4 knuckledraggers only! -- your adventures in California wilds? (Sacramento: camping, to live in)

[nullgeo]

Got to thinking about what .highnlite wrote in another post, another thread: how most folks on this Forum seem to live in the city and do city things and be concerned with city and state political and economics issues ... dunno how true that is, but it does kind of seem those civilized "issues" dominate.

So, decided the California neanderthal throwback Knuckledraggers, and out of state Knuckledragging visitors from other cave-clans, need some page time and representation. How about hearing from anyone who climbs California's mountains, canoes/kayaks her rushing rivers and coastlines, sails her bays and seas, camps in the golden deserts, gets serious cricks in the neck looking up in the redwoods, hunts, fishes -- and otherwise gets "out" into California's wild spaces? What are your best knuckledragging past-times? Stories?

Big state. Magnificent range of natural environments. Staggering. A whole planet in its own right.

No need for curmudgeons here ... just folks that like to "just do it" outside.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Ok, well, I gotta do both for a few more years. I was born in the hills but jobs were scarce so I migrated to the Coast. I'm still a working stiff but have access to a cabin in the local Mts. If I had my choice I'd be up there for good. U name it I'm up for it, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, trail running, you name it! My playground runs from the South of the border to Big Bear inland to the Salton Sea and 100 miles out in the Pacific! I'm doing my best to get the kids hooked too.

The fishing sucked this year so the big twin diesel didn't get much work. I did spend that extra time as far into the bush as I could get this year though.


This season I've filled two Deer tags and still chasin hogs and some birds.

[eureka1]

Why do you call people who enjoy the outdoors "knuckledraggers?" If I were to call anybody by that name it would be the city people who spend their days breathing smog and walking in malls.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by eureka1

Why do you call people who enjoy the outdoors "knuckledraggers?" If I were to call anybody by that name it would be the city people who spend their days breathing smog and walking in malls.

It's called being facetious ... I am borrowing the term (knuckledragger) from Curmudgeon's use of it as an attempted insult on another thread ... and I agree with you ... as I just wrote in that other thread, this new topic is for the folks who don't think burying your sh8t in a hole in the woods is any less refined than what goes on in Sacramento -- or the malls Au contraire !!

[nullgeo]

Here's a fascinating video look at a phenomenon of Yosemite that likely about 35 million (or more) of California's 36,961,664 residents are unaware of: Frazil Ice -- a Yosemite slurpy


YouTube - Yosemite Nature Notes - Episode 9 - Frazil Ice

[Curmudgeon]

Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea. Learn something new every day.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea. Learn something new every day.

Hey! Good to find you here ... welcome aboard

I suspect this thread will, over time, showcase a LOT of great California phenomena hidden in plain sight. Hope so. Great state to show off.

[nullgeo]

Yo Angry -- thanks for helping get the thread started ... you say your activity range is mostly southern Calif. (the area I am least familiar with) ... pictures were great to see ... deer hunting south too?

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

Ok, well, I gotta do both for a few more years. I was born in the hills but jobs were scarce so I migrated to the Coast. I'm still a working stiff but have access to a cabin in the local Mts. If I had my choice I'd be up there for good. U name it I'm up for it, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, trail running, you name it! My playground runs from the South of the border to Big Bear inland to the Salton Sea and 100 miles out in the Pacific! I'm doing my best to get the kids hooked too.

The fishing sucked this year so the big twin diesel didn't get much work. I did spend that extra time as far into the bush as I could get this year though.


This season I've filled two Deer tags and still chasin hogs and some birds.

[.highnlite]

burying your sh8t in a hole in the wood

You know, the preferred alternative today is to pack it out.. and in the desert you are supposed to smear it on a large rock.

Which reminds me.

My first winter ascent of Shasta, who were we to know we were about 2 months too early. We did the 2:00 AM start, -something bad degrees, and it only got colder, at the 10,000 foot level, there is a flat area, we decided that since the snow was as solid as a rock (more on that in a bit) we would not attempt suicide in Avalanche Gulch. We (my partner who now is a fishing guide) snuggled in a nook between a couple of rocks to get out of the wind, hauled out the primus stove to brew a cuppa, I braced the stove with a couple of small rocks, one of which had an odd shape to it, upon close examination it proved to be someone's fecal deposit, frozen as solid as... a rock!. We tossed that made our tea, clicked into our skis and enjoyed 4,000 feet of descent on snow as soft as an asphalt highway and as steep as a black diamond slope. Oh, and less I should forget to mention, at that time I could not ski for beans, having only one lesson some years before, in the rain, in New Hampshire, I could make a wedge turn to the left, but nothing to the right. My partner of course could ski very well, and he did have the patience to wait for me.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Hey! Good to find you here ... welcome aboard

I suspect this thread will, over time, showcase a LOT of great California phenomena hidden in plain sight. Hope so. Great state to show off.

One thing no one can argue is that California is absolutely unique in that regard. Nine state and three other countries later there is still no place quite like it - bits and pieces, yes, but not the totality.

Originally Posted by .highnlite

My first winter ascent of Shasta, who were we to know we were about 2 months too early. We did the 2:00 AM start, -something bad degrees, and it only got colder, at the 10,000 foot level, there is a flat area, we decided that since the snow was as solid as a rock (more on that in a bit) we would not attempt suicide in Avalanche Gulch. We (my partner who now is a fishing guide) snuggled in a nook between a couple of rocks to get out of the wind, hauled out the primus stove to brew a cuppa, I braced the stove with a couple of small rocks, one of which had an odd shape to it, upon close examination it proved to be someone's fecal deposit, frozen as solid as... a rock!. We tossed that made our tea, clicked into our skis and enjoyed 4,000 feet of descent on snow as soft as an asphalt highway and as steep as a black diamond slope. Oh, and less I should forget to mention, at that time I could not ski for beans, having only one lesson some years before, in the rain, in New Hampshire, I could make a wedge turn to the left, but nothing to the right. My partner of course could ski very well, and he did have the patience to wait for me.

That could give a whole new meaning to cuppa mud!