Vincent Tumamait Trail: Two County Highpoints on a Four-and-a-Half Mile Hike

Last weekend I was finally able to do a trail that’s been on my list for a year, but haven’t been able to get to for whatever reason. Though it’s pretty close to Los Angeles, the road to the trailhead doesn’t open up until May or June, depending on snowfall.

The nice thing about this trail is it’s only nine miles, but you’re able to bag both Sawmill Mountain and Mt. Pinos, which are the high points of Ventura and Kern Counties, respectively.

The temps were about perfect on our walk; it was comfortable standing, but got warm while moving, but not unpleasantly so, especially for July in California. Here are some snaps I took with my Canon S90. I added a polarizer–yes, a polarizer on a point-and-shoot camera. The jury’s still out, but my initial impression is that it considerably softens the image. I have to be more scientific in my testing, but so far I’m less than impressed. I’ve been spoiled by my Singh-Rays.

 

    

Hero Gear 2010: Vengeance Is Mine

Hero Gear in Winchester, TN hosts the Friends of the NRA and Oleg Volk’s Merry Band of Photographers for a weekend of full auto and suppressed fun.

Music by My New Invention

Big Sur: Beating a Dead Horse with the Canon S90

Last weekend I drove up the coast again, well, because it was there. I got a late start on Saturday morning but was hunting for free camping and shooting spots in the Los Padres so needed my daylight. It was like an oven in some of those areas. I’d hate to be on foot there all day in the summer, but some people were doing it.

Nothing was to be found so I headed farther north and decided to return to the Cone Peak are which I like to camp when I’m up near Big Sur.

We hit Big Sur Saturday evening and while the light was pretty mediocre most of the day, it got nice for a second while I was driving south to camp and I pulled over to snap this.

The same overdone photo spot at Big Sur. This place has been shot to death, but hey, I was there.

My friend Gerk at Moonstone Beach in Cambria.

He and another one of my shooter friends have a site called ‘They Shoot Film’. Cruise over and check it out if you’re into that sort of thing.

One of the begging squirrels at San Simeon. Despite the large signs warning otherwise, tourists feel the need to feed the squirrels. It’s a shame people can’t follow simple rules, acclimatizing them to human handouts and essentially turning the critters into beggars.

Highway 395 Recon with the Canon S90

Last weekend I headed up Highway 395 along the Eastern Sierras to scout for free campsites. I also wanted to field test my new Canon S90. I’ve been traveling lighter and lighter lately and have been leaving my DSLR at home more often than not. Here the camera is rested on my windshield wipers, set to ISO 400, f/2.0 and 15 seconds.

We found a place not far off the highway. This was about 5:15 am, I shot this on manual with a 3-stop filter to hold back the sky.

As the sun came up, the sunlight worked its ways down the hills to our west. I might have used the grad filter with this as well as the next shot.

It was pretty therapeutic sitting there, just watching the morning light do its thing on the Eastern Sierras.

What can I say, my Jetboil runneth over.

We found another spot farther up the road, with a nice lake. Oh yeah, that one is free too. I’m considering a kayak at this point. Yosemite National Park is just over those hills, but at this point, you’re actually closer to the nicer trailheads than you would be if you stayed in Yosemite Valley.

We went for a short hike in the Tuolumne Meadows area.

One of the many roadside turnoffs along Highway 120, Tioga Road, that runs across the northern part of Yosemite.

Clouds Rest and Half Dome. There’s still plenty of snow up at about 9,000 feet, this was a reconnaissance trip, and I still had to drive through the park to scope out a camp site at the southern entrance. Mission accomplished, though I’ll be looking to bag Clouds Rest some time this summer.

Living Out of a Messenger Bag

Living out of a Timbuk2 messenger bag in New Mexico for four days.

