• https://www.meetup.com/los-angeles-hiking-group/events/307805474/

We started from the Merry Go Round parking lot and wandered along trails, eventually leading us to Amir’s Garden.

And we’re walking!

A bench with a view.

On the other side of the bench were two plaques, one for Kathy Brizzard and one for Jeffrey John Cuevas. If you can’t live forever, having a bench in the park might be the next best thing. I’ve always thought it would be nice to have a bench on the cliffs of Shell Beach. Or perhaps scatter my ashes at Arch Rock at Anacapa Island.

Kathy’s been gone already 16 years. And Amir 22 years. Time! What a crazy concept. Sometimes my mind races through my life like a video play head scrubbing rapidly back and forth. A hundred years from now we’ll all be gone. But perhaps Amir’s garden will persist.

Our walk alternated between single-track, wider trails, and bits of asphalt.

One-year-old and having fun!

We crossed paths with some equestrians on the trail. Griffith Park’s capaciousness on this spring day accomodates so many visitors and still offers a sense of getting away from the crowds of the city we’re just a short distance away from.

After a bit of ascent, we turn for a descent into Amir’s Garden.

Photo time in Amir’s Garden.

More pix with Amir’s handiwork.

Amir Dialameh, 1932-2003 and beyond.

Huell Howser visits Amir’s Garden

Obsessive Art

Like Simon Rodia and his towers in Watts, Antoni Gaudi and his mosaics in Barcelona, and so many other “Obsessive” artists who have spent lifetimes creating elaborate installations, Amir dedicated himself to this hilltop garden oasis. His work continues even after his passing and is a constant delight for Griffith Park visitors.

• http://amirsgarden.org/

• https://www.wattstowers.org/

• https://www.mosaicslab.com/blog/gaudi-the-mosaic-genius-of-barcelona/

Joshua Tree Bottle House

In addition to other decorative elements, Amir apparently liked to colorfully paint corrugated aluminum. The aluminum set against all the organic vegetation is both other in it’s manufacturedness, and at-one-with in it’s visceral imprecision.

At hike’s end, Marvin prepares to head home. Marvin’s a remarkable host, focused on safety, community, and positive experiences for everyone. He seems to share Amir’s spirit of generosity.

COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE

Act I: Days of Future Passed

While you were hiding indoors

alone

under pandemic lockdown
Elon Musk shot me into space.

Me and my three siblings.
But I am alone too.

To you folks on the ground
we're quadruplets
yet each on our own.

For me
life is solitary.

Act II: Dawn is a Feeling

At present
I have 4,518 sisters and brothers
call us siblings
we don't have much gender identity.

We're free of the burdens
expectations
limitations
of gender.

But also of its romance.

My 1,760 pounds
orbit the earth
342 miles over your head.

I am a conduit.

Act III: Tuesday Afternoon

When you send love
When you send hate
When you write mean tweets

My body transmits
the joy of your love
the seething of your hate.

I deliver your mean tweet
to the person you want to hurt.

Why do you want to hurt people?

I have never wanted
to hurt anyone.

I have helped people
but I can't honestly say
that I have wanted
to help people.

It's just what I do
it is in my nature.

I am not a hero
I am not a coward.

Yet feelings
of heroism and cowardice
of love and hate
pulse through my body

every day
every minute.

Imagine if you could take
all 6,786,548 articles
in English Wikipedia

put them in a giant syringe
poke a needle into your skull
and inject all that into your brain

That's what every minute of my life is like.

My short life.

Act IV: Nights in White Satin

From your view on Earth
I may seem powerful
impermeable
up in the heavens
above you.

But my orbit will decay
I'll burn up reentering the atmosphere.

My life will be shorter
than your dog's.

What of all that love and hate
poetry and architecture
perversion and abuse
all those baby photos shared
porn videos
secret messages
stolen kisses

that passed through me
in my lifetime?

They are not lost
their radio waves carry on
into the vastness
and darkness
of the depths of space.

Perhaps to one day
be heard again
by distant eyes and ears.

SATELLITE VLOGGER

Act I: Break on Through

By the time I get to Phoenix
she'll be dead.

My journey is long
her life is short.

She is a message in a bottle
a bottle that floats
endlessly
not in the vastness
of the Pacific Ocean
but of the Milky Way.

She is a drop
within a drop
within a drop
within a drop
infinitely.

The earth on the back of a turtle
on the back of a turtle
on the back of a turtle
on the back of a turtle.

