Yetti’s Pacific North West Exploration & Expeditions Picture heavy

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Yetti’s Pacific North West and others Exploration & Expeditions


I have been a member of the forum for quite some time, and have never posted any trip threads. I decided it was time for a change, some of these will be old and will be comprised of mostly pictures as my writing has a lot to be desired. I work as a freelance AEMT and Firefighter, endorsements in MCPIC & Remote Medicine, IRAMP(industrial medicine) Currently ½ way through a 3-year hitch as the Safety Coordinator for a large company. On the side, I still work other contracts, our local agency 911 calls, for fire, ems rescue to patient transfer from our hospital to others further away,8+hr round trips. And through other agency’s like Event Medics, Amphibias Medics, Adventure Medics, I guess the folks who name them aren’t very creative. Hah

http://amphibiousmedics.com/

http://www.eventmedics.com/?gclid=C...13Slxx1PzMjdfTXpxIy5K4epD6JfGZEhoCnpcQAvD_BwE

They cover things like surfing, mountain bike, movie sets, adventure races, etc and are usually short <3 day contracts. This will be a log of the trips I can share, mixed from week+ trips to weekend adventures. Not everything is PNW local, also includes BAJA, South America, and others. If you have any questions please ask away, enjoy the reading. Have some patience as I get things uploaded, it will take a few days.
Happy Trails and Safe Travels

Baja Mexico 2016

Christmas day DogVentures

Baja Mexico- went down for the 1000, will do report shortly

Constant Travel Buddy

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

For the winter of 2016, I met my brother and sister in law in Mexico, we wanted to see the legendary BAJA 1000. For me it was a month away from work and a chance to say goodbye to them as they started their overland adventure driving the panam. (Runningfrommonday.com) On the way down i was in a crunch and made the journey from Oregon to the border in 1.5 days. I don't remember much from that other than it was a long drive, and went by in a fuzz. I hate to travel on a tight schedule but sometimes it happens. I had just regeared and put a locker in my truck, ( a local shop, I do most my own work but that was past my skill level) it took longer than expected so placed me behind schedule. I drove down and back without a working Spedo, but really who needs one of those... as I forgot to update my BullyDog tuner to accept gear changes. Everything went uneventful on the way down, and even through Mexico. My first military check point had me nervous, however basically went down without a hitch. I was carrying a bunch of amazon boxes with chevy truck parts for my brother. Once at the checkpoint, I tried to explain it was just truck parts and I was traveling alone with the gringos ahead of us in the other Chevy truck that looked like mine. And clear totes of camping gear, and lots of maxpedition (https://www.maxpedition.com/ ) duffle bags and backpacks. it was ok to ignore the radio and scanner that were crackling from the others in the group who had cleared allready. When I asked of he wanted me to open them all he simply said, " no, esta bien" and shook the life out of each box prior to returning them to their place in my backseat.

We convoyed that day to the spot we had picked out, milepost 100 for the 1000. You can read running from mondays blog here, from the 1000 ( http://runningfrommonday.com/blog/2016/11/28/baja-1000 ) And I will start posting pictures.
On the way down, somewhere in the California desert
Camp Spot, Circle the wagons,

Room with a View

The race is something you have to see in person, Why not hang out of a chopper..

The trophy trucks are amazing, this was spitting distance from our camp





The grey box in an earlier picture, was a generator cover from the guy in the Ford. He donated it to the cause for a bonfire on the last night,


We had a great time, never once felt unsafe in country. Ate some great tacos, if we thought something may be questionable food wise you can, 1, not eat it, 2 Use lots of lime, 3 Take a shot after or prior to eating it. I recommend the shot, Medics orders..

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Still November of 2016, Eventually we had to start making it back to reality as our convoy broke up. I continued w/ my brother to San Felipe across the Baja Peninsula. We found some horribly great roads to string together and make the drive across. Ate some more great tacos, drove on part of the course as the majority of the race was finished, or so we thought. And I managed to wrap my driver rear exhaust around my back axle, but i have two so... strapped it on and welded it back together once i got home. We did find out that some of the buggy’s were still racing, a few passed us on the route, all the drivers were friendly; smiling and waving. On the way home I got to take my time, one of the places I stopped at was the SaltonSea ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea ) it involved some bad engineering choices, and misfortune and rerouted all of the Colorado rivers flow for 2 years. Oddly enough my truck decided it would not run, and every warning light I had come on, i pulled up to the sign and popped the hood, Luckily for me the intake tube had gotten loose on the engine side, quick fix-. For some time in the 1950's it helps its own as a resort until it started to die due to the severe salinity of the lake. I find these places fascinating and am unable to stay away, i will leave you with pictures.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Beach,_California





Ill upload more later, it is quite the place. Smells of Salty Death. The entire area has a vibe, places that were once vibrant and living now ghostly in their silence

 

[Bushcoat]

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

That was unfortunate, I had everything typed out and loaded and it froze on upload. SSooo this will be even shorter.

