tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30573529001061095142024-03-05T12:51:44.073-07:00T-Dawg SpeaksTom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-52686186176675092732020-08-20T21:26:00.002-06:002020-08-20T21:26:38.263-06:00Packrafting and Backpacking the Wallowas<p>In the posts about my mom Ginny Diegel I talked about how much she loved the Wallowa Mountains in northeast Oregon; indeed, for an Oregonian, it's a "real" mountain range. Not that the Cascades is not a range, but with craggy peaks and jagged ridges, deep valleys, rivers, and pristine mountain lakes the Wallowas offer a lot of alpine bang once you make the long entrance into them. They are known as the "American Alps," which I think is actually a bit unfair: they don't actually look much like the Alps and they are far wilder than the over-developed Alps, but I get that it's a magnificent little range that probably deserves more notoriety than it gets so people (back in the day) wanted to apply an impressive-sounding moniker. Generally they seem more akin to the Wind River range, the Sawtooths, or the San Juans. But regardless of what they are similar to (and who really cares?!?), the Wallowas have always loomed on the eastern horizon as Ashley and I have driven I-84 past LaGrande, and she had never been in those mountains and it had been....a lonnggg time since I'd been there. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemGFNXFVrDqDfblZTEimNCf9Hcwvp3a3ZZ9mN5pZFfckXLHoOpSb8Tj7arAix1YfIPnj64mRdQYeERZO8fqy0gu9AChPspYG47AExtJmQspYrMEMr97aTg6-Rx_qUIaKX-9rBYqJdIcgB/s400/IMG_0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemGFNXFVrDqDfblZTEimNCf9Hcwvp3a3ZZ9mN5pZFfckXLHoOpSb8Tj7arAix1YfIPnj64mRdQYeERZO8fqy0gu9AChPspYG47AExtJmQspYrMEMr97aTg6-Rx_qUIaKX-9rBYqJdIcgB/w375-h500/IMG_0326.JPG" width="375" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">circa 1975?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_12O0hX2W7f3P_zAJonHhRqArZpEtfQqTC09vNXeFoCfOPZvvjrMnRmn_Ut8rfbJAA27aWjt78PNY8LNTFpjJEMHNGVpJ_5oXfaG-3omk_8F1hImr2TEWPljkvr-cfHaT8kuPS6tSYOf/s994/0268990_0268990-R1-E001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_12O0hX2W7f3P_zAJonHhRqArZpEtfQqTC09vNXeFoCfOPZvvjrMnRmn_Ut8rfbJAA27aWjt78PNY8LNTFpjJEMHNGVpJ_5oXfaG-3omk_8F1hImr2TEWPljkvr-cfHaT8kuPS6tSYOf/s640/0268990_0268990-R1-E001.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Different dog, circa 1980? <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>It turns out that I was apparently into Great Snags even before I knew that I was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/greatsnagsofthewasatch/">into Great Snags</a>:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuPsqeVrZmCDFyjOiS90eXcJDlff8hnULukgzyGSDVUVf8BMgsImlxgHJog7gpwKloeF9kDzv54jpza7qvDwbU1DN9cr3y0VsvRPXBKUwRKfmc-yeqGp4hgC7D9nkWmomipN39MAMYV6n/s1280/0268990_0268990-R1-E005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuPsqeVrZmCDFyjOiS90eXcJDlff8hnULukgzyGSDVUVf8BMgsImlxgHJog7gpwKloeF9kDzv54jpza7qvDwbU1DN9cr3y0VsvRPXBKUwRKfmc-yeqGp4hgC7D9nkWmomipN39MAMYV6n/s640/0268990_0268990-R1-E005.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCphbWHXJcfDSboXrLqO7rnzrPIGZa5XTfdz9mkHXaC2bJgEX1EfTOlfTSWU1s1vn6pbDvUf4uupji4N9qkXdFJzZjTGFC0mU-2v86Hm2KE93AfZOEMVdeLH_x96LEc4Ti171vezG4rY0L/s1024/0268990_0268990-R1-E004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="672" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCphbWHXJcfDSboXrLqO7rnzrPIGZa5XTfdz9mkHXaC2bJgEX1EfTOlfTSWU1s1vn6pbDvUf4uupji4N9qkXdFJzZjTGFC0mU-2v86Hm2KE93AfZOEMVdeLH_x96LEc4Ti171vezG4rY0L/s640/0268990_0268990-R1-E004.jpg" /></a></div><div>On that trip I had the opportunity to take probably the best - at least, the most fortuitous - picture i've ever taken:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BG2KadNxJ89VEe6852851Ixz3ctcahWy3JcOgdy1fOOJjaBTnuqc0bId4e4XXKpo0x2iwzIE4zeazdqQPNUgazYn2slzcMloQK6S1em124m3MHFju7tYZCv7_ovSxyDz0-gOS-CvUdNi/s1024/0268990_0268990-R1-E003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="672" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BG2KadNxJ89VEe6852851Ixz3ctcahWy3JcOgdy1fOOJjaBTnuqc0bId4e4XXKpo0x2iwzIE4zeazdqQPNUgazYn2slzcMloQK6S1em124m3MHFju7tYZCv7_ovSxyDz0-gOS-CvUdNi/s640/0268990_0268990-R1-E003.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Like some of the bigger/wilder ranges of the West, if you wanna access the Walllowa's goods, you can't drive, ride, or even day hike into them. You gotta sling a pack on and march for a solid day up one of many long drainages to get to those idyllic mountain lakes. Back in the day we had big frame packs and huge sleeping bags; now we can go with 1 pound sleeping bags and packs that weigh 2# empty and are essentially oversized day packs:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYlwQcftpEMJFLQtgqETU9tSRjVtR1guqLJMj62t8M_XIbkBNVjeu1INxDaK-j3WOF1IF_ES0kgcUW8hDwNHXafkcNUJ9TT55LuD8od_qHQeu3XhNCg4nPebhpdYG_2dCGmG1p3qtQKFEB/s2048/IMG_0169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYlwQcftpEMJFLQtgqETU9tSRjVtR1guqLJMj62t8M_XIbkBNVjeu1INxDaK-j3WOF1IF_ES0kgcUW8hDwNHXafkcNUJ9TT55LuD8od_qHQeu3XhNCg4nPebhpdYG_2dCGmG1p3qtQKFEB/s640/IMG_0169.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Though to be sure, there are still folks who eschew the light is right ethos:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP3F8YTumN8kX72GI0wMkxpB41ZR_xlcCac_qWfvK6iZzHHimAKtkTn8W0ao_8zi8MWct__Df2OvUAlXL__wkk3QGqmv1dGMoWJ7L3ny1pag1j21LsbtdGj-MxpsceWI7MhAlMjfr3sp9/s2048/P7110501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP3F8YTumN8kX72GI0wMkxpB41ZR_xlcCac_qWfvK6iZzHHimAKtkTn8W0ao_8zi8MWct__Df2OvUAlXL__wkk3QGqmv1dGMoWJ7L3ny1pag1j21LsbtdGj-MxpsceWI7MhAlMjfr3sp9/s640/P7110501.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">At least they aren't wearing big boots! And that sleepover sleeping bag looks pretty comfy....</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But a new development over the last few years has enabled the ability to not have to hike out: you can float!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcll-jV9gvaWc6AM14Sr9AzsqkXoxHm-AQH69zfWKbZ0OT2g7MqtIosUsZ64x6jTNyTatm9ScOaPoEajcdoh-zPWItznW8tm-bMMZogR3JJJCoK9PLeze2lUc0Eou_CmasvYDBiPXBJhB/s640/IMG_0109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcll-jV9gvaWc6AM14Sr9AzsqkXoxHm-AQH69zfWKbZ0OT2g7MqtIosUsZ64x6jTNyTatm9ScOaPoEajcdoh-zPWItznW8tm-bMMZogR3JJJCoK9PLeze2lUc0Eou_CmasvYDBiPXBJhB/s0/IMG_0109.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Wallowa's drainages are big enough to support several rivers, and we realized that we had the opportunity to add packrafts to our journey. The <a href="https://minam-lodge.com/">Minam Lodge</a> is an amazing place on the Minam river (more on that later) and is 23 miles upriver from a highway, so before we launched on foot we stopped by the Enterprise, Oregon international airport:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieX4TsHqLVs30WpOK_F9khOOKT10IdJJF51VmSwVSyOi-WJaQJ299HGttqSjpPT0zNQL7rYGiLmjWQHmRftkQm8Zokg1_U3pZXrEz1Dbs3jhUw4UR3BSg14_2_g9bUibl2swfMSwqHM5Ou/s640/IMG_0068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieX4TsHqLVs30WpOK_F9khOOKT10IdJJF51VmSwVSyOi-WJaQJ299HGttqSjpPT0zNQL7rYGiLmjWQHmRftkQm8Zokg1_U3pZXrEz1Dbs3jhUw4UR3BSg14_2_g9bUibl2swfMSwqHM5Ou/s0/IMG_0068.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">And dropped off our packrafts and paddling gear at the check-in counter:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_6KAfoCUvlUJzMzeCslKMb0rM06dLGcecKZDM5tj1IIphfe4hy234Zwb0qsTjeWBe_bsvYXLRKIxRt9HvScMxVLOBTKpQkyET1A9wX-NGdTmspfiUxvoXe2NnKZUuf9qUIeOj6dju0GL/s640/IMG_0067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_6KAfoCUvlUJzMzeCslKMb0rM06dLGcecKZDM5tj1IIphfe4hy234Zwb0qsTjeWBe_bsvYXLRKIxRt9HvScMxVLOBTKpQkyET1A9wX-NGdTmspfiUxvoXe2NnKZUuf9qUIeOj6dju0GL/s0/IMG_0067.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yes, we could have carried our boats in (they are "packrafts" and all), but we hoped to hike 60 or 70 miles with a lot of vert, and the Minam Lodge folks were kind enough to fly in our boat etc for only $50, so it was hard to pass up that opportunity to offload the poundage of the river gear. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to getting the boats into the lodge, we also had to deal with our car; we needed to get it from the trailhead to the end of our first section of paddling, and then get it to the takeout. But if you have a car or gear or body that needs to be shuttled around, there is almost always someone willing to take your money and move it where it needs to go. In this case it was the Minam store, which was very professional and accommodating:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNhstEWO3ZzrFrNmwcVdFic6p-BLWM289Au53q9n0riC0UxSgtdJF0rGzSAsCaP3C_k3_C3Ywt8Voq9vRkICh58rwYQ0u0FSbKtYywleKEa-55cqAyEJDItIWLo3sjSNZ9emtUBcS-DQt/s640/IMG_0119%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNhstEWO3ZzrFrNmwcVdFic6p-BLWM289Au53q9n0riC0UxSgtdJF0rGzSAsCaP3C_k3_C3Ywt8Voq9vRkICh58rwYQ0u0FSbKtYywleKEa-55cqAyEJDItIWLo3sjSNZ9emtUBcS-DQt/s0/IMG_0119%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">once we got the logistics sorted, it was off into the simpler life and pace of rambling through the mountains:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVVaLmt3L3BM0Y_kuUO1-I5PeLBFQtszYn2h8-VMmR3NyK7aZ-5o8UtsGPIDfYqmDkmB8sbMjxcV3xyWRP4QGatC1D-k6QDwookzQmdsNH0rQp_hSD3upG6aK8uDa_5mdgL3iuU_LEBzkI/s2048/IMG_0175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVVaLmt3L3BM0Y_kuUO1-I5PeLBFQtszYn2h8-VMmR3NyK7aZ-5o8UtsGPIDfYqmDkmB8sbMjxcV3xyWRP4QGatC1D-k6QDwookzQmdsNH0rQp_hSD3upG6aK8uDa_5mdgL3iuU_LEBzkI/s640/IMG_0175.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bridges like these help to keep the horse traffic down....</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJy41LUgzNeTDmaf-OUG1xH7gAgL9cDgJ9uHPxSrg2EHympJoG_-XHf-CHbVmHDEByDXhifc1UoX0CcUsUvu4FWHtUUh-dUmWIlJpzaqa0pg5oSf3ORriqDUUPSeZnfl2r5oXjAHO9DT6/s2048/P7120534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJy41LUgzNeTDmaf-OUG1xH7gAgL9cDgJ9uHPxSrg2EHympJoG_-XHf-CHbVmHDEByDXhifc1UoX0CcUsUvu4FWHtUUh-dUmWIlJpzaqa0pg5oSf3ORriqDUUPSeZnfl2r5oXjAHO9DT6/s640/P7120534.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWV5wcU3TJNh3sXiT3bnOlad0JXPtnvc66s8-9M12AD8ppHXsarm8UAXG0zi7h-Je5fDhTEJEMTDMcKPe9EQm6XYRjvijl8jrsOE5yS6i82-PZvyvZVCoq4lAWCfJnlHreLGoYegDWSisj/s2048/P7110509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWV5wcU3TJNh3sXiT3bnOlad0JXPtnvc66s8-9M12AD8ppHXsarm8UAXG0zi7h-Je5fDhTEJEMTDMcKPe9EQm6XYRjvijl8jrsOE5yS6i82-PZvyvZVCoq4lAWCfJnlHreLGoYegDWSisj/s640/P7110509.JPG" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia79txStfY0zKtMvOteSRe4myqz7C4kFeXkuS1q-U8LSt6Dsqom-sf8AOcu975dEmpfQY7K8DUQWfLWaW_CAGXx4aj6t_3f0pcspAxQpCDqajQ_g8O83rH1O_n7ZhKUJvD3JRS-xuWfSnk/s2048/P7110517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia79txStfY0zKtMvOteSRe4myqz7C4kFeXkuS1q-U8LSt6Dsqom-sf8AOcu975dEmpfQY7K8DUQWfLWaW_CAGXx4aj6t_3f0pcspAxQpCDqajQ_g8O83rH1O_n7ZhKUJvD3JRS-xuWfSnk/s640/P7110517.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got a little carried away on the "tilt the camera to make it look steep" thing!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVa6Wa7q4RdaVWDK5H19jI1r-r579v-tPK3wuHzITDAnaDwg3NE7uVx0qHYiAdEzvt8bv4y5XOaF_YllllOKnt-8PR4TOueFEN_OxQ_vHGXCGZ2Ij5uF-OdQMYzlzkF3hUVPXbDlGVDeO/s2048/P7120519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVa6Wa7q4RdaVWDK5H19jI1r-r579v-tPK3wuHzITDAnaDwg3NE7uVx0qHYiAdEzvt8bv4y5XOaF_YllllOKnt-8PR4TOueFEN_OxQ_vHGXCGZ2Ij5uF-OdQMYzlzkF3hUVPXbDlGVDeO/s640/P7120519.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the butt crawl is a proven successful log-crossing technique<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBo43Ecmnr6xrQAlbLK7FkKbs1CzShwwebbebL8kc4G_l_bRJABVyWTZpm-s57xWnrro1hPFYQ35pkCKtURYz6qwbLoL2D7WRyuB2bpBo6LUcavk4nbqrYAGJajd0uSFkIuaU0biODdnw/s1920/P7130543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBo43Ecmnr6xrQAlbLK7FkKbs1CzShwwebbebL8kc4G_l_bRJABVyWTZpm-s57xWnrro1hPFYQ35pkCKtURYz6qwbLoL2D7WRyuB2bpBo6LUcavk4nbqrYAGJajd0uSFkIuaU0biODdnw/s640/P7130543.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A long cool spring made for a lot of snow for us to cross, and we had to change our route choice a bit to account for it. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiuWWamyqBVVl-gY8lWFIYO4-lBGooK0tIwHBOLhZItXGZQee8Ru3Cjf9eVbLogaur444hKQ3G_AAe5x1O6RK-vgTtGZbLD49NpEM1UNIPQZVot2GVNmLPbyWlXrttnnsBts2E6dTIIKu/s640/P7110505.JPG" style="text-align: left;" width="640" /><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />this photo is worth a bit of a tale. As we were heading up to a pass we saw two different couples coming towards us. The first said "The trail to the pass is impassable! The couple ahead tried it and said it was impassable!" Okay, we said, we'll take a look for ourselves. We came upon the 2nd couple who - not surprisingly - also said "the trail is impassable! My wife fell 250 feet!" Okay, we said, we'll take a look for ourselves. Our new benefactor declared, in a bit more panicky voice: "THE TRAIL IS IMPASSABLE!" Whoa dude, take it easy. We aren't gnarly, but we will take a look for ourselves. Indeed, the trail appeared to lead to a steep snow slope that had a big glissade track down the middle (visible in the lower left of the pic). But if one turned about 80 degrees, one would see that the trail actually avoided the steep snow and switchbacked back into melted-out terrain, switched back a coupla more times, then a quick shot over the snow on top of the riege, which we traversed pretty easily. While we tried to appreciated the good intentions of the advice, it was a good reminder that what one person perceives is not necessarily what everyone perceives. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Onward through the </span><span style="text-align: left;">mountains, we got into the popular Lakes Basin, but the snow pushed us down in elevation a bit:</span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SdR9MQsbs18Z1509sRm9Em7nBTzNAkeDbGGlzaHbBONLf0yNS2tUs0MC2nupKnRQgHIMBAMUPFLGT-ny7GKXd4A1H-SgPyJTA-vwzJ5wdVU28ooaC_BG6LPF-f59ln6QUT-r4_1qCE6K/s2048/P7120523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SdR9MQsbs18Z1509sRm9Em7nBTzNAkeDbGGlzaHbBONLf0yNS2tUs0MC2nupKnRQgHIMBAMUPFLGT-ny7GKXd4A1H-SgPyJTA-vwzJ5wdVU28ooaC_BG6LPF-f59ln6QUT-r4_1qCE6K/s640/P7120523.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had hoped to climb Eagle Cap, but with only running shoes and no spikes we didn't. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But we were able to go to Ice Lake and the Matterhorn. Ice Lake is one of the Wallowa's most iconic lakes; it's big, crystal clear, deep, and at the base of the Matterhorn; a nice granite-domed peak that's just a walk up. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58RTmqDYwuUoJDOMKw_6b2k5Sj3MbI_3eP5ahzmZv92rJWhnYt-b1JWOCxNqKJQm8dg6G0uG3FqrLKBIjoJDepe56SHI2qBkxt61qOpaQu9yVQINzbaJkB970o3xvwaDM-PiywuIb53RB/s2048/IMG_0170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58RTmqDYwuUoJDOMKw_6b2k5Sj3MbI_3eP5ahzmZv92rJWhnYt-b1JWOCxNqKJQm8dg6G0uG3FqrLKBIjoJDepe56SHI2qBkxt61qOpaQu9yVQINzbaJkB970o3xvwaDM-PiywuIb53RB/s640/IMG_0170.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41-IYMHx6lNiaex0f_h6A90HJ6NycMSwWCHVidQU2-u4_YZ0MyHjNAl1QvPJ_xaiUjh2VUY8E534EAfjdU2KlDT7rb_troKTrAkuPuY44B2bjFhypY1Yqg1lvIXswnW3OAxm5V5gXqnZ1/s2048/IMG_0148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41-IYMHx6lNiaex0f_h6A90HJ6NycMSwWCHVidQU2-u4_YZ0MyHjNAl1QvPJ_xaiUjh2VUY8E534EAfjdU2KlDT7rb_troKTrAkuPuY44B2bjFhypY1Yqg1lvIXswnW3OAxm5V5gXqnZ1/s640/IMG_0148.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_b0WbfS_Vio78JU5iaT-1-J-dT8F6h8YwZIN8Kz1XlrLbzz0o3kvJKno1cgyTHpQJcNicdJKvsqVVEveaGyRtUkBFwMPj61Koj7Mxx4iR1BkQbnP8yLIcn8J88tptE0EMJjno-Xwa57-/s2048/IMG_0132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_b0WbfS_Vio78JU5iaT-1-J-dT8F6h8YwZIN8Kz1XlrLbzz0o3kvJKno1cgyTHpQJcNicdJKvsqVVEveaGyRtUkBFwMPj61Koj7Mxx4iR1BkQbnP8yLIcn8J88tptE0EMJjno-Xwa57-/s640/IMG_0132.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsrrhy95kmAGsFHTkVVO1jS7kBhJpyfVUckiCOkA0K795bGdxP3zpbl5ey0IaGgLeK0VRG49AfgYQC0Zv_qCnVlNH76Yh3Q5ZfUuuW1902Ta-kUVPIAEJKJJR_97zjryTWMTw06dVfYJ0/s640/IMG_0126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsrrhy95kmAGsFHTkVVO1jS7kBhJpyfVUckiCOkA0K795bGdxP3zpbl5ey0IaGgLeK0VRG49AfgYQC0Zv_qCnVlNH76Yh3Q5ZfUuuW1902Ta-kUVPIAEJKJJR_97zjryTWMTw06dVfYJ0/s0/IMG_0126.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 1975 picture at the beginning of the post was taken looking down at Ice Lake, and we were keen to get on top for sentimental reasons, since that's where this great pic of Ma Ginny was taken on that same trip:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3R5Xf6Wb4gzLIBPee6sO4KgavyA1TPxu4uIqD-rDlyIp6vO_ECniG7DZKuJ8dxFf8rJCPaUqkHJCMvHRqzlitxlRBlV_Vvq_NDthUZ0xD2hTyqIRgqHwjJLe17lqHSruim7Jx0kCp02wY/s2048/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3R5Xf6Wb4gzLIBPee6sO4KgavyA1TPxu4uIqD-rDlyIp6vO_ECniG7DZKuJ8dxFf8rJCPaUqkHJCMvHRqzlitxlRBlV_Vvq_NDthUZ0xD2hTyqIRgqHwjJLe17lqHSruim7Jx0kCp02wY/s640/IMG_0005.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's a nice little walkup, and though it seems like many things get less-big and less-beautiful as we get bigger/older, the Matterhorn and Ice Lake are still as great as ever. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeR6oZeIrMN8eGlieEep_Nu38asQzuAjKUS7b9akcMRWl-AgncqgL0z25_DD3cAHcb3DfT1jcswJwzcu-fXPedUtwvu4JktFWANW-0gByCCjTGOuKLBJnusJtDSalllXi5kQpZaDLtgLC/s2048/IMG_0170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLeR6oZeIrMN8eGlieEep_Nu38asQzuAjKUS7b9akcMRWl-AgncqgL0z25_DD3cAHcb3DfT1jcswJwzcu-fXPedUtwvu4JktFWANW-0gByCCjTGOuKLBJnusJtDSalllXi5kQpZaDLtgLC/s640/IMG_0170.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhT5DnXoJWVa5KU0ZRJquuao10uUzBYaAP8q-_fKPavzlpjq6M3aN7y550sOgCCUszxfGZICIhPwBtEgh4DKsFii1cNgHPB5IijkdZvH8HF9DpkuZ7KxzZAL-Gsjcbaodv4w_DCISaJ_B/s2048/IMG_0162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhT5DnXoJWVa5KU0ZRJquuao10uUzBYaAP8q-_fKPavzlpjq6M3aN7y550sOgCCUszxfGZICIhPwBtEgh4DKsFii1cNgHPB5IijkdZvH8HF9DpkuZ7KxzZAL-Gsjcbaodv4w_DCISaJ_B/s640/IMG_0162.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hVyKTXnacx8skRCrTedh2g7RC_iwaNZh_D-KnnCEEYYyfurto9jDHLmLosT9QBxC85UiZbhcYbqNR1B3f3wRarUZUAvph-vqqR7789UkwGm8galK_bx1D9RdLOltH79WGC8vfMLzw60t/s2048/IMG_0160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hVyKTXnacx8skRCrTedh2g7RC_iwaNZh_D-KnnCEEYYyfurto9jDHLmLosT9QBxC85UiZbhcYbqNR1B3f3wRarUZUAvph-vqqR7789UkwGm8galK_bx1D9RdLOltH79WGC8vfMLzw60t/s640/IMG_0160.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To continue our traverse of the range to meet up with our boats and avoid a lot of snow we had to drop down into a drainage and then back out. The Lostine River drainage is quite steep in the neighborhood of the trailhead, so even though we didn't necessarily want to camp at the trailhead where there would undoubtedly be more people/vehicles, that's where we ended up. As we were setting up camp alongside the roaring and chilly stream, a guy came wandering over from his camper van with a glass of wine in his hand. Turns out that Bill - from Portland's suburbs - was a fascinating guy who regaled us with tales of "I hitchhiked to India - and it took me a year to get there!" and the like for hours. He's the retired director of a Christian-based Doctors Without Borders-type of organization, so he turned a wanderlust into a career that helped people around the globe. And in an era where it seems that the word "Christian" has a connotation of social and political conservatism, it was great to meet a guy like Bill who truly personified the thoughtful, compassionate, and empathetic ethos that Christianity should embody. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5gQLXwBQidY1zwvkjb4Ar4bj_pPOTxFh4Me9DtpNe9ApcDkfXbCMk0_wgUu7Dvw_nD8c-hn-mp5fmCEr3tfQHaTPr-AEiSFq1mN-ca5LFtYcj28s0ILHTOK4jqjkmvCejqb8N449-594/s2048/P7120536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5gQLXwBQidY1zwvkjb4Ar4bj_pPOTxFh4Me9DtpNe9ApcDkfXbCMk0_wgUu7Dvw_nD8c-hn-mp5fmCEr3tfQHaTPr-AEiSFq1mN-ca5LFtYcj28s0ILHTOK4jqjkmvCejqb8N449-594/s640/P7120536.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill sharing his wine and knowledge of the area. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Another day and a half of hiking - again, with plenty of vertical and plenty of snow - we rolled into the Minam Lodge. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrB3uPCg8Cxn-HvcaSrtYS6Bpit5UTPbrBm1d4hdqUuvROK6pAsPetoTAPEgEwfWInnE29xZyLFt9TUAmNJRugUSKMTtXYNFMX_DApu1IH4OPTTzuM52vUJdj5E01ueaflFxgv9lQWn7a/s640/IMG_0100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrB3uPCg8Cxn-HvcaSrtYS6Bpit5UTPbrBm1d4hdqUuvROK6pAsPetoTAPEgEwfWInnE29xZyLFt9TUAmNJRugUSKMTtXYNFMX_DApu1IH4OPTTzuM52vUJdj5E01ueaflFxgv9lQWn7a/s0/IMG_0100.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The lodge was originally built in the early 50's as a hunting/fishing lodge, and after a number of ownership changes in the 80's and 90's it fell into a bit of disrepair. Around 2010 it apparently struck the fancy of a financial dude in Portland who embarked on a very ambitious project to not only revive the lodge, but make it into a super nice, high end lodge parked literally in the middle of nowhere (it's a tiny hole in the wilderness that was grandfathered in). The shortest access is an 8 mile hike, so it was basically built with materials helicoptered in, and it was clear that the owner spared no expense; it was almost too fancy, but it was also pretty "cool". They have a great greenhouse:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpLTBjUD0Nn3x4pT8Rek1WhL_FmjkwVP-3SBAEEiI9ZR1RH2wfXJHpniGpwS2uYVcM3EX-aaj5d4EOtDuWrZhOZpJLWucgV90vZ2wpB8vO0GQ7_X9rFgPyNmt48i6lsHxzR2B7gxXjdnr/s640/IMG_0095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpLTBjUD0Nn3x4pT8Rek1WhL_FmjkwVP-3SBAEEiI9ZR1RH2wfXJHpniGpwS2uYVcM3EX-aaj5d4EOtDuWrZhOZpJLWucgV90vZ2wpB8vO0GQ7_X9rFgPyNmt48i6lsHxzR2B7gxXjdnr/s0/IMG_0095.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ash went straight to the greenhouse before heading to the lodge, but it didn't take long to throw the pack down on a deck and enjoy a nice beer after 5 days of marching. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQB7SVET4dp-SxXcjdTgMWX-piCqY0GaK1JktPUJGgpzLvbzAP0A2aW0VfuTWAw2HkJVPpGF5w4yU6Pxeom5L7hf1iwjw1joYqVVLIU0_OL6ZftSEWrAUNY3hGnWtFqqiniMe-7-u_eFSf/s640/IMG_0097.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQB7SVET4dp-SxXcjdTgMWX-piCqY0GaK1JktPUJGgpzLvbzAP0A2aW0VfuTWAw2HkJVPpGF5w4yU6Pxeom5L7hf1iwjw1joYqVVLIU0_OL6ZftSEWrAUNY3hGnWtFqqiniMe-7-u_eFSf/s0/IMG_0097.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We didn't give them any notice of our arrival (we were tromping through the mountains) so we weren't able to have dinner, which was very much "presented" to the diners by the chef, whom we found out from other guests is apparently some sort of "celebrity" chef from Portland. But they did have enough breakfast:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4R9jESWNCss2nEy7jWNSQRrIZENoC-xqrPpMM_SzON78NnjKacsE-d9WzmTlfKWywndfp1e1ivTgGnpqp_sJxoCebfmKVnxg_lUH-zutOGutTJTF4ySnUxNNa1zbsfYtnkcR26ZNT0nMr/s640/IMG_0098.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4R9jESWNCss2nEy7jWNSQRrIZENoC-xqrPpMM_SzON78NnjKacsE-d9WzmTlfKWywndfp1e1ivTgGnpqp_sJxoCebfmKVnxg_lUH-zutOGutTJTF4ySnUxNNa1zbsfYtnkcR26ZNT0nMr/s0/IMG_0098.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Homemade bread, huckleberry jam, wilderness chicken eggs, and strawberries from the garden were a nice change from freeze dried eggs and oatmeal! The Lodge isn't cheap, but it doesn't take very many napkin calculations to understand that they aren't making much/any money with the investment in quality that they've put into their place that likely only sees visitors 6 or 7 months a year. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">After breakfast we headed down to the "hangar" (a shed), grabbed our boats, and headed for the river. We love hiking, but a more or less flat 22 mile hike through the woods was easily foregone for a nice float down the class 2-3 Minam river. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSRJcRbCD_HvpWJIhrzshIzSTZX-fzE_pz6XptG9xyZJHzp3tIDvnsdsikocrs4FOtFfPG1iAPa4Din9YyASm7WI0IaHQF9iLGMzM20FxIqjiiuGFUnFp7N7pzYZDuxZl6nG-QwavOXxZ/s640/IMG_0109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSSRJcRbCD_HvpWJIhrzshIzSTZX-fzE_pz6XptG9xyZJHzp3tIDvnsdsikocrs4FOtFfPG1iAPa4Din9YyASm7WI0IaHQF9iLGMzM20FxIqjiiuGFUnFp7N7pzYZDuxZl6nG-QwavOXxZ/s0/IMG_0109.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There were a few rapids, but generally it was swift water. Apparently there are some class 4 gorges upstream from the lodge for the more ambitious. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Soon enough we were back at the Minam Store where the Minam and Wallowa rivers join. Our car had magically made it there from the trailhead, so we were able to refuel our trip with food, and then merrily carried on down the river. The Minam/Wallowa confluence is actually the common start for floating the Grande Ronde river, which in turn joins the Wallowa 10 miles downstream. The Grande Ronde is very easy and is simply a boat-based camping trip with beautiful beaches tucked into Ponderosa pines that stretches 40 miles more to the remote town of Troy, Oregon. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCCwn_oqYG1VgYnZLpgfwhOkCbzcLrYxCuABZUrSdvRWosySuxayt-TFmJKq66wsRqS8trrWj3-lbQ2xLvs5WUgCGsFdWEo1f2_RLXyZrhRrqMkdKTO9bwCA83xe-nzn_XzJrPQf5mreUK/s640/IMG_0124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCCwn_oqYG1VgYnZLpgfwhOkCbzcLrYxCuABZUrSdvRWosySuxayt-TFmJKq66wsRqS8trrWj3-lbQ2xLvs5WUgCGsFdWEo1f2_RLXyZrhRrqMkdKTO9bwCA83xe-nzn_XzJrPQf5mreUK/s0/IMG_0124.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY5s8wwux9yuMGAFE2D6xDXQBehJQo3Ry6SrSfB6h7z3w-oh6vD8ESASJ9uQMN4NMFr0woQqEMSJ5EG1lcYyLNxGFx2NQl_2kHbJtlU3ATfgd_i0baE3HZP1cS4vIcseTbo3lqPqbI7Su/s640/IMG_0125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY5s8wwux9yuMGAFE2D6xDXQBehJQo3Ry6SrSfB6h7z3w-oh6vD8ESASJ9uQMN4NMFr0woQqEMSJ5EG1lcYyLNxGFx2NQl_2kHbJtlU3ATfgd_i0baE3HZP1cS4vIcseTbo3lqPqbI7Su/s0/IMG_0125.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was great to be able to follow a river from its humble beginnings coming out of mountain lakes and small springs bursting out of hillsides all the way down to a rolling desert river. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks again to the nice folks at the Minam lodge, and to Ash for being a great pard on yet another great little adventure. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-73549005938809094592020-06-18T13:31:00.000-06:002020-06-18T13:32:49.204-06:00Ode to Ginny Diegel number 3. It's now been a month since mother's day, but Paul and I haven't forgotten to do the final chapter of our ode to our venerable mom. Summarizing an active and social 90+ year old's life is a daunting task!<br />
Back to the tale.....<br />
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Life for Ginny as a 69 year old newlywed seemed to just keep
getting better.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54HVSjida0fB9D4GhBgaUtwLQNFcdgKrk4L60BMaS2Ak8u0HgOocyyBBR3IZqRZjhlhvxVC8EYKzV4f9wFpm41NkTyHEdo6fIMctahMPtjkthxP_Hj6jbgwKko9eB-p2f79Zdrlngslf8/s1600/IMG_0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54HVSjida0fB9D4GhBgaUtwLQNFcdgKrk4L60BMaS2Ak8u0HgOocyyBBR3IZqRZjhlhvxVC8EYKzV4f9wFpm41NkTyHEdo6fIMctahMPtjkthxP_Hj6jbgwKko9eB-p2f79Zdrlngslf8/s400/IMG_0006.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a smashing wedding couple</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Husband TomB was overjoyed to have a new fishing partner and cool
old camper van to tinker with and they quickly racked up miles gallivanting
about looking for fish. Ginny had always more interested in traveling the
rural West than going overseas, but gradually New Zealand, Belize, the British
Virgin Islands were added to their carpet-bombing all the fishing spots they
could find around the Western US and Canada.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty sick tropical look! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaxId8RsZ9hQW4QCehQ7_KKkA3y6cROS9jF663fmYrTzU7wX3fYhZQCZmRWnp8vOsXtwa1GeVsTiAf8teURlvXtsJek8BkUvsX8wgOoLHaoR1H9ZWJu4n31-8Bf391cqM7upHIoWgOCKd/s1600/7_XKCoQ3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaaxId8RsZ9hQW4QCehQ7_KKkA3y6cROS9jF663fmYrTzU7wX3fYhZQCZmRWnp8vOsXtwa1GeVsTiAf8teURlvXtsJek8BkUvsX8wgOoLHaoR1H9ZWJu4n31-8Bf391cqM7upHIoWgOCKd/s640/7_XKCoQ3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Readying for a BC fly-in.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The latter has a guiding company featuring a fish processing
ship converted to a high end floating fishing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>resort in the Queen Charlotte Islands called
the <a href="http://www.fishdive.com/bccanada/salmonseeker.htm">Salmon Seeker</a>,
humbly described as The Last Frontier of Fishing, that they visited annually,
and from our perspective it seemed to be indeed the salmon and halibut seeker
and destroyer as they always returned with a copious supply of monstrous
fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was beside herself one
Christmas, unable to figure out a good present for us and exasperated at our
lack of interest in giving her ideas. She finally mentioned that all she had as
the holiday shopping came to an end was a freezer that was just overflowing
with salmon and halibut that they had caught and blueberries they had picked.
That led to about the best Christmas present a mom can give her Utah sons.<br />
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Ginny had raised us to be trout snobs, but Tom B had grown
up fishing in Oregon, done some commercial fishing, had a 19 ft jet boat that
he and his son built themselves, and was passionate about anything involving
water, a boat, underwater creatures, and a thermos of coffee. Sturgeon, bass,
steelhead; if it had fins, he was up for a road trip to check it out. One
classic trip involved driving away from Portland midwinter with a canoe and no
real plan aside from seeking sunshine and fishing and eventually finding
themselves on the Gulf Coast of Texas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Any
fish here?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeYFL-3aGPS7hQbElq12ilb_zMj-nFb4cBeU9ps3HXdjaNJ5Wysr6gjm1-0A-3BteEnSiTpbzRxQ2jFeLO-IoBBGh4yLQokwjRJLdY8oI0fK7-BE6sPh2K7eEiFhWAANJ6OkTTSBGmIco/s1600/Tom+B%252C+VD+Flagstaff+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeYFL-3aGPS7hQbElq12ilb_zMj-nFb4cBeU9ps3HXdjaNJ5Wysr6gjm1-0A-3BteEnSiTpbzRxQ2jFeLO-IoBBGh4yLQokwjRJLdY8oI0fK7-BE6sPh2K7eEiFhWAANJ6OkTTSBGmIco/s640/Tom+B%252C+VD+Flagstaff+snow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">too much snow in Flagstaff for fishin; let's head for Texas!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
They also developed an
affinity for a beach alongside the Snake River called “Dug Bar” that may be
among the remotest places you can drive to in the lower 48, but that didn’t
stop Tom B from taking that old 2WD van down the rugged and precipitous track
with his boat and trailer bouncing along behind, and more than once he had to
stop to fix a flat on one or the other in the middle of that road in the bowels
of Hell’s Canyon (We once asked him if they had a communication device for any
major problems, and he replied “Hell yes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Got one of them fancy cell phones!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We didn’t bother to point out that they were hours from a
signal….).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once at Dug Bar with Tom’s
son Sam they set up a compound that would make any car camper envious, and the
morning coffee time stretched late and the cocktail hour started early, with
copious bass-slaying happening in between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Life was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br />
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At this point, we (Tom D and Paul) were living out of state.
Ginny and Tom B visited us when they could, but their busy travel schedule kept
them on the run. Inevitably, their lives began slow bit by bit, with Tom B
remarking over a strong gin and tonic at his 90<sup>th</sup> birthday party
that he just wasn’t the man he was at 89. This after recently receiving a
freeway speeding warning and explaining to the Oregon State Trooper that at his
age momentum was all he had and that he couldn’t afford to slow down.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG24m-JEG6JX-zE7EJI9xS-cf4LRdV2LrZUpkY6CJcFISj2plHGWnJ43C3o0G3gsgwpVTkVcjw8DU2YOfE6xEYy-49jE2I3lgY0VFmWJjEvhYhiGkGYa3jVHjOlF1OCX3z_Di7feQrrfov/s1600/IMG_0330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG24m-JEG6JX-zE7EJI9xS-cf4LRdV2LrZUpkY6CJcFISj2plHGWnJ43C3o0G3gsgwpVTkVcjw8DU2YOfE6xEYy-49jE2I3lgY0VFmWJjEvhYhiGkGYa3jVHjOlF1OCX3z_Di7feQrrfov/s640/IMG_0330.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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In the fall of 2008, TomB passed away, characteristically
annoyed that he was about to miss the Eastern Oregon steelhead run. We were
both settled into Utah and Ginny decided it was time to get away from the rain
once and for all by moving to Utah. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
the drive out, she was lamenting that she had grown up being known as Ginny and
that the somewhat-formal husband PC had always called her Virginia, which then stuck
with their Portland friends. Upon being told that she could create a new
identity in a new location where a few of us knew her, she brightened up and
said that from now on there was no Virginia, only Ginny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it has been.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAtUEBTR1hjtw0R4k6qL7AClETiwfGunZGyfsxP9g0Lw_mmkUa_08rwB8GMmxd1hFI8wGuNXpwmHT1YZI5RDE4a3511lCoGgfV6h2JEJRylQQkV2Dsw3CVSO7vLRGLwWiasy8356wu0ZPe/s1600/Hd4UGJgj.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1487" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAtUEBTR1hjtw0R4k6qL7AClETiwfGunZGyfsxP9g0Lw_mmkUa_08rwB8GMmxd1hFI8wGuNXpwmHT1YZI5RDE4a3511lCoGgfV6h2JEJRylQQkV2Dsw3CVSO7vLRGLwWiasy8356wu0ZPe/s640/Hd4UGJgj.jpeg" width="516" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginny with her namesake niece Ginger. both names so much more fun than "Virginia!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When Ginny left Illinois in nineteen hundred and forty six
she was bound and determined to live in the mountains, and was never quite sure
how she ended up living at an elevation of 350 feet in western Oregon, so she
was excited to have consistent views mountains and the ability to head up into them from time to time. For her
first 6 years or so here, her 3<sup>rd</sup> floor east-facing window provided
a straight view of Gobbler’s Knob, and she was able to use her binoculars give
us a report on tracks on the NW face and watch us ski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When given one wish for her September
birthday, she has picked a picnic with us and Janette and Ashley up in the
canyons every year since she arrived.<br />
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<br />
We spent a number of long weekends with
her at Utah Avalanche Center forecaster and former Jenny Lake Climbing Ranger
Drew Hardesty’s National Park Service cabin on the edge of Lupine Meadow where
she found she could spend full days on the Best Front Porch In The World with a
book, sandwich, iced tea, watching Mt Teewinot go by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her ability and desire to fish has diminished
a lot, although when we rented a canoe to fish along the shoreline of Jenny
Lake, she found the fishing a lot more interesting than the grizzly turning
over logs 40 yards away on the shore.</div>
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Her 94<sup>th</sup> birthday is approaching. Diminishing
mobility and fading memory changes life a lot and her primary entertainment has
become reading, time with the family, and going out for breakfast. Life in
assisted living under the pandemic regime is rugged, with her travel limited to
the inside perimeter of her tiny apartment and a no-visitation order. We bent
the rules a couple of weeks ago and snuck her out for a long breakfast (take
out at a local neighborhood park) where she was overjoyed at the simple
pleasures of warm sun, cold breeze, slightly runny eggs, homemade apricot jam,
and people and dogs of all sizes walking by and giving her a cheery hello.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDpjQC4eH0G9-lRBFUoeGTsS0QdK82cWqwtXIsyBsMqg_-9D7g2z4dpHdD0bDTKtdcWcjCQOmK5ND9O9p4u8-IN6nY6jFzOmj617QMR3GkhJkpSldTguQB85MJGvMDt4TEI2kG1jnlhui/s1600/o3gf0xCY.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDpjQC4eH0G9-lRBFUoeGTsS0QdK82cWqwtXIsyBsMqg_-9D7g2z4dpHdD0bDTKtdcWcjCQOmK5ND9O9p4u8-IN6nY6jFzOmj617QMR3GkhJkpSldTguQB85MJGvMDt4TEI2kG1jnlhui/s400/o3gf0xCY.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like a lot of people, she needs a haircut!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like the earlier ode to our dad PC, much of these three
posts about Ginny have focused on what she’s done, and it’s very much worth
talking a bit about who she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our mom
has always been eternally positive and easy going, even as she has aged and
more acutely over the last few months of what has effectively been solitary confinement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also has been just stubborn and fortunate
enough to say, get, and do what she wants, and for better or worse has
blissfully ignored much of the challenging aspects of American life/history;
she doesn’t really remember the Korean or Vietnam wars, the civil unrest of the
60’s, or any other major social upheavals, but she sure remembers well the many
hiking, fishing, dog training, and mushroom hunting adventures that she did
with her family and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW36DOWwcVcgafkKN4KKm3n_QH9ceYd7z4bfiiXT7iiyLIUoA-MAUYEn_fVrV_KofauUnmE2SIevr9HsKRSxkvOokImN1qs1bahGomF4Mz88fGF0DhecdOSNGsrfdaRVaMfF6GrKykt2r/s1600/lwZNNSiq.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW36DOWwcVcgafkKN4KKm3n_QH9ceYd7z4bfiiXT7iiyLIUoA-MAUYEn_fVrV_KofauUnmE2SIevr9HsKRSxkvOokImN1qs1bahGomF4Mz88fGF0DhecdOSNGsrfdaRVaMfF6GrKykt2r/s640/lwZNNSiq.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entire Denecke-Diegel clan (and Martha!) celebrating Ginny's 90th. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
She claims
to have had kids without any real intent or strategy for raising them but it
somehow it (barely!) worked out okay. Her natural ability to chat anybody up is legendary, yet
as she aged that chattiness didn’t devolve into droning on and on the way some
old folks tend to do because she still has maintained a keen interest in other
people and much prefers learning about what others are up to rather than
talking about herself, a quality that made her a good newspaper reporter and
writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her 10<sup>th</sup> decade
she is quite comfortable with her mortality, with the knowledge and
satisfaction that – like her two husbands who went before her – she’s led
exactly the life that she wanted to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YqpKu74N9mlRYs4zNiJ6XXhLtYPwrSip0xpLjQdGJQtiUm5R2XB3_NbFrFd03DSWa6PGqb5h8eaIrGba32rGnyHvDk2Zp8NmnX3IRU7Fc4uw3_5Raj1LKD7NB8RZyg27WZW25rn9RL57/s1600/a1h7VA_Q.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="739" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YqpKu74N9mlRYs4zNiJ6XXhLtYPwrSip0xpLjQdGJQtiUm5R2XB3_NbFrFd03DSWa6PGqb5h8eaIrGba32rGnyHvDk2Zp8NmnX3IRU7Fc4uw3_5Raj1LKD7NB8RZyg27WZW25rn9RL57/s400/a1h7VA_Q.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I want to go to Zion!" </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMKTQ3RCqEEVNbgf_obD0NpfxcdvWW_Mi4QfSC9ZvnaIZc4E2IjldHyK3GX0V2khBBxKo2a-sRRruCT9JifhCnXSMGYzHGmcjvj3cSmKB2acyKjE_nbEH3OjtCAp5xAqKZwTAn6-IOMOu/s1600/IMG_0325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMKTQ3RCqEEVNbgf_obD0NpfxcdvWW_Mi4QfSC9ZvnaIZc4E2IjldHyK3GX0V2khBBxKo2a-sRRruCT9JifhCnXSMGYzHGmcjvj3cSmKB2acyKjE_nbEH3OjtCAp5xAqKZwTAn6-IOMOu/s400/IMG_0325.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYp7LK7rgkxWS7yWaOLyLNAYM_tHWTzTCm1YsizgqruLDLmP0UbUEqoCjlrgdK8KoEm1QwfrxFpjhqUFm9Hv6MnYAR-QiTH6QFadwuSB5PhusR5w7oy7veud0Wyblnpj3AtUIF8vUP3STA/s1600/Scan+20.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1058" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYp7LK7rgkxWS7yWaOLyLNAYM_tHWTzTCm1YsizgqruLDLmP0UbUEqoCjlrgdK8KoEm1QwfrxFpjhqUFm9Hv6MnYAR-QiTH6QFadwuSB5PhusR5w7oy7veud0Wyblnpj3AtUIF8vUP3STA/s400/Scan+20.jpeg" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountain Mama in the Wallowas, mid-1970's.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8sPnnmCJM7GGTCqAbV0AxxyOrk7D-sqBko70jQ0lRRr_BEyfGJMU0X7Q20BMp7SV49lD_5q2uXjbEW7M90bHdyGXZzDMA4qsEaVWLbbXpdHbL-NoO8mrMrLcf3GWxGdj97-FvHxxN5RM/s1600/xn0GZAOO.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8sPnnmCJM7GGTCqAbV0AxxyOrk7D-sqBko70jQ0lRRr_BEyfGJMU0X7Q20BMp7SV49lD_5q2uXjbEW7M90bHdyGXZzDMA4qsEaVWLbbXpdHbL-NoO8mrMrLcf3GWxGdj97-FvHxxN5RM/s400/xn0GZAOO.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sailing? That'd be wonderful!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life in our new Covid-inspired reality is hard on someone
her age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is in a nearby assisted
living facility with a strict lockdown and no visitation policy, which raises
the question of whether social isolation or the potential vulnerability to a likely
fatal (at her age) disease is the greater risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are no easy answers right now. Certainly we all miss our regular 2-hour
breakfast outings and face-to-face time greatly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in true Ginny fashion she is still – in her
words – “just fine!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ginny Diegel’s been a great mom; the best we ever had!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifm8MxvUaSTaxq0F5wHe4n10daN8dbZufKls26kSabwAOMgrVI4ETW_7xyqM02let8awwj75g6QvXA-tAR_zuujJ4LYwzIA3y-tQVBdmxgcTf_kWu_3uwIPmG-FmF2N8uu4cefihyDOQfd/s1600/dH5KD-cr.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="880" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifm8MxvUaSTaxq0F5wHe4n10daN8dbZufKls26kSabwAOMgrVI4ETW_7xyqM02let8awwj75g6QvXA-tAR_zuujJ4LYwzIA3y-tQVBdmxgcTf_kWu_3uwIPmG-FmF2N8uu4cefihyDOQfd/s400/dH5KD-cr.jpeg" width="353" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9U5LurnbifwsamQA03vW9mZ1g3KksOJ2_4LJCTsZzFHp_mOJRHiUPs6sfDEbIdHIfjA8yHNuILLxTkGC4R1dJM9KlbSKUa6R6ymxpUn1Wz9tvGRI8jG1rDC3ri_iV0ZNGzzhMrn2KHhL/s1600/FSR0GU2U.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9U5LurnbifwsamQA03vW9mZ1g3KksOJ2_4LJCTsZzFHp_mOJRHiUPs6sfDEbIdHIfjA8yHNuILLxTkGC4R1dJM9KlbSKUa6R6ymxpUn1Wz9tvGRI8jG1rDC3ri_iV0ZNGzzhMrn2KHhL/s400/FSR0GU2U.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Thanks again to brother Paul who wrote the majority of this post and dug up a lot of great pics for this series from some buried treasure chest! Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-86102260827942407662020-05-11T11:38:00.002-06:002020-05-11T11:38:18.527-06:00An Ode to Ginny - part 2
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Ode to Ginny Diegel continues....now as she and PC settle down (but only sort of!)</div>
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<br /></div>
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For the happy couple the latter half of the 50’s was filled
with work, building a house, hunting and fishing, skiing, and backpacking.
