Bolte Family Blog

Kitty the convict

2011-11-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Kitty is a supporter of the Occupy Movement hoping to restore some fairness and democracy back to the United States.

Last week she was arrested while (peacefully) occupying the Bank of America in San Francisco. Handcuffed and taken to a holding cell in a paddy wagon! Released after a few hours.

The gal bottom left corner

Whale of a good time

2011-10-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

For the last week, there have been 8 or 10 humpback whales right off shore in Santa Cruz. From about anywhere between the lighthouse at Steamer Lane and down to Seabright you can see them. It is incredible. Sunday morning the kids and I went out in the kayaks. It was a crazy human scene. Kayaks, canoes, stand up paddle boards, sail boats, dingys, powerboats were everywhere. But, within a few hundred yards of the harbor mouth we saw the first of the whales and over the next few hours we saw many backs and spouts including some encounters within 30 feet! It was an awesome experience.

Tail lobbing seen from shore

Surface feeding from shore

The scene heading out

First whale spotted on our way out

Lots of close encounters! This with my little waterproof camera with limited zoom.

John wanted to dive with the whales

Yosemite October 2011

2011-10-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

The kids and I barreled over to Yosemite to catch a slide show by the climbing legends Royal Robbins and Tom Frost. Perfect Fall weather and we got in a few climbs.

The Robbins/Frost presentation was very well attended

Kitty on the second pitch of the Harry Daly Route

Kitty on the 5.10c Sherrie's Crack

John leading Nurdle

Tuolumne with Kitty

2011-10-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

The gal and I took a quick trip to Tuolumne and Yosemite Sept 2011. Cold at night, perfect during the day.

The weather was perfect

We did some climbing: Scandalous Summer

We saw some critters

A Pika! First time I have ever seem one

Tuolumne 2011

2011-09-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

We took our annual August climbing trip to Tuolumne this year. Unlike years past there was some weather. Rain. Had lots of fun anyway meeting many of our climbing friends up there.

Bouldering by the lake

John at the Cube

Kitty on a beautiful route called Great Circle Route

Kitty at the base of West Crack on Daff Dome

John led a 5.10a, Steve Latif following

Kitty at Dozier

We took a rain day down to Mono Lake

We found the Mammoth hot springs

Mono Lake tufas

Camping with friends

Summit shot Daff Dome

Walking off Daff: Fairview Dome in the background

Add caption

The Hound: Aug 2011

2011-09-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Luna is five years old now. She has calmed down and grown to trust all of us. She can leap over tall barriers and crash through bushes and fences in pursuit of tennis balls and loves to do so till she is so tired she can't stand up. But, she also likes to flop down next to you and get a good ear scratching now.

Ready for a ball to be launched

The Girls: July 2011

2011-07-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

Every year Sara comes to Santa Cruz for a month or so and Jennifer makes it for a week. This year was busy as we arranged and attended a 3-day meeting in honor of Bob Kraft. As always it was great to get caught up.

Jennifer Johnson, Frances Bolte and Sara Lucatello

The Leap

2011-06-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Kitty is back from UC Davis and the kids and I headed to Lover's Leap by Lake Tahoe for some climbing.

Campground had some spots and we did the Classic "Bear's Reach" after setting up camp. Beautiful evening. Up before it got too warm and over to climb "Hogwild" - and excellent face and crack climb. Rope got hung up on rappel and ended up leading it twice. By 1pm it was about 95F and we headed back to Santa Cruz. Saw two rattlesnakes on the trail.

Kitty on the first pitch

John leading the third to the top

The summit shot!

Lover's Leap campground

John leading the first pitch of Hogwild. Took an unusual variation left.

Guanaja Honduras

2011-06-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

The Bolte Boys headed off for a little adventure in June 2011. Me, not-so-little-anymore John, Uncle John and the cousins Zach, Matt and Chris headed to Guanaja, a 2 mile by 10 mile long island off the coast of Honduras. To get there we flew to Houston, then caught a flight to Roatan (another island off Honduras with an airport that can handle 737s), where we hopped on a little prop plane to Guanaja. From there the dive master of the B&B where we stayed picked us up in his boat. 93F, 98% humidity.

The kids were there for the fabulous diving. 100' visibility, 80F water and a vibrant, healthy reef.

View of the house where we stayed (top) and the view from the house

Brother John and I were there to fish for bonefish

Johnny got certified just before the trip: he had a blast diving


The beaches and water there are classic tropical paradise


John on the dock

Gearing up for a dive

There were some classic flats

Bro John and I did our exploring for bonefish flats via kayak

The bonefishing was fabulous

Saw permit, barracuda, snook and lots of bonefish

The crew: me, Chris, Zach, Big John, John, Matt

The Pinns: April 2011

2011-05-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

First climbing trip of the year! April in the Pinnacles.

There was a wild circle around the Sun

The steep start to the Regular Route on the Monolith

Regular Route

We ran into Jamie, Kristel, Kevin and Minga

Kevin on POD

The Valley with Steve

2011-05-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Steve is a late comer to climbing but he has taken to it in a big way. He has morphed himself into a V5, 5.12 powerhouse in his old age. He thinks nothing about a 4:50AM start, 4 hour drive to Yosemite, climb all day and drive back to Santa Cruz. So, one Saturday in May, off we go. The plan was to find Imani (Steve's daughter) and Conor and their friends from Davis at the boulders behind Camp 4 then go climb some routes.


The kids were good!


Imani giving some beta


Steve cranking

Headed over for the Jamcrack Route to finish the day

A Stroll at Scott's Creek Beach

2011-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day at Scott's Creek Beach with Kitty and Haylee.

The Beast

2011-04-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

John is becoming a climbing machine.

Whidbey Visit: Mother Bolte Birthday

2011-03-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

My Mom's birthday was on a weekend this year and I zipped up to help celebrate. By coincidence I was up there for the "Penn Cove Mussel Festival". Lots going on in Coupeville that weekend.

Father Bolte was as energetic as ever

There was a contest: who could eat the most mussels in 2 minutes

The Birthday girl was looking great!

Holidays 2010 on Whidbey

2011-01-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

We jumped the Amtrak for Seattle and the usual Bolte family get-together on Whidbey Island.

The ride up was uneventful despite lots of snow and cold weather.

Everyone was well and we did all the usual things: visited, played guitars, played cards, ate well, spent a day at Mt Baker skiing/snowboarding, climbed at the Evertt climbing gym and had slide shows from years gone by.

Kitty teaching her Grandfather about sourdough

The card games were epic

The whole crew

It was 35F and the wind was blowing about 100 mph for this walk on the bluff then down the beach

Sister/Aunt Becky

We always spend an afternoon at the Everett climbing gym

We had one day of sunny skies and warm weather

John, Zach, Kitty at Mt Baker

Kitty's back!

2010-11-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

Kitty left the farm a week ago, visited friends in New York city and Maine, then hopped a plane for here!

