Judging by the disproportionately large number of responses I got to a previous article “Get Motivated Business Seminar an Enjoyable Scam”, it would seem that people would rather read about that kind of stuff.  But I started this website to talk about rad adventures, so this article gets back to the roots of inspiration for Adventure Stories.  I’ll try to keep the content jived up so there’s a little of everything, but a recent backpacking trip to Switzerland is the sort of thing that gets me jived up.  Here’s the story:

During the summer of 2009 I spent life at an elevation of zero, being on the water mostly. I went through basic officer training for the NOAA Corps, and when it was over I found myself with some down time until the start of my first assignment. I realized this was an opportunity to get in some backpacking, to hit the mountains while the warmth of summer lingered. But where should I go? Since I was in New York, the Catskills or Adirondacks were obvious choices, but I was in the mood for larger scale terrain. For me the definition of a good backpacking trip involves big granite. I looked at airfares and decided a ticket to Zurich was the best deal going. About 100% of the people I have met that have been to Switzerland report their experience was fantastic. So I thought I would give Switzerland a try.

What I knew about Switzerland was that it was in Europe. What I didn’t know was that the mountains there are insane. I figured I would hit the Swiss Alps with the same mentality that I apply to my backyard mountains, the Sierra Nevada of California. In the Sierras I customarily plan out routes that break from established trails for several days and cross rugged terrain, ideally bagging a summit or two along the way. This behavior is encouraged by the terrain of the Sierras, which is both rugged yet accessible. Challenging cross country routes can be accomplished without any special mountaineering gear. The Swiss Alps, on the other hand, are in a whole another category, as I was about to discover.

the Cabane du Grand Mountet is as a speck in the bottom middle of the photo, dwarfed by the Grand Cornier and Dent Blanche

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It’s spring time, with weather too nice to stay inside but still too cold and snowy for normal people to head up into the big mountains.   This is the time of year when the lower elevation mountain ranges, such as those found on California’s coast, are at their prime.  With mild weather and abundant wildflowers awaiting, it’s a good time to break out the backpacking gear, unlock the muscles and start working off that winter blubber.  So where should you head?  That mostly depends on where you live, but I’d like to share a favorite spot of mine that has become almost like an annual spring pilgrimage:  Henry Coe State Park near the San Francisco Bay Area.

Those unfamiliar may be forgiven for raising eyebrows of skepticism at the mention of backpacking in or near the San Francisco Bay Area.  After all, one might ask, “How good can the outdoor opportunities be near such a major metropolitan area?”  Anyone asking this question is in for a pleasant surprise.  Henry Coe covers something like 75,000 acres of rugged hills, grassy meadows and flowing streams.  With elevations approaching 4000 feet, there is plenty of challenging terrain but nothing too overpowering on a mild spring day (summers can be iron melting).  So attention weekend warriors, Henry Coe beckons you and accepts your spirit of a tiger but the body a potato.  

With my trusty backpacking companions Dave and Kate, I headed to Henry Coe in mid April. It was 2009, but that is not an important detail–it could have been 1999 or any other year practically.  We decided on a 2 night/3 day itinerary camping first at the base of Blue Ridge at Mexican Flat and the second night at “The Rock”, a special place I first discovered with Dave 12 years ago, during our college days, on our maiden voyage to Henry Coe.  In typical fashion we got a slow start and were on the trail no earlier than 4:45 pm.  The hike from park headquarters to the base of Blue Ridge is fairly easy and mostly downhill, passing Frog Lake and a number of wild turkeys.  I can’t guarantee anyone that they will spot wild turkeys, but I can guarantee that locating Mexican Flat is no easy task.  It is about 3/10 of a mile off trail (feels like twice that) and guarded by poison oak. 

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Uneven wear on the bottom of my shoes indicates that I may have an arch problem (see the light tan area showing through the darker soles?). Examine the bottom of your shoes in much the same way you might examine the tires on a car.