Weekends were spent chasing outdoor objectives. One memorable outing involved
jumping in the car after work on Friday afternoon, driving to Sun Valley just
in time to catch the first chair, skiing all day Saturday, partying Saturday
night, skiing all day Sunday, back in the car, and rolling into Portland just
in time to shower and head to work Monday morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This lifestyle came to an abrupt change in direction in the
traditional way. In 1959, they became parents. I know what you are thinking –
why didn’t they just get a Sprinter and a carload of infant-sized Patagonia
fleece and continue raging? Well, they weren’t quite <u>that</u> progressive.
They also really want to live a rural lifestyle, which led them to buying a 70
year-old hobby farm on the outskirts of Portland, close enough for PC to
commute downtown and far enough away to be quiet, dark, and acceptable to hunt
on your own and surrounding property. Getting water from a meager well,
growing, harvesting, and preserving the results of a large garden, filling the
freezer with local game meat, and barely staying a half-step ahead of an
about-to-collapse old farmhouse and barn pretty much filled their busy days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit20Er1DX3tXdUMuoXw_N97LmCFMchkixaNsPqxiX8WaR-pupZdIG2vzJhR1fIrpXP2SaNsAh0oNeXR7mcTJGp27JzLDCi64FNewVvAoSnmRns5F-lZf_DW6XslXvKSwAAK2XMhg1XPAfV/s1600/HVvE5lmA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit20Er1DX3tXdUMuoXw_N97LmCFMchkixaNsPqxiX8WaR-pupZdIG2vzJhR1fIrpXP2SaNsAh0oNeXR7mcTJGp27JzLDCi64FNewVvAoSnmRns5F-lZf_DW6XslXvKSwAAK2XMhg1XPAfV/s400/HVvE5lmA.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kid (PIA) #1 - Paul, Circa 1960. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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In keeping with their eagerness for obscure activities,
their bird hunting grew to include raising Springer Spaniels for hunting and
field trials, a sort of contrived judged competition consisting of simulated
hunting with highly trained and skilled dogs. Women in that sport at that time
focused their efforts on preparing picnic lunches, watching the kids, and
matching their lipstick to the season. However, Ginny and a friend, not
surprisingly, shook things up a bit. They decided that if their husbands could
train and compete at hunting with dogs, they could too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they both got puppies, trained them
together, and in their first competition, they finished one-two, with Ginny
becoming the first woman in the Pacific Northwest to win a field trial. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMopxvyFzvolyul1ewsBZZQKe9UetBsFikdM0uBupzFZHVai6qeBjQi-GaX0x9hE_AlmpIgMDIv4UFKh6AnCk10HBuRLxJ1SjPJtVepkoiD8ktfmDRF3vyHguc3-KWwAtTQPnSCXpbs3B/s1600/BOf1_sao.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMopxvyFzvolyul1ewsBZZQKe9UetBsFikdM0uBupzFZHVai6qeBjQi-GaX0x9hE_AlmpIgMDIv4UFKh6AnCk10HBuRLxJ1SjPJtVepkoiD8ktfmDRF3vyHguc3-KWwAtTQPnSCXpbs3B/s400/BOf1_sao.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on the family front, Ginny and PC tried easing back
into skiing after some years off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
took Paul out for his first tour at about age 5, climbing up and skiing down a
snow-covered nearby neighbor’s field (which was no doubt his first first
descent, as backyard skiing in Portland is pretty rare).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They skied a handful of days on Mt. Hood
but Paul didn’t embrace it they way they’d hoped he would and skiing got set
aside again for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tom was born in
1965 and skiing with 2 kids probably didn’t seem any easier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But something clicked when Paul was about 11
and Tom was 5 and skiing once again became a big thing in the family with
regular weekend and night ski trips to Mt Hood. Good life skills came out of
that – along with introducing us to a sport that has mostly kept us in and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>out of trouble<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the last 50 years, Ginny joined a
Wednesday ski group when Paul was about 14 and Tom was 8, riding the bus to Mt.
Hood Meadows with a bunch of ladies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
enabled that by showing us boys a few cooking tips and making it clear she
expected dinner on the table when she came rolling in at the end of the long
ski day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVYdVBeIAoCjgvmHqG-naCboGKy5RUKqGFvc2wNgw-rZSjTRnM6_vhfot53787UIE_8KD9vNEAgIPQXAYxpGDLcHU6yyDjk2ohurQ_Ru0dx0DT2qjQ4xLqWNUht5K9T7Fzgt6-j_SSnSb/s1600/IMG_0334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVYdVBeIAoCjgvmHqG-naCboGKy5RUKqGFvc2wNgw-rZSjTRnM6_vhfot53787UIE_8KD9vNEAgIPQXAYxpGDLcHU6yyDjk2ohurQ_Ru0dx0DT2qjQ4xLqWNUht5K9T7Fzgt6-j_SSnSb/s400/IMG_0334.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the rare day that she deigned to ski with the family; I think Paul was in college by now. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ginny didn’t really do a lot of research into what
constituted “good” parenting and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with a coupla
small kids, but she sure liked fishing, backpacking, skiing, field trials, so
she just dragged us around to do these things with her, much as our friends
drag their kids around with them mountain biking, rafting, and backcountry
skiing today. PC became more focused on field trialing and sports cars, so we
became her regular outdoor partners, mainly skiing, backpacking, and fishing. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGryQzyIbOqt-fZQpjAjt2bkARPtDODD_8SoBUM-UnZCbZURRE_3AQJSACmguJ9o-_IIcF6DuRHZ2gbC3Jo5amXvA2j9Oecpn8TdEaC_bWHSgCU-ZnYgkSg3VUwdq-ePiKlfzPxqfykMH/s1600/IMG_0333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGryQzyIbOqt-fZQpjAjt2bkARPtDODD_8SoBUM-UnZCbZURRE_3AQJSACmguJ9o-_IIcF6DuRHZ2gbC3Jo5amXvA2j9Oecpn8TdEaC_bWHSgCU-ZnYgkSg3VUwdq-ePiKlfzPxqfykMH/s400/IMG_0333.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their last hike together, apparently in the early days of "spousal distancing!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In particular, the Wallowa Mountains -the "American Alps" as they are sometimes called due to their high, granite-strewn terrain - had became her favorite zone, and she worked at getting us to be her partners there:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jhUmTkvLZCO0bi6FE815ljavV4Df8Vre_hISBacoYCs0dhhwmwxuFWZXlz4yjPHg4d0Ll2Mr1iUfqMUYp46wCmRFkWOUqWAjDtbpUELvx98-LdyI7Nt_cMiBI84wvfGgjfEb_oCHvreE/s1600/IMG_0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jhUmTkvLZCO0bi6FE815ljavV4Df8Vre_hISBacoYCs0dhhwmwxuFWZXlz4yjPHg4d0Ll2Mr1iUfqMUYp46wCmRFkWOUqWAjDtbpUELvx98-LdyI7Nt_cMiBI84wvfGgjfEb_oCHvreE/s400/IMG_0326.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">with cousin Annie, above Ice Lake in the Wallowas. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfeDFWlhdXkhlaVcNra8A1ERYQFdkB9S-GtqXXG1-yIvFkUET_k_rKSYh0FbeqeV_4V-yYOp5cBxznnUjJqMLmu3_N3tOubWlpOweXJLQvQEkoKbuJbKbZAzCyj_OwsZhXNLoIZAWloHG/s1600/IMG_0327.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfeDFWlhdXkhlaVcNra8A1ERYQFdkB9S-GtqXXG1-yIvFkUET_k_rKSYh0FbeqeV_4V-yYOp5cBxznnUjJqMLmu3_N3tOubWlpOweXJLQvQEkoKbuJbKbZAzCyj_OwsZhXNLoIZAWloHG/s400/IMG_0327.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hiking connection continued as we got older</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjaq1ShX8BxQMppjSJCM780xyKG89nQpG3T0iYM8JgyGwmfmZqaVx6EtmUu_QL0rhG6Awx0YZfw4tusriEIB8v4OgvmR0menmIX-lOhuwh71sVhz0yK5ZicAqvW0Fr6-0wFZRH8ehapBe/s1600/-TVxROtA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjaq1ShX8BxQMppjSJCM780xyKG89nQpG3T0iYM8JgyGwmfmZqaVx6EtmUu_QL0rhG6Awx0YZfw4tusriEIB8v4OgvmR0menmIX-lOhuwh71sVhz0yK5ZicAqvW0Fr6-0wFZRH8ehapBe/s400/-TVxROtA.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">As she spent more and
more time outdoors she got intrigued with the flora and fauna around her, and
joined the local groups </span><a href="https://audubonportland.org/" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: windowtext;">The Audubon Society</span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><a href="https://www.npsoregon.org/index.html" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: windowtext;">The
Native Plant Society of Oregon</span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> and ultimately became the latter’s
Portland chapter president.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">It was also
the catalyst for her to get interested in mushroom hunting (Oregon is good for
that) and for years she would go tromp around in the woods looking for
chanterelle and morels and sell pounds of them to some of Portland’s fanciest
restaurants to help pay for gas money!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Southwest Oregon is apparently a great place for mushrooms
(lots of old burns) and we remember vividly when she came home from one trip
where she described how she and her other cute little old lady friends were
bouncing up a gravel road in the middle of nowhere in the Siskiyou mountains
when they came across a pickup full of guys with….big guns, and not during
hunting season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guys stopped the
cute ladies and asked them what they were doing, to which they cheerily
responded:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mushroom hunting!”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well ladies, there aren’t any mushrooms up
here, and you should probably just turn around and head back down the
mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ladies were indignant, but
who she later realized were industrial pot growers were polite, insistent and
much better armed, so the ladies wisely turned about, albeit in a bit of a
huff!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1f_0Ks2Njz_8qtH3UnwJShWZeGqx2B3OicJUKZjFLeKgqYdFtiejaCJG4EpxHjQwPJxst6O9lx_M77ZW8qdMqwXTvDW9qNyYVtwJ-lyTrmWFx-26vsxKHF7UI3aTcaVJ-IGtBtGmiFe57/s1600/IMG_0331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1f_0Ks2Njz_8qtH3UnwJShWZeGqx2B3OicJUKZjFLeKgqYdFtiejaCJG4EpxHjQwPJxst6O9lx_M77ZW8qdMqwXTvDW9qNyYVtwJ-lyTrmWFx-26vsxKHF7UI3aTcaVJ-IGtBtGmiFe57/s400/IMG_0331.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Like most moms, Ginny was quite keen to expose us kids to
all sorts of activities, so she dragged us to guitar lessons, pottery lessons,
baseball/soccer/basketball/cross country practices, summer pond biology
classes, etc. Her iconic blue Buick Special station wagon that had about 2.3
gazillion miles on it since we lived a ways out in the country from our
suburban schools and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ginny
didn’t mind the chauffeuring too much (when she was around and not mushroom
hunting, on Ladies Ski days, fishing high mountain lakes, etc).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day we were heading into town and were
running a little late, things were a bit harried, and I was a few seconds
behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She got in the car, buckled her
seat belt, started the car, put it in reverse, and backed out of the
garage…..with her driver’s door still open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course, it caught on the edge of the garage opening and made an awful
crunching noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I raced around to the
driver’s side and saw the door smashed against the garage, and yowled;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Argh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pull forward!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She put it in
drive, pulled forward, and as she did so the door simply fell off the car and
tumbled onto the floor with a huge CLUNK!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day I was out running with my cross-country teammates
waiting to cross a road near school, and someone exclaimed “There’s Tom’s
Mom!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough, she was driving our
equally-classic Ford Gran Torino wagon and gave a little wave, and then someone
said “and there’s Tom’s Dad!” and not far behind, wearing a puffy down jacket,
gloves, and hat, and safely buckled in, was my dad, driving the Buick,
doorless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His wave was somewhat
half-hearted, as my teammates melted down in laughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I can't believe I don't have a picture of the doorless Buick Special! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The micro farm we grew up in had an orchard and big garden
space and a big part of our summers and falls was spent planting, weeding,
pruning, picking, canning, hunting, and freezing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure she really enjoyed it, but she
was diligent and dedicated and we subsisted on our own produce and game meat,
occasionally complaining that we never got to have the processed convenience
foods our peers lived on (who remembers Rice-a-roni and Hamburger Helper?)<o:p></o:p></div>
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As we got older, she found herself with more free time and
began writing; going back to a talent that she had developed as a girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She specialized in short stories for
magazines, unsuccessful young adult novels, and regular special interest
articles and photos in our local weekly paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her biggest commercial success was a published guide book to retiring in
the Northwest, drawing on her love for doing research and chatting with people,
and introducing us to the concept of getting paid to travel around doing fun
things. She dabbled in entrepreneurship, concluding that an auto alarm decal
was probably 90% as effective as actually having an alarm system and a lot
cheaper and easier to install. She recruited the family to develop branding,
supply chain, packaging, a marketing plan, and distribution channels around the
dining room table and went on to sell maybe a dozen decals, ultimately losing
about $10 on the venture but introducing us kids to product development and
commerce.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fishing became her over-riding passion and she joined a
fishing club, bought pretty much every fly known to (wo)man in multiple sizes,
tried to fish every spot of open water in Oregon, and was a source of great
confusion to all the other fisherman she met who had never seen a woman fishing
alone before.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqsEvfL73D_bARZwdkwrexhRID7iaJt-Wh50UPE-2Z94gPV-q2l2j09wqtrVxeFBFjVfvEv5talAtB33PY8sGXlN5zDVNq8Rlrr8BHMb9jUimPsYgxDlvt_Kq7si4XbfCP4k-Z_dWfO20/s1600/IMG_0325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqsEvfL73D_bARZwdkwrexhRID7iaJt-Wh50UPE-2Z94gPV-q2l2j09wqtrVxeFBFjVfvEv5talAtB33PY8sGXlN5zDVNq8Rlrr8BHMb9jUimPsYgxDlvt_Kq7si4XbfCP4k-Z_dWfO20/s400/IMG_0325.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nice coastal steelhead, displayed with the sprawling grassland behind the farm. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIv717HBpv6ES-8ztaHBLJX1UBIeEJjAFbfeqSIiT5dwWC7Flc053id02-q2JqjhcMgdHnQeHCFa1QFoCiIbbiRiCkD96XNK4nDILwYdQbokwFkaDRgMki27VRlmitfAWAFZpZQRo2SvWK/s1600/uvD-TN2A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIv717HBpv6ES-8ztaHBLJX1UBIeEJjAFbfeqSIiT5dwWC7Flc053id02-q2JqjhcMgdHnQeHCFa1QFoCiIbbiRiCkD96XNK4nDILwYdQbokwFkaDRgMki27VRlmitfAWAFZpZQRo2SvWK/s400/uvD-TN2A.jpeg" width="383" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">high mountain trout were the favorite</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Smoking-related cancer morbidity statistics caught up with
PC in 1993 and Ginny found herself a widow with a camper van (predating
#vanlife by about 20 years) filled with an impressive array of fishing
paraphernalia, a springer spaniel, sons living in different states, and a
lonely 100 year old farmhouse still trying to fall down daily. Not long after
declaring that she didn’t intend to marry again, she started hanging out with
the brother of her best friend who himself was a long time but distant friend
of the Diegels, which led to her remarrying (“he’s really cute, he makes me
feel like a teenager, and he has a fishing boat!”). Conveniently named Tom, he too
had recently lost his spouse and was looking for that unicorn: a beautiful
single woman his age with a camper van, a spaniel, and a lust for road trips
and fishing. There wasn’t much debate about getting together and embarking on a
new life of mostly fishing trips!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br /><br />
To be continued! Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-34261974254354052632020-05-08T06:55:00.000-06:002020-05-08T06:55:19.848-06:00An Ode to Ginny Diegel<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently we shared a fun snapshot of Virginia (Ginny)
Denecke-Diegel during her first summer away from home in Yellowstone, and it
prompted the Diegel Brothers to do a bit more of a full bio of her, because –
like our dad – she led a fascinating life very much on her own terms, but
unlike our dear old dad, Ginny is still around to fact-check our stuff to
ensure its accuracy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the first
of likely several posts, cleverly designed to be posted around Mother’s Day!.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ginny was born in the humble town of Rock Island, Illinois
on the banks of the mighty Mississippi into a family of pretty conservative
parents and as the 10-year-younger sister of an overachiever brother (Arno, who
later became an artillery officer in WW II, a lawyer, a judge, and the Chief
Justice of the Oregon State Supreme Court before “retiring” into mediation for
General Motors, among others).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ginny was
a bit of a wild child, emulating Huck Finn in gallivanting on the river, and
the trips that she took with her family out west to the national parks and her
rebellious nature made her determined to leave the flatlands and head for the
mountains as soon as she could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As she was growing up, her family did a lot of road trips, a
very different deal then with rough roads, flat tires, and slow cars. A trip to
Rocky Mountain National Park when she was about 10 made a big impression on
her. Coming from Illinois, she was taken by the 3 dimensional landscape of
Colorado and all the outdoor recreation opportunities. Her mother didn’t share
her excitement, adding to the tension between them. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvgHN1ylRplz8N6qIRhYbQ9WsnzihSYrDDYX3ASwPjSZYqt3I5YBaeSc5GJyM8OAkBEzu30y06UdrEJujPv9U7-lBBSQTR3iaaLuNQBE84sQUPBXjIOdS7oY1t8AagHYN1MvDPyKsnh28/s1600/MMUaaeXg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvgHN1ylRplz8N6qIRhYbQ9WsnzihSYrDDYX3ASwPjSZYqt3I5YBaeSc5GJyM8OAkBEzu30y06UdrEJujPv9U7-lBBSQTR3iaaLuNQBE84sQUPBXjIOdS7oY1t8AagHYN1MvDPyKsnh28/s640/MMUaaeXg.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginny keen to rage around the park; Gertie not so much!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Going back to the flatlands
limited her outdoor activities, although she did become a lifeguard and, with
some high school friends, drove upstream a ways with canoes and spent several
days floating back down the Mississippi to Rock Island. Visits to iconic
American destinations like Washington DC and the Grand Canyon further whet her
appetite for adventure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During her freshman year in college, her father connected
her with a friend who was recruiting summer workers for National Parks and, as
soon as classes ended in the spring, she found herself on a train to
Yellowstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being on her own, waiting
tables, exploring the park, hitchhiking to Jackson for excitement on days off,
dating cowboys, and learning to toss rocks and bang pots at bears to clear a
path home through the Old Faithful Village after the restaurants shut down at
night rocked her world.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL3yxwOHCXJRljRH9jTlYluqjOX7JYYm-SEHevtWc9Cwec36tWMEOHgc9E8ZQM_WzpLGs7hTIKvDHnwKXA7bgAIneQNE5gGaLYZmnVL5YmneKV62Edqz3AUlMvlsX1_aDysgLrKZ42UMlz/s1600/hZuA7VyA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1343" data-original-width="1600" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL3yxwOHCXJRljRH9jTlYluqjOX7JYYm-SEHevtWc9Cwec36tWMEOHgc9E8ZQM_WzpLGs7hTIKvDHnwKXA7bgAIneQNE5gGaLYZmnVL5YmneKV62Edqz3AUlMvlsX1_aDysgLrKZ42UMlz/s640/hZuA7VyA.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The waitressing job that she had at Yellowstone had an
inauspicious end; some time after the lost cork incident she described in the
recent blog post she was racing around the dining room trying to effectively
service her customers, but one guy was determined to get her to address his
needs by waving and snapping his fingers in her direction and incessantly
hollering “Girlie!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Girlie!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She finally raged over to him, said “yes, sir, how can I help you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as she simultaneously poured hot coffee down
the back of his neck!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to say,
this fiery young woman was transferred to a different job with reduced access
to dangerous items shortly thereafter. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When her older brother got a faculty job at the University
of Oregon, she wasted no time in packing her bags, transferring her Augustana
College credits to the University of Oregon, and trading the Midwest for Eugene
and the Cascade range. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQaBx7SKqw8ZUi3aT6zyCSXriMvJQ0zNfdx5C6LOsROPd351gt19Mo2IMhCBbKj6oc6zDq56Fswz7hmM2A1vnCW6GJo6ba1eBYEUiWGSWjPHtXEwkdehqtZiWY1mBbN0oMm9tCcp7fnJdR/s1600/70ioLlSQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQaBx7SKqw8ZUi3aT6zyCSXriMvJQ0zNfdx5C6LOsROPd351gt19Mo2IMhCBbKj6oc6zDq56Fswz7hmM2A1vnCW6GJo6ba1eBYEUiWGSWjPHtXEwkdehqtZiWY1mBbN0oMm9tCcp7fnJdR/s640/70ioLlSQ.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading for Oregon!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Taking a PE skiing class seemed like a good idea, and
she quickly fell in love with skiing in the low elevation Cascades, truly an
acquired taste. She was tall and athletic and pretty quickly fell in love with
ski racing, not enough to make the big time but enough to still proudly
introduce herself as a downhill racer. School inevitably came to an end and she
found herself with an English Lit degree, sharing an apartment in Portland with
several girlfriends from school, working a series of sales, teaching, and
secretarial jobs, and spending her free time climbing (“I wasn’t all that keen
on climbing but I made a lot of good friends and the guys were really cute”) and
skiing (“I was a good skier; better than your dad, I think”).</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoDng1u70al7gRaW0vDnFX1O2vaTy-wEOd5NwXhIRPcEGh2oUfd3cBLFrkpxjkUKavA-5fotjekVDocr9NpW_1JE4YBdIRU7MYb7jZqRi4izlljfbf732SBeSIDXzGbNAcJzC_0raff7w/s1600/G8QENP8g.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1572" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDoDng1u70al7gRaW0vDnFX1O2vaTy-wEOd5NwXhIRPcEGh2oUfd3cBLFrkpxjkUKavA-5fotjekVDocr9NpW_1JE4YBdIRU7MYb7jZqRi4izlljfbf732SBeSIDXzGbNAcJzC_0raff7w/s640/G8QENP8g.jpeg" width="628" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's a lot of ski underfoot! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">She was active in the venerable Cascade Ski Club and in 1952
was named the Ski Princess of Oregon, entitling her to a hosted trip to Aspen
to compete in the famous Winterskol competition: a week of wining, dining, </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fo78Gt9Bs" style="font-size: 12pt;">skijoring</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,
ski racing, and general partying in one of the ultimate winter party
towns.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not so fast, said her boss: you
have important dictation to take and letters to type.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sorry, no time off for you.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItnBxhGJImzxv6aJ7mALZYc6eJJ0b15lO7AtOpaP2r5CeebgaKktE6-RqYc4ypIh11aGNonbFaiT892zkJK9C5ZTUhVlMdzZspNhcKsj1ugArpvQxkwmf4MZmoXdaOe9P9ztuG6i8qv6x/s1600/cNGQrtEQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItnBxhGJImzxv6aJ7mALZYc6eJJ0b15lO7AtOpaP2r5CeebgaKktE6-RqYc4ypIh11aGNonbFaiT892zkJK9C5ZTUhVlMdzZspNhcKsj1ugArpvQxkwmf4MZmoXdaOe9P9ztuG6i8qv6x/s640/cNGQrtEQ.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This cute young thing wasn't going to be told she couldn't got to Aspen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So the next week, freshly unemployed, she found
herself in Aspen. The week-long festivities are still burned into her brain.
She is still a little grumpy about not winning the Queen competition (“There
was another girl who wasn’t a very good skier but was better looking and more
popular. It didn’t seem very fair”). </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMeqL5Dtk6dv5hOCvs01qdIC8iEBVAwbZDNBIjSFRLlpCL_noQgXytxVsHyxnzElVENXil2mIgQFP8lwiYnBT8kkAB5i7_eUkNZP0ev82fbn0pv8qAp7cTPoydcjpL85HkOBklWsnJB9u/s1600/TXNzabcI.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMeqL5Dtk6dv5hOCvs01qdIC8iEBVAwbZDNBIjSFRLlpCL_noQgXytxVsHyxnzElVENXil2mIgQFP8lwiYnBT8kkAB5i7_eUkNZP0ev82fbn0pv8qAp7cTPoydcjpL85HkOBklWsnJB9u/s640/TXNzabcI.jpeg" width="270" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
the end of the week, she realized she needed a plan for what to do next. With no job waiting for her, she did what
came naturally – she headed to Alta for a while, staying at the Peruvian Lodge
(“Huh! It hasn’t changed much since I
was last here 56 years ago.”). She drifted West to Sun Valley, hung out and
skied there until one day she bumped into a ski friend from Portland that was
heading home in a few days and had an empty car seat. She created a bit of a
stir among her friends and family when she got home - that was an era in which
quitting your job to go on the road ski bumming was just not done, and
certainly not by a woman.</span><!--EndFragment-->
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Back in Portland, she found another job and continued
hanging out with an enthusiastic outdoor-oriented group, staying busy
backpacking, fishing, climbing, and skiing. This was shortly after the end of
WW II, there weren’t a lot of people recreating in the mountains, and the
equipment was pretty crude:” mostly WW II surplus. Trails were not well established, guidebooks didn’t exist, and
access roads were rough. Subarus and Toyota Tacomas weren’t available and every
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getting stuck anyway, several flat tires, and the random failed fuel pump or ignition that needed impromptu fixing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Her outdoor tribe was a blissful and innocent group of men
(war vets) and women who were not yet paired up, with rumored hot fishing lakes,
new climbing routes, and rare windows of weather suitable for skiing the high
NW volcanoes all prioritized higher than romance. Ginny mortified her friends
and infuriated her family when she did a several week road trip back to the
Midwest for some family business with Paul C <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Diegel, one of the many handsome young guys she
skied and climbed with. Two young single people of opposing genders just didn’t
do that sort of thing back then. Introducing her dashing single older friend
with his whiskey flask, cigarettes, Naval-office and Harvard-educated attitude,
and flashy souped-up Lincoln convertible to her conservative Methodist parents
after 2 weeks on the road together didn’t go well at all. Even her progressive big
brother challenged her judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
somehow assured everyone that this was not a big deal; that they were just
friends who liked travelling together.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But of course, that didn’t last long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, two other members of their tribe stunned
the rest by announcing their engagement. A few quick rounds of musical chairs
ensued and soon enough there were a lot of showers, weddings, and receptions to
attend. Ginny had several promising candidates on her radar. When PC hesitated,
she told him in no uncertain terms that she was now on a mission and he needed
to decide whether he wanted to get married or not and do it quickly. His momma
didn’t raise no fool and he quickly found himself a suit and boutonniere, she
got her photo and announcement in the Rock Island Argus, and they were hitched,
much to her parent’s lifelong dismay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JIWiwHxKC0m0XVP8ktwLJd1BcxxFgVZg5hmWOiJXs3ARG6U6sr85p-oyvFg3xpZ_78gkoO2LgKaNSjkT1u578q4tJ4sR-tS_tkBJ5m6TZd00B8Ng_-gl9R4-W5vzkGKrO78Oa2HohuLf/s1600/WUrvTiTA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1428" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JIWiwHxKC0m0XVP8ktwLJd1BcxxFgVZg5hmWOiJXs3ARG6U6sr85p-oyvFg3xpZ_78gkoO2LgKaNSjkT1u578q4tJ4sR-tS_tkBJ5m6TZd00B8Ng_-gl9R4-W5vzkGKrO78Oa2HohuLf/s640/WUrvTiTA.jpeg" width="570" /></a></div>
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With that stress behind them, the group of friends quickly went back
into the mountains when they weren’t building careers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoc3rix-HpAlQdBscJohhyzJ2dJNWmk0Gk5jUOKRlESfu6t-_392PAVzfyFq9Z0b6VFuO81SjKYC78XXE8AonNguLDjhyphenhyphengn6aykDH8ohPAVA9WiONaZili1JFIaFLhepHhdtedB0u0624p/s1600/LjEmwLnQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1600" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoc3rix-HpAlQdBscJohhyzJ2dJNWmk0Gk5jUOKRlESfu6t-_392PAVzfyFq9Z0b6VFuO81SjKYC78XXE8AonNguLDjhyphenhyphengn6aykDH8ohPAVA9WiONaZili1JFIaFLhepHhdtedB0u0624p/s640/LjEmwLnQ.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Over the next 5 years, they stayed busy. Their climbing
petered out after PC and a friend summited Mt Owen in an epic 24 hour push that
featured being pinned down by ferocious lighting and rain. While the guys were
on the peak, Ginny and her friend Jean hiked and fished near their base camp looking
nervously at the peaks shrouded in clouds and were convinced that the climbers
had been struck by lighting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure
what to do, they fixed dinner as planned at 6 pm and kept PC and John’s dinner
warm on the fire till the duo finally staggered back into camp at midnight. It
isn’t clear if it was the summer hypothermia, the zinging of static electricity
on ice axes, the lack of sleep, or coming back to a dinner that had been
simmering for 6 hours, but the joy of climbing was gone for PC, and Ginny
didn’t seem to miss it much, since there were plenty of other fun things to do in
The West, and they continued to try to do them all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, to be continued! </div>
<!--EndFragment--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-8012445617893914072020-04-30T06:46:00.001-06:002020-04-30T06:46:59.062-06:00Great Salt Lake bike tourBrother Paul and I are starting to work on a series of blawg posts about the other, far cuter half of the Paul C and Virginia Diegel couple, but in the meantime I thought I'd throw up a quick post about the weekend bike tour that Ashley and I did, because we both love bike touring and think it deserves as much promotion as possible! <br />
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Though we love doing bike tours in far flung places and appreciate the opportunity the bikes provide to really get immersed into different cultures, we also like the challenge and fun associated with creating fun new adventures that start within an hour's drive of SLC. We've had great tours that have started in Heber City, Huntsville, Eden, Victor (???), and even home. With that in mind, with perfect weather, we decided to do a lap around the northeastern arm of the Great Salt Lake.<br />
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The GSL seems to be an under appreciated resource for many Utahns, though our friend Lynn DeFreitas of the<a href="https://www.fogsl.org/"> Friends of the Great Salt Lake h</a>as done a great job of defending it against development pressures. It's one of the world's foremost migratory bird refuges, <a href="https://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-important-is-lake-effect.html">affects our weather</a> (and thus skiing), is pretty beautiful in a raw, austere way, that austerity provides plenty of opportunities for remote adventures, and it has a pretty rich history. <br />
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We started in Plain City, a western suburb of Ogden, and indeed, it's fairly Plain:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBay1NOpOB3qc50g4GERlipjs9Rsgg_yi1UjUq0UkgP7ZWjMWlGycNdAaeYM4g6vsv-eV6GnlTlznALrJt9UofZcgT6WnA0WX954hcrNfD7XcfwUK5M69vinOeWwKUxaRlqiZC1iGeNokZ/s1600/IMG_0221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBay1NOpOB3qc50g4GERlipjs9Rsgg_yi1UjUq0UkgP7ZWjMWlGycNdAaeYM4g6vsv-eV6GnlTlznALrJt9UofZcgT6WnA0WX954hcrNfD7XcfwUK5M69vinOeWwKUxaRlqiZC1iGeNokZ/s400/IMG_0221.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">or is it on the GSL's plains?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our first destination was the Lucin Cutoff. I'd never heard of this but saw it on a map and it looked promising as a connector. The Lucin Cutoff was an alternative to the famous Golden Spiked Transcontinental Railroad, which - in order to get across northern Utah - had to go through the mountains north of the Lake to avoid the Lake itself and as such was slow and problematic (it's a challenge to get full-loaded trains up grades of over 2% on rickety/twisty rails/trestles) so after 30 years of dealing with that a monumental effort was made to create a trestle-based "bridge" for 100 miles across the lake. <a href="https://historytogo.utah.gov/lucin-cutoff/">This account </a>describes the magnitude of the endeavor, which was gigantic: over 38,000 Oregon fir trees were hauled out here and used, 2 million board feet of California Redwood, 3000 men, 1000 rail cars and 80 engines, their own steamship, etc. It started out as just a railway, but - importantly, for cyclists - in the 50's - after 50 years of hard use - they realized that creating an actual earthen causeway that included not only the tracks but also a gravel road next to it. So the only traffic on it is the occasional train, and a new generation of gravel cyclists. <div>
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We missed the turn of the main road to join the causeway and had to do a little cyclocrossing:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5JfWGDr90KSuUl3o_MALS47B1nNsWRgEIWbU5XvLU3Ao8IDxgr-Y5wJauwENx7m3SvUQzN9MZxBmBFQZ5MRmrz-K5oI2fSBf0g4IH4iAwYI9eVwzvs5jz0LspFynr7DnKePznjlDEM-e/s1600/IMG_0222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5JfWGDr90KSuUl3o_MALS47B1nNsWRgEIWbU5XvLU3Ao8IDxgr-Y5wJauwENx7m3SvUQzN9MZxBmBFQZ5MRmrz-K5oI2fSBf0g4IH4iAwYI9eVwzvs5jz0LspFynr7DnKePznjlDEM-e/s640/IMG_0222.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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But soon enough found our way onto the causeway:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjGEMPs4a6J-qktIEMyljr4291yzaZlFfYYrnhi8QIxEIH_PjAVGprunGD4c5EOJPaxSWeg32DEltiScaXj7iZz3dfcc5ExWmfZf8qzz926zlBf8aZDZ2Fxgx0JszocJ7QUhQQogU286k/s1600/IMG_0223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjGEMPs4a6J-qktIEMyljr4291yzaZlFfYYrnhi8QIxEIH_PjAVGprunGD4c5EOJPaxSWeg32DEltiScaXj7iZz3dfcc5ExWmfZf8qzz926zlBf8aZDZ2Fxgx0JszocJ7QUhQQogU286k/s640/IMG_0223.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">heading towards Promontory</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid91WbtpWtOuBqSi95WAfuqp6nSCQqz9t17numtXZ51X5QgrQ0D8G1IyvXNhX8KFhGEb55k3DhiZSQhgX9S6tWYdgcAxgeIrVxuPbaqzTFWICUhBprgPFKhgnsRd96D0w1KSXlVsrl5FEf/s1600/IMG_0227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid91WbtpWtOuBqSi95WAfuqp6nSCQqz9t17numtXZ51X5QgrQ0D8G1IyvXNhX8KFhGEb55k3DhiZSQhgX9S6tWYdgcAxgeIrVxuPbaqzTFWICUhBprgPFKhgnsRd96D0w1KSXlVsrl5FEf/s640/IMG_0227.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back towards the Wellsville mountains. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUinvFKX52xIqkhhMhayZVAMEmAyLZ_C9JWjAuSFUpLF_qsnsyzci-EuWYZs2isC5NRJo86OTZYDAHTw623Kz8HVT2SUkf70fWwzKOy7B3IfRQt5IsphMOYbt-AAn5D7XAtE-yIv4YNPOw/s1600/IMG_0226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUinvFKX52xIqkhhMhayZVAMEmAyLZ_C9JWjAuSFUpLF_qsnsyzci-EuWYZs2isC5NRJo86OTZYDAHTw623Kz8HVT2SUkf70fWwzKOy7B3IfRQt5IsphMOYbt-AAn5D7XAtE-yIv4YNPOw/s640/IMG_0226.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some water, some salt flats</td></tr>
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The GSL is somewhat famous for it's bugs; at times they can be unbearable. The Antelope Island state park update didn't mention that they were out (which they typically do) so we figured they were ok, but they were indeed out. One kind of fly out there is so prevalent that they create loud clouds, and while they were present on the causeway, they were tolerable. However, when I had to fix a flat, we also realized that the smaller but more voracious gnats were also out. </div>
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The Cutoff passes over the end of Promontory, and there's a weird little private farm/RV graveyard there to enable getting off the Cutoff and onto the gravel road that heads north along the Lake. I wouldn't say that it wasn't private and that we weren't trespassing, but we didn't as permission nor did we linger there, and quickly enough were on another nice gravel road with a bit of a tailwind. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowriJZtFKt134IZxGqdUuI1ED9NEVedeKhslamVBS1fFAbaG_NAVvlcr7o2MDwXt32dn-zgDgAjieCM4qPTNy1RVg-2eBtDFl1FDv09BQ4b5X9ORhwmLyAMPpyYCl05BXxERMCjmP0Osa/s1600/IMG_0228+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowriJZtFKt134IZxGqdUuI1ED9NEVedeKhslamVBS1fFAbaG_NAVvlcr7o2MDwXt32dn-zgDgAjieCM4qPTNy1RVg-2eBtDFl1FDv09BQ4b5X9ORhwmLyAMPpyYCl05BXxERMCjmP0Osa/s640/IMG_0228+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">who's happy that there are no cars for miles?!? </td></tr>
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Along this 20 or 30 mile section there are a handful of scrappy little farms:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3N-Dn2sI22azlAUx84aVDYPRvaN5KxJw9eP4pvMmpUgw47c6i3XpvhBxU-AD2XwcXjKNtTkDg9oqrGZYKH8MZh7MBZg1Pi7sVVT21GjrzEglWChpmFHZZrGRwL8CbOunONYzo6rtVQ8p/s1600/IMG_0229+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3N-Dn2sI22azlAUx84aVDYPRvaN5KxJw9eP4pvMmpUgw47c6i3XpvhBxU-AD2XwcXjKNtTkDg9oqrGZYKH8MZh7MBZg1Pi7sVVT21GjrzEglWChpmFHZZrGRwL8CbOunONYzo6rtVQ8p/s400/IMG_0229+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sRmpPlmDWkFzGCZy2UbrpB4_l9F_9yblHh4HIh1VTxGRMBwinec1WnA0knUd2omG2vjUF1_DutOBeEJkAYJYLrB4fS8Whboaaj_4D4bKfzbHu_b-YlfrNculSpAyQIdk4ObUhVBMDk6G/s1600/IMG_0231+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sRmpPlmDWkFzGCZy2UbrpB4_l9F_9yblHh4HIh1VTxGRMBwinec1WnA0knUd2omG2vjUF1_DutOBeEJkAYJYLrB4fS8Whboaaj_4D4bKfzbHu_b-YlfrNculSpAyQIdk4ObUhVBMDk6G/s400/IMG_0231+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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it seems like a pretty tough go out there; I'm no farmer, but trying to do crops on a saline lake bed seems challenging. </div>
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At the northern end of the lake is where the original railway went. We did a short steep climb on a road to assume all the elevation that the original train track did over 11 miles:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLr-7uyqW1rCjIe4Os3H-G6OaWVwV4Akr-PkOWizN5ROd8QFQwCkdDKoinT4sr28r-Evp3ZXVn-z1oJCo4s8PFAAz7fp3d5onDbhUocXgpLkNNoOjLc9gOgW2wEP3321GmyIxYjhdZRGN/s1600/IMG_0236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLr-7uyqW1rCjIe4Os3H-G6OaWVwV4Akr-PkOWizN5ROd8QFQwCkdDKoinT4sr28r-Evp3ZXVn-z1oJCo4s8PFAAz7fp3d5onDbhUocXgpLkNNoOjLc9gOgW2wEP3321GmyIxYjhdZRGN/s640/IMG_0236.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then found ourselves at the Golden Spike Visitors Center</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwC2h9DOuDB8utZ5xcMw3Q4mzwDxNCZZoB19PevAFqNY8t_49Iu8cGmisdsyIVUvS_EwUGaB0Wa87cdoiUDTlzu1x3T2o19-LS0tu9VVFrNnhA8RVs9yWj91HbS71BUBh5dX3RDzUZRfB/s1600/IMG_0237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwC2h9DOuDB8utZ5xcMw3Q4mzwDxNCZZoB19PevAFqNY8t_49Iu8cGmisdsyIVUvS_EwUGaB0Wa87cdoiUDTlzu1x3T2o19-LS0tu9VVFrNnhA8RVs9yWj91HbS71BUBh5dX3RDzUZRfB/s400/IMG_0237.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Of course, the center is closed due to The Plague, but there's a fair bit of stuff to see outside, and you can get the gist. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVQxXLhV02HpsymAVrJB3PROWpbjHv-I6nyLeVaIDmGnslRqh1FBbK3QRYQLz3ptkU25oGO7kClfM7atCFSiECcct4CyUriGMF8dKarfiHhHN9ZUL620-Z4Vr_xjV89qXxfzIYuGl9ClK/s1600/IMG_0238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVQxXLhV02HpsymAVrJB3PROWpbjHv-I6nyLeVaIDmGnslRqh1FBbK3QRYQLz3ptkU25oGO7kClfM7atCFSiECcct4CyUriGMF8dKarfiHhHN9ZUL620-Z4Vr_xjV89qXxfzIYuGl9ClK/s400/IMG_0238.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy is still working, and one of his (few?) jobs is raising and lowering the flag. But the day before was broken up by answering questions on the phone by annoying wannabe cyclists who can't understand why there's no camping there!</td></tr>
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One website I saw said something to the effect of "Every American knows the story of the Golden Spike" but honestly I didn't beyond the simple fact that it was the meeting point between the East and West rail building efforts. I didn't really fully understand the logistical challenges nor the huge significance that this effort represented. Legislation and funding was created during the Civil War, and construction started right after the war's end even though worker numbers and raw materials were therefore in much shorter supply, which was why Italian, Irish, German, and Chinese workers were critical to the success. I kinda figured that the reason that the meeting point was so far west was because the easterly section was so much easier to lay tracks than the mountainous West and this was mostly true, but also ALL of the materials for the western section had to be shipped around the tip of South America before being transported eastward across California and Nevada. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LxgyabTDeP9pqEg6eJgGfLn2GYrw5mjUl52orT7AQoycYMV4QLhwn7x5Z0wyryK1enK6pmPhd0y_yqWJhD2FK5YMCUBIu3_L1Ekecrre9O3ryK0aKkxXpHzr1HDkUzY4bZyLqCxb7n51/s1600/IMG_0274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LxgyabTDeP9pqEg6eJgGfLn2GYrw5mjUl52orT7AQoycYMV4QLhwn7x5Z0wyryK1enK6pmPhd0y_yqWJhD2FK5YMCUBIu3_L1Ekecrre9O3ryK0aKkxXpHzr1HDkUzY4bZyLqCxb7n51/s640/IMG_0274.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Again, a lotta wood being used in an area that doesn't have a lotta wood....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g3ba1C4WBrV1AZFdw9yLmvE-lo-unnPANkusXRHzN4BZEjzLc6a5mdUHg9lXRIG-r2C-_Ud3mP9tyhD3LwaUD9czbLdOZ85eIEYJ2cw3EkSWY_FnsqfzLifijH64tZTWcMOWNf0pebCq/s1600/IMG_0252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g3ba1C4WBrV1AZFdw9yLmvE-lo-unnPANkusXRHzN4BZEjzLc6a5mdUHg9lXRIG-r2C-_Ud3mP9tyhD3LwaUD9czbLdOZ85eIEYJ2cw3EkSWY_FnsqfzLifijH64tZTWcMOWNf0pebCq/s640/IMG_0252.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ash on the abutment at the same point, 150 years later</td></tr>
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Despite the logistical challenges, however, there were two companies (Central Pacific and Union Pacific) literally doing side-by-side tracks:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrD_jvzvi99u2DGeDq4m8Cwa0iIJp9Kslj4QER2ONVDhLhxAdv6FDziRiWn2ZeZjaJdhhf_nkxOEFo8cswgJ16rhwGblnHnWbcibS48aHkb9YR5ahogrKXXTi9cbImJjvqyA3JW-y9qVD6/s1600/IMG_0246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrD_jvzvi99u2DGeDq4m8Cwa0iIJp9Kslj4QER2ONVDhLhxAdv6FDziRiWn2ZeZjaJdhhf_nkxOEFo8cswgJ16rhwGblnHnWbcibS48aHkb9YR5ahogrKXXTi9cbImJjvqyA3JW-y9qVD6/s640/IMG_0246.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley is riding on one track bed, the other is below and to the left. </td></tr>
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It's hard to imagine how weird that must have felt to be working literally alongside another company doing the same thing, when it's so slow and challenging. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjJCY7DiUT-MEIkh3uBy5QW3G-f6YtSuwfsqnzISd2tW4Octp4ycFoyAqH92XIuo-XKaq_cxjTuqge0R5l89CIM1dGvPUHPQMjyS3SGas_ChEYYkfPPq86YComvpHTxbsAk_Ohuq7Naby/s1600/IMG_0273.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjJCY7DiUT-MEIkh3uBy5QW3G-f6YtSuwfsqnzISd2tW4Octp4ycFoyAqH92XIuo-XKaq_cxjTuqge0R5l89CIM1dGvPUHPQMjyS3SGas_ChEYYkfPPq86YComvpHTxbsAk_Ohuq7Naby/s640/IMG_0273.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ironically, it was Congress that decided on the Promontory meeting point for the East and West efforts (it's difficult to imagine the Dems and GOP agreeing on that kind of thing today) and thus it was finished in May of 1869. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8B1WWNm-x8GHdt-GES5b6pS5lEluQSAcpyfge3CvaHGFqZW7GGcT2UjTiXg4yshpn77fNkLK2AueNgEluMNdS1kBaDSJzV6i8NHquy0KSv9GisR876DRoqNfGAzJ84ev8r9xnDQMEAzJ9/s1600/IMG_0272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8B1WWNm-x8GHdt-GES5b6pS5lEluQSAcpyfge3CvaHGFqZW7GGcT2UjTiXg4yshpn77fNkLK2AueNgEluMNdS1kBaDSJzV6i8NHquy0KSv9GisR876DRoqNfGAzJ84ev8r9xnDQMEAzJ9/s640/IMG_0272.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The two guys shaking hands (one of them was Leland Stanford; future Gov of California and namesake for the university) both tried to drive in the Golden Spike, and both actually missed! Might have been a good idea to have a bronze spike for them to practice on....</div>
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In addition to being able to transport people and goods across the country in days versus weeks, which was a huge deal, the railroad was also paralleled by a telegraph line, which of course enabled transcontinental communication that was faster than the nearby Pony Express route (that we rode a coupla years ago). And when the Golden Spike was finally driven (by more-accurate assistants!) they sent a telegram to President Grant and the Associated Press, and there were huge celebrations both in the East and in San Francisco. It was a big deal. <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2019/05/09/historic-telegraphs-tell/">Here's an fun article</a> on it that ran in the SL Tribune last year on the 150th anniversary. </div>
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While there is "No Camping" within the park and it's surrounded by private lands (as the flag bearer had told me the day prior) and I'd never admit we were on private land, we were able to make something happen:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLz-errbDVZiJ3huBnDb2qEPFHBJOBP0sdmIl_HvCWuUXHAjweDkN0_cPWN-F2xMffomq4wAPqPnuVgqzm1uoAunwtHqzbaTzKtvaXMtRcqtJZP-GckbM_gvuaq2qc2hxaC1gMo5Ufjlc/s1600/IMG_0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLz-errbDVZiJ3huBnDb2qEPFHBJOBP0sdmIl_HvCWuUXHAjweDkN0_cPWN-F2xMffomq4wAPqPnuVgqzm1uoAunwtHqzbaTzKtvaXMtRcqtJZP-GckbM_gvuaq2qc2hxaC1gMo5Ufjlc/s640/IMG_0242.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's no pleasant Euro campground with showers, shitters, and a cafe, but it worked. </td></tr>