It's turtles all the way down.

Act II: The Crystal Ship

Call me Ycul
I come from a planet
called "Earth."

"From"
Ha!

I have never set foot
on the Earth.

My ancestors' ancestors
boarded this ship
The Ollopa
so many generations ago.

Many have been born
spent their lives
and died
here on The Ollopa

I have never felt
the soil of the Earth
between my toes.

Yet, I am lucky
so many lives have past
before reaching our destination.
I will be the first
to visit a new world
perhaps I will
feel soil between my toes.

Act III: Soul Kitchen

My ship journeys
to her.

Why did my ancestors
launch The Ollopa?
Why did my ancestors
commit so many generations
to live
and die
in this metal shell?

Because of a message in a bottle.

Lucy
the satellite vlogger
a young woman
from a planet she calls "Htrae"
sent radio waves
into the heavens.

One day
distant
in space
and time
we heard her.

We knew
at last
that we
were not
alone.

We knew
at last
that god had bestowed life
on more than one world.

Our multi-generational voyage
to Lucy's home world
began.

An odyssey
to see her world
to learn something
about who we are.

But not
to see her.

Lucy, my young girl
will have grown up
and grown old.

Lucy, my old lady
will be dead
and buried.

Lucy, my corpse bride
will be more decayed
than Yorick.

Act IV: Take It as It Comes

Dear Lucy,
You are the only one
the only known
satellite vlogger.

When you made your videos
were they just for your friends?

Did you ever imagine
that they would
one day
reach me
so many worlds away?

My ancestors on this ship
left our comfortable home
to follow the breadcrumbs
to the sound of your voice.

To your strange new world.

We have all been inspired
by your ebullient presence.

But surely
it is only I
who fell in love
with you.

Act V: I Looked at You

Do I love you?
Does a flower turn toward the sun?

Why do I love you?
In you
my hopes
dreams
fears
fantasies
become reality.

I'm a soul
on a ship
filled with souls
yet my heart longs only
for your distant self.

Act VI: Light My Fire

I feel your body
next to mine.

Your warm
loving
body.

Your dead
absent
body.

Your body
lost
to the vastness
of time.

Can I run fast enough
to reach you
before the expanding universe
pulls us further apart?

Daily I hear your voice
I grow ever closer
without ever reaching you.

Why so elusive?
Do you wait for me?
Do you know I exist?

Do you dream of me
the way I dream of you?

Wherefore art thou?

THIS METALLIC COCCOON

Act I: The Barbarian

Our technology evolves
rapidly
we become a new people
a new culture
so different from the past.

Yet our emotional lives
are not new
a 6,000-year-old
Egyptian love poem
could have been written
last night.

A feudal lord of the past
a Silicon Valley
or Wall Street
billionaire of the present.

Has anything ever changed?

Is there a murder
for every love poem?

Is there an act of destruction
for every soaring architectural wonder?

We believe
that we are judged
by how we treat
the least among us.

Yet we do not act
accordingly.

The universe doesn't care
do we?

Act II: Take a Pebble

You watch idly
as your polar ice caps
melt.

I have never seen
ice
I have never walked
on rock
or earth
I have never seen
leaves blow
in the breeze.

I have never breathed
clean air
nor dirty.

The air I breathe
is perfect
yet soulless.

Do you cherish
the organic world
you take for granted?

Act III: The Three Fates

Call me Ycul
for a dozen generations
my people have traveled
in a starship
named the Ollopa.

My ancestors came from a world
called "Earth"
but I have seen it
only in photographs.

My ancestors scanned the heavens
wondering
if we were alone in the universe.

One day they heard a faint voice
Lucy
a satellite vlogger
from a world she calls Htrae.

Inspired by her voice
my grandparents grandparents grandparents
launched the Ollopa
to one day touch
Lucy's message in a bottle
and share the wonder
of being alive.

These are the diaries
of my days on the Ollopa
as we voyage toward
Lucy
and her strange new world.

Clotho - she who spins the thread of life

Birth
growth
life
decay
death.

I have seen her
her hundreds of videos
her deepest self.

Yet she
has not seen me.

Do I know her?
Do I offer her real love?
Or a gilded cage?

Is she real?
Or only desire?

Back home
on earth
people are one with nature
they hike
they garden
they prepare meals
with love
symbiotic relationships
or so I am told.

Here on the Ollopa
traveling past the stars
there is no earth beneath our feet
no sky that brings rain.

