides in before I left.

This was our first transition area. I kinda felt like I was just getting warmed up, when we stopped I learned we were switching over to hiking. Biking was kinda short on this day. Nice covered area and had a very nice egg breakfast. This was the first of many days of Memo's good cooking.

The views were awesome when we switched over to hiking. The sun was boiling us, but the area outside was beautiful. If it wasn't 90 degrees and super humid, this would have been an awesome place to come relax.

As we continued to hike, the greenery was awesome. The palms were great, the ferns were awesome. This began such an amazing adventure of hiking.

Our first break didn't come soon enough. We were sweating buckets and this slowly running water was very welcome.

All the random shadows made for difficult photography, but also makes it neat when you finally get it.

After a nice break, we continued on and the natural beauty of the surrounding area only increased.

This is part one to day 3. The hiking continues with Toucan sightings, and the first night camping in Naranjillo.

I cannot image how hot and difficult the Ruta de los Conquistadors is on day one. This is a 5 day stage XC mountain bike race that is said to be one of the most difficult and the hills are straight up or straight down.

Costa Rica Manuel Antonio Part 2

2009-03-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

The adventure continues. I do believe this is the day the Montezuma oro Pendula began taunting me. This bird by the end of the trip became my photography adversary. Showing itself only long enough for me to scramble with a camera, only to fly away out of range or behind a branch...

We hiked up to a vista and had a gorgeous panorama of the area. The beaches below are where La Playa de Puerto Escondido (Puerto Escondido beach) is located.

This little butterfly landed right next to use, only these things are quite twitchy and very had time getting a photo.
The view from above was so great I almost forgot to look down when one person mentioned he look at that 3ft long Iguana below.

We found this guy at Puerto Escondio beach laying on a log. Surprising how close you could get, though I stayed back and used the 300mm lens. By this time, the temp had risen to Hot and humidity was way up there. The water at the beach was barely cool....and to think 3 days previous, I was in snow in Washington.

On the way out of the park we came across this beach leading back to the town of Manuel Antonio. What a gorgeous area. When I come back to Costa Rica some day, I am headed out to the West Coast for sure. Very nice coast line and relaxing atmosphere.

In Quepos, we walked over to the levy wall and watched the sun go down. This area didn't look so hot for swimming, but very nice for sunsets.

A couple of kids were in a boat riding the surf in. They all had big grins on their faces.

This ends Day 2 of the Coast to Coast adventure. Day 3 starts the trans Costa Rican adventure with Mountain Biking and lots of Hiking. Day 2 of the taunting by the bird.

Costa Rica-Manuel Antonio Park-Part 1

2009-03-23T18:20:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the delay in posting. Here is part 1 of Manuel Antonio National Park. We got to the airport 30 minutes before the flight left, drove up within 100ft of the airplanes got in the terminal handed over our passports and were given a yellow plastic ticket the size of a dinner plate with the number 1 on it. I guess they re-use these tickets. Security consisted of a guy opening a zipper on your bag, feeling around and waving you through.

Then came the plane...12 seat Cessna single prop. What a fun flight. You could see the Ground Prox system next to the pilot and GPS course pre-programed in. The landing was crazy. We circled around at a crazy steep bank then saw what looked like a small 2 lane road cut out of the jungle just wide enough for the wings to clear the jungle on the side of the road. Well that was our runway...

Our plane was in the background. Yes, this is the airport.

We dropped stuff off at the hotel and headed for Manuel Antonio national park. The maps were quite good here.

We saw a sign for a catarata (waterfall) and took the side trail because the masses weren't taking it. We stumbled across this 3-Toed Sloth.

He or she was quite active actually moving.

When they sleep 18 hours a day, kind of nice to see one awake.

See the three toes...this one didn't have a care how fast he got anywhere.

So we hiked all the way to the waterfall, only there was no waterfall...dry time of year there. Nice hike though.

Back on the main road, this deer decided to cross the road and say hi.

On the walk up to a vista, we heard something in the trees and found around 12 of these guys bouncing around the trees.

Seeing something run across the path, it took 5 minutes, but we finally spotted this guy. This shot I was at a full 300mm to pick this up.

Part 1: Lots of walking, through jungle paths, down to nice beaches seeing all sorts of wildlife. No need to pay for a guide because the groups are so big you can walk, catch up to one, look at whatever they found, continue to the next group and group guide hop not having to spend 10 minutes watching a hermit crab.

Costa Rica - Feb 14

2009-03-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Here begins another tale of adventure. Prior to this trip, I had a horrible time getting to Morocco and got a $750 voucher with NW Airlines. So I found NW had a flight to Costa Rica and Bike Hike Adventures happened to have trip crossing the entire country by human power. Sounded fun.

Day 1: Feb 14
My Luggage made it! Yeah! Arrived in San Jose and got to the hotel around 3pm. Met up with Erica, one of the other travelers and decided to walk back into San Jose. So nice to go from snow to 80's T-shirt weather.

I forgot my map so, I hope I get the names correct.

Initial view is that Costa Rica has a significantly higher standard of living conditions than other parts of Central America. Here is the local theater and main square of town.

Proving true to just about every other major city square, there were Pigeons. Here I am on 4 hours of sleep in the main square (red eye flight) and pigeons. Still don't get the attraction to have pigeons crawls all over you.

I love putting together panorama photos. My auto stitch program does some pretty cool stuff sometimes. Look at the red car on the lower left. Really plays tricks with ones eyes. The see-thru person is also pretty neat.

Near the square there were these neat looking fountains. Next to them was a McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, and equivalent of Chick Fillet. The more I travel, the less I want to go to fast food.

The street vendors were quite friendly. They lay their spread out of the street and hope you buy something. Small leather goods, necklaces, and random stuff I had no clue on were for sale.

On the way back from town we saw this Mediterranean looking building. Turns out it was a restaurant. After walking nearly 2 miles at night looking for a place to eat, we went back here for dinner. Good food. Kind of reminded me of Morocco in Costa Rica...odd combination.

Day 1 was pretty short. Still tired. For those going to San Jose, El Pueblo had a bunch of nice restaurants and when you go on Valentines day, the middle-high end restaurants are packed. Also ask the front desk. They recommended several. If you go with Bike Hike, their recommendations were very nice as well.

Our walk back at night was very interesting. I think we passed 3 disco-techs with lines 200 people deep, a punk rock bar with Glen Plake style Mohawks, and finally the Guy/Girl (not sure)-hooker-drug dealer corner. If I was walking alone, may have taken a cab.

Did not see the Bird that would mock me the rest of the trip: Montezuma Oro Pendula. I would show you a picture...but that would give this bird too much credit.

Sweet taste of sucess!

2009-02-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

It is 90, humid, and the beach is way warm in the Caribeean. Just finished crossing the entire country of Costa Rica by Cycling, hiking, Whitewater rafting, and sea kayaking the last 50 km on the Pacuare River. The Class IV whitewater on the Pacaure lived up to its namesake. I learned a new definition of Hot while hiking and have a lot of respect for those who pick the coffee that soo many consume. Bike Hike Adventures and Coast To Coast Adventures did a fantasitc job.

Sloths are so slow, the 2 toed guys have moss growing on their backside. Howler monkeys make the funniest loud sounds and a Bird Montezuma Pendula (spelling) mocked me this entire trip

So weird, cannot access any email, but facebook is the only thing I can get out on except rarely get out on my website.

Due to a lack of internet or phone access, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Side note, the spell checker is in spanish, so everything was mispelled.

Adventure

2009-02-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

What a nice feeling to be in a warm 80 degree place and have your luggage join you on your flight. All is well

Mike

Moab-Golden Spike-Poison Spider

2009-02-03T18:35:00.001-08:00

Hi Guys,

Here is another post of Moab! The snow has finally left and got out for a 25 mile road ride this weekend. I nearly lost feeling in my toes by the time I got back. I guess at 38 degrees, riding on the road takes it out of you pretty quick.

If you haven't noticed, the world tracker on the left of the screen has reset.

Being the rockclimber he is, Scott likes to get close to the edge of the cliff.

Scott talks about his base jumping idea with a mountain bike. Not really, but the photo makes it seem that way. These cliffs were steep.
Mike B from San Diego riding the rock edge.
Here I am riding down the same rocky ledge. This is one place you really don't want to fall.
Here is the entrance to Arches National Park as looking from the Moab Rim.
Looking back up the highway from the entrance to arches, here is the rim that we were riding.

These rocks were fun to play on. Still not a fan of these kind of heights, but it was neat to see the rock crawler jeeps go right up and over here.

Matt and Scott hanging out on a ledge.

Hope you enjoy the photos. More to come later.

Mike

Gemini Bridges-Golden Spike-Poison Spider

2009-01-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

I find myself once again going outside and finding snow. I managed to get on the mountain bike today for a chilled 40 minute ride. I had 2 layers of gloves, 3 shirts, 1 vest, hat, bike pants with warm bike stuff and was still cold. It is really hard to ride to work when the snow keeps falling. Ski school is in full swing and it is fun to see kids finally get it.

Below is the last day of the Moab MTB trip photos. Our 17.5 mile day grew to 33.5 when one member of the group got fed up of the hike-a-bike sections of the golden spike to portal trail and decided to go down into poison spider greatly increasing out day.

This is a panorama photo. Note there are two pictures of me in this photo. Kind of weird.

Here is the group going over the gemini bridges. Really cool arch.

Trey had a thing about destroying every tube he had. This was another tubeless tire that had to get a tube.

We found this great climbing rock on our ride. One guy said this rock was known as the "crackhouse". Kind of weird, except, there is a 3~5 inch crack down the middle of it. If you were a really good climber, you could hand jam upside down the whole 100 or so feet this is long. You are only 3.5 feet off the ground but it looked ridiculous.

Here is Matt playing on the rock.

Here Scott is playing on the rock. If you look behind Scotts camelback, notice the crack in the rock. That is where you follow the crack for an insane climb.
Trey actually didn't puncture a tire with this demonstration. Hanging out.
With my sprained wrist I gave it a whirl...not to well. The wrist wasn't very happy with me.
And to round out the group, Mike B from San Diego is hanging out.
Here is Matt, dropping down the rock trail. It is kinda fun to think that jeeps go up this stuff.

Scott takes a more direct line off the biggest drops he can find.
Mike B on the Ibis Mojo makes this drop look easy. That carbon fiber bike sure looked nice.
At a lunch stop, here is looking back toward gemni bridges area. There is a lot of rock, scrub and nothing.
Looking the other way, we are heading along the rim in the picture all the way to the right side of the below photo on the edge of the rim. That is where we were supposed to go down.

Mike B riding up a nice long rock hill.

You know you are strong when you can hold up a rock from crushing your buddys bikes.

Oh wait, I can do it to...must not take that much strength.