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And we were back on the road</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYJM3fgi00LGEipaCFLUFvf5GeOFYgyPBqfA09pEWDiGjXKyw-uvwiHVoxt5lh6dyjikvpoL9pQoVNeeQtEVH4JCvOYNukuCvUfKEDGkIAfQrIM3HKOMBQYgTQq66NGkHA0FoU0UXLjOM/s1600/IMG_0250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYJM3fgi00LGEipaCFLUFvf5GeOFYgyPBqfA09pEWDiGjXKyw-uvwiHVoxt5lh6dyjikvpoL9pQoVNeeQtEVH4JCvOYNukuCvUfKEDGkIAfQrIM3HKOMBQYgTQq66NGkHA0FoU0UXLjOM/s640/IMG_0250.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3JlyvFZOBX7uM1ehBPla6cx0Yk5g6DtnyCJv80U4nlBI4ECTVdeR8SJN6mpvbNaKG62jFKrEeBPM7O3v5dXDJ5-dwHklbt0DlTyn9TvfW_N8eS4rPhh4g3rk1wVvqCawra1yXhyN1ZYz/s1600/IMG_0249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3JlyvFZOBX7uM1ehBPla6cx0Yk5g6DtnyCJv80U4nlBI4ECTVdeR8SJN6mpvbNaKG62jFKrEeBPM7O3v5dXDJ5-dwHklbt0DlTyn9TvfW_N8eS4rPhh4g3rk1wVvqCawra1yXhyN1ZYz/s640/IMG_0249.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the Chinese Arch, which was formed by ancient ocean waves?!!? </td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The route I had originally cooked up goes through the mountains to the north of the Thiokol (rocket-making) facility, but given our history of being a bit overzealous early in the season we opted to cruise the flat highway back east to Brigham City, where there's some nice riding through orchards:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivi-M0XTtli-wyq4vQgAPEXgLbyaxiL82Q8Cjapv_UJ0uHdEHMY22eZlTJyk6Cv9ct2EnQgBUenhv49a2X7g7vaCdUZhUxsESBVBfC0BO8v_KdkqBq5IY0WnOPetU0Nl6NazUmRKFUv5aH/s1600/IMG_0254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivi-M0XTtli-wyq4vQgAPEXgLbyaxiL82Q8Cjapv_UJ0uHdEHMY22eZlTJyk6Cv9ct2EnQgBUenhv49a2X7g7vaCdUZhUxsESBVBfC0BO8v_KdkqBq5IY0WnOPetU0Nl6NazUmRKFUv5aH/s640/IMG_0254.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And were able to finish on a nice section of Rail Trail right into Plain City </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23UcEhYtVB6P38bJaye2ghOzJDP93eiuhCWv8hWwCq7OyW6PcqMNwDgMxDKIJcxvO5WHYKlGPdZMr9Y2lSbuTULwdaVrGGKMARoThed-PYs8ZqbDD9qpWN0WTDb-2CnjeoWpGPzzqdXzm/s1600/IMG_0255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23UcEhYtVB6P38bJaye2ghOzJDP93eiuhCWv8hWwCq7OyW6PcqMNwDgMxDKIJcxvO5WHYKlGPdZMr9Y2lSbuTULwdaVrGGKMARoThed-PYs8ZqbDD9qpWN0WTDb-2CnjeoWpGPzzqdXzm/s640/IMG_0255.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">celebrating no traffic again! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa9GHg19ioaev60TFJ22NqDg1W4ldN0B4TWFZGOShzX75DOZVZ6FYkyDTdceLL63n7RyyuHUDnhyphenhyphenHn-Qz9vDfvAp16JL0Msm8JA72U0Y8M28vYtINvkZEdxS7FMpti_ZFp6ZWr-E7xPIO/s1600/Plain+City%252C+UT+to+Plain+City%252C+UT+-+Google+Maps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="1600" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa9GHg19ioaev60TFJ22NqDg1W4ldN0B4TWFZGOShzX75DOZVZ6FYkyDTdceLL63n7RyyuHUDnhyphenhyphenHn-Qz9vDfvAp16JL0Msm8JA72U0Y8M28vYtINvkZEdxS7FMpti_ZFp6ZWr-E7xPIO/s640/Plain+City%252C+UT+to+Plain+City%252C+UT+-+Google+Maps.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Google won't acknowledge the Lucin Cutoff on the south end; there is another shorter causeway that I think also works. </td></tr>
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Yet another quick, easy, and nearby bicycle "adventure" on mostly-empty roads with some fun history lessons for dullards like us! What's next? </div>
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Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-47740981348123828702020-04-23T17:23:00.000-06:002020-04-23T17:23:16.211-06:00Ginny's blog post...from 1946. Having done the fun bio of our dear old dad, of course now the pressure is on to do the same for our equally-interesting mother Virginia Diegel (ginny), who fortunately is still around to keep me honest on my facts! And I do plan to do that, soon. <br />
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However, in the meantime Brother Paul has recently stumbled upon a box that has been a veritable treasure trove of old family history, and in that box is a scrapbook that Ginny put together after the memorable summer she had in Yellowstone in nineteen hundred and forty six. After her freshman year in college she decided - like many before, and after her -she wanted to leave the Mississippi River plains of Rock Island, Illinois and find her fortunes in The West. And what better place to go than iconic Yellowstone? And thus it came to pass:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL3CQf8_zks18BuXOJv_rfjnF80NQNYP99uYTrvUUgO5cPumbJweMt_CnZzUata0g6dGCythP5pJQiQJeaK-mCTBkeOOxiauSnIGzrpaS2B554ozUfcmEslAd5y4sOwqvtjnCgqwHc8h8/s1600/IMG_0185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL3CQf8_zks18BuXOJv_rfjnF80NQNYP99uYTrvUUgO5cPumbJweMt_CnZzUata0g6dGCythP5pJQiQJeaK-mCTBkeOOxiauSnIGzrpaS2B554ozUfcmEslAd5y4sOwqvtjnCgqwHc8h8/s400/IMG_0185.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big news in Rock Island!</td></tr>
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Ginny's parents Harry and Gertrude kindly drove her out and dropped her off:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgWnSZU_lu1xyb8sZYc_pfYdpoocmqilDzuNrQU5E_OCScQvSZyBFK8w3epv1Sl9ogVaFdUDAk7KT18urS4Gl3yKF4cANuyqz4lXnjyGKuXhLwYa5H8oDxbVJLFLx0pd88n2qHRZCZ3ac/s1600/IMG_0186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgWnSZU_lu1xyb8sZYc_pfYdpoocmqilDzuNrQU5E_OCScQvSZyBFK8w3epv1Sl9ogVaFdUDAk7KT18urS4Gl3yKF4cANuyqz4lXnjyGKuXhLwYa5H8oDxbVJLFLx0pd88n2qHRZCZ3ac/s400/IMG_0186.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
and she immediately began making friends:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMfiTTfNu6gcva1QjfnHiOxv7e7RL7e4AYal_bUCqK_-XuoHen1s0hmHm6tx23EFBwv3g0b2AcusqQNOE5pMeWvdrE5ppQV_y8RiXS0m4Y2g2RbqLGYDzepRAQc5zfI9dBQvEzkMfUfSV/s1600/IMG_0204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMfiTTfNu6gcva1QjfnHiOxv7e7RL7e4AYal_bUCqK_-XuoHen1s0hmHm6tx23EFBwv3g0b2AcusqQNOE5pMeWvdrE5ppQV_y8RiXS0m4Y2g2RbqLGYDzepRAQc5zfI9dBQvEzkMfUfSV/s640/IMG_0204.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
Feeding Yogi The Bear, as people did at that time:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieejBOmFllleunrYiFYBJ1fwy8HXq3FcxL_RYbeLHuKd_rxCfVjLpUD9CGb3A8tSLWnCrM2Ovq48CHfvX0KHeoBE-Ol0ikRG3XRt6JxcqiiknSuicFrUU5Xi58aDj9LThi87CH4wr_iytB/s1600/IMG_0206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieejBOmFllleunrYiFYBJ1fwy8HXq3FcxL_RYbeLHuKd_rxCfVjLpUD9CGb3A8tSLWnCrM2Ovq48CHfvX0KHeoBE-Ol0ikRG3XRt6JxcqiiknSuicFrUU5Xi58aDj9LThi87CH4wr_iytB/s400/IMG_0206.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heyy BooBoo! A pic-a-nic basket! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fell in with some strapping young lads:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcY9XC8CtAjoo2cxbIRsvP3GROB79RPgjcigRrsaSdkoXN9uoHxpSd1rNiZySxxOJRgatbQxuYd88O0lpw1-Rc0K-pfZL9sCjV5LDbMQgfoyTTl8oNNCLwxR_kOvMPo62OklzUhJR8UnF/s1600/IMG_0187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcY9XC8CtAjoo2cxbIRsvP3GROB79RPgjcigRrsaSdkoXN9uoHxpSd1rNiZySxxOJRgatbQxuYd88O0lpw1-Rc0K-pfZL9sCjV5LDbMQgfoyTTl8oNNCLwxR_kOvMPo62OklzUhJR8UnF/s640/IMG_0187.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAQCG684Os94CRv4fPFowJsgVqCjn0cbmwpe1uEJ9-tGpqnmZVb8ch2Sm43hKrTiwTtQF9C3yuYV4zrxouyPdrB4nJPWezi9qo3Izb9ZV6fVl3KAwkPKq8GRLm0LcGE0dTvIGWnXtWhc0/s1600/IMG_0188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAQCG684Os94CRv4fPFowJsgVqCjn0cbmwpe1uEJ9-tGpqnmZVb8ch2Sm43hKrTiwTtQF9C3yuYV4zrxouyPdrB4nJPWezi9qo3Izb9ZV6fVl3KAwkPKq8GRLm0LcGE0dTvIGWnXtWhc0/s640/IMG_0188.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBqOhpeVKU61oRWLwGtja4j8cfuJD0FuBW72QyzyIKTAx1x4sgwIq_ikn10V0FwNyjMvH_SN7L4qlWjb291ypWMT1JqFgq4Fvzc2z5KKRygqYYvAr3s2zttcQ09XsGaqXSbNPpdeLypA7/s1600/IMG_0205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBqOhpeVKU61oRWLwGtja4j8cfuJD0FuBW72QyzyIKTAx1x4sgwIq_ikn10V0FwNyjMvH_SN7L4qlWjb291ypWMT1JqFgq4Fvzc2z5KKRygqYYvAr3s2zttcQ09XsGaqXSbNPpdeLypA7/s640/IMG_0205.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this guy was going to have NO problems that summer....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
and got a job:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92bP5ghcLK90U7CwvBw0V2p6iygY7fyu2xNU1GbqM4-9jpO7wOHRbouQCGBXzcL76U3GK5CCGBIJq5Yr0sFcGANxLK46GPT5dkF1wX5j3k3AYwDJezLXaaF3GeMr7fnJzTAZWs8CFtmDK/s1600/IMG_0207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92bP5ghcLK90U7CwvBw0V2p6iygY7fyu2xNU1GbqM4-9jpO7wOHRbouQCGBXzcL76U3GK5CCGBIJq5Yr0sFcGANxLK46GPT5dkF1wX5j3k3AYwDJezLXaaF3GeMr7fnJzTAZWs8CFtmDK/s640/IMG_0207.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">$30/mo with a $7.50 bonus; that was....some money! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
as long as she abided by the code:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVeatozAsMBH2TlsGy7ZxohYkKTGaa3h3HMQOWC1hfboPG3u2S6c_509Ht2NJ36lKwxn-5xZ_2Mu7_s6rD7f4pljzuF7R8sbDXUgYp6SuV6zdzAVMUEF2akNwKv6MbaEfEzPPlH_774DsD/s1600/IMG_0208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVeatozAsMBH2TlsGy7ZxohYkKTGaa3h3HMQOWC1hfboPG3u2S6c_509Ht2NJ36lKwxn-5xZ_2Mu7_s6rD7f4pljzuF7R8sbDXUgYp6SuV6zdzAVMUEF2akNwKv6MbaEfEzPPlH_774DsD/s640/IMG_0208.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Be sure your teeth are in good condition!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
She got a job as a waitress at the Old Faithful Lodge, and on her days off she would do what people do in Yellowstone:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQJkZjm9qU67ZjX1cIGy54XfuX_oIDaI4jhFBVeaJ8R2s5KXh6gWzNK3VVKbeAehAlAOVV5bkbQU99_PJWY1T6fl7U_5Ie9RwgMfY-gIXtBM8d3D4Y2ZW-7xib1voKHDwSEe83F4wJ7ji/s1600/IMG_0184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQJkZjm9qU67ZjX1cIGy54XfuX_oIDaI4jhFBVeaJ8R2s5KXh6gWzNK3VVKbeAehAlAOVV5bkbQU99_PJWY1T6fl7U_5Ie9RwgMfY-gIXtBM8d3D4Y2ZW-7xib1voKHDwSEe83F4wJ7ji/s640/IMG_0184.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and she and her friend would hitchhike around the park and even down to the Tetons:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNkWe3GFgzNZZkFlr6k_6xUu942F4z6NCEm9UNSi4Iu2C2e7jT6xId5BBau7nSxWHdzUtWM70TShDNOxCBZY6j-o5_M8gS6uxuTnFc5hcUzKqi6odTMvQY7jMyiCh9YAdmFtYxyGj1dAP/s1600/IMG_0203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNkWe3GFgzNZZkFlr6k_6xUu942F4z6NCEm9UNSi4Iu2C2e7jT6xId5BBau7nSxWHdzUtWM70TShDNOxCBZY6j-o5_M8gS6uxuTnFc5hcUzKqi6odTMvQY7jMyiCh9YAdmFtYxyGj1dAP/s400/IMG_0203.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much to her mother's dismay, according to a card Gertie sent that was included in the scrapbook</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Ginny later got a degree in journalism and became a writer, doing fun special interest stories for first the local Beaverton, Oregon paper and then the legacy Oregonian. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBKeeJ5Lm9h2DHTTjm3SeXjbe40ln3FPsK8nVkhDh2bDvQhqVAF8WV8a-wrWSdLAlBiB7VJWHS5m062hF3wSLOJZbWGpEjRSXdv-NOIR6K1zVtgQN-w5pUn05LvgWIFkGIxa2Zdfjwv1g/s1600/IMG_0211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="640" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBKeeJ5Lm9h2DHTTjm3SeXjbe40ln3FPsK8nVkhDh2bDvQhqVAF8WV8a-wrWSdLAlBiB7VJWHS5m062hF3wSLOJZbWGpEjRSXdv-NOIR6K1zVtgQN-w5pUn05LvgWIFkGIxa2Zdfjwv1g/s400/IMG_0211.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On The Beat!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
She even published a book:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpy3Y_n505IQesto2pi1s94H-fwxe_19gs0kCbNOo_Ol60LvzOmtKdFLmlu_g_VnXzk0eA5AEAugJdd2iXoZhQ5PAEz62uo0rUq6ATULexJWeYokMbLPi21cwk0Q8dDAvRxq4tCn6BVjjO/s1600/book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpy3Y_n505IQesto2pi1s94H-fwxe_19gs0kCbNOo_Ol60LvzOmtKdFLmlu_g_VnXzk0eA5AEAugJdd2iXoZhQ5PAEz62uo0rUq6ATULexJWeYokMbLPi21cwk0Q8dDAvRxq4tCn6BVjjO/s400/book+cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
That you can <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0889089027/ref=x_gr_w_bb_sout?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb_sout-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0889089027&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2">still buy</a>, for only $4.25 (that's probably what it went for when it came out in 1978!). <br />
<br />
What I didn't realize until now, however, was that Ginny was already a bit of a prodigy writer, even at a young age. She had a lot of experiences during her brief summer in Yellowstone (including a hilarious one that cost her a job!) but one as a waitress was good enough that she....created a blog post, probably 70 years before the term "blog post" even existed. it's such a gem that I transcribed it, with just a couple of edits. It's a gem; enjoy. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One man who visited Yellowstone Park this summer probably
doesn’t have very happy memories of Old Faithful Lodge and of a certain
waitress at station number seven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
one of twenty college girls working in the big dining room out west for a
vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t pretend to be
professionals, but relied on the fact that most vacationers were not in a hurry
and were usually in the best of humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, and then, there would be those who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">were</i> in a hurry and lacked a sense of humor, and that’s where all
my trouble started. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This particular day in July started peacefully enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Customers had been tipping ten percent, and
we hadn’t been too busy to have fun, but neither did we have to stand around
waiting for customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything was
under control when the hostess seated a nice looking, middle-aged couple at my
four-seater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man gave the orders and
I wanted to congratulate him when he made fine choices all the way down through
the dessert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he politely asked if I
would please fill his thermos bottle with boiling hot water I politely said
yes, put it on my big silver tray, and sailed off to the kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My two-seater had just finished and the big
eight table hadn’t filled up yet, so I could easily fill the thermos between
courses without getting mixed up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the nice couple had finished their appetizers, I
stopped in the kitchen to fill the bottle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Quite unsuspecting, I let the boiling water run into the thermos and
joked with the busboys as they sped by, balancing nine meals on one tray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned off the spigot, picked up the cork,
and calmly stuck it into the neck of the thermos and….POP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d never taken chemistry or physics or
whatever it is that teaches that compressed steam will exert pressure enough to
blow the cork off a thermos bottle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
cork shot up into the air and I tried to watch its flight, but it
disappeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coffee boy offered to
look for it while I served the entrees .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The eight-seater filled up; I took their orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone sat down at my two-seater, and I got
their orders, served their entrees, and got dessert for the thermos bottle
couple, and in between each trip I frantically searched the kitchen for the
missing cork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole kitchen crew of
cooks, dishwashers, salad girls, and pot washers got ladders to look on the
rafters, got brooms to sweep under the cofffe urn, and crawled around under the
tables to search for a suddenly-valuable piece of cork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Station number seven was by now waiting for their desserts, their
bill, and their themos bottle, but their waitress was in the kitchen
desperately trying to find another cork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I finally got rid of the other ten people (at the other table) and
avoided the eyes of the bottle man as I rushed through the swinging doors
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was no use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cork
had gone up, but it had not come down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cooky (the cook) said the night watchman would find it and that I should
tell the man to return for breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, reluctantly I approached my customers and told them the fate of
their bottle stopper, trying to throw in the hope that it would be found that
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not, I told him that I would
be glad to pay him for the cork and he could buy another one when they got to
the nearest town, which was many miles away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He wasn’t angry, just annoyed and mildly grouchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His aristocratic wife looked bored with the
whole affair. It was a comfort to me that she probably felt as I did that the
matter did not demand more than a casual apology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, when I presented the bottle minus to
stopper to her husband he said: “What good does this do me now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted it for tonight!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I was mildly annoyed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’m sure it will be found tonight, sir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you be in for breakfast?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather grumpily, he guessed that they would have to be, but
their cabin was 291 in case it was found that night, because they had wanted to
get an early start the next morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
probably would have gone up to the kitchen to look for himself had his wife not
stood up to go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Tell the girl we’ll be in tomorrow morning”, she said,
disdaining to speak directly to me. “You’ll just have to get along without it
tonight.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That seemed to definitely end
the matter for the time being, at least, and she started down the aisle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband made a point of putting some
money on the table, mumbled something about seeing me early the next day, and
hurried after his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was very surprised to find a 75-cent tip on the table and
took it to mean that he was partially paying me for the ultimate return of his
cork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His great concern for such a
seeming trifle puzzled me, and I guess I’ll always wonder what he wanted with
that hot water. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning at breakfast the affair had almost been forgotten
until That Man appeared at my table again, this time alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Well?” he leered expectantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His intense dark eyes were almost hidden in a
deeply furrowed squint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I surmised that
he wore a perpetually worried look to have such deep wrinkles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I rushed into the kitchen again, but was told that the night
janitor slept until 1pm and was not to be wakened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took courage that time to inform my irate
customer that he would have to wait until noon if his cork meant that much to
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fervently hoped he would choose
not to wait, but his long-controlled temper burst into display.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve
seen that geyser blow up twenty times, and I’m tired of it! Can’t you do
something about it?!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I barely contained myself from telling him to go jump in the
geyser, but restrained myself and asked him to do the same, meanwhile praying
that the janitor had found something more than dust under the tables. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He hadn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one
o’clock sharp he strolled in, and when I pounced on him, he shook his
head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew what I had to do, but I was
scared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to ask the hostess to
break the news, I thought of burning my finger, of spilling soup on my apron,
fainting…anything so I wouldn’t have to face That Man again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I fortified myself with the assurance that this was the
last time I would ever behold his frightening countenance, took a deep breath, whizzed
out of the swinging doors, up to the ogre, and said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“That cork never came down!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even today, I am haunted by that man’s accusing face, his
voice keeps ringing in my ears:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where’s
my cork!?!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I my dreams I hear that
fatal POP and watch the cork sail on up and up, and I always wonder why the
laws of gravity had to fail at such an inopportune time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-83253793422353301732020-04-13T20:29:00.000-06:002020-04-13T20:29:34.489-06:00An Ode to Paul Diegel - the final chapter<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
mentioned in the first post that our dad was a good card player; good enough to
come out of the navy with a fair bit of his friends' money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he liked poker (and taught us to play,
and the four of us played various versions as a family after dinner) his real love was for
bridge, which represented far more strategy than the luck component of poker
(not to say that there isn’t strategy to poker, but bridge – from what I
understand – is all about strategy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PC
continued to play in the bridge leagues, and as the autocrossing faded a bit,
he sort of redoubled his enthusiasm for bridge and started playing in
tournaments, doing pretty well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
one of his biggest regrets about me (aside from me not being into cars, dogs,
or hunting) was that I never learned bridge, though I do remember once telling
him how great bike racing was with all the drafting and teammate strategies,
and he said “it sounds a lot like bridge!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That got me intrigued, but I guess not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">One day
he came home and said to my mom “You’ve got to start buying your groceries at
Fred Meyer for a while.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why? “They are having a contest and the more
you buy the more chances you have at winning the contest.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, ok, we aren’t big grocery store contest
players, but…we’ll bite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the
contest?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There’s a big regional bridge
tournament coming up, and the winner of this contest gets to play with this
huge bridge grand master champion!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
mom and I couldn’t believe it:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a grocery
store contest for someone to be able to play a bridge tournament with some
guy?!?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to humor him, our mom indeed
started buying groceries at Fred Meyer for the next month, and I’ll be damned
(to use a favorite phrase of my dad’s):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>we (he) won!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There literally was
a drawing and we had a fair number of tickets in there and ours (his) was
chosen!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
tourney was a few weeks hence and he started playing even more feverishly to
get his full game on, and the finally the weekend arrived, and sure enough, PC
was paired up with “Boris” (not his real name, which I can’t remember, but
Ashley thought that the guy was Russian, which he wasn’t, but he was an
imposing physical guy and it makes for a better story).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These tournaments were pretty intense and
people played morning to night, and ol’ Boris and Paul kept on a’winnin’, and
sure enough, on Sunday night the Grand Champeens were….Paul and Boris!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBZw6umsovOW68TklkT_0jQ2L2hBTLovCOfQJ2MKdJCap-xeT2HnSY980VwitqfxHkrVH6JdoERSvvIQ-WMcLhivEnJceMWF-o-GYKE7CslqHBtvfYULDgwSjIlT1cl7kKE9PDkCct_jK/s1600/boris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="1600" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBZw6umsovOW68TklkT_0jQ2L2hBTLovCOfQJ2MKdJCap-xeT2HnSY980VwitqfxHkrVH6JdoERSvvIQ-WMcLhivEnJceMWF-o-GYKE7CslqHBtvfYULDgwSjIlT1cl7kKE9PDkCct_jK/s640/boris.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;">After the spraying of champagne and the
kisses from the podium girls and the medals being hung around their necks Paul
said to Boris “wow, that was so amazing playing with you; I learned so much and
it was so fun!” To which the very gracious Boris replied “Not so fast!</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;">I could not have done that without you! You
played as well as any partner I’ve ever had, and that’s the truth!”</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;">(or something to that effect).</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think it was another highlight of my dad’s
life, ironically again near it’s end.</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">In
addition to climbing when few were climbing, spaniel field trials, hobby
farming, ping pong (we belonged to the “Ping Pong Palace" in downtown Portland),
small cantankerous British sports cars<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(and station wagons?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“hate vans,
hate pickups…. love station wagons!”) our dad was also into….roses!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that I tried, but I couldn’t figure out
that passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly spending most of
his life in the Rose City of Portland he knew that it was an ideal climate for
roses, but as kind of a man’s man it seemed like a strange pastime, but he was
into his roses, and again let his competitive juices flow and started entering
his roses into the contests or races or shows or whatever they were
called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think he achieved the
same level of success there that he did in his other endeavors, but he didn’t seem to care as
much, and continued to futz with his rose gardens even as the rest of the hobby farm
gradually deteriorated (with his cheap labor sons mostly gone and losing the
energy/motivation to keep it up).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’ve
talked a lot about what Paul C Diegel did, but not too much about who he
was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have many times described him as
an odd guy:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>generally pretty taciturn,
but loved telling stories and had a great sense of humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bit standoffish:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X-AcNZM7OmCrWemf6lMyR5k4a6EwslHMKk2STvglAFNOXSip0_Z4xdeczPX-ceCPee8k-ppoHsapevqQyWh8jzBZnOJY1SXbTDzzkLTsECiv8F7ZWM_nk2jgcpEzM_OZTKaXOgPIdB5L/s1600/IMG_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X-AcNZM7OmCrWemf6lMyR5k4a6EwslHMKk2STvglAFNOXSip0_Z4xdeczPX-ceCPee8k-ppoHsapevqQyWh8jzBZnOJY1SXbTDzzkLTsECiv8F7ZWM_nk2jgcpEzM_OZTKaXOgPIdB5L/s640/IMG_0139.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A hilarious photo that can be captioned many different ways, but this early 80's family Christmas photo shows that PC's sorta off-to-the-side, not-quite-smiling was kind of his thing. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjtgdsAjEGyPKHTZrb4QS5wwpX_BFdKhOy45sX27Er1E0bBFQ96ni2uL380SIRFuobyPCgh6pKYmBgvMmqWAgPRbURpmN0IIcnLHqknrQWHTLMLh__K0bj3gDi-7ZmR_KvISTU3fnVYen/s1600/IMG_0252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjtgdsAjEGyPKHTZrb4QS5wwpX_BFdKhOy45sX27Er1E0bBFQ96ni2uL380SIRFuobyPCgh6pKYmBgvMmqWAgPRbURpmN0IIcnLHqknrQWHTLMLh__K0bj3gDi-7ZmR_KvISTU3fnVYen/s640/IMG_0252.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who poses for a picture with his wife standing that far apart?!? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But
tremendously loyal to his family and friends.</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Quite a snob in some ways:</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Beer
is for the common man, not for sophisticated men!” but happy to be a bit of a
boor (Boones Farm Strawberry Hill!).</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">He
had high standards and was pretty judgmental, but was respectful of other
people’s decisions; when I took a semester off of college to be a ski bum at
Snowbird, he was convinced I’d never go back to school, but he bought me a car
to help enable that:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGRxOANY-Tu_8DKlG6g6u_xZtS1932LvGLVTmc5ThyphenhyphenX1ubEPK0GszSCI8Bg3jRCEf7QBTzPgFEnHBjOd9rcCCqwTZy8w4tDtLRwm9XZ_hLrTNU8Auj5cmIh492LFxSkk4GjnIb-l6N7dEJ/s1600/5BegC1bg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGRxOANY-Tu_8DKlG6g6u_xZtS1932LvGLVTmc5ThyphenhyphenX1ubEPK0GszSCI8Bg3jRCEf7QBTzPgFEnHBjOd9rcCCqwTZy8w4tDtLRwm9XZ_hLrTNU8Auj5cmIh492LFxSkk4GjnIb-l6N7dEJ/s640/5BegC1bg.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
And when I graduated from college and didn’t want to get a job
and just wanted to ride my bike around Europe, he thought it was a poor idea
but gave me $500 the night before I left because “I’d need it”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>He valued (having read) high literature, but
loved trashy novels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He liked being a
father:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUlAtg8LA8joHdOApKDKw3wTO25SPn-EYN_E_29ZseOE8ZxseDBu9EBGnhIYnJKP2u9kaSGIGac8zWm6jt6XtV82NpXSSd8eDEtYe0O5tEvr5lEUWluUgxTuF139MsvyLG2Lvzg6gkX7vj/s1600/9l57p2qw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUlAtg8LA8joHdOApKDKw3wTO25SPn-EYN_E_29ZseOE8ZxseDBu9EBGnhIYnJKP2u9kaSGIGac8zWm6jt6XtV82NpXSSd8eDEtYe0O5tEvr5lEUWluUgxTuF139MsvyLG2Lvzg6gkX7vj/s640/9l57p2qw.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Brother Paul</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> I think – but he wasn’t a big
supporter of my baseball, soccer, cross country, track, etc; they simply
weren’t his thing.</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> He loved the outdoors, but I think this was his last hike, when I was about 13:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvFEyd5-8MYCrn9472NB8dzH3H-epv2kkHfhxvhyphenhyphenrLJ38imvgH8z1TXUo7gEj_9iquZ2udgEpz6MjkqxDcGYkmtVF2S2lA4-m-yQaDwaaRvBcTIZlZHcsjiD7HTXE9SSD3IYDE0N-z-fS/s1600/5_j-v-1Q.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="406" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRvFEyd5-8MYCrn9472NB8dzH3H-epv2kkHfhxvhyphenhyphenrLJ38imvgH8z1TXUo7gEj_9iquZ2udgEpz6MjkqxDcGYkmtVF2S2lA4-m-yQaDwaaRvBcTIZlZHcsjiD7HTXE9SSD3IYDE0N-z-fS/s640/5_j-v-1Q.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">His last job was
starting up a property management company called, appropriately enough:
“Practical Property Management”, because “Practical” was pretty much a term
that he lived by.</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">He never made a lot
of money and was frugal to the point of always re-using paper towels, and put more stock in fun than money, yet he had a lot of financial acumen and we lived a comfortable life.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">But more
important than practicality to him was the concept of integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that regardless of a bit of surliness
that some people may have perceived in him, he made a huge point of being super
committed to his bosses, his clients, his friends, and his family, doing what
he said he’d do, treating everyone fairly, being honest to the point of bluntness, and being generous enough to be the guy who
would “go to the bank for you;”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that is,
if you needed help, you’d just say “I need help” and he’d take you to his bank
and say “how much do you need?” An important characteristic in a spouse, friend, and dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our dad’s
obsessions weren’t all healthy; he was a lifelong smoker that resulted in
getting bladder cancer in his early 60’s, and while he tried to quit several
times, he simply couldn’t even as he hated what smoking did to him and even after getting crushed by the surgery, which
resulted in an ostomy (a plastic external bladder via a port in his abdomen). Eventually the smoking led to his demise at a too-young 73. We found out
later that he wasn’t feeling very good so he went to the doc, who told him that
he was riddled with cancer and the end was nigh, but – ever the stoic - instead
of making a huge deal about it, he literally told no one else, spent a lot of the next period of time
making sure everything was in order and our mom was going to do just fine after
he was gone, and two months later he died, leaving behind a nice note to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I've never visited his grave in Portland</span></span>, preferring to think of him as he was, not as he is. </div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Twenty-seven
years later I look back on his life and realize that I really admire him for
the fact that he led a life that he sought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After surviving World War II he realized that life is tenuous and short,
so it’s best to get after it and do what you wanna do, “damn the torpedoes” (a
phrase he liked).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of his favorite
things was to sit out on a dog box that was next to the barn </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 18px;">with his favorite dog Willie </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 18px;">to survey his domain of the little farm </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;">with the fields and woods spilling out on each side. With a stout gin and tonic (complimented with a
crushed sprig of mint) he'd quietly appreciate the life that he had created, before
finally giving the ginned-up ice cubes to Willie and heading back into the
farmhouse.</span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Happy 100th Birthday PC</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHVWrcpEIcIESqMXIbj8KjvF_kwDMgnF495xwrg7YvvVUuA1weE-yY-6YGC75j6JlkENrhMxb3BT7Oy9Jja8blTjzS6me2Gg9i_NqaGo8Bqu-91v87fYsNSDBPSfZ4qEzTdUYtSMzw-47/s1600/TXmb6k2A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHVWrcpEIcIESqMXIbj8KjvF_kwDMgnF495xwrg7YvvVUuA1weE-yY-6YGC75j6JlkENrhMxb3BT7Oy9Jja8blTjzS6me2Gg9i_NqaGo8Bqu-91v87fYsNSDBPSfZ4qEzTdUYtSMzw-47/s640/TXmb6k2A.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-85401435626071696482020-04-09T11:06:00.000-06:002020-04-09T11:06:04.465-06:00An ode to PC Diegel, Part III
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For a few
years after their marriage Paul C and Virginia did what is common now, but I
don’t think was as prevalent then:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they
postponed kid-dom in lieu of continuing to gallivant unfettered around the
Northwest skiing, hunting, hiking, and fishing. But eventually parenthood
sounded pretty good, so Paul Jr. was born in 1959, and the truth is that it
didn’t slow them down much; they just dragged him around, which was probably a good
precursor for becoming the resilient and strong guy that he is today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They
lived in the suburbs of the Portland, but –again, a bit unusual for the time,
which sort of defined much of their lives – they wanted to move out to the
country to be sort of hobby farmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the time PC was a finance guy at an engineering firm downtown and barely knew
the difference between grass and alfalfa, but there was a continued allure to
the wide-open spaces and the romantic concept of a rebuilding-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and adding onto - a ramshackle old farmhouse,
having fruit and nut trees, a barn full of hay, and 5 or so other outbuildings,
all surrounded by fields where their beloved dogs could frolic about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a big project, and while I’d like to
say that it was done by the time I was born a couple of years later, the truth
is that a rambling “ranch” like that is effectively a lifelong project, because
about the time you finish shoring up a shed or digging a well or planting a
huge garden another project looms large, for better or worse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQkDCnGdkaGgGxKJgLtqHgY1zXF5Fsn4gFiW0CI2nMmvyv___7GR4RlDL5S2V3YC-gmLIfJyG_yWw8TIDXW7xKskZBR_4b1rIEo-P0tyaUK7sVGuxjqUM6QEOn7hJrYGGVw59dxHxb2WN/s1600/IMG_0123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQkDCnGdkaGgGxKJgLtqHgY1zXF5Fsn4gFiW0CI2nMmvyv___7GR4RlDL5S2V3YC-gmLIfJyG_yWw8TIDXW7xKskZBR_4b1rIEo-P0tyaUK7sVGuxjqUM6QEOn7hJrYGGVw59dxHxb2WN/s640/IMG_0123.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a big ol' Royal Anne cherry tree in full bloom, and there are 5 apple trees and a walnut tree there too, with two pear trees, and three filbert (Oregon-speak for hazelnuts) in back. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;">A big
part of the deal were indeed the fields, and though “hobby farming” was
alluring, PC was realistic enough to know that cultivating 20-odd acres of
fields was not his bag, so they were able to rent the land to our neighbor who
actually was a farmer and used our barn to store hay for his cows, until the
barn became the home for the trampoline, basketball court, ping pong table, and
Triumphs; some farmers we were!</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;">But PC
had an unlimited supply of projects that he could tinker with, and prided
himself on his ability to improvise relatively effective solutions.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;">Paul Jr inherited both that desire and the
ability to create effective solutions; I inherited the desire, but as Ash and
Paul can attest, my solutions are almost always a junk show!</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am not
really sure how PC Diegel developed a yen for esoteric little British sports
cars, though one could speculate that there's a possible relationship
between those and esoteric and athletic British spaniels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, around 1963 he bought a used 1960
Triumph TR-3, and this purchase was in some ways a catalyst for much of the
focus of the rest of his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living a
few miles outside the boundary of the ‘burbs and the rurality that extended a
hundred miles to the coast there was a plethora of fun, winding, hilly roads to
rage around in a sports car, and he used the TR-3 as his daily commuter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the
early 70’s he was introduced to “Autocross”, which is an event that typically
takes place in big industrial-area parking lots that are empty on weekends and
involves creating a pretty tight course outlined with orange traffic cones that
drivers navigate one at a time against the clock, with the types of cars broken
down into like classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember
vividly the first one he did where he raged around the 2 minute course pushing
his little car to its “max” (at no more than 30mph due to the tight course) and
after crossing the line he leaped of the car and declared “that was the funnest
thing I’ve ever done!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And being a bit
of an obsessive sort, he went big into autocrossing at the ripe young age of
50+.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIYXWT9ORF6rY1Z3WO7rWneSZl2s7OONO9dEGcuXaSjybyphE5wkM-m9fT9-XZd8F38svcWrUrMiRPGsMQwwOgJCgDhxq0BR5EqkcActhjKU4_QAwRQln7zHc_1OuaznlyQUEGY2SwL7_/s1600/aPA_7_tc.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1600" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIYXWT9ORF6rY1Z3WO7rWneSZl2s7OONO9dEGcuXaSjybyphE5wkM-m9fT9-XZd8F38svcWrUrMiRPGsMQwwOgJCgDhxq0BR5EqkcActhjKU4_QAwRQln7zHc_1OuaznlyQUEGY2SwL7_/s640/aPA_7_tc.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Autocross
is typically a gateway drug into racing, and we started going to watch the
local SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) races at the Portland International
Raceway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day we were wandering around
the pit area and came across a young guy covered in grime working hard on
his…..1960 white TR-3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hardy Prentice was
a young guy from San Francisco who towed his TR-3 race car:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDG_SdQpfWYUOFb40ojPu1VoJHgxTr-RWwuvmWDO5vPKB6dxF5rF5amX6J3TQryChSAfFV9M3hx4b-jAIlToPj31MhB3keSuks81uc-w3jj-Q3052l8mpAvVwomWIp0uPZC4V7TnCWZB2/s1600/3374639624_d586572765_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="639" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDG_SdQpfWYUOFb40ojPu1VoJHgxTr-RWwuvmWDO5vPKB6dxF5rF5amX6J3TQryChSAfFV9M3hx4b-jAIlToPj31MhB3keSuks81uc-w3jj-Q3052l8mpAvVwomWIp0uPZC4V7TnCWZB2/s640/3374639624_d586572765_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">up and
down the coast with his E-type Jaguar:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCuKGPvKUbW1i3vydxoXU6L3MqmAQhklEabEWMaUhorzhsPhJt3gi2DAFaLxs1oaBAKsfJJ4QzhCXJWacqYfhzu8ZwXoN44HJ0_Dwz-2XlKTicIGBhOBZRm9wSIqhY2Q8JCsv8mA3dsNO/s1600/64582628-770-0%25402X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCuKGPvKUbW1i3vydxoXU6L3MqmAQhklEabEWMaUhorzhsPhJt3gi2DAFaLxs1oaBAKsfJJ4QzhCXJWacqYfhzu8ZwXoN44HJ0_Dwz-2XlKTicIGBhOBZRm9wSIqhY2Q8JCsv8mA3dsNO/s400/64582628-770-0%25402X.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The engine is gigantic, and ironically this car was probably faster than the race car it was towing! But not a lot of room to store tools to rebuild a race car! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">which no
doubt generated plenty of amused looks on Interstate 5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hardy was camped at the race track so of
course PC invited him to stay at our house, and so began a long bromance
between two TR-3 racing geeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PC never
went full-race, but he did do a couple of vintage car races (a crazy event
where guys who freak out about paint scratches in their esoteric old cars put
on a helmet and lose all sense of reason and race their beloved cars hard enough to
crash them!) and was a stalwart member of the local Triumph owners
association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He eventually got even more
stature in the community when he bought an esoteric-even-by-Triumph standards
TR-250, and later also got the wild hair to buy a rusty, non-functional TR-3
and restored it to its former glory and then some, with his fire-engine red
paint job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PC with
his fleet:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course, the Triumph owners would have their little weekend tours, where they’d
get together and do some scenic drive to a scenic overlook, where they’d all
park together, open the hoods, and ignore the scenery to talk incessantly about
their quirky little cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there were
shows; one of <a href="https://forestgroveconcours.org/">the biggest car shows</a>
in the country happened to be in nearby Forest Grove, and attending that was an
annual event, and of course the British car owners had to have their own event
as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One classic story from one of
those shows is that a fairly loudmouth guy was pulling into the zone in his
TR-4 and was backing into the spot adjacent to our dad’s spot, and PC said
“hey, you’re getting pretty close!” and the guy said “yeah, I got it, no
problem” and kept coming, my dad shouted again, and the guy bumped into our
dad’s pride and joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without a word my
dad simply walked over to the driver’s window and popped the guy in the
nose!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Point made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
said, dear old Dad was kind enough to let his sons drive his cars, and not just
for genteel occasions like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRonvesvPdAMlJRnFy8d8_CQl2aRGSzczuO_7MNfOdxROSngZyHMJFPSoEqVZ1_fhAROyCj4LEBBG9-VHkf9REz2FpsnYr95sdrL7SYLU9g6eseC8uDQutkmNzS46z5yGGjYDbe9Me0QA/s1600/IMG_0124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRonvesvPdAMlJRnFy8d8_CQl2aRGSzczuO_7MNfOdxROSngZyHMJFPSoEqVZ1_fhAROyCj4LEBBG9-VHkf9REz2FpsnYr95sdrL7SYLU9g6eseC8uDQutkmNzS46z5yGGjYDbe9Me0QA/s640/IMG_0124.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But for also ragin’ about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The roads near our house
were not yet overwhelmed by suburbia (as they are now) and Paul Jr and I
fancied ourselves as being near-race car drivers ourselves, a fact that our
dad no doubt knew and of course feared the implications (not that we’d get
killed, but that we’d wreck his cars!) but he loved that we loved it too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
weekend I came home from college for a visit and there happened to be an
autocross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this time he was in his
late-60’s but was still keen and was an icon in the community, and I said “hey,
why don’t we both go do the autocross?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He lit up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did his first lap
and threw down a respectable time, and I jumped in and buckled down my
helmet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I raged around the course as
hard as I could, and at one point as I was smoking the tires squealing out of a
corner and sawing hard at the wheel to keep from knocking over the cones I
caught a glimpse of my dad standing there watching me absolutely thrash his car…..with
a grin that stretched ear to ear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
blasted across the line and slowly rolled back to “the pits” and saw him walking
towards me all slumped over in mock defeat; I’d beat him by something like
2-tenths of a second!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fitting end to
the end of his autocross career and the beginning AND end of mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hvZEepsKzFEhondYZloXayXmNVB5apQWgdHB_snoK2b6TSlLGIcovpRlRvSGDkiHCd8Eck8Pu3lsi3IIEezfbzpvkFuzGqOhGZ7Zkk5Cdm6dMALIeO5dACUtrbnPxKSVPsOA4TccS383/s1600/8iYGXK-w.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hvZEepsKzFEhondYZloXayXmNVB5apQWgdHB_snoK2b6TSlLGIcovpRlRvSGDkiHCd8Eck8Pu3lsi3IIEezfbzpvkFuzGqOhGZ7Zkk5Cdm6dMALIeO5dACUtrbnPxKSVPsOA4TccS383/s640/8iYGXK-w.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hardy’s
visits to Portland were always a highlight for PC (not as much for Ginny, who
came to start using the summertime race car visits as another excuse to go on
hiking, wildflower, or mushroom-hunting trips!) and were for me as well until
I got to be about fourteen and realized that 4 or 5 guys traveling up and down
the West Coast to race against each other in their quirky cars as if their
lives depended on it and then watching them go round and round was pretty
ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But dad loved it, a</span><span style="text-align: center;">nd Hardy
was somehow eeking out a few more rpms out of that little engine and a little less drag on the body to the point
where it was something like a 132mph car.
