Two-Heel Drive

The California High-Speed Rail Authority prefers to send a bullet train through Pacheco Pass, right past the southern border of our beloved Henry Coe State Park.

The Pacheco route would link the Bay Area to a 700-mile, statewide, high-speed rail system, with trains traveling at speeds in excess of 200 mph from Sacramento to San Diego. The trains would have the capability to whisk travelers from the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco to Union Station in Los Angeles in 2 1/2 hours.

The proposed system would cost about $40 billion to build, but the project has no money - or promise of funding - for construction. A $10 billion bond measure, on the November 2008 ballot, would start construction of the first phase: from San Francisco to Anaheim.

The Pacheco route was seen by supporters as the speediest, most-direct route to Los Angeles. It would sweep into the Bay Area over the pass between the Los Banos area (Merced County) and Gilroy, head north to San Jose, then up the Peninsula along the Caltrain right-of-way to San Francisco.

Of course they’ve been fixing to get ready to do something with this high-speed rail proposal for over 30 years and the costs keep climbing. Fortunately, this page describing a route through Henry Coe’s Orestimba Wilderness is two years out of date. Looks like the actual route will parallel the highway going through the pass.

They were found today in the mountains north of Sacramento:

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — A father and three children who vanished on a Christmas tree-cutting trip in the Northern California mountains were found alive Wednesday after huddling in a culvert for warmth during three days of heavy snowstorms.

“Our hearts are all full right now,” said Cory Stahl, who owns a pest control business where the father, Frederick Dominguez, works. “It’s a very merry Christmas now.”

A California Highway Patrol helicopter delivered the family to safety, the two youngest children brought out of the woods first. The father smiled at family and friends, who cheered as he and his 18-year-old son emerged from their helicopter.

The two younger children, ages 14 and 12, emerged from a rescue helicopter after being flown out of the mountains Wednesday afternoon. They stepped out of the chopper and were immediately enveloped in a cluster of well-wishers carrying heavy blankets.

Stahl closed his business so he and his employees could assist the search. The four family members suffered mild to moderate hypothermia and were being taken to a hospital but were otherwise fine, he said.

The four apparently survived by huddling in a culvert, CHP officer Joe Hagerty said.

Story says they left in clear weather but got caught in a storm that blew in later. Just another cautionary tale about cutting Christmas trees.

Veronica Ruiz has been missing since Dec. 3. Authorities have called off the search since no trace of her was found at Mount Tamalpais. A new site has been set up to coordinate volunteers who are forging ahead with the search. Link here. Searches are happening today and tomorrow.
More on the search effort at this yelp.com page.

Veronica’s mom showed up at the workplace of this blogger looking for help in the search.

So this guy in the UK goes out in his sea kayak in 2002 and is never seen again, though remains of his smashed boat are discovered. This weekend he shows up at a police station saying he may be a missing person. His wife says she thought he was dead and now fears she may have to repay his life insurance claim. Fascinating, right? Well, today he’s under arrest because of alleged pictures showing him with his wife last year.

I’m thinking if I were a screenwriter I’d be angling for the movie rights.

(New York Times now has the story.)

Update: Search suspended, pending new developments.

Veronica Ruiz has been missing since Monday, when she told a friend she was going hiking but didn’t say where. A search at Mount Tam was to resume this morning — note they don’t even know if she actually went there. The Marin-Independent Journal has a few telling details.

Veronica Ruiz, 25, didn’t report for work Monday at the San Rafael office of the Internal Revenue Service where she conducted criminal tax investigations. She hadn’t been heard from since about 2 p.m. Monday; she was reported missing by friends about 10 p.m. Monday.

IRS Special Agent Scott O’Briant said Ruiz was authorized to carry a firearm during the course of her investigative work, but he did not know whether she had the department-issued weapon with her.

“Right now, our primary concern is to locate her and bring her back safely,” O’Briant said. He said there is “no indication” her disappearance is related to her work.

