Backpacking in Sequoia National Park

Last weekend (June 16-18), Devin, Ravi, Katie, and I all went up to Sequoia National Park for a 3-day backpacking trip (that's right, I skipped out on work on Friday...). It was about a 4.5 hour drive from Pasadena, but about an hour of that was driving the last 25 miles to the Mineral King Ranger Station, where we began our trip. Our planned destination was Florence Peak, but we were not able to reach the peak or even the pass due to snow conditions. But overall, the hike was amazing, even though we didn't make it as far as we would have liked. On the way in, we drove through Sequoia National Forrest, where we drove by some very impressive Sequoia trees. The picture at left shows me sitting on Ravi's shoulders, completely dwarfed by two side-by-side Sequoias (we actualy took this picture on the way home).

We started at the trailhead about a mile up the road from the Ranger Station (we had to leave our cars by the Ranger Station due to marmot activity). The picture at right shows the view near the trailhead looking towards our destination. Florence Peak can't be seen from this vantage point, but we would be heading in the general direction of those mountains. As we began our hike, it was very sunny and warm, although we could see the snow-capped peaks in the distance. Because of the heavy snowmelt, the environment was very moist and green. As we began our hike up the trailhead, we soon encountered our first of four river crossings. The rivers all had plenty of water, and were flowing very quickly. And of course, the water was FREEZING!!! That's what happens when the entire river is made of snowmelt... All of the crossings required us to stop and change from our hiking boots to our sandals - one of them was almost knee-deep! The pictures below show one of the rivers we had to cross, along with me attempting to run across another as fast as I could. And of course Devin had to be all tough and walk across slowly as if the cold water didn't bother him at all...



As we ascended higher along the trailhead, we began to come across patches of snow. As we climbed even further, the snow began to become more and more widespread, until it covered a fairly large portion of the ground. It became more difficult to follow the trail, because it was covered in snow in many places. So we basically had to head in the general direction of the trail, and then catch up with it later once the snow thinned out again. We had to be very careful when crossing the snow fields, because one slip, and you would slide down a long ways. The snow was also very soft in some places, so you had to be careful not to post-hole. I took one step where I sunk in down to my waist, and Devin had to pull me out! The interesting part was that it was still very warm, so as you can see, we were hiking in shorts and t-shirts over snow...that was pretty cool!

Well, after a VERY long day of hiking on Friday (it was definitely the longest 6.5 miles I've ever done), we finally reached camp by Franklin Lakes. We were originally supposed to camp overlooking the lakes, at a site with a pit toilet and all, but we weren't able to find it easily with all the snow cover, so we settled for a campsite just shy of the dam. We ended up finding the campsite the next day, and it turns out that we just didn't hike far enough along the trail before turning around. But it was late already when we got in, so didn't want to spend hours looking for it then. The campsite we stayed at was very nice though, and we set up camp and cooked a quick dinner, as it got very cold very quickly as soon as the sun went down. Because we were camping at ~9500 ft., it got down to around freezing both nights, which was quite a change from the previous weekend in Vegas, where it was over 100 degrees!

On Saturday, we made our way towards Franklin Pass, pretty sure we would not be able to ascend Franklin Peak due to the snow conditions. The going was very slow though, because we could not see the trail at all, except for a couple of places. So we decided that we wouldn't even make it to Franklin Pass, and instead we'd head for an alpine lake that was on the way to Franklin Pass. We stopped by the lake to have lunch, before turning around to head back to camp. All of the lakes at the altitude were still mostly frozen, and had a very bright blue color, that you can see in the picture. There were even fish living underneath the ice in the lake, which was interesting to see. How can fish live in water that cold?!! The bowl that this lake was in beautiful, surrounded by snow-covered peaks on all sides, except the one side where you could see all the way back down the valley. Unfortunately, we all got pretty burnt (yes, we wore sunscreen!!), because the sun was pretty intense and the reflection off the snow made it that much worse...

When we returned to camp that evening, we discovered that we had a visit from some marmots (they were all over the place in that area!). Ravi's sandals had been eaten!!! We tried to fix them up with duct tape, since he'd need them for the river crossings on the way back to the Ranger Station, but were only marginally successful. Those little buggers will eat anything!!