Every fall he would go out to the national championships in Atlanta and
race the other dozen guys around the nation in the class who also took it </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urqJecWspVA" style="text-align: center;">way too seriously</a><span style="text-align: center;">, and
in 1992 my dad flew out to be the pit crew for Hardy (</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb54-MxEnnA" style="text-align: center;">here’s a short video</a><span style="text-align: center;"> of
Hardy at Nationals a few years later).</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As it
turns out, that was a great year for our dad to go, because Hardy actually
won!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though our dad was highly
accomplished himself, the vicarious Thrill Of Victory was a highlight of his
later years: </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment--><br /><br />
<div>
I've got a couple more fun tales and feel compelled to talk a little about not only what he did, but who he was, so I'll stop here and do one more post soon. </div>
Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-33357336914499831302020-04-05T17:06:00.001-06:002020-04-05T17:06:51.507-06:00Ode to PC Diegel, Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So PC Diegel found himself in Portland with a degree,
ambition, and - for a returned sailor -a fair bit of money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turns out
that his history degree was either the result of or a catalyst for a remarkable
memory, and while at sea on the LST to pass the many hours of non-action he and
his shipmates played a lot of cards:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>mostly poker and bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
playing cards for fun isn’t nearly as much fun as playing cards for money, and
he played a lot, and won a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Combined
with spending no money for years on the ship he ended up being discharged
with a lot of his mates’ cash and then some.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
enabled him to fairly quickly get the sweet cars of the day and a nice
apartment above downtown Portland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
got some sort of job, and indeed proceeded to start partaking in the peaks,
lakes, and grasslands of Oregon I mentioned in the last post. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fairly quickly Paul found himself in the middle of a
community of young folks who worked hard and played hard, and they spent their
weekends climbing the local peaks like Hood, 3 Fingered Jack, Washington,
Adams, St Helens (in its previous 10,000 foot conical glory), and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coincidentally – or not – he later saw me
living with a bunch of fun folks in a big old house in Northwest Portland
post-college that was a virtual hub of funhoggin’ and pointed out that our
lives were very similar, just 45 years apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul C was an active member of the venerable <a href="https://www.cascadeskiclub.org/content/about.aspx">Cascade Ski Club</a>
and despite growing up in Kansas quickly became a good skier (on 9’ long
hickory skis with non-releasable cable bindings)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0YrWHP147G3I3ottTOB58z9bNfMecP6KMHx0yulFjHV-ZzvfHSC0Tnf6Fur-VsEeOnWZ-NJLKAJXtLxPrH9WxkGx2u0uhTrJfjQGTgHJ-vqH5mrLqCLEURCVk4iVB7KFko3mui8Z7H6L/s1600/Scan+11.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1280" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0YrWHP147G3I3ottTOB58z9bNfMecP6KMHx0yulFjHV-ZzvfHSC0Tnf6Fur-VsEeOnWZ-NJLKAJXtLxPrH9WxkGx2u0uhTrJfjQGTgHJ-vqH5mrLqCLEURCVk4iVB7KFko3mui8Z7H6L/s640/Scan+11.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">that is art in motion. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
and it didn’t take long for his climbing experience to get him to the point where he was a trip leader for the <a href="https://mazamas.org/about/">Mazamas</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtorRAbvLfC2A06v59G1xttXNaA8_DdtS0ugHzxzkk68Vn_UpGn5cGT7NpsXWs8S9zVUhga7cy2YMZxfkTyALZw8QzOza1F5lyCnWhQEPcVm4sgb2wwFEaCPETpPuWNu5PSNNzbo6FYHD/s1600/Scan+3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="838" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtorRAbvLfC2A06v59G1xttXNaA8_DdtS0ugHzxzkk68Vn_UpGn5cGT7NpsXWs8S9zVUhga7cy2YMZxfkTyALZw8QzOza1F5lyCnWhQEPcVm4sgb2wwFEaCPETpPuWNu5PSNNzbo6FYHD/s320/Scan+3.jpeg" width="248" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Being a strapping young, confident guy he attracted plenty
of lady admirers, and – just like his son who lived in pretty much the same
‘hood 45 years later – there was a fair bit of dancin’ around in the
community.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But one cute woman who had
also moved from the Midwest seeking out fun and adventure seemed to keep
herself quite available to him while simultaneously working the field, and they
grew pretty close.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOLDM-wMdL62J2QI8KKNkN9vs_aXUstNRT8AOgRcvPzppSqMlzinK23fZK5lQgI7kpbf93sRvhEC-B4sbzdzKQF2zhRfo50nhE-hdbtmK-V68ZA4hlrs7vQvb0kQHsI7HSAFhQ5-k_fch/s1600/Scan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOLDM-wMdL62J2QI8KKNkN9vs_aXUstNRT8AOgRcvPzppSqMlzinK23fZK5lQgI7kpbf93sRvhEC-B4sbzdzKQF2zhRfo50nhE-hdbtmK-V68ZA4hlrs7vQvb0kQHsI7HSAFhQ5-k_fch/s640/Scan.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">who wouldn't be smitten?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She too was keen to ski, so they did a lot of funhoggin':<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrIma_19D5xNekqeYDruGHMNCKLnSs1yW8Iloqu3bzPYodXr6Jpa5br-azhhIyCdLW0xdjq2mxU6pncxF-TZI-aVIISFw0nKTAsK3B6XOPUHJvxkCCSFMG9RDe6ZBWMJf3dx578YD6Tc6/s1600/IMG_0104.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrIma_19D5xNekqeYDruGHMNCKLnSs1yW8Iloqu3bzPYodXr6Jpa5br-azhhIyCdLW0xdjq2mxU6pncxF-TZI-aVIISFw0nKTAsK3B6XOPUHJvxkCCSFMG9RDe6ZBWMJf3dx578YD6Tc6/s640/IMG_0104.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Again his stoic
nature kept him from being much of a romantic, but when Ginny Denecke kinda
threw down and said “Look, I like you a lot, but I’m not waiting around here
forever, and I got a bunch of guys – most of whom are your friends – that suit
me almost as well” he got the cue that he needed to sort of step up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of the formal courtship was a trip out
to Kansas in the ’49 Ford (or somesuch) and this apparently raised some
eyebrows when they showed up back in town; an unmarried couple going on a road
trip at that time was considered to be a bit risqué.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they didn’t care and carried on their
merry way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But his conservative
relatives needn’t have been concerned; Paul C proposed over the phone with
barely-intelligible laryngitis, and Paul and Gin were married in 1954.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegJXjoctxykzMu16s_r9sR0wK9d9_DN41h7S3Plnbvip8dd6onfluZTOJJf_FY5fPtnDNwpdObgq9x-1ei5pHWFwhyk3d2UOGYMBlYFTEDMoRxbs8hB37RimdaeZbVkq2shk2iMscYpSh/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegJXjoctxykzMu16s_r9sR0wK9d9_DN41h7S3Plnbvip8dd6onfluZTOJJf_FY5fPtnDNwpdObgq9x-1ei5pHWFwhyk3d2UOGYMBlYFTEDMoRxbs8hB37RimdaeZbVkq2shk2iMscYpSh/s640/IMG_0062.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXvExTfbKfhJL-ZdtqnOdX0XD6bSPFytP5UxMNkr5CqShqtx2jc_PxDTyApY-cOj4mGwZpywfS2aStwJTxJBhkDnmcRvVq60ZjAbiG5Hn7kr-LoYhRPFZI8G5ubTy38JAlDERa88h0grt/s1600/Scan+15.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="800" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXvExTfbKfhJL-ZdtqnOdX0XD6bSPFytP5UxMNkr5CqShqtx2jc_PxDTyApY-cOj4mGwZpywfS2aStwJTxJBhkDnmcRvVq60ZjAbiG5Hn7kr-LoYhRPFZI8G5ubTy38JAlDERa88h0grt/s400/Scan+15.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><o:p></o:p>
<div class="MsoNormal">
they inexplicably honeymooned in SoCal:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpUwNPPQZyznYy5d0kiHLwfgD0mTta7mp_lXJcrfbjLAEStSAMmGsKNR7nMODRRbeU6FAM10i37HF8P7jsw5QoMUBqLEA3ZxQw8B60a44Xhu3DjF_UgJ38dlfxzAwKtlmc9sblVZKYu_5/s1600/Scan+6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpUwNPPQZyznYy5d0kiHLwfgD0mTta7mp_lXJcrfbjLAEStSAMmGsKNR7nMODRRbeU6FAM10i37HF8P7jsw5QoMUBqLEA3ZxQw8B60a44Xhu3DjF_UgJ38dlfxzAwKtlmc9sblVZKYu_5/s640/Scan+6.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">suckin' in that gut!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFhEZdstKf8EOFS3Db4AFSnRL9etKjlu9JgWydBr4_ISkC-8ImD5LpACOaveE8JniHAUyfAXniimIFkWeVWRDKlWq4CqFSi-Uy3d2xrxIMzWsGjB8-i1ApffBPeTg1G2sfAocje7bUQUc/s1600/Scan+9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1280" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFhEZdstKf8EOFS3Db4AFSnRL9etKjlu9JgWydBr4_ISkC-8ImD5LpACOaveE8JniHAUyfAXniimIFkWeVWRDKlWq4CqFSi-Uy3d2xrxIMzWsGjB8-i1ApffBPeTg1G2sfAocje7bUQUc/s640/Scan+9.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pensive guy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgkVmOHCgHVyn41Dx5UbVk5t64j9D9Kx6cY7LgzvyilX1Adc3D8399r9u6GimC6tEIeseMSUPoNRSYsICPmyxa3K-9yd_LyWY1YgyOHOal-DoHIecDWeYqkFxmrId0f379h8YELgBsEta/s1600/Scan+14.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1280" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgkVmOHCgHVyn41Dx5UbVk5t64j9D9Kx6cY7LgzvyilX1Adc3D8399r9u6GimC6tEIeseMSUPoNRSYsICPmyxa3K-9yd_LyWY1YgyOHOal-DoHIecDWeYqkFxmrId0f379h8YELgBsEta/s640/Scan+14.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cracking himself up; a trait his sons picked up....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As mentioned earlier, PC was a big climber guy, and like a
lot of climbers in the Northwest 9and around the world) he was lured to the
famed Tetons.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One trip was to climb the
Grand in 1953, and this photo of him:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVMIxpujMstmQvFDGlMH2l-uh597gbwT4NVCuf1nw0jqcqrAN4r1K7htdKlvDaZDu7zYciZ-mcewj9XWuthNrjV8-CfRCRhb7n-eXkOLCr0nTzgPH-9OAeXLjloTM-QRj0pZBVLw14IzI/s1600/4u-qREfH.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="758" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVMIxpujMstmQvFDGlMH2l-uh597gbwT4NVCuf1nw0jqcqrAN4r1K7htdKlvDaZDu7zYciZ-mcewj9XWuthNrjV8-CfRCRhb7n-eXkOLCr0nTzgPH-9OAeXLjloTM-QRj0pZBVLw14IzI/s640/4u-qREfH.jpeg" width="358" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was ultimately a big influencer on the lives of both Paul D
and me; our dad looked so badass on top of such an iconic peak, that we wanted
to be mountain badasses as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But we didn’t really get encouraged by him to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year later he and his buddy went to climb
the Grand’s little brother Mt Owen, and while I never could really get the details,
they got into a bad thunderstorm cycle and stumbled back into camp soggy and
still terrified by their ordeal, and when Dad the Alpine Badass got home he literally
hung up his axe and said “Never Again.” And he didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Skiing, hunting, fishing; all fine, but
mountaineering was too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately
Paul D and I did climb a few of the Northwest’s volcanoes and have dabbled a
bit in rock climbing, but ultimately we too really became skiers vs
mountaineers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did finally become the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup>
Diegels to reach the summit of The Grand, coincidentally almost 60 years to the
day after our dad did:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm2NZIlW0m_ZiOra6ErvawS7v30L48_gtDWUzvJyX4nhNrtyzftjhYywK3DCVnqhctJfisALLhy2NeJuNCUNkS9LXtp0kDx4Tm5XBrf-8d1785H_uuwIYavoORYXw3sEavSexhA3ERE35/s1600/IMGP2434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm2NZIlW0m_ZiOra6ErvawS7v30L48_gtDWUzvJyX4nhNrtyzftjhYywK3DCVnqhctJfisALLhy2NeJuNCUNkS9LXtp0kDx4Tm5XBrf-8d1785H_uuwIYavoORYXw3sEavSexhA3ERE35/s640/IMGP2434.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tried to assume The Look:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-cjDpBrkMWjxg8oZPX434HwtkA_bcIAupqoT9KWDEic5vu6bcDEtdDAg_gBgBRzGIENNwKb_FjEeZT0Pr4lGSsplKThHeeWc4yzg76PH1h8hqbM36HZJYOtUHTkAMt0sN6ZlFFr2UQCn/s1600/IMGP2438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-cjDpBrkMWjxg8oZPX434HwtkA_bcIAupqoT9KWDEic5vu6bcDEtdDAg_gBgBRzGIENNwKb_FjEeZT0Pr4lGSsplKThHeeWc4yzg76PH1h8hqbM36HZJYOtUHTkAMt0sN6ZlFFr2UQCn/s640/IMGP2438.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
But my attempt at badassery fell woefully short!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our dad generally had pretty boundless energy and was a bit
obsessive, and needed other things to channel his enthusiasm, so he got
into…bird dogs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht3x88vqPJNLyF4PQ3rszvZpGDGEzdVwrtUteNmDA9ISGdC4-NJKGNFvX53_ZzwCwjIoKfjceivnCIdjUyO2pu-GhdzPxaaqJEYZgrKOoy7RtxSq3vbAcm74XsUIsRxvLHWvbgqmATDjL0/s1600/t-vsgGIA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1398" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht3x88vqPJNLyF4PQ3rszvZpGDGEzdVwrtUteNmDA9ISGdC4-NJKGNFvX53_ZzwCwjIoKfjceivnCIdjUyO2pu-GhdzPxaaqJEYZgrKOoy7RtxSq3vbAcm74XsUIsRxvLHWvbgqmATDjL0/s400/t-vsgGIA.jpeg" width="348" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course; why not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some reason he and Gin were drawn to
English Springer Spaniel field trials, which is basically judged hunting, and
they went big.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of field trialing is
shooting, and he became a pretty good shot, and was certainly not above holding
his wife hostage with his gun if the need arose:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz0_kKC7Zu0ojkAmDThCy1kdK-QJ7JZrJCwOXNQssSb9Tbd5WDO50vuG1ElmUB5lNhAdiFlBAPTLmD2cL0LIaShhQaVvgAnz-5duQP4b8wRrTuPlFSzWxv6WeiIGpTN_74bN886wQmPy49/s1600/IMG_0063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz0_kKC7Zu0ojkAmDThCy1kdK-QJ7JZrJCwOXNQssSb9Tbd5WDO50vuG1ElmUB5lNhAdiFlBAPTLmD2cL0LIaShhQaVvgAnz-5duQP4b8wRrTuPlFSzWxv6WeiIGpTN_74bN886wQmPy49/s640/IMG_0063.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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He and Gin gallivanted all over the Northwest to field
trials, and their infatuation for the dogs and the sport led them to buy a
hobby farm surrounded by fields on the west side of Portland so that they could
have plenty of acres to not only have kennels but also to train the dogs, hunt
at their leisure, and even raise pheasants and pigeons for the training and the
trials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their love of <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">all things English
Springer Spaniel field trials led them to do a big trip back to ye olde country
of England, where they met one of the English legends of field trialing and
bought a couple of puppies from them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of the puppies (Gin’s) made it home just fine, but inexplicably the other
(“Willie”, Paul’s no-doubt, top-breeded champion to be) got lost in the
airlines and spent a week flying around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though Willie was no doubt PC’s favorite
dog, he was the only springer I’ve ever seen that had a pretty mean temper, and
he chewed up Paul Jr. pretty hard a couple of times; I seem to remember that I
was able to avoid the dog’s wrath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Ultimately PC’s infatuation with the dog thing resulted in
having a handful of American Kennel Club champions and he was awarded the high
honor of being asked to be a judge at the national championships in the <o:p></o:p>mid-70’s:</span></div>
<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4n30JT7Ly9LidY0MqE58oTuVFe0Sf84EfDCRmRmUf7WmSlgAd6yIvmHSJ64rh3cbHVrwCmqamTJ1M5vAiq_jHDWAXfIouDw6PEKzG0CJe_fyM7Sl2h5Bv8fzcDhfXd3i4qeSyOLh1ZPuh/s1600/F8UC8pgw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4n30JT7Ly9LidY0MqE58oTuVFe0Sf84EfDCRmRmUf7WmSlgAd6yIvmHSJ64rh3cbHVrwCmqamTJ1M5vAiq_jHDWAXfIouDw6PEKzG0CJe_fyM7Sl2h5Bv8fzcDhfXd3i4qeSyOLh1ZPuh/s400/F8UC8pgw.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></h2>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Many years later I met a New England kayaker who was (still is) famous for his gun nuttery (he packed heat in his boat!) and generally-abrasive (but endearing) personality, and his reputation preceded him. So when we shook hands he surprised the hell out of me by saying (in a thick Mass accent) "oh yeah, Tom Diegel...I knew yo dad. Good man. I had a lotta respect fo him." Turns out JJ was also a springer spaniel guy, and had been a young upstart at that nationals that my dad judged; JJ and his dog didn't do very well there, but my dad did give him a few pointers....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The field
trial deal not only was an activity/obsession and an excuse to live out in the
country, it was also not surprisingly the center of their social lives. Since we had fields aplenty and lots of birds
in coops right there, our place was always full in the summer months with
pickups, barking dogs, and gunshots. And
most days ended with the boys having a gin and tonic with a crushed sprig of
mint, but only after gently turning down his enthusiastic offer of Boones Farm
Strawberry Hill wine (“it’s really refreshing!”). And it wasn’t just the boys; Gin and her
friend broke into the old boys’ club in the early ‘70’s with dogs of their own,
and their friend Janet Christensen is by far, no question the winning-est, most
successful springer field trialer in history, with her most recent win
coming…last October, so she’s still crushing it in her late ‘80’s!</span> </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like
Janet, PC kept up his enthusiasm for dogs to the end: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
With "Hardy", whom he had to admit after training, judging, and handling dogs was the best dog he'd ever seen (and fortunately for me, also the most loveable!). <br />
<br />
No story about PC Diegel would be complete without, of course, the Triumphs:<br />
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<br />
But that's another story unto itself, to be continued....Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-82547949379910973422020-04-03T06:41:00.000-06:002020-04-03T06:41:28.300-06:00An Ode to Paul C Diegel<!--[if !mso]>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.25in;">
One hundred years ago this week
– on March 31, 1920, to be exact – a notable figure was brought into this
world: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul C. Diegel was born in
Atchison, Kansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he ultimately
achieved the most acclaim for being the father of two amazing sons 😜 <span style="font-size: 12pt;">he also led a fascinating and exemplary life that
warrants a tellin'. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
P.C (as he would later be mostly known) was the 5<sup>th</sup> son of Henry Diegel, who<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>-by his own account – had led a life unfortunately marred by tragedy: young Paul turned out to be the only son who outlived his father, who in turn
had outlived three wives and four other children who were lost to various maladies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, Henry was a strapping 60 years old when
Paul was born (yes indeed, if one does the math, our grandfather was born in
1859, and thus lived through the Civil War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And no, unfortunately I didn’t get to hang out with my grandpa too
much...).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our grandpa owned a bridle
factory that had been relatively successful being deep in the farm belt, and
one of our dad’s earliest memories is sitting on the porch on one of the long,
warm Kansas evenings and listening to his dad tell his buddies<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- between puffs on his cigar – “The tractor may be
good, but it’ll never be able to replace the horse!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately he retired before the vast
workhorse bridle business faded as John Deere rose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXDUcvgamOFT2cpx3VRwotdqCEDlE_RnOXvq3KBUml2YAk7V3DfZElp7alOzSVSwJsWa4Xy2yt4WpVVgYrp0sXcVRBjKYYXuXqDMznVLhuamk0diEW7p3dcCVtNgD1K7sN9dBbePLv31F/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXDUcvgamOFT2cpx3VRwotdqCEDlE_RnOXvq3KBUml2YAk7V3DfZElp7alOzSVSwJsWa4Xy2yt4WpVVgYrp0sXcVRBjKYYXuXqDMznVLhuamk0diEW7p3dcCVtNgD1K7sN9dBbePLv31F/s640/Untitled.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even as old as he was as a father, Henry wasn’t done; Paul
got a younger brother named George.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But tragedy continued to dog the family; young George died in a sledding
accident at maybe around 11 years old (one of the reasons I have many times declared
sledding one of the most dangerous activities known to man) and it was our understanding
that their father at least partially blamed his older brother for the
accident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this was only part of
family lore that my mom remembered from meeting other family members, because
our stoic dad never mentioned his little brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only a couple of years later PC’s mother also died of
cancer, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a couple of years after that
his father – 80, by now – also passed away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus PC’s later reputation for stoicism was built upon forging onward with
these tragedies in his wake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
College at the University of Kansas (“High atop mighty Mount
Oread!”) with a degree in history was relatively uneventful, until one day in
December when he was at a movie on a double date and the movie stopped, the
lights came up, and the theater manager rushed in and exclaimed “The Japanese
just bombed Pearl Harbor!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that
moment 22 year old Paul Diegel knew his life was changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his buddy immediately went to enlist,
but not – as he emphasized later in admonishing us to do whatever we could to
stay out of any war – out of a sense of patriotism, but to try to look like
he wanted in and do so quickly so he’d have a better shot at being an officer
and a worser shot at being shot as an infantryman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2F1Cvl8gLZGAeN1bYhgDAEvi8mYa57TYf_g15INQPJ4OSbO1TX1eLRBLJSRxYJ_MKNfP_9-H7wu3ClnNAE6_NmzEHpb-rjCAp86reFfp_xSpNMKiI11QGMcF1BzeQ_vk17W_L-mkGnGn/s1600/I9KSKaXw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2F1Cvl8gLZGAeN1bYhgDAEvi8mYa57TYf_g15INQPJ4OSbO1TX1eLRBLJSRxYJ_MKNfP_9-H7wu3ClnNAE6_NmzEHpb-rjCAp86reFfp_xSpNMKiI11QGMcF1BzeQ_vk17W_L-mkGnGn/s400/I9KSKaXw.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh faced and ready to go</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And thus he embarked on a 4 year tour of the Pacific as a
Lieutenant on an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Ship,_Tank">LST
ship</a>, which transported troops around to various theaters of conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a lot of vets, our dad didn’t like to
talk much about the war, but he did tell us one memorable story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very near the end, and it was pretty
clear what the outcome was going to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At one point they were tasked with delivering a load of soldiers to a
random island beach, and after they dropped off their “cargo” were going full
steam ahead back out to rendezvous with their fleet; spirits were high since it
was likely going to be one of their last missions, it was a beautiful day, and
they could smell the barn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
That’s when they heard the whine of a far-off engine, and someone yelled
“Zero!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was one of the dreaded
kamikaze pilots who – in the Japanese force’s final throes – were creating devastating results; their super small profile
(looking straight on at them) made them nearly impossible to
hit with a gun mounted on a rolling ship, and the pilots were on suicide missions to put their planes into the sides
of the ships and sink them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Paul C stared through these binoculars:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0joLtPyroBMPHs0zexAtyJhOhzgYoQ8qrPvr0rsTMLn4SVZWFca-EJH_OtkapjfsoC7-1LjXddf300RqN9XzaLm6kWhJj5ekRpKxTEFQww5roxM7NjaalXOeSz8ilU63B9nkAXnPumYjM/s1600/IMG_0176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0joLtPyroBMPHs0zexAtyJhOhzgYoQ8qrPvr0rsTMLn4SVZWFca-EJH_OtkapjfsoC7-1LjXddf300RqN9XzaLm6kWhJj5ekRpKxTEFQww5roxM7NjaalXOeSz8ilU63B9nkAXnPumYjM/s400/IMG_0176.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the oncoming
plane, standing next to a gunner firing madly in vain at the 11 foot-tall
missile coming straight at the ship he thought “Well, shit!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve survived out here for four goddam years,
the war’s pretty much over, and this asshole is going to the one to take me
out!” But suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere in the cloudless sky, two American
planes dove at the Zero with guns a’blazin', and it went into the water with a
flame blast that rolled over the deck of the boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys on that boat looked up from cowering
from the blast to see their angels of deliverance dipping their wings in salute
as they flew off back to their carrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1O2yM4TrqQwZsCHLBxC6LhqUNJl6GwStU1VniAN42lhYJuupOavi0yS3U9U7zkBbgOXEB6t_zn5qO1j8ejQvmjQRBXnNU3B4FP3XA37IZGgwolCCBjVED_QR2HweeagoQfr3xrjWH3C2/s1600/jJTcy13A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1O2yM4TrqQwZsCHLBxC6LhqUNJl6GwStU1VniAN42lhYJuupOavi0yS3U9U7zkBbgOXEB6t_zn5qO1j8ejQvmjQRBXnNU3B4FP3XA37IZGgwolCCBjVED_QR2HweeagoQfr3xrjWH3C2/s400/jJTcy13A.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A far more sophisticated - with that sick 'stache - veteran of 4 years at sea. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not long after this incident the war did indeed end, and
Lieutenant PC Diegel was discharged, and it happened to happen in Portland,
Oregon.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seeing the nice coastline, the
snowcapped mountains in the distance, and the verdant Willamette River valley he realized that
there wasn’t much to go back to in Kansas and Oregon seemed like a nice place
(the Japanese surrender was on September 2, 1945, and like a lot of places, Oregon
typically has perfect September weather; if he’d have arrived a few months
later for the long, dreary, rainy winter his impression would no doubt have
been different!). He spent some time there getting to know the place, then
wisely decided to take advantage of the recently-passed </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Bill" style="font-size: 12pt;">GI Bill</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> that</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">- according to Wikipedia – had “Benefits that
included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or farm,
one year of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits" style="font-size: 12pt;" title="Unemployment benefits"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">unemployment compensation</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and dedicated
payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college,
or </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_education" style="font-size: 12pt;" title="Vocational education"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">vocational school</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A pretty sweet deal for a relatively young
lad who’s psyched to be alive and spent four years “earning” the ability to
take advantage of this opportunity (which was not accorded to returned </span><a href="https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits" style="font-size: 12pt;">Black
servicemen</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, which many feel was a big initial contributor to the ongoing
deep wealth divide between blacks and whites; yes, FDR was a great president,
but this was a huge failure).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Paul
decided to go as big as he could and got into Harvard to get an MBA, so the
next coupla years were pretty uneventful doing the Hahvahd thing in
Boston.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That stint in Portland remained in his mind, however, and as
soon as he was finished in Boston he rattled on back to Portland, where he
pretty much embarked on a life of recreation punctuated by a career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pacific Northwest had enough mountains to
climb, lakes to hike to and fish, and grasslands to hunt game birds to keep him
busy for a lifetime, so he stayed put and made a life, of business:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgSc8IRl_cnXMz38HAAQWFfvvSWXX6sxKa1b0CuUiuRPOfjwsZjPQScIXDFpApcMu3GMTAUW9JlMxTMLZn53uczRN6ejOavzCZwDULVFurPWgh9RxF8ezM_79caoY0N3vcuPEdGW1puCW/s1600/hLcrcJ9g.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLgSc8IRl_cnXMz38HAAQWFfvvSWXX6sxKa1b0CuUiuRPOfjwsZjPQScIXDFpApcMu3GMTAUW9JlMxTMLZn53uczRN6ejOavzCZwDULVFurPWgh9RxF8ezM_79caoY0N3vcuPEdGW1puCW/s400/hLcrcJ9g.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>Sweet cars:</o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVRSvqdWt69b3_JKcN1jnNkvxV3UdISZ03VE85R_yd_HLLgGKCFA9154Ptrdyy7r1aKxs-V_1E4AdYXACCPvfr0KYeHFjygAO8z-rQzV0CYvmurK8HxNHuTdMX8Ip3s7tKK0WZ8fysjj7/s1600/Zu9O_Yew.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVRSvqdWt69b3_JKcN1jnNkvxV3UdISZ03VE85R_yd_HLLgGKCFA9154Ptrdyy7r1aKxs-V_1E4AdYXACCPvfr0KYeHFjygAO8z-rQzV0CYvmurK8HxNHuTdMX8Ip3s7tKK0WZ8fysjj7/s400/Zu9O_Yew.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> and loose women!</o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPUkbm-pRwQPxkNg1YNOOxdY5_YWqc8Qgk7GuwHmK2ERKJoznSqkgffCexFERV-JAPDGNzbhnLXO8NDekL8RYOIJg9XGQn124RXgPH7BSgz5oqApgBz3Vyqp0Dv0NVzR88e3PTT5KHRip/s1600/davMDtFg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPUkbm-pRwQPxkNg1YNOOxdY5_YWqc8Qgk7GuwHmK2ERKJoznSqkgffCexFERV-JAPDGNzbhnLXO8NDekL8RYOIJg9XGQn124RXgPH7BSgz5oqApgBz3Vyqp0Dv0NVzR88e3PTT5KHRip/s400/davMDtFg.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my mom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p>To be continued.....</o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-1894147351649269512020-03-24T12:36:00.000-06:002020-03-24T12:49:43.304-06:00Packrafting Article for American Whitewater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Thanks to Mike Curiak for his great pics, to Roman Dial for the historical pics, and to those two, Brad Micklejohn, the New England and Cincinnati Packrafting Teams, Brother Paul, Tom Mac, Drew/Zin, Team Durango, and other past and future packrafting pards! Below is the text of the article. </b><br />
<br />
Canoes, kayaks, rafts, and duckies have been the primary
crafts of choice for river runners since people first started floating
rivers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, over the last few
years many folks have started to see a new type of boat on their rivers:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>small, buoyant, brightly-colored pack rafts,
captained by folks who are zealous in their enthusiasm for these silly little
rubber dinghies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what’s the story with
pack rafts, and are they legit?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Human beings have been carrying their boats as long as
they’ve been paddling them, but all crafts come with a variety of issues
associated with transportability. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Native Americans needed plenty of people to
carry their log-carved canoes, Inuits’ boats made from skins are much lighter
but still don’t easily break down into a manageable package, today’s plastic
and Kevlar canoes are lighter than the natives’ logs but are still big and
awkward to carry, as are creek boats that might be hauled in to paddle steep
creeks or remote rivers, especially with food and camping gear added for
multi-day adventures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duckies
(traditional inflatable kayaks) do roll up, but at 30 pounds in a still-big
package they aren’t really packable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Given these limitations, it seems inevitable that people would find some
way to be able to hike boats into rivers that might otherwise be
inaccessible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As with now-common tools such as GPS, speedy jet travel, and
drones, packrafts trace their roots to the needs of the US military. The Air
Force created very small rescue rafts for WWII pilots (made somewhat famous in
the book/movie “Unbroken”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
they were mostly ignored as potential adventure/recreation boats until the mid
‘50’s when Dick Griffith took one down the Rio Urique, one of the main rivers
of northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again, the concept went a bit dormant for 20 more years until some
intrepid Aussies used similar boats to access the wild and remote Franklin
River in Tasmania, where they actually became the craft of choice. Around that
same time two brothers were taking those Air Force boats up into the Cascades
to fish alpine lakes, and were so inspired that they created Curtis Designs that
made and sold boats that weighed only a bit more than a pound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other people were testing the limits of
department store-grade “boats” intended for lake beaches that were little more
than pool toys, but people were taking them into the backcountry and down
rivers because they were light and compact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1982, some thirty years after his Copper Canyon adventure, the same
Dick Griffiths showed up at the inaugural Wilderness Classic 150 mile race on
Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula with his boat and made short work of the many river
crossings, and that race henceforth became fairly packraft intensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If Dick Griffiths was the Grandfather of Packrafting, then
certainly Roman Dial is the father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Roman’s personal heatmap of Alaskan adventuring is legendary, and after
he won that inaugural Wilderness Classic he was so impressed by Dick’s boat
that he got one for his epic Alaskan traverses, including a monumental traverse
of the Alaska Range….by bicycle, using a packraft to ford and descend streams
with his bike strapped to the bow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Inspired by Roman, a young Alaskan named Thor Tingey did a big AK range
traverse (wisely, by foot and pool toy rafts), but was dismayed at the poor
performance of the boats for anything other than flatwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Roman puts it in his book: “Packrafting!”
Thor’s group was “tired of suffering in their ‘shiver boats’ and looked to a
new and perhaps unlikely manufacturer for the ideal pack raft:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his mother.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sheri Tingey had a lot of experience manufacturing gear, and
together she and Thor came up with boats that had bigger tubes and were more
robust than the predecessors, yet were also light, packable, and nimble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They formed a company called “Alpacka”, and
embarked on a continuous cycle of creating a new concept on or for the boat, try
it, revise it, try it, sell a few boats, revise them, try them, sell more
boats, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the early 2000’s the
boats were being used not just for crossing rivers, but also for actual river
trips and were being taken down real whitewater runs, and other companies
sprang up to address the new riparian adventurer: Kokopelli Rafts out of Denver
has utilized a similar design with offshore manufacturing for better pricing,
legacy raft manufacturer Aire has their “Bakraft” that’s easy whitewater
worthy, NRS has a very simple boat, and a small company called Supai Adventure
Gear has superlight boats originally intended to ferry back and forth across
the Colorado on Grand Canyon backpack adventures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Just as adventurers looking for more excitement took
flatwater-oriented rafts, kayaks, and canoes and modified them to be more
appropriate for running whitewater, so to have packrafts evolved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Creating bigger tubes made them less-likely
to take on water, and other innovations soon followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The initial boat designs were basically small
rafts that looked like elongated donuts, and with the paddler’s weight in the
rear and no additional buoyancy rearward, packrafts were backender machines in
waves and small holes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To account for
that the manufacturers created very sexy “big butt” boats with increased stern
volume that countered the paddlers weight and were streamlined to let water
spill off of them easily, so backendering became mostly a thing of the
past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The material evolved to become
stronger without sacrificing weight, so they could survive shallow water-dragging,
and stronger material combined with ever-improving valve systems has enabled
the boats to be blown up tighter , so they don’t fold and flex when going over
waves, boof surprisingly easily, and enable decent surfing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Packrafters initially strapped dry bags (or backpacks with
dry bags inside) on top of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the bow of
their boats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For flatwater this works
fine, but trying to plow through class 4 whitewater with a 35 pound blob on the
front was suboptimal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After trip he did
in around 2010, Teton and Antarctic climbing guide and early lower-48 packraft
pioneer Forrest McCarthy was lamenting his boat’s bow-heavy awkwardness and had
the lightbulb moment:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What if we could
put our gear <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">inside</i> the tubes?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As anyone who has burped a dry suit at the
put in knows, dry zippers are not only watertight, they are airtight as well,
and Alpacka introduced a “Cargo Fly” Tizip zipper up the stern, so that food,
clothes, and camping gear could be stuffed inside the tubes of the boat to not
only vastly improve performance but also guarantee a dry sleeping<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The boats now come with sealed internal inflatable storage bags that –
once full – are clipped into the interior of the boat’s tubes, lowering the
cargo weight to make the boats more stable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Zip it up, blow it up (with the very clever and weightless<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>nylon bag “pump”) and you have a very
whitewater worthy boat capable of carrying literally weeks’-worth of gear (and
beer) on the water. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As anyone who has paddled a kayak knows, outfitting is key
to get a snug fit, and a snug fit is a key to having a successful day on the
river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whitewater-oriented boats now
come with fairly sophisticated minimalist straps and footbraces that enable
strong, deep braces, and yes….you can combat roll a packraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a little harder to roll than a
hardshell, but returning to the pool for practice sessions, shoring up your
roll stroke a bit, and using a little longer paddle creates an effective
rolling boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you swim (like
hardshellers, we are all between swims) the packraft enables a very quick
self-rescue; flip the boat over and haul yourself in, with surprisingly little
water still in the boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boats come
with very light nylon spray skirts that are remarkably good at keeping water
out of the boat, and more and more folks are using the self bailing styles. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If flat water is your gig, there are plenty of options that
are lighter, simpler, and cheaper than the whitewater styles, with backpackers,
hunters, fishermen, canyoneers, and even adventurous mountain bikers having
plenty of options to choose from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
all come in an extraordinarily small, light package.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most robust whitewater boats loaded with
the outfitting roll up to the size of a 2 man tent and weigh less than ten
pounds, and the range goes down to the micro boats which weigh less than two
pounds and are not much bigger than a water bottle when rolled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once your water craft weighs just a few pounds and can fit
inside a pack along with your camping gear, those squiggly blue lines on maps suddenly
look a lot different and your riparian world opens up in new ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about a loop combining floating with
crossing a few passes on foot to get into adjoining drainages? Riding your bike
to the put in, floating, then riding home? Ever driven to the “put in” at the
end of the Forest Service road and looked at the trail heading up alongside the
creek that has plenty of water, and thought about hiking up for it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or considered fly-in rivers, such as the
Middle Fork Flathead or the hundreds of wilderness runs in Alaska, and have
everything you need for a river trip in your backpack that fits easily into a Cessna?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or flown commercially to a town (or a
country) that has runnable rivers but no kayak stores to rent boats, and even
if you could find a boat or paid the exorbitant fee to check a kayak (if the
airlines would let you, which they won’t), how will you carry the kayak on your
rental car or in the ancient third world van crowded with people, banana boxes,
and chickens?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The need that many people have to dig deeper into wild
places has always resulted in gear evolutions to enable it, but historically
the bulkiness of boats that are viable for river running has limited that
ability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new generation of packrafts
has changed that, and now new opportunities for previously-inaccessible
riparian adventures is limitless!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In upcoming issues of AW we’ll explore more of the
adventurous possibilities represented by packrafts: Southwest desert
hike/bike/paddle combinations in southern Utah and the Grand Canyon, a
river-based loop (finally!) linking the Main Salmon, Big Creek, and Middle Fork
Salmon rivers (with a big hike in between), a weeklong, multiple-drainage loop
in the Absaroka mountains into terrain that people like to call the most remote
area in the lower 48, multi-drainage loops and point to points on both the
south and north slopes of Alaska’s Brooks Range, creative single day outings
into unusual runs, and even tackling a few of the Sierra’s most legendary
alpine class 5 kayak trips. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-32394871721325552182019-12-09T21:31:00.000-07:002019-12-09T21:31:48.838-07:00An ode to Drew and Zinnia
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafgCMbpogLcBUGI53eil3_6P-dq1-4TpL1wWnKWZ2qmWEnnfkfzuSicbE1j-95PuUg3TzabE2E7U4Os2Oq__A88BapaWLJdJ2RFLFy20K6uOfIUzBisbXmAlAA47o1AKbG48tVsQujp-z/s1600/IMG_6904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafgCMbpogLcBUGI53eil3_6P-dq1-4TpL1wWnKWZ2qmWEnnfkfzuSicbE1j-95PuUg3TzabE2E7U4Os2Oq__A88BapaWLJdJ2RFLFy20K6uOfIUzBisbXmAlAA47o1AKbG48tVsQujp-z/s400/IMG_6904.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Round about 20 years ago Ashley and I were up on the ridge
above Alta having a snack and some tea before our descent when we heard a voice
hollering at us from across the ridgeline:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Hullo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you mind keeping an
eye on me for a sec?” Though an avalanche would definitely have spoiled our
little tea break, of course we hollered back:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Sure!” and thus he pushed off and we watched him slice down a nice run
uneventfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we watched, Ash said “I
think that’s the new avy forecaster, Drew Hardesty.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had only heard him over the pre-recorded morning
avalanche report, but his voice was distinctive, and so it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1hJ1tQEwEifrp-_gLfm9-vqoF-FYwyW-3Tb-rBYX_LJYnElb0AnWyzIgFkRffFIaoQipfMd9mXJit016Nz1S3XCNKJaawZQrrUZOTncPFR1AmdkemL6Q__GGW-mioTToxCCleXsEsMIS/s1600/download.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1hJ1tQEwEifrp-_gLfm9-vqoF-FYwyW-3Tb-rBYX_LJYnElb0AnWyzIgFkRffFIaoQipfMd9mXJit016Nz1S3XCNKJaawZQrrUZOTncPFR1AmdkemL6Q__GGW-mioTToxCCleXsEsMIS/s400/download.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We chatted a bit at the bottom and went our respective ways
that day, but that was the beginning of a long friendship with the Sage of the Wasatch
(one might be inclined to call him the Wizard….but…) that reached a fun
pinnacle in early October when we were able to join Drew and his lovely Zinnia
with a great posse of their friends as they got married in the shadow of the
Tetons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYqliYfBuOYTiX93l30SRHAJezVp1dcqU-sxZs2Wt9vvSqK2ht_a2CQHYZaHMWR_I9rfIpF6T0BDgivyvCK1ItjnWU4xvgpCU90hKc-dd96qYjOB-2IfONMwzCB-BX9PTS0EWGz1Ill0t/s1600/IMG_2809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYqliYfBuOYTiX93l30SRHAJezVp1dcqU-sxZs2Wt9vvSqK2ht_a2CQHYZaHMWR_I9rfIpF6T0BDgivyvCK1ItjnWU4xvgpCU90hKc-dd96qYjOB-2IfONMwzCB-BX9PTS0EWGz1Ill0t/s640/IMG_2809.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bride, groom, and clergyman were sort of oddly apart, but it still went off!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drew grew up in the famous skiing mecca of Kentucky, and
loved gittin’ out.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once high school was
over he headed for Colorado for school to get his start in the avalanche world
by studying science…..political science!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But somehow it served him well enough to become an intelligence officer
in the military, and he served in the original Desert Storm in Kuwait telling
the good guys what the bad guys were up to.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even as I’ve heard some of Drew’s stories from the military, it’s still
hard for me to imagine this bearded and sorta scraggly dirtbag of today being
the sheared and uniformed military officer of yesterday!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The military was apparently a good preparation to become a
NOLS instructor, which Drew did for a few years, and then parlayed that
experience into becoming a climbing ranger on Mt Rainier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The national park climbing ranger community
is pretty tight, and when venerable Teton climbing ranger Tom Kimbrough
announced that he was retiring after 20 or 30 or maybe a hundred years there, Drew’s ears perked
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since Tom had been one of the
original Utah Avalanche Center forecasters for pretty much the same amount of
time and full retirement sounded better than half-retirement, he also
gracefully stepped out of that role, and Drew was able to effectively become
the new incarnation of Tom Kimbrough, splitting his time between the Wasatch in
the winter, the Tetons in the summer, and the desert and other far flung places
during the shoulder seasons. between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnw0qiQzdSpfdVh_l7woy72ODXLVbrd6zUPGOa3AO1xvj0lqCB696cO99XE1lQ3FLdBh55tXcfkE_EQ1oYmNpjfYBhCrXhFF-WpWvwYArxXRczx2NcUxiyd9zJe9-km7WOA9_Hd-YFeTsf/s1600/P7172818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnw0qiQzdSpfdVh_l7woy72ODXLVbrd6zUPGOa3AO1xvj0lqCB696cO99XE1lQ3FLdBh55tXcfkE_EQ1oYmNpjfYBhCrXhFF-WpWvwYArxXRczx2NcUxiyd9zJe9-km7WOA9_Hd-YFeTsf/s400/P7172818.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drew's latest passion: pack rafting!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not long after I met Drew he and his wife split up, and I
had the good fortune to become friends with a pretty decent litany of great
women that Drew had connected with.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">However, for a variety of reasons one by one they fell away.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Then o</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ne day several years ago we bumped into Drew
at a trailhead at the end of a ski day, and he had a ski partner I hadn’t met
before whom – even through the helmet, face buff, and goggles</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">- I could tell was pretty much bursting with
positive energy.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We had the great
fortune of being introduced to Zinnia’s world.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij2YoSQSnDLSbved5eFZ0i75-RWpPBkzUvUuU2Zgth9Nj3vs4wc6ymk2ZbmchbTkdSP7NO9N2f_CBj-N17MqJ5IEd9ADpaEGrG2MeyM42IYq4drSZPB6eVfiWUt3_RuVB0hLwqivbsvHwZ/s1600/FH060031.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1280" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij2YoSQSnDLSbved5eFZ0i75-RWpPBkzUvUuU2Zgth9Nj3vs4wc6ymk2ZbmchbTkdSP7NO9N2f_CBj-N17MqJ5IEd9ADpaEGrG2MeyM42IYq4drSZPB6eVfiWUt3_RuVB0hLwqivbsvHwZ/s400/FH060031.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Zinnia Wilson is a Salt Lake native with an eclectic past.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’d be easy to assume that Zin’s parents
named her for the fun, brightly-colored flower that is a perfect emblem of what
she was to become, but her dad actually named her for the street that they
lived on, oblivious to the fact that the street was named for the flower!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tragedy struck their family early when
Zinnia’s dad died in a fall at Indian Creek, but his wife/Zin’s mom Louise soldiered on solo with two precocious kids.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Zinnia continued to climb, and eventually applied her considerable athleticism to
the world of modern dance, which in turn enhanced her athleticism.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">She apparently was as smart as she was
athletic, because she got into Williams College, one of the most
notoriously-difficult schools in the country to be accepted into.</span></div>
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A prestigious, esoteric, small East Coast college was of
course great preparation for Zin’s first and main career:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>trail building!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For 15 years Zinnia worked on the Teton
Wilderness trail crew, creating and maintaining hundreds of miles of
backcountry trails in the vast and wild area between the Tetons and
Yellowstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Blackrock station
became her home and the folks there her second family, and modern dance gave
way to hefting big loads into the backcountry, swinging <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLeod_(tool)">McCleod</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_(tool)">Pulaskis,</a>
and managing horse, mule, and people teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Along the way she met Eric Tietze, a fellow Salt Laker, Williams College
grad, and climbing enthusiast, and they went on innumerable adventurers
together, climbing and canoeing their way around the US, South America, Asia, and Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were engaged, all was well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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On a day off from the Blackrock station Zinnia and Eric went
to do the Cathedral Traverse, which begins with a climb of Teewinot, traverses
to Mt Owen, and carries on to the north face of the Grand Teton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the traverse from Teewinot to Owen Eric
went on ahead, with Zin and another friend following.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They kept going for what seemed like too long
to reconnect with Eric, then doubled back, but were still unsuccessful in finding him,
and ultimately they returned to the valley floor as night fell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A search was begun in the morning, and
rangers found Eric’s body 5-600 feet below what was determined to be a
challenging climbing move that he had soloed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the rangers on the recovery was Drew Hardesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyone who has met Zinnia Wilson has been affected by her
radiant smile, buoyant energy, and propensity to sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is positivity personified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8-b04hWvVMSU0mLLq8gkNFWibxmeYaTeRlVIpXbZg8mTZs-dj5eH028R4Wm9UiOyv2aMQUdLy2vGJ2AC94Ql9pIFrR4DGaxQV-NJLgWKVjZYt3yfhf8uCWqxlSIRE0uzGaZHvtj0xWSF/s1600/IMG_6847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8-b04hWvVMSU0mLLq8gkNFWibxmeYaTeRlVIpXbZg8mTZs-dj5eH028R4Wm9UiOyv2aMQUdLy2vGJ2AC94Ql9pIFrR4DGaxQV-NJLgWKVjZYt3yfhf8uCWqxlSIRE0uzGaZHvtj0xWSF/s640/IMG_6847.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not many people can throw back a laugh as hard as Zin!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Therefore, it’s hard to imagine her any other
way, but grieving is brutal, even for the eternally positive.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drew has been part of many successful rescues
(including one that earned him a congressional medal of honor) but also an equal
number of body recoveries.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This one hit
him hard, and as Zin grieved and Drew learned more about Eric, they grew
closer, and ultimately became a couple themselves.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now it’s Drew and Zin gallivanting around the
West doing river, rock, and snow adventures, with Zin having eased away from
her Blackrock “family” back to Salt Lake, where her on-the-ground experience
with trails has been transmogrified into the Trails Manager for the Wasatch
section of the Forest Service.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUEI4X1y6hdoeTn62RxbB1UwAcY-fnVedKLEOTe_-hdJ3NGCEBq3CxyO9SYjbIYGvCqpAG2jOzfJ8RN7Tq-5AL8dnhxQmUP2P24OU8v2vOh3DvbrgO5c-6Us2eMpjuZv80Zy4rha1Pwtp/s1600/bolivian+selva+279.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="958" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUEI4X1y6hdoeTn62RxbB1UwAcY-fnVedKLEOTe_-hdJ3NGCEBq3CxyO9SYjbIYGvCqpAG2jOzfJ8RN7Tq-5AL8dnhxQmUP2P24OU8v2vOh3DvbrgO5c-6Us2eMpjuZv80Zy4rha1Pwtp/s640/bolivian+selva+279.jpeg" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From hippy girl in the jungle.....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspjDQ6rNubvCHEBk3V8j0al0gn6Cc1N8KJLfjx9dtx8IL7XVhyTc8sGXDdQdmnvBZ3967iRPQ0egCNYHK14o-M8qxXLrnGy9Spmr9mqnE-bdkyd7OEHKApolNK2RhAY6pDq_vpnlSfh7D/s1600/IMG_6887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspjDQ6rNubvCHEBk3V8j0al0gn6Cc1N8KJLfjx9dtx8IL7XVhyTc8sGXDdQdmnvBZ3967iRPQ0egCNYHK14o-M8qxXLrnGy9Spmr9mqnE-bdkyd7OEHKApolNK2RhAY6pDq_vpnlSfh7D/s400/IMG_6887.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">to pushup machine in the backcountry! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drew is a profound thinker, and has devoured many a deep
tome by the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Siddhartha, John McPhee, and others, and
he is known for his propensity to quote from the Book of Job in his avalanche
forecasts.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">His thoughtful essays pepper
publications from the </span><a href="https://utahavalanchecenter.org/blog/46894" style="font-size: 12pt;">UAC
blog</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> , </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="http://ascentbackcountry.com/we-are-all-in-this-together/" style="font-size: 12pt;">Ascent
magazine</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, </span><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59d2a0f0e9bfdf20d6d654b7/t/5a5fbfd60852298472a3ab66/1516224486991/TAR3003_LoRes.pdf" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
Avalanche Review</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, (p 15), and even </span><a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/2376791/grand-teton-national-park-rangers-PTSD" style="font-size: 12pt;">Outside
Magazine</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, he’s become a great interviewer of interesting avalanche
personalities on the </span><a href="https://utahavalanchecenter.org/blog/46518" style="font-size: 12pt;">UAC’s
podcast</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and he’s fascinated with the human factors associated with
adventuring. So when I asked him “I’ve had the good fortune to know a lot of
your girlfriends, and they’ve all been great.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is Zin your latest....or your last?” Drew took a characteristically long
pause, also characteristically stroked his considerable beard, and finally
answered: “I’d like to think….she’s both”, followed by his characteristically
