Zip Line is up and running

Thursday 12 15 Sean and Nate come down from Scotts Valley and put the finishing touches on the zip line

Sean took one of the first test runs using a climbing harness.

Jennifer put on the harness and slid down the line

Here is Nate making his test run.

Here is the view looking at the starting point. I have since add some steps to use instead of the  milk crate. What we need now is some folks to use it.This is a great addition to the camp. We are looking forward to folks enjoying this new feature.

Zipline is a little closer

A group from Cupertino came down to practice their acappella singing. They call themselves The Grace Notes. So they practiced Saturday morning and helped on the zip-line in the afternoon.

Spreading the fibar went pretty well. They also helped finish the rock containment line.

So we have a little rock extra and some fibar set aside for the play structure. Next step is to hang the cable. We will see if the far pole gives us the geometry we need for a landing before encountering the pole.This evening we invited Dan our neighbor over for a mini concert. The Grace Notes sang us a couple of song. Dan and Jennifer and myself enjoyed their singing.

Fibar for the zipline

Thursday just before lunch the driver arrived with two trailers full of fibar. I met him at the bottom of the hill, drove him to camp and showed him where we wished the material dumped. I did that to build his confidence and help him see the small challenges getting his truck and two trailers up the road. There was the time a semi with 70 bison got stuck at the hard right turn coming up Bryson Hesperia road, but that is a story for another day.

First we got him to back his first trailer down the 12 foot slot we had prepared. George Stoyko helped direct him toward at the bath house end.

The floor moves in such a manner that the material is slowly ejected. Each trailer had 65 yards of this wood product.

His willingness to spread the  fibar is a huge labor saving event. I expected to be shuttling this fibar with a tractor and manpower. Our intent was to place 90 cu yard in a 12 foot swath and save 35 cu yards for the play structure, which is next on the big project list.

This is what we ended up with after his distribution. We still need about 50 feet of rock work to contain it, then spreading the fibar to a 12" uniform depth along the 200 foot length (210 ft pole to pole) hang the cable, which is cut and ready. Then pray someone will find this fun to use. That part should be a pretty easy task.

Here he is all hitched up and ready to head back to Ripon Ca.

Sunday Work Day

Oscar from the King City Church brought 7 young men up to the camp to work. Oscar works 6 days a week so Sundays are his only day to volunteer. I had them pick up where the men left off on Saturday.

So trenches were back filled from the power pole to the cabins.

More branches from trimming were moved to Decembers burn pile. They also collected a trailer load of wood cut last May and stacked it at the wood pile.

They dressed up the zip line route a little more. I told them I took the picture to document who was not working. That got a laugh.

While we were picking up the brush. Oscar was adjusting the skids on the flail mower. He changed it from about 1" of cutting distance to about 5". I had broke the two belts four days earlier because of inadequate ground clearance and the adobe soil.There are many things to in this job to learn.

I have wanted to extend the area where we have the dumpsters. So I started moving some of the large rocks we have to build a short retaining wall, then back fill with some dirt. Some of the rocks weigh more than 200lbs so we used the tractors on them. Here they are moving a smaller rock and tamping the dirt down with a "pogo stick" powered by the white tractor.The boys did enjoy using the pogo stick. This project helped fill a need to create. I am hoping to have these young men back in two weeks to help spread fibar along the zip line track. The process of men working together achieves something special.

Work Day

Saturday 10-8 Ted Mort and some men from Atascadero Gospel Chapel came to work.They brought some wonderful upgrades to the camp.

Scott is skilled at adjusting doors. Three of the chapel doors and one of the cabins received his attention.The play equipment door received some trim as well.

Ted's boys help with fire protection, first raking leaves out from under the trees then trimming the branches up off the ground.

While the ditch witch was digging a trench some tile work was being done in the chapel. About 6 tile were replaced that had cracked.

Here they are laying the conduit to the cabin. We will not need to run extension cords to have lights anymore. They also replaced the light fixtures from T 12 to T 8, which is a  more efficient fixture.

With a shop vac at one end they pulled some line through the conduit then they could pull the wire through.Not pictured are the new steps to our patio, which is a nice upgrade. Elliot, who did the steps, expressed some interest in the rental unit. It will be a good thing to have someone living in that house.

First storm of the season

Wednesday we got our first storm of the season. It was 1 nice 3/4' rain.It  reduced the fire danger and settles some dust. Then Thursday we had some light rain for maybe an hour. As the day wound to a close, we were left with this.

This is a glorious time in southern Monterrey County. The heat has broken, the bugs are gone, it is a refreshing time. Life takes on a different rhythm.

Iglesia De Jesus Christo

This church group from King City has been coming to Whisper Canyon since 1996. They invite other churches to join them. This last weekend there were folks from Milpitas and Salinas.

They always have teaching for the kids, which I believe, out numbered the adults.

Even though the play structure was not assembled, it still provided some fun.

This will likely be the last big group of the season. There were about 80 folks enjoying the camp and worshiping the Lord. Next weekend we have work crews on Saturday from Atascadero Gospel fellowship then Sunday Oscar will bring some of the young men from Iglesia to work as well. As I write this the first rain of the season is threatening to come ashore. That is a good thing, it is very dry.

Quilt show, Hesperia Hall

Friday 9-16 Hesperia Hall had their monthly potluck. We have been able to make some of them. It is always a fun time meeting more of the locals, visiting with those we have met previously. This months potluck was also their annual quilt show. Many of the ladies make quilts and as a group they make one they raffle off to help fund the scholarship fund. Here are a couple of pictures of the quilts.

The quilts were wonderful, creative, beautiful. Having a quilt show so far off the beaten path was not what Jennifer and I expected when we started working at Whisper Canyon.

