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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 23, 2013 - 02:20pm PT
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Tad, after Sacramento I needed to beeline it to the mountains, so we headed for Lassen for a couple days. I wasn't sure what to expect there, but it was beautiful!
Lassen Peak was closed for trail work (Closed? The whole freakin' mountain?) so we did the whole tourist circuit and a bunch of lesser stops to avoid the crowds.
This was on the day of our 26th wedding anniversary. We had honeymooned in Yellowstone/Tetons, so I guess our long term marriage has something to do with blowing off steam.
We swam in one of the lakes. "Isn't that cold?" "No, we're from New Hampshire."
More to come; we're now off to explore our own "Private Idaho" in Boise.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 23, 2013 - 02:34pm PT
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The Earth - what a great place to be - as caught by your camera... TFPU!
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ladyscarlett
Trad climber
SF Bay Area, California
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Jul 24, 2013 - 03:48am PT
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Pretty cool!
Was fun hanging around with you, next time, we gotta find a climb where you have to bring out that hex you keep talking about ;)
Cheers
LS
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10b4me
Ice climber
Middle-of-Nowhere, Arizona
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Jul 24, 2013 - 10:51am PT
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This is a a great tr. can't wait to read more of it.
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 25, 2013 - 01:14am PT
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More catching up from the end of our swing through Cali...
When Googling "Lassen" I stumbled upon a description of four legendary obsidian mines near Lassen Creek in the Modoc NF. They were located on gravel or natural surface roads anywhere from 4.8 miles in (5000 feet elevation) to 11.8 miles in (over 7k elevation). The descriptions and directions were poor, the wife was skeptical, and I was amped. We had to do it.
The first day involved driving up from Lassen NP to the Modoc NF, then getting a permit for recreational mining at the Field Office. Finding the gravel road from our meager maps was hard, but we pulled the RV in 5.3 miles to a nice, undeveloped Forest Service campground on the tiny Lassen Creek. It had a pit toilet and nothing else, and the "We'll resupply at the next town" attitude on the way up left us with scant water and provisions, but we had enough food to avoid eating the dogs.
That afternoon we spent 3 hours at the "Rainbow Mine" and collected some beautifully colored stone, mostly black with green highlights if struck along the right axis.
On the way in my wife had been lowering my expectations, based on previous experiences with amethyst and tourmaline mines back East, but all for naught. I'd never seen so much "target" stone lying everywhere. We easily could have collected 50 lbs in 15 minutes just from other people's trailings, but it was more fun to dig in the pit walls.
We dug until our backs were sore and then returned to the camper for rations of leftovers from the back of the tiny fridge.
Next morning we drove back out to the paved road, then 10 miles on that, to another single width gravel maze of roads in search of the "Pink Lady" mine. 11.8 miles in and at just over 7000 feet in elevation, it was listed as the hardest to access and find. It was all that, but after 1 1/2 hours of explorations we found it.
The rough stones here were best found by digging pits only 1-2 feet deep.
At this point we were only interested in obsidian with hints of color. Found some!
And finally, the "Pink Lady" began revealing some of her namesake undies.
By midday we decided to drive back toward the highway and find the "Obsidian Needles" mine that we had bypassed on the way in. The size of the tailings here was ridiculous, and it was no problem picking out the rare needles of volcanic glass, presumably only found at 2-3 mines in the world.
The place was also chock full of mahogany obsidian, which appealed to the woodworker in me.
When the sun had taken its toll on the back of our necks, we drove back the 20+/- miles to camp, picking up a shard of the razor sharp stone and getting a slow leak in a front tire. It lasted until we got back before having to "retire" for the evening with car jacks, lug nuts, canned chicken breast, and a can of soup.
The next morning was Sunday, and we limped the spare-less truck and RV over the Oregon border where we found a guy who was willing to open up his tire shop just for us, patch the original tire and replace the leaky stem valve on the spare, and only charge us $25 to do it. It was a nice welcome to Oregon, probably undeserved, but greatly appreciated.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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Jul 25, 2013 - 04:44am PT
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modoc is sweet country.
north-eastern california is
a rarely visited gem.
thanks edge.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Jul 25, 2013 - 07:07am PT
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Hey Edge,
I'm glad your both having a great time!
My son and I sent H.D. and I'm off to the Wind Rivers in a few weeks, to enjoy some less humid weather, like you guys are having.
I really enjoyed the obsidian photo's. My first hobby was mineral collecting.
Best, Steve
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Jul 25, 2013 - 09:46am PT
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Ball the Jack!
What a great road trip!
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perswig
climber
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Jul 25, 2013 - 04:47pm PT
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He's the genuine article! As real as can be. Fit and strong, a good and confident climber. He even took a grounder and laughed it off. He can clearly out climb me and I feared my duffer routes would bore him.
There's been quiet and respectful use of the descriptive "sandbag" over some of the new routing he and his fellows have done back here in the NE. Continuing a proud local tradition, old-school style.
Dale
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jul 31, 2013 - 08:16pm PT
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cool to see some SPH love on the great adventure!
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STEEVEE
Social climber
HUMBOLDT, CA
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I'm new to this forum and I think I found some inspiration.
I breathe in the Edge and call out his name for he is true and his path is heart and his dogs are pretty f*&king cute too.
Thanks Edge!
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2013 - 11:14pm PT
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Thanks everyone for the kind words and comments.
Dingus, I thoroughly enjoyed climbing with you and Sasha at Sonora Pass! It was a fun, low pressure day of adventure, laughs, and I would gladly rope up with either of you again should the opportunity arise.
