Ann breaks out

I bike camped Mt Diablo August 4th.  This is definitely a guide by a beginner for beginners.  It was my very first time bike camping.  I had fun and I'll do it again, with a few modifications.

First off, Diablo this time of year is HOT.  Hot hot hot.  My partner calls me The Lizard because I go through much less water than the average person, and I still went through 1 1/2 liters getting there.  Keep in mind how much water you've got and where the next available water is.

Equipment:  My ancient heavy ill-maintained no-shocks commuter-fendered mountain bike.  Hey, I haven't gotten around to getting another bike yet and this is what I've got.  I'm a beginner.  Also one large pannier (an indulgence from my Seattle bike commuting days), a sleeping bag & pad, and a daypack.  One change of clothes, food, and 2 liters water.  No stove, no tent; it was warm enough to not need them and I didn't want the extra weight.  The bike was lopsided because the pannier was on one side, but this wasn't an issue except for the trail piece of the trip.  Even then it wasn't too much hassle; I'd do it again. 

Part 1: BART.  I took BART to Walnut Creek.  It's four miles from my place to BART and I'm used to that trip (35 minutes).  It took a little longer than usual with all the junk strapped on the bike rack.

Part 2: Getting out of Walnut Creek.  There's a bunch of ways one could do this; I opted for the shorter route with more streets.  Take a left on Ygnacio Valley.  I took the sidewalk here; there's no bike lanes and they even have signs saying bikes are permitted on the sidewalk.  When you see the bike-ped overpass, take a right to get on the Iron Horse Trail (paved).  Lovely trail!  It just gets better the farther you go.  At Stone Valley Rd take a left.  There's a shopping center here with a supermarket and some restaurants; this is your last chance to pee and get food and water.  I stayed on roads from this point until I entered the park; there's ways to use more trail (paved or unpaved), but I wanted to minimize mileage & save my legs for the climb.  There's bike lane or wide shoulder from this point up until Alameda Diablo, so I was comfortable on these roads.  Right on Green Valley, left on Diablo.  There's actually a path to the side of Diablo; keep your eyes peeled at the turn and you'll see it.  Stay on Diablo until Alameda Diablo - about 30 feet after the path ends.  This road looks like the entrance to the country club.  Don't let that fool you.

Part 3: Starting the climb.  Alameda Diablo is a very small street through an incredibly ritzy neighborhood.  Take the road alllllll the way back until it ends, then take a right.  If you have to pee it's wise to do so when you hit the supermarket at Stone Valley, because this looks like the kind of place where the sheriff will run you out of town for peeing in the woods.  No one gave me any trouble though.  The climb is really gradual, you barely notice it until back near the end.  Then suddenly you're pushing the bike, because for beginners like us pedaling is simply not going to happen on that gradient.

Part 4: the trail.  This is the toughest part, but also the prettiest.  You're looking for the Green Valley Trail to the Summit Trail.  Take a right from the road onto the trail.  You might miss the first sign (I did) but see the second one for the Green Valley Trail.  If you missed the first sign you'll have to turn around and go back downhill 50 feet to see where you turn (now a left onto) the trail; don't go straight up the Green Valley trail, that's the wrong way.  You'll walk back behind someone's house and hit the Summit trail pretty shortly.  There's a bridge over a stream (which might be dry).  Don't take the bridge; walk straight up the fire road instead. 

I was resigned to taking an hour for this last mile.  You're climbing something like 600 feet on a fire road over a mile.  Go ahead and take your helmet off, you won't be riding at all here.  This is where the bike being lopsided was a pain in the butt, because it kept sliding around if I pushed from the left side.  On the other hand, it stayed nice and controlled if I pushed from the right, because the weight counterbalanced.  I dunno what's best.  Anyway.  There is some shade here; mostly I pushed from tree to tree, resting & drinking water when I reached the next tree.  Take it slow and take time to watch the birds & squirrels & wild turkeys & coyotes.  That's why you're here, after all (did you know turkeys really do say "gobble"?).  It didn't help that I reached this section during the hottest part of the day.  Someone smarter than me probably would've waited for the day to cool some, but I just wanted to get there!

After a mile, you reach Live Oak campground.  Nineteen miles total; 1000 feet elevation gain.  Five hours to get there, four to get back (these figures include the BART ride & four miles on my side).

Notes about Live Oak: Raccoons.  Lots of them.  Persistent buggers.  The problem with bike camping at Live Oak is the raccoons will be all over your stuff, and you have no car to put your stuff in.  They're in the garbage.  They're in your neighbors' stuff.  There are no food boxes to put your things in.  I ended up shoving my bags *inside* the stone barbecue at my site.  Next time I'll take a garbage bag to protect my stuff from ashes & grill grease, or rope to hang my bags between two trees.  I don't know if they would have left my bags alone if I'd taken just the food and stuffed it in the grill.  I do know that they'll try to get in your tent, because one of my neighbors kicked one that was trying exactly that in the middle of the night.  Raccoons are nocturnal, so they won't bother your bags during the day.

If you're fit enough to make Juniper camp they have food boxes there (I don't think I could get there with my stuff - 1400 more feet up, but about the same distance if you start from Plesant Hill BART and go up the North Gate road).  Both campgrounds have adequate shade, portapotties and drinking water.  Juniper actually has showers, but they're only warm if it's warm out.  There's no food available inside the park except chips, candy bars and soda at the summit (2800 feet and at least 5 miles from Live Oak) so bring everything you expect to need, plus some extra to make up for the exertion.  It's wise to make a reservation during busy times; the campgrounds do fill up.  The whole park can also be closed if the fire danger is too high; they recommend calling before you leave to check.

