2015/4/25-26 Wilderness First Aid class

This weekend I participated the 2 day training of Wilderness First Aid at the Group Camp Site at Beacon Rock State Park. Class was taught by John Stubb, the owner of Northwest Responder and 2 of his team (Luis + Henry), all ex-military personal, plus one student helper. They brought some apples and banana, bagels and muffin. Total 29 students (not sure bow many are paying customers like me - $125), most are from Friends of the Gorge. So 33 people, yet 23 cars, including 1 RV, whose owner stayed overnight. Only 3 camped here: me and 2 college age girls (Karen + Sara). The rest, not a wilderness bunch. In fact, other than a handful, I don't see any of them (many retired, nicely dressed ladies) ever in wilderness setting.

Saturday, 4/25. 9-9:30, introduction. First lesson is CPR and patient assessment. About 2 hours. John is an excellent teacher. His CPR class isn't boring.

Square Knot, SOAP notes
Patient Transport: using poles / rolled blanket, blanket and/or cloth triangles and/or jacket with sleeves inside, daisy chain for frame litter, Fireman's 1 person carry, 2 people interlock arm carry, drag on blanket.
pace measure: on 3 paths of 100 ft. My count averages to about 38 steps per 100'.

Last, we were given a 2 page exam. Some we haven't talked in the class, so answer was given afterwards.

Sunday, 4/26. Each 2 people team starts a fire. I learned some tips: 1) set up a base with some space for wind to go under the fire; 2) remove bark; 3) scrape the wood to make kindle; 4) arrange sizes of twig, small, middle in different piles for easy access.

Stabilization using cloth triangle, splint with gauze roll.
Bleeding control using direct pressure, Tourniquet

Now scene practices.
1) Each group is asked to set up a shelter for the entire group + a patient to last a night. We were checked for overnight schedule for patient watch and firewatch, enough wood and starting of fire, roof to shelter from rain (space blanket).
2) Role play with different illness. The one I had to dress has a "broken" bone. I was told I'm too timid, need to use force when checking injury and dressing the wound.

Last, we have to mark a 75'x75' square to let a mid-size helicopter land. Use the pace we measured yesterday. Our group did well: 77'.

Afterwards is Q&A.

The group camping area is very nice. Big flat mowed lawn, plus woods. According WA park's website, it can accommodate 200 people, and I believe so. Two Adirondack huts, each with about 4 bunk beds. Somewhat dusty, but in reasonable condition. 2 pit toilets (sanitizer, toilet paper), a bit smelly, especially some of the users don't close the lid when finished. A picnic shelter large enough to make a classroom. About 8 picnic tables. A kitchen shelter with 2 closable doors, shelves, desks and benches, sink with running water, plenty outlet with electricity all night. Unfortunately, the water is not clear. Not fit to drink. Too bad.

Nice starry night. It drizzled a bit around dawn. Otherwise, no rain until I am back to Portland, where Kate from Friends of the Gorge picked me up on Saturday morning.

2015/4/18-19 Trail Skill College

Will link more event photos later.

I signed up for PCTA's Trail Skill College a month ago. This is a 3-day event. The class I was assigned to is not interesting (I requested for something else), so I only participated on Sat and Sun. Friday, it wasn't easy to get out of work for me to catch a ride with Kristine at Gateway at 7pm. I managed to arrive shortly after 7pm, ate a sandwich I made on Thursday. We arrived at Thunder Island in daylight to set up our tents. Only about 20 tents scattered around the island and the RV park.

4/18 Saturday. Was chilly at night (low 40s), but Sunny and warm (high 70s) later on. Breakfast 7-8:30am. When I arrived at 7am, many people were already eating and chatting. Pancake, scrambled egg, ham. Cold stuff for making lunch or breakfast: chopped iceberg, tomato, pico. Mayonnaise, peanut butter, 2 kinds of Smucker jam, sliced turkey, 2 kinds of cheese, white bread, bagel, celery stick, carrot, apple, orange, cookies. Quite a lot of options, but not very healthy: loads of preservatives, sugar and hydrogenated oil (many from Costco). Provided by Backcountry Horsemen. Kristine, who's gluten intolerant, had to bring her own sandwiches.

8:45am, we gather around small flags marked the class title. I'm in Saw basic training class. We were given a printout of class material, went through the safety talk, signed 3 pieces of paper. Separated into 4 groups with 4 instructors. Only around 9:30, we started walking towards our trail (PCT), carrying the tools. Carrying the 7' crosscut saw is not easy. It keeps on sliding off my shoulder, and it bounces. See the photo with Krista. Our teacher, Brian, has never taught this class, nor taken this class before. But he is an experienced sawyer. It turned out to be great. The 4 students (including me) learned from both him and Kim, the overseer of this class, so both from experience and from textbook. Kim is an excellent teacher. I like the study of binding. The logs in both cases split unexpectedly.

