The GeekHiker

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 24, 2009

Watching This Is Definitely The Best Idea

(This seems perfect, as I’ve been talking about Kings Canyon all week, and I wanted to make sure that you all knew about this before the weekend.)

Back in March I attended a pretty cool event. I had multiple tickets but, unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts all those I invited were unable to attend the event with me.

I ended up going myself, the experience of which I blogged about at the time.

What I didn’t blog about was the event itself, because I knew that blogging about it back in March would be too much of a tease, and sharing the event and what it was all about now seems much more appropriate.

13 Comments

Posted in California, Stuff I Like, Television

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 23, 2009

Kings Canyon Trip

A brief rundown of the Kings Canyon trip, for those interested. With pictures, natch.

Friday mostly consisted of driving to the park (I know, the 99 is thrilling). Luckily, my carpoolmate was local, making the pickup easy, and we left at a reasonable time (as opposed to, say, the crack of dawn).

The drive was long, but pleasant and went by quickly. Before long we were driving into the canyon, storm clouds in the high country dropping rain. Luckily the ground in camp was dry and I found a good spot for my tent.

8 Comments

Posted in Travel

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 21, 2009

HIKE: Mist Falls

Mist Falls, with its relatively small elevation gain, can easily be done as a half-day hike. I don’t recommend it, though.

Instead, the trail out and back to Mist Falls in Kings Canyon National Park is more worthy of slower ramble. Take time to enjoy the quiet canyon, the sound of the South Fork of the Kings River, a lunch with Mist Falls in the background, and a lazy return.

Well, it’s just a suggestion.

8 Comments

Posted in Hiking

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 17, 2009

California Geek

So, after I wrote this post, in which I discussed the ever-fascinating topic of flame-lengths, I know everyone had one basic question on their minds:

How in the hell does he know this random stuff?

10 Comments

Posted in Books, California, Stuff I Like

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 15, 2009

L.A.’s Short Attention Span Theater

The Station Fire, as I write tonight, is now about 91% contained. The estimate for full containment has been pushed back, now, to this weekend.

What surprises me more than how long containment is taking is how quickly the fire was forgotten by the local media, even here in media-driven Los Angeles. By the time I returned from Kings Canyon, the fire was pretty much not mentioned, even though at that point the fire was only about 50% contained. Even on the LA Times website, which had really spectacular coverage of the fires, most of the references to the fire had disappeared completely from the home page.

I suppose that a big part of this was because the fires were no longer threatening expensive homes, but I still found it surprising. While gone in Kings Canyon, I’d found out (from a fire lookout in the Sequoia National Forest) that the eastern flank of the fire had had a blow up over the weekend. Yet, when I returned to LA, it was as though no one was aware there was still a fire burning in the mountains.

Los Angeles, I think, suffers from a short attention span.

6 Comments

Posted in Hiking, Life In LA, Random Thoughts

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 9, 2009

That Dark Patch Of Sky

Just a little something to share tonight.

This is a pretty interesting video, in a geeky kind of way. It’s an assembly of Hubble images, taken from when the telescope was pointed at a patch of sky that looks empty from Earth, and rendered in 3D.

7 Comments

Posted in Stuff I Like

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 7, 2009

Respite

Just home from a much-needed relaxing weekend of car-camping in Kings Canyon.

There was hiking, talking, caving, fire lookouts, scenery galore, good food, and even a bear.

7 Comments

Posted in Camping, Friendship, Hiking, Photography, Travel

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 5, 2009

Protected: Dreams In Isolation

Enter your password to view comments.

Posted in Random Thoughts

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 4, 2009

Protected: Unknown Fear

Enter your password to view comments.

Posted in Random Thoughts, Women

Posted by: GeekHiker | September 3, 2009

Orange Moon

As I write this, the moon outside my window has risen, and it’s deep orange color.

That’s from the smoke, which has been flowing over the LA basin for the last couple of days.

As I write this, the fire is only about 38% contained. 239 square miles have burned, and it’s still advancing on the east and west sides. It will still be a long time until it’s over.

4 Comments

Posted in Hiking, Random Thoughts