Pursuing Adventure

My name is Rebecca. I am a trail builder, musician, juggler, and cook. Please check out the links above for additional content.

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Building a Bed in My Subaru Outback

I started sleeping in my car in college to save money. It always made sense to me for a lot of reasons- more protective than a tent, but still mobile. It just works great for the dirtbaggy-trail-builder-traveler-backpacker lifestyle I lead. 

Back in college I had a tiny two door Toyota Yaris hatchback (still managed to sleep in it comfortably for months at a time!) When I bought a new car, I had my eye on a Subaru Outback because it seemed like the perfect car to sleep in. In some ways it is: large trunk area when back seats are folded down/removed, sunroofs, nice and flat. It does have downsides. It has a low ceiling, and especially once I built the bed, headroom wasn’t as abundant as I’d like. 

Here is my method for building a bed in the back of my Subaru Outback Legacy (it’s a 2004 L.L. Bean Edition.) My goals were to keep weight down, price down, and maximize both headroom and storage space underneath. 

I started by looking and measuring inside my car, seeing how wide I could make the bed and at what heights, taking into account the wheel wells. I completely removed the back seats before installing the bed. I wanted the frame to be hinged, so we could lift up the back of the bed from the trunk to access storage underneath. Therefore my design would include two independent frame sections to be hinged in the middle. 

Next, I mocked up the design with cardboard in the back of the car to see if it would really fit before I committed. 

Once I was happy with the frame design, I chose materials. I opted to build the frame from 2x3 stud pine. It’s not the hardiest material, but the bed would be low slung, and not have a large mattress on it. More importantly, the 2x3 was light and cheap (I paid less than $15 for all of the necessary lumber.) Two small hinges where the two frames attached- they would not bear weight and didn’t need to be large. 3 and 4 inch screws to fasten it all. I borrowed a lot of tools from my Aunt and Uncle- I highly recommend borrowing tools if possible.

(Note the gloves- it was 9 degrees out when we built this.)

Once the two frame boxes were completed, I mocked up legs to determine how long to make the real legs. To figure out how much head space we’d have, I took into account the additional inch added by what would become the top of the frame, and the depth of our mattress. 

Then we leveled it all out, and measured the depths on what would become the legs. 

Ultimately, the legs were about 6″. Combined with the additional 3″ added by the frame 2x3, that gave us an underbed storage heigh of 9″- not astronomical, but still left us over 2′ of headroom. I popped the two hinges into the middle to attach the two frame boxes.

The photo below shows how the front legs rest on the area underneath where the back seat used to be. I made sure that the legs rested on a flat, sturdy surface. Removing the back seats gave us a lot of additional storage area under the bed near the front; here, we had about 2′ under the bed.

Next, I made the top of the frame. A lot of people use plywood for this. I highly recommend not using plywood. It’s really heavy and unwieldy. My cousin Karl, who built a beautiful bed in the back of his Honda Element, recommended to me something called HurriGuard Hurricane Sheeting. It’s also known as triple-wall polycarbonate hurricane paneling. It’s strong enough to hold a couple of people, and much lighter than plywood. Plus it looks cool. It was definitely the most expensive material for this project at $116, but worth it.

I had to order it special through Home Depot. I used a 48″x72″ sheet.

It was easy to cut with a circular saw, but did blow a lot of plastic shavings everywhere. I cut two pieces to fit onto the two frame sections, leaving some overhang where the car allowed. For example, the polycarbonate sheeting conformed to the curve of the trunk hatch, whereas the frame just squared off.

Don’t forget your ear and eye protection, ladies and gents!

Also at my cousin Karl’s suggestion, I simply used velcro to affix the pieces of polycarbonate sheeting to the wood frame. This enables me to easily dismantle the bed, or remove the sheeting to access storage if I want. 

In the above photo you can see where the polycarbonate sheeting extends past the bottom of the bed to give us a little extra foot room. Additionally, behind the front seats, I was able to gain a little more width on the polycarbonate toward the side doors once I cleared the wheel wells. 

It lifts!

