We’ve heard from the ELEVATION crew a couple times since they arrived in China.  If you missed the first updates, check out Jesse Huey’s pre-boarding post and Dylan Johnson’s update from Chengdu, China.  Since then, we’ve heard from the team via satellite phone and received some pictures from the team.

So far, the team has made it to Rilong and begun working to train mountaineering guides.   Getting to Rilong was quite an expedition.  They had a 10 hour drive alongside huge cliffs and what ELEVATION founder Alison Watson described as “crazy near-death driving.”  But they arrived safe and sound late last week.  Before they made the trip a couple days doing some “last minute shopping” for gear in China.

Altitude Adjustment

The crew spent the first few days in Rilong adjusting to the altitude.  One day they ascended to 14,000 feet, then came back down.  Altitude sickness is nothing to mess with and from the sound of it, the team has all been able to adjust thanks to good planning and conditioning.

The Weather

So far, the team has had “beautiful” and “spectacular” weather with sunny days and blue skies.  Chad Kellogg, who has been traveling to the region for six years, says he’s never seen such nice weather there.

What Lies Ahead

At this point, the team has traveled by horseback to Base Camp.  The climbers will be doing final preparation and conditioning, and over the next week should be setting out on their big climbs.

Previous Posts:

• A Film to Inspire Change
• In the beginning, by Dylan Johnson

The ELEVATION Project connects storytelling, education, and community support to elevate communities on a global scale. Our mission is to promote an active lifestyle, community service, and empowerment through practices that inspire conservation and social change. We capture this with meaningful stories, communicating to the next generation through film and engagement.

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Tatlow Creek, BC from Fred Norquist on Vimeo.

A Soul Gypsy is someone who follows their passion against all odds. A path is set before each person that is too often forgotten as we are pushed to conform. The experiences we have had on this path leave us no choice but to turn this dream into our life and strive to participate in the world to the greatest extent possible. We have chosen to sacrifice comfort and security for what we truly love. The Soul Gypsy is not in search of some goal that is attainable in the future – our quest is just to live the dream for one more day.

Checkout more of the Soul Gypsy exploits at www.soulgypsy.org and www.egcreekin.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer: Our socio-economic place in the developed world has inspired and enabled us to pursue the gypsy life; an opportunity that is not available to those people for whom life is a struggle to stay alive or simply get by.

Objective: To minimize our environmental impact, promote the importance of environmental awareness and create means for the ultimate kayak journey.

The Ambulance:

We converted a 4wd Diesel ex-ambulance to burn Waste Vegetable Oil (used cooking oil from restaurants) and has the capability to collect and burn this in all temperatures, no small feat due to the viscosity of grease in cold temperatures. This van has the ability to carry more than 80 gallons of fuel giving it more than a 1000-mile range. It is also outfitted to allow for an extended road trip without the need for contact with population centers.

Waste Vegetable Oil:

Waste vegetable oil is refuse cooking oil from restaurants and when heated to the proper temperature can be used as fuel in a diesel engine. While not a complete fix for our petro-addiction, burning waste vegetable oil (WVO) is a way for some people to minimize vehicle emission pollution. Burning WVO releases carbon from the carbon cycle as opposed to petro-fuel that adds carbon to the atmosphere.

The Seven not-so-sacred Laws of Gypsy-dom:

1. Gypsy-dom is something that can be strived for but never attained

2. Gypsys don’t let a lack of resources stop them.

3. Gypsys are always deliberate.

4. Gypsys strive for self sufficiency.

5. Gypsies examine the way they live their lives.

6. Gypsies persevere in the face of hardship.

7. Gypsies don’t follow rules – duh.

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In previous years, hundreds of volunteers have come out to help collect up to 30 tons of trash! This year is no different and we’re going to need all the help we can get to keep our river running clean. Folks can sign-up through Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful  or call/email me directly – the kayaking portion of the clean-up is handled a little differently because we want all of the folks in the water to have whitewater experience for liability reasons.

Please email or call me if you can make it and I will put you on our list to make sure we have a boat for you. Feel free to forward this email to any paddlers who you think may be interested.

