Geocaching in the hills

May I just say that smoke would not be on the typical "Wanna See" list while out hiking in the (dry) hills. Would that be a safe assumption? Ok, well, there I was this afternoon hiking in some nearby hills looking for geocaches. I found two while gaining elevation on my way up to a hidden lake. I had never seen this lake, actually just a small reservoir, so I thought I would head up and take a peek.

While I was looking at the lake, and the surrounding community, I suddenly smelled smoke. No, not a bbq, but smoke. The burning grass kind of smoke. This sudden bit of information was not pleasing unto me, being quite a ways from an escape out of those hills. I figured if worse came to worse, at least I had a lake to jump into, never mind all the algae floating on top.

I walked down just a bit from my location on top of the hill and looked at the situation. Hmm, that smoke was rising from the blind side of another hill and it was quite some distance from me. My escape route would be downhill all the way so I could run it and get out. That's what I decided to do. Heck, I don't like walking down hills anyway but prefer to jog if I can. In this case I just picked up the pace more than usual.

Once I got to the bottom of the hill and was about to turn out toward the community of houses, I noticed that the smoke I had seen earlier had lightened up considerably. Well, I'll be! It would have been a shame to split out of there when there was still another cache to be found less than a quarter mile away. Priorities changed...I found a third cache for the day and then I split. There was still a little bit of smoke rising but it was nothing like before and from my new vantage point I could see a fire fighting crew from the nearby forestry station on hand. All was well.

Haakon Aamodt Family

It has been awhile. Is it time to add a post to this blog? Perhaps I'll add a few photos that I've recently scanned...

This is of me at the Jordan River in Israel, Dec 1987

The following photos are of the Aamodt family that I have recently scanned. The first two I received from Grandma Melton's cousin, Bertha Tuckett. The last two are in Grandma's possession. I do not have dates for the photos.

L-R: Albert, Haakon (sitting), Arthur, Haakon E., Heber, Leonard

L-R: Effie, Dagmar, Julia, Mamie, Hilma, Constance

L-R (back row): Arthur, Leonard, Albert, Heber

(middle row): Hilma, Haakon E., Mamie

(front row): Dagmar, Julia, Effie, Haakon, Constance

L-R: Heber, Leonard, Haakon (sitting), Arthur, Albert, Haakon E.

Oak Glen

There is a quiet glen in southern Cal named Oak Glen. If you would like to play the role of a tourist and drive through apple country, this is a good place to come.

Not long ago I was told of a 100' waterfall that can be accessed from the glen, located only about a mile away from where the vehicle can be parked. On November 23, 2007, I struck out to find this fall, but what I found was a 20' fall. The next time I met with the person who told me of the fall, I was told that the waterfall I found was only the first of seven falls. Hmm...why wasn't I told about the seven falls before I struck out on the hike?

I didn't get back to the canyon to look for the rest of the waterfalls until April 19, 2008, due mainly to the winter snowfalls and iced in conditions. We have been having wonderfully warm weather lately so I gave the canyon another attempt, however I only reached the third waterfall this time. The steeply vertical walls of the canyon prevented me from continuing further from the third fall, but I saw an area back down the creekbed where I figured I could ascend the canyon wall and then go around the fall. This assumption turned out to be a mistake after I ascended about 150' of loose shale, only to find myself on top of a pinnacle. From the top, there was no where else to go except for back down another vertical face. I decided to call it a day for this trip and then return again after conferring with my friend for further info.

One item of note that was rather cool at the third waterfall: there was a huge chunk of ice, basically a glacier, in the creek bed. This glacier will eventually melt as the sun gets higher in the sky with summer coming on.