California Redwoods with the 'Rents

The plan was my parents were going to fly in on Friday and we would have the holiday weekend to spend together. Then uncle Sam called and said hey son, "Semper Gumby." You see all branches of the armed forces have a Latin motto, Semper Fidelis, Semper Paratus, and what have you. But the one we all have in common is Semper Gumby. The Latin word Semper means "always," and gumby is not Latin but I bet you can figure it out. So Friday I hopped on a Coast Guard H-60 and flew into SeaTac airport in Seattle for the Seafair as my parents flew into Portland. Not being able to meet them, they rented a car and drove to my place to watch my dog they had never met.

So I spent three days in Seattle standing by to rescue the hydroplane boat drivers or the Blue Angels. Fortunately I did not have to. Upon returning to Astoria I met my parents at the Astoria Column, from there we hiked down to the Cathedral Tree. So as we stared up at this magnificent tree my mother pipes up and says we should run down and check out the Redwood National Forest.

My "Minnie Mom" and I at the Cathedral Tree

As my father and I looked at each other in disbelief we were both mentally trying to do the math as to whether we could drive down, see all we wanted to in the park and then drive up 101 and hit all the light houses in Oregon in three days.

The explorers and Baylee on the trail to Boy Scout Tree

No really, the tree was thiiiis big! This is a great shot of my father and I at Boy Scout Tree. So far is the biggest tree recorded in North America. As dad recalls it is just a short .3 miles from the road. In actuality it is about 2.8 miles.

Seen here are two rarities, a squirrel with no fear and a very self controlled dog

A few moments later I told Baylee "free" and dropped the leash in my hand.

The events that ensued were fast paced and funny.

No worries the little guy made it under that fence about thirty yards later

A sampling of the west coasts finest seafood.

Mom, Baylee and I at Ecola Park, at Cannon Beach.

The day before they left for their tour of Washington my parents came to visit me while I was on duty. BIG IRON

The H-60 taking off on a Law Enforcement mission with the Astoria-Megler bridge in the back ground. The same bridge I Jogged across a few weeks later, see my post entitled The Great Columbia Crossing.

Have you ever seen a 53 year old kid in a candy store. Reports have been confirmed that is what is seen here. Love you dad!

Swiftwater School

We arrived in Chico, Ca bright eyed and bushy tailed,

ready to learn. The good part is that I have cut out all

the slide shows, rope work, and knot tying.

So here is all of the fun stuff or maybe that's all we

really did was have fun.

We worked on two different rivers.

The first shots are from the small, slower one.

The rest of the shots are from north fork of the Feather River.

Or as we came to call it the fun stuff

Seen here we are learning the basics of working in a river current

You can read all you want about ferry angles, flow rates and the likes but
you cant learn it 'till you're in it

One of the hardest things to learn about a river is, as soon as you think

you know whats coming you're wrong.
This sneaky vessel almost floated over us without a sound.

The drill you see here is to simulate being drawn into a strainer. A strainer is anything

in a river that allows water by but catches larger objects. They are also one of the most dangerous river hazards

Often lodged in the swifter current these strainers will trap a person by pinning them against it, then pushing them and holding them underwater.
Here you see us floating into a controlled strainer to feel the force of the water,

so we could get an idea of how they work.

As class went on we got into larger and larger rapids. Seen here is the class descending a set of class 4 rapids.


Banzai!!!!



Me about to descend the rapids.

Notice the smile, mask on helmet

Head above water

Entering the beast


Hmm whats missing?

All's well that ends well

In all we spent two days on the water covering numerous methods of rescue, current reading, low angle rope rescue and river safety

The Great Columbia Crossing

So it was a partly cloudy Sunday morning and I was standing curbside outside Chinook, WA with about two thousand others. At 0900 the gun sounded and we were off. It is was the 27Th annual Great Columbia crossing. It is a 10k race/walk across the Astoria-Megler Bridge. I chose to do the walk so I could take my camera to get some photos of the area from a higher vantage point. The fastest runner finished at just over 30min the slowest walker at a little over two hours.

I finished at 1:14:26 and took just over a hundred photos
Here's the best of themSunrise on the Washington side

Looking to the future


Ever wonder what a tire see's
There are participant's all the way back to the Washington
side of the bridge

Port of Astoria
Crested the top and headed down hill now

Oh the places we have been
the decisions to come
Victory at last
This look says it all, Mainly dad for not taking me I shall give you...

The silent treatment

Surviving the Deserts of Texas

So you land in El Paso drive two hours west, hike for about 45 minutes and then set up a perimeter. Once in the field we reviewed all we had learned and put it into practice. We went over everything from finding water sources, shelter, fire and food.

Natures TV in High Definition
When it comes to shelters start simple. Comfortable also

note duct tape is a must!

Then storm proof. Or would that be critter proofing?

I know what your thinking "He's in the sun and still damn pastie"

Food or friends?

Don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

But watch your step