Quick Outdoor-sy Picture (to keep me motivated)

Nothing like a romp up to Mary's peak to get the ummm... juices flowing. The real money is when it gets Mt. Bike-able. But man, sometimes I forget how pretty it is up there this time of year.

The Superfluous Campain 2009

Exhibit B: Extreme Snowshoeing

Big Horn Sheep

Back in 2006, I worked for the BLM in the Steens Mountain Wilderness. It was one of the better jobs I have had. Backpacking around to remote campsites, bucking aspen, using the ol' GPS and bouldering on off days had its perks for sure. I saw my second mountain lion out there, stacks of elk, antelope and some bizarre mt. dwelling shorebirds. My one regret was never getting to see a Big Horn Sheep, which I had wanted to do since my youth.

I recall being astounded hearing from one of the game wardens that a tag for a Bighorn will auction for sums up to $100,000. Well, I'm not astounded anymore. I've actually tried a bit of hunting myself and enjoyed it, but I can think of better things to do with that much money than shoot some mutton with croissant shaped horns. Think of all the cams you could buy with that (sarcasm meter should detect a moderate reading) much dough!

Grown up Calvin

I try not to pontificate too much, but I thought this was pretty cool. Childhood is seldom the idylic time it is often portrayed as. There are, however, lessons learned during that time one should never forget. This is one of them.

Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, never licensed any of his material. He claimed it would cheapen his work and reduce the potency of their characters. That's why we never saw Calvin or Hobbes dolls and mugs when the comic strip was popular. Those "Calvin pissing" stickers we see on the backs of trucks in the U.S. are unliscensed and illegal. The image above was not drawn by Watterson, and though he might disapprove, I always imagined (and/or hoped) this is how Calvin would turn out.

*end rant* next up: the usual

Broken Top

Every once in a while the heavens decide to part this time of year and grant us some sunshine. That means it's time to head to the hills and see what they have to offer, e.g. blood, sweat, cold temps and the opportunity to see how the crampons bite. Timbo and I had a decent couple of days playing in the snow out near Broken Top. We found (through the usual suffering) that the summit is a bit far and technical to get to in 2 days of snowshoeing. That said, the weather was crystal clear and the moon was damn near full. We ended up on top of a false summit as a consolation prize, which really was icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.

View across the crater towards another false summit



The bros at our highpoint with South Sis' in the distance

Pink time during a time o' day I don't usually frequent

South, Middle and North (aka Big, Little and Ugly) sisters at dawn