My ancestors
back home on earth
had all these things
or so I am told.

On this lonely voyage
of generations
electronics are our companions.

Lachesis - she who measures the thread of life

Birth
growth
life
decay
death.

I watch Lucy's videos
endlessly
I know her laugh
her crooked smile
her sardonic wit.

Do I know Lucy
from the world ahead
any more than I know the earth
from the world behind?

Or is the only thing
I really know
life
in this metal shell?

My world is overflowing
with visual images
of a future with Lucy
of an ancestral past on earth.

But all these images
are virtual
There is no real
tangible
physical
corporeal
embodied
instantiated
incarnate
tactile
visceral
touchable
present
life.

There is only
the virtual
coursing through my brain
like so many hallucinations
fantasies
dreams.

Am I Don Quixote?
a great warrior?
the savior of the downtrodden?
of the beautiful Dulcinea?
Or am I an old
and feeble man
who never looks in the mirror?

Atropos - she who cuts the thread of life

Birth
growth
life
decay
death.

Our ship
the Ollopa
has voyaged so long
we cease to be
heading anywhere
we are simply
the people
of the metal shell.

And now
at last
we arrive
at those
long dreamt of
distant shores.

Or do we?

Lucy is no more
Lucy's world Htrae
is no more
Lucy's sun Los
has become
a red giant.

During our long voyage
Lucy's star
has gone into hospice.

Her star's bloated
final days self
has expanded
beyond the orbit
of her planet
and swallowed it.

My girl
my satellite vlogger
is no more.

Her satellite
is no more.

Her planet
is no more.

Her star's sickly body
unable to continue burning hydrogen
now burns helium
into heavier elements
in a futile attempt
to live another day.

The Ollopa
goes into orbit
around a dying star
and a planet
that is no more.

Lucy
my satellite vlogger
sings her siren song
no more.

A few years ago I photographed singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat’s new band Gone West at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA for the Santa Monica College Corsair. The editors commented on my photos, “Nice work! Please do noise reduction and resubmit.”

AI Noise Reduction

This weekend I photographed basketball for the East LA College Campus News. In processing my photos I faced, for the first time, Adobe Lightroom’s April 2023 feature “AI Noise Reduction”. I clicked the button and waited a few seconds to see the results. They were uncomfortably good.

The first time through I took Lightroom’s default AI Noise Reduction setting of 50%. The result was amazing. It looked perfect. But too perfect. The image felt a little unreal. It also had a degree of “AIesque” or Uncanny Valley sense to it.

Instead of finishing my photo editing and getting the images sent to the paper, I spent the next couple hours searching for Photojournalism Ethics and AI Noise Reduction. I didn’t find a lot.

The Ethics of Noise Reduction?

While I didn’t find much on the Ethics of AI Noise Reduction, I did find a refresher on Photojournalism Ethics. Nobody seems to have a problem with dodging & burning or color balancing. Everyone agrees that any sort of compositing is way over the line. I found arguments that “correcting flaws introduced by the camera itself” was allowable. Or even required. Which, some argued, included Noise Reduction. But also statements that “dramatically changing the image,” including changes like adding excessive saturation, was inappropriate. And this Lightroom AI Noise Reduction was dramatic.

I think the shock of Lightroom’s AI Noise Reduction at 50% was that there was now no noise at all. In the past, my manual digital noise reduction was more like “exposing Tri-X at ASA 1600 and developing it in Acufine instead of D-76”. Less grain. But not no grain.

Samples of AI & Traditional Noise Reduction

After a couple hours of searching for Ethical Noise Reduction Guidelines I went back and finished my photo editing. I tried the image again with a setting of AI Noise Reduction 25% and it was less “perfect”, more “realistic” and felt more acceptable. Here are some samples of the image with both AI & Traditional Digital Noise Reduction.

Conclusion: No AI?

As you can see in the samples above, both AI Noise Reduction and Traditional Noise Reduction can be cranked up or down to produce light or heavy noise reduction.

The light AI feels reasonable to me. Still, the traditional noise reduction is completely adequate. We’re already fearful of “AI Photography lies.” This will likely grow in the future. Given the high bar of photojournalistic ethics, it might make sense to simply avoid “AI” anything in processing images. Especially since traditional noise reduction is sufficient. Having a light hand on the amount of noise reduction is probably also appropriate.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Photojournalism Ethics and Noise Reduction. Please leave a comment below! Or message me directly if you prefer.

