Hitchhiker

Marmots are the larges members of the squirrel family and occasional chewers of boot, backpack strap, hiking pole grips, and radiator hoses.

Image from: http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/marmots.htm

Something unusual happened a few months ago while I was driving to my parents house after work. I had traveled about 25 miles on the freeway when my brake warning light came on. My car is only a year and a half old so I thought it was odd but probably something minor and didn't worry.  A few minutes later the ABS warning light on. Then the brake system and TRAC system warning lights came on. I grew more concerned and a bit upset at the quality of my car. When I got to my exit I found I had virtually no brakes at all. It took pressing the pedal as hard as I could to get a little grip. The exit was long and there were no other cars so I was able to come to a stop safely. I drove slowly a few more miles to my parents house timing it so I didn't have to stop at the lights and coasting to a near stop before using the parking brake to stop completely. I didn't know what the problem was but I figured I could at least check the brake fluid. When I opened the hood, to my surprise there was a marmot sitting on top of the engine. The strangest part was I knew exactly what had happened. A few weeks earlier I was reading (listening actually) to Neil Peart's book "Roadshow: Landscape with Drums" in which he told of seeing cars at Kings Canyon wrapped in plastic to keep the marmots out because they like to chew on hoses and wiring in cars. The marmot jumped off the car, ran underneath it and back up behind the engine. A man driving by stopped in the middle of the road, rolled down his window and yelled "What the hell was that?"  I replied "A yellow bellied marmot. It just chewed up my brake line."  

I ran to tell my parents to come out and see this. I got a flash light and a stick and tried to poke the marmot thinking it would get out of my car. It just bit onto the stick and played tug-o-war with with me. I then got the hose and a spray nozzle and began blasting it with water. It still would not leave it's hiding spot behind my engine. It was soaked, scared, pretty unhappy and began to chirp. The neighbors came out to see what all the commotion was about. They were snapping pictures and took turns playing tug-o-war with the wet rodent.  

I resorted to calling the local animal control officer to come help. The officer said she gets 2 to 3 calls a month for marmots being in peoples cars. She added they usually just run away when confronted and she didn't know what to do about this angry little critter. So she called another officer who was good with animals. When he arrived and looked over the situation he said there was nothing he could do because he didn't think I would want him to pepper spay it or shoot it since it was in my car. He was right. He said leave it alone and maybe it will run off when there was no one around.  

I drove the car over to a nearby church parking lot where it was quiet and no one was around. I then borrowed my parents car and got some brake fluid. When I came back I wasn't sure if the marmot was there or not but I thought I would drive back to my parents to survey the damage. As I was leaving the parking lot very slowly I felt a bump. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a wet marmot shuffling across the parking lot and into some bushes. Even though I was mad at the marmot, I felt bad that I ran it over and hoped it wasn't hurt too bad.  

The brake fluid spilled onto the ground as fast as I poured it in. The brake line was split wide open, held together by just a thread. I could see it also chewed up a grounding strap on top of the engine. Fortunately that was all the damage. However, it did cost me $500 to have it towed and repaired and it was in the shop about a week waiting for parts.  

I still can't figure out where I picked up this marmot. It certainly was in my car when I left work that day. I don't believe there are marmots living near where I work. Did it get a ride to work in someone else's car then switch rides? Did it get into my car a day or two earlier and ride around with me without causing any trouble? Guess I'll never know. Now every time I hear a strange noise in the car I wonder if there's a marmot under the hood.  

More from the National Park Service: 

Each spring and early summer, the marmots of Mineral King have been known to dine on rare delicacies. Their fare includes radiator hoses and car wiring! Like bears, jays and ground squirrels, marmots have not only become accustomed to visitors, they have learned that people are a source of food.

In the parking areas some marmots feast on car hoses and wires. They can actually disable a vehicle. On several occasions, marmots have not escaped the engine compartment quickly enough and unsuspecting drivers have given them rides to other parts of the parks; several have ridden as far as southern California!

The whole thing sounds ridiculous, but it's true. If you visit Mineral King, especially during the spring, check under you hood before driving away. Let the rangers know whether or not your vehicle has been damaged. And don't forget, marmots also love to feast on boots, backpack straps, and other salty things such as the grips of hiking poles.

