I wanted to incorporate more of my character traits into the blog.
Below is a video of describing my alcohol stove with accessories and improvements that can be made. There is also comparison for pros and cons with comparison to Propane and Wood Stove. The little things add up. Hiking the Appalachian Trail for seven months helped with strategy for reducing backpack weight.
Below are some jokes found on the web the first section helps give description to my romantic side.
Why did the mountain break up with the hill? It found someone more uplifting! Nature is full of puns, and they’re always on the trail.
Why did the hiker break up with his girlfriend? She kept saying, “Let’s take the path less traveled!”
Why did the hiking couple break up? They just couldn’t find common ground!
What do you call a hiker who loves to dance? A “rock and roll” enthusiast!
This section accommodates feet jokes good for displaying how I get the ladies to check out my strong legs.
Why was the hiker always calm? Because he knew how to take things one step at a time!
What’s a hiker’s favorite type of footwear? Trail runners!
What did the hiker say when he found a lost shoe? “Looks like I found a sole mate!”
This section gives insight on how philosophically deep I am.
Why did the hiker always carry a mirror? A: To reflect on his journey!
Why did the hiker always carry a camera? To capture the “peak” moments!
Why did the hiker sit down on the trail? He wanted to take a break from all the “uphill” battles!
Why did the hiker bring a friend? To share the “ups and downs” of the trail!
The last section gives insight to my suaveness
Why did the hiker bring a shovel? To dig the great outdoors!
This next expedition was set to head to Emerald Pools, one of Oregon’s best swimming spots, along with a good place to find interesting rocks. Talking to a good friend, Ladell, we’ve discussed perspectives and methods of collecting resources along with sustainability, waste management, and geology. His perspective and way of thinking piqued my interest.
Soon later, I used apps like Rockhound, Gaia, and AllTrials Learning, stating, “Crooke County is the biggest hounding location in the world.” Crooke County is about another 130 -150 miles further past emerald pools. Curiously, I called one of my friends who recently moved from Salem, OR, to see where he now resided. It turns out he lives in Prineville, which is a part of Crooke Co. I told him I was coming to visit, which is about 200 miles away. He asked, “How are you getting here”. I quickly responded that I was walking. Being a marine vet, he suggested meeting me somewhere along the way and asking that I tell him when I leave. Even though it will probably take me two to three weeks, he wants to know when I will start. Jokingly, I agreed and said he had better get ready soon. I hope to introduce him to one of the new websites just made; just make Podbean or/and YouTube and embed it on WordPress.
Preparing for this trip I am doing a lot of research preparing my route. With Gaia maps I am able to make waypoints and a route. I noticed the hiking trails connect on the way to Crooke Co., but go every way except straight. Walking this route suddenly became unappealing. Reflecting on being a nomad and interest in miscellaneous adventures I wondered why am I organizing it this way and can I do it more from the cuff? I have spent many hours reviewing but hiking trails, waterways and other things of interest mainly rockhounding locations and begun to prepare for a much different trip. The goal is to eventually end up in Prineville or start my adventure from there.
People ask when will you get back. I really do not know. I am unsure, but something I am considering for my way back is taking a canoe or kayak back from Cottage Groove to Salem on the Willamette scenic river. If I go this route I would probably find a cheap canoe on craiglist someone down in southwest Oregon and find connecting bodies of water to get to the Willamette river. This is on the opposite side of the state so getting there is still to be determined as well.
Crooke Co and many surronding areas are good for rockhounding. I was waypoints on my Gaia map for great locations trying to figure out a good route to hit as many of them as possible at a good pace. There is a lot of national parks and hiking trails in north east OR, which pulls me to start the expedition out there. In the top right corner of OR inflows the snake river. If I can get a boat and start up there then float down snake along the Idaho and OR coast. One of the top scenic areas here is the Hells canyon. It looks beautiful from the pictures. “Hells Canyon is significantly deeper than the Grand Canyon, reaching a depth of about 7,993 feet”. Eventually I would ditch the boat and hike west towards Crooke Co hopefully hitting and amazing rockhounding route. I have looked at some of the pictures along a the way seeing blue butte, red bed and many other butte’s all explained to be great places to find cool rocks. Here is a picture found online for the blue butte below.
