On drugs and lost in the mountains

Ashley Wells and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Sherpa guides descend slippery Mt. Everest (Kristoffer Erickson/National Geographic).

Q: Why is L.A. so smoggy? A: So god can't see what we're doing down here! This lost paradise is actually formerly Buddhist Indonesia, Indo, Indra//Lord + nesos, island (Alexis Gravel)

 

Cendoya and Jack went up a hill (ocweekly.com)

Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, the two OC youths who worried the country sick when they got "lost" in the woods, were actually on drugs. That explains the hallucinations.

Now Nick has been arrested for felony possession of methamphetamine, which they may have snorted before becoming disoriented, getting separated from one another while "hiking," and almost dying of exposure. (He will be arraigned May 22, 2013).
 
The two were hallucinating, and a rescuer was hurt. Although most searchers were volunteers, there were "hard" costs such as the use of helicopters.

  .

Los Angeles: San Gabriel foothills and snowy mountains behind (laobserved.com)

  
It cost over $160,000. They may have thought they were snorting coke and admitted such, according to OC Supervisor (and former cop) Todd Spitzer, but a bindle of meth was found in his wallet, according to Air Talk (KPCC FM) and uber PC host Larry Mantle in Los Angeles.

Christopher Nyerges warns that every hiker and driver needs a few things to stay safe. We all have to be responsible since it is our lives. The woods aren't that dangerous: just enter the backyards of homes in the suburbs and see wild bears, cougars, mountain lions, biting deer, skunks, and angry squirrels.

LA is cool. It is currently on fire in two hotspots. Last week a fire above the old foothill town of Monrovia, which is next to Arcadia, led to seven bear sightings in town.

• Fight raises questions about Sherpa guides (Nat Geo)

Mt. Everest: Europeans vs. Sherpas

Melting Himalayas: Mt. Everest, possibly the highest peak, unless that distinction actually belongs to Indo-Pakistan's K2 (Ketu) (guardian.co.uk)

Michael Mullins (newsmax.com, April 30, 2013)

God's own soil : Everest range free of snow

A dispute on Mount Everest between three European mountain climbers and a group of [Buddhist] Sherpa tour guides at 24,000 feet turned violent over the weekend, causing a brawl at a base camp.

Traditionally Sherpas, an ethnic group in [mountainous] eastern Nepal, [are hired to] secure ropes for climbers and designate their climbing paths. [Without them it would have been impossible for Westerners to scale Everest, whose real name is Sagarmāthā, or to return to successfully reach the peak on subsequent attempts. They are indispensable guides and saviors on the mountain.]
 

Ketu (K2), the world's highest peak?

The disagreement occurred when the three seasoned climbers -- one Italian, one Briton, and one Swiss -- apparently ignored instructions from Sherpas, who say the climbers started climbing above them on their own. One of them may have also knocked some ice loose, hitting [and killing] one of the Sherpas, The Atlantic reports.
 
[But of course] the European climbers dispute this claim, who told local officials that one of the Sherpas rappelled down on top of the Swiss climber, according to The Atlantic. More

VIDEO: (CNN) A fight at 23,000 feet? Climbers blame Sherpas in Mt. Everest attack

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Physicists: Trees talk! What are they saying?

Wisdom Quarterly; HuffingtonPost.com

(LINK: ABClocal.go.com/KABC)

Bodhi tree (exoticindiaart.com)

Something mysterious is happening in the Mojave Desert's Joshua Tree National Park. The reason may be grim, but the effect is beautiful.

 

"It's more than interesting, it's probably unprecedented in anybody's recent memory anyway," Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist at the University of California, Riverside, told ABC News.

 

He's talking about blooms on the Joshua trees that are larger [and more widespread] than locals say they've ever seen.

 

"I don't know what happened this year, but it's been an incredible display," Virginia Willis, a 15-year resident, told ABC. "It doesn't make any sense..." More

Thai Buddhist novices hang colorful flags on Bodhi tree (ChristyB30/flickr.com)

 

Trees "talk" and say more than thirst

Jacki Lyden, "All Things Considered" (NPR.org)

(Lee Berger/nationalgeographic.com)

A team of physicists at Grenoble University in France discovered that trees make different sounds when they are starved for water versus when they are simply thirsty. Dr. Alexandre Ponomarenko, the lead researcher, explains; hear a bit of the thirsty tree sounds.... Two out of three trees are dangerously parched the world over, at least that's what a study published in Nature determined late last year. Biologists looked at hundreds of tree species in 80 locations around the world and found... LISTEN

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  AUDIO: Karen refugees leave Burma for North Carolina
  

  Over the past year a democratic wave has swept Buddhist Burma, also known as Myanmar. The changes have also included talks to end brutal clashes between the [dictatorial] government and a rebel group led by the Karen, an ethnic minority. That war has forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic Karen from the country, first to refugee camps, and then on to resettle elsewhere. In the US, it turns out that North Carolina is home to a growing Karen community.

Good News for Nature!

Wisdom Quarterly; PasadenaWeekly.com, April 18, 2013

Natural formation of Buddha in Washington, complete with topknot (Thayne Tuason/flickr)

 

What every hiker needs to carry at all times

Survivalist Christopher Nyerges

Too many folks these days are getting lost or hurt in their local hills, particularly in Los Angeles. Here is a solution.

