Roadtrip 1995 - Part 12: Las Vegas And Death Valley National Park

My last stop on my roadtrip was Las Vegas. I left St. George and drove into Vegas. On the way you pass through Arizona on a short stretch of road with beautiful rock formations that is truly magnificent.

In Vegas I found a Days Inn that was a block off the strip behind the Balley's. I started off with a walk down the strip looking for lunch and something to do. I am not much of a gambler which means that there really isn't much for me to do in Vegas. I looked through the list of shows and bought tickets to four shows - two that evening and two for the next. If I recall correctly one show was at Harrah's, one at the Riviera, one was at the Tropicana, and one at Balley's.

I killed time until the first show which turned out to be mediocre. The second show was Crazy Girls. Yeah, I was a red blooded single guy back then with no attachments so I went to see a bunch of bouncing boobies. What can I say. Anyway, I was sitting relatively close to the stage and I was wearing a bright tie-dyed shirt that I had bought in Estes Park. During a break for the girls, a comedian came out and she was working the audience. You could tell she was looking for someone to pick on. My shirt must have shined like a beacon. Our eyes connected. Damn - I was not in the mood to be the butt of a comedian's jokes. She said something that I don't even recall, I stared her down, and slowly shook my head. I still remember the look on her face. It was kind of like "Damn, is he a serial killer or what?!" I must of had an evil look on my face. She dropped whatever she was going to say and moved on to the next poor schlep. Later on I would buy a Crazy Girl poster and got it autographed by some of the girls. The fact the girls who autographed the poster were not actually in the poster was a little disappointing.

The next day I woke up and just laid in bed wondering what I was going to do for the next 12 hours before the next show started. Then I decided that I should go to Death Valley. My original plan was to go through Death Valley on the way home but it seemed like a better idea to do it now. I left the hotel and headed into the desert. I left a little later then I should have, and could have, but I didn't think it would be an issue.

My first stop was Scotty's Castle. I ended up there just after a tour had left so I had an hour to kill. I ate some lunch and walked up to Scotty's grave. He's buried next to his dog. I took the tour which was pretty cool. The music room organ, with over 1,000 pipes, is the highlight of the tour.

My next stop was Badwater where I walked out onto the salt flat. I remember it being warm but I don't recall it being too hot. Definitely not as hot as our vacation in 2005.

The drive back to Vegas seemed longer then the way out. I had a show at Harrah's and I thought I was going to be late. I got back to the hotel, showered, and got to the show just in time. It was mediocre. I then drove to the Tropicana for my last mediocre show. Turns out all the shows were pretty mediocre. The wife and I have become a little pickier now and we are more careful then I was in selecting shows when we go to Vegas.

The last day was an uneventful five hour drive from Las Vegas to Oxnard. The last part of this roadtrip series will summarize the trip and reveal how the trip changed my life ... or didn't. Pictures are here.

The Pilgrimage Of Saint James

When we were in Las Vegas with the Matron of Honor and the Best Man, The Best Man told us about the Pilgrimage of Saint James, also known at the Way of St. James. The pilgrimage is a trek across Spain ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain. The path outside of Spain varies and extends into France, Italy, and eastern Europe. The most common path starts in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in western France and is known as the French Way. The French Way is 769 km (477.83 miles) long. To be an official Pilgrim, you have to complete at least 100 km (62.14 miles). The Best Man and Matron of Honor were thinking of doing the 100 km segment in 2010, the Holy Year for Saint James. The wife and I are very interested in doing this walk as well.

The French Way is a well define path. It is traveled by thousands of people each year - the number is increasing each year and is especially heavy during Holy Years. There are refugios or albergues (dormitory style pilgrim hostels) located in villages and cities along the path that cost only a few Euros to stay at. Camping is not required. Some of the albergues are spartan and we would probably have to carry sleeping bags. Some food and supplies are also available at the albergues. I'm guessing it would take at least a week to ten days to do the 100 km.

As I've researched the Way, I have found myself considering doing the entire French Way. I would go ahead of the others, walk the Way, and meet up with the them in Sarria, Spain, the 112 km point. I figure it would take me almost 50 days to do the whole thing. This would mean doing about 10 - 12 miles everyday. Everyday for 50 days. I would have two years to prepare. I wonder if two years is enough to psych myself into it?

