Tuesday October 25, 2005
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Ramblings from the Mountains Michael Hunter's Weblog |
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Tuesday October 25, 2005 A recent article in the Tahoe Tribune took my wife and I to the Taylor Creek visitor center to see the salmon in their last act of life. It was interesting that on the day that we choose to go another article talked about opposition to the taking of eggs from the Taylor Creek salmon. While its impossible to learn enough from two short newspaper articles to build an educated opinion I was amused and irritated that the soundbites that the public was being fed seemed to treat what was a fairly complex system as if it was linear. As if a simple line exists between what is nature and what isn't. Or what good interaction with nature is and what isn't. Or how long it takes a species to mate, spawn, and die in a place before they become of that place.
These ducks were definitely having a fruitful time kicking up the sand for eggs.
These are not the greatest pictures but they show the view from within the observation tube at Taylor Creek. The second picture is of a salmon that seems to have reached an advanced stage of decrepitude. ( Oct 25 2005, 06:05:02 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Tuesday October 18, 2005 My wife and I visited June Lake for her Birthday this last weekend. We stayed at the Double Eagle resort. June Lake is an easy 2.5 hour drive down the east side of the Sierras from Tahoe. There is a variety of different environments including fairly dry forested areas, high desert, and the amazing Mono Lake area. One of my favorite areas on this section of US 395 is Bridgeport, CA. Bridgeport is a small city sitting in a large high plateau surrounded by mountains. A few miles south of Lee Vining (the eastern entrance to Yosemite) is the June Lake loop. I've driven past this turnoff many times without much thought. The area surronding US 395 at this point isn't overly interesting. The mountains to the direct east are off in the distance, there are some interesting mountains coming up in front to the east, and the Sierras to the west are becoming the forboding granit spires that are more common in the southern Sierras. On the east side of the Sierras the foothills are fairly dry and are not as inviting as the lush lands on the west side of the Sierras. But soon after you enter the June Lake loop you drop down behind some low foothills into the Grant Lake area. This lake maintains much of the high alpine look of the surrounding area but appears to have more of a beach then you might expect and the day that we drove around it a number of people fishing, sailing, and playing in the water. From here the land becomes more varied and interesting as you pass down a nice canyon dotted with pine trees and aspen. You pass several places to camp, a pack station (empty at this time of the year), Silver Lake and a resort, and ultimately you arrive at the Double Eagle. On around the loop from the double eagle is Gull Lake and June Lake together with June Lake, CA and the June Lake Ski Area. Double Eagle is a fairly new resort. The restaurant and spa were completed in 1999 with cabins added shortly after. My wife and I stayed in a single room which were just completed this last summer. The rooms were organized as 4 buildings housing 4 rooms per building. Two were upstairs and two were downstairs. The rooms were large with a balcony, large bathroom containing a shower and jacuzzi type tub, large TV and DVD player, and a small kitchenette. The buildings surrounding a small fishing point (catch and release) stocked with what appeared to be fairly large trout. One of the draws of the Double Eagle Resort is the spa. One of the first things we did was to go over to the spa to see the facilities and to see what openings were available. A few weeks ago when I made reservations at the resort (we had made plans to visit New Orleans just a few weeks before the hurricane) I had talked to the people at the spa and had learned that they had plenty of openings on Sunday evening (when we arrived) but were booked pretty solid on Monday morning. Unfortunately they didn't have anybody to do facials or pedicures until Tuesday. As it turned out when we arrived Sunday evening was booked, Monday was more open, and they had somebody to do facials on Monday early afternoon. We had dinner fairly late that evening at the Double Eagle restaurant. As with the other buildings on the grounds the restaurant had a very nice rustic elegance. We had a nice meal although it was somewhat disturbed by a special entree that my wife had learned about upon arriving but that was then unavailable and then a desert that I had been told about that was unavailable after ordering. Several of the items we were able to have were excellent although the real standouts were the crab cake appetizers. Before dinner I had visited the spa and my wife had tried to user her jacuzzi tub. As it turns out the drain stopper was inoperative and the water flow was too slow to fill the tub in a reasonable period of time. The front office closed at 17:00 so we were unable to get any timely help with this issue. My wifes irratation with that was further magnified by the people in the room next to us having two young children who were tearing up the joint both in the evening and then early in the morning. The brochure claimed that children under 12 were not suppose to be in the luxury rooms. When we talked to the front desk we were told "things happen". After checking out Monday morning we had further treatments at the spa. My wife's facial was given by the women who had told us that "things happen". I assume she was filling in for the normal front desk staff and didn't know what else to say. Eventhough there were a few glitches we really liked this area and this resort. I suspect we will be back with the rest of our family to inhabit a cabin for a few days. The pictures below are from above the spa looking south across the area surrounding the Double Eagle and of a waterfall on the mountain west of the resort.
