Recent Exposures

This week was the final written exam for the Benton County Search and Rescue class on Thursday night.  It was a piece of cake and I scored a 95% on it.  On Saturday was our field practical evaluation.  We traveled to Starker forest at 6am and spent the morning conduction grid searches (I found a gun) while carrying a full daypack.  Then as we were eating lunch we were confronted by a full blown rescue scenario.  Todd (a CMRU member) came running down the forest road screaming bloody murder about his girlfriend and friend getting shot at or something.  We quickly mobilized, Nate Meehan assumed command of the rescue team and I took over responsibility of looking for the hurt girls.  We came across the first girl with "no pulse" written on her wrist and a mock bullet hole in her head.  I decided to move on with our real life EMT Gabe to check out the second girl who was found in a stream drainage with a compound fracture of her femur and heavy bleeding.  I held her hand, manned the radio, and coordinated a litter to be brought to the scene while Gabe administered first aide on her with his experience. We then packed her into the litter and carried  her out to the road where the scenario ended.  It was a great experience and I liked the fact that my ability to assess the situation correctly and lead properly was tested.  I think it went well and I definitely learned a lot.

We were set loose in the area at around 2pm to gather firewood and build a shelter for the night.  It was great weather so I didn’t bother too much with an elaborate shelter and focused instead on gathering wood quickly. In the process I came across a huge skull with a bullet hole through the brain that looked like it must have been a
huge horse, elk, or perhaps cow.  I hung it at my site for kicks.  I then settled with with 4 cans of Starbucks double-shot espresso and my Geophysics book to study.  I easily got my fire blazing with plenty of wood and was able to study until about 3am when I just couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer and fell asleep. 

In the morning the Benton county Posse (horse people) made us a huge breakfast of pancakes, eggs, ham, etc which was terrific seeing that I was then running on about 5 hours of sleep for the prior 48.  We talked about our experience, packed up all the trucks, signed out of the search scenario and headed back to the Public Works area to wash vehicles and put gear away.  We all had officially passed.  I then spent the afternoon on Sunday taking naps and trying to get work done for this week.  The SAR course was amazing and I learned a lot but thankfully it is over with because it took up a lot of my time and killed my weekends for nearly two months.  Once I get through my 80-hour Wilderness First Responder Course over the next two weeks I’ll be fully certified with CMRU and will have spent over 250 hours of volunteer time with the organization since the 1st of this year, nearly double the annual time commitment expected in the first 5 months!!!

Here is an article on us… (click me)

Today I played kickball on 25th street again.  It was a blast and I’m pretty sure we one but after a couple beers I lost track of the score… haha.  After the game everyone split up to go buy some food at Freddy’s etc and then met up again at Kristen Splinter’s house for an impromptu BBQ which turned out to be a real great time.  It’s nice to have so many great friends here!  I really do feel at home here. 

Today I took Tiffany biking up the backside of MacDunn from Soap Creek.  We took the figure-8 loop I had done a few weeks ago with a ton of single track on it.  It was crazy steep but Tiffany rocked it out!  She really is an amazing mountain biker.  I even found out that she won 1st place at the most recent mountain bike race in the area in her class.  That’s nuts!  She’s definitely my new riding partner for Oregon.  Everything the trail threw at her she seemed to just eat up.  We both ate some dirt on the ride and I was pleased to see that she just laughed it off.  It was a great ride and when it gets a little drier out I definitely want to head back to it with tiffany for some helmet shot footage bombing through the trees with her. 

This weekend was a full weekend of CMRU-related training.  On Saturday with the Benton County Search and Rescue class I participated in a town-wide mock downed-plane search.  The teachers triggered an actual plane distress beacon
somewhere in Corvallis and we as teams of 4 had to triangulate the signal using what appeared to be large tv antenna’s strapped to a stick (basically we looked ridiculous walking around with it). The strength of the signal determined the direction we were to move in which was coordinated by the base of operations for the scenario.  I’m happy to say that my team was able to locate the beacon most accurately at the fairgrounds.