 

We go into nature to enjoy the natural world, perhaps in search of solitude and quiet, to meditate, for renewal. Most of us expect to get back safely. That doesn’t always happen for reasons ranging from unexpected weather, accidents, and unanticipated terrain.

Never go hiking and exploring in the local mountains and deserts without some very basic preparations.

The Self-Sufficient Home

First, whether by car or hoof, do some research. Over-zealousness to get out and about or a desire for spontaneity are usually a hiker's enemies. Slow down. Research the area, look into weather conditions, find out whether there will be water. Are there trails? Do other people go there? Are there great temperature extremes between day and night?

Make a plan and an itinerary. Be sure to tell someone where and when you go and when you intend to return.

 

If traveling by car carry extra water, as well as a blanket, snacks, some way to make a fire. Have a map of the area handy [realizing that GPS and cell reception will likely be poor to nonexistent]. Be sure to carry road flares and jumper cables, a simple tool kit, which are actually things everyone should carry at all times.

When hiking -- even a short day hike -- there are certain items to always pack. Keep in mind that knowledge and experience are as valuable as any “stuff” one might carry. Carry a bare minimum of one quart of water. On a hot day, that will be used up quickly. More

• Author of How to Survive Anywhere, Nyerges does a weekly podcast for Preparedness Radio Network and blogs at ChristopherNyerges.com. Write for a schedule of his classes: School of Self-Reliance, P.O. Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041

The Original Inhabitants of L.A.

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry Hahamongna

First the invaders then the settlers then JPL

Hahamongna is a historic Tongva (Los Angeles' original Native American inhabitants, aka Gabrieleño) settlement in the Verdugo Mountains of Southern California, named after the local Tongva band's name, in present-day Pasadena and Glendale in L.A. County. 

 

Hahamog-na - Arroyo Seco

Native land is now home to JPL secrets (SZT)

A well-studied and related location named Hahamog-na is a Tongva village archeological site located in the upper Arroyo Seco just above Devil's Gate in a present day area of Altadena/Pasadena that serves the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is in a canyon-valley on the lower slopes at the convergence of the eastern Verdugo Mountains, southern San Gabriel Mountains (Sierra Madre range), and western San Rafael Hills.

Nyerges picks sage in Hahamongna (LAT)

The Hahamog-na site is now within a protected natural area called Hahamongna Watershed Park, a 1,400-acre (5.7 km²) habitat in the northern L.A. foothills blending freshwater marsh wetlands, riparian zones, native oak woodlands, and chaparral elfin forests. The Tongva settlement later became a rancheria as part of the large 1834 Mexican land grant of Rancho San Pascual, issued by Alta California Governor José Figueroa to Juan Maríne and Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné. More

Field of Green

Environmentalist saves Hahamongna Watershed Park 

André Coleman

Californian foothills look Himalayan

Hugh Bowles has been fighting to protect Hahamongna Watershed Park since the city [of Pasadena] first decided to hold a mountain bike racing event there in 1996. Back then, Bowles and his contingent of fellow concerned citizens unsuccessfully sued the city to stop the event, but [they] were successful in getting a stipulation that a similar event would never be held in the park. “We didn’t win, but we got that stipulation,” Bowles said. Recently, Bowles won another battle, this time after the city backed away from controversial plans to use a $1-million state grant to build Sycamore Grove Field, a soccer field, in the park. “What they are doing now is redirecting the $1-million grant to spend the money at John Muir High School. They could always find some other avenue to bring it back to Hahamongna, but it seems unlikely. We definitely won on the grant. That is a victory.” Environmentalists like Bowles want the 1,300-acre park -- located between Altadena and Pasadena in the Upper Arroyo Seco ["dry riverbed"], providing access to mountain trails in La Cañada Flintridge and US Forest Service property -- to remain in its natural state. More

Saving Dolphins: Beyond the Water's Edge 

John Grula 

"That was a close call, Flippy!"

Once in a while, something really cool happens. And when good things occur, we need to recognize, celebrate and reinforce them. The cause for celebration this time? On March 8, all 12 voting members of the California Coastal Commission rejected the US Navy’s plan for an increased use of high-intensity sonar and underwater explosives for training exercises off the coasts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties. The reason for the commission’s rejection of the Navy’s plan? The increased use of such sonar and underwater explosions will further threaten the lives of whales and other marine mammals, many of which are already endangered due to whaling and other human activities. The California Coastal Commission was created by a voter initiative in 1972 (Proposition 20), and it was later made permanent by the state Legislature’s adoption of the California Coastal Act of 1976. Citizens at the time were rightfully alarmed that private development was cutting off the public’s access to the 1,100 miles of California’s magnificent coastline, and so they acted. The mission of the Coastal Commission, according to its Web site, is to “Protect, conserve, restore and enhance environmental and human-based resources of the California coast and ocean for environmentally sustainable and prudent use by current and future generations.” More

Below LA's foothills are beautiful beaches like those in Sri Lanka below Himalayas (IFB)

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Odds of an Earth impact
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