Saturday October 15, 2005 The first one is under our belt. This was all gone before noon. ( Oct 15 2005, 11:52:21 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Friday June 24, 2005 summer good, summer bad Summer is a double edged sword when it comes to weight loss for me. On the positive side I get lots of exercise. On the negative side is an increase in opportunities to eat. We didn't go to weight watchers last week mostly because we were upset with the interim person leading the affair. As it turns out there was road work on US50 through town so we wouldn't have been able to make it anyways (it was taking an hour or more to go from round hill to the keys). This week there were two new women running the show and they seemed to be far less interested in asserting authority and far more interested in helping us find the right way to lose weight. I pulled a weak 2.6lbs loss over the two weeks. Father's day at Grover Hot Springs in Markleeville, CA didn't help. But I am getting closer to a good weight for me. ( Jun 24 2005, 08:40:06 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Monday June 13, 2005 It seems like only yesterday that we were out hunting for a ring for my then fiancee. In many ways what I was going to wear was far more contentious. I've never been much one to wear much jewelry. But my wife found a simple celtic knot that I thought I might be able to handle. At the time she seemed pretty adamant about me wearing a ring but now I realize that she bought something Snow Flower or Snow Plant is a striking reddish plant one sees in the Sierra Nevada in mid to late spring and early summer. There is a nice page and pictures here which talk a little about this plant. Week before last friday I noticed a snow flower on a walk in the lower kingsbury. A few days later I started seeing them in the upper kingsbury. Here is a picture of the ones I saw in the lower kingsbury. This is a recent picture of the first ones I saw in the upper kingsbury. You can see more of the structural and leaf detail in the second picture. There is about 1500 feet in elevation difference between the two locations and it looks to me like more then a few weeks difference in development. We had a little snow the middle of last week and the pictures I've taken over the time seem to show almost no change in the snow flowers. I think its really neat that the waning of spring is the Sierra Nevada is announced by a fungus! ( Jun 13 2005, 12:01:48 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Sunday June 12, 2005 Weight in wednesday was pretty good. I dropped another 3.2lbs for a total of 31.2 lbs. This weekend was bad though. Both Carson Valley Days and the local renaissance faire gave me some opportunities to overeat. I did better then I might have done in the past. I think of summer as a better time for exercise for me. But I forget about the outdoor eating opportunities I enjoy. On the other hand I am so irratated with Weight Watchers that I want to scream. The lady who had been running the weigh-ins and meetings in a reasonable effective manner decided she no longer wanted to be involved. So now we have some bozo from the regional organization who for some reason seems to need to make her mark. So she started the weigh-ins late, only ran one scale, wanted to stop the weigh-ins right in front of me to start the meeting, and then when I told her we needed to go (to eat of course :) she threw a little hissy fit actually jumping up and down in place and throwing her hands around. She also hassled everybody in our group to change their weight goals. I wondered if she was actually trying to convince everybody that they should empower themselves and do their own weigh-ins. Ah well. Maybe a good excuse to wait for two weeks to work off the damage I caused this weekend. Then I can hope she will be replaced with somebody a little more reasonable. ( Jun 12 2005, 11:46:22 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Thursday June 02, 2005 my weight goal is... Weigh in this week was a little tense. I'd had a fairly large and sodium rich meal on Monday and wasn't sure I would shed the gained weight before Wednesday evening. I was fairly sure most of it was excess water as I had been good about calorie intake the rest of the week. I tried to flush my body out with a lot of water and increased my aerobic excercise. My hope was to come out between 1lbs down and even. As it turns out I came in at 2.8lbs down (for a total of 28lbs). One of the carrots of Weight Watchers is that you have several goals. First you lose 10% of your initial weight. Then you set a goal within their guidelines and once that is achieved and held you achieve "lifetime" and no longer have to pay for meetings (caveat you have to weigh in once a month maintaining your weight). Unfortunately their guidelines are based only on height. As far as I can tell they don't adjust for sex and I know they don't adjust for body type. I'm fairly tall with a long body (sounds better then short legs) which increases what a good weight is for me (I've been good in the past at confusing the carny weight guessers). The weight range that comes off the weight watchers charts is fairly silly having me lose another 33lbs. The local people say, sure we understand the issue and keeping telling corporate. They are listening, but doing nothing. Sounds like a contradiction to me. The only option if I want to be lifetime is to go to a doctor and get him to state that a certain weight is good for me. Maybe I should just be happy with my goal weight and go on?! Then I can stop giving money to weight watchers for meetings. This flaw seems to not be an issue for women who are most of their market so I doubt they really care. ( Jun 02 2005, 11:41:09 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Thursday May 26, 2005 one goal down, another to go I lost another 5lbs over the last two weeks for a total loss of 25.2lbs. I was a bit worried as I was not organized about my meals before spending 5 days in Menlo Park during the middle of this period. I was careful, but its hard to eat well at restaurants day in and day out. In any case it all worked out. I made my 10% (initial goal). Now I have to figure out what my real weight goal is. I started working out this morning on the treadmill and immediately realized that I wouldn't mind running again. I ran throughout high school and college but soon after developed some pretty bad shin splints. I suspected at the time that had to do with my weight. So I'm a little afraid of starting to run to heavy. That makes me want to revise my final weight goal downwards. We will see. I have a ways to go both in weight loss and physical conditioning before I should worry about this too much. ( May 26 2005, 09:35:56 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Saturday May 14, 2005