I think it looks really cool. There are so many places in this area just as cool as this area. Fingers crossed in finding a blue lightening rock. Thanks to Jonnie Richardson and his family I was able to review areas mentioned on there family business website. From what I understand this family resides at the Richardson’s rock ranch. I will be reaching out to this family soon via email to hopefully get an interview and to check out all the cool rocks. Maybe they would even consider my services as an engineer. Maybe telling them Grandma Lindberg was a rock cutter will help break the ice. Here is a link to that site if you want to learn more:
Native American History is one of my favorite history subjects to study in the US. While reviewing the Richardson’s website I came across a legend told from long ago.
According to legend, Thundereggs were so named by Native Americans of Central Oregon. The natives of this region are said to have believed these strange, agate-filled stones were missiles thrown by angry, fighting “Thunder Spirits” or “Gods” who dwelt on Mount Jefferson and nearby Mount Hood, two of the several snow-capped peaks high in the Cascade Range. The Native Americans thought when thunderstorms occurred these rival, jealous gods hurled large numbers of the round-shaped rocks at each other in furious anger. Thus, according to Native American legend, Thundereggs were scattered over the high plateaus of Central Oregon
I am preparing to leave for this trip and waiting for backpacking supplies to come in the mail hopefully before Tuesday. I have a few microcontrollers projects for this trip and Isaac community garden that will need to be set up hopefully over the weekend. One of the things in the mail is a lightweight portable solar panel and charger. The charger takes AA and AAA so I figure these batteries can be used as battery packs for my Arduino projects. I was thinking about doing some environmental science experiments and figuring out how and where to log it. I am also interested in finding precious metals so a sensor or sensors needs to be selected for data sample on that end as well . One rapid prototype I’ve wanted to make for a while is the autonomous snare trap. I would have a snare that is trigger for example by an objects distance to am ultra sonic range finder sensor. Using a microcontroller for this might be overkill. I need to do more research to figure out if I can build the system with a relay apparatus. The electrical parts minus the power source if just IC (Integrated Circuits) are use cost might be less than a dollar if bought in bulk. It looks like the lightest range finder is about 4 grams. It looks like the NE555P IC weights about 0.9 grams. This equipment would not take up much room in the bag.
The problem with the arduino is I need an Arduino IDE (Interactive Development Environment) platform to load the code onboard, which can not be done by phone. So I would have to have like a pc or something. However, I just checked there are apps that can load code onto arduino from phone. Later on I hope to get a souped up computer for nomadic coding at such, but have to remain humble for now. A lot of my gear is outdated and old, which reminds me to not try anything to crazy, but soon I think I will be prepared to get on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). It is much colder up there and do not have the setup for it yet. Although I do have good boots, but I am still skeptical. It would be nice to not be absolutely dreadful the entire adventure haha. I’m hoping to get a hold of some retailers after this expedition to see about starting some partnership’s. I think i’m along ways from getting sponsored by Red Bull. You have to do some pretty crazy stuff to get sponsored by them. Maybe i’ll save that sponsorship pitch for when I go to the amazon to wrestle an anaconda only partly joking. Tonight I need to gut out my phone and clean it. The install peripherals and cpu into the new housing module. If that works out the rockhounding route should be ready to be on point. Cheers
When I tell people I am going to do something when I was younger I was stubborn to not change my mind. This mindset was part of the reason why I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. I remember making 20 boxes of about 10 days of food and mailing them out along the Appalachian trail with an ETA (Estimated Arrival Time) The shipping cost if I recall right was over a $1500 and the food inside the boxes was well over 2k. So you might say I felt obligated in a way to get those boxes. The Mississippi trip I made promises to sponsors and news outlets making hard to take back what I had set out to do take a hybrid kayak-Canoe down the entire Mississippi river. When thinking about these trips post completion the mental weight of having the task ahead of me for the AT (Appalachian trail) at times gave me the heaviest feeling in my gut. I knew I had certain fortitude and ringing out would take a knock out I had a