The Wave

I started hiking early and got to the Wave when it was still in the shadows.  

It was nice to watch the morning sun spill over the sandstone.  

I was wearing a Buff that said National Geographic on it.  

I just got it, mainly to cover up my hair when camping and I can't shower in the morning.

I was asked by a few hikers if I worked for National Geographic.  I wish.

There was a group of Chinese students that had a GoPro on a remote controlled... well I'll call it a drone.  

They got photos from interesting angles.  Too bad there was some guy wearing 

a National Geographic Buff waving at the camera in their shots.

It's funny how much I can enjoy laying on my belly in wet sand on a chilly morning 

as long as I have my camera in my hands.

 A formation called The Second Wave.

A couple from Germany asked me where to find the Big Mac formation.

I have no idea.  They said it looks just like a Big Mac.

An strange deviation in the patterns of the Wave.  

It's fun to think about the processes that might have form this.  The laying down of sediments, 

pressures turning it to stone, upheaval of the area, wind and water erosion.  

Somewhere in there some kind of geological turbulence bent, cracked and twisted this section.

Leaves floating in a shallow puddle on the way to the Wave.  

Paria Time Lapse

I tried a few more time lapse videos over the weekend.  Nothing fantastic but I did learn a little or at least found some problems I need to learn how to fix.  I don't like the small size of the videos on this blog.  I uploaded HD quality but it doesn't look so good full screen.  I've got to get this fixed too.  

Teapot Lake

My alarm woke me up at 4:00 a.m. this morning.  I rolled out of bed, took a few steps then sat down and asked myself “Do I really want to do this?”  I thought I could sleep a few more hours and still do an early morning hike and there was a good chance that the sunrise photo opportunity I was hoping for would turn out to be disappointing.  I thought at least I have a good book to listen to in the car (Neil Peart’s Traveling Music), I want to do a high elevation hike and everything is packed and ready to go.  So I stood up and got ready.  This was the third time in the last two months I’ve driven to Teapot Lake in the dark dodging deer, raccoons and porcupines.  As planned, it was still dark when I got there.  There was a little moon light but I still needed a flash light to find my way around the wet grass and soggy dirt along the edges of the lake.  I immediately had my camera on the tripod and started taking pictures.  

Using 30 second shutter speeds made it look like it was much lighter than it really was.  The sky soon began to grow lighter as the sun was beginning to come around again.  

I had anticipated the mist on the lake.  Last time I was there to try to photograph the Perseid meteor shower there was a little mist rising so I figured it would make for interesting sunrise photos.  

After the sun was up and the best light was over I hiked Bald Mountain which can be seen in the distance in most of these photos.  

I’m glad I didn’t go back to sleep.  If I had I am sure I would have had the kind of Sunday that would be forgotten by Wednesday.  Instead I had the kind of Sunday I will always remember.  

Window Seat

Window seats are a big deal for me.  When I fly I don’t watch movies or play video games, I look out the window.  

When booking flights I select which side of the plane to sit on based on the flight path and what land marks might be seen, where the sun will be, will there be a sunset or a sunrise, and I try to avoid window seats over the wings.  I can’t always get the window seat I want but I try.  

On my recent trip to England and Tanzania I flew from Salt Lake to Chicago to London.  Then London to Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro.  Then Kilimanjaro to Mombasa to Addis Ababa to Frankfurt to London to Dallas to Salt Lake.  When I booked these flights I wasn’t able to get a window seat on all flights and was not able to reserve a seat at all on the flights in Africa and out of Frankfurt.  I checked back often online to see if any window seats opened up.  They eventually did.  I tracked down the phone numbers for the airlines in Africa and Germany and called them and reserved window seats.  I had window seats for all 10 flights and I was really looking forward to the flight from Addis Ababa to Frankfurt because it was during the day and I would be flying over Africa and Parts of Europe I had never flown over (the flight to Addis Ababa was during the night so I knew I wouldn’t see much on that one).  

When I boarded the flight from Addis Ababa to Frankfurt there was some confusion about the seats around my row.  The rows were not identified well and none of the passengers could agree on which was row 14, 15 and 16.  Either way someone was sitting in all the window seats and one of them was mine.  So I got the attention of a flight attendant to help straighten things out.  Turns out there was no row 14 on the sides of the plane (though there was in the middle) and the man in 15A (my seat) actually had seat 15C (the isle seat next to me).  Once we had established which was row 15, I said to the young man sitting in 15A “That’s my seat.”  He quickly moved over and I took my seat by the window.  

