Meditations on Revelation 3:7-13

Revelation 3:7-13 Read it yourself

The Holy one

Holiness is an attribute of God that he wants to bestow upon you. Your fallen nature, your past history (stuff), and your sin keeps you from holiness. Sanctification is the process by which God takes from that which is common and makes it holy. The Old Testament has laws and commands regarding the process of sanctifying something. It involves a process where blood is shed and sprinkled to cleanse from uncleanness, then it is set apart for holy use. If anything unclean touches it, the process begins anew.
Anything that has been sanctified was once unclean but has been made holy. Jesus is the holy one and he is the one who will sanctify you and make you holy.

The true one

Truth is the absence of falsehood, error and, deceit. Truth is like light, it dispels darkness.

He holds the key of David

David was the king of Israel, as sovereign he had authority. Keys open locks, Jesus has the keys and the authority to lock and unlock. His authority is irresistible. He has authority to bind and to loose. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. - Matthew 16:19

'I know your deeds…' the same words he uses with the other churches. Jesus knows, he is not distant and unaware.

'I have placed before you an open door...' Jesus has placed the open door. Since he has the keys and authority; this door is open and no one can shut it. The door has been opened by Jesus, not by the strength of the church. It is his grace and truth that holds open the door. His authority to show mercy on whom he will show mercy has been granted to him by the Father.

This church had little strength, yet they have kept Jesus word and not denied his name. They have been faithful; they have been obedient. Sometimes you get the picture that if you are faithful and obedient that you will be given power and authority; that you would ‘rule’ in some way. Not so with this church, they have little strength. They have kept Jesus’ commands and endured patiently. They don’t become impatient or disobedient.

They are promised to be kept from the ‘hour of trial’. They will get to skip the test; the final exam is not in their future, they have already mastered the material. Hold on to what you have, they already have ‘it’. They have the crown, the reward. As long as they hold on they will have the crown.

The ‘one who is victorious’ is a statement made to every church. In this case the one who is victorious will be a ‘pillar in the temple of my God’. A pillar implies permanence, it implies a vital piece of the structure that if it were not there, the structure would crumble.

I will write on them the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, my new name. I think of holy graffiti; in the same way that gangs mark territory to show it belongs to them. This is a thing humans do in one way or another. We mark territory to show that it is ours and we personalize it and put a little of our own personality into the thing we own. You can see this when people have bobble-heads stuck on the dash or stick-figure 'families' on the rear windows of their cars. God is like that too, he instills himself on all that he owns. He is the one who sanctifies and purifies us for holy service. The new Jerusalem is the church triumphant, the community of the saints.

Unlike the other churches, Philadelphia is already victorious. They achieved victory without strength, without influence, without power. Their victory is a victory achieved by the power of Jesus, who has all authority and the keys to all the doors that matter. Jesus knows them and measures them by their faithfulness and their obedience.

Application

Jesus sees you as you truly are. He is not fooled or impressed by outward signs of success but rather looks on the heart. He knows your obedience and faithfulness, or lack thereof.

Prayer

Lord, help me to live my life for an audience of one. Keep me from the distracting influence of the opinions of others. Thank you for the open door you have placed before me and the grace you have shown to me by opening it not because of my ‘strength’ but because of your steadfast love.

Provisions for JMT 2014 - part 1

There are four different areas of planning when preparing for a thru-hike. They are Route, Logistics, Provision, and Gear. My focus today is on Provision. Provision in this context means figuring out what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it. I have previously spent some time and blog space preparing for and documenting my route and logistics. From that planning effort I have determined that I will need to have enough food for thirteen days of hiking. I have further broken-down those days into thirteen breakfasts, thirteen dinners, and twelve lunches. I also determined that I will use two resupply points. One at Mammoth Lakes and the other at Muir Trail Ranch. I will divide my food into three different caches: The food I start with when I begin in Yosemite Valley, the food I pick up at Mammoth Lakes, and the food I pick up at Muir Trail Ranch.

In addition to the food I am eating on the trail, I plan on bringing a fresh, locally-purchased lunch on my first day and secondly, having a locally purchased lunch and dinner in Mammoth Lakes on my 'town-day' when I resupply there.