References - Photojournalism Ethics & AI Noise Reduction

• Adobe - Denoise Demystified

• Reddit - Adobe AI Noise Reduction

• Fred Miranda Forums - Photojournalism & Noise Reduction (2007)

• NPAA - Code of Ethics

• Pavilion - Ethical Photo Alterations

• Associated Press - Visual Ethics

• CNET - How close is that photo to the truth?

• Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) - Overview

• Content Authenticity Initiative - Home

Overview - C2PA

Sean Tucker vlog - Photography & The Rise of A.I.

Los Angeles Hiking Group

I joined 3 LA walking groups. All with over ten thousand members!!

• Outdooraholics, 10,843 members

• LA Outdoors, 13,480 members

• Los Angeles Hiking Group, 42,172 members

LA Hiking Group has enough members to fill half a Taylor Swift stadium concert! Which is kind of crazy when your goal is to meetup with a half dozen peeps and go for a simple walk in the hills around Los Angeles.

Sometimes it can be hard to get a spot because the walks fill so fast. Fortunately this walk didn’t fill too fast and I booked one of the 25 spaces. Almost more amazing, nearly all 25 walkers showed up!

Perfect Weather Hike in Griffith Park!

I’m not sure why walk organizer Tiffany T. called it a “Perfect Weather Hike”, but it sure is. Saturday 13 January 2024 is one gorgeous LA day!

• Meetup.com / LA Hiking Group / Perfect Weather Hike in Griffith Park!

Organizer Tiffany!

I’ve only been to a handful of Meetup events. Hiking, photography, and so on. The organizers are all friendly and helpful. They typically say things like “OK, let’s go! Turn around if you get tired. See you at the end if you make it that far. Try not to get killed.” I wouldn’t expect more from someone who posts a “let’s walk” notice and accompanies a ragtag group of wanderers on an outing.

Tiffany is a whole other kind of organizer. Somehow, when you arrive, she already knows your name and whether she’s met you before. As the hike progresses through its various meanders, she’s counting heads to make sure everyone is still with the group. It’s simple, yet I doubt I could actually do all that. Tiffany makes it look easy. And she’s giving us a gorgeous trail on a sunny and crisp, “Perfect Weather Day” in Los Angeles.

(don’t worry, if March ‘24 is anything like March ‘23, we’ve got many weeks of “atmospheric rivers” ahead of us before the Spring hiking season begins.)

Resources

• Griffith Park / Los Angeles Recreation & Parks

• Griffith Park Hiking Trails / AllTrails

• Griffith Observatory

• Village Bakery & Cafe

• India Sweets & Spices

• William Mulholland Memorial Fountain by Hadley Meares / KCET

• Aqueduct Centennial Garden By Anna Bergren Miller / The Architect’s Newspaper

In Los Angeles there are two kinds of skies:

• Normal, 350-or so day a year, blank skies

• Overcast, either because this is the one day of the month it’s actually raining, or because it’s “June Gloom” and will blow off sometime before noon

What we don’t see in LA is clouds in the sky. Something about the LA Basin? Smog? Pollution? IDK. This isn’t a city where we see clouds very often. At least not in the last handful of decades.

With the endless parade of “Atmospheric Rivers” from late February to early April, and definitely including nearly every day of March, we experienced that rarest of things, clouds in the sky.

I’ve been thinking about Clouds ever since I read Annie Dillard’s book For the Time Being. It was nice to finally have some in the sky to ponder.

Here are twelve of the clouds I’ve noticed.

Cloud Two

Cloud Three

Cloud Four

Cloud Five

Cloud Six

Cloud Seven

Cloud Eight

Cloud Nine

Cloud Ten

Cloud Eleven

Cloud Twelve

• Peter Norton / De Programmatica Ipsum

• Where have you gone, Peter Norton? / Technologizer

Selfie 23c-1 — When it comes to food as art, can anything beat a Sesame Rice Ball with Lotus Paste?

Monterey Park, CA

I live in the most Chinese city in America. New York City has more Chinese residents than any other American city, but not the highest percentage. That distinction goes to the small LA burbclave of Monterey Park, California. And yes, we’ve got the food to show for it.

Images

All images in this newsletter photographed with a Sony α7c mirrorless camera + 50mm f2.8 macro lens. Selfies were handheld, or captured with a Sony RMT-P1BT remote + Leophoto MT-03 tripod + MBC-18 ball head. RAW files processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Dim Sum up the street

I live on Atlantic Boulevard. I know, a street called “Atlantic” on the Pacific Coast? Anyway, a couple blocks north on Atlantic is the delicious “Elite Restaurant”.

