It was great to finally explore some of the Sheep Mountain Wilderness, and to actually see some Big Horned Sheep! My roommate, Quanghuy Le, had recently taken on the interest in backpacking, so I decided that this was a nice trip for a first timer that had a combination of different terrains and a few different sites to see. Check out some of the photos which I’ve added to the San Gabriel Mountains section, you can also see more photos if you add me or Q on Facebook!

A 15 (maybe closer to 18 with side detours and side-trips) mile hike in two days is a pretty hefty trip, especially when wading through rivers sometimes knee-deep, which at some points were completely unavoidable. The beginning of the trail was pretty populated, but we saw less and less as we continued. We also encountered plenty of gold miners, panning in the river, or digging around some seemingly random spots. We decided to be a little more adventurous and go off trail and follow the river to our desired campsite, but we eventually came to a point where the water was too high for us to cross with our camera gear. I probably could have made it since I have a Nikon, but considering Q’s Canon, we decided it’d be best to turn around and actually take the trail. This was good and bad news for us. Having to turn back meant that we had to backtrack about an extra mile, wading through rivers and walking over large round rocks filling up our unpaved path, adding a total of two miles on Day 1. The good part was it forced us to actually cross the Bridge to Nowhere, which was a pretty cool thing to see!

We eventually made it over the Bridge to Nowhere, where we encountered a hiker who had gotten left behind because of cramps. I gave him a half-liter of water, and we moved on for another couple miles getting to some pretty treacherous trail to a nice sandy soft-spot not too far from the river in The Narrows. That night a miner approached us and we chatted about some of the gold mines that have been dug around the parts. He told us where some of them were so we thought that might be cool to check out in the morning. We never saw the hiker from the bridge, so hopefully everything turned out okay for him…

The next morning, we immediately followed the miners directions and found three of the gold mines he had mentioned. They were tiny, and literally could hardly fit a person. One of them was actually under one HUGE rock probably about 50 feet wide. I put on my headlight and crawled in about 20 feet. It was pretty anticlimactic, just a large hole with rocks. No gold. We then continued into The Narrows hopping large rocks, and crossing rivers. This was definitely the most epic part of the trip. I’ve never really been anywhere like this. It’s definitely not the easiest hike, often times completely without trail, but we followed the river so we were okay. It wasn’t long before we saw some big horned sheep that had come down the mountain to drink some water. However, by the time we got geared up to shoot some photos, they had run halfway up. So we continued on until we’d seen enough of The Narrows and began to make our way back home. On the way back we encountered another group of big horns, we got a pretty close to one of them and spent a decent amount of time shooting some photos. Once we came across the bridge for the second time, there were probably a hundred people there bungee jumping and spectating! We didn’t linger too long, but just trekked on down the mountain to the parking lot. Overall, a great trip!

The first trip was to Escondido falls over in Malibu. The hike was a pretty easy and short one. Besides the group of about 20+ including cigarette smokers wearing True Religion jeans which was a site for sore eyes, the hike was a nice one. There were parts of the trail that were eroding, and only passable with the help of rope. Nothing too risky, but very slippery.

The second trip was to the Tripeaks in closeby area, which also included Sandstone Peak, the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. Sitting up at the peak looking over all of the mountains and the ocean was pretty amazing, plus I got to write in the trail log that’s hidden in a memorial bust at the top. This trip was on a hot and sunny day, and the trail offered little shade, so it was definitely a tiring one, but still worth it.

All in all, they were both fun hikes, and a good chance to warm my roomate, Quanghuy up to the outdoors, who has in fact, decided to join me and my backpacking adventures. I don’t think I really grabbed any exceptional photos, but there were a few that stoodout. I think the most important factor was getting a feel for what it’s like to lug around me 70-200 for miles. Enjoy the photos!

Shooting an orchestra was much more difficult than I originally anticipated, especially since I lacked familiarity with classical music. With a usual of 60+ members, it was difficult to follow the action. As we added additional cameras for the subsequent concerts, it became a little easier with more coverage, though, it was never easy. Overall, it was a great experience, and hopefully resulted a well produced concert video. Watch part 3 of 5 here, the rest you can find on YouTube.

The video was definitely a fun and relaxed shoot, shot in three days the locations included El Matador in Malibu, and Dockweiler beach in El Segundo, both in the Los Angeles Area. El Matador was definitely a spectacular location, with amazing rock formations right on the shore. With the amazing morning light peeking through rocks, there was no way to not get great shots. Dockweiler was a little bit tougher, it was a much more open and public, so avoiding people in the background took some extra work, but it was nice to be able to work with open space, and also grab some shots at the firepit. Overall a great simple and easy shoot. Have a watch and let me know if you enjoyed it!

Planning a few backpacking trips in the near future, so hopefully I’ll have more to add soon!

Straight from work I hit my apartment, pack up, call the ranger for trail conditions and I’m in the parking lot by 5pm. Which means I only have 3 hours to get to my first campsite before it gets completely dark. And through Big Santa Anita Canyon in the Angeles National forest with about 40 lb. worth of shelter, food, water, camera gear, I start on my 15 mile solo expedition of grandiose!

Check it out!

3 days and 2 nights later, I’m back at the parking lot. Extremely tired, so I hit up the closest In-N-Out Burger and head straight home for a relaxing bubble bath followed by an episode of life and fat nap! I also shot a ton of video while I was out there, which I hope wasn’t too shakey. It was pretty much handheld, and I really regret not bringing the monopod. But hopefully, I will turn out a video soon enough!

I’m not sure how often they back up their servers, but it’s looking like only once a year. This is really unfortunate, and has gotten me to consider moving to a different host, despite that I’ve been with them for about 8 years! We’ll, I suppose not all good things last forever, and changes eventually need to be made.

So anyway, I’ll begin combing through my stuff to try to restore as close as I can jeffycan.com to 05-2011 status. And in the meantime, I might even consider designing a new theme and messing with the layout a bit. ]]> http://www.jeffycan.com/2011/05/servers-back-up-but-no-recent-backup/feed/ 0 http://www.jeffycan.com/2010/09/1236/ http://www.jeffycan.com/2010/09/1236/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:10:22 +0000 Jeffy Can http://www.jeffycan.com/?p=1236 More >]]> As promised, some shots from the renown San Diego Zoo. All the animals were up and around during this visit to the SD Zoo, as opposed to my last visit. It’s likely that I just got lucky and caught a lot of them just after their feeding times. Because last time, they were all lazy and hiding. So here’s some of the better shots I accumulated throughout the day, soon to be added to the Earthlings>Friends Section.

Usually, if I want good coverage of something, I turn into Photo Robo, unable to perform or participate in an human social activity. Still unable to break the mold, here are just a few photos of Jen somewhere on Coronado Island.

We also happened to make a stop at the San Diego Zoo, and unlike my last visit, the animals (prisoners!) were being extra cooperative that day! Photos to post soon.