Climbing the top of Texas - Mt. Guadalupe

After quitting my current position I wanted to climb the top most part of Texas, the state where I was based for the last 3 years. Yes, I know it sounds a bit ridiculous that Texas being a desert has anything more to offer, but it is true. Texas actually is like a whole new country. It has the gulf coast to the west and the Chihuahuan desert to the East. The tallest point in Texas is the Guadalupe Mountain at an altitude of 8700 feet (2650 metres). I wanted to spice up the trip a bit to turn it into an adventure and so decided to hike up with bedding stuff (tent, sleeping bags, accessories etc). Pavi being a sportive companion agreed to dance to my tune. Thus psychologically I would feel I have conquered before leaving Texas.



We rented a Toyota Yaris and drove the 500 mile to the Eastern part of Texas near El paso. We drove the night and reached the Guadalupe Mountain national park at 10 AM. We got some information and registered for backcountry camping (It is free!). We then drove around to White city (35 miles) to have some food and then came back to start the hike up. We started climbing by 3 PM. We had hoped to reach the base camp site in 3 hours but had grossly underestimated the task. Height and heat slowed us down besides the fact that this was our first time.


The view along the way was breathtaking and by 8 PM we reached the base camp site. We pitched out tent and tired as we were went to sleep immediately. The night was cold and rained a few times. Early the morning, we got ready and begun the steep hike up the mountain. At 10 AM we were on top of Texas. We had successfully climbed Mt. Guadalupe, the tallest point in Texas.



We took a few pictures and climbed down to base camp and after dismantling and packing the tent, began the hike down which was equally stressful as the hike up. This is because we walking with gravity and have to do so carefully arching the body backwards. This movement also causes the foot to slide inward inside the boot pushing against the top causing pain. After 3 hours we finally reached the car and then drovw to White's city for food and then on to Carlsbad caverns for a quick tour. We started around late evening to drive back to Dallas, stopping and sleeping along the way finally reaching Dallas the next day in the morning.

This was our first mountain hiking trip and was quite an adventure to remember.

Check out the pics here

Primitive camping at Dino Valley SP, Glen Rose, TX

Everything about this camping trip went wrong.

That made the trip awesome.

First we started late due to some last min hold up in the lab and finally got there at about 7 PM without knowing when the park might close. We got a primitive campsite as the regular sites were filled up for the 4th of July weekend. After parking the car we took our tent and bedding stuff and began our hike.

Hike - The first bummer was it was uphill and we had to cross a river that was running dry. Secondly we had to carry our bedding pack in a box which was uncomfortable and heavy.


So we quickly returned back to the car and repacked the stuff in my hiking bag (the bag that I very thoughtfully bought in Singapore) and began our hike up. The hike to campsite #6 was about 0.6 miles with hike through thick forested and hilly terrain. Worse it was hot as hell (about 38 degrees maybe?) and I was sweating like a sausage out of the oven. We finally reached the campsite and pitched our tent at about 8.45 PM when we realised we had not had dinner yet and it was getting dark. To not play spoilsport and eat out we took our stuff to the picnic site and started the grill to cook some food. The food was ready at about 10 PM which was the quiet time of the park and we were chased out by the rangers. It was pitch dark and that when we realized we did not have good flashlight and the only one that I had luckily packed was a 2 LED manual charge light. The good thing was that we did not have to carry a lot and so we started our hike uphill.




Now there is a difference between hiking in daylight versus at night. The night creatures are very active and I believe I saw a furry animal about a foot in height running around. Add to this snakes (copperheads I was told) and spiders spinning webs on the path, the hike gets a bit spooky. Fortunately it was a full moonlit night and the light from the flashlight was just enough to navigate to our site. Since primitive sites are only accessible by hiking, there was no human presence around and only 2 of the 6 sites were filled that night. We reached our site at around 11, had food and crashed. The night was warm with heat from the earth radiating through the bedding and no wind to cool it. Tired from the hiking, we slept peacefully through it anyway.

The next morning (4th of July) we woke up at around 9, packed up the tent and began our descent back to parking and to the picnic area. We cooked some scrambled eggs and coffee for breakfast, reserved our grill and explored the park.

The Dinosaur valley state park was one of many places in Texas where fossilized dino footprints were found early this century. The glenrose formations were apparently filled by the sea (We saw seashells along the Paluxi river valley) during prehistoric times. When the dino walked, they crushed the soil under them, the soil that was mushy with lime from the seashells. This then hardened to form limestone preserving the footprint and later filled with multiple layers of soil. Now as the Paluxi river flooded, it erodes the top soil and the underlying hard limestone containing the footprints is exposed. This was discovered and further unearthing revealed the presence of Dinos in this region, some of which were similar to the ones found in Europe.