Here is the break-down of the number of each 'trail' meal that I need for each cache:

Cache	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Start	4	3	4
Mammoth	4	3	3
Muir	5	6	6
Totals	13	12	13

After spending quite a few hours reading and digesting (Ha, that's funny) the information in an article published on the web called Pack Light, Eat Right. I have adjusted my plans so that 'Lunch' begins approximately one hour after I begin hiking and ends approximately one hour before I stop hiking for the day. I have calculated my average hiking time per day to be approximately nine hours per day. According to the article I will need about 25-50 grams of carbohydrates every few hours of hiking to keep up my glycogen levels (whatever glycogen is, it sounds important for sustained energy). The article talks about carbohydrates and fat, which is 'better', etc. I learned that carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram. I also learned that with training you can actually train your muscles to burn fat rather than sugar.
This reminded me of a talk by Covert Bailey I watched on PBS years ago where he said you could become a 'better butter burner' that idea has stuck with me since then and this article seemed to confirm stuff I have believed for decades.

Pack Light, Eat Right provides a list of Trail Snacks...  Oh man, look at all the numbers! This caused me to begin my own research into the numbers on the nutritional labels of my favorite trail snacks. I feel a spreadsheet is in order... I began by putting the serving size, the grams of carbohydrates, fat, and protein on the sheet. I rounded the 25-50 grams every few hours to 20 grams per hour as a target for planning. I was a little confused by the article's proposition about eating 25-50 grams of carbs and how to translate that into 'high-fat' snacks for muscles trained to burn fat. I just made some assumptions based on nothing but the idea that 25 grams of carbs X 4 calories per gram = 100 calories. I then created another target of 100 calories per hour. I averaged the two targets and got a percentage that I used against the serving size on the label. I multiplied that percentage against the serving size and got the number of grams of each snack that should be eaten per hour. Once I converted the grams to ounces I was surprised to find that a rough guideline is to simply plan on eating 1 ounce of a snack per hour while hiking. Then using my previous numbers of 12 days X 8 hours (average) per day = 96 hours = 96 ounces of snacks.

My analysis of my favorite snacks

The high-fat snacks have about half the carbohydrates suggested by the article but have more than twice the calories. Then I selected the number of servings that I want of each, trying to balance the number of high-fat snacks with the low fat ones. The green boxes are my targets for the snack types. The spreadsheet shows my preferences and also calculates that the resulting weight of my 'lunches' is 6 lbs  7oz.

All of these numbers and calculations are rough approximations and simplify the process of determining what and how much food to bring. I still need to finish my breakfasts and dinners; I think they will be easier to determine but I'll leave that for a different post.

 

The Food Vacuum

I have spent some time this week planning my menu and resupply strategy for my upcoming JMT hike. One of my challenges has always been how to package my food effectively and store it between the time I purchase it and the time I eat it. A lot of the food I buy in larger quantities and then I end up storing the leftover amounts in zip-lock bags and using it on a future trip. The problem is that it ends up not being very fresh and is often stale. So I end up tossing the left-overs from previous trips and buying new.

The other related challenge is how to package my food so that it stays fresh and organized in my pack, especially if I am using a bear canister. There are a myriad of ways that it could be done, from dumping everything together to leaving everything in it's original packaging. My preference is to repackage everything. Putting the food for each meal into a separate gallon size freezer bag. So I have a breakfast bag, a dinner bag and a lunch bag.

Food Pouch

Some food is best if it remains in it's original packaging. I am thinking of freeze dried foods, and specifically the Mountain House dinners that I tend to use. It seems that freeze-dried food gets stale pretty quickly after opening. My practice has been to buy the entrees in the easy to find standard pouch containing 2 servings I typically don't like eating the entire contents in one sitting so most of the time I open the pouch and divide the contents into two sandwich-sized zip-lock bags. For dinner I normally pour hot water into the bag, let in steep, and eat right from the bag. I collapse the bag and put it in my trash bag when done, thus keeping my dish-washing to a minimum.

Wow 10 servings

I have considered creating my own meals from separate ingredients. I would like to buy freeze-dried food in bulk containers but how would I store the stuff I don't use on a particular trip? The pricing is a little better if you buy in bulk, but only if you don't end up throwing away the remainder because it got stale.

I followed OTC Craig's PCT hike last year I noticed that he used a vacuum sealer for his food and thought, "What a great idea.". Ever since then I have been mulling over the idea and thinking how many different problems it would solve. 

