the daily dub

My Boo and I went fishing today on a whim. We went and bought our Bay-Delta stamps (even though we didn’t actually need it), headed over to Lexington Reservoir, and started fishing for trout and bass.

I tried various flies (was fly fishing), from a grasshopper, to a bubble bee, to a minnow, to an elk-haired caddis fly, with no luck at all - not even a strike.

Athena, on the other hand, thought she had a snag hooked on the other end of her Krocodile lure — at least until it started moving sideways on her!

She landed a nice, 14″ Large Mouth Bass - her first fish ever! Very nice! (And very tasty, too!)

All in all, the scenery around Lexington Reservoir wasn’t very good, but spending the second half of Sunday fishing with my Boo was downright bad ass - especially since she caught our dinner for us! Everything we ate tonight was locally grown, even our fish!

Kick ass!

Athena and I went backpacking to Relief Reservoir from the Kennedy Meadows Trailhead right near Sonora Pass this weekend as a last minute trip. The hike was unbelievable - very spectacular (and hard). We were rewarded for all our hard work with a splendid campsite right on the beach of Relief Reservoir (@ about 7000 ft). On Sunday, we fished all day. Of course, we had to forget to put on sunscreen (we both skipped because “we were wearing hats…”) and so today, we’re paying for it - fried a nice deep red color in various places.

Something happened on the hike down. I must have tweeked my left knee a bit, because today (and last night), I can hardly walk.

All in all, though, I’d say it was a kick ass overnight trip! The views up by the reservoir were amazing.

Since my return trip to Lyon’s Lake got weathered out this past weekend, my Dad and I instead opted to go Fly Fishing on Sunday. We headed up the American River to a little known spot on the side of Highway 50.

Really, no sign, no parking (save for the side of the road). I’m sure almost no one knows it’s even there - we had no one bother us all day. There’s this turn in the road, with a “40 mph curve” sign, and right there, bam: Random day-use area. Picnic tables, swimming/fishing hole and everything.

So, at about noon, we setup our rods, and started fishing.

Right off the bat, I had two strikes from what looked and fought like small steelhead trout. I’ve never had one of these on the line before, so the two minutes that I fought each one before they jumped off was pretty exciting.

After that, we had about 5 hours of nothing. No strikes, no fish swimming by, nothing. And then, at 5 o’clock (damn drunk fish), my dad gets a strike from a HUGE rainbow. He barely landed the thing - right as he got it to shore, the fish broke his line. He only got it because the damn thing was so in shock from fighting him, that it just wouldn’t move once it broke the line. Almost going in the water, he was able to grab the end of the line, and yank the fish on shore.

A beautiful, 15″ rainbow trout.

15″ Rainbow Trout caught by my Dad

My Dad with his catch

Too bad we didn’t get to eat it (I was running late to get home, back to Sunnyvale, so I missed out).

Until next time…

Athena came up last weekend for a trip out into Desolation Wilderness. My Uncle and Cousin were already up there as of about 11 am Friday morning. I was still at work…

At about 1pm, I ducked out of work, headed home, and met Athena at my place. She borrowed a pack and quickly packed her stuff up. By the time we were done with lunch and on the road, it was 3pm. Yuck, late start.

As is inevitable with such a late start from the bay area, we hit mondo traffic heading up to Sacramento. We’re talking 4 hours worth of travel on something that should be a 2 hour drive.

We made it to my mom’s house at about 7, ate dinner, and left by about 7:45. That put us at the Lyon’s Creek trailhead at 9:30pm - another late start… it’s all good though - I don’t mind hiking at night as long as I’m not alone.

Almost like she could see the future, Athena dropped in a joke while we were readying ourselves in the steadily increasing cold:

Athena: “wouldn’t that suck if I only had one shoe?”
Ryan: “yea, that’d be terrible…”

Right when she said that, a light went off in my head. where the fuck were my boots?

Frantically searching, I finally came to the inevitable, painful conclusion: I forgot my boots. Completely forgot them. I didn’t just happen to forget I put them in the trunk - oh, no… they were at home. I could see them clearly in my mind’s eye, enjoying their repose on my living room carpet.

fuck me. or, more acurately… fuck it.

I did the 5.25 mile hike from car to camp in my chacos Z/1’s.

And, as a testament to these bad boys (and this is a terribly rocky, difficult hike), we did the hike in 3 hours, at night, with no broken toes, no stubs, and no blisters.

Arriving at the lake at 12:40am was quite different from what I’m used to.. everything is quiet as hell, and even at a whisper, I can hear our voices bouncing all around that lake.