I hope to see you on the 25th,

Newton DeBardeleben
newtoniii@hotmail.com
775.224.7023

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A spot in your garden that gets good sun all year round is going to be the place to start. Garlic and onion bulbs go in the ground in late fall, after the growing season is over and the ground has had a chance to cool off a little. Say late October or early November. If the ground freezes solid for long periods of time in your area, it might not work, but they’re pretty hardy plants so I’d recommend giving them a try anyhow. You can get bulbs from your local nursery, here in Reno I go to Moana Nursery.

In rows spaced by about 12-18 inches, drop the bulbs in the ground about 8 inches apart and cover them with 4 inches of dirt.  One thing that can help give them a jump start in the spring is a thinly sprinkled layer of bone meal in the row you cut before dropping the bulbs in the ground. Once they’re buried, just forget about them. Green shoots will come up in the spring and the bulbs will be ready to start harvesting sometime in July.

It’s really that easy. Like green onions? I took the tail ends, about an inch and a half, from a bunch of green onions we bought at the grocery store, stuck them in the ground last fall and they grew all winter. We now have all the green onions we want all year round!

Read more about the health benefits of the home garden!

Health Benefits of the Home Garden Pt. I – Therapy

Health Benefits of the Home Garden Pt. II – Kale – The Cancer Fighter

But what about the health benefits? Onions and garlic are both part of the Allium family and are both rich in sulfur containing compounds. It’s these compounds that give garlic and onions their pungent odor but also that provide most of the health benefits. The biggest benefit of eating these Alliums regularly is to cardiovascular health. Both help reduce cholesterol, serve as good sources of Vitamin C, an anti-oxidant, and Vitamin B6, which helps fight heart disease.

Onions and garlic are also both helpful in preventing certain forms of cancer. By improving gastrointestinal health and helping to prevent lesions in the intestine, regular consumption of onions can help dramatically reduce the risk of colon cancer. Rich in kaempferol, a strong anti-oxidant that prevents the formation of cancer cells, onions also greatly reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Cooking both garlic and onions with meat, particularly with high heat cooking methods, helps reduce the carcinogens that form in the meat. Combined with their free-radical capturing qualities once their nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream, onions and garlic fight carcinogens both on the front end and the back end of a meal!

Then again, who cares about the health benefits when garlic and onions are so tasty?! They’re easy to grow, add essential flavors to almost any meal and are really healthy to boot. So why not plant some garlic and onion this fall. You’ll be happy you did next summer when you walk into your backyard, pull up a bulb and head back into the kitchen to cook a delicious meal of home-grown goodness.

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Click on the photo to view a slideshow of Mokelumne Wilderness.

Mokelumne, pronounced moo-ka-la-mi, was designated in 1964 as part of the original Wilderness Act. It was expanded in 1984 as part of California’s Wilderness Act and now comprises an incredibly diverse area, both geologically and botanically. The elevation of Mokelumne ranges from 4,000-feet near Salt Springs Resevoir to over 10,000-feet at Round Top Peak. In between are glacier smoothed granite lake basins, jagged conglomerate rock formations, lush and flowering alpine meadows, and creek beds that carve their way both to the Great Basin and to Pacific bound rivers.

Over 20-miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) cuts through the wilderness area, mostly in the north-east section of the wilderness, which is where I set out to explore. The lower areas of the wilderness see more traffic with easier access and an abundance of lakes. I tend to try to avoid people when I’m exploring the wilderness so I set off for a backpack trip into Raymond Lake, high up in the alpine area.

I started from the Wet Meadows Trailhead, which is down at the end of an old forest road that requires a high-clearance vehicle, (or the ability to deftly maneuver a Subaru Outback over some fairly hairy sections). Luckily, I’ve never been shy about taking my Outback places it has no business being (and I’m not going to lie, I had a prideful smile on my face heading out Saturday morning after seeing four or five trucks and jeeps surrounding my little wagon). The trail meets the PCT shortly after leaving the trailhead.

Here’s where my “plan” went out the window, as it often does when I head out alone. Shortly after joining the PCT I came across a little side trail that headed up a ridge-line that seemed a more like a direct route to where I wanted to go. As it turned out it was, I just didn’t realize how direct. I headed up the ridge and before long found myself with no trail, tromping through the woods trying to follow the contours of the land. It wasn’t really bushwacking, the trees were pretty well spaced, but it wasn’t particularly easy either. As the saying goes, ‘you better be tough if you’re gonna be dumb.’

