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Going on a Lupine Hunt

June 7. Time to go on a wildflower hunt. I had seen photos of some amazing Lupine blooms, so we set off to see what we could find. On a suggestion that we explore North Oak Creek Road we ended up at the Baxter Pass Trail Head. It was a chilly day with drizzles of rain off and on, but the dark sky added some drama and some nice soft light for some interesting photos.

We found quite a bit to photograph including wild roses, prickly poppy and paintbrush.

There seemed to be endless photo opportunities with the dark and stormy clouds and the patches of color. Eventually we grew hungry so we headed back down the mountain to the Old Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery were we found a picnic table to break out our lunch.

There’s always something to see in the Eastern Sierra and Carson enjoyed some off-leash time in the mountains.

Bahía Concepción

Today we arrived at Playa Santipac. At the gate we paid 200 pesos for one night thinking we would move on the next day, but we ended up spending two nights. The campground was fairly busy, but we did find a suitable site with a palapa about 1/2 mile down the beach.

Playa Santipac is a popular spot for big rigs but also suitable for smaller rigs and tents. We had fun visiting with fellow campers that were walking along the beach, many of them from Canada and other northern locations that come down to Baja for several weeks or more. One of the joys of traveling is hearing people’s stories. Everybody on the road seems to be quite friendly and happy to share information.

There is no running water at the campsites, but vendors will drive along the beach in the morning and provide you with a blue barrel with as much water as you wish for a small fee. There are also vendors selling fresh fish, and a variety of other things. We bought water to use for washing since we wanted to conserve the water we had on board for drinking and cooking. We also bought some fresh halibut which served us for a couple of dinners as well as a hammock and some carrot cake.

We did manage to get our boats on the water, paddling out from the beach and around several islands. In one of the photos, you can see Joann in the little wooden boat with a line of RVs on the beach in the background. The beach at our campsite was quite shallow at low tide, so we ended up dragging the boats until we had enough water to paddle. If I had been paying attention, I would have given priority to a campsite further west where the beach wasn’t quite so shallow.

After a few days of dry camping it was nice to have a shower, even if it was just pouring a bucket of cold water over my head. For lunch we walked down the beach to Amando’s, a rustic shack on the beach with delicious seafood tacos.

After a couple of days at Playa Santipac we moved on the Playa Coyote. This is a popular spot. We pulled into the campground at 10:30 in the morning and found the last open site. We were surprised to discover that the campers next to us were kayakers, fellow members of BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers). We pooled our resources for dinner. I fired up the Dutch Oven and baked up some Halibut. In the morning we paddled together around Isle Coyote. It was a gorgeous day to be on the water and the flat calm gave us the opportunity to look below the surface. We saw many sting rays.

And talking about sting rays, I managed to step on one. Ouch! Before we launched our kayaks, I was tossing the ball for Carson and the ball went in the water. Carson wouldn’t go in the water to get it, and while the water was only six inches deep, I forgot to do the sting ray shuffle. Fortunately, I was wearing sandals and after a little first aid I was on the water paddling. I think I was quite lucky, since sting ray wounds can be very painful.

While we did have thoughts of driving further south to Loreto, Playa Coyote was such an idyllic spot we decided to spend time here rather add more miles to our trip.

More photos of Bahia Conception are available in an online gallery.

Seven Celebrate Seventy

A friend of mine retired recently and he asked me if kayaking was a suitable sport for seniors. I’ll answer that question with a report on a recent paddle. On February 10, seven of us launched our kayaks from Windsurfer Beach, a little beach not far from the Larkspur Landing Ferry Terminal. The youngster in our group was celebrating his 70th birthday. The beach was a bit rocky given the tide, and it’s a short carry down the bank from the road.

We were on the water at 10 a.m. on February 10. The current was ebbing for our time on the water, with maximum ebb a little less than one knot at 11:40 a.m. at Point San Quentin. That meant we would be paddling upstream in the morning. We had a calm, sunny, beautiful day. We paddled out around Point San Quentin and turned north under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Then it was north to the Marin Islands. The islands are part of the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1992, named after a Coast Miwok man known as Chief Marin. Access to the islands is restricted, so we rounded the bigger of the two islands and headed west for Loch Lomond Marina.

We landed on the boat ramp and immediately moved our boats off the ramp so that we wouldn’t interfere with any boaters. No cake today, but plenty of chocolate treats including those provided by the birthday boy, Steve. After lunch we were back on the water making a direct line to Point San Quentin. The current was with us going back.

Once around the point we paddled back to our launch site passing San Quentin State Prison, the oldest prison in California. We logged 8.3 miles on an unseasonably warm day. Of course, part of the drill is getting the boats off the beach and on top of our cars–a total body workout. Not bad for seven septuagenarians.