Here is a panorama of the rock looking into the canyon nearby. Where the guys are standing is a serious overhang. Kind of freaky when you look at where we were standing when you are aways away.

We started to find oil drips from a Jeep that didn't fair so well. It was almost better than the trail markers.

Going up the hill in the above photo, we made our way to the rim looking down above Moab.

The next post is continuing along Golden Spike trail along the rim trying to find the portal trail, one guy getting fed up with us and taking us all down the poison spider sand dunes of death trail.

2009-01-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Skiing this year has been great...well until the great flood of 2009. The snow in the front yard is gone and now it is in the mid 40s lower 50s. Long gone are the 3 1/2 ft snow banks on the side of the driveway. Now it is much easier to get around.

Below is the start of our last day in Moab. Below is Gemini Bridges. Note the ghost image. This is a stitch of 3 photos. This day started out as a 17 miles trip, ending up around 34 miles.

More SNOW!!!

2009-01-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys

Sunday Night, Jan 4th. Elevation 200ft above sea level, still more snow falling. It had finally melted off the grass and the pile from shoveling the sidewalk was all that was left. Don't worry, tonight the "rain possible snow" forecast turned out to be 4 inches in 2 hours and still snowing.

Our last snow was cold and dry, this stuff is great for snowmen and sliding around. Nice thing is people are just chaining up rather than piling up. We are just not set up for massive amounts of snow here. Everything is built on a hill.

Not too late to sign up your 6~12 year old with Alpine West Ski School www.alpinewestskischool.com to learn how to ski and Snoqualmie pass. Who knows, you may get me for an instructor.

Looking forward to the first day of work for you the year...if the snow continues...maybe not.

Sekiu

2009-01-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I celebrated new years with a Nerf gun war, watching the snow fall outside again. It actually snowed soo much at the pass, they shut it down, and shut me down from skiing today...bummer.

Below is my trip to Sekiu Washington. All off these picture of water are of the Straights of Juan de Fuca. We are at sea level. I like the road sign below.

Below we have the beach, and the old lighthouse building in Clallam Bay in the distance. Note the snow covering on the beach.
Looking the other way, after 2 days of rain, still had snow on the beach. If you look in the distance, you can see the white wash from the waves blending in with the snow.
The river swelled and came right up to the water. It was cold!
Here is a pano of Sekiu with snow. Don't see this very often.
Ironic, this place is called the Breakwater Inn. Always wondered how the rock wall gets destroyed.

Here is a view of Sekiu harbor and some really neat sky.

This is 5 pictures together from the road of massive waves pounding the jetty. Glad this wasn't fishing season.

The Sekiu river as it meets the straights. Big waves. Lots of snow...really fun.

This photo takes the phrase bridge to nowhere to a new level. Actually the enviro-nuts prevented the city from saving the beautiful park that used to exist before the river took it out.

Note the waves crashing higher than the land.

Another view of the bridge, waves, and snow on the beach.

Sekius Rowes (Rose) the salmon and harbor.

Happy new year and enjoy.

White Christmas

2008-12-24T16:07:00.001-08:00

Hi Guys,

Thought I would post about a recent Ski Trip. Where is this winter you may ask...in my front yard! After shoveling the snow off the sidewalk for several days of snow fall, it piled up to my waist. This is at 200ft above sea level. Even got some downhill skiing off Salmonberry street the other day. Long walk up.

Enjoy the photos and Merry Christmas.

Note the snow level compared to my F250. Gives some perspective
Another shot of my ski trip...right outside the front door. Made a nice track in the local park and got some laps in.

My neighbors cars. Yes there are cars under there. We has several days massive amounts of snow. Total snowfall for this storm is well over 2ft. This morning we got another 5 inches. Looks more like Snoqualmie pass than just above sea level.

A different view of my neighbors cars buried.

After my first day of shoveling. We have had an equivalent of 3 years of snow in 2 weeks.

For comparison, note the size of the wheelbarrow next to the truck.

Driving down the road, some photos of the road.

Another victim of 4 wheel "Slide" syndrome.

Christmas Eve, another dusting of snow. Starting to get nervous about the roof. We are supposed to get rain soon and that would make all that snow really heavy.

Moab 2008 Bartlett Wash

2008-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

Another post today. The snow is on the ground, roads are fine, my wrist is back in action and ready to begin another season.

This time last year, I was on the a boat crossing Drake's passage on my way to Antarctica.

If you get a chance, check out the Abu dhabi Anventure Challenge. 36 teams from around the world are comepting over a 6 day stage race. A buddy of mine, that I can sometimes, keep up with, his team won entry into the race and early last week was somewhere around 14~15th place over all. World class athelete. Look for team Dart-Nuun.

Hope to start training for a 70.3 Ironman this next year. I was hoping to complete the 1900meter swim in 50 minutes. A good goal, until I spoke with my 7th and 8th grade cousins who can swim a 1600 under 23 minutes...If you don't dream big, you wont get there.

Back to Moab: I have crazy video once I figure out how to compress it to put it on this site.

This was Thursdays ride at Bartlett. We wanted a easier day to go play around rather than another 5 hour day on the bike before our monster 33.5 mile day on Friday. On this ride the steel framed hardtail riders out did the fully suspend guys. Those guys were nuts.

Trey found his hill right away and what better to do on a hill than a front wheelie
Matt demonstrating how to go really slow down something ridiculous steep.
The camera view for Matt came out better than for me. Yes, it was crazy steep.
Matt took getting back off the seat to a whole new level, but he didn't crash so it worked.
I decided to let off the front break and just bomb it when I got 1/2 way down because my tire was getting destroyed trying to go ultra slow down this. The end result was the same...no crashes.
This ride Trey got to ride off a bunch of rocks. He didn't flat on this wheelie drop.
Everywhere we went there were these cool little bowls. This one was a bunch of fun.
Our ridge to get to the lunch spot was ~3 feet wide. If you got off the ledge, you couldn't stop for another 30 feet before another ledge to get some more traction. Our side walls of the tires got a good workout.
This panorama demonstrates the steepness of the next couple of photos. Scott is in the background falling over...not really but made for a neat picture.
San Diego Mike Crossing the great ridge hold bowl.
Here is a panorama of me in different stages of dropping in the bowl. Note two photos above for the steepness.
Scott on the steel framed hardtail got the Wow...can't believe you just did that award. Though the steepness isn't as bad as the first hill at the start of the ride, if you bailed here, the pain would be much worse. Yes it is as steep as it looks.
We couldn't believe he was really dropping in this thing.
He made it...somehow. Lean back, keep the back tire in a constant directional skid and hope you make it. Way to go Scott...but no way I am doing that. I got to go to work on Monday.
Trey found another hill to climb and played on the way down. He was also on a steel framed hartail and it took a lickin here but did just fine.
At the top of the rim, here is a pano of the surrounding area.

Soveign Trail Part 2

2008-11-27T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

Thought I would post this week.

This starts the second half of the Soverign trail.

Below we found a really neat Rock to ride through. These were all over the place.

The trail got into a lot of technical rocks. Trey plowed on thorugh. You really felt small going through this rock field.

Trey didnt' have a good day with tubes. This was the second tube this day. From tubeless tires with Stans to 2 flats with tubes...Advantage goes to the full suspension guys with no flats.

The way down, we came upon this crazy steep section with loose rock. The motocycles that passed us didn't do so well on this section either. Something about falling 30 feet on that rock that doesn't sound so nice. Matt is nailing the section below.

Here is a panorama of the second part to our trail. We met up with another loop here and continuted on. The greens on the rock were awesome.

We found this gully below and it was an awesome ride. The rock formations and water washout areas had some really technical drops.

Here is another going by.
This is a vertical image of the gully the trail went out on. You can see a rider in middle right.

Here I am going through the gully.
Another view of the gulley.

Looking down the trail, this kept going through these rocks. Nice singletrack.

Kind of hard to see the trail, but here I am riding up this hill. The loose rock made it difficult to ride up steep hills.

Trey, finding another flat on this trip. He ditched the tire that evening. Actually, I believe he threw it. Only to have a brand new tire for Bartlett Wash the next day.

Coming back on some good rock, we road through some good rock formations.

Matt caught us at the end of this rock, trying to get some air off of nothing.

Here is Scott comming back. He treated his bike nice after the gripshift plastic broke.

This takes on a whole new dimension to bike stand.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Soverign Trail--Part 1

2008-11-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

**Update, my wrist is pretty much back to normal. Still strengthening, but for the most part, I am good to go again. Yeah!

Our next day we went out to the Sovereign trail. We waited a little later for the weather to warm up. Here Matt is headed out on the road from the start.

Wayne catching some air with Pam and Matt behind.

The official sign.

This is first of the fun challenges. Here Scott makes it look easy.

A great down off camber trail skirting some good rocks.

This was a great little spot. We found out these trees don't move when you accidentally run into them.

Here Trey flys down this drop on onto the next.

Scott passing by.

A good place for a lunch snack. And for Trey to get a flat tire. Here I am on the giant slickrock formation.
In the middle of the rock this was a giant crack. Had to find a good path to cross.
A nice pano...would have been even nicer if I had taken the picture level. This land is soo different than anything in Washington State.
On this trail, the terrain changed multiple times.
Here is another shot of the giant massive slickrock. It seemed to just keep going.
Looking back at the giant slickrock. Look at the different colors of rock.
Scott taking a nice line down the steep rock. I soon followed.
The trail continued down some nice singletrack.
This was a nice tail.
Here, Scott found a really cool rock to ride through.
Of course, this was soo cool, I had to ride through this as well.
Stay tuned for part 2.

Moab 2008-Porpcupine Rim Part 2

2008-11-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Still sidelined with a sprained wrist. I am up to 10 reps on a 1.0 lb weight for wrist curls. Last week, I could grip 40psi and up to 60psi on Friday. A brace/splint, I do ok on the road, but it is raining a majority of the day, so it is a good time for a recovery weekend.

Ok, back to Moab. Part two of the epic ride. Starting out with a nice view of the canyon below. Look at the previous post at Pam looking into the canyon, you can see this rock in the middle as a little spec.

