Category: Trip Reports
“United We Pay” (Colorado Springs – March 22, 2017 to March 24, 2017)
Once I got connected with an agent, I was told that my reservation was cancelled because I was a “no show” for my earlier flight from LAX to Denver on Wednesday, which clearly wasn’t true…
“Itchy, Scratchy, and Crawly” (Potrero John Falls and Rose Valley Falls – March 19, 2017)
With the time being 2:50pm, I figured that it would probably be another 40-50 minutes before we’d finally be back at the trailhead. But at least now, we knew that we’d be hiking on trail again…
“Double Whammy” (Tahquitz Falls – February 25, 2017)
That said, Tahquitz Creek and Tahquitz Falls had quite the healthy flow. In fact, its flow was so strong that the creek flowed right over the connecting trail leading to the other side of the loop…
“Double-Edged Sword” (Millard Falls – February 19, 2017)
It wasn’t long before we saw a large group of hikers gathered near the mouth of Millard Canyon and the concrete ford. There was definitely a lot of water rushing across that concrete ford though…
“Just The Two Of Us” (Palm Springs – February 10, 2017 to February 12, 2017)
As Julie and I got closer to the creek amongst those palm trees, we saw some people with wet shoes. One guy told us that you’re gonna get wet on this hike, and that we would be better off giving…
“Chasing Ghosts” (Bailey Canyon Falls and Dana Point Waterfall – January 21, 2017 to January 22, 2017)
It wasn’t until about 3:45pm when we finally got home, but we definitely had to be careful driving up the I-5 as there were a few moments of standing water even on the fast and car pool lanes…
“Hiking or Legoland” (Cedar Creek Falls and Legoland – January 6, 2017 to January 8, 2017)
For just two hours in the park, I didn’t want to spend this kind of money. But Julie was insistent on us going in to park. Our verbal disagreement made the parking attendant uncomfortable and then…
“New Year, New Waterfall (sort of…)” (Aliso Viejo Waterfall – January 2, 2017)
Speaking of unpleasant, the water definitely had an unpleasant smell so we knew very well that this water was polluted. But that didn’t stop Tahia from running towards the foaming plunge pool where…
“Second Wave” (Eaton Canyon Falls – December 10, 2016)
Near the base of the Eaton Canyon Falls were some roses as well as another ledge where there was another bouquet of dried up flowers. I’m betting that these were to commemorate lost loved ones…
“Cortisol Levels” (Monrovia Canyon Falls – November 13, 2016)
We stared and watched as one guy was squared off against another with a third guy nearby either going to join in or just watch. But one of the guys looked like he wanted to get something from the…
“Yin Yang Traveling” (Taiwan – October 26, 2016 to November 6, 2016)
…we had trouble entering… the accommodation that Mom had booked on Friday night, and when she finally started getting a handle on the location of the accommodation…, that was when I realized…
“Seeking Out Japan’s Top 100” (Japan – October 13, 2016 to October 26, 2016)
So from that point on, we had a decision to make. Should we get off the next stop and take the next train back to Ueno hoping that we’d arrive in time to catch the 8am train back to Mito?…
“Bringing Up To Snuff” (Northern California and Southern Oregon – July 10, 2016 to July 16, 2016)
Of course, when Mom saw the closure sign, she called out to me and wondered if it was wise to do this, which further raised some doubts as to whether my confidence in the park being…
“The California Waterfall Rush” (Redding and Lake Tahoe – June 18, 2016 to June 24, 2016)
Anyways, after climbing then going around a bend where there was that familiar view of Mono Lake, we could now see that Mono Lake was essentially one big haze with the lake hardly being able…
“R Dub Nation” (Santa Cruz Mountains, Foresthill, Grass Valley, Oroville, and Sonoma – May 19, 2016 to May 22, 2016)
According to our GPS, we only had around 5-6 miles to go, but soon the weather continued to deteriorate from hail to heavy snow flurries. Now, things were getting serious, and it eventually got…
“Pick Your Poison” (Cooper Canyon Falls and Buckhorn Falls – May 1, 2016)
And indeed, there were plenty of moments where I had to make a decision on whether to make a risk-laden boulder scramble with dropoffs or wade through the poison oak. It was definitely a case of…
“A Joy Luck Weekend” (Switzer Falls and Portugese Bend – April 23-24, 2016)
As I was making the steep scramble up, I had to go up some exposed tree roots before I was on a narrow rock ledge leading to a narrow section where the rock ledge was kind of aided by the way…
“Self Picked Adventure” (Paradise Falls – April 16, 2016)
When we had our fill of Paradise Falls, we then headed back up at 3:45pm. And as expected, Tahia was not in much of a mood to walk. She wanted us to carry her, but we couldn’t accommodate…
“An Inconvenient Opportunity” (Holy Jim Falls – April 10, 2016)
Sure enough when we got onto the Trabuco Creek Road, we saw there was still water puddles filling in the potholes. Plus, the road was muddy as expected so we knew that Julie’s car was going to get…
“Dodging Bullets” (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma – March 9, 2016 to March 20, 2016)
Boy was it a good thing that we didn’t do the trip in reverse (clockwise) as originally planned, because we would’ve really been screwed with the flooding there. Plus, we would’ve really been…