We opted for a relatively thin 2″ memory foam mattress, and made some privacy covers for the back windows. 

My goal was to create enough storage underneath that we could always travel with everything under the bed so that if we pulled up to a spot to sleep, we could just climb into the back without moving anything or adjusting anything or getting out of the car at all.

Success!

If you have questions, send them my way!

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Chocolate Making

I will try to use this blog for longer posts that wouldn't really fly on facebook. To begin: 

Chocolate Making

The other week my brother harvested some cacao from our backyard here (that's right, you can grow cacao in the backyard in Hawaii. How cool is that? Super cool.)

We started by opening up the pods and taking out the beans

Fresh cacao beans are purple inside with a  thin layer of fruity white flesh between them (visible in the picture). The flesh is good, kind of mango-y tasting, but there isn't much of it. The beans are very bitter and a bit astringent. They taste nothing like chocolate at this point.

After the seeds are out of the pods they are traditionally fermented. Some of the yeasts and bacteria for fermenting cocao are naturally occurring; some people recommend adding yogurt. We added a dab of kimchi, which has similar bacteria (and all we had on hand. Don't worry, it didn't make it taste like kimchi.)

We allowed the beans to ferment for about two days. Then we spread them out to sun dry, which makes roasting more even.

They took a day in the direct sun to dry. Then we put them in the oven to roast. Roasting directions vary widely– generally, cacao is not roast nearly as hot or as long as coffee. 250 degrees and a half hour seem to be maximums. Most recipes advise starting at the highest temp and slowly working your way down. Overall, the goal is for the beans to start smelling like chocolate, and get pretty dark on the outside. Ours weren't quite dry when we put them in so they were in for about a half hour, half of the time at 250 and half at about 170.

After roasting, the shells come much more easily off the beans. Peel the individual beans.

They beans are much darker now and have a dark chocolate-y smell.

Next, for simple at-home chocolate, we blended our beans in a coffee grinder. This brings out the natural oils and creates a sort of bitter cocoa slurry.

We added sugar (powdered) to make it sweet.

This paste can be put into a mold or just stuck in the fridge. It tastes a lot like dark cocoa.

This is my first time ever making chocolate. A lot of direction came from my brother who has a bit more experience, but even he was unsure about some things, like fermentation and roasting time. All things considered it came out pretty well.

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Year in Review

I'm pretty bad at this blogging thing mostly because, in reality, facebook is a far easier way to reach most of the people I know quickly. However, in hopes that one day I will be a famous travel blogger with droves of followers checking my page every day, I will continue updating this.

It has been almost a year since I've written on here. All the things I wrote about in my last post have come to pass.

I traveled the US studying trails for my final semester, and then graduated.

I spent 5 months working on trail crews in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. Words cannot fully describe the awesomeness of that time. I worked really hard, learned a hundred new skills, and the people were beyond compare. I miss them and the Adirondacks.

I am currently living in Hawaii for two months. So far I have backpacked Volcanoes National Park, camped in the shadow of Mauna Kea, swam and snorkeled, and hung out with some cool cats. I also eat a lot of fruit and avocados.

Next up: Montana.

I will once again be working on trails for the season, this time based out of Helena Montana. I am very excited to work trails and live in the West again.

I will make every attempt to update this more often (which I say every time I update this) for all you loyal readers (Dad).

Peace

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Happenings!

Here's what's happening: in short, a bunch of really freaking awesome things.

1. This summer I will be working on the 2014 SCA Adirondack corps. I will spend five months in Adirondack state park in upstate New York in this intensive trail crew and leadership program. I could talk for hours about the multitude of reasons why I'm so pumped for this.

More of this, mostly:

And this:

Probably lots of rain and bugs too, and back-breaking work.... like I said, it's going to be awesome.

2. GRADUATION! BUT FIRST, SPRING!

I need 16 credits to graduate- one quarter. I'm taking advantage of Evergreen's independent learning contract system (I make up my own course of study such as dog yoga or underwater basket weaving or following the Grateful Dead (yes, that really happened at Evergreen)).

I am spending spring quarter researching recreational ecology and trails. Basically, I'm learning about hiking. It's pretty awesome.