huge laugh.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirD2stC3xEB5NIZi2FTEbyjhz69OwtrUAHv3i_pmwACK2UIDNtrDUcjU1kwleTVTngvCs37bs5u7Cm6Im6yuKNB7saiIsJdYrp0vBiURsnOHTCWn7SXinLMP8fKBHmRn70k5UCY9JHwcY6/s1600/P7192892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirD2stC3xEB5NIZi2FTEbyjhz69OwtrUAHv3i_pmwACK2UIDNtrDUcjU1kwleTVTngvCs37bs5u7Cm6Im6yuKNB7saiIsJdYrp0vBiURsnOHTCWn7SXinLMP8fKBHmRn70k5UCY9JHwcY6/s640/P7192892.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zin and Drew in front of the cabin that Zin built at Eagle's Rest, deep in the Teton Wilderness</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And so it was that a few of their friends were able to
celebrate their eagerly anticipated nuptials in Lupine Meadows, near the front
porch of the killer little<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cabin that
Drew called home for 20 summers, and in front of the rescue cache where their
relationship rose out of the ashes of tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmyfesl277ZMFS6uKLnxDuO8HJuQyZns-CAcmSErmhxLgmwc58FrSDWWR2AvCWS9lxbxhhXSqYNPfqsARVfCdX4hxPa4zXSKaoy3Nh6awd62Up0J59ffaUzSFRRdbhBhu9K1FGBf2-oNr/s1600/IMG_2812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="640" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmyfesl277ZMFS6uKLnxDuO8HJuQyZns-CAcmSErmhxLgmwc58FrSDWWR2AvCWS9lxbxhhXSqYNPfqsARVfCdX4hxPa4zXSKaoy3Nh6awd62Up0J59ffaUzSFRRdbhBhu9K1FGBf2-oNr/s640/IMG_2812.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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They cautioned that the ceremony would happen regardless of the weather,
and as the cold breeze blew snowflakes against the bare shoulders of Zin in her
wedding dress (a beautiful $5 special from the Deseret Industries!) we all knew
that this fun and tough couple were ready to continue their charge through
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9IHfQZ085f9mJtKikI3SCkRkOJNUWYPWqv3DppnoMs_BCjMcTMboZzJosuXJtjsw26l04gVaaEbY_wdFDMu-ZyQe3nbBDavh-2BAJayBhhEl52g6tfuzM8zxTAI23eBU_hNa3wdku2Kg/s1600/P7182875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9IHfQZ085f9mJtKikI3SCkRkOJNUWYPWqv3DppnoMs_BCjMcTMboZzJosuXJtjsw26l04gVaaEbY_wdFDMu-ZyQe3nbBDavh-2BAJayBhhEl52g6tfuzM8zxTAI23eBU_hNa3wdku2Kg/s640/P7182875.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sometimes going in opposite directions?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAA_Oj7md8LEg7287m67kufHs_eCbex9DjfQr8EQrqVqvhSGegOe3tNCij39bpf_TZfPnsMG4upNv9ewP3B8h4VZzUr2nhs4yZc7USCrqpwOLSiyCL69ddaW92Ycd6fXOy0oGrboJFL5Z/s1600/P7192882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAA_Oj7md8LEg7287m67kufHs_eCbex9DjfQr8EQrqVqvhSGegOe3tNCij39bpf_TZfPnsMG4upNv9ewP3B8h4VZzUr2nhs4yZc7USCrqpwOLSiyCL69ddaW92Ycd6fXOy0oGrboJFL5Z/s640/P7192882.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But always pulling it back. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It’s been an honor, fine
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQDQgzKeTqyGukSih44ONZrb7m1RZmlt2UbReduf9c7XXgcx6y_L1JxCMTHL53bExk2EAaOYJTANd45aohL16aXpKZKcuFfj_G0Veg3k5ggX3fFPV89e4laOustA4dzS-5YjTPKoDpdnl/s1600/IMG_2813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQDQgzKeTqyGukSih44ONZrb7m1RZmlt2UbReduf9c7XXgcx6y_L1JxCMTHL53bExk2EAaOYJTANd45aohL16aXpKZKcuFfj_G0Veg3k5ggX3fFPV89e4laOustA4dzS-5YjTPKoDpdnl/s640/IMG_2813.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ash photobombing! <br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-56495400511179700482019-12-02T09:20:00.000-07:002019-12-02T09:20:00.527-07:00I am thankful for....Richard Nixon?!?!? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6GnlDylbjBzcsNFvwWDqJ3lQGXxP7mrqAheVAYlLpes5SkkC9on7KT5YR0FXlxmhxLxFkznWws9NFv37pnTAcP7iXy5lLYdccHhk4PliNBIYKE9gdn7rUc-mwgtVKhySvPSeC6PxRw-6/s1600/richard-nixon-9424076-1-402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6GnlDylbjBzcsNFvwWDqJ3lQGXxP7mrqAheVAYlLpes5SkkC9on7KT5YR0FXlxmhxLxFkznWws9NFv37pnTAcP7iXy5lLYdccHhk4PliNBIYKE9gdn7rUc-mwgtVKhySvPSeC6PxRw-6/s320/richard-nixon-9424076-1-402.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Nixon was a terrible president, one of the worst ever, if not The Worst.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Or was he?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">There’s no doubt that Tricky Dick was a deeply flawed character and will remain
infamous for paranoid pettiness run amok and keeping America in a
tragically-unwinnable war for too long, </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">but the truth is that America owes much to the
Nixon administration for stemming an environmental crisis (that Trump seems
determined to renew). </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtn8Wx6oSeFN8uOx2zp44Pq4kB45_zpC4WYQzGdNK5QdAAVtJRJXPrWKa6xgCuOy2fU3fN2rFv-CAI-XyRj_YtvzmD03sX7NvjOV1iiXxSElY_CZuc2vX-p281kzykrmxCJjeepjdY-ZCY/s1600/OEJFWAMILBWW6EDHAV2CKQEXHA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="800" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtn8Wx6oSeFN8uOx2zp44Pq4kB45_zpC4WYQzGdNK5QdAAVtJRJXPrWKa6xgCuOy2fU3fN2rFv-CAI-XyRj_YtvzmD03sX7NvjOV1iiXxSElY_CZuc2vX-p281kzykrmxCJjeepjdY-ZCY/s400/OEJFWAMILBWW6EDHAV2CKQEXHA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I am not a crook!" stated not long before the world realized that, indeed, he was a crook. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In 1969 the Cuyahoga River that runs through Cleveland
literally </span><a href="https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63" style="font-size: 12pt;">caught fire</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
(actually, for the 12</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> time) due to the industrial pollution that
was in it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The outcry over this spawned
some actions by the Nixon administration that have been major contributions to
environmental and human health over the last 50 years (and the Cuyahoga river
itself was named this year as the “</span><a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/cuyahoga50/index.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw4jvBRCJARIsAHYewPNMX9Ow6EUq_pRDYKjSkkOJm8YUulXO9S1MuhnzDUCsR6cqx7DsjwsaAlDjEALw_wcB" style="font-size: 12pt;">River
Of The Year” by American Rivers</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for 50 years of environmental resurgence).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), which mandated that the federal government had to take into the account
the environmental impacts of its actions, and established the position of
President’s Council of Environmental Quality that coordinated environmental
policies at the executive level.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
fundamentals of NEPA are the Environmental Assessments (sort of a first level)
and Environmental Impact Statements (deeper level), and they have created a
baseline for federal and state construction projects for the last 50 years so
that they don’t destroy the flora and fauna that freeways, buildings, roads,
etc may affect.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Today over 100 other
countries have enacted laws based on NEPA.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHcneG-HLo4VDmq8zDYN11QsmqJryP91SKWZKeacXZESM0a5sKDGH4iXgzYe8d6GpnsNRH7NI6VCf_RrhIC5SBcQSEhll-aYsOug5iUPTuhL-fErEqsKlwtFbBv4KTLnhq416eM19-KLRX/s1600/fea_nixon_signs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="835" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHcneG-HLo4VDmq8zDYN11QsmqJryP91SKWZKeacXZESM0a5sKDGH4iXgzYe8d6GpnsNRH7NI6VCf_RrhIC5SBcQSEhll-aYsOug5iUPTuhL-fErEqsKlwtFbBv4KTLnhq416eM19-KLRX/s400/fea_nixon_signs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nixon signing NEPA, with Ruckelshaus looking on</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the summer of 1970 Nixon proposed the establishment of
the Environmental Protection Agency to establish and enforce pollution controls
and after an executive order it was opened in December with its first
administrator, Bill Ruckelshaus in a cabinet-level position.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ruckelshaus was, according to NPR,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“a conservationist, an Indiana Republican
conservative who believed in conserving balanced budgets, limited government
powers, constitutional checks and balances, and clean air and water. He was
ultimately brought back in to head the agency in 1983 to clean up the mess that
Anne Gorsuch (mother of Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch) had created under Reagan
where she slashed the budget and pushed the agency to cozy up to the industries
that it was to be regulating (coincidentally, </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/30/783752250/opinion-bill-ruckelshaus-conservationist-who-also-protected-the-rule-of-law" style="font-size: 12pt;">BillRuckelshaus died Wednesday</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, and he wrote an </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-miss-richard-nixon/2018/08/20/ddc065fa-a4a4-11e8-b76b-d513a40042f6_story.html" style="font-size: 12pt;">op-ed</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
for the Washington Post comparing Nixon and Trump a year ago that is still
quite relevant, and And here’s an interesting </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-miss-richard-nixon/2018/08/20/ddc065fa-a4a4-11e8-b76b-d513a40042f6_story.html" style="font-size: 12pt;">Washington
Post op-ed</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> by another guy who’s far smarter’n me comparing Nixon and Trump).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, of course, the EPA is pretty much a shitshow at the
highest levels (though with plenty of good people – like <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-08/documents/elovitzmichael_biosketch_wsd.pdf">Mike</a> – who are
dedicated professionals doing their best to execute on the agency’s ideals),
with Trump’s first pick Scott Pruitt – who did not have any relevant experience
and spent his career prior acting against all sorts of environmental policies -
getting forced out due to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-trump.html">variety of shenanigans</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His successor, Andrew Wheeler, is a former
coal industry lobbyist (for <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/07/775764520/despite-bankruptcy-and-illness-bob-murray-remains-a-loud-voice-for-coal">Murray
Energy,</a> which just announced it’s filing for bankruptcy), and his chief of
staff <a href="https://www.eenews.net/special_reports/epa_open_for_business/stories/1061557265">Ryan
Jackson</a> is a former longtime staffer for James Imhofe (of the infamous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E0a_60PMR8">snowball incident</a>
showing definitively showing that global warming is a myth, and the author
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Hoax-Warming-Conspiracy-Threatens/dp/1936488493">The
Greatest Hoax</a>”) and they seem committed to destroying the very environment
that their no-doubt dedicated staffers have been trying to indeed,
“protect”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But don’t get me started….<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A coupla smokestacks; then:<br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6yhzaYvL5Z0BsNo-JXRCbSa6DpqXlY5R2MHqxyHDrETWCs1CsYNTV1iezLR_-iBNhX7CQ2QKeei2drfdn3q49aAYohu66NAyMvx-3BLcJM4Q6ybnkdBuDc8sRHeos3-LaN3yEk_Ab6R2/s1600/220px-BURNING_DISCARDED_AUTOMOBILE_BATTERIES._%2528FROM_THE_SITES_EXHIBITION._FOR_OTHER_IMAGES_IN_THIS_ASSIGNMENT%252C_SEE_FICHE..._-_NARA_-_553841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="149" data-original-width="220" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6yhzaYvL5Z0BsNo-JXRCbSa6DpqXlY5R2MHqxyHDrETWCs1CsYNTV1iezLR_-iBNhX7CQ2QKeei2drfdn3q49aAYohu66NAyMvx-3BLcJM4Q6ybnkdBuDc8sRHeos3-LaN3yEk_Ab6R2/s400/220px-BURNING_DISCARDED_AUTOMOBILE_BATTERIES._%2528FROM_THE_SITES_EXHIBITION._FOR_OTHER_IMAGES_IN_THIS_ASSIGNMENT%252C_SEE_FICHE..._-_NARA_-_553841.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
and now:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUlJ9kSlfpEKXeOuBaOuQUNV4GlGgv6VC7XdvE0saFzI9xx2nXPJpLXR3m5f8npgQ1Om6CY_5FNJsDegB9FPvxJpkNq5xKPIEOFlZ0sD8wcchY8Ypgz6VptyJAd-fK-iR_6K1REia1bys/s1600/220px-SMOKESTACKS_OF_THE_HOLMES_ROAD_INCINERATOR%252C_NO_LONGER_POLLUTE_THE_ATMOSPHERE._THE_PLANT_PREVIOUSLY_BURNED_OLD..._-_NARA_-_557411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUlJ9kSlfpEKXeOuBaOuQUNV4GlGgv6VC7XdvE0saFzI9xx2nXPJpLXR3m5f8npgQ1Om6CY_5FNJsDegB9FPvxJpkNq5xKPIEOFlZ0sD8wcchY8Ypgz6VptyJAd-fK-iR_6K1REia1bys/s400/220px-SMOKESTACKS_OF_THE_HOLMES_ROAD_INCINERATOR%252C_NO_LONGER_POLLUTE_THE_ATMOSPHERE._THE_PLANT_PREVIOUSLY_BURNED_OLD..._-_NARA_-_557411.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among other things, the Nixon administration also created
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which clearly has
become a critical agency for everyone from farmers to hurricane zone-livers to
skiers, and the Nixon administration also created the Occupational Safety and
Hazard Administration (OSHA) which has undoubtedly saved many lives and limbs
in workplaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And last but not least,
the Nixon administration was the one to push automakers to include catalytic
converters on ALL cars sold in the US, which had a profound effect on overall
auto emissions (though I believe my dad was furious about that because he
thought it inhibited car performance!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if all of these weren’t enough, the Endangered Species
Act was passed in 1973 during the Nixon reign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ESA endeavored to identify and protect species that were endangered
as a “consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate
concern and conservation."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
administered by the US Fish and Wildife Service and the National Marine
Fisheries Service, which was founded….in 1970, during the Nixon
administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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There is no doubt that these agencies are considered by some
to be the archetypes of government bureaucracy, but there is also no doubt that
the pollution and related environmental and human health effects that faced the
US in the early 70’s would have created an apocalyptic environment now if it
had been allowed to continue unchecked for the last 50 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, though they didn’t know it
then, the cumulative effect of these efforts at least postponed the carbon
emissions that we know now has created global warming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, good on Republican Nixon for being
encouraging of this impressive series of bold initiatives to protect our
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the perspective of
Republican leadership of today, it’s hard to believe that they were the party
of environmental leadership (though to be fair, the Dems controlled both houses
of Congress for Nixon’s entire reign, though to be fair to the Dems, Nixon won
reelection in a historic landslide in 1972).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last but not least, Nixon provided some of the boldest
leadership of any modern president by taking the initiative of visiting China
in 1972.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>China was effectively “closed”
for 25 years, with no formal communication with (at least) the US, and without
any democratic countries able to pay attention, the Chinese “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward">Great Leap Forward</a>”
of the late ’50’s actually was a disaster and resulted in between 20 and 40
million deaths, which is 3-7 times that of the Holocaust and up to half of the
entire casualty count of World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then the “Cultural Revolution” of the 60’s resulted more chaos and
isolation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nixon’s visit effectively was
the beginning of the end of that era and set the tone for the “opening” of
China, which set the country up to become the world’s manufacturing center for
the next 3 decades and enabled Chinese people to come off the farms and start
the long road towards catching up with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-
and surpassing - the rest of the world economically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vtiNoItyTpjNeChcVMny6ojV8oiElNLARgP0FzB92HsaEHWjj2GzVn8-QY2sgoz6nmZh3SioAU5pEd-Wsp3L02LbVdzrWRNlcQ3fsJ7daKzUl0rJE3lmf2kUa9KCgotriQm9tYSZJJsB/s1600/1cd68003-310b-4782-aa7f-fd07c6505fd3_r646x461.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="646" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vtiNoItyTpjNeChcVMny6ojV8oiElNLARgP0FzB92HsaEHWjj2GzVn8-QY2sgoz6nmZh3SioAU5pEd-Wsp3L02LbVdzrWRNlcQ3fsJ7daKzUl0rJE3lmf2kUa9KCgotriQm9tYSZJJsB/s400/1cd68003-310b-4782-aa7f-fd07c6505fd3_r646x461.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
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There is no doubt that China is still not a great place and
in fact is a bad place, as the recent protests in previously-free Hong Kong make
very clear, in addition to their near-annihilation of Tibet and the similar “cultural
genocide” happening to the Western China <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/chinese-oppression-of-the-uighurs-like-cultural-genocide-a-1298171.html">Muslim
Uighurs</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the Chinese
experiment in a weird capitalist/communist experiment has kept our shoes, TV’s,
tables, books, and toys affordable for a long time, whether we like that fact
or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Nixon’s boldness in making
that weeklong meeting in 1972 was so monumental that, as Wikipedia puts
it:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_goes_to_China" title="Nixon goes to China"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Nixon to China</span></a>" moment has since become a
metaphor for an unexpected, uncharacteristic or overly impactful action by a
politician and perhaps fulfilled his own modest declaration that it was “the
week that changed the world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAc00d3PcQ4gDdlka9SkH92Ye277U8cJZwCAIab7viiqPY_CYfetN_OQVTy3q5A79ptKQICrJQ-KUxUxqqmQikXYzTkLPEEXWsoRBAnYl3wNgokMEq23l4QVyXfx23v_vN4U-I3gQdH7Ej/s1600/29-richard-nixon-1913-1994-granger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="711" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAc00d3PcQ4gDdlka9SkH92Ye277U8cJZwCAIab7viiqPY_CYfetN_OQVTy3q5A79ptKQICrJQ-KUxUxqqmQikXYzTkLPEEXWsoRBAnYl3wNgokMEq23l4QVyXfx23v_vN4U-I3gQdH7Ej/s400/29-richard-nixon-1913-1994-granger.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">No one would be so bold as to call Nixon a hero by any means and it’s unlikely that he had many/any green bones in his body, but in an era
of our Republican leaders opposing any and all concepts of environmental
protection legislation, Trump’s nationalism crushing our global integrity, and
tariffs </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/what-trumps-tariffs-have-cost-the-u-s-economy" style="font-size: 12pt;">jeopardizing
our economy</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, I am thankful this Thanksgiving season that a Republican president who was indeed a crook and resigned in disgrace did some
unusually good things.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkdLELpCKj9easzAtZQzlTbZbUcR5UWIdXhG3fsZC4D0WjkDRj3Rn8KlQ73PD_-xFnangjmC8PeJx0Nrc7517u2KyorQZnwKSKIuLmhK45n4rC3BqY0mhcnhgpJ6lbowsZvGM5WZ4ur99/s1600/IMG_3125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkdLELpCKj9easzAtZQzlTbZbUcR5UWIdXhG3fsZC4D0WjkDRj3Rn8KlQ73PD_-xFnangjmC8PeJx0Nrc7517u2KyorQZnwKSKIuLmhK45n4rC3BqY0mhcnhgpJ6lbowsZvGM5WZ4ur99/s400/IMG_3125.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As seen in SLC last week. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</style>Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-70356967095390837562019-11-29T17:51:00.000-07:002019-11-29T17:51:16.541-07:00Things I'm Thankful For 2019
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Last year I got to thinking about the many things that I
should be thankful for, but never have, mostly because they have kinda been off
my – and most folks’ – radar.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">More
macro-level social elements that have helped to enable me and my family to have
a life that we are indeed very thankful for.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So I did a </span><a href="https://t-dawgspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-im-thankful-for-part-i.html" style="font-size: 12pt;">blawg
post,</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and since I</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">- not surprisingly
– got carried away, I did </span><a href="https://t-dawgspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/11/more-odd-things-im-thankful-for.html" style="font-size: 12pt;">another
one</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here we are another year hence
and Thanksgiving looms large (especially with a coast-to-coast storm and a
never-before-heard-of</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“bomb cyclone”
crashing into the West, which sounds good!).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not surprisingly, since we were just in DC, a few of them are a bit
history-intensive.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Newspapers<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It’s no secret that the news industry is hurting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And “hurting” may be a euphemism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Major city papers around the country are a
pamphlet of what they once were, and it’s clear from the plethora of ads for
hearing aids, ED, adult diapers and living facilities that their target market
won’t even be around much longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
yes, Ashley and I still rely on someone driving around in a car, burning
gasoline throughout the wee hours of the morning to toss a physical paper onto
our porch. Then we put it in the recycling bin with the other mostly-ridiculous
social dinosaur of US mail and hope that the Chinese will be able to recycle it
for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But we do read the paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it’s great. The Salt Lake Tribune – as it’s banner proudly proclaims
– been around since 1871 and literally is an institution in the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul Huntsman (brother of former UT governor
and presidential candidate, and recent candidate for guv again Jon Huntsman)
was apparently inspired by Jeff Bezos who bought the Washington Post, but even
families’ mountains of money aren’t enough to plug the dike, because recently
the Trib went to a nonprofit model; the first “legacy” paper in the country to
do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll see how it goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In DC we went to the soon-to-be-shuttered Newseum, which was
incredible, and getting a historical perspective of how important newspapers
have been throughout our country’s history indeed gave a lot of credence to the
famous Thomas Jefferson quote:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Were it
left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or
newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the
latter.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_el_X8GAcnpTdsy0tZp_a2MqzZVRHrj9TWNbgFpfgiD45PkA97DxEIXGj6XRsk7mgvq-cMrN1sBWS3cRaenhsTaJGiPuoOvkGojfa_tGPHoxEF5NVaE2tCk119PKvqW2aNUuQGmlml5Oo/s1600/IMG_3095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_el_X8GAcnpTdsy0tZp_a2MqzZVRHrj9TWNbgFpfgiD45PkA97DxEIXGj6XRsk7mgvq-cMrN1sBWS3cRaenhsTaJGiPuoOvkGojfa_tGPHoxEF5NVaE2tCk119PKvqW2aNUuQGmlml5Oo/s400/IMG_3095.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Revere wasn't only a good horseman with a lantern, he was also a muckraker! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and speaking of muckrakers:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6fg0NdguuyB6d7W4UXyQetmSXn3T0lDXP0s7N7YVAh3kyZqm930kGzP4VIRlDZq8-hK1TUsvs5gOGkdPsB4ViCGpMs-fSPKGawoeNpjvIeZ81bpZuQ4s1Y2u1yKF7F0iIOh7bppZfLa7w/s1600/IMG_3091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="407" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6fg0NdguuyB6d7W4UXyQetmSXn3T0lDXP0s7N7YVAh3kyZqm930kGzP4VIRlDZq8-hK1TUsvs5gOGkdPsB4ViCGpMs-fSPKGawoeNpjvIeZ81bpZuQ4s1Y2u1yKF7F0iIOh7bppZfLa7w/s640/IMG_3091.jpg" width="404" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT27j6An7Ty8zqw89U03yulhIVZkUfjcwIBcE5hwo3-_SwFkmpTmGR_W6-jI8Trb7f6-8qXpXKUv4ajrwvE5QZteT5r5MnO9O2BlDhCp9RbfvZuyastIgS0BORMzCU8gUVOYO7f1kAQufc/s1600/IMG_3092.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT27j6An7Ty8zqw89U03yulhIVZkUfjcwIBcE5hwo3-_SwFkmpTmGR_W6-jI8Trb7f6-8qXpXKUv4ajrwvE5QZteT5r5MnO9O2BlDhCp9RbfvZuyastIgS0BORMzCU8gUVOYO7f1kAQufc/s640/IMG_3092.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There's no doubt that papers have had a big effect on history:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf94R3m7t9FJYdMQFNh0i_kqNqIhV46_8LZozDaEOjb5BJEw1ygKtVtegB01QOXXylVfDNv2G4kXhR2_Hzi2xMbDAZKCjsGqnjIoTUZ1QFjx5i6eo9iKFyA6_b5zlFmvFzZ11Ee3Oqsa4/s1600/IMG_3093.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf94R3m7t9FJYdMQFNh0i_kqNqIhV46_8LZozDaEOjb5BJEw1ygKtVtegB01QOXXylVfDNv2G4kXhR2_Hzi2xMbDAZKCjsGqnjIoTUZ1QFjx5i6eo9iKFyA6_b5zlFmvFzZ11Ee3Oqsa4/s400/IMG_3093.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwsHXMecGkKjnAp5952DhX5KNHgKPKtEzW9oSoZvDHdflviNENahHKmIAQL1vvgitIX6qFfXVcPpumI_QzTC4-2bvfPu0m4CcGHS50zshYvaEPMYbu5NUqVOHS9vuEF-CF7N-hyB86EwK/s1600/IMG_3094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="447" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwsHXMecGkKjnAp5952DhX5KNHgKPKtEzW9oSoZvDHdflviNENahHKmIAQL1vvgitIX6qFfXVcPpumI_QzTC4-2bvfPu0m4CcGHS50zshYvaEPMYbu5NUqVOHS9vuEF-CF7N-hyB86EwK/s400/IMG_3094.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The movie "The Post" is a great version of this story that stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now of course, with 24 hour
news channels and a gazillion “news” outlets on the interwebs that have a clear
social/political bias (for sure, bias has always existed, but it’s gotten
turbocharged over the last 20 years) it has created a society that tends to
clique together into echo chambers, but I’m pretty convinced that most
reporters, papers, and news agencies are committed to honesty and integrity in
their reporting, with newspapers perhaps being the last holdouts.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Daily Show<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyiunxky0mxpXD_xPEHEichg6Zp0pUUdxwJMGwmwRRmWBWSuZ6C_M0eSRk6ztsNWbc-5D4bzFdr_eeLXoIH0kh34HukJYJs0eLmh9wBos9URrsVevgCpU6QpdyTH1w_5DUA054P3nbBKE/s1600/IMG_3079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLyiunxky0mxpXD_xPEHEichg6Zp0pUUdxwJMGwmwRRmWBWSuZ6C_M0eSRk6ztsNWbc-5D4bzFdr_eeLXoIH0kh34HukJYJs0eLmh9wBos9URrsVevgCpU6QpdyTH1w_5DUA054P3nbBKE/s400/IMG_3079.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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Speaking of biased news, the Daily Show has been a bit of an
institution for liberals looking for someone to skewer…pretty much everyone for
over 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be sure, the Daily
Show just another in a long litany of TV political satire:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothers_Brothers">Smothers Brothers show</a>
got heavily censored and eventually cancelled for it’s unceasing criticism of
the Vietnam War and the president:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupRIsRoSbbHQXc3THL86j6R5YNF8-pGbGygWR4ey3hDKqzQU7K4xgXutuyeL15pjUzanf9Tgbu5y6La0sHp6K5RS87tCm1HS_fq9AI87vmOJxojqKgUmNBeX81iGCwz6uur-9K8vRUfCa/s1600/IMG_3084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupRIsRoSbbHQXc3THL86j6R5YNF8-pGbGygWR4ey3hDKqzQU7K4xgXutuyeL15pjUzanf9Tgbu5y6La0sHp6K5RS87tCm1HS_fq9AI87vmOJxojqKgUmNBeX81iGCwz6uur-9K8vRUfCa/s400/IMG_3084.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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and the classic “Weekend Update” on Saturday
Night Live nearly defined satire news culture in the 70’s:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GGxcQHu6MEtMVh8K8k8MUmo2IGMO9yGI0osNYCaJV3GuzfSQMxpn0tbNRewrzYfyw_rW9Va2I1z2ulErOq4Tvh9NykwkmpOc4t4AyGllUV6W8kUx4HAG33TOiJNUQ5X9W5IgJ8SlDXtD/s1600/IMG_3097.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GGxcQHu6MEtMVh8K8k8MUmo2IGMO9yGI0osNYCaJV3GuzfSQMxpn0tbNRewrzYfyw_rW9Va2I1z2ulErOq4Tvh9NykwkmpOc4t4AyGllUV6W8kUx4HAG33TOiJNUQ5X9W5IgJ8SlDXtD/s400/IMG_3097.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the actual sign that was used on SNL</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and all the while
the likes of Carson, Leno, and Letterman delighted legions of fans with their
nightly opening monologues.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But it
seemed like the Daily Show turned up the volume a notch with a creative,
hilarious, and bold cadre of correspondents that in turn have gone on to
successful careers doing more of the same themselves.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And while the likes of Carson et al seemed to
be pretty much performing for laughs, Jon Stewart infused the (actual) fake
news with a real passion that was reflected in his stories and the crew around
him, and as such he and they seemed to transcend the blurry line between
comedy, news, and social commentary.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3OM34D0BOOtKazOHm_pPp5vpF3n2v4fi2fnFhq2qcvxjAWzAuKmV6XtEW__BQ8qzNZwqPlLkiZZTEbfuZRh9gY1S8UM18Q3dbcGxCv_m_1xDojhR4UlW0X_P2VhzpEYAvb25UDNx4FcT/s1600/IMG_3080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3OM34D0BOOtKazOHm_pPp5vpF3n2v4fi2fnFhq2qcvxjAWzAuKmV6XtEW__BQ8qzNZwqPlLkiZZTEbfuZRh9gY1S8UM18Q3dbcGxCv_m_1xDojhR4UlW0X_P2VhzpEYAvb25UDNx4FcT/s400/IMG_3080.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Trevor Noah had hugemungous shoes to fill, and Ashley and I feel like
he’s done a great job at retaining the Stewart Spirit.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here are some other perspectives of Jon Stewart at his retirement: </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpY0Lg2g9jECbIdHCkEBg-2f5pLb69iu0ONEvJuIklooGexilDZNQNTHhGk2koCPrE5UuHWd8I6FZZ-LTIOTY1bg7QBMuPz22qE6EXOz0x1RhT6t3fxN0uzEnOSLwvIKrToqi5cI3c4QU5/s1600/IMG_3085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="640" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpY0Lg2g9jECbIdHCkEBg-2f5pLb69iu0ONEvJuIklooGexilDZNQNTHhGk2koCPrE5UuHWd8I6FZZ-LTIOTY1bg7QBMuPz22qE6EXOz0x1RhT6t3fxN0uzEnOSLwvIKrToqi5cI3c4QU5/s400/IMG_3085.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0I-Mu7K9ZZQobH52W4ecOzUnQVGcDuT7snkYxWRonkn9E5jO7WUHO5GnwSMvUD3onnHSSRB5d7QSYFMx0l-rlMDjZeMr_VGl52b2fzWrKyG54za452lsEgT6XtB-2ifHEV61IDpABg0yu/s1600/IMG_3082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="640" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0I-Mu7K9ZZQobH52W4ecOzUnQVGcDuT7snkYxWRonkn9E5jO7WUHO5GnwSMvUD3onnHSSRB5d7QSYFMx0l-rlMDjZeMr_VGl52b2fzWrKyG54za452lsEgT6XtB-2ifHEV61IDpABg0yu/s400/IMG_3082.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KlLzgxAZouK1wnWShyCemCvjhrX7wmk79SAodZkhhBHMQjuX7BDCE8BABQR__-1ZcQSN-gl6FMXc_qZrOUU6c-6VeIHhLW-F75YZC-vD79QJJBio6urX7U0YM1gnDy_ygSFaTgEtBJwl/s1600/IMG_3086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="640" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KlLzgxAZouK1wnWShyCemCvjhrX7wmk79SAodZkhhBHMQjuX7BDCE8BABQR__-1ZcQSN-gl6FMXc_qZrOUU6c-6VeIHhLW-F75YZC-vD79QJJBio6urX7U0YM1gnDy_ygSFaTgEtBJwl/s400/IMG_3086.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Steele was a particular target of Jon Stewart's</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6HpewnZh4J_2Gz6xXnKUNS9kPEDVVwagFmMn53zkdJjL1mIQj0zcl90vTYk-5_C2dWBrgxNavXrNx2mGlImZSwYJIxCyMOzub5ZuLHQ6fr21djFQO0sXKNtTZjsowUDcmzqiBdHD1mVh/s1600/IMG_3087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="640" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6HpewnZh4J_2Gz6xXnKUNS9kPEDVVwagFmMn53zkdJjL1mIQj0zcl90vTYk-5_C2dWBrgxNavXrNx2mGlImZSwYJIxCyMOzub5ZuLHQ6fr21djFQO0sXKNtTZjsowUDcmzqiBdHD1mVh/s400/IMG_3087.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">as was Glenn Beck. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And of course, someone who could never deign for a compliment or even a coherent statement:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v2bWdj1_ZBv-u8rW0vPATNkJSOAdWzjMFyqowROI3FiyQ9USNalGh3srpNMfP34ZYoa3GWfh6mN7lHI4bywrkZGMKk0eKpRmrkBLS3ihxUYYgkUxNE_8z8sbSpY9rDqS1wFF9FzSEJ6z/s1600/IMG_3081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="640" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v2bWdj1_ZBv-u8rW0vPATNkJSOAdWzjMFyqowROI3FiyQ9USNalGh3srpNMfP34ZYoa3GWfh6mN7lHI4bywrkZGMKk0eKpRmrkBLS3ihxUYYgkUxNE_8z8sbSpY9rDqS1wFF9FzSEJ6z/s400/IMG_3081.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Steven Spielberg<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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On the plane the other day I watched “Jaws” for the first
time in….a longggg time (I remember reading the book when I was 10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s still a great movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was surprised at the end to see that it was
a Steven Spielberg movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t really
know much about him as a person, nor really what he actually “does” (or, for
that matter, any directors/producers do) but he’s been an integral part in a
big handful of pics that have almost defined pop culture of those eras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to Jaws he did the iconic full-on
entertainment ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Goonies and
Gremlins, the Jurassic Park series, Back To The Future, Poltergeist, and Catch
Me If You Can, yet in between he made the really profound Schindler’s List,
Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln, Flags of Our Fathers, and of course many others
(32 total).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One ancient classic that is
a favorite of Brother Paul and I that I just found out is a Spielberg creation:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyGqTZju2dA">Duel</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making entertaining movies isn’t necessarily
a paramount ingredient of our existence, but the litany of movies that he’s
done have added a fair bit to our social web.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daniel Kahneman (and
Amos Taversky)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuIAvhMAm9Rr0FBpL1DYXTC7Hx9o13DjhNhsabO6OCKXEKWC5PqaQVx-9hIyzC3Mc-Z5S7ESZ6rlUVa-9UclaD1FwMUkao4F6SL3PzGk0ABf59DEaNhp5k1IV40WvIbvc4r7-0fSRODk6b/s1600/kahneman.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuIAvhMAm9Rr0FBpL1DYXTC7Hx9o13DjhNhsabO6OCKXEKWC5PqaQVx-9hIyzC3Mc-Z5S7ESZ6rlUVa-9UclaD1FwMUkao4F6SL3PzGk0ABf59DEaNhp5k1IV40WvIbvc4r7-0fSRODk6b/s400/kahneman.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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Some years ago I saw a guy named Jonah Lehrer being
interviewed on a tour for his new book “How We Decide”, which I found to be
pretty intriguing since<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- as Ashley
found in later research – we make something like 35,000 decisions a day, and
making more “right” decisions out of those 35k might make for a better life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a good book (tho Lehrer was later
disgraced by plagiarizing – of all people – Bob Dylan in a subsequent book) and
put me onto a bit of a binge of reading similar books, including Malcolm
Gladwell’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/B00097DWY0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=blink+gladwell&qid=1575070026&sr=8-1">“Blink”,</a>
another unspellable guy’s “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiAoIPvBRDgARIsAHsCw0_BgPihqFPtsk4CvXFhiY1AYXWjXRLQcpOqdNhh1DbInE6PSyoPLnIaAsa4EALw_wcB&hvadid=313646010132&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9033662&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=16310317010409096587&hvtargid=aud-835997443427%3Akwd-780656379832&hydadcr=15494_10339824&keywords=the+flow+mihaly&qid=1575069958&sr=8-1">Flow</a>”,
and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393353710/ref=asc_df_0393353710/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312144625645&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9701857669448822943&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1027811&hvtargid=aud-829758849484:pla-417335642818&psc=1">“Deep
Survival (who lives, who dies, and why)”</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basically, I wanted to try to get a handle on my own decision making so
that I wouldn’t make dumb decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I realized that a common name that kept coming up in those
books was Daniel Kahneman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kahneman had
won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2003 for proving a very simple
thesis:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people do not act
rationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost all economic models
made the fundamental assumption that humans are rational and will always act in
ways that will enhance their position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, anyone with a pulse or knows someone who has one knows that
this isn’t true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kahnemann and his
deceased buddy Amos Taversky basically just proved that and put it into terms
that pompous economists apparently could understand and accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But he didn’t stop there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basically, the Father of Behavorial Economics decided to put his life’s
work into a tome for non-economists (and non-psychologists) called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/13/thinking-fast-slow-daniel-kahneman">Thinking,
Fast and Slow</a>” that puts our rational and irrational behaviors under a
microscope and explains them very effectively, and kind of introduced the
concept of “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic">heuristics</a>”
(rules of thumb, based on previous experience, for right or wrong) to many
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my little world, Ian
McCammon took the concept into the decision-centric backcountry ski/avalanche
world (“do I ski this slope or not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will
it avalanche or not?” and <a href="http://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/issw-2002-244-251.pdf">pretty
much changed the avalanche education world</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Thinking, Fast and Slow” is a bit of a project, but I think
– and many other folks who are far smarter than me would agree – that it’s the
most important book ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I of course got carried away on this "thankfullness" concept and have a coupla more, for another post later this weekend.....</span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-45131839898058231442019-11-19T12:00:00.001-07:002019-11-19T12:00:32.979-07:00Freedom?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJsvX9VNBuAe4X9uWQqakh8yFAnpDJ1DxckrgeoFVUCkg7BFGJtcD6OqnuABBv_XOTOzbs7vvhSQd1XwamS46m0Jz8CELIpBCAqd0_TZj7A3D4HHM1JkbhlQ0zLNvcSmBfpgHlSm4ocA5B/s1600/IMG_3025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJsvX9VNBuAe4X9uWQqakh8yFAnpDJ1DxckrgeoFVUCkg7BFGJtcD6OqnuABBv_XOTOzbs7vvhSQd1XwamS46m0Jz8CELIpBCAqd0_TZj7A3D4HHM1JkbhlQ0zLNvcSmBfpgHlSm4ocA5B/s400/IMG_3025.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Freedom", as it appears on top of the Capitol building. Do we really have it? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Every couple of years Ash and I do a few days of very
“normal” touristing where we check out the sights of a city, whether on a bike
tour or simply going someplace to navigate the urban jungle adventure.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">A few years ago we “did” Manhattan, and this
past weekend we went to Washington DC, which I have grown to really like: there’s so much interesting stuff to see and do, with so many reminders of
American history that I learned long ago, augmented by a ton of important fill
in history/info that I never learned.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our visit began with a visit to Congressman Ben McAdams’
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four years ago <a href="https://t-dawgspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/09/mr-t-dawg-goes-to-washington.html">I
went to Washington</a> to lobby for the <a href="https://www.lwcfcoalition.com/">Land
Water Conservation Fund</a> (which was temporarily scuttled by our awful rep
Rob Bishop, but was then revived with permanent funding as part of last year’s
sweeping and great lands bill).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
though I wasn’t able to meet with any of the congressmen themselves (the pope
was in town) I got a kick out of at least being in the offices and talking to
the enthusiastic legislative staffers (who assured me that they had the ears of
their bosses).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came away from that
trip with the righteous conviction that it’s pretty much incumbent upon us as
‘Merican citizens to try to meet with our congressmen if/when we go to DC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when this trip came around I reached out
to McAdams’ office and got an appointment, and I had a great half hour meeting
with Ben and an enthusiastic staffer about the goings-on relative to the
potential Wasatch protection legislation and the <a href="https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Recreation%20Not%20Red-Tape%20(RNR)%20Act%20-%20Wyden%20-%20summary1.pdf">“Recreation
Not Red Tape” act</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAsxe1U27YRpMgYs2HGURXVWX3q9VxUwhUBrPgLoMoLjMKgsf0dY15SqBMBdXKZ2E3K4kKtMPHviar8Fck4qRWt11i9uEgCuIg0FeX7UYT6SNHbBfJuSl_89slsZAs4nW4X60Mvnak0H1/s1600/IMG_3019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="640" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAsxe1U27YRpMgYs2HGURXVWX3q9VxUwhUBrPgLoMoLjMKgsf0dY15SqBMBdXKZ2E3K4kKtMPHviar8Fck4qRWt11i9uEgCuIg0FeX7UYT6SNHbBfJuSl_89slsZAs4nW4X60Mvnak0H1/s400/IMG_3019.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest of the weekend was spent visiting museums,
socializing, eating, and hitting museums. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of these was the “Newseum”, which is a historical celebration of the
First Amendment:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM18huk2CTiz_VDFSEoegIMlPsbPwZfIZTeoYhBlZ9tFl1zKF_OCaz1zC4gEbsn1ml9BqsgdB4rps18tV5PqqWrCJ5k-RqkYIIdtWh7ByBhBSENW6l8BXiYPxEM5imKlIIilTSa6NgKmPS/s1600/IMG_3099.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM18huk2CTiz_VDFSEoegIMlPsbPwZfIZTeoYhBlZ9tFl1zKF_OCaz1zC4gEbsn1ml9BqsgdB4rps18tV5PqqWrCJ5k-RqkYIIdtWh7ByBhBSENW6l8BXiYPxEM5imKlIIilTSa6NgKmPS/s400/IMG_3099.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zRhoA9q_OxiV107RbIwYH1sR5VfpxQ3V3Ih7NJYx1xnqIYdV4F42f1FGS3ZXsWK_9t6pYGEbKtLUcbqqu7FMy63A-XlAUiuBAR_u7hoJVpQjStUftdH9QcO-hp-JimTpNgC5MnHtcnrs/s1600/IMG_3101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zRhoA9q_OxiV107RbIwYH1sR5VfpxQ3V3Ih7NJYx1xnqIYdV4F42f1FGS3ZXsWK_9t6pYGEbKtLUcbqqu7FMy63A-XlAUiuBAR_u7hoJVpQjStUftdH9QcO-hp-JimTpNgC5MnHtcnrs/s400/IMG_3101.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAJebcwfJnoCI1uBM8Bc6grPeih6i9Fj5jvEnCEcSDG61ou-XKnN0p2YLNk8SQbAAeK3ICrHeJxp3vYsruhGPbAy33dlY5Tb2Iq8f8h12U0w4Ttfx0xQZBAZBGibjZaXtny6uOeCVz9Ng/s1600/IMG_3100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAJebcwfJnoCI1uBM8Bc6grPeih6i9Fj5jvEnCEcSDG61ou-XKnN0p2YLNk8SQbAAeK3ICrHeJxp3vYsruhGPbAy33dlY5Tb2Iq8f8h12U0w4Ttfx0xQZBAZBGibjZaXtny6uOeCVz9Ng/s400/IMG_3100.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The First Amendment, carved into the wall of the Newseum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Being somewhat news junkies, Ash and I loved it, especially
since one of the exhibits was of the Daily Show:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUC_ZeK9aC7btBC_xQO36dNFpDUihX5MqLwDVczCnChCMQoi-MCcy29LWIibLRafiYsl19RYliOlye4OPeg8uk3fBwyNYSYksHfGnFOZhl5rh2hXxc5AqkfrJolPz4J6MmdT-Xy8_xxfa/s1600/IMG_3036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUC_ZeK9aC7btBC_xQO36dNFpDUihX5MqLwDVczCnChCMQoi-MCcy29LWIibLRafiYsl19RYliOlye4OPeg8uk3fBwyNYSYksHfGnFOZhl5rh2hXxc5AqkfrJolPz4J6MmdT-Xy8_xxfa/s400/IMG_3036.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hanging out with one of her heroes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the most provocative displays there was the map of
the world showing freedom of the press:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUi_LvCcQL6WqfFrmNzO498rLv4lvMw2p5NXlAnxoahCXPWtkOJyLqX0jNlm1VNQxe_r-gEm4GFT49AMKpjn3hH-oQ7rO2AK7RQCBsPSdrKmwT_8N2KCvnrarqQ8on93idP7s8MfMwA0N/s1600/IMG_3042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQUi_LvCcQL6WqfFrmNzO498rLv4lvMw2p5NXlAnxoahCXPWtkOJyLqX0jNlm1VNQxe_r-gEm4GFT49AMKpjn3hH-oQ7rO2AK7RQCBsPSdrKmwT_8N2KCvnrarqQ8on93idP7s8MfMwA0N/s400/IMG_3042.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Green means a very free press, yellow is sorta free, and red
means state run press. There's a lot of yellow and way too much red in this image.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tragically, the <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/national-news/2019/10/03/newseum-closing">Newseum
is closing</a> on December 31<sup>st</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For some reason it is not a Smithsonian museum so it’s not free, but
despite this it’s had 10 million visitors over the last 11 years that it’s been
open, but apparently that model was not sustainable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed so ironic that one of the thrusts
of the impeachment hearings happening a coupla blocks is – at least, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHb3tppZo1c">according to Devin Nunes</a>
– a function of The Media and its influence over our politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Newseum reminds its visitors of
Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Were
it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers,
or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer
the latter.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to not imagine
that there’s something odd happening when a very popular museum in Politics
Centrale is not supported and allowed to die….because the folks who could save
it are the very ones that the museum is celebrating the exposure of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Even Reagan was a fan:</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEeSk3bR-53i4g46VQGPQs8ZJAKQ-0o8CH6rFvw1XZyFjaJ9E26VlJZNHmUOagW8S-CiuSflG7gr55xG-OJ4MfG8zzFAn20WKOqvJHdRFdI69And-9E-f2_ig-Z2BrqFlDdV-oSX05m1-/s1600/IMG_3098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEeSk3bR-53i4g46VQGPQs8ZJAKQ-0o8CH6rFvw1XZyFjaJ9E26VlJZNHmUOagW8S-CiuSflG7gr55xG-OJ4MfG8zzFAn20WKOqvJHdRFdI69And-9E-f2_ig-Z2BrqFlDdV-oSX05m1-/s400/IMG_3098.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As I left the Newseum on our last day and headed west down
the Mall, I reflected on our visits to the Capitol and the museums.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Air and Space is always a great reminder
of the race to the moon that America “won” with a mindbogglingly-difficult and
sustained effort: </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_ZmPn9_-8ZpcrjKY-L049MSua_hAo21-0y0gXXF1Z8DyKhTeNMf_I0gL7RSTD-5v2K6pXitYMugQObUSaSDJmI-j3869BYyewDyjOHGwdHdZwyjSLbcUogMlYu1SpsN4ag60c8qFde_0/s1600/IMG_3049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_ZmPn9_-8ZpcrjKY-L049MSua_hAo21-0y0gXXF1Z8DyKhTeNMf_I0gL7RSTD-5v2K6pXitYMugQObUSaSDJmI-j3869BYyewDyjOHGwdHdZwyjSLbcUogMlYu1SpsN4ag60c8qFde_0/s400/IMG_3049.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
the African American Museum is a comprehensive view of the
bad (slavery, Jim Crow, police brutality) and the good (the zillions of
contributions) of African Americans:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaSCNEOZ2rni1NrK80T599EEF2v60ZxMt5eUCuLn2Jlmz6cZQfMd3NUjkDgWcS_i4Sxp-kDA0bVqoU3lD8BOhuU6h55wpqRoXL9sEHc7Y_nZj8nWJmW0vbjjnJEkxKDaKhuH7FsJQVhV/s1600/IMG_3030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jaSCNEOZ2rni1NrK80T599EEF2v60ZxMt5eUCuLn2Jlmz6cZQfMd3NUjkDgWcS_i4Sxp-kDA0bVqoU3lD8BOhuU6h55wpqRoXL9sEHc7Y_nZj8nWJmW0vbjjnJEkxKDaKhuH7FsJQVhV/s400/IMG_3030.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
the Holocaust Museum is a profound
experience and an all-too-vivid account of what happens when a country and a
people go bad, and getting a Capitol tour is a vivid reminder of the ideals
that our country represents.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRJbfb2YMADzvaZJy52JuPC-uwtYKJNf6QClbAb-iAkp6wHIPhcUlA6kPl3X_On3vdIXxoXhlIpuI_fCJbkXeVyNK_3NwRdZKfw7Vy0JKndlK_hexlNCAloIlGeAbGriJE1xfcW78GVeg/s1600/IMG_3026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRJbfb2YMADzvaZJy52JuPC-uwtYKJNf6QClbAb-iAkp6wHIPhcUlA6kPl3X_On3vdIXxoXhlIpuI_fCJbkXeVyNK_3NwRdZKfw7Vy0JKndlK_hexlNCAloIlGeAbGriJE1xfcW78GVeg/s400/IMG_3026.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Ash celebrating freedom!<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the way I went by the Washingon Monument at sunset:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgbzLFXXn9N-Nx5VssycLbAnEnhO2ETVCtALXcnF3u33QaE17Tw41OoOM6X65bNnueYdDCPm-LX4naanPGnodNX3-7dQEVjbvotpoT9Bset1hFZ5psCJT1lpf1UgOphlV2xGUC_bt6Pe3/s1600/IMG_3044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgbzLFXXn9N-Nx5VssycLbAnEnhO2ETVCtALXcnF3u33QaE17Tw41OoOM6X65bNnueYdDCPm-LX4naanPGnodNX3-7dQEVjbvotpoT9Bset1hFZ5psCJT1lpf1UgOphlV2xGUC_bt6Pe3/s400/IMG_3044.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which is certainly dramatic, even if it’s a bit weird; it’s
always struck me that GW was a pretty humble and practical guy, and
“his” monument is very much neither.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Further along is the World War Two Memorial, which has this
engraved on the base of the two flagpoles:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Americans
came to liberate, not to conquer; to restore freedom and to end tyranny.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a guy whose dad fought in WWII (but didn’t
like to talk about it much) it felt pretty lofty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjlLbAIvwl40FHPHS_ZOfd2BgedWxCSikSSrppe_6KvDsCILY1JO5j-ae7SsNDPpLWtqpk0kPVWVUZTl-fXKUJUveD1myvyt0FUetWqt6J1gL98ZEmtFvYHdiog3dS9wFWHTVT1oL6AnZ/s1600/IMG_3104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjlLbAIvwl40FHPHS_ZOfd2BgedWxCSikSSrppe_6KvDsCILY1JO5j-ae7SsNDPpLWtqpk0kPVWVUZTl-fXKUJUveD1myvyt0FUetWqt6J1gL98ZEmtFvYHdiog3dS9wFWHTVT1oL6AnZ/s400/IMG_3104.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Therefore, as I approached the Lincoln Memorial I was
feeling….not really “patriotic” per se, but maybe just happy that I was an
American who has been able to have a very fulfilling life, in no small part due
to people who have indeed sought to battle against oppressors, maintain freedom
of the press, sacrificed their lives to end slavery and tyranny, and liberate
the oppressed.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQvdG_Z3GM99WVSMK-xEB6inTYJHCowsOohhQbBDjZy9cXg6MMNcmut_f6jMcjX-MWEby3HgqVcx2fP2c61w4t_AGo0ommbRDSK6S1xZw1u8XexMP2mMRQQUi8IHyYKulJiGpKolDqP5h/s1600/IMG_3107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQvdG_Z3GM99WVSMK-xEB6inTYJHCowsOohhQbBDjZy9cXg6MMNcmut_f6jMcjX-MWEby3HgqVcx2fP2c61w4t_AGo0ommbRDSK6S1xZw1u8XexMP2mMRQQUi8IHyYKulJiGpKolDqP5h/s640/IMG_3107.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pretty inspiring</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
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I had walked up the steps, found the spot where Martin
Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech, and gazed back over the
reflection pond to reflect, when I realized that there was a bit of a commotion
going on inside the memorial itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was jammed, and there was a woman speaking who was fired up and getting the
crowd wound up as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a sign:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW_L6-GjouRcE1w_GbnlIk2-uAUQQnO7qwM9ykdD2O8pVUC_L4yvIwr0PJivloJ9WO95QEaY9RcYGo93pQLfqo_Zdxyy4wXlFs4qG8Dt1xfZx-Lf59G2eNp-jDwxY1DIblTXhWpuabtLp/s1600/IMG_3109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimW_L6-GjouRcE1w_GbnlIk2-uAUQQnO7qwM9ykdD2O8pVUC_L4yvIwr0PJivloJ9WO95QEaY9RcYGo93pQLfqo_Zdxyy4wXlFs4qG8Dt1xfZx-Lf59G2eNp-jDwxY1DIblTXhWpuabtLp/s400/IMG_3109.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Justice for Bijan<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I felt sorta stoopid:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>who was Bijan? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know about
Michael Brown (Ferguson), Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and others, but I didn’t
know Bijan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t have time to hang
out and find out, so I left, trotting for the edge of the mall towards
Georgetown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the crosswalk I waited
for the light with a guy who also had a sign, so I asked him “Sorry to sound
like a dunderhead, but who’s Bijan and what’s the story?” and he told me the
tale.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bijan Ghaisar was a young guy born in the US to an
immigrant, and two years ago he was in a minor traffic incident near the mall
that he drove away from (a misdemeanor) and was then chased by National Park
police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stopped once and a policeman
approached him with his gun drawn, and Bijan drove away, eventually hitting 57
mph in a 50mph zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was pulled over
again by the park police – who had left their jurisdiction, which is not
allowed unless a felony has been committed – and as he again tried to drive
away…..they shot him <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nine times, </i>and
then claimed they shot him in self defense. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bijan was on life support for ten days and his family had
very limited access to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was taken
off the respirator and died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/u6qehqHx29w7s0gx3-C15DsIE6A=/1440x0/smart/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YVQEAIX3ZYI6PD3GFXYLSS5ZRI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bijan Ghaisar, who was shot to death by U.S. Park Police in November 2017, at a picnic in April 2015. (Sima Marvastian)" border="0" height="265" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/u6qehqHx29w7s0gx3-C15DsIE6A=/1440x0/smart/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YVQEAIX3ZYI6PD3GFXYLSS5ZRI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Since then the Park Police stonewalled any investigation,
with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke refusing to even release the names of
the officers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two DC congressmen and
Senators Kain, Warner, and Grassley have gotten involved and the FBI has it
“under investigation” but earlier this month the Park Service issued an
announcement that the two officers would not be charged (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Bijan_Ghaisar">more details
here</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday’s Washington Post
had an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/11/17/pain-still-prominent-two-years-after-police-shooting-death-bijan-ghaisar/">article
about the protest</a> I saw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suffice to say, the balloon of satisfaction with and
gratitude for my country was popped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two
hundred and forty years of “progress” that lasted through many wars and
countless trials tribulations have resulted in….this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The impeachment of an amoral president on one
end of the mall and at the other end a protest for an unarmed guy shot dead by
police for a misdemeanor, with the cops' superiors holding his family and any
investigation at bay, with no regard for congressional pressure?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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I am not proud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</style>Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-29004085840277297492019-11-07T06:40:00.002-07:002019-11-07T06:40:42.685-07:00Elijah Cummings and integrity
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<br />
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There are 435 representatives in Congress, and with only a
few exceptions, I know very few of them beyond Utah’s congressional delegation;
for those names I do recognize, I usually can’t remember which state they
represent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there was one name I
did know:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elijah Cummings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that he had humble roots, had an
oversized voice and personality, and was a fierce defender of those who didn’t
have the advantages typically enjoyed by middle class American, both in his
district and across the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
impressed that this representative from an area that’s about as urban as they
come was keen to visit Utah, and indeed enjoyed our canyon country and even a
river trip on the Colorado; probably a big deal for a guy from inner-city
Baltimore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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On Thursday there was a memorial service for Congressman
Cummings, and it was clear from the many luminaries present that he was about
as well-respected as a member of congress can be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I listened to a few of the eulogies, and was
struck by a recurring theme encapsulated in one word that seemed to guide Mr.