Foot problems can hamper or ruin your next adventure…..and also make day to day life uncomfortable.  Like any minor to moderate problem, the symptoms may be tolerable, so no solution is sought and you just live with it.  That would be an accurate description of how I have been dealing with a recurring pain in my right foot over the past several years.  Luckily, a fortuitous event put me in touch with a rational analysis of what the pain in my foot was trying to tell me all along.  I was drinking bourbon with Larry, one of my best friend’s dad, and Larry’s tennis buddy, “The Doctor”.  The Doc is a foot doctor by profession. At some point in the evening, amidst the bourbon and the cutthroat version of pool we were playing, the conversation turned to foot problems. The Doc mentioned that you can tell if you have an arch problem by looking for signs of uneven wear on the soles of your shoes.  Suddenly curious, I took off my shoes and looked at the soles–sure enough, the outside edge of my soles was worn away at the heels.  It was like looking at the tires on a car for signs of uneven wear as a symptom of underlying problems.  Next, the Doc had me stand in front of him with my pants pulled up so he could see my feet.  He noticed a bulge on my right foot and said it indicated an arch problem. I probably would need orthotics, the Doc suggested.  

The green Super Feet and the black SofSole orthotic shoe inserts are two arch supports that I have used with success. In my case, the black SofSole inserts are more effective at relieving foot pain.

Taking the Doc’s suggestions to heart, I later set out to find some inserts that I could wear in my shoes to alleviate my arch problems.  I first tried Super Feet which many of my friends use with satisfactory results.  After a couple of months with the Super Feet, I still noticed a mild version of the foot pain that had been plaguing me, so I set out to find a more aggressive shoe insert.  This time I tried a 3/4 medical grade orthotic by Sof Sole.  Since switching to this type of arch support, I have noticed almost no pain in my right foot.  My only complaint is that these inserts squeek inside my shoes when I walk.  I will have  to find a remedy to the squeeking or else I will risk  earning the nickname “Squeeks”.  But for now, squeeking around is better than walking painfully around, so I’m grinning and bearing it.  Down the road, I may find that I need a proper doctor’s office visit and another type of remedy, but let’s hope not.  In any case, I was struck by the Doc’s statement that most people  need orthotics by the time they are in their 30’s.  I guess that would be me.

Here is the scenario: let’s say you live on the West Coast of the United States and one of your best friends is getting married on the East Coast, about 3000 miles away. How do you go about attending the wedding?  If you are normal, you would probably consider the following: airplane, rental car, and hotel. Seems natural, right? Not if you are Darex.  In the summer of 2008, a mutual friend of myself and Darex got married in New York.  While I stuck to the generic airplane/rental car formula,  Darex did not.  His methods were something that I wouldn’t have even thought of, much less attempted.

In order to attend the wedding in New York, Darex bought a one way airplane ticket from his home town of Medford, Oregon to Syracuse, New York.  This seemed logical given that Syracuse was the closest airport to the wedding in Hamilton, New York.  However, when Darex arrived in Dulles Airport (near Washington D.C.) he found that his connecting flight to Syracuse was delayed.  Rather than wait in the airport, he hopped on a different flight to Rochester, NY.  To some this may have seemed illogical-after all Rochester is 127 miles away from Hamilton, whereas Syracuse is only 38 miles from Hamilton.  But Darex saw this not as a problem but as an opportunity to roller blade a greater, more fun distance to the wedding. Read the rest of this entry »

If you had the chance to attend a seminar featuring iconic American heroes like Michael Phelps, Colin Powell,  Rudy Giuliani, and Zig Ziglar live and in person, would you go?  Heck, I sure would, and I did.  On March 26, 2009 a seminar called “Get Motivated!” came to the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA.  Although I don’t exactly live in the Sacramento area, I had a free ticket to this event (supposedly a $225 value) so I woke up at 5:30 am to make the drive and attend the seminar.  That’s how interested I was in hearing these titans of American culture speak live.  So what was the experience like?  Before elaborating, let me try to put all of my thoughts into a single sentence:  The “Get Motivated! Business Seminar” was an interesting mix of fantastic public speakers, Christianity, and sophisticated,  irresistible sales pitches to which many succumbed. Read on and I will explain the whole event in detail, paying attention to the fantastic speakers, but more importantly to the impressively clever ways in which this seminar pried into people’s willing, open wallets and made a killing. Read the rest of this entry »