Accha Alta

Yesterday, I visited the remote village of Accha Alta with the weaving center for a natural dyeing workshop. Accha Alta is a community of about 100 families located above the Sacred Valley at about 3,800 meters. Their weavers cooperative consists of 30 or more women, about 5 men and 10 children. The event took place at the weaver´s community center and focused on how to get more diverse and brilliant colors from the natural materials available in the highlands of Peru.
Most of the action happened in Qechua so I´m afraid I can´t give any specifics. Qechua is the native language of this region and sounds a little similar to langugaes like Navajo. The jungle is only a few hours over the mountains from Accha Alta so plants from there are readily available to the villagers for dyeing.
We used leaves from a jungle plant to get a deep purple, a local flower for a briliant gold, another plant for a deep earthy green and, of course, cochineal for red. Red is particularly prized by the Accha Alta weavers while other communities prefer other colors. Some of the yarn was purchased machine spun, although this is frowned upon by the copperative. The vast majority was hand spun on drop spindles to a very fine diameter. The women (and men) in Acchan Alta are all very speedy with drop spindles and are able to spin while nursing a baby (well, not the men), herding sheep, carrying on a conversation, and cooking a meal, all at the same time. After the dyes dry, it will take a few months to ply the llama, sheep and alpaca threads into 2 strand yarn for weaving or knitting.
At the end of the workshop, the weavers were able to hand textiles over to the director of the center for sale in Cusco. As the people signed the receipts for each piece, it was clear that literacy is a relatively new idea in this community. Some women simply put their fingerprint on paper, others very carefully printed their name and the younger ones signed as though they did it everyday. One young 13 year old girl from the children´s group turned in a small, spectacular manta (the women´s shawl--tourists use them for table cloths or wall hangings). She was clearly proud to be selling a piece of her artwork to support her family or her schooling or her community.

Valle Sagrado de los Incas

I have just returned to Cusco after an incredible week in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. I was based in the small town of Taray at the language school´s house. After my private Spanish lessons in the morning, I had the rest of each day to explore.
Travelling by bus, moto-taxi (a 3 wheeled motorcycle with a covered seat on the back), taxi, collectivo and foot, I visited mineral springs near Calca, the salt pans of Maras, the ruins of Pisac, markets galore....
The highlight of the week for me, though, was my excursion to Huchuy Qosqo (Little Cusco). Huchuy Qosqo is a living village set several hundred meters above the Valley in beautiful green rolling hills. To get there, I hopped on a bus at one bridge across the river, got off at the next bridge and hiked up an unlikely trail up the hillside. When I first arrived on the mesa, I had views of glaciers and the Valley below. Women were herding cows, horses and sheep and men were working in the fields. But, I didn´t see the promised ruins. After walking around a bit more, I realized I was standing on an Incan terrace. Soon, more walls, staircases and terraces began to appear out of the fields. It was really incredible. The whole place was awash in wildflowers: lupines, daisies, black-eyed susans and more. And, the views were spectacular. To get back to the Valley floor, I took a different route which landed me in a small village where a kind old man who was herding an uncooperative cow up the road showed me a shortcut through the fields. Loosely translated, he said 'why are you going this way? everyone goes on that path over there. no sense in wasting energy.'
This weekend I've been in Ollantaytambo, near the end of the road to Machu Picchu. More ruins, more terraces and a very interesting museum. After a brief stop in Chincheros to see the frescos on a church that was built over an Incan palace, I came back to Cusco. I'll be staying here until Mel and company arrive next Saturday.

More Photos

Thanks to Paul for taking these photos on course.

Happy MLKjr Day!

It's been a little while since the last post and winter has been mellow here in JTree. In December, Biggreentruck got a new filtering system complete with an electric pump. The new system keeps things a bit less messy and, when the temps aren't frigid, it much faster than the old gravity method. The new system still needs a carrying case, but filters are cheaper and the whole thing is much more manageble.

Now it's MLK day and it's very cold in Joshua Tree.

Climbing was put on hold for last Friday's snow day. The snow stuck around on north facing slopes for the weekend and we even came across some hidden in the rock while climbing today.

One last photo: this one is from Adobe Lake on the Lower (lower, lower, there's really water there?!? lower) Colorado River taken in the fall on NAL trip. Before the dam a few miles downstream, Adobe Lake was a Mesquite forest. Biggreentruck goes back on the road for a few weeks of NAL in mid-February.

