Fireworks

So, the new Police chief's ban on aerial fireworks is working out really well, don't you think?

I peeked out from the bunker and most of the houses are still standing....

No laws here in Vancouver, but I've been told a lot of ammunition has headed south in recent days.


Fort Vancouver - July 4, 2012..................................Photo courtesy of Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian

Deadest Fourth ever.

pilotram wrote:Deadest Fourth ever.

Well, especially in Colorado, that can't be bad!!

pilotram wrote:Deadest Fourth ever.

Maybe in your neighborhood, but in mine it was a war zone, and one of the biggest offenders was a cop.

PurpleGeezer wrote:

pilotram wrote:Deadest Fourth ever.

Maybe in your neighborhood, but in mine it was a war zone, and one of the biggest offenders was a cop.

Well, someone has to do something with all those confiscated illegal fireworks...

pilotram wrote:Well, someone has to do something with all those confiscated illegal fireworks...

Ooooh, nice!

Cranked up the plane late Saturday night to get airborne in Vancouver, WA for a view of the promised Aurora Borealis that was heading our way after a great deal of activity on the sun a few days earlier. Well, as they say, the "best laid plans............"

Saturday night/Sunday morning was the one time this month we had crappy weather all around us as we attempted to cross the Cascades, and no matter what route we took, there was always a thick layer of ice wanting to envelop the aircraft. Sure, we could have gone lower, below the freezing level, but that proved to be filled with turbulence and granite. So, I took no pictures of the Northern Lights good enough to share here.

It's rare to see the Northern Lights in Washington -- it's even rarer to see them in southern Oregon. But the double-punch of the solar storm that struck the Earth's atmosphere on Saturday, touched off a dazzling display of the Lights all across the Northwest.

While cloudy skies doomed western Washington, the skies were clear around Crater Lake, and photographer Brad Goldpaint was ready. He says there has never been a documented photo of the Northern Lights by Crater Lake until now. Great shot, Brad!

Great picture, despite the pesky granite.

Actually, there is almost no granite in Oregon but some Missoula erratics and some outcrops in the Klamaths and the Blues. Speaking as a climber, the whole damn state is Basalt ( which can still be pesky) or welded tuff.

Thanks for sharing.

PurpleGeezer wrote:Great picture, despite the pesky granite.

Actually, there is almost no granite in Oregon but some Missoula erratics and some outcrops in the Klamaths and the Blues. Speaking as a climber, the whole damn state is Basalt ( which can still be pesky) or welded tuff.

Thanks for sharing.

Haha, thanks for the geology lesson. As you might imagine, the term granite is just aviator talk for terra firma....the stuff that is just hard enough the kill you if you hit it without your wheels hitting first.

Terra firma is also the reason some say, "Keep the blue side up and the brown side down."

But I think that actually IS granite I fly over when low level over the Sierra Nevada's near Yosemite.

Reminder: BASE jumping in Yosemite is illegal!

I spent 16 June's in a row on the Sierra heaven. - including the very spot in your photo and every formation in the background. Those ropes in the lower left are the finish of a classic route called the NW Face of Half Dome. Somebody must have just finished it.

Damn you for bringing it up....

And BASE jumping is only illegal if you are convicted.

Ever have the chance to hike out of Lake Vernon Basin up the flank of Mount Gibson near Hetch Hetchy Valley?



I've never seen so much granite!

Most of my hiking/climbing in the high country was in the Tuolumne Meadows area when the valley got too hot. Lots of big domes to climb, and some the walk offs to the bigger Yosemite Valley routes were through the high country. If you went out that way you could avoid a day on the valley floor.

I did do a bit of climbing in the HetchHetchy valley itself. It is almost as big as Yosemite, and John Muir thought it was more beautiful. Though it was a national Park, San Francisco stole it for the dam and reservoir. It was the only water left in the Sierra because the gold miners had rights to the rest.


Before:


The floor of the valley is, of course dammed by the Oshaunessey dam , which makes getting to climbs a lot harder. rangers also used to greatly restrict access, so It was hard to plan any big routes. You couldn't leave your car overnight or you risked a big fine. The 8 hours you had was hardly enough to get to some routes and back before dark. If you were slow, it cost you. It was possible to get overnight permission if a ranger knew you, but the car still had to be dealt with, so somebody else had to drive it in and out.


After:

The piece of rock on the right is about 2,000ft high.

The last time I tried to do a big climb there was the summer after 911. Rangers and dam officials had figured out that the big sacks climbers carried was C4 to blow up the dam or to put several hundred gallons of LSD in the water for San Francisco ( seemed like a logical plan to them at the time, I guess).

They turned us away, we never tried to go back. My understanding is that there is some Discrete climbing going on now, but my knees won't do the Walk-ins anymore.

Seriously, it's the Oshaunessey Dam (probably O'Shaughnessy)? I've always just known it as the Hetch Hetchy Dam.

Yes, the rules are relaxed enough now that quite a few hikers are making the trek again. I've been twice since 9/11, including last fall. I DON'T, climb (it really seems silly/stupid), but will hike forever. You need to get titanium knees; they are all the rage now.

Speaking of the Tuolumne River, it's a great place to pull some big trout. Back in the day we used to go on the South Fork of the Tuolumne River and catch our limit (15) and eat most. Yes, this was before we even thought of catch-and-release. Sorry, young guys, it's us old farts who ruined it for the rest of you!

Since when is it not OK to do something silly/stupid? You fly little planes.

One of my old climbing partners (UP grad about your age) was a mail carrier and wore out his knees. They say you should wait to get them done.

Anyway, he used to hike in to the climbs on crutches, then fire off routes a lot of the young guys couldn't do. He got some interesting looks.

Wandered just a little off topic?

I need to get to the Sierras. No climbing, but I would love the hiking. Oregon just has a few pockets of country like that. Glacier Lake, for example.