O’Briant said Ruiz had worked for the IRS for nearly two years and had recently become despondent over a breakup with her boyfriend.

Agents searched the Mill Valley apartment where the couple lived, recovered the keys to her department vehicle but were unable to locate her handgun.

So, not the usual “hiker lost” story, apparently. This craigslist posting has contact info.

Just finished reading a fascinating thread at 14ers.com about a guy who got stuck above 13,000 feet on Colorado’s Quandary Peak. If you’re thinking, “what the hell’s a guy doing soloing fourteener in December?” you’d be missing the point. Some guys just have to do that kind of thing, because they can. The mountaineer (perish the thought of calling him a mere hiker) is a 26-year-old guy named Dylan who knew what he was doing up there, had the right gear, but got screwed when his GPS unit failed.

He dug a snow cave when he knew he was lost, and didn’t really get in any trouble until after the rescue helicopter spotted him: he did his patriotic duty and stayed put, but ended up having to wait another couple hours before climbers got up to his point to get him down off the mountain. Stopping made him very cold, and he was full-on hypothermic when rescuers got to him.

The best part, though, is that he explained himself pretty much in full at the fourteeners forum — fessing up to his mistakes, thanking all who helped, remarking the nature of luck, both good and bad.

If you’ve got some time to kill, read the whole thread. Dylan’s post is here. An excerpt:

I don’t think I would have survived without bivy gear. No sleeping bag, just the shell. It kept me warm enough, but I was wet all night. A lot of what saved me came from Mark Twight’s Extreme Alpinism. You assess the s**t-storm you just created and make a plan. It’s ironic that the determination that got me down is the same that got me stuck in the first place.

I only panicked when I first realized I was off-route and couldn’t see more than 30ft. Something took over after that, something rational, commanding, and determined. I knew I was in a bad place and that this was how people died, but I never let fear consume me. I didn’t think beyond the immediate situation. I knew it was bad and getting worse, but something kept me calm and calculating. I thought about people that would be upset if I didn’t make it home, but I never got angry with myself. I fully understand how and what happened, but evaluating blame is useless at that point.

Story in the Vail Daily is here.

Dylan’s roommate, who called in the rescue, summed up the lessons learned:

I think the big take home messages here are:
1.) Always tell someone where you are going
2.) Be prepared to spend a night outdoors, be prepared for the worst
3.) Make sure you have something to tell you where you are going
4.) Don’t ever give up once rescue is spotted (cold weather conditions) - staying active keeps body temperature higher.
5.) Make a plan and stick to it (unless rescue intervenes)
6.) Double check your gear to make sure its working and that you have the right stuff
7.) Be knowledgeable about terrain, natural dangers, weather
8.) As the boy scouts (of which Dylan was an Eagle scout) say, Be Prepared
9.) Train above your threshold in controlled environments so that when the real deal comes along you can handle it - maintaining proper physical and mental fitness are essential in situations like this
10.) Don’t be afraid to call search and rescue when you have a good feeling something is not right (if you are the person in #1)
11.) Be safe unless you have absolutely no option but to take forced risks
12.) I’ll agree with Gsliva - having the proper gear is often what makes or breaks you.

No. 13 might be: be ready for the Monday morning QB’ing when they have to pluck you off the hill.

(Turns out Quandary is considered an “easy” fourteener, which goes to show how winter changes everything).

From this morning’s Mercury News, a story about a boy lost overnight at Uvas Canyon County Park. He was out on a hike Saturday with his family.

For 18 terrifying hours, her 15-year-old autistic son, who doesn’t speak, was lost in the wooded hills west of Morgan Hill.

Danny Barrett was found wet and cold, but safe, on Sunday morning - just after nearly 100 rescuers had restarted their search for the South San Jose boy.