Desert Life and (almost) Petroleum Free

Biggreentruck is wintering in the Joshua Tree this year. And, winter arrived 2 days ago. No rain or snow yet, just those strong desert winds and cold temperatures. Everything, indoors and out, is coated with a layer of dust. The wind dies down yesterday, and despite the chill, we had a good day of climbing. Today's ambitious climbing plans had to be put on hold because the wind is back and we're wimps.

Last week, though, was unseasonably warm and pleasant for the 7 day Outward Bound course I led. These photos are from one of my students.

In the world of alternative fuels, Biggreentruck has found two great sources: first, for vegetable oil, we've got an arrangement with the Break 'n' Run bar. They don't do a great volume of oil but we get fuel and they don't have to dispose of used oil.

The second source is a little more unusual (relatively speaking, of course). Turkey Town (http://3-dlaboratory.com/turkeytown.html) is the local supplier for tested and fully legal B100 biodiesel. I'd like to say it's one of the more unusual filling stations I've seen, but....well, vegetable oil comes from some odd places. Considering it's location in a little desert town, this place is downright normal by comparison.

After filling the diesel tanks at Turkey Town, Biggreentruck is currently using ZERO petroleum based fuels!!!!!!!

Leaving Midpines

Biggreentruck made a major breakthrough with the improvised filtering system last week. The sturdy jugs have wire handles added to hang them outside the truck to filter into clean cubies or even inside the truck to filter straight into the tank. Now that the hand pump doesn't leak anymore, I can just pump the filters full of dirty fuel. Rather like reinventing the wheel, the process is slowly becoming more refined and less messy.

The blue filter on the left in the photo is made of blue jeans rescued from a thrift store. They're supposed to filter to about 15 microns (the white one on the right is supposedly a 5 micron filter). It's a cheap alternative but is somehow slower than the finer filter.

As of today, I am back into the Naturalists at Large world. Biggreentruck and its full tank of Mariposa pizza and Chinese food oil bade farewell to Midpines yesterday. After camping on the beach and waking up to a cloudy morning-something that hasn't been scene in months in the mountains- we landed back at the NAL office. This fall promises to be exciting and busy with trips in Pinnacles, the southern Sierra, Joshua Tree, the Colorado River and (stay out of) Malibu (Lebowski).

Here's a link to a great commentary from the BBC about ethanol: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5369284.stm

Biofuels in the Media

The BBC comes through again with "Biofuels Look to the Next Generation": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5353118.stm.

Stocking Up

I've been lucky to have not driven very much this summer and wasn't very anxious about collecting oil. Now that it's almost time to go back to the NAL scene, biggreentruck's veggie tank needs a fill-up.

Midpines lacks restaurants altogether so the nearest source of oil would be Mariposa, about 7 miles away. There are a handful of other folks driving on SVO in the area. And, the number of vehicles running on veggie oil reaches the double digits if you include the crowd down in North Fork (an hour or so away).

Happily, the oil supply in Mariposa itself is not tapped out. The Chinese restaurant and the neighboring pizza place both were more than willing to supply biggreentruck. The first visit yielded 30 gallons. Since the oil was already in cubies, collection took about 10 minutes. The cold front that came through the other day has slowed down the rustic (but improving) filtering process. But, there is really no room for complaints when you're faced with that much free, recycled, 'patriotic' fuel.

Full Moon over the LeConte Divide

A couple of days ago, I returned from a delightful backpacking course in the Courtright area in the central Sierra. It was a pleasantly mellow 7 days on either side of the last full moon before equinox. All of our students watched in amazement mid-course as the moon rose over the LeConte Divide. The alpenglow was stunning. We were all equally awestruck a few days later watching the sunrise from atop one of Courtright's many granite domes.

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of
life. - John Muir

We were an unlikely group expressing to the fullest extent possible the Outward Bound core value of diversity and inclusion. Thanks to Ray for the photo from "Anniversary Pass" 10,200'. It was a course designed for folks 'over 30' with light packs and low mileage and it had all the elements of a grand adventure: a slightly worrisome but distant forest fire, a few building thunderheads, exciting off trail travel, beautiful terrain and beautiful people.

Fall is starting to make itself visible in the Sierra. Water at mid and low elevations is harder to find (this is a photo of upper-upper Yosemite Falls about a week ago), the air in the high country has a definite chill and the light .....well, this is the 'range of light' after all.... the light has that distinct autumnal quality.

Rumors abound that the weather is going to change soon. Is it just wishful thinking?

Biofuels in the Media

I can't say I've been listening to NPR as much as usual lately but I have been reading the news at npr.org. Check out the story "Deep Fried Fuels: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision." Here's the link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5698538. On a day when more things are getting blown up and poor Pluto lost it's planet status, it's nice to read an uplifting story of patriotic, environmentally conscious and economically aware folks.

