Thursday, August 30, 2018
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Friday, August 17, 2018
Happy Birthday to me...
My family made sure I was well pampered on my birthday this year, a cake made by one of our local bakeries and a couple gallons of craft beer from a local brewery!
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
An amazing story of trouble on the water, and some armchair quarterbacking.
Here is a story from our local paper today. The original can be found here. http://m.kdminer.com/news/2018/aug/07/night-terror-lake-mead/?
Originally published Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 06:00a.m.
It was a fishing trip that started out like hundreds of others I've done on Lake Mead over the past 12 or so years.
But before this trip would end, it would be one that neither my friends nor I will ever forget.
It was Thursday evening, July 26, and I was going out on a fun fishing trip with a couple of friends of mine.
My first fellow angler was Kingman resident George Robledo, a neighbor who lives in the foothills of the Hualapai Mountains. George and I have been friends for just a short time, and he has gone fishing with me just one time before.
My next fellow angler was a name you all might know. She is Claire Whitely, the news editor for the Kingman Daily Miner.
I had asked Claire to go on a fishing trip as a thank you of sorts. Claire is the one who lays out my Outdoor Page every week at the Miner and has been doing so for just over a year. I think she has done a good job with my copy, and I wanted to show her my appreciation. It was going to be her first fishing trip in Arizona after moving here from Idaho over a year ago.
It was just going to be a night of fishing that would result in hopefully both of them taking home a lot of fresh, good eating striper and catfish fillets.
This night, I utilized the boat I call Striper Hunters. I do have a Skeeter bass boat I use occasionally when I have just one fishing friend or when I want to concentrate on fishing for largemouth or smallmouth bass. The Striper Hunters boat holds more people and equipment, so I opted to use that 21-foot jet boat.
The first order of business for me on every trip is what I call, "Jacob's Checklist," which is a list of things I need to do to make the boat ready to go out.
On that list are rods/reels, two anchors, oars, lights, chum, bait and maybe the most important item, life jackets – or personal flotation devices. Ask anyone who has been on one of my trips and they will tell you that I absolutely insist that everyone who goes on my boat has to wear a life jacket that is properly fitted for them. A PFD that doesn't fit is really no help at all in a survival situation.
The next item of business for me in my pretrip planning is to look at the weather report. I have two sources of information that I regularly check, The report said a 1 percent chance of rain at 8 p.m., but after that, no rain, and winds of 8-10 miles per hour, which is perfect for where I fish in Virgin Canyon.
When George arrived we finished up loading the jet boat.
Claire arrived, and we decided to have dinner at the Crow's Next.
When we got back to the house, I checked that both Claire and George had valid Arizona fishing licenses.
We then finished loading up the boat with ice and bait, took a pretrip photo, and off to South Cove we went.
When we arrived at the lake, it looked perfect! The water was flat and calm.
The sun was starting to set in the west, and it was a beautiful sunset.
We started moving toward my desired fishing spot, and the V-6 powered Chevy engine was purring like a kitten and was running great. In 27 minutes, we arrived at Schleeter Rock and tied up.
After getting all of the lights hooked up, we started fishing. Claire got a couple of quick bites but missed the strikes.
George, who was using two new rods-and-reels he had just bought, was having the same luck.
I had two rods-and-reels out and was having better luck. In a short time, I had three stripers and two channel cats on ice.
The weather starts to change
I noticed that the wind started to come up, which in of itself is not unusual, as it will normally shift back and forth from east to west in the canyon and will increase or decrease throughout the night.
I did see and hear a rumble of thunder and some lightning in the area of Temple Bar, which is about seven miles from where we were at.
I made a comment to my friends about the situation, saying I didn't like seeing the lightening.
I wondered where this storm had come from. After all, the weather report made no mention of thunderstorms that evening.
A while later, I got a call.
It was from my brother, Gary, who was coming home from Phoenix. He knew I was out fishing that night with Claire and George.
"Hey bro, you see the weather report?" he said.
He went on to say that a major thunderstorm, with winds from 50-60 miles per hour were headed my way from Temple Bar and was going to hit South Cove and Meadview.
"You better get out of there," he said.
With that admonition, and even though the thunder and lightning appeared to be going north from the Temple Bar area, I made the decision to head back to South Cove.
My first command was, "Claire, get the life jackets out!"