3. WINTER

Here's what I did this winter:

Went to Hawaii for Christmas. Did lots of awesome hikes, including this backpacking trip in Volcanoes National Park.

Went on a field trip with my class to Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula, the most northwestern point in the continental US. It's amazing. Here's another picture:

We also went on a field trip to Mt. Rainier.

For spring break, a few friends and I drove north and took the ferry into the San Juan Islands. We camped on Orcas Island and hiked around, it was amazing.

Yep, that's about it. I'll be leaving Olympia in a week or two to head east. See you soon (maybe? Depending on who you are?)

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Fall

It's been a while. A good long while and I've done a lot of stuff in that while. Here is a quick summary of my fall quarter after I dropped Aunt Sandy at the airport post-road trip.

I hiked the seven lakes basin/ high divide loop in Olympia National Park, a nice three day backpacking trip. I also ate a lot of huckleberries, which the bears were kind enough to share with me.

My schedule for fall (and winter) is swell: class tuesdays, wednesdays, and thursdays with four day weekends. So I took a weekend trip to North Cascades National Park, but it was closed because of the government shutdown.

I saw some fire dancers at the Olympia arts walk:

My class went on a week long field trip to Sun Lakes State Park in eastern Washington. It was neat, but very cold camping.

I moved into an airstream (I had been living in my car).

I volunteered with the Washington Trails Association one Saturday fixing up some trail in a state park on the Olympia Peninsula. Good to get a pulaski back in my hands.

Over thanksgiving break I drove 1300 miles to visit Caroline in Denver. We ate a lot of pizza, went to a lot of happy hours and watched a lot of Doctor Who.

In between these things I did some school work... somewhere...

Anyway, that was my fall. A good time was had by all. I hope to update this more often even though I think dad is the only one that reads it (hi dad!)

Cheers.

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The story so far: Denver to Grand Canyon

Okay, lots to update! We hit lots of parks in the last few days: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon. Let's start from the top.

We headed from Denver to Moab Utah, where we stayed for a night. The drive into Moab followed the Colorado through beautiful, red slickrock, Abbey's country- amazing.  Went to see Arches and Canyonlands. The hottest weather so far was Arches- over 100, easily.

Canyonlands is fascinating mostly for the vastness of its backcountry- the sheer size and number of nebulous little canyons meandering into the distance, hot, dry and inhospitable.

After that we drove to Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, Utah, one of my favorite spots in the southwest. We spent two days soaking in the bathtubs built into the mountain by natural mineral buildup, and watching the stars and generally having a very relaxing time. Mystic also has a tropical greenhouse warmed by the spring waters, a tropical fish pool, and a great view of the surrounding valley.

Next we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. We hiked around for the morning.

We drove the Mt. Carmel Highway 9 out of Bryce, through some of the most amazing slickrock mesa country in the southwest. Cool tunnels too.

And we arrived at my absolute favorite place in the world: Zion National Park.

I love Zion. I love it. I'm not sure what it is: the cream-pink-coral-red sandstone walls, vaulting sentinels of rock that jut out of the canyon floor like Angels Landing and the Altar of Sacrifice, the Virgin River which runs through the middle, the Mormon Tea and cheatgrass growing stark green out of the canyon walls- it's just the perfect place for me.

This trip was especially awesome because I got to meet up with a brother of a friend who has, essentially, my dream job: he works on a trail crew in Zion National Park. 

We spent two days in Zion, and though it rained quite a bit, we got some nice bits of weather too.

Next we headed to the Grand Canyon- the North Rim, where I'd never been. It was cold and piney and beautiful. Unfortunately it was also so cloudy and foggy we barely saw the canyon for a few minutes before it fogged up for good.

We hung out in the warm lodge on the leather couches watching the cloud drift in and out of the canyon.

The next morning it was still somewhat rainy and overcast, but Aunt Sandy took a mule ride along the rim of the canyon which she loved.

That brings us up to today: we left the canyon to head north. We ended up stopping at Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park, where I'd been on my first trip southwest with Dad and Aunt Vicki and Luke. It was super neat.

