To Burning Man and Beyond!

Follow my progress with Gmap4, a website my uncle Joe created.  It displays USGS topo maps over Google maps (among other things)

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=36.389174,-118.946022&z=10&t=h&q=http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/recreation/max/bike_trip_2014.txt

Pre- Burning Man writings:

So my trip has officially begun!  I’m writing this as we drive through Nebraska with plans of staying in Laramie, Wyoming.  By Monday we should be on the Playa ready for anything Black Rock City can throw at us.  This will be my first Burning Man Experience.

For the last few years I’ve been proud to call Duluth, MN my home.  I started my undergraduate there at UMD in 2008.  I finished in 2012, just in time for the end of the world on December 21st.  Due to the unforseen consequences of a non-apocalypse, I decided to start a masters degree at UMD in their Environmental Health and Safety program.  As of last week, I have turned in my final paper for review and should have my degree in hand this coming winter.

This trip has been in the works for months.  I’ve been saving up money, acquiring gear, studying routes, and everything else that trip planning throws at you.  The plan as of now is to attend my first Burning Man with three friends, Sue, Missy, and Aaron.  For me, Burning Man is simply the cherry on top of this adventure sundae.  The main event will be to ride my bicycle from Lake Isabella, California to Vancouver, BC.  The route has been established by the Adventure Cycling Association, a wonderful organization based out of Missoula, Montana.  To date, they have mapped out over 40,000 miles of bike routes in the United States, including camping, food, water,elevation and everything else you may need in a nice waterproof map.  Their Sierra Cascade Route will be my guide, taking me through Sequoia National Park, Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Crater Lake, Lassen National Park, and much more.

I will be traveling alone.  There are pros and con’s to this.  Luckily, I enjoy my own company and find peace and solitude in solo travel.  There is something empowering about traveling alone.  There is also an added benefit of convenience when traveling alone.  I don’t have to wait for anyone, I can set my own pace and stop whenever I want.   I’m still a social creature, and will be looking to meet and converse with as many interesting people as I see fit.

September 3rd, 2014 – What the Hell is Burning Man?

Starting data:
My weight: 163 lbs
Bike weight, no gear: ~27 lbs
Gear, no water/food: ~28 lbs
Bike Odometer: 1220 miles

I’m currently camping in a completely empty USFS campground near Lake Isabella called Boulder Gulch Campground.  The climate is hot and dry.  Days are in the high 90’s, night are in the mid 60’s.  The landscape is mountainous, scattered with white boulders from football-sized to 30 feet tall.  I finally have some time to sit down and write about what has been going on. 

Burning Man.  My god.  This was hands down the most unique experience one could imagine.  For those who don’t know, Burning Man is a week-long event held in the Black Rock desert in Northwest Nevada.  The event draws in nearly 70,000 people.  They construct a city in the dust.  Everyone brings something different to Burning Man.  It is a creative space for anyone, a place where you can be yourself, a place where you can be a totally different person, a place to have fun, a place to give and receive unconditional love, create art, radical self-reliance, and so much more.  It is simply beautiful.

Some of the main attractions at Burning Man are for one The Man.  A wooden sculpture designed and built every year and placed in the center of Black Rock City, referred to as the Playa.  At the end of the week, the man is lit on fire in the most spectacular fashion.  There are hundreds of art installments other than The Man.  They are scatter across the playa.  Some are climbable, some are interactive, and all of they are lit up with spectacular lights to be viewed at night.  Because of the unrelenting desert heat, the playa truly comes alive at night.  Anyone main spectacle of Burning Man are the art cars, or mutant vehicles.  These come in all shapes and sizes, from decorated golf carts to full blown double-decker school bused turned into dance parties on wheels.  For example, I was just biking to my tent one night and a 8-ft tall pair of dentures drives by blasting dubstep.  There are also numerous art cars that are equipped with the most over-the-top sound, light, and laser setups that pump out the music all night long.  Kalliope, google it.  This was a chain of art cars that connected together and synced up all of their lights for the most epic displays at night.  The Big Red art car was a monstrous vehicle made to look like the classic VW beetle along with this VW bus, both are part of Kalliope. 

I forgot to mention, many of these art cars are equipped with devices that easily shoot fireballs 30 feet into the air. 

My favorite camp at Burning Man was Sk8 Camp.  I believe they were from the San Diego Region.  They built an entire skatepark.  It was massive!  You’ll have to google it because I didn’t get a picture, only video (which was in the wrong format to upload).  I didn’t have skate shoes so I ended up skating in my Choco sandals.  They did alright.  I think I skated everyday so I inevitably cut my feet and legs open.  I just taped it up with some gauze and micropore tape and kept rockin’.  No flip tricks though.  You would be surprise how hard a person can throw down in a pair of chocos.

Out on the playa, there are hundreds of art installments, including The Man, The Temple, and Embrace (the huge sculpture of two faces). 

This was hands down my favorite piece on the playa.  I was so fun to and easy to climb.  And IT SPUN!!!  The was the other shell that could be climbed, and then a small sphere on the inside that people could sit it.  Then there was one large bright light in the center of the piece.  This cast shadows hundreds of feet into the playa, where you could see people climbing up the triangular frame of the piece.  I liked sitting on the very top and watching the shadows move in 360 degrees as people below spun the orb.  One night when I was visiting this sculpture I bumped into Danielle Rhodes, a fellow rock climber from college at UMD!   It hard enough to find stationary objects at in Black Rock City, let alone a PERSON.  What a coincidence!  This was also the night that I repeatedly approached people and asked there with a sincere face, “Excuse me?  Could you help me find a sculpture out here?”  Where they would all kindly agree.  “What sculpture are you looking for?  Do you know what it looks like?”  Where I reply, “Well I know the sculpture has a lot of lights.  That’s about it.  Have you seen anything like that around here?”  The reactions were surprisingly mixed.  Some people were really intent on helping me and kept asking for details.  Most people figured it out and gave me directions to various place at or beyond the trash fence, or else we just shared a laugh. 

September 4, 2014 – Minnesota Does Not Have Mountains

Lake Isabella

Yesterday was the first day of riding.  Last night I camped at Boulder Gulch Campground near Lake Isabella, CA.  It was free because the was no envelopes to pay, no price listed, and no rangers.  Score!  Flush toilets and water.  Yesterday I rode about 42 miles to the Trail of 100 Giants, a grove of Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) upwards of 1,500 years old.  Not to be confused with the Costal Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens).  I was hoping to camp just outside of the Trail of 100 Giants, but the USFS campsite had turned off their water due to water quality issues.  I lost my bike data but it took be 4-5 hours to go 42 miles.  I climbed 4000ft in elevation.  At one point my computer read 111 degrees F but it may be off.  I brought 4.5 L of water but ran out at this point so I found some half-filled bottles in the recycling and asked a few people for water before continuing the climb to the next site with water.  I biked another 14 miles to Quaking Aspen Campground (USFS) which is around 7200 ft. The campground was at the base of huge redwoods, which made my tent seem tiny.  I was very tired because I got into as it was getting dark.

Full day ride time: 5-6 hours
Full day milage: 55 miles

A quick shout-out to Welch Fruit Snacks.  You’re my jam right now.  You are so delicious and you can quite literally be used as jam.

bike stats:
ride time: 4 hours
Distance: 49 miles
Avg speed: 12.6 mph