Ever since the start of winter I've been wanting to get out and do some snowboarding. I got a season pass again this year and I need to get some use out of it!! But unfortunately the beginning of the season was pretty dry. But it had been cold enough for producing man made snow, so I figured that most of the runs were open and lifts were operating. So even though there was a big storm in the forecast I figured I'd head up to Bear Mountain the day before the storm started just to check it out. And I also figured that most people would be waiting for the fresh snow from the incoming storm so I figured it would not be very busy. And I was right! I got there just before the lifts opened and I was actually able to park in the main lot. Which almost never happens. And there was actually so few people there that I never had to wait behind a single person in the lift lines all day! And although there was almost no natural snow the man made snow had all the runs well covered and so pretty much all the lifts were running.

So a little over a year ago I decided to take on a trail project and made several trips up the Cucamonga truck trail to work on fixing up the overgrown trail going down to Day creek. You can read about those trips hereherehere, and here. And so this year I wanted to make at least one trip up there just to keep up on the trail maintenance so it doesn't get so overgrown again. So once again I made the drive up the long dirt road passed San Sevaine flats, Buck point, and the Joe Elliot camp all the way to the end of the road where my trail begins. I threw on my backpack, grabbed my shovel and my Harbor Freight hand saw, and headed down the trail. Luckily the trail was still in pretty good condition, but there was still several spots where I stopped and did trail work. Eventually I got down to the creek and I setup my camp in the camping area there. Once camp was all setup I decided to head up the creek to the springs. I hopped rocks up the canyon and as I was getting close I started seeing several new rockslides that had come down. And when I arrived at the springs I was surprised to see that a huge rockslide had come down right on the middle of the springs. The waterfall to the left and the waterfall to the right were still uncovered and flowing well, but the whole middle section where there were several cracks in the cliff that wo

Jordan Hot Springs lies in the Golden Trout Wilderness in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain range. I've actually been out to Jordan a few times before. Once on a solo trip in 2012 and then once again in 2013 with my mom at the end of a big 8 day loop all around the whole Golden Trout Wilderness area. Then in 2017 me, my buddy Ryan, and a couple of our other friends attempted an early season trip to the springs, but since the road to the regular trailhead was still closed due to snow we opted to attempt a trip from a much farther trailhead. And after a couple days of hiking we got close, but the early season runoff from all the melting snow had all the creeks and rivers raging and the final crossing of 9 Mile creek was uncrossable and prevented us from making it all the way. So when Ryan hit me up recently about trying to get in a trip before the winter hit, and he threw out Jordan as one of the potential options, I knew we had to go back for redemption! And also just because I knew Ryan was gonna love it. Not only is he a big hot springs fan, but he's also really into cool old historic stuff and there is lots of that on this trip. So we headed up route 395 to Sherman Pass road and made the long drive up passed Kennedy Meadows to the Blackrock trailhead. The trailhead is probably further out into the middle of the range than almost any other trailhead I know and the road is long and winding making it take a really long time to get out there, so luckily we got a pretty early start.

Late September and early October is my favorite time in the high Sierra. Not only can you get to see the amazing fall colors, but also most the bugs are gone and the thunder storms are much rarer. The nights are getting longer and colder, but a headlight and a good sleeping bag solves that so I find the trade highly worth it. For awhile now I'd been wanting to check out the Lamarck lakes and climb Mt. Lamarck, but when I planned this trip I got a bit more ambitious and decided to turn it into a gnarly 5 day loop. The trip began and ended at the North Lake trailhead in the North Fork Bishop creek drainage up above the town of Bishop, CA. I drove up to the trailhead the night before and just slept in my truck at the trailhead. The next morning I got my stuff all packed and ready to go and then drove up the road into the North Lake campground where the trail actually starts and dropped off my pack there. Unfortunately you can't park at the campground so I had to drive back down to the parking area and walk a half mile up the road before starting the hike. Which really isn't a big deal, but being forgetful I ended up making it a bit worse. As I got to the trailhead and threw my pack on and started up the trail I realized that I had forgot my battery pack that I use for charging things out on the trail, back in my truck. Luckily I realized this quickly and didn't get too far up the trail. But with an extra half mile down the road and a half mile back up I had walked 1.5 miles before even getting started on the actual trail! I didn't let it frustrate me though, the scenery around the trailhead is beautiful and so I saw it as just a pleasant warm up for the actual hike.

So recently I saw that the Mises Institute was giving away some free books. As a proponent of Austrian economics myself I highly appreciate what the Mises Institute does and have learned a ton from them over the years. So I immediately headed over to Mises.org to claim my free books. The first free book is called 'How To Think About The Economy" by Per L. Bylund. It's my first book by Per and it's pretty short so I've actually already finished reading it. And I found it highly enjoyable. I think it's a great beginners book for people wanting to get started in learning Austrian economics. Value, money, prices, production, entrepreneurship, exchange, scarcity, investment, regulatory intervention... it's all there and all very clear and simply laid out making it easy to digest. And if you are interested in getting a free copy for yourself you can order one here. The second book is called 'What Has Government Done To Our Money' by the late great Murray N. Rothbard. I've only just started reading this one, but I have no doubt that it will be great as I have read many of Murray's books since I first found out about him over 12 years ago during the Ron Paul presidential campaign and since then he has probably become my all time favorite author. And if you are interested in getting your own free copy of 'What Has Government Done To Our Money' you can order it here

Me and my buddy Larry's birthdays are a week apart and so for a dual birthday trip we wanted to do some backpacking in the the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. I had originally planned for us to spend a few days at the Lamark lakes. But when I went to get a permit there were none available for that trailhead. But luckily I was able to get permits for a different trail in the area... the Tyee lakes trail! We drove up highway 395 and met the rest of our group, our friends Ryan, Sophia, and Shane, at the Mt. Whitney cafe in Lone Pine. We had breakfast there and then they followed us up to Bishop and then up Bishop creek to the Lake Sabrina trailhead parking where our trip would end. Ryan left his truck there and we all packed into Larry's car and drove around to the South Fork of Bishop creek to the Tyee lakes trailhead where our trip began.