The logistics of it are relatively simple. Fly to Paris. Take a train/bus to Saint Jean. Pick up a Pilgrims passport (You receive stamps from churches and albergues to prove you were there). Pickup a map and guidebook. Start walking. The longest gap between albergues is 26 km (16 miles) between Saint Jean and Orisson. It is also the part of the trail that goes through the Pyrenees. Most towns with albergues are around 5 - 10 km apart (3 - 6 miles)...

OK, I can feel this becoming an obsession already. We'll see if it really happens.

Book: Richard K. Morgan's Woken Furies

I would characterize my latest read as a Noir Sci-Fi Singularity Dystopia. The book is Richard Morgan's "Woken Furies". This is the third book that follows the character of Takeshi Kovacs. Kovacs was introduced in the book "Altered Carbon" and his story was fleshed out some more in "Broken Angels". In Woken Furies, Kovacs' story returns to his home, Harlan's World. We enter the story part way through and, as you read the book, more and more details are revealed about what he was doing when the reader came into the story. You learn that Kovacs is a sociopath sometimes bordering on the psychotic.

"Altered Carbon" introduced the reader to a distant future where everyone has a memory implant called a Stack which records the essence of the person. When a person dies, their information is downloaded into the stack of a new body, known as a Sleeve, and they can carry on with their life. In a way, humanity is now immortal moving themselves from one body to another. In many cases the bodies are custom made, enhanced with extra strength, speed, stamina, and other desirable traits. People can download themselves into virtual worlds where time can move at any speed and the virtual world can be customized to whatever the user wants. For example, you could download yourself to a beautiful beach, spend a year lounging on the beach, and then return to your real body with only a few minutes having passed in real life. The same virtual worlds are also used for interrogation and torture.

The book winds threads of religion, politics, revolution, archeology, technology, morality, sociopathy, honor, revenge, and loyalty when Kovacs pisses off some important people and, in doing so, ends up going against himself when a younger copy of his essence is re-sleeved and sent after him. The twist in the end promises to change all future Takeshi Kovacs novels.

In the background of all three novels are the Martians. This is what Morgan refers to the ancient race that once lived in our neighborhood. Only ruins and a few intelligent machines, that have eluded our technological grasp, still exist. The Martians play a very important role in this book and it looks like they will play an even larger roll in the next book.

These concepts of downloading and saving the brain and living in artificial bodies or virtual worlds is very similar to Ray Kurzweil's ideas. The difference is that Kurzweil's world is an optimistic utopia. Morgan's fictional world is dark. Kovacs is an ex-military, known as an Envoy, whose main job was to control rebellions and civil unrest. After a particularly haunting mission, he left the Envoys and became a mercenary who doesn't hesitate in killing. In fact, many times he is more criminal then mercenary. While he is the "good guy" in the book, his means of doing good are a little drastic almost always involving some weapon or other. The world he inhabits is driven by money and power and you can see that he is a product of that world. You can be re-sleeved if you have enough money. You can be enhanced if you have the right connections. Harlan's World is dominated by the First Families, the Yakuza, and other mafia-like organizations. This world, as pessimistic as it is, is probably closer to what the future will be like. People and groups battling for wealth, influence, power, and immortality.

I liked "Altered Carbon" better then "Woken Furies". The climax, in my opinion, was not well defined and it feels like the whole purpose of the book is to set up for the next book. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the book and there is a lot of valuable back story there. I just wish there was a little more beginning - middle - end in the book. The book felt like a bunch of beginning and middle and very little end. If this were the second book of a trilogy, I would understand but each of these books are supposed to stand on their own. I don't think they do, this last one especially. I guess I will have to wait for the next Kovacs novel to get my end.

Hiking Ventura County #36: Montecito Peak, Saddle Rock, and Cold Springs Trail

Lately I have picking the wrong days to hike. This time I chose Sunday the only day of this long three day Veteran's day weekend that was totally socked in. Sigh. I would have hiked Saturday - a beautiful day weather-wise - but the Homecoming party lasted until 1:00 am and I didn't feel like hiking on only 4 hours of sleep. The hike was supposed to have some great views but the fog/marine layer/mist/drizzle would drop the visibility quite low along the entire hike. One result is that I did not take as many pictures as I usually do.

