Books read:
- The Wall by John Lanchester
- This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Trails walked:
- Bear Canyon Trail near Boulder, Colorado (Jan 7th)
- Mallory Cave Trail near Boulder, Colorado (Jan
14th)
- Grand Canyon (Jan 20th-21st)
- La Barge Box in the Superstitions (Jan 25th)
- Squaw Creek Ruins in central Arizona (Jan 29th)
Song of the month:
The call came at 10:00pm on a Saturday night. Our son sounded distressed on the other end
of the line. He said there was a problem
and that his wife had to have an emergency C-section and their son was coming 7
weeks early; he wasn’t sure if either was going to survive at the time of the
call. My wife and I looked at each other
and we knew right then what to do.
Neither of us were going to sleep that night, so we dropped everything,
packed our bags, hopped in the car and drove 13 hours through the night to
Denver. Throughout the night and the
early morning, we were getting updates, and thankfully the updates were mostly
positive. Our daughter-in-law was going
to be OK and the baby was fighting hard.
In times like these it takes a village to pull everyone through. Our sister-in-law assured us that she would
come to our house in the morning to get our dog and secure the house. Our daughter, who is a nurse, helped us all
understand the medical situation, and took time off to fly to Denver to help. My mother-in-law cared for our dog while we
were gone. Our daughter-in-law’s parents
flew in for the emotional support their daughter needed. Everyone was alerted and praying or sending
positive vibrations. Our son and daughter-in-law
remained strong and positive, though exhausted.
The medical staff at the hospital was top notch. For all these reasons the story has turned
out to be a joyful one. As of this
writing the baby is still in the hospital but is getting stronger every day and
should be able to come home soon. Mamma
is healing and bonding with her baby.
Our son is finally able to experience the joy (and heavy weight) of
fatherhood. And….my wife and I (and our daughter-in-law’s
parents) are grandparents for the first time!
This month I read both a fiction and a non-fiction book
about climate change (no snide comments from either the right or the left on
this statement please) and I read a classic by Steinbeck. Here's another way to view the value of reading:
My unplanned trip to Denver had the positive result
of allowing me to hike a couple of trails near Boulder, plus I added the Grand
Canyon, a Superstitions hike, and an ancient ruins exploratory hike. Welcome to 2020 which already seems to be
giving us a clear vision of the future.
Song of
the month – Good as Hell by Lizzo: Lizzo
(nee Melissa Viviane Jefferson) has been recording music since 2013 but was
relatively unknown until 2019 when she skyrocketed to fame. Time magazine dubbed her entertainer of the
year for 2019 and she was nominated for 8 grammys, winning two. (Billie Eilish,
whose Bad Guy I listed as song of the month in my August 2019
blog swept the grammys this year with 5 major awards). My daughter saw Lizzo perform at the Austin
City Limits music festival last year and said that her show was packed and jumping
with energy. The stage was much too
small for the crowds because when the festival was planned Lizzo was still a
relative unknown but had zoomed in popularity just before the show. Her songs are full of positive messages for
women ("Like a Girl" is a great song about women’s empowerment). Good as Hell not only has a "good as hell" message, but
also has a great beat and the chorus is addicting. She wrote the song in 2016 for the movie, “Barbershop:
The Next Cut” and with her newly gained popularity it hit the Billboard top 100
in 2019. Billboard said of this song: "the
song's message of self-love mixed with a melody that will worm its way inside
your head makes this track an absolute stunner."
Bear
Canyon Trail near Boulder, CO: While
staying in Colorado for the birth of our first grandchild, I was able to get
away for a couple of nice Rocky Mountain hikes.
The Bear Canyon trail can be accessed just at the edge of Boulder's city
limits in the parking lot of the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR). There are several trails in this
area with a huge parking lot. For this hike,
I started on the NCAR trail which is a nice little access route with
interpretive signs about the area. From
the NCAR trail, I headed south on the Mesa Trail, a 13 mile north-south trail
that traverses along the base of the Flatirons which are so distinctive as the
background for Boulder. After around a
mile or so I headed west on the Bear Canyon Trail and this is where I got to
experience a true winter hike in the mountains.