Tomorrow we're headed to Yellowstone National Park. We're beginning to make our way north and even more west, to eventually end up in the northwest. Westward ho!

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Today we drove to Mt. Evans outside of Denver, a 14er with a road to the top. The summit road was closed, but we took the winding ascent to the summit lake which was incredible! Also I've never driven on such a precipitous road.

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DENVER

We made it to Denver! We drove for two days straight and made it around 7PM last (Sunday) night. Today Caroline took us around Boulder-  Colorado is so HIP. Hippety hip hip, it’s too hip for me, but the weather is beautiful and dry, and all the people are nice and the beer is good, so I’m happy.

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Booked it to Denver in two days flat!

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Seeing the World, Part 2

Tomorrow I am driving across the country. My Aunt Sandy will be my copilot as I travel back to school in Olympia and we are going to see as much of the country as we can in 2 1/2 weeks.

I spent my spring and summer having mad, awesome travels: far from home, in Europe, and close to home, on a trail crew in the Allegheny National Forest. You can read about said adventures here: rebeccakambic.com

I may try to update this blog periodically throughout the trip. Lately, facebook has proved a simpler method for travel updates. Nevertheless. Our planned route takes us first to Denver, to visit Caroline. From there we will explore Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. 

I am excited. I'm ready for another journey. I'm ready to finish school this year. Then - who knows?

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Seeing the World

This blog has been too philosophical lately, and that's not what it's here for. It's for awesome pictures of traveling and backpacking and mountains and stuff like that. So back to the regularly scheduled programming. 

UPCOMING TRAVELS:

On April 1st I'm flying to Amsterdam to meet up with my friend Maggie, who is currently studying abroad in Ireland. We'll spend the next month on a whirlwind tour of Europe (I've waited so long to say that, you have no idea). We'll be going to Belgium, France, Scotland, England and Ireland. 

I get back to Pittsburgh the last week of May.

The first week of June, I'm moving to northern Pennsylvania to work a trail building internship with the US Forest service. We'll be working on a 100 mile section of the North Country Trail which runs through Allegheny National Forest. I'll get mu Forest Service Chainsaw Certification! Can't wait!

So that's what's up. I've got four more days in Olympia, and I'm ready for a break from this rainy city.

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For those who see this blog, I posted a more full trip report about my time in India at the above link.

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The Pacific Northwest

There is something about the pacific northwest. That quality you see in pictures of it: dark brooding evergreens interlaced with ghoulish fog. Cold nights and mountain shadows. It is real. That quality exists just as strongly in real life.

I was standing at the bus stop sunday evening and even though I was a stone's throw from my apartment complex and a short walk from the dorms, just beyond the streetlights was black forest, probably filled with yetis and vampires. It was bitter cold but still wet. When I exhaled there was that strange, crushing feeling when the air leaves your lungs and rejoins the atmosphere as a puff of cloud. It was quiet, too, despite being just on the edge of a college campus and a few miles away from a city. There's something about the forest here that feels empty. Most forests, at night or during the day, teem with life: squirrels hopping between trees, sunlight filtering through swaying branches, a deer flicking through brush. But here it is quiet. Black. Of course there is life. There are deer and rabbits and birds and vines and evergreens and otters. But it is quiet. Cold and wet and quiet and green and dark.

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Thoughts on the real world from one who glimpsed it and fled

I got back from India about a month ago. While I was in India, I traveled in two distinct ways and in two distinct places: trekking in the Himalayas in Northern India in clean air, stupendous mountain vistas, with 15 other lovely American students and a teacher. Then I took trains and buses with one friend through several cities and tourist areas in the more southern parts of India, down on the plains below the mountains which are generally more crowded, polluted, and pushy.

The mountains were indescribable. We learned about alpine environments in alpine environments. We climbed snow covered slopes amidst Christmas-tree scented rhododendron shrubs and herds of goats. We drank glacial melt. We slept under the stars. We partied with locals in a village over a hundred miles from the nearest road.