About two hours later I came out on a saddle between two craggy peaks and the effort to figure out where the hell I was began in earnest. Below me and to both sides stretched out a moonscape of jagged rock pillars and peaks. I expected to see Raymond Lake, but as I scrambled up one side of the saddle to have a look I couldn’t discern any telling landmarks. I did notice a sweet little alpine meadow just below the saddle that would serve as a good camp. Upon examination I found a little spring for water and with my late day start and the sun already heading down, I decided to post up for the night.

At the head of the meadow was a small patch of trees that was a perfect little camp site. The fire ring and small stack of deadwood let me know that I was not the first to stumble upon this site. The solitude and the view back down Pleasant Valley Creek made me really happy with my detour. Once the sun set I could see the lights of Carson City way off in the distance.  It was the perfect setting for some reflection on wilderness, development, and what exactly sustainability means.

When outdoors, I often find myself wondering what things were like before white settlers came along and set our technology to work taming the west. What if we hadn’t envisioned our “manifest destiny” as the need to take everything we wanted from the land, no matter the damage we did? What if rather than persecuting the Native Americans who had lived in harmony with the land for over 10,000 years, we had learned something from them about living sustainably? How different would things be now? Would global warming, water scarcity, rising sea levels, mass amounts of pollution, and all the other environmental problems we face even exist?

The small portion of land that remains wilderness gives us a glimpse into what could have been, but history tells a different story. Ultimately though, what if? isn’t what really matters now; what we learn from our history is. As long as humanity exists, wilderness will never again achieve it’s dominance of the world. The questions that wilderness really brings out are: can we develop our world in a smarter way? and can we restore our planet to healthier place for ourselves and life in general to live? Looking down on the lights of a city miles in the distance from a mountain top perch in the heart of wilderness will make a guy ponder. Answers remain elusive, but the questions still matter.

The hike the next day gave me ample time to continue my pondering. Fortunately, the heavy breathing and burning legs from scrambling up and down the moonscape valleys on my way to Upper and Lower Kinney Lakes did not. Wilderness ultimately is about being in the moment, not thinking about what might have been or what could be. I was out there to unwind and clear my head, something that even science shows we all need to do more often. You’ll also notice that I still hadn’t figured out where the hell I was.

From my now twisted sense of direction, I figured I’d run into Raymond Lake just over the next ridge. No dice. How about the next one? Not there either. It was about here where I started to realize that I wasn’t where I thought I was. Not lost mind you, I knew how to get back to the car, just not where I intended. Finally, after much scrambling up and over craggy ridgelines I came out onto a trail leading through a wide valley. Things got much easier. The distance I traveled before coming into view of Lower Kinney Lake continued to perplex me though.

Had there been a trail down to the lake I probably still wouldn’t have figured it out. Suddenly I started seeing people, which seemed weird as I should have been further into the wilderness by this point. The trail I was on kept going past the lake, until another lake came into view, and then the light came on. I was no where near where I thought I was. It didn’t matter though, diving into Upper Kinney Lake still felt awesome. Sitting on the beach, soaking up the sun, I was now left to ponder where I went wrong.

Turns out, the saddle I came to on the first evening was right below Raymond Peak, had I just turned left and gone around the mountain, Raymond Lake would have been right there, less than a mile away. Had I stayed on the PCT I would have found it easily and I would have avoided the torturous off trail hike through the moonscape valleys. Then again, I wouldn’t have found my perfect little meadow, my view of the world below me and I would have missed the gloriously tortuous hike through the moonscape valleys to Kinney Lakes. I guess the nice thing about exploring the unknown is that I can always learn from my mistakes and do it better next time.

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Hunter Creek starts deep in the Mount Rose Wilderness, fed by snow melt and Hunter Lake throughout the hot summer months. Designated in 1989, the Mt Rose Wilderness makes up 31,310 acres of the high alpine area of the Carson Range. While Hunter Creek Trail does get a fair amount of traffic, it’s seldom used compared to other local attractions. The high country near Hunter Lake rarely sees visitors.

