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  • 2025 Starts With A Bang

    Trip Date: February and March 2025

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    All of my years are evaluated by the number and quality of trips I get in. Of course, mental and physical health, family gatherings, weddings, babies, and such are huge pluses, but I mostly remember trips to the Hill mostly now, but in the olden days, it was camping trips with the boys. They really…
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  • Above Caples Lake, El Dorado National Forest

    Trip Date: October 18, 2013

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    The potential was there to get out to the Black Rock Desert with six or seven guys for two nights over this weekend, but as is sometimes the case, the trips falls apart. Fortunately this time, the three of us still wanted to go somewhere, even if we couldn’t go for two nights and we…
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  • Alta Toquima Wilderness, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

    Trip Date: July 20, 2018

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    This is another trip I am writing up after 4 years, so my memories are few and far between and I am mostly reliant on the photos or the recollections of others.  I do recall this trip was born form a prior trip to the Table Mountains or perhaps Arc Dome, 2 of our larger…
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  • Arc Dome Wilderness, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

    Trip Date: July 6, 2005

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    OK, this trip was a long time ago; almost 16 years now since I wrote the story and another 4 years later I am finally placing the photos in the story to publish it. Maybe 10 years before that, I got on an airplane to LAX with 15,000 in cash, a knife, and a stout,…
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  • Bass Lake, Sierra National Forest

    Trip Date: November 13, 2019

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    Since retirement, our good friend Tom had moved back to San Luis Obispo to settle into his “Golden Years” and it was high time we got together. A trip was put on the calendar and a bunch of us met at the Beach Hut Deli on “J” street to discuss. It was a fantastic lunch…
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  • Berkeley Hills Day Trip

    Trip Date: May 7, 2019

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    This was certainly no camping trip, but a fun day trip to Berkeley to deliver a mattress to my daughter Haley.  She had thought about moving back home with us in Carmichael, commuting a couple days a week, and staying overnight in El Cerrito with friends a couple nights a week, but she just never…
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  • Berkeley Marina (Mike’s boat)

    Trip Date: July 19, 2018

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    This was a huge and exciting day for Mike and his then partner Gregg to bring the boat into the Marina for some major attention.  Mike fulfilled a lifelong dream of boat ownership by buying this 1947 Monterey Clipper which were renowned fishing boats up and down the California Coast.  It is the quintessential boat…
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  • Big Hill, El Dorado National Forest

    Trip Date: April 1, 2016

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    It just doesn’t have to be complicated, but sometimes it is.  This was Caesar Chavez weekend and at one point in time, it was destined to be a big trip, since the holiday fell on a Thursday, and Friday was my RDO.  That big trip never materialized so it was thought to have gone by…
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  • Big Sur with Steve, Los Padres National Forest

    Trip Date: April 15, 2016

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    Maybe it was tax day, maybe it was the thing that influences all time space relationships, but this trip was one for the ages.  As many of our trips do, this one started off on shaky ground.  It was still possible Wednesday morning that Tom would join Steve and I and it was still possible…
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  • Black Butte Reservoir, US Army Corps of Engineers

    Trip Date: March 17, 2017

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    This was going to be different from the get go.  We had just lost our friend Bob from cancer on Monday, and as it turned out we had this trip planned, which lined up to be a great memorial for him and for us.  The timing was perfect and the trip attracted quite a crew. …
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