Could I have been... a winemaker? » hiking

Hiking with the moon

Derek — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:58:17 +0000

I had been wanting to go on a hiking/backpacking trip organized by Nicolas Smith for several years. I never really had the motivation to go despite always having the desire to make more friends and to find new people for Dave and me to hike and backpack with. (Nicolas leads small group hiking trips throughout the Bay Area for gay men). When I saw on Facebook last week week that Nicolas was leading a full moon hike in Marin on Wednesday after work, I decided to jump on the opportunity. This seemed liked a great post-Lifecycle chance to get outside, continue meeting new people (gay men, specifically) and savor the Bay Area beauty that I try so hard to not take for granted.

So I told Brian G. that I made plans for us to join the hike (I knew I would be more comfortable with a wingman) and he agreed to join. We left after work, met the group of guys that had signed up and then carpooled over to Marin as the sun slowly began to set.

While the hike itself up to the top of Hill 88 was beautiful, with some fun exploration of old military bunkers along the way, those details aren’t the most important. What made the experience special was the people… the awesome 10 strangers that we met and got to know for 5 hours on a random Wednesday night.

Yes, watching the full moon rise over the city was spectacular but meeting Johan, Javier, Ben, Braden and others was what I was really there to do, to meet new, interesting people.

I won’t go as far to say I made any new friends just yet, but I’m trying to capitalize on the opportunity to get to know some of these guys more.

My photos on Flickr here, and some of my favorite photos from Nicolas’s collection below:

Heading up Hill 88

The Mighty Pacific (photo credit: Nicolas Smith)

Me and Brian (photo credit: Nicolas Smith)

Making trouble (photo credit: Nicolas Smith)

The full moon rising over the Bay (photo credit: Nicolas Smith)

Full moon over the Bay (photo credit: Nicolas Smith)

Trip report: Trinity Alps

Derek — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:54:48 +0000

This weekend for the extended Labor Day break, Dave and I decided to venture up north to the Trinity Alps Wilderness for a backpacking trip. We had never been up there and have been looking for new areas to explore.

We made the 5 hour drive up to the Redding area (with some fun truck stop exploration along the way), had some Taco Bell for dinner (yum!) and ended up in Weaverville, CA and grabbed a room at the Motel Trinity (we are modest and underpaid). We discovered the next morning when we were driving through, that Weaverville is a very cool and very cute little gold rush town (we also love Nevada City on the way to Tahoe).

We hit the trail and ended up covering 16.5 miles round trip over the course of three days, pretty easily. We climbed about 3,500 feet, visited several waterfalls, camped by Upper Canyon Creek Lake the first night and along the Creek itself the second. We scrambled up to L Lake for a day hike and made lots of delicious food (pizza quesadillas, tortilla soup, pudding Oreo desserts).

We had a great time and I’m happy to report that I took lots of pictures! I’m glad I did, documenting a few mini-adventures that we might have otherwise forgotten about (jumping into the freezing cold water fall, draining the left over tortilla soup in a bag, finding a killer campsite along the creek).

Unfortunately, backpacking season is almost over so we might not end up doing another trip this year. I’m glad we finally made it out and I think this will just make us wanting to get out there early next year.

Hitting the trail… finally

Derek — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:58:43 +0000

By this time last year, I had gone on approximately 15 hikes or backpacking trips including Half Dome and Mt. Whitney.

So far this year, I’ve gone on only two. (And they were only day hikes.)

I have some serious making up to do if I’m going to hit 200 miles of hiking this year. (While I haven’t been hiking, I’ve been a running fool… with 387 miles logged in 9 months of 2010 and many more to come with marathon training.)

Well, we are finally packing our bags for the extended Labor Day weekend and are heading up to the Trinity Alps for a three day, two night backpack trip. For some reason I have this nervous anxious feeling. I am excited to go because it’ll be peaceful and relaxing and beautiful (and a mountain range we’ve never been to). But in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “what about my long run this weekend?” I’ve been disciplined and on target for all my training over the last 4 weeks but this is going to throw me off. And it comes a week before I start a week and a half of traveling. So, I’m a little afraid that this might be the beginning of training derailment.

Anyway, I’m taking my camera so even if I do fall off the training wagon I will be getting back on the picture taking wagon. Tit for tat.

2009 in Photos

Derek — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:18:35 +0000

Snow shoeing in Tahoe with Nicole and Meagan

Hiking in Marin with Booger

Jared and Dave at Maggie's birthday

Giant's game for Lindsey's birthday with Katie

Backpacking Wawona area in Yosemite

Benny Benassi with Lindsey and Katie

Number one dance parter, Katie

Backpacking Smith Peak with Jack and Dave

Atop Smith Peak in Yosemite

Playa del Carmen with Jaime for Stephanie's wedding

Anne's camping birthday

Go karting for Joy's birthday

Another night at Bootie for Joy's birthday

Summer outing in Livermore Valley with Racepoint

Atop Mt. Whitney with friends

Mt. Whitney complete

Meagan and Kersti in town with Marcelo

Being very American with Kersti at a Giants game

Raymond and Marcelo

Atop Half Dome with Dave and my Dad

Pretty Lights with Katie and Lindsey

Wine tasting in the Carneros with Jaime

Katie's Black & Blue birthday with Lindsey

With Meagan <3 at Katie's birthday

Chicago Marathoners

Dinner with friends in Chicago

Kaskade with Lindsey and Katie

Thanksgiving at Joy's with Dave and Lola

Backpacking in Point Reyes with Dave and Jonas

Point Reyes beach shot over Thanksgiving with Nick

It’s ready! An ode to Mt. Whitney

Derek — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:10:43 +0000