Kayaking The Newport Harbor Christmas Light Parade

What: Newport Christmas Light Parade
When: December 18th, 2014
Where: Newport Beach Harbor
Who: Matthew Hengst (kayak), Jen Blackie (kayak), Gracia Delavida (kayak), Kristen Lindbergh (kayak), Karyn Strong (SUP), Steve Kotzbauer (SUP), Paul Ludgate (boat), Alan Bennenbroek (boat)
Pictures: [Matt]

I kayak in Newport Harbor quite a bit after work.  It's been one of the perks of being back in Orange County full time after years spent working on the road.  It's a nice bit of exercise and the water is usually pleasantly glassy at night.  Not to mention we can paddle over to Pizza Nova, dock, and have pizza and beer!

This time of year the harbor gets decked out in some impressive Christmas displays and each night for a week there's a parade of decorated boats.  Viewing locations along the shore are all packed and restaurants and hotels with a view all charge a premium and fill up.

I've a few times riding through with a bike club during my cycling days or just walking through the houses on shore but since we've bought the kayaks I've been thinking it would be neat to see it close up from the water.

Monument Valley & Valley of The Gods

What:
   Monument Valley
   Valley of The Gods
When: November 30th, 2014
Where: Utah-ish
Who: Matthew Hengst, Kristen Lindbergh, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]

Day 3 of the 2014 Turktacular found us camped rather close to a cliffside at Goosenecks State Park between Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods.  See the previous day for more details about the park but the short version is it's a great place to camp if you're passing through.

Today was going to be mostly vehicle touring covering Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, and then heading back over towards White Pockets.

Navajo Mountain DPS & Goosenecks State Park

What:
   Navajo Mountain (10,346')
When: November 28th, 2014
Where: Utah
Who: Matthew Hengst, Kristen Lindbergh, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

Navajo Mountain is a peak on the Sierra Club Desert Peak Section list of 99 peaks stretching from Mexico to Utah.  It has the distinction of being very far away and the only peak on the list you can drive up.

Sound awesome?  Well that's not all!  It's located on Navajo land and depending who you ask climbing it is either forbidden or just discouraged.  See the Summitpost page for Navajo for details.

Despite this DPS hasn't seen fit to de-list the peak (despite doing so for Kino, Ajo, and Maturango all of which I've also done and have far less access issues) so I figured it was worth a shot and started calling around.

After getting transferred umpteen times the best answer I was given was "Not everyone likes you up there and you can't leave the road but if you stick to that you should be fine"  I was also able to contact someone through Peakbagger who had just been up there and said he'd had no issues.

So day 2 of the 2014 Turktacular found us driving across Navajo land towards a very big mountain...

Mollies Nipple & Thanksgiving Dinner

What:
   Mollies Nipple (7,271')
When: November 27th, 2014
Where: Utah / Arizona Border
Who: Matthew Hengst, Kristen Lindbergh, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

Thanksgiving time and once again the plan was to escape civilization and go someplace awesome for the annual Turktacular trip.

This year we decided to head toward Monument Valley out in the Utah/Arizona border area and fill in the other days with Mollies Nipple, Navajo Mountain, Valley of the Gods, and finishing up in White Pockets.  Mostly due to having seen cool pictures of these places or liking the names.

Silurian Hills High Point and Silver Lake Mine

What:
  Silurian Hills High Point (3,738')
  Silver Lake Mine
When: November 22nd, 2014
Where: North of Baker, CA
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

After yesterdays jaunt up Avawatz we got moving at a reasonable time and went hunting for access roads.

I had no beta on the Silurian Hills and it took Jen and I eyeballing topos to determine what the highpoint even was.  To get there I checked satellite shots and maps to see what old roads headed back that way and made sure to have plenty of alternates.

This was a really really good idea it turns out.