Had a small late birthday celebration. Her bday mandolin.

I'm Back!

2010-11-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

What with the Facebook thing and life, I've updated this less and less often. So here is a one-shot photoblog of at least some of what's been going on since July 2010!

As always, a lively, friendly time at our friends the Latif's for July 4.

It is hard to believe, but that gal has been on the farm in Pittsburgh since April. She has had a great time and loves life on the farm. Be great to have her home again for a little while at least just before Thanksgiving!

We had a delightful young lady visit for two months. Isha, originally from India, currently a student in London, came out and worked with Sandy Faber's group and played sometimes with us.

Isha

One fun day was Kayaking at Elkhorn Slough. More sea otters than I've ever seen in a day.

John and I got out to the Pinnacles and Tuolumne a fair bit. He did his first outdoor leading and quickly progressed into 5.10 trad leading.

John leading Great Circle Route

Pinnacles July 2010

TM Herbert in Tuolumne

Racking up for the Great Circle Route

Mosaic of Steve Latif on Do or Fly

Johnny firing Puppy Crack

Same morning we saw Herbert we ran into Paul Doherty

Leap of Faith

2010-07-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

JB and I took a couple of days to go climbing at Lover's Leap up by Lake Tahoe. Great weather, lots of room in the campground. Did a quick route the afternoon we got there then hung out by the river fishing (nothing) and, John actually did some of his summer reading assignment in Guns, Germs and Steel (note that is my empty beer bottle John is sitting by).

Next morning we packed up camp and went to climb a great route called Bear's Reach.

The line is shown in the photo (faint blue) and the arrow points to two people on the route.

This is a great climb. Steep and unlikely looking from afar or from the ground, but it goes with lots of exciting moves up flakes, stemming corners and jamming cracks. Great tuneup for the summer climbing season.

Kitty Graduates!

2010-06-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Kitty finished up her high school classes last December, but the graduation ceremony of her class was a great excuse for her to come home from Pennsylvania for a week!

It was equally great that my father made the trip down from the Seattle area to attend graduation.

The gal got uncharacteristically spiffed up for the event.

We all had a nice time. Her graduating class was only about 55 students and over the years we have gotten to know pretty much all of them and most of the parents. A nice bunch of kids.

Farmgirl May 2010

2010-05-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

Kitty has been at the Blackberry Meadows Farm for about 100 years it seems. She is having a great time there and learnings lots of new things.

Last week, she sheared a sheep (the victim is in the background of this photo)!

The bag is full of freshly-shorn wool, the hound in the foreground is supposed the be "the nicest dog ever".

Can't wait to see her (kitty, not the dog) in two weeks when she is back in town for her graduation and to check in on friends!

Happy Mothers' Day 2010

2010-05-12T22:08:00.001-07:00

Mothers' Day 2010 I headed up to Whidbey Island to spend the Mothers' Day weekend with my Mom! Everyone was doing great.

The remodeled Coupeville library was open and looked great (note the Library Committee)

There was another Bolte Mother there of course

It was a really nice weekend

C Rocking May 2010

2010-05-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Sunday in May, the boy and I headed to Castle Rock for some bouldering.

Takes a little while to get back in the outdoor-climbing mentality, but pretty soon John is cranking some good problems.

Just like every time we go up there, on the way back to the car the conversation is always "why don't we come up here more?"

Off on a big adventure

2010-04-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, April 14, 2010 that young lady headed off on a great adventure. Across the country (3 days) in the train to her new life as an intern at Blackberry Meadows Farm outside of Pittsburgh, PA.

I dropped her off at the Emeryville Amtrak station with a couple of suitcases, her gardening hat, her Felco clippers and her bike in a box.

As all parents know, it is more than just a long trip and time away from home; it is a fundamental change. This part of life with both the kids at home has been wonderful.

Two weeks later: she had a great trip and loves life on the farm. We still miss her like crazy here in Santa Cruz!

The College Thing

2010-04-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

Kitty is already involved in a big way in sustainable agriculture, food systems, and food justice. She applied to just four schools: UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Berkeley and U Vermont.

Got into all four and even was awarded the highest level of scholarship at Berkeley. So, where to go?

We visited UC Berkeley and she found it much more interesting than she anticipated.

We visited UC Davis with Steve and Imani Latif (Imani is also trying to decide about schools).

She talked to the student farm people

As always, she ran into someone she knows, also a food systems person.

We were all impressed with the bikeability of the Davis campus and the city (and by the huge numbers of bikes everywhere)

She asked the Big Head for advice.

Still undecided...

UPDATE May 1, 2010: The Big Head apparently recommended Davis! The gal decided that's the place for her.

Yosemite March 2010

2010-03-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

Kitty and I headed off to Yosemite for a short climbing/skiing trip at the end of March. The weather was great although there was plenty of snow on the ground. We went up to Glacier Point Apron to do the Grack Center - a beautiful finger/hand crack up a slab to a Yosemite-style pinnacle. Three pitches, all with a great view across the Valley to Washington Column and North Dome.

The "15-minute" approach felt more like a 45 minute death march, but we got there and the climb is excellent. Three pitches up, then three rappels down.

We cleverly decided to take a shortcut back to the trail and car and ended up in an incredibly dense forest and amazingly wet swamp. When we finally staggered, scratched and with our feet soaked in a foul mud, out of the wet parts of the trek, we came on half a dozen fresh bear scat piles, then a big, beautiful cinnamon bear.

Next day we headed up to Badger Pass. Had a great day of Spring skiing. No lift lines, great snow till late afternoon when it hit 50F and got a little slushy.

Wonderful trip

Going Downhill Fast

2010-03-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a nice winter. Another little storm dropped a foot of snow in the Sierra and John and I headed back to Northstar.

9F when we woke up, but it turned into a perfect day. Sunny and cold, no wind. Having lots of fun in the snow this year.

Northstar 2010

2010-02-15T22:52:00.001-08:00

It was a long weekend. John and I headed out Saturday night to Truckee, then up early to check out a new (to us) ski area - Northstar@Tahoe.

Pretty upscale place (OK, pretty yuppie place)- like Los Gatos meets Disneyland with chairlifts and runs.

But, I really liked it! Lots of loooong easy runs. It started out warm and by mid-day was 55F. Great spring skiing in February.

Youth Climbing League 2010

2010-01-30T21:03:00.000-08:00

John is competing this year again for our local climbing gym in YCL. He is getting good. Tied for second last week, 3rd this.

The Slippery Slope

2010-01-19T21:38:00.001-08:00

Had some fresh snow fall in the Sierra so we "zoomed" up to Truckee on Friday night (Bay area traffic heading east is incredibly bad on Friday nights). One of my colleagues very generously gave me the key to her wonderful cabin.

Rolled in late, got up early, had breakfast at the Wagon Train in Truckee with stuffed animals staring at us glassy eyed then off to Sugar Bowl.

