Me and Dan further up Etna Summit. We hiked to the peak in the distance and snowboarded off of it. It was intense. I rolled more than I boarded that time. The powder was about 36" deep (fresh). I am still trying to get the whole Leaning into the fear thing down. The fear definitely won this day.
See the rest of the photos at http://www.saundha.dotphoto.com in the snowboarding album

Travis and me on Etna Summit. Travis is about to go snowshoeing and I am about to take off on my snowboard. This is one of the spots mentioned in Outside Magazine for the Backcountry Snowboarding.

Pictures from Snowboarding at Etna Summit yesterday. Click my photo link to see the larger pics (snowboarding folder). 

What a Great Day...

I sit here by the fire still in my ski clothes, thinking about what a great day it was today. I worked most of the day and accomplished a good bit on my boat trailer project (pictures coming soon). I finally found a kit to convert our wire feed welder to an aluminum welder. About noon I decided to go into Etna. The Volvo needed to be driven because the battery is kind of week from sitting for a long time. So I goto a few shops in town and then get in the car to leave. I turn the key and nothing happens, the battery is dead. I finally found someone willing to help me jump the car after and hour or so. Late this afternoon Dan, Chad (chris's friend) and I decided to go snowboarding off of Etna Summit (pictures on the way). This is a great backcountry run. We got about 4 runs in and took turns shuttling to the summit. Jim, you should seriously think about taking a week off of school to come to do this while the snow is still great. At the top of the run the powder was nearly thigh deep in places. Etna was listed as one of the top 3 dream towns in the US. Here is the article http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200408/best_American_dream_towns_3.html
There is about everything you can think of as far as Outdoor adventure goes withing a few hours of the Ranch. As one of my friends put it, I am definitely in my element here.

We returned from snowboarding to have dinner with Luis and April at the Ranch. April and Luis are and older couple living at the Ranch right now. April works in the office and Luis can fix anything so he does a little of everything around the Ranch. April fixed a Mexican Feast for us tonight, it was so good! After dinner we sat around the table and they told us stories. Everything from the tough times they made it through to how proud they are of their children and then what is wrong with our society today. It was and incredible time of fellowship.

Now I sit here typing, worn out from a full day. The past few nights we have taken turns sharing about ourselves with the other guys. It is amazing how much better you understand a person and what they are about when you know their background. I think we are definitely becoming a more tightly knit group through times like this. I think I will stop typing now.

January Quote Page 2005

January Quote Page...

1) "Only those who are willing to go to far will have the chance to experience how far one can go."
-T.S. Eliot
I heard this quote on the Dave Ramsey show while I was driving. I had to pull over and write it down.

2) " Today men are consumed by desires to buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like. Where do these desires come from?"
-The Man in the Mirror (book)

3) " Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything"
- Thoughts from I Corinthians 6:12

4) " Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income"
-Ecclesiastes 5:10

5) " The life which is unexamined is not worth living."
- Plato (apparently JH Ranch borrowed this quote)

6) "Life is hard and then you die" - Don Ulinski

7) " There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Gandhi

8) " The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau

9) " I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." - Jesus, John 10:10

10) "No se" (Spanish for "I don't understand") - Jose Luis

11) "Lean into the fear" - Dan Price's advice on how to get better at snowboarding NEW!!!

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp
The pictures from my trip to park city are now there.

Mt. Shasta Snowboarding and the rest of the weekend

Saturday, Chris and I explored Yreka looking for things to potentially sell on Ebay. It seemed like every shop I went in was several shops in one. The sporting goods store has an old time soda fountain in it (kind of Random) and the biggest Elk mount I have ever seen (had to be bigger than the 440 we saw in Canada,dad). Then the Hardware store had the biggest Chinook Salmon I have seen. The salmon must have weighed over 100 lbs. It was a great morning. We met up with the other guys that afternoon at Mt. Shasta city to go snowboarding. We boarded from 3-9pm. I was surprised at how many runs the mountain had (32) and the quality of the snow. The lift ticket was only $15. The weather was beautiful. There were people skiing in shorts and t-shirts and even some people without shirts.
Sunday was more laid back. We went to church in Etna and then watched the NFL playoff games (2).

My time studying the word (Bible) was great this week. One of my goals for my time at the Ranch is to spend a lot of personal time outside of the group studying the Bible. I have been reading straight through the Bible and reading the book The Man in the Mirror. In our group times with Ray we have been studying the authority of Christ and the scripture.

I posted new pictures on my photo website http://saundha.dotphoto.com . So check those out.

