Road Trip Part I - The Great White North

The time has come for another adventure... I am currently up in Sidney, Montana on a 3 week road trip with my best friend Matt to visit friends and family all over the western United States... sort of a "why not?" kind of spontaneous trip. We started our journey in Big Bear Lake, CA over New Years and have since stopped in Colorado Springs to visit my sister and her family and are now in Sidney visiting the Bell Family Farm. It was 20 degrees today. They tell us we are lucky it has been so "warm" considering it was -40 a couple weeks ago! Here are a few pics from our afternoon exploring part of the thousand-some-odd acre farm via snow-mobile. Great fun!

Salvation Mountain

Yesterday I went out to Salvation Mountain with my friend Lou Mora to photograph Leonard Knight, the mountain's artist and builder who came to the desert 25 years ago and never left. He has one mission, to share with all the world that God is Love. He insisted on the simplicity of this message so I will make no attempt to expound upon his philosophy beyond that. I enjoyed speaking with Leonard as he showed us around his creation. He is a very kind-hearted man with a peaceful demeanor and genuine passion for sharing his message with anyone who will take the time to stop by.

Out in Joshua Tree with the boys

This weekend I had the privilege of taking part in leading a group of 20 boys from my church on a climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park. The boys are all Jr. Staff at our Youth Venture teen centers. The goal was to get them outside to teach them about God through nature and to develop their leadership skills through rock climbing, navigating, and solitude in the wilderness. Many of them had never been camping let along climbing so they were very enthusiastic about it. It was such a joy to share my climbing and outdoor skills with these boys, many of whom did not grow up with fathers to teach them such things. By encouraging each of them to overcome their fears through climbing many came away with a greater sense of courage, pride and accomplishment that will hopefully carry on into other areas of their life. I absolutely love leading trips like this and hope to do more in the future.







I sincerely believe that the greatest hope for our future is not better programs or politics but investing in youth. When individuals in every community take time to educate, care for and love the next generation, when we teach them character, integrity, compassion, and truth, they will in turn grow up to teach others in a way that will multiply exponentially. Real change must come from the ground up, not the top down. When individuals begin to take personal responsibility for change in our world and not rely solely on some detached organization or program to do the work for us, we will see the world become a better place. So next time you see that lonely kid on the sidewalk take time out to make a new friend! That is my two cents for the day.

Anza Borrego to Mt. Whitney

I just returned from a fantastic week of gallivanting around the deserts and mountains of this beautifully diverse state. The first part of the week was spent exploring the Anza Borrego Desert with my brother Jesse and his friend Ian. Our adventure began with a rough hike from Mortero Palms over rocky, cactus studded hills to the historic Goat Canyon Trestle which, in its day, was the largest wooden trestle every built.



After setting up camp for the night we followed the tracks along the gorge to find several deep tunnels going through the hills, some over half a mile long! The following day we hiked out to search out the mud caves hidden beyond the "Canyon Sin Nombre". These caves have been carved out by underground streams from the rain water that seeps through the porous mud hills surrounding them. Supposedely there are hundreds of them in the area. The few that we found went back hundreds of feet, some large enough to park a bus inside while others were so narrow we had to crawl on hands and knees or slide through with both chest and back scraping against the walls! It was pretty amazing.




After returning home to resupply I met up with my best friend Matt and our two friends Lance and Jason to attempt a winter ascent on the mountaineers rout of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental US (14,496'). Matt and I had climbed it once before in 2001, and I climbed it a second time upon completion of the John Muir trail in 2004, but this time we would not be so lucky. Our first day was beautiful... the sun was out, the air was still, and our bodies were fresh for the climb. This, however, was soon to change. Though the going was slow and painfully tough at times, we reached our high camp at Upper Boyscout Lake just before dark.


For the next two hours we prepared our meals and melted snow for the next day's water supply. Though it was well below freezing outside, we were snug and warm in our tents and soon feel asleep. The plan was to wake at 2am to make our summit attempt while the snow was frozen and easy to travel over, but that plan was blown out by the 80 mph winds that hit like a train around midnight, violently waking us from our peaceful slumber for the rest of the night! For the next 7 hours none of slept a wink under the constant barrage of wind and snow that threatened to collapse our tents at any moment. After what seemed like an eternity the sun finally made its way over the horizon marking the end of one struggle and the beginning of yet another. Though the wind continued to howl, we decided to try making an attempt at the summit nonetheless.


For the next few hours we struggled against blasts of malevolent winds, ice that cut like an knife, sub-freezing temeratures and our own wills to endure. Finally, as we topped out on a steep ice face, threatening clouds began to loom above and the faces of my companions began to show their exhaustion. As a result, we made the collective decision to turn back 1000 feet from the top.




I can not explain it... as painful and trying as mountaineering is, I just can not get enough of it. Something always keeps me coming back for more... the will to overcome great obstacles, to push beyond limits, or perhaps simply the camaraderie of good friends. Though I never reach a mountain top again, I will continue to climb as long as my legs will carry me. We may not have reached the top, but for me the journey itself is all the satisfaction I need.

What Happened!?