While shining my headlamp around the lake in spot mode, 100 m away, I see my uncle’s blue tent… I wouldn’t have been able to see it with my old Petzl head lamp. Yay Black Diamond lights. Apparently, my voice and my light woke my uncle up. Imagine his surprise to see my girlfriend and I arriving at Lyon’s lake at 12:40am.. and in sandles…

We spent the rest of the weekend being lazy, taking naps, fishing, making awesome breakfasts (scrambled eggs (yes, real eggs) with avocado (yes, real avocado) and hot sauce (you get the idea) the first morning, and 3 fresh-caught trout the second morning), among other things.

The hike out was a little more painful, as I didn’t have Redbull in my bloodstream, and ever-increasing cold to keep me motivated. I did roll my ankles a couple of times, though nothing serious… One thing that did keep me motivated was the thought of the 6 pack of beer, chips, and salsa I had waiting for us in the trunk.

After the hike out, Athena and I both had terribly dirty feet. Yay, wet wipes! We sat down (thank god) with our beer, chips, and wet wipes, and just chilled out, drinking and cleaning out feet for about an hour.

I don’t think we made it home until about 11pm that day… And then we had friends over for drinks. Rock stars!

Check out the photos:

• Lyon’s Lake Trip »
  Desolation Wilderness, September 2007

I’m back in the land of the living from Burning Man 2007. And other than wanting to sacrifice one of my campmates in the still burning embers of the man, I had a pretty good time.

I also earned a playa nickname (finally, after 4 years) of “El Terriblé.” People are still telling me what I did to earn the name. I think it involved making a ton of bad, dirty jokes, wearing a pirate hat, and wandering around yelling “Land a Ho!” maybe… It also involved passing out in inopportune places… And tearing the shit out of my right shin… And … yea….

This is also the first year I left early. Right after the man went up in flames, I decided it was time to peace out. This was the first year I watched the man burn from the comfort of a lawn chair 500 yards back (I’m usually in the burn circle).

I really felt the hate this year. There were a couple of times when people just somehow (probably because I had no vitamins left in my body, was dehydrated, hung over, and cranky, … but still…) instantly made me feel like an asshole.

And for each one of these times, someone also talked me back to normality, gave me water and vitamins (even though I had my own), and hung out with me until I felt good again (thanks, Jess!)…

A few observations:
- Since when did Art Cars stop being the Black Rock City Reverse-Taxi (they take you where they are going), and start being exclusive playa yachts?
- Anyone who consistently asks what time it is needs a) a bitch slap, or b) to get a fucking watch. This is Burning Man - there are no plans… So stop making me your time piece.
- God damn it was hot this year, esp. on Friday.
- Rain on the playa? Amazing. Rainbows on the playa? Un-fucking-believable. Two Rainbows at once on the playa? yea… wow…
- Steam Baths are amazing - if you get a chance, I highly, highly recommend you try one. And do it naked. With 13 other naked people. Amazing experience.
- Less food, more water next year (I actually ran out this year, luckily on Friday right before I left).
- Camp Enyo needs to be more community oriented. No more “this is mine, that is yours” bullshit. Burning Man is not about that. Trust me, we’ll have enough wet wipes. Don’t worry about it. (see the one about the time, too… We need a clock that runs backwards, or in arbitrary ways…)
- Evaporative cooling is amazing. I smell project for next year maybe?
- Holy crap, did I get drunk… what happened?
- I only made one really good connection this year. I had one really good conversation. Same person. Therefore this year was a success. I hope that person is willing to keep in touch (you know who you are). I was in a bad mood the last day (see rant about camp mate), so I worry that I may have pissed this person off… but who knows…
- Take more photos, damnit! I didn’t get out much during the day (combating hang overs, usually), and that really stunted the amount of photos I took this year. =(
- Convincing someone that they “should” (I really hate that word) go to Burning Man is foolish, and stupid.
- Mixing playa golf and the lifeguard skit was so much fun. Skipping hole #4, and #6- #17 was a good call. The fourth hole sucked anyway…
- Swing dancing, in a pile of dust, in a bar, in the middle of nowhere, with someone I (at the time) didn’t know was a helluva lot of fun. Especially since she was either an instructor or just knew a lot of dance, and let me get away with not having a clue about what I was doing… She also taught me to tango, though I don’t remember it well… I love non-pretentious people who know how to have a good time.
- The Self-Flangelator? This year’s Deep Stupid project… easily the most fun I’ve had on playa (see photos to come).
- The shade structure (camo nets and poles) off the dome worked out splendidly this year.
- Jump suits are where it’s at. You gotta keep the insides as dust-free as possible, though. And make sure you get it too big (mine’s not “too big” enough…).
- Jameson!
- Jaegermeister!
- Sailor Jerry’s!
- But not all at once… =(
- Drop all your preconceived ideas, and just be for a week. Just be.

In short: holy damn. Going and not working is all it’s cracked up to be. And as cliché and annoying I think this phrase is: Burning Man sucks, don’t go.