Kim and Geoff

Maiden Voyage

Geoff — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:00:54 +0000

We had our first sail on our impulse buy at a garage sale sail boat today. It was also Hazel’s first time sailing ever, and mine in quite a few years.

I learned to sail in elementary school, and sailed regularly with my family until college, but since then haven’t done as much. I’d go occasionally with my parents, but a boat was out of the question for a long time.

Last fall we saw a boat at a garage sale, stopped to take a look. It was too small for our needs, but the owner mentioned he had another he’d consider selling. He made us a very good deal, and we were shortly after owners of a boat. It might be the physically largest impulse buy I’ve ever made, but was quite a bargain $$ wise.

I’ve had some work to do, a bit on the boat, more on the trailer
(pretty much ended up rebuilding it). Still feel like we got a heck
of a deal. Then we got busy, and a few days we were thinking of
going but there was no wind, so it’s been quite a while since we’ve
had the boat and we hadn’t taken it out.

We have now, and I’m pleased to say it sails nicely. I have a few
very minor things to get/change/fix/figure out, but for a first sail I was pretty
pleased, and nothing that would stop me from sailing it again, even
without fixes.

I look forward to more days sailing with Kim and Hazel. Hazel mostly
liked playing in any water that got in the cockpit.

Getting close

Geoff — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:11:31 +0000

This picture is nearly a month old, and Kim is quite a bit bigger now. We’ve had several nice showers thrown by generous friends, spent a lot of time getting things ready, and I’m starting to feel ready. We’ve taken the classes. We’ve read the books. I know, full and well, that there is no way to be prepared fully for the life altering things that are about to happen, but I’m confident we’ll do well. I can’t wait to meet my daughter. 10 days to the due date. Wow.

Mill Creek (Northern California)

Geoff — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:48:44 +0000

A few weeks ago, Geno had the idea to run Mill Creek, near Fresno. When I was trying to find information about it, I kept seeing write-ups about a Mill Creek in N. California, and it looked good. I put it in the brain as “Paddle someday” run. Went and did Mill Creek near Fresno. there were some really fun rapids on that one, but not many and miles and miles of mank to deal with. I didn’t care for it much, though others in the group were more enthusiastic. I broke my boat on it, which was a bummer.

So this recent weekend, I was looking for a) a new or used boat
b) something to paddle.

I contacted Daniel B. of the website awetstate.com about a used boat he had, and though he’d already sold it to someone else, I soon found myself with an invite to join them on Mill Creek. The other, further north one, which ends north of Chico, CA.

Friday I left work early, and drove to Lotus, Ca, where I picked up a new boat nearly identical to the one I’d broken, then to Daniels’ house in Sacramento for a few hours sleep before we all carpooled further north to the river.

What to say about Mill Creek? It was awesome. I didn’t get a ton of pictures, as we were paddling fast moving rapids, and stopping for photos was difficult. there were just miles and miles and miles of fun class III-IV rapids, with a few on the spicy end of IV and easy end of Class V. We were doing read and run for msot of them, and you’d want to be comfortable doing rnr on Class IV or the run would take 4 days. There are a TON of rapids. The volcanic rock has a different feel to it than the granite we have in most of CA rivers, and it gave the whole run a different feel. I really, really enjoyed it.

We camped early on the run, around mile 13-14. Fun camp. I was tired and crashed early. Day two was more fun rapids, and some super neat ones that were big rapids, where the whole river narrowed to 5-6 feet wide in spots. Wild.

I really, really, really enjoyed this run. Highly recommended. I wish I had more photos of the paddling…
Daniel has some photos on this website. they are mostly from a later run he did.

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L’etape de California

Geoff — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:44:38 +0000

Last weekend I did the L’etape de California.

From the website:
“L’Étape du California provides serious recreational cyclists the opportunity to ride a complete stage of the Amgen Tour of California – and the most challenging stage of the 2011 race at that. Riders will cover the same route as the professionals on Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California, from the City of Claremont to the Mt Baldy Ski Area. The route is breathtaking in its beauty and difficulty, covering some of the most famous and iconic sections of road in the San Gabriel Mountains: Glendora Mountain Road, Glendora Ridge Road, and the sharp “beyond category” switchbacks up to the Mt Baldy Ski Area. By the time riders return to their cars or homes in Claremont, they will have climbed close to 10,000 vertical feet and ridden close to 100 miles. While extremely challenging and requiring a high level of fitness and mental toughness, there will be ample support to help athletes see if they have what it takes to ride the route of the Amgen Tour of California. ”

It was hard. Really hard.