On Sunday with CMRU we practiced highline rescue techniques.  We are one of the few rescue units in Oregon certified to use these techniques in a rescue scenario.  We use them when a victim is down in a ravine or similar area where they need to be
pulled up and out of.   This involves a very complicated rigging of ropes to elevated trees, the use of pulleys, belay lines, and a litter to haul the person out with.  It took us all afternoon and by the end of the day my back was killing me from all the pulling of the rope… it certainly didn’t help heal it at all.  I took video for most of the day when it wasn’t raining out (rained the whole weekend) and I really feel like I learned a lot from the scenario.

Upon getting back to campus I rushed off to our first softball game of the year with our team "Team Upwelling" where we dominated and the game was called by the mercy rule in the 5th inning when we were up by 10!

Tonight I took a trip with Anna, Tiffany and Eleanor to Eugene for the Banff Mountain Film festival tour.  We left school early around 3pm to make it to the columns in Eugene for some rock climbing first where I got some great video of Anna and Tiffany on the rock.  Eleanor and I chose to sit out and do some studying in the sun while the girls climbed although at the end Eleanor did take the chance to repel down the rock herself!  I was able to find a really fun downhill run for my longboard on the road next to the rock wall.  We left the Columns at 6 and headed downtown to meet up with Abby, Brycen, Robyn, Kristen Splinter, Nate Meehan, Jason, Julie etc at the Movie Festival sponsored by U of O outing club. 
    The intro to the movie tour was amazing!  Click link to check it out.  Check out the part where the guy ice climbing fractures the wall… nuts!  We watched 7 short films that were great ranging from mountain biking through Asia to mountain biking in Utah.  3 of the films I had already seen before from my own collection of outdoor flicks but it was awesome to see all my friends’ reactions next to me to the amazing stunts and scenery.   It was a great experience and I definitely plan on going to the festival every year from now on.  Google the festival to see if it is coming your way!

    On the way home it looked like a volcano had erupted in downtown Eugene… we later found out an oil tanker truck had exploded… pretty crazy sight from the road on the way home!

    After the helicopter training yesterday I decided to go exploring MacDonald Dunn on my bike again.  This time I rode over Chip Ross Park up Dan’s Trail over to the Oak Creek trailhead from my apartment.  The Loop was about 10 miles and was awesome.  I got home and  ate a burger… not really a burger  because I couldn’t find a bun to go with it.  I spent yesterday evening trying to plan out about 5 hikes/bikes/runs in Cape Perpetua State Park to cover all the trails in that section of a guidebook I have of the Pacific Northwest.   
    Today I woke up around 9am and drove to coast without grabbing breakfast, although I did grab a Snickers Bar from the drawer and the other half of the huge
burger I couldn’t finish last night.  I started off my day hiking chowing down the rest of the burger and hiking along a short trail on some cliffs above the ocean in Cape Perpetua.  It was amazing to be so high up above the ocean and the very old stone structure at the end viewpoint was cool to stand in as it seemed to teeter out over the cliff face.
    I then went down to the ranger station and picked up an annual parking pass so
that I would have one for the rest of my hikes this summer.  I then proceeded on my marathon of a day first running 2.5 miles down a trail along a river to a giant spruce tree that was about 8.5 feet in diameter at it’s base.  It even had a whole straight through that I was able to walk through!
    After running down Giant Spruce Tree trail I stopped briefly at the truck to grab my backpack and video camera before heading down to the ocean to check out the Restless Waters Trial, Cape Cove, and the Captain Cook Trails.  I
walked around the rocky beach at Cape Cove then re-joined the Cape Cove trail to the Restless Waters Trail where I came upon a chute of churning waves that exploded when they hit the volcanic rocks of the shore into huge sprays of water.  I climbed down with my camera and shot some video of the waves coming in.  I got a little too close because one of them caught me off guard and soaked me pretty well.  Luckily I was able to cover up the camera lens before it got me!  I then walked around the shore to the south and
checked out some tide pools with critters in them.  There was a rotting carcass of seal bones as well which was
interesting/gross to see.  I then came upon "spouting horn" which was neat to watch.  As the waves came in they were funneled into a narrow chute that focused the waters energy into a tall spout of water that blasted out of the rocks if the waves hit it just right.  I’d say that those trails along the shore were some of the coolest ones I’ve been on yet in Oregon and I was lucky enough to hit them at high tide to really see the power of the ocean waves against the rocks of the shore!