Thanks BushCoat, I was not sure of anyone was even reading. haha, i had a few more stops before making it home for Thanksgiving so I'll add them as well.

Next up after leaving, the salt Sea I headed to Joshua tree, I took the highway but should have taken box canyon road straight into the park. I’d recommend the Geology tour road, less people travel because its " 4x4 only" however, you could of done it in a minivan. My truck never noticed it, some of the highways in Mexico were rougher- Honestly. So Joshua Tree ( https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm ) when I was there the place was empty, as weird as it may sound coming from a firefighter/medic, I’m not a people person. So i enjoyed that the place was empty, i only saw a few other rigs. It does have some cool geology- which I admittedly enjoy. That being said, it did not do the trick for me, it was ok- but by no means blew me away. It made for a nice detour around the highway. In fact, i actually feel slightly bad, for how lack luster I was with it. Maybe the season, my mood, hard to say. BY no means am i saying it’s not worth a visit, but not one I’ll go back too. I do wish I had stopped at the visitor center, and chatted with the staff rangers- as a lot of times they know the best unknown, routes to areas outside the parks, or are good at putting a path together. I just used BCN on my tablet, and strung some dirt in a kind of route. It was well taken care of, majority of roads paved. That being said, I’ll leave you with the pictures I took- they leave a little to be desired though,



- sunset, from a former life unlived at the Salton Sea, What i believed to be an RV park.







For Most of the month it was camping- all through Mexico and most of the states. Its just me and I am an early waker, so the travel days were all driving dark to dark. My camping set up has me spoiled, with the totes. I have a nemo Mezo loft bag, (I love it, amazing) and cosmo pad which fit together, and I slide them into a waxed canvas bed roll. So all i have to do is roll it out on the flat bed, inflate the pad and away i go. People seem to think im BA, tough- they should look inside. haha that pad inflates to 5 inches with its own built in pump. The canvas protects the rather expensive system from just about everything, and the large flap can go over my head if it starts to rain. It’s a really great system, from my truck, rafting to strapping it on a horse. it is not small however, Next up Alabama hills and Manzanar

 

[FinsUp]

Great write up and trips. We are planning on going to Baja next spring.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I need to catch up, so I can post some recent stuff. BAJA was pretty awesome; how did you like it?


Alabama Hills was cool, it’s also all BLM. Stop at the visitor center in Bishop, lots of information and helpful folks. The park service did a good job with that center.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ala...rome..69i57.3871j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

It is a popular location for movies.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

After Alabama Hills, I started early but by 10:00 it was getting really busy. I pulled up BCN and found a trail that went from Alabama Hills to the back side of Manzanar,


https://www.google.com/search?q=man...rome..69i57.1479j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

A incarceration center for Japanese Americans in the early 1940's during WW II. They are sobering places, but the NPS also did a great job with this one, in restoration and the visitor center. I met some jeeps on the " trail" to Manzanar, who thought I was crazy to drive my truck that way, and assured me I would never make it. They were all lifted and locked. I thanked them for their concerns and continued on my way. I never even needed to put my 7000# Chevy in 4x4. And had been through ranch roads way worse. But it was a nice break from the freeway.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

As you can see, It was already Nov,22 and I still had to make it home for Thanksgiving.... I stopped one more place, by accident. The Mount Whitney Fish hatchery,
https://www.google.com/search?q=Mou...rome..69i57.4943j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
A really beautiful stone built fish hatchery, and one of the oldest in the US. They were closed but i enjoyed my time there, it was a ghost town. And lots of friendly ducks following me around asking for bread, I may have obliged a little. From there winter and life took over, hauling hay. Got a promotion at work, those kind of things

