Category Archives: camping

Ethiopia Reprise: Simien Mountain Trek

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On March 8, I left Gonder for Debark, the first step on a trek to the Simien Mountains. The bus for this part of the journey was the worst I encountered in Ethiopia.

The gravel road was so bumpy that the bus shook so much I couldn’t see how it held together in one piece. Some bumps were so strong, they threw me a foot or more out of my seat! I learned new strategies to try to prevent damage to my already tender spine: when I felt a big bump coming, I lifted myself out of the seat by tightening my calf and thigh muscles. This eased the strain on my spine as I descended back into my seat. Then, the bus broke down. This time, they managed to fix it, so we didn’t have to wait for another bus to come along. We stopped in a beautiful village in the middle of nowhere and the locals were friendly.

A women cooks injeera the traditional way and some children say “hi” in Debark. Then, there’s a statue of a Wallia ibex in the town square.

I stupidly drank the local thala, a sorghum beer probably diluted with local water. Ironically, I likely got sick from the water, not the beer. I spent the night of March 8 in the rather primitive Red Fox Hotel, which also served as a local dining and music hall.

For the trek, I planned a five-day excursion. I hired a scout with a gun (required because hungry locals could theoretically rob a rich trekking ferengi, although apparently it had never happened) plus a horse and a horse tender to carry my stuff. I didn’t realize I was getting sick until I had trekked halfway of the 5-7 hour hike from Debark to the Sankaber on March 9, the first camp in the Simien Mountains. The trek itself was beautiful.

At this point, I felt really dizzy whenever I had to walk upwards. The horse and horse tender had taken a different path to camp. Finally, I told the scout I needed a ride in a car – I couldn’t walk the rest of the way. He still urged me to walk. So, I lay down on two boulders near the road. He wasn’t happy. After awhile I puked between the boulders. Then, he understood i really was sick and helped me to get a ride.

We got a ride on a truck to the first camp at Sankaber. Once in camp, I vomited again. We met up with the horse and horse tender who helped the scout move my stuff over to a primitive lodge where I spent the night of March 9 rather than trying to set up my tent. i had to pay about US$5 extra, but it was worth it. Even though I didn’t want any food, I knew the scout and horse tender wanted to use my stove. So, I tried to help them with the instructions about how to use the stove. I was using it for the first time and the instructions said nothing about removing this little plug blocking the fuel line. It took us quite a while to figure that one out, but eventually we got the stove working. I slept for a long time.

The next morning, on March 10, we made tea using my stove. I still felt sick as a dog and wanted to head back to Debark, much to the disappointment of my scout and horse tender. I heard some ferengi were camping at Sankaber, so I went over to talk with them. It turned out to be some Canadians I had met at Belegez Pension. Unfortunately, they were going up the mountain rather than down, so I couldn’t hitch a ride with them. Instead, scout and I got a ride on a minibus jammed full of people. The scenery on the ride down was wonderful, and eventually I did get to sit on the very edge of a seat for the rest of the ride down to Debark. In Debark, I rushed to get onto a bus to Gonder, that same very bumpy ride I had taken on the way from Gonder to Debark. I arrived in Gonder exhausted on the evening of March 10 and decided to recoup at the Belegez Pension. I spent March 11-12 recovering in Gonder.

Ethiopia Reprise: Trek to Afar, Part II

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This blog entry is for March 3, the second day of the Afar trek at Bilen Lodge, Awash, Ethiopia.

I chose a good camping site, which meant I asked to store my stash of yummy organic vegan cookies in the lodge kitchen to avoid animals in my tent – unfortunately, I forgot the yummy cookie stash when I left! I hope someone got to eat and enjoy them. The rest of the paying guests, with the possible except of some drivers, stayed in tukuls. Sunrise was stupendous.

After my second night of camping, I decided to hitch a ride back to Addis Ababa on March 4 with Richard, Gordon, and Lynda. I also met Richard’s Ethiopian driver Tamir about this time. He had come along for a vacation and wasn’t driving. Another driver was driving the 4WD vehicle they had rented. On the way out of Bilen Lodge, we visited the hot springs (my second time) and an Afar village.

On the drive back, we saw some animals that looked a bit like deer and some large insects that looked like locusts. Aside from the birds, camels, and crocodiles, I didn’t see many other animals, including the hyenas we heard screaming at night and the lions apparently wandering the region.

A railroad runs between Addis Ababa and Djibouti apparently once a day. We saw the desolate train: it had only four cars, seemingly bereft of both crew and cargo. I took pictures of the landscapes on the way back to Addis Ababa. We saw a car with an anti-gun symbol on it, so I asked the driver and passenger what it was about. They told me it signified that they had no guns on board and wanted no guns.