Contents are as follows:
2x dress shirts
1x softshell dress pants
3x base layers
1x water bottle with duct tape
1/2 eaten bag of Pop Tarts
1x toiletry kit
1x PC Gamer magazine (very very important)
1x paperback novel
1/12th of the Bible
1x Altoids survival kit
1x HP Mini 311 netbook
1x teeny Belkin netbook mouse
1x cable bundle with netbook and cell phone charger
1x little pouch with earplugs, spare cell phone battery and earbuds

all inside a Timbuk2 Commute (previous generation; they are making the 2.0 now) medium messenger bag. The whole thing weighed in at about 13 lbs and fits underneath a Canadair commuter plane seat. Commuter planes are starting to gate-check rollarounds so I like to stick to bags without wheels.

Though it comes pretty close to being maximum legal carryon dimensions for most airlines (22x14x9 inches), things like messenger bags are generally considered ‘personal items’.

Topanga Banjo-Fiddle 2010

I forgot to post this video I threw together a few weeks ago from the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle. It’s pretty hard to shoot with a banjo slung over the shoulder, and nothing special, but as I didn’t take any photos of the event, here it is.

Jennay, They’re Sending Me to Vietnam

Beer in Vietnamese is ‘bia’, so no matter how drunk you get, you can’t screw that up.

Child safety win!

A highly classy paper towel dispenser…using toilet paper. Very disintegratey.

Crap of rice…would that be brown rice?

Split personality…half the man squid you used to be!

Nice, bloody and unrefrigerated, just how I like my fish.

I’m not sure what’s worse, this or the fish.

This is what happens to the bears who bust into bear cans out here.

Frog massacre!

Closer up, because I know my readers like the gross stuff.

Top it off with the snake wine. Supposedly it’s good for you, but I opted for the bia instead!

And that’s all I have to say about Vietnam.

The Air Force Armament Museum

Before heading to the airport, Val and I swung by the Air Force Armament Museum.

This is Spooky, one of the early gunships, sporting three miniguns.

A close-up of the kill decals.

Here is one of the AC-130A gunship, a bigger, badder gunship with a pair of 25mm miniguns and a 40mm Bofors cannon.

Here’s a closeup of the Bofors cannon. I’d love to put this in my Subaru.

Figueroa Mountain – A Flowery Cluster Bomb of Explosive Crayons

Last Saturday I wanted to go for a nice eight mile walk up Mt. Pinos, the tallest point in Kern County, California, but the road was still closed due to winter conditions.

Being that late April still still wildflower season in Southern California, I figured I’ll detour, ahem, two hours west to Figueroa Mountain, near the coastal city of Santa Barbara.

The hills were still pretty alive with, um, flowers.

I know my cactus, but darned if I know one flower from the other. I know the Yellow Rose of Texas, but that’s pretty much it.

Every hill side in California should look like this.

The scenery was nice, but unfortunately, due to time of day, the light was pretty much crap, since I had to get back down to Cerritos about three hours away for a birthday dinner.

More, um, flowery things.

A hill side full of, um, yellow stuff.

I’m not too into flowers, but it’s nice to have a dash of color in the photos. I’m pretty fortunate to have this kind of scenery just over two hours from home. I’ve long maintained there are two Californias. There are the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco, then there’s everything else. If lived here most of my life but haven’t explored the back roads of the mountains near home until I was about 25. There’s a lot to do and see up in our local mountains, and if you have a free day, and I know you do, you really should check it out.

Cut the Blue Wire!

This is the Explosive Ordnance Disposal school, where the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all train to, well, dispose of explosive ordnance.

The school is located on or near Eglin Air Force Base (not being a military guy I never quite know where I am when it comes to bases) in Florida.

I’m not sure what these mirrors are for in the men’s room. I don’t really want to know, and I’m glad I didn’t have any neighbors when peeing there.

Inside the training facility is a little showroom with some demolitions type stuff. I wish I took more pictures of the toys there.

This is the memorial wall.

My friend Val looking all sensitive and contemplative. Actually I think he was looking at a bug or his shoelaces or something. The EOD school is pretty strenuous and I think he studied more in his months there than I did in my college days.

Getting his ‘crab’ pinned by his Master Sergeant.

Pretty neat. I like decorations using munitions.

So now he’s an EOD tech and headed to his unit for months until he’s deployable.