Golden Calf and the spike buck

Just wanted to share a picture of the bison calf. It reminds me of a giraffe the way the legs are growing.

Rather distinctive color at this point. Not sure of what sex it is just yet.
The deer have come back to the property. We only saw a doe and some fawns most of the summer. This young buck has stated hanging out. If you are in a vehicle you can get within about 50 feet. On foot and he scoots away. While it is deer hunting season here in southern Monterrey county. He is not legal to shoot. He is just a spike, this year.

We were supposed to have a group here over the holiday weekend , but they changed their minds. Got some different things done. Changed the oil in the camp pick up. Had to use the "skewer it with a screw driver" technique, to remove the old one. Cut mistletoe  out of an oak tree, about a pick up load,  the deer like the leaves so it is best to leave it a few days and have less to pick up.

Animals

I removed the game camera from Kavanugh creek a few weeks ago due to lack of activity and the 40 minute hike just to get to it. I placed the camera on a fence post near the water tank in hopes of getting a picture of a young buck that has been hanging out there. No picture of the buck, maybe because he knows it is hunting season and he would be legal to shoot.

This is the best I could come up with. A doe and a few turkeys. It is fun being able to take pictures like this.
     Last Friday I got a call from Dan our neighbor. His cow bison had just given birth and he was excited. Newborn bison calves are golden in color. A fact I learned last Friday. I managed to catch Dan in his field tonight and took a picture of his 6 day old calf.

Here is Dan's bison herd with it's latest addition. The bull is in the background and the 2 year old calf is front left. Most of the time I was talking to Dan, Jackie, the mom bison was between us and her calf. It is a delight to see and experience God's creation in so many ways.

Good Samaritan Church

Friday afternoon they started showing up from San Francisco.They brought tents to sleep in. It was fun watching them think through the set up process.

On Saturday they wanted to work. So we started on the zip line. Diligent workers, the mom's were involved as well.

I think they arranged the rocks for about an hour and 1/2 and essentially completed one side. The rock will contain some fall protection material we will place directly under the zip line. 

I was not expecting the group to work. this was a delightful surprise. One of the men is a plumber, he installed the two vanities I had purchased for the chapel bathrooms. Then adjusted the filler valves in the bathhouse toilets. Those toilets have functioned poorly. I think he solved our problem.

There was time to relax as well. While the kids went to lake San Antonio to swim, some of the adults reminisced about the islands. The warm weather, a balmy 86 Degrees, reminded them of Samoa where many of them had originated..

Here is a picture of some of the little kids enjoying camp in the evening.

I am hearing they have enjoyed themselves so much they are considering coming for a week next year, and bring the whole church. If they work like they did this trip I will be scrambling to keep them in a few projects.

A step forward on the zipline

Friday afternoon we took delivery of a load of rock. We need to have some soft fall protection material under the travel way and will use the rock to contain that material.

Now we need to spread them out and line them up. We have 2 different tractors we can use to move them around . They generally are football size so they  should not be very heavy. Just some work turning 2 piles into 2 lines.

So the rocks will be placed in rows 12 ft a part and parallel with the zip line, then fibar will be added between the rows. Thanks for looking at our progress.

20 Something group came to work

Friday PM, this group of 12 rolled in. They were looking for some projects they could tackle. Saturday morning  they started with the green paint and painted all the picnic tables and serving shelves. The play structure caught the eye of a couple of them.

So while some of them painted, a few of them looked at the plans and started sorting the pieces. We have the components for 2 structures, all stacked together.

By laying out the parts they could tell if we had all the pieces. They discovered that we are missing a base to the circular slide and the 2 purple tubes do not appear in the plans. Great first step toward assembly. What is not clear just yet is which pole goes with which feature. Yet TBD as they say.

The paint crew did what they could with the green paint then did the back of our unit in light blue. The sun has really weathered the south wall. After lunch they worked on the rental picket fence. This has been on my to do list since last September when we came on board as camp host. We ran out of stain before it was truly finished. You would barely notice though. One of the men fixed our drinking faucet at the chapel. It has not worked for several years. Scott helped trim some overgrown oak trees off the ground near the fence line, helping with fire safety. It was great having them at the camp.

Iglesia De Jesus Christo

Memorial day week end Iglesia came to Whisper Canyon. They have been coming to the camp for more than 15 years. They use it as a family camp. They are a local church from King City. Sometimes they draw from some of the Hispanic churches from Salinas or Milpitas.

They always have games for the children. Here is an egg carry

I think this needs steady lips to do well. Or is this called eye mouth coordination?

Then there is the classic, musical chairs.

It is fun see how the different groups use the camp. Dan our neighbor with the bison has said he loves to hear the sound of children playing, sounds of laughter. Any camp builds sweet  memories doesn't it.

New group

  We had a group from Seaside Community Seventh Day Adventist Church came to Whisper Canyon. This is their first time to the camp. They were doing a coed scouting type program during the afternoon. Fire starting was one of the items they tried

I did take a picture of the water feature in the morning sunlight. I think it turned out pretty sweet.

It got somewhere near 88 deg.today. Being from Seaside, it was warmer than they are used to. They turned the water feature into a place to play red robin. The water made it more comfortable.

We are never quit sure how a group will like the camp. These folks settled right in and are having a good time.
    They did not need my attention so I went and checked out the orchard. I was surprised to see that our apricot tree has a small amount of fruit on it that is almost ripe. I went and looked at the plum tree and it is loaded with fruit. It needs a few more days to ripen also.

Toni Shuma had helped us last fall with some pruning. I really did not expect much fruit. The lemon tree is just starting to blossom. It should produce nicely this year.