Traveling down into the plains was like descending into hell. I can't explain a lot of what I saw. It seems strange to write down some of the things, inhumane in a way. I don't know why. But bad things. Ways of life we would almost certainly consider cruel, inhuman, disgusting, unfair.

There were good things in the plains too, don't get me wrong. Good people. Some beautiful landmarks- temples, bays, the Taj Mahal.

But all this time in India, I just absorbed what I saw, even the bad things. I kept thinking, people say India changes them but I feel the same. I felt like the same person. I still thought about the same things. I had imagined that when I arrived in India my previous interests would just be shut off. It was nothing like that.

It wasn't until I went home that I felt shocked and confused. This is how India changed me:

I now pretty much feel like I love the United States. As in, capital L, I Love You United States and Westernized Civilization. I love your hot water. I love your grocery stores. I love that you don't need signs on trains that say "no harassing female passengers". I love that trash is taken to a landfill. Trust me folks, it's not as bad as the some of the alternatives.

I love pizza. I love a quiet neighborhood. I love the clean air. I love toilet paper. I love washing machines and debit card readers and reliable internet. I love laws that are enforced. I love parking and traffic regulations. I love my bed. I love my couch. I love all these things because after seeing that millions of people live without them, I am sad that such a harder way of life continues, but reassured that these comforts still exist for me. I can't help it. I consider myself a pretty frugal, reasonable person but I would never choose life like I saw in India over life in America. It's just so much better.

And people can say there is no use making these comparisons. That telling someone a child is starving in Africa is a silly way to make them clean their plate because it's all relative. That's fine. But the fact is that a child is starving in Africa. And somewhere in northwestern India the city of New Delhi continues to crawl day and night with masses of people and cars and motorbikes and autorickshaws that spray pollution into the smog-filled skies. And somewhere on a mountainside in the Indian State of Uttrakhand a trash heap that covers a mountainside is still endlessly burning and smoldering like some Biblical version of hell. And somewhere in Goa the same homeless hungry man is still reaching his hand inside bus windows and grabbing at people for food or money. And people are still swatting him away or ignoring him, just like I did. These things are true. And maybe that's an unfair way to make a kid finish their dinner. It's not as if finishing your dinner helps that starving child. But it's still something that exists. And it's scary that it exists, but it does. And once you know it exists you can't forget it. Can't unsee it. Once it's undeniable, you are forever making those comparisons in your mind without realizing it. And with this knowledge comes an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness in the face of poverty and chaos.

We have our own problems, I know, us in the western world. Low voting turnouts. Medical care. The stupid fiscal cliff. But I no longer see any value in the endless time and money consuming arguments we have over these things. They are closer in nature to watching the latest viral youtube video or buying a new Christmas outfit ; they are so very distant from the physical realities of life. Food. Clothes. Basic sanitation. Are fiscal cliffs and filibusters and Facebook and twitter truly the necessities, nay luxuries of the free world they claim to be? Are they really the best we can do with the wealth we have?

Maybe we in America and the west have earned the right to have these things. By the very virtue of our wealth, we have earned the right to spend it on the stupidest, lamest things imaginable, like campaign adverts or gin joints or guns or an Herve Leger dress or our own website. Maybe that's the fairest way to look at it. 

We have real problems too. There is still crime here. There's still social injustice. Of course there is still poverty too. But some of these are statistics we can compare, and by comparison we are doing a damn fine job.

And some of our money is spent on good things. Some of it goes toward stopping even more crime. Some of it goes to starving children in Africa and other places in the world. And sometimes buying that new Christmas outfit is... not necessary, but okay. I'm not saying America is completely wasteful. I just wish we were more aware of how lucky we are and more willing to admit that a lot of the time, our choices and possessions are unnecessary and luxurious. I wish we were more grateful of what we have. And not, It's Thanksgiving and I'm thankful for my family and my dog, thankful. I mean, holy shit my life is so much easier and more awesome than so many other lives in the world. Look at the beautiful things I can consume and create and the time I have to appreciate all the beautiful things I've been given. We should feel overwhelmed, dare I say burdened, by how much we have.