My son had some micro spikes that I put on my hiking boots because the trail
here became a sheet of ice. The spikes
were great, and I was able to climb this steep ice trail as though I was
walking on pavement. It was a beautiful
winter wonderland with small ice falls, snow covered trees, and running water
melting holes in the snow. Even though
there was ice and snow, the temps were in the upper 40s and lower 50s, so I was
hiking in jeans and a sweatshirt. I
ended my walk at the junction of the Bear Canyon, Green Bear, and Bear Peak
West Ridge trails, for a total of around 7 miles round trip. It was great to get away from the stress of
the emergency delivery and the NICU for a while and get a feel for this
beautiful area which brings back so many fond memories of when I lived here in
the late 70s. I ran into maybe 4 other
people once I got past the NCAR trail, so lots of solitude in the Rockies on
this day.
 |
| Twisted tree against a blue sky near the trailhead |
 |
| Small Ice fall |
 |
| Flatirons up close |
 |
| Flatirons pointing skyward |
 |
| ICE! The kind immigrants don't fear... |
 |
| Bridge may ice before walkway.... |
 |
| Nice saddle |
 |
| Water poking through the snow |
 |
| The scramble to the cave |
 |
| Holy cow Robin, it's the Bat Cave! |
The Wall
by John Lanchester: One of
the newer works of fiction I’ve read, this book was published in 2019 and was
on the long list for the Booker Prize, which was eventually won by another
dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. Like most dystopian novels, there are only
hints of what had happened to create the depressing society portrayed in the book. There are capitalized terms such as the Wall,
the Others, Breeders, Defenders, and the Change which give you some ideas. In the unnamed country in which the story
takes place (a country very similar to the UK), there is a wall surrounding the
island. All young people are required to
serve 2 years as Defenders on the Wall (like the wall in Game of Thrones). It is bitterly cold on the Wall, and
dangerous too, because the Others could attack at any time. The Wall is there to prevent the Others from
coming, and to prevent the country from rising seas. You eventually find out that the Change which
occurred was Climate Change. This
country (the UK?) was somewhat saved from the worst of the disasters created by
Climate Change, and it became one of the few places left where people could be
safe, therefore many refugees (Others) were willing to risk their lives to get
there. One New York Times review stated
that “there are shades of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, but trouble lies
ahead, and the second half turns into an ordeal that evokes Cormac McCarthy’s
The Road.” Pretty good company, as these
two novels are incredibly well written stories. The Wall also seems to serve as a metaphor
for the divide within the country between the young and the old as best related
in this quote from the book: “The world hadn’t always been like this and … the
people responsible for it ending up like this were our parents — them and their
generation.”
The main character (Joseph Kavanagh) is a Defender on the
Wall and his harrowing story takes the reader from the long, cold boring
watches on the Wall, to intense battle scenes, and eventually to floating
cities of Others on rafts in the ocean trying to survive storms, pirates, and
each other. Certainly, this book hit
close to home for me with my Climate Change advocacy work. It’s not difficult to see a future like this
for the world. However, I still hold out
hope that sanity (and science) will prevail before the worst comes true. See the next book review on a non-fiction
book about Climate Change for more of my commentary on this topic (or not).
Phantom
Ranch in the Grand Canyon: A
college buddy who was traveling the southwest came to visit, and I was able to
get a reservation at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon for a
night. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail
(which is also part of the Arizona Trail), stayed the night in a 10-person dorm,
then hiked out on the Bright Angel trail.
I’ve done this hike many times and never get tired of it. And it’s always special to share it with
someone who has never hiked the canyon and who really appreciates the beauty of
the place. We drove to Grand Canyon
Village on the South Rim 3 days after I had gotten back from Denver for the
birth of our grandson (see intro). A
stop in Flagstaff at Beaver Street Brewery for burgers and beer fortified us
for our adventure. We arrived at the rim
in time to check in for our Phantom Ranch stay and to get some nice sunset
photos from the rim. It was a crispy
cold 34 degrees with a bit of snow and ice.