VacMaster VP112

After a whole bunch of research over the last few months I have finally made it a reality and bought a vacuum sealer. I am pretty excited about it. I decided to go with a chamber style sealer because it seemed to me to be a more flexible option. The unit I purchased is a VacMaster VP112. I have not actually received it yet and will give you an update once I've had a chance to use it.

Grace in the Midst of Reproach

Luke 1 Read it yourself

Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous and walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord, (verse 6).

They lived Godly lives, following the intent of God's law, yet for years, for most of their lives they could not have a child. Having children was a sign of God's blessing in their culture. Children were considered a reward for good and faithful service. In Psalm 127:3 it read that children are a heritage and a gift from the Lord. Yet for years they were shut out from this blessing and gift. People then, like people now, most likely looked on this lack of children and inferred that the opposite of the statement in Psalms is also true, i.e. no children means no reward, which means that Zechariah and Elizabeth must have done something wrong. They must have a 'secret' sin that is keeping God's blessing from them. People are often ungracious to each other. That social reproach weighed heavy on both Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Imagine the emotional pain of Elizabeth, speculate on the gossip and whispers behind her back that occurred. When she turned to face the whisperers picture the pasted on smile on their faces as their thoughts continue to judge her. "Oh hi, how are you?" carrying out the vowels sounds to make the greeting sound more sincere than it is. Elizabeth can see the reproach in their eyes even though their words and smiles say something else. Elizabeth half-believed them, she was of the same culture and probably wondered what she had done to deserve this. Yet she remained faithful and upright in the face of disgrace. When she conceives she alludes to this disgrace in verse 25 "when he looked on me to take way my reproach among people."

Zechariah is diligent and faithful yet while others in his social circle are having children and raising families he is soul-searching and left out of the experience. There is a social pressure that occurs in human relationships. When all of your friends begin to get married and have children, there is an emotional desire to be part of that experience. Singles tend to hang-out with singles, young-marrieds with young-marrieds. When children begin to come, those without are often left off the invitations to children's birthday parties. Unless they are family they are typically not invited. Perhaps out of awkwardness or perhaps out of scorn, regardless of the reason, Zechariah and Elizabeth's barrenness led to isolation and distance from others socially.

He doesn't stand out from the rest, he is in there doing what everyone else is doing and suddenly he is given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enter the temple and burn incense. Consider the thoughts of Zechariah when he is visited by an angel. It must have been shocking and unbelievable to him. Imagine entering a dimly lit room that is 'off-limits' to everyone except yourself. You are supposed to be alone when suddenly you find you are not alone. Being righteous and godly, Zechariah would have approached his duty being mindful of the responsibility and honor that has been placed upon him. He was fully focused on the specific tasks that he was to perform and the order in which he was to perform them. Perhaps he could still hear the voices outside of the people praying, a background level of sound that was a muffled murmuring within the room. As he is standing there he suddenly becomes aware of the presence of another. His heart leapt to his throat and his legs suddenly felt weak. He trembled within and perhaps tottered on the brink of collapse.

The presence said, "Do not be afraid..." it's a bit late for that. Why does God always do that? He engineers circumstances in which you are suddenly engulfed in fear and then says, "Do not be afraid..." If God had given some sort of warning or notification that he was sending an angel, perhaps Zechariah wouldn't be so filled with fear. But God doesn't do that, my guess is that the notification is so extraordinary that we will naturally be afraid. The angel is a messenger, bringing a notification from God about what is going to happen. This is an early warning, it is God's way and he doesn't do it to frighten but because of his grace and love for us. The fear of Zechariah is the result of the fall. It is no different than the fear that fell on Adam and Eve when they heard the sound of God walking in the garden in Genesis 3:8. Fear is a sign of our fallen condition and we cannot rid ourselves from it. The supernatural, by definition, doesn't happen everyday, and we naturally fear that which we don't understand or cannot explain.

God was gracious to this couple in their old age, blessing them, and in so doing, honoring them among those who had previously despised and reproached them. Your focus must remain firmly focused on God and his words. To seek the blessing and praise of fallen people is idolatry. You must live in the grace of God's gaze knowing that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing it, (Matt 10:29). Secondly, be aware that your judgments of other people are based on your fallen sense of righteousness. You can't see their heart, nor do you know the workings of God's grace in their life.