It was interesting to follow dino tracks and hike around the place. Some parts of the river was not completely dry and had one o two feel deep water where we could swim. We got into the water and played some frizbee and then got back to exploring the park. Finally at about 5 PM we decided to get back to Dallas, a 85 mile trip north.

Macallan Whisky tasting

I got this email about a whisky tasting in Dallas. Macallan, the makers of finest single malt scotch (Scottish whisky) are sponsoring a tasting event of their whisky collection.

I am no whisky enthusiast but the event seemed a good saturday night timepass so I signed up Pavi and myself. The event was held at the 'Edison's' hall in downtown Dallas. We arrived at around 8:00 to a hall filled with about 300-400 people and were handed out a coin token for the first round of whisky (a Macallan 10 year). The Dallas Macallan rep Jay the gave a presentation about the history of Macallan which was established in Scottish highlands in 1824. He went on to tell us about the process, the company, Scotland in detail with a pinch of humor sprinkled here and there. The presentation stops time to time with a Macallan logo where they distribute whisky glasses of increasing aging time.
We tasted whisky that was aged 10, 12, 15, 17 and 18 years and each time the screen would go on to show notable events in those years i.e. 1999, 1997, 1994, 1992 and 1991.

The tasting was good and the presentation was really interesting. In the end we got a tasting glass to take home as a souvenir and enough whisky to be tipsy!


Not a bad sat'day nite afterall :D

Homebrewing

I enjoy good beer (the stout and viscous ones) and every once in a while buy new brands in the supermarket and...am beginning to realize that I like German beers. I suddenly had a thought...If I can make beer the way I want it - dark and stout. After all illiterate european mothers have been brewing beer for ages, before modern commercial brewing technology even made its appearance. So with this confidence, I looked up online on how to brew beer at home. The hobby is called as 'homebrewing' and you not only enjoy the process, but also get to make large quantities of beer at a fraction of the cost.

But instead of getting one of those ready made kits, I decided to go the cheap way and assemble my own from scratch. Pavi does not enjoy Beer as much but still was enthusiastic about the whole process (Occasionally complains about lack of attention given to her :D). We bought a food grade water dispenser for about $10 and 5 gallon of spring water for $5 from Walmart. Good Beer is good sanitation and I did not want to use tap water and spring water costs the same as distilled water but is more natural. Next we went to Homebrew headquarters in Richardson (www.homebrewhq.com). The person there was very helpful (I dont think he was working there...more of a volunteer and everybody knew everybody else) and helped make the right choice.

We bought Cooper's malt extract+hops premixed and yeast all part of same package for $17. We could have bought stuff separately for less but since this is the first time, we decided to play safe. We came home last sunday after purchases and began to boil the stuff in 2 litres of water. After boiling we cooled it (the malt+hop mix is called Wort) and added it to the fermenter containing remaining 21 litres of water. Before adding any of this stuff, I cleaned it with cleaner and sanitized it with Iodine. Finally I added the yeast and immediately closed the cap. I closed the cap loosely so that air can get inside but no germs. Bacteria do not migrate and so they cannot find their way and get inside. This was last sunday.

On monday morning we could see foam rising from the fermenter. we could see bubbles. I kept the fermenter at a dark place and Texas temperature is favorable (especially now that hot summer ended and cool winter begins) for yeast growth. I checked it everyday and today it looked ready to bottle. The yeast had settled down as a cake. I used a hose pipe and sucked the beer into two 2.5 gallon secondary fermenter (this process is called bottling), some wine bottle and coke cans. Then the remainder (about 50 grams) of the corn sugar was boiled in water and added to the beer. This secondary fermentation will go on for about two weeks when the yeast will convert the sugar into carbondioxide and ethanol to create the fizz. The the beer can be drunk or allowed to age which improves the flavor. I will wait for one more week and check out the sample bottle. Till then I have to wait it out.

Till then I will enjoy the Beer from the local shop and Pavi her fave wine or martini.

Something to think about...

Money is most important in your life. A high money concentration indicates that you feel that you need to have money in order to truly enjoy life. You feel that if you don't have enough money you will miss out on things that other people get to enjoy. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Camping in Tyler State park, TX

I am happy about this weekend for two reasons. First, I bought my second car (Well.. actually the first car is dead). Second, I went camping.

About my car, it's a 1995 Ford Probe and has about 130000 miles on it. The coolest part about the car is it is a manual transmission car and because of which I got it for a ridiculously cheap price of $1000! More car of the pics will soon follow. The car also complies with my policy of not accumulating too much wealth and buying first hand-stuff (some style stuff excluded).