After strolling the rim a bit, we checked into our room at Maswik Lodge,
then went to the pub to watch the NFC championship game and get a beer and
pizza. We woke up early the next morning
for an included full breakfast at the lodge and then drove the car to the Bright
Angel lodge parking lot where we caught the Hiker’s Express bus to the South Kaibab
trailhead. It was cold, but we were well layered as we placed
micro spikes over our hiking boots in order to safely walk the upper 2 miles of
the ice-packed trail. Here’s what happens
if you don’t wear micro spikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZy_ryGlZCc. And here’s a stock photo showing how treacherous
it can be on this trail without spikes.
The
micro spikes (which I borrowed from my son and daughter-in-law while I was in
Denver, thankfully) made the walk as easy as walking on dry pavement. The
views of the canyon from the South Kaibab trail are incredible. After emerging from the cliff’s switchbacks
and removing our micro spikes, we walked along a ridge for much of the way with
views all around you. The day was
perfect. We made it across the black
bridge and up to Phantom Ranch 7.5 miles and 5 hours later in time to have a
Bright Angel IPA, buy a T-shirt, claim our bunk bed, and head out on a 2.5 mile
loop along the River trail between the black and silver bridge and back to the
ranch. Back at the ranch (I've always wanted to say that...), we took a well-deserved
nap while we waited for our beef stew dinner which was delicious; then spent a
couple of hours talking with other hikers over beers until we got tired enough
to fall asleep and recharge for the next day’s hike out. Morning came fast and we ate a hearty breakfast
at 7, then headed up the Bright Angel Trail in the rain. Today was going to be very different from the
previous day. The views for most of the
10 miles were ethereal (I had to look that up).
Misty clouds, rain, fog, snow, ice.
It was a fun and beautiful adventure.
We ate lunch under a covered picnic table at Indian Gardens which is the
halfway point. From here up it seems
impossibly steep at times, especially after walking so much the previous day
and morning. But six and a half hours
later, with our micro spikes back on, we clambered out of the canyon, exhausted,
but totally satisfied with another great adventure in Arizona.
 |
| Ice on the canyon edge at sunset |
 |
| Two college buddies about to have an adventure |
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| Cedar Ridge, about 1.5 miles down |
 |
| New trail signs! |
 |
| Black bridge tunnel |
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| Ancient ruins with a view of the Colorado river and black bridge |
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| Bright Angel IPA at Phantom Ranch |
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| Bright Angel creek near the ranch |
 |
| Views along the River trail |
 |
| Views from the Bright Angel trail on the way out |
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| The Devil's Corkscrew from a resting point high above |
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| Shadow images of canyon walls |
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| Waterfall near Indian Gardens |
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| Ice and clouds |
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| Fog canyons |
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| Those micro spikes keep you from falling over the edge.... |
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| Nearing the top! |
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| College buddy enjoying every minute |
This
Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate by Naomi Klein: I must admit, I was a bit depressed
after reading this terrific 2014 book about climate change and the world
economy. The New York times said this was “A book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable
… the most momentous and contentious environmental book since “Silent Spring.”" As I sit here trying to find the words to
tell you about this book, I think about that statement that the book is almost
unreviewable. The ideas are too big to
put into a blog post without losing all their meaning and the weight behind their ideas. The book won the Hilary Weston Writer’s Trust
Prize for Nonfiction and the jury had this to say about it: “Written with
an elegant blend of science, statistics, field reports and personal insight, it
does not paralyze but buoys the reader. The book’s exploration of climate change
from the perspective of how capitalism functions produces fresh insights and
its examination of the interconnectedness between our relationship with nature
and the creation of better, fairer societies presents a radical proposal.
Klein’s urgency and outrage is balanced by meticulous documentation and
passionate argument. Heart and mind go hand in hand in this magisterial
response to a present crisis.”