Be gracious and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 (ESV)

All biblical quotations in this post are from

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

My problem with alcohol

Blogs can be therapeutic. They give you the opportunity to get stuff down on 'paper' in a format where you'll be able to find it again. They also let your readers know more about you than they may discover in a conversation face-to-face. It's a lot like writing a letter except that you can write it for whoever has an interest in knowing more about you an your thoughts. One of the things I really enjoyed about Ken Burn's Civil War documentary was the reading of letters of people long gone, what they thought and how they felt. My relationship with my wife (wife-to-be at the time) began as a series of letters back and forth.They would probably be fun to read right now, but I have no idea where they went. A blog puts stuff down in a place where you can find it again, and so can others.

Can you mix alcohol with lightweight hiking?

Okay, with that being said, I can finally get to the point - I have a problem with alcohol. I have for quite some time. I imagine that there are others like me, who have the same problem and keep it to themselves. Quietly doing what they do without really communicating to others what your problem is or why. I have put a lot of stuff together about my problem, but as far as I can remember, this is the first time I have made it public.

I was prompted to post this by an article by Beth Boyst in the Spring 2014 edition of the Pacific Crest Trail Communicator published by the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Beth wrote an article called Thinking about the fire hazard where she writes about the fire danger of using an alcohol stove. She refers to "stoves without a closed reservoir to contain fuel and a positive shut-off valve" which pretty much describes my alcohol stoves.

If you've spent any time reading gear lists of PCT thru-hikers or other ultra-light hiking enthusiasts you quickly see a pattern of super-lightweight and or do-it-yourself stoves. From the iconic cat-stove (made from a cat food can, hence the name) to more recent, high-tech stoves with integrated windscreens and better control systems. What all of these have in common is a burn-till-the-fuel's-gone type of shut-off system. Beth's article concludes with the hope that "changing from the use of these types of stoves will create some exceptional technological solutions and decrease wildfire risk."

Alcohol stoves

Her article got me thinking about my own subjective pseudo-scientific research that has led me to leave my alcohol stove at home and use a canister stove. I write not as an advocate either way. I know gear is a personal choice for each hiker and preferences die-hard. My only purpose is to share what I have found and my opinions on the matter. I, like Beth, am hopeful that we all can utilize technology to reduce wildfire risk.

My problem with alcohol began with my first purchase of a Vargo Titanium Triad alcohol stove. I like the theory of alcohol stoves. I believe in the idea of reducing weight and anything that contains fire is typically made of metal. Titanium is lighter and stronger than aluminum, so a titanium stove seemed to be ideal. Then I found that a mini-red-bull-can stove, even though made of heavier aluminum is significantly lighter than the Triad because of the thinness of the material, so I got one of those. I also liked the idea of carrying fuel in a lightweight plastic container rather than a heavy-when-empty pressurized metal container. I like the idea that I could bring exactly the amount of fuel that I need rather than a partially full canister that may, or may not, have enough fuel. All-in-all the idea of an alcohol stove is a wonderful concept theoretically that I found very attractive.

Optimus Crux

When it comes to reality, my experiences have not lived up to the theoretically good-times that I was supposed to experience with alcohol. In order to provide context you need to understand one of my primary tenets of light-weight hiking. I consider myself a comfort-light hiker. I have zero interest in setting the record on the lightest pack. I am not an advocate to go back to living in the stone-ages. My basic goal and rule is to minimize the distractions and effort that it takes to live so as to fully focus on the joy of being alive without the distractions and busy-ness of modern culture.

It all fits in the pot cozy

I want to bring gear that reduces the complexity of living. For example, I choose to bring a shelter so that I don't have to deal with mosquitoes eating my face while I am sleeping and if it begins to rain, I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to change my situation. I could leave my tent home, but that would increase the 'stress' of life in the back-country, not reduce it. Every item in my gear-list is in, or not in, based on this fundamental rule.

