The Outdoors Thread

[Tank]

i showed that to my gardner and he cringed repeatedly.

[Lou]

35 minutes ago, Tank said:

i showed that to my gardner and he cringed repeatedly.

is he white?

[Tank]

40 minutes ago, Lou said:

is he white?

mr. soto is not white.

but he wears a cowboy hat, fwiw.

[Lou]

11 minutes ago, Tank said:

mr. soto is not white.

but he wears a cowboy hat, fwiw.

[gotbeer]

Did a three peak hike this weekend.  

 

[mtangelsfan]

Nice GB. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Did you do them consecutively? 

[gotbeer]

17 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Did you do them consecutively? 

Yeah.  Lowe was really easy.  San Gabriel peak was moderate/easy.  Left the parking lot at 7, and got to the top of the second, San Gabriel Peak by 9:15.  I think Lowe took 30-45 minutes to get up to, and San Gabriel (next peak over) took 45 minutes.  (I'm a slow climber.)  Strawberry though took me 2-3 hours to get up to.  It's definitely a solid high moderate hike.  Probably wouldn't have been as bad if I just did Strawberry, but the last part of that hike is a killer and I was gassed.

[gotbeer]

This one was before the 3 peaks.  But I finally got the video done.  This one was terrifying for me, since I'm totally terrified of heights.  There were two class 3 rock scrambles.  Pretty much with death a few feet away.  

 

[gotbeer]

There is definitely something wrong with me.  Went on another long hike.  This was 3 miles up the river.  Then 1 mile of rock hopping up a gulch.  Then about 2000 up the side of a mountain.  Surprisingly, I felt good when we got to the mines.  The first time I did it at the beginning of the year, I was totally spent by the time I got to the mines, and didn't have the strength to explore at all.  So I must be getting better at torturing myself.

 

[Tank]

15 hours ago, gotbeer said:

There is definitely something wrong with me.  Went on another long hike.  This was 3 miles up the river.  Then 1 mile of rock hopping up a gulch.  Then about 2000 up the side of a mountain.  Surprisingly, I felt good when we got to the mines.  The first time I did it at the beginning of the year, I was totally spent by the time I got to the mines, and didn't have the strength to explore at all.  So I must be getting better at torturing myself.

i'm not much of a hiker so here's what i do. i've got a friend - great guy who i play golf with occasionally. he's a hiker and goes on these crazy journeys around the mountains here in socal. then he posts videos of his hikes on this baseball message board i visit rather frequently. i watch those videos and get in all the hiking i could possibly want and then some. 

you ought to look into it.

[Homebrewer]

15 hours ago, gotbeer said:

There is definitely something wrong with me.  Went on another long hike.  This was 3 miles up the river.  Then 1 mile of rock hopping up a gulch.  Then about 2000 up the side of a mountain.  Surprisingly, I felt good when we got to the mines.  The first time I did it at the beginning of the year, I was totally spent by the time I got to the mines, and didn't have the strength to explore at all.  So I must be getting better at torturing myself.

 

The "Rock Tumbler" is a ball (or rod) mill. They would put heavy iron balls (or rods) in it to crush the quartz ore before running it through a sluice or an amalgamation (mercury) system of some sort. It's hard to tell from what's left up there what they were using.

 

[gotbeer]

54 minutes ago, Homebrewer said:

The "Rock Tumbler" is a ball (or rod) mill. They would put heavy iron balls (or rods) in it to crush the quartz ore before running it through a sluice or an amalgamation (mercury) system of some sort. It's hard to tell from what's left up there what they were using.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what it was.  Grabbed one of those iron balls as a souvenier.  Tried to pick up the door to that sucker, and could barely budge it.  

But the amazing thing is, they got that monster, that far up the river, really only using mules and making their own trails.  

[Homebrewer]

6 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Yeah, that's exactly what it was.  Grabbed one of those iron balls as a souvenier.  Tried to pick up the door to that sucker, and could barely budge it.  

But the amazing thing is, they got that monster, that far up the river, really only using mules and making their own trails.  