My hike this week took me up to the summit of Montecito Peak by way of the Cold Springs trail. I reached a trailhead at 6:40 am for an early start up the trail. It was a trailhead, not the trailhead. The sign that said "Cold Springs Trail 2" should have been a clue. Went right over my head. I geared up and headed up the trail. The trail passes by the gates of homes worth many times our net worth until it starts switchbacking up the hill. I looked at my GPS and realized that I was not getting closer to the geocaches and that I was on the wrong trail. I realized what the sign at the trailhead was saying and, since the trail was going to intersect with the correct trail, I continued upwards.

I eventually came across a sign indicating that this was the Saddle Rock Trail. The trail turned rocky and fairly steep. I paused to rest and looked to my right and saw ... an ammo can hidden between two boulders. I opened the can and it turned out to be a geocache. Go figure. (After I got home I looked for it in the cache listings but could not find it. Not sure why.) I signed the log and continued on the trail.

Near the top the trail arrived at a large flat area large enough to land a helicopter. Someone had laid out a large peace symbol in stones. From this high point I saw that the trail continued up to an Edison road (A road used by the local electric utility to service the power line poles). The Cold Springs trail also crosses an Edison road and I figured this was how I was going to get to the correct trail. I turned left on the road and followed it along the hillside. I passed a strange little structure that I would've explored except that it was on private property. As I looked at it I could have swore I heard something above the structure making a Huffing noise. Not sure if I was hearing things or if there was something watching me.

Down the hill a little ways the road split. I wasn't sure which way to go until I noticed an arrow pointing the way. It turned out to be the right way. I passed a trail that was heading in the right direction but it was not signed and the description said that it was a signed trail. I continued on the road. My GPS showed that I was getting close to a geocache, "Hot & Cold" that was on the trail. After finding it I continued on the road until it dead ended. Drat! So I turned around and went back to the unmarked trail and headed up. 40 to 50 feet up the trail was a small sign that said "Cold Springs Trail" The sign was numbered - this one being 6 - and listed the elevation. YAY! I was on the right trail!

The trail head sharply up the mountain switchbacking up the west side of the peak. The trail was rocky with portions covered in small stones and gravel. It was tough to go up at times. I picked up another cache, "The Spotted Puppy" on the way up. As I climbed higher the soup got thicker as the mist became light drizzle. The good is that it kept me cool. The bad is there was nothing to see beyond 30 or 40 feet. This made navigation difficult. To get to the peak you had to follow a steep overgrown spur. Since I could not see the peak I wasn't sure where this side trail was. I ended up passing the spur thinking it was just a game trail, a wash, or both. The trail eventual brought me up to the top of the saddle where a short 5 foot scramble got me up to the top. Fortunately for me, there was a geocache planted on the top of the peak so I was able to follow the GPS along the saddle to the hidden peak. The trail along the saddle was probably a game trail but it was relatively easy to follow. Once you got close to the peak the trail turned steep, feeling more like stairs than a trail. At the top I rested a moment and looked for the cache, "Montecito Peak". I was having trouble so I decoded the clue. Unfortunately I decoded the clue for another cache and it took me on a wild goose chase. After about 20 minutes, I sat down on a rock and ate lunch. As I ate I looked at the clue, realized my mistake, and decoded the correct clue. Duh! It was easy to find with the right clue.

As I was looking for the cache and eating my lunch the marine layer had thickened up some more. Visibility was down to 20 - 30 feet. I signed the peak register and headed back down. This time I found the top of the spur and started down. I heard voices below. A group of hikers were debating if this was the spur or not. I raised my voice and let them know that they were on the right trail. They said it sounded like God leading the way which made me say "Follow the path up the mountain, my son." We all got a chuckle out of that. Heh.

The way back down to the Edison road was uneventful as I couldn't see any more then when I was on my way up. The rock and gravel made it a little more difficult as you had to be careful to keep your footing. I reread the hike description and I picked the correct trail down. The scenery on this part of Cold Springs trail was completely different from that of the one above the road. This part of the trail was forested and followed the side of a canyon. It was incredible. On parts of the trail you could hear the flow of the creak and waterfalls. The mist and drizzle condensed on the leaves of the trees above dropped like rain and created a counterpoint to the creek sounds. The mist swirled through the trees and along the trail. The sights, sounds, and wet smells of the dew drops made it feel like an enchanted forest. I expected to bump into Little Red Riding Hood , Hansel, or Gretel along the path. I really liked this part of the trail.