Staying Cool

A couple of weeks ago, I went climbing with a friend at a fantastic granite outcropping far from the maddening crowds of Yosemite Valley. Fresno Dome offers solid rock, (mostly) clean cracks, and well-bolted sport routes. It gets overlooked because of it's proximity to the Valley: the guidebook is so out of date that it's really only good for the driving directions.


It's a bumpy, rutted forest service road but nothing biggreentruck can't handle. Biggreentruck's long system of coolant hoses, though, took exception to being bounced along for hours on end, again. We stepped out of the truck at the trailhead to a strange hissing noise and a growing puddle of coolant. Since you can't work on a hot coolant system, we decided to go climbing anyway.

Several days later, when I finally got around to sorting out the coolant leak, I discovered that the Alaskan had shifted in the bed of the truck just enough to make the line-in-line (of course) coolant/fuel hose combo rub on a tiny exposed bit of metal. I tried everything from a 7 to 1 pulley system (a novel use for my climbing gear and skills) to a come-along to move the camper back that 1/4". No luck. In the end, I got a bigger hole saw and outfitted the camper and the truck bed with more padding for the hoses. The biggest challenge, though, was disassembling enough of my living space to access the veggie tank to disconnect the fuel line.

Luckily, I have learned from my grandfather that muttering under your breath really does help stuck screws loosen, uncooperative hoses cooperate, precariously balanced boards stay where you put them and hard to reach parts move a bit closer. It didn't seem to do much to clear the inevitable air bubble in the coolant system, though. That required a short drive on hilly, winding Hwy 140.

Our access to Yosemite National Park has been restored, on a limited basis. Hwy 140 is now open from Midpines to El Portal during daylight hours for controlled 1-way-at-a-time traffic thanks to 2 new bridges installed by CalTrans.

by the way, Leave No Trace....your lost scrubbie will be found....

Midsummer in the Sierra

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair. -Khalil Gibran

Happy 4th of July!

Summer has definitely arrived in Midpines. It's a cool 90 degrees outside but happily Bear Creek is still running under the basecamp bridge.

Last week biggreentruck lowered the camper ("it raises, it lowers") and drove up to Coloma for a little rafting adventure with Sunshine on the South Fork of the American River. That drive exhausted the stockpile of oil we got from jeffnlisa in Victorville. That oil lasted a long time since biggreentruck hasn't been driving very much at all. Feeling a little lazy, we stopped at Smart and Final for 15 gallons of virgin oil. At about $2.30/gallon, it's significantly cheaper than diesel. Next step: finding a waste oil connection in Midpines or Mariposa.

Biggreentruck just got a little two wheeled buddy. Yes, those are flames on the seat and frame. At least some companies out there are making good kids' gear! Now, if only I could find a short bivy sack.....

Hwy 140 remains closed. Caltrans recently decided to build temporary bridges across the Merced(pending Wild and Scenic managers' approval). Two months, they say. Maybe we'll see the bridge in October? Meanwhile, Tuolumne and the Valley are so close, yet so far away.

I'm looking forward to heading into the Sierra highcountry next week to instruct a 22 day mountaineering course. Maybe the waste oil cubie in the foodroom will be full by the time biggreentruck is ready to hit the road again.

Settling in to Midpines

Today was the first time since the last post that Biggreentruck used any fuel of any kind. Ah, the benefits of living and working at the same place!

Yosemite is really close as the crow flies to Midpines. The regional bus even stops right in front of basecamp. Alas, the rockslide on Hwy 140 has isolated us from El Portal.
The 45 minute trip is now a 2 1/2 hour journey. The communities of Midpines and Mariposa are definitely feeling loss of tourist traffic into the Park. We went last weekend to check out the slide. Geology is actually exciting when it's happening in real time!

Yuma to Midpines

Biggreentruck had a great time sitting around in the 100+ degree heat of Yuma, Arizona while I went on a couple of adventures on the Corps of Engineer designed lower Colorado River. Between the Marines, the Proving Ground and the Border Patrol, one can imagine what life around Checkpoint Charlie might have been like. And now we're adding the National Guard?

Yuma to Jtree: purging the wvo from the engine is much less of an issue when it's 107 outside and the engine doesn't really cool down while you're in Dairy Queen. Of course, you do have clean up more melted ice cream. The climb from the Sonoran Desert to the Mojave through the Park may take longer than staying on the highway but the scenery, wildlife and total lack of traffic are all worth it.