The trail took us right next to the rim. Here Scott, makes the all important turn to not go off the cliff.
What are friends for. Glad to see one can be a kid with a few experience points under their belt.
After I wrecked, which later became a sprained wrist, Wayne, for no good reason flatted out. Nothing a new tube won't fix. Wonder if those neon cycling tights could patch a tire...
Scott and Pam stop for a break after hucking the rock behind them...not really but Scott rolled down off of it 1/2 way down. On this ride, the skills of the rider are more than the bike. Pam opted with the rest of us to ride a 2ft roll off on the smaller side of the rocks.
The trail is really easy to find and follow on the lower part. Signs like this demonstrate where to go. Matt bombs down the trail
Washington Matt caught this neat angle. Those mountains were really close when we first started in the morning.
We came to a section that was definitely hike-a-bike. Even that was difficult. I have seen Hans Rey do some crazy trials riding and I am sure could figure out some way to ride this.
Pam squeaking down the hike-a-bike. It was difficult to walk this.
Hmmm....which way is the trail? This sign was nearly 4 feet wide.
A quick break captured this panorama of the terrain. As we descended, we past multiple stages of vegetation. High Alpine trees, to this desert scape. Really neat.
Pam cruising down the trail. The sun got close to the evening glow colors on this red rock.
Along the trail, there are edges we ride on. Here Pam skirts the ridge. Yes there is a trail there.
Sometimes, the trail got sketchy for those who aren't big fans of large heights. Didn't bother Wayne, he kept plowing ahead.
A panorama of Wayne and the canyon below. The light metering is hard with a point and shoot camera so the right corner came out dark. Good to see the steepness of the canyon.
Another view of the canyon below. Colorado river below. This highway is an excellent way to get back to I-70.
Here I am carefully winding through the rock fields.
Scott came next on the steel hardtail, showing us up.
Scott coming out of the rock garden. This was a fun part of the trail.
Trey bombed the section and came flying out.
Colorado Matt decided there was a route down this mess. The rest of us found a walking route. Later I found out he told Pam, I'm about to do something dumb, so I thought I would wait for you to watch.
Just like a collective movie, here Matt drops in. If he falls, there is no stopping.
Cleared the first section, onto the big rock...good thing slickrock has crazy traction.
Here Matt shows how to pull up and drop the rock and get back far enough not to endo. Good form.
He made it...though there was another 4ft crazy steep section he is setting up for. He made it. Nice skills.

Perfect spot at the end of a ride to put a jump. Here I am catching some air in the distance.

Wayne, Matt(s) and Pam climbed in car to shuttle back to get the trailhead vehicles. We ride back to the campground via the road. Stretching felt soo good.

San Diego Mike is looking stoked after completing the 26ish mile ride for the day.

Bike damage for the day. 1 sprained wrist, 1 bent derailleur hanger, 1 flat, some scrapes. Not bad for day 2 and 8 people.

Moab, Day 2, Porpcupine Rim-Hazard County Trailhead

2008-10-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Ok..Day 2 started off cold...no way to describe it other than just cold. My roommates, decided 60 degrees was too hot in the room so they opened the window in the shack and left the door with at least 12 inches open. About 5am, I woke up huddled in my 20 degree mummy bag cold...hmmm... Needless to say, at 35 degrees, it was a cold morning cooking breakfast outside.

Moab is at ~4K feet or so and our trail head started at 9000ft. The Colorado crew, Wayne, Matt, and Pam dropped a car off at the end of the trail and came to show us how to get way up to the Hazard County trailhead. Saved a $20 shuttle ride per person.

Ok, here is the trailhead. We looked at doing the Whole Enchilada, but were told too much snow. Not sure how well us 200feet above sea level guys would do starting at 10,000 feet riding up with 11,500, before descending. The snow saved the ego and we decided to go for the 25 mile trip (which turned into 31 for Pam and I).

After re-inserting our lungs, Matt arrives at 9500 feet past some nice trees.
Wayne was like an Energizer Bunny....just kept going at a steady pace the whole day.
When we got to the top, they made a really nice poster with all the points and canyons marked out in the background.
Here is a panorama of the La Sal mountains in the background. We nearly hit 6 mule deer on the way to the trailhead. Pretty country.
The gang before we start. By days end, 1 sprained wrist, 1 flat tire, and 1 bent derailleur hanger, priceless memories. Not bad for such a harsh ride. Leg pads were very nice to have as the rocks kicked up. Note the jackets, it was cold. I think the car said it was 33 when we started from the trailhead.
Washington Matt caught some good contrast of Pam and the canyon rim we will be following all day. In later pictures, that spire in the middle is really close by the time we mid-way through the ride.
Some gnarly flowing singletrack. Reminded me of when Crystal Mountain had lift serviced MTB trails. By skills at taking even picture for a panorama were impaired due to altitude. Note the trees below.
Look at the trees above. It didn't take us long to reach this point and 1k feet down the mountain. Washington Matt with some extra lean around the corner.
Pam came roaring around the corner, but managed to catch this picture.
Scott had an uncanny ability today,to pick up everyones pieces as we tried to fall apart down the trail. The steel hardtail of 17 years, still going strong.
Our path took us through a recent burn area. We noticed several guys on horseback that sure looked like law enforcement of some kind. Thought it kind of odd to see them on horse back, but imagine in this terrain, they can cover a lot of ground.
I finally got Wanye to stop long enough to take a picture. Then he was off again.
We came across an old abandoned/burned down house and Trey found this old vehicle in front. I guess it didn't' ride as well as his Steel Framed Hardtail, so he soon switched back to the bike and blasted down the hill, passing up several of us fully suspended guys.
The trail came to a split, and Pam and I took one way, and the group took the other. This is where we were supposed to turn, but got too side tracked with cool rocks and missed the trail marker 20 feet up the road.
While going the wrong way, we came across a random chair abandoned. Pam saw this as an excellent photo op. It wasn't until we started going up hill that Pam convinced me we were going the wrong way. Later we found we traveled nearly 2.5 miles the wrong way before turning around. Made for a long detour, but finally met up with the group. Cell phones are awesome to communicate such wrong turns.
Some of the rocks as we descended. Sometimes it was hard to pick the right line down them cause you couldn't always see what was below.
San Diego Mike, showing us how to lean back and blast through the rock piles. That is what suspension and a carbon framed Ibis is for.
Wayne catching some air of another randomly placed launch rock pile.
Colorado Matt showing us some of his downhill skills, taking flight, yes he landed this just fine.
The trail got right on the edge of the cliff face. Sometimes, too close for my taste.
Hey...look at me...I'm pretending to be falling over...maybe not such a smart thing to do so close to the edge of the cliff.
Remember the first couple picture, Pam was looking into the valley. Well, we are above that valley looking down.

Washington Matt, Wayne, and San Diego Mike hanging way out on the outcrop rock....I will gladly take the photo provided I don't have to go out there.

San Diego Mike looking over the valley and Scott showing us where the Gun Show is at.

This trip took 5~6 hrs, so this is the first half of the photos. I will add more on the next post. Thanks for reading and sending me emails.

Moab MTB-2008 Day1 Evening

2008-10-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

Yes...as Kathy O pointed out, I did switch from North Africa to Moab, Utah USA. Yes there is quite a resemblance.

So what do a bunch of mountain biker do when they only rode 7.5 miles, 1721 vertical feet decent, 1678 accent by GPS in the morning. What better to do than switch over to Rock Climbing and hiking. While our Colorado group spun around Slickrock again, part of our group switched over to climbing gear, while the rest got ready for a nice 3.5 mile hike to an arch off the Colorado River.

Here Scott climbed up the rock like a Gecko to set the rope so he could belay from below.

The hiking group met up with the climbing part just in time to get a nice climb in before heading out hiking. Here Matt scales the wall.

Matt also scurried up the rock with the ease of a Gecko.
Ok, the start of the hike. Just as we started hiking, Matt and Pam of the Colorado crew pulled into the parking lot. They arrived just in time for the sunset hike.

Right away we were greeted with huge cliffs and beautiful rock.
Hey, what am I taking a picture of...and what is with the tripod?
Nothing too much, just creating a 4 picture panorama of the valley to hike in. Much easier to stitch when using a tripod.
Sometimes you forget how little rain falls down here.
The trail had us cross this rail line. I cannot imagine trying to put in a rail line having to blast that much rock. That is crazy.
The Matts' decided Pam needed some camera attention. Colorado Matt and Washington Matt took this photo.
As the hike continued, you can see the railroad line below the rock cliffs. What amazing rock.
The trail didn't mess around getting you up the mountains. It was nice they carved out foot steps.
Our first sight of bowtie arch.
Here is a panorama to get the whole arch in the picture. This thing was really big.
We were at least 1/4 mile from the Arch to get this picture.
In the middle lower part of the picture you can see people to get a perspective on how large this Arch was.
A bigger expanded view of bowtie arch with Matt and Pam in the foreground.
Corona Arch, what we came for. Note the lack of crowds! If this was delicate Arch in Arches National Park there was a line up to get a sunset photo with 100's of people. This arch was free to park and a short hike and no people! I recommend this hike for an afternoon.
Different view. At first it was hard to see the arch with the rock in the background.
We will get a better size view below.
The above pictures were zoomed in, but this is when we first spotted the arch. To the left is Bowtie Arch. Keep in mind how large the rocks above the arch when we see the photo of Matt next to the lower part of the Arch.

Whew...if Matt wasn't holding up the arch it may fall...well not really but makes for a fun picture.

My turn to hold up the Arch. If you look closely at the lower right inside part of the Arch, Matt is standing up. At the far right outer part of the Arch Trey is hiding out.

Look above at the arch and try to find Matt in this same picture. This begins to show how large this arch really was.

This is a 3 picture panorama looking upward at the arch.

Behind Corona Arch was a really neat boxcanyon. This is really crazy terrain to navigate.

Here I am next to the box canyon behind Corona Arch.

Colorado Matt had a thing for getting really close to the edge of large cliffs and looking over.

At the end of the hike, there were old petons pounded into the rock to rope up. Here Colorado Matt climbed up until the cut out rock ended. Needed climbing gear from here. A buddy from Team Dart Nuun completed an Expedition Adventure race here several weeks before here and mentioned they got to rope up, climb this section and then overland to the next checkpoint 4 hours later. Rugged terrain for an adventure race...especially when it is over 3 days long.

While in Moab, we picked a week with a full moon. Around 0430 in the morning, you cast a shadow it was soo bright out. Makes for a nice hikeout.

End of Day 1 riding/hiking/climbing. What a good start to the week.

Moab-MTB-2008

2008-10-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the delay in posting. I spent 5 days mountain biking in Moab, Utah on some great slickrock. We got 120+ miles in with only minor casualties. One sprained wrist (mine--luckily only sprain), bent derailleur hanger, bent cassette, several flats, one 17 year old grip shift and a few scraps. I will get back to Morocco, but for now here are some photos from Moab. First up is the classic slickrock trail.

Day 1 slickrock: Temp 35ish to start.

Our first break. It warmed up to what seemed like 50 degrees...time for the short sleeves.

The slickrock is awesome with bizarre switchback corners on rock, with a nice flowing path.

Trey, also dubbed Jack Russell Terry for his energy, saw a hill and rode up one when ever he could while waiting for us.
Some great slickrock..aka sandpaper rock for its incredible traction.