At the last minute Dexter joined us. Perfect weather, good snow. Had a great time. The boyz hit pretty much every run. Kitty and I worked on our carving.

Holidays at Whidbey 2009

2010-01-03T10:27:00.001-08:00

Frances spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the hospital threw a little curve at our holiday plans to catch the train to Whidbey Island for the usual Bolte get-together. But, we managed to get flights for a shorter visit than planned so off we went.

The folks were looking good!

Becky was looking relaxed

The Oregon crowd was there

Lots of card games (Grandpa remains the champ and guru)

We hit the Everett Climbing Gym

We hit the slopes at Mt Baker

We rang in the New Year and decade!

A slightly-less-merry-than-usual Christmas

2009-12-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

The plan this year for the holidays was to celebrate Christmas in Santa Cruz and head up to Seattle on the train Christmas Day night. But, on Christmas Eve Day Frances had abdominal pains that went from really painful to much worse. By 6:30pm we were in the emergency room.

A night of tests and a morphine drip instead of sugar plum fairies. The diagnosis: a giant gall stone and badly inflamed gallbladder. Surgery on Christmas Day. No fun at all for poor Frances, but it worked! She is feeling much better after the surgery.

John is guarding the tree and presents till his mother gets back.

80--the new 55

2009-12-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

My Dad turned 80 this year. Zipped up to Whidbey Island to participate in the wild celebrations.

He is doing great.

The weather was pretty awful - cold and rainy. Didn't get in the way!

17 and counting

2009-11-25T22:39:00.001-08:00

The gal turned 17 this year. With her birthday guitar--a wonderful little 1974 Yairi nylon string.

Kitty on the big stage

2009-10-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday of this week Frances and I went to a luncheon with about 200 other people to see the 2009 "Be the Difference" volunteer awards for Santa Cruz County for this year. There were lots of amazing stories about people in the county who spend may hours volunteering for many excellent causes. Among the many nominees for the individual award, Kitty was honored this year with the volunteer of the year!

Although she dreaded the event and all the attention, this is a really wonderful recognition of her passion for food justice and sustainability and the many hours she puts into all her community service activities. I was bursting with pride...

The two girls getting ready to go and Kitty getting the award which include a US Congressional certificate of recognition

Brace yourself

2009-09-23T21:08:00.001-07:00

After about 200 years according to the boy, he got his braces off today.

Ouch II

2009-09-10T21:18:00.001-07:00

Well, we are on a first name basis with the x-ray technician at Urgent Care. John went over the handle bars of his mountain bike and broke a bone in his wrist.

So, for 4 weeks or more:

--no biking (he had biked every day to school this year)

--no climbing (he was signed up for the lead class at the local gym)

--no guitar (he is amazingly good at playing the guitar with one hand and an elbow)

--no swimming

--no surfing

Big bummer.

Ouch!

2009-09-03T13:24:00.001-07:00

I play basketball and always have. So, I've had a ball hit one of my fingers head-on and "jammed" the finger about a million times. It hurts, swells up and takes a surprisingly long time to stop hurting.

This week I was playing, caught a ball on the end of my finger and it hurt more than usual. Looked down and almost fainted! The middle bone in my finger had dislocated from the second knuckle and was pulled back below the knuckle! This is a disconcerting sight! The right thing to do to ease the pain seemed to be to pull on the finger. I did that and the bone ground back into place. Didn't hurt so much any more, the score was 10 - 10 in a game to 12 so I finished up (we won).

Went down to Urgent Care and learned that this was a "full dislocation" and I had performed a "field reduction" (pretty well - they offered me a job at the emergency room on the late night weekend shift).

When you do this, all the ligaments and tendons get stretched out so it is a good idea to split the joint for 2 or 3 weeks till they tighten up and the joint gets stable again. Makes it hard to:

1) type
2) play guitar
3) go climbing

This is not my finger (no x-ray machine at the basketball court), but is a great example of the specific dislocation.

Tuolumne 2009 II

2009-08-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

It was too much fun being in Tuolumne, so John and I headed back. Bit of climbing at Puppy Dome.

Then up early Saturday morning to tackle Shagadelic on Medlicott.

On the steep approach

4 pitches, 5.8 climbing on mostly steep knobs

Great views on the top

A long hike back to the car. The boy (and his Dad) were tired!

Ton of fun!

Tuolumne Meadows 2009

2009-08-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

First week of August we took our annual trip to Tuolumne Meadows. It was the usual gathering of friends up at the TMds campground.

Steve's Birthday was celebrated down at the now famous Mobile Station

The weather was a little more unsettled than usual, including a bit of snow/sleet toward the end of the week.

But, we did the usual mix of hiking, climbing and hanging out.

Kitty and I checked out Gaylor Lakes (beautiful).

We climbed the Golfer's Route, Guide Cracks and Puppy Crack.

Steve and Kevin zipped up Holdless Horror while Kitty John and I climbed a nice 3-pitch face/knob climb called Errett Bit. Note my lack of sport-climbing skills (the clip).

Frances caught a shot of bear #60 in the campground.

Last day we took a stroll around the meadows under very stormy skies and occasional snow/sleet showers and headed home.

Washington Bolte Visit: June 2009

2009-07-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Sister Becky and her son Matt came down for a visit from Washington. They wanted to check out UCSC as a possible school for Matt and to check out California summer fun. We had fun:

Matt and John helped Kitty whip the PCS Life Lab Garden into shape

Matt helped John break in his new birthday board

The oldsters checked out the amazing California Legion of Honor while the kids bussed around to the interesting parts of San Francisco (Chinatown, Haught)

Spent a great day at Point Lobos

The boy turned 14

Down a creek with a paddle

2009-06-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Mike used to be a raft guide.

He still goes out when he can get away and invited us and some other neighbors to do a trip down the Middle Fork of the American over by Coloma on Father's Day 2009.

Drove to Coloma Saturday night, dinner and live music at the Sierra Nevada House then off to some friends of Mike's who live near Coloma and have a great house with a big lawn we crashed on for the evening.

Up sort-of near the crack of dawn, breakfast, drop a car at the take-out and head up to Chile Bar. We know nothing, but Mike is a pro and his kids have been doing this all their lives. Get all the gear sorted, pump up the boat (Dex and Bobby supervising). It is a perfect day. Sunny, not too hot.

Launch the Boat, get some instructions and off we go.

Captain Mike reads the river like a book and shouts out instructions: "One forward", "Left side two back". We do what he says and slide miraculously through waves, past rocks, around underwater obstacles--some kind of zen thing between him and the river.

We had lunch after dropping through a great wave and watched other rafts and kayaks run through.

6 hours later and we're in the slower, lower river, then packing up to head home. Great day!

Give me a break

2009-06-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well, school got out and on 8 of the first 9 days of summer vacation, John has been up early to go surfing.

