There are some things that get funnier over time. This is one of those. However, to Eric, it was not a lot of fun. It all started when he, a couple of friends and several acquaintances went airsofting. A few dressed up for their game in camouflage. Eric and one of his friends was headed to the place they start the game when lo and behold, there were a few sheriffs cars and personnel on the road above them. Knowing the drill from previous experience, they dropped their airsoft guns, put their hands above their heads and walked out.
Eric called me when they were asked to leave. He said that the Sheriff had showed up and he needed a ride. I let him know that I would call him back in five minutes. My hands were full and I was just getting out of my truck and wanted to make it inside the house to call him back as it was very hot out side. When asked by one of the officers if he had got a hold of someone to pick him up, he responded, “My dad said he would call me back in five minutes.” to which they responded laughing and stated, “I guess he whats to pick you up at Juvie.” He called back expressing some urgency and I headed out to pick him up, not knowing all the details. In the ride back home I got more of the story.
Eric was the first to emerge from the vegetation and noted, “they had their guns pointed at me and their was a German Shepard running towards me.” He followed their instructions, interlock your fingers on you head, spread you legs and he was padded down. Upon completion of making sure Eric did not have anything dangerous on him, the officer brought his arms down behind him and summarily cuffed him. He was then told to go sit down. Eric was in disbelief in what was happening and he was now faced with the challenge of sitting down with his hands cuffed behind him.
As the story goes, all eight young men were sitting in a row against a fence. All of the other young men had a ethnic background of Hispanic and when the officers asked them where they lived they answered with the lot number in the local trailer park where they lived. When Eric was asked, he gave his address on and they looked at him curiously. He then stated the city and they understood.
The facts were told to the young men. One of them had walked into the Rite Aid store very near the location with their tactical vest, holster and gun on them. One would wonder why that would cause alarm? Go figure, they probably thought they were going to get robbed when he walked through the door.
The curious question is, at least in Eric’s mind, “Why was I the only one in handcuffs?” I asked about the ethnicity of the commanding officer and Eric responded that he was Hispanic. I let him know that it was obvious, He was either the first one the saw and responded to or he was the only red headed white boy from the city in he group of Hispanic young men and the was singled out. Obviously, there is nothing like discrimination against a ginger!
It seems as though just over a week ago I was in and out of the North Fork of the Virgin River in Zion National Park. I an done with getting my feet wet for a few months now. For today, Jacob and I decided to stay on top of the water.
Sailing towards Jacob
After a little racing around Lake Evans, it was time to do some relaxing and catch some vitamin D. Last time I went to the doctor he extolled the virtues of vitamin D. Low vitamin D leads to heart disease and cancer. Ten minutes in the sun, without sun screen and wearing a tank top and shorts can produce about 10,000 International Units of vitamin D. The other alternatives for getting vitamin D are eating oily fish, drinking lots of milk and taking pills. Me, I would rather go sailing in my shorts and t-shirt.
Janet let me know that she was going to make waffles tonight. She found a recipe at Home on the Range that looked good. Janet and Jacob worked on the bacon and the batter and then Jacob did the cooking. My photo does not do justice to the flavor. They were great, especially with the real maple syrup. Go look at Home on the Range and write the recipe down.
Today Eric, Jacob and I had dinner with my grandfather and their great grandfather. Willard is getting up in years – about 98 to be exact. Earlier in the day Jacob and I visited and we told a few stories that made him laugh. He still gets around fairly well. We all enjoined his company and it was a good opportunity to get to know him better.
Willard George Rogers with grandson Gregory and great grandsons Eric and Jacob
One added benefit to visiting my grandfather is that I have the opportunity to give my felt hat a little stretch. The wool felt hat shrinks up a little after being worn in the rain where it keeps the rain off my face and away from my glasses.
When I was a youngster of about 11 years of age I stayed with my grandfather, C W Palmer for a week. I remember him telling me stories of when he was younger and herded cattle in the Grand Canyon.