As we flew out of Ethiopia I watch the green hills transition to the sand of the Sahara Desert.  It was very impressive.  Sand dunes all the way to the horizon.  Usually no signs of water or plants but there was an occasional oasis with a few plants and maybe a little water.  Then we flew over the Nile River where it was very wide.  Not much vegetation along the edges of the river just a blue river running through the orange sand.  

Eventually I got up to use the restroom.  While waiting in line I glanced back towards my seat and saw the man in 15C leaning over my seat to look out the window.  It dawned on me that he probably wanted the window seat and sat there hoping to get it.  He looked up and saw me looking his way and reacted like I caught him doing something wrong.  He quickly sat up straight in his seat and then just turned his head towards the window.  It was then that I notice his T-shirt.  It read “Stop Tribalism - Only One Tribe.”  

I can’t say that I know much about the conflicts and problems in Africa but I am aware that tribalism plays a big role in problems all over the continent.  When I returned to my window seat I turned to him and said “I like your shirt, I like the message.”  He said thanks and told me he designed the shirt.  He didn’t like all the violence in his country, Kenya and wanted to do something about it so he made these shirts.  “He said we are all the same people.  It doesn’t matter where you come from or what color you are, black or white, we are all the same people.  There is only one tribe.”  I agreed.  Then he said “Is that the Sahara?”  I told him it was and we talked about how huge it is and how amazing it is that people have been traveling across it for thousands of years.  From what we could see it was hard to imagine surviving out there for very long.  He told me he had heard stories about the Sahara all his life and this was the first time he had been out of his country (and on an airplane) and really wanted to see the Sahara.  I asked him if he wanted to trade seats.  He politely said he could see fine from his seat.  I told him to let me know anytime he wanted to look out the window.  He could just lean over and we would look out together.  

We continued to talk.  He told me he was a university student and was tired of the violence surrounding an election and wanted to do something about it.  So he designed the t-shirt.  The shirt also had “Stop Tribalism” written in Swahili and on the back it read “PEACE” and “AMANI” which is peace in Swahili.  He didn’t have much money so he and his friends got someone to teach them how to screen print and they made the t-shirts themselves.  As his peace campaign started to grow they got the attention of politicians who criticized them because they believe violence is part of a democratic society.  He could not explain their logic behind that but only noted violence between tribes has been around a long time.  He also got the attention of a German professor and his grad students who were working on a book to promote peace in Kenya.  I believe he helped them with the book.  He was invited to give a lecture to the German Ambassador to Kenya and the media.  He really liked giving the lecture and hopes to find a career that gives him opportunities to give lectures.  

As we talked we watched the orange Sahara abruptly end at the blue Mediterranean Sea.  The German professor is sponsoring him to go to Germany for a month.  He didn’t think he was going to be able to go because he was having a lot of trouble getting a visa.  Just two days earlier he told the professor he couldn’t go.  The professor made a bunch of phone calls and was able to help him get the visa.  He is now working on his masters degree and starting a more formal organization to promote peace.  He has also started an Alcoholics Anonymous Association because alcoholism is a problem.  He tries to make it transparent that he is not making money from his efforts to help others and promote peace.  He believes if he benefits financially from this work people will not believe he is really trying to help.  His critics still attack him claiming his goal is to make money.

We talked about our flight path and how we would be flying over Greece, Bosnia, Italy, the Alps and Austria on our way to Frankfurt.  As we approached Crete I said “We’ve got to get you in this window seat.”  This time there was no polite hesitation, he jumped up and switched me seats.  He was so trilled.  First time flying, first window seat and first time seeing the world at 30,000 feet.  We looked out the window together this time with me leaning over.  His eyes were fixed out the window.  I could see how much that meant to him and how much he appreciated the view.  He pointed out cities, islands and mountains and had me take pictures of them.  We talked about the histories of the places we passed over.  He knew much more history than I did.  He was amazed by all the mountains of the Alps, “So many mountains” and the forests of Germany.  

