Category Archives: Outside

Last Two Weekends

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The last two weekends have been quite fun. Two Sundays ago, I spent 15 hours working on the TOKYOPOP Van Von Hunter videos at a small studio in Hollywood. That may not sound fun, but it was quite enjoyable, more-so than the other sets (few they may be) I have been on. The night ended with Tjalsma and I launching blood-drenched glitter into the air as the female lead pranced around in a red-assed monkey suit and the voice of the Prince of Persia stood amidst it all dressed in only boots, swords and a well-placed pop-up book. That’s good times, folks.

This past weekend I returned to the Altadena mine caves. I brought Al-Insan and Patrick along. On my prior trip, my claustrophobia forbid me enter one of the caves with a small constricting entrance. This time I defeated my fear and made my way inside the cave. As is often the case with irrational fears, after I did it, I found it wasn’t frightening at all.

Good times.

Mine Cave Exploration

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A few weeks ago, I joined a website/Adventure Club called Extreme Things. Saturday. Erika and I joined them for a Mine Cave Exploration Hike in Altadena. Everyone seemed very friendly and we had a good time. Part of the fun for me was the hike, it involved a lot more climbing than I anticipated. Climbing is always a plus. We visited three mine caves, but I only ventured in to the second two. The first involved squeezing through a tight twenty foot crawl space. In essence, I would have only been able to use my feet to push myself through. I crawled through the ample entrance, the walls moving closer steadily. As I reached the point where my shoulders pressed against the rock and my movement became constricted, my heart began to race. I’ve always suffered from claustrophobia and Saturday wasn’t the day I would defeat it. Erika was tougher than me and squeezed inside, as did most of the group. There were two other cowards besides myself. I intend to visit the caves again and eventually force my way inside this particular cave, but it may take multiple attempts. The other two caves were much more spacious. The pictures are misleading, these caves are dark. Without a flashlight, you can see nothing, pure darkness. At some point, groups of gold-seekers dug these caves by hand and/or dynamite. They are rather large when one considers that, each a few hundred feet deep with two or three forks and various alcoves.

More Cave Pics Here

Exhaustion

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Today I am exhausted.

Yesterday, nearly a dozen of us from work took part in a manly activity called the Boot Camp Challenge. It took place at the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot in San Diego. Three mile run with obstacle courses along the way. We got to climb over walls, through tunnels, into foxholes and more. It was fun, but not nearly as physically taxing as the Mud Run we did earlier this year. It wore me out, but that isn’t why I am exhausted.

Last night, Erika and I passed out at 6:00 PM. We awoke 15 hours later. That is more sleep than I get during two nights. Too much sleep makes me exhausted, but I’m sure my body thanks me.

Channel Islands

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I have been wanting to visit the Channel Islands for some time now. They are a group of islands off the coast of Ventura that are part of a natural reserve. In other words, you can’t live or build there, but you can visit and camp. Erika and I took a trip to the closest island, Anacapa today. It was her first time on a boat and it was a hell of a way to be introduced. The waters were quite choppy and the trip was fairly wet. Sometimes spray would splash across the upper deck. Anacapa is a beautiful place. I hope to go camping, kayaking, and snorkeling on one of the other islands in the near future, probably Santa Cruz. On that one, you get to take a small skiff with all your supplies over the waves and onto the beach and you’ll probably get very wet.

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Mud Run

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The Mud Run was yesterday and it was great. It’s a 10K (6.2 miles) through a Marine training course coated in mud located in Camp Pendleton. Our team was the “TPOP Sloths” and our time was 1:39:49. The first half is mostly running with minimal obstacles and is kind of boring. Then, we hit the first Mud Pit and wall climb. From that point on, it was really fun. We swam across a shallow muddy river (the best part), crawled through tunnels, trudged through mud, climbed a slippery slope, and finished coated in mud. I just wish I had a camera for during the race. I’d love to do it again and I probably will do the Boot Camp Challenge in a few months. It’s all obstacles.

Click the image above and you can watch the cheesy video I threw together this morning.