Gila Wilderness Backpack Trip - Day 5

May 27, 2010 – 4 miles hiked

Our final day in the back country.  We returned to the trail head via the Little Bear Canyon Trail (729). After an initial up hill section from the river the trail was generally down hill with nothing remarkable.  Even walking slowly we were at the cars by 10 am after which we went to Doc’s Trading Post for lunch and soda while waiting for the 1 pm Gila Cliff Dwelling guided tour.  The tour is well worth the wait and the story of the cliff dwelling people is amazing. Included are pictures of the cliff dwellings from a distance, up close, and looking outward.

Gila Wilderness Backpack Trip - Day 4

May 26, 2010 – 4 miles hiked

Today was an easy day as we only planned to hike to Jordan Hot Springs along the Middle Fork Trail (157) which is only 2 miles one way from our campsite. There are a total of 15 waters crossings (one way) so we decided to wait until 10 am to start the trip. The hot spring is absolutely fantastic and relaxing. The description of its location from the guide book made it sound as though we would have to search for the hot springs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only a blind man with a horrible sense of direction could have missed the “hot tubs” that have been created out of the hot spring. We spent over an hour soaking up the 90+ degree water. The temperature was just right for prolonged soaking. When we arrived there was on guy, totally naked, in the hot spring. Ed told him we had a lady with us and all he did was look at Ed and said nothing. We all got in (with shorts or bathing suits) and shortly thereafter two ladies who had ridden up on horse back joined us. There were 8 in the “hot tub” with room for 8 more.

Gila Wilderness Backpack Trip - Day 3

May 25, 2010 – 12 miles hiked 

It was 28 degrees when we got up but it warmed up quickly and pretty soon we were all sweating after hitting the trail. Shortly after starting we hit Prior Creek Trail (156) and headed east. The terrain was mainly flat with some minor ups and downs so we made very good time. We had lunch at the junction of Prior Creek Trail (156) and Big Bear Canyon Trail (28) and having done most of the planned mileage for the day we decided to change our goal and get all the way to the Middle Fork River. Shortly before hitting Little Bear Canyon Trail (729) we ran into some Adventure Scouts (4 scouts and 3 adult leaders) that were using a GPS for guidance and hiking up hill looking for the Middle Fork. Much to their dismay, when we showed them the map they realized they had missed a turn and had hiked up hill an extra mile. Our lesson – a GPS is good at telling you where you are but you need a map to determine if you are heading in the right direction. We continued the generally down hill trail until we headed north on Little Bear Canyon Trail (729). At the junction of the trail and the Middle Fork River there were numerous, flat, spacious camp sites and no one there so we picked the best one.

Gila Wilderness Backpack Trip - Day 2

May 24, 2010 – 9.5 miles hiked

We woke up this morning to 35 degree temperatures – really cold for walking in and out of water. None the less we got on the trail around 8am, all wearing shorts, long sleeve shirts, and fleece. There were 33 water crossings total today, all before 1pm. Unfortunately, before we completed the water crossings Lori's sandal came apart.  There is a picture of the duct tape repairs we had to make so she could continue the hike.  At 1pm we reached Hell’s Hole Trail (268) where we stopped, put on our boots (glad to get out of wet socks and sandals), and loaded up with water since we were not sure if there would be water at our camp for the night. Then we headed up hill for a 1000 foot assent. We blew right through Hell’s Hole with out even noticing it and took Lilly Park Trail (164) towards our goal for the night - Prior Cabin. We were walking along Prior Creek which had no water for the longest time and towards 5 pm we finally spotted water in the creek. We were all pretty beat by this time and wanted to camp with water so we choose a flat spot close to Prior Creek to set up camp. Again we cooled the wine in the creek but only drank one bottle. We learned the next day that Prior Creek continued to get larger and Prior Cabin was only about ¼ mile further up the trail where there was plenty of flat spots and a nice fire ring. Oh well… we enjoyed our spot none the less.

Gila Wilderness Backpack Trip - Day 1

Summary: This 35 mile loop hike is not overly strenuous but there are 85 thigh deep water crossings in swift moving water. The water crossings are not real difficult but care must be taken and 2 hiking poles (for extra stability) is recommended. Day and night time temperatures are just about perfect for hiking and sleeping and bugs are at a minimum.  Pictured at the left are Lori Fisher, Carl Fisher, John Gundry, Joe Gundry, and Ed Tucker.

May 23, 2010 – 6 miles hiked




Our loop hike started from the ranger station near the base of the Gila Cliff Dwellings on the West Fork Trail (151) which follows the West Fork of the Gila River. A volunteer told us that we could avoid two river crossings by taking a social trail and we did so. The trail was difficult and probably not worth the effort as we ended up doing 22 river crossings before the day was done so 2 more would not have been a big deal. The river crossings were more challenging than we had envisioned. Of course, the ranger had told me there were numerous crossings, up to mid-thigh depth. So… in my mind that meant that most of the crossings were going to be rock hopping or ankle depth and there would be a few deep crossings. It was actually the opposite. We hiked most of the first day and ½ of the second day in our water shoes – most of which were not appropriate or sturdy enough. One plus while walking along a river is little to no elevation change. We camped the first night along the river somewhat short of the half way point. There were several nice camp sites and Joe was able to have a fire because we pitched our 3 tents far enough away to not have sparks from the fire burn holes in them (experience taught us this lesson). We are in the habit of carrying wine on our trips (in bladders designed for that purpose). We bring one bottle per night so on this trip we had four bottles. The first bottle we chilled in the river to a perfect temperature. The wine would have gone well with Gouda cheese, however, I left the cheese, apples, jerky, a sub sandwich and fresh veggies in the hotel room refrigerator! Damn. We didn’t stop at one bottle and finished a second one (we reasoned it was less weight to carry the next day!)