The trail winds down one side of the valley, crossing the creek several times. I found the "CITO Falls" cache near a particularly awesome falls. As I went further down I reached where the west and east Cold Springs trails diverge. This part of the trail is marked by a bench. There were four caches on the west branch. I stood there briefly debating going for these caches. I was tired. The farthest of the four was about 1.29 miles away but this could be deceptive. GPS show the "as the crow flies" distance and 1.29 miles could easily turn into a longer distance if you add switchbacks. I made up my mind and headed up the west trail. I found the first cache,"Little Cache, short and stout", fairly easily. The next cache was "The Cave". I had to take off my camelbak and other gear to fit into the cave. I had just got into the entrance when people came down the trail. I waved at them to let them know I was there - didn't want to see my stuff disappear. After they moved on I took my little LED light and crawled further back into the cave. It was about 12 to 15 feet deep with a turn in it. It was pretty cool and very dirty. My clothes were damp from the drizzle and this made it much easier for the dry dust to stick to me as I retrieved the cache. This was the first 5/5 cache - 5 star difficulty and 5 star terrain ranking. It really wasn't that hard. I would have called it a 3/5.

The Last two caches were on a side trail. I found the start of the trail easy enough but the trail turned primitive real quick. The trail followed a water pipe that brought spring water down the mountain. I struggled along this trail for awhile until I was about 0.14 miles from the first cache, "Tangerine Falls". Then the GPS reception turned spotty and the estimated distance started to get longer. This did not help my state of mind. I reached a spot that, I think, required me to go around a steep rock. With all the mist, the rock was wet and slippery. I'd had enough. I looked at the time and realized I was going up so slow that I would not reach the caches and get back before it was dark. This was especially true with the cloudy drizzle - it would be darker earlier. I reluctantly turned around and headed back down. The trail was difficult to follow on the way back down but I had less trouble than on the way up.

I returned to the main trail and headed down. I ran into another hiker who asked me if I knew the way to Tangerine Falls. I smiled and said that I think I did, that I had tried to get there, but that I didn't make it. He was probably in his 20s and was a lot fresher then I was and he said that he had heard it was hard to reach and that this was his fourth attempt. This made me feel better. I wished him luck, we shook hands and parted ways.

I followed the trail to the correct Cold Springs trailhead. I then followed the road about 2/3 of a mile to where I had parked the car.

One good thing is that my feet felt pretty good. I wore my new boots with the new, adjusted insoles for the first time (I had them adjusted on Saturday and they feel much better). While I did have some hot spots on my toes (from coming down hill) and my heals (from going up hill) I didn't have any new blisters and my old blisters didn't bother me at all. My right knee did bother me a little bit but I think that was because of the loose rock and gravel on the trail up to the peak. It took a lot of effort to keep your footing and this strained the knee a bit.

I had a good time on this hike. Better weather would have improved it but the drizzle made it different. Different is often good. I will probably try to go back and do those two caches when I am fresh and don't have 8.5 miles already on me. The mistake I made earlier, taking the wrong trail, actually added some variety to the hike. It turned it from a There-And-Back to a Loop - There-And-Back hybrid. The total distance hiked was 9.86 miles and the elevation change was about 2,710 feet from the correct trailhead, 2,620 feet from the Saddle Rock trailhead. Pictures are here.

Next week: Chief Peak.

Missing: Flag Pole and Flag

The wife came home yesterday to find that someone had absconded with the Notre Dame Flag, and the flag pole it was attached to, in front of our house. The first thing we have ever had stolen. What kind of sick person would steal a Notre Dame flag this year? It must have been some Navy fan. Or maybe a disgruntled UCLA fan. Or maybe someone who needed a flag pole. Heh.

Los Padres Reopens - Hikers Rejoice!

Good news, the Forest Service has lifted the restrictions in the Los Padres National Forest. This means I can resume my original hiking plan. Instead of Sulphur Mountain Road I will be doing Montecito Peak. This is looking to be a challenging hike as I am thinking about doing two branches of the Cold Spring Trail, each climbing over 2,000 feet. I will let you know if I actually do both branches. Kind of depends on if I survive tonight's party.

Roadtrip 1995 - Part 11: Bryce Canyon And Zion National Parks

What a difference a day makes. The day before I was struggling with traffic and generally tired of all the driving. Bryce and Zion energized me with new, unique scenery and bizarre rock formations. As I mentioned, Bryce and Zion National Parks were not on my original itinerary. A co-worker had mentioned a vacation he had at Bryce and Zion and, when I was looking for things to do in the one extra day that I had, these parks came to mind.