Trey again finding a hill to climb and ride down.
Our group shot. Note it is on top of a rock hill we rode up to. Guess whose decision to climb the hill it was...
This gives some perspective on what the hills were like.
My first panorama with people in it. Beautiful view of Moab from here.
Yes another break.

It is hard to see the angle, but this was a healthy climb up really steep slickrock...aka sandpaper rock.

Every rock strata needs a person helping keep it supported from falling

Our first break. It went from 35 degrees in the morning to low 50's by this time.

We saw this view and knew we had to have lunch here. Colorado River below.

More flowing slickrock. They paint the rocks white to find the path.

This rock looked like a plate of brownies.

Loved the rock. Great.

Not sure where Trey was going, but it had a hill next to it.

This was a great place for a lunch.

Hope you enjoyed slickrock

Epic Morocco- MTB Day 4 Part 3

2008-10-02T21:00:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

So after riding 25 some odd miles on dirt road, single track, through many small town, just over that next hill, we take a left off the dirt road onto a even more remote looking dirt road and ride for another 3 miles losing a fair amount of elevation. Knowing we have to climb out of this place the next day, I enjoy the ride down. When the brochure said local, rustic, cultural housing, Charlie really meant it. We were emerged full on into the middle of a small village, in the middle of no-where. The kids of the town were walking back from school and we were the talk of the town to look at.

After unloading into the clay/straw/earthen structure, we gather on the roof to watch a nice sunset in the valley.

Once the kids saw us weird looking people on the roof of the house, we were the talk of the town and kids wanted to come look at us. Almost looked like we were the zoo animals...but not really

The Valley was very vast and awesome. It looked like it went on forever. It was a little sad in that the potential for opportunity for growth and prosperity was very small.

These kids were so cute looking over the fence at us trying to not get their picture taken. A good game followed.

These kids just got back from school. Very friendly.

There always seemed to be someone from the village randomly milling around when the kids were out to play. My favorite was the hooded robe they wore. Reminded me of the Sand People from Star Wars

These kids were really fun to watch.

The tower below had a speaker in it which would go off around 3:50 to make sure you woke up for the 0430 call to prayer. The problem is that it when it went, it scared the donkeys, which make all sorts of noise and wake up everything. Then the chicken went off...etc. I know know what Srek must have thought about donkey.

These kids also played the don't take a picture of me, but I want to still look at you game. It was fun.

We never saw a water source on our way in, so no idea where or how far he had to go for water.

The kids all played together and this was the first time I saw boys and girls playing together. Usually they were separated.

We think the boys were playing with some sort of transformer.

Something about watching guys cook food really interested these kids below them.

They stayed around for 2 hours while we were on the roof and while they made a fire and cooked food.

The rock formations of the area were very neat. Like any good little kids, the boys saw a rock and climbed up right to the top.

Here is a picture of the endless valley that we had the pleasure of viewing.

There were almost the same amount of teas as well and beers. By now, the 1/2 pot of sugar added to the tea was getting a bit much. I could feel my teeth starting to be eaten alive.

We were around 5500 feet for the night. That ridge behind us was the early morning climb. Only 3 miles out of the 45 scheduled for the day.

This was really funny. One of the Moms stood onto of the roof and yelled to her kids to come home for the evening. Some things are the same across countries and language.

These two guys were bringing their herds back in. Again, I loved the sand people uniforms.

Here was a very nice spread for our dinner. We sat on pillows on top of the Moroccan Rugs. We dubbed this place the "Hostage" house, but the accommodations were quite nice for the area we were in.

I promised to take a picture of the Bathroom. Yep, there is a hole, but it did come with dual food pads to stand on.

Our next day a 45 mile day, climb from 5500 to 7500, back down to 6000 up to 7800 feet, back down to ~4000 feet. Big day ahead, getting good sleep on a pad and a sleeping bag.

Epic Morocco-Mountain-biking Day 4 Part 2

2008-09-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

Part 2-

As you can see below, the town we came from is listed in the photo. Sorry, no translation, my Arabic consists of the word thank you. We got ahead of the rest of the group here, so we stoped and took in the landscape. Yes it does change several times again.

This gives a better view of the road sign and where we came from. I believe we were above 7,000 feet elevation.

When we got to the other side, the landscape changed yet again. Very nice.

It looked like this road was recently rebuilt. Soft gravel made for a very wobbly ride down the trail.

We came to a split in the trail. The gravelroad went left and 8 miles of singletrack the other way. Charlie and I took the single track. Thought I would pose on the trail riding on the front wheel. I didn't crash on this one. On our way down we passed several sheep/goat herders. It didn't dawn on me at first but I noticed as we passed the second one, the teenager guiding the animals was packing a rifle. The movie Bable flased back before my eyes. All was well though.

This is a close-up of our guide trying to figure out why the camera didn't take a picture going over an obstacle.

Here is where we stopped for snacks. The single track matched up with the dirt road riders. The trip was really well planned for the experience MTB rider as well as the novice in the skill set.

This was a longer day of riding. Stay tuned for Part 3 of today's riding. More to come.

Epic Morocco MTB Day 4 riding-part-1

2008-09-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Start of Day 4.

The previous night I woke up in the middle of the night and it looked like day. I went outside and saw my own shadow in the moon light. Beautiful. We ate a nice breakfast and set out from the camp in the Shirwa Plateau. Take a look at the change of landscape. It would completly change over the next 30 miles.

The green grasses of the campsite gave way to rock, rock, a few scrub plants and more rock. We also encountered several sheep/goat herds along the way feeding on the random scrub grasses.

The green grasses gave way to rock.

After a long climb most of the morning we decended into this nice village. The crew stopped and waited for the whole group to catch up. The kids of the village quickly spotted us and line the road into town to give us a high five. Soo cool.

A common theme of the trip was a nice break, Moroccan tea break with bread right before a nice climb. This was the road out of the town. Don't worry, we didn't run over the chicken in the middle of the road. Before we left a mule with two kids on the back took off up the hill. A challenge.

We got into the middle of the town and our drivers had gone into the village and got hot tea boiling and some fresh bread. Note the white chunks next to the tea pot. Those are sugar chunks. Two was the magic number to have the sugar still absorb into the water. The stuff was rocket fuel.
-This was one of the favorite spots of my trip. On the way in, we saw a little old lady cutting a field of wheat with a hand cicle. The mule next to her was loaded with wheat. Then saw a nice concrete floor with a threshing rake leaning on the wall. It was like going back in time 300 years. Soo cool to see how bread is made using the basics. Yes the bread was amazing.

The kids (boys) liked to see pictures of themselves on our digital cameras. The girls of the town were seperated from the boys during the day. Must be a cultural thing. It reminded me of my time in Nicaragua doing hurricane relief work with SPRINT (Seattle Pacific University-outreach).

Looking back at the town. The earthen clay/straw structures were starting to seem common and normal. If construction worked 2000 years ago, it will certainly work now.

I got the wierdest look when I passed these boys on a mule. So if 1 horse can generate 1 horse power and estimate a donkey can generate 1/2, then a mule must generate 3/4 horse power? Since I passed the mule, how much power does that get me?

As we left the city, the landscape changed again to what seemed like lava rock. Looked like Kona Hawaii lava fields. But this was in the middle of the Atlas Mountains Morocco.

Another 30 mintue ride and we were into another landscape. Made for some really neat riding conditions.

Not long we were back into a barren landscape. Really neat area.

Here is a neat panorama of the area where we road. Gives you a better perspective of the terrain.

I looked on Bike Hikes website and saw this tour is running again right now. Hope the group had as much fun as I did.

Epic Morocco-Atlas Mountains Day 2-Part2

2008-09-07T16:29:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys,

Ok, after we toured the Ait-Ben place, we got to do more MTB. By the time the Vehicles dropped us off, the bike mechanic already had all the bikes ready for action, waiting for us to fill a water bottle and ride away. This tour gig is pretty sweet. Keep in mind, these pictures hardly do this place justice.

It had snowed in the mountains the night before so the Atlas were nicely snow capped. Another one of Epic Morocco's tours was attempting to reach the highest summit in North Africa and apparently got quite a snow dump. We got to enjoy 80 degrees and beautiful weather.

The ride started out on a dirt off track road. We never saw a vehicle on this one and rode up a really nice valley.

Here is a picture of the bike, a quiet village, and wonderful backdrop.

Of course what is a photo op without a group picture :). Actually someone got the first flat so the group decided it was time for a nature stop.

At this junction and I took the singletrack version with a couple others. I first followed the guide and rolled this drop and stayed upright somehow. Charlie got flat so I had to clear this jump and try to get a neat picture while at it. I cleared the gap landed, but decided it would make a better story if my bars turned sideways and I did several rolls. But I cleared the gap!

A few of us rode on ahead and were told to stop at the half built house that was pinkish tan in color in the village ahead. The rest of the trip, nearly every village had a 1/2 built house with a pinkish/tanish color. This was the turn.

Here is the guide Charlie and Andy making it up the long hill to the town with the 1/2 built pinkish/tanish house.

Weird story. We were 5 miles from nowhere when we saw this random guy with 1/2 a sandal on his feet walking next to the road. We tried to communicate in French and Arabic greeting (equivalent of hello) and didn't get a response. He pointed at his ears and make the slashing sound at his throat. He was deaf. We waved smiled and wished him well. On his head he was wearing a Dulci and Gurvana (sp?) super fancy hat.

We took a break at that the town and 2 of us decided to ride up the next 4~5 miles grind while a couple wanted to hike and several wanted to ride 1/2 way and hike the rest. This tour was really flexible that way. The ride was worth it and got to see the camp set up in the Shirwa Pleateau. Look at the terrain here. Completely different than several pictures previous. Only 5~6 miles difference and completely different landscape. Really Cool.

We had a neat gift of a bright moon this night. Pretty neat.

While we were sitting around a fire random nomadic herdsman were moving their flocks and herds around. Kind of weird being near no water source, these people came out of nowhere near dark to check on their animals.

Then the moon became really bright over our camp. In the middle of the night you could cast a shadow when you stood up.

A night fire to warm us up. There was frost forming, but we were way up in elevation.

This ended our second day of biking. Several flat tires and a wonderful evening of camping. So far, this tour blew my expectation of Morocco away. Totally different. We were way remote in super small villages. Really neat personal non-motor-coach feel to the tour. Hope you enjoy the blog!

Epic Morocco-Day2 ait benhaddou

2008-09-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am back from San Diego now. I finally have gone through my Morocco photos so I should be able to put more on the blog day by day. For now, here is the morning of Day 2 in the Atlas Mountains.

I have added a link to Epic Morocco who put on this wonderful journey. Charlie really gets lets you experience a true cultural experience of the Tribal people of the Moroccan Atlas mountains.

