Outdoor Adventure USA

Posted: **Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:44 am**

It's time to start planning your spring and summer outdoor adventure. Rick Schirmer, KK6CTT, has some great suggestions. Join us for the discussion.

Posted: **Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:28 pm**

02. Anza Borrego 170324-26 trip...Cause and Effect...Feature Product(s)

A. Lesson Learned:

1) Duct Tape
2) Glue
3) Needle and Thread
4) Speedy Stitcher http://www.speedystitcher.com/
5) Waxed Dental Floss
5) Extra Boots (quality of boot)

: Out of necessity one of the party chose a needle, waxed floss and used the pliers from his Victorinox knife to stay in the game.; aDSC01570 640.JPG (247.08 KiB) Viewed 1481 times

: K6DTK, Dave, has said this before, bring an extra pair, just in case...; aDSC01571 640.JPG (294.1 KiB) Viewed 1481 times

B. Multi-Tool:

1) Quality Tool (note..."quality")
2) Multi-use Pliers In this case Swiss Army large format knife, e.g., https://www.victorinox.com/global/en/Pr ... s/p/0.9043
3) Beware the "Jumping Cholla" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylindropuntia_fulgida

: Those little balls of fur down at the base are not fun...watch your step!; Cholla 01.jpg (437.15 KiB) Viewed 1480 times

C. HT Radio:

1) Battery Eliminator

: Run your HT off of this and save your batteries for the moments you go dismounted away from your ride.; Battery Eliminator.jpg (328.69 KiB) Viewed 1474 times

2) "P" Extra Batteries (P for Plenty!)
3) Aftermarket more efficient rubber duck (your choice there are a lot out there but I have had good luck with Diamond products)
4) Ed Fong or similar roll-up J-Pole...just in case DBJ-2 (ham) dual band roll up antenna kit - (144-148 MHz and 440-450 MHz) Includes adapters for BNC, SMA and SMA - female. Also includes a 6 ft extension cable. Maximum power input 50 watts. - $29 http://edsantennas.weebly.com/

: Ed Fong Roll Up J-Pole; Roll Up J-Pole 01.jpg (275.19 KiB) Viewed 1475 times

: Ed Fong adapters that come with the antenna to include a 6' extension.; Roll Up J-Pole 02.jpg (359.83 KiB) Viewed 1475 times

Posted: **Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:31 pm**

03. Planning and Preparation:

A. What is the theme of your visit? In this case I wanted to share a few sites I knew about and add a few more to my list of "explored AB places." We were meeting an academic group who were going to discuss flowers and their scientific attributes and names. More in depth than I care to admit interest in but these wanderers of the desert have a lot of experience with many varied topics that should be part of the well rounded outdoor explorer. In this case I found myself overwhelmed with information but I will come back for more; like a moth to a porch light.

B. On this trip the following sites were on the list:

1) The 2017 Flower Bloom (have camera will travel)

: Early into the trip, of course, there was time spent chasing photos of the flowers.; Flower 01.jpg (116.65 KiB) Viewed 1468 times

2) Marshal South's homestead (2 mile round trip), he called it "Yaquitepec" (YAKeete-PECK) http://www.desertusa.com/desert-people/ ... south.html

: Yaquitepec; Marshal South Homestead 01.jpg (90.88 KiB) Viewed 1473 times

3) The Morteros Trail (.6 mile round trip) https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/morter ... go-desert/

: Native Americans used these rock grinding surfaces to process their seeds and nuts in to meal. They returned time after time until finally we are left with only the traces they were there. Anyone ever find a pestle?; Mortero Rock 01.jpg (358.44 KiB) Viewed 1470 times

4) The Pictograph Trail (1.8 mile RT) https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/pictog ... go-desert/

: Kumeyaay Indian painters left their mark.; Pictograph 01.jpg (106.19 KiB) Viewed 1470 times

5) And the finale, a 5.5 mile RT hike to Maidenhair Falls https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/hellho ... go-desert/

: Not a huge waterfall but a significant find in any desert landscape, this was no exception.; Maidenhair Falls 01.jpg (225.9 KiB) Viewed 1470 times

: The weekend might be a little crowded but still worth the effort.; Maidenhair Falls 02.jpg (126.61 KiB) Viewed 1469 times

C. Again, with such a vast park, you have to visit the official website to get all the particulars in this case; hiking trails, dispersed camping, fire regulations, crowds and anything else that might effect your visit https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/hellho ... go-desert/

D. Now, as far as the bloom, I have been tracking the bloom report on DesertUSA http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca_abdsp.html and found their "bloom meter" to be a good gauge of the current bloom status. Good source of information for most areas. Something the bloom chasers may find a useful step is to check in to the Calflora website https://www.calflora.org/entry/wgh.html to do research of the exact area you plan to visit. You put the "X" on the map where you plan to visit and it will spit out the flowers others have reported exist in the area you plan to visit. Here is an example of the floodplain on the way to Maidenhair Falls.

: "X" marks the spot, hit "search" and you have a list of vegetation listed in categories to choose from.; Calflora 01.jpg (122.85 KiB) Viewed 1485 times

: Hold on, there is a lot of information about the plants in the area that are specific to your area of interest (I was only recently made aware of this great tool); Calflora 02.jpg (193.94 KiB) Viewed 1485 times

Posted: **Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:32 pm**

04. Some other tidbits before I call it good and finish up with a montage of photos:

A. I like to draw my coordinates from different sources but none as much as Goggle Earth (free), because I am a no frills travel inexpensively kind of guy... However, I also like having reference materiel on hand that I could easily use without any magical battery or electrical source and that is the Delorme Gazetteer. I find them quite useful...not perfect...but an added tool for the tool kit. An example for cost: https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Califor ... 0899332625

: Delorme Gazetteer has been a travel companion for many years.; Gazetteer 01.jpg (124.63 KiB) Viewed 1382 times

B. Also, this area is remote so in addition to your normal repertoire of programmed repeaters it is always good to have "proximity repeaters" either programmed in or on a hard copy that can be inputted at those quiet times in camp when radio work is how we bide our time until we eat of course!

Repeater List for Proximity of Julian and Borrego Springs.xls: A little list of AB repeaters to share. I know a few worked out on the trail but most of our work was done on simplex.; (44.5 KiB) Downloaded 53 times

NOTE: The above list was run from both Julian and Borrego Springs and then combined so the "distance" may not be right from one or the other (duplicates where deleted). Nonetheless, it was used as a fall back plan and I only got through inputting the 2m frequencies and although we did not use any repeaters, it was an exercise in solidifying my ability to hand program my HT.

C. A lot of the fill in the blank stuff can get "involved" but we all know, about the time you do not make the extra effort you run into MR SNAFU!

D. Enough of this...let's finish up with some photos...