Tired of the Big City??

There was mention in the paper last week about a dispute between the citizenry of Lost Springs Wyoming and the Census Bureau.  It turns out the official count was wrong - Lost Springs has tripled it's population to 3!!!!

That got me to thinking about small towns.  I mean REALLY small towns.  After a bit of exploring thanks to Google (bless you Al Gore) here is a collection of fascinating information you can use when planning your move to the quiet, rural paradises we didn't know about.

Other towns in the US with a claimed population of 1 from the 2010 census:
Criehaven, Maine. 
Hibberts Gore, Maine
Keil Township, Minnesota
Township 157-30, Minnesota (should also be awarded something for the weirdest town name)
Dix's Grant, New Hampshire
Greens' Grant, New Hampshire
Bonanza, Utah (wonder what Little Joe Cartwright things of this one?)
Hanks, North Dakota (only one town in this state?)
Hobart Bay, Alaska
Holy City, California (this one surprised me - California??)
Laurier, Washington (I've even been here but must have blinked)
Monowi, Nebraska
and the oddly named Oil Springs Reservation, New York

The winner of the smallest town in the US is Hoot Owl Oklahoma.  They actually claimed a population of 0 in the 2000 census.  That's zero, down from a high of 5 in 1990.  By 2010 it has returned to a crowd of 4.

Next time you're feeling overwhelmed by traffic as you try to drive I-5 into Seattle, just remember Lost Springs.

Japanese Tragedy

I hardly know what to say about this.  Obviously there has been plenty written already along with hours and hours of video coverage on television and on youtube.  I look through the videos and can hardly comprehend what I'm seeing.  Makes you wonder just how good a grip we actually have on our lives when you see how quickly it can all just go away.

Obviously we need to help these people.  And just hope we aren't the next in line to live through a horror like this.

Do what you can to help and do what you can to prepare yourselves.

The Wolverine Way

For some odd reason, wolverines have been getting my attention of late, with a recent lecture by a USFS biologist regarding research in the Cascades and then this book, which I stumbled onto in the local library. I have to admit, I'm baffled as to why this is the first book by Doug Chadwick I've read. It was not, however, the last. Let me sum up this work by saying it is an incredible read with information about what is clearly one of the most interesting animals on the planet and by quoting Mr Chadwick on his summary of this animal.....

"If wolverines have a strategy, it's this: Go hard, and high, and steep, and never back down, not even from the biggest grizzly, and least of all from a mountain. Climb everything: trees, cliffs, avalanche chutes, summits. Eat everybody: alive, dead, long-dead, moose, mouse, fox, frog, its still-warm heart or frozen bones."

Douglas Chadwick

I'm glad I'm not a frog in Indonesia....

When I was a young and idealistic university student of Wildlife Biology at the time when the term "ecology" was just being invented, there were still salmon and swordfish aplenty. Not only could you order either fish at a restaurant and feel no anguish over impacting a population, we didn't even grasp the concept of impacting a population. If there were farmed salmon, I'd never heard of them. If there was a dramatic decrease in the size of swordfish taken in the Atlantic fishery, it hadn't been realized yet.


Fast forward a few years and I still won't order the sword at dinner - although I have given up criticizing those who do. And not only has sportfishing for salmon fallen on hard times, the commercial venture from California to Oregon has all but disappeared. Alaska is feeling it as well and as we all know, there are salmon species that travel the Columbia that are still listed as endangered. So what do you suppose we have learned from our years and years of overfishing and the stunning impact it had on the marine fishery? Apparently nothing.

It seems that somewhere between 200 million and 1 billion (that's with a 'B') frogs are eaten every year. Indonesia leads the export market, so being a frog there makes it a real challenge to live a long and prosperous froggy life. While I am not a particular fan of frog legs and feet, it would seem there are plenty of folks that are. Having eaten them, I can confirm that they taste like chicken - as long as the chicken spent it's life in a pot of water. So it's sort of like eating a wet, fishy chicken.

It might be worth trying to remember the lessons we've learned in the world's oceans. Or maybe our froggie friends really will croak.
For more details on this whole unpleasant amphibian disaster - read this - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28876555

Wenatchee Outdoors.ORG

The main reason I work to hang on to Black Bear Lodge (aka Pine River Cabin) is to be able to access the incredible country in Central Washington. At the headwaters of the Wenatchee River at Lake Wenatchee, and just a short drive from Stevens Pass, the cabin places you in one of the most varied and scenic locales in all of the United States.

That may sound like a bold statement, but consider what you can find there.

A half hour west of the cabin and you are at the Cascade Crest for either skiing at Stevens or striking out on the Cascade Crest Trail. Dozens of other access points along the way provide access to hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing into some of the most dramatic scenery you can imagine. Head north and you can make your way to trailheads on Phelps Creek and into the Spider Meadows country or to Trinity and the trails along the Chiwawa River that lead directly into the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Head east and thirty minutes takes you beyond Leavenworth into the drying ponderosa forest that eventually opens into the sunny and lovely Wenatchee Valley with the Columbia River. Rainfall drops from over a hundred inches to about ten and the terrain is suddenly open and expansive. The two rivers - the Wenatchee and the Columbia - offer mulitple opportunities for any kind of water recreation you can imagine.