Going back: going back I just went down the South Gate road.  The cars seemed pretty aware of bikes, plus it's easy to keep speed since it's downhill (wheeeeee!).  I took it slower than I needed to so I could enjoy the views.  This road's narrow and has no shoulder, which is why I didn't take it going up to camp.  I took a right on Diablo and met up with the route I took in.  There's about five or ten unenjoyable minutes on Diablo before the bike path starts on the right side, but you're still on a downhill gradient so you can keep speed decently.  I was worried about controlling the bike on the trail going downhill, which is why I came back a different way than I went in.  Not to mention wanting to see the views!  They're really something.

I went to the Green Festival.  Though it was a few weeks ago at this point I wanted to share some of it.

There were definite themes this year, at least among the five speakers I saw.  All were taking lessons from buddhism.  I saw an article somewhere on the western adoption of buddhist principles and how we alter them for our uses.  These folks definitely fit the article.

The speakers were concentrating on building the good, not decrying the bad.  That's right up my alley.  I'm really tired of listening to whining liberals and democrats (despite being aligned with their beliefs mostly).  Tell me what you want, not what you don't want.  As one of the speakers said (quoting someone else, I think): "Dr King didn't say 'I have a nightmare'."
 
Every speaker said something about community being more important than possessions.  Particularly remarkable given that the Green Festival is really a trade show for environmentally and socially friendly products. 

I saw Lynne Twist again.  She gave the same talk as last year.  This year she was at mainstage and folks seemed to really enjoy it.  She told her story about Buckminster Fuller.  She had the honor of working with him, and at one talk he was giving he paused and said "This is the most important thing I'm going to say.  We now can do enough with little enough that we have the resources and means to provide everyone on earth with a full life."  Scarcity is a myth; we just need to start acting on that knowledge.  Powerful stuff. 

Part of me wonders if scarcity is going to continue to be a myth if our environmental problems get worse.  But that line of thinking doesn't, in my mind, change the course of action we should take.  What provides a satisfying life is in supply for everyone, I think.  We just need to do that, instead of wasting resources for non-satisfying things and providing satisfying things in very wasteful ways. 

It also makes me think that an ongoing users' group would be a good place for *me* to get support as well as those who are working the program.  The ones who work it and value it will come to the potlucks; the others may fall away as they realize this is one more thing that didn't magically solve their problems.  

So I guess I should start a users' group.  I can do that.

I have indeed quit my job.  My last day is November 15.  I'm cleaning out files on my computer and came across this one from January 2005 that expresses some of my frustrations with my job at that point.  I thought it might be interesting to some, familiar to others... for my part, it's kinda cool to see how my life has changed since then.  Here goes:

What to do...
This 40 hour a week thing is killing me.  Well, not literally, but I am sick for the second time in six weeks.  I've missed three days of work both times.  Both times, many other folk in the office were sick.  We're not a really extreme example of sickies coming in to work, but things seem to get passed around very effectively anyway.

Anyway.  None of that's the point, it's just the symptom.

I'm considering cutting back my activity outside work in an attempt to keep myself healthy.  The new rule would be I can go out Friday and Saturday nights, and one night during the week.  Not more than that during the week.  I think I'm simply trying to do too much and that's what's making me ill.

I really, really resent having to cut back on my life for the sake of my job, though.  But I'm in this awful bind.  I'd like to retire early.  More than I can say.  I hate spending 40 hours a week doing *anything*, I hate being a slave to someone else for the sake of money.  But ya gotta pay the rent, ya know?  If I took a part time job I'd be tied to someone else's wishes for that much longer. 

I've already taken a non-profit job because corporate life was simply more than I could bear.  I turned into a lousy employee and an unhappy person.  I did poor work slowly. 

I'm happier in non-profit life.  At least I can be honest about who I am, what I'm interested in, and what my goals are, and be around people who understand and largely agree with me.  I can work on something I'm agreeable to.  But I still hate putting my 40 hours in.  Is anyone actually productive for 40 hours a week?  I doubt it. 

So why do we keep up this charade?  Because we get more money that way.

But my problem is, if I try to actually have a life outside work, I make myself sick by not having enough down time.  That's where I sit today, home sick on my very last sick day.  If I keep getting sick at this rate, I'll have to use vacation days for sick days.  And I'd end up taking unpaid leave pretty quickly.  Not to mention the fact that I'm falling behind at work.

Cutting back my activity so I don't get sick, though, is a recipe for resenting my job.  Of course, I do already.  I'm very happy to be away from corporate bullshit, but the salary cut is hard to swallow.  That many more years of slaving away behind a desk.  There are so many other things I'd like to do.

It's not that I hate the tasks involved in my job.  There are some that are tedious, but not extraordinarily so.  Things are difficult right now because of poor management, so that's not helping.  But I really don't think it's this job in and of itself that's the problem.

Every projection I run comes up with at least 10 years to FI, given my current situation.  God, 10 years of this.  How do people do this?  Why do we give the best years of our lives to cubicles?  It's a crime.

I have acquaintances who subscribe to the 1-year-on - 1-year-off work plan, but I'm scared to just take off.  I want the security of the assets that will support me.  I want to be done and not have more years of work hanging over my head in the future.  I want to get it over with and not have to grovel for more work after taking time off for reasons that I'll have to try to explain to some manager who'll just think it means I won't stick around.

Fuck.  I dunno.