Colorado Trail

I know this was a long time coming, but I finally have the time to catch up. This past September, I went and hiked the Colorado Trail. I already hiked over half of it while on my 2013 thru-hike of the CDT, but I was still excited to head back out to Colorado and hike it. So I contacted Matt Signore, and he and Yogi met me at the airport in Denver. From there we drove to Durango and hiked the trail Northbound.

Matt and I started together, but we both seemed to just float into our own hikes. We started off with nice weather, but it soon turned to rain.
I got a great chance to try out a new Yama Mountain Gear Cirraform. It worked flawless. It was easy to set up, super light, and with plenty of room. I was very impressed and glad I brought something a bit more solid than a tarp.

On the 3rd morning, Matt blew past my camp before light and I was quick on his heels in attempt to catch up. We were both on our way up our second high mountain pass, when I could hear Matt talking to someone up ahead. Soon I could see, what I thought was a stuffed dummy up on the pass. It looked human, but, It was to white and blown up to be human. But I could still hear Matt talking up on the pass. Soon as I got close, it was obvious that there was a human body lying on top of the pass, motionless. As I got closer, it appeared that a hiker had sat back and died on the trail, and Matt was talking to Search and Rescue on the phone.

This really put a bummer mood into things, but we both just pushed on after Matt was done on the phone. There was nothing we could do, and we had not had enough food or water to stick around.

    For the next few days Matt and I played leap frog on a rainy trail, and made our way to Lake City for resupply. The following day we head back out into nice sunny sky's. It was there that Matt and I parted ways for the remainder of the trip. I had decided to hike up San Luis Peak, a 14r, that is right off the trail. Although climbing the peak only took a couple of hours, I could never catch Matt after that. I continued on into Salida, and stayed a night at the Hostile and decided to hike the new high route that had been completed, since my previous years hike. This was a treat, for the high route was incredible. The trail was perfect and winded its way on a untouched portion of the divide. Soon I was in Twin Lakes, where I then decided to climb Elbert and Massive, both 14rs. This was another highlight of my trip as I climbed them both in a day, camping on Massive.

After that I made a mad dash to Breckenridge for my last resupply. I dodged a bit of rain, and had excellent weather to the finish.

The Colorado Trail was a nice hike, and I thank Yogi, and Matt for setting me up with the CT book. I also thank them for getting me to the trail. I highly suggest 4 weeks minimal for this trip, for it is not one to be rushed. The towns are great, resupply is easy and the trail is a A+.

Blog Neglection

If anyone has been waiting for my next post, I apologize. I have been running all over the place, hiking, working, road tripping and running. I kept meaning to get back to blogging, but things began to pile up so, that I just had no desire to tackle it.
Now I am heading back out to do some more hikes and I am so far behind. I will start with my Colorado Trail run down, then on to my Sierra trips and PCT sections. I also sold my boat am looking into my next venture and much more. So I promise to catch up soon.

Coming out of Hibernation...

   Since my previous post, I have completed quite a bit of the Bay Area Rim Trail, have done quite a bit of sailing and have focused on completing a series of jobs. Probably the most significant thing I did was the South Lake to North Lake loop in the High Sierra over 4th of July weekend.
   On the Bay Area Rim Trail, I have completed San Francisco County and Marin County. All in which I have done twice because of working out of the car. I really like doing it this way due to spending more time in the area and hitting alternate routes on the return to the vehicle.
   While sailing, I have done quite a bit of work to my vessel, and am really getting to know my way around her.  I have had some crazy experiences with extreme conditions and have become quite comfortable navigating through the condition.
   The North Lake to South Lake loop was just a 57 mile speed hike/run over 3 high sierra passes in a single push. I have become quite comfortable doing 2 day runs without sleep over the past few years, so I was not pressured into doing it faster or actually running myself into exhaustion. What ended up happening was my relaxed pace gave me a bit of extra energy towards the end and I set a personal best by 4 hours, making it back to my vehicle in under 24 hours. I saw 4 people I knew in the middle of nowhere, and actually spent quite a bit of time on 3 separate occasions. But the weather was perfect, and the bugs only came out for an hour or so in the evening. I did flair up my bad knee a bit, but I just stretched it out, and it turned out to not be so bad.
   So now I have completed my jobs and am 2 days out from starting a series of shorter thru-hikes for the rest of the year. I only have a short 3 week job sometime in October/November. During this time I plan on starting off with hiking the Colorado Trail [CT] with a friend for starts. Our plan is quite simple. [we have no plan] It should be or get cold, so we are packing to be able to push through whatever the weather gives us. We are planning on hitting several 14'ers, and visiting some special places along the route. The CT is some 485 miles and we plan on just doing it in about 3 weeks. After that, I am going to the ALDHA-west gathering, then back home to Huntington Beach for some surfing and reassessing as well as figuring when my short job starts. My plans from there will be adjusted. I hope to do some New Mexico and a Arizona Trail thru-hike from there.
   One of the things I want to do is hike from Silver City, to Grants on the official CDT since I took the original CDT route through the Gila River. I want to complete all alternates in the next year or so, before I make it out for another thru-hike of the CDT.
  The good thing about the CT hike is I will not be in any kind of hurry, and I plan on journaling the entire time. I will put up my journals when I make it back home.

