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Short Canyon
The sky is clear and blue today. We get out for a short hike in Short Canyon, a pretty spot we haven’t been to for a while. This is also where Ann developed her affinity for Joshua Trees – they grow in big healthy copses here. Since it will probably be our last hike here…
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Movie: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I didn’t really want to like this movie, and I didn’t, but I’ll admit to squeezing some enjoyment out of it. Put little effort into it, ignore the cliches and “say wow now” effects, add a few glasses of wine, settle in on the couch with someone lovable, and it can be done. Don’t expect…
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New Directions
The weather in the morning looks gloomy and discouraging. We get ready to climb slowly, with no enthusiasm, and head for the dark cloudy mountains. In Inyokern we nearly turn around, but decide to go to Kernville even if it’s just for lunch. It turns out to be much nicer at New Directions, where a…
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Movie: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
A movie relic of the eighties, composed of film-noir relics of the forties that are in turn inspired by detective novel relics of the twenties. Probably in the sixties they figured the genre was over with at last and maybe everyone would drop out and forget about it. But there’s just too much there to…
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Gear: Sierra Designs Meteor Light Tent
Ann had this tent on our first outing together in the Canyonlands in 2000. It was great, but the zipper was starting to go from Jezze laying on it all the time. A couple weeks ago Ann finally sent it to Sierra Designs for repair, indicating that she was willing to pay a reasonable fee…
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Preparing for the Continental Divide
Apr 2011 Update: This is part of my journal of a 2004 CDT hike. You’re welcome here, and there are some planning resources, but if you’re looking for maps I recommend you visit Jonathan Ley. I did collect a track of the CDT in Wyoming in 2009, which I later added to Open Street Map,…
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Book: Shantung Compound / Langdon Gilkey
In 1943 Japanese troops rounded up all the foreigners near Peking, China, and shipped them to this abandoned, looted church compound. The two thousand internees were made largely responsible for governing themselves while confined there until the end of the war. As I read this account of the difficulties they encountered I was amazed at…
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Movie: Charlotte Gray
Feeling tired but a little restless after a day of climbing, we settle down to watch this World War II movie about a Scottish woman who goes into German-occupied France to assist the resistance. It’s a good story, highlighting how a person’s ideals and emotions can be changed by war. The cinematography is gorgeous throughout.…
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Kern Slab
Here’s Clare after pulling hard through the crux of the brutally parallel finger crack, Initiation. After putting a toprope on it, I can’t crank through it. Barry and Ann both give it an unsuccessful whack as well. It seems made for Clare though, who sinks her fingers in and cranks away. We cheer her on,…
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Wagon Wheel
We went out to Wagon Wheel for a walk today, and because we didn’t bring our climbing stuff we actually walked! It was a blissful day with air like cool silk. We did a four-mile loop around our usual bouldering area, scouting out nice rocks and climbing a couple of the hills to the northeast.…