Overall, it was a great trip, and I'd highly recommend it to anybody. I'd love to go back later in the summer, when there is a little less snow cover, so that I could have hiked all the way to the peak. Here are some more pictures from the trip:


On the day hike towards Florence Pass.


Katie and I in our matching shirts.


Devin and I chillin on a rock.


Devin and I cooking couscous (we made way too much!!)



Beautiful sunset over the valley.


Finishing off the trip right :-)

Turning into a Seattle Mariners fan...?

So after spending 3 years in an MLB National League city (Atlanta), I was really excited to come out to L.A., where I could see the Yankees play at Anaheim. Well, with my luck, guess when they're here this season? April and end of August, exactly when I'm not here. And they're matched up with the NL East for interleague this year, so no luck on getting to see them play the Dodgers...

But, lucky for me (note the sarcastic tone), the Mariners are out here plenty of times this summer. And with Devin being a Mariners fan, I get to see them play 4 times this summer, including 3 times in a week and a half. We already saw them play down in Anaheim a few weeks ago...they lost the game but Anaheim scored more than 10 runs, so we got free Hooters wings (sweet, huh?). We saw them play at Dodger Stadium last night (Mariners won), we're going to San Diego this weekend to see them play, and we're going to a game at Safeco in Seattle next weekend. I might just have to become a Mariners fan with all these games I'm going to!! Besides, they got my boy, Jamie Moyer :-)

VEGAS!!!

So I spent last weekend in Vegas (June 9-11). It was my first time there, and I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about going. I don't like the whole "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" ad campaign. I think it just promotes people doing bad things while they go there. And, I'm not much of a gambler, so I wasn't sure that I'd really enjoy it. But, I have to admit, I was all wrong about Vegas...it rocks!!

So, it was me, Devin, and Tanner (one of my roomies from Atlanta) that went, and we stayed at the Monte Carlo (woohoo Priceline!). The reason we chose that weekend in particular was because it happened to coincide with The Great American Dessert Expo (and Coffee Fest). Tanner is a huge cooking and food network fan, so he set it all up. It's actually a trade show, but we were there representing a catering company that Tanner made up. He had a whole story to go with it and even talked shop with some of the vendors. Devin and I just walked around sampling all the free coffee and desserts. After that afternoon, I never wanted to see another cup of coffee or piece of dessert ever again!!!

We also went to see a show one night (Cirque du Soleil - Mystere). It was amazing!! Very highly recommended. And we spent one afternoon on top of Stratosphere, going on the rides up there and taking in the views of the Strip from above.

And of course, there was gambling and free drinking!! And yes, I even had lots of fun doing that!! I started Friday evening playing Roulette, and very quickly lost $40. But that didn't phase me! We had the entire night to make that up. So we moved on from casino to casino, and finally sat down at a Blackjack table at Frontier, where I made up the money I had lost and more. So I was feeling pretty good about that. Well, the rest of the weekend was up and down, playing more Roulette (where I did nothing but lose), Craps, and Blackjack. I think I ended up down $30 or $40 for the entire weekend, which isn't bad at all, considering I drank for free and gambled for hours.

So, would I go back to Vegas? DEFINITELY!! (FYI, pictures coming soon, as soon as Tanner sends them to me...)

JPL Summer Job

So today marks the beginning of my 4th week of work (wow, I can't believe I've already worked here for 3 weeks...what have I done with all that time?!!). I'm working in Section 312E - Exploration Systems Concepts. Right now, JPL is trying to get involved in Project Constellation, which is basically the current roadmap for returning people to the Moon.

I'm involved in a few different projects, but mainly I've been working on an ISRU (in situ resource utilization) study, where we would use products found on the Moon to produce propellant or consumables. At JPL, we're looking at the mass savings that would result from using ISRU to produce part or all of the propellant required for the lunar lander and/or Earth return stage, instead of bringing everything we need from Earth. I'm also working with the team here that is studying lunar lander concepts, as well as a group that is attempting a control authority analysis for lunar missions.