Bay Area Rim Trail

   I have been eating up a lot of trail on the Peninsula lately. In doing so I ran across a nice section of trail that was marked as the Bay Area Rim Trail. So I began to investigate it and found it was much longer than I ever dreamed of.
   So I got the guide book and maps and came up with a master plan:
1st of all it is 550+ miles long, with over 400 miles of completed trail. The rest is either undeveloped routes and or can be connected by roads. Most all of it is less than a hour from my boat, or work.
   My plan is this, I will begin at the golden gate one day soon after work and run out what ever miles I can at the time. I will then begin choosing either clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on various factors that apply for the moment. Another words I will be doing two hikes, working from the center with the ultimate goal of meeting somewhere in the middle.
   I am in no hurry to complete it, and will surely be yo-yoing a lot of it because of working solo out of a car. I will also be taking advantage of public transportation and rides from friends. I am very interested in other runners/fast hikers who are interested in adding another car into the picture. I will surely be doing a few over nights eventually. If anyone is interested, PM me.
   There are several alternate routes. I plan on doing them as well just to get the most out of the project.
Anyways, this is what I am up to, and I will begin posting soon, with the updates.

Last Update before the Maiden Voyage!

   Things have come together quite well. I am months ahead of my master plan, and living nearly full time on my boat now. There are still quite a few projects that I have not finished and even more that I have not started. But in all reality, she is sea worthy and with a few more weeks of work, I could take her anywhere around the world.
   As far as my sailing capabilities, I have learned a whole lot, and have been become pretty confident. It is sort of funny how I got myself all into this, but I am pretty much self taught. Every time I take her out, I come back with a bit more knowledge, and seek out information in peculiar ways. For instance, I had a problem with some rigging issues. I just came back to port after a day of trying to figure it out on my own and looked over to a similar boat next to me, and saw how I was suppose to be running my lines.
   You tube is also a huge help. If I put anything sailboat related into search, there are enough videos on it to last all night. Books sort of suck, and I feel sorry for the people who are self taught from books. The illustrations and words do not compare to actual video.
   As far as major projects that are left, I have several. One big one is all the 12 volt accessory wiring. I have all the 12 volt, except the engine harness disconnected. The main reason is because everything is out dated and needs to be upgraded. I plan to incorporate solar and wind generation, to eventually be able to run off the grid and the engine.
   Also, I need to work on all the water tanks and sinks. Its all there, but I just haven't got to it. It will be nice to use the sinks properly.
   Then there is the front hatch. It is trashed and needs to be completely rebuilt. I will be doing this soon, cause it is the only thing that makes the vessel look like an eye sore.
   I need to work on the wench cover. It is trashed.
   Then there are lots of little minor day projects to be tackled. But she is very comfortable right now, and when I am done with the big things, I will put away the tools and she will become more spacious.
   I am currently planning a weekend sail to one of the islands in front of San Francisco, to anchor at night in front of the lights.
        Also, I will soon be applying her new name......  

Trip to Grand Marina Boat Yard

Since my last post, I have been getting her ready for a haul out. The problem is, the closest haul out is Alameda Marina, all the way across the San Francisco Bay. For people who do not know the Bay Area, this is quite a distance. Across the Bay, is even a longer distance for a novice [at best] sailor like myself. So I did my best in doing the prep work, such as engine maintenance and check list items, and woke up early on Sunday morning and motored her out of the slip. 

