Squamish

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Italy Pics To Come

TBD

Goodbye MS

My contract ended yesterday. I am officially unemployed again. That's good since I plan on taking the entire month of July off. We leave in 2 hours. Excellent!

Italy - 1 Month

Day 1 Rome
Days 2-3 Florence
Days 4-6 Lucca and Pisa
Days 7-8 Cinque Terre
Days 9-10 Piedmont
Days 11-12 Milan and Italian Lakes
Days 13-15 Venice

Time to Ramble Again

Leaves are falling all around,

Its time I was on my way.

Thanks to you, I'm much obliged

For such a pleasant stay.

-

But now its time for me to go,

The autumn moon lights my way.

For now I smell the rain,

And with it pain,

And its headed my way.

-

Ah, sometimes I grow so tired,

But I know Ive got one thing I got to do,

Ramble on,

And nows the time, the time is now

To sing my song.

-

-

After weeks of planning and months of desire, it's time to go climbing...big time. Off to Tibet and Nepal for 2 months. Brian won't be going with me for half fo the trip, and obvously I'm disappointed, but I decide to go on.Seattle<-->LAX<-->Bangkok<-->Kathmandu

This is a NASA photo of Everest from the North side.

Another Road Trip

Ok, I have family coming to town. Time to go for a visit, then head off for some back country, wilderness living. I promised my friend Scott I would come for a visit, so I am.

• Seattle to
• Spokane to
• Hells Canyon to
• Boise to
• Sun Valley to
• Salmon to
• Stanley to
• Boise to
• Spokane to
• Seattle

A total of about 1700 miles driving, 3 weeks from home. Hmmm...

Day 14 - Travel and Reflection

So overall, Mrs Dirtbagger and I had a great time on this trip. As we sit in the Starbucks in London airport ready to fly back to the Left Coast, I reflect on how traveling with this crew was a total blast. Everone was really fun, easy to get along with and total troopers. Best memories:

• Majeed, Mohammed and the rest of the guys working their assess off to make sure we were comfortable.
• Bill sick as hell riding on that mule, not willing to quit, no matter how shitty he felt.
• 71 year old Jeff, the crass old luddite, smoking a pipe @ every mountain summit.
• Mick's amazing sense of wit and humor.
• Hanging out on our last day with Teresa and Andrew, the coolest daughter/father team I've ever met.
• Phil and Christine, having fun together.
• Ian's quite demeanor and determination to make it to the top.
• John doing Paul "geordie" impressions, and Carol "baking like a cake" in the sun.
• Paul's "need" to go for a run, and his great attitude, especially with John doing impressions.
• Tom, doing a fantastic job pulling it all together.
• Our evening dinners together. Every night, I couldn't wait to get into that tent and see what was going to happen, and what we were going to discuss. I've never laughed SO hard on a vacation in all my life. Thank you all.

Now a visit to London, then time to head home!

Day 13 - Marrakech Dinner

Paul, Jeff and Carol
John, Christine, Paul and Ian
Mick and Bill

There was no alcohol served @ this restaurant, so we had to bring in our own, and bring it in, we did. I think everyone who was drinking wine, had their own bottle, and Paul and I (thanks to Paul, actually) had more than enough beer.

Day 13 - Marrakech

Trip Description: A free day in Marrakech to relax and explore the souks for souvenirs and to take in the sights and sounds of this colorful city. We (as a group) spent the day in the souks buying silly things we didn't need.

Here is Andrew relaxing in the sun.
Here is a cute kitty we met along our travels.

The streets of Marrakech

This vendor had some belts to sell, and he wasn't giving up on John. I think in the end, John bought like 7 belts from him. Hopefully they were all his size. :)

Paul and I wanted to go for a shave @ the local barber shop. Here is what fuzzy Paul "Jordie Foster" Tilley looked like before he went in. Two shaves, and Paul's hair trim cost 100 dirham. I think that is like 11 dollars.

Andrew in a new hat and some styling shoes.

Day 12 - Lunch Time

So with the cold windy weather we experienced on our last 2 days, we were lucky we were on the dry side of the mountains. It snowed several inches on the pass through the Altas range. Cars, Trucks, Busses were stuck, people were everywhere. Disaster.

Somebody had the brilliant idea that we should stop for lunch. It was about 2pm and because of the weather disaster, we were pretty hungry.

Road on the green side of the Atlas mountains.

After lunch we made it into town, got cleaned up and had dinner @ the hotel where we were staying. I think everybody was kinda wiped out, so it was a early night.

Day 12 - Road Trip to Marrakech

Trip Description: Early start for the drive back across the Atlas to Marrakech. Late afternoon / evening to check out the remarkable central square of the Djemaa-el-Fna. Group Hotel.

This was our driver. Not sure about the red towel. He didn't speak English, so I didn't ask.
This is Jeff, once again, smoking his pipe.
The road ahead...

Day 11 - Tips and Thanks

Everyone recognized that without the work of the porters and guys running the mules this would have been a horrible trip. These guys worked their asses off to make sure we were comfortable, hydrated and well fed. Tom, our guide (he was pretty much top notch from my standpoint) and the representative from KE Adventure travel wanted to do something nice as a "raffle."