Cowell's has got to be the best place to learn to surf anywhere

New member of the Bolte household

2009-05-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2009 I got a new guitar and I love it! Guild 1959 T-100D thin, hollowbody, single cutaway, with dual P90-style pickups and a Bigsby. Plays like a dream and sounds incredible. I've been looking at Gibson ES 125 TDC and Gibson ES 225's for years (ever since my brother bought a great 125 out from under my nose in 1972).

I'm jazzed.

Castle Rock: April 2009

2009-04-25T20:41:00.001-07:00

We were planning a quick trip to Yosemite, but a late Spring storm was delivering rain and snow. Quick regroup and we decided to head up to Castle Rock. These trips start with a power smoothie. The boy is a pro at these.

At the parking lot - weather is perfect.

A nice stroll down to the WaterFall Route, brutal trudge back up the trail to check out Chewtooth and the California Ridge. Relax in the sun for a little bit then decide to head to Castle Rock and the boulders.

John cranks one of he warm ups on the main Magoo boulder

Anisa is next

Gymboy John doesn't like the little crimpers

I have no comment about this photo

Steve fires "Mr Magoo" (and some other good problems of course)

It was a ton of fun

Spring Skiing: Sugar Bowl in April

2009-04-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Last day of Spring Break. Kitty was studying so John and I zipped over to Truckee (zipped is not the right word. 8 hours because of horrendous traffic through the Bay area and Sacramento) Thursday night and hit the slopes at Sugar Bowl first thing in the morning.

Top of Pioneer Trail

The boy is getting good on his board! I'm still pathetic on my skis. But, it was fun and I didn't break anything.

Santa Cruz heritage showing

2009-04-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

It was "60's" day at the kid's school. The gal didn't look any different than usual!

Ano Nuevo stroll

2009-04-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

April 8 - Spring Break Week for the kids. Kitty and I headed up to walk to the Ano Nuevo headland to take a look at (and sniff of) the elephant seals.

There is a good history here about an almost-extinct population of elephant seals that has made an incredible comeback.

Always lots of birds as this is a nice meadow/wetland/scrub habitat. We saw some. I like the photo of the blackbird - it had just dropped off the fence and had not yet opened its wings.

Poppies, wild strawberries, Indian paintbrush

Then, the famous wild elephant seals. All the big bulls are off to Alaska, mostly 1st-year pups and females.

The docents knew alot and were very nice and informative

A little goofball pup.

The old home for the lighthouse keeper family is still out on the island. Now occupied by sea lions and birds.

Took all these photos with a Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300 VR

Yosemite April 09

2009-04-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Kitty and I decided to zip over to the Valley Sunday night and squeeze in a day of climbing before a late spring storm came through. Rolled into the Wawona about 10pm. The new climbing-mobile worked great. 48mpg from Santa Cruz to the Valley. Quick warm up at the Swan Slab boulders.

Then off to do Munginella. Last time I was there was 1978 with Frances. Heard it had gotten cleaned up since then.

The approach

Looking up at the first pitch of Munge

First pitch was nice! Little bit of face climbing, some hand-sized crack and some liebacking. We ran out to the third tree to be able to do the route in two pitches.

There is a great view of the Lost Arrow Spire from the route. Second pitch was also nice. Up a corner, a couple of spicy moves getting out from under a roof, then up a steep dihedral. The 4th class downclimb was a running stream, but someone kindly has added some bolts with rings for rapping off the last bit. We did that.

Next stop, El Cap meadows and a hike up to the base of The Capitan. Right at the base of the Nose is a little 80' finger crack called Pine Line. There was a party of two on it -- you can see the leader lower right on the left photo).

Up we go. This is a very thin intermittent crack! If not for the face holds and ledges on either side it would be considerably harder than 5.7. Very nice.

Kitty cranking Pine Line

Walking back to the car, we saw a mother bear and her cub. Lighting was perfect for beautiful shots of the Southwest Face of el Cap and Middle Rock plus the Cathedral Spires.

After 7: Yosemite in March

2009-03-29T17:02:00.001-07:00

Steve Latif made arrangements to stay at a friends cabin in Yosemite West. Road trip and first climbing outing of the year! Took off Friday at 7pm, mexican in Los Banos and rolled in to Y. West a little after midnight. This is a great way to camp!

It was too easy to cook up a nice breakfast and sort gear in the cabin so we got a sort-of late start hiking to Manure Pile Buttress from El Cap meadows as the road on that side of the Valley is still closed from Camp 4.

Gear up at the base of After 7 and off we go. This was to be Steve's lead all the way. John's first multi-pitch route ever.

Pitch 1 is the crux - 5.8 hand/finger crack with a funny thin face traverse right 2/3rds of the way up. Steve fires it, John is nervous but fires it too! I last climbed this pitch in 1978. Weirdly enough this was 31 years AND 31 lbs ago.

Steve on Pitch 2 - little 5.7 face/crack

The views as you climb up Manure Pile are great. The little waterfall on El Cap (Horsetail I think) was getting blown up now and then. Middle Rock is across the valley and the Sentinel across and up valley.

Pitch 3 was an unexpectedly wide crack. Turned out to be possible to climb the face on the left, then stem across the crack for a pretty airy little pitch.

Couple more nice pitches with a mix of easy climbing and more challenging sections including another wide crack or two.

The last pitch was nice - up a little corner, few 5.6 moves to get right then only one more wide section that could be laybacked.

The way we did it, there were 6 pitches. Little John did great. Got to the top at sunset and the lighting in the Valley was incredible. My camera battery died before I got any shots. Could have been the cold! By he end of the day it was cold and very windy. Got down just as it was getting dark enough to break out the headlamps for the hike back to the van. One stop in Mariposa for pizza, Bucks in Merced for caffeine and home at 1:42am.

Ropegun Man

I was there.

New Camera: Nikon D90

2009-03-29T14:37:00.001-07:00

I got a new camera, a Nikon D90. Didn't need one as my Nikon D40 is an outstanding camera in terms of image quality. The D40 has a 6.1M CCD and with those large pixels, the noise characteristics are great. I really like the compactness and low weight of the D40. The D90 is bigger and heavier for sure. It also has a 12.1Mpixel CMOS detector and even with the higher pixel density has the same noise per area in the focal plane of the camera (electronics magic) so there is a little more resolution and ability to crop images. Still I would not have "upgraded" except the D90 was a present. So, I've got it now what do I think?

I do like the 11-point focus scheme which is faster and better than the D40.

I'm looking at a bunch of lenses for the D90 that don't autofocus on the D40. First new lens might be a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8.

The D90 is really quick at firing off images -- much quicker than the D40 and I like that capability to reel off 4 frames/sec.

I'll put up some comparison photos soon, but I can tell easily that the D90 images are less noisy that the D40 at iso800 and above.

The cats are cropped to about 1/3 of the original frame. Then downsized to to 1024 pixels in the largest dimension jpgs.