A departing shot of our hotel from night one in the Atlas Mountains. It is amazing how nice theses hotels are inside. Don't let the outside facade fool you.

A nice panorama of the city.

From the city streets, here a more of the city.

A wonderful panorama of the entrance to Ait Benhaddou.

A typical city street. Takes you back several hundred years.

A view of the city below from a crack in the walls.

Here is a neat structure on top of the mountain.

A group shot. The last shower for several days. Though it is so dry, you hardly sweat anyway.

Here is another one of my favoirte pictures.

A neat picture of a man walking into the town

Here is a picture of me with ait benhaddou behind me

Below is a picture of a donkey carrying tommorows bread.

San Diego California

2008-08-20T23:14:00.001-07:00

The day I got back from my trip to Morocco, I got a call from work sending me to San Diego. So I finally got to play with my pictures and here is a panorama of San Diego downtown. Enjoy.

Morocco-Mountain Biking Day 2

2008-08-17T22:29:00.001-07:00

Mountain Biking Day 2:
We started off from Hotel Ellouze. The picture below is the entrance to the Hotel. We rode through the various alley ways to get to Hotel for the night. As you can see, the ways were made with earth, clay, straw.

Of course, what good is a hotel in the Atlas Mountains without a pack of Camels to keep you company :>.

We transferred to the start of our ride by vehicle. We quickly turn off tarmac onto a rocky, dirt road starting up the red dirt hills boarding the Atlas Mountains.

The previous night it had snowed in the high Atlas mountains as shown below. The red rock, green valley and snow graced peaks, made for stunning scenery. As the trip goes on, the terrain changes nearly every hour or so.

Here is a picture of me riding with amazing scenery in the background.

Here is a group shot on Day 2 of the mountain bike ride. We looked a little different on Day 5 of Mountain biking.

Our fearless guide Charlie tried to roll over this gap and flatted out. So after scoping the landing, I decided I needed clear this. I cleared the gap with no flats. Landing on loose gravel on off camber slopes makes for sketchy landing.

After some good single track it was time for lunch. Our guides always had an awesome place with shade tucked away from the main roads. After lunch, the instructions were to take a left after we pass a small village with a half built house colored light pink to tan. The funny part about this was that every village we passed had a 1/2 built house lightly pink to tan color.

It seemed like this hill would never end. A nice long grind up the hill. We decided this was the village with the 1/2 built pink/tan house. The terrain had changed again. We stopped and waited for the chase vehicles to catch up where they were going ahead to prepare the obligatory "tea" stop.

This tea was rocket fuel. Moroccans like their sugar with their tea. The tea sugar mix had to be just under the saturation point of sugar in water. It was served in shot glasses and that is all about a person could stand. An amazing pick-me-up for the next hour riding. Good thing we weren't diabetic.

Charlie (guide) and I decided to ride the rest of the hill and arrived before the rest of the group. A couple of people walked the next 4 miles, others got a ride 1/2 up the hill and walked the remaining 2 miles. Active group. Abdula (cook) went ahead and sent up with food tent and we found a pair of nomadic herdsmen strolling on through the area. We are now on the Shirwa Plateau in an amazing location.

The surrounding area was amazing. The moon was full, the sun was golden. Awesome night.

This picture says it all. Camping, biking, great moon, golden sunset.

We were way up in elevation so it was getting cold at night. We started a fire and had a relaxing evening.

So I brought my tripod out and it decided to fall apart. So the below pictures are of the fire taken by a mono pod or what was left of my tripod.

Another great fire picture.

End of day 2 of Mountain Biking. Camping on the Shirwa plateau.

Mount Saint Helens

2008-08-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

A quick hiatus from Morocco Tails, this post is all about Mount Saint Helens.

July 27th.

The alarm clock went off at 0445. A gentle tap of rain echoed in the tent. I decided it to give it another 20 minutes, but like anytime in a tent, couldn't fall back asleep. Got up, the light rain blew through and fired up with Coleman stove. We made breakfast, broke down camp, geared up and headed out. The temperature was in the low 40's, the path through the trees started in several feet of remaining snow from winter. After an hour 1/2 we broke out of the trees and immediately warmed up. Shedding a few layers, we were blessed with overcast clouds to climb the mountain in. The temperatures stayed cool, nice breeze and the snow melted off ridges and the canyons were full of snow.

It took 4 hours until we got above 7,000 feet where the clouds broke and we could see the summit. The pumas rock was everywhere and it was like walking up a steep hill in pea-gravel.

Around the 5 hour mark, we reached the summit. The cloud level was just below 8000 feet, so we couldn't see much. Rainer would pop out every now and then, but it was still nice. I took a panorama pictures as shown above, but my Pentax W20 seems to have a glitch where it meters 1/8th of the picture at a different light, causing weird things. Bummer...I guess I will have to climb the mountain again :).

The most rewarding part of the trip down was the Glissade. We easily got a good 1 1/2 miles in over several chutes. 1/2 way down, I noticed on my Garmin 301 writ st GPS we were going way off course, so we cut back into the rocks to rejoin the trail.

The way down has a lot of bouldering. Big chunk lava rock that gives the legs a huge workout. Like squatting 300 reps of your body wait. Good thing there are glissade shoots.

After we left the snow and entered into the trees, I found the best sight ever. A pit toilet. Yeah!!!.

Great trip, will have to make the trek up Mount Saint Helens again next year. Next time I will have to include a trek into the Ape Caves. Bring a good light and warm clothes, it was cold down there.

Morocco Mountain Biking

2008-08-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

First I want to thank the viewership and comments I have recieved. The global viewership has been outstanding...look on the world map on the left. Now for more of day 1 mountainbiking.

Luckily, the clouds subsided and we were able to continue without the threat of rain. The terrain really struck me. Really red dirt with carefully cut canyons teaming with green palms, wheat and other key crops in the valleys where people lived. The homes, shown in the previous post were earthen structures with straw added. We rode by several areas where mud/straw bricks were drying. The roofs were supported with tree members and covered with earthen mud/straw.
-The only way I can describe this was to like going back in time 500 years ago. Donkeys and mules used for transportation, wheat harvested by hand, ground by hand, baked into bread rounds by hand and cooked in a earthen igloo structure by small fires.
In the High Atlas Mountains, the bizarre aspect of the trip was the ever changing terrain. Every 30 minutes or so we would come to a completely different type of terrain. You can see some of this by the pictures included.
At the end of our ride we saw a small cluster of earthen structures and rode our bikes right through the back alleys and were gretted by a very nice French owner of the place. The stucture had been restored recently, as the straw in the earthen walls looked fairly fresh. The showers had running water, electricity in the walls and a very nice bed with local heavy woolen blankets.
At dinner we sat down at a low to the ground table, walking over local woven Moroccan rugs over the concrete floor. We were treated to freshly made bread, yum, with some balsamic Vinegar and olive oil for dipping. The main course was fish Tangiene. A Tangiene is like a ceramic Dutch oven with a long conical top. Meat in the middle, surrounded by vegetables like potatoes, carrots, surrounded by rice.
-Could not eat enough of the stuff, wonderful. My day that started on Thursday finally, I get a full nights sleep on Saturday. No jet lag issues because I had been going for nearly 2 days without a good nights sleep. What a nice sleep it was.
--I finally accomplished by goal of making it to al 7 continents, now time to enjoy the cultural aspects of the remote Atlas mountains of Morocco.

Epic Morocco-Part 6

2008-07-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

Asking the driver in Spanish, we figure they have rode on ahead. We drive another 20 minutes and begin to spot the string of riders. Yes…I have caught up with the group. I meet Charlie, owner of Epic Morocco, for the first time and we decided to drive on ahead where I can change from Airplane gear to bicycle gear. Pretty soon, the group meets up with us, I get the Giant hardtail, change over to my crank brothers egg beater pedals and start the micro adjustments. I ride a 03’ Giant VT 1, so I have had great experiences with Giant bicycles.
I have been going since the previous day with 4 hours of airplane sleep, I am now on a bike, riding down the dirt road (warm-up) and for some reason, I am still awake. Starting out at the back of the group, I speak with each member for a bit, then ride up to the next one. In not too long of a time, I am now at the front of the pack on no sleep, not breathing very hard. The 15 weeks of training I had been doing paid off.
We travel around an hour when the group stops on the road side next to one of many road side random stuff for sale. They have fossils, ceramics, and other random trinkets. The SAG vehicles catch up to us for none snickers, nut/dried fruit mix, and water refill. What a nice valley we were above. Charlie informed us that the road ahead was a bit rough and it was ok to walk parts of it. AHHH…a challenge…looking forward to one of these.
The road down was big chunk rock that was a mix of loose rock, water eroded lines, to hard chunk rock with a nice down angle. My brakes weren’t working so well, I kept pulling the right brake and wouldn’t stop as much as I thought I could (I couldn’t even skid the brakes when I tried). I later find out that these bikes were configured like Motorcycles and was grabbing the front brake with my right hand. I soon pass the other group members and get the opportunity to explore the road below. As the tour goes I would zip passed the group, stop, take my camera out and take several pictures. I have included the pictures above.

The best way to describe what I am seeing as going back 200 years.
As we continued to ride into hour 4, dark black clouds started to loom above. Charlie mentioned that if it started to rain, we would need to get out of their quick. Apparently, the road turns into a sticky clay substance that the vehicles and bicycles have a hard time making it to the next stop.
As the clouds loom ahead we ride into….