I was so happy to see someone who really appreciates the opportunity to look out an airplane window at our amazing planet.  And humbled by this energetic young man who is standing up for what he believes, PEACE. 

One of my most memorable flights ever and not because of what I saw out the window.  

Tanzania: Did and Did Not List

I'm back from Tanzania and thought I should post something new.  Here's a Did and Did Not list I made during the flight home.  I threw in a few photos that are not my favorites or best (too tired from jet lag to go through 7000+ photos or do much editing), just a few to show what the trip with The Giving Lens was like.


























Did: Get a beautiful orphan girl to smile by showing her a picture of herself.

Did: See Kilimanjaro

Did Not: Take a picture of Kilimanjaro (What?!  I know, I know, I kept waiting for a better view or the right light then clouds, got nothin’.)

Did: Go more than 2 days without a shower.

Did: Introduce myself in Swahili to a class full of kids.

Did Not: Trade my shoes for a Malachite bowl (I tried to but the man insisted on more than my shoes).

Did: Tip our driver with my shoes (The smile on his face was worth more than a Malachite bowl).

Did: See 4 types of wild cats (lions, cheetahs, leopards & serval).

Did Not: See a rhino.

Did: Get entangled in thorns when I went into the bushes to pee.

Did: Sleep in a Maasai boma hut under a boabab tree (2 nights).

Did Not: See a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung.

Did Not: Use the internet for 10 days.

Did: Get bit by a tsetse fly and bed bugs.

Did: Meet a couple with HIV and hungry kids.

Did: Get photography tips from great photographers.

Did Not: Insist or even asked the driver to stop when we saw giraffes in awesome evening light. 

Did: Photograph many beautiful people in Tanzania.

Did Not: Climb Kilimanjaro.

Did: Ride across the Serengeti standing up in the opened top 4 x 4 with the wind and dust blowing in my face trying to soak it all in.

Did Not: Jump out of the open top of a burning safari vehicle (but for a moment it appeared fairly probable that I would). 

Did: Meet people with very few resources who are doing what they can to solve problems and help people in their communities.

Did: Eat goat meat and spleen and drink goat’s blood soup with Maasai men.

Did Not: Drink fresh goat’s blood with the Maasai.

Did: Dance and jump with the Maasai men.

Did: See a lion stalk and charge a gazelle (unsuccessfully).

Did: Sleep under a mosquito net. 

Did Not: Get bit by a mosquito (that I know of).  

Did: Get stung by an African bee (had the stinger in my cheek for almost two days & didn’t realize it until my cheek started swelling).

Did: Drive past Olduvai gorge contemplating being in the area where my species evolved.

Did: Stand on the edge of the Great Rift Valley.



Did: Chop wood with a machete with the Maasai women. (Didn’t carry it back like the women did).  

Did Not: Check In on Facebook from Ngorongoro.

Did Not: Buy a silver bicep bracelet (see David Wilcox’s song “Johnny’s Camero”).

Did: Sit in the Serengeti dirt with Colby Brown taking pictures of the sunset. 

Did Not: Teach Tanzania kids a graphical proof of the Pythagorean theorem (I had a chance but I thought of it too late, from the notes on the chalkboard they were studying geometry and trigonometry).    

Did: Make new friends.

Did Not: See a pangolin (Google it).

Did: Give up my window seat on the plane over the Mediterranean Sea and was happy to do so (more on that later).

Did: Eat rice with junk on it (see Neil Peart’s “The Masked Rider”).

Did Not: Take any Cipro!

Arches at Night

I recently went to Arches National Park to practice time lapse and star trail photograph.  The star trails turned out okay.  There was a full moon so there were not as many stars visible as there would be on a moonless night but the moon lit up the red rocks which I like.  

The time lapse did not turn out as good.  It starts out good but as the sun set the sky turns black.  You can see the full moon rise but it appear pretty small with the wide angle lens.  Obviously I need to figure out how to post videos with better quality.  But I am not pretending to know much about making videos, just have an interest to learn.  

I was hoping there would be a little light left in the sky to silhouette the rocks like the photo below (not the sky's fault, it was how I had the camera setup).  

I've got a lot more to learn about time lapse photography.  Glad I live where I can get to a place like Arches any weekend I like.