Hot Days / Cold Nights

Hot Days in Moab
Originally uploaded by danamight

Since winter has officially started here tonight (in the mountains at 5000' - I think it may even be snowing on the ridges) I decided to post a sunny warm day memory of one of most favorite hikes in Utah. This one is called Negro Bill Canyon & it's a great half day hike. Trailhead is right off of the Colorado River along Utah highway 128

California Outside

The lack or lull in blogging here doesn't mean I've lost my interest, vision or blogger account. I am consumed by a new WordPress blog residing on Total Escape. Merging the top database of towns to the all the cool stuff to see & do around each region. We are talking festivals, parks, waterfalls, hikes, anything outdoorsy - in California, it's gonna be on Total Escape.

Bridging old HTML pages to new fresh data & retaining my well indexed pages w/ the search engine robots. This new Total Escape OUTSIDE blog format is my newest, easiest, most efficient way to organize decades worth of quality California content. Campgrounds, Hot Springs, Back Roads & California Sightseeing data. All the lil pieces, DanaMite tips, personal advice, secret spots & useful info that make travel w/ Total Escape so unique, different & overall better.

Starting w/ the overabundance of California Festivals, I am organizing all the local events, celebrations, jamborees, rodeos, & street fairs into a new format. HERE -
totalescape.com/outside/category/event

Pretty soon, there will be more photos & less scrolling. Bear with me on this new venture.

All Hallows Eve

All Hallows Eve falls mid-week. Yuk! Trick or treaters were out running about in 45 degrees, but the lazy adults turned in by 9PM. I dressed in costume for a Saturday night party & danced at a mountain cabin with dozens of new friends. My platform boots were off by 2AM & I was relaxing at an after hours party until 5AM Sunday morning. Then we went for a hike on Sunday afternoon & had a BBQ too. What a fun weekend!
I usually have a Halloween Party on Halloween night, but this year I took some much needed time off. This image was from my party in 2003. Jan just sent it over this week. Boy how times have changed! Jan is now living in Utah & wanting out bad. The brave soldier to the left of me cannot stand the sight of me & took me to court based on my frequent local post office visits. How heroic is that? And today he still must see me around our small village, always turning his head - but damn he looks so cool in that hat with his big truck, with no one to smile at. Persona non grata.

Palapa Pool Paradise

The Palapa Pool
Originally uploaded by danamight

Uploading my travel photos into Flickr is great work. A solid place to keep them all & to share. Walking down memory lane & re-living all these trips is mind boggling how many places I went over the last decade. This one is from a birthday in Cabo, 2000.

SoCal Desert Camping

Oyster Shell Wash in Anza
Originally uploaded by danamight

Oh how I miss Anza. The cooler temps are setting in & the weather is starting to get good now. The secluded campsites, the endless dirt roads, the mud caves & slot canyons. The scenery is fantastic out here in Borrego Springs East San Diego County.

Can MySpace save your Marriage?

Did you marry the wrong man? Did you walk to the alter for the sake of ego? Or perhaps you just got knocked up by a local red neck?

If you are twenty something, addicted to social networks & your new marriage is already on the rocks, do you actually think that posting your deepest thoughts, poems or songs online for you man to see is the way to win him back? Do you really even NEED him back?

Maybe making him jealous by racking up the lusty male friends will force him to behave. Doubtful. Possibly recording your very own YouTube video to air worldwide on how much his love means to you would help. Uncertain gamble.

Communication (or lack thereof) in this day in cyber-age perplexes me. The more in touch with our electronics we become, the less we learn how to talk, or how to listen. Detachment is the norm. People cannot even speak to one another honestly - anymore. Friends are mere icons of color that disappear when something wrong is said, or someone else feels threatened. It's all about superficial bull shit now, with all the glam imagery, sparkly icons, loud music blaring, sexy comment tags, cute personality quizes, ratings & hatings, bouncing baby photos, etc.

Making yourself look good or happy online is easy. Actually being or becoming happy is something completely different. Being married doesn't make you good or happy either. And becoming good doesn't have a damn thing to do with going to church every Sunday. When a marriage is based on continual lies, drug or alcohol abuse, self destructive or selfish behaviors, financial dependency or desperation.... things are bound to fall apart sooner or later.

People tend to marry young, before they really even know themselves, much less their partner. When you grow, you change, becoming a different, behaving different, eating more, drinking more, evolving (or regressing) -- it kinda throws the other person off. That's not who I married they scream!

Instead of surfing the web, throwing back another beer, ignoring your partner or watching another movie on television, make a conscious effort to repair your relationship. Seek professional therapy if you really wanna learn to communicate better with your partner. Uncover all the drama, all the expectations, the cheating, the dishonesty AND THE REASONS. If you married for the sake of a child (which is in the majority) you owe it to your family to be honest about everything - yourself, your needs, your expectations & your desires.

