NATURE MATTERS.  LOOK UP!

 

As highpointers and participants in it's varied outdoor spin-offs, along the trails, one most know, say, moving heads down, what a dead squirrel looks like.  Live squirrels look different.  Try looking up now and then.  Have you noticed the skies? A normal bright blue sky or one with beautiful puffy-cloud skies can be taken for granted.  But what's that track-marked azure that is occurring regularly?  Everywhere.  They are not "jet contrails."  They're chem-trails, aka, "cloud seeding." No?  Look up, then look it up. In the name of global warming control, we're being rained on with a noxious concoction of harmful chemicals!  There's a long list of them and they're mostly not good - the opposite of healthful vitamins and minerals, for sure.  There's more going on here than most people know. From the pics posted, which sky would you prefer on an outdoor venture?  Or anytime?  Pull up YouTube and plug in "chem-trails." 
 

There was once a TV commercial that went, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."  As well, "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature."  If the tracks turn out to be, indeed, "contrails," why is it ok for jet travel to haze up what might have been a beautiful blue sky anymore than it's not ok to throw trash out the car window, littering the roadsides?  The cloud cover causes green house effect, trapping ultraviolet-generated heat between the earth and the hazy moisture blanket.  A conspiracy theory, simultaneously overt and covert?  So be it.  Continue on then, heads down.  Still, what is that stuff, really?!

COUNTY HIGHPOINTING

When checking with Andy Martin, County High Pointing Guru, about plugging this activity here, he offered: "It's a nice hobby if you like maps, navigating, geography, getting outdoors, hiking, bushwacking, and sometimes talking to landowners." Hmm...hey, Andy, how's this: Dude, you have to be eccentric or bordering on insane/foolhardy to do this stuff!  Like reaching 3142 counties in all 50 states?  Yikes!  See link HAZARDS photos of what you might encounter while engaging in this outdoor endeavor. Links:  County Highpointers   COHP egroup   COHP HAZARDS

PARIS WAYMARK

On our return from our Moscow to St. Petersburg trip, via Volga River, we managed to swing 3 nights in Paris before returning to the US. Had a very nice, affordable stay at the Hotel la Bouronnaise on Avenue de la Bouronnaise less than a mile from the Eiffel Tower, walking distance. Per the time we had, we covered Paris rather well:  the Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre/D'Orsay museums - the Mona Lisa/Impressionist art resp, a Seine River on-off tour boat gig, the same for a double-deck tour-bus take of the city, shops of Rue Cler, and several hits on cutsy French sidewalk restaurants. The fare was expensive and 'ok.' Avoid the Paris Metro unless you like more walking than riding. We didn't make the Paris high point, "Rue du Telegraphe," but bagged a WayMark in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, one we had no idea of until we arrived there. This marker is aprx 50ft in front of the ND entrance. Once we learned it existed, we had to squirrel around till finally locating it amidst the huge crowd there. It's designated POINT ZERO/DES ROUTES DE PARIS, a.k.a. The Center of Paris or the city's street layout focal point on Ile da la Cite, an island in the Seine.

While our stay was time-compacted, we did it free-lance and enjoyed the challenge. In France, English is a 2nd language, we're told, but approaching the French, and others - foreign tourists as us, was a tad frustrating since they were as clueless as we.  At times it seems the French were playing dumb (often indifferent) in the midst of lucrative tourist revenue.  Links:  Paris   Ile da la Cite   Paris HP

LARGEST EUROPE LAKES

When on a river cruise on the Volga between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the prospects for bagging geo-extremes are few.  Just go along with the group and don't fall overboard trying to be different. This trip was made last summer with Grand Circle Travel.  The upper-right picture is from the dock on Kizhi Island with a far view of the Transfiguration Church, the island's historical, dominating structure.  Kizhi is located on Europe's 2nd largest lake, Onezhskoye (Onega). Continuing NE on our sail, Lake Laatokka (Ladoga) was next, The Big Kahuna, Europe's Number One.  It was nearing dusk and no dockings were made.  The bottom-right photo is the definitive geo-shot, then, including a spit of southern lakeshore and a "sailer" at the bow of trusty Russian river-cruiser, Rossia.  Again, the question is asked: Is there a future for Lake-Pointing?  Links:  L. Ladoga ;  L. Onega ; Europe Lakes

U.S. NORTHWESTERN-MOST POINT

Of the contig 48, i.e...