That's always the most amazing thing...how they got that stuff to the mines. Living in Gold Country I've done a lot of mine exploring, and have helped rescue some unique equipment for museums, from some pretty remote areas. Even using modern equipment they were nearly impossible to move.

[gotbeer]

San Gabriel River, 2 days after about 9 inches of rain in the mountains.  River was so alive.  

On a side note.  Was hiking back, and was standing on the boardwalk waiting for someone.  Suddenly I heard for me, the absolute worse thing possible in the mountains.  Rocks falling.  I didn't even look up, I immediately bolted for the middle of the river, away from the side of the mountain where I was standing.  About 10 good size rocks fell right in the area where I was standing.  

[gotbeer]

The latest hike.  Allison Falls.  This is below the mines that I have a video of above.  It's another half hour from where the trail to Allison Mine splits off.  This was a real tiring hike.  I think the main reason was I was wearing my mucker boots, and they fill up with water fast.  This is also after the recent rains in So Cal.  So the entire Gulch was flowing water.  Usually, there is just a trickle of water flowing out.  It was so magestic.  

 

[gotbeer]

So you want to see the power of the river?  This video was taken by one of the prospectors a week ago, just after the rains with the snow level was 2k feet.

https://www.facebook.com/100012351545552/videos/634563690298677/

This is what happens when we get a warm rain with snow at 9k feet.  These were taken in the same location.  You can see the trees in the middle of both videos.

https://www.facebook.com/100012351545552/videos/637804786641234/

 

*  Edit.  Just realized it might not come out since this is in a private facebook group.

Edited February 15, 2019 by gotbeer

[gotbeer]

The Superbloom in Lake Elsinore.  Went at the crack of dawn, and there were already people lined up to get in.  Had to park about 1/2 mile away.  And really only got about 1/2 mile in, because my mom got tired.  But it was pretty none the less.

 

[gotbeer]

So this is what the East Fork looks like now that AO's rains have taken hold.  Before AO's curse hit, you are able to cross the river without getting wet. 

 

[gotbeer]

Mt. Wilson is the latest hike.  I tried something different with this video.  I recorded the entire descent at 8x speed.  Not sure how I like it.  So let me know.  It's a long video, over 20 minutes.  

Edit:  Deleted this video.  Redid one is below.

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by gotbeer

[AngelsLakersFan]

That's my go to summer hike... one of the last times I was at the Stuarvant Lodge there was a bear!

[gotbeer]

Ok, didn't like how the above video looked.  So redid it. It's close to a 30 minute episode now.  

 

[gotbeer]

4 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

That's my go to summer hike... one of the last times I was at the Stuarvant Lodge there was a bear!

It was really nice.  No bear, but there was a deer.  The forest is really lush right now because of AO's curse.  I was actually getting cold at the peak, and overnight it was really chilly at the lodge.  Good thing I was really drunk and had the mules haul up my sleeping bag.  But parking was a piece of shit like usual with all the flatlanders wanting to see the pretty waterfall.  Got to the lower gates at 5:30 AM, they are supposed to open at 6 AM but was open when I got there, and there were two other cars in the upper parking lot.  By 5:45, all the parking spaces were taken.  By 6:30, I heard that parking was a mile down the road.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

It was really nice.  No bear, but there was a deer.  The forest is really lush right now because of AO's curse.  I was actually getting cold at the peak, and overnight it was really chilly at the lodge.  Good thing I was really drunk and had the mules haul up my sleeping bag.  But parking was a piece of shit like usual with all the flatlanders wanting to see the pretty waterfall.  Got to the lower gates at 5:30 AM, they are supposed to open at 6 AM but was open when I got there, and there were two other cars in the upper parking lot.  By 5:45, all the parking spaces were taken.  By 6:30, I heard that parking was a mile down the road.  

Yeah you gotta be there by 6 or good luck. There are a lot of other trails there that go to interesting places. It does get quite cold at the peak, I've been there when it's been covered in snow.

[gotbeer]

So took this picture today while climbing Mt. Wilson.  Oh, and I wish I knew that donating blood would end up kicking my ass when hiking.