Jtree to Victorville: stopping in to meet jeffnlisa from the greasecar forums. Jeffnlisa kindly shared some filtered oil. Biggreentruck modeled its conversion to help shed light on the differences between converting a Jetta and an F250 as well as between Greasecar and Frybrid. (Biggreentruck wants a little vw friend to play with someday.) Biggreentruck is looking forward to being settled for a little while so it can share oil with other travellers.

Victorville to Midpines: ah, home....at least for the next 3 months. Biggreentruck finally has a parking place all its own surrounded by trees, open space, great people and even a little stream. Pop up the camper, organize the gear, clean up some grease spots, talk to some restaurants about oil. Next project: get the electric in the camper working.

Grease specific: Can anyone explain the 180 degree rule? Happy Earth research disputes the idea that you must be at 180 degrees to get the appropriate viscocity but shows that different oils have different optimum temps (you can never be sure what kind of oil you are burning). The problems with trying to burn cold oil are obvious but can oil ever be too hot (assuming the engine isn't overheating)?

Happy Earth Recycling

Shea, Chris and Biggreentruck at Happy Earth Recycling headquaters. The electric pumps were all out of order so we transferred almost 50 gallons of oil with the hand pump.

Alternative Fuels in the Media

Biggreentruck has been pretty out of touch with the media over the last month or so. But, the folks in Vermont and Colorado report that veggie oil has been showing up on national television lately. We've been hearing a lot about ethanol (thanks GM) and biodiesel over the last several months while WVO has received less publicity. Does anybody know where the story on Lovecraft Biofuels in LA aired? I'd be interested to see/read it.

Here's a link to a related discussion on the BBC: http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=1669&&edition=2&ttl=20060507210347

Photos of the recent fill-up adventure and biggreentruck's new handpump coming as soon as I get the camera batteries charged.

A Baja Adventure

Biggreentruck stayed in Jtree while I went to Baja. Here are a few photos.

Biofuels Packet Part 4- An Activity

Combustible oils can be found in many everyday 'feedstocks.' Here's an easy demonstration that's somewhat safer than the so called greasebombs I saw in Hidden Valley last weekend:

Materials- tea candle, lighter, whole orange or grapefruit
Time- about 5 minutes

Light the tea candle. Peel part of the orange or grapefruit (this is a good chance to talk about energy passing through the food web). With the white side of the peel toward you and the orange side of the peel toward the candle, squeeze the peel and watch the fireworks. If it doesn't work the first time, try a fresher piece of fruit.

Discussion- Does it work with other fruits? What other plants might contain similar oils? If you spray svo at the flame, this experiment doesn't work. Why not?

Rumors can be True

There was a rumor going around the natty world that one of our former colleagues was brewing or filtering or wrestling or doing something with vegetable oil. Last weekend our friends Shea and Amber came out to Joshua Tree in Amber's beautiful biodiesel powered Jetta wagon and set the stories straight (I didn't ask about the wrestling). Seems they've a little company called Happy Earth Recycling and a small filtering plant. I stopped by on my way to Malibu (the 'Big Lebowski' running through my head as I dealt with the LA area traffic). Shea connected me with really nice oil, some hands-on time with a myriad of 12volt pumps and several cubies worth of great biofuels science information.

Then I spent 3 fun filled days at the MASH film site (Malibu Creek State Park) with high energy 6th graders (they'd never heard of MASH) and again zen-ed my way through 5 hours of traffic to get back to the sanctuary of Jtree. I make long (4-56 hour) commutes to work every few weeks but I'm ever so glad I don't have a 2 hour commute every day. The best part of the creep along "the 10," as I-10 is known out here, was knowing that I was not burning fossil fuels.

Back in Jtree, I met the boys from the Mariposa-based bluegrass band The Tresspassers. I showed Andy around biggreentruck and he showed me his veggie-powered rig. Luckily, there was a full cubie I had yet to pour into the tank and I was able to share the Happy Earth oil.

Jtree means climbing to most folks I know and biggreentruck has witnessed a few new developments on that front as well. The etriers finally came out of the bag of gear last weekend with a draws-hung lead of Willit's Pillar (A1) followed by leads of the Beaver Boulder bolt ladder (A1) and the nerve-wracking copperheads of Lost Lid (5.9, A4?) all with fixed gear. The aid-stravaganza was topped off by the gear intensive Butterfly Crack (A1/5.11).
Two girls aid climbing raises a few eyebrows (which only motivates us more) and with the encouragement of Jtree master Todd Gordon, Sunshine and I are hooked on a whole new way of getting to the top of climbs we really want to toprope but are not gonna lead. Here's a photo of Sunshine all racked up.