Once we had our jackets on, we quickly pulled in the lights, untied the front anchor and pulled it in. Then I pulled in the back anchor and started the engine.
It was time to leave.
The trip down the canyon was uneventful and soon we were in the main lake basin headed back toward South Cove. As a preventative measure I turned on the manual bilge pump even though the boat is equipped an automatic bilge pump that comes on when a certain amount of water is in the bottom of the boat.
Seeing that the wind was coming from the west, I decided to stay on the west side of the lake while heading north, paralleling the Nevada shoreline.
Lightening flashed all around us. At one point a huge bolt hit the ground just 400 yards from us! I was blinded momentarily by the flash, and the loud boom of thunder hurt my ears.
It was then that I said my first prayer, "Please Lord, don't let this boat get struck by lightning."
I can see the flashing red buoy light of South Cove!
We were headed north along the Nevada shoreline when I saw the red buoy light that marks the entrance to South Cove. It is the navigation light I always use to guide me into the launch area. I could plainly see the red flashing buoy, which if there are high waves, you will only see occasionally. Now was the time to head across the lake directly towards the light.
In 10 minutes we would be safely inside of South Cove.
I turned the boat eastward, and it didn't take long to see and feel that we encountering some large waves. I cut the engine back to 12 mph, keeping the nose up as we rode at an angle over the top of the waves toward our destination.
I could feel spray coming in from the back of the boat as we slowly and methodically went over the top of the waves. I could see the red flashing buoy looming larger and knew we were getting closer and closer to South Cove.
Then the unexpected happened.
CAPSIZED!
Suddenly, and without any warning, I heard the boat motor start to sputter. From the way it was acting, I felt that water had somehow got into the tank.
When the boat stopped, the bow went down and a huge wave broke over the bow, putting a lot of water inside the boat.
Then a second wave hit, and the boat was filled with water and down we went.
A serious water emergency had been created in less than 15 seconds!
The boat went almost straight up then quickly sank below the now onrushing waves. I had the steering wheel in my hands, but then the water literally sucked off my eyeglasses as we quickly started sinking,
Realizing what was happening, I let go of the steering wheel and immediately came to the surface, and saw George and Claire.
I can't describe the shock and terror I saw on their faces, and I immediately told both of them, "Hold onto the boat!" It was then I said my next prayer.
The time was 10:30 p.m.
The boat was still floating, but only the bow was above the surface. Every time a wave hit – and some were over 4 feet high – the bow would drop under the surface and then it would pop back up.
We all grabbed the top of the bow and held on. More prayers were said.
It was the beginning of a very terrifying water emergency, one that would start a chain of events that would determine if we survived this ordeal or not.
Help is NOT coming!
As we were crossing the basin, I could see that there was a camp on the southern shore of Sandy Point.
I could see lights along the beach, and at one point I saw a spotlight sweep and then actually lock on to us. This was just a very few minutes before we capsized.
After we had capsized, we were being tossed around by 4 foot waves that slammed us into the hull of the boat as we drifted in a northerly direction toward Sandy Point.
I hoped that those on the shore could hear our pleas for help. I even had George fire off a series of three rounds from his 9mm pistol. Three of basically anything is the international signal for distress. And despite the fact that throughout the night George would end up firing four series of these emergency signals, the folks on the beach never responded.
I should also note at one point I noticed the spotlight up the beach as if to provide light for someone going to a restroom. Then the lights in the camp went out for good.
Note that one series of three evenly spaced shots might not get folks' attention at this lake.
Two series of shots, however, should start to get folks worried, but at the third and fourth series of shots throughout the night it's time to call for help or go out and see what's wrong.
While these folks could have no doubt helped us, it was another young couple who could have saved us a lot of suffering, but for whatever reason chose not to do so.
Remember I said that we capsized at 10:30 p.m.? How did I know that? Simple. My LG cellphone that was in my pants pocket was protected by a Pelican case.
While the phone would end being immersed for the entire time I was in the lake, it didn't completely quit working. I couldn't make a call out, but it showed me the time every time I powered it up!
It was about 11:45 p.m. when we saw tail lights in the upper end of the South Cove parking lot. I instructed George to fire off another three rounds and when he did, we saw the car turn around and drove to one the points that are located south of South Cove that many shore-fish from.