I didn’t do a good job with food. I should have carried more gluten-free food. They had lots of food, but I couldn’t eat much of it. I ended up eating fruit and GU packets, and it didn’t sit well with my stomach. I ran out of steam pretty bad, and had an upset stomach. The final climb to the ski lifts just about killed me. But after a short rest at my turnaround, Tim and I had a blast SCREAMING back to Claremont. Super fun. I couldn’t keep up with Tim, but it might have been the longest I’ve ever spent on my bike at more than 35 mph!

Click here for photos

Lower North Fork Kaweah

Geoff — Sun, 01 May 2011 04:35:03 +0000

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The North Fork of the Kaweah is an absolute gem of California paddling. This was my first trip down, and I love, love, loved it. 6.5 miles of classic class IV-V whitewater. We took our time, only Geno had done the run before, so we looked at a lot of rapids. There are a lot of rapids. We did a fair bit of read and run too.

Bill Pooley has rapid by rapid description of the run on his site,
http://c2.com/kaweah/log_northfork.html
but take my word for it, it’s just awesome. Absolutely a favorite of mine.

I like Bill’s description of Cherry falls.

“RM 7.5 CHERRY FALLS (Class 5+)

PORTAGE on the left. Identify the approaching falls by steep cliffs coming down to the river on the right. Do not boat beyond the take out eddy. Miss the eddy and you’ll have to run the 25 foot falls (NOT RECOMMENDED). The portage is on very slippery granite. Be careful. The falls is being run more often now but it remains a serious drop. The river wide hydraulic 20 feet from the lip makes choosing a clean line off the lip very difficult. “

3 of our group ran it. Geno had a good line, but got pushed against the wall at the bottom. Travis got worked in the hole above the drop, then ended up going over the falls upside down. Scared the crap out of me, and I was watching. My line was good, but it’s still violent landing. My skirt imploded, and I struggled to roll, but managed to….

I just read that my friend Scott Maguire did the second descent of this drop, back in 1997. Cool to learn.
http://c2.com/kaweah/scott.html

Many miles of awesome paddling. If you’ve got the paddling skills, and a good crew, highly recommend this run….

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Mill Creek (Tributary to the Kings River)

Geoff — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 04:25:01 +0000

Mill Creek is an infrequently run creek that feeds into the King’s River. We didn’t have much information about the run, only the barest of descriptions from American Whitewater. It said there were some junky miles, some good bedrock drops, and a few significant rapids. I searched, and couldn’t find a single photo of a rapid online, a rarity in often photoed California paddling.

We got to the put-in, did a hasty put in due to testy locals, and paddling a mile or so of brushy, low volume, bumpy rapids. Hmmm. Then it got good. there were a couple miles of pretty fun paddling, with some good long slides, some medium sized waterfalls, and one we decide to portage half of. It looked like it would go, but with a virtually assured hard wall hit. None of us wanted it.

the last few miles, felt like a ton, were choked with brush, low volume,and rocky. Made for a fair bit of work. The amount of work I was doing was particularly high as I had broken my boat on the run, and my boat was sinking steadily. I alternated between paddling (with frequent stops to empty my boat) and walking, depending on what the terrain was. Neither was particularly fun, so it made of a long trip out.

All in all, it was a cool adventure, but the work:fun ratio on the rapids was a little askew towards work. Geno is more enthusiastic about the run than me, and my vision might be clouded by the hassle of a broken boat. I probably won’t be rushing back to do it again, but I would think you were a fool if you went in to paddle it. We had about 90 CFS and it was definitely a minimal flow in my opinion. I think 125-175 CFS would have been better.

Video Here, pictures below. I’m in the blue boat.

Mill Creek, Kings Drainage, California from Gene Hacker on Vimeo.

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Skyline to the Sea Trail Marathon

Geoff — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:19:47 +0000

Many years ago, I used to be quite an avid runner. I ran regularly with a wild group of fun folks, the Hash House Harriers. Through that group, I ended up meeting Michelle, and we ran quite some number of marathons together. All on dirt, mostly tough courses. I ran a couple without her, and then Kim and I ran a couple. Then I stopped. I did some running in training for some triathlons, but mostly just stopped running for the last 8-9 years.

A few months back, Michelle sent me an email, asking if I’d be interested in running the Skyline to the Sea trail marathon, north of Santa Cruz. I looked at the map, and said “Sure”. I love that area, and it seemed a good excuse to dust off the running shoes.

I intended to train. I really did. But I discovered something – I wasn’t enjoying running much. I mean, it beat sitting around, but I’d rather ride my bike or go kayaking. And so I did. That is, I rode my bike and went kayaking. I kept intending to train, but it just never really happened. Since last November, I probably ran a grand total of perhaps 15 miles. Maybe 18. Cumulatively.