Here Tom and Teresa are hanging out in the tent as folks come in.So, any unwanted or "gift items" were donated by the trekkers and placed into little individual piles, then numbers were drawn to "pick a pile" of stuff. Basically these guys didn't have crap, so I was honored to donate:

• Keva River Sandals
• Nalgene Water Bottle
• Omega Pacific Locking Caribiner
• Mens Capeline short sleeve shirt

Others gave lots of other good stuff too!

Our final dinner, things loosen up considerably. Here is John showing is affection for Jeff. Carol (John's wife) laughed as hard as I did. I think Jeff, liked the attention, and secretly loved the kiss!

Day 11 - Camp

Our camp on the outskirts of Iknioun. The wind blew like hell here. It was cold.

Day 11 - Descend and Camp

This was a somewhat sketchy descent. Loose stones, slick, glacier hard snow, and good 50 mph wind gusts made it very exciting.
As proof of our journey, I decide to take along a piece of snow and bring it back to camp. I'm uncertain why the hell I did this, but am certain I wouldn't do it again. I carried this thing like 3+ miles.
Whitey the wondermule our roach coach friend was @ camp waiting for us. I gave Whitey a sugar cube for being such a good mule, even if the bastard did try to bite me.

Day 11 - The Summit

Here are Mick, Ian, Jeff and Tom. Mick and Ian had some difficulty during the first big hike, but a week later of treking, these guys got rough and tough and kept on going.
Here, we can see a pretty much 360 view of mountain ranges all around us.
The group has made it. In front is Christine (who at home will go out for a 25 mile walk!) and one of our guides, in the back is Paul, (who's a 5K and 10K runner) John, Phil, Majeed, Me, Mick dorking with his camera, Ian and Jeff (who for the record, smoked a pipe after the summit.)

Day 11 - The Big Climb

Trip Description - Option to climb Amalou n Mansour (8895ft.), the biggest peak in the Jebel Sahro range. Trek to our final camp near the village of Iknioun. Camp (5900ft).

Today is another day where we "split" the group. Part who want to hike up over the highest mountain in the range do so, others who want to stay on the lower path, can. Mrs Dirtbagger's face is telling me, she's going the lower route.
As we depart, the owner of the house (we were camped in his front yard, next to the building he keeps his baby goats and sheep) watches us load up stuff.
Off we go, with our guide, Majeed leading the pack.

Day 10 - Short hike then hanging out!

Trip Description: A short day we climb out of the the Oulili Valley and heading westwards we establish camp near the settlement of Tanemlalt. Camp (6725ft.).

Here is a pic of camp early in the AM, you can see our famous green tent, there in the middle.
The sun has finally come up and I'm not freezing my *ss off. We're @ 6700 feet and it's getting down to freezing level. Ouch. Both Mrs Dirtbagger and I have pretty good sleeping bags, but once again, I'm without my down coat....Uh, note to self.

Off we go! The crew of 15(?) heading out and me in the back trying to take photos and keep up.

We didn't hike to far today, and so we're all hanging out around camp. Wind is blowing a it's a little cool...Said another way, I wish a sure as hell would have brought my down coat! Did I mention that?

Day 9 - Here we go, once again

Trip Description: Option to trek to summit of Bou Gafer (6,488ft.) and then descend from camp following a stream through green valleys and deep gorges to village of Oulili. Camp (6,560ft.).

Today, the clan splits up. Part heads on to the lunch meeting point, the other group scrambles up to a local peak.

A monument where Morocco declared it's independance from France. Not sure if France gave up willingfully (they do have that history) or if they decided Morocco wasn't worth keeping.

The scramble (Paul and Tom) to the top.

Group pseudo-summit shot (l to r) (front) Paul, Mick, Ian, Jeff, (middle) Bill, John, me, Andrew, (back) Phil, Christine, Majeed (not pictured once again, Tom.)

Relaxing and waiting on the rest of the group.

Enjoying lunch in the sun. Nice!

This was affectionately known as the thunderbox. The thunderbox was a 6+ foot tall canvas outhouse where a 1 foot hole was used for deposits. The trick was to emerge from the thunderbox without peeing/pooping on yourself, your shoes, your pants, whatever.

Day 8 - Giardia Strikes!

Trip Description: A longer day we climb up from camp to cross a pass (6,724ft.). We continue across a couple of high ridges, via an old French fort to the foot of Bou Gafer. Camp (5,576ft.).

Whitey (the lunch time roach coach mule) heads off into the distance. Since Whitey always carries lunch, I pray I see him soon.

This is the look of giardia. It's not pleasant for anyone involved.

Camp is below. When we could all see the tents, I think half the folks started to run.

Jeff, in his own particular way, decided to take a break and "have a pipe." Let me put this in perspective for you. Jeff is 71 (30 years my senior) fit as a fiddle, sharp as a stick in your eye, climbed EVERYTHING I did, never complained about anything (except my "poofy" earrings and the fact that I owned a pair of (gasp) jeans, and a microwave) but was a complete hoot to be around, so yes, Jeff could easily stop to "have a pipe."