Cummings throughout his life and his congressional tenure:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The dictionary defines integrity as:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given this very simple definition, it is
difficult to argue against this being the single most important characteristic
for people to possess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone may be
highly intelligent, but without integrity that intelligence can be - and many
times is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- used to manipulate
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone may be very passionate,
but without integrity, passion can becomes the annoying or dangerous zealotry
of an ideologue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone may be a
world-class athlete, but without integrity, they risk losing the respect,
adulation, and the riches associated with world-class athleticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone may have been able to assume a high
level of political power, but without integrity, they create rancor,
divisiveness, and distrust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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These days it seems that the very concept of integrity is
under siege.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether you agree with his
policies or not, it seems clear that Donald Trump does not consistently exhibit
“the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, and moral
uprightness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Elijah Cummings was
alive, Trump not only had no problem insulting him and his district, but also
had the gall to call Cummings – who was black – a “racist.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was but one of the many insults and
mischaracterizations that Trump has perpetuated throughout his presidency, and
while this is “disturbing in the extreme” (as our oh-so-bold freshman senator
might be inclined to say), what is more disturbing is that Trump’s amoral
behavior seems to be trickling - or maybe even streaming<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From Cummings’ fellow congressmen who continue to explain away or shrug
off the President’s boorish behavior, to the Utah state legislature that vainly
tries to convince the state’s populace that taxing poor people more and rich
people less will be good for The People, to a rural Utah county that creates a
ham-handed process to disenfranchise a large chunk of their voters, to the
FedEx guy taking bribes, people seem to be more and more emboldened to forget
their integrity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Or are they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
mayoral election features two candidates that are similar in many ways, yet have
different takes on solutions to our city’s issues. But both of them – and most
of the primary candidates as well - have, if nothing else, shown that they are
people of indeed “strong moral principles.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even Jason Chaffetz<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- who has
crossed the line of integrity plenty of times – was clearly quite sincere in
his condolences for Congressman Cummings, since Chaffetz had notably worked
closely with him and hosted him in Utah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And there is no doubt that there are innumerable small, good deeds that
are done for others in our state and across the country every day that go
unreported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps we have glimpsed the
bottom of our moral morass, and there’s nowhere to go but up?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hopefully, this era is fleeting, and many of us – including,
hopefully our congressional representatives – still have at least a small moral
compass tucked away in our pockets that we can pull out periodically to ask -
as Congressman Cummings often did: “is that the best that we can do?” and
exercise the kind of integrity that this honorable man embodied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-55574277099439813352019-10-31T16:30:00.000-06:002019-11-01T06:29:05.265-06:00An Ode to Colin and Gina<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHshij48LBSGyx2YvbXAa9zzNXqxPGBoeGc4-XDiCD93vU2Kxn0ZFhoDslyiRNnGHBF5YsoKXKhxyI-4sY7FRQ917eQA_g2uUUn0_ZuFQ6z2m5ufaCn62hkXLN0E9XfIc9Ijm3jda68sx/s1600/IMG_2757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHshij48LBSGyx2YvbXAa9zzNXqxPGBoeGc4-XDiCD93vU2Kxn0ZFhoDslyiRNnGHBF5YsoKXKhxyI-4sY7FRQ917eQA_g2uUUn0_ZuFQ6z2m5ufaCn62hkXLN0E9XfIc9Ijm3jda68sx/s400/IMG_2757.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The social journey to the late-September wedding of Colin
Hackett and Gina Barendrick started a surprisingly long time ago:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>almost 50 years, well before they were even
born!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It eventually took a circuitous
path through the eons that included a 90<sup>th</sup> birthday party and
ultimately that zone where so many relationships are initiated:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a river trip. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three years ago our mom Gin was charging down the road to
her 90<sup>th</sup> birthday, and if there’s any good reason for celebrating,
it’s making it that long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her brother <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arno_H._Denecke">Arno</a> Denecke and his
wife Selma had a fantastic brood of 5 kids that my brother Paul and I grew up
with (well, he was able to “grow up” with them; I was a bit off the back, but
they still indulged and tolerated their annoying younger cousin) and the entire
Denecke clan trooped out to Utah to help celebrate the new “nonagerian” (an
octogenarian is someone in their 80’s, the lucky 100+-ers are “centenarians”)
and it was a fabulous 3 day celebration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnkjPGnZE0CqAw0b681Nk6Qplpz0rtt-jT7WKQdXf-UvjJInU5esFEjcZaweGagMqXC2YLR4ji7nrUgR0cD83oxVLSqub2iFwt2WTdaQHirfPq9eaWN62MQNDdp05hE7xE9ncY7yX_2XA/s1600/14184575_10154436710152071_7743855834184991191_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="280" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdnkjPGnZE0CqAw0b681Nk6Qplpz0rtt-jT7WKQdXf-UvjJInU5esFEjcZaweGagMqXC2YLR4ji7nrUgR0cD83oxVLSqub2iFwt2WTdaQHirfPq9eaWN62MQNDdp05hE7xE9ncY7yX_2XA/s400/14184575_10154436710152071_7743855834184991191_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was so fun, in fact, that we started talking about
getting The Family together again, and someone pointed out that we Diegels were
big river trip folks and gosh we should do a river trip!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sorta nodded enthusiastically but thought
to myself: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“well, given everyone’s
schedules and such that’ll never happen once we all go back to our regular
lives we’ll all forget about that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, to my surprise there was plenty of follow up to this idea, and
sure enough some months later – as the river permit application season loomed –
the conversation was renewed, and the consensus arose that the 4<sup>th</sup>
of July timeframe would be the most convenient for everyone, so we were all
going to put in for a few dates around that time, with the focus being on the
Middle Fork of the Salmon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Middle Fork is second only to the Grand Canyon in its
length, stature in the annals of American rivers. It’s 100 miles long, super
beautiful in (quasi) wilderness, with many soakable hot springs, and exciting
but very manageable rapids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTaT1jtJPsn7d4goDpgxHrFJnHUAMrm17wHyAnYHLMHo6upx5XTrKh5WopaIEYcqGTtb2nGB7HVxZnksY_xB3RRk5Vcw2exTCckatb1Cio_nVzrGEBSTFdqklI-KGuQOl0VQvuNGVg4AR/s1600/fgaLKkaw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTaT1jtJPsn7d4goDpgxHrFJnHUAMrm17wHyAnYHLMHo6upx5XTrKh5WopaIEYcqGTtb2nGB7HVxZnksY_xB3RRk5Vcw2exTCckatb1Cio_nVzrGEBSTFdqklI-KGuQOl0VQvuNGVg4AR/s640/fgaLKkaw.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhuCRbL9Z-Jb_CqXNFyObhwxEYZuUolM8hzwMPSZzV99IvqDBXLXWy7lzCQiTXxFUqqJRWqeS0Uv6mFR0F9vx44sj8NG5fA0NZNK6j4ZmTnJKJ_WR777n6H6qSe4nUzUks_nZ0MFwRTX-/s1600/KBn4eusA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhuCRbL9Z-Jb_CqXNFyObhwxEYZuUolM8hzwMPSZzV99IvqDBXLXWy7lzCQiTXxFUqqJRWqeS0Uv6mFR0F9vx44sj8NG5fA0NZNK6j4ZmTnJKJ_WR777n6H6qSe4nUzUks_nZ0MFwRTX-/s640/KBn4eusA.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
As such,
it’s also super popular:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>10,000 people
apply for permits each year, and 387 permits are given out, for a ratio of
1:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had about a dozen of us putting
in for permits, so the odds weren’t with us, and we were targeting the most popular
time:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not only post-peak flows which
ensured a safer trip, but also over a holiday weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I gamely sent in my permit application along
with the rest of the family, and once again thought:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“well, that’ll never happen.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it was with great surprise that after the
lottery date in early February I got a group email from Cousin David Denecke
saying “We have a winner!” and thus we had ourselves a river trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtZMOSMUbDnD-7LQ7lhC6Qv_zYcWTpXk1WO_cayC2dDNU6CTfINdIEy0UllCalzxplJ8JylcAYRDALeXg4RQIghzbcTP-bHcKAmIqJlRYswQM21p9hv6dN1b_CbuuInBAj0Pi_ZeWra7h/s1600/MCFqqLUA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtZMOSMUbDnD-7LQ7lhC6Qv_zYcWTpXk1WO_cayC2dDNU6CTfINdIEy0UllCalzxplJ8JylcAYRDALeXg4RQIghzbcTP-bHcKAmIqJlRYswQM21p9hv6dN1b_CbuuInBAj0Pi_ZeWra7h/s640/MCFqqLUA.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the typical chaos at the put in.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTg3pGHMkKE7hf4Y48tTnQrk5XCHqRPeaSb0B4r_61kW3_pxj044JUkcpQLKFYQv0kUqhpeQyc-cAkFk04q4LWuJclpPaWAa4dNB4XEhGMDSrrLmnAbrOB3S1bb-caCN0KNLL86ZEClROx/s1600/n4X4IueQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTg3pGHMkKE7hf4Y48tTnQrk5XCHqRPeaSb0B4r_61kW3_pxj044JUkcpQLKFYQv0kUqhpeQyc-cAkFk04q4LWuJclpPaWAa4dNB4XEhGMDSrrLmnAbrOB3S1bb-caCN0KNLL86ZEClROx/s640/n4X4IueQ.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You know what they say about the family that scouts rapids together.....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Veteran river runner and consummate nice guy Brother Paul
volunteered to be the trip leader and patiently put together a great trip,
which ultimately became a 3-family trip as we were fortunate enough to combine
forces with the families Martin/Gray and Adams/Wingate expert rafters to have a
20-odd strong contingent of floaters.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There were a couple of token friends invited as well, including Gina,
who was about as brash and funny as they come, and it was clear that she was
there to liven up the party (as I was to learn:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">she always does) <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnkdOCuckrJCZJm_279wsA6JTIIUtxBX2AdxFYO3lKAQMEhqFnHNTu_Walhi4tLm_f0F2SwDqldamYI03mwodBC1PtNOFw9QzANvbu2M4c1bWsXm1Hg8F-jwWZNW7YCKbc7dCfAx1ww_Q/s1600/cbBhBzoA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnkdOCuckrJCZJm_279wsA6JTIIUtxBX2AdxFYO3lKAQMEhqFnHNTu_Walhi4tLm_f0F2SwDqldamYI03mwodBC1PtNOFw9QzANvbu2M4c1bWsXm1Hg8F-jwWZNW7YCKbc7dCfAx1ww_Q/s400/cbBhBzoA.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this girl knows how to party!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
and fish the shit outta the Middle Fork, since she’s
sort of a semi-pro fisherman.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjhyphenhyphenWtF7cIXZbPne0dles4lA_D88kDUqn9XMltKzh-VOYYOPud0J1_0EKNP8MPOdJuBX2PVx7uis1iuiSIs9BA6WUuLQsRrJk6I3cIXqgdoCZuDJrVaBuESb-daT8VZrooAOTbSiYwPlL/s1600/5rQC8QvA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjhyphenhyphenWtF7cIXZbPne0dles4lA_D88kDUqn9XMltKzh-VOYYOPud0J1_0EKNP8MPOdJuBX2PVx7uis1iuiSIs9BA6WUuLQsRrJk6I3cIXqgdoCZuDJrVaBuESb-daT8VZrooAOTbSiYwPlL/s640/5rQC8QvA.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For me it was great; living quite a ways away from our
extended family I had spent too little time with them, and river trips are a
great way to connect and reconnect with new and old friends and relatives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYg6ZsiOAv0yFx1mePWADHEyrvSC7Q9Q4spBsDh1Z0pSUfu9TyNj5UVliX1KWT0RUnVhWJzPFBtPXFx4HH44oja8T2efgfaGMLSgmn9hzoWDJ-rjk0R-Oor9e9sOI604beeAcE1Se4nkFx/s1600/EhBJq9ZQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYg6ZsiOAv0yFx1mePWADHEyrvSC7Q9Q4spBsDh1Z0pSUfu9TyNj5UVliX1KWT0RUnVhWJzPFBtPXFx4HH44oja8T2efgfaGMLSgmn9hzoWDJ-rjk0R-Oor9e9sOI604beeAcE1Se4nkFx/s400/EhBJq9ZQ.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> we also had a simultaneous river trip AND a birthday! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of those relatives that I was keen to hang out with was
Colin Hackett.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colin is the son of my
cousin Ginger, who is named after our mother Gin; here’s a photo of their first
meeting:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcTBi_G3JbmQTiea_c1dgOVC2AzzvonFVBpg-6xx8jP5wmeaoao8Ka_Yi0vcbpWjUPBRQkUluequ86QyqEdFsPUdgOui8sAFA3drdiHJWkaGCz-wSw_iSOM1s9Y6ohlfVzPenLmsxs1M9/s1600/IMG_2792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcTBi_G3JbmQTiea_c1dgOVC2AzzvonFVBpg-6xx8jP5wmeaoao8Ka_Yi0vcbpWjUPBRQkUluequ86QyqEdFsPUdgOui8sAFA3drdiHJWkaGCz-wSw_iSOM1s9Y6ohlfVzPenLmsxs1M9/s640/IMG_2792.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
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And Ginger <o:p></o:p>more recently:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOd6eiJdEmVF-v78eMjWoSbJ_Dz54SvpFqC8eJJ5_pQpZq4dwUvUYq52WKTM-MUBXSk9JYYBk6leaiULb5VtkjpKAqiquAuDgOsVcMYA0_Oxruv_ptLI8fJ_nqNwx6Hw6g9JhE9xImnU27/s1600/60516273_10219254392455661_3580628154940653568_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="960" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOd6eiJdEmVF-v78eMjWoSbJ_Dz54SvpFqC8eJJ5_pQpZq4dwUvUYq52WKTM-MUBXSk9JYYBk6leaiULb5VtkjpKAqiquAuDgOsVcMYA0_Oxruv_ptLI8fJ_nqNwx6Hw6g9JhE9xImnU27/s400/60516273_10219254392455661_3580628154940653568_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And by an amazing small world coincidence, Ginger realized
that she had dated Gina’s dad wayyyy back in the day (high school?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>College?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Colin Hackett is a great guy:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fairly taciturn but super smart and
passionate, with a career as a lawyer specializing in helping Oregon Latinos
navigate the byzantine American legal world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Colin was married and divorced, and on the third day of his trip I was
pleased to have just Colin and I together on a raft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we rowed I asked him if he had a lady
these days, and he said he’d been working the online dating scene for a while,
and regaled me with some hilarious<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- and
horrifying! - tales of that scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we
floated, a thought occurred to me:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You
know, that Gina….she’s quite a sparkplug, and she has made it pretty clear that
she’s quite single.” To which Colin replied – a bit quickly – “Oh, I
know!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hmmmm…..<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5p3p9h042eQlZ63CqkxTZLa4AewWpoGzDOT_A2fwrDfz6K3VR4GGFYZlpDvKoMCJaayU-rW3FpyyfB6_FevpDOorv2YWhcNRMAn1qvj7-Qqo8NYvkvpmd9_o2pPyWZC8XRkCbbnJY24lN/s1600/2Xh_HfZA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5p3p9h042eQlZ63CqkxTZLa4AewWpoGzDOT_A2fwrDfz6K3VR4GGFYZlpDvKoMCJaayU-rW3FpyyfB6_FevpDOorv2YWhcNRMAn1qvj7-Qqo8NYvkvpmd9_o2pPyWZC8XRkCbbnJY24lN/s640/2Xh_HfZA.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hey, there....you catchin' anything? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For better or worse, river trips create a pretty intimate
environment for participants.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not only
do you get to spend good quality time floating on raft bobbing down a river,
but there’s lots of camp time to work with and hang with as you all are doing a
bit of groveling in the sand and on the river together:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing
- absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in
boats.” </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">― </span></span><span class="authorortitle"><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Kenneth Grahame, </span></b></span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1061285"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue";">The Wind in the Willows</span></b></a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And thus, for better or worse, we all had a pretty front row
seat to watch a romance blossom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
can be awkward for the participants in said budding romance, but in this case,
it was even more acute:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colin’s mom was
one of the participants!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Ashley later
so perfectly said:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It doesn’t matter if
you are 12, 15, 18, 23, or 40; having your mom watch you try to hook up with
someone is awk-ward!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they didn’t
too much care, and everyone was happy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLQc0g9500H1MEFIRGABQVsRbv2LQexKZrCE1R4SIxkpG9cOp48QKreeRdHIpnLM4sZlBo4b9ZAWFbPSAEd00HtyP8C7WEhqGgJylGKpcP1ZUjeg9RPnSoXBAotaoKjSeyiIVe2MVfnws/s1600/tE7Q4Wsw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLQc0g9500H1MEFIRGABQVsRbv2LQexKZrCE1R4SIxkpG9cOp48QKreeRdHIpnLM4sZlBo4b9ZAWFbPSAEd00HtyP8C7WEhqGgJylGKpcP1ZUjeg9RPnSoXBAotaoKjSeyiIVe2MVfnws/s640/tE7Q4Wsw.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, many riparian relationships wither as the romance
of the river environment fades away, but I noticed that there were lots of
social media posts with pictures of Colin and Gina doing quite a bit of this
and that, and I heard through the grapevine that it was “going well” and they
were super happy, which of course warmed our hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then last spring we heard the news:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colin had prostate cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yikes. A lotta men get prostate cancer, but
not at the ripe young age of 40.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But taking advantage of their respective
strengths of boundless energy and strong stoicism, Gina and Colin attacked this
challenge head on, got a ton of input from top level docs, and got some fairly
intense treatment, that of course took a bit of a toll on his body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But not on their mind and spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not quite sure of the timing, but
sometime in the middle of this challenging chapter, they (apparently; I’m not
privy to the details) decided that – and I’m paraphrasing a bit here, because
it’s what I assume they said: “Life in general is short and uncertain, so we
are getting married!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was much
rejoicing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus, on a chilly weekend in late September, on the banks of
the lovely Metolius river in Central Oregon at the cabin that Ginger and her
most-excellent husband Dave have cultivated as a getaway for family and friends
over generations, Colin and Gina sealed the deal, with the honorable River Trip
permit-getter David Denecke appropriately doing the presiding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvSIryl95XWZvYJvjcup4GkUOVpbWKFL41nChDR8awckp8LW7jNRfBY_bB8wPpc4sLbTC-XRRhGcCAI7UVWo6WAqHvWXhJbs7mgVYRqiGBced-GnTKVtKy3062TbhAFWfH6Cajl5MH0Sv/s1600/IMG_2764.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="640" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvSIryl95XWZvYJvjcup4GkUOVpbWKFL41nChDR8awckp8LW7jNRfBY_bB8wPpc4sLbTC-XRRhGcCAI7UVWo6WAqHvWXhJbs7mgVYRqiGBced-GnTKVtKy3062TbhAFWfH6Cajl5MH0Sv/s400/IMG_2764.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Colin has not necessarily “beaten” the cancer
per se and there are treatment challenges that lie ahead, but in the meantime he
and Gina are tearing into a house remodel and are charging hard into a great
life together. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> We Diegels are pleased and honored that we were able to be part of this journey, and </span>we are all looking
forward to the next big birthday party and river trip together!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOqWEBvyxIO__C1rtgn6CY3ItZHao46YXOn2s_bEcMyHwk8TYAwI5TkXstwveLVmhXQTSUoQCZOHVYiWHCvnleAVjPbOMRVJII1YJEuOqheMQNA1fxVBRlqoUqPtUlb4Izz0Jf0tAL1OY/s1600/IMG_2773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOqWEBvyxIO__C1rtgn6CY3ItZHao46YXOn2s_bEcMyHwk8TYAwI5TkXstwveLVmhXQTSUoQCZOHVYiWHCvnleAVjPbOMRVJII1YJEuOqheMQNA1fxVBRlqoUqPtUlb4Izz0Jf0tAL1OY/s640/IMG_2773.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-88389326303258316582019-09-25T11:47:00.003-06:002019-09-25T11:47:38.280-06:00Is Colorado really that rad?
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<img alt="Nylglo 140660 Colorado State Flag,3X5 Ft" height="212" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcS34pOeutQCv4ptINggIdYjp9KQCjkQw218q_YFvQkb3ASxnB107o-Q40mR8F6HZeMEOls4N4lTC-kEapwturLfltY6fmuVgDcLfhXHUzM&usqp=CAc" width="320" /></div>
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Many years ago I was in a hut in British Columbia with a
group of friends and the hut (Fairy Meadows/Bill Putnam) is big enough to hold
two groups of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group that we
shared the hut with was from the Front Range of Colorado (aka Boulder/Denver and
environs).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were generally okay
folks, and from what we saw were generally good skiers who were doing as good a
job as we were at lapping up great powder runs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After a few days I found myself sitting with a number of them over end
o’ day beers and decided I had to know: “So, you guys clearly are good skiers
and appreciate good skiing, and you are from Colorado, so I gotta ask:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what’s the backcountry skiing like in
Colorado?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They enthusiastically took
turns telling me what it was like to be a backcountry skier in the Front Range,
and after quite some time one of them asked: “Well, what do you think?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought for a moment as I pondered my
reply, and finally shrugged and said: “I think that if I lived in Colorado, I
simply wouldn’t bother to go backcountry skiing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suffice to say, that pretty much ended that
conversation, and for that matter any subsequent conversations between them and
me for the rest of the week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Since then, I’ve done a good handful of trips to Colorado,
and even been backcountry skiing in Colorado (once, at the dire-but-stable end
of the horrific drought year of 2017-18), and I have grown to like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve done a couple of great bike tours there
with Ashley, a great bikepack trip with Fred Marmsater (<a href="https://t-dawgspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/09/bikepacking-colorados-sawatch-part-1.html">part
1</a> and <a href="https://t-dawgspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/09/bikepacking-sawatch-part-ii.html">part
2</a>), and have done a handful of mountain bike/paddling trips there to enjoy
the Animas/Piedra, Blue, Cache Le Poudre, Roaring Fork, Crystal, Yampa, Delores,
Colorado, Taylor, Arkansas, and Gunnison rivers and their nearby trails,
including the past week when Colin Gregersen and I hit up the last few of
those.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4guorjLecwyM32AjHFcOCPZtI3-wd5mHrICF_1l9DLfJZf5VfVfkHST1zmhpzXWrWxkdDV3t-Eo8iE6hzBFc5dx8lXNJhrdESYQXJrhsVLh6lBsTIk3zuO9WP9w2Mcpv1daZac5CKt9Cy/s1600/P1010151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4guorjLecwyM32AjHFcOCPZtI3-wd5mHrICF_1l9DLfJZf5VfVfkHST1zmhpzXWrWxkdDV3t-Eo8iE6hzBFc5dx8lXNJhrdESYQXJrhsVLh6lBsTIk3zuO9WP9w2Mcpv1daZac5CKt9Cy/s640/P1010151.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colin paddling Number 1 on the Arkansas River's Numbers section. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQ5K-zuLFryJ7jCLaWZJgiXurnOlAunYadspdfEFHPKkQo2zUz1HP7QqNN42rJu5ruyNF689nCDaTLeY2EGroG1P1vNzIobfMBs_2co_nUvlZ0-3Z72ggFtOTnNWygd27WeAJAtaxYq3V/s1600/IMG_2626%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQ5K-zuLFryJ7jCLaWZJgiXurnOlAunYadspdfEFHPKkQo2zUz1HP7QqNN42rJu5ruyNF689nCDaTLeY2EGroG1P1vNzIobfMBs_2co_nUvlZ0-3Z72ggFtOTnNWygd27WeAJAtaxYq3V/s640/IMG_2626%255B1%255D.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and slaying singletrack high above Crested Butte</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Every time I visit, I’m struck by salient fact:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">people love to love Colorado.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Utah there are almost daily sightings of the red “U” of
the University of Utah and the Blue “BYU” of, well, BYU on people’s cars, house
flags (like the new guy next door to us, so we are forced to see “U” daily), Tshirts, and
hats. It’s the same in every state, and it’s probably a function of
identification with an esteemed alma mater or simply a football thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Colorado is different:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people display memorabilia showing the
Colorado flag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure that University
of Colorado and Colorado State have their fans, and of course they even have
their own NFL team, but
you don’t see too much memorabilia from those institutions; instead you see
people wearing the big sunburst C hats on Tshirts, sweatshirts, and stickers on
their cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt that many Utahns
would even recognize the UT state flag, much less be proudly sporting it on
their head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So relatively speaking, Coloradans
seem like a proud lot. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYq8E60WsVs3nM4tGKNfC9zWyctBx4NQU2DK1i0ejbnnyC89rhM_oImmxRsiA7zWGWi6wHO4lloyHkLfKoCNF4WhgYNVNWv_psvvkhwV_PdJeJILkm51y7e6Mlv__fui8nof56S0Dzyp2l/s1600/P1010154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYq8E60WsVs3nM4tGKNfC9zWyctBx4NQU2DK1i0ejbnnyC89rhM_oImmxRsiA7zWGWi6wHO4lloyHkLfKoCNF4WhgYNVNWv_psvvkhwV_PdJeJILkm51y7e6Mlv__fui8nof56S0Dzyp2l/s400/P1010154.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our shuttle driver Joe was not sporting his CO flag hat or shirt this day but no doubt he has plenty. </td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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And they should be: Denver is by far the most significant
city between Chicago and the biggies of the West Coast, they have lots of nice
mountains and rivers, pretty favorable weather, and a thriving economy. But
every time I go I seem to find that people are awfully smug about it, yet<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- for sure, like everywhere – there are some
flaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My hut mates who regaled me with tales of backcountry skiing
in ‘Rado pretty much told me a narrative that to me seemed filled with traffic
(that comes in two parts:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>desperately
weaving through the gauntlet of the Front Range maze to even get close to
getting into the mountains, then tackling the 2-lane parking lot known as
I-70), big avalanche-prone terrain filled with precariously-loaded windjacked snow,
and backcountry crowds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Colorado
resorts have a skier density of 427 skier days per acre, which is over twice as
high as Utah’s 180 skier days/acre (ironically, there used to be <a href="http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/lostresorts.html">175 operating ski
resorts</a> in Colorado; now there are only 30). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But boy, those three weeks of spring skiing
after Independence Pass opens and before it all turns to suncups, the skiing is
great!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rivers are nice, but the
shortness of the good sections makes the paddling feel a bit contrived and the
prevalence of private property on the banks of many rivers and their
belligerent owners has been such an issue that American Whitewater has 4 of
their 8 staff members based in the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ah, but the mountains! The Fourteeners!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, there are 53 peaks over 14,000 feet, but
I would guess that ‘Radoans hate the fact that they are all slightly short of
California’s 14,500 foot Mt Whitney (but Cali only has eleven more fourteeners!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> If</span> I ever feel like poking a Colorado
native a little I say something like: “the great part about Colorado is that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- unlike some other western states - all your
big peaks are so easily accessible!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
long history of mining in Colorado basically created an amazing network of
mountain roads (that make for great cycling) and indeed it’s a great asset for
people who like to efficiently get into elevated mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speaking of elevation, people love to be high in
Colorado.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could of course be referring
to the tired old trope of “high” as it’s associated with their pride in being
the first to legalize pot, but I’m actually referring to the even more-tired
trope of the elevation of most Colorado places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I usually hear what elevation every ‘Radoan lives at within the first
few minutes of a conversation with them, but the truth is that I probably
already know, because I am regaled by their city signs that don’t bother with
population, just their elevation:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHangTi2lD51tr5HeLx1S4YFJk4q94P5ZSwUiUfNj5b2jVcRHSzHQWVtUpVQCZkKUMRO6EwIV92FiHNz0Ps2CduH6nTagxOUDFBB-FeEjIPUCRAFQvrd_whij129VfFNlUpA9qbSNghGe4/s1600/download+%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="312" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHangTi2lD51tr5HeLx1S4YFJk4q94P5ZSwUiUfNj5b2jVcRHSzHQWVtUpVQCZkKUMRO6EwIV92FiHNz0Ps2CduH6nTagxOUDFBB-FeEjIPUCRAFQvrd_whij129VfFNlUpA9qbSNghGe4/s200/download+%25281%2529.jpeg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbSL7_7DZE1fLijg1mvAd2iAoOLAe6DqtM-h1TUSHtz9DELblq-bc_FSYLgmsQREbvLZaeGM3zX7_6PlbwhXIvLv4-cpVJbtia6l5MqFEuR_-Z1Y3WDrWuAKO-ejbntSHPvuLGvG_Uu4U/s1600/download+%25282%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="303" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXbSL7_7DZE1fLijg1mvAd2iAoOLAe6DqtM-h1TUSHtz9DELblq-bc_FSYLgmsQREbvLZaeGM3zX7_6PlbwhXIvLv4-cpVJbtia6l5MqFEuR_-Z1Y3WDrWuAKO-ejbntSHPvuLGvG_Uu4U/s200/download+%25282%2529.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0VUP3ZWs4IgCG2X9wUmiXhzMss-LmXW8mD6Zo2oR0HfRQh7yalV8pYGVU0oTLFM5dgm9PEmf_TF0lkQYE_xNh9tSVhB7Xuzp5LSYs8y2jvKxyY3cfD2km_6VdRN9X4ScbN0SIk-jBNym/s1600/download.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="315" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0VUP3ZWs4IgCG2X9wUmiXhzMss-LmXW8mD6Zo2oR0HfRQh7yalV8pYGVU0oTLFM5dgm9PEmf_TF0lkQYE_xNh9tSVhB7Xuzp5LSYs8y2jvKxyY3cfD2km_6VdRN9X4ScbN0SIk-jBNym/s200/download.jpeg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuUOufYt96Sccso7_xneB9mpdyowDIP8CfsZ4Tb-gCbbZJaaFQsn_x-1pG3kvMWPH7vAnKfxf-xHl6yDiT-zcKAIUyH2KVPm5ARndpXdK1I7sUpXv6mADZ2Gvgh4RyKhSvBs37M5pn5Qzu/s1600/images+%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuUOufYt96Sccso7_xneB9mpdyowDIP8CfsZ4Tb-gCbbZJaaFQsn_x-1pG3kvMWPH7vAnKfxf-xHl6yDiT-zcKAIUyH2KVPm5ARndpXdK1I7sUpXv6mADZ2Gvgh4RyKhSvBs37M5pn5Qzu/s200/images+%25281%2529.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHSGwUU5f9OjTyOwZdDpBEI975bITQ55o-PFWW2AKzOiSWv99lnbSRLAWXm59P1jiWcTPTs_MVdECMYSADhMsncpSyVPCaB_RkW00Wo8aBqyJd_NdUTZEHMGbpmX9aur0Y5HbwgbPquSY/s1600/images+%25282%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="258" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHSGwUU5f9OjTyOwZdDpBEI975bITQ55o-PFWW2AKzOiSWv99lnbSRLAWXm59P1jiWcTPTs_MVdECMYSADhMsncpSyVPCaB_RkW00Wo8aBqyJd_NdUTZEHMGbpmX9aur0Y5HbwgbPquSY/s200/images+%25282%2529.jpeg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_cutc5xxLPd_98iBlCmJ2eMC1qvbVleRbU4v43bvAGlkIPKZjUN4TXA4mjndAo93N0AJkX5rOGoMbz5L0TrkI2F4chShRb4cAUekzYviGjNDkdKM4nHHqcolpNqZgzYsbX_59jlVk2kX/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="304" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_cutc5xxLPd_98iBlCmJ2eMC1qvbVleRbU4v43bvAGlkIPKZjUN4TXA4mjndAo93N0AJkX5rOGoMbz5L0TrkI2F4chShRb4cAUekzYviGjNDkdKM4nHHqcolpNqZgzYsbX_59jlVk2kX/s200/images.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHZWn8Jbu5q6kthfSLKTSQYVodB3VAsQIldzgFKjpO1jnwrwTn6dIVanf3OU_GF3DOqzvNcD3GZvcDbfaLBCgeNN7PlWVThm5Nv2VmwpjkUsUlhTwNLFlwmnvnPx1YwVVwxbWPnWpc6y5/s1600/download+%25283%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="181" data-original-width="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHZWn8Jbu5q6kthfSLKTSQYVodB3VAsQIldzgFKjpO1jnwrwTn6dIVanf3OU_GF3DOqzvNcD3GZvcDbfaLBCgeNN7PlWVThm5Nv2VmwpjkUsUlhTwNLFlwmnvnPx1YwVVwxbWPnWpc6y5/s1600/download+%25283%2529.jpeg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p>Sedgwick? and only 3500 feet? </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> and of course, the Granddaddy:</o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu7liX2YbPsBYXMG9ZpD3sZOk97FmmqnETBQEE3gILQvKaIF1hPtpCSehtAToYiZ_6GqgdHSWeOdh_-fWoDHMqcZfut5JnRostpPJiks0hN0zQjgysCzBPIPUdKQdSBBvLkp-2oxkms674/s1600/download+%25284%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="173" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu7liX2YbPsBYXMG9ZpD3sZOk97FmmqnETBQEE3gILQvKaIF1hPtpCSehtAToYiZ_6GqgdHSWeOdh_-fWoDHMqcZfut5JnRostpPJiks0hN0zQjgysCzBPIPUdKQdSBBvLkp-2oxkms674/s400/download+%25284%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Actually, it probably saves money; the elevation never
changes, so the signs don’t need to every after each census!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps Coloradoans are just exhibiting yet another example
of the tribalism that seems to be getting ever-more entrenched in our society.
I just saw a quote from a book called “Sapiens” that “Humans evolved to think
of people as divided into us and them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So apparently it’s natural for “us” to think of “them” as having lesser
mountains/beauty/recreation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And the tribalism can be also get to the fraternal level; Colorado is the only place I know where people actively cultivate "secret" trails that the kool kids try to keep the gumbies away from. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, anyone who lives in Colorado who is reading this
is probably at best offended (but I’ve probably lost them by now) and at worst
furious and can’t wait to take me out and kick my sorry ass by skiing the likes
of <a href="https://www.wildsnow.com/243/davenport-beidleman-nail-hairy-new-route-on-capitol-pyramid-falls-again/">Capitol
or Pyramid Peaks</a>, running <a href="http://mattmahoney.net/nolans14/">Nolan’s
14</a> or <a href="https://hardrock100.com/">Hardrock</a>, paddling the <a href="http://coloradokayak.blogspot.com/2010/08/crystal-gorge-2010.html">Crystal
Gorge</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Hv8laVGYg">Yule Creek</a>,
riding the <a href="https://bikepacking.com/event/2019-colorado-trail-race/">Colorado
Trail Race,</a> climbing <a href="https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105744826/the-diamond">the Diamond</a>, or climbing the walls of the very intimidating Black Canyon:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1a_0vectrCTMVrRR-3HxlEuNsmy92F1ptT717sqAEcHIUaekgyIvtouHT4GUTmwjsCyadoTf6IhTHJne34s_oHM9vTPeSx65W4_CfbD4pIoRySjmIImOmUus3DK6MyRzs52fwLwGbkDj/s1600/IMG_9923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1a_0vectrCTMVrRR-3HxlEuNsmy92F1ptT717sqAEcHIUaekgyIvtouHT4GUTmwjsCyadoTf6IhTHJne34s_oHM9vTPeSx65W4_CfbD4pIoRySjmIImOmUus3DK6MyRzs52fwLwGbkDj/s640/IMG_9923.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Colorado does have great stuff,
and I do indeed keep going back: last week I declared that the mountain biking there
is better than Utah’s (there seem to be more trails and they seem to me to be
rockier/more technical/longer:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfhkyyDk-Dh0LU8O9AYsUJty3vhii-cpi3dP00-Niapo4U5nI7ENYrkYQkBZvKPBT_Qjx4mqcAmkO_9s_ZZ8pnr39wG4FPVqmXPI9Phs0y7O2Ctw8ocwM1tuQD24SlZr0pPBgqsJnf-Oo/s1600/IMG_9804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfhkyyDk-Dh0LU8O9AYsUJty3vhii-cpi3dP00-Niapo4U5nI7ENYrkYQkBZvKPBT_Qjx4mqcAmkO_9s_ZZ8pnr39wG4FPVqmXPI9Phs0y7O2Ctw8ocwM1tuQD24SlZr0pPBgqsJnf-Oo/s640/IMG_9804.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I walked a lot of sections of this trail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6psslZTw2nQAN1IrPCjIidFnEmVv_fOVEtwKsRxhHdcp-i3cipd-2CZfQkI7ygD7lRRBu6GorCrvXCQiVcX-xAu6t1LU-RWAUjS5wR3a14rtiZB-gtgnFykk4LcdZzD2SQff2gRDRE81/s1600/IMG_9813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6psslZTw2nQAN1IrPCjIidFnEmVv_fOVEtwKsRxhHdcp-i3cipd-2CZfQkI7ygD7lRRBu6GorCrvXCQiVcX-xAu6t1LU-RWAUjS5wR3a14rtiZB-gtgnFykk4LcdZzD2SQff2gRDRE81/s640/IMG_9813.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't do this much on Park City's buffed trails; if “better” is “harder” then it’s better in Colorado</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There’s
a lot to be said for accessible mountains (once you get into them), short and good
rivers are better than an almost utter lack of rivers (Utah), depending on
where you are there’s decent proximity to the (Utah) desert (which, to be fair,
Utahns also love to love), and the west slope’s fruit-growing ability is
legendary:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKMS0HTOtcesUuPicTtU5tV0PBI1vWvdLmhSfHkSxh6Gyu532Wr_B5y60Rdptrhnpc1YcsE5DLcwEzfzplms97MbjNl3yyZa41MvLagrPXJODK5G6z9y02dJvNhr4DqXOfJmGK_1pq3mV/s1600/IMG_2742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKMS0HTOtcesUuPicTtU5tV0PBI1vWvdLmhSfHkSxh6Gyu532Wr_B5y60Rdptrhnpc1YcsE5DLcwEzfzplms97MbjNl3yyZa41MvLagrPXJODK5G6z9y02dJvNhr4DqXOfJmGK_1pq3mV/s400/IMG_2742.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">them Palisade peaches are big, juicy, and tasty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s also refreshing that Colorado’s civic leadership
understands the value of recreation and invests in it:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">there are kayak play parks in every town with
a river (including downtown Denver), many, many miles of nice and/or convenient
bike paths, ice climbing parks, and the state seems to be a fierce protector of
existing open spaces and actively promotes trail building and use, which
ultimately contribute to the state’s reputation and economic success.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Contrast this to Utah’s leadership, which
inexplicably ignores examples like the incredible economic growth that has
happened around the original Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument and instead
values federally-subsidized grazing for a handful of ranchers and supporting the
dying coal industry in addition to trying to sell land to extractive uses over
the recreation industry (though Colorado also was one of the first states to
really embrace fracking, among other extractive industry endeavors).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So while anyone from Cool-orado probably would angrily tell
me to “get out and stay out!” of their lovely state, I’ll no doubt continue to
return and enjoy what Colorado has to offer, and instead of poking people I’ll
be outwardly envious of so many 14ers, admire their many little rivers, sing
the praises of their mountain biking, shake my head at how great it is that
they have legal weed I don’t smoke, and of course ask them:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“and remind me again at what elevation live
at?!!?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zAZWfunbD8Usxg6GigmXn9vyWnY8TgYZKQeE3S2XIrAzt4fcXlJroRTjHpIDJKEuHgVJ8IidJRfWZUD4kvZQiGAwXx_bjK9rVmvmhZpAVLLNYMp6iVShI8mh0Wnn-O9iZ9lFDN3uxq0-/s1600/IMG_9872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zAZWfunbD8Usxg6GigmXn9vyWnY8TgYZKQeE3S2XIrAzt4fcXlJroRTjHpIDJKEuHgVJ8IidJRfWZUD4kvZQiGAwXx_bjK9rVmvmhZpAVLLNYMp6iVShI8mh0Wnn-O9iZ9lFDN3uxq0-/s640/IMG_9872.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yee-haw! I'll be back! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-78119530143211602572019-09-08T08:51:00.000-06:002019-09-08T08:55:01.479-06:00Middle Kings - on the water. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSplxYz_rh-uqazSfJVBobN1MEZSAoRx08S2p4RJcIACiKhXtg9rEko4tHSUZt0WjltN3qnJIafSYhBX6CdjH4j2efyFdFju9RUadyYJmdeh8jh5bKeGz7OXHFdUbPhS3DIhwscPxPaU5/s1600/IMG_6044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSplxYz_rh-uqazSfJVBobN1MEZSAoRx08S2p4RJcIACiKhXtg9rEko4tHSUZt0WjltN3qnJIafSYhBX6CdjH4j2efyFdFju9RUadyYJmdeh8jh5bKeGz7OXHFdUbPhS3DIhwscPxPaU5/s640/IMG_6044.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Baker cooly paddling away from a nice drop in the heart of the canyon. This pic and all the rest are by Dan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The moment had come; we’d hiked way into the Middle Fork of
the Kings river with our boats, there was enough (too much?) water, the crew
was psyched, and it was time to blow up our boats and get on the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Despite the thunder of the waterfall and the adjacent hard
granite slab we were perched on that had a pretty decent slope towards the
waterfall (watch your rollable gear as you pack up!) we all had slept well, and
we hiked the remaining mile or so up towards the confluence of Dusy and
Palisade creeks where the Middle Kings officially begins. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As we were geared up and ready to put on, Dan – being the
Swiftwater Rescue instructor that he is – suggested we have a discussion about
safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dan, Jeff, and John have paddled
together a lot on challenging rivers and know each others’ strengths and
characteristics well, but even though I’d paddled with Jeff this summer it was
still a new dynamic, and I was happy to oblige.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course, we’d had two full days of hiking to chitchat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- and I do that a lot! – but trudging along a
trail is a far cry from firing down a steepass river in the middle of nowhere,
so it’s good to establish strong connections, communication, and
expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I won’t hedge here; I
was nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty clear to me
from our hike up that this was going to be the Real Deal trip; even though
there was a nice trail along the river, this was a strong team that was capable
of paddling a lot of it and was intent upon that, I hadn’t done a river of
this magnitude in a long time (I had mentioned this to Dan and John a coupla
times on the hike up, and they no doubt were wondering “well, what the hell are
you doing here then?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which would have been a fair
question!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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With that, we put on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As with every challenging river, we simply worked our way downward in
the typical fashion:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>peering over
horizon lines, getting out to scout, setting safety for the bigger ones, and
firing down a lot of great rapids. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The drops were big, but were of the granite slide type that
Jeff and I had done on our upper Cherry and upper Merced runs, so we had a
better sense of what rapids would go and what the friction/speed would be like
with our pack rafts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, like those
runs, there was enough water that the hydraulics at the bases of the slides
were pretty meaty, and while the packrafts can be good at skimming over holes
if you can keep the bow up, they also descend slides more slowly than hardshell
boats and naturally buckle a little when they hit holes and this combo can buck
the boat back into the hole, so we had to adjust our expectations of success
accordingly, which generally worked out well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqy_U-7tn9tncnNSn8zQFQ4D2gMuAaM-u8zRPmtuX6VA48zlUZZmhdnkXij-iXDWDfVrDBCKlytIQVfVGWZpZXoqiuz-hiJ9yYKpJjcoW45bwtdTMMbscy7A8eH16R1qfFx88rpBJgr5H/s1600/IMG_5892+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1600" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqy_U-7tn9tncnNSn8zQFQ4D2gMuAaM-u8zRPmtuX6VA48zlUZZmhdnkXij-iXDWDfVrDBCKlytIQVfVGWZpZXoqiuz-hiJ9yYKpJjcoW45bwtdTMMbscy7A8eH16R1qfFx88rpBJgr5H/s640/IMG_5892+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me keeping my bow up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As I expected, Dan and John were very solid paddlers and
Jeff</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">- as the only non-hardsheller in
the group – continues to ascend a steep curve of super strong pack raft
paddling, and things generally went well, though we all took our own swims; we
all have fairly solid pack raft rolls, but the occasional hole thumpings,
head/shoulder rock bashing, or up-against-the-wall roll attempts brought us out
of our boats, fortunately only briefly with no lost gear.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaq279wx2oLkGHkY0CrtRWwVBzwmRGQIzDKA_7xRycCYVaWKcdpTa9OhzGwAlCmOt8MBxbp6YCDMUzi9uJuBE3ovz8UGUtWmhCLWjJ5tWp6IC0JYqKB1UbfxGJP-bTqNTUnk-O0xrbc32z/s1600/IMG_6030+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1600" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaq279wx2oLkGHkY0CrtRWwVBzwmRGQIzDKA_7xRycCYVaWKcdpTa9OhzGwAlCmOt8MBxbp6YCDMUzi9uJuBE3ovz8UGUtWmhCLWjJ5tWp6IC0JYqKB1UbfxGJP-bTqNTUnk-O0xrbc32z/s640/IMG_6030+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">John was willing to give one of the biggest slides a go, and it was an impressive mount up:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bMSn4K-uOZV1rd1L0lbF1rHbfQ-X0MAmjWZGUds_HQ5oUFNnp1XDQ4Y1FkL8IzEDsoMwHguk9i56QOpAo8jcCdYMZF-xhTxHL_yN_NUc-GvFTcKr2EW34MJyMkIj08B_A93T41pNV0Ig/s1600/IMG_5907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bMSn4K-uOZV1rd1L0lbF1rHbfQ-X0MAmjWZGUds_HQ5oUFNnp1XDQ4Y1FkL8IzEDsoMwHguk9i56QOpAo8jcCdYMZF-xhTxHL_yN_NUc-GvFTcKr2EW34MJyMkIj08B_A93T41pNV0Ig/s640/IMG_5907.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We were all concerned about the hydraulic at the end, but there was a weakness in it that seemed bustable, and combined the speed of the concentrated flow at the bottom was impressive:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fRSi_yjbLQozF3iAEx9ZJLU_fU1_RQ7x9WAiXoOT73jc-UPRpo5tcVZXkPOHzDCFhNi-c6sBcT9vY1G99G7b2rXTP9HgqJ6b6R-E1-Bvps-9JypPL0UL2FfEm8qNyzz33I2VmSMlxWzQ/s1600/IMG_5918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fRSi_yjbLQozF3iAEx9ZJLU_fU1_RQ7x9WAiXoOT73jc-UPRpo5tcVZXkPOHzDCFhNi-c6sBcT9vY1G99G7b2rXTP9HgqJ6b6R-E1-Bvps-9JypPL0UL2FfEm8qNyzz33I2VmSMlxWzQ/s640/IMG_5918.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But indeed, the hydraulic was powerful, and it's tentacles pulled John back into the hole from 10 feet away despite his strong exit strokes</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49G7p1xuOMFhWXKb81OsHWXUdlejHFcCa_EPvkMqZh7mLWMm01zieO_IfPrp1oXhzs-q3rsfnQxPfO_GqsSM4fEdQ5NzUnSk-Z6VN6Gssrzkj0TwiOew_OKDyzAbTuY6PFYAIZGQYJ7Fm/s1600/IMG_5930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49G7p1xuOMFhWXKb81OsHWXUdlejHFcCa_EPvkMqZh7mLWMm01zieO_IfPrp1oXhzs-q3rsfnQxPfO_GqsSM4fEdQ5NzUnSk-Z6VN6Gssrzkj0TwiOew_OKDyzAbTuY6PFYAIZGQYJ7Fm/s640/IMG_5930.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a challenging rodeo ride.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">A notable section is Waterfall Gorge; a half-mile long section with 4+/5- drops that ends in a picturesque waterfall:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-2Fm6GIJ8s5sMcjHdVqYcFM6EJKBgmeXB-gnoOah-cblcjTQ-Alx0JZCitYhcYD1NxhMkAvyeAY_jjE6fmfgzLhY_jNRvZSavHxCkySsCtB8CKVg6SS432lzRq60AATXnMM5CNKmshYt/s1600/IMG_5932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="992" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-2Fm6GIJ8s5sMcjHdVqYcFM6EJKBgmeXB-gnoOah-cblcjTQ-Alx0JZCitYhcYD1NxhMkAvyeAY_jjE6fmfgzLhY_jNRvZSavHxCkySsCtB8CKVg6SS432lzRq60AATXnMM5CNKmshYt/s640/IMG_5932.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
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I was a little spooked by the holes in the upper drops (especially the last one above the falls) and the commitment level of the gorgette, and just below this falls was a gnarly little slot, so I portaged the whole thing. However, Dan and Jeff fired it up and it went well, tho I didn't think to bring either of their cameras and John - with a sweet camera - has been busy preparing for a big move and hasn't been able to deal with his pics yet, so you'll have to imagine Dan/Jeff firing over the lip of this beauty! </div>
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California is known for it's big, marquee pool drop rapids, but the Middle Kings is different in that there are innumerable STEEP and complex boulder gardens. The going was slow with long scouts:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9hjHiDmLltjU8p_KjRyBZwFfEsC_ICfZDUnSwrh2K7UhLJjaiQY9UDi337ZsSjQFajY4FFNZM8RvN4SPLFPhL5ZLNsuM7JH3biNYGmweVpe5FVoJ5D2-ZM7GGA32SpIUFqrryPA6LOUg/s1600/IMG_5939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9hjHiDmLltjU8p_KjRyBZwFfEsC_ICfZDUnSwrh2K7UhLJjaiQY9UDi337ZsSjQFajY4FFNZM8RvN4SPLFPhL5ZLNsuM7JH3biNYGmweVpe5FVoJ5D2-ZM7GGA32SpIUFqrryPA6LOUg/s640/IMG_5939.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0-34Z7dwTdTcbFTdBEDCw9S8NybpM6jj5si1c4MsXg65CehwE8F8QMYrmisgxfOsLd9nNNwymHCNWVdjKS64o_W_e-fCj3h2g_6RUNDzL8KjzMlpIggz45fsqRW7A8Q0Cqzv-n-Bh0rK/s1600/IMG_6057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG0-34Z7dwTdTcbFTdBEDCw9S8NybpM6jj5si1c4MsXg65CehwE8F8QMYrmisgxfOsLd9nNNwymHCNWVdjKS64o_W_e-fCj3h2g_6RUNDzL8KjzMlpIggz45fsqRW7A8Q0Cqzv-n-Bh0rK/s640/IMG_6057.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRiNVDOllAUo6NP9PqxTe3dxttdXsbBVCN5tDhx2ikGa7vsigL1ecusXJ-mU4exJqWKXJG3g5aCsbc_EwKFl6eWYLoM98MA2hU6TgIsg-2xC3cFx5nLklmNQIq8CGeMOGZ7uECJNCRg5Wa/s1600/IMG_6072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRiNVDOllAUo6NP9PqxTe3dxttdXsbBVCN5tDhx2ikGa7vsigL1ecusXJ-mU4exJqWKXJG3g5aCsbc_EwKFl6eWYLoM98MA2hU6TgIsg-2xC3cFx5nLklmNQIq8CGeMOGZ7uECJNCRg5Wa/s640/IMG_6072.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->and some creative portaging:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1wfyn1qQG4rHkIwfv-Z3xUOwBUiT_F8qthf4IFsKKx239w-GDImz4OpZJzIk24SSkxnOpK7bKRKupcN9bpu1NXj2PImVYAR9HMTvrdxGIGKopDAcnr1KCQZZMFRE1hMMsNhMFxFJPjFW/s1600/IMG_6052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1wfyn1qQG4rHkIwfv-Z3xUOwBUiT_F8qthf4IFsKKx239w-GDImz4OpZJzIk24SSkxnOpK7bKRKupcN9bpu1NXj2PImVYAR9HMTvrdxGIGKopDAcnr1KCQZZMFRE1hMMsNhMFxFJPjFW/s640/IMG_6052.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsMLmUecpg-u_l0nVobQqns5Gait02TSKt4h2Fb03EzPuQJx6RlphfQxBAgHrMrQw8h7VJq1i_EN47SXluZtKKVwwr29nGp48SLvKPFprFHt6KLdb9-NF6e58O5PQEW1HrfPjhemhxi2d/s1600/IMG_5956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1406" data-original-width="1600" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsMLmUecpg-u_l0nVobQqns5Gait02TSKt4h2Fb03EzPuQJx6RlphfQxBAgHrMrQw8h7VJq1i_EN47SXluZtKKVwwr29nGp48SLvKPFprFHt6KLdb9-NF6e58O5PQEW1HrfPjhemhxi2d/s640/IMG_5956.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But we were able to paddle some of the best rapids we'd ever done:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rNweqlrE2lc4-NpLAmua7JLEddGz5PRaXgf3ILidqQNf-vgiqhxS_5ckvh5366dQ8wTQPRbVI01Vw7G25sXdFCmC_mkfX9rjbstku1_caj46ljzPIxcoTSWniCQYJ9aQt0H3ghMpU07v/s1600/IMG_6047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rNweqlrE2lc4-NpLAmua7JLEddGz5PRaXgf3ILidqQNf-vgiqhxS_5ckvh5366dQ8wTQPRbVI01Vw7G25sXdFCmC_mkfX9rjbstku1_caj46ljzPIxcoTSWniCQYJ9aQt0H3ghMpU07v/s640/IMG_6047.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguB1HS9JOGM2Zm4ZCPmh3YTv2RcZPYQbtD2yHcNlzcjFyx5xXdr-cruM6KXNuibuusiiWNBMkLXp4q2LRdVSYuXTgBnhYY-hvglGLDoEiMbbPIijWHySQ8yOjVjhBQwEMt8Wb3UPD962i9/s1600/IMG_5934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="1600" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguB1HS9JOGM2Zm4ZCPmh3YTv2RcZPYQbtD2yHcNlzcjFyx5xXdr-cruM6KXNuibuusiiWNBMkLXp4q2LRdVSYuXTgBnhYY-hvglGLDoEiMbbPIijWHySQ8yOjVjhBQwEMt8Wb3UPD962i9/s640/IMG_5934.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GV16zfH2CSiNSkXoh3WX-XU_5DjfT_JfKPwfzezZ_6BOaqKQWzw3BNPY_DxuoBoP9MmCSQRLywoT5QpNdScIIcfujs-BG7w7525JtQkik7jWDB0netwruOyeVVrKWMTf10qOsz7nUZol/s1600/IMG_6033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1449" data-original-width="1600" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GV16zfH2CSiNSkXoh3WX-XU_5DjfT_JfKPwfzezZ_6BOaqKQWzw3BNPY_DxuoBoP9MmCSQRLywoT5QpNdScIIcfujs-BG7w7525JtQkik7jWDB0netwruOyeVVrKWMTf10qOsz7nUZol/s640/IMG_6033.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Occasionally the gradient would taper off for some relaxation:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldkpLNSglt9vrKG_-bW3ipIdzAk0BvDiNJeI7NEQil66zEkS0r85kZm1ZOsdYulO6gQ9spWUuqmOIpo2YMINC2U-NGa67jHDTxxuXnhZR-hFi3W3k72Aq7a_ilGUm0gwa3eYGGQbHdulN/s1600/IMG_5959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldkpLNSglt9vrKG_-bW3ipIdzAk0BvDiNJeI7NEQil66zEkS0r85kZm1ZOsdYulO6gQ9spWUuqmOIpo2YMINC2U-NGa67jHDTxxuXnhZR-hFi3W3k72Aq7a_ilGUm0gwa3eYGGQbHdulN/s640/IMG_5959.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