All too soon, it was time for the run. I drove overnight Friday, getting into town at 6 am. Met up with some buddies for a surf kayak session at Moss Landing. Couple hours. Then met Michelle, and her husband and daughter. We walked around Santa Cruz for a bit, got some GF Pizza and Ice Cream, then I headed to my hotel for an attempt at an early night. I had trouble falling asleep.

That night, I looked up the course records for the run. 3:35. Oh. Wow. Marathons like LA and NY regular have winners in the 2 hours and a few minutes time frame, so that indicated a tough, tough course. For most runs, I generally take the course record and double it to figure out what a “respectable” time is. So for LA, it might be 4:20 or so. This would be 7:10. OUCH. Scary. Really scary. That would be one of my slowest marathons ever, if not the slowest. That’s a long time…

Sunday AM, I drove to the finish line, left my car, and hopped on a schoolbus for the 75 minute ride back to the start.

Met up with Michelle, and before long, we were running. The crowd was 300 strong, and since we quickly merged into a narrow hiking path, there was some bustle as people worked out where they fell in the line.

The run was gorgeous, with several significant hill climbs, and lots and lots of downhills. The uphills were predictably tiring, but the downhills were absolutely punishing. I felt pretty good for the first 17-18 miles or so, surprisingly, keeping pace with Michelle and some others. We ran through amazing groves of redwoods, crossed pretty mountain streams, and admired wildflowers and banana slugs. There were some long stretches of rolling single-track trail, through this amazing forest, where I got into a rhythm of running and really, really enjoyed it. I felt like running more. It was good.

Really, a spectacularly pretty run.

At some point a volunteer ranger stopped Michelle and I. We’d missed a turn and were on the wrong trail. He was kind enough to point out our error, and show us a map which pointed out an option for a connector trail. A little longer than the intended course, but it wouldn’t require doubling back. The connector trail was steep and loose, and it was tough going. I’d guess we were around mile 18, so my legs were getting tired, and this trail was steep. My quads were screaming, and this downhill just blew up my legs. Serious pain. By the time we got the bottom,and rejoined the intended trail, my legs were toast. The rest of the run turned into a bit of a death march. I just kept moving, but I was slow. My jogging pace was barely faster than my fast walking pace, and I alternated between the two. The last 6-7 miles felt as hard and long as the first 17-18. The course leveled out, but it didn’t help a lot. I was just plodding along. Keep putting one foot forward,then the next. Repeat. Repeat. I’d tell myself that surely the next turn would be the last. Eventually I came round a corner, and saw an aid station.

I was happy to get a snack, but sad since it surely meant I had a way to go. The worker told me “1.3 miles to go” and I thought to myself, ok, that’s weird, why would you put the aid station so close to the end? But I was overjoyed to hear it, so I didn’t complain. A handful of M&M’s and a quick refill of the water bottle, but I knew I had to keep moving or my legs would shut down. The M&M’s were amazing. Tasted better than food I’ve had a 5 star restaurants.

Eventually, the forest started to open up, and I caught a glimpse of kite boarding kites, and knew I was nearly done. Tried to put on a little speed for the strong finish, but it just wasn’t there. I crossed the finish line. 7:35. According to Michelle’s GPS, we actually did a little of 27 miles with our detour. Slower than I’d hoped. But I finished an amazing tough course. Something most people hike over days, not hours, so I feel OK.

1/2 hour later, I was in my car, driving back to LA.

(thanks to Michelle for most of the photos)

Photos are on Facebook. You don’t need to be a member to see them.

Salt Lake City

Geoff — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:57:44 +0000

My father, Malcolm, and step-mom Deborah invited Kim and I out to Utah for a long weekend. Unfortunately, Deborah wasn’t able to make the trip, she was missed, but we had a good time anyway.

We spent a fair bit of time wandering Salt Lake city, checking out the capital, downtown, and the temple. We sampled some good food, and enjoyed catching up. We also had a great day snowshoeing in the gorgeous mountains just outside the city. Good times!

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Joshua Tree Beginner trip

Geoff — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:01:30 +0000

Kim and I planned and led a beginner friendly climbing trip to Joshua Tree in Feb. We drove out through rain, but the weather was pretty nice at the park. Cold, but nice.

We had fun climbing, ate well, and enjoyed everyone’s company. Aside from some tents trying to join the space program, the weekend went off without a hitch. It felt good to be back on the rock.

Many of the photos were from mitzi. Thanks.

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Seattle and Vancouver

Geoff — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:56:27 +0000

I had a work trip to the Seattle area, and tacked on one day of paddling with my friends Arn and David , and a few days to explore with Kim. It was a very quick trip. Gorgeous cities, some delicious food, and a chance to hang out with my Aunt Helen, Uncle Keith and Cousin Claire in Vancouver. Way too short, but a really nice weekend. Good times.

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