We stopped for lunch at the Safari Lodge, run by some of Richard’s friend. They had great food, a swimming pool, a crazy unfinished spacestation restaurant, and a pool table where Richard beat, but didn’t slaughter me at a game of pool. Near Addis, people on the street sold firewood bundles.

Richard was kind enough to let me crash at his place for a couple of days, so we said our goodbyes to Lynda, Gordon, and Tamir, and ended up eating scrumptious vegetarian lasagna at his place before we downed a drink or two over excellent conversation and went to bed.

Ethiopia Reprise: Trek to Afar, Part I

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On March 2 through March 4, I went camping at the Bilen Lodge in the Afar region of the Awash area of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, although I traveled near the Awash National Park, I didn’t get to see the park itself. This trip is probably the closest I’ll ever get to the Herto village near where archaeologists found the human remains, unless I later get invited to join the archaeologists in their fieldwork as was a journalist from the San Francisco Chronicle. However, while there, I had the distinct impression that the Herto humans had walked through the area.

This blog entry covers the first day, March 2.

To save money, I decided to take the local bus to Awash Saba, then find other transport to Bilen Lodge.

While riding on the bus, I saw the driver approaching a herd of cows crossing the road at a speed that seemed to fast to me, then heard a thump, another thump, then thump-thump-thump as the bus ground to a halt after running over two cows, one left on the opposite lane, the other lodged under the front door of the bus.

Another rider on the bus told me the first thing that happened after we hit the cows was that the cowherder grabbed his gun and pointed it at the bus until the bus stopped. Then, the bus driver got out and started negotiating with the cowherder. Amazingly, it took less than five minutes for a traffic police officer to show up, even though we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Soon, the driver had apparently agreed to pay around US$350 for the two cows, presumably out of his own pocket. This must have represented a significant amount of cash for him as each bus fare was only US$2-3.

While waiting for a substitute bus to arrive, the riders all started chatting and we watched the herd of camels led by tribal Afar people as they passed by.

When the replacement bus arrived, it already had some passengers on it, so we had to really squeeze to get everyone and their baggage onto the bus. Some locals tried to hop the bus to the next town. The tickethandler guy had to demonstrate that he was checking everyone’s tickets on the whole bus twice. Then, he could let the others know that they couldn’t board without a ticket. All of this was taking a long time. Finally, he got a bit more assertive and started gradually pushing the local guys off the bus. Each eventually left out the front door, but the final one got angry and slapped the tickethandler across the face, then left the bus. The tickethandler spit in contempt onto the ground. The slapper ran from the bus to his buddies and got an axe, then started running back toward the bus. Bus riders started yelling and the slapper’s friends held him back from actually wielding the axe on anyone. The driver started up the bus, and we left. I made a couple of friends during the wait for the second bus and we had some interesting discussions about public health and other topics while riding on the bus.

At Awash Saba, I paid an outrageous sum of 400 birr (about US$45) to get a ride the rest of the way to Bilen Lodge. I got some pictures of the landscape on the dirt road into the lodge.

When I arrived at Bilen Lodge, Ato (aka Mr.) Makonen seemed concerned. He was worried that I wanted to stay in one of the tukuls. When I explained I wanted to camp, he was much relieved. Two Afar tribesmen associated with the Bilen Lodge helped me move my bags and I paid them a small tip. Then, I looked around for a campsite. I wanted a place that had shade in the morning and the afternoon, since the sun was quite bright and hot. After awhile, I found a place I liked and started moving my bags over to the campsite. One of the Afar guys saw me and helped move one of my two heavier bags.

I got everything set up at the campsite, then went into the lodge. There, I met three Canadians — Gordon, Lynda, and Richard. They immediately welcomed me into their group, buying me drinks and chatting up a storm. Gordon mentioned my Tilley hat right away and we made some jokes about that. Richard and I chatted quite a bit as he drank the afternoon away.

After awhile, everyone headed back to their tukuls to get ready for dinner. I just hung out in the lodge and met people. A group of young people working at various NGOs was traveling together as was a group of Germans and a group of French people. I met a German lesbian couple living in Addis Ababa, one a health administrator (who I ran into again later at the Hilton Hotel in Addis) and the other a school teacher. I ate the buffet-style dinner with the lesbian couple.

I was tired after dinner and went back to my tent to crash.