Avawatz Peak DPS From Sheep Creek

What:
  Avawatz Peak (6,155')
When: November 22nd, 2014
Where: North of Baker
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jen Blackie
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

I'm closing in on the end of the Sierra Club Desert Peak Section list and there's a few peaks left out by themselves as a result of odd pairings or minor misadventure.  Avawatz is one of those and I'd been eyeing it for some time making eventual plans to pair it up with something off list like Ibex.

I'd heard through the grapevine that the standard DPS route up Avawatz was so washed out so as to be terrifying even in a Jeep so that put it out of consideration for trips like the Mustache Mosey.  So when an open weekend came up we decided to knock it off.

The northern route listed in the DPS guide is significantly longer (15 miles vs 6 miles) but avoids the access issues and starts out of something labeled Sheep Camp on the map which sounded interesting and fulfilled my strong preference for desert trips of having nice camping!

We made plans to explore the nearby Silurian Hills the following day to round off the weekend and we were off!

Mount Izaak Walton Northeast Ridge via McGee Creek

What:
  Mount Izaak Walton (12,077')
When: June 13th to 15th, 2014
Where: Sierra Nevada, North of Bishop
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jen Blackie, Kristen Lindbergh
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

A combination of factors had delayed the initial Sierra trip of the season but finally it was time for a peakbagging weekend at altitude.  With a job switch imminent I needed to take advantage of whatever vacation time I could manage so we planned a last minute 3 day up McGee Creek to get Mount Izaak Walton via the northeast ridge which Secor at least described as a "good" 3rd class route.

Picacho del Diablo In Baja Mexico

What:
  Picacho del Diablo (10,154')
When: May 16th to 17th, 2014
Where: Baja, Mexico
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jen Blackie, Gracia Delavida, Kristen Lindbergh, Neal Robbins
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]

The last Mexico trip had been on the memorable side if slightly traumatic for all parties.  We'd hit both Pescadores and Pico Risco over two days and due to a variety of factors ended up with only about 4 hours of sleep for the entire weekend by the time we arrived back in OC at 5 am Monday morning.

But this was going to be different!  Since Picacho del Diablo (aka Big Picacho of the Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section) was located a fair way down Baja we were looking at 4 days with two of those taken up just be driving surrounding a two day backpack.

And yes of course any visit into Mexico or even just into the border region has some inherent risk.  But never fear!  We had a plan B.  (For Blondie)  (As in needs of the many > survival of the Blondie)

 

Pico Risco Mexican DPS Peak From Guadalupe Canyon Hot Springs

What:
  Pico Risco (4,987')
When: January 12th, 2014
Where: Mexico
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jack Kieffer, Jen Blackie, Gracia Delavida, Kristen Lindbergh, Neal Robbins
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]
Mexican GPS Maps:  [Harlan]

After yesterdays extremely long day and somewhat disappointing peak behind a dump we were enjoying the Guadalupe Canyon Hot Springs much better.

While we didn't get up until late and we only had 4 or 5 hours of sleep it had certainly been worth it.

And now we had a much more scenic peak towering above us.

Cerro Pescadores Mexican DPS Peak

What:
  Cerro Pescadores (3,346')
When: January 11th, 2014
Where: Mexico!
Who: Matthew Hengst, Jack Kieffer, Jen Blackie, Gracia Delavida, Kristen Lindbergh, Neal Robbins, Mark Butski
Pictures: [Matt]
GPS Track: [Map]
Mexican GPS Maps:  [Harlan]

The Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section list has 4 peaks down in Mexico.  Due to the issues around the border the last few years these aren't done quite as much as the various peaks north of the border and as I completed more and more of the list I started to look at them more seriously.

I'd previously attempted Cerro del Pinacate during the last run up Baboquivari only to get turned around at the gate of the park due to "unspecified security concerns" that seemed rather oddly focused around the volcano itself.

With that peak apparently closed off (not to mention a long drive) there were still 3 others we could do and Jack, Gracia, and myself decided that would be a goal for the early part of 2014.  So we planned a two day for January to grab Cerro Pescadores and Pico Risco and a four day for May to get Picacho Del Diablo.