About the camping trip, my boss happens to be bit strict (others would call that behavior *itchy) about taking time off. So I work saturdays (half day actually but more if I feel like it). This sat I worked from 11 to 3, and then came home, cut vegetables, ate a hurried lunch, packed my car and set off to Tyler, located about 110 miles away from Dallas. Remember that i just bought my $1000, 13-year old car about 20 hours ago. So part of the excitement was due to the uncertainty of my car stopping in the middle of the trip or crapping out entirely. The members on this camping trip were myself and P, for whom this was the first camping trip. The car ran fine and the first stop was El Rio Grande to buy the meat for grilling at the campsite. After loading the meat in the cooler and leaving the key on top of the stuff in the boot, I locked the boot to realize a split second later that I have locked up my only key in the boot. Fortunately for us, there was a huge american guy (trucker) who came to the rescue. He used a long metal rod to pry open the window to reach and release the lock lever. It took some time but finally it gave way and opened. I can solemnly swear that it was the best moment of relief - not even when I skipped lunch to complete the homework in my 6th grade for fear of caning by my history teacher :) Then we set out on the long 90 min journey to Tyler.

The Tyler state park is part of the 90+ state parks in Texas and has camping, fishing, hiking, biking, viking (made that up), swimming and boating areas. It has a small lake with a hiking trail around the lake and one in the periphery, 3 designated fishing piers, O/N, RV and equestrian campsites, boating area and swimming areas (though people were swimming everywhere). We pitched our tent when we got there at about 8 PM and started the grill. We went for a small hike around the place but couldnt do much as it was too damn dark. We came back and grilled food and ate and crashed for the day. Next morning, we went hiking around the lake and fished. There was a seasoned Aerican guy (a local from Tyler) who taught us to fish for Bass and Crappie. He also happened to be a antique trader who buys stuff from thieves for low prices and sells them high. He said he had loads of antiques (with Saraswati name on it and lotus shaped candle and incense holders) and wanted me to be his agent in selling them and share a good % of profit with him. His wife was an experienced fisherwoman (angler would have been better) but with a FEW extra pounds and has a tendency to float in the water as she fishes. After that we went to the campstore to buy some postcards and a lapel pin for myself (my usual - postcards sent to myself and P, and lapel pin goes on my cap) and a mug for P. We came back and started on the long trip back home to Dallas.


I look forward to another camping trip very soon. BTW Texas state parks have free fishing with no license required.

Jus finished reading - Ponniyin Selvan

I would say that this is the best book I have read in a very long time. My mom mentioned this book to me about 10 years ago and I got started with a 1990s copy of the book in Tamil, but never got beyond the first page, probably because I was more into English fiction and the idea of reading a romantic novel did not appeal to me. Now, almost 10 years after I put down that book, my interest got kindled again after I watched 'Dasavatharam' movie. The first 10 minutes of the movie portraying the religious intolerance of the Chola king Kulothungan the second made me think a lot about my history - I was always interested in world history and geography, but my own history? Well...this was a perfect excuse to educate myself.

Kindled in my quest, I started reading about the Cholas who ruled the Tamil country at various times during the last 2000 years in Wikipedia. It was amazing to see the extent of development of the Tamil country, the culture, civilization, art, administration and military during the medieval times. Since the invasion and establishment of the Mughal, Rajput and the British empire, the society has undergone radical changes and the once invincible, unconquered Chola empire that ruled from Lanka in the south to Bengal and beyond all the way to cambodia (Kamboja), Indonesia (SriVijaya) and Malaysia had crumbled to a small dot of land in south India. I have read about Tamil literature (I studied Tamil as my second language all the way upto high school) of the past 2000 years and I could say that it paints a stark contrast between the society of those days to today.

The book is set in the 10th century AD Chola empire which with Thanjavur as capital extends from Lanka in the south to the shores of the Tunghabadra river in the northwest (Present day Karnataka) and all the way to Penna river in the northeast (present day Andhra). The story starts with the protagonist Vallavarayan Vandiyadevan , a brave warrior sent by the crown prince Aditya karikalan to deliver his message to the Emperor and his sister Kundavai. The author Kalki takes us on a voyage through the medieval society, narrating the various festivals that take place, the sentiments and beliefs of the people, the architecture of the cities, temples, kings and much more as seen through the eyes of our hero. The story is a potpourri of political conspiracy, heroism, chivalry, romance, seduction, espionage and counter-espionage, sacrifice, trust and betrayal with humor interspersed throughout the book. The book came out in 5 volumes and once I took it up, I could not put it back. I still continue to read up about my ancestors and my land - Tamilnadu. I took a map of South India and tried to trace the places mentioned in the book. I have started to look at my country with a new fondness and pride. I will soon come up with a google earth listing of the places mentioned in the book (.kmg file).

I have a secret interest - the next time I go to India with a solid one month in my hands, I want to take a trip to the places mentioned in the book and try to enjoy the places (some I have already seen) in a new light.

P.S: I read the book online as a pdf file. I can send out the ".pdf" files to anyone interested. Instead you can locate the book here or here.