Topic: Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[Paul]

Small turn out but lots of fun with Dan, Kent/Amy, Chris/Em, Chris and Noon and I. Hungry Valley's Power Line trail took us to the "black diamond" Pronghorn trail. Not much of a black diamond trail but for one nice 75 foot or so decent down a tricky portion of hard rock and sand stone. We did a bit of unintentional bush whacking down the wrong dotted line on the map and ended up down a motorcycle/quad trail for lunch. Following lunch we made our way with a ranger escort to the playground. Lot of fun playing in the mud pit, the real black diamond slough trail, and the artificial mountain. The day trippers headed home and we started off into the Quail Valley area of the park for some fun as the northern exits from the park were all closed. Chris and Em's truck was having charging and cooling problems that we weren't able to fix in an hour of tinkering and cooling with water so we escorted them to the nearest hot dog stand and then it was Dan and my girls for the night. The campground at Churchapuka was nice enough, we cooked up some tri-tip-kabobs, lit a fire, and I took some pictures.

The next morning we made our way to Frazier Mountain - the first half of the trail was a smooth mountain road. I knew we were in for fun when a Saturn passed us. We made our way to the old fire lookout before heading down the north and east sides of the trail where things quickly turned fun. We came down Lockwood Creek Trail which had some black diamond fun and we decided that it would be a whole lot more fun going up the trail rather than the easy downwards path we ended up on.

I took a couple of panoramic shots I don't know if the code here will reproduce them in their mind-numbing size so if you're interested just follow the links back to my PhotoBucket account. I'll edit the videos later - none of the mud video came out for some unknown reason.

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Hi Amy!

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Big drop

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The black diamond sluice trail

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

A bit of enhancement via Photoshop, the rock Dan's on isn't that close

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[Paul]

Dan's turn

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Chris and Em' looking on

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

For once, for once the rangers found someone else to stop rather than me!!

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The play mountain. Nobody dared climb the rock section. A built up jeep sat in front of it for about 20-minutes before backing down.

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Just a wee bit of mud 

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Note the hood action

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[Paul]

Dan crawling the mountain

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Me posing

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Group shot

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

And a label

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Good dog!

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[Paul]

Good dinner - tri-tip-kabobs

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The BIG pine tree we were camped under. That night a big softball sized pine cone came crashing down about 15 feet from the tent.

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The trucks resting after a hard day

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Next morning on Frazier Mountain

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Lots of yellow

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The old lookout tower - you can climb the stairs and look around - I've spent nights in worse looking motel rooms.

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

Some of the tough section of Lockwood Creek Trail - note the air on the back leg

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

The valley beyond

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[Paul]

Links to big panorama pictures. it's best to download these locally to pan back and forth with.

These guys are 767 KB and 940 KB.

The burn area
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Xterra/00-09%20Hungry%20Valley%20Frazier%20Mt/HungryValleyPanorama2.jpg

Nice view from near the top
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Xterra/00-09%20Hungry%20Valley%20Frazier%20Mt/HungryValleyPanorama1.jpg

[Paul]

Wonder if the city would let me build something like this for my ham radio gear? 

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

[FrankB]

Wonder if the city would let me build something like this for my ham radio gear? 

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

I always kind of imagined that is what your back yard looked like now . . . you mean it doesn't?

Nice pictures Paul.

[fleury123]

damm I hate Navy computers. I cant view the pics...........

[Paul]

damm I hate Navy computers. I cant view the pics...........

Chris try going to this URL http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Xterra/00-09%20Hungry%20Valley%20Frazier%20Mt/

The .mil blocks access to PhotoBucket.com (but not 10 other popular photo sites) but this url is "s6.photobucket.com" and I use to use this method to get there when we were still blocked.

[Aperion]

Just a wee bit of mud 

Sept 2009 Hungry Valley and Frazier Mountain

hmmm I wonder if this is why I was overheating and my alternator went bad... naa probably not

[XterracerX]

WOW! Looks like an awesome time! I love that night shot with the moon shining over the trucks. Can I get the real file please? This will be my new wallpaper.

And the bbq... it's pure visual torture... man that looks tasty!

Thanks for posting Paul! As always... great shots!

[Brian (#2)]

Great pictures, the OHV park area looks fun.  I wish I could have gone to this one but it was a little too far North for me especially with the school work I had to do by Sunday night.

[ultrapc40]

This time I am trouble by the Good Dog then follow by good dinner pictures.

Looks like you guys had a blast. 

[AV Xterra]

This time I am trouble by the Good Dog then follow by good dinner pictures.

Looks like you guys had a blast. 

Was thinking the same thing.  Should move the dog further from the searing meat shot.

[Paul]

WOW! Looks like an awesome time! I love that night shot with the moon shining over the trucks. Can I get the real file please? This will be my new wallpaper.

And the bbq... it's pure visual torture... man that looks tasty!

Thanks for posting Paul! As always... great shots!

What resolution do you want? The natural file is 4288x2848 ... way too big!