The trailhead starts at the end of Woodchuck Drive at a developed parking area. The trail is in good shape and it’s about a 7-mile roundtrip to the falls. The majority of the trail is along the creek but is unshaded, so either start early or bring plenty of sunscreen. The last bit is in a cool, shaded forest of large Ponderosa pine trees. The falls are unmistakable, so if you’re wondering if you’ve possibly passed them, keep going. At about a 30-foot drop, the falls were more significant than we expected.

The water is really cold, even in mid-August. It’s not a big enough pool to swim in, nor could anyone either than the old men in the polar bear club stand to swim in it, but it’s a great spot to wade out and cool off in by dunking your head in the falls. Not only is the waterfall beautiful, it’ll help improve your mood as well because of all the negative ions it fills the air with. “Once they reach our bloodstream, negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy.”

Beyond the falls the trail continues on into a meadow at a decreasing level of upkeep. That said, a great adventure would be to backpack up Hunter Creek Trail all the way to the headwaters and explore an even more seldom visited area of Reno’s backyard wilderness.

One word of caution: beware self-proclaimed “environmentalists” who pontificate without interruption about how global warming is a farce created by the oil companies. We had just such a conversation with a local engineer on the way back down and his idiocy undid all the good effects of those negative ions. If it wasn’t for the conspiracy theory incriminating the oil companies, I would have said he was from the Fox News school of environmentalism. I guess local wildlife is all part of the fun when you visit the Mount Rose Wilderness though!

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Help out and get rewarded through our Action Rewards volunteer program.

Friends of Nevada Wilderness has been assisting the Austin/Tonopah Ranger District clear trails in the Alta Toquima Wilderness area for three years now. Volunteers have brushed out over 7 miles total in the Pasco Canyon and Pine Creek Trail system.  This work is critical not only for the recreational enjoyment of hunters, horse users, backpackers and hikers, but keeping wilderness trails open helps prevent ecological damage stemming from visitors creating their own network of trails that are unmanaged, and consequently human caused impacts are spread across a broad area rather than keeping visitor use concentrated to one maintained trail.

The Pine/Pasco connector shows up on visitor maps but in reality it barely exists.  Roughly 4 more miles need to be worked on to make this a viable trail—a connection of two of the prettiest and wildest trails on the Austin/Tonopah district which is the largest Ranger District in the lower 48 states at 2 million acres.

Thursday through Saturday we will flag the intended route which will largely consist of hiking and looking for the over grown tread, so the work is very light on this trip.  Hiking opportunities abound  along with an evening or night soak at one of the hot springs in the area.  Contact  Wes Hoskins 775 762-6730 (cell) or wes@nevadawilderness.org.

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Currents – Episode 5 – The Ottawa River from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

When is green hydro power really green? With dwindling supplies of conventional oil, we’ll need to rely on all available sources of energy to meet future energy requirements, including hydro (even assuming we reduce use and increase efficiency). However, hydro comes at a cost. So, when does it make sense to destroy an ancient ecosystem?

Along with Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia and Russia, Canada is one of only 6 countries in the world with an abundance of freshwater. A few others, like the United States, are marginally self-sufficient, but the reality in most of the world is one of scarcity. This has lead us to take freshwater for granted when in reality, we have a responsibility to treasure and protect it.

River rich provinces like Ontario and BC are seeking to solve their energy problems through supposed “Green Energy” plans. Unfortunately, there is a certain amount of “Greenwashing” in this.

These Green Energy plans are about filling an energy gap. Using the trendiness of fighting climate change, these provinces are seeking to get around normal environmental assessments for hydro and other “clean energy” projects. Hydro has benefits, but it also has its costs: valleys flooded, villages and ancient habitats destroyed, etc. There is often even a negative impact on GHG emission through the destruction of forests and vegetation (carbon sinks).

What these “green” energy plans do is gut the environmental assessments normally required for projects of this sort. The role of organizations like the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is to weigh the costs and benefits of a project prior to providing a permit. If the benefits of these projects outweigh the cost, why do you have to bypass the proper evaluations to get them approved? As we saw in the Petawawa segment, in Ontario, local municipalities have lost their say in these matters. BC has practically eliminated public consultations in project evaluations. Though low-impact hydro is possible, hydro at all costs is not green.

In short, governments must account for all of the ecological services provided by forests, agricultural fields and other ecosystems that will be impacted before approving a project. Proposed projects in BC like the Peace Valley Site C, and the KlinaKlini will have huge social and environmental impacts, destroying ancient forests and fish habitat, agricultural and first nations land.