Epic Morocco-Part 5

2008-07-21T21:10:00.001-07:00

Part 5
I look at the lady and say, pardon me, here is my itinerary, here is the boarding pass your companies agent gave me in JFK, New York, here is my ticket number. I was bumped off two flights to get here. She had 10 other people to deal with, so she told me to wait a minute, while the others went right on through the line and loaded the bus to the tarmac where the airplane was sitting. So I thought, great, I make it all this ways to fall short in Casablanca and miss my tour.
-As the last bus full of people drives away, the lady behind the corner of Royal Air Maroc turns to me, looks at my ticket number, looks it up, does a few things, finds something, then hands me a ticket with a seat and tells me to get on the next bus, I am making the plane!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!
So I am on the plane to Marrakesh…yeah…I am getting to Marrakesh. I land in the plane, get off, and go through a huge empty airport. To a carousel. Well, remember we had 15 minutes to switch planes in Casablanca so there is a good chance I won’t find my luggage. Great…
Then the luggage cart comes around and guess what I see…yeah!!! My luggage I just bought in Minneapolis. I don’t see anywhere to try to see if my other luggage made it so I go through customs which was very straight forward and see a man with a piece of paper with my name on it.
We figure out He doesn’t speak English, I don’t speak French or Arabic, so we decide on Spanish. So I am able to tell him that I have another bag from another airplane that came yesterday. Turns out his French isn’t so good, so here is the funny part. I translate my English to Spanish, speak Spanish to him, he translate that into Arabic to the Customs guy, who talked in French to the other customs guy. They tell me to follow him and he brings me to the claims guy who speaks English. Yeah!!! I tell him my story and hand him my luggage tag (yes they are useful) and he tells me he has it locked up. Wow…I have two pieces of luggage now. But I have to tell the other customs guy down the hall to bring the key.
When I get to the customs guy, I ask in French if anyone speaks English. They get one guy, and I motion and say a key and point to the other guy. They must have understood the international hand symbol for key, because they scrambled around for a couple minutes and produced a key. They open the door and there was my luggage. Kind of sketchy, I get the bag and the guy tells me to have a nice day, doesn’t check the tag or anything.
I walk back through customs with two full luggage sets out to the driver waiting for me, we get in the Land Rover and we are off. To recap, I have slept 4.5 hours 30, I am on my way in a car, speaking to a Moroccan driver in Spanish in Africa and he keeps inserting Arabic words in Spanish which is confusing the daylights out of me. 2 ½ hours later, we go up and over Tishka Pass which is way high~7k feet, where it is now cold, damp, raining and we are going way into the middle of nowhere. We pass many donkeys with goods on their backs being driven on small paths and red, red rock. We keep going, and going, and going. I finally ask him if he knows where he is going and he says yes…of course he would.
We go to the town of Telout, where we were supposed to meet and there was no group….hmmm…the driver then pulls off the road to a 1 lane road where we are looking for the group. We drive for 20 minutes and nothing. This is really weird.

Epic Adventure-Morocco-Part 4

2008-07-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

What!!! There is no way I can get bumped 3 times in one journey. So after 20 minutes and several calls to a supervisor, she kept asking me for my paper ticket. I can’t remember the last time I even saw a paper ticket. Eventually, she found my information through the delta code share number , but my goodness, it was tough. Luckily, she was tri-lingual and spoke English well. I get my ticket and check my bag, and wait in the international terminal in JFK airport. What an international place. I went to get some dinner and it felt awkward to speak English to person behind the counter.
I get on the plane, the pilot gets on the loudspeaker and out comes Arabic, French, then in English. Awesome, finally, I am going to Morocco. It was 10pm, I had 6 ½ hours to try and sleep on the plane before I arrive in Casablanca, switch planes, hop in a transfer vehicle, for several hour ride to meet up with the tour, where I get off the car, hop onto a mountain bike and ride 20 miles.
So I got about 4 hours of random sleep during the flight, we arrive in Casablanca, Morocco around 40 minutes late and have 10 minutes to get to the next flight. Luckily, there are 25 or so of us, so they hold the flight from Casablanca to Marrakesh. Unlike most countries, they keep the planes on the tarmac, then bus you into the terminal. I get off the bus, walk through the terminal, through security, onto the gate for the next flight. I hand the lady behind the counter the ticket they gave me in New York, only to be told, yes you guessed it sorry sir, I do not see you on this flight, do you have a paper ticket. By this time, I could only laugh, because in 5 flight segments, not one went well. I look at the lady, take out my itinerary and say....

Epic Morocco Adventure-Part 3

2008-07-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

An email from Trish owner of Bike Hike Adventures. She had gotten my email at 9pm, made several phone calls, reached Charlie at Epic Morocco, and everything was set up so that I was good to go. Thank goodness…She had called Epic Morocco in Marrakesh, who also made arrangements to have a driver meet me at the airport and take me to the nearest town to meet up with the group.
Bike Hike Adventures (+ 5 answered email at 9pm, called across North America, Altantic, all the way to Africa to set me up to meet up with the tour that I was going to be a day late for.
Epic Morocco (+5 arranging a driver to pick me up at the airport, and drive me to meet the group 2 hours outside of Marrakesh over a high mountain pass).
Yes, finally something was going my way and I was very happy to have researched such great adventure tour companies.
I am all set up to meet up with my tour, only I have no bike helmet, bike jerseys, no sleeping bag…the slightly important stuff. I asked the Hotel staff for outdoor sports stores and they point me to the mall of America. I go online only to find stores like Foot Locker (not really helpful). Just out of curiosity, I look up REI and find one miles in Bloomington, MN next to where I am staying. So I go to the Hotel counter and find they have regular trips scheduled to the Mall of America. After explaining my storing and presenting a map of where REI is, I meet the driver and he gladly agrees to help me achieve my goal of reaching all 7 continents. With my plane leaving at 1300, I had to be at the airport by 1100 (didn’t want to miss this flight). That left me with REI opening at 1000. The driver drops me off at 1000. I have 40 minutes to buy a 20 degree sleeping bag, 2 bike Jerseys, 2 shirts, a pair of shorts, socks to cycle in, bicycle gloves, a Hat, a camelback (or equivalent), 2 pair bike shorts, soap, soap container, first aid kit, and I figured I needed more than 2 pair of underwear for 9 days. To help the shirts and jerseys last longer without stinking, I choose merino wool for a jersey and one shirt, and socks. Well, since REI charges full price for everthing, $800 later and 40 minutes later, I get out of REI meet the shuttle, get to the hotel, load the new stuff in my new bag, and run back out to meet the shuttle and off to the airport.
I check the luggage (with tags still hanging) at the airport and walk through without any problems. Woah…something must be wrong. I get to the to boarding gate, and ask the agent to please verify I still have a seat. I have a seat…woohoo!!!!
Northwest Airlines (Minneapolis-section +1 I have a seat on a flight…finally).
I am told that I need to check in when I get to JFK at Royal Air Moroc Airlines and get that ticket there.
I get on the plane, am in the air without any problems…something was finally going right, I am going to get to Morroco…woohoo! Landing in JFK I had 4 hours, thankfully, because that is one huge airport. Nearly getting lost, I take a train to the right area, and find the Royal Air Moroc counter.
I hand them my passport, she types in the number and says, I sorry sir, I don’t see you on this flight…(until next post)

Epic Journey to Morocco-Part 2

2008-07-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

I get to the gate, only to be told, were sorry sir, you didn’t check in 60 minutes before your flight, we gave away your seat. What!!!! How can that happen? I just got rescheduled through here from getting bumped…I can’t get bumped twice in one trip? Again, this flight was overbooked by 15 people as well, so there was no way I was getting on. By this time, I about gave up…I mean, it was easier to get to Antarctica than to catch 1 blasted flight to Amsterdam. Well, the flight was leaving and I was out of options to get to Marrakesh by Friday night. I should have taken the flight on British Air..hmm..
Well, the Northwest Airlines people behind the counter looked at me and asked me why I was here. I was not so calm this time explaining your Seattle Northwest counter parts involuntarly bumped me in Seattle and routed me through here. The lady behind the counter kept asking me where my checked in Luggage was and she would not/could not accept that my luggage left on the flight that I was not on. She kept saying, that can’t be, that is illegal. After 15 minutes of explaining my story, her supervisor came over, hit a few keys, shook her head and confirmed my luggage was on its way to Amsterdam and told me not to expect my luggage where ever I end up.
Northwest Airlines (minus two--luggage really lost and illegal, and NWA didn’t check me in when I left Seattle dooming me to getting bumped--again).
Now I have been up for 16 hours, it is 9pm, I missed two flights, missing my first night in Marrakesh, not knowing where or when I can get to Marakesh or if I can meet up with my tour.
Having done extensive research on flights, I knew quite a few alternative routes to get to Mararkesh. It was obvious I wasn’t going to get to Marrakesh until Saturday morning. Errrggg!!! We tried, London, Spain, Germany, Amsterdam, France, and finally told them Delta code shares with Royal Air Maroc out of New York. We get that flight all worked out, but I don’t get in until Saturday morning 9am in Marrakesh. The tour leaves before then, but maybe I can meet up with the group. The staff in Minneapolis was really, really helpful, giving me several food vouchers, and also explaining to me that I will not meet up with my luggage for several days.
(Northwest Airlines- Plus 1-finding another route- & a $750 voucher for another flight--not sure if I want to use it at that point).
They give me a hotel room, and find out I am just one of hundreds of others from Northwest that had flight issues that night and were being given rooms. So I call the number they gave me for a hotel and it went to some dude named Fred. He was a little upset I was calling at 2300 about a hotel room.
(Northwest Airlines (minus 0.5-booking at hotel and giving me no phone number of how to get there.)
I stumbled on the hotel shuttle, got on, and randomly, got to talking to several other guys in the van who grew up in the town I now live in and named a co-worker as one of his good friends. Then another lady next to me chimed in, and said, her sister also lives in the same town I live in. Here in Minneapolis at 2300 hours I am in a hotel shuttle with 3 separate people that all know the town I live in. Crazy weird.
I get to the hotel, look up my contact at EPIC MOROCCO (awesome company), but it is like 4am at this time. I emailed my booking company Bike Hike Adventures (awesome company) with my story and asked help contacting Epic Morocco. I also leave a message with EPIC Morocco’s website with my story. It is now midnight, been up for who knows how many hours, don’t know if Northwest Airlines will come through and actually get me to Marakesh, don’t know how to meet up, or if I can meet up with my tour group, don’t know where to get a bike helmet or other bike gear, don’t know if the Mall of America will open in time for me to get to the airport. Pretty much a mess, tired and can’t figure out what more to do, and go to bed.
I wake up around 0530 wide awake, go to check my email and find….

Epic journey to get to Morocco-Part 1

2008-06-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Leaving Seattle.
Arrived at Seatac Airport 2 ½ hours early, checked into the flight, without a seat assignment. I was told to check in at the gate to get my seat assignment. I stopped for lunch, and arrived at the gate around 30 minutes, to find a line of 25 people who were also awaiting seat assignments. Yes, 25 others that were sold an oversold flight. I will name Northwest Airlines as the airline for the following events. Where they did good, I will try to convey that, and also identify where I was disappointed.
About 3 minutes before the flight was to leave, I was called up to the counter and told two people didn’t show so I had a seat. Just then two people came running and screaming at the counter to let them on. There went my seat. As I heard the annoucement that the airplane doors were closing, I knew I was getting bumped non-voluntary. I asked the counter to get my luggage off the flight since I was not on it. I was told by the supervisor at that gate, my luggage was not coming off the plane, and sure enough, the gate pulled away without me, but with my luggage. I was later told in Minneapolis, that that was illegal and if anyone in the TSA reading this can clarify, comment on my blog and I will get back to you with any information you need. I was also told not to expect to see my luggage in Marrakesh until I get there, make a claim and several days later it may arrive. No bike helmet, no bike shorts, only 1 bike jersy…not good for a 200 mile MTB trip in 7 days.
Northwest Airlines score (minus 2, no seat, luggage adrift).
I decided to use the lunch voucher they gave me to cool off, knowing I missed my flight before the negoiation began for the next part of the journey. I got back to the counter and told them the offer to put me on a flight the next day was unacceptable. Having done flight research, I gave them 4 options. We found Seattle to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Amsterdam where I would catch up with my luggage and catch the same flight to Casablanca. The only problem, the Seattle to Minneapolis flight was also grossly oversold. The other flight was from Seattle To London, London to Marrakesh, arrive same day as before, no luggage. We tried for the Mineapolis flight. 3 minutes to leaving, the flight had 5 seats oversold, but the TSA shut down all flights from leaving for some incident. When they opened, the had 2 opened seats, I walked on with the flight attendant and a lady wanting to be bumped. Well, there was only 1 seat and she volunteered to be bumped and was directly told by the lady at the counter my flight ticket would be updated. Now I am on the plane to Minneapolis, and going to meet up with my luggage.
Northwest Airlines score ( plus 1, alternate flight found and on a plane).
Our flight from Seattle to Minneapolis was late getting in so I only had 30 minutes to get to the next terminal. I scurry from the plane to the next plane ( I had no checked luggage at this time). I get to the gate, only to be told (wait for the next post):
Next post: The next obstacle:

Paris Take 2

2008-06-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Well, here is the second installment of Paris as I talked about. The giant light in the pictures is from the top of the Effiel tower at night. All pictures were freehand (my tripod broke in Morocco). The third top picture is the elevator shaft for the first elevator going up to the first stop on the effiel tower.