With that explained, let me enumerate my problems with alcohol:

1. Burning alcohol is almost invisible. How do you know if your stove is burning? Put your hand over it. I personally don't like not knowing if my stove is still lit and having to check with my hand. It is also difficult to tell if the stove has been lit and more than once have lost most of the hair on my hand from trying to light a stove that was already lit.
2. Once it's lit, it's going to burn until the fuel is consumed. The more I used my alcohol stove the better I got at gauging the amount of fuel I would need, but there are times when I have needed to re-locate (the rain started) and it was difficult, if not impossible to move my burning stove. 
3. You use more fuel than you think you will. I found that lighting my alcohol stove requires priming and the right amount of priming is dependent on a number of variables such as air temperature, humidity, and altitude. I don't want to have to think about all those factors. I just want to heat my water, right now.
4. There is no 'now' when it comes to heat when lighting an alcohol stove. You have to wait. My experience has been that heating water with my alcohol stove takes twice as long as what it takes to heat it with my canister stove. So I have to wait, and some times I am waiting longer than I should because I don't want to lose any more hair on my hand trying to deal with Problem #1.
5. Finally, in my opinion, the weight difference between the two systems is quite insignificant. 

Here is my reasoning and research. This is my actual experience and is not necessarily super-scientific, however it is compelling enough for me and my decision.
3 teaspoons of alcohol will boil one cup of water.
3 teaspoons of alcohol weighs about 0.4 ounces
0.1 ounce of Propane/Iso-butane (isopro) will boil one cup of water.

I got these numbers using my own equipment. That includes an antigavitygear.com pot cozy and a home-made windscreen. I only boil water, I don't cook food or simmer and saute'. I eat only because it is a necessity to continue to live. If I want gourmet food, I go out to a nice dinner when I get home. Also hot food, for me, is a necessity. I think eating only cold food on my trip would reduce the enjoyment of the trip. 

Comparing alcohol to isopro, roughly speaking, I get 4 times the amount of hot water for the same fuel weight. That doesn't account for container or stove weight. In order to do that we need to consider an actual trip.

Let's consider my JMT trip this coming summer. I am planning to hike the whole trail in 12 days. My planning indicates that I will need 13 breakfasts and 12 lunches and 13 dinners. I only heat water for breakfast and dinner. Each meal requires 2 cups of hot water. I am going to need 2 * (13+13) = 52 cups of hot water. This means I will need either 0.1*52 = 5.2 ounces of isopro or 0.4 * 52 = 20.8 ounces of alcohol.

My alcohol stove weighs 0.3 ounces and a 1 liter platypus bladder for the fuel weighs 0.9 ounces for a system weight of 1.2 ounces. Add the fuel and the system for a total of 22.2 ounces.

A 110 gram of canister (Snow Peak brand) isopro weigh 3.1 ounce empty and contains 3.88 ounces of fuel when full.

My Optimus Crux stove weighs 3.5 ounces and two empty 110gram canisters weighs 3.1 ounces each for a total weight of 9.7 ounces.  Add the fuel and the system for a total of 17.5 ounces. (this gives me an extra 2.56 ounces of fuel).

On the face of it, the isopro solution is lighter even with the extra fuel. I understand that using resupply or a different combination of canister and stove will result in a different set of numbers. What I was quite surprised about was the fact that the canister option starts off lighter than the alcohol option. Intuitively I thought that a stove and canister difference would have ended up with the alcohol option being lighter. The difference is in the amount of energy contained in alcohol versus the amount in isopro. I am not the first to discover this and you can see here at BackpackingLight.com, here at the Appalachian Mountain Club and here at Paul Magnanti's blog that many others have researched and documented the same thing.

My reasons for going with a canister stove have more to do with the problems I have described rather than the weight of the comparative systems. There is something magical about sitting down in front of my cansiter stove and hearing it's comforting whoosh as it heats the water for my dinner after a long cold windy hike in the rain. I bring my canister stove on my trips whether it is an overnighter or an extended trip. It is reliable, relatively safe, and if she knew I was using it would probably make Beth Boyst happy too.

Blogging while walking

Hopefully the picture comes out in the right  on the blog I don't know if it will not Let's see how hard it is to put a picture in place

This is post content that I entered this by talking to my blog. I think this might be easier than actually typing stuff in time. The tricky part will be saving it I don't know if I have to connect connection to be able to say stuff. It certainly is a lot faster than typing by hand. Apparently it likes to put the picture up at the top of the blog changes before the spot where I mention I'm going to ask you put the shrimp. Somehow I'm talking about shrimp and my blog now I don't even remember saying a word. Let's see if I can put another picture in its place.

It looks like that which is in the right spot. Yeah that which I'm talking this picture. Apparently you have to use clear and concise sentences. But it is actually a lot faster than trying to type.

So I'm actually walking and blogging at the same time. I find that I actually like saying actually more than I actually like to write it. 