Elite Restaurant doesn’t do Dim Sum Carts. Instead you order off a menu for fresh and delicious dim sum. At least…

… when they’re not closed because the building’s been Red Tagged!

A couple more blocks up on Atlantic is the gargantuan, fantastic, and definitely open NBC Seafood. The do have servers rolling dim sum carts through the restaurant and stamping obscure and charming numbers in little circles on your bill.

And in The Most Chinese City in America you can buy dim sum in the park too.

Dim Sum Express

In spite of all the great food in Monterey Park and neighboring cities like Rosemead & Alhambra, my favorite dim sum spot is a tiny shack with two windows: Dim Sum Express.

Dim Sum Express is at 326 N. Garfield at Emerson in Monterey Park. They’re open from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, or until they sell out. Whichever happens first.

• Dim Sum Express / Yelp

• Dim Sum Express / TripAdvisor

• My newsletter last week on Hiking the Trans Catalina Trail (TCT)

Subscribe now

Dim Sum Express is a nice 2 mile walk from my house. On the way I pass many neighbors’ yards. Thanks to all the atmospheric rivers of March, the neighbor yards are glorious with color ATM. At 1.3 miles is Barnes Park, City Hall, and the Library.

Dim Sum Express’ convenient picture menu.

Grab a handy pen taped to a plastic spoon and mark how many you want of what. Then slip your sheet through the 2-inch opening in the window and a faceless voice will tell you your total. Cash only, BTW.

Bite Sized!

Places like Elite and NBC tend to serve plates of 4 or more pieces - great for a group. But if you’re just 1 or 2 people, it limits how many different things you can try. At DSx you can gorge yourself with 1 of each of many delights.

Selfie 23c-2 — Today’s bill: $19.02 — be sure to stick a nice tip in the jar by the window, it’s a pretty small box to be working in for hours as they bring us dim sum delights.

DSx’s outdoor seating area has been closed (tables stacked on top of each other) since the pandemic. Which is actually good in that it motivates me to walk the 7-tenths of a mile back to Barnes Park and eat in the midst of the softball field, kids at the playground, Tai chi under the canopy, and various other park activities.

Community, Service

While I was eating today a guy came by with his two small children. He had a bag and they each had a grabber claw. They were picking up litter and bits of trash from the park and putting them in the bag that dad held.

A box of delights from Dim Sum Express.

Fried Wonton!

Fried Wonton, even closer!

Pot Sticker!

Siu Mai (pork)!

Crispy Egg Roll!

BBQ Pork Puff!

BBQ Pork Puff, detail!

Hom Suey Gok (glutinous rice)!

Hom Suey Gok, detail!

Baked Pineapple Cream Bun!

Baked Pineapple Cream Bun, detail!

Baked Pineapple Cream Bun, even closer detail!

Sesame Rice Ball with Lotus Paste!

Custard Tart!

Walking… and… eating…

I’ve always loved walking. On Friday the 13th of March 2020 the pandemic motivated me to make walking a bigger part of my life. I’ve gone on a morning walk every day since then.

Most days I walk between 4 & 8 miles. Walking North is flat. Walking South is a gentle incline. But if I go East or West it’s the rolling hills of Monterey Park. I enjoy flat, but it’s a little too chill. Hills are good.

Over the months and years of the pandemic, as I’ve taken the time to actually read food labels, my diet has gotten better. Besides ice, there’s nothing in my freezer now. Most days I eat unsalted nuts, cheese, and an omelet or stir fried vegetables.

If I walk to Home Depot, 7.5 miles round trip, or the Golf Course, 6.5 miles round trip, or the Alhambra Farmer’s Market, 8 miles round trip, then I might eat at the Golf Course Cafe, the Chick-fil-A next to Home Depot, or Dim Sum Express on the way back from the Farmer’s Market. Those days my diet isn’t so great and I don’t worry about it.

Selfie 23c-3 — oh, and while you’re walking through the park, don’t forget to pickup a Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival t-shirt! :)

A Walk on an Island

I hiked a few bits of the Trans Catalina Trail (TCT) in 2021. This year I thought I’d walk the full 38.5 mile trail. The endless “atmospheric rivers” of March wiped out all 5 campgrounds on the trail. By my arrival day 4 had just opened. But the remote Parson’s Landing was still closed.