I seem to have a knack for cliff-hangers in my blogging. Those of you who remember my first attempt at blogging some time ago will recall the unfinished epic of my sailing adventure in the Santa Barbara Channel Islands (which I plan to complete someday!). Once again I have left you few faithful readers in the dark on my latest adventure. I beg your forgiveness. As I have often said, I am not an "inside-computer-type"... rather, I like to be busy doing other more productive or at least life-enriching things. Hence my delay (not to mention the fact that I have been working almost every day this month and am booked solid until Thanksgiving!). Nevertheless, I have not forgotten... I will soon share the entire story but let it suffice for now to say... I SURVIVED. Until a more opportune time, I hope that this preview will hold your intrigue for a little longer.

Into The Wild...

I have often wondered if really have what it takes to survive in the wilderness. I have read plenty of books on the subject, daydreamed of shipwrecks and deserted islands, plane crashes and remote jungles, I have praticed a few techniques here and there, but I have never had the opportunity to really test my skills. So, I have decided to head for the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada for a week with my good friend and back country companion, Tim Halberg (also a great photographer) To do just that. Tim and I spent 14 days together a few years ago throughhiking the John Muir Trail, so I am confident we will do well together on this latest adventure. This time around we plan to head deep into the wilderness with nothing more than the clothes on our backs, a few essentials (knife, compass, flint, etc.) and a strong will to survive. No food, no sleeping bags, no tents... total "Man Vs. Wild" style! Of course the one luxury I will bring is my camera to document the whole enterprise. Until then, in the famous words of John Muir, "The mountains are calling and I must go."

Photo Assisting in Shoestring, Wyoming

The last couple of weeks have been busy as usual! For the first of two back-to-back, week-long jobs I worked with the talented photographer and friend, John Mireles (whose studio I also shoot weddings for) in the hip, music-town or Austin, Texas. Unfortunately I did not think to bring my camera on that job so words will have to suffice. We were shooting for the Dell family (of Dell Computers) on their private ranch on the outskirts of town for their annual holiday mailer. The days were pretty low key since we had to work around the Dell's busy schedules so we had plenty of down time to explore the town and enjoy the great dinning in the famous South Congress area. It was a lot of fun and John walked away with some great images!

I flew back to San Diego from Austin on Labor day only to hop on a plane the next morning with another amazing photographer and friend I work with often, Tim Tadder. This next job was on the beautiful 9,000 acre HF Bar Ranch in Shoestring, Wyoming. We were shooting an ad campaign for Ariat, a western style boot company.

Though the days were long since we were often shooting from sun up to sun down, it was great getting to work in such a beautiful environment. Every morning I woke to the peaceful sound of the bubbling creek flowing right outside my cabin window. Outside, the air was cool and crisp, a welcome respite from the blazing heat back home and the thick humidity of Austin. After a hearty country breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuts and gravy, we would head up to the stables where the rich smell of damp earth and a hundred horses packed together, eagerly stomping and whinnying. We were photographing real, working wranglers who ended up being the some of the most good natured people I have ever worked with.





At the end of each day we were rewarded with a big home-style dinner at the ranch dining hall. After a few days of this treatment, I was beginning to feel more like I was at camp and not on the job! As much as I enjoyed the work, the best day of all was our last. Tim (the photographer), Mark (the other assistant), Ryan (the art director) and I all stayed an extra day to take full advantage of the ranch's outdoor opportunities. We started our morning with a 3 hour ride over the grasslands up into pine covered, rocky hills, along cottonwood shaded streams and along deep red rock canyons. It was by far the most amazing ride I have ever experienced on horse back!

Once back at the ranch, we enjoyed another great meal which I followed up with a nice long nap. Afterwards, we headed out to the gun range for a little sportsmanlike competition with the 12 gauge shotgun. I was pleasantly surprised at my accuracy (have not been shooting in a while) not to mention that of Tim and Ryan who had no experience shooting before. As it turned out, we were all pretty well matched in our accuracy which made for some fun competition. To all of our suprise, Tim (the rookie of the group) ended up taking first place with only one miss out of 12 in the final round! Must have had something to do with having a photographer's eye!


After dinner, we decicded to fit in an hour of flyfishing to complete our day of riding, blasting and casting. I had never been fly fishing before so I ended up catching more branches and bushes than fish, but it was still nice to be out on the river watching the blue sky fade into night. We returned back to the "Rod and Gun Shop" for a night of good old fashion country carousing. There was as much character packed into that dusty, wooden shack full of cowboys and wanderers as any Louis Lamour novel. The cast of characters included the Brittish-redneck banjo player named Harry, two French maids, Fishing guides, gun-hands, us photographers, all amongst a crowd of spur-jingling ranch hands. All this set against a scene of fishing trophies, gun racks, darts, dogs, an unlimitted supply of Coors Lite and Bud Lite. It was unforgettable to say the least.

All in all, I came away from these two weeks of "work" realizing just how good I have it. I thank God I am not sitting in front of a desk working a nine-to-five (my apologies to those of you who do... don't mean to rub it in!). Of course like any job there are days when it really is work but the good days more than make up for it. Life is good!