C W Palmer
Today Eric, Jacob and I stopped by to see some relatives in Alton Utah. We visited for some time and then took a look at the saddle of C W. C W passed away a few months after my visit in 1973. It was good for my children to hear stories of their great grandfather C W Palmer and touch a piece of history.
High Adventure 2010 is over. In fact it has gone out with a bang – many bangs and flashes to be exact as well as some rain and hail. As we arrived several days ago we were greeted with rain. As a few of us were beginning to get up for the morning, a thunderstorm rolled in. A few flashes right overhead with the appropriate window rattling thunder and the young men were coming down the stairs to see mother nature at work.
Thunder, Lightening and Hail
For more information on the High Adventure 2010 – visit the Crew 6 blog pages
Thursday we set out to hike the Zion Narrows from Chamberlains Ranch to the end. There was also plenty of water on the hike. Walking in chest deep water as well as a few short swims were also part of the hike. Late in the afternoon it began to thunder with lightening and of course some rain. We had to make a decision, continue into the last five hours of the hike with no safe high ground in case of flash flooding or make the last campsite home for the night. Sleeping on a covering of dry grass and leaves while covered by a space blanket is getting more intimate to the mountain that I really had desired. On Friday morning we were off and moving. Out of the river at lunch time and off to a sandwich and ice cream shop.
Today we went mountain biking on an intermediate trail. It should have taken two hours to complete. It turned into a four plus hour trip. There were a couple of crash and burns with a little skin left on mother earth. A couple of us has a mild case of altitude sickness and parts of the trail, the ones with down grade with rock and roots jarred the brain a little more than desired. Due to the several technical sections, a couple for boys walked much of the trail. As for me, I would reach a point where I would yell and race down the rocky, rutty and root studded downhill path. There was one benefit to the slower pace and waiting – there was time to enjoy the beauty of the area.
Jacob on the trail taking a break to enjoy the beauty
Once we were done, we went to the top of Brian Head Peak at 11,307 by truck. We took several pictures. We had someone take a picture of Jacob, Eric and myself.
Then Eric got his bike of the back of the truck and rode down the dirt road to the paved road and back into town to an elevation of 9,600. Needless to say he had a blast.
The trip was made to Camp Roberts for the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps Pacific Southwest Region Eleven Graduation Day. Upon arrival at the location of the graduation, it was much like I had anticipated. A stage with bleachers on both sides. After a delay due to bunk house inspections, the cadets were on there way.
Marching onto the field for Graduation Day
Once in position there was a presentation of the colors and an invocation. Those that were to speak gave their speeches. A few of the cadets were honored for their performance or outstanding behavior. Then there was the official parade before those on the stand. Eric is in the sixth row and one position in. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.
Marching in front of the stand
They had a benediction and graduation is over. Of course there is the picture from after the graduation. On the way home Eric talked of a lot of physical training and learning.
It has been warm. Eric is off at Naval Sea Cadet boot camp. It has been quiet around the house without him. We miss his smiling face around here. He did write and we received a letter from him. To quote him, “Its all HARD work. I’ll be OK and when you pick me up after graduation please bring me some blue jeans, a tee shirt and my shoes.” One would think he wants to be in on the relaxing dog days of summer. With that in mind, here is a video.
After spending a cool night under the stars listening to some yahoo chop wood several times during the night to keep his campfire going, we arose at 4:20 AM this morning. We made our way to Vincent Gap from the Blue Ridge campground. At Vincent gap there is this large parking lot and the trail head for Mt. Baden Powell. One of the scouts did not feel well the entire group traveled back to Riverside, except for Jacob and I. We had unfinished business to take care of. Last year when we hiked Mt. Baden Powell and found the geocache at the top we missed a geocache that is about 1.5 miles from the trail head. We made our way to Lamel Springs. We found the cache fairly close to the springs and started back to the main trail.
Lamel Springs
Jacob asked it we were going up or back down. I answered, up of course. We made our way up the steep trail. The trail head is at 6,593 feet and the peak is 9,399 feet. The hike is 4 miles one way making the elevation gain 700 feet per mile. The hike is rated as strenuous. It was about 3 and a half hours for us to get to the top.