I think that what depressed me about this book was the author’s
contention that we won’t resolve climate change without completely changing our
economic system, and after reading the book I’m not sure I disagree. From my view, there is way too much power and
money holding back ANY kind of change to the way the world economy works (and
which provides far more riches to the very few and not enough to the very
many). Fossil fuel companies have extraction plans
going out 70 years, and the amount of money they make and give to politicians
is enough to make any suggestion of keeping that fossil fuel in the ground
nearly impossible to fathom. She does
offer hope and some historic evidence that it’s possible to drastically change
an economic model. There is mention of the
New Deal of the 30s and the civil rights movement of the 60s, and the women’s
movement of the 70s. But even she admits
that these were more legal, political and social movements rather than economic
transformation. The one change she says
that could compare as economically transformative is the slavery abolition movement
in the 1800s. In 1860, the value of
slaves was estimated to be 16% of total household assets in the US. That amounts to $10 trillion in today’s
terms. The slaveholders basically had to give up that
asset and find a way to replace it. Will
the fossil fuel industries of today give up $10 trillion dollars in assets and
find another way to make money? Not without
the political will to move them, which will only come from ordinary people like
you and I convincing our representatives that it’s time for a change. As a new grandpa I want to see this change so
that my grandchild can live in a world as beautiful as the one I grew up in. That’s why I spend time doing what I can, talking
with my congressional representatives until they are tired of hearing it. Here are two great non-partisan websites to
visit if you want to know more about climate change:
La Barge
Box canyon in the Superstitions: I
wanted to show my college buddy a bit of the Superstition Wilderness which is
my favorite local hiking area. Luckily
my daughter also happened to be in town along with her best friend, so the four
of us, plus two dogs headed for the Canyon Lake Marina parking lot to start a
fun loop to one of the coolest places in the wilderness area. The first mile and a half are busy with
Instagram tourists anxious to get to a great viewpoint of the Superstitions to
the south and Canyon Lake to the north.
And it is a great viewpoint. We
took our photos, said goodbye to all the people and headed south towards La Barge
canyon. It’s about a 2-mile boulder hop once
you get off the official Boulder Canyon trail at the confluence of Boulder and
La Barge canyons. At the end of that
boulder hop are two hairpin turns in the canyon that create a deep and narrow
box canyon with large pools of water and steep cliffs rising 400 feet or more
all around you. We ate lunch in this majestic
spot, then wound our way out of the hairpin turns, but instead of returning
the same way, we climbed over the saddle south of Battleship Mountain on a faint
trail to Boulder Canyon which is an easier path to follow than the boulder
hopping in La Barge canyon. The Boulder
Canyon trail takes you back to Canyon Lake Marina after 10 miles of this wild and wonderful hike. Another great day in the Superstitions!
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| View of Canyon Lake from near the trailhead |
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| Instagram Viewpoint of the rugged Superstitions with Weaver's Needle pointing to the sky |
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| Boulder hopping college buddy |
 |
| Water creating trail art |
 |
| Huge pools of water |
 |
| Like a scene from Inception |
 |
| In the hairpin turns of La Barge Box |
 |
| Sheer cliffs, slick rock, and water |
 |
| So much water! |
 |
| Small waterfall |
 |
| Cliff reflections |
 |
| College buddies in the box |
 |
| Daughter and best friend in the box |
 |
| Headed over the saddle to Boulder Canyon |
 |
| Winding our way back |
 |
| One last view |
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: I don't remember reading this book when I was younger, but I vividly remember going to the play when I was in college. "I done a bad thing George", became a quote my wife and I would use every time we screwed something up. The book was written in 1937 and is the story of two migrant ranch workers during the depression in California. George is the smaller, smarter guy and Lennie is the larger intellectually disabled guy. They have a special bond and have stuck together through thick and thin. And lately there's been a lot of thin. Lennie keeps accidentally getting them in trouble because he is too rough with soft things (like puppies and women) and in his simple mind, he just wants to pet them because it feels good, but his strength gets away from him and "bad things happen." The title is taken from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse" which is familiar to many from its line: "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry." It reads like a play and the descriptions by Steinbeck are really simple and beautiful. It's about loneliness, friendship and having dreams and goals to look forward too, even in the midst of poverty and hopelessness. Even though the book has been banned at various times due to issues certain groups of people are afraid of, it remains required reading in many high schools in the English speaking world.
