Escape to Lake Genevieve and Mount Baldwin

Escape! Sometimes you just need to get away, change your environment, do something new in order to move forward. What I'm finding out is that in California, a weekend trip can be like a mini vacation. Last Saturday morning Brandon, Eric, and I jumped in the car at 5am and drove up to the Inyo National Park, strapped our packs on and were hiking by 11am.

The route was a 6 mile hike into Lake Genevieve with 2000ft of elevation gain. This hike was hard. We started at 8000ft and ended up just around 10,000ft. I definitely felt the thinner air and with the extra weight on my back the last mile was tough. But the sights and sounds were gorgeous and peaceful. There was snow on the ground and the sun to warm you up. We got to Lake Genevieve as the sun was setting at about 530pm, set up camp and devoured a whole box of couscous with Indian Fares. I was exhausted, but managed to stay awake another hour while we set up our tent and cleaned up from dinner. The boys had the great idea of heating up water and filling our water bottles. My metal canteen was so nice and toasty in the 20 degree weather. For warmth the three of us crammed into a two person tent and I passed out pretty soon after.

Lake Genevieve

We all had an intermittently restful night sleeping shoulder to shoulder haha, but it wasn't the worst sleep I'd ever had in a tent. We rose with the sunrise and were out of camp by 715am, back out to lake Mildred by 830am and goofed around the lake. Brandon and Eric filled up our water bottles and then we stashed our backpacks by a camping spot so we could hike up Mount Baldwin.

The Sierras and Lake Mildred

I thought Saturday was long, but hiking Baldwin was worse. We probably got started around 10am, walked a quarter mile to the trail head and started our ~3000ft climb. This mountain was STEEP. I think we only covered 7-8 miles round trip, but it took us 5 hours to get to the top and 3 hours to come down because a lot of the trail was either covered in snow or covered in rocks. Eric and Brandon calmly bowled through everything, stamping down snow and scrambling up and down rocks to figure out where to go. We got lost a few times and had to back track, and at one point we were pretty much rock climbing.If I had been by myself I'd probably be dead, so I'm grateful they were there but it was a crazy experience for me. Part of me was like "oh ok, I'll follow" and another part of me was like "um...you're gonna die". I think I was too exhausted to really take in what I just did because that was pretty crazy. Brandon was pretty excited that we stomped all over that stupid mountain, but I think all I wanted to do was be in a place where I wouldn't have to hike anymore.

@ the top of Mt Baldwin

No dice. Once we made it back to our backpacks at 530pm, we had only eaten bars all day and had to hike the rest of the 5 miles out to Brandon's Suby. So yes, we hiked in the dark. Headlamps on, we got started just as the sun went down and the moon came out. Luckily it was all downhill, I slipped on a tree crossing the stream and then tripped on a rock, but we got to the car by 8pm. I think we were all exhausted and in pain by the time we got to the car. Eric and I ripped off the shoes and wanted to tear into the food, but Brandon rushed us into the car to try and catch dinner in Bishop before the restaurants all closed at 9pm. I think we crossed the town about 5 times before we found a place that was open, the Holy Smoke Texas Style BBQ. It was like home away from home. The staff and owner were so friendly I was reminded of what it's like to be in the south. The food was pretty good too, but no Rudy's BBQ. The next day I chilled while the boys bouldered around Bishop, then we had a delicious dinner at Whiskey Creek and drove home. All in all a hard but great weekend.

Joshua Trees

A Joshua Tree is like a cross between a palm tree and a cactus. Apparently they only grow in and around the national park and can't be found anywhere else in the world. I went camping in the Joshua Tree National Forest this past weekend with friends: Jason, Leng, Bo, Mihai, Albert, and Brandon. On the drive up I sampled my music for Albert and discovered that all my music is emo...not sure how I feel about this...kind of sad and mopey. haha. jk. I'm not that emo.

First stop was Integratron! Apparently this place has a high magnetic field so they built this dome thing in the middle of it and hold sound baths. They take large quarts bowls and play each of them to create this loud enveloping sound. You feel super relaxed and probably fall asleep. I didn't sleep, my body felt super relaxed and I was trying to relax my brain but if you know me my brain never stops. Anyway it was pretty cool. An hour and a half went by in what seemed like minutes. I would definitely go again. It was a great calming way to start a weekend.

After the sound bath, we went to set up camp. I hung up my hammock and we split wood. Aparently Californians don't know how to use a hammer, but I taught them how. Thanks dad for all those years of putting us to work when we were kids. We tried to fit in a quick hike to catch the sunset, but missed it by about 30 mins or so. We also missed the trail, but thats ok. We ended up hiking in the dark for about 2 miles which was pretty cool in my opinion, but I think others were less enthused by the not being able to see stuff. That night we had tacos and popcorn and hung out by the fire until well past midnight just talking. I slept in my hammock under the stars. I love the stars.