Am I Cheap?

Just wondering - Am I cheap, frugal, or very wise?

I got a renewal notice for my Runner's World magazine subscription which just expired.  The notice offered me a "special price" for $21.97 for 12 issues or $1.83 per issue.  The notice also indicated that I could get 18 issues for the same price if I renewed online.  So being FRUGAL I decided to go online to renew and to get the price per issue reduced to $1.22 for a total savings of almost $11.00.

So I go online, press subscribe (couldn't find a renew button) and what comes up is a new subscriber price of $24 for 24 months or only $1.00 per issue.  Now I'm kind of ticked off.  Why should a new subscriber get a better rate and an existing customer?  So what did I do?  Picked up the phone and called customer service.  The call was this quick.

CS rep:  How may I help you?
Carl: I want to renew my subscription but I don't want to pay more than a new subscriber would pay.
CS rep:  How much was the offer?
Carl:  $24 for 24 issues
CS rep:  OK, I can give you that rate.  How would you like to pay for it?
Carl:  Send me a bill please.
CS rep: OK.  Is there anything else I can help you with (they are trained to say that)?
Carl: No - Thank you.

So by making the call I saved $21.97.  Does all this effort make me cheap, frugal, or wise?

Investment Club - June 2010

Five members in attendance at this meeting.  Terry presented a new stock to the club, American Science Engineering (ASEI).  The company engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of X-ray inspection and other detection solutions primarily for homeland security markets in the US and internationally.

Number of Stocks:  14 (goal is 16 plus or minus 4)

Company Size:  Large, Mid and Small are all out of tolerance.  We need less large and more mid and small.
Sectors:  All in tolerance except for Technology.  We need less technology but are getting close to our goal of no more than 25% (now at 28.1%)
Individual Stock Percentage:  Two stocks Hornbeck (HOS) and Neutral Tandem (TNDM) are too low as a percentage of our portfolio.  Our methodology says that we need to sell or add more.  This is the first time since we've adopted this methodology we have TWO individual stocks out of tolerance.  Last month Sun Power (SPWRA) was too low and we decided to sell.
Percent Annual Return: in the sweet spot but on the low side
Quality: Good
Growth: in tolerance but on the low side

Individual Stocks analysis:  Two stocks are of concern.
Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS) not only is too small a percentage of the portfolio but its PAR is just north of zero (was negative last month) and Neutral Tandem (TNDM) due to being a small percentage of the portfolio.


Our intent this month is to increase PAR and Growth while improving Mid and Small company size while addressing the stocks that are a small portion of the portfolio.

DECISION:  Sell all of Hornbeck (HOS).  The current long term outlook for the oil related stock is not positive and the club does not have enough information to determine if the market has over reacted to depress the price or if there is a fundamental long term down draft for the oil industry.  Removing HOS from the portfolio improved PAR if we use the funds to purchase a higher PAR stock.  The overall quality of the portfolio is improved as HOS quality is only 32 with 65 or higher being quality on this 1 to 100 scale.

Buy American Science Engineering (ASEI) with the proceeds from the sale of HOS and available cash.  ASEI has a PAR of 15, quality of 70.6, and a 16% growth rate improve all three of these factors.

Continue to hold Neutral Tandem (TNDM) although it is a small holding.  Our belief is that the price has been driven down unfairly by a recent lawsuit that has not been ruled in its favor.  TNDM is a well managed company so we plan to hold on and to add to the holding in the future.

Apollo (APOL) is on the hot seat for next month.  We don't like the fact that the government has taken of the college loan programs.  The government will most likely tighten down lending at the for-profit colleges like Apollo which will hurt profitability.  On-going lawsuits are another concern.

Marathon Thoughts

On May 16, 2010 I completed my first marathon, the Cellcom Green Bay marathon.  There were lots of spectators and all of them were well meaning, I'm sure.  There were a couple of things said several times as I ran by the just irritated the hell out of me and a couple of things that seemed appropriate.  Now since this was my first marathon my impressions may be totally off or wrong.

DON'T SAY:

"You are almost there."  To someone not running the full 26.2 miles it may seem appropriate to point out that there are only 3 more miles to go and "you are almost there".  However, when I heard it I wanted to stop and strangle the person.  I wasn't almost there - I still had 3 f...ing miles to go!

"It's easy."  Oh yeah?  Then why the hell aren't you out here doing it? 

OK TO SAY:

"Keep going."  That is what I was saying to myself so having someone else say it helped to validate my self talk.
"You can do it."  This countered my doubtful self talk that was saying, "What the hell were you thinking - you can't do this."
"Looking good."  Say this one even if we all know it's a lie.  I liked hearing it for some reason.  I'm sure I looked like I was going to pass out - especially those last 3 miles.