Thursday May 12, 2005 Another weight watchers weigh in and another 2.4lbs for a total of 20.2lbs lost. This is about the rate I've been able to hold down to 220lbs in the past. Weight watchers claims for my sex/age/height I should be able to make it down well under 200lbs. I havn't been there since college! My body is long for my height causing me to be heavy for my height (I've tended to beat the carny weight guessers since I was a youth). OTOH I wouldn't mind losing as much as I can. I'm think that once I get down under my initial goal (weight watchers sets a 10% weight loss as your first goal) of 25lbs I'll probably aim to get under 215lbs and see how things go. Summer is coming which is an easier time for me to lose weight as I hike a lot more then I do in the winter. We had a nice post meeting meal at a new Mexican restaurant named Mazatlan. My wife is in New Orleans this week with her friend so I hung out with the girls. My wife and I had been there once before and had split opinions. My meal was fine but my wife thought her carnitas was marginal. This time nobody had any complaints. ( May 12 2005, 08:05:49 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Monday May 02, 2005
Its been 10 years and a few days since my wife and I were married. We had already set a date for a wedding party when the company my wife worked for shut down their local office leaving her without insurance. So 6 months minus a day before our planned wedding we ran off to Las Vegas and were married by Elvis with a few friends in attendence. Later, at the previously scheduled time, we gather together a bunch of friends for our wedding party. Fast forward 10 years. I'm pretty bad about remembering our April wedding date. Its our Octover date that seems real to me. But my wife remembers. So when she asked me to take Friday off for a surprise outing I thought it was just going to be a nice evening at a bed and breakfast or possible at her friends cabin on the west shore. It wasn't until she clued me in that I realized it had been 10 years since we had run off to vegas. As we were preparing to leave our house she had me put everything in a backpack and wear some hiking clothes. That didn't sound like a bed and breakfast or her friends cabin. I wondered if there were a private cabins somewhere adjacent to forest service land that were heading towards. As we pulled off the road into the spooner lake parking lot she told me we had come to stay in a cabin above spooner lake looking out over Lake Tahoe.
We first walked up to a closer cabin that her father had stayed in last summer and then cross countried over to the road up to the cabin we were destined for. Besides the cross country piece (which was of our own choosing) the trail was on a road which climbly fairly slowly until it came close to the cabin. The cabin sits on a point overlooking Lake Tahoe. Its roughly 1/3 of a mile away from the main trail giving you a nice feeling of isolation.
Its not a very large cabin. While the cabin closer to spooner lake could easily hold four people the Wild Cat cabin could hold four people cozily.
The people sleeping in the loft had better be comfortable climbing up and down a fairly simple ladder through a small hole. If any nightly needs arise the people sleeping below are also going to be awoken.
But for two its a perfect little place to retreat. The "galley" is great for making that perfect meal after a long day on the trail hiking, showshoeing, or cross country skiing. My wife fixed a wonderful meal of appetizers, curried lobster, and strawberries for dinner. That definitely doesn't fit the diet but made for a wonderful anniversary meal. ( May 02 2005, 01:48:07 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Thursday April 21, 2005 weigh in and bar food Another 4.6lbs gone. In the past its been fairly easy for me to lose about 2lbs/week after the initial loss and up until I got close to 220lbs. I suspect I would be down to that 2lb marker next wednesday except that I'm going to be in the Bay Area and my schedule is *packed*. Eating right is going to be tough and makeing a weigh in is likely to be near impossible. But I still have some hope to see a 3-4 lbs loss over two weeks. I'm only going to be in the Bay Area for 4 days of the 14 so if I'm careful maybe I can tread water during that time. We tried Steamers for our post weigh-in party. Its a bar. Nice beer selection. Food was edible and the sandwich list is extensive but what we got wasn't anything special. We won't be back for our post weigh-in shindig but its a reasonable place for a bunch of drinks and some appetizers. ( Apr 21 2005, 01:25:36 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Wednesday April 20, 2005 bear market Its not good to keep food around your house in Tahoe. Unfortunately my wife likes to put out bird seed. That can cause problems. A few years ago she heard noises in the night and came into the living room to discover a bear standing outside the house with one paw on a window and the other outreached whacking at her birdseed containers. Bears don't always hibernate when there is food available. But they do seem to become more scarce. Bird feed destruction complete with frost rorschach blot containing paws and butt print seems to indicate that at least one of the locals is awake. ( Apr 20 2005, 03:43:55 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
Sunday April 17, 2005 Tahoe Rim Trail I've spend a lot of time on the Tahoe Rim Trail. Being a big map nut I also spent a fair bit of time looking around for maps of the trail not to find any. So I bought the USGS quads covering the lake and surrounding areas. The Tahoe Rim Trail shows up on those maps but occasionally is lost in the "noise" of the surrounding trail network. In the latest newsletter from the Tahoe Rim Trail Organization they talk about their new website and the digital maps they have of each trail section. What a very cool resource! ( Apr 17 2005, 10:19:58 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0] |
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