Here is a link to a fabulous website that offers extensive information on the area.

http://www.justgetout.net/Wenatchee/

For a quick intro check out this video from the website.
http://vimeo.com/7235177

Let me know when you are ready to visit so we can get you hooked up with Black Bear Lodge!!

Mammoth Mountain

On Thursday the 13th, Larry O'keefe, Berl Nussbaum and myself flew to Mammoth Lakes CA via San Jose and enjoyed the free beer passed out on Horizon Airlines. It was Larry's first trip on Horizon and he was like a kid in a candy store once he realized he was traveling with an airline that actually encouraged you to drink beer.

For all of us it was the first trip to this beautiful location and it required spending some time with a map to figure out where it was even located. I've heard of Mammoth for years and knew it was somehow associated with LA so had assumed it to be somewhere nearby, but I was actually surprised at the location on the east slopes of the Sierra Nevada, just southeast of Yosemite.

That close to the rugged peaks near that wonderful park it comes as no surprise that Mammoth is a stunning location. It is a bit of surprise, however, when you ski down mid-mountain and discover a fenced off area with warning signs encouraging you to avoid the toxic fumes spewing from an active volcanic vent. Imagine that! Skiing in Southern California on a volcano! Spectacular.

It's called Mammoth for a good reason, the mountain is enormous with 3500 acres and 28 lifts. Of course, on weekends the crowds are also mammoth since it's only about five hours or so from the nearest LA suberbs. We were told that on Saturday the 14th there were 36,000 skiers on the hill. As you might imagine, the lift lines were huge.

On Friday, however, it was fantastic. No lines, no clouds, no way it could have been better. Snow conditions were absolutely perfect in spite of the 40 degree weather and we were able to sample nearly the entire mountain. It's just too huge to cover all in one day unless the only objective is to traverse the area, so there are still many lifts I have yet to lay eyes on. Another trip is most certainly in the future.

We avoided the crowds on Saturday - remember this was MLK weekend so it was particularly nuts - by going 20 miles north to a small local hill, also owned by Mammoth Ski Corp - called June Mountain. Again, beautiful weather, completely manageable lines, and a fabulous time.

A Springboard Event

In January of 1996 the company I worked for was acquired by one of Ross Perot's gigantic corporations and underwent the typical remake to mirror the image of the new owner. We went from a small, privately held firm of about 120 people to being a part of an international company of many thousands.

The upside to such an acquisition is typically one of financial solvency and the adoption of a series of new tools, systems, processes and a remake of the culture. In this case, I had no interest in joining this particular firm for reasons that really no longer matter. As soon as the change was announced I began laying plans for my departure and next adventure.

When the changeover took place, the new owners, in a moment of generosity granted us all our full year's worth of vacation effective immediately. I think this was meant as an act of thoughtfulness and an opportunity for folks to take a little time off to readust to the new much more rigid culture. I took them up on it. I took my entire four weeks and disappeared for the month of February. I then returned. And quit.

I spent that year, from the first of March through about mid-September working with a partner to create a website devoted to boating in the salt water of the Northwest. We flew all over the place, from Olympia to Point Roberts, taking pictures of all the islands and bays and marinas and then built what would still be considered a first class website today. It subsequently sold to a couple of ambitious guys from Microsoft, but it kept me busy for months before that.

What I learned from that spring and summer, in addition to how to build websites and how to try to sell advertising on them, was that what seems like a lot of time when you are at the beginning of it somehow turns into not very much as you near the end. I promised myself that if I ever again was offered a chance to have time all to me, just to do what I wanted with it, I'd not waste as second of it, but dive right in and get busy.

This past Wednesday I was relieved of command at my job. Here I am, with time handed me, and another opportunity to invest my energy into the things I am deeply interested in. So I'm getting started.

There are a couple of ski trips in the next week. There is a lot of writing to ramp back up and complete. There is the opportunity to learn some new things - like classes in writing and publishing, like piano lessons. A chance to focus on my own health and spend time outdoors and get together with family and friends - this list goes on and on.

Expect a bit more activity here on this blog in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted on things as we progress, share a few bits of writing with you, take you along on some of these terrific ski trips and generally just do a better job of connecting with the rest of the world.

As I was describing all this to my son Zeke, he said to me, "Wow - this is really a springboard event for you!". I like that phrase. It sort of sums up where I am right now and offers a picture of what this means. I'm on the end of the board, bouncing up and down, trying to decide if it will be a back flip or a full gainer of a one and a half. And even if it ends up in a belly flop, I can't wait to get busy!!!!