Snowboarding Cardiac

So tonight was my first time to board in the backcountry. It was great. Jim you would love this. We left the Ranch for the top of Cardiac around sunset (about a 30 minute hike). Dan and I had snowboards, Chris and Matt took sleds. It was difficult and frustrating at times because the trail was so narrow. I fell on a small tree one time and got scraped up. We took turns on the sleds to. I made it from the top to the bottom. That's all that matters right? We are planning to climb Mt.Shasta in the spring and board down from the top.http://www.climbingmtshasta.org/









Dan, Me, and Chris on Cardiac Mtn. next to the Ranch.

Snowshoeing Anyone?

I bought these snowshoes today. Kind of random I know. Travis got me into it. He bought a pair yesterday, so I decided to see what I could find on ebay. I bought these for about half price and they have only been used once! I figure if I don't like them then I can always sell them again on ebay. Now I can climb any mountain around the Ranch and snowboard down. I can also use them to hike to the lakes above the Ranch that are surrounded by ice. Travis and I are planning to use them on our monthly climbs of Mt. Shasta and our May ascent of Mt. Ranier in Washington. Hopefully we will recruit the other guys into our new sport also.

Tubbs Mountain 25, my new snowshoes.

The Return to California

I flew out of Birmingham on Southwest after a 1 hour delay on Jan. 15th. My time back in Birmingham was great. I got to spend alot of time with friends and family. I also got a new digital camera so I can add lots of new pictures. The flights out were great to. I sat next to this Lady named Betty who was with her grand daughter (5 years old) who she is raising. She was a Christian, we talked for over an hour about how she moved by faith from California to Mississippi and got a new job as a social worker and the Lord has been blessing her in many unexpected ways. It was very encouraging to hear her story. I also told her about what we are doing out here at the Ranch. Betty also told me about her grant writing business and how she applies for grants for her community and the schools. This was very interesting to me and I have decided to take this on as one of my projects this winter (applying for grants). She gave me all the info I need to get started. The Ranch is a 501 c3 non profit organization so if you need a tax write off we will take almost anything (http://www.jhranch.com). This flight was a close second to my flight with the Mormons returning to Salt Lake City from their 2 year missons (on my way to Park City Utah Dec. 2005).

Back to the flights. I flew through Las Vegas and San Diego, two very cool cities. I have been to Las Vegas several times but never San Diego. It looked like a beautiful city, at least from the plane. I arrived in Sacramento where Dan picked me up and we went to see a movie while we waited for Matt Nolan to arrive. You would think the trip is almost over but no it is not.

So we spend the night in Sacramento beacuse it is late when we pick up Matt Nolan. We wake up Sunday and drive to Bethel Church in Redding and goto church. After Church we come out to the van and it won't start. We tried everything. So we decided to go eat and try it later. So we come back and it still doesn't work. Then we decided to goto church (It is 6pm now). After church it still did not work so we called triple A (Thanks Dad) and they came to tow the van to Yreka (about 100 miles) for free because of my Triple A membership. So the tow truck shows up and they try adding gas one more time and then the car cranked! So I drove the next 2 and 1/2 hours back to the Ranch and went to bed. Another great adventure...

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Blog Updates

Check out the new features on the blog. I added the Google Search box at the top, the links to my roomates blog sites and the Google ads on the right side. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to add a profile picture. If you are bored please click the links to my ads as many times as you can, Google will pay me for every click. All proceeds will go to my travel fund/survival fund. Does anyone read this? I am starting to wonder because I have not received any comments on any of my posts. This makes me think either everyone is in a huge hurry when they read it or no one reads it. So someone please leave a comment and then I will know.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Weekly Update

The past week or so has been really busy. I went kayaking with Jonathan one day. The river was a little higher than the last time we went (above 3 for those of you familiar with the Mulberry Fork). The rapids were mostly class II+ and III. It was a quick trip, but lots of fun. Jonathan bought me a set of nose plugs, which made it a much more fun experience for me. I dropped into 5 - 0 (a surf wave near the take out) which was was much more sticky than usual and surfed for a few seconds and then realized how sticky it was and wanted out of it. Later in the week I went for a long Bike ride around the neighborhood and found a great trail I hiked on for a while. My sister and I went back there later in the week to go for a hike and take some pictures. The rest of my time was spent working for Mom and Dad, lake trips, eating with family and friends, and getting packed up to return to California. I leave January 15th.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Eric Nikoli with the kayaks at the Mulberry Fork. 

Kayaking on the Mulberry Fork

Eric and I went to paddle the Mulberry Fork Tuesday. It was a great day on the river (every day on the river is a great day). The water was low (around .5) but we had fun scraping through the rapids. The mulberry is a great river located 30 minutes north of Birmingham near Hayden, Alabama. It is mostly class 1 and 2 rapids depending on the water level. When the water is high there are a 1 or 2 class 3 rapids. It is a very fun river with a great surf wave at the take out called 5-0 (pronounced five - oh). See this website for more info on the Mulberry Fork of the Warrior River http://www.alabamawhitewater.com/guide/guide_files2/mulberrylow.htm