Once the Euro-Dollar difference comes down, I would love to return to Paris and explore the city more. Stayed in Hotel Malar. ~117 euro a night. You get a bed, bathroom, a safe place to stay, and you are right next to Eiffel tower and Palace Invalides. Easy walking distance to everywhere. Don't expect a jumbo room, but you get a comfortable bed. Skip the breakfast there as there are many cafes within 5 minutes serving all sorts of food.

-When traveling to Paris, from CDG airport, take the Rossi-bus downtown to either to Opera or adjcent places. IT is only 8.50 euro or so and gets you really close to anywhere you are staying. Take a taxi from there or take the local buses to your final destination. Otherwise, it cost me ~55 euro to get from a hotel to the airport with no traffic on the way home (I was really tired so it was worth it).

Paris

2008-06-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Todays post is on Paris from the Eiffel tower at night. These pictures are probably the most unique night shots I have captured. The Pentax K-10D has a neat feature that opens the mirror, but delays the shutter from opening for 2 seconds, which allows for freehand night shots with limited blur when you don't have a tripod (no blur from shutter button press). This is part 1 of the series.

I have to give Pentax props for making such a rugged camera (K10D). From 20F horizontal snow in Antarctica, to 90F with 90% humidty at Iguazu falls, to 7000feet in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, to over 100F in the blowing sandy Sahara of Morocco, this camera has really done an amazing job and continues to be reliable after 7000 pictures.

Mike

Hope you enjoy.

Marrakesh

2008-05-31T21:37:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I am posting on Marrakesh tonight. From Snake Charmers, to Monkeys doing tricks, to Guys with dancing chickens on their heads to music, the Jemma al Fna was one wacky place. On Sunday night the place comes alive with thousands of people. Out of nowhere come vendors serving vats of steamed snails, to dates, to music, to you name it they served it. Yes those are real snakes and yes that is a real cobra. They have the funky flute music playing for the cobra to stand up. If I had to listen to that music all day, I would be grumpy like that snake as well!

Enjoy,

Mike

Morocco Pictures

2008-05-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Hope you enjoy a few more pictures of the Moroccan Sarah. Note, the scorpions tail.

Mike

7 Continents in 9 years

2008-05-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

I DID IT!!!! Just got back From Morocco, completing my goal set in July of 1999, while doing Hurricane Relief work in Nicaragua with Seattle Pacific University, to reach all 7 continents on one passports. --Woohoo! Though it was more difficult to reach 2 connecting flights to get to Morocco than it was to arrive in Antarctica...more to come...claim with airline pending.

Yes, the guy on the donkey cart is yaking on his cell phone.

Here are a few pictures I just scanned through. None actually mtbing yet, but hope you enjoy.

Mike

Posting

2008-05-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in pôsting...internet connection not good at the moment. Keep checking for posting soon.

Mike

Post

2008-05-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Still updating....no time for a picture this post.

The missing piece was retrieved when arrived.

2008-05-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day!...

So Washingtons ski season continues this weekend at Alpental. Mid 40's and 115 inches of snow, what an amazing day. The first sign of earth shown today on the slopes. Moguls had amazing lines. 7 Months of lift assisted Skiing this year...wow!

On the way back, I stoped back at Tiger Mountain to mountain bike. I rode hard on the way up, passing a couple people, and stopped to take pictures on the way down. Autostitch.net program is amazing. The First picture is actually 3 pictures wide and 2 pictures high. I just highlighted the photos and hit stitch, and it stacked the pictures and put them up.

May 2nd-Alpental Ski 1/2 day --12 Mile Tiger Mtn Bike

2008-05-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

What an awesome weekend. Spent Friday night a Spring-o-rama with the Royal Rangers (great organization).

(Updated) Alpental is still open for skiing. They had 126 inch base and 196 at the top-yes this May. Forget the rock skis, there are sections open that I couldn't ski last year throughout the whole year and now I can. No bare spots and awesome corn snow. The temp was 58 degrees and nice and warm. The costume contest had the Lesiure Suit comeback, cows, pirates, poncho toting thugs, even a waiter carrying a silver tray, martini glass, with the full tux. What a crazy day. Alpental is open next weekend as well. That would make 7 months of skiing.

Went up Tiger Mountain on my mountain bike. I had to turn around just shy of East Tiger summit due to 3 feet of snow on the road. For those who know this area, it is not that high and it is unusal to see snow in early March, let alone MAY!!!

Tribute to the Seagull

2008-04-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

(Updated)-Look at the second picture. With a 300mm zoom, I took a series of rapid fire (3fps) and happened to catch the seagull letting loose. Good catch Kathy.

Hi Guys, Made it to the Dungeness Lighthouse today. Approx 11.5 miles round trip. I focused on seagulls on this post. As pesky as these critters are, they sure do keep the beach clean.

Enjoy.

Mike

Sequim Washington-Flowers

2008-04-20T19:46:00.001-07:00

Per Kathy's (Fellow Antarctica Adventurer) request, I added some photos of flowers around my house. Unfortunaly, during the daffidol ride last weekend, all the daffidols in the valley ended up on the floats, so there were very few along the bike ride.

Dungeness Recreation area: Sometimes you just need to get out of the house. I parked next to these bluffs and read a book...after I ran 8 miles earlier. On the way there, the clouds opened up and snowed/hailed and turned the road completly white. Hmm...isn't it April at 50ft above sea level...and snow...

The other picture is my favorite greasy spoon resturant "Fat Smitty's" in Discovery, Bay WA. This place is maybe 5 feet above sea level and yes, it was snowing. I had a friend tell me he was looking forward to global warming so it would finally change to spring in Washington.

The Tulip Festival this year had snow as a feature on the main parade route. Wierd weather.

The base depth at Snoqualmie jumped up again this week. Alpental is up to 130 inches and top went up to over 200 inches. They plan to stay open on weekends until Cinco de Mayo...I think I know where I will be.

Email

2008-04-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

If you know my email address @mikewaring.com, please email me. I lost all contacts when I switched servers, so I no longer have your email address. -Thanks

Last Day at Crystal Mountain

2008-04-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Here is a panorama stitched together from the top of the Northway Lift Access to North Backcountry at Crystal Mountain. Using the by hand frame of reference, I got a little off, but really gives you an idea of how expansive the area is. I had a little hang time in the other picture.

Getting closer to getting in shape. Rode 84 miles, Ran 15 this week. Hope to reach >100 miles on bike in two weeks.

http://www.mikewaring.com/ is back up as well as my email address there. For now, the website points to this blog.

Glad I was not in Iguazu Falls last month. Sounds like Dengue Fever spread pretty quick in the Rio Provence of Brazil. I know Foz de Iguazu isn't too far from Rio (at least by plane). Amazing what mosquitos can spread.

Melchior Island

2008-04-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys

Here are a few more pictures of the Melchior Islands. We went out in Zodiaks around 9pm. What a great place.

Other note: Skiing at Crystal Mountain was amazing on Saturday. Temperature was around 60 and some serious corn snow. The new Northway lift in the backcountry opened up an enormous amount of steep terrain. Well done. The daffidol festival 40 miles bicycle ride was quite nice this morning. Averaged 17.8 mph with hills and wind so I'm getting in shape for the Atlas Mountains.

7th Contintent

2008-04-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

A litte more than a month until I reach Contintent 7, Mountain biking across the Atlas Mountians of Morroco. I did a 20 mile mountain bike race today as a training ride. I am pleased. I am starting where I left off when I raced in the 2005 Indie Series. We all all sorts of weather except snow...wacking weather today. Great course, twisty, muddy, sandy, hardpack, nasty slippery corners and a 2ft drop within the first 1/4 mile. The South Seatac course is excellent.

I am 85% done with my DVD of Antarctica. I have music and a slideshow/movie, but need to edit the chapter titles. Getting closer. Hope to have it done prior to going to Morocco.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T18:13:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of a recent trip to the Theler Wetlands in Belfair. Enjoy

mikewaring.com

2008-03-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Update: My webhosting service is calling it quits for mikewaring.com. Which means this site will have to be access from mikewaring.blogspot.com until I get another web hosting service set up. I have until mid April. I am keeping www.mikewaring.com though and hope to have a smooth transition to continue my email address @mikewaring.com.

On a side note, my next adventure is going to be with Bike Hike Adventures www.bikehike.com Mountain biking in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco which completes my goal of stepping foot on all 7 Continents.

I tried to put together a side trip to Timbukto, however there is a reason it is known for being way out in the middle of nowhere. Something about 20~40 hours on an Africa bus in the desert that needs a little more planning that hop-a-flight places. If anyone has experience getting to Timbukto, Mali please let me know.

If I got to Timbukto sometime, then I would have to go to outter Mongolia next to complete the way out of the way places.

Antarctica Bergs

2008-03-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

With such an amazing beauty around you all the time while in Antarctica, going to eat could cost you seeing 4 whales go by the boat, ice bergs with penguin tracks on the, the sun peaking out revealing amazing glacieated peaks all around. Though I always looked forward to the 3 course amazing meals, it was hard to take in the beauty of Antarctica in 5 short days on down there. The days actualy had 23hours of daylight and 1 hour of alpenglow before sunrise.