D90 + Sigma 30mm

f2.0, 1/60sec, iso200

I have a bunch of point and shoot digitals. The first one was the Canon A50 (leftmost in the top shot below). 1 Mpixel and so slow that sometimes you pushed the shutter down, and put the camera in your pocket before the picture was actually taken. But, it was incredible to be able to take very good images, get immediate feedback and shoot as much as you wanted without worrying about wasting film and the cost of developing.

All told, I think there are 11 P&S digital cameras in drawers and cabinets around the house. The best of the point and shoots is my Canon G3 - has a great f/2.0 lense and fully manual options (on the right with the wide-angle lens). The Canon S2 (on the left in the lower image) is one of those 12x zoom cameras that are pretty nice. Vibration control and 640x480 30fps movie mode is great. But, when I first got the Nikon D40 SLR it was an amazing jump in response and low-noise imaging with the much larger CCD compared to any of the compact digital cameras.

The P&S cameras I carry around now are an SD880 IS and that little SD200. What I like about the SD880 it is that the wide end of the zoom is the equivalent of 28mm with a 35mm camera. In good light, it takes great photos. It also has a dedicated iso button for quick adjustments. The little SD200 is very compact, weightless, takes pretty good shots. I take it flyfishing and climbing.

You don't turn 80 every day

2009-03-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

My mother turned 80 this year. Seemed like a good reason to get all the kids together for a celebration! So, I flew up and John came up with Anne and we had a surprise party.

The lady of the day

The Party

The Party Animals

Looked at the plans for remodeling the Corvalis house (note the fabulous walnut coffee table built by John senior)

The Coupeville dock was still there

Physics homework got worked

We went looking for snow geese in some reallllly brisk weather

Becky got a new camera for her Florida trip

These photos were all taken with a Canon SD880 IS

January Beach day in Santa Cruz

2009-01-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

Kitty and I went to Gazos Creek for a beach hike. January 17, 2009, beautiful warm sunny day.

First thing out of the car was a little rabbit.

Bigish surf, but no wind. Lots of shore birds and we saw grey whales in pretty close to shore.

Went a few miles south to Ano Nuevo. Saw a dead sea otter on the way back. These are not so common. Contacted the group that monitors them and had an exchange of info and photos.

Holidays on Whidbey -- 2008

2008-12-31T17:27:00.001-08:00

We took our annual trip to visit with the family over the holidays. Kitty pushed for the lowest-carbon-footprint form of transportation--Amrak. Even though our past experience is that Amtrak runs *very* late, has generally poor service and is expensive, we got reservations and showed up at the San Jose train terminal for the 9pm Coast Starlight to Seattle. 24 hour trip when it runs on schedule. It is a nice way to travel when the train is moving.

Frances in the Parlor Car

Cold stop at Klamath Falls

We had two of the little sleeper cars

The trip actually went pretty well till mid-Oregon. We arrived there at the same time as the biggest snow/ice storm of the last 50 years. To make a long story short, we ended up in the Seattle Amtrak station at around 4:30am. Seattle was pretty much shut down by the same storm, but after 3 hours, we managed to catch a ride to Whidbey Island.

The view for 3 hours waiting for a frozen drawbridge to be lowered

The kids at the Seattle King's Station

The view from my folks house

It was cold! Snow flurries off and on for the first few days. Brother John, Anne and Chris could not get up I-5 from Corvalis and arrived two days later than planned. Zach got in from a trip to Mexico and made it up Christmas eve.

We played cards, hit the Everitt climbing gym, exchanged gifts and visited.

Everyone was doing well and it was a great visit.
Too short a trip and we were back on the train for Santa Cruz.

These photos all taken with a Nikon d40 plus Nikkor 16-85 VR

Elkhorn Slough November 2008

2008-11-29T18:24:00.001-08:00

Paul Doherty came down on a beautiful Saturday after Thanksgiving. We loaded up the boats and headed for Elkhorn Slough. Reports of a giant swell coming in from Alaska and a pretty strong offshore wind as we were driving down had us imagining wild conditions, but it was perfect. Light breeze and warm and sunny.

Had not seen PD forever and it was great to have a chance to get caught up on the way down. He is off to Terra Del Fuego for some serious paddling in January.

We poked around in the canals looking for leopard sharks.

Did not see any, but the seals, sea lions, otters and birds were out in force. Western grebes, merganzers, willets, curlews, brown pelicans, loons, least grebes and cormorants we identified for sure.

There is a new parking lot/boat launch facility with a nice dock that seems to be appreciated by a certain crowd you don't want to be downwind of.

Paul had his usual great store of science and adventure stories. From first ascents of 20,000ft peaks in Chile to the first westerner televising via satellite link from a remote part of China covering the 2008 total solar eclipse Paul doesn't waste any time being bored. It was a pleasure to see him as always.

These photos all shot with a Canon S2

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Every year for the last many, we have gone for a Thanksgiving hike at the Pescadero Marsh up the coast a bit. This year it was overcast and 60F. We stopped at Swanton's for one of their Ollaberry pies.

Then, on to the marsh. This is a nice wetland with some shallow lakes and the Pescadero River meandering its way through.

Lots of birds and the goal was to get some great shots with my new Nikon 70-300mm lense (hmm, see below, house finches, buffleheads and a great white heron, but just OK shots).

There is a nice beach there where the river meets the sea. Building these little driftwood houses is a local tradition.

Those kids had a good time.

These extra Johns keep showing up...

Bigtime Biff

2008-09-16T08:30:00.001-07:00

John showed up at the door limping and dripping blood. Dad: "What happened?" John: "Skateboard. Going down the hill and developed speed wobbles. Decided to jump off and cratered". Dad thinks "speed wobbles?"

At Urgent Care they say oral antibiotics, maybe a skin graft for the worst of the missing flesh on his hand and comment that about 1/2 of the broken bones and scrapes they see are from skateboard accidents.

John argues for a week off of school.

Two weeks later he is healing up nicely, no skin grafts required.

The Hound

2008-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

We got a dog. Luna lived chained up in a backyard, then at the pound for her first year. We don't know exactly what she did at those places, but at our place she has pretty much chewed up everything in the back yard that she can get her mouth around.

Lots of energy and no manners, but she is a nice and gentle animal. We are civilizing her.

The boys and Luna at the dog park

Tuolumne Meadows '08

2008-08-06T12:10:00.001-07:00

We went to Tuolumne Meadows in the first week of August. This is becoming an annual tradition and we meet a bunch of friends up there. This year the weather was perfect and the company was outstanding.

We did all the usual things - hiking, climbing, playing in the river and visiting with friends.

Kitty and I did climbed a nice 5.7 400' route called "Holdless Horror".

Kitty leading the first pitch and following the second

We climbed at the DAFF south flank area. Steve led one of the Guide Cracks, I did Alimony Crack (5.8+) for the first time in about 25 years and Kitty followed (maybe her hardest outdoor climb to date).