41 & still single - means I am in the minority of most adults & the social stigma is heavy. Lesbian? Selfish? Slut? Who cares! I come from a big Southern family where both parents have been married 4 times each & the majority of my aunts & uncles are divorced too, so marriage has never been the ultimate goal in life for me (like with most women). And since child-bearing has never crossed my mind, it means I have the free will to choose my own lifestyle & my preferred partner, if I so desire.

Here's some fun statistics.

Number of single parents in the United States -
Males: 2.04 million
Females: 9.68 million

25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime.
11% of the adult population is currently divorced.
24% of U.S. population has never married.

Stop the Abuse of California: No Littering

Baja California Mexico posts road signs along the coast reading "No Tire Basura". For all you gringos that phrase has nothing to do with a flat tire, nor the lack of services. The translation is Don’t Throw Trash or "DO NOT LITTER" & if you've ever explored the depths of Baja back roads you know that illegal dumping is a huge problem, cuz they do not have a county dump.

So, what's our excuse? Being from a developed educated country like the USA, why do so many people still leave trash laying around. Litterbugs are everywhere, leaving their piss mark on our precious lands. A bottle cap here, a cigarette butt there, a few soda cans by the road side, a plastic bag that blew outta your truck bed... all harmless, right?

WRONG.

Is it uneducated adults doing the trash tossing? Or their clueless children?
Is it lack of caring about your public lands? Disrespect for your surroundings? Or your life for that matter? Ignorance thinking the rangers will clean it up?
Maybe the wild animals can use it?

The toilet paper in the bushes (chica pick it up), the beer bottles in the campfire pit (come on dudes), the shotguns shells near the wildflowers (shooters are too cool to pick up trash) & the soiled diapers in the creek (totally gross), I've seen it all. Even the graffiti on granite boulders is another prime example of the city moving into the Wilderness Lands. Just say no to ghetto camping.

Whatever the lame reason, littering is a huge problem in SoCal that's for sure. Total Escape is a supporter of a CLEAN CALIFORNIA: Tread Lightly, Leave No Trace & annually we organize volunteer clean up days. We can only do so much in one weekend, but the real solution is in the prevention. Let's try to spread the word about the unsightly effects of littering. Call them on it immediately, when you see it happening. What are friends for!

This blog topic brought to you by Total Escape, plus numerous other fine organizations:

Don't trash CALIFORNIA
Keep California Beautiful
Clean Sweep USA
Keep America Beautiful

Wetness of Hot Springs

Ahh, the rain is finally here in Los Padres, in Southern California.
FRIDAY night - 7pm. Our thirsty trees need it.
Let the season begin!




Backpacker sits at the source of Sespe Hot Springs , where the water is scalding hot, admiring the view of the rocky canyon.

Brazen Careerist

"Take everything you think you 'know' about career strategies, throw them away, and read this book because the rules have changed. 'Brazen,' 'counter-intuitive,' and 'radical' are the best three descriptions of Trunk's work. Life is too short to be stuck in a rat hole..."

Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start
book review for Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success

Sespe Hot Springs

Backpackers Below
Originally uploaded by danamight

I drive down the dirt road looking for an intersection. The dust was thick, as my open-air vehicle breathes in every particle of pollen & charcoal. Forest Rd# 7N03 Los Padres National Forest - Mutau Road, also known as Grade Valley, Thorn Meadows, Half Moon Campground & Mutau Flats Road, has changed a lot in the past year. No more greenery. No birds, no campers. Very quiet.

This is where the Labor Day wildfire jumped Lockwood Valley late October 2006. As I approach the eerie burnt landscape with caution, chunks of rock have given way to gravity, with pieces of the road lying in the charred canyon below, I drive slowly. A great place to get some fire wood I think to myself.

As I pull over, the skies are clear blue with warm afternoon sunshine. Everything around me is a burnt. Black & the smell of charcoal fills the air. Right here at the Yellow-jacket Trail, I stop to exit my SUV. The last time I arrived at this spot it was almost 9PM, dark, I was alone & meeting 2 stranded wheelers who hiked out. I am looking for a watch &/or a nice pair of work gloves - that we lost out here that late night in July, under a full moon. Going wheeling at night is sometimes more of a challenging than you're up for, but you do it anyway. Just for the adventure of it.

If you take this main road clear out to the end, past the creek crossings & Halfmoon Campground, you'll come to a parking lot for the Sespe Hot Springs trail head. Total Escape Adventures hiked this back in 2001. It's a whopping 17 miles RT & we came back after dark w/ flashlights. We've even got the pictures to prove it on Flickr.

Live for This

Grubstake
Originally uploaded by prentz

I live (& work) so I can see beauty such as this, the Salmon River in Northern California. Share the world through photos. Travel often.