The next morning, I headed in to the lodge, hoping to meet up with some people to go on one of the excursions from the lodge. The excursions required a local Afar guide to keep on good terms with the local Afar villages. The young NGO types were good enough to let me join them on a trip to the local hot springs where we encountered Afar tribespeople herding camels through the pools for their morning bath and drink.

The camels and people stayed mostly at one end of the hot spring pools. I found out the reason why – two crocodiles wandered around the other end of the pools!

The last picture above is the shower that the lodge cook Alemayo lent me since I was camping and didn’t have a tukul with a shower of my own.

On the excursion, I chatted a bit with some of the NGO folks, but mostly got to know Rudy who works with the UNICEF Children’s Fund developing metrics and methods for auditing their funding programs.

The Afar tribespeople are proud and territorial. The Afar tribesmen carry sharp sheathed swords and often a gun. In previous times, they used to remove the scrotum of unwanted visitors, which amounted to a rather painful death. Nowadays, they negotiate a bit more.

One of the French guys staying at Bilen Lodge wandered uninvited to an Afar village. Some Afar tribesmen came to Bilen Lodge upset and trying to identify him. Apparently, he looked a bit like me, but fortunately they could tell he wasn’t I. When they found him, they told him that if he showed up again uninvited to the village, they would shoot him.

In the evening of March 3, some of the guys gathered around a dying campfire started for a group of Germans. The fire seemed like a crazy idea, since it was so hot out, but what the hey. One of these Germans had stolen a lightbulb from the porch on Gordon and Lynda’s tukul the night before, as observed by Richard. At first, Richard was just stunned, then he decided to try talking to the friend of the guy who took the lightbulb. The friend told him he was telling a fairy tale and went to bed. So, a feud of sorts started between the Canadians and the Germans. Eventually, Richard even stole some of the Germans’ lightbulbs. I didn’t get involved.

After the Germans had left the fire, Richard, Gordon, Rudy, a guy named Martin from Madrid, and I went over there started singing songs. They drank lots of beer. They poured some of the local araki liquor on the fire, which made large flames! Toward the end of the night, I sang “The Garten Mother’s Lullaby” and everyone went to bed.

Traveling Sick

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Bleck! When I went on a trek up into the Simien Mountains, I got sick. I was trying to hike uphill at high altitude with a scout and a “horse-man” guiding a horse carrying my bags. Probably because of something I ate or drank the day before (the local talla sorghum beer perhaps?), I ended up puking while on the trail. I think my scout wanted me to keep on hiking, but that was out of the question. So, we flagged down a truck and got up to the camp. I got some great pictures before I got sick. The area has beautiful panoramic landscapes. The next morning we headed back down to Debark on a bus that was so overpacked I couldn’t even reach my camera to take a picture of it. I got out of Debark and back on another really bumpy bus to Gonder, which is pleasant and civilized by comparison. I’m still weak and a bit dizzy without solid food in a few days. But, I think I’m going to try to take the buses for Khartoum starting tomorrow (unless I feel worse tomorrow morning). I may stop by a clinic this afternoon. About half of travelers to Africa end up getting something like this, so it’s not really a surprise. I am a bit homesick at the moment. When I arrive in Khartoum, I’ll try to post more details and pictures. Hugs from Gonder!

The Gonder Castles Are Beautiful

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And I’ll write more about them soon.

But this is just a note to say that I’ve arrived here.

I’m planning to spend a few days in the Simien mountains, then coming back to Gonder and heading over the Sudanese border at Mettama. Theoretically, I should arrive in Khartoum, Sudan, around the target date of March 15.

I will probably have much better Internet access there and catch up on posting to the blog with pictures!

Day Out of Time Gathering on Mount Rainier

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Although postponed by a couple of days to accommodate attendance at the Romp Naked event in Seattle on July 22, the “Two Spirit Day Out of Time” gathering took place from July 23-26 on Mount Rainier. Sierra, who works as a ranger at the Sunrise Camp on Mount Rainier, issued the call and dealt with logistics, and Franz prepared healthy organic food and Julie Andrews “Sound of Music” inspired art for the gathering. The pictures below come from the cameras of many of those who attended the gathering.

Kirby (pic above) took a bit of a leap by driving up with Sierra and Franz for the gathering while still on crutches! I hitched a ride from Mugwort (above), who also shared a campsite where we both pitched our tents. Thanks to my dad for loaning me a tent so I didn’t have to cart one up on the plane from San Francisco.

My first view of Mount Rainier after two years stunned me. Grandmother Rainier–as Fruitboy has dubbed her–radiates beauty.