Steve leading guide crack and Kitty following

We checked out a new area called the "Bunny Slopes". We did something there called "Ride a Wild Streak" -- the kids got in the act and had fun.

John and Shaun

We messed around at Puppy Dome

Drove home via 140 and got that beautiful view of the Valley

Going Hogwild at Lover's Leap

2008-07-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

John did the annual Loon Lake kayak trip with Bluewater Ventures the second week of July and I was doing the pickup Sunday afternoon. So, Kitty and I headed out Saturday morning for Lover's Leap. It was pretty warm, even up at 6000' and the air was smokey from wild fires. Surprisingly, the campground was only 1/2 full. We grabbed a site, set up the tent, walked down to stick our feet in the stream and waited for it to cool off a bit. Decided to go climb Pop Bottle -- a two pitch 5.7 at the far end of the East Wall. There was a tricky move over a bulge, then another tricky move up a crack in a golden wall. We wimped out on the boulder start for the last pitch and walked off instead as it was getting dark.

At the belay on Pop Bottle

Got up the next morning, packed up and made a short hike to a great-looking little wall with a route called Hogwild.

Hogwild goes up along the arrows

Its one 110' pitch that starts with a little dihedral, then goes up a steep face, then follows a nice hand-sized crack to a belay. Kitty decided to give it a go on lead, but in the first 30' there were few spots for placing protection and she decided to turn over the lead to me. Up we went.

Excellent climb although the crux moves past the first bolt seemed harder than the 5.7 rating. Rappeled off and headed out.

Got to Loon Lake in time to see the crew paddling back from the camp. Everyone seemed to have had a great time. Helped load up the kayaks and drove home with a carfull of kids from the trip.

San Juan Island: John and Marian's 60th

2008-06-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Bolte clan got together the week of June 22, 2008 to celebrate my folk's 60th wedding anniversary. We rented two waterfront homes on the southwest side of San Juan Island and everyone except Zach (away in Austin, Texas) was there! To cover all bases, we brought the bikes and kayaks from Santa Cruz. The two houses were great. Both were on the water with great views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Olympic Mountains and Victoria B.C. One house was architecturally interesting (called the Water House) the other had a pool table, hot tub and great beach for launching kayaks.

The weather was classic Pacific Northwest. Sometimes overcast, windy and cold, sometimes warm and sunny. We had a couple of days when the water was calm and like a mirror for as far as you could see (a pretty long way). There were deer, eagles, sea/shore birds and at the Water House a family of foxes.

There was lots to do.

Kayaked every day with flat water most of the time, biked, played chess and Scrabble, shot pool, soaked in the hot tub, went fishing, sat on the decks looking for whales and did alot of visiting and catching up.

We enjoyed a very nice anniversary dinner one night at a great place called the DuckSoup Inn and then champagne and carrot cake back at the Water House.

The whales were there 3 out of 6 days. Saw a minke briefly on Tuesday, and orcas Tuesday,

Wednesday and Thursday. They were feeding and went through pretty quickly. Had a couple of encounters from the kayaks.

All in all a wonderful week. Great weather, really great to get together and a terrific event to have the privilege to be able to celebrate.

The Boyz

2008-06-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

One of the big pluses of moving to our current house in two years ago was that John quickly became best friends with two boys in the neighborhood. The Three Musketeers (sometimes the Three Stooges) are pretty much inseparable this summer. Video games, airsoft, football, bike riding, skateboarding and hanging.

It's great.

Girls Rock, Castle Rock April 2008

2008-04-12T19:36:00.001-07:00

Our good friend Sara Lucatello visited from Italy this Spring. She is always up for trying new things and we packed up the crash pad, a lunch and the climbing shoes and headed for the Magoos boulders up at Castle Rock.

It was a beautiful day. Sara went from 4th class to 5.8, Kitty cranked some good problems and I struggled up some problems that used to seem trival.

Had lunch in the little cave at Pyramid Rock and hiked back to the car. Reminder to self--get out to Castle Rock more often

2008-03-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Spring Break - no snow left in the Sierra this year headed to Yosemite for some sightseeing and climbing. Weather was great, cool but sunny(ish). Met up with the Latifs.

Swan Slab was on the climbing agenda. Bouldered a bit, then Steve headed up Penelope's Crack with Kitty belaying. Yikes! Midway up Steve comes off and pitches headfirst for a 15' fall. The last piece holds and Kitty catches hims before he hits the ground. Next try is good and he's up. Anisa, Kitty and me up next.

Steve on lead, Anisa following

Next up Kitty takes a go at leading Hanging Flake, John laybacks up behind her. We go the rest of the way up and rap down Penelope's Gully.

Everyone makes the short hike below the Lower Falls and Steve fires up the first pitch of the Jamcrack Route. Kitty follows and is lowered off, we ask Steve if we can pull the rope and he says "sure" apparently thinking we are kidding but we do! Still a ton of gear up there at the belay it turns out. No big deal! Steve re-leads, I go up as it is getting dark, clean everything and rap off the rings. The moves in the first 10 feet are the crux, then bomber jams to the ledge. Fun route.

Steve leading, Kitty following the Jamcrack route

Skiing 2007/8

2008-03-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

The Winter of 2007/8 the kids and I got out skiing and snowboarding more than ever and had a lot of fun.

We started at Mt Baker over the holidays visiting my folks/sister/brother and the cousins, then had some fun trips to the Tahoe area (Boreal, Tahoe Donner and Sugar Bowl) and Badger Pass in Yosemite. The kids got WAY better on their boards and I think have left skiing behind forever.

I'm still a green circle gumby on skis although I can get down most blues (just don't have that much fun). The last trip of the season to Sugar Bowl was a little glimpse of the future. The kids did a warm up run or two with me then said "see you later Dad" and headed off to some more challenging slopes...

Badger Pass on a sunny day

Whidbey Island 2007 Holidays

2008-01-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2007 we headed to SFO to fly to Seattle. Light rain in Seattle as we drove up to catch the Mukultio ferry to Whidbey Island. Up in time for dinner and a little Christmas
celebration.

San Francisco Airport

Ferry to Whidbey

Everyone was doing well. The weather was even colder and wetter than I remember from our years in the Northwest.

The old folks

We went skiing to Mt Baker one (looong) day. Lots of snow up there and more was falling all day long. Kitty skied for the first time and found it easier than snowboarding. Matt, Chris and Zach disappeared immediately to the black diamonds on their boards. Little John, Kitty and I poked around on the bunny slope and greens and had a great time.

Also hit the climbing gym in Everett one afternoon, Nice little gym. Kitty smoked the big strong cousins.

Kitty, Matt, Chris & Zach, the old guy and Little John (clockwise)

It was nice to have Zach there this year.

New Year's Eve party animal (she was up and firing off her shotgun at midnight)

The cousins are all looking great and doing well

Matt gets some air

Jan 1, 2008 on the ferry heading home. These kids are bummed.

