wait, what?

i leave for the grand on Tuesday. I still have zero comprehension of what is going to occur on this trip, what I will see or what it's like to go rafting. I have a few visions currently of what is going to occur while on this trip.













I've never been to the south west. I've never really been in a canyon. I have never been in the desert (unless we consider that death run I did in Utah this summer) and I have never seen a scorpion before.

On a slightly related note, I did get my SPOT up and running for this trip (HOOORAY) and seems slightly reliable after a few tests this afternoon. I have set up a new page for the Grand, so if you would like to watch my travels, please go here: Floating!!

I'll post more before I leave, and then I'll get some super random posts up on this thing so I don't lose my 3 regular visitors to this page.

class

Came back up to the Learning Center yesterday for the beginning of classes. We started out with an introduction into Non-profit development and also into curriculum development.

What I left with was complete awe after hearing the following facts:

- the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation must donate around $5million per day to maintain their non-profit status

- American's gave over $300 billion last year to non-profits (that's just 1 year, and that's just what American's gave to American non-profits).

Crazy.

- Religion is the top recipient of that $300 billion, while receiving around 36%

- Environmental non-profits are one of the lowest with only receiving 2% of the $300+ billion. That includes funds protecting animals as well (WWF, ASPCA, PETA, etc)

we saw this quick 4 minute video, which also includes all these facts and some really great insight. You can watch that here:

sigh

This will be short and sweet.

$4 billion was spent on campaigns for this election
$140+ million was spent by a candidate in California running for the governors office (she lost)

The tax on candy & soda was repealed in WA, and now Washington State is facing an even larger budget shortfall.

the "Rent is Too Damn High" party in New York received .9% of the vote... more then the tea partiers in that state

a cat just tried to walk into my kitchen (no lie)

I just do not understand sometimes why people vote the way they do... at all.

on a positive note, it's 65 & sunny here, and I leave to go float on a river in a week.

busy bee

Well, not really. But, i'm in Bellingham the next two or three days "relaxing" and working on my work study project: Group Rentals.

We're working on our 2011 operational plan in order to increase our group rental profitability to help off-set more of the costs we are finding with both Mountain School and our underserved youth programming.

I do not have a marketing degree. Im pretty sure I didn't even take marketing when I got my business minor. I'm also pretty sure Political Science does not contribute one ounce of knowledge toward marketing. But what that has provided me with is a baseline for understanding how jacked our political system is now a days, when it comes to elections.

Speaking of elections, sometimes Im embarrassed to say I have a degree in political science, and yet do not vote. But, then I look at the current system and recognize the amount of money that is being thrown into these campaigns and the lies that are being said and how can I vote? I don't know what's true, and I'm disgusted that our country is still struggling in this economy, yet millions upon millions of dollars are being thrown at this election. Could you imagine for one instant what would happen if 20% of all money spent on current elections was diverted to our school system? Or diverted toward all of the public service programs that have had to be cut in the past two years? Or maybe instead of me spending 4 days on writing this proposal on funding, I could be looking at ways that money could be used to get children out into the woods and experience a new and fulfilling type of education.

But, that's not the case. So, instead I'll continue to be disenfranchised with our current political system and try to find businesses to come use our facilities at the institute to off-set the increased costs of programming for kids.

The next 2 weeks...

... are going to be hectic. Not only has winter descended upon this amazing place:


It's also the last week of Mountain school, and I'm wrapping up my last session with kids here in mid-40 degree kinda rainy weather. The kids all had fun, we found mushrooms, ran amuck, hid behind trees and blind folded each other while trying to meet a tree.

but more importantly, we're getting ready to go floating down a river for 18 days.

I received a book today written by Edward Abbey which contained his journals from his last trip down the Grand. The quote on the back cover reads "Water topples upon us, filling the boat in an instant. The force of the river carries us through the first wave and into a second, deeper hole... I think I can almost see bedrock bottom. The third wave towers above us. Far above. The Great Wave. Heavily our water-loaded boat, askew, climbs up its face. Never makes it. As the wave hits us from the portside our dory turns over with the grave, solemn, inevitable certainty of disaster. No one says a word as we go under."

no, i'm not worried at all.

