Al Maynard

Outdoor Outreach: Coming Into A World of Possibility from the Outside

Sarah made the front page of outdoor outreach today - I get a mention in one of the photo captions. The event raised over $10k - not too shabby at all. This link probably won't have our name on forever...

This weekend we drove out into Anza-Borrego State Park to see the wildflowers. With all the rain the flowers are lasting longer this year and were spectacular. We also did the short (3.2 mile round) hike up to the Canyon Palms, finally after 5 years we made it to the end. What we didn't know was that after heavy rain in September over 80% of the palm trees and large portions of the path got washed away! Some photos below. If you know the names of the plants please let me know and I'll update the descriptions...


Red Flower

Cactus flower

Big horned sheep (endangered)

See how the path has washed out!

Yellow flower

Washed up palms

Pretty Lilly

Spiky flower

Another flower

Sarah and flowers

Purple flower

I guess I'm not doing a very good job of keeping this up to date, am I.

Well, the Climbathon went well, they are still counting the money but I raised over $400. Sarah managed to climb the most ever, 87 climbs or 2,175 feet. Thanks to all who participated and pledged their support.

We made it back from a soggy trip to Joshua Tree with no injuries but perhaps a little damp. Rain washed out almost all attempts at climbing on the first day, except for a quick trip in the rain that lost Tom one of his nuts. Sunday was better weather but we didn't have a lot of time. After we finally managed to get to the rock in a hidden area by Jumbo, we only had time for a couple of climbs each. Still, we had a good hike up to 49 palms on the first day and even in the rain the park looked as stunning as ever. Some photos from the trip below.


Jtree March 05 

Janet Rock Climbing 

Sarah the cleaning lady 

Tom on the 5.9 

Peter making his way up 

Me (from a distance) 

Well, I finally did it and set up a blog. Let's see how many photos I can put on here before I run out of space...
My name is Al, I have lived in the San Diego area of California for three years now with my wife. I work at a local software company and am interested in all things geeky. I also climb rocks (check out Vertical Hold my nearest gym). On occasion I have been known to play squash and tennis, both very badly.

So, what is coming up? This weekend I am off to Joshua tree for a climbing trip - really looking forward to getting out. Next weekend is the OutdoorOutreach 3rd annual climbathon. Please follow this link if you would like to sponsor me. I'll update you when I get back.

My sister in law is having a baby around the end of the month. She even has her own blog!