Mugwort, Kirby, Dazzle, Tusk, and I admired the landscape at the lookout point on the way up from the White River campground to the Sunrise Camp, which is the highest altitude point on a highway in the state of Washington, according to Ranger Sierra.

The greenery provided an amazing contrast to the mountain, snow-covered even in mid-summer.

Much of the gathering took place at the Sunrise Camp employee living quarters, the home for Sierra and other rangers and interns during the season when Sunrise Camp is open to visitors.

Sierra can see a great view of Mount Rainier, similar to this one above, from his bedroom window.

Sunrise Camp consists of a lodge with a snack bar for visitors and the Visitor Center and employee living quarters. You can’t beat the views from Sunrise.

The first evening Mugwort and I arrived a bit late. After setting up our tents at the White River campsite that Dazzle and Tusk saved for us, we drove up to the Sunrise Camp and found Kirby and Franz chatting near the entrance to the employee residence building with the great view of Mount Rainier. Franz said he’d pull some dinner together for us in a bit, so Mugwort and I hiked a bit up the trail toward Dege Peak and had a look over the other side of the ridge at a beautiful rock slide canyon with a sunset on a multilayered mountain horizon that took my breath away.

After dinner, we were exhausted and went back to the campsite for an early night. I was fighting off a nasty cold, but the next morning I decided to accompany the group on the planned hike to the Burroughs Peaks, thinking I would turn back after reaching the summit of Burroughs Peak I, while the group continued on to Burroughs II and III.

After hiking past a mountain stream and lots of beautiful flowers like the Indian Paintbrush above, we saw spectacular views of glacial lakes and snowy mountain peaks on the way up to the Burroughs Peaks.

At an overlook point, we got a good look at the glacier we would visit the following day. Plus, we saw some Bear Flowers.

Part of the trail was on rock slides and Sierra led us fearlessly upward.

The summit of Burroughs Peak I is large and flat, kind of a moonscape.

We got some great views of the Mount Rainier summit and saw patches of snow all around us.

Burroughs Peak I affords a good peek at Burroughs Peak II, and after some persuasion by Sierra, I decided to continue on to the second peak.

We could see down into Berkeley Park, home of the amazing wildflowers, from the trail between Burroughs Peaks I and II.

We crossed our first snow on the trail at that point too.

The views from Burroughs Peak II were also spectacular.

The Hills Are Alive… with Fruitboy on Burroughs Peak II of Mount Rainier.

In the distance was a snowy lake that may be a reservoir.

After Burroughs Peak II, I headed back down while the others continued onward to Burroughs Peak III.

I was quite exhausted on the way home, due to my cold, but still enjoyed pine groves and flowery meadows while hiking.

We met again at the White River campsite the following morning for a hike to the ice cave at the base of the glacier we had seen the day before. Kirby held down the fort at the camp due to his broken leg.

On the glacier trail, we saw Devil’s Club plants, a deer, and some amazing mountain streams and lakes. The lakes were cloudy due to deposits from the glacier.

We saw a strange pyramidal peak in front of the Mount Rainier summit. Fruitboy, Sierra, Mugwort, Dazzle, and Tusk all joined me in checking out the glacier lake.

Besides the strange pyramidal peak, I saw what looked like an owl in stone from an outcrop looking over us on another side of the glacial canyon. On the canyon floor, Sierra noted the change in rock deposits perhaps due to the river, the glacier, or to lava flows.

The floor of the glacial canyon included other mysteries, such as the white lichen and the lime deposits thrust up from the canyon floor.

We got up close and personal to a glacial lake, some composite rock, and Fireweed flowers.

As we walked, I looked back and saw a marvelous vista. We came across Monkey Flowers and strange slime in a creek.

After fording a glacial creek, we approached the glacier. At first, I thought the finger of the glacier extending down between the river and the mountain was the mountain itself, but I eventually noticed the rocks tumbling off the melting ice.

Falling debris gave us the clue that we should not approach the glacier too closely.

At last, we saw the ice cave!

We got up fairly close and I was tempted to crawl inside, but both Sierra and Fruitboy insisted that would be a very bad idea.

So we watched from what we thought was a safe distance.

I decided to call the cave the alabaster ice cave due to the beautiful texture of its ceiling and walls.

A glacial river streamed out from the cave.

Watching the cave became a bit of a spectator sport.

Then, the ice cave started to collapse!

Large ice boulders started falling downstream and Sierra went down to retrieve some of the smaller ones for us to examine up close.

One piece of ice had a mysterious thing trapped inside, which must have been there for many years.

Then, the ice cave collapsed some more! This time baseball-sized chunks exploded out from where the ice crashed into the river and nearly hit us, so we retreated back further from the ice cave.

