GS11 Hike and Dive - 5/22/17

Some GS Hike and Dive history:

As part of GS8 in May 2014 I offered a First Annual Gimme Shelter Hike and Dive t-shirt on the order form.  The shirt would represent a group hike that I offered on Sunday after the fishing tournament.  Meeting up at 6AM sharp at the Lost Coast trailhead at Black Sands Beach, 30 of us embarked on a 6 mile roundtrip beach trek.  Yes, you read that right - THIRTY of us!  Domenic and I hauled our gear on 9' Mainstream kayaks with Wheeleez, and many of the others had gear in backpacks.  The group went on to complete the mission with several of us locals grabbing some abs - Domenic got a beautiful ten incher! - and eventually we made our way back up the beach to Shelter Cove.

The hike was pretty brutal.  I think it was a bit more than some participants expected, but people had fun, learned, developed new relationships and discovered a beautiful new place - all while challenging themselves in Nature.  This was a Loleta Eric's Guide Service trip - I'd just gotten my license.  The trip was free, but I was loving showing people around at an old haunt of mine.  I'd envisioned showing others how to find big abs and maybe working one on one with some...  The way it turned out was that people did their own thing at the dive spot and along the trail, and that was fine - it was a blast to see so many people really going for it!

Here's a link to the original report:  http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=51304.90

The next year for GS9 there was some talk of a 2nd Annual Hike and Dive, but I didn't make a t-shirt or followup on organizing the hike.  Got the potluck trash dealt with, shipped the family home, salmon trolled quite a few miles Sunday evening and Monday morning and by that evening I was looking around for someone who may want to go on a hike early Tuesday.  I soon found that just about everyone was gone already from the campground and around the Cove.  Craig/Rockman and his lovely wife Tinney were hanging for another day, so we did dinner and I convinced them to hike with me up the Lost Coast a few miles.  The second Hike and Dive would go down after all!  The next morning we met up early and hit the beach - it was beautiful out, and I really enjoyed spending the time with two good people who are also now good friends.  They weren't diving, so I popped into the water at 3 different spots as I worked my way up to Gitchell Creek at 3 miles from the truck.  By the time I was diving at Gitchell I'd missed the tide, and the visibility was about average for there at nearly zero!  I ended up getting overzealous about my attempts to hold the bottom when I couldn't see it, and my hands paid the price as I bashed into urchins and gouged them on barnacles.  I don't think I even pulled an ab, but I found a couple and had fun trying to find a trophy.  Craig and Tinney enjoyed the trail, and we were all pretty beat by the time we got back to the trailhead.

So GSX comes along in 2016, and I really wanted to do another Hike and Dive.  Again I decided against the t-shirt, and I figured I'd just see who might ask about a potential hike and dive instead of trying to drum up a group.  A few people did ask about it, but overall most folks were headed home and the availability of abalone for those who wanted to try right at the Cove was good, so the brutal hike and low viz dive didn't seem to have much allure - and that was fine.  As it turned out, I did trash and sending the family off on Sunday again and then on Monday I decided to do the hike alone.  Setting out on the trail with my gear on my back I remember being a little lonely, but it's also true that some quiet, alone time at the end of Gimme Shelter is something that I've come to value quite a lot.  I enjoyed the hike, dove solo at Gitchell as a father-son backpacking team from back east watched, grabbed an ab and got back to The Tides for lunch.  It was a fun day - later that evening I even dove a beautiful ocean again up at Abalone Point and grabbed one more ab.

The Hike and Dive had progressed to that - me solo hiking and diving at two spots I've known for decades.  It wasn't sad or lame - it was just part of what I do.  Again, it's about challenging myself in Nature - the truth is, I get off more on that challenge and the trip conceptualized around it then I do when I get a ten inch abalone or catch a big fish.  When I do get a nice ab or a big fish it's the best of both worlds because I can really get mileage out of my Challenge in Nature theme by billboarding the Trophy!  I share this with you because I have found that I am most gratified and can most clearly communicate my heart when I do these 2 things:  provide true detail and say how I feel.

Step away from GS for a minute here.  As my guiding career started up just after GS8 and the First Annual Gimme Shelter Hike and Dive, I was having a blast meeting new people, showing the way for them to progress in kayak fishing, figuring out how to make it all work...etc.  I'd gotten my guide license because I knew from many years of experience that I was capable of putting family and friends on some of the funnest days they'd had on the water, and I loved to experience being in a position to provide such discovery and fulfillment to others.  As I got trips under my belt I came to learn that my guiding was actually much different than my earlier experiences of outfitting people I knew for outings that I'd setup for us; it came down to one thing really - money.

It's like I've said a bad word!  Not just to some readers right here, but to me too!  It's hard to reconcile my own ideals with the notion that I want to tell you that money made my trips better than anything I'd ever done, but it's true.  I found that as a professional guide I was now under more pressure than just really wanting to facilitate the fun for free.  Pressure can be good or bad though, and you don't want to be under bad pressure.  I want to tell you how I made the pressure good.  It relates to what I referred to a bit ago about the truth and your feelings.  I'd found through posting for years on NCKA that I was most gratified by reporting in true detail and making a point of expressing my feelings, and what I found next was truly amazing.  Through the process of submitting fishing reports on this forum and going on to grow quite smitten with the love and praise sent my way via responses, I found out that I could, to some extent, self-actualize my next epic adventure.