Sunday morn we had bacon and egg tacos cooked by Jason and Leng, then we drove into the park to scramble around on rocks and stuff. We goofed around, went to hike around Barker Dam, scrambled some more and then went to find some lunch. Brandon took us to a cafe called Crossroads where we pigged out and started to food coma. After that we bought some gear, went back to another part of the park and scrambled some more until we finally found some good rocks to hang out on while we waited for the sunset. The sun fell back behind the mountains really quickly, but it was nice. After that we headed back to camp to make dinner and eat some more. haha. We finished burning all the wood, cooked steaks, pineapple, spinach, brussel sprouts and baked some bananas with chocolate, marshmellow and grahamcrackers. Albert, Mihai, Brandon and I left that night so that we could avoid traffic the next day since we had to work half days at least.

It felt like a nice long weekend with lots of laughs and adventure. I can't wait until we go again.

Zion then Havasu Falls

This month I went on a week long road/camp trip with my friends to Zion National Park and Havasu Falls. How many emotions did I feel on this trip? Almost all of them interestingly enough. But let's just recount events and enjoy photos.

We started with a lunch and grocery adventure in Las Vegas then headed out to Zion from there. There was plenty of car sleeping. We played Categories, and listened to Jesse's music. When we got there we pitched camp, had dinner, and planned the coming days. Day 2 was a hike to Angel's Landing. It's a 5 mile hike, but the elevation gain is ~1500ft so round trip took us about 5 hours. The last mile of the trip was through a rocky narrow path that required chains and lots of caution. People could fall pretty easily, but there were plenty of hand holds and safety chains to help. The view was excellent. Highlights: Huge ice creams, deer, sleeping in the hammock, and s'mores.

Zion

Day 3 was a hike 3 miles into the Narrows, which is basically a river that flows through a canyon. The canyon closes in which is why you call it the Narrows. The waters were about waste deep so we rented dry suits and went exploring. I've never done anything like it, but wow it was amazing to be surrounded by the canyon. The best part was when we turned around, blew up our dry suits and floated back down the river. Carla got video of us floating around. Can't wait to see it. Highlights: falling in the river, floating, watching Rose and Kian blow up their dry suits.

The Narrows

Day 4 was a driving adventure where we stopped at the Grand Canyon, ate some homemade chicken fried steak and got lost before getting to our lodge. Day 5 we woke early to hike into Havasupai. It was a 10 mile hike downhill, most of us carrying about 30lbs of extra weight into the canyon. I tried to let the weight and momentum carry me down most of the way but the last 3 miles were especially brutal on my feet. I'm impressed that everyone faired so well and had energy the next day to hike. Not to mention Brian who was definitely carrying 60-70lbs of weight. What a boss. Haha. We made camp next to a really beautiful part of the water and all jumped into the chilly stream to celebrate. Highlights: Havasu falls, hanging food in a tree, Cards Against Humanity.

Day 6 we all got up early and went exploring. No one thought we would be gone long, but we ended up finding a trail down to another waterfall that was way more trecherous than Angel's Landing. Then we followed a foot trail 3 miles to Beaver Falls. Luckily I wore my Vibrams so I could wade through the water all I wanted. Others didn't and we had to ferry people across the water from time to time. This one was probably my most favorite hike. I wish we brought food with us so we could have stayed out longer, but no one planned on hiking 6 miles round trip. Oh well. That's why it was an adventure right? Highlights: Jerry carrying Jesse across the river, yoga in the middle of Beaver Falls, chains and the climb down to the bottom of Mooney Falls.

Beaver Falls

Day 7 was also an early morning. We threw 4 packs onto a mule and then shared the rest of the weight between us for the hike uphill. It went fast. I think we finished in about 4 hours. It was not the most fun hike, but not the hardest hike I've ever done either. We were glad to be done though. After we all had lunch at the lodge then sped all the way to Las Vegas for showers. Well I was definitely interested in the shower, not sure about everyone else. I think food and fun were a big motivation. Haha. When we got clean and unpacked we all had dinner at the Buffet in the Bellagio. YUM. It's crazy how much you can get done in a day. Highlights: Pushing each other up the canyon with one finger, showering and moisturizing, and macaroons.

Day 8 was Diego's corn beef hash breakfast and then a drive back to LA. When we got to Jesse's his parents made us lunch. There's nothing like a homemade meal and it made me happy to know I was going to Houston the next day. Afterwards we braved the traffic to Santa Monica and then hung out and had dinner until traffic subsided. 

Overall highlights: Friends you only see once a year but you can pick up where you left off easily and peanut butter on a spoon.