On the JMT to Devils Postpile

August 20, 2011

So far my experience with bears in the last few days has proven to me the Bearikade was a great idea. It fits great sideways in my Osprey Aura 65 and has proven itself to withstand the efforts of two sets of bears.  It also made a great seat while cooking.  I was more thrilled with the can than my pack.  By this point I have discovered the limitations of this light backpack’s shoulder straps and was cursing their stiffness.  Lucky for me I found a pair of brand new thick synthetic backpacking socks in my camp left there by the previous camper.  After short consideration I chose to cut the bottoms off and use the tubes to pad my shoulder straps.  It paid off, my comfort was greatly increased.  Other than that the pack had so far proven itself to be easy to organize and fit my gear perfectly.  I have also discovered I love the Honeyville powdered eggs. 

Due to the mystery illness I have been suffering from for the last two years, I was determined never to get stuck hiking in the heat. If I could avoid this, I could complete the trip without numb feet and dizziness. After a breakfast at 4:30 am of powdered eggs, grits and coffee I hit the trail about 5:15. I already discovered if you want to have some alone time on the trail the best time to hike was early in the AM, most didn’t seem to leave their camps until about 9 or 10. Sometimes adversity turns into a blessing, it forces you to do things differently.

It was on to Devils Postpile to meet up with Irene who was resupplying me and actually going to hike the next leg to Eddison Lake VVR with me as her first backpacking trip.

Making Your Own Trail Food

It’s snowing again here.  Probably won’t get plowed again.  I’ve been experimenting with dehydrating various vegetarian foods.  30 days on the JMT is just too long to pay the high cost of those prepackaged backpacking meals and quite frankly there isn’t much variation for those of us who don’t eat meat.

 Last weekend I played around with mini Matzo Balls made from a mix.  They work great.  I boiled them first and then dehydrated overnight.  Put them in a cup of soup and let them sit in the hot water about 2 minutes.  You couldn’t tell they were once dehydrated.

Today I dehydrated meatless meatballs and they worked equally great.  First I pan fried them (not sure if that is necessary but seemed like a good idea), then placed them overnight in the dehydrator.  To rehydrate, I merely let them sit in hot water much like I would on the trail. 

These could be rehydrated with either ramen noodles or a flat fettuccini type noodle we found at an Asian Market.  For $1.29 you can get a package of 15 rounds of noodles which when placed in water that has reached a boil will rehydrate in 3 minutes in a closed container.  I like these noodles better, the texture is nice and they don’t taste as starchy as ramen.  They are great in soup or in a spaghetti/fettuccini type recipe.

Next week, Lentil soup. 

On Cats and Trees

Why is it cats won’t learn from their past mistakes?  I don’t get it.  Jack’s done it again, gotten himself stuck in a tree.  He does this about every 8 months like clockwork.  He has spent 2-3 days stuck in trees through snow storms and rain storms and blazing heat in the summer.  Once up there he just can’t figure out how to get down.  He doesn’t pick particularly difficult trees to descend but still gets stuck.  We have climbed trees using ladders, rock climbing gear and just brute strength.  We have had him fall out of them with exhaustion and injure himself afterwards.  This time he selected a  reasonable tree which normally if he had picked one like it anywhere else we would have just gotten a tall ladder and retrieved him. NO, this time he selected the one tree that has lots of branches….but it happens to be planted just above a 30 foot straight drop off a cliff.  No way were we taking any chances falling down that while on the ladder.  He’s nuts.    This is a cat, who aside from his tree problem, has gotten trapped in the neighbors have a heart trap for raccoons, for three days through a rain storm.  He has also taken a ride in our dryer….and lived.  The person who said that cats have 9 lives was wrong.   They are immortal.  Well at least this one is.   His survival instinct is not the greatest but his will to survive is.  I’ve coaxed him down with fish…. By the way that works the best, especially if the neighbor’s cat appears from behind a bush to claim this treasure before he gets down.  Competition really sparks motivation ...even in felines.

Survival Instinct (part 2)

Sometimes individuals just do stupid things.  Snowmen are no different.  They can have low levels of survival instinct just like humans.  Sometimes they spend hours at a time sunning themselves, standing right out in the open of a front yard.  The sun beating down on them.  Every minute melting away the layers of their exterior. Sometimes they just hang out in places that are hazardous to their survival.  Don’t ask me why but they seem to insist that they can conquer obstacles such as large pinecones dropping on them or trees shedding their massive amounts of snow right down on their heads.  Sometimes they just have to claim the road.

Snow Gods

The people with low survival instinct will soon be headed to our area in droves.  They come to pay homage to the snow god.  They will glide up and down on the ground in the hopes the god will notice them and that they will take a part of it with them when they leave.  Some of them will leave parts of themselves on the snow god. 

They will forget their chains, or never have tested the ones they purchased to see if they fit. They will drive way too fast for their driving abilities and the conditions and they will spin and crash and get stuck. They will travel roads they have never been on and not think twice of how much gas they have remaining in their vehicles.   All this makes for great entertainment up here.  We don’t need movie theatres for drama, we have it live. 

The Criminal Mind

Criminals are not the brightest humans.  I have to think their instinct to survive is on the lower end of low.  I have to think there are a few brain cells missing or at least damaged.  I have a few that are damaged but that’s not my fault… I’m demyelinating.  These people are always shocked when they land themselves in jail and almost always look to someone else to get them out of the mess they got themselves into.

I spent over an hour listening to jail phone calls a rather good looking young man made to his equally young good looking girlfriend whom he beat to a pulp.  Over 10 calls out of over 20 he made in a short period while waiting to be assigned a cell.  Each call pleading and repetitively reminding her that she held the cards to his freedom, his job, his career hopes, his very life.  It was sick.  Over and over and over telling her how his incarceration was her fault, her responsibility to fix.  He even provided the solution… tell officials a new story of how she obtained her injuries and don’t come to court.  When this didn’t work he invoked god, possible marriage and kids and sweet talk.   I guess he just didn’t get that he is in charge of his survival, it’s simple…..don’t cause pain to others and you don’t go to jail.  He viewed that his survival was in her hands much like her survival was in his when he was inflicting blows.  Dumb guy.  He went into jail with one charge and added over 10 more while sitting in booking.  NO survival instinct!