When they arrived out on a point, they shined the car headlights right on us. We could see people walking in front of the headlights and we all started yelling. When I tell you that a 22-year-old news editor can scream very loudly, believe me. Claire did a magnificent job of trying to communicate with those folks.
After yelling that we were capsized with three people in the water and to call 911, they abruptly turned off their headlights. Claire again started screaming to leave their lights on, and they did. At least for a while.
Then around 2 a.m. the lights went out.
When Claire said she was getting cold we immediately went into the system we teach in Arizona Hunter Education to help a person survive a water emergency. It is called the HELP, which stands for HEAT ESCAPE LESSENING POSITION.
In this survival system people can cross their legs and arms, and huddle together as close as you can with others. Besides a great system for preventing or lessening heat loss, it is good for morale. More prayers.
Several times during the ordeal we did this until we warmed up. Fortunately, the water that night was probably in the 80s and the risk of hypothermia was lessened. Had we been in cold water, despite us having on the PFDs, we would not have survived as long as we did.
Lights out and no one has been called!
Despite our frantic pleas to turn the lights back on, those two young people on the bank did not comply. We later learned that they had gone to sleep.
At this point, the lake's churning, turbulent waters were starting to calm down, but we were drifting with the wind. We first went north, then northwest towards Jackass Flats, then the wind started blowing from the north and pushing us south.
At around 3 a.m.,it actually settled down enough so we could plainly hear the cows on the shore south of South Cove. We could also hear coyotes on the bank howling. Claire, George and I continued to yell out our frantic pleas to call 911, but it didn't appear anyone was responding to them.
It was at this time that I felt I needed to get everyone's mind off of our precarious predicament, so I told George and Claire that we were going to tell stories to pass the time until we were rescued.
I led off and told of my drinking exploits while in the Army (been clean and sober for about 35 years now). Then Claire told us about some of her drinking adventures in college. George didn't have any drinking stories, but told us of stories when they trained with Special Forces troops while in the Army.
Again these stories were designed taking our mind off the situation we were in at the time.
At around 04:30 a.m., the car's lights came back on. It was quiet. I yelled out, "If you can hear me, flash your lights." The lights flashed and I said, "If you have called 911, flash your lights!" Again the lights were flashed.
Daylight was coming soon, but we had been in the water for almost 7 hours clinging to a rope that was tied to the bow hook of the boat.
As it started to get light, I noticed that the bow of the boat was starting to sink lower and lower into the lake and that it was not coming back up. I tried to pull it up, but it just kept slowly sinking.
It was painful to watch as a boat I've had for many years that had taken hundreds of people out on some very memorable fishing trips was sinking down to the bottom of Lake Mead.
When the boat was out of sight I said, "Well, boys and girls, it's time to go for a swim."
And with that we all started toward the launch at South Cove that by now we could plainly see. The only issue was it was over one-half mile away!
Claire being a lot younger (22) and full of adrenalin was swimming much faster than George and I, who are both in our 60s.
I instructed Claire to stay in sight of us as we flipped over on our backs and started heading for the shore utilizing the back floating position, which is way more efficient in covering distance than doing a breast stroke or dog paddling.
While we were swimming George told me he saw a truck pulling a boat heading down the mountain.
I yelled at the two people on shore that a truck was coming down the hill and to meet them at the South Cove dock. "Tell them there are three people in the water that need to be rescued," I said. I thought I heard, "OK" but without my glasses, I couldn't tell if the car started to move or not.
The truck came to the water's edge and it appeared a single person unloaded the boat and got it to the dock. Then he walked to his truck and drove it up where he parked his truck and trailer close to mine.
He then walked back down to his boat, got into it and started up the engine. It was only then that I noticed what appeared to be a white car turn onto the upper launch ramp and head down to the water's edge.
The boater obviously did not see Claire or me even though he was only about 100 yards away. Claire and I both kicked and splashed but somehow the boater did not slow down and drove north toward South Bay.
We had no other option than to continue to swim for shore. At one point I heard Claire make a comment about not being rude. Seems the young lady on the shore had asked her if she wanted some water, then asked her if she wanted a beer!
I decided that I would not swim to the dock or launch, but rather to the rocky bluffs on the north side of the entrance to South Cove. I thought I could get out of the lake there and climb up the mountain and then walk to the parking lot.