Neko Harbor Antarctica

2008-03-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

Neko Harbor. What an awesome place. The sun came out, mid 50's, and Antarctica showed its sun glazed glory. Hiking up to this point, we saw a small chunk of ice calf off the glacier. The wave was only a couple of feet, but based on the giant chunks of ice way up the beach, you could tell there were several giant ice chunks calf off. Enjoy

Southern Argentina

2008-03-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Tierra Del Fuego. Enjoy

Stitched Antarctica Photos

2008-02-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more stitched photos. I went a little crazy and stitched 33 photos together. The photo came out long and skinny, but shows how far you could see down there.

Signs (Updated)

2008-02-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

(Updated): The Caution Feet crossing sign comes from Cairns, Australia.

Only outside a Tavern in Sekiu Washington would you find a sign like this.

Enhanced Photos-Antarctica

2008-02-23T19:26:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of photos I "enhanced" to bring the colors out a little more. I welcome feed back.

Anza-Borrego Desert, California

2008-02-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

(Updated)--Thanks for the heads up on spelling Pat. Sorry about that. I am amazed I got a response less than 24 hours after posting.

Be on the lookout for Road Runner birds...they do exist.

Borrego Springs: What an awesome place. Never knew the desert could be soo beautiful. Recommendations when visiting: The visitors center is amazing. Fonts point is really nice early in the morning. The slot is such a cool place. The water has carved out deep canyons in the desert floor making for a neat hike. These photos were taken before the Fall 2007 Fires in San Diego. Get directions to these places from the visitor center. The slot is a 6 inch by 12 inch sign and hard to find. When they say a 2WD vechile road vs a 4wd road take them at their word. If you are comming from San Diego, make sure to stop by the town of Julian for some yummy Apple Pie.

Whalers Bay-Deception Island-Antarctica

2008-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a panaroma of Whalers Bay, Deception Island, Antarctica. The blured rock was intentional. Keep in mind that is a 100 meter ship in the middle. This photo was stitched using http://www.autostitch.net. These guys are good.

Alpental

2008-02-14T18:41:00.001-08:00

Here are a few shots of Alpental over the Christams Break. One of the few days this year the top has been cloud free. When these pictures were taken, they had a 80 inch base. This morning, this same location had 189" base. That is a lot of snow.

Lots-O-SNOW

2008-02-14T18:35:00.001-08:00

These Photos wwere taken last week up at snoqualmie pass. Note the semi-truck and the snow piles to the left of the truck. The other photo is in the parking lot. That is a full size passenger bus. Soo much snow. We could be skiing on Cinco-De-Mayo.

Valentines Day

2008-02-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day fellow Blog readers.

My internet connection is on the fritz and have several pictures ready to post up here, so look for them soon.

Snoqualmie pass was buried in snow. All but just the top of the chevron station sign was completely covered by snow. The drifts in the parking lots dwarf semi-trucks. Really deep snow. On the flip side, it was 34 degrees, rained for 2 days, the snow froze, thawed, froze, thawed, rained, so off groomed slopes were as difficult as I have ever seen. The lifts are being dug out so the chairs don't drag on the snow.

Too much snow...can't ski

2008-02-08T21:57:00.001-08:00

It hurts me to say this, but for the second week in a row, I can't go skiing because too much snow has fallen. Ouch...so hard to say this. The passes have completly shut down due to such high avalance danger, but when you get 9~10 feet in two weeks, I guess slides can happen. Here is a link to a really great ski school: www.alpinewestskischool.com. It is located at Check out www.summitatsnoqualmie.com for snow conditions.

Petermann Island

2008-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

These photos were taken from Petermann Island. We arrived here just after crossing the Lemaire Channel. The Penguin picture looking at me was taken at less than 4 foot distance. I had to turn my Marco setting on my 300mm lens. I fell in a snow hole, and the Penguin fell and slid right next to me. This day I think I went through a 2GB chip between Lemaire Channel, Petermann Island, and Port Lockroy (Snowy). I had a case of Natural Mountianous Beauty overload. Gods Creation is simply beautiful.

Melchior Islands

2008-02-03T17:20:00.001-08:00

Melchior Islands--What an amazing place. Enjoy a few sample photos. More to come

Ice-Bergs-Penguins-Glaciers-Humpback whales

2008-02-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

This picture has it all; Humpback whales, Ice bergs, Huge Glaciers, and penguins (seen on the ice berg). They are the litle black specks --Enjoy.

Penguin Hysteria

2008-01-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

"And the Islands are like the ice, they're nice, but they ain't squat without penguins," Frank Todd. -Thanks Kathy for helping me give credit to the right person.

Neko Harbour

2008-01-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

Neko Harbour. What a beautiful place. We really had a treat on the last continental landing where it was super warm...mid 40's~50's which felt hot...and no wind. The sun was out and you could see for miles. The snow was fresh from the night before almost purifying the snow of all traces.

Almirante Brown Station

2008-01-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple photos from Almirante Brown Station (Continental Antarctica) and Paradise Harbour Enjoy

New Feature

2008-01-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

On the left of the page you will notice a world map with little dots. Those little dots represent locations where people have visited this blog. --Still have more photos to come.

Joy of Painting

2008-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

In Neko Harbor, this scene reminded me of the guy from "Joy of Painting" on PBS. Lets just give this bergy bite another friend right here. We will use a little soft white and let the berg just slightly be seen underwater. There now he has a friend.

Leopard Seal

2008-01-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the leopard seal that followed our boat around. These guys were pretty mean. This one tried to bite our zodiak on several ocastions

Perspective

2008-01-18T19:27:00.001-08:00

I call this picture Perspective. When you think you are big...

A few More Photos

2008-01-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

I finally got off graveyard and was able to go through a few more pictures: Enjoy. THe first picture is of the Lamire Channel..a must. The second photo is of the Orlova at the Melchior Islands. In Drakes passage, the waves were above the deck of the gangway. Gives some perspective to the size of the waves.
The third picture is of the penguin that is looking at me in the about me photo on the left.

Antarctica Post Card

2008-01-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Jan 16: Recieved the post card I sent myself from Port Lockroy Antarctica. I got to hand it to the British to be able to get a post card from 64 degrees south lattitdue all the way up here. Attached is a picture of Port Lockroy. This picture was taken around 2300 (11pm).

Photos

2008-01-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the delay in posting more pictures. My orginal count of 1600 pictures was a little off. I am actually just shy of 3,250 photos to go through. I am about 1/2 way done and am getting around a 25~30% of good photo to photos taken percentage which is far higher than I orginally thought.

Just learned I can upload my photos to Picassa and link it to my blog. Look for that in the future once I go through my photos.

Odd Iceberg

2008-01-01T11:13:00.001-08:00

I took a picture of this Iceberg as we approched the South Shetland Islands. I believe this is what on land is known as a blow hole, but not sure what to call in on an Ice-berg. Bizare but beautiful.

More Photos

2008-01-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

This was a beautiful day in Neko Harbor. I attempted to make a black and white type image from 8 pictures stitched together. Note the 100 meter ship in the middle...it looks like a spec.

The next image was from Deception Island, Whalers Bay.

I like to title the last image penguin squawk.

2007-12-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

At the request of many, I am starting to slowly post some pictures. Attached is a quick sample of the grand nature of Antarctca. The mountain in the background was several thousand feet above sea level.

The Second Picture is in Neko Harbor, Antarctica

Penguins

2007-12-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

I have a lot of pictures to sort through. Approx 1600 to be realistic. I am going to try and narrow it down to the top 150. I am working to figure out where to throw an alblum here. Looks prettty easy to do, I just got to sit down and hammer all the photos out.

Attached is a picture of Gentoo penguin.

Dec 22

2007-12-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

Sat Dec 22nd.

Woke up at 7am. Hoped on a taxi to Iguazu falls park, arrived around 0815. Explored park on the green train and upper circuit. Caught the 1220 public bus bak to Iguazu city. Changed cloths, took a taxi to the airport, arriving around 1330 (0830 PST) Dec 22nd. From that point I was in a airport/layover/taxi/airplane until 1700 (5PM) on Sunday 23rd...roughly 30 hours...that was too long.

Completly wore myself out...and it was worth it.

Side note: Wool shirts are awesome for travel. I spent the equivalent of 6 days wearing that shirt...

IGUAZU Falls

2007-12-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

Though I spent only 22 hours in IGUAZU falls, It truely is a 7th wonder of the world. To see one water fall 1/4 mile wide is pretty spectcular, but to see 270 individual waterfalls comming off of one river joining 3 countries is breathtaking.

The Argentina Side gets you up close and personal with the smaller individual waterfalls on the lower half but still gets you to devils throat for the giant waterfall.

The Brazil Side, which I would like to see next time, gives a much bigger panaromaic view of the entiriey of the waterfalls over the several kilometers they are spread out.

The Buenos Aires accent drops once you get out to Puerto Iguazu and I could speak with the cab drivers and finally understand spanish again. It is like learning CNN english then being dropped off in the middle of New Orleans or Boston.

Public transportation for Iguazu Park back into the city of Puerto Iguazu was quite an experience. The group behind me started in spanish, switched to Portuguese, then switched to french for a converstation. I got dropped off in what I later found out was the city center, but at the time, had no clue where I was. I saw all these signs for Foz de Iguazu (Brazil) and Uraguay and arrows and got nervous, not sure which country I was in anymore. A quick cab ride brought me back to the hotel where I met a South African Guy that was on he Antarctic Cruise with. What a small world to hear someone call your name as you walk into the hotel.

The weather is tropical. Mid 90's during the day and maybe getting to 80 at night. That also brought out the bizarre bugs and wacky sounds adjcent to the jungle. Eat lunch in the park an a 2ft lizard walked around the corner and tried to join me(I hope not eat me).

Princess Bride fans...yes they had Rodents of Unusual Size. They also have a problem with Guiney pigs. They look like giant rats without tails. Bizare.

Want to get back to this place in the world and spend at least 3 days 2 nights here to really see the place.

Big-Mac

2007-12-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

Santiago, Chille = 1.50 US

Buenos Aires, AR = 1.25 US

As a consumer price index, I like to trac the price of a big mac.

These McDonalds are so fancy...WIFI, internet cafe, classy lounge furniture.

Antarctica

2007-12-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

To be afforded teh opportunity to gaze upon the glaciated peaks, to watch flocks of penguins porpoise like dolphins in ice-slurried waters was truely a blessing. A place so cold and inhosbitable in the winter provides and infectious beauty that is beyond words. To watch teh sun go behnid the horizon at 0030 in the morning and watch the glow of the mountian tops never to get dark is somthing I will never forget.

Even in a lan thought by man to be inhosbitable, God still created a magestic land filled with undiscovered adventures. To take a panaroma picture off the stbd of the vessel, it took 21 pictures to capture the mountain ranges, only to be left with an equal amount of vast mountainous expanse equal off the port side does not do the grand nature of Antarctica justice.

All those words to say WOW...what amazing place.