Secret Court Order Hands Over Verizon Phone Records To Obama Administration......

Canoeing Iron Canyon Reservoir, Shasta County, CA

We had a pretty mild 2012/2013 winter in CA but the spring has been equally mild and kept the snow pack in the Sierras (limited as it is this year) from melting. All of a sudden in the end of April and 1^st week of May the weather turned and the high-country began to give up its stored melt-water and the lakes began to fill.

Without actually having eyes on the lakes it’s difficult to ascertain when this begins to occur. You can try calling marinas, if they exist at the lake you are interested in, or you can try calling Ranger Stations, if you can get someone on the phone who has a pulse but neither of those methods are particularly reliable. I use an online resource provided by the California Data Exchange Center to track water levels in the lakes I am looking to visit http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/staSearch (select the radio button for “Station ID/Name” and enter the name of the lake in question).

I’ve had my eye on Iron Canyon Reservoir for a couple of years now. Iron Canyon is in Eastern Shasta County and is rather remote. It’s a 25mi drive SE of Lake McCloud (which I visited last spring – CLICK HERE ) and 22mi North of the intersection of Big Bend Rd. & CA 299 (Intersection is 37mi East of Redding). The lake sits at 2,660’ altitude and was created in 1965 when PG&E erected an earthen dam impounding Iron Canyon Creek and feeds the James Black Powerhouse which incidentally is one of the larger hydroelectric plants in PG&E’s system. 

Iron Canyon is widely reported to be an excellent trout fishery and its remote nature provided the mix of minimal crowds and fishing opportunity that I was looking for and with a favorable weather forecast for the weekend I was off with one of my dogs for a weekend of camping, canoeing and fishing.

As previously mentioned, Guinness my 3yr old Bullmastiff came from a bad situation. He’s been with us a year now and though he’s made great strides he is still very leery of all men, including me. I wanted to set up a situation where just he and I were in an unfamiliar situation to hopefully build some trust. The island in the center of Iron Canyon seemed like a great place to attempt this as he’d be free to roam a bit, but couldn’t wander too far and wouldn’t have the opportunity to chase after any wild game.

The drive up from Mountain View was simple if a bit long at ~5hrs. The last portion, from the town of Big Bend to the lake, was a bit dicey as the lumbering operations in the area are in full swing. Beware of log trucks on the road on weekdays and the road is rather beat up. No worries if you drive an SUV or pickup, but be careful if you are in a regular car, there are some rather substantial holes in the pavement and some bumps that you can easily bottom out on.

We arrived at the lake just before 10am, loaded the canoe and headed out across the glassy lake to the island. One of the first observations was the steepness of the banks around most of the main body of the lake. There are areas in the five arms with areas amenable to an easy landing, but the main body has relatively few. If you are looking to camp along the shore, focus your search for a spot in one of the arms of the lake, this will also serve to provide you a bit more shelter from afternoon winds. The island too has only a couple of spots where one can easily land and unload a canoe or kayak and locating one we made a landing and walked around the island and found the only flat spot on it at the top. The lake levels at Iron Canyon were very low last year which probably kept people away and it looked as if it had been at least two years since anyone had camped there. There was a fair amount of wind-fallen branches on the ground, and a few larger limbs and small trees that crossed the “path” to the camp site at the summit of the island. Whomever the last camper was, they left a six pack worth of empty Natty Light cans and an empty Southern Comfort bottle…..I guess dirtbags drink cheap booze. I packed your trash out for you…..jerk. 

Because the lake is a power generation resource the water levels can and do fluctuate. The water dropped ~3’ on Friday then steadily rose ~12’ over Saturday and through noon on Sunday. The effect of the fluctuation is the banks are damp and muddy which makes loading & unloading a canoe or kayak a sometimes difficult affair. Additionally, you ought to tie off your boat at night lest you get a distant look at it resting on a bank that you aren’t standing on. Not a huge concern but something to be aware of while you are there, and a reason to note the storage level trend on the aforementioned CDEC website before you depart.

I spent most of the middle of the day clearing off the sticks and limbs so there was room for my tent and so I could easily walk around, set up camp, filtered enough water for the weekend, cleaned out and rebuilt the fire pit and processed a good sized pile of firewood. The weather was pretty warm all weekend though and I didn’t even start a fire the second night so if you are the next person to camp there, enjoy the firewood I left you. 