Love me for me

I'm talking, I'm talking
I believe in the power of love
I'm singing, I'm singing
I believe that you can rescue me

With you I'm not a little girl, with you I'm not a man
When all the hurt inside of me comes out, you understand
You see that I'm ferocious, you see that I am weak
You see that I am silly, and pretentious and a freak

But I don't feel too strange for you
Don't know exactly what you do
I think when love is pure you try
To understand the reasons why
And I prefer this mystery
It cancels out my misery
And gives me hope that there could be
A person that loves me

Rescue me [rescue me, it's hard to believe]
Your love has given me hope
Rescue me [rescue me, it's hard to believe]
I'm drowning, baby throw out your rope

With you I'm not a fascist, can't play you like a toy
And when I need to dominate, you're not my little boy
You see that I am hungry for a life of understanding
And you forgive my angry little heart when she's demanding
You bring me to my knees while I'm scratching out the eyes
Of a world I want to conquer, and deliver, and despise
And right while I am kneeling there
I suddenly begin to care
And understand that there could be
A person that loves me

Rescue me, rescue me

It's not my business to decide
How good you are for me
How valuable you are
And what the world can see
Only that you try to understand me
And have the courage to love me for me




lyrics by - Madonna

Pepper

I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
Some will die in hot pursuit and fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit while sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain


lyrics by - Butthole Surfers

Zaca @ Rancho Nuevo

"The Zaca Fire has moved east towards Highway 33 has become established in Deal and Rancho Nuevo Canyons in the Dick Smith Wilderness."

Will we loose half of Los Padres National Forest - in less than a year - due to wildfires?

Last summer it was lightning strikes all around Mount Pinos, San Emigdio & Tecuya Ridge. Then there was the Day fire that started on I-5 at Labor Day & lasted until late October. No one thought it would get all the way to Lockwood Valley. No one thought it would jump Lockwood & it did. That wildfire took out most of Sespe Wilderness. Now we have Zaca Fire wiping out even more Wilderness lands.

Why do we have such vicious raging fires? Cuz there is plenty of fuel to burn. Why do we let our delicate 'Wilderness Lands' get so overgrown? Maybe the reason is - WE CANNOT ACCESS them. The fire crews with vehicles cannot maintain these hidden precious lands. Mountain bikers cannot ride these hundred year old trails. Motorcycles, quads & 4x4 Jeeps cannot access any of it. Nope. Only backpackers & horses can enter these most valued canyons. WE CLOSED IT OFF decades ago, to protect it & let it grow.

Makes you wonder if we are micro managing our forests? Or neglecting them? Who's running this show anyway?

California Car Shows

There is no doubt about it, Californians love their cars. Hot rods, luxury coupes, convertibles, 4x4 trucks & all. This weekend was the annual CAR SHOW in my small mountain town. Mike & Bob needed some transport drivers for the new cars. We gathered up some local friendly faces & headed down to Bako Motorcity where we each got to drive a new car up the hill. Mine was a sweet black Lexus, with burl wood steering wheel & dash, plus a hard top convertible. Tad got a big beefy GMC 4x4 truck. BBQ Mike drove the Solstice this time around. Screaming orange with turbo!

BTW, Total Escape lists all kinds of fairs, festivals & events for California. You can get your car show or local fair listed in our new database. Submit online here.

More California for You

This old Mind Ranch blog was getting way to crammed with off-topic subjects, so I have decided to give Total Escape it's very own web log. Yep, that's right. Another freaking blog to add to the world of cyber life. But DanaMite will make sure that this one gets noticed.

Linked from the bottom of the Total Escape front page, this resource will be updated weekly & easy to locate. And I will share way more insiders details on back country discoveries on everything I can find.

If you are ready to discover the true great escapes of California, then visit this link & bookmark it. Outdoor recreation to best lodging, I will cover it over there.

Total Escape - the Back Roads, Well off the beaten path.

California Green Lodging

The lodging industry is going green. Mainly the chain hotels, but more independent inns will follow. Hilton, Marriott & Doubletree lead the way. Environmentally sensitive cleaning products. Energy efficient lighting. Hotels that are heavy on recycling. Making this tourism industry more eco conscience is a step in the right direction.

American Canyon California has the world first fully environmentally sustainable hotel named Gaia & more are soon to following. California is recognized for its environmental beauty & its environmental leadership. Let's keep this ball rolling.

Missing from California

Historical accounts of California tell of flocks of birds so dense in the sky that they cast a shadow on the ground, and of thunderous rivers of geese, ducks, and swans moving down the state to the lagoons of Mexico and beyond. Today, citizens and travelers in California take for granted skies empty of almost everything but the contrails of airplanes. But far more than wildlife is missing from California today...

Dynamic Fuels: Biodiesel US

Tyson Foods & Syntroleum Corporation -- The first facility will produce about 75 million gallons of synthetic fuel annually. Construction of this initial facility is expected to start in 2008 at a yet-to-be-determined site in the south central United States, with production targeted for 2010.

Alcohol: abuse vs. addiction

Men who consume 15 or more drinks a week, women who consume 12 or more drinks a week, or anyone who consumes 5 or more drinks per occasion at least once a week are all at risk for developing alcoholism.