 |
| Famous Red Deer petroglyph |
Squaw Creek Ruins in central Arizona: My hiking buddy (HB) and I have done previous hikes on Perry Mesa searching for Indian ruins. We start a few days prior, by using Google Earth to get waypoints on what look like ruins from the air. We then compare these to some articles we've found about Perry Mesa ruins and then enter those waypoints on the GPS and go searching. We've already visited the Perry Tank and Baby Canyon ruins by way of Badger Springs and the Agua Fria river. I've also been to the Puerto de Plata ruins. Today our goal was to make it to the remote Squaw Creek ruins on the far southeast edge of the mesa. Access is from the ominously named Bloody Basin Road. After 11 miles of mostly easy dirt road, we turned south on Forest Road 9014 (aka FR14). The condition of this road is always in doubt and we were ready for a 14 mile round trip hike if we had to park the car at its intersection with Bloody Basin Road. Luckily the road was in decent condition and we ended up with only an eight mile hike after parking the car near the intersection of FR14 and FR610 (we could have driven further, but eventually you get tired of bouncing around in a car and you want to get out and walk). To get to Squaw Creek, we walked FR610, then FR599, and finally FR3164 which ends at the ruin. This is an impressive sight. The ruins are perched on the edge of the mesa with incredible views of the Agua Fria river below and the rugged New River mountains to the south and east. On the basalt cliffs below are one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs we had seen. We were in search of the famous "red deer" petroglyph that has been in several archaeological publications and in Audubon.org. We spent around an hour clambering around the rocks below the ruins and viewing the petroglyphs while trying not to fall 1,000 feet to our deaths. My daughter's wonder dog, who joined us for the hike, stayed up on top peering down every now and then to make sure we were still alive. Once back at the car we dropped our packs and walked about a half mile to see the Brooklyn Basin ruins which were not as spectacularly perched as the Squaw Creek ruins, but there were lots of petroglyphs here to explore. Perry Mesa contains one of the best-preserved late prehistoric settlement systems in the Southwest (1100s-1300s). These facts led President Bill Clinton and Secretary of the Interior (and former Arizona Governor) Bruce Babbitt to establish the Agua Fria National Monument in early 2000. It's a great resource for Arizona explorers and is only 40 miles north of Phoenix. It's rugged country though, so be prepared for bumpy 4WD roads and a mesa with no shade. On the day we visited, temps were in the 50s with cloud cover, so it was perfect.
Here are couple of reference links if you want to learn more about the area:
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2008/a-lost-civilization-may-shed-light-coping
https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/pdf/stone_aac_prescott_06.pdf
https://www.resolutionmineeis.us/sites/default/files/references/wood-perry-mesa-1999.pdf
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| Squaw Creek ruins with New River mountains in the background |
 |
| Another view |
 |
| Clambering down the rocks to the petroglyphs |
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| Large panel of petroglyphs |
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| Petroglyphs with view to the north |
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| Pronghorn or deer with view to the south |
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| Vandals have damaged some of the panels |
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| Blooming cactus with a view |
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| I'm not going down there.... |
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| Scrambling |
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| Wonder dog up on top, worrying about us |
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| Lots of pottery sherds and arrowheads around |
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| So many of them.... |
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| View from on top to the south |
Until next month, happy reading and rambling!....
Bear
Canyon Trail near Boulder, CO: While
staying in Colorado for the birth of our first grandchild, I was able to get
away for a couple of nice Rocky Mountain hikes.
The Bear Canyon trail can be accessed just at the edge of Boulder's city
limits in the parking lot of the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR). There are several trails in this
area with a huge parking lot. For this hike,
I started on the NCAR trail which is a nice little access route with
interpretive signs about the area. From
the NCAR trail, I headed south on the Mesa Trail, a 13 mile north-south trail
that traverses along the base of the Flatirons which are so distinctive as the
background for Boulder. After around a
mile or so I headed west on the Bear Canyon Trail and this is where I got to
experience a true winter hike in the mountains.