Perswig wrote:There's been quiet and respectful use of the descriptive "sandbag" over some of the new routing he and his fellows have done back here in the NE. Continuing a proud local tradition, old-school style.
Can I plead the fifth here? I'm not sure who is slandering my good name (or what's left of it...), but after 36 years of climbing I grade 'em as I see 'em. If people want to reach a different consensus they will still be the same grade for me. What else can I say?
Anywho, after our obsidian adventures in Modoc we bee lined it through SW Oregon and into Boise, which my wife had an interest in checking out. I knew nothing of the area so I joined a couple fellow explorers in asking Chief Twisted Hair for beta.
We hiked and biked the River path, kicked around downtown a bit, and floated 6 miles of the Boise River on rented inner tubes.
We escaped the city after two nights, and headed for Craters of the Moon. I had blitzed through here on my way to the Valley some 30 years ago and wanted to spend more than a couple hours checking it out with my main squeeze.
It was a fun diversion, but the mountains and trees were calling and we needed to answer. Our trip funds were starting to wane and my wife was showing signs of road trip burn-out, so reluctantly we skipped potential trips to Glacier NP, which neither of us had visited before, and the Tetons/Yellowstone where we had honeymooned 26 years prior. Our new route turned south towards the Wasatch Front.
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 4, 2013 - 11:57pm PT
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I'd never visited the cities around the Great Salt Lake; my only Utah experiences had been in the high deserts of the southern part of Utah. I found our two nights in Brigham City to be "weird." Can't explain how, but this New Hampshire Yankee in King Young's Court felt out of place.
I had pinched a nerve in my back from all of the driving, and the symptoms that had showed up in Sacramento had progressed to shooting pains down my whole left leg from ass to calf. Climbing was out of the question, but hiking only hurt so we decided to check out Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. It was a rare overcast day which kept the crowds down, and the dogs were able to accompany us.
So with that being quite enough, we bought some fresh fruit and picked a short drive to Park City for the next evening. We managed to catch a craft fair at the ski area on Sunday afternoon and ate Vietnamese food (delicious, and no one else was there) before camping near the banks of the Provo river. I had contemplated breaking out my fly rod, but the "Blue Ribbon Trout Stream" designation meant that the river caught more fishermen than the fishermen caught trout. I had no interest in shoehorning myself into that mass of humanity.
As a consolation, I explored a soupy marsh stream side and saw four Sandhill crane, who I watched for a half hour or so. First I'd ever seen, and I was amazed when I first stumbled upon them, all of 4+ foot high!
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 5, 2013 - 12:41am PT
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I still have a lot of catching up to do, now that I finally have reliable 3G; my apologies for the glut of posts.
Near the start of our trip in Late June we made the decision to skip Canyonlands and Arches due to the extended 100* heat wave and went to the slightly cooler Lake Powell and the E Rim of Zion. Now, however, it seemed right off if our path towards I-70 so we lined up three nights at a campground in Moab. I had been to Moab once in 1984, during which I spent two nights in Fringe of Death Canyon at Indian Creek. We had climbed Supercrack, then put up a FA in Fringe of Death, plus 3/4 of another FA which we had to bail off of. I wanted to go back to Indian Creek, but it was still hot and not being able to climb we opted to do the touristy thing at Island in the Sky.
First stop was Mesa Arch.
I knew enough that you weren't supposed to climb on the arches, but this one only required walking, albeit 975' straight over Buck Canyon. In retrospect, it probably wasn't worth freaking out the elderly onlookers.
Crater Dome was a nice hike, and the previous night's thunderstorms had left small pothole pools perfect for an ephemeral graffiti sesh.
I had wanted to take the Tundra down the Shafer Path Trail all the way to Moab, but my passenger vetoed me due to the patched tire courtesy of our obsidian mining mishap.
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Edge
Trad climber
New Durham, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 6, 2013 - 12:45pm PT
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Tad, you got it, there are pros and cons.
Pros: traveling with two dogs, we needed the extra space. My wife didn't want to sleep in a tent for 3 months, and the full size bed is nice, particularly with the pillow top cover we added. There is lots of space for storage and feels like luxury when we are parked. Set up takes about 10 minutes and is no big deal even in a rain, of which we have had virtually none.
Cons: my wife is still a nervous wreck riding shotgun when we are towing. The fact that I manoevered it down Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona with no issues was a minor miracle; it pays to plan your travel routes well in advance. It can be challenging finding gas stations big enough to pull through, but really not an issue so far. I honestly don't know how the bigger rigs, which seem to be most of them, manage. Our biggest expenses by far are gas and RV parks. We have been getting around 10 MPG, or 200 miles on a $75-85 fill-up on average (to date we are just under 10K miles on this trip.) RV parks are anywhere from $27.50 - $42; it pays to enroll in both KOA and Good Sam Club. You will make up the small initial fee after 3 nights. Independent campgrounds tend to be cheaper, as are sites with only water & electric. You can always dump the waste water somewhere on site and we can usually go three days before those tanks are filled. National Park/Forest sites are beautiful and really cheap, but usually do not have electric, or often water. If it is hot you will want electric to run the AC.
This has been a magical trip in many ways, but now that we are in the Front Range of Colorado and about to look for jobs and a new home, we will be looking to sell the RV. Any future camping trips will be much smaller in scale and we have always been fine with a tent or sleeping in the cap on the back of the truck.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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AWESOME! The adventure continues!
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