Another Lurker comes out of the Woods

Fatboy

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Aug 29, 2019
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Wanted to say ....

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A small sample of some of the places I have been (sorry for the picture quality, some are only low res action cam frames).

Olympic Coast in Washington, done parts of this premier coastal hike 4 times.

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Lost Coast Trail with my daughter in Northern California.

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North Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, BC (I have very few pictures of our 2 trips here, almost all action cam video of the trips)
This is probably my favorite coastal hike with amazing wildlife and amazing people. One Canadian did a 8 mile section at night in an area crawling with bears because the first campsite was full and he decided to hike to the next campsite where he arrived after sunrise the next morning.

Or the the guy that thought fresh water was just down the the beach a few hundred yards so he went off barefoot and ended walking 2 miles along the trail through the forest, BAREFOOT!

Beach camping on the North Coast Trail, we gave up our tent platform at the campsite to a late arriving (and very tired) group.
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One more coastal hike, The Kerry Way, Ireland. Did 60 miles of his with my daughter in December. Not the best time of the year to hike in Ireland but the flights were cheap and the people were amazing. One gentleman opened his 4/5 star hotel just for us, we were the only guests in a 200+ room hotel since they were closed for the holidays.

My daughter taking a break on the Kerry Way, Ireland, near Waterville.
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We also like kayaking, like on this small lake on Vancouver Island called Doran Lake.

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Or Kayaking out to Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa bay in Florida to explore Spanish - American war era ruins. Here you can see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the background.
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Kayaked a lot of the local rivers when we lived in Florida such as the Withlacoochee where we would paddle up to Big Blue Spring, or on the Homosassa River that has a small island with a bunch of spider monkeys living on it, or up the Crystal River which is crystal clear and during the right time of the year you can see Manatees.

This is on the Hillsborough that is swarming with alligators, you can see one on the bank here behind my kayak.
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We would also kayak out into the gulf a couple times a week to see the wildlife, here is a horseshoe crab on my paddle.
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We also did longer trips in the including a 25 mile trip down the Rio Grande river with Mexico on the right bank and the USA on the left bank and we were told that if we landed on the right bank we would have to go thru customs to return to the USA.

We also spent a week kayaking down the Sacramento river from below Red Bluff to the San Francisco Bay were we saw the best of people and the worst of people. I hope whomever stole 1 of our kayaks on our last day on the river has redeemed themselves.

Kayaking past an old wharf on the Sacramento river.
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We also spent 3 days paddling and camping in the Okefenokee Swamp where we heard our first screech owl and saw a large pleated woodpecker - the extinct Ivory Billed woodpecker is a pleated woodpecker.

Arriving at Floyd's Island for our first night in the Okefenokee Swamp.
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And a Pleated woodpecker in the Okefenokee Swamp.
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We have also used the kayaks to get to a hiking trail. While on Vancouver Island I heard about Della Falls that may be one of the highest waterfalls in all of Canada. Turns out the trail head was far from any roads and can only reached by boat on the Great Central Lake.

The Great Central Lake is a massive lake in the middle of the island, and being a dirtbag on a dirtbag budget I figured I would kayak out to the trail head.

I push off under blue sky and in calm winds and moments after leaving shore I see a large bear on the beach just a few hundred feet from where I had camped the night before.

20 miles later I arrive at the 'trail head'.
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From here it was a 15 mile hike to Della Falls, I had the time so I made it into 3 day, 2 night hike.

Here is a cable car that is used on the trail, 'Buckle Up' the signs say.
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The paddle back was during a rainstorm, kayaking almost twenty miles in the rain can wear on a person

I also love Baja and have been going south of the border since 1992.

Here we are exploring some rock art in Baja.

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Of course the surfers were not the only ones to leave art in the Baja desert.

This site is at the historic Tinaja de Yubay waterhole which is still a remote spot that requires navigating miles of dirt roads to get to spot where you are with in easy walking distance of the waterhole.

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With many miles and many weeks spent in Baja you can have many challenges - such as car problems.

One time, with my sister, our battery failed a good 30 miles from pavement and we had to wait until a local came along to get a jump start. To keep it interesting the vehicle would not start even with a jump start so the local pulled his battery out and we installed it in our car and once it started we swapped our bad battery back in and drove 3 hours to the nearest parts store to get a replacement.

Here I am trying to repair the rear brakes on the jeep while also trying to keep the bees off of me on a beach almost 2/3rds of the way down Baja.

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Here is a typical camp on a nameless beach south of the border.
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Baja also has lots of wildlife. One creature you might see plenty of is that master of versatility, the coyote.

Sleeping on the beach once at Las Animas a coyote nipped me on the head, drawing blood.
It could have been this fellow here.
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A creature that makes it home over large areas of Baja but is seen less often is the fox.