So what do I conclude? I conclude that I don't know. I conclude that the more I see the less I know. I conclude that seeing and knowing are important, but they don't always lead to clarity or wisdom. Sometimes they just lead to sadness at the state of the world, and the inability to take hot showers for granted. On the other hand, maybe that is the wisdom I got from this trip. But I don't know. I just don't know.

EDIT 2/13: a caveat for if and when more people read this. I wrote this not too long after returning from India. To say the least, returning home was overwhelming and this essay is sort of, well, a downer. I don't want people to think my time in India was a downer. I mean, I was in what are arguably the most incredible mountains on planet with like-minded individuals hiking and learning and generally absorbing every brilliant moment of living in such an environment. And we met tons of lovely and happy Indians. It was mostly life in the Indian cities and the culture shock of returning home that made me write something this depressing. This isn't a retraction- what I wrote above is still true. But like everything, it's just one perspective.

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India-Post Wildlands Update

(Written November 5, 2012)

Hiya world. So Wildlands ended yesterday. We got up super early at our lovely camp in the foothills of the Himalaya and most of us took an hour jeep ride to catch a train to Delhi.  The train ride was about six hours and it was easily the most bizarre and insane experience of my life. Easily. It’s weird, we’ve been in India for about six weeks but we’ve been in the India you don’t commonly see or hear about. Not too many people actually go into the HImalaya, and we weren’t really experiencing the plains like most travelers do. But the train took us straight out onto the plains and the things we saw out of the train window were… bizarre? wrong? I don’t know, I can’t really describe what we saw. The mountains are semi-pristine, a place where older culture is more preserved because there are less roads, and where the air is clear. Over the course of the train ride the air became thicker and thicker with smog until you could only see about four hundred yards in each direction. We arrived in Delhi which is MAD. It’s insane. More than a little disturbing. And extremely overwhelming after spending six weeks in the backcountry with the same sixteen people. A group of us headed to a hostel in the Paharganj which is the backpacker neighborhood of Delhi filled with hostels. We got nice rooms for about ten dollars a night, went out and found dinner, and were generally confused by the overwhelming stimulation of the city. Today my friend Philip and I said goodbye to the last few remaining Wildlands friends, who left for the airport- flying to Thailand and Nepal. Philip and I are staying in Delhi another day, then taking a train to Agra and on to Varanasi for Diwali, a huge Indian festival of light. It’s going to take me a day or two to adjust to the plains. Wildlands was such a fantastic, fantastic experience. I really can’t explain what it was like to spend so much time trekking around the highest mountains in the world for six weeks, having class as the sun set over the snowy peaks right behind us, drinking from glacial streams, having snowball fights at 13000 feet, and hanging out with really awesome people with similar interests. We even happened to be staying at an old Indian house on October 31st and had an epic halloween party.  It will be easier to explain through pictures, but unfortunately that probably won’t be happening until I get home in a month.  If the internet here cooperates, the post before this will be a brief summary of the two Wildlands treks that I wrote up and attempted to post about a week ago. It doesn’t nearly cover everything, but nobody would want to read that and I probably couldn’t write it.  One of the strangest things about coming to Delhi is seeing white people again, and having to meet new people again. But I’m excited to see the Taj Mahal in a few days, to see Varanasi, and I can’t wait to head further south to the coast- Mumbai and the Goan beaches. 

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India- Ranikhet Update

(Written October 31, 2012)

