Hiking

Big Virginia

Adventures of Ass Reaper

For the past few years I have been spending Labor Day weekend up at my friend Nick’s house with my fellow P.I.C. (partner in crime) RyGy. We spend the weekend playing on the lake, causing havoc to our hosts and corrupting any individuals that we can find. The holiday weekend is then followed by a few days camping on the Kern River, more specifically Peppermint Creek, were there are some nice natural pools, plenty of sunshine and an entire campground to ourselves… until this year.

Enter Ass Reaper; seen here overlooking his minion, in an undated photo.

RyGy and I are still trying to figure out who invited this guy; he showed up somewhere between Lake Clementine and the campground, some +300 miles of highway, started causing trouble and is one photo ham!

We first noticed Ass Reaper when we headed down to our favorite pool where he decided to perch up on our radio.

I think he took a liking to RyGy. We laughed thinking this dude was a cool new addition to our annual trip, but that only lasted for a few hours. I think he spent that time learning our routines, dislikes and conspiring with his cohorts. Yeah that’s right… I now know that this guy has all sorts of friends (demons) in high places.

The first time Ass Reaper struck me was after taking care of some personal business, I was attached by branch that left a scratch on my forehead. I would not have thought much about it, but in less than 24 hours, RyGy too was also attacked and received a scratch on his forehead. Coincidence… I think not!

See he looks so nice and innocent here, but when RyGy and I were playing disc golf, we both had our worst games. My arm and shoulder was so sore I could not throw straight or for any distance; not that wakesurfing had to do with my soreness/weakness.

Ass Reaper was also known to call up the smoke demons who caused chaos in our camp when trying to eat and relax!

He even tried to buddy up with my truck, but luckily I had protection… thanks Masa!

As the camping trip wound down Ass Reaper continued to rear his ugly head, but we were able to survive with no major injuries or mishaps… maybe just a bit of our pride!

But the story does not end there, oh no! Ass Reaper snuck aboard my truck. I found him shortly after getting home but I was fortunate to pawn him off to my brother. Shortly there after Ass Reaper was at it again this time causing my brother to trip and fall into a sliding glass door. The outcome: my brother cut his nose and stubbing his toe.

So let this be a lesson to you all, if you find a cute bottle of hot sauce at a country store, be afraid, very afraid!

Chorro Grande

What a warm one today... but not too bad hopping on at 9am

Headed up the 33 to Chorro Grande; this takes you up from the 33 to just west of Reyes Peak. The end is actually on the Reyes Peak road, just after the last campgrounds.

+5 miles (+10 rt) and climbing over 3000 it treated my body like playdough.

I love Ventura County... so much diverse landscape. Start off in really dry meadow and they you are soon climbing up into short shrub and ravines.

This is looking back at Hwy 33 and beyond.

One of many plants that survive the the desert like microclimate. But that shortly leads into the pine forest that we have in our backyard. Awesome.

Not the best picture, but the best I took today. I can tell when I have enter pines from that musty earth smell the decomposing pine needles.

At the top time for a quick snack and then time to descend!

-

where have you been?

The past few months have been a whirlwind of travel, food, sun, lots of work and some fun... post to come!

DIVORCE AGREEMENT 2009

(Very funny!)

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU, and abortion clinics. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell...

We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks, and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.
We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand and Jane Fonda with you.

A day outside Tokyo

As with most of my business trips where I am in a city for more than a week, I try and find something to do outside of that city. And since I love to hike what better way of experiencing Japan than to get outside Tokyo and seeing some nature!

After some searching on the Internet I was able to find some information about local hikes and trails in English (http://sakeandkimono.blogspot.com/2009/05/get-drunk-bit-after-hiking.html and Day walks near Tokyo) The goal: Three Peaks of Takamizu.

The day started of on a two hour train ride heading west of central Tokyo to a small town called Mitake. Most of the ride was just travelling through the seemingly never ending neighborhoods, but with only a few miles to go you start to head into the mountains and the views are amazing.

Takamizu Route

Trail Profile

After getting my bearings at Mitake Station I head out to the trail. Almost immediately you enter the cypress forest and the climb does not stop for a while.

The first peak, which I bypassed, is Mt. Sōgaku where a shrine is also located. I decided to keep going on to the other peaks. The trail soon became less demanding, but still provided a good workout and it was not long before I was at the next peak, Mt. Iwatakeishi.

Here I decide to take a break, have a snack and enjoy the views. The weather was nice and I am sure glad that I was hiking in the beginning of June and not the middle of summer. I was joined by several other hikers who also made use of the many benches.

After a short while it was time to start moving again... there is sake to be had!

The third peak, Mt Takamizu, was not too much further or challenging, but still offered beautiful vistas.

Just after the peak is Jōfuku Temple. I am always amazed at the craftsmanship the Japanese possessed without the wood working tools we have today.

They take so much pride in everything they made. Just look at the bell tower... I should have rang that thing!

The remaining hike was down a valley and to Ikusabata station. About halfway down the trail merges with a local road where houses lined the narrow valley and a stream provide some nice pools and waterfalls.

There were several shrines along the way, but this one was my favorite; I like the sword and flames behind the main character. But the main source of entertainment was the following sign I saw between the road and the stream.


I have no idea what is written on the frog, but the sight made me LOL! I am determined to find out what it says and will post it soon.

**UPDATE** So the the drunk frog, that was posted near a stream, warns of landslides and falling objects. I guess this makes sense after all, the banks of the stream are quite steap and after some rain are probably very slick. But why a frog... that looks drunk? Is it me or would the sign be more fitting if it was to have said "Hey kids... man I had a crazy night. Why don't you hang out and swim for a while".

After a short, one stop, train ride I headed over to the Sawanoi Brewery. I found this place on the same blog that lead me to the hike... coincidence? ;-)

I ended up joining a tour that was just about to start when I arrived on site. Just one issue though... the whole tour was only in Japanese. Not that I expected any thing else, just that I was a very interesting hour. At the end they supplied a sampling of the one of there sakes.

Adjacent to the brewery was a pavilion where you could sample more of there sake, snack on food from several vendors and sit back and enjoy the views.

KAMPAI!