When I exited the water, I was weak and shaking slightly. I sat on a flat rock and did an assessment of my situation. It was then I noticed a small pool of blood under my left hand. I looked at my arm and saw blood was running down from my elbow.
I tried to stand up, but couldn't, so I started crawling up the gravel and rock bank on my hands and knees. It was slow going, and I was becoming very thirsty.
Near the top I found a thick stick that I felt would help me keep my balance. When I got to the top of the mountain I stopped on a huge, white, flat rock, I saw George in the parking lot down below. First thing I did was ask about Claire. "She is ok," George said. He said he was ok, too.
He told me I couldn't come off the mountain at that spot, as it was too steep.
I told him I need some water and I needed it bad.
Then as I continued my trek east on the mountain top, I saw a trail of blood on the white rock I had just been standing on. I thought to myself, "Well, if they have to look for me, they can just follow the blood trail."
I walked several hundred yards more when I saw a lady coming up the side of the hill. I didn't recognize her at first as I had no glasses, but I finally recognized that my "angel" was Kingman resident Jeri Short, and she had a bottle of water with her. When I thanked her for climbing up the mountain to bring me water, she smiled and said, "Not too bad for a 70-year-old!"
Jeri held onto my arm as I first slid, then slowly walked off the mountain to the parking lot where Claire and George were.
With them was Kingman resident Jimmy Short, Jeri's husband.
Water and food were brought out by the Short's and another man who I didn't recognize, along with his son, brought us Gatorade and cold water.
This unknown man came back a short time later with my large igloo ice chest, which he had found floating in the lake.
A ranger from the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Warren Schlesinger, arrived by boat and came up to where we were sitting.
After exchanging formalities, I asked him what time the LMNRA had been contacted about our situation. He said, "We got a call at 4:30 a.m. We were told three people were in a boat and were yelling for help. Nothing was mentioned about the boat being capsized or that there were three people in the water."
Schlesinger also said that he had come from Henderson Nevada, with his boat that he launched at Temple Bar and then drove up to South Cove. "I didn't even use my lights and siren when responding."
I told Officer Schlesinger about the actions of the two people on the bank and on Sandy Point. He said he would go talk to them.
The Shorts took us back to Meadview where we waited for spare keys to the vehicles, which had to brought from Kingman.
Later on I got a call from Officer Schlesinger, who said the people camped on Sandy Point said they never heard or saw us, while the people on the point closer to us were "two young kids." He said they denied knowing we were in distress until 4:30 a.m. when they called it in.
In the meantime, the boat is resting in about 200 feet of water north of the red flashing buoy with about $6,000 worth of equipment in it.
I ended up having to have surgery on my left elbow due to a bone spur erupting through my skin and the elbow becoming infected. That's where the blood was coming from.
I eventually spent six days in KRMC and now am home with a Wound Vac in my elbow and an infusion pump constantly pumping antibiotics into my body to fight the infection.
I'm happy to report that both Claire and George survived the ordeal with no apparent injuries and are recovering.
Both of them remained cool, calm and collected and never panicked during this situation. There could be many other endings to this story, and almost all of them would be bad.
I'm thankful to the good Lord above for keeping his hands on us during this terrifying experience.
And God willing next spring I'll be back out there and ready to go fishing!
We had faced the worst that Mother Nature could throw at us and we had survived despite several people having the opportunity to help us but did not.
And at the end of the day surviving this emergency is really all that matters.
————————————————
I live in the area, I've been on the water during a monsoon storm, open water is not where you want to be. There are three large lakes in the area, Some where you can lose sight of the shore, these large bodies of water claim several lives each year. PFD's are a must to ensure everyone makes it home. I'm saddened that those on shore made no real attempt to find out what was going on, that those responsible for others safety didn't have any urgency to investigate. A distressed boat on a large lake during a storm should have been enough of a red flag for the rangers to make an urgent response. As someone who spends a lot of time in the outdoors, often by myself, stories of survival and what went wrong to cause the situation are important to read and analyze. The knowledge gained by others experiences can be a game changer if you're caught in a similar situation, or are in a position of bringing aid to others.
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Live every day as an adventure
Too often we go through our daily lives and forget that there is a whole world of adventure out there just waiting on us to go and find it. Remember to take the long way to work, the path less traveled, even a dirt road if you can find it!
Friday, August 3, 2018
Looking for merchandise?