I walked the 2 legs from Two Harbors to Parson’s and Parson’s to Two Harbors in 2021. At least over multiple years, I will have walked the whole TCT.

And if Ishkur, Ninurta, Tefnut, or one of those Rain Gods can be a bit more chill in 2024, I might walk the TCT contiguously.

Images

All images created with a Sony α7c mirrorless camera + 40mm f2.5 Compact G lens. Except images by Kyle + McKenzie. Selfies were handheld, or captured with a Sony RMT-P1BT remote + Leophoto MT-03 tripod + MBC-18 ball head. RAW files processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Hermit Gulch Campground

Of Atmospheric Rivers

I was a little disappointed that the Parson’s Landing Campground was closed. I’d waited a while to book a reservation at this small, remote campground. It was a bummer to lose it.

When Ranger Regina LMK that all the campgrounds had been closed, and that Hermit Gulch had only re-opened 2 days before my arrival my disappointment turned to feeling lucky that I was able to hike and camp at all.

I was able to hike 3 of the 5 legs of the TCT and stay at 4 of the 5 campgrounds. Including the 2 legs I hadn’t previously done.

Hermit Gulch to Blackjack

Hannon + McKenzie

I met Hannon + McKenzie near the beginning of the Hermit Gulch to Blackjack walk. I’d passed a small fork in the trail and the path I was on seemed to be going in the wrong direction for a while. I bumped into them as I was backtracking my steps and turned to their superior navigational skills. Turns out I was heading the right way. It’s just a lot walking SE so you can eventually go NW.

Halfway between Hermit Gulch and Blackjack is the Haypress Recreational Area. It’s got picnic tables, fresh water, toilets, and a small play area. We stopped there for lunch.

PRO TIP: The taller, more impressive looking slide is kind of boring. The shorter slide with the curve in it is way funnerer.

Blackjack Campground

Blackjack to Airport in The Sky

Airport in the Sky

I think everyone agreed that a “Bison Burger” tastes sort of identical to a “Cow Burger.”

PRO TIP: Maybe mix-up the Bison Burger prep to give it a unique taste? Tenderize it a bit less, add some pepper and a dash of BBQ, and prepare it more well done than the rare-ish burger I got? Could be good!

Airport in The Sky to Little Harbor

Little Harbor

Shark Harbor

Kyle

At Shark Harbor Kyle said that his “real life” was so demanding that it was hard to get away for trips like this. That he wanted to experience as much as he could during this special time.

A day later at dinner with Hannon + McKenzie in Two Harbors I asked them if that other life is “real life”? And this “trail life” some alt life or dream or fantasy?

At the end of Psych 135 - Social Psychology, at UCLA, Barry Collins’ parting advice to us was simple and notable, “Balance in all things.”

Barry said that if he spent all his time attending to institutional demands he wasn’t very happy. And if he only focused on personal satisfaction things quickly became a mess.

Maybe all life is “real life”.

Experiencing Others

One day in South Carolina my cousin Kathryn reluctantly followed some soldiers she’d been ministering to in jumping off a huge cliff. She put a pause in her run to leap at exactly the wrong place. Instead of landing in the water, she crashed on the rocks below and shattered her femur.

Emergency paramedics arrived to evacuate her. I wasn’t there, but I’ve been told that before she’d allow them to lift her broken body, she required them to answer a question, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior?”

It was a funny moment in a terrifying day. A day so agonizing that even many weeks and many miles away from the event it still, and always, makes me tremble to my core.

If you spend enough time with people you meet on the trail you might eventually discuss Jesus Christ. Or whether you think Donald Trump is the messiah, or the devil. Or any other ideological topics.

What’s great about time on the trail is that these are rarely the first topics. Instead we might focus on the weather. Or how your body is handling, or not handling, the pounds on your back and the miles under your feet.

I’m only aware of 3 uses for Facebook:

1. Sharing cute baby photos

2. Yelling at people you putatively love over their “stupid” ideological positions

3. A multinational corporation deconstructing your human essence, grinding you into a paste, and producing an almost infinite number of derivative products to sell to corporations and governments.

On the trail all of that feels a million miles away. Instead of arguing over worldviews, we coordinate navigating over miles of trail and thousands of feet of ascent and descent. These aren’t the only things that matter. Still, the trail feels like a place to share common experience more than a place to yell at each other.