Walter Henderson says he stumbled across a rock-pile in the 1930's that he claims could be a grave from one of the first Spanish Conquistadors to travel through the SW.

While out hiking one day looking for this missing rock-pile I noticed this fox watching me.
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There is also many Bighorn Sheep in Baja and you can even find a 'shed' from time to time.
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I have hiked in the Toiyabe Range in central Nevada and have explored Goshute Cave between Wells and Ely Nevada.

Here we are at the entrance to Goshute Cave.

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Also in Nevada I performed an Elk rescue, this guy was tangled up in the barb wire and after cutting him free and bottle feeding him some water he trotted off.

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One of the weirder things I did in Nevada was drive down into this abandoned open pit mine to go swimming.

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Living in California means hiking in some of the smaller, lesser known wilderness areas to avoid crowds in the better known spots. This is Shimmy lake in the Trinity Alps.
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A favorite of mine is the middle fork of the Eel river.

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Indian Heaven Wilderness in southern Washington was another favorite in the mid-nineties but now it is almost over run with hikers and for good reason.

My daughter getting water from a lake in Indian Heaven Wilderness

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A spot that has been on my bucket list for decades, and one I finally made it to a few years back, is Eagle Cap Wilderness. I will be returning there in a few days in early September for a four day hike.

Glacier Lake in Eagle Cap Wilderness.

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Escalante, I fell hard for her charms while living in Phoenix. Most long weekends would find me heading north to Page and then on to Big Water where it was time to transition to dirt roads leading to Kelly's Grade or to Croton road or up Smoky Mountain rd to Left Hand Collet road which I would then follow down to Hole in the Rock Road.

A hidden campsite along the way from Phoenix to Escalante.

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Once there on the HTRR I would shun all the popular spots to hit up the less traveled areas. No Peek-a-Boo for me, nor have I seen Coyote Gulch even though I would like to but the crowds sully it for me.

Davis Gulch I have explored several times, along with Lewellyn and upper Red Breaks.

Along with Willow Gulch, where I believe it is a travesty to consider Broken Bow Arch the destination, it is best as a loop. Continue on past Broken Bow Arch to Forty Mile and then upstream - and if you plan it right to Sooner wash - to Sooner Rocks then it is a few more miles on the road back to your car at the trailhead.

It can all be done in a day if you are in average shape.

Another over looked gem is Fifty Mile with it's eyebrow arch and massive panel along with ruins make it a perfect day hike and if the lake is low enough the surprise towards the end is just icing on the cake.

Lets us not forget the country that Croton road traverses, full of ruins and treasures.

Visible from Croton Road is Collet Top Arch

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Another spot in the Grand Staircase is Bully Valley gorge, here is my daughter climbing out.

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From Bull Valley Gorge you can continue on Skutumpah Road to a turn off north of Lick wash that heads towards Mollie's nipple and hike No Man's Mesa. Only one trail leads up to this 2000 acre mesa. Surrounded on all sides by 800 foot cliffs you will mostly likely have all to yourself.

We did get stuck on one of our trips to the base of No Man's Mesa. It required some creative rigging and anchor building to get out and we were stuck there for over 24 hours but that was an unusual case.

Having backpacked up No Man's Mesa twice and spending several days both times on top I have only seen a small portion of the mesa and hope to make more trips there in the future.

View from the rim of No Man's Mesa.

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Well, there you have it, a small glimpse into my time outdoors.
 
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Wow, you just dropped a bunch of mini trip reports in your introductory post. I look forward to seeing more. Welcome.
 
Thank You for the welcome, there is some great content on here and have really enjoyed many of the posts over the last year and a half.

The thread on The mystery of Kim and Carole is so compelling and sad, along with trip reports about areas I want to explore such as the Wind River range and the Uintas make this a great site.

I also read on here posts about post processing your pictures which was very eye opening for me. I currently leave my pictures alone except to crop or reduce the size of them for posting on the web. Having pictures that did not seem to capture the moment might have me playing around with them now to see what comes out of them.
 
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That's a heck of an introduction. Never seen Collet Top Arch before; neat!
 
Collet Top is a neat spot but it is hard to find the exact location of which made it more of a must see spot. I didn't find it the first time out but we were limited on time on that trip.

Second time around paid off. There is a nearby spring and other signs of ancient people, wish I would have spent more time exploring nearby.

If you realize what you are seeing, it is actually just visible from Croton road.
 
Welcome, looking forward to more photos/trip reports from you in the future.

You mentioned living in FL and Phoenix. Where do you live now?
 
Home now is near Oroville, Ca.

I have been a restless person living in places such as Grants Pass, Portland, Bremerton, Sacramento, Elko and others over the years.

Too much to see in the small slice of time we have.
 
Yay! Trinity Alps is my favorite!
Happy to have you! Thanks for your shares!
 
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