Being prepared
If you don’t want to bring the cell phone, and don’t count on coverage if you do, give someone some details of where the hell you are and when you plan to return. If you don’t do this? A great way to put a lot of people at risk unnecessarily when they come to find your dumb ass and you are having a great time picking your nose by the river. It happens more often than you think. They gas up the chopper for you, thinking you are more important, while the other poor soul that does need help is really getting hosed.
I love my dad, don’t get me wrong, but four years ago we went to hike the Chilkoot Trail, an Alaskan trail that takes three long days and which killed hundreds of miners back in the rush of 1899. The route climbs from the rainforest of the coast over a high pass to the alpine regions of the Yukon and is notorious for rain and snow even in summer, and what did my dad bring? All cotton. Amazingly we had perfect weather — the first clear three days in an epoch, no doubt. The take-home message here? Bring wool or some synthetics that stays warm when wet, or — best — something that repels water!
Oh, and learn how to read a map and always know the cardinal directions — learn to tell by the sun, landmarks. Get lost and find yourself!
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Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
Organic Gardening Seminar
garden / 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Shafer's Ace Hardware and Garden Center, 2760 E St., Eureka. Free lecture by Duncan McNeill on how to create a healthy environment and healthy soils for your plant’s roots. E-mail shafers@sbcglobal.net. 442-5734.
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