ABOVE: The day after I purchased my QANTAS ticket and realized this trip is for real, I posted this notice outside my post office window to warn everyone of my intentions.

07 March 2009 222.6 Lbs 100.97 KG 22,265 Steps 18,705 Aerobic Steps 185 Aerobic Minutes 1,262 KC 11.73 Miles

BELOW: The finger points to the top flat of the quarry where we hope to visit almost every day.

ABOVE: The finger points the ridge above Tobin Heights, right above my cabin. Colby and I are two thirds up the Quarry road in this picture.

ABOVE:Colby checks out the view from the top of the quarry. .

What started as a typical walk down the tracks as part of my minimum daily requirement led to a great discovery: a simple path up the wall of the railroad's quarry about one and a quarter miles up hill from my cabin.

170 Days Until Walkabout

A really good day. I had a package from Brisbane this morning and opened it to find my Backpacker's VIP Card. Calls to the US west coast 3 cents per minute and four for the rest of the country. 10 percent off on Greyhound kilometer tickets wherein you buy distance in advance by the KM and then can get on and off by whim. There are a number of nice looking hostels north of Adelaide and downtown as well. There are 120 throughout the country and among other benefits there are lockers for one's backpack, dorm rooms and kitchen facilities and most importantly, free Wi-Fi access. . I will enjoy checking out the individual site websites.

This morning Colby and I took our mandatory minimum hike, me with a 42 pound pack. We made our way to where we turn around on the "MMH".  We were one and a quarter miles up hill, just past the east switch and grade signals when we went over to look more closely at Quarry Falls, dropping out of Plumas National Forest. While Colby was shoulder deep in a snow melt cold pond water  I sat contemplating the view. I have friend who lives in a trailer up at the Maple Leaf knocked perhaps out of business, most likely forever,  by the legendary flood of '98. The raging Feather River destroyed numerous swathes of both the highway and the railroad which for the most part run on opposite sides throughout the Canyon. 

During the recovery effort the railroad established a quarry and dynamited in loud, low rumbles of explosions vibrating like nearby thunder, for 24/7 for what seemed to go on forever but was probably three and a half months. Since 1998 I have conservatively walked by that quarry 3,000 times but have thought of numerous ridges up the side of the rock face were plateaus left by the rock gang but today, while sitting at the falls I realized that it was not merely a ridge but the eroded remains of a dump truck road. A truck would no longer make it but Colby and I had no problem and got a view I had not seen in 12 years. The finger points to the height up the quarry wall we were able to make it today. (Twice, actually)