My son had some micro spikes that I put on my hiking boots because the trail
here became a sheet of ice. The spikes
were great, and I was able to climb this steep ice trail as though I was
walking on pavement. It was a beautiful
winter wonderland with small ice falls, snow covered trees, and running water
melting holes in the snow. Even though
there was ice and snow, the temps were in the upper 40s and lower 50s, so I was
hiking in jeans and a sweatshirt. I
ended my walk at the junction of the Bear Canyon, Green Bear, and Bear Peak
West Ridge trails, for a total of around 7 miles round trip. It was great to get away from the stress of
the emergency delivery and the NICU for a while and get a feel for this
beautiful area which brings back so many fond memories of when I lived here in
the late 70s. I ran into maybe 4 other
people once I got past the NCAR trail, so lots of solitude in the Rockies on
this day. 
Phantom
Ranch in the Grand Canyon: A
college buddy who was traveling the southwest came to visit, and I was able to
get a reservation at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon for a
night. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail
(which is also part of the Arizona Trail), stayed the night in a 10-person dorm,
then hiked out on the Bright Angel trail.
I’ve done this hike many times and never get tired of it. And it’s always special to share it with
someone who has never hiked the canyon and who really appreciates the beauty of
the place. We drove to Grand Canyon
Village on the South Rim 3 days after I had gotten back from Denver for the
birth of our grandson (see intro). A
stop in Flagstaff at Beaver Street Brewery for burgers and beer fortified us
for our adventure. We arrived at the rim
in time to check in for our Phantom Ranch stay and to get some nice sunset
photos from the rim. It was a crispy
cold 34 degrees with a bit of snow and ice.
After strolling the rim a bit, we checked into our room at Maswik Lodge,
then went to the pub to watch the NFC championship game and get a beer and
pizza. We woke up early the next morning
for an included full breakfast at the lodge and then drove the car to the Bright
Angel lodge parking lot where we caught the Hiker’s Express bus to the South Kaibab
trailhead. It was cold, but we were well layered as we placed
micro spikes over our hiking boots in order to safely walk the upper 2 miles of
the ice-packed trail. Here’s what happens
if you don’t wear micro spikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZy_ryGlZCc. And here’s a stock photo showing how treacherous
it can be on this trail without spikes.
La Barge
Box canyon in the Superstitions: I
wanted to show my college buddy a bit of the Superstition Wilderness which is
my favorite local hiking area. Luckily
my daughter also happened to be in town along with her best friend, so the four
of us, plus two dogs headed for the Canyon Lake Marina parking lot to start a
fun loop to one of the coolest places in the wilderness area. The first mile and a half are busy with
Instagram tourists anxious to get to a great viewpoint of the Superstitions to
the south and Canyon Lake to the north.
And it is a great viewpoint. We
took our photos, said goodbye to all the people and headed south towards La Barge
canyon. It’s about a 2-mile boulder hop once
you get off the official Boulder Canyon trail at the confluence of Boulder and
La Barge canyons. At the end of that
boulder hop are two hairpin turns in the canyon that create a deep and narrow
box canyon with large pools of water and steep cliffs rising 400 feet or more
all around you. We ate lunch in this majestic
spot, then wound our way out of the hairpin turns, but instead of returning
the same way, we climbed over the saddle south of Battleship Mountain on a faint
trail to Boulder Canyon which is an easier path to follow than the boulder
hopping in La Barge canyon. The Boulder
Canyon trail takes you back to Canyon Lake Marina after 10 miles of this wild and wonderful hike. Another great day in the Superstitions!
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: I don't remember reading this book when I was younger, but I vividly remember going to the play when I was in college. "I done a bad thing George", became a quote my wife and I would use every time we screwed something up. The book was written in 1937 and is the story of two migrant ranch workers during the depression in California. George is the smaller, smarter guy and Lennie is the larger intellectually disabled guy. They have a special bond and have stuck together through thick and thin. And lately there's been a lot of thin. Lennie keeps accidentally getting them in trouble because he is too rough with soft things (like puppies and women) and in his simple mind, he just wants to pet them because it feels good, but his strength gets away from him and "bad things happen." The title is taken from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse" which is familiar to many from its line: "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry." It reads like a play and the descriptions by Steinbeck are really simple and beautiful. It's about loneliness, friendship and having dreams and goals to look forward too, even in the midst of poverty and hopelessness. Even though the book has been banned at various times due to issues certain groups of people are afraid of, it remains required reading in many high schools in the English speaking world. 