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Winter was pretty busy, but was able to squeeze a few things in. Including a trip to South America, and some snowshoeing. After a calling a snow day at work, I decided it would be a good time to re aim my driving lights, and some lambing. It was one of our colder winters, makes a difference when you live in a fifth wheel full time. I was able to get out most weekends even if just for a short " dog venture” And at work, a pipe broke in the boiler room and flooded 7000 gallons of water into one of the warehouses.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Had our local high angle rescue team come out to the facility and practice, we have an indoor 7 story tower, and lots of external catwalks for them to practice off of. I do some volunteer work with Team Rubicon, an amazing organization that takes veterans and emergency services personal and deploys them to disaster areas. The team and I got to meet Vanilla Ice, he was familiar with TR and invited us all back stage. TR is a great nonprofit, and organization.
https://teamrubiconusa.org/

We had just finished up a chainsaw certification class. I upgraded my fifth wheel to a new one, with room in it, heck I even have a washer and dryer.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I flew into Cody Wyoming to meet some family, and enjoy some vacation. I am from Wyoming and flew my mum out as well. Met with family in Thermopolis and Cody, did some relaxing, and visited Big Horn Basin Canyon, and the Caroline lock heart ranch and wild horses. I tried not to beat up the Nissan rental too much. Enjoyed seeing family, and the family Fjord ranch. I also included heart mountain, most from the area are familiar with it. Including the Heart Mountain Relocation Center.
https://www.google.com/search?q=big...rome..69i57.5231j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=car...rome..69i57.5711j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Mountain_(Wyoming)


And a few more summer adventures and Medical contracts, ill eventually get around to posting the details from South America as well.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I flew down to Colombia South America, to meet my brother and sister in law, Dec of 2017. From Pasco-Denver-Huston-Panama-Medellin Columbia. It was a long flight day, arrived in Medellin at 10ish at night. After trying to explain to customs (in my bad Spanish) and failing- that I was just meeting my brother and we were camping and that I even already had a flight booked to leave the country. They of course would have none of it, I should of been better prepared. He decided to " hold" my passport for me until i had a better answer. I was able to google the closest hotel and gave them that number and address and they allowed me my passport and to collect my luggage. On one of the flights i got to watch a screw work itself loose and disappear behind us.

I met Kp and Taylor outside the airport and we were off to ( https://www.booking.com/hotel/co/al-bosque-hostel-amp-glamping.ro.html ) for the night. You can read the blog post here ( http://runningfrommonday.com/blog/2017/12/15/exploring-colombia-with-los-hermanos-pawley )

Medellin, a city of 4 million. Has a tram public transit system. After a short few mile hike from our camp to the start of it. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medellín ) even with lots of walking I had a blast here. Got to experience every bit of the public transit system they had to offer. The tram was awesome, the rail was super cramped- no room to move, yet at every stop more managed to cram in. The bus rides back to camp that night, was long i choose to stand the entire way, and the bus drivers have no fear. Even had a near miss with a kid on a bike riding down the hill with no brakes, i thought for sure my skills were going to be needed. The kid just dumped the bike when he saw the buss coming up hill. Ill add more as i am able,

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I don’t know if I’m ever going to get caught up or not, but thought I would post a few from Medic contracts. This first one was for the Ride To Cure Cancer, the riders rode from Canada to Washington. state.

http://www.conquercancer.ca/index.html

Medic wise we saw lots of the stuff you’d expect, did also see some pretty bad road rash, dislocated knee, concussion, a kid who bit all the way through his lower lip, almost removing it. It was a fun event to work, the base camp is massive and completely catered. Including massage tents and masseuses. They raise a lot of money and have a lot of fun. All the riders were insanely nice, and polite. They used A5-35 for everything. it’s like an icy hot with lidocaine, so the area applies goes numb. It’s actually not allowed in the US as the lidocaine content is higher than our FDA allows.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

This series was for a Spartan Race- It’s an obstacle adventure race. with varying lengths each day.


https://www.spartan.com/en

This was up in Snohomish Washington, April 13th. I was there for three days. It was cold, rainy and overcast the entire weekend. They ran about 5000 people a day through, a lot of no shows though. We were overflowing with hypothermia patients steadily. I will say, Spartan does not mess around with their Medics, they staff heavy, and well trained equipped medics. The tent was even heated.

We saw roughly 500 patients in 3 days, pretty good considering. A few breaks, one broken ankle, another girl who dislocated her hip, and shattered her knee. (she had had knee surgery only a few weeks ago, and honestly should not have done the race).

I have another coming up in September.

This is Base camp Sparta at dark, my first was a grave shift with another medic. A sparse contrast to the day’s activities.