Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Arizona Not-Quite Hiking  Last week I was at the Astricon show in Glendale, Arizona (near Phoenix), running the registration system. Not being one to pass up a chance for hiking, I had arranged to stay an extra day to hike the White Tank mountains. There was one problem though, I didn't have transportation to the park. After some thought I hatched what I thought was a good plan, getting there on a mountain bike. The plan was to pedal about 15 miles from the hotel to the trailhead, hike one of the trails (about 8 miles) and then return on the bike and finally donate the bike to a charity before flying back home. Getting the bike was the easy part. I bought a relatively cheap one from a nearby Wal-Mart and after making sure that it was road-worthy I had the hotel store it for me until later. By the way, being on a bike brought back some good memories of my childhood and that feeling of freedom one gets on a bike. On the day of the hike I stocked my backpack with water and food and I was on the road by 7 AM. It was predicted to be a hot day but at that time the desert air was still relatively cool and pleasant. As I biked my way closer to the park, I started to hear the thunderous sounds of fighter jets, apparently from training flights at the nearby Luke Air Force Base. By then I had biked nearly 8 miles and decided to pull over the side of the road for a quick drink of water and some food. That's about the time when my plan unraveled. As I got ready to jump back on the bike and pedal away, I noticed that the front tire had gone flat. On closer inspection, I saw that the inner tube had slipped out and wrapped tightly around the front brakes. It was a hopeless situation. Even if could untangle the mess, and even if the tube was undamaged, I had no air pump to bring the tire back to life, and I was in the middle of nowhere. Standing by the side of the road and considering my options, it quickly became apparent that I really had no options. I had to scrub the plan and started the journey back to the hotel on foot, leaving the bike behind. Sometimes you have to see the good side of an adverse event. While disappointed that I couldn't make the planned trek, I was treated to a decent air show with the fighter jets buzzing overhead, and sometimes flying low in tight formation. And instead of hiking the park, I ended up hiking by the roadside in the desert heat all the way back to the hotel. At least I had enough water. Plans sometimes fail. I might have mitigated the problem had I brought an air pump along, but no point dwelling on that. The way I see it, I got a good aerial show and still had a decent hike. And if I make it back to this place, I'll be sure to be more prepared, at least for a flat tire. The hapless bike with the inner tube tangled looking back at the forlorn bike and the unhiked mountains just beyond arizona,hiking,biking,fighter jets Labels: hiking <Arizona Not-Quite Hiking> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, September 08, 2009 San Gorgonio Wilderness  I never thought I would find anything likeable about Los Angeles, until last week when I discovered the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Ok, this is really about an hour drive outside Los Angeles, but hard to believe an area so beautiful is near the smog city. The San Gorgonio Wilderness is situated in the San Bernardino National Forest and it shares its name with Mt. San Gorgonio, rising from the south of the Wilderness and the tallest peak in southern California. As I was visiting my sister in the area, we decided to hike the South Fork trail, one of the many trails in this wilderness. The trailhead with a large parking lot is already at 6,000 feet or so, but the to reach the summit at 11,500 feet, one must still hike about 9 miles and it's a relentless climb the whole way. Since we had started the hike late (around noon) we knew that reaching the summit wasn't in the cards, but we managed to hike up about 6 miles before turning around to beat the dusk. According to some info I had read, South Fork is supposed to be the most popular trail from the group. I had dreaded running into big crowds, but surprisingly people were sparse, giving us a peaceful and serene hiking experience, being greeted with one splendid scenery after another. The only excitement we had was spotting a black bear after we were about 2 miles into the trail. Not accustomed to seeing bears roaming freely, we were startled and decided to quietly retreat. After collecting our nerves we returned and fortunately the bear was nowhere in sight. Apparently we were the only ones who saw this magnificent animal. As we wrapped up the hike, we vowed to return to this place and possibly the same trail, this time with the intention of reaching Mt. San Gorgonio's summit. Of course that requires a bit of will power to rise early to stretch our available daylight hours. Considering the reward, that shouldn't be an issue. If you are in the area and want to give the San Gorgonio Wilderness a try, you'd need to obtain an adventure pass and a separate wilderness pass prior to visiting the area. While it's an inconvenience, these permits directly fund preservation projects and they are used to control the flow of the crowds in an area where open space is such a rare and fragile commodity. hiking,california,national forests,los angeles Labels: hiking <San Gorgonio Wilderness> // posted by rh 0 comments Sunday, September 16, 2007 Joshua Tree National Park  In my recent business trip to California, I took a couple of extra days to spend time with my sister. We both grew up in Iran at the base of the Alborz mountains and many weekends outside of the winter season, my father insisted that we accompany him on his hiking trips up the mountains. I wasn’t exactly a fit kid, so I would try any excuse I could think of to get out of them. On those occasions that I couldn’t wriggle myself out I can describe the hiking experiences as a mixture of torture, sadism, profuse sweating, and exhaustion. Well, at least one of us (my sister) had my father’s pride most of the time. Times have changed and my father’s semi-tyranny has paid off quite handsomely. If I see a mountain now, usually my first inkling is to scale it. We hadn’t intended to visit the Joshua Tree National Park on this visit but on a quest to find a decent hiking spot, one road led to another and we ended driving to the park. We entered from the west entrance and almost from the start I was intrigued. This was my first time seeing Joshua trees with their think prickly leaves. The state park resembles the pictures beamed pack from Mars. There were huge boulders piled on top of each other everywhere in the desert and they extended all the way to the horizon. Happily, the park was relatively devoid of crowds. On the advice of the ranger at the entrance, who collected the $15 entrance fee, we headed for the Ryan Mountain, but not before stopping for a quick walk in the desert. It’s an enthralling yet terrifying experience. There’s absolute stillness and desert beauty, yet you realize that disorientation due to heat and dehydration could lead to death. Who’s ever going find a lost person in that vastness? Ryan Mountain turned out to be a good choice. We somehow missed the trailhead and wondered about for a bit but eventually picked up the trail further up. There are no real tall mountains in the park. Ryan Mountain, at around 5,500 feet, is probably one of tallest. It offered a relatively steep climb and at the top we were rewarded with beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and an incessant but pleasant wind. Now I know why there are so many wind farms in the area. I would have loved to spend more time exploring this splendid place, but time was short. The Joshua Tree national park is one of those places that leaves an indelible mark on your mind. It sure made a unforgettable impression on me, leaving me with the desire to come back again for another visit. Joshua Tree National Park,joshua tree,deserts,california Labels: hiking <Joshua Tree National Park> // posted by rh 0 comments

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