We remained entranced by the glacier melting for a long time, then did a ritual for healing of the earth so that the glacier would continue to exist. On the way back to the campsite, we saw a red succulent and stopped by a flowing stream to rest.

I saw a strange fungus on the trail and Fruitboy taught me how to identify different types of pine trees on our way back to camp. The next day was the day to head home, so I took a few pictures of Ranger Sierra at Sunrise Camp before saying goodbye.

Judy, our gathering mascot, gave us all good luck to spread whereever we go on our way down from the mountains. Thanks to Sierra and everyone else who made this gathering possible. 🙂

Camping in Covelo: Part 2

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The trip to Covelo was great! We all spent a lot of time hanging out around the ramshackle cabin. Creamy and Yoyo showed up in drag for the big BBQ. Jombi and Win were looking adorably queer. And Eric chowed down on the meat in a cloud of smoke from the BBQ.

Contrary to popular belief, Mitch did not turn into a hedgehog, and his Pan concocktion was delicious, refreshing, and stimulating. Somehow, Brian and Johnny transformed from kitchen queens into kings… now what is that all about? 😉 Along with all the volunteer chefs, their efforts made the event a gourmet success. Selma made fabulous quiche to complement the crate of granola I brought, so much it wouldn’t have gotten eaten if we had left it out every morning and with a bunch left for Yoyo upon our departure. And there is Will (with Eric below) who received many kudos as the meat czar.

Prickle and Buck were dandy-licious, as was Anthony in his lovely collar. Garnet, the bird, was quite often talkative and occasionally took flight as her cage is more of a sanctuary than a lockdown.

John’s boyfriend Bill was kind enough to encourage John to learn about massage, fortunately on me. We set up Eric’s massage table in a madrone grove down the hill from the cabin.

The path to my camping site brought me past a particularly lascivious madrone tree, its brown smooth bark forming a hot crotch I lusted after each time I went to my tent. Another knotty hotty madrone made me drip each time I cruised by as well.

Each day, I hiked down with some of the boys to the Eel River for delicious swimming, rock climbing, diving, sunbathing, and picnics.

Some of the guys got covered in mud and one or two buried under the sand. Win, John, and I made Jombi into tribal art, the remains of which appear below, as does a snake who slithered in the river as I swam.

Some special pictures are in a password-protected location. Let me know if you’re in any of these pictures and would prefer they be on the password-protected web page.

Other highlights of the Covelo camping trip for me were visiting the garden Yoyo is tending, reading poetry aloud while Eric, Mitcho, Anthony, and others made love on the porch, and morning yoga sometimes led by Three*. I really loved the spirit of comradery, the great food, and the healthy environment.

Thanks so much to Eric and Mitch and everyone else who made the trip possible.

Camping in Covelo: Part 1

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From Eric and Mitcho’s land, Covelo, Mendocino County, CA:

How amazing to be back out in the country camping on the land. During the Queer Freedom Day festivities, Eric (aka Cattail) invited me to come to a Fourth of July camping weekend at his and Mitcho’s land in Covelo. Coincidentally, Yoyo (aka Joe), who I met at Antler’s Comfort & Joy Afterglow party, is the current caretaker and Eric and Mitcho’s place. So, I got a ride up with Andrew, his boyfriend Nori, and Anthony. We talked radical politics for part of the ride, considering my proposal for limiting income from all sources to $7 million a year.

We ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant on the way up, after getting a jump start for the van from a neighbor on Bernal, near my house.

We arrived fairly late at night, but I really wanted to set up my tent so I could feel fully landed and grounded in this beautiful place. So, I asked Eric, who was kind of helpful, and Yoyo, who brought me to a fabulous camping spot in a madrone grove not far from the main cabin. The path to the location feels like it is magically warded somehow because I have to concentrate very hard to remember the path even though it’s within shouting distance of the cabin.

Jack T., former housemate, is also at the Covelo gathering and it is great to have an informal environment where we can reconnect.

So far today, I’ve done my yoga — been keeping up a good practice, although my lower back seems tight — and helped with installing a solar water pump down by a creek, which was fairly hard work, but I got to jump under little waterfalls in the creek afterwards. Apparently, there is a bigger river to play in nearby which I hope to check out a bit later today. These are all tributaries of the Eel River, which Mitcho tells me is one of the last few clean rivers around here.

Buck and his friend Prickly made magnificent Hawaiian macademia nut, mango, blueberry pancakes for breakfast, which I ate along with a mimosa from Eric. I skipped the bacon and eggs.