Take that in - it's a key concept and has changed my life. 

Self-actualizing the next great adventure - it came from my desire to share it and to go on to receive positive feedback.  It's the stroke!  So how does the money come in to the equation?  I feel that I am able to do things in the outdoors that end up being even more fun than they would have been in the first place because I want to gather photos, videos and material for a true and heartfelt story that I can share - that's the self-actualization.  The money is about this - I was already including people in my adventures before I became a guide, and I tried hard to use timing and knowledge of locations and species to make sure we had a good time.  Once I started getting paid to do it, I was certainly trying even harder.

So here's the math:  As a young adult I became an outdoorsman and discovered that I thrive on challenge and discovery in the wild; then more than 10 years ago I became a poster (call it "poser" if you want!  ) and discovered the joy of the 'stroke'; next I progressed in my craft - both in the wild and at the keyboard - and discovered that I could self-actualize amazing adventures; and now I am a guide, and I've discovered that getting paid to take people on adventures leads to, without a doubt, the most complete and thorough effort toward amazing results that I am able to provide.

Think about this please.  Apply a little here and a little there to your life if you will.  I'm no guru - I just love to share what inspires me, and, ironically, that may represent my next step in what is a beautiful progression called Life.

Now for my report - The Fourth Annual Gimme Shelter Hike and Dive - it's a paid guide trip now! 

Today was about getting back to work - I had some serious guiding to do! 

Ron has been such an awesome client - always wants to take on basically the most hardcore itinerary I can come up with, and his diving skills allow for whatever location and conditions I see fit. If there are rollers to duck or low visibility to deal with Ron is down for whatever and wherever I want to take us. Over the past 3 years we've been to many of my best spots. These are places that I was very active in back in the 90's - when I was in my 20's and going abaloneing up to 60 times per year! While some of the spots are still part of my seasonal rounds, quite a few of them are not - I had not been to today's location for 14 years.

The adventure today entailed a couple hours driving on very narrow mountain roads, hiking down a steep hill to an overgrown trail with fresh elk droppings, scrambling down a cliff to access the beach, climbing over boulders adjacent to breaking waves, swimming out through the surf zone, diving at a very remote location in a wilderness area, and... success.

Ron and I have an understanding - the trip can be a great success based on the scale of adventure, discovery, challenge and inspiration that we achieve, even if we don't find the trophy ab we're looking for. That said, the Ten makes it that much sweeter. It was a sweet day indeed.

Please enjoy the photos of a very special place and what turned out to be an incredible adventure for a day trip.

Post Script - Too good to miss!

This weekend the forecast is shaping up, and the mild seas and winds will combine with some of the lowest tides of the year, which should make for epic conditions! Sunday and Monday are prime for a Lost Coast Dawn Patrol Ab Run. I'm looking for one to three guests who want to learn about rockpicking and shallow diving for abalone on a remote Humboldt reef.

The adventure will consist of a scenic drive, a wilderness hike in awesome scenery, getting in the ocean with full gear, and we will be looking to maximize the return per ab tag - we're talking oldgrowth!

I can't and don't promise a ten incher, but I do guarantee we'll have strong opportunities to pick high quality abalone at one of my long time favorite spots - even if you don't want to put your head under the water.

Don't make me go alone!

**********************************************************

Thanks, everybody, for supporting me in my pursuits.  NCKA rules.

Didn't even exceed the 20,000 character limit today. 

Thanks for coming along.

Let's Go on Your Adventure. 

Oh man. I wish I am up there right now to dive that spot. 

My brother said he had a great time and really enjoys all of his adventures with you, just as I do enjoy our adventures together.  You have taken us on some of the most scenic and adventurous treks we have ever seen.  We both highly recommend you.

What a great write up!!!

Thanks for sharing your adventures, experiences and feelings with us Eric...they inspire me in a bunch of different ways!

Diving with you (and Ron!!) is on my bucket list for sure!!

I also wanna get the AbKing spearing some fish down here one day!!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Great report on your epic dive adventures and folks couldn't find a better guide for that experience!  I have my eye on the Sunday forecast too and Colby and I chatted the subject this morning at breakfast.  Maybe a first North coast ab trip of the year for us. 
-Allan   

My brother said he had a great time and really enjoys all of his adventures with you, just as I do enjoy our adventures together.  You have taken us on some of the most scenic and adventurous treks we have ever seen.  We both highly recommend you.

Thank you, Terry!  Ron and I are on a roll - Monday was totally awesome.  I'd been to that spot maybe 6 or 8 times, but that was the most fun I've ever had there.

What a great write up!!!

Thanks for sharing your adventures, experiences and feelings with us Eric...they inspire me in a bunch of different ways!

Diving with you (and Ron!!) is on my bucket list for sure!!

I also wanna get the AbKing spearing some fish down here one day!!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks, Jim!  We will dive together at some point. 

Great report on your epic dive adventures and folks couldn't find a better guide for that experience!  I have my eye on the Sunday forecast too and Colby and I chatted the subject this morning at breakfast.  Maybe a first North coast ab trip of the year for us. 
-Allan   

Thanks, Allan!  I'm so glad you and Colby were at GS11.  Hope to see you guys around Humboldt this summer, and maybe we can share some time on a reef looking for abs.