Yesterday, i also read an amazing post written by one of my friends that will also be joining us on this trip. You can read it here. But the quick summary is that he traveled to the source of the Colorado river to see the trickles of water that we would soon be paddling down.

I leave for Flagstaff on the evening of the 9th, and at 10am on the 10th, we are picked up by our outfitter and will be taken to Lee's Ferry. The day will be spent rigging rafts, meeting new people, hugging old friends and traveling to a nearby ranch for supper. We'll camp at the rafts at the put in site:



From there, we will set off on November 11th and travel 225ish miles down the Colorado river through the Canyon. We'll be picked up at Diamond Creek at 10am on November 30th


From there, we will be shuttled back to Flagstaff and then I fly back to Seattle on December 1st. Somewhere during that time, I'll go for hikes, look at rocks, get wet, go for runs, eat Thanksgiving dinner and miss my family. But it will be an amazing experience and I cannot wait.

With that being said, i'll be accepting guest posters for the blog now :)

SNOW!!!

So, today Teresa, Dennis & I ventured 20 minutes up the road to Washington Pass where we experienced something amazing... SNOW.

We set off on a 2.2 mile hike up to Blue Lake, which is nestled right near Liberty Bell at Washington Pass. The rumors were proven to be true and snow levels ranged from 1 - 2 feet in places, especially up at Blue Lake (6,250 ft). It was amazing. Snowballs were thrown, bets were lost over animal tracks and snowmen were built. It wasn't blue or sunny out, but precipitation held off long enough that we were able to enjoy the scenery and the hike. Enjoy some photos taken by both Teresa & I.

Blue Lake!

Liberty Bell, Concord Tower & Early Winter Spires

What animal do you think these belong to?

found a hut with no roof. Obviously, step 1 is to enter through the top versus the door on the other side

Patrick the Snowman!

Hannegan Pass - relived

So... if you recall from the summer... i've had it out with Hannegan Pass quite a few times. To date, I had been on that trail 3 times and had reached the pass zero times (Story here). On Saturday, I was on a mission to reach said pass, and to claim it as my own and then summit something else around there depending on time and weather. We had a pretty huge weather system moving in, so my only goal was to get to that damn pass regardless of wind, snow, rain or intense heat and run as much of the way there and back as possible.

So, the book told me it would be about 5 miles to the pass and then up to Hannegan Peak with 10.2 miles of trail running and then 3000 feet of elevation gain. But here's the thing... there were no signs... and then I ended up running in a white out. So, with that being said, I ended up summiting both Hannegan Peak & Granite Peak, ran almost 14 miles and had about 3500 of elevation gain. I honestly just figured out I ran up Granite Peak when I was looking at my topo map program, and realized that Hannegan Peak actually does not have a false summit, but there's another peak (Granite) about .3 miles away... Also, before getting up to either peak, I got to the top of the pass and saw trails going everywhere, so I just started running out and back on trails until I finally saw the one I wanted to get to in the distance... which resulted in me bushwacking up a slope grabbing onto slide alders and small trees until I hit the trail I wanted.

Something I haven't mentioned yet, is that when I hit Hannegan Pass it started snowing and the wind picked up considerably. This meant that visibility went to about 300 feet quick, and it got cold. So, while running up the trail to Hannegan Peak, I couldn't see anything around me, or understanding why I ran up to two completely separate mountains.

Of course, the second I got off the summit (which was pretty darn quick) and started running back down the trail. once i got back to the pass, the storm moved over and the sun came out about 30 minutes later. Go figure.

Anyway, i'll stop rambling while attempting to piece my day together and show you some fine pictures from Saturday.

SNOW!!! typically, you can see a mountain across the creek below... not after this moved in

Grouse getting snowed on... and getting confused as I kept trying to move up the trail

storm's coming

Post-storm. Clouds parted and you could see Ruth perfectly.

Trust me, there's a Pika there. That guy was echoing "eeeeps" all the way up the valley until he could get a better look at me. Keep eeeping little guy!