Bryce Canyon National Park turned out to be one of my favorite places. I entered the park early in the morning and stopped at the visitor's center to check out the hikes. I chose the Fairyland Loop and went down into the canyon, weaving around the hoodoos for four or five miles before returning to the canyon rim and back three or four miles to the visitor's center. At the time, this 8 mile hike was the longest hike I'd ever done. Along the way you pass Bristlecone Pines, some of the oldest trees ever discovered. They are not as impressive as the Sequoias and are kind of scrubby looking but some have been dated to 4,844 years old and are recognized as the oldest non-clonal organism known on earth. What these trees must have "seen" over their lifetimes as the water and air sculpted the multi-colored landscape of brilliant yellows, reds, and oranges is mind boggling. It is some of the most amazing landscape I have ever seen. Very cool.

The weather varied quite a bit as I hiked. It started overcast, moved on to some light drizzle, before semi-clearing letting some blue sky through. The clouds took some of the punch from the colorful landscape but it was still fascinatingly awesome. I left Bryce and headed for the red rock canyon land that is Zion National Park. Even the asphalt used in the roads entering the park is red. The views here are just as amazing as those in Bryce but in a different way. The road I took into the park took me through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel. The tunnel is 1.1 miles long and slants downward. It was dug over 70 years ago to help connect Zion to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. There are periodic 'windows' cut in the side of the tunnel that let in the sunlight and fresh air in. What is it about tunnels that excite me so much ... I always want to yell WHEE!! I don't know why.

Once in the park, I did a short one mile hike called the Riverside Walk up a narrow river canyon. The hike is a popular hike that is a mixture of paved trail and river wading. It's really too short to call a real hike but I was worn out from the eight miles I had done that morning at Bryce and I took it slow.

A few years ago, Zion started banning all private vehicles on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive during the peak summer season and started a shuttle bus service to take visitors into this part of the park. I heard a story from one of the bus drivers that he had never seen any wildlife on this road when cars were permitted but only two days after the cars were stopped large animals like coyote were once again seen along the road. It only takes a short time for nature to take back what has been taken from it.

After a visit to the visitor's center for some postcards, I left Zion and ended up in St. George, Utah where I had a large dinner and spent the night. My visits to these two parks were too short. I'm sure I could have spent days there exploring and just admiring the beauty of the landscape. I hope to go back some day. Pictures are here.

My vacation was dwindling - only three more days until I would be home. Next stop: Las Vegas and Death Valley.

Feeding The World One Word At A Time

I'm an engineer. I'm supposed to be good at math and bad with the English language. Well, the son of a friend of the wife's sent an interesting English language related site that lets you test your vocabulary prowess, learn new and interesting words, and most importantly, help feed the needy. The site, FreeRice, donates rice to the United Nations World Food Program - 10 grains for each word you correctly identify. A warning, like most computer games, it can be addictive. During my first session, first of many I assume, I earned 1000 grains of rice and my vocab level was 43. Not bad for a lowly Engineer. On the math level, when we go out to eat, the wife has to calculate the tip - go figure.

Upcoming Stuff

A quick post about what is planned for the next couple of weeks.

• This Friday is Homecoming at the wife's school. The game is between her new school and her old school. Her new school is favored to win. I haven't decided if I'll be going or not.


• After the the game the faculty party is at our place. It's supposed to be pretty chilly out this Friday so the party will probably be inside. Looks to be a pretty crowded house that night.


• On Sunday I'll be doing a hike on Sulphur Mountain Road. The hike is a 10 mile road through private ranch land. I've done parts before but never the entire 10 miles. There are also some 21 geocaches on the road so I'll be busy.


• Monday is Veteran's day - actually it's when Veteran's day is observed. The wife and the "J" are going to take an Harmonica Lesson at the local college. The wife seems to be fascinated by the harmonica. I don't have a musically talented bone in my body. I just tend to hum a lot. I suspect it's feedback.


• On Thursday we are going to a B-52s concert at the Chumash Casino. The "J" is joining us for this journey of food, gambling, and flashback.


• On Saturday, assuming the Los Padres national Forest is still closed to hikers, I'll be doing a hike along the o'l Boney trail in the Point Mugu State Park. This hike is around 10 miles and I have a list of 35 (!) geocaches on this trail.


• On Sunday is a trip down to Pasadena for the 2007 Doo Dah parade. The "J" will be accompanying us here as well. After the parade we will head south to San Juan Capistrano to visit the mission.