As soon as I cleared the Marina, I turned off the engine and threw up the sails. It was not long before I was making my way on a 1-2 knot winds, heading out towards the deep water of the shipping lanes. I knew there was a few areas to watch out for, one being a smily face ball that had shallow rocks underneath. To my surprise, this section of the bay is actually quite shallow, and I have 6 ft of draft to watch out for.

It did not take too long before I was out into the deep water of the shipping lanes. The only problem now was I was heading into a strong head wind, that was coming directly from my final destination. So I began tacking back and forth, for what seamed like eternity in order to gain just the slightest bit of distance. But I just did my best to figure out what was working best, and after a few hours, I began to get a better feel of it.

Soon the ocean was choppy as the wind began to accelerate. Not only that, there were small swells and every now and then a small wave would catch her bow at the right time and break over her and I. Things began to get faster, my hands were soon hurting from pulling line and switching the main sail from side to side. But eventually I figured out how to trim the sails and ride the wind. I was hauling ass and things were were looking pretty good.

As I approached the City of San Francisco, there were large tankers spread across the Bay. Things were really put into perspective now, for I had markers to go by. I could really see my speed, and measure my distance quite well. Eventually though I made the turn up the Oakland Estuary, and turned with the wind towards Alameda.

 Once inside the channel, the water was calm, and was choked with weekend warriors. It seemed that every person who owned a boat in the Bay Area, was in that calm channel. I felt like I had just had battle with Mother Nature, and was now calmly drifting up the channel.

I eventually found the Boat Yard, and docked her along side of another sailor and his new boat that he had sailed their a couple of months earlier. I got a lucky ride back to San Francisco, where I caught a train back to Redwood City, and then to my truck. I had sea legs for a couple of hours and felt a mix of shock and awe.

I called at 8am the next morning, and they already had her out and were pressure washing her. At 2pm, I stopped by nervous of some possible bad news of her condition. But I was blessed to see her with her first coat of fresh paint. She had no blisters or anything else worthy of fixing on her hull. Tomorrow, they will do some driveshaft repacking and valves. Because she had such a great bill of health, I am paying for a new wax job, cause she needs it. The guys at the Grand Marina Boat Yard are great and are very helpful.

Things have been going forward on my vessel. But not quite as trouble free as I would have liked. It always seems that as soon as I move a step forward, something causes me to go two steps back.
Ok, thats probably an over statement, but sometimes it feels that way. I have gotten her in good enough shape though, to make her voyage across the bay to Dry Dock. There she will be lifted out of the water,  surveyed, bottom paint, and anything else that needs to be attended to.
Right now I believe that she is going to need some driveshaft work, and possibly a inlet valve or two replaced. Also, she will surely need all her zinc replaces.

After return to dock, she will need a complete rewiring. mainly due to outdated lights, fuses, and switches. I am good at electrical, so that is a easy upgrade that will not cost much, and can be done at my own time. I will also need to attend to some rusted bulkheads, which are more dirty work than anything, but will need attending before they get worse.

Besides that everything else will be cosmetic work that can be done while I have free time. At this point, I plan to clean her up, get her back to a healthy state, and sail her around the bay for the next few years while I work and live here. I will put here up for sale as well for profit only once I have her in perfect turn key condition. Meanwhile though, she is a handful, and been a great project so far.

Last Sunday, I took her out for the first tour out in the bay. She handled perfectly. There was little wind, but she caught and held on and was surprisingly fast. Most sailboats were motoring around, but she just cruised on by. I was a bit leery about docking such a large vessel, but I actually put her to rest perfectly, like a I actually knew what I was doing. It was not easy to pull her in slowly and accurately enough not to hit the dock. I had to  be able to jump away from the wheel and grab the lines, and tie her up, by myself. She is heavy, and hard to physically maneuver, so manipulating every move is vital. I pulled it off very well, and I am bit proud of that.

Anyways, I am now planning the voyage across the bay. I have a small check list to take care of this week. I need to watch the weather, but hopefully it all works out and she makes it to Dry Dock this Sunday.