 

Guinness approves of the tidied up camp site.

I did build a small campfire the first night....didn't keep it going long though as it was pretty warm.

The breeze kicked up through the middle of the day so I wasn’t missing out on any fishing but around 4pm the lake glassed off again so Guinness and I hopped in the canoe and set off to try to avail ourselves of a few of the Iron Canyon trout population. 

There is a reason why the activity is called “fishing” and not “catching fish”…..it’s because the latter is not assured. There were four groups of people that I saw on the lake all weekend that were fishing and nobody was catching anything to speak of. I suspect that the recent huge increase in the lake level (from 30% capacity to 90% in a couple of weeks) combined with the Oak Worm hatch being in full effect conspired to keep the fish either from feeding or well fed on the worms blowing into the lake. Either way, I got skunked. Tried every lure in my tackle box, tried wet flies, dry flies, night crawlers and even…..ugh….”Powerbait”. One “bite” all weekend. 

Guinness judging me on this whole fishing thing.

In no way though did that sour the weekend. The weather was fantastic, the lake was glassy every day except for a mild breeze from about 12:00 to 4:00pm and I was able to spend a solid 3 days with Guinness. We saw a ton of wildlife as well (some photos below) including Bald Eagles, Osprey, Canada Geese, Merganser, Otter, Deer and a Black Bear Sow with two cubs. Couldn't get the camera out in time to catch the Raptors or Bears but did catch the deer and a few other things.

I definitely plan on returning to Iron Canyon later in the year. The fishing is “supposed to be” too good to write it off based on one bad weekend. As you can see in the photos, the place is beautiful and despite heavy lumbering activity in the area you can't see any evidence of it from the lake (subject to change of course) and its remote nature keeps the crowds low. 

Lies, Damned Lies and (Gun Control) Statistics

Anyone who has been a sports fan for any length of time knows how statistics can be used to make a false argument about a player or to find “hidden value” in a player that by appearances might seem less attractive to a team. A great example of the former would be a Pitchers Win/Loss totals or in football, the Quarterback Rating. Neither of which by itself is a reliable metric of a player’s value. There are some examples of the latter found in modern “Advanced” statistics such as WAR, BABip etc that can show a player to be of greater or lesser value than he seems to the naked eye.

In sports as in many other areas of “debate” statistics can be very useful. Provided the data set is of sufficient size to provide a representative sample, provided the statistic actually measures what is being evaluated and provided the statistic is being accurately represented. Equally, statistics can be used to distort the truth - particularly if the above provisions are ignored or not met and that is the topic of this post.

The post Sandy Hook Gun Control debate rages on in many states but has thankfully due to cooler heads prevailing, lost steam at the National level. There were two widely repeated statistics used by the Anti-Second Amendment crowd that I’d like to discuss.

40% of all gun sales are completed without a background check.

90% of Americans (including gun owners) support background checks.

9 out of 10 Media Jerkoffs Agree, Jumping to Conclusions is Fun and Great Exercise!

After the Tucson shootings I wrote about the media’s propensity in the immediate wake of a shooting or act of terrorism to point speculative blame at specific groups as a means of politicizing that which is often simply the act of madmen.

The effort to immediately politicize these horrific acts is absolutely nauseating in and of itself. However, to politicize them as a means of using it to forward a particular political agenda borders on the misanthropic if not sociopathic. How many times do we need to have a catastrophic event co-opted to the gain of another before we collectively cry “ENOUGH”?

These absurd knee-jerk speculations offer a spectacular glimpse into their thought processes, biases and true beliefs as time and again when some wack-job goes off the deep end, members of various traditional and “New-Media” outlets have sought, openly and without apology to hang the act on those of a group they describe as “Right-Wing Extremists” or of having “Tea-Party"Affiliations. You can go to that post to read the list of recent instances of this occurring…..it’s long…very long...

You back? Starting to see the pattern?

Outdoor Gear Review - Kelty Coromell Sleeping Bag & Sea To Summit Dry Bag

All of my gear reviews are done through the prism of a guy who is into back country canoeing. With respect to gear this use case is similar to backpacking in that weight is of some concern, but because I'm placing my gear in portage bags in excess of 100 liters and transporting by canoe not backpack I can afford a bit more weight and a bit more bulk. This affords the luxury of a few niceties not available to the backpacker and a bit more comfort as well.