This GeoXtreme aquisition was part of our U.S. NW trip focused on attending the OR12 HP Konvention.  We landed in Portland in advance of the meet date then rental-car-rolled CW along the Pacific coast covering this site and Mt. St. Helens via Seattle.

Reaching Neah Bay fishing village via Rt112 and beyond bordered on rustic though super-scenic. Destination:  Cape Flattery, a.k.a., The Point.  The 3/4 mile trailhead had a nice parking area plus clean toilets.  The trail itself was too-cool:  a wonderful forested  path much of which was a neat, well-maintained winding "boardwalk."  Once arrived at The Point, we enjoyed a non-pariel view of the Pacific and it's rocky-gnarly edging. Follow Cape Flattery Road out of Neah Bay about 4 mi. to the traihead.

A tad below The Point is Cape Alava, the western-most point of the 48 contiguous. It's just slightly more west than CF. Reach Ozette, also, via Rt 112: turn left 5mi west of Seiki and follow Hoko Ozette Rd. 21 miles to the Cape Alava trailhead.  This 3 mi trail, too, consists of boardwalks which lead to the Pacific coastline.  Links:  Cape Flattery ; Cape Alava   Of course, Google for more info.

 

REVIVING "THE STOP"

 A new coat of paint, etc...

After a too-long-down-time, we're getting back in the groove with posts to this blog once again.  After 3+ years the archived articles have taken a beating:  lost FTP-stored text and graphics, expired links, and just plain outdated or passe, zzzzz..., topics.  The blog now has a different, more generic appearance which amounts to Blogger's own renovation with limited format offerings.  But it's easy to use and free to users so, hey.... We'll attempt to customize THE TREK STOP, including the struggle to tweak their HTML with little experience at it, with our own trimmings for the best unique look, just short of gauche, of course. A few somewhat recent items will be posted soonly.  Also, we'll be tending a tad toward WayMarking ventures based on all the incredibly interesting world-places there are to visit.  When describing where we've been, detailed nuts and bolts directions are offered as best can, often relatively superior to what we had to go on when venturing forth.  Check out:  WAYMARKING  Also, a Wikipedia link has been added at the bottom of the blog page.

ELBERT COUNTY HIGH POINT

 a.k.a. THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

We're not county highpointers but this controversial site, as part of our recent Christmas/New Years, Down-South side-trip, turned out to be one of those (currently totaling 3142, though not all legally accessible, according to County HPer Guru Andy Martin).  We landed here on 4Jan.  Nice day; nice countryside.  But the "stones" were a tad spooky. This formidable granite Stonehenge-like monolith is composed of 4 vertical "tablets" plus capstone amounting to a not-quite 20ft. height.  Weight = 119 tons. Displayed are ten Moses-like engraved precepts for the world's inhabitants in 12 different languages.  The most provocative guideline recommends: "Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature."  These upright blocks, like Stonehenge, encompass astronomical aspects. Ordered and bought by mysterious Mr. "R.C.Christian" from the nearby Elberton Granite Finishing Corporation, it was unveiled on March 22, 1980.  Visible from the highway, it's located just off GA77 between Hartwell and Elberton in NE GA.  For more info, Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia will provide much.  Plug in Georgia Guidestones.
Note:  About a mile or so south of Nuberg, the "stones" have an actual address - 1065 Guidestones Road.  It wasn't recognized by our GPS but maybe yours.

LAKE TAHOE
Reno trip, cont.Is there a future for Lake-Pointing? Our Reno trip took us to beautiful, cold, clear Lake Tahoe. In our Chev Cobalt rental, now approaching 1500 added odometer miles, we circum-drove 80% of the lake, catching the essence of the area 100% while trying to ignore the commercialism/hype and the sight of expensive homes we could never afford (jealousy).

Lake Tahoe's geo-stats are impressive: deep, wide, long, etc., and a contender for the highest U.S. lake, or alpine lake, "of it's size" depending on which stats you read. At 6225ft at surface level, what are the possibilities for wet GeoXtremes?

Below are nitty-grittty info links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tahoe
http://www.virtualtahoe.com/Community/TahoeFAQs.html
http://ceres.ca.gov/tcsf/tahoe-local/facts.html
http://www.bluelaketahoe.com/page.php?p=pkf&l=1