About 4 p.m. Saturday, Danny had run ahead of his father, Chris Barrett, and twin brother, Jason, as the group finished a two-hour hike in Uvas Canyon County Park. It’s not unusual for Danny to bound ahead of everyone else, Pam Barrett said. It’s just the way he is.

He wasn’t more than 10 yards ahead, heading toward the car. And then there was a bend in the trail. And then he was gone.

“It was as quick as that,” Pam Barrett said.

Apparently he wandered down along the creek and kept wandering there till he was found the next morning.

Uvas is one of my favorite winter hiking haunts — easy, shady trails and cool waterfalls, especially after a good soaking rain. Hats off to all who got up at the crack of dawn Sunday and helped find the boy; Uvas isn’t especially wild, but the forest is really thick and the park is pretty remote; there could’ve been a less happy ending.

So far the spectacular Point Reyes National Seashore has been mostly spared from oil contamination because of last week’s oil spill, but all that could change, depending on the winds and the waves. From a Marin Independent Journal story:

A large portion of the 58,000-gallon bunker fuel oil that spewed from the container ship Cosco Busan last week had been heading west and north - out the Golden Gate and up the Marin coast.

“It is now reversed,” said Rich Weideman, spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, overseer of some of Marin’s hardest-hit beaches.

On Monday, currents continued to push oil south and away from the Point Reyes National Seashore, where no oil entered Drakes Estero - the only marine wilderness area south of Alaska.

The new trajectory means it’s possible Rodeo, Muir and Stinson beaches, which were being scrubbed by more than 150 hazardous materials workers, may be sullied again, GGNRA officials said.

Some headlines from today’s Chron, if you’re curious:

Cleanup The Natural Way

Using mats of hair, which is a perfect sponge for oil, a group of guerrilla volunteers are cleaning up the S.F. Bay spill using 100% organic materials. They hope their efforts inspire a greener response to toxic waste removal.

Pilot: Captain Made Error
Bar pilot who was steering freighter says the captain directed the vessel into the Bay Bridge tower.

As Spill Grew, Gavin Sunned

Mayor knew of the mess and still jetted off to Hawaii. His critics are fuming. Matier & Ross.

I wonder, has there ever been a politician who could resist the urge, in a time of crisis, to ask, “who among my enemies can I blame this on and further my career?”

Turns out it’s closed till further notice because of last week’s oil spill.

If you see any more news about how this spill is affecting local beaches, please leave a comment and share with the rest of the class. (Here’s one from last week in the L.A. Times).

This story from yesterday’s Chronicle has a pretty good spill round-up — including this story from last week about closed beaches.

“It’s just heartbreaking,” said Sally McFadden, 49-year-old birdwatcher from Larkspur. She went to Kirby Cove in the Marin Headlands to help and was shocked when she saw the oil-slathered rocks and sand.

“This is peak migration season for birds, and all the birdwatchers are excited about it - so it’s at a particularly bad time,” she said. Voice breaking with emotion, she added, “It’s disturbing. These are all beaches that I love and spend a lot of time at.”

The state Department of Fish and Game says 26 live, oiled birds have been recovered. Hundreds more are likely injured.

Coast Guard officials said 16 beaches have so far been contaminated and closed off, and large patches of oil are floating on the bay. Beaches closed include including Baker Beach, China Beach, Keller Beach, Point Isabel, Ferry Point, Caesar Chavez, Crissy Field and Fort Point.

Along Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, National Park Service ranger Robert Del Secco kept visitors away from the beach, which is covered in dark clumps of oil.

So much for no blogging on my mini-vacation … but I have an idea on where to go today: Point Lobos, where it’s peak sea otter season.

In other news: Tioga Pass and Glacier Point roads at Yosemite are closed, as is Highway 108 26 miles past Strawberry.

Speaking of oil spills, a really, really bad one happened in the Black Sea.

A story at nytimes.com describes the business of finding other things to burn besides petroleum-based stuff:

For years, scientists have known that the building blocks in plant matter