Many of the places I enjoy going on my solo trips are high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and I enjoy trips in the spring and fall when there are fewer folks around than in the middle of the Summer. As such I regularly experience night time temperatures that are beyond chilly and approaching downright cold and because the weather can change rapidly at high elevations it's always a good idea to be prepared for more weather than the bimbo on the 7-o-clock news has predicted.

I stumbled on a bag that suits my use case perfectly. The Kelty Coromell is a down bag that comes in a slightly roomier shape than the standard "mummy" type bags that are usually found for this temperature range. It's a +0deg down bag which is, quite frankly, warm enough for anything I'll be doing with a little extra warmth for unexpected weather, but the best part is the "semi-rectangular" shape. It provides the warmth and pack-ability of a down bag and a little extra wiggle room in case I want to...wiggle. The hood is removable if need be and has drawstrings to tighten the hood. There are two neck baffles with drawstrings (top/bottom), a full-length zipper and a chest pocket to stash your watch or flashlight for easy retrieval in a dark tent.


With this bag I've comfortably slept in temps as low as +28 degrees wearing nothing but my BVD's and a smile. I'm confident that it would remain comfortable down to it's +0deg rating although at that temperature I may need some polypropylene long underwear. I'm a fairly warm-blooded sleeper though and I do use a substantial inflatable pad so that may not be required. By using the adjustment drawstrings in the neck baffles and the hood I was able to easily modulate ventilation/insulation to a comfortable level. The footbox was perfectly toasty as well. Plenty of room to roll over on my side or position my arms and legs any way I liked. The bag didn't feel restrictive in the least.

The external material has, thus far, been quite durable and the inner material is comfortable on bare skin (some bags just aren't). The zippers are robust, snag-free and have generous pull tabs. I haven't experienced any "feather shedding" as can sometimes happen with down bags and because I store it uncompressed, the loft is just as good as new after two years.

The only gripe I have with the bag has nothing to do with the bag at all but with the compression sack that came with it. Throw it away. It's flippin useless.

I replaced the crap-tastic compression sack with a Sea To Summit 15 liter Compression Dry Sack (purchased at REI). It's a tight fit, but it works & compresses down to the size of a grapefruit taking up very little space in my pack and defends against a soaking wet sleeping bag should I experience the ignominy of dumping my canoe before I get to my destination.

I should add that this bag won't pack as small or be as light as a "traditional" down mummy type bag, but since this is for canoe trips, ultimate light weight and compactness is less of a priority.

Outdoor Gear Review - MSR Whisperlite Universal Stove

When Kathy and I go camping or on canoe trips we tend to bring some pretty spectacular food that requires a double burner stove and full-sized pots/pans. However, when I go out on my own I prefer the simplicity of freeze dried backpacking type meals from Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry. Both companies have a few items in their lineups that are just plain nasty, but for the most part they are pretty good, a few are downright great. When I'm by myself I'd rather spend my time exploring, fishing or taking photos as opposed to preparing complicated meals. I will occasionally fry up a fish, but that's as ambitious as I tend to get on solo trips.

I screwed around with a cheap single burner, coleman propane bottle powered stove for a while and though it worked okay for it's purpose, both it and the bottles were way too bulky, and it was fragile. I had to repair something on it after nearly every trip....it hit the bottom of a trash bin a year ago when I purchased an MSR Whisperlite Universal Stove.

Outdoor Gear Review - MSR Miniworks EX

Whether in a survival situation, a lengthy solo wilderness adventure or a simple weekend fishing or camping trip the one thing you cannot do without is water. For the weekend fishing or camping trip it's easy enough to bring sufficient water with you. However, weather changes fast in the back country and for any number of reasons people often get stranded far from help and that simple trip to your favorite trout stream could very well turn into a solo wilderness adventure and survival situation. Because of that it's always a good idea to have a means of treating water, in sufficient quantity to sustain yourself, for far longer than the scheduled duration of your trip.

There are of course a number of means of treating water and each has their benefits and drawbacks.

• Boiling water - requires a collection and storage vessel and a stove (or fire) and a pot in which to boil the water
• Treatment tablets or drops - Treats a limited amount of water, has a limited shelf life, often leaves a foul taste in the water
• UV treatment pens - Will destroy bacteria, protozoa and viruses. Light weight and compact. Will not remove chemicals and toxins. Expensive and dependent on battery power