After that our dance card is empty. I'm sure that will change.

Hiking Ventura County #35: Jalama Beach

The Los Padres National Forest is still closed to hikers so I rearranged my hiking list and picked the one and only beach hike on the list: Jalama Beach. Jalama Beach is located in Santa Barbara County west of Lompoc, CA (I know, this hiking series needs to be renamed). The original hike was a 10 mile hike southeast along the beach to Point Conception. After looking at the geocaches in the area, I decided to increase the length a bit.

I reached the Jalama Beach Campground around 7:40 am. The beach was completely socked in with thick, marine layer, fog. It was also chilly - upper 50s. I put on a jacket which went around my waist less then 10 minutes into the hike - I knew that was going to happen. Instead of turning southeast on the beach, I turned northwest. The "The Outer Limits" cache was located about 1.8 miles northwest of the campground. Despite the campground being full, there were few people on the northern beach. I was a little concerned since some of the cache logs had mentioned that you couldn't reach the cache during high tide and I'd started my hike at high tide. The beach follows a rocky bluff. As I hiked further north the beach narrowed until the waves were crashing at the base of the bluffs. I managed to climb up on the rocks and avoid the cold Pacific water. There were tidal caves where the surf echoed - it kind of sounded like a jet engine inside the caves. The beach widened out further on. Someone had started building a Fort from drift wood and others had expanded it. Pretty cool.

I reached the end of my northwesterly trek and climbed up a steep path up the 74 feet to the top of the bluff. Actually, there wasn't much of a path but I went up the hill using the plant life as foot and hand holds. At the top, the cache was easy to find sitting next to the Vandenberg Air Force Base fence. Turns out the main North-South train route passes just 20 feet from this cache. Unfortunately there was no train running when I was there.

I walked back south along the top of the bluff for about a quarter mile looking for an easier way down the bluff. The top of the bluff was covered in dry brush dripping in dew. There was also a lot of scat - coyote mostly. I found a place I had seen earlier and made my way down. Turns out what looked easy turned out to be a little more perilous. I found out that the dark brown soil was pretty loose. I wasn't too worried as I slid down the bluff out of control since there were plenty of pointy rocks down below to break my fall. Using my hands, hiking pole, and rear end, I managed to stop my downward slide before any major damage was done.

I walked back to the campground picking up trash as I went - it's a pretty clean beach and there wasn't very much to pick up - I just wanted to leave the place better than how I found it. The beach, both north and south of the campground was pretty clean. I found this odd because a lot of the rocks had spots of tar that were either the result of natural seepage or were the result of the off shore oil drilling. There are beaches in Oxnard where you have to clean the tar off the bottom of your shoes after a walk. Not here.

When I returned to the campground, 3.6 miles into the hike, I dumped the trash I had collected and dropped my jacket off at my car. Turning south I discover that there were a few more people on the beach - mostly fishermen, beach walkers, and lots of surfers. As I walked further south the people dwindled.

At about 2 miles from the campground I was alone. I reached a rocky section where a large landslide dumped a load of loose rock, covering a stretch of the beach. I rock hopped around this point and I felt something on the heel of my left foot. I thought I had some sand in my shoe. Now, I had picked up some new, custom, insoles on Friday and I was wearing them on this hike. The insole felt great. I sat down, pulled off my shoe and sock trying to clean out the sand and exposed a large torn blister on my heal. Damn! The insoles had shifted my foot position in the shoes resulting in a blister. I will have to have the insoles adjusted.

I put my sock and shoe back on, cinched my shoe tighter, and moved on. I turned a corner and saw what looked like a strange obelisk out in the misty distance. The first thing that came to mind was Lost - I can imagine Sawyer walking the beach and seeing something like this. As I got closer I could see it was a concrete pillar that, once upon a time, supported a corrugated pipe which drained water away from the bluff above. The pipe had corroded away a long time ago. Further down the beach I came across a large retaining wall, 6 to 8 feet tall, 4 to 6 feet thick, running along the bottom of the bluff, collapsing in some places, and showing the wear of years of pounding surf. Two things came to mind as I examined the weathered concrete. The first was Charlton Heston riding a horse down a beach and seeing the remains of the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand (Yeah, my mind was wandering in strange directions on this hike). The second was the futility of trying to hold back the Pacific Ocean. After I thought about it, I realized the drainage pipes and the retaining walls were feeble attempts to preserve the train tracks at the top of the bluff. It looked like nobody had maintained these defenses in many years.