When we finished around 2:30pm, my teammates were kind enough to carry my tools back, so I could continue on the trail to see Dry Creek Falls, about 1.5 miles further. It's quite nice, especially around the falls: it feels 10 degree cooler. I walked out with two young girls I met at the breakfast (one from Bellingham, and one from Salem), learning what they did in their classes. Kristen's class didn't finish until 4:30pm. She said she was exhausted.

6-7pm, dinner is burger or hot dog + chili. Burger and chili had vegetarian option. Quite a few little kids for dinner. At 7, after many thank you's, each organization gave a speech: PCTA, WTA, Mt St Helen Institute, Trail Clubs of Oregon, Backcountry Horsemen. Raffle drawing. Kristine won 3 times! Total raffle sale is $1002.

4/19 Sunday: same schedule. Food is mostly leftover from yesterday, except for boiled egg, which had too many left, that they insisted everyone to take some with. I'm on Drainage. Signed 2 pieces of paper. Ruth is our instructor. She's super nice, but not the best teacher. Her direction to trailhead is confusing, and she is too soft to correct our mistakes. She brought browny that she made, made sure everyone is drinking water (it gets quite hot), distributed handouts and DIPloma at the end. However I learned more from fellow students (either their experience or their mistakes). Some of the participants probably know more about drain dip than the class is going to teach. Some newbies are too enthusiastic, making unnecessary and inadequate earth movement. After lunch, I assisted Jack, a caretaker of PCT (south of I-90), in one drain, learned some of his thoughts. Then I made one all by myself.

Around 2pm, Ruth told me that Gale is going to Upper Latourell Falls, about a mile up, and if I'd be interested to go. Of course! I soon passed Gale who was lugging her tools with her. This is not a very pretty trail. The waterfall itself is nice, with 2 tiers, and you can almost go behind it. On my way down, I passed Gale again, and 5 minutes later, passed 6 other team-mates. I picked up my tools and told Ruth and Gabe (the only 2 who didn't hike up) that I'd wait at the park. I waited for about an hour! As Gabe and I cleaned the tools and loaded them to Ruth's truck, the rest kept on yapping nonstop. Poor Kristine waited for me back in Cascade Locks for over 1.5 hours to take me back to Gateway. With Max disturbance that evening, I didn't get home until almost 8pm.

Mosquitos are out.

Seems all these group events, people are so eager to network. Are they lonely? They chat nonstop, like long lost friends. They all ask me what I do. I really don't understand why does that have anything to do with what we are working on there.

2015.4.16. Tableau 9 roadshow

Thursday. Warm and sunny. Maybe 150 attended this event in Portland at The Nine hotel. A 50 minutes demo and sales pitch. Then a break with donuts and tortilla chips. The large presentation room (3 screens, in front only) is divided in half with sliding dividers for the 3 breakout sessions (don't know where the 3rd one sits). I participated in the so-called Deep-Dive. Another 50 minutes of hands-on exercise following the example on stage. All major steps are illustrated in a document and 2 data sets can be downloaded from Tableau's website ahead of time. Well planned with 2 helpers watching over raised hands so to help out at students' laptop.

All enjoyed the happy hour with wine and hors d'oeuvres that require name tags like like Slovak Prezek, Apricot Sweet Mustard Chutney, Tapioca Pearl Dumpling, Pork, Peanut, Black Garlic, and Thai Charred Octopus Lettuce Wrap, Cucumber, Mint. Some were carried out in a tray by servers, which I only tried Duck Confit wrapped in Egg Crepe. Tasty Asian fusion. I managed to finish my exercise during this happy hour, accompanied with food and wine. At 5:30, it's the user group event. Less than 10 people stayed. We separated into 3 groups working on a problem.

I left for a talk at Montbell about CDT by Eric “Pano” Wollborg. Enjoyed it. He also brought some of his and his wife's gear for their long trek, and a printout list.

Thirsty all evening.

2015.4.11-12 Spring flowers at eastern Gorge

4/11, Saturday. Forecast rain all weekend. Decided to go to eastern Gorge to stay out of the dark clouds.

Heavy rain when we left home. No rain when we stopped at Memaloose rest stop, almost 100 miles east, 2 hours later. We did a clockwise loop, opposite of my hike 2 years ago, starting at the east of the rest area. Fairy Star and Buttercup are exceptional now. Saw a patch of blue Camas next to a dirt road. The hills are covered with Balsamroots, but not in flat area. Few lupines and even fewer paintbrush. Veltch is still small, so is Blue-eyed Mary and Fiddle Neck. Saw only 3 hikers far away. No established trail. Maybe 2 weeks too early. Still a nice ramble for 2 hours in open fields. Yes, poison oaks everywhere. Didn't get any tick, which is common in this type of environment. Rained during the last half an hour. Stopped as soon as we reached the car!

Only one exit east is Rowena Crest, another flower mecca. Again too early. The access road is winding and picturesque. A turkey crossed the road, as we went up. Balsamroots are already blooming. Just not enough other colors. Maybe 5 cars here. McCall Point trail is closed until May 1st. We walked to the cliff edge. I'm surprised to see 2 sizable ponds, 3 deer. Rained again as we turned back, again, stopped when we reached the car. Beautiful rainbow over Columbia River for a good 5 minutes as we drove further east, chased by the rainy clouds.

