blog | brook there | sustainable clothing made in portland, maine

finding stuff.

Here is my traveling GPS set-up: I use the Garmin Nuvi for ‘heads-up’ navigation, but hold the PN-40 closeby in order to see the surrounding areas, check out terrain and natural features, and do POI searches.

Sunday, however, was my first time actually using the PN40 for it’s intended outdoors/hiking/geocaching type activities. I was so pleased with how well the interface and functions were designed for outdoors use- everything was just perfectly organized for my needs once we were out there. (I swear, these are sincere, un-solicited statements- though I do get free PN40s and data of course:)

Outdoors activities haven’t really been my ‘thing’ for the past ten years or so, but this trip is going to include quite a bit of camping and hiking.

It turns out finding available campsites on the weekend in a popular place like Sedona is much harder than finding, say, a hotel. I had no idea it would be like that, so didn’t plan accordingly. (I’ve since started making reservations at the www.recreation.gov site)

We drove around for a while Saturday looking for the campgrounds, and I used the ‘search near location’ feature of the PN-40 to add markers to the map for just campgrounds that I was interested in checking out. If I’d been efficient, and knew more about the lack of availability, I would have called rather than driving, but at least we got to see the grand tour of the surrounding areas (which are some of the most amazing physical scenery I’ve ever experienced.)

Saturday night we spent some time talking with a late-night tour-guide, who was expansive with the local info and recommendations. He first questioned our fitness levels, then suggested a 5 mile round-trip hike called Settler’s Pass, with a stated elevation gain of 1200 feet. The elevation here is 5000 feet at the town, and coming from sea-level in Maine we did feel a bit out of breath the first day scrambling around the rocks in Las Vegas.

Settler’s Pass proved to be a hike over a ridge, so the hike was up 900 feet, down 800 feet, then the same in reverse. I added waypoints with the PN-40 every quarter mile or so, turning the GPS off in-between (both internet access and battery charging tools are something I’ve had too little of so far. I drained both my PN-40 batteries earlier by leaving them on all the time while driving. I’ve also been doing without imagery on the GPS because of the lack of internet access.)

The PN-40 topo data had the intermittent stream (which was in a dry phase right now) we kept weaving around. It also listed a point named “Vultee’s Arch”, that, had it not been on the map, we wouldn’t have walked the extra thirty yards to see: an amazing natural arch formation out of the red rocks, just right in the middle of the forest.

I had a great time checking the distance and elevation gain between waypoints, and using that information to estimate how far we had to go. We both carried far more water than necessary (3 liters for a 3 hour hike, though that was the recommendation from a couple folks familiar with the desert- a liter for every hour out there.)

When Young climbed to the top of Bell’s Rock (something I didn’t dare to do, because it’s not hiking, it’s more like a 5.8 or 5.9 solo climb interspersed with scrambling, based on his description) he found a metal box affixed to the top, filled with notebooks and some junk. We suspect it’s a geocache, but plan to find out for sure when we have some more internet.

April 27, 2009 | brook

Posted in materialism, travel | Tagged sedona, technology | Comments Off

on Bell’s Rock

We’re not sure if it’s a crow or a raven. This shot was taken by my friend & traveling cohort Young, who says he’s now been stung by three varieties of cactus in the past two days.

The rock in the background is actually Courthouse; we’re sitting halfway up Bell’s Rock.

Sedona is much more tourist- oriented than I expected, & exceedingly beautiful. It’s surreal.

April 27, 2009 | brook

Posted in travel | Tagged desert, sedona | Comments Off

the tent

the tent had been stepped on by a wild horse a few years ago, and needed some strategic and fairly complicated repair. they shouldn’t call that fabric ripstop- it rips along the seams at the slightest tug. silk or cotton are so much easier to sew.

however, it’s now quite sturdy!

the prius has proved a good deal- we’ve traveled about 545 miles in it, and used about $16 in gas. it has amazing 360 visibility, expecially compared to my mini (with it’s grimy postage-stamp sized back window). The push-button on and off is still confusing me after almost a week. how’s that for a non-scientific review.

April 27, 2009 | brook

Posted in sewing, travel | Tagged camping, desert | Comments Off

one year raw

for the past year I’ve eaten almost exclusively raw foods, as I’ve mentioned a number of times on this site. Yesterday was exactly one year, and I’m giving some of my new observation.
(the deviation to the ‘almost exclusively’ statement tends to be occasional cooked vegetables & olives)

Much of the reason eating raw works for me is that it ‘feels safe.’ It’s the only way I’ve ever eaten that felt natural, healthy, and caused little worry.

exercise: over the past year I’ve swung between my highest ever exercise levels (running up to 15 miles at a time, in the middle of the Maine winter) to lowest ever (my current mode- for the past two months I’ve done little more than walk around Portland as transportation. I’d guess I’ve done yoga 4-5 times in the past few months.)

here’s what’s really nice- eating raw food has kept my weight stable and body size the same during both modes of activity. My energy levels also remain the same.

Now that we are here in the desert, there might be a little more hiking and activity going on, which will be nice. I’ve been missing the exercise a little- but am finding it freeing to not worry about it. For the past 14 years or so I’ve never gone so long without moderate or strenuous exercise at least once a week.

coffee: I had coffee once, two months ago. When I started eating raw, soy lattes were the only cooked food that I really missed, so, in the spirit of living dangerously, decided to have an arabica latte with a new friend and see what it was like.

the experience turned me off the substance, because I was constantly thirsty for the next 18 hours. And I only drank about 6 ounces.

eating out: If you live in a small town and eat raw, most of the food you consume is self-prepared out of necessity, or in it’s natural state (whole fruits and vegetables.)

eating raw is often paired with eating simpler and eating organic, and this can have the effect of eating-out becoming unpalatable. Even the Whole Foods salad bar, typically filled with non-organic foods- is something I’m careful about, because eating from it tends to make me feel not-so-good.

When I travel, I pack all my own food and only buy fresh fruit enroute, preferably types where the skin is not eaten (bananas, oranges). Once in a location, I try to find the local whole foods or health food store and buy the same foods I’d eat at home. It’s not the most flexible mode of eating…the point is that while one can go to almost any restaurant and order a raw salad, eating a plate full of non-organic, not-so-fresh veggies is quite different. Really ‘nice’ restaurants tend to be better, since they already are buying fresh ingredients and will use extra-virgin cold pressed oils.

restaurants: I really enjoy finding the local raw restaurant in the bigger cities I travel to. & Portland has it’s own new raw restaurant- GRO (GrassRoots Organics)- which has a great selection of sushi, salads, and chcolates. I really like the collard wraps.
Last night we checked out Go Raw Cafe on the west side of Vegas- they did a really good job with the smoothies (no ice, just how I like them) and got an amazing slice of pie.

April 23, 2009 | brook

Posted in food | Tagged raw | Comments Off

desert vs. berlin

suffice to say, the desert won out. right now, it’s still a plan in formulation, requiring the receipt of one driver’s license by my traveling partner in crime, the acquisition of a new sleeping bag, the fixing of one tent (lucky i can sew), and maybe the finding of a slightly larger vehicle than my mini, tiny, Mini.

background: in winter, I bought a ticket to Berlin with the objective of learning German and hanging out in Europe for a couple months. As the date approached, it seemed less and less interesting. I’d still like to go, but think it might be more of a ‘fall’ activity than a spring one.

Same time as the interest waned, I had that business trip to Palm Springs, and a chance to visit Joshua Tree on a day off. The energy of the place was magical. Last time I took a road trip cross-country was 11 years ago; it’s high time for another one.