This hike is known for it's wildlife. Mostly deer. I didn't seen any deer on this hike but I did see deer tracks in the sand. I was following some other tracks that I thought were a dog but then I noticed that there were no human tracks in the area. I reached a wide expanse of clean sand and I noticed that there were at least five canine trails. I figure that I was following a pack of coyotes. I did notice a freshly killed pelican that was all bloody and chewed on. I never did see an actual coyote though. This was all surprising since I thought the thick marine layer would have brought out more wildlife. I guess I was wrong. I passed some buzzards and seagulls picking at a seal carcass. There wasn't much left of it.

A walk on the beach is always accompanied by seabirds. I saw pelicans, seagulls, and cormorants. One pair of cormorants distracted me while I was taking their picture and the incoming tide took advantage of my distraction to soak my feet. I followed a solitary Crane down the beach. He kept flying away but I managed to run into him three times during the hike.

At the seven mile mark I sat down on a sun bleached piece of drift wood and ate some lunch. Since it was so cool I wasn't drinking very much water and the weight of my camelbak was really stressing my shoulders and lower back. Hopefully as I hike more they will strengthen up.

The hike continued down the beach a ways before I turned left into a canyon where I followed a dirt road up to the top of the bluff. The dirt road meets a paved road which eventually ends at the gate of the Point Conception Light run by the Coast Guard. You could hear the lonely sound of the fog horn. I sat down and rested near the gate. The gate was in disrepair. A chain was supposed to block the way but one of the supports had fallen over and the chain laid on the ground holding back nothing. I thought about walking out to the light but decided not to risk a federal trespassing charge.

I took off my shoe and sock and dug out the Moleskin I had in my first aid kit and put a piece over the blister on my left heal. I took off my right shoe and found a smaller blister forming there so I put some moleskin there as well. I wish I had done this sooner. The moleskin helped a bit on the way back but it still was sore by the time I got back to the car.

As I walked back down the dirt road I took a sip from my camelbak ... Lesson number umpteenzillion and two: while on a beach hike, always check your camelbak's mouth piece for sand or you will find yourself spitting grit!

The 5 mile walk back to the campground was uneventful. The tide was out so I walked closer to the ocean on the hard packed sand. This made it a little easier then on the way out. Walking on beach sand can be a workout. The trick is to walk close to the water on the water packed sand. I saw some really cool, iridescent, rainbow hued shells. I thought about bringing one home but I changed my mind and left it for the next beach comber. A jellyfish was washed up on the shore waiting for the tide to come back in.

The first sign of life when I approached the campground was a solitary dog, sitting on the beach, looking out to sea. I approached him and looked out to sea for it's owner. I couldn't see anyone out in the surf but then the fog was still pretty thick. The dog walked over, and sat down beside me and looked out at the ocean. It was a little sad. I started to worry that something had happened to the surfer. I noticed a backpack high up the beach and I headed that way to see if I could find some I.D. The dog didn't let me get within 20 feet of the bag. He growled, snapped, and barked at me until I moved away. I marked the position with my GPS and continued down the beach. Around the corner I ran into a surfer and asked him if there were people out there and told him about the dog. He assured me that there were several people out there even if you couldn't see them. I felt reassured.

I made it back to the campground and my car. I dumped my stuff in the car and went to the camp store. The store is famous for its Jalama Burgers but I wasn't hungry for a burger. I bought a Big Ed and a magnet for the fridge. The sun was just starting to peak through the fog as I left. I stopped at a cache on the way out, "Road to JB" where I swapped some travel bugs.

Except for the blisters, this was a good hike. A beach hike is quite different from you standard hike. The sand can be challenging. There is not much vertical on most beach hikes which balances out for the difficulty of the sand. The hike is not a quiet one as the crashing surf is a constant background noise. I prefer the sound of running creek water to surf. The bluffs provided a variety of rock formations. I have been interested in rocks ever since I was a little kid sitting on my Mom's lap and she read a description in the back of one of my comic books of what a geologist did. While this interest never turned into a career choice, didn't even survive the third grade, I still find interesting rock formations fascinating. Overall, Jalama Beach was a nice change of pace.

The total distance hiked was 13.47 miles - a personal best so far. Elevation varied from 0 to 144 feet. Pictures are here.