Deschutes River State Park is at the its confluence of Columbia. Grassy lawn for camping. Good toilet and 4 shower rooms at the RV camping area, only a pit toilet at the tent area ($6/night). For overnight parking (not camping at the state park) is $7. We hiked in searching for a better spot for the night, after filling up water. Nothing dramatic, but very scenic and pleasant, especially the higher trail. April seems to be a good time to come here, before the fishing season starts (May 1st). We hiked in along the river, saw a few anglers. Scored a good area on a plateau overlooking the river. Many Lupine, Bicolored Cluster Lily, and Pungent Desert Parsley. The air smells sage sometime and parsley other times. After pitching the tent, we hiked up a hill with many Balsamroots. Distant hills casted interesting shadows at the setting sun. Cooked dinner in strong wind under dark clouds. Woke up at night for bio break: nice stars, few clouds, wind died down. Trains going on the other side of Deschutes all night long: very loud.

4/12, Sunday. Drizzle before dawn. Weather forecast promised no rain: more hiking options, instead of going further north (my original plan: stay in the dry side). As we hiked out along the high trail, the sun is out. Saw 1 heron flying. Took a picture of this strange fruit on Sagebrush.

Horsethief Lake petroglyph is part of Columbia Hill State Park. Since we didn't arrange for the ranger guided walk, could only see the rocks laid by the road. Some of the drawings are quite elaborate. They were saved before the dams were installed. Horsethief Butte is just next door, also part of the state park. This sunny Sunday, a lot of people here, learning to climb. Balsamroot on trail, view of Columbia River, fun to scramble here.

Wind Mountain is another good hike to see native American heritage. 2.5 mile RT, short but steep, to a top with a rock field on its eastern slope. Semi-circle structures are laid out for vision quest. Good view of Dog Mt and Columbia River. The western slope is usually windy, not today, good view of Columbia River and cultivated land, rain, and highway.

On the way back, we stopped by Wehclella Falls. It's lovely. Short 2 mile lollipop loop along Tanner Creek. One waterfall right by the trail, Mura Falls, so close that it's impossible to see the top or take a good photo. There's a fish release setup along the creek (locked). Wahclella itself is powerful, 2-tiers, water splash onto the trail. Good view from the footbridge without getting wet. There's a small waterfall (maybe seasonal), now a thin veil of water coming down, elegant, can see water droplets as it falls.

2015.4.5. Cyrano at PCS

Sunday evening. Intermittent rain. Cyrano at Portland Center Stage. Simple stage, almost too simple. Great acting by all. Some singing too. Especially Andrew McGinn who plays Cyrano. This is a well known story. The word play is quite entertaining. I very much enjoyed it. This Easter Sunday, the theatre is only half full. A pity.

2015.4.5. Japanese Garden

Sunday. Sunny in the morning, cloudy later, a bit of rain in the evening.

I finally made it to the Japanese Garden (after living here for 2 years). It's delightful. Many visitors on this chilly late afternoon. Very green at this time of the year. May come back in a month, for more azalea; and fall for maple color. Not many flowering cherry trees. The colorful carps are fat and healthy.

My favorite is this Flat Garden. The two green "island"s are sake cup and gourd. There're 2 benches you can sit on the veranda of the exhibition hall. The only drawback is that the crew started cleaning and moving around 5pm (the garden closes at 7pm) when I was sitting there.

2015.4.4. Lyle Cherry Orchard with Friends of Gorge

4/4 Saturday. Fog, overcast, sunny. Was contemplating getting up at 5am to see the super red lunar eclipse. Good that I slept. Still had to get up early for my short hike. The Friends had wildlife biologist Bill Weiler (from Department of Natural Resource) lead today's hike. He is entertaining. He stops to point at things, and tell funny anecdotes. Most knowledgeable in the group is Ralph, whom I remembered from a Friends' hike 2 years ago, when he got pissed off of the hike leader / board member. This time, both Bill and the "sweep" Christin are patient. I learned Antelope Brush, Yellow Western Grounsel, Filaree, Western Stoneseed. Buttercup and Fairy Star at higher elevation, even in the woods. Most prominent today, at lower elevation, is Death Camas. Plenty Bi-colored Cluster Lily, Nine-leaf Desert Parsley.

22 of us started our hike on a small turn off Centreville Hwy in Lyle. Saw 2 nests of Western Gray Squirrel which is in danger in WA (edge of their territory), but plentiful in OR and CA. Continued upwards on last year's oak leaves, under evergreens, passed some powerline, reached a grassy plateau where we had lunch. A bit more oaks later the trail zigzag its way down large grassy meadow overlooking Columbia River.

Along the drive, yellow Lomatium Grayi and some orange California poppy line hwy-14. At the parking lot by hwy-14, a couple of Columbia Desert Parsley in seed already, some broad leaf Thelypodium high on cliff.