Christmas Day 2007

2007-12-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Sunny and nice in Santa Cruz 25 December 2007. Scotts Creek Beach

The Edge: Bouldering Comp

2007-11-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

We are lucky to have an excellent climbing gym in Santa Cruz: The Pacific Edge. We (me and Kitty) try to get there at least twice a week and John's interest goes from small to great based on something, but I don't know what. There was a bouldering competition in November 2007.

Check in at the Front Desk

There were folks from all around the Bay Area. Kitty competed as did three of the four Latifs. Have no idea who won any of the categories.

Scott: master route setter and master of ceremonies

Ready to go

Kitty and the Latifs scoping routes

Kitty Cranking

the crowd worshipping the climbers

Imani on a V5

Tuolumne Meadows, Aug 07

2007-08-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

We headed to Tuolumne Meadows August 13 through 17. Steve Latif and family had headed up there the day before and kindly got campsite lined up for us. There were a bunch of folks from Santa Cruz.

Steve Latif at the TMdws campground

The weather was perfect -- 75F during the day and the upper 40s at night. We hiked, swam in the river, climbed and fly-fished the Dana and Lyle Forks of the Tuolumne. Kitty and John each climbed the Golfer's Route on Low Profile (5.7) after having backed off the crux the year before.

Kitty and I climbed Shagadelic on Medlicott Dome, August 15, 2007. Finger crack in a corner to start, then some amazing knob climbing up a steep wall. 5.8, 600ft. The arrow points out two climbers on the route. 30 minute steep approach, four long pitches and a long deproach back to the car. We headed North and down the gully between Medlicott and Mariluolumne Domes then contoured back around Medlicott to get back to the car.

Steve did his first big trad route on Thursday. He and Jon Becker climbed the regular route on Fairview. Started mid morning and did part of the walkoff via headlamp.

Jon and Steve are visible on the 6th pitch of the Regular Route on Fairview in the center of the image. The kids (Jason and Josh) are also at the top of the 5th and on Cresent Ledge

It was a dry winter and the rivers were low and much warmer than usual. Made for great swimming. Caught lots of beautiful little (really little - 4" to 8") cutthroats in the river on #18 light colored dry flies. Slow trip heading out with terrible traffic on 580 through Tracy. Pretty quick heading home even with though it was Friday rush hour.

Whidbey Island Aug 2007

2007-08-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

August 2nd, headed out for Whidbey Island. The usual long 1.5 day drive made a little easier by having the 7th Harry Potter audiobook to listen too.

Had a fun week in Washington, kayaking, fishing, biking and visiting. Grandpa Bolte is doing great and Grandma Bolte is doing better every trip we have made the last few year.

Took a few turns around the go-kart track (Chris was the best driver). Went out in Becky and Matt's kayaks. Caught a bunch of dogfish out in the boat. Cool weather for August.

Went to the Everett climbing gym and had a blast. Kitty was the top climber.

The old guys, beat the young guys (stomped them) in two b-ball games...

The three Johns ----------------- Kitty and Uncle John

the three teenage cousins (we missed Zach)

Teenage boys

Loon Lake and Lover's Leap 2007

2007-07-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

July 12, 2007, John, Kitty, a kid named Ryan and I headed for Loon Lake in the Sierra near Lake Tahoe. John and Ryan were going on a four-day kayak camp trip. Kitty and I had our kayaks to do a quick tour of Loon Lake, then we were heading to Lover's Leap for a couple of days of climbing.

Loon Lake was low for this time of year and the water was warm. While John and Kyle packed with the others in their group for the trip, Kitty and I launched our boat and headed out. It was sunny and breezy. A beautiful place.

After the kids got packed and started paddling for their camp. Kitty and I head off for the campground at Lover's Leap. It was hot despite the altitude but there was plenty of room at the campground. We set up camp and headed over to the boulders. Next morning we were off for Kitty's second multi-pitch climb--Deception on the Hogsback. Three pitches and 5.6. The crux is a no-hands traverse at the end of the second.We started early(ish), had a great time. After the hike back we headed to Lake Tahoe to cool off. Quite a scene up there with big crowds at all the beaches.

Deception and Knapsack Crack on the Hogsback (photo from Chris McNamara)

Kitty coming up the first pitch of Deception

Day 2 Kitty did her first outdoor lead up Knapsack Crack on the Hogsback. 5.5 and two pitches.

Kitty's first lead!

Click here for a mosaic image of the Leap

The Big Paddle

2007-06-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 30, 2007 the kids and I launched our kayaks at Kirby Park down at the end of Elkhorn Slough and started paddling to Moss Landing 5 miles up-slough. It was a beautiful day. Although it would be good to find a day when the tide was with us coming and going, we were impatient and paddled toward the mouth of the slough at Moss Landing against an incoming tide.

1.5 hours later we landed at the nice little beach at Moss Landing, had lunch, then paddled back. Lots of shore birds, seals, sea otters (big rafts of them) and we talked to one of the docents who had some amazing nudibranches he had collected in the sea-grass flats.

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

2007-06-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

John decided to get a haircut for the summer

Kitty Catches a Wave

2007-05-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Kitty and her friend Suzanne took a few hours of surf lessons. This was at the beach down south of the Capitola Pier. Surf was good, instructors were great, Suzanne got up a couple of times and Kitty got close.

Spring Break at Truckee

2007-04-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

For the first time in years the kids had their Spring Breaks at the same time and I didn't have any meetings/observing runs or other stuff on the calendar. So, we decided to take a little trip. After bouncing around ideas for awhile, we decided on Lake Tahoe. It had been a pretty low snow year and the weather was already global-warming-like warm for April, but we figured we could do a little bouldering, lake stuff, hiking and exploring around. Threw in the snow stuff just in case.

Turned out that as we got up there a late snow storm came in and we woke up the first day to snow on the ground and sub-freezing temperatures. Yahoo! Did a little internet searching at the hotel and found some "family friendly", low-key resorts. Tahoe-Donner was just around the corner. Off we went only to discover they had closed for the seasons two weekends before. Plan B: Northstar. Only 30 minutes away. We get there and wander around in a daze. This was an amazing yuppie Disneyworld like place--way too upscale and trendy for the likes of us. Plan C was Boreal, only because it was close. Only two lifts running, but still renting gear and very nicely low key. The kids were out on snowboards playing on one of the closed slopes and I was with them on telemark skis. Fresh snow, nobody around and lots of fun.

Next morning we were back and spent a fun day on the slopes. John decided to try skis rather than a board and took to the skis wonderfully. Frances kicked back in the lodge.

Loon Lake and Lover's Leap 2005

2005-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

August 2005 I volunteered to pick up Kitty and some of the other campers on a Loon Lake kayak camping trip. Talked Steve L. into meeting me a couple of days early up at Lover's Leap about and hour up Highway 50 from Loon Lake. Lots of room at the campground mid-week and no crowds on the routes. Day 1 we hiked around to the Hogsback and swung leads on the 5.6 Deception. Nice little route! Steve's first outdoor lead and first lead placing gear.