lions heart like rocky balboa. These thoughts would make my stomach feel even heavier. The green trail felt like it went forever. The first few days hiking I went like 5-8 miles a day making my fifth day around 30 miles of 2185miles. I guess I tried to push this thought away of how little I had done. I believe the adventure installed the ability for me to accomplish long longevity task. The hike overall was one of the best adventures of my life. You could the hiker community had renewed my faith in mankind. My ability to be present and listen showing interest after hiking mail drop to mail drop was maximized. The feeling of the hiker high me and other hiker friends were entirely sure how to explain it, but it was like a euphoria. The stress in your life wasn’t the same. You could very much so control and take out variables that caused emotional earthquake. Most on the trail were calm and collected. Nevertheless I remember many times during the hike my mind getting swallowed into loneliness or isolation. In order to get better at handling this I felt the need to recreate the environment repeatedly but also was shy of the deep dive it took each time of the high board. This is a metaphor for picking up my mail drop and heading back into the woods alone for another week or two. Each time I took the plunge you might say the pattern of thoughts in isolation became more sturdy. I did not spend as much time as improving my hiking gear and situation, but I did get strong legs. When the hike was done it was bitter sweet.
Thinking about the Mississippi trip post to the event had a different feel intensity and the settling feeling was something of the matured feeling I had from taking the plunge so many times on the AT. This trip correlated to the At as I knew or felt it would help me resolve deep seated internal conflict. Also getting away from the busy life with all the technology being overstimulated as some would say was also welcomed. I was looking for a reset. The Mississippi trip occurred right after I got out of active duty and finished my associates degree in general science along with certs in manufacturing and welding. I was taking the approach different this time. I recall entertaining forestry businesses with joining conservative experts. I went to many museums and monuments. The adventure was beautiful and I only almost died like twice. I was a wild renaissance man during this trip paddling across dark lakes connected to the river at night to go to casinos and talk to people on yachts. Many opportunity’s presented itself s to add color or layers of events making the overall journey more like a wild west film. During this trip I also isolated, but this time there was another reason. It had to do with inducing creativity. However clearing my mind was often a prerequisite. I felt somewhat obliged to go to all these museums and seek abstract encounters not really paying attention to my gear and how I can improve as an outdoors man. Both of these trips I kind of trapped myself into it coming to fruition because I knew past feelings often would suggest to not do it. My ego was beaten through physiological manipulation.
Fast forward 9 years and im 36. I remember telling myself if I graduate my MS in Renewable Energy Engineering and i’m not married than I will become an international travel journalist. Manipulating myself to do this task seems more challenging. However I do feel a need for doing it. The need was more clear during my last few over nighters. I am practicing now for this epic adventure. And I am approaching with solidity and discipline. I can make my own way I believe as my grad project has been said to be patent-able. My dream of being an inventor has come true and now I want to drown in the pool of creativity. Its really a perfect challenge to prove that a life with many vectors outside of the norm can have significant outcomes. I hope to transcribe that meaning through this journey. I’ve done a couple over night trips the last 30 days and realize how much I have forgot about backpacking. I also realize how juvenile my techniques were. This next hike i am trying to focus on a heart high nutritional value diet. I also want to not rush this journey but to take it as it comes and allow for perplexity to form through repetition and trial and error. I dont know where im two on this next 5-7 day journey, but I do know I dont have much choice in the matter when it comes to camping. My coach surfing will be postpone for another week and maybe get an apartment soon. The build up for this adventure and foundation is a slow moving giant. Using certain optimism and philosophy it deems important to not allow myself to feel isolated. My last overnight trip I felt like everyone not camping was not having a good life like me. Your stuck in a matrix maybe. Im unclear where my simplistic reasoning and logical thinking is pulled from the most but traveling is said to be one of the best ways to learn and im ready to take that task on.