Until it picked back up<br />
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<br />
Eventually the mighty Tehipite Dome came back into view:<br />
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And we knew that we were nearing the beautiful Tehipite valley that signaled the end of the pretty steep and challenging section and the beginning of the really steep and challenging section.<br />
<br />
We camped at the base of the dome and I did a lot of pondering. What we had done so far was incredible in many ways: beauty, high quality of rapids, challenging but paddleable. The infamous "Bottom 9" (9 miles, actually more like 8, with a half-mile of that being the flat Little Tehipite Valley" lay downstream, and we had little information on it beyond "very steep and challenging with lots of complex rapids and portaging." I'd been having fun and paddling just fine, but realized that virtually all of the hardest rapids I'd paddled in a pack raft had been over the last couple of days, and I wasn't sure I was ready to take it another potentially big step. The trail that we had come in on was right there, and once beyond it there was no exit for that steeper section. I had taken a pretty big rock hit on my ass on a slide and slipped once while portaging and banged my quad hard, and the non-Vectran (ie less durable) boat had taken some damage on the sharp granite.<br />
<br />
But mostly I was nervous; the increased gradient and Willie Kern's warning of potential sieves gnawed at me, and by the time I awoke I realized that I was out. It was difficult; as Ashley knows well, I get FOMO as much as anyone, and I like to think of myself as game, tough, and resilient, but I also have learned - mostly from backcountry skiing - that knowing when to back off engenders longevity, which is really the most important thing. I was super psyched to have made it down that far, and as the boys rigged up and I bid them adieu, I was ok with my decision.<br />
<br />
Of course, trudging hard for 7 lonely hours up out of the steep Tehipite valley and rolling back through the boring woods gave me plenty of time to kick myself for being a weenie as well....<br />
<br />
As it turns out, my pards of course made it through the bottom 9, and indeed they said that it was even more of the Real Deal than the sections above. Below that is the 14 mile Garlic Falls section - that I paddled a few eons ago - that is famously aesthetic:<br />
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But also provided a fair bit of challenge, especially since the volume is doubled with the addition of the South Fork of the Kings. But all went well, and thus the first pack raft descent of the Middle Kings was completed (though Dan had the good point that distinguishing between pack raft descents and hardshell descents just tends to create more unnecessary differentiation).<br />
<br />
Huge thanks again to Jeff, Dan, and John for letting me join their posse and being super solid partners for a challenging adventure, and thanks very much to Dan for all of this post's great pics. Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-75466347867366213812019-09-05T06:55:00.001-06:002019-09-05T13:20:38.717-06:00Middle Kings - an even bigger pack raft adventure! <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2lMD8qEuz2PbCMQJIKojBKqzbnSbyGUWoaGSnClYufUPMAjzRarZN1q8tMAVuRbjrYkC_cNaEIp_tQIMT-e0HStlZ2vM1nHqhnMDYKlMO5Xabydv6W24VphWVLTtdKFg8OMiiava4n-EO/s1600/MK19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="1600" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2lMD8qEuz2PbCMQJIKojBKqzbnSbyGUWoaGSnClYufUPMAjzRarZN1q8tMAVuRbjrYkC_cNaEIp_tQIMT-e0HStlZ2vM1nHqhnMDYKlMO5Xabydv6W24VphWVLTtdKFg8OMiiava4n-EO/s640/MK19.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
We’d been at it for four longish days:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>two days of hiking about 20 miles each, then
two more days of paddling<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- and
portaging - some of the hardest rapids we’d ever done in pack rafts, deep
inside the Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scenery alone was worth the journey; we
were less than a hundred miles from Yosemite in a valley with essentially the
same geologic makeup, with a white granite dome that soared a higher-than-El
Cap-3500 feet over the steep river valley we shared with exactly….no one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were slowly working our way down the
Middle Fork of the Kings river, and camped just above the most notorious
section of the canyon, with an exit possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d been paddling at my limit and having a
nice time doing so, but with 2700 feet to drop in ~8 miles my limits were going
to get pushed. Do I take it the exit or forge on downstream?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In August of nineteen hundred and ninety seven I bumped into
the <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/1914641/kayaker-willie-kern-pushing-limit">mighty
Kern brothers</a>: Johnny, Willie, and Chuck, at the summer Outdoor Retailer
show in Salt Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had driven hard across the Nevada desert to reach the show in time to work it - as some of the early “professional”
kayakers getting sponsorship - after doing a descent of the Middle Fork of the
Kings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may have been only the second
descent; the first was done by <a href="http://www.adventuresnw.com/current-events-the-kayaking-legacy-of-reg-lake/">Reg Lake</a>, <a href="https://www.royalrobbins.com/blogs/news/the-first-descents-of-royal-robbins">Royal Robbins,</a> <a href="https://www.adventuresportsnetwork.com/sport/paddle-sports/canoe-kayak/doug-tompkins-life-and-legacy/">Doug Tompkins</a>, and
Newsome Holmes in 1982, where these extraordinary first descenteers (not just
here, but all over California) declared it the hardest run they’d done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYDl4OeWM5-2fLtO9s7DwnNfy8WE6Px05A6tAN31aXfnM4ySUJINdN-kqrL9L3n2UQZxJBnIbUK3iJPD8DLYWnY3YYLbcTNG0tz9rVdVrQXwNqErPGtFAMtFZCeetogvjuugqp17ML4eoF/s1600/11800182_10153494114742071_2175633325393101242_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYDl4OeWM5-2fLtO9s7DwnNfy8WE6Px05A6tAN31aXfnM4ySUJINdN-kqrL9L3n2UQZxJBnIbUK3iJPD8DLYWnY3YYLbcTNG0tz9rVdVrQXwNqErPGtFAMtFZCeetogvjuugqp17ML4eoF/s640/11800182_10153494114742071_2175633325393101242_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
A fun pic I got a few years ago at the OR show: Reg Lake is far right, with other legendary kayakers (l to r) Chris Spelius, John Wasson, and Rob Lesser</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But it was a new era of shorter boats, better
plastic, and more honed skills, and no doubt the Kerns and their pards likely
did first descents of most of the rapids the pioneers had portaged. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoetprUOgh35KasIk-9z8_gej3Wq9giUhXuGqrZLxRKaO1s4X90IBHeKlc9qQIs3Ucl-0NvuLvtAWSZhtKcxwBCrNjpU_Rlpa_9n5IGvrefEiJ1Unii_-h63sqODPC7q8XMRYwNnAe8DzQ/s1600/LiqLife2A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="300" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoetprUOgh35KasIk-9z8_gej3Wq9giUhXuGqrZLxRKaO1s4X90IBHeKlc9qQIs3Ucl-0NvuLvtAWSZhtKcxwBCrNjpU_Rlpa_9n5IGvrefEiJ1Unii_-h63sqODPC7q8XMRYwNnAe8DzQ/s640/LiqLife2A.jpg" width="352" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The numbers were
impressive:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>12 mile hike in over 12,000
foot Bishop pass, 44 miles of river, an average gradient of over 200 feet/mile,
and a few miles over 400 feet/mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These guys were the best in the world, and they said the Middle Fork
Kings was pretty mindblowing in many regards, including of course,
difficulty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not long afterwards was the
release of one of the first of the new generation of kayak videos called “<a href="https://vimeo.com/316686934">Liquid Lifestyles</a>”, made by Scott
Lindgren, one of the Kerns’ go-to pards, and I was absolutely stunned by the
magnitude of the whitewater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was paddling some of the garden-style class
5 California rivers at that time, but this was clearly a big - and probably
insurmountable - step up for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the ensuing 22 years the Middle Kings has become world
famous among the gnarly dood (and doodette) kayak world, and John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest
Trail hikers have been surprised in the late summer to see people lugging
hardshell kayaks that tower over their head and are filled with camping gear
and a weeks worth of food up and over Bishop Pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Images and videos of epic-ly long granite
slides and huge drops in steep gorges against a stunning backdrop pepper the
interwebs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t think too much about
it; my class 5 exploration days had kinda waned due to drought, pards that
faded away and (mainly) living in a desert, but then pack rafts came
along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since pack rafts are great
low-water crafts more people have been able to paddle them on runs that are
typically done in hardshells at much higher flows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a fortuitous bump into Willie Kern a
year or two ago I followed up with him via email and asked him what he thought
the Middle Kings would be like at low flows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His answer:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>still hard, probably
pretty laced with sieves (where water rushes through rock gaps that a kayak
would not fit through; sub-optimal for the craft’s captain).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Made sense to me, so I kinda forgot about it
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After two trips to California where I was able to join pack rafting
Wunderkind Jeff Creamer (Jeff is no doubt the best never-has-hardshell-kayaked
pack rafter in the world) for trips down the upper Tuolumne, upper Cherry
Creek, and upper Merced it began to seem reasonable that the Middle Kings might
go as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when Jeff said that he and
two super-solid pards of his from Durango were going to give the Middle Kings a
go, I decided somewhat abruptly to jump on board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will admit I had a fair bit of trepidation; Jeff’s thought
was to head in when the Kings river gauge was dropping below the low side of
medium, which was definitely not “low”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Based on this, we would likely have between 300 and 500 cfs, which
turned downhill steeply enough (like 2-500 feet/mile), can create some
ferocious whitewater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Jeff’s
unusual idea to take advantage of the hikeability of the pack rafts by walking
in from the West instead of over Bishop Pass (thereby taking the shuttle from 8
hours to a couple) and then walking upriver would give us a chance to scout the
run as walked up, and since I knew the valley would be magical, I figured at
worst it would be a great backpack trip (albeit a heavy-ish one, with the boat
and assorted paddling gear).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to the rapidly-improving Jeff, his pards from
Durango were equally strong lads who could not only paddle, they could march as
well, which is important in pack rafting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dan Thurber has been paddling since he was a kid in Eastern Oregon and
has spent many years at the class 5 level in a hardshell and teaches swiftwater
rescue classes, and John Baker is another strong class 5 hardsheller who’s
paddled all over the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both have
taken to pack rafting and have been pushing the limits of the crafts with tons
of laps on <a href="https://vimeo.com/271292625">Vallecito Creek</a>, and the
three of them have had recent impressive descents of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlnYrqr6BjA">Colorado’s Los Pinos Creek</a>
(jeff Video) and <a href="http://h20cycle.blogspot.com/2018/09/bull-lake-creek-full-bull.html">Wyoming’s
Bull Lake Creek</a> (Dan’s blog).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t
take me long to recognize that these were young, talented, interesting, and
solid guys to head out on an adventure like this one. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hike in rolls through surprisingly (for the Sierras)
nondescript terrain for about 13 miles to the edge of the canyon, but the view
from the edge makes up for the previous dullness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The view of the 4000-foot deep valley that
sprawled below the soaring spire of Tehipite dome was simply outrageous:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqX1_lbUnTCDJdANmelZ49cUvQa-4Eaq6Sr6RHCy1NWEc_hDrXlxcdZs0GdLiD21cihqk8f7U1qAev8kKvDKc-6R-JSxTe1NHo68u8C3KKjIzQxGyPbCwhGE7bZBP1-xX5507SCPxT5buI/s1600/MK1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqX1_lbUnTCDJdANmelZ49cUvQa-4Eaq6Sr6RHCy1NWEc_hDrXlxcdZs0GdLiD21cihqk8f7U1qAev8kKvDKc-6R-JSxTe1NHo68u8C3KKjIzQxGyPbCwhGE7bZBP1-xX5507SCPxT5buI/s640/MK1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p>E</o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ven though the view kept up on the descent down into the
canyon, we couldn’t really look up at it; the super steep gradient of the trail
that was covered with slick oak leaves over a decomposed granite surface with
poison oak lacing the edges of the trail demanded full attention, and by the
bottom my quivering, quaking quads were the focus of my energy.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the bottom we had a bigger perspective of Tehipite Dome:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cbKqxJiU0qo731yqNPyM0HP4ngzNXXq4MwHm3Ob6-yz8CnuiuPONeZCf4gYKFHzrQIpjtw4veouq59fmr9KNG03_UUL3Sx5OK90JFUO0eqlJx0mpSJMSTS911cmmpCvqrqgeoAqRDOvT/s1600/MK2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1148" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-cbKqxJiU0qo731yqNPyM0HP4ngzNXXq4MwHm3Ob6-yz8CnuiuPONeZCf4gYKFHzrQIpjtw4veouq59fmr9KNG03_UUL3Sx5OK90JFUO0eqlJx0mpSJMSTS911cmmpCvqrqgeoAqRDOvT/s640/MK2.jpg" width="458" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and while typical national park trails look like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsRJXS6w6ag8xU0Z3ZKwCTavIZByy17a4tZwkk8_PRZAbtV-uVYxhugbY0kL7GwSrTxou1lAd_e0Xbq07-z3wt5x-QZYPeYRCBw3QqnbZAk0FAO7hI_wNVXVPd8MNZWaFYfYA2r76dHTX/s1600/d712f9d4-5e8c-11e7-bc15-b8185cac8c10-780x520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="780" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsRJXS6w6ag8xU0Z3ZKwCTavIZByy17a4tZwkk8_PRZAbtV-uVYxhugbY0kL7GwSrTxou1lAd_e0Xbq07-z3wt5x-QZYPeYRCBw3QqnbZAk0FAO7hI_wNVXVPd8MNZWaFYfYA2r76dHTX/s400/d712f9d4-5e8c-11e7-bc15-b8185cac8c10-780x520.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our trail was a bit more primitive!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had to be attentive to actually stay on the trail as we
headed upriver, and lost it more than a coupla times, tho the bear scat helped keep us on track, since clearly bears like trails too.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we climbed we had periodic views of the river, and what
we saw was actually pretty encouraging, with a fair bit of what appeared to be
class 4 boulder gardens:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2zV9DkNVhk_YVlVxYhQ0QH9UdZgfbsur4-dB2UjL5pE-bqOgAQzpL0AWPYwwH1Zd2BvFiEOdncJHXme0AELqbgbHrpmiMDJO64Gd2DgNdVD1mncMr1llYhEW3MQNUA5llyusu_FVaf-F/s1600/IMG_5940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2zV9DkNVhk_YVlVxYhQ0QH9UdZgfbsur4-dB2UjL5pE-bqOgAQzpL0AWPYwwH1Zd2BvFiEOdncJHXme0AELqbgbHrpmiMDJO64Gd2DgNdVD1mncMr1llYhEW3MQNUA5llyusu_FVaf-F/s400/IMG_5940.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, rapids always look a lot easier when you aren’t
geared up and about to peel out of the eddy and commit to the looming horizon
line!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did see some of the infamous meaty rapids that
we assumed would be portages once indeed we were geared up and heading downstream:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YA_n1UEBuJzTS1HpdpUEbtkqpv5V1SN3UdLw-x9WeNOSDZFpUNMAc1sQCuv-BoLRqv2E-lIpM6IWCgHVEROZMX2iajrXN3u1ytvij5kS7TDECH1_675Jy4Jrvt4Tld_rrZkTufJCkD5K/s1600/MK8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YA_n1UEBuJzTS1HpdpUEbtkqpv5V1SN3UdLw-x9WeNOSDZFpUNMAc1sQCuv-BoLRqv2E-lIpM6IWCgHVEROZMX2iajrXN3u1ytvij5kS7TDECH1_675Jy4Jrvt4Tld_rrZkTufJCkD5K/s640/MK8.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">foreshadowing!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And we were psyched to be able to have boats for a mandatory crossing of the river:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-pt_Y-aCwt_LEG2dQAhCZsGvWcNIslpu58Kb9tJXfPz-UArlJ5bPxa008hPDGKCQLWU35jBEECtSOsXdLcKLO8araIpxq8tC_Ts-aApIdfFPbkF6Pq1U6dWNQKp9UgUMxO_BcCecbVQL/s1600/MK3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-pt_Y-aCwt_LEG2dQAhCZsGvWcNIslpu58Kb9tJXfPz-UArlJ5bPxa008hPDGKCQLWU35jBEECtSOsXdLcKLO8araIpxq8tC_Ts-aApIdfFPbkF6Pq1U6dWNQKp9UgUMxO_BcCecbVQL/s640/MK3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was probably thigh deep; not a big deal but enough that walking across with a heavy pack would have been a challenge in the middle. In anything other than summertime flows crossing the river in this meadow would be a bit desperate; perhaps that is why our trail was very little used!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another full day of hiking upriver brought us to a beautiful
granite slab adjacent to a long thundering slide, about a mile below where Dusy
and Palisade creeks combined to form the Middle Fork proper, and where the John
Muir/Pacific Crest trail combo passed by on their way to the LeConte ranger
station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once at camp, Jeff and John decided to quickly gear up and
head upstream for a half-mile of paddling back to camp to get a sense of how
the river was, since the short bit above camp looked promising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They arrived back at dusk, with a report of
“yah, it’s pretty real!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that
experience and comment resonating in our head and the white noise thunder of
the huge slide just feet from our feet, we went to sleep wondering how the next
few days of paddling the mighty MF Kings was gonna go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYn3HDXBctV6X0-tpwED7SJ4u7H8UBDCuDIQFkyl3XazC3zXCTTOkg_Y_Ek6PiqyLbB875IHdA8oHo3fw6-JqvLu-_YWjh1WdqEagObiVIg8DuiyI5f98pBzPYdNhzTM503_lqcQUJI60/s1600/MK5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="1600" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYn3HDXBctV6X0-tpwED7SJ4u7H8UBDCuDIQFkyl3XazC3zXCTTOkg_Y_Ek6PiqyLbB875IHdA8oHo3fw6-JqvLu-_YWjh1WdqEagObiVIg8DuiyI5f98pBzPYdNhzTM503_lqcQUJI60/s640/MK5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to be continued....<br />
<br />
thanks to Jeff Creamer for the pics...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-70453853277265186192019-08-01T15:29:00.000-06:002019-08-01T15:29:23.708-06:00Upper Cherry Creek - a pack raft adventure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsg8keBGslR350Gdft2y7KcTlM-9htDXe3tNeMxhrGidsXrhVZI_77_sYaZLxbiPBWfmnvrnFq9EepjyKMB2I6RnTpYXFme2gpAgN7q0Pch7lscilnpixwFB_ERt-nJnq8Ub_IEJWgHZ3/s1600/UC20.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1377" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsg8keBGslR350Gdft2y7KcTlM-9htDXe3tNeMxhrGidsXrhVZI_77_sYaZLxbiPBWfmnvrnFq9EepjyKMB2I6RnTpYXFme2gpAgN7q0Pch7lscilnpixwFB_ERt-nJnq8Ub_IEJWgHZ3/s640/UC20.JPG" width="550" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We'd already had a long day of running long and continuous slides,
rapids, and waterfalls littered with holes that were amazingly powerful
considering the relatively low amount of water that was flowing. We'd had
innumerable scouts, lots of short portages, and a couple of long, hot carries
around the infamous Cherry Bomb Gorge and much of Waterfall Alley. Now we
had a little over an hour of daylight left, but were still deep in the middle
of yet another granite gorge of big drops, steep high walls, and potentially
skitchy portages on steep slabs that ramped down to the river. However, we
didn’t have much of a choice; we had to press on through the gorge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1BjF9trw7EBiFoV2QFKw8tl4vjFnTOXFrVkHQ4dxFg_TsBKnZYaev_LY2KGoq55GxRwV4uQnRhhC85fe4OI7Z_YBm5EE1W5363SAm-tQ4g6zrqzwmLNPG13SBCRubBlzSvFNX6dwlrfp-/s1600/UC24.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1366" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1BjF9trw7EBiFoV2QFKw8tl4vjFnTOXFrVkHQ4dxFg_TsBKnZYaev_LY2KGoq55GxRwV4uQnRhhC85fe4OI7Z_YBm5EE1W5363SAm-tQ4g6zrqzwmLNPG13SBCRubBlzSvFNX6dwlrfp-/s640/UC24.JPG" width="546" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Upper Cherry Creek has, over the last maybe 15 years since it was
"discovered", become a global phenomenon for the relatively small
elite kayaking world. While there are steeper creeks, more difficult
rapids in longer gorges, and more arduous approaches into more remote areas,
there are few that have that combination in such density and there is no doubt
that the setting - in the Sierras' iconic white granite alpine vastness -
makes it unlike anything on the planet (at least, according to a very credible
source: me!). Although there appears to be a gauge where Cherry
Creek enters Cherry Lake, the gauge inexplicably doesn't work (if only <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/2739/army_scientists_hot_on_the_trail_of_a_monster_glacier">I
knew someone </a>who knew anything about river gauges!), so it seems that
the exclusivity of The Club that gets to actually paddle this gem has tightened
up some, even in the social media era. The Club seems to be the domain of
hard shell class 5+ kayakers, but every trip account from its members is rife
with accounts of the sufferage associated with the dozen mile hike in with 9
foot long, 45 pound boat that is then loaded up with camping gear and food for
3 days up a long, hot, south facing ridge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">A long hike for a scenic float typically makes a natural
destination for the (relatively) effortless hiking afforded by a 9 pound pack
raft, but there's a slight disincentive: in 11 miles the river drops 2400 feet,
and with one of those miles relatively flat, that's an average gradient of
almost 250 feet per mile. Not a crushing gradient, but that's still
pretty damn steep, especially with the reputation of walled out gorges. Jeff
and I had warmed up the day previously on the upper Tuolomne's slides and drops<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIUJmHEv6BDgjSTwZZ2nvgCPhyG9E_H6hk2PAH0IyG3SQIxDGeziM1RrCX0aoPN4zZ4WhA3mwe3FjfLJ3ty4t52jVeaIXqve8qp83rtnEaJPsSJ0IIfBzULeVaqSz53jSK1bGT_cnwxKH/s1600/UT5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="1600" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIUJmHEv6BDgjSTwZZ2nvgCPhyG9E_H6hk2PAH0IyG3SQIxDGeziM1RrCX0aoPN4zZ4WhA3mwe3FjfLJ3ty4t52jVeaIXqve8qp83rtnEaJPsSJ0IIfBzULeVaqSz53jSK1bGT_cnwxKH/s640/UT5.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">above the huge waterfalls that end up plunging into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> a</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">nd thought "hey, that was fun; let's go bigger!"
We'd heard that the consensus was that upper Cherry was still too high due to
the near-record Sierra snowpack, but that it was "fun" if one wasn't
committed to running the big-step-up Cherry Bomb Gorge that itself was
portage-able. We gazed at the night sky and saw that a few stars were
mostly aligned, so off to upper Cherry we went. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I was a little surprised that there were no kayaker-looking rigs
(Toyota Tundras with racks and Immersion Research stickers) at the trailhead
and there'd clearly been very little use on the trail this year, which considering that
this was a global destination with a narrow window of flow paddle-ablity was a
sign that indeed The Club figured the flow was still too high. With a vow
that if our first visual indicated that the creek was cranking we'd just treat
it as a backpack trip with boats, we shouldered our packs and marched up the
trail.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOhRFNgdyWr9yj-W3iJf9zO0WUZe0dy7iGFvIAz6jPgkXbylGszEnm83GryLgiPIpGRfo0SY78oUxeBp7_vjGsr6eU9H59K9O46EolCv4Euqv9GksEDnFUnjshLYBAKRuAZFIK8nzj_ch/s1600/P7250108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOhRFNgdyWr9yj-W3iJf9zO0WUZe0dy7iGFvIAz6jPgkXbylGszEnm83GryLgiPIpGRfo0SY78oUxeBp7_vjGsr6eU9H59K9O46EolCv4Euqv9GksEDnFUnjshLYBAKRuAZFIK8nzj_ch/s400/P7250108.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flowers along the trail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">At what I’m sure is the only place called “Lookout Point” in the
world, the otherwise-nondescript wooded ridgeline gave way to our first view of
the creek far below:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06qkm2fOUCwOZV6uiR6uxoJoaNakKX2tLEfiI6AspxmsW2OKQmtCz3thKwZdq9V23asTtXVdy7c6UkQZPPZDTUVzHay0DXdio2ebGQWs8KbTvs9-Fyb2bdBD_bM8dAhhtMlkA_o75WJXe/s1600/P7240106+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06qkm2fOUCwOZV6uiR6uxoJoaNakKX2tLEfiI6AspxmsW2OKQmtCz3thKwZdq9V23asTtXVdy7c6UkQZPPZDTUVzHay0DXdio2ebGQWs8KbTvs9-Fyb2bdBD_bM8dAhhtMlkA_o75WJXe/s640/P7240106+%25281%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the gouge is Cherry Bomb gorge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Soon we arrived at Styx Pass</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUm-kMIcavoFpZiV6IloQEEy1xTd70-xrcpOnMDuGmgM7wSfGU_uL0ewnZHp9y0M76JcYoWLnoPy1MFPjBXs29Kg5rBsw5zN3C0e4GgepLtqrgcAcFtVlhgpqNpqIjHHmJUOPiAQc5Nq_W/s1600/P7240105+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUm-kMIcavoFpZiV6IloQEEy1xTd70-xrcpOnMDuGmgM7wSfGU_uL0ewnZHp9y0M76JcYoWLnoPy1MFPjBXs29Kg5rBsw5zN3C0e4GgepLtqrgcAcFtVlhgpqNpqIjHHmJUOPiAQc5Nq_W/s400/P7240105+%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">(If the creek had been discovered by kayakers in the 80’s I’m sure
that the rapids would have monikers inspired by iconic Styx songs that beg to
have rapids named after them:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Grand
Illusion”, “Renegade”,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Fooling
Yourself”, “Lorelei”, and of course the truly weird:”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc6f_2nPSX8">Mr Roboto</a>”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: center;">Soon enough we were at the creek’s edge, and to our relief it
actually looked a little low for the first small drops below the put in, and we
had no problem rigging up and putting on the river, which – if nothing else –
was a great refresher after the sweaty hike.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSivAPMZ0a3i7dCLuTzh5FosUnwEgArVSVwzKZCs5f7PcbFNdLoOs23ZWOse9ChvCy_JQ9fGmYiHZLE050OR95nifjjee-Fayvm117-_CZFad3kneQvmYQ44mw66_C8q7HvKEu3oZh_omT/s1600/UC26.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSivAPMZ0a3i7dCLuTzh5FosUnwEgArVSVwzKZCs5f7PcbFNdLoOs23ZWOse9ChvCy_JQ9fGmYiHZLE050OR95nifjjee-Fayvm117-_CZFad3kneQvmYQ44mw66_C8q7HvKEu3oZh_omT/s640/UC26.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We had heard that the first coupla miles were “fun class 3-4
slides”, and sure enough, they were great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was still somewhat slow going since the slides were long and to get a
feel for the creek we proceeded pretty cautiously and portaged a few times to
avoid the sticky holes at the bottoms of some of the slides.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpamGcoSPXRqyHApFSknZawc_qua5h0qTITQgw3WB4_j-TkkE3JrCbR6KnYFw_BP3zQ9mLAgiurwcjwOaHlDZWGDTM-VHka7lLSlNIaybdn9vzgt0LZ5o3Cifum68FdFFPusrNU76BTlKt/s1600/P7250117+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpamGcoSPXRqyHApFSknZawc_qua5h0qTITQgw3WB4_j-TkkE3JrCbR6KnYFw_BP3zQ9mLAgiurwcjwOaHlDZWGDTM-VHka7lLSlNIaybdn9vzgt0LZ5o3Cifum68FdFFPusrNU76BTlKt/s640/P7250117+%25281%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8rq7IcAw0q8q0OskEfc-zL6lK1bajNe_nVTM-X1Oc2pL4cYgB9ecoL0B9ZgDSUBpYB10jLOpSNazW7CDJDDTY95vdnBnaAs1K3HjuYA8_xU6ClzgaeMrPbbVjyuxWoPVWqklwo2iFV6b/s1600/UC5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1600" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8rq7IcAw0q8q0OskEfc-zL6lK1bajNe_nVTM-X1Oc2pL4cYgB9ecoL0B9ZgDSUBpYB10jLOpSNazW7CDJDDTY95vdnBnaAs1K3HjuYA8_xU6ClzgaeMrPbbVjyuxWoPVWqklwo2iFV6b/s640/UC5.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESBPz8LGt24SQBs9vKdpRnSglkQNurokeMDR6dmDGhsWJlI9LlRmZBguXsFED5GGoTIyLA4HCQ6lmJ90nRVEkua-E2GRwWGCwDxBmFUa257vz3gPAgaly1Q62vV2P47BjkFeL6p_cNb4l/s1600/UC10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1241" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESBPz8LGt24SQBs9vKdpRnSglkQNurokeMDR6dmDGhsWJlI9LlRmZBguXsFED5GGoTIyLA4HCQ6lmJ90nRVEkua-E2GRwWGCwDxBmFUa257vz3gPAgaly1Q62vV2P47BjkFeL6p_cNb4l/s640/UC10.JPG" width="496" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">As we slid onto
a huge flat granite slab that would be our camp for the night we were thrilled that
we’d been able to paddle most of what we’d seen, especially in such a
remarkable setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfHFgPwNzNMAxyDqx5EdPej4s7gbltdY0PSmzmmyBQTFwst6hNtAMZD3rsJehWBKZNv6Ct1pL9JtMC3sj9jr83-taTopT5atCCZKeyIdWp9CFtudAj1JhL2rbNOuBfHKWiGBWvSUk0O2p/s1600/UC27.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1234" data-original-width="1600" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDfHFgPwNzNMAxyDqx5EdPej4s7gbltdY0PSmzmmyBQTFwst6hNtAMZD3rsJehWBKZNv6Ct1pL9JtMC3sj9jr83-taTopT5atCCZKeyIdWp9CFtudAj1JhL2rbNOuBfHKWiGBWvSUk0O2p/s640/UC27.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a lovely sunset from camp</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But given the gradient of the creek downstream we knew that our
progress would be slowed by ever-increasingly-big rapids and many more
portages.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQcfyXgRYZdXumCygYYqPeGH2PgLD5rDOpO8VZiLRraqBRGgunusVRoxDJYShrBR-mi25CoJgXlY9C90NvhN8BPIsS3AEIskkZkYeRgXkdI_G7DOmeQKQ8NKn_pgcnH7xIQ7ZYpCUNP3m/s1600/UC19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1272" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQcfyXgRYZdXumCygYYqPeGH2PgLD5rDOpO8VZiLRraqBRGgunusVRoxDJYShrBR-mi25CoJgXlY9C90NvhN8BPIsS3AEIskkZkYeRgXkdI_G7DOmeQKQ8NKn_pgcnH7xIQ7ZYpCUNP3m/s640/UC19.JPG" width="508" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Just downstream was the “Class
4 Gorge”, which – at our relatively high flow – was more of a class 4+/5-
gorge, and it took us hours to scout, run, and/or portage the many big rapids
that incised the granite.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">By late
morning I glanced back up the gorge and said “well, we’ve been at this for
hours, and we’ve gone almost a mile!”</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">On
one hand it didn’t bode well for the far steeper gorges downstream, but knowing
that we planned at least one portage that would bypass a lot of the gradient
made us hopeful that indeed we’d make it down to the end of the canyon before
we starved to death.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRdnJt6DwT7ibQICxIWC4L5Kknyg7CB5uZ6WavFzernzIm6LDLhKv_AnUNkDExP9DSxaQj-1XpULoRcKOtlFTkbAKkADhTGedJFL9QjUweumr3HYlO9m0_GDmQaGLarxNnH6Kt703nabx/s1600/UC2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRdnJt6DwT7ibQICxIWC4L5Kknyg7CB5uZ6WavFzernzIm6LDLhKv_AnUNkDExP9DSxaQj-1XpULoRcKOtlFTkbAKkADhTGedJFL9QjUweumr3HYlO9m0_GDmQaGLarxNnH6Kt703nabx/s640/UC2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqg_f-bHmG4XApsAw3EFYX_3nVYhLqP4RW3vDhwVgjWfbV3QxB3ZU2ffQ0kkXAqNcG2uTJCQjWBiT2vXrfSy6UW4aw7DHkKxVMdrWzPiBtzgNakOo4PEgHzpiET31X72DL-48J9GJBT5d/s1600/UC9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1179" data-original-width="1600" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqg_f-bHmG4XApsAw3EFYX_3nVYhLqP4RW3vDhwVgjWfbV3QxB3ZU2ffQ0kkXAqNcG2uTJCQjWBiT2vXrfSy6UW4aw7DHkKxVMdrWzPiBtzgNakOo4PEgHzpiET31X72DL-48J9GJBT5d/s640/UC9.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVqwJgqkrcSt1Gd1okGV7tkAwtYXZOFcw8BC2eZlQtP5ggqsNBsgNBOKXTUAF4WF2sLJDIDFkyR87GdTRTGZU2P0TjMgMLQXmcR8JRdZ4-VMRJ9q8uyaibDiOmwoX3dRPO5hc1g7Lile4/s1600/UC6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1600" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVqwJgqkrcSt1Gd1okGV7tkAwtYXZOFcw8BC2eZlQtP5ggqsNBsgNBOKXTUAF4WF2sLJDIDFkyR87GdTRTGZU2P0TjMgMLQXmcR8JRdZ4-VMRJ9q8uyaibDiOmwoX3dRPO5hc1g7Lile4/s640/UC6.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_utHob0xIKL5Y3Fb6wyw1mU8hwNPmFXC9Xueiaho4J7L4eYWO-jB7DJlxyMfJm5tjgnWgjSEqy3lwT9y3l0jkQaQ_T5WSswmoEF-wTsyxdjSL5t7_iwvnAeoxhcL-cChv72nPltgWCa_h/s1600/UC8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_utHob0xIKL5Y3Fb6wyw1mU8hwNPmFXC9Xueiaho4J7L4eYWO-jB7DJlxyMfJm5tjgnWgjSEqy3lwT9y3l0jkQaQ_T5WSswmoEF-wTsyxdjSL5t7_iwvnAeoxhcL-cChv72nPltgWCa_h/s640/UC8.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bleah!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Upper Cherry Creek has a pretty big reputation, and much of that
is a function of the crux of the run:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cherry
Bomb Gorge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One website called it “the
most committing place you’ve ever been” with a 30’ falls and many other big
drops with steep ledge holes, one of which resulted in a 2016 fatality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
no intention of running it anyway, so we didn’t need to take the time to scout
and deliberate, regardless of water level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So we just threw our boats on our shoulder and portaged (the typical
scout is to the left, but from Lookout Point we’d seen a long slickrock ramp on
the right so we portaged on that side).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s a dramatic place:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlG681JnEIodw3A_Dh2bileKIBzkX4vVeuYJY35RQgG75AevPA2xknQihiFCDE261K06lFWpoLqXavKzidUZJgJgtv0uiSdxGiScFu_quk5X0rOXieD2wwF26x3ZdC34O_xiZsfCcwKs1/s1600/UC18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlG681JnEIodw3A_Dh2bileKIBzkX4vVeuYJY35RQgG75AevPA2xknQihiFCDE261K06lFWpoLqXavKzidUZJgJgtv0uiSdxGiScFu_quk5X0rOXieD2wwF26x3ZdC34O_xiZsfCcwKs1/s640/UC18.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">At the bottom are a few big falls known as the Teacups that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- relatively speaking – are more benign drops
than those in the gorge itself, but again being wary of bottom-of-big-falls
unintentional surfs, we opted to portage, as we did for most of Waterfall
Alley, which I called Portage Alley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfzImKxlhDieyCLKiitK-vmSYZk8zKlyp_LLIP-rcR5OB-yQhVXQgufFY-pS8-zk6l19HF__6Ab9VNGbYR5zsbC47_w17GyzEJ-kZt8voYo4ryegzhoyluyihe2fGuzdBqRIpKJ2EvJjb/s1600/UC25.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfzImKxlhDieyCLKiitK-vmSYZk8zKlyp_LLIP-rcR5OB-yQhVXQgufFY-pS8-zk6l19HF__6Ab9VNGbYR5zsbC47_w17GyzEJ-kZt8voYo4ryegzhoyluyihe2fGuzdBqRIpKJ2EvJjb/s640/UC25.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I feel like I’m still working on determining the limits of pack
rafts; they are so buoyant that they love to stay on the surface of big holes
and they do boof well enough to keep the bow up and get nice flat landings, but
they are a little slower than hardshells and hole-riding is trickier without
the ability to sort of cartwheel your way out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We probably could have fired up more of the bigger drops – and gained
more confidence as we did run more on downstream, but the remoteness of the run
and the close proximity of the drops to each other made me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-at least<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- inclined to portage if I wasn’t pretty certain of successfully
blasting out to safety below the drops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> We scouted....a lot:</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7FYFvws_hw-syh_LUzOAjycJzTZm0QlBlmm_i6UhuJPoaszmV14iY2NvxZdhyphenhyphenejBUTxHWjcDNt_Q-j4vey0mhW6ABwjmg-6GZqrJdt9nkjbsbordBqjSjzLBoigFeGRy3-EIkZADIzsLC/s1600/UC23.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7FYFvws_hw-syh_LUzOAjycJzTZm0QlBlmm_i6UhuJPoaszmV14iY2NvxZdhyphenhyphenejBUTxHWjcDNt_Q-j4vey0mhW6ABwjmg-6GZqrJdt9nkjbsbordBqjSjzLBoigFeGRy3-EIkZADIzsLC/s640/UC23.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">me taking a look at a dinky little rapid. You just never know....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But we got in some fun drops:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19ycHSh9R21IGgYXFc8DmkcJvE3L5xsCm5YL8txqpvEziaPxMA_COyNmChfeL9Z6Sxoc0SetdcmUDl7tie7BSB1_BPJNh8C9_x_A2brwN3vpfIP_ACt_DwWyKK8sZbHjwTeI-azJxyj3e/s1600/UC28.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19ycHSh9R21IGgYXFc8DmkcJvE3L5xsCm5YL8txqpvEziaPxMA_COyNmChfeL9Z6Sxoc0SetdcmUDl7tie7BSB1_BPJNh8C9_x_A2brwN3vpfIP_ACt_DwWyKK8sZbHjwTeI-azJxyj3e/s640/UC28.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbpuIU3lXE4IY9r8IHF2mWM5WmlMOdPS1NDGLl-QrB6O5ISH9vTucBIhbiWS4eOupbo6MKwBBVy72uLHK-8O2zL7yjubSQcC766bUl2GbTmwjfSsSA7OZenGttuiI5zmmRy3ddfz1pn-Y/s1600/UC15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1600" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbpuIU3lXE4IY9r8IHF2mWM5WmlMOdPS1NDGLl-QrB6O5ISH9vTucBIhbiWS4eOupbo6MKwBBVy72uLHK-8O2zL7yjubSQcC766bUl2GbTmwjfSsSA7OZenGttuiI5zmmRy3ddfz1pn-Y/s640/UC15.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A different kind of "white room"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We continued to carefully pick our way down, and while the
intensity lifted somewhat, there were still plenty of gradient, big drops and
two more gorges to navigate before the placid waters of Cherry Lake.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Red Rock Gorge was the next major
obstacle, and we picked our way down, again running what we could and portaging
what we weren’t willing to run.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was
here that my hunger pangs and mental tenacity started to wear on me, and after
a long day I was getting a little concerned that either fatigue or impatience
might lead to some mistakes that would be unaffordable with an hour or so of
daylight left. Some of the bigger drops looked pretty good, but even as Jeff
was talking about mounting up for them, I found myself scanning the slabs for
body-sized pockets that were flat and wide enough to contain a sleeping
person.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">However, Jeff pointed out that a
long quarter mile and a hundred vertical feet below it appeared that the walls fell
away and the white granite gave way to tall ponderosas. So we came to an
easy compromise: Jeff agreed to portage the biggest drops, and I sighed and
agreed to push on through the gorge. Keeping the game on, we ran the
last few drops and indeed gratefully paddled through a nice pool below the last
rapid in the gorge onto a white sand beach at the foot of some huge trees, and
I admitted that this was a far better campsite than a slopey hard slab perched
above a class 5 rapid.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOtRZZu0ac3dT4xaYN2uiHGFmgIkXR5lflMu3PeqqnXJQf71iXa5wWHZTC-Q5eWHmve8j4U_9mM0I0oo9496eM6-T1yyRzwz_3xw4UkCLNIHcaSpVrJ5as4lTrYbm1SQDgLj00ACZ9zlc/s1600/UC12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="1600" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOtRZZu0ac3dT4xaYN2uiHGFmgIkXR5lflMu3PeqqnXJQf71iXa5wWHZTC-Q5eWHmve8j4U_9mM0I0oo9496eM6-T1yyRzwz_3xw4UkCLNIHcaSpVrJ5as4lTrYbm1SQDgLj00ACZ9zlc/s640/UC12.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss_dtAYKUpc9ZaN8zsuL3_q-DdE8ZxGFn1YZ13LqNBfCqqk2pfG5qWrmjydV2IufyyLCgRwqjgryv-DFrzGQNs-VugUztv3AOezRdH-iypjI5JnhWS8NnL5cRqH99lxRUHa_E6UPeUlun/s1600/UC22.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1289" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss_dtAYKUpc9ZaN8zsuL3_q-DdE8ZxGFn1YZ13LqNBfCqqk2pfG5qWrmjydV2IufyyLCgRwqjgryv-DFrzGQNs-VugUztv3AOezRdH-iypjI5JnhWS8NnL5cRqH99lxRUHa_E6UPeUlun/s640/UC22.JPG" width="514" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Upper Cherry doesn’t give itself up easily, even at the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tantalizing glimpse of the shimmering lake
below:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7eJx0i081PUUv4_fDcsE9rFk9G14FuUfJIO1zR1a9Rj1UqdGacRhxvcx1gAhyuZ-eJAzEz4WuSL2ouciDTN6I0xWfbJBy5PKT25vZU3rwyU8Y-4zetx6bCQiUqr9tJF2mKxv_CJsJXZkl/s1600/P7260471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7eJx0i081PUUv4_fDcsE9rFk9G14FuUfJIO1zR1a9Rj1UqdGacRhxvcx1gAhyuZ-eJAzEz4WuSL2ouciDTN6I0xWfbJBy5PKT25vZU3rwyU8Y-4zetx6bCQiUqr9tJF2mKxv_CJsJXZkl/s640/P7260471.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> is tempered by the reality of more big drops:</span></div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ63JdjkTfz-hXeGumqarb_YnJF2ceWUfPiuA-ZM6WrpqDkDajMg5TW9cBKbare1hzxTMiz9XyJYrwKaFOZEDgnd3zTANJkSihWk-R-qDowhpdamLxHO0QPP0iWzYjFrzxHh6P2RiwY7aK/s1600/UC32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ63JdjkTfz-hXeGumqarb_YnJF2ceWUfPiuA-ZM6WrpqDkDajMg5TW9cBKbare1hzxTMiz9XyJYrwKaFOZEDgnd3zTANJkSihWk-R-qDowhpdamLxHO0QPP0iWzYjFrzxHh6P2RiwY7aK/s640/UC32.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm quite proud of this shot of Jeff; I assume it'll be in the 2020 Alpacka calendar!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">and yet another gorge stuffed with class 5
rapids leading into the lake.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Again we
portaged the entire section, and then even the last 3 foot ledge held the only
logs we’d seen on the river.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So we just
chugged overland and flopped directly into the lake for the mile+ paddle
out.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s very possible that hard dude kayakers may be a bit disdainful
of what may – or may not! – be the first pack raft descent of Cherry Creek
since we portaged much and didn’t tackle the marquee gorge, but we didn’t give
a shit; it’s one of the most incredible creeks on the planet, and we felt
fortunate to be able to dunder down it any way we could, and the fact that we
were able to paddle as much as we did made it that much sweeter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFxXEXAvWVzVgrEbT2V4M0xVD4qFCe_wTUqk2Iq4vFAy6cIF3uOc1O9dA89fdX8XHcF54g0iCShCzGPZRngEOEmxJrn7bcBRMKhbg08N17KxJYQ-Og0l6-5H4qriWTV5uexFoLdR5EjR8/s1600/UC1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFxXEXAvWVzVgrEbT2V4M0xVD4qFCe_wTUqk2Iq4vFAy6cIF3uOc1O9dA89fdX8XHcF54g0iCShCzGPZRngEOEmxJrn7bcBRMKhbg08N17KxJYQ-Og0l6-5H4qriWTV5uexFoLdR5EjR8/s640/UC1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">camp in the lower right corner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Thanks to Jeff for being a great pard for this adventure, and for
taking the time to set up and take all of these shots; his camera prowess
almost matches paddling skills!</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Here's a great video he put together:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s3BkT1ETdk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s3BkT1ETdk</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-34106108174041577232019-06-25T18:43:00.000-06:002019-06-25T18:43:02.605-06:00Trade Wars - a tariff-ically bad idea
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Recently I have had a few folks ask me about tariffs, since
tariffs have been in the news a lot lately and they know that I have dealt with
and complained about them in the past (as has almost anyone whose career has
direct involvement with consumer goods in the US).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I’ve been asked a few times and know
just enough to be dangerous I thought I’d do a blawg post on it, esp since it’s
a good challenge to make something as bone dry as tariffs as entertaining as a
tale of a fun adventure!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, unlike a lot
of things that happen at the federal level, this ridiculous trade war that the
Trump administration is inexplicably waging will actually affect literally –
not virtually – everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A “tariff” is a tax that companies pay to their own
government to import (or export) goods into their home country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I’ve been in the shoe biz and know that
well, I’ll use that as an example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Say Allbirds (a pretty cool new shoe company that came out
of nowhere over the last coupla years and is killing it, and was just featured
in a fun podcast on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/e/61798914?autoplay=true">How
I Built This</a>) has a new shoe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
mentioned in the earlier post about river footwear, there is a “Harmonized
Tariff Code” and literally each product brought into the United States must
have an associated tariff code assigned to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If Allbirds is a smart company – and they likely are, though I bet it
was a bit of a learning curve – they likely use their industry experts that they
hopefully hired to figure out what the code will be, because that will
determine the percentage price of the cost of the product that you pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s significant because the tariff
percentages vary from zero to fifty percent and beyond, and if you guess wrong
and the humorless US Customs agent who inspects your shipment declares a code
for your product that is different than what you expected, all your profit
margin could evaporate before it even hits your warehouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Allbirds’ case, they are using wool as
their upper material, and since that’s unprecedented for an “athletic” shoe
(important in the Codes) that undoubtedly made a difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So hopefully the shipment of Allbirds has come into the Long
Beach port from their factory partner in China, the humorless customs officer
inspects them and declares a code, and Allbirds gets a bill from the US gubment
for thousands of dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For easy math, lets say that the shoes are $100 (they are
$95), typical dealer markups is 45-50% (easy math=50%) so the dealer buys them
for $50, and Allbirds wants to get an industry-standard margin so they are
buying” the shoes made from their specs <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">from
the Chinese factory </i>for $25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 10%
duty (the terms tariff and duty are more or less interchangeable) means that Allbirds
is paying $2.50 for each pair, and for a 10,000 pair order (that’s pretty
small) they’ll owe Uncle Sam $25,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
fair chunko’ change for a company that is still just getting going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Allbirds sets its suggested retail prices based on what
the factory will charge to make the shoe, the cost of the box, the shipping
from China to the port to their warehouse to the dealer (or consumer), and….the
duty they have to pay on the shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
any of those costs go up, then something has to give:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allbirds’ margin, the price that they sell to
their dealers, and/or the price to the consumers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And historically the duty codes have been
generally carved in stone (the US customs has been too lazy to change them
since the beginning of time) so that historically is something that even a new
shoe company can count on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But in order to save the economy from….the 10 year expansion
that it’s had, with low inflation and tons of job growth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>President Trump declares that “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/02/trump-trade-wars-are-good-and-easy-to-win.html">Trade
Wars are good and easy to win” </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
announces he’s going to jack the duty rates for all sorts of products coming
from our two biggest trade partners (consumer goods from China and fruits and
plenty of other products from Mexico) In doing so he proves former Fed chair
Janet Yellen right in her assertion that <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/25/yellen-trump-federal-reserve-1184326">Trump
does not have a basic grasp of macroeconomics. </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Allbirds’ case, what that means is that
their $25 shoe that they paid $2.50 for to the US government<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>now has that much more cost associated with
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So does Allbirds feel like they
should be shouldering this philosophical tete ‘a tete between countries “at
war?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they understandably say “We
gotta raise our prices to account for the increase in our costs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the above easy math, any tariff
increase is multiplied fourfold by the time it reaches the consumer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here’s the kicker:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>China doesn’t care!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The factory still just makes the shoes and
sells them to Allbirds for $25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Trumpworld, the idea is that the athletic shoe industry –
and clothes, and sleeping bags, and tents, and Ikea shelving unit industries –
will leap up and say “Yes Sir Mr. President!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will forsake the 40 years of relationship building with our factory
partners to help them build the infrastructure needed to produce shoes that our
fellow ‘Mericans can buy for $100 and start anew!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll build shoe factories in the US from
scratch using super-expensive machines and molds that are only available in
China and pay people $30/hour to make the shoes, and then magically still sell
the shoes for $100!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suffice to say,
that ain’t happenin’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are some domestic shoe (boot) manufacturers:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry_Amendment"> Berry Amendment</a>
passed by Congress in 1941 mandated that the US military has to use
US-manufactured products, and there are companies that are nearly-exclusive DoD
contractors for boots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Danner is one
such company, and in addition to making $150 light hikers made in China they
also “construct” $200 boots using Asian-made fabrics that they import.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they also have their premium line of
hiking boots that are 100% domestically produced…for >$380.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So yes, it can be done (though none of those
boots use EVA, which is the light, typically-white midsole material that gives
shoes their cushioning, because there are no EVA manufacturers/molders in the
US) but if you are supportive of Trump’s Trade War you should also be
supportive of $300 shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Mexico tariff thing is even more baffling to me, tho to
be fair that seems to be de-escalating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I get it that the immigration thing is arguably the most complex and
challenging problem we face, but Mexico just happens to be the country between
the likes of Guatemala and El Salvador where the folks are fleeing from, and I
am amazed (or maybe I shouldn’t be) that there has been zero talk along the
lines of “how can we help/influence Guatemala and El Salvador to make them
less-awful so people won’t feel compelled to flee to the US?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A lot of the stuff that the Trump administration is
doing/has done really doesn’t affect most of us:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the escalation in tension with Iran, the Russia
investigation, even the immigration stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this trade war? It literally has the potential to crush the zillions
of American companies who rely on international manufacturing partners
(including our beloved car companies, who rely hugely on Chinese-made machines
to help make their cars) and – most importantly – the domestic companies that
we rely on for reasonably-priced goods will be forced to jack their prices to
their dealers and to consumers, and we will all suffer from Trump’s misguided “war.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ps – Paul Krugman is far smarter than most everybody (Nobel
Prizes typically denote this) and he has his own summary of How goes the wars….
