Through Charlie Gorichanaz’s Eyes
I squeezed in another backpacking trip, again with Andrew and Ruffie. Having one less night than our three at Lake Aloha last month and even less time to reserve permits, we decided Thursday to check out a place not requiring reservations and settled on Gianelli Trail in the Stanislaus National Forest. We visited several lakes and hiked about 18.5 miles and 3800 feet of elevation across two days. I also got to experience locking my keys in my car for the first time, in a remote location. It was a great weekend!
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Yesterday I did a fairly long run in downtown and west Oakland past some slightly taller buildings than in my first set of GPS comparison tests last month. I’m glad I had the Garmin 67i for this one, not only because its track logs were the cleanest overall, but because both my Fitbit Charge 6 and Pixel 6 Pro Runkeeper app had problems preventing me from having a complete tracklog. At least this put me over 55 percent completion for Oakland for my running every street project!
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I recently picked up a Garmin GPSMAP 67i off eBay to compare the GPS accuracy to that of my phone and my Fitbit Charge 6. Long story short, the results have been so wonderful I will henceforth carry an extra device heavier than my phone on every run and hike.
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In a massive improvement to my time between backpacking trips, I managed another just nine months after going to Deafy Glade in Mendocino. This time Ruffie and I went with our friend Andrew to Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness in the Sierras. We spent three nights, enough time for strenuous hikes, changes of plans, plenty of relaxation and even some animal food theft. I hiked 23 miles and 4,100 feet of elevation across four days.
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This week Monday I went back to Yosemite for a night, with Beam, Natt and Chris. It was a quick trip, but we got one good 10 mile day hike in, up 3700 feet to Glacier Point. I saw my first rattlesnake, a few other creatures, and many beautiful views. I definitely need to get back and do some more hikes!
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Sunday was our last opportunity for a hike while Vera was staying with us for a couple of weeks. Alan suggested Berkeley, so I made a plan to hike up to Wildcat Peak and also to check out an old missile launch site in the Berkeley Hills. Because we hiked near there with Remi before, I didn’t think to confirm whether dogs were allowed. Needless to say, we found “No dogs” signs upon entering Tilden Nature Preserve, which is the subset of Tilden Regional Park we hoped to hike through. We thus diverted back to the Meadows Canyon Trail we hiked a year or two before with Ricky, and had a fine time. I attempted to take some photos of plants while we were there. I need to practice more.
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In an effort to make the best use of my fairly small master bedroom, I designed and built a king size loft bed. It was a few months in the making and took far longer to build and puzzle together than I expected, but I’m glad I did it. The original need was to accommodate two dog crates underneath, and while I was at it I wanted to make space for a small couch to allow for a few more people to watch a movie if the opportunity arises. Maybe some day there will be space for media viewing in the living room, but right now it is full of plants!
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Our lovely Remi who recently passed away had a rolled leather collar and leather leash. Despite them being “cheap,” they were still in great condition after 10 years. So about four months ago, I decided to get a similar set for Ruffie. I found many on Amazon that would have set me back about a third of what I ended up paying. I decided to get something “high quality” and picked a shop on Etsy with all 5 star reviews. I have now learned why Etsy reviews are so high, and it’s not because of product quality. It’s because Etsy doesn’t allow reviews after a reasonable amount of time has passed.
Update: Thankfully in this case I was able to make contact with the merchant and get the issue resolved, so I am happy for that. It doesn’t change any of the points here, and I urge Etsy to allow for writing reviews longer after the item was received to instill confidence the items are durable enough to consider purchasing.
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We basically stopped our training sessions over the past two months. We were already less regimented after the Wisconsin road trip in July, and then August quickly became all about poor Remi. After he passed away, I couldn’t bring myself to resume training Ruffie right away. He’s well …
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I just returned from a lovely and bittersweet trip to Warsaw. This has been a long time coming.
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