    After getting back from the shore I grabbed my bag to go on an 8 mile hike into the interior of Cape Perpetua by first following the Oregon Coast Trail to the Gwynn Creek Trail to the Cook’s Ridge Trail back over through Discovery Loop for an 8 mile loop hike.  The hike was actually pretty uneventful but I’ll always think that the Oregon woods are a beautiful area to walk through.  The trees are enormous and with wild flowers now out and small cascading waterfalls even a mediocre hike like this blows most of the East Coast hikes I’ve done away.  I actually think my years of hiking in the Adirondacks and Northeast below treeline has really made me appreciate the landscape and forests out here so much more!  My return through Discovery Loop was neat as there were signs posted all over telling about the flora/fauna around me.  It was more of a self-guided nature walk at the end.   

    When I got back to my truck I grabbed my Kona and headed to Cummings Creek to bike up to 1700 feet on a 12 mile trip, which turned out to be an awesome loop.  As I was nearing about halfway up the trail according to my GPS I saw a small herdpath leading to the left into the trees so I wandered in to check it out and mark the location with my GPS.  As I was there a really awesome downhill mountain biker almost ran into me and told me all about some hidden single track trails that weren’t listed on the map.  Awesome!  I actually was going up the hard way to get to the ridge where the trails began as biking up the forest road to the north was easier but I didn’t know.  So, I trudged on up the trail, walking my bike over the very rugged, very unused top portion of the trail to the ridge where I saw the single track discreetly duck into the trees from the marked trail.  The ride down was absolutely amazing and I could tell that it was cut by locals and not the forest service as I had many small trees to hop, or rocker over on the way down.  It was great to be able to hit up a "locals only" trail like that and when I back to my truck I can honestly say I was very exhausted… but not done yet…

    My next and last stop of the day was a hike along the coast to the Haceta Head Lighthouse.  It was a 6 mile hike and it was 6:45pm already… this was gonna be tight.  I parked my truck in the day-use area at the beach then
headed inland south for a while past some small ponds where I came across some cool looking newts in what appeared to me to be a tiny newt orgy… ha.  After about 30-45 minutes I crossed back over the road and headed up the trail towards the lighthouse which was
a modest ~500 foot climb, but at
this point I was exhausted.  I had eaten my snickers bar before I started the hike but I could tell my body had pretty much used all its available energy.  The lighthouse was really cool to see and in
the distance I could even see the Seal Caverns that Emily and I had explored just last week.  By the time I hit up the lighthouse and made it down from the head of land it was sunset which worked out perfectly for me.  Instead of heading back into the woods I ventured down to the beach and hiked the last 2 miles from the lighthouse down the beach watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.  It was the kind of moment that I really wish I could have shared with someone but I doubt anyone I know would have been crazy enough to follow me on my marathon adventure on the coast. 

    On the way home I was dead tired and hungry so I stopped for a burger at the
Micky-D’s Lounge in Newport before heading back to Corvallis. All told, according to my GPS since last night after my SAR training I
had hiked, biked and ran a total of 44 miles, running only on the energy of a one pound slab of 80% beef and a candy bar… not bad… Let’s see vegetarians do that!  haha.   Anyway, it’s 10pm now and I’m beat… Laters

Today we first had fire building and shelter building for the Benton County Search and Rescue class out on Mary’s Peak.  Nate and I made a fantastic natural shelter out of downed trees, bark and moss but we had a bit of trouble starting a fire out of the wet vegetation in the area.  If we had had a machete like our buddy Mike had (teacher of the ROTC at OSU) we would have been able to chop down to dry wood but instead we ended up using a small candle to start our fires.   Nate and I stopped for a quick lunch at Poor Boys and then headed to the Corvallis Airport for Helicopter training.