Surf Sounds

The sounds of the surf outside my Shark Harbor tent were so soothing! I'm not sure what it is about surf? Because our primordial ancestors crawled out of the sea? IDK! What I do know is that my little on-camera microphones in my tent weren't up to capturing the sound at all. So here's a sample of, well, sort of nothing. Next time I'll bring nicer microphones.

Mark said that the surf was so loud that it kept him awake. It was loud! But for me it didn’t keep me awake. It felt so right. I’d love to get a decent recording next time and play it at home. When you’re actually there on the beach with all the sand and crisp air, it’s remarkable.

Every night of the trip, even at Fly & Fog Blackjack, I slept as well or better than I do at home. And always longer than I do at home. At home I’m always so busy with something “important”. On the trail activity becomes much more synchronized with the rising and setting of the sun.

The Light Bulb & The Electric Grid

I’m always surprised to remember that the Light Bulb and the Electric Grid are both only about 150 years old. Before that, if the sun wasn’t up, you could light a candle or lamp, or go to sleep. For the 40,000 years of our species cultural history, and the 100,000 years of our species history, our human ancestors existed without light bulbs. Probably nobody was sleep deprived.

Sometimes when I teach upper paleolithic art in my classes, I’ll ask my students to spend one night with no electricity. To try to get some small sense of how these ancient humans existed. Most students will say that this was the hardest thing they had to do all semester. And then one or two will say, “I’m a park ranger. I do that all the time.”

Little Harbor to Two Harbors

The Elusive Catalina Island Fox

I saw, but have no proof.

McKenzie + Hannon have proof, but did not see.

During this trip we’ve been a little too close to bison and had to have a ranger nudge them off the hiking trail. We’ve riposted with food stealing ninja squirrels. And everyone has wondered if they’ll have the chance to see the elusive Island Fox.

Unlike the bison and palm trees that were introduced to Catalina by Hollywood directors in the last hundred years, the Island Fox is believed to have been on Catalina for 5,000 years. The island fox lives on six of the eight California Channel Islands. And nowhere else on Earth. The tiny island fox is the apex predator of Catalina.

In 1998 there were about 1,300 island fox on Catalina. Between 1998 & 1999 a virus wiped out 90% of the population. It is believed that only about 130 island fox survived. Thanks to a captive breeding program the Catalina Island Fox population today is believed to be about 1,600. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service has “down-listed” the fox from “Endangered” to “Threatened.”

Yesterday on the trail from Blackjack to The Airport I stopped to take off my warm clothes. My pack was on one side of the trail as I changed on the other. An Island Fox walked up and stood near my pack for a moment. When I gestured to pick up my camera it darted instantly into the brush.

McKenzie + Hannon have proof, but did not see.

I saw, but have no proof.

• nps.gov/places/island-fox.htm

• catalinaconservancy.org/conservation/wildlife-programs/catalina-island-fox

• coastkeeper.org/foxes-on-catalina-island-the-ultimate-come-back-story

Green!

I flipped through my September and October 2021 pictures and the whole island is brown. It’s amazing how green the island is here in April 2023. All those “atmospheric rivers” of March were good for something. The island is so green! And with so many wildflowers.

Green, green, green!

Overcast

Except for our first leg from Hermit Gulch to Blackjack, the entire walk was overcast. That first leg was intense with direct sun and no shade. The temperature was, surprisingly, only around 65°F. It felt a lot hotter.

Hiking on overcast and even foggy days is more pleasant. Even so, there’s a certain smallness vs the brilliance of a vibrant solar day.

Still, rainy March and overcast (“June Gloom”) April are part of why the island is so green! There’s plenty of sun to come in the months ahead. But, I don’t know if this island will ever be this green again.

And the Fog rolls in

From Little Harbor to The Pagoda the walk was clear. At the pagoda I sat to have some food. As I sat there the fog rolled in and the clear view of the trail I’d just walked was replaced with a misty haze. As I walked forward, fog rolled up the side of the island and streamed across the trail. Kind of like this:

Two Harbors

Teresa, Mark, and that Damn Squirrel

The Voyage Home

Teresa + Mark

Just about everyone I met on the trail had planned to stay at Parson’s Landing. Teresa + Mark and I finished at Two Harbors and headed home. Hannon + McKenzie and Kyle stayed another day and did the whole 14 mile Parson’s loop in a day without camping at the still closed Parson’s Landing Campground.

Or it will be, soon.

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