Trying To Complete The Jump Creek Canyon

Jump Creek is a great place to hike and pretend to be a rock climber. Along the way, the views are great too! I've hiked it multiple times, but am yet to make it all the way through the canyon. Last Sunday, the goal was to make it all the way to the point where the canyon opens back up to flat land. According to my Delorme, I've gotten really close before, but never made it. On Sunday, Calvin A., Lucy (a beagle) and I started the hike from the lower parking lot and went to the falls first. We tried to go over the falls the way that requires a bit of rock climbing, but couldn't quite get Lucy over the last section as it required go-go gadget arms. Instead, we went back down and started back at the canyon from the other route. We stopped to see the "Face of the Owyhee's" and shortly after I got these shots:

At around 2 or so miles in, we passed where I'd maxed out at before and made it to the second falls, which proved to be one of the greatest challenges. Immediatly after getting past the falls, the path became substantially more difficult with brush filling in the entirety of the walkable area at the bottom of the canyon in most places.

We got to the point where we were walking on top of the brush. Even the dog could walk on top of it. At one point, a branch I was using to pull myself forward gave way and I took a good bath in the creek. Eventually we got to a point where we couldn't pass through it anymore without a machete or burning it down. I knew we were extremely close to the end of the canyon, but we couldn't make it. Oh well, by that point, we'd seen all of the good stuff. We climbed out of the canyon in one of the few dirt side canyons and hopped on the dirt road not far from the rim.

All-in-all, a good hike

Quantity Vs. Quality

What do you want? Do you want more than your neighbor has and that's pretty much your only comparing factor? Do the Jones' have more than you and you have to beat the Jones' to be worthwhile in today's society? Go forth and plunder until the Jones' have been defeated. Their enormous SUV or pickup truck has clearly been conquered by your new Caterpillar 797B dump truck towing your 10,000 square foot house on wheels to work and back every day. Now I'm not going off the deep end and saying that there is no need for material goods, but I am asking do you really need that extra whatever it is you have your mind on. Will it provide you a function that makes you happier? Now if that Porsche 911 Turbo really can make your entire body tingle like no other from the shear force of 480 horses thundering off the line with an intense G-force that compares to nothing you've ever experienced in your entire life, go out and earn it. Want it with every last little bit of passion you can possibly muster.
Consider first, do you really, and I mean REALLY want it? If not, what's the point? Did the last big purchase you made make you happier? Are you using it to it's fullest extent like you thought you would? If the answer is yes, way to go, you've used your noggin wisely.
Okay, so far, all I've talked about is the material usage side of the equation. Like the pythagorian theorem cannot determine C if you are missing A or B, human waste cannot be determined without the quantity of users variable. X number of people using Y amount of materials over Z amount of time in comparison to the rate of renewal that the earth can sustain. Another way of looking at it is rate of consumption directly compared to rate of renewal. Now I'm not going to try and claim that our rate of consumption is not sustainable which is one of the major arguments between republicans and democrats today, but I will say that both our rate of consumption per person and the quantity of people are both going up at extremely rapid rates. How long until we overtake the sustainability rate? I don't know. What I do know is that if we stay clear of that point, quality goes up. We have more resources to make our products with very high quality. We wouldn't have to worry about cutting back anything. For example, today's houses are cookie cutter models. Unique designs of years past are just that, years past. No more are houses designed to last hundreds of years, but are dated after 10 years or so and you rarely or never see such amazing efforts that were common in Europe just a few hundred years ago (example: the Sistine Chapel). There are hundreds of examples where quality could be improved, but in it's stead, we put quantity. Most obviously, quantity of people. More, more, more people. We all have to have our genes extended as far as possible. Our family line must be as controlling in society as we are capable of doing. There are two philosophies to doing this. One being to have kids that are very intelligent and physically powerful to be as far reaching in society as they can be via quality of character. Two being to have as many kids as possible and infiltrate society with shear quantity, even if the quality is questionable. Now I ask, do you prefer quality or quantity? Do you want the best for yourself/kid or do you want the most for yourself/kid?
Are you tired of the more, more, more demand that society puts on you or do you buy into it hook, line, and sinker? Where true happiness occurs is in the pursuit. The desire for something better. The question now is, does better have to equal more? More is obviously eventually not going to be sustainable, it's just a matter of time. Do you want the next generation (your kids) to enjoy quality of life or just be alive, breathing air and exising? Must you have three or more children? Maybe take a second to view Idiocracy.
If you want a new perspective on things, maybe you could learn a thing or two from Christopher McCandless. Take a listen to Eddie Vedder's - Society. Go out and read or watch Into The Wild. Open your eyes to the world that isn't too far from the grasps of societies demand for more, more, more. Go see the world from the top of a mountain, go breathe fresh air, get out and enjoy your own powers.

hmmm ooh hooo hooo

It's a mystery to me

we have a greed

with which we have agreed

You think you have to want

more than you need

until you have it all you won't be free

society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have

you think you need

and when you think more than you want

your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place

'cos when you have more than you think

you need more space

society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

society, crazy and deep

I hope you're not lonely without me

there's those thinking more or less less is more

but if less is more how you're keeping score?

Means for every point you make

your level drop

skinda like its starting from the top

you can't do that...society, you're a crazy breed

I hope you're not lonely without me

society, crazy and deep

I hope you're not lonely without me

society, have mercy on me

I hope you're not angry if I disagree

society, crazy and deep

I hope you're not lonely without me

Attack Of The White Weezle

What better way to start a blog than to add a map with all sorts of information that you don't know anything about yet. For all you know, I was out on a treasure hunt and was attacked by an eight ounce white weezle (weasel) and to escape him, I had to run up a mountain, go for a swim all the way around the shoreline of a lake and then run too far down an old dirt road before returning to the car for safety. So, maybe that's not what happened, but it's a good story anyways huh?

Here's the ferocious creature in it's natural habitat.


To better understand the white weezle, you should see the area in which we found it.


Nothing to do with the white weezle: Louie Lake, where the GPS says we swam the shoreline (marker 3).


In this picture, you can see the white weezles' arch nemesis, Mitzi, a black Heinz 57 with very short legs.

Markers 1 and 2 were the first two times I'd seen the GPS add information that didn't actually happen. The missing line segments were places that it lost reception in the trees for long enough that it couldn't piece together where we went. The oops is where we missed a turn off from a dirt road back onto the trail and had to back track a bit. As for the long arrow/trailmix section, there really is no need for such a waste of your time, but then again, you are on my blog.
After the hike, we met up with my sister Lianne and niece Kathleen for a trip to the Gold Fork Hot Springs. If you've never been, I highly suggest it. $9, but worth it with six pools of differing temps, at least one with white sand (the bottom three were too cold for cold evening use)

The next day, I waaay overcooked a corner on the drive back and lost control of the car. Lucky for me, I didn't flip, nor did I over correct and just skidded to a stop at which point the car hit the guard rail and popped off the front bumper. I didn't get hurt, but I learned a lesson about driving too quick! First car wreck ever at the age of 28... maybe I should go back and adjust that blog about wrecking?

If you didn't get enough from the Delorme map, here's the Google Satellite map.