Steve at the base and leading the 2nd pitch

After a little break for lunch, we marched over to climb "Bear's Reach" a 5-star route in the guidebook. At 5.7 we did not anticipate significant difficulties. Looking up from the base we had nagging doubts. This climb is steep! Turned out to be a wonderful route. Starts with just a little bit of a runout on some steep face climbing, then up an incredible couple of pitches up steep flakes and cracks with some nice dikes thrown in.

The East Wall of Lover's Leap. Bear's Reach goes straight up the center/left. Two climbers on the route are indicated by the blue arrows.

Took us a little longer than we thought it would. Got to the top as the sun set and it got dark pretty fast. Particularly for me with my prescription sunglasses on. Stumbled down by the light of one headlamp. Headed over to the Strawberry Lodge for dinner and a shower. Just missed the closing time for the resturant so had to do with a couple of pints of dark beer for dinner.

Next morning Steve headed back to work and I went to pick up the kids from Loon Lake. They had had a great time too.

Thar she blows: Travels with orcas

1983-08-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

When we moved to Seattle in 1982, we had the good fortune of falling into a crowd of very interesting folks who were sea kayakers. Helga Beyer was the administrative assistant in the University of Washington Astronomy Department (I was a graduate student in that program) and she had a circle of kayaking/adventuring friends that included Bruce Mower, Jack Dunn and Gordon Comegys. We got started paddling around Seattle and in the summer of 1983 the six of us took an amazing trip up to Johnstone Strait at the north end of Vancouver Island. In 1983, kayakers were very rare up there. We launched from Telegraph Cove, just south of Port McNeil which was a very small commercial fishing community and the guy who owned the boat launch was deeply suspicious. At first he refused to let us park in the area, but we finally got permission to park and launch.

Typical lunch beach. Bruce, Helga, Gordon, Jack and Frances

Boats loaded with a weeks worth of food, water and camping gear we headed out of the cove with only the vaguest plans. We had no information at all about potential camping spots in the area and only had rumors that orcas were common in the Robson Bight 10 miles south during the summer, that the currents could be ferocious and that the afternoon winds would roar along the Strait and out to the Pacific. But, there were plenty of nice pebble beaches with giant, sun-bleached logs and within five hours we discovered a good camping spot down near Robson Bight. Over the next 7 years we would return to this site many times.

The view from the Robson Bight campsite

This first year we did not see any orcas, but did a lot of exploring. We crossed the Strait and poked around through the amazing array of islands north of Vancouver Island. Camping spots were hard to find and we learned to start looking hard early in the afternoon. We visited a abandoned Indian village.

We had adventures. On the second to last day we made a long paddle back south to the Strait and caught a big tide sweeping around Hanson Island. As we approached the end of the island and the Strait we started to hear a strange roaring noise. Turned the last corner and found the source--huge standing waves and a vast tide rip. With the complicated topography of bays and islands the large tide changes are out of phase in many areas and where two flows meet you have tide rips large enough to be marked as hazards on the charts. Earlier on the trip we had watched in awe as giant ocean-going tugs were stopped and sometimes driven backwards by the tidal currents that flow through the Strait. Bruce and I saw a huge log get caught in a tide-rip whirlpool, get pulled under and pop back out 5 minutes later a quarter mile away.

There was no place to get off of our little ride into the waves and in a few minutes we were in this strange sea with waves popping up on all sides and crashing down on the boats. We immediately got separated into two groups--Frances, Bruce and I quickly lost sight and track of the others. After a few moments of terror, it became pretty clear that this was not big deal. Kayaks loaded with camping gear are amazingly seaworthy little crafts. We crashed right through, aiming for the calm patches that appeared here and there and we slowly worked our way through the rip area. I was starting to enjoy the adventure when I heard a faint little voice cry out "help". I turned and saw Frances' boat being pulled backward into a huge, forming whirlpool. I shouted for Bruce, but there was little we could do but stand by and watch. Frances' boat was 17' long, and with its stern in the center of the whirlpool, the bow did not reach the edge. Around and around Frances went. She took off her bandana and threw it to the water gods as a token sacrifice in a last minute conversion to paganish. This seemingly worked and instead of getting deeper, the whirlpool started to flatten out and Frances was slingshot out, free to go.

We went back most years till 1990. My brother John and his wife Elizabeth made a trip, our friend Bill Frey went a couple of times, our friends Alex and Graciela Raga went up and Bruce Mower joined us. We saw orcas many times. In the early days, it was not clear how sensible it was to be out in a kayak in their world. I liked it best in the early morning. It was usually calm, sometimes foggy. The first indication of whales would be the pistol-shot-like sound of them exhaling. After a bit we would locate the pod and paddle out to be in their line of travel. As they got closer and closer you would realize that the males were huge animals. Their dorsal fins tower over a kayker. You would time the dives and realize that one of the whales was going to come up right under your boat. But, they never did. They seemed to pay only enough attention to us to avoid running into our boats. They would do an extra-long dive or move slightly to one side. The water is very clear up there and you could sometimes look down and see the huge black shape glide under your boat. The whole encounter would be over in minutes. The pod moved on and we would be there with hearts pounding.

We saw lots of interesting behavior--spy hopping, breeching, tail-lobbing and the like. One morning stands out. We had stopped at a beach for an early lunch. It was a circular pebble-covered beach defined on each end by short rock walls that were a few feet above the water. After a bit, we heard the distant sound of orcas. Spotted a group heading our way. Then we spotted another group, then another. As soon as it was clear that the whales' destination was our beach we pulled the boats back into the woods and laid low on the rock walls, still and silent. We learned later that this beach was known to the groups doing research on the Johnstone Strait orcas as the "rubbing rocks". Over the next hour, four or five pods churned around in the little cove--perhaps 30 orcas--sometime pushing well up on the beach. Sitting on the rocks at either end of the cover we could have reached out many times and grabbed a dorsal fin of a passing whale. It was incredible.

Alex and Grace Raga with a big male orca.

The times changed. By 1989 there were two groups leading kayaks tours out of Telegraph Cove and two more companies with whale-watching power boat cruises. The boat ramp operators who had been so suspicious and unfriendly now had an eco-tourism approach to business and you could buy Patagonia clothes and $3 expresso drinks at the ramp. Our little campground by Robson Bight was often claimed by tour groups. An article about the summer Robson Bight orca congregations in National Geographic had made this a summer destination for many sailors and there were lots of boats in the previously-deserted waters. The whales had changed too. Where before we could get out in front of a pod and they would esentially ignore us, now they were very spooky. With the first paddle in the water, an approaching pod would sound and then surface (amazingly) far away.

As is often the case, nature-loving folks loved this place too much and too often. We are very lucky to have had a chance to spend some time here before it was well known. Thanks Helga!