Three nights camped in a bed of thorns. The first night you could hear the insects, which crickets deemed to be audible I recalled there is a trick to use there noise to calculate temperature supposedly,”In 1897, a scientist named Amos Dolbear published an article titled “The Cricket as a Thermometer” that noted the correlation between the ambient temperature and the rate at which crickets chirp.”
The insects’ muscles contract to produce chirping based on chemical reactions. The warmer the temperature, the easier the cricket’s muscles activate, so the chirps increase. The cooler the temperature, the slower the reaction rate, and the less frequent the chirps are, the lower the chirp rate.
Count the number of chirps in 25 seconds, divide by 3, then add 4 to get the temperature.
Example: 48 chirps /(divided by) 3 + 4 = 20°C
I feel stuff like this I should know. The second day I didnt hear the birds much, but the third day they were very loud and audible. By the end of the day they were pretty much within arms distance. I thought about catching some. Also thought about leaving a bird feeder for my flying companions. The fourth day I heard many birds including what must have been a duck or something of that size. Often times when I was on my 7 month hiking trip hiking the entire Appalachian Trail I tried interacting with wildlife. I pet a bear once in the smokey’s TN. Came within arms reach of deer. A few’s days into this hike I learned how to make a barn owl come to me by mimicking there noise. A son and father hiking the trail told me about this trick. There names are Bill and Bill. I saw them for the first weeks of the trail and remember telling them they might pass me now but right at the end of the 2185 mile trek to Katahdin. Funny thing I was behind them after that chat and passed them the day before the hike was finished. I saw them on my way back down from Katahdin. That is the final point of the North end of the Appalachian Trail. If you continued after that you would go on a trail called knifes edge which totally looked like a blades sharp end hiking with both sides of you a steep drop off.
Turns out a majority of smaller male birds like to sing in the dawn of the day. They do this to try and find a mate. The female will supposedly go to the male with the most beautiful rhythm. They are make noises out of rythmn which is suppose to me they are being territorial. Makes me wonder when i whispered to the birds and interact with my harmonica were they thinking I was there soulmate. I felt like the harmony was intriguing. Guess ill never know all the trail of bird hearts I broke… haha 😦
The 4 days and three nights on this last test run really showed me what the power of isolating can do. I was fabricating idea after idea. Some seem quite outstanding. Becoming a professional travel journalist at the level I would like occurred to me that the process is not a sprint it is a marathon. or at least it is a long duration. So many new notes and reinforcements that this is what I should do with my life. I hope my business partner know there is a rhythm and reason for this expedition. Other than my creativity seemingly seeing huge spikes along with the engineering perspective addressing this type of travel. I have to admit icing on the cake is how much you learn by traveling. I told one guy I was interviewing in bend about 2 weeks ago that I can have a 100 perspectives doing this documenting and questioning. Like a fly with 100’s of eyes.
I dug deep this time in the woods and focused on how to go pro. Usually I just focused on the expedition completion. Hiking a trail for 7 months every mile down was less stresses on the heart of doubt. I did not focus during this trip to become a outdoor legend.The canoe trip down the mississippi for four months had its own deterrence. Such as all my sponsored gear was giving to me the day of the trip with exception to a few miscellaneous things. This gave me no time to get use the equipment. There was a since of urgency as well. Taking a four month vacation can make for pressure and uncertainty. These two expeditions I did not focus enough on how to improve as a traveler with precision. Now I am focusing on it and I see so many errors in my ways and upgrades. Trying to get a sponsor pitch together soon. I’m coming up with ideas that i dont even see on the market. Also having ideas of taking two different sporting companies and having them collaborate with me for a joint product. As a note being educated in mechanical engineering, manufacturing and trades man I do believe I can take pretty much any product if not all and come up with an economical upgrade.
