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*heartbeat* - Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

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July 30th, 2006
05:02 pm
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*heartbeat*
Well, I'm back on the trail -- four days into the trip. It was such a whirlwind I didn't get to post before I left. I owe y'all the story ... later.

Some final data sifting and a nice heart-to-heart talk with roaminrob finally convinced me to head back to the Sierra where I left off. It was a good decision. I was worried about the passes, but the snow has all melted off. The mosquitoes are frustrating but hardly the worst I've seen. The hiking has been demanding, but I've been making 20-mile days. I'm now past the worst of it, at Muir Trail Ranch (just past the northern border of Kings Canyon National Park) ... and nursing a knee that gave out after 10,000 feet of descent in 48 hours. Hopefully another night of rest will clear it up and I can keep hiking -- about 5 days to Yosemite from here and the end of the John Muir Trail (a great landmark and a wonderful achievement in case I can't finish the PCT).

Also: What's speckled brown, has beady little eyes, and charges at you out of the bushes when you're hiking down the trail? Answer to come when I reach a place with cheaper (non-satellite) Internet.

Current Location: East of Florence Lake, Calif.
Current Mood: soresore
Current Music: Whinnying horses
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From:sebboi
Date:July 31st, 2006 06:38 am (UTC)
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Chipmunks!

Oh, gods I hate those furry little bastards! It's like they read Darwins' Origin of a Species and collectively said 'Oh, yeah? Well, fuck you, Chuck!"

And they carry plague! Plague, I tell you! Varmints should be wiped from the face of the fucking planet. With fire. Or something...
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From:baxil
Date:July 31st, 2006 07:03 pm (UTC)
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Up in the high Sierra, we tend to see marmots (which look for all the world like beavers but with smaller tails) even in dizzyingly inhospitable places such as the barren, rocky slopes of Mt. Whitney. They are famous for being shameless little food thieves and gear chewers.

I've taken to calling the chipmunks and squirrels that we see at the Sierra's lower elevations "valley marmots."
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From:sebboi
Date:July 31st, 2006 10:19 pm (UTC)
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Marmots sound like 'wooly chipmunks'; a larger, primordial and more dangerous Dire Chipmonk or something. Neandermunk?

Anyway, they can go in the great cleansing conflagration, too!
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From:elynne
Date:July 31st, 2006 11:32 pm (UTC)
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Yep, it's a marmot I saw sitting calmly on the side of the road between I-5 and Northgate Mall one day. I nearly had a traffic accident as I tried to figure out "what the fuck is that??"
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From:kadyg
Date:July 31st, 2006 08:37 am (UTC)
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I remember Kevyn mentioning oddly agressive squirelles (sp?) when he was hiking though Canada. You're not in the desert and the altitude is probably too high for lizards.



I know! Some new form of mountain llama! I'm right, right?

xoxo
[User Picture]
From:baxil
Date:July 31st, 2006 07:12 pm (UTC)
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Sweetie, did you get my e-mails?
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From:natetg
Date:July 31st, 2006 02:37 pm (UTC)
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California Quail with young?
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From:zxizaraxii
Date:July 31st, 2006 02:50 pm (UTC)
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Spiders?
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From:elynne
Date:July 31st, 2006 11:34 pm (UTC)
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Yah, that was my first thought. Jumping spiders HAVE NO FEAR. Despite being smaller than a frosting sprinkle, they'll wave their forelegs and scream "COME ON YOU BASTARD, I CAN TAKE YOU!! COME ON!!" at your finger. Freaky, belligerant little bugs. ... I love them. :D
From:soreth
Date:July 31st, 2006 04:43 pm (UTC)
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Dan Rather.
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From:sebboi
Date:July 31st, 2006 10:21 pm (UTC)
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No, don't be silly. Dan Rather doesn't charge. He menacingly glares at you from a distance and marks his territory with auditory barks and hollers of 'This is CNN'. Mostly harmless.
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