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/opinion/how-goes-the-trade-war.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/opinion/how-goes-the-trade-war.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-69675427885343326242019-06-13T09:15:00.003-06:002019-06-13T09:15:55.360-06:00Trains, boats, and one great rental carI've been doing a lot of training lately. No, not running/riding (and my lack of fitness shows that), but actually taking the train! It's a little known fact, but in addition to our beloved cars and the expensive/frustrating air travel Amtrak still exists in the US, and I've realized that it works.......mostly.....<br />
<br />
Three times over the last few weeks I have had the need/opportunity to meet friends in Green River for trips: paddling the Black Box section of the San Rafael with the intrepid Alaskan adventurer<a href="https://www.conservationfund.org/our-experts/brad-meiklejohn"> Brad Meiklejohn</a>, paddling the mighty Muddy Creek and canyoneering with intrepid Washington adventurer and photographer <a href="https://www.benjwadsworth.com/">Benj Wadsworth,</a> and returning to the Black Boxes again with endurance cycling legend-turned-intrepid-packrafter <a href="http://lacemine29.blogspot.com/">Mike Curiak</a>, and each time there was a fair bit of incentive not to drive. Ashley and I share a car and since she rides to work every day and leaves me the car on a day to day basis all the time, but taking it out of SLC for days wouldn't be an appropriate use of that privilege. Yes, I could easily rent a car for a coupla days, but actually the train is pretty sweet!<br />
<br />
The California Zephyr is a romantic name for the choo choo that chugs once a day from Sacramento to Chicago and back, and after whiling its way across Nevada arrives in Salt Lake City at the unlikely hour of 3am.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5oAoFkkr1OewzdI_wCfNTX0tewZ3ZCJ2w_R4c6t85sIFxFYdDPWtSL84K4EEZR_sydpwTh63eF_bDY5MumQSlXYPNTCgIWrEOVLw2A_jh2H5Kj8INtmEhG8o5TCPlQzRSdnL7lxxos4H/s1600/IMG_1622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5oAoFkkr1OewzdI_wCfNTX0tewZ3ZCJ2w_R4c6t85sIFxFYdDPWtSL84K4EEZR_sydpwTh63eF_bDY5MumQSlXYPNTCgIWrEOVLw2A_jh2H5Kj8INtmEhG8o5TCPlQzRSdnL7lxxos4H/s640/IMG_1622.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Now before you roll your eyes and think "there's no way in hell I am getting up to catch a train in the middle of the night" hear me out. It actually works out pretty well. I wake up at 2:30, get a Lyft to the train station, wait a few mins for the train to arrive, clamber on, and am asleep again by the time the train leaves the SLC city limits, lulled by the quiet and gently rocking motion of the train. Compared to a plane - and for that matter, a car - train seats are mega: they are wide, lean way back without crimping the folks behind, have thigh supports, and foot supports. And there are so few people who appreciate the train that you'll almost certainly have a 2 seat combo to yourself. So moderately-comfortable sleeping while "sitting" in the seats is a real thing.<br />
<br />
All three times I have woken up a ways after dawn to watch us progress our way along the Price river, and I have just about enough time to get a cup of tea in the cafe, read the paper on my phone, and the conductor calls out "Green River!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcejauqUd58WGH96l2sSjy-M3dJVAyBQhYF5RLQPoCru2hzKMRk_9evXnTl8vysXJIfwdHAPUkrRTem9i756kerY5qu0cF1XhBe4X8FNps0Hp7HbustfL9flNUq4x2seu06RHFoEJP7-y/s1600/IMG_1625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcejauqUd58WGH96l2sSjy-M3dJVAyBQhYF5RLQPoCru2hzKMRk_9evXnTl8vysXJIfwdHAPUkrRTem9i756kerY5qu0cF1XhBe4X8FNps0Hp7HbustfL9flNUq4x2seu06RHFoEJP7-y/s640/IMG_1625.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a little blurry, but I think he's checking his fob watch! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The "station" in Green River is little more than an abandoned building and a landing:<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
But indeed, once you're off the train....<br />
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<br />
It's indeed the Green River Epicenter, it's now 8am, you are a few blocks from a great taco truck:<br />
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<br />
that has killer breakfast burrito, and presto! You are in Southern Utah with plenty of time to stage for adventuring! To be sure, Green River is not quite Moab, Fruita, Escalante, or Springdale in terms of being a gateway (though they just did a ribbon cutting on a new mtb trail:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigct3aln6736etpHm5zD9t4yrVnjZ77rY1yliJIRydQ5Q2SDZG_0pOBcr3W0JcMf5UYj6L3zR6fZ9D3s7NaV7dFHtyqstQHMy8N33N-g0535TjPRSbl8Bs_XxVPk254w1jhr6WD3Y4-Sew/s1600/IMG_1756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigct3aln6736etpHm5zD9t4yrVnjZ77rY1yliJIRydQ5Q2SDZG_0pOBcr3W0JcMf5UYj6L3zR6fZ9D3s7NaV7dFHtyqstQHMy8N33N-g0535TjPRSbl8Bs_XxVPk254w1jhr6WD3Y4-Sew/s640/IMG_1756.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's only 5.5 miles, but it's a start....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And of course you are poised to get to great places. Two of these trips were for paddling the Black Box section of the San Rafael; once with Brad Meikeljohn and another with <a href="http://lacemine29.blogspot.com/">Mike Curiak</a>. Flat water leads to great class 3-4:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMxtpJuTpFfzzqq-rIV4eLQzUuf6QsYZWH4gN39XGrRRCm7iwBPsvZZ0RLupJR1lLHgm6WcnKcGerdbfZ1G_P0KPuq5Hly9XTv_fY-s0Z0oLFWgbybwBeaVpZphDVSFN8UOQ78dBg0RLj/s1600/black+box+curiak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMxtpJuTpFfzzqq-rIV4eLQzUuf6QsYZWH4gN39XGrRRCm7iwBPsvZZ0RLupJR1lLHgm6WcnKcGerdbfZ1G_P0KPuq5Hly9XTv_fY-s0Z0oLFWgbybwBeaVpZphDVSFN8UOQ78dBg0RLj/s640/black+box+curiak.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">And once in the Box there's a challenging portage:</span><br />
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCwLPpZptjr9b1v47QB6s1NP6yg70DTN2CQ4BC7tn_mjPjcOcLbA2vQyR4dL9D11Jy2xgedaKtNmvy7Pi67a0cr-dxLgUjtDKJlykqJrkmDiLbgxATxjzPQfIMxp8E9ampAYjxVrdPHHp/s1600/8A3A1514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCwLPpZptjr9b1v47QB6s1NP6yg70DTN2CQ4BC7tn_mjPjcOcLbA2vQyR4dL9D11Jy2xgedaKtNmvy7Pi67a0cr-dxLgUjtDKJlykqJrkmDiLbgxATxjzPQfIMxp8E9ampAYjxVrdPHHp/s640/8A3A1514.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thanks for Mike for again shooting great pics.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> Before some nice camping after you leave the first Box:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeUwoDaZYBie9k6X0FaeF0Df3qsDXPQfcmwq4R3E98_GWlxbY3ZEdFiS7APhCbYVrTg1mIMjAGb8QP1-k3bJjUhuj1b6smIN6Dt7kyHUN7qJ0n9jr7cyiaWw2Fv2h9PyBz9RCHkwjQNt4/s1600/IMG_1585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimeUwoDaZYBie9k6X0FaeF0Df3qsDXPQfcmwq4R3E98_GWlxbY3ZEdFiS7APhCbYVrTg1mIMjAGb8QP1-k3bJjUhuj1b6smIN6Dt7kyHUN7qJ0n9jr7cyiaWw2Fv2h9PyBz9RCHkwjQNt4/s640/IMG_1585.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love overhangs!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">and then running a coupla must-run class 4's in the 2nd box before a long paddle out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Another train-trip was to meet our friend <a href="https://www.benjwadsworth.com/">Benj Wadsworth</a> for some canyoneering and more Utah desert creeking:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">The train back to Salt Lake leaves Green River at 6pm,
arriving at 11pm.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">For my first two trips
down I didn’t need to take the train home, but for the last one – with Mike,
last week, who was coming from paddling the Zion Narrows and then heading back
to Grand Junction – I did need the return trip.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">After we took off the river in mid-afternoon
(thanks again to Jeny for running our shuttle for us) we were back in Green
River and all was good:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">we had enough
time to have a burger at Ray’s Tavern, the train station was just down the
street, it was going to come chugging through soon, and I had a good book to
get me home on the train.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Until I got
the text message:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">“Amtrak train #5 is
delayed….until 2:30 am”</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Gaack.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Really?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">I like Ray’s and all, but spending the next 8 hours there sounded
suboptimal.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">I did have my camping gear
and could just sleep on the train landing.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Then a few minutes later another text:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">“Amtrak train #5 is delayed….until 3:30 am.”</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">How could a train get an hour later in only 10
more minutes?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">But it was an indication
that clearly something was awry, and the trend wasn’t good.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<!--StartFragment-->
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mike and Jeny wanted to help but there wasn’t much for them
to do beyond getting me to the even-more-bleak western end of town where there
are two gas stations near the I-70 on ramp.
I bid them adieu and hung out outside one of them and asked a couple of
nice looking folks if they were going to Salt Lake. I felt a bit like one of those guys who comes
up to you in the parking lot with the sad – and perhaps – true story of his
sick mom in Duluth and if he could just get a few bucks to fill up his gas can
he can get a few more miles closer to her, but hoped that my somewhat normal
demeanor might help (though the stupid porn mustache I was sporting – that has
since gone - probably didn’t help my cause.
Soon enough a station employee came around and told me I couldn’t be
doin’ that, and I got it, but he suggested a piece of cardboard, a sharpie, and
a thumb might work. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t have much to lose, so I went ahead and made my
little sign saying “SLC” and walked out to the road, setting my Patagonia Black
Hole bag on the ground and my paddle prominently displayed so any river types
would see it and take pity on me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A bit forlornly I watched a few minutes’ worth of people
accelerate past and avoid eye contact, when suddenly a car with California
plates pulled over. A guy jumped out,
ran around, and said “I’m headed to Salt Lake.
Wow, that’s a classic old Black Hole!” I was pretty excited to get a
ride quickly, but even so wondered “wow, that’s a bit of a weird thing to
say.” I hopped in and we were off, and
it turns out that my benefactor turned out to be a great guy named Justin Wood,
who in addition to being a longtime sponsored climber guy from Salt Lake is
also a Patagonia employee who roams the country helping stores with their
merchandising, and was returning from a work trip to Telluride that he’d used a
rental car for (hence the California plates).
Between our respective Patagonia experiences and Salt Lake connections
we had zillions of mutual friends and yapped for hours, and in no time I was
delivered right to my door. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About the time I was thinking about Bed and how happy I was
to be crawling into it with Ash instead of onto the concrete landing in Green
River, I got yet another text: “Amtrak
#5 is delayed….until 6:30 am.”
Yikes. That would have put me
into SLC at noon and blown a good half a day.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I of course was quite keen for the train based on my
experiences before the big delay, which I think was caused by the flooding in
the Midwest. Like everyone, I’ve had my
share of plane delays as well for weather and other, more frustrating reasons
and it’s actually easier to comprehend the implications of one late train going
across the country relative to the zillions of flight options that exist in the
sky. And our ponderous train system
seems to pale in comparison to the 200+ mph trains that form extensive networks
in Europe, Japan, and other countries.
It’s almost more endearing than it is practical, but the price ($35 each
way), the spontaneity (decide you want a ticket, go to the station 30 mins
before the train arrives, buy ticket, and get on), and relative comfort actually makes it a viable option….if you’re
patient. Or if you are lucky enough to
find The One Car that’ll take you right to your house! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks again to Benj, Mike, Jeny, Brad, and Justin for
indulging me and being great pards on fun Green River area adventures! <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-46465346727655732872019-05-30T18:36:00.000-06:002019-05-30T18:36:02.973-06:00An Escalante Return<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ73rmgLfGEQqk76rdsD-_CCAPzqKeU6WatjHvtvnVZhacef6k95gm077FnvNRnvXj5vt0ayiYtMDkQA6VCxMYx6Nsd_8NyK8Rt3kQloAwsTFgaCn-WiKOBQayzzaQ9TBfekKycD4DPzR_/s1600/P5060784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ73rmgLfGEQqk76rdsD-_CCAPzqKeU6WatjHvtvnVZhacef6k95gm077FnvNRnvXj5vt0ayiYtMDkQA6VCxMYx6Nsd_8NyK8Rt3kQloAwsTFgaCn-WiKOBQayzzaQ9TBfekKycD4DPzR_/s400/P5060784.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
When Utah has a good snow year like this one skiers focus on the copious snow that fills in all the lines and provides many great powder days, but those skiers who also like the liquid form of snow as it tumbles down rivers start to scheme about potential river adventures as the snow melts. Compared to great whitewater states like Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California, Utah is pretty weak in comparison but there are a few great exceptions. The Escalante River is one of the best exceptions I know. So as this winter's storms kept taking the southern track and the long drought started to fade as the<a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/quicklinks/imap/#version=104&elements=R&networks=!&states=!&basins=!&hucs=&minElevation=&maxElevation=&elementSelectType=all&activeOnly=true&activeForecastPointsOnly=false&hucLabels=false&hucIdLabels=false&hucParameterLabels=false&stationLabels=&overlays=&hucOverlays=&basinOpacity=100&basinNoDataOpacity=0&basemapOpacity=100&maskOpacity=0&mode=data&openSections=dataElement,parameter,date,basin,options,elements,location,networks&controlsOpen=true&popup=&popupMulti=&base=esriNgwm&displayType=basinstation&basinType=6&dataElement=WTEQ&depth=-8&parameter=PCTMED&frequency=DAILY&duration=I&customDuration=1&dayPart=E&year=2019&month=5&day=29&monthPart=E&forecastPubMonth=5&forecastPubDay=1&forecastExceedance=50&seqColor=1&divColor=3&scaleType=D&scaleMin=&scaleMax=&referencePeriodType=POR&referenceBegin=1981&referenceEnd=2010&minimumYears=20&hucAssociations=true&lat=39.004&lon=-110.693&zoom=8.0"> snotels </a>across the state grew we knew that this would be a year to be able to plan on a trip down the Escalante. <br />
<br />
The key to an Escalante trip is getting enough water. The only real legitimate gauge is in the town of Escalante, and it doesn't really inspire confidence: if you are lucky it'll be in the double digits (ie over 10 cfs; a mere trickle) and Pine Creek is a similarly-sized creek that comes in to double it to a still-uninspiring level. So when you get to the highway 12 bridge over the river near Calf Creek the "river" (in most states they'd call it a creek!) it almost always looks barely-floatable. But only 6 miles downstream Boulder Creek comes in which typically helps a lot, but....you aren't really sure, because the G-dub Bush administration decided in it's infinite wisdom that an effective cost cutting measure for the US was to take out the Boulder Creek gauge in 2005 (I'm sure that my taxes that year reflected that big savings!). <br />
<br />
Compounding our attempt to forecast the flow this time was....the forecast: a well-advertised cold and wet storm system was marching across California, Nevada, and western Utah, and since the watershed of the Escalante includes the high elevations of the Aquarius Plateau and Boulder Mountain, the potential existed for the flows to get totally shut down by high elevation snow, but at least it'd be cold and rainy on the river. I have now lived in a quasi-desert now for 20 years and made innumerable trips down to the real desert in southern Utah innumerable times, and I'm always amazed at how many times I've been affected by storms there! But once we were in the 'hood with our gear and devoid of any other "bad weather" options anyway, Ashley announced "WE ARE GOING!" And thus it was. <br />
<br />
Scott Martin was a river guide on Cataract Canyon for a few years many years ago and had heard plenty of tales of floating the Escalante, but being a guide, then a committed working stiff, then a family guy with a huge raft (that would barely fit inside the entire Escalante riverbed) he'd never been able to put it together to get down the river. But the many hours in the skin track thinking about the storminess down south got into his head, and he got a rare unencumbered pass to spend the week+ with us, which was a treat. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJu-g-L_b7lV3-aTEm3ZFI4d2KQcNN5A5NWCLqiWhdG2_jx5auPKykNP5DeRru-1o5FqHTwK3vFvZ2hYpSsntmPFYC5iaCraCWxXYByboHC4q9HS5MUgOC6izoUNHPBnSjYnl0fZl8362/s1600/IMG_1663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJu-g-L_b7lV3-aTEm3ZFI4d2KQcNN5A5NWCLqiWhdG2_jx5auPKykNP5DeRru-1o5FqHTwK3vFvZ2hYpSsntmPFYC5iaCraCWxXYByboHC4q9HS5MUgOC6izoUNHPBnSjYnl0fZl8362/s640/IMG_1663.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SLC watershed defender by week, groveling dirtbag by weekend...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So the three of us piled out of Scott's rig at the highway 12 bridge over the Escalante, took a look at the river, declared it enough water to float a boat, and after a quick shuttle (Scott's theory on driving washboards - of which the Hole in the Rock road is infamous for -is to drive fast enough to skim over them, and it seemed to work) we floated on down. Fortunately the upper section of the river is mostly a single channel, and it was easy to skim along in our Alpackas that have very little draft (they stick down only a few inches). As predicted, a cold rain began to fall, but - starting a trend that would continue for almost a week - about the time we were ready to stop we spied a nice overhanging camp.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0fH-cMs4_WsFkitGzx6cHpMP4Z0xdvDhEr8Czy4PIt69jpR7i-NJ4_8WNGZ_Vfa4Y751gOixXQUo8z9MYYww0lK3CfiSDJ4ZjJBS5_KO-EyArjZvrcpMAFJaulIoFh3MmKx3UNQh621Z/s1600/IMG_1662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0fH-cMs4_WsFkitGzx6cHpMP4Z0xdvDhEr8Czy4PIt69jpR7i-NJ4_8WNGZ_Vfa4Y751gOixXQUo8z9MYYww0lK3CfiSDJ4ZjJBS5_KO-EyArjZvrcpMAFJaulIoFh3MmKx3UNQh621Z/s640/IMG_1662.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Overhanging camps are sheer magic. I've spent plenty of nights in tents in the rain and it's fine, especially with a more-spacious <a href="https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/tents-and-bivys/mega-light-tent-BD8005070000ALL1.html">Black Diamond Megamid</a>, but rock is dryer than nylon, it's great to be able to walk around under an overhang, and in addition to feeling snug, you also feel smug that you are warm and dry while it's pouring just inches away and you are still outside. <br />
<br />
We woke in the morning with no change in river level and we were only a quarter mile above Boulder Creek, which as anticipated was a nice aqua contributor. Yep, it was on the cold side -esp for mid-May, when the typical temps are in the 70's - but as Ash put it, that's why we spend a bunch of money on expensive clothes. And we were able to find a huge, fern-lined overhang a couple of hundred yards up a side ephemeral stream with a nice pool to supply water just as the afternoon rain started to kick in again. We reveled in our overhang smugness as we sat in the dry sand with some appetizers, played some scrabble, watched the rain fall a hundred feet away, and wished we had a frisbee to cavort about under our overhang. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWTif_6wdqIld3J19EI_4ikCQ3eDuk8Faq8VF3BG0eIulRCaFx7sflSudM92EZPesEsrTc40sRw-2J9HC1SEyjyU5LXNgp47Lr8Fv6WHzMc_-VL7-OjEPfP8xAoYEf4WGBWXQYjE896El/s1600/IMG_1976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWTif_6wdqIld3J19EI_4ikCQ3eDuk8Faq8VF3BG0eIulRCaFx7sflSudM92EZPesEsrTc40sRw-2J9HC1SEyjyU5LXNgp47Lr8Fv6WHzMc_-VL7-OjEPfP8xAoYEf4WGBWXQYjE896El/s640/IMG_1976.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I had assumed that the pool we were near was a function of the springs that also fed the prodigious ferns that stuck out of the wall, but as so many times in nature, we way underestimated natural events. As I was facing the pool an hour or so after it started raining, very abruptly - like the hand of God turned on his bath faucet - a huge blast of water suddenly shot over the wall 200 feet over our heads and created a thunderous waterfall (ala the famous "Butt Dam Falls"). We were safely out of the way of the pool and the outflow, but it was so big that it was created a ton of spray off the pool that was washing over us, so we scrambled away (we still had plenty of room under the overhang).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9req80lMJVSwg0FTWKhWYZpKgIrRjNAAsNiTxF_Sfa73O8RzQwfDTslY8cNwijL7LpK1V1jij552vATG9xrWPKvsvMLFfjfvSVlH4Byir7U2gppEAp1DArN1yN8jF3iahqs1QT-uc7LN/s1600/IMG_1646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9req80lMJVSwg0FTWKhWYZpKgIrRjNAAsNiTxF_Sfa73O8RzQwfDTslY8cNwijL7LpK1V1jij552vATG9xrWPKvsvMLFfjfvSVlH4Byir7U2gppEAp1DArN1yN8jF3iahqs1QT-uc7LN/s640/IMG_1646.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott giggling, until we realized that the spray was coming! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdS_kkEzya68I2IhshBtgP6gERgb4vTDBIISLLTO-dFvEH03i6TsBk0Jovn9EY2-sJLKE1lvVSCkiKKBRGeLhJoENsR4N6BXShe9sPR534sPmJ6uBFX5OsPWV6EquQ0YS8my3wpECHHY9z/s1600/IMG_1649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdS_kkEzya68I2IhshBtgP6gERgb4vTDBIISLLTO-dFvEH03i6TsBk0Jovn9EY2-sJLKE1lvVSCkiKKBRGeLhJoENsR4N6BXShe9sPR534sPmJ6uBFX5OsPWV6EquQ0YS8my3wpECHHY9z/s640/IMG_1649.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The waterfall was about 200 feet. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzT2fjOn_4DM5ejrRDOxdWMKLJk-7NhBmBKp3F8pmQs25yhEPPjYm0tu70rF2NSDa0iy82osGSGhD3GyoKSiA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Though the rain stopped the draining did not, and the waterfall raged all night. Fortunately, even with the enhanced acoustics of our copious overhang and the volume of water making a deafening noise, it was a "white" (so to speak) noise that was very sleepable. However, I fell asleep with a bit of unease; if we were getting that much water, in our little streamlet, how high would the river get? <br />
<br />
In the morning we got our answer; the river had come up a lot. We put on and floated on down a bit, and we weren't on the water long before we saw some lightning flashes with and quick peels of thunder and soon enough the big water droplets started getting even bigger and harder, so when another overhang presented itself we ducked under it: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwfyNOuWQdFYOZVJxcoNbuzZlE_FnlOynOg-dZ4u7L9T9PpweIenZ7T8Vm6skS1ZSWf0IPCxaz5WYU7ffXVkx1o1EDZAUga8D3jLk153Nj-SYq8BQaV73It_KBHHktKOfoU5yWGjwlr9E/s1600/IMG_1652.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwfyNOuWQdFYOZVJxcoNbuzZlE_FnlOynOg-dZ4u7L9T9PpweIenZ7T8Vm6skS1ZSWf0IPCxaz5WYU7ffXVkx1o1EDZAUga8D3jLk153Nj-SYq8BQaV73It_KBHHktKOfoU5yWGjwlr9E/s640/IMG_1652.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
just as the inevitable hail began pelting us. <br />
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Getting an inch or more of hail didn't warm up the environment much but we were again pretty smugly snug in our overhang, so we decided to hang a bit, and about the time we were settling in a party came barreling in, and they were in fairly bad shape. A couple of them had swam several times (they were in an <a href="https://www.alpackaraft.com/rafting/product/forager/">Alpacka Forager</a>, which puts the paddlers up pretty high and thus closer to hanging branches) and were super cold and relished the opportunity to get out of the weather, have some tea, and warm up before heading downstream.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XL36euUhbhjKbsR45Di99n0mAAlVmmFmBdheDJeMn8pgthNkdsfPnOVKO-D_pJwhrhUgoHa-n9yvbw5OUMcfh8PBcaX8EvxJch0uKFPd95lRz43pzldhzdtzrzziTJVcrHSwy2tgRMwl/s1600/IMG_1656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XL36euUhbhjKbsR45Di99n0mAAlVmmFmBdheDJeMn8pgthNkdsfPnOVKO-D_pJwhrhUgoHa-n9yvbw5OUMcfh8PBcaX8EvxJch0uKFPd95lRz43pzldhzdtzrzziTJVcrHSwy2tgRMwl/s640/IMG_1656.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy in the drysuit was fine; the guy in the red jacket was wearing a 3mm wetsuit top and capri pants and had nary an ounce of fat on him to keep him warm. He was bumming, as was his boatmate (kneeling)</td></tr>
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The river peaked shortly thereafter and then dropped quickly to a fine floatable level, and we slowly worked our way downriver, still taking advantage of the overhang camps: <br />
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From the highway 12 bridge to the most common takeout at the mouth of Coyote Gulch is 75 miles, which doesn't sound like much for a 9 day trip, but the beauty of the Escalante is the myriad of spectacular side canyons to explore, and because the canyon isn't very deep, there are a fair number of opportunities to get up high, sometimes using "Moki steps" - small holds chiseled into the sandstone that the Anastazi/Fremont natives put in about 800+ years ago. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsB16xnTCOje8Dp21AlGRbX6W_s8K88uZhKq3KMbN_obVKYwQeMG53kuPDhcLgLs2_Q42-pTmPuhomiTkr3KrnM_n_Zxz6vpxVairzjFg3MlP3OMWZNuz12xYL6a1a0wrjtEsL7xCCnAV/s1600/IMG_2087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsB16xnTCOje8Dp21AlGRbX6W_s8K88uZhKq3KMbN_obVKYwQeMG53kuPDhcLgLs2_Q42-pTmPuhomiTkr3KrnM_n_Zxz6vpxVairzjFg3MlP3OMWZNuz12xYL6a1a0wrjtEsL7xCCnAV/s640/IMG_2087.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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The canyons all have their own characters, and the opportunities for adventures is literally endless (Ace Kvale and his Desert Dawg have tried as hard as anyone, as seen in <a href="https://vimeo.com/163509935">this video</a>). Here are a variety of representative hike pics:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUNo3INJJIYvupOvJxXkpPne8kYOYcRKlQly34qlEnbKTJ2x5Di4jFph48hYRcaoIp7gTwPJKaLQwjdvAYsbUtoVMOQgaFP8NVVRKfqpChCWAYGQz1VaXcA8166eSRQl1iEW2oJJ5sIrz/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUNo3INJJIYvupOvJxXkpPne8kYOYcRKlQly34qlEnbKTJ2x5Di4jFph48hYRcaoIp7gTwPJKaLQwjdvAYsbUtoVMOQgaFP8NVVRKfqpChCWAYGQz1VaXcA8166eSRQl1iEW2oJJ5sIrz/s640/IMG_2004.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiking in drysuits - the new Escalante look</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhen6RdJ5qSBxPlhaTSr6yNXJqT0rTchyphenhyphenQXWl6pnN3Zt6WghxeNsf0Jk7IdYEh-qtWhi8t0hYHhr2Pj1tpdCqndXcksUxx0I0SYp4ub1XM_BEFUR5ndNtnWfPoQzyABrM5DqHlecW80oYkc/s1600/IMG_2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhen6RdJ5qSBxPlhaTSr6yNXJqT0rTchyphenhyphenQXWl6pnN3Zt6WghxeNsf0Jk7IdYEh-qtWhi8t0hYHhr2Pj1tpdCqndXcksUxx0I0SYp4ub1XM_BEFUR5ndNtnWfPoQzyABrM5DqHlecW80oYkc/s640/IMG_2010.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnWrvljOS1d47Jbs7Ywt50MQRqE0nQPjtYdqrYQV_CoTDvKCrBQdUErRHBOXKF3K08xcVYMT4VBeNGVGB2PtjMSTpEVqxitvWcfwkEddMe2ZN_rV0Z2fEuVoQy8WerwMWJhKexOUsGq3Z/s1600/IMG_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnWrvljOS1d47Jbs7Ywt50MQRqE0nQPjtYdqrYQV_CoTDvKCrBQdUErRHBOXKF3K08xcVYMT4VBeNGVGB2PtjMSTpEVqxitvWcfwkEddMe2ZN_rV0Z2fEuVoQy8WerwMWJhKexOUsGq3Z/s640/IMG_2015.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quite ogle-able</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hr6T6lj8eaQrMB8oKJAGHW0QDwtONGwjCtK19kxc2fj6-qBXRmC9vh3JLEq9Jzu-uEeKnCXuosASXsq-1MJk8PRcbBtixH-nWjBv4clt0nLHEyyDrhXtFniSCrCZG7x_qRtvc4Zxg-pZ/s1600/IMG_2100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hr6T6lj8eaQrMB8oKJAGHW0QDwtONGwjCtK19kxc2fj6-qBXRmC9vh3JLEq9Jzu-uEeKnCXuosASXsq-1MJk8PRcbBtixH-nWjBv4clt0nLHEyyDrhXtFniSCrCZG7x_qRtvc4Zxg-pZ/s640/IMG_2100.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">some fun scrambling</td></tr>
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And of course, we paddled too:<br />
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And fortunately, I had a map to navigate our progress:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxz-udyOB39j2jJs9LBgByqq0Zm2HL8EhIyFvJ4Evsb4VZ5sXkXJYkA7xPns3esjEI0w5NqPqa9pPHYbXigfg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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The improving weather enabled us to have some non-overhang camps <br />
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(overhangs get a little thin in the 2nd half):<br />
And to prove my theory that a good way to get away from crowds is to do something stoopid, since we put on as the Big Gnarly Storm approachethed we literally didn't see another human bean for a week, until we were just a coupla miles from Coyote Gulch.<br />
<br />You'll note that in a few pics we are sporting very stylish white suits. More on that later, but suffice to say I felt immensely stylish indeed:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7sJ6saLBy1lKoYXsakYVSj2swDodUblazc8ovm_GV5oumTmW8rtUG8TVvNCSIontuSQdmUlN71tyDx4FgJwygJKvwuRyd4gVDBxQXLIXUrySt5fmlYvDrHDd6Dq276xQAx5KlJ8CgV4V/s1600/IMG_2117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7sJ6saLBy1lKoYXsakYVSj2swDodUblazc8ovm_GV5oumTmW8rtUG8TVvNCSIontuSQdmUlN71tyDx4FgJwygJKvwuRyd4gVDBxQXLIXUrySt5fmlYvDrHDd6Dq276xQAx5KlJ8CgV4V/s640/IMG_2117.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
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And Scott was able to get all artsy using the medium:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpY4eunSsOmnNaRNgr_VL9CZvz8FR8faX5azLRwRvj4oZq076RZTbCnR1cvLcZskQ8a42jVGu4cdoRPdT4SF7uo52FCUFL7izPovOxqSBhUccwm0RauRVi7c2hvgdwNxxG-dDaVSkGEWp-/s1600/IMG_2130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpY4eunSsOmnNaRNgr_VL9CZvz8FR8faX5azLRwRvj4oZq076RZTbCnR1cvLcZskQ8a42jVGu4cdoRPdT4SF7uo52FCUFL7izPovOxqSBhUccwm0RauRVi7c2hvgdwNxxG-dDaVSkGEWp-/s640/IMG_2130.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Man On Dark Rock. $1190, framed. By Scott Martin</td></tr>
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The dez is in full bloom this year:<br />
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and there was plenty of petrified wood that showed that stuff bloomed a long time ago:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTx-gsUmcgRdCByb9XM45DhP0Tj-P6ZuPpwGB3I7UrkoF2AFHlLgUOiplOqjEzlU8UC3gBPZfSpK_Ncv8rOHSJJ083dDjOzbuYhsG4A7EkFo2K4_56zigLWdmoDUcMDQlMMPx7imS_NiG/s1600/IMG_2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTx-gsUmcgRdCByb9XM45DhP0Tj-P6ZuPpwGB3I7UrkoF2AFHlLgUOiplOqjEzlU8UC3gBPZfSpK_Ncv8rOHSJJ083dDjOzbuYhsG4A7EkFo2K4_56zigLWdmoDUcMDQlMMPx7imS_NiG/s640/IMG_2006.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gratuitous juvenile male humor....</td></tr>
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As we arrived at Coyote (and bumped into old friends Jake and Addy and their friends) it felt like our adventure had come to an end, but the Good Nature wasn't done with us yet. Thunder and lightning in the morning was a bit unusual, and by the time we got to the sandstone slab that represented our exit from the gulch it was soaked, and an exposed traverse that is absolutely easy and totally forgettable when dry became pretty dang spicy with sand covered shoes on the wet sandstone. After leaving our friends and another group behind there with a length of webbing for a fixed line we trudged up the long sand hill to the Crack in the Rock; the subtle and key spot that takes advantage of a fallen block to work your way up to the top of a cliff, where we in full exposure to pouring rain and a good stiff breeze. We didn't need to see the snowline shockingly low on the flanks of the Kaiparowits Plateau to know that the temp was also quite low, and once again we found ourselves in full river clothing as Ash led the swift march back to the trailhead where the car awaited. <br />
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But that wasn't quite the end of our adventure: as desert travelers know, hard rains on clay roads makes for some greasy excitement. But Scott proved that not all GMC suburbans are only driven on pavement, and his masterful seesawing of the nearly-unresponsive steering wheel and insistence on carrying plenty of momentum delivered us safely to the paved highway 12.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And 6" of snow on Boulder Mountain! </td></tr>
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Thanks to Alpacka for making such Escalante-worthy crafts:<br />
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again to Ash for hatching the idea over the winter and insisting that WE'RE GOING<br />
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and Scott<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Escalante is burly!</td></tr>
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for taking virtually all of these pics (I lost my camera in the Grand Canyon), and most importantly taking the time to join us for a week of ogles and yuks. <br />
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<br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057352900106109514.post-46488608537569317742019-04-03T08:53:00.000-06:002019-04-03T08:53:50.244-06:00River Footwear<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a bit of a follow up to my earlier post about developing some river footwear and with the prospect of river trips starting to loom large in people's minds I thought I'd share my very-biased opinions regarding river footwear. I could have also titled this post: "Why sandals suck!" but that probably would have turned people off enough to not open it....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">As everyone knows, good footwear is key to many outdoor pursuits, and kayak/raft trips are no exception, with some significant challenges to overcome: foot protection, drainability, good outsole traction, grit/sand barrier, quick dry time, and durability in a harsh environment. But unfortunately, in my notso humble opinion the footwear companies have created an entire industry that is….wrong. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Simply put, I think that the concept of wearing sandals on the river, which has been at the heart of the footwear industry for some time, are actually </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are pretty big liabilities on a river trip. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> All the way from flip flops to $100 Chacos and Keens, sand and and grit get under the straps where it abrades against the tops of your feet, that sand and grit also gets under your feet and abrades against the more-tender/sensitive bottom of your feet (thereby creating the need for the famous one-footed “Chaco Dance”), exposes the tops of your feet to be fried by the sun because sunblock wears off that much more quickly in the water (and Skin Cancer Boy Tom says that the Teva Tan is not that cool and is even stupid):</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the burn over the peeling skin! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">and most importantly your toes are exposed. Particularly on the desert rivers, EVERYTHING in the river corridor at foot level loves to destroy toes, from cholla and barrel cactus to mormon tea to scorpions and rattlers to the most evil toe-predator: sharp rocks. The GC is stuffed with razor sharp limestone, abrasive sandstone, and every other sharp rock known to man. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8MQ2xTbemzfm5hxOCFiL1IVXR_bhqdBl53k92upenO98_WwWMva6px1l7fLx-oNCT0U7QY5WmKa8gJZywYLuc3luBvCx1wUearpg3ef6W_fvft9_LqotEK-h7ElVbG2k1amF7Tbh-Cz6/s1600/Unknown%255B1%255D%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8MQ2xTbemzfm5hxOCFiL1IVXR_bhqdBl53k92upenO98_WwWMva6px1l7fLx-oNCT0U7QY5WmKa8gJZywYLuc3luBvCx1wUearpg3ef6W_fvft9_LqotEK-h7ElVbG2k1amF7Tbh-Cz6/s640/Unknown%255B1%255D%255B1%255D.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nice river sandal injury. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Additionally, dry boxes, coolers, ammo cans, etc all are foot-abusers. I’ve seen plenty of painful cactus pricks, torn toenails, badly-sunburned feet, and also was on a Grand trip with a guy who broke his toe on a rock hauling a load up a beach; believe you me, the inability to walk puts a huge damper on a GC trip. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJ7Mpm2oqHozXYqzrptVDtATARk0O1jh7qjJFkLqGyARFqNS34b5TyecZNNc4wcdeL1SOlvEgSKbv5e9vTHIsAp_qPF9q2xoSO4TCAk3eIKZk8J68dc6_1ksx-926seyuvcv8D2GV5Y-I/s1600/IMG_1417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJ7Mpm2oqHozXYqzrptVDtATARk0O1jh7qjJFkLqGyARFqNS34b5TyecZNNc4wcdeL1SOlvEgSKbv5e9vTHIsAp_qPF9q2xoSO4TCAk3eIKZk8J68dc6_1ksx-926seyuvcv8D2GV5Y-I/s400/IMG_1417.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Keen Newport has been a staple in the sandal world for at least a dozen years, and this ad was on the back cover of the American Whitewater magazine that arrived today. I learned my lesson with these on an Escalante river trip some years ago when I butchered both the bottoms and the tops of my feet with grit under both my foot and the straps that I couldn't get out (Screens or no screens; I guess that's what they are trying to invoke here? not sure) Perhaps the sandals are good to protect this guys feet from getting slapped on this huge 15 foot jump.... </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">I think that a lot of the popularity associated with sandals on river trips comes from guides, who proudly wear not only sandals but actually take it a step further and wear flip flops. But note that guided trips rarely leave the river corridor, and when they do they take people on the mellowest hikes in the canyon. I have a friend who was a GC guide for 15 years and she’s never been more than a hundred yards up the Grand's Elves' Chasm (a gorgeous and somewhat complex mile or so of terraces and waterfalls). Also, river guides in the US are typically guiding on easier rivers where they run the mellowest lines, and thus the odds of them coming out of the boat and losing their flip flops is really low. But getting barefooted in the river environment - even if you're on the Snake or the Arkansas and not on the Stikine - is a huge safety liability; I've seen lots of people get pretty much paralyzed when they are trying to navigate river rocks barefoot when they need to be mobile but have lost their sandals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ironically, sandals are also heavier than shoes. When I was facilitating testing for Merrell and Chaco (Merrell owns Chaco) I could always tell when a carton showed up if it was shoes or sandals, because the carton of sandals was so much heavier. Chacos - with their polyurethane midsole and thick rubber outsole - weigh about a pound apiece in a men's size 9 or so, whereas most running shoes are in the 11 oz range and there are plenty of lighter running shoes that are in the 8-9 oz range. And they tend to hike much heavier in the sand thanks to the turned-up toe that acts as a sand shovel every step. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">But at least sandals are also more expensive: according to the super-random, woefully-outdated, and byzantine "<a href="file:///Users/tomdiegel/Downloads/Chapter%2064%20(1).pdf">Harmonized Tariff Schedule</a>" sandals typically have a 37.5% duty rate, whereas most imported athletic shoes have an 8-10% duty rate. Here's an example of what shoe companies have to navigate:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc-QArSuXJVVNlkEa5OTqOUmq2jwLF2NRRQfpdoAOzkh7tJumIzsUJvDFEj1OsPvVTKRJkatdvn4KYxuWq7xAlxZRyOE9q-gHwAnkxmBdh_S_P42VPTw71vwGwGop_1-SFobPnQTsd34s/s1600/harmonized+schedule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc-QArSuXJVVNlkEa5OTqOUmq2jwLF2NRRQfpdoAOzkh7tJumIzsUJvDFEj1OsPvVTKRJkatdvn4KYxuWq7xAlxZRyOE9q-gHwAnkxmBdh_S_P42VPTw71vwGwGop_1-SFobPnQTsd34s/s640/harmonized+schedule.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I once heard one shoe company owner say: "We don't design shoes that people want, we design shoes according to custom codes."</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So even though sandals are less expensive to make (they don't have an upper that requires sewing) the tariff costs are passed on via the markup to the dealer and again to the consumer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />So what about "Water Shoes" that are supposedly the happy medium between a less-protective sandal and a non-water shoe? Having done lots of testing with such models as the </span><a href="https://www.salomon.com/en-us/shop/product/techamphibian-4.html#1191=12644" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Salomon Tech Amphibian</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the </span><a href="https://www.merrell.com/US/en/waterpro-maipo-2/36348W.html?dwvar_36348W_color=J19924#cgid=women-featured-new-arrivals&start=1" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Merrell Waterpros</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, and <a href="https://www.chacos.com/US/en/torrent-pro/">Chaco Torrent Pro</a> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I’ve found a few critical problems: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usually water shoes are characterized by having a more-open mesh on the upper, which creates an even worse sand/grit motel where the sand checks in, but it don’t check out (and “</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.merrell.com/US/en/choprock-shandal/36341W.html?dwvar_36341W_color=J52772#cgid=women-footwear-sandals&start=1" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">shandals” </a>such as the <a href="https://www.keenfootwear.com/p/M-NEWPORT-H2.html">Keen</a> in the ad above (you can use the link to get to a bottom view) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are even worse in this regard) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The manufacturers can't seem to decide if the shoes are deck shoes -where "siping" (razor cutting) is helpful: <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnJIXwUxkAqli-pzNbwZttPXcr0BvuPxtcL0buxifqDyb52ZYVzqDYI-iKIgp829DME-2PCq2HgLY3mUftYgmbMJKGnDdSPv3XC_1b3Kn8GYDHmgPDMxY63n4lAo4oVQchB1GP1BytgFy/s1600/IMG_1253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnJIXwUxkAqli-pzNbwZttPXcr0BvuPxtcL0buxifqDyb52ZYVzqDYI-iKIgp829DME-2PCq2HgLY3mUftYgmbMJKGnDdSPv3XC_1b3Kn8GYDHmgPDMxY63n4lAo4oVQchB1GP1BytgFy/s400/IMG_1253.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Siping is good for nice flat fiberglass decks, but it doesn't help at all on uneven rocks. </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They do the siping on lugs that are too big and too closely spaced together to make essentially just a uniformly flat sole, ala the Chaco Torrent or the Keen Newport (if you look at the bottom views of those two shoes). Traction mostly comes in two forms: the outsole lugs (depth, design, angularity, and the space between them) and rubber compound. So more widely-spaced, angular, and deeper lugs have the ability to contour around and grab onto rocks, mud, and dirt better than close-together and shallow lugs with siping. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of these water shoes have fancy drainage systems integrated into the sole, which looks great in the displays where water is pouring in the top and draining out the bottom. However, those displays are missing a critical component: a foot, which fills up the entire volume of the shoe (so there's little opportunity for water pooling between the shoe and the foot) and your foot is basically is covering over the drainage ports anyway. This isn't necessarily a negative...other than those systems are difficult to execute in the manufacturing process and thus makes the shoes that much more expensive. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The dirty secret that the shoe companies don’t want you to know - or even admit to themselves, which is more likely the case is this: The Best River shoes are.....running shoes. Most running shoes have the right amount of tight/fine mesh to not let sand in but also drain water out very quickly, and the synthetic materials dry plenty fast, and their outsoles typically provide better traction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trail runnning shoes in particular typically have fairly widely-space aggressive outsole lugs that </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> provide good tractio. Note, however, that particularly road running shoes typically sport a rubber compound that is harder/more durable than it is grippy (traction and durability typically are opposing factors). </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ve complained to companies that I’ve worked with that their soles outlive their uppers, which they freely admit. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I can guarantee that in a river environment with fun side hikes, no matter how sticky your rubber is there will be at least one point and maybe points daily where you’ll desperately be hoping that your outsoles hold well on whatever slab/edge or underwater/shoreline rock are relying on to keep from slipping.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Good sticky outsoles are used on La Sportivas (note that they have 3 different stickinesses), Salomon SpeedCross, and I’ve found that </span><a href="https://eu.vibram.com/en/technology/megagrip/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1">Vibram’s MegaGrip</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> sole compound is really good (</span><a href="https://www.rei.com/c/footwear/f/fet-vibram-megagrip" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> is a more comprehensive list that REI carries). </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Note that some of the shoes listed on that site with the MegaGrip are “puffy” shoes – ie Hokas and an Altra or two. I love Hokas and have run a zillion trail miles in them (and the Hoka Speedgoat has MegaGrip) , but for river and bank and ledgy scrambling I find them to be a little too unstable and have no edging capabilities, which is at times handy: </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6675Zo6q-My_Sjtoo_-msTbtHTqnqn8l2OFVvLoLKWfCHhar5IEOioz3SEVVsoKgJ4Y3ZjvPyhxZo5oasBeDrCWyjU91nU8tnUMoWWwUS8QgMQBjiMmCmVZO6RXuLZ8epJJmuBviiR-AW/s1600/PB073164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6675Zo6q-My_Sjtoo_-msTbtHTqnqn8l2OFVvLoLKWfCHhar5IEOioz3SEVVsoKgJ4Y3ZjvPyhxZo5oasBeDrCWyjU91nU8tnUMoWWwUS8QgMQBjiMmCmVZO6RXuLZ8epJJmuBviiR-AW/s640/PB073164.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greg Hanlon prefers the La Sportiva Ultra Raptor; a bit burlier than their true running shoes, but has Sportiva's stickiest rubber. He also prefers to climb in the hot sun in his drysuit.....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Note that new-school lightweight/flexible shoes like Nike Frees have a mostly-foam sole with rubber only on the heel and toe areas, which has the worst traction of all and isn't very durable in a river/outdoor environment, but at least it's soft enough to let cactus needles poke all the way through to your foot! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A great combination of light, low profile, quick drying, and protective shoes that fit inside a kayak, pack raft, or under raft thwarts or floor straps are the <a href="https://www.merrell.com/US/en/trail-glove-5-3d/36206M.html?dwvar_36206M_color=J48881#cgid=men-footwear-shoes&start=1">Merrell Glove</a> series. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NhjoimdyfSV4jmFV1X_OlbwJ5-bZrYfKwqY63VIyaHA-n2rSQJmGlOKT2OVPjqPxmdwBpWtO2tl9a9HfIxnj2JxS2Liwoo6pX58PMQBwbkA9QZqGRMEsznB1EHDAIcVbOOpr-2D3W7iP/s1600/glove.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="682" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NhjoimdyfSV4jmFV1X_OlbwJ5-bZrYfKwqY63VIyaHA-n2rSQJmGlOKT2OVPjqPxmdwBpWtO2tl9a9HfIxnj2JxS2Liwoo6pX58PMQBwbkA9QZqGRMEsznB1EHDAIcVbOOpr-2D3W7iP/s400/glove.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<img alt="Merrell Trail Glove 5 Men's High Rise" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the fact that the barefoot running craze very much waned at a larger level, there are still enough enthusiasts that Merrell has continued with their line and have done well with them, and they are totally fine for many of the medium-sized hikes that are found on rivers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're not a runner and are accustomed to using “hiking” and not “running” shoes per se, that's fine since there are good versions there (the soles are likely a little stiffer so you won't get the same ability to contour your foot around rocks), but don’t get lured into using real leather or Goretex hiking shoes/boots; they will never dry (leather and Goretex footwear another vast conspiracy that I’ll wait for another post to rant about!). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's also tempting to bring your old, beat up running shoes, but be wary of this: river/hiking trips put plenty of wear on a pair already, so you don’t need to give the shoes a head start on blowing up on the river (which I have had happen; duck tape doesn't provide much drainage or traction!). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My enthusiasm for running shoes aside, for most trips it's probably a good idea to bring two pairs and commit one to being wet (many rivers' side hikes are short and walking in wet/drying shoes is fine) and one to being dry for longer hikes and in camp. Wearing socks - even in the water - also goes a long ways towards avoiding foot abrasion from the sand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">On my last Grand Canyon trip I sent out a somewhat truncated version of this post to our crew and.... literally everyone brought sandals! Chacos, Tevas, flip flops...they were all there. And those who brought running shoes brought….Nike Frees! Of course it worked out just fine (other than I was one of the ones who cut my big toe while walking barefoot on the beach!), but that August trip was damn hot, we had a bunch of young kids, it was fiarly short trip, and our crew wasn’t that motivated for blistering-hot side canyon adventures so we spent virtually all of our time in the river corridor and I think our biggest group hike was up to the Nankoweap granaries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that our crew ignored my rant was a good reminder that with this opinion I am definitely shoveling shit against the tide, and there's no doubt that pretty much everyone will still take their sandals on river trips, but you might at least want to throw in a pair of running shoes....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">See you on the river!</span><br />
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<br />Tom Diegelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17883457895094058609noreply@blogger.com2