Postsderekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 3 yr. ago • 8 min readMy California - The Day Creek Project Part 1At the far eastern end of the San Gabriel mountains, below Cucamonga and Etiwanda peaks, is an area of wilderness that is fairly inaccessible. Mainly because the road that leads through it, the old Cucamonga truck trail, is almost always closed. And even when it's open it's still a 20+ mile drive on a rough and rocky dirt road. Which is an…derekrichardson in # philosophy • 4 yr. ago • 9 min readObjects, Concepts, Time, Language, and MathematicsSource Today I wanted to make a post that is going to be quite a bit different from my usual posts, but this has been on my mind and so I really wanted to write it out. It's probably gonna get kinda deep. So get ready. Specifically I want to talk about the dichotomy of objects and concepts. Now before I get started I want to preface this…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readMy California - Exploring the Santa Ana River Part 3Here it is... the long overdue part 3! If you haven't already be sure to check out part 1 and Part 2 . On those trips I started at the lower end of the river just above the Seven Oaks Dam and explored upriver. On this trip I drove all the way around, up through Angeles Oaks and then back down the long dirt road to where Bear creek…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readMy California - Exploring the Santa Ana River Part Two - The High Trail and the Lower RiverAfter my last trip to the Santa Ana River I decided to come back to explore some more and campout overnight and try to do some trout fishing. So I headed back up to the backside of the Seven Oaks Dam and drove up the dirt road to the locked gate. I parked there, tossed on my backpack, and started hiking up the road. About a mile or…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readMy California - Exploring the Santa Ana River Pt. 1 - The Old FlumeOne of my good buddies was moving out of California and wanted to go out and hike in the mountains with me one more time before he left. At the time he was living in Mentone, CA so I met him there. From his place we could clearly see the Seven Oaks Dam and my buddy was asking me about it. So we decided to drive over to the backside of the…derekrichardson in # nature • 5 yr. ago • 2 min readAmazing Nature in My California - My Blooming GardenThis week I'm taking a break from sharing my mountain adventures to share with you one of my other passions... my gardens! I am lucky to live on a rather large (four acre) property, and much of it is covered with plants and trees. So much so that people often refer to my front yard as "the jungle". Now let me tell you, it can be A LOT of work to…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readMy California - Prospecting the East ForkWelcome once again to my gold prospecting adventures! For those that don't already know, I have gold fever. Which you can read more about here . And my favorite place to prospect is the East Fork of the San Gabriel River . And today I'm gonna be sharing about my last few trips up there. They weren't the best trips as far as finding gold…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 3 min readMy California - Blue RidgeBlue Ridge is one of my favorite places to go for a quick hike. The drive up through Wrightwood is not very long from where I live and the huge views never cease to impress. Blue Ridge is a central divider of the San Gabriel high country. Running high above the headwaters of San Gabriel canyon from Wright mountain to Vincent gap…derekrichardson in # blurtravel • 5 yr. ago • 8 min readArizona Part 2 - The Highline TrailAfter our hike to Hells Gate my mom, her friend Ann, and I headed up on to the top of the Mogollon Rim . We checked out the campgrounds and found a spot to setup camp for the night. In the morning we got all our gear ready, tossed on our backpacks and hit the trail. We dropped off the top of the rim and descended down the Sinkhole trail…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 3 min readMy California - Bear MountainSo as I said in my Snow Summit post last week, I've been trying to get in my last few days of snowboarding before winter comes to an end. And barring some freak late season storm I think this will be the last trip for the season. I headed back up to Big Bear, CA again, but this time I went to Bear Mountain . Both Snow Summit and Bear…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 2 min readMy California - Snow SummitAlthough spring has started here in California there is still a good amount of snow left up in the mountains. But it won't be there for long and I'm trying to get in a few last days of snowboarding for the season. So I threw my board in the truck and headed up the hill to Big Bear, CA . There are two ski resorts in Big Bear, and my season pass…derekrichardson in # blurtravel • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readArizona Part 1 - Hells GateI drove out to Arizona and met my mom and her friend Ann for two backpacking trips in the Mogollon Rim area near Payson, AZ . The first was a three day trip to an area known as Hells Gate! Just the name had me pretty excited, and promises of fishing and swimming added to my excitement. We made our way out to the trailhead, accidentally…derekrichardson in # nature • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readColorado Part 3 - Mt. HuronAfter our gold prospecting adventure at Cache Creek Mike and I headed south along the Sawatch Range and then up the Clear Creek drainage. We passed the lake and drove through all the cool ghost towns from the old time mining days up there. We stopped at the ghost town of Rockdale-Silverdale (I don't know why it has two names) and setup…derekrichardson in # blurtravel • 5 yr. ago • 2 min readMy California - MammothFor the last 15 years or so my mom and I have been making a yearly winter trip to Mammoth Mountain . And this year was no exception. Snow can be unpredictable here in California and some years Mammoth gets buried in feet of snow and some years not so much. This year was a bit below average, but honestly that's still a lot of snow and the…derekrichardson in # nature • 5 yr. ago • 3 min readColorado Part 2 - Prospecting Cache CreekAfter checking out the ghost town at Independence pass , Mike and I crossed the Continental Divide and dropped down into the Arkansas river valley. In the small town of Granite, CO we found and started up the dirt road that eventually lead us to our destination... Cache Creek ! We drove all the way to the end of the road and found a…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 3 min readMy California - White MountainAfter our trip to Mt. Tom and Basin Mtn. my mom, her friend Ann, and I, headed up into the White mountains to climb to the top of White Mountain peak ! The third highest peak in California at 14,252' tall! To get to the trailhead it was a really long drive up a dirt road, but the views were awesome. We drove up and up eventually…derekrichardson in # nature • 5 yr. ago • 2 min readColorado Part One - Independence PassI drove out to Colorado and met up with my buddy Mike at his house in Parachute . We loaded up our prospecting gear and camping supplies and headed out for a gold prospecting adventure! We left Parachute and drove through Glenwood Springs , and Aspen , and up to Independence pass . Up at the pass the scenery was incredible, and we…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 5 min readMy California - Mt. Tom & Basin Mtn.For years whenever I've been traveling on route 395 and I get to Bishop the massiveness of Mt. Tom would always catch my eye. And I would dream about someday climbing to the summit. Then last year I was talking with my mom and she told me she really wanted to climb it too. And so we planned the trip! So along with my uncle, cousin, and my moms…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 2 min readMy California - Rockhounding Cascade CanyonMy buddy @brian.rrr told me he wanted to get out and do some rockhounding so I recommended we go checkout Cascade Canyon near the town of Mt. Baldy . I've done some rockhounding in the area before, but this time I wanted to explore the upper reaches of the canyon in search of Corundum Rubies and Lapis Lazuli . We started at the…derekrichardson in # mycalifornia • 5 yr. ago • 4 min readMy California - Exploring Upper East ForkAs you might already know I frequent the East Fork San Gabriel river . I usually hike up the canyon from the bottom at Heaton Flats , but on this trip I decided to start at the top at Vincent Gap and hike down into the canyon. I dropped down the trail into Vincent Gulch. It was a beautiful day to be out. The water was flowing good in…