Hi everyone. It's been a mad, mad bunch of weekks since I last posted here. Again, forgive spelling grammar mistakes. This computer is terrible, to say the least. I'm in the town of Ranikhet in the Himalayan foothills. I've spent the past four weeks trekking in various parts of Himalayan backcountry. We did two treks: The first trek started in the town of Darchula, where I last had computer access. We trekked up into a valley (the Darma Valley) that has no road- the only transportation is pony and foot, so the culture is preserved in a way that is disappearing as the road winds further into the hills. We hiked up the valley over a two week period- no idea of the distance, maybe thirty or forty miles? The valley ended at a town called Dantu at the base of the Panchchuli mountain group, a stunning group of five snowy Himalayan peaks. We hiked to Panchchuli basecamp. We had cold nights and even a blizzard at Panchculi, and we got to experience alpine environments. We stayed a few nights in a village called Nagling, where the ancestral head of the Darma valley lives- we stayed at his house, which is a beautiful complex of crumbling old Indian architecture. The people in the Darma valley are transhumant, which means they live up high in the summer and down lower in the winter. We stayed in their summer homes where they farm and pasture their animals, and which they would leave ina few weeks. We also encountered families traveling down with their herds of animals, chickens, clothes, and food strapped to their backs for the winter. We hiked back out of the Darma Valley after 17 days and took a long jeep ride to the town of Munsyari, where we rested at a lodge, stocked up on snacks and took our midterm exam. The second trek began directly from the lodge at Munsyari about ten days ago. For the past ten days we've hiked up, over, and back down various ridges surrounding the Johor valley. One day we hiked over a mountain pass and ascended about 4400 feet- almost a vertical mile. It was a difficult but amazing hike. We finished the trek the day before yesterday at a river camp, and traveled to Ranikhet yesterday. In four days this study abroad program will end, and I have a month to travel India before I fly home. My friend Philip and I plan to visit Rishikesh, Delhi and Agra the first week, then travel to the holy city of Varanasi for Diwali, the second biggest festival in India. Our loose plan after that is Mumbai and Goa. The lifestyle we live as part of the Wildlands program is great. We have tea time twice a day, we camp almost every night and usually trek or day hike 6-15 miles a day. I'm more acclimatized to high altitudes than I've ever been. The highest we reached was a ridge by Panchchuli, which was about 14,000 feet. We had an incredible snowball fight on that hike, but the snow also made it one of the most treacherous hikes I've ever done. Our teacher, Chris, is excellent. We have learned more in about a month than I usually learn in an entire quarter. Forest ecology, culture, natural history. We also have several local guides with us who are always willing to talk.  Hope everyone on the east coast is safe from the hurricane. Til next time.

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India 1

 Hi all. A few minutes (and spare rupees) of time so here are some notes on India so far (forgive grammar/spelling errors):

  Our teacher is really cool. He lives in thailand and has worked for wildlands for twenty years. Because hes done it for so  long he has connections with an Indian teacher/tourist company and we're getting to go to all these places (like daharchula and the darma valley) where almost no westerners go. Indian cities/villages are pretty much like you would imagine- cows and dogs all over the street. Horns are pretty much used instead of any kind of traffic rules. Honk when you see people or other cars or cows so they know you're there. Big trucks even say 'horn please!' on the back so they know where you are.

The sanitary conditions are generally appalling. There is garbage everywhere- in the streets, gutters, mountainsides, trails.The dogs and cows eat the garbage on the streets in the city. 

That said, we've been to some fairly pristine areas. Our first camp at Sattal (sattal means seven lakes) was on a mountain top above a lake. The area was subtropical elevation, and we did a great hike in the surrounding mountains over to a butterfly museum run by a local. The showers and bathrooms at the camp are inhabited at night by what we call the bird-eater spiders- spiders a bit smaller than your palm. Apparently they're friendly but I still avoid them.

Every morning and afternoon we have tea, and because one of our guides knew a family, we got to randomly stop in on an Indian family. They gave us excellent tea.

We're learning about agriculture and every day we past the altered landscape of the terraced mountains. It actually looks really beautiful even if it isn't completely natural, and we just read a scientific article arguing that it terraces prevent landslides.

In Indian culture, staring is not impolite, so when we drive through a town all the heads turn. When we walk down the street, especially in Dharchula where white people are extremely rare, people will follow you or bring their kids to meet you just because we're white. When I walked around the town of NAinital a few days ago, overalls and short hair, the attention is almost overwhelming. The towns alone are overwhelming- so many people, animals, colors, things for sale, people trying to sell you things or lead you somewhere to do business.

Tomorrow we are going to Darma valley to trek for 17 days, and our teacher Chris said he has never seen westerners trekking there. I am looking forward to getting out of the city.

That's all for now. Cheers all.