I may have something. Some original limited artwork, in a hard glossy Velcro patch, or magnet. Also available in a button. Drop me a line through the contact form on the main page, 'donations' accept but not required.
Why be prepared?
Why should you plan and be prepared before going on an outdoor adventure? Here are a couple of perfect examples:
Zion National Park
The two Search and Rescue (SAR) call-outs on July 30, 2018, are good reminders of the need for visitors to take trip planning and their safety seriously. Both incidents occurred in the Left Fork of North Creek, on a popular permitted route known as "The Subway".
One group disregarded and mocked a ranger's advice when they picked up their permit. The ranger recommended they bring a rope and multiple harnesses for at least one of the rappels, but the leader of the group, who had been there before, said that they could cross the log and find an easier way down. When the ranger reported that the log was washed out last year and recommended the gear, the group dismissed the information and left. Later, rangers received a report that a member of the group had a knee injury at the top of the last rappel. Since the log that made it easier to cross the creek was gone, members were making a 6-7 foot jump. One person had landed badly. A medic and two others responded and spent Monday night with the patient. A helicopter from the Grand Canyon was brought in for a short-haul operation this morning.
Another group displayed poor decision making, wore inappropriate footwear, and lost the route several times. After getting lost early in the day, they reached the "Subway" feature late Sunday night and spent an unexpected night in the canyon. In the morning, they got lost again, passing the exit route, and continuing downstream. At some point they decided to try to climb a cliff face to reach the road. When heat exhaustion set in, they activated their emergency locator and reported a heat related illness. SAR responders were able to locate the group. After administering fluids, rangers assisted the group back to the trailhead.
"Visitors need to take their safety seriously and act responsibly," says Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh. "Park Rangers are here to advise and assist visitors planning challenging trips in the backcountry, but ultimately preparations and proper equipment is the visitor's responsibility. Given the number of fires throughout the West and the assignment of aviation assets to them, it was fortunate that the Grand Canyon helicopter was able to respond quickly and that the first group had an emergency beacon, but that is not always the case. Please prepare carefully and plan ahead for unexpected events that might occur in this wonderful, but at times, unforgiving landscape."
I may go out alone, I don't have a personal location beacon, but I always plan and am always prepared. A great reminder, even in a national park. It is mostly wild area, it is not Disneyland, things out there can seriously hurt and even kill you if not prepared. Stay safe.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
#tbt The mighty Soul! What a fun car. I took it places it never should have gone! #overlandbound #desertliving #wonderlust #ob1699
via Instagram https://ift.tt/2AxWRDb
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
What a day!
Shortly after getting to work today, I received a call from the Mrs. her dad had a medical emergency while on a plane flying into Las Vegas. I dropped everything and ran home to get her and headed to Vegas.
A little over two hours early we arrived and got the complete story. He and his wife had been in Fairbanks Alaska visiting family. Through all the excitement and fun they had, sleep and a good diet was not happening.
They tried to get some sleep on the trip home, but between turbulence and restless passengers they didn't get any rest till the last leg of the trip. They were an hour out from Vegas when after falling asleep my father-n-law started having seizures. Afterwards he started violently vomiting to make matters worse.
Once on the ground they took vitals which didn't show anything major. High glucose levels slight dehydration low oxygen and an elevated blood pressure they decided to transport him to the hospital by ambulance.
Once at the emergency room they got him stable and into an observation room to get some rest. All other tests were inconclusive so in the am they will be administering some additional tests.
We visited for a while, went on a food run for him and his wife, and asked if there was any other thing they needed. The plan going forward is for them both to get some rest, and if they don't we will drive back down to get them home.
So nine hours later we are back home. Tired but a little less stressed. The staff at the hospital seemed to be good, so at least tonight there is nothing to worry about.
Sorry for the double posts
I am not understanding why posts are doubling up. I like to forward my Instagram posts to the blog, its an easy fast way to add content here, but for some unknown reason it keeps either doubling up or stopping altogether. I'm working on a solution, so please stay patient. In other news we have had nonexistent internet in our secondary location, and I'm glad to announce that it has been resolved. With luck I can get some more content up on the Blog without taking several hours to post.
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Searchers find body of hunter reported missing in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2021/08/22/searchers-find...
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Our Oklahoma adventure has come to an abrupt end. By Monday we will be back in Arizona to mend some broken wings and plan our next escapade!...