If I can figure out how to do this is really a table on time today. Of course it looks like the time that I save writing I'm going to spend editing.

On a clear day like today you can see Sutter buttes. That last sentence took me six times to say it.

One of the things that I've been sort of lax on in my writing is writing about the gear that I hope to use. One of the cool things that I have set up is my Spot Gen3 satellite messenger. Someday I will write how I link to the pages in my blog. I have it attached to my pack shoulder strap

Where it is easily accessible and it has a clear view of the sky. I don't normally turn it on for these hikes on a daily basis. But if I do a day hike and certainly overnight I plan to use it.

I apologize for the disjointedness of the post. But as it is the first attempt at blogging while walking I say it came out pretty well.

A warm winter day in the American River Canyon

I went for a hike yesterday. I originally thought I would go to get some exercise after having a much larger breakfast than I usually have. This would mean that I would walk as fast as I could and try to keep my heart rate up like I do when I go out a couple of times per week. It didn't turn out that way though for a couple for reasons; the weather, camera, and terrain.

My planned route would begin in Auburn, drop down to the confluence of the north and middle forks of the American River and then climb out to the south towards the town of Cool on the Training Hill trail. I would then loop back around and drop back into the canyon on the Wendell T. Robie trail to climb back up Stagecoach to Auburn. The elevation and distance is a rough total of about two thousand vertical feet up and down in about eight miles.

I started at the Stagecoach trail-head which my friend Creighton once showed me on a mountain bike trip we took together. I like this trail-head because it's off the beaten path and it isn't as crowded as some of the other trail-heads in the Auburn area.The posted speed limit on the trail is 15 mph. I averaged a little over one tenth that speed.

The day was incredibly warm. After all of the cold days we had this was the first one that was warm enough to wear shorts without feeling like I was going to freeze if I stopped walking. Living in California really distorts your understanding of what cold weather is. Most of the rest of the country in buried in a frozen white blanket of snow with bone chilling wind-chill factors that I can't even imagine. So while they are living through that I am enjoying the balmy weather in the People's Republic of California. With the weather being as nice as it was I felt no urgency to set a new speed record, or even to see how fast I could go eight miles. I did want to get a feel for hiking on trails and experiencing the elevation changes that will be required when I hit the John Muir Trail in July.

A camera on a pole,

What's that you're holding?

I purchased a new camera a couple of months ago, a Sony WX300 Cybershot. I got it because I want to be able to take better quality pictures than I can take using my IPhone. So I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to test it out at the same time. It has a 20X optical zoom so I was excited to see if I could produce pictures that I was a little more excited about then the ones I typically end-up with. I attached my camera to one of my trekking poles to make it more accessible and easier to take quick self portraits, though I had to figure out the right place to hold the pole. The first attempt makes it pretty obvious I didn't know what I was doing.

So between the weather, the steepness of the trail and my camera I spent about three and a half hours thoroughly enjoying myself out in God's great creation.

Winter in the American River Canyon

The confluence below

I found that when you are taking pictures you end up walking a lot slower. Which is a good thing, however, when I hike this summer, I will be averaging about 20 miles per day. At the speed that I walked yesterday, 20 miles will take me about 9 hours. Which may not be all that bad since there will be 16 hours of daylight at that time of year.

The Foresthill bridge

I wasn't a tinker, but I still took the cut-off	Find the trekking pole
Trying to figure out how to use the timer function	Hopefully that's not poison oak I am standing in
The confluence	With a bridge
It's easier to cross on the bridge	Another bridge
A bridge and a trekking pole on Training Hill	The other side is where I started.
My glasses were fogging up, so my hat got to wear them.	This sign is actually about 75 feet away.
Ponderosa pine	Manzanita
Gnarly oak	A monster
Oak oak	Tops of the Pines, with Folsom Lake in the distance
Yes, it's steep uphill too.	A stubborn old snag
Manzanita, again?	A babbling brook
Your's truly and a waterfall	Foresthill bridge and the confluence.
Mini buckeye (poison oak in the background)	Thar's gold in them thar hills
Mini Cooper track	Mini Cooper driver track
Wow, another waterfall.	A.K.A. No-hands bridge.

Who'da thought the 'No-hands' bridge was one hundred years old?
If you want to see the route I followed, check out the Stagecoach and Training Hill.