On the trail to the peak of Mt. Baden Powell
Close to the top is the Wally Waldron tree. It is about 1,500 years old and one of the oldest trees in the area.
Wally Waldron Tree
Once we were on top, the gentleman that took our picture asked us to take his picture at the flag. He was kind enough to take our picture again.
At the top of Mt. Baden Powell
We found a place in the shade and a sailplane buzzed the top of the mountain at what seemed about a hundred feet or less. We were looking west and all of a sudden this plane came out of the west over our heads. Jacob took about 50 pictures of the sailplane as it circled around catching thermals.
Sailplane overhead
One of the reasons to be on the top was for Operation On Target. That is where scouts use mirrors to flash signals from peak to peak. We were able to signal Keller Peak and Mt. San Gorgonio from our location. The peaks are the far ranges barely visible. Keller Peak is under the one small cloud (blue marker) and Mt. San Gorgonio is under the two small clouds (red marker) on the left end of the high ridge. (Click on the picture to make it bigger – then you will see the distant peaks and the small clouds)
Jacob signaling Mt. San Gorgonio
We had an old scouter stop by to instruct us on the proper method of using signaling mirrors. After we patiently listened we explained the geometry involved in making the signaling mirror work. There is a clear spot or “hole” in the center of the mirror and another small mirror glued on the back. As Jacob sites in the peak of his choice through the hole, the sun comes through the same hole and leaves a spot of light on his on his shirt. He looks in a small mirror attached to the back of large mirror and aligns the “hole” up with the spot of light on his shirt. The geometry then makes the light from the mirror beam to the spot Jacob has sighted in.
Jacob sighting in the far peaks
After over an hour at the top we headed back down. We made a stop at the one bench on the trail. It is less than a mile from the trail head.
We saw things we did not see on the way up. How could you miss that bunch of pine cones?
Pine Cone Cluster
It took up almost two hours to make it down. It was then off to Jensen’s in Wrightwood to get ice cream. Jacob calls it Leftwood because all the houses are on the left of the road on the way up. IT was Ben and Jerry’s for me and Jacob wanted something a little more cost effective – more ice cream for less money. I told him that it was about the taste, not saving a buck. Especially after climbing a mountain.
Jacob and I made it to the Blue Ridge campground and quickly ate dinner. We asked if a couple of the other scouts wanted to go find a Geocache. We needed to put “Mike” a travel bug into a new cache location. Jacob and I have been there before. We let the two other boys use the GPS to find the cache. The cache location was found, a picture was taken and we put “Mike” into the cache.
Blue Ridge Geocache
As we were closing up the cache, I cam across something Jimmy Buffet had misplaces. Both Rob, the other adult, and I had a chuckle as the lyrics to Mr. Buffets song ran through our head.
Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt . . .
Wasted away again in Margaritaville,
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame,
But I know it’s my own damn fault.
We closed up the cache and the scouts hid it as they had found it. Perhaps Jimmy should take up Geocaching.
Teaching a 17 year old boy to drive is always an adventure. Eric has 15 hours of time flying and airplane. When he only had a couple of hours driving we were on the freeway headed to Home Depot. I said, “Eric, what does the altimeter say?” He stared down at the instrument panel with a slightly confused look trying to find the altimeter. Today was blazing hot and I asked Eric to turn on the air conditioning. He turned the fan up to three and thought all was well. I asked him to push the button with the snowflake on it. He asked why. My response was, so that we get cold air rather than hot air.
A few weeks ago backing out of a driveway, Eric claims that a trash can ran behind the truck. He hit one of those huge city trash cans. It left a dent in the trash can that popped back out soon after. Tonight, he was backing the white truck back into its spot in the garden, Eric claimed that another trash can ran behind the truck. Additionally, he claimed that the trash was from my room so I had to clean it up – because it was my trash of course. Needless to say, Eric cleaned up the trash and did a great job parking the truck. Unfortunately, Eric is two for two with trashcans.