Check out more photos in my online gallery.

Rescue Practice

On October 9 we had perfect weather for our kayaking club (BASK) rescue practice. My dry suit had just come back from Kokatat after having the neck gasket replaced. So I was looking forward to putting it to the test.

After signing in and having a brief orientation, we broke up into pods, with some of the newer members seeking basic instruction and some of the more experienced members looking for peer practice. Above is a photo of the group of paddlers watching a demonstration of how to get into a boat using a “heel hook” technique, followed by some photos of paddlers doing T-rescues.

Of course, to practice getting back into the boat you have to get wet. So over we go, upside down and reaching for the release loop on the cockpit cover. I discovered that my dry suit wasn’t keeping me dry. I could feel cold water inside my suit, pooling around my right elbow. Not a happy feeling since my suit just came back from the factory. In the future I think I’ll pay the additional fee for pressure testing. In any event, I was wearing a thick layer of expedition weight polypropylene for insulation, and this kept me comfortable despite the water.

The T-rescue with the heel hook went well. I added a twist, since I’m usually anxious to get back in the boat once I’m in the water. During this exercise I decided to pull my camera out to take a few photo from the swimmer’s perspective. Following the T-rescue, I tried a paddle float self-rescue, a technique where you put a float on one end of the paddle and use the paddle and float as an outrigger to get back in the boat. Easier said than done, but with practice it works. Finally I attempted a cowboy scramble, where you climb up on the back deck and work your way into the cockpit. With some coaching I made this work; the first time I’ve been able to get back in the boat with the scramble.

At the end of the day when I took off my dry suit I found about a cup of water in each of the socks. Not so dry, but happy to report that the insulation I wore was sufficient to keep me comfortable despite the water in the suit. Now I need to determine if I can fix the leak or if I need to send it back to Kokatat.

Local Color

A few days ago I found myself in downtown Oakland. I haven’t been in downtown Oakland since the pandemic had us sheltering in place. I was surprised at all the murals on the sides of buildings. It took me a minute to realize that the murals were all on boarded up store fronts. Where there were once glass store fronts there were now murals.

Many of the store fronts in Oakland were boarded up during the unrest in the spring of 2020. Walking up and down a few blocks of Franklin Street seemed like being in an outdoor museum, with a lesson on current events mixed with the creativity and the will of people to adapt.

Here are six images I captured in the few minutes I had to walk a few blocks. You can view additional images here.

Computer Upgrade

Treve in the process of upgrading his computer.

This is not a job I relish. I’d much rather be out in a kayak playing on the water or knocking about in the camper looking for spring wildflowers. Circumstances being what they are, though, perhaps this is an appropriate DIY project. My main computer died last week. I took it to the local repair shop thinking it might be a quick fix, but the diagnosis was a bad motherboard. When I asked for a quote to upgrade, the technician suggested I buy the parts myself. So here I am a week later, with most of the parts in hand to upgrade. New motherboard, new processor, RAM, and various other parts.

I built this machine in 2011 as a beast for processing photos. The fact that I got nine years of service out of a computer is amazing in itself. I’d prefer to do this when cash flow was good, not in the current negative cash flow situation with the stay-at-home order. Even with buying the parts myself, it’s a chunk of change.

I hope to be up and running again by the end of the week. Wish me luck.

Global Cooling Event 2019

Global Cooling Event at Dance-A-Rama 2019.

It remains to be seen what effect our Global Cooling Event will have on global temperatures. If nothing else, we raised some awareness of global warming and had some fun in the process.

The event took place as part of Dance-A-Rama 2019, an annual open studio event with free dance performances. While I do not profess to be a dancer, I have been involved with Dance-A-Rama since 2003. I had been working with dancers on a dance photography project for several years and one of the dancers suggested that I do a performance piece.

At 2:45 this afternoon, I stepped out into the middle of the performance space and invited the audience to join me. After a few minutes assigning roles to the willing audience members, we had one person holding a large inflatable globe, three people with fans cooling the earth, two people holding a scroll with the words of Brother Eagle Sister Sky, an excerpt from a speech by Chief Seattle, and three people with cameras capturing images. At the sound of a chime, the earth begins orbiting the room. The fans, and photographers follow. A reader begins reading the words on the scroll. I continue to use the chime to direct the motion of the earth. When the reading ends I thank the participants and they return to their seats. I have yet to compile the video and still images into something presentable, but here are a few stills from the event.

Dance-A-Rama is sponsored by Terrain A Dance and Performance Collective. I would like to thank fellow Terrain members Mary Reid, Ruth Botchan and former Terrain member Ann Swigart for their help with today’s piece. I would also like to thank the members of the audience that were courageous enough to leave their chairs to join us on stage. Dance-A-Rama marks a 20 year anniversary with today’s event.

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