National Weather Association Annual Conference - Huntsville, Alabama

I attended the 2019 National Weather Association conference in Huntsville, Alabama during early September. The conference was very much oriented toward the social science aspects of meteorology...which I suppose is not a bad thing given my limited experience in the subject. There were some good meteorology talks as well, especially pertaining to Vortex-Southeast. The poster sessions were informative also, and I appreciated the chance to talk one-on-one with experts in subjects ranging from new satellite techniques for detecting wildfires, to new tools for communicating with users of NWS forecasts, to severe thunderstorms initiated by wildfires in the Texas Panhandle, and much much more. But perhaps the highlight of the conference was watching my old Paducah, KY SOO Pat Spoden receive an NWA member of the year award...Pat was a great mentor to me and the rest of the staff at Paducah...way to go Pat!

I was fortunate to reconnect with old friends, such as Carly Kovacik, Walker Ashley, Doug Spheger, Jared Guyer, Bryan Smith, Jeff Peters, and Jeremy Martin...and I'm grateful for the new friends I picked up during the trip while going out to eat for lunch, and grabbing beers during the evening.

I also got a chance to tour downtown Huntsville during my last day in Alabama. The downtown area is beautiful, clean, and lacks the homeless population that plagues my current hometown in Eureka, CA. I walked past the building in which the Alabama Constitution was signed. I also toured the NASA space museum located on the western outskirts of Huntsville, which featured a 2/3-rds scale Space Shuttle parked outside the museum. During my time at NASA, I was privileged to attend a talk by David Concannon, who led a team funded by Jeff Bazos to retrieve the NASA Saturn moon rockets from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. All in all Huntsville is a fantastic place in my opinion...I would have no gripes living and working in northern Alabama.

An assortment of pictures from my trip, which I plan to add captions to--eventually, are posted below.

Lyons Ranch Loop - Redwood National Park

I hiked the Lyons Ranch Loop for what was probably the fifth time in the last year during mid September with Tamara Lopez. As usual, the sun was shinning brilliantly bright up above the forested valleys far below our ridge top trail. In addition, during our drive through the redwoods to the trailhead, we encountered an amazing display of sun-beams filtered by tall trees and fog and mist. It was a very magical sight.

Bumpass Hell - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Tamara Lopez and I hiked out to Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic National Park during early September. This is a feature I had not yet explored in Lassen. Bumpass Hell is basically a hydrothermal vent connecting the surface to a magma chamber deep underground. Water and mud is constantly boiling, and the smell of hydrogen sulfide is almost overwhelming. This area was once part of the main vent feeding Mount Tehama, a massive prehistoric volcano that eroded away due to chemical weathering--Brokeoff Mountain, a peak I hiked earlier in the summer, is the largest remnant of Tehama.

The main trail to Bumpass Hell remains closed due to park service restoration. However, a section of Bumpass can be reached by hiking 2.5 miles from the Kings Creek picnic area.

Castle Crags State Park

Tamara Lopez and myself hiked Castle Crags State Park in Northern California during early September. I hiked this granite pluton a couple of years ago, and it was just as fun and scenic the second time around. The views of Shasta were stupendous; the crags were even craggier; and the sun was shining brilliantly. Just another perfect summer day in Northern California. I've come to love this region a lot...it is the epitome of the western United States.

Lassen Volcano

I hiked Lassen Volcano for the third summer in a row with Tamara Lopez and her son Joaquin. As usual, the hike to the summit went by quickly, and the scenery was spectacular. This was my second Cascade volcano summit of the year...I hope to do a third in November.

Founder's Grove and Trinidad State Beach

My aunt and uncle from Kansas visited me during early/mid August. The pictures below are from day trips we took to Founder's Grove--an area of spectacular redwood trees in Southern Humboldt County; and Trinidad State Beach--one of the most scenic beaches in Northern California.

Ferndale Cemetery

The Ferndale, CA cemetery; established during the 1870s; is one of many historic landmarks in that victorian-styled town.

Seven Up Peak - Trinity Alps

I summited Seven Up Peak in the Trinity Alps on August 11th. The hike to Granite Lake took 2 hours, and then I ascended up a second basin that was very scenic. I reached a high pass by my third hour of hiking, and then traversed along the west face of Seven Up for a bit before going directly up toward the summit. The ascent was a long wearisome struggle the entire way due to the incredible steepness of the slope combined with loose rock and dirt. Nevertheless the effort paid off and I reached the top at around midday. After a rest, I decided to head down via the east face of Seven Up. That was a mistake...I spent the next hour sliding, falling, skidding, and bushwhacking...it was a miserable experience. Needless to say I was happy to finally reach the trail that took me back down past Granite Lake and toward Swift Creek. Unfortunately a hornets nest awoke as I approached Swift Creek and I was swarmed and stung repeatedly on my legs and back. I swatted the hornets away and ran; and luckily the hornets gave up the chase. A couple ahead of me also got stung and they graciously gave me a Benadryl which helped alleviate pain and swelling.

Kailua to Kaneohe

I hiked 7-10 miles from Kailua to Kaneohe with the hope of hooking up with highway 63 in order to find a route across Oahu leading to the Honolulu Airport. Unfortunately, my iPhone map led me to the trailhead to Stairway to Heaven, which is not a route I wanted to use to access the south side of the island. So I turned around and hiked back into Kaneohe, hailed an Uber, and took the easy way over to Honolulu. This hike took me through some nice scenery...pictures of those views are posted below.

Kailua; Oneawa Street.

Mokapu Boulevard.

Looking towards Kane'ohe Bay.

Haiku Neighborhood.