Travel

Kayaking on Lake Hodges

This winter brought a lot of rain and so Lake Hodges now reaches east of I5 again. We went on a little kayaking journey to check it out. During the previous drought years bushes and trees have grown to considerable height. They are now all flooded and water birds use them as nests.

Continue reading “Kayaking on Lake Hodges”

San Bernardino East Peak, San Gorgonio Wilderness, California

Due to the Lake fire 2 years ago and the resulting closure of most of the wilderness area permits for hikes in the San Gorgonio Wilderness (SGW) are hard to get on short notice. There are only 3 open trails. Continue reading “San Bernardino East Peak, San Gorgonio Wilderness, California”

Los Padres NF, Memorial Day Weekend 2017

A little trip to the Los Padres National Forest west of I5 and east of Hwy 33. While there were no clouds the views were not too great due to a lot of humidity. Even with the haze we could see the potential for fantastic views. We could just make out the Channel Islands to our south and the snow covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada to our north east. They did not come out well on any of the photos though.Continue reading “Los Padres NF, Memorial Day Weekend 2017”

San Gabriel Mountains, Backpack May 2017

A one night backpacking hike up to Middle Hawkins from the Crystal Lake recreation area to see the night lights of Los Angeles.

For diversion some of us hiked along the ridge to the east to visit a few other peaks, including Baden-Powell.Continue reading “San Gabriel Mountains, Backpack May 2017”

Creeks of San Jacinto, May 2017

San Jacinto is quite a dry mountain. With the recent drought years there were very limited water sources available. So it was great to see all kinds of flowing surface water. We chose 7 Pines trail for it’s solitude and streams on the lower 3.5 miles before it meets up with the Deer Springs / PCT trail. 7 Pines should only be attempted by someone with trail finding experience and navigation aides like map/compass/GPS. The trail is not maintained and in places hard to find. Especially this year with lots of dead fall and big snow patches above 8000ft.Continue reading “Creeks of San Jacinto, May 2017”

Cedar Springs, Desert Divide, CA

A quick little overnight hike on the Desert Divide. As a bonus we met some PCT throu hikers at camp.Continue reading “Cedar Springs, Desert Divide, CA”

Picacho State Park, California

A trip to the Colorado River.Continue reading “Picacho State Park, California”

Germany December 2016 – January 2017

Weihnachtsmarkt – Hamburg

Farmers market – Herford

Christmas service – Stiftberg Kirche, Herford

Hermannsdenkmal

Externsteine – Hermannsdenkmal Wanderung

Wittekindsweg

Wittekindsweg

Wittekindsweg – Bergkirchen

Wittekindsweg – Porta Westfalica

Wittekindsweg

Bad Salzuflen

Farmers market – Muenster

Muenster, Westfalen

Heinrich-Heine-Weg, Brocken

Mt. Baldy- just before landing at LAX

Pictures of Turkey/Greece trip

I doubt anyone is still looking for updates on the Turkey/Greece trip, but just in case here is a link to the pictures.

Back to Turkey

After getting up early we drove to Chios, returned the car and hopped on the daily ferry boat to Çeşme. When we arrived in Turkey it was very quite and we were wonderıng where everyone was in the middle of the week. We quickly learned that it was a public holiday (Republic day, celebrating the proclamatıon of the repbulic by Atatürk in 1923. So we were in a bit of a bind since we could not change money as plannedç

We found a bus to Izmır and it appeared that our 15 Lira (left from 10 days ago) should get us there. Once on the bus the conductor wanted 22 Lira however. Somehow we must have had a little misunderstand with the guy at the bus station. This akward situation brought about a memorable lıttle travel experience: When the conductor signaled that he was not interested in my dollars or euros the elder gentleman across the aile (travelling with a number of family members) simply paid the fare and I handed him the approximate amount ın Euros (assumıng a conservatıve exchange rate). He did not speak English nor did anyone on the bus around us, so he just smiled at me and I smiled back and we shuk hands.

Once in Izmir we found a little local bus to Selçuk (gate way to Ephesus) where we took the first best room we came across. Now we are back from some great dinner and exploring around town (oh and we found an ATM also:)