We saw this type of “greenwashing” on a grand scale in the South Korea segment. Upon massive public outrage to their Grand Canal project (to dredge massive canals through the country for greater shipping access), the South Korean government renamed it the “Four Rivers Restoration Project”, trying to fool people into thinking that these canals will somehow benefit the environment. While I am not suggesting that we are seeing propaganda on this scale, by trying to bypass proper environmental evaluations and public consultations, governments are trying to hide the complete picture.
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Hydro has the potential to be an important part of the clean-energy mix that is needed to help Canada address the issue of climate change while also protecting against local environmental impacts. However, hydro can result in unacceptable impacts if projects are improperly located, poorly designed or built and operated in a manner that does not consider regional ecosystem costs and benefits. With a strategic approach that accounts for ALL environmental costs and benefits, hydro can be an important part of the clean-energy mix. Provinces need to evaluate all potential hydro costs against costs which include protection of minimum ecosystem water flows and minimization of local impacts, and seeks to minimize wilderness fragmentation resulting from associated infrastructure, such as access roads and power lines.

So keep getting out to enjoy our rich river network and keep trying to raise awareness of the critical importance of this resource. By ensuring that the environmental impacts of hydro projects are known, and discussed in the media, we can help push governments into a more strategic evaluation of “Green” energy sources, leading to a well thought out and truly eco-friendly solution.

Currents is a river stewardship focused WebTV program (online video documentary) which uses white water kayaking as a means to educate a broader audience about the risks threatening the world’s rivers and to help highlight the intrinsic value of preserving rivers in their natural state.

More info at five2nine.ca.

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Learn more about the joys of volunteering with Friends of Nevada Wilderness here and the get rewarded through Action Rewards.

The project will include moderate hiking and lifting and will be in an area with little to no shade, so bring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water.

Families are encouraged to participate in this trip. Kids programs will be provided by the Nevada Outdoor School Saturday.

Friends will be providing a continental breakfast Saturday and Sunday, and will cook a big meal Saturday night. Volunteers will be responsible for their own dinner Friday night and lunch Saturday.

Contact Pat Bruce at 815.5598 or pbruce@nevadawilderness.org for more information and to sign up for the this project.

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We will be exploring the various principles of LNT while enjoying a moderate backpacking trip starting at 5,900 feet, hiking into North Emerson Lake to set up base camp, and summit Cole Peak on Saturday. Each participant will give a short presentation on an assigned principle; this is a great way to practice your teaching techniques and get ideas from fellow LNTers.

The course is free to participants, but you’re responsible for coordinating your own ride to the trail head and providing your food. For more details see Nevada Outdoor School’s Outdoor Ethics Page – www.nevadaoutdoorschool.org/OutdoorEthics.htm or contact Jen Stockton, Outdoor Ethics Program Director at 775-623-1712.

Read more about the South Warner Wilderness here: A Place of Solitude and Beauty.

Click on the photo to see a slideshow of the South Warner Wilderness

Nevada Outdoor School (NOS) was founded in 2002 by Stephanie Lefevre.  She desired to establish an outdoor education program in rural Nevada that would create a sense of land stewardship amongst students of all ages.  NOS gained its 501c3 non-profit status in 2003, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps, the City of Winnemucca and Humboldt County.  Over the next few years, NOS increased funding through grants and strengthening partnerships with organizations such as the National Civilian Community Corps and the United Way.  By 2006, NOS created over 20 volunteer positions through AmeriCorps, VISTA and the British Trust of Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) program.

In the last several years NOS directly served tens of thousands of rural students through a variety of community outreach programs, on-site education in classrooms, teacher training workshops, and summer camps. NOS is now the main hub of AmeriCorps State and VISTA in Rural Nevada, placing over 30 AmeriCorps State and VISTA volunteers into 12 valuable organizations.  Today, NOS has formed strong partnerships with many local and regional organizations, corporations and agencies to create a coalition networked all across rural northern Nevada.  Recently, Stephanie Lefevre stepped down as Executive Director and passed the reins to Andy Hart who is excited to continue and build upon the great programs and level of service NOS has provided over the coming years.

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