It was a cold excersize (helicopter not running) but we were able to go check it out and learn all about how they run their operations.  I even got to sit in the cockpit.  I felt like I was in Air Wolf and wanted to rise out of a dormant volcano (points if you get that reference).  I honestly don’t know how they fly those things because there must have been over 100 buttons, nobs, dials etc in the chopper that I had no idea
how to read.  There are about 20 people stationed there and 3 are on call at all hours.  They can be in the air in less than 7 minutes, have a range of ~150 miles and the bird flies at 175mph fully loaded.  They run on average atleast one mission a day and all, even the pilot, are medically trained so they can freely rotate positions.  It was truly amazing to see how specialized and well trained the personel were.  Later this year we may also be able to train with a hovering Black Hawk helicopter such as the ones used on the famous Mt. Hood rescue where one crashed.   Check my flickr site for photos under the CMRU set.

So last night I got to say a great farewell to my lab mate and good friend Jan Baur.  Jan is a geophysics student like myself working with my advisor’s husband on siesmology also.  He just finished his masters here and is now moving on to the amazing country of New Zealand to continue his studies.  He is originally from Germany and
I’m going to miss giving him shit for his accent and for not knowing common English phrases like "dirty blonde".   Last night was the send off party at his place on 13th street.  It was packed as it usually is at his parties.  Anna, Eleanor, and I rolled up to the party around 11:30 after playing kickball (I nailed a bunt home run cause they weren’t fast enough to actually peg me with the ball) and going out to dinner at McMennamins with Brendan.  Apparently the  
cops had come early in the night and given them a warning as they were having a
bbq.  Everyone was dressed up in some sort of crazy outfit - guys as girls, cowboy hats, and Toshi even put on what looked like an ice skating or luge outfit - who knows what you’ll find at th
at place.  Jan ended up burning an old snowboard in a bonfire out back and Anna continued hers streak of shot-gunning beers at parties lately.  After playing slap-the-bag of wine for a while Jan pretty much lost the ability to speak English, Hartz was out of control, I was raging on a bowl of Jan’s garlic pasta salad, and Anna was hammered, all in all a great night.  I left around 3:30am against the wishes of Jan who wanted to party more but I had to get up at 7am and boy was it rough when I did….   Gonna miss ya buddy! 

Today I decided it was time to go for a bike ride with Tiffany again and Anna joined us.  I wanted to explore some of the unmarked trails of MacDunn again so we parked on Skillings Road off Oak Creek and road up some forest service roads to about 1700 feet where we followed a ridgeline through forested lands.  It rained pretty hard on the ridge but we had rain jackets and I had brought towels for my truck on the ride home because I knew we’d be covered in mud.  When we got to the end of the ridge a rainbow came out that stretched across all of Corvallis in the Valley below - Beautiful!  Anna’s knee barely held together and both girls were super cold by the end of the ride but we all had a great time and plan to ride again next week.

Well, didn’t really seem like Easter today until I got to Kristen Splinter’s house for the Easter Potluck with Eleanor & Anna.  I had just enough time to get home from my hike, shower, throw in a box of potatoes au gratin and then walk over.  We made it right when they were serving everyones dishes.  Meribeth had on a cute kitchen smoke her mom had made for her and there were a bunch of people I knew and didn’t know there.  The food was amazing and the ham was cooked perfectly.  There ended up being about 4 potato dishes but they were so different that it didn’t matter.  We had an easter egg hunt for about 50 eggs that were hidden around the apartment and despite Eleanor cheating and starting the hunt during dinner about 30 minutes before anyone else Kerri still won the grand prize of a soap bottle to blow bubbles with.  The desserts were amazing especially the strawberry pie Suzie made!  After finishing a bit more wine and a very terrifying story by a guy with a french accent about yeast, bread, and Seattle hippies we thanked everyone and took off back to my place so the girls could give me a quick hair cut in the kitchen.  I haven’t really check it out yet because I’m afraid to so I hope it’s ok and they didn’t carve any words into the back of my skull!  Happy Easter!