Book Review: Pol Pot Anatomy of a Nightmare

Book: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare
Author: Philip Short
Genre: non-fiction, World History, Cambodian History

Pol Pot was responsible for the death of approximately two million people during the Kmher Rouge rule from 1975 to 1978. In these three years, the agrarian communists annihilated 25% of the Cambodian population. Pol Pot and the Kmher Rouge leadership eliminated cities, money, emotions, cooking, family, private property, smiling, and any type of individualism. Smiling? How can you eliminate smiling?  It can be eliminated by killing anybody who smiles.  Everyone was to be an extension of the state.  The state was a body.  The body worked to grow in power. When someone worked against this body, they were disposed of much like a weed in a garden is pulled up and tossed into the trash.


From his birth in 1925, to his death in 1998, the biography, Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare follows the unlikely and incompetent Pol Pot. His life is detailed as he ages from failing student to revolutionary uprising to Cambodian communist leader to dying jungle outlaw.  He is remembered in history primarily for the killing fields and the torture camps and the genocide-like massive destruction imposed on Cambodia.  This book digs much deeper into the politics of the times, the connections between the Kmher Rouge, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese, and the philosophy of the communists.




The book was long and dragged on with inscrutable detail. The number of players in the book was endless and the foreign names created an easy route into confusion.  The book contains an index of names with description, which helped, but slowed the reading down even more. Unless one is very interested in southeast Asian history, I would not recommend this book, but instead recommend this blog post which offers a shorter, but thorough glimpse into Pol Pot and the Kmher Rouge.  An excellent book that is more specific to the suffering under Pol Pot that I recommend is: To Destroy You Is No Loss: The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family.

            


                                                   

Yosemite Preparations: Reserving a Campsite in Yosemite National Park

The alarm clock emitted an ugly noise.  It was Saturday, December 15.  With anticipation I had waited for this day ever since my wife had agreed to camp in Yosemite.  December 15, is the first day for reserving a spot in Yosemite National Park for April 15 thru May 14.  January 15 opens up reservations for May 15 to June 14 and so on.  See the schedule here.  It may be misleading for me to refer to the 15th as an entire day.  The spots fill up very quickly for the summer months.

Despite my impatience in waiting for this day, I hit snooze several times until realization struck that I could be hitting snooze on my first visit to John Muirs playground.  I jerked out of bed, kissed my sleeping wife, and ran downstairs.  

Yosemite Valley camp in Upper Pines

Coffee brewing, laptop fired up, I logged onto reservations.gov.  It was 7:30 PCT.  Reservation bagging began at 7:00.  At the time, it meant little to me.  All the spots couldn't possibly fill up in 30 minutes.  Right?

My camp of choice: Upper Pines in Yosemite Valley has a whopping 240 campsites.  As I selected the dates that I wanted, what happened next knocked some sincerity into the task at hand.  All but four sites were already filled.  With a good combination of precision and speed I completed the remainder of my task without fault and reserved one of the last four sites at Upper Pines in Yosemite Valley.  I came very close to not getting a spot. Before ever even resting eyes on her glory, I had underestimated Yosemite, hopefully for last time.

Hike Review: Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park

Bright Angel Trail Sign at Indian Gardens

Location: Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Distance: 4.7 to Indian Gardens or 9.5 to Bright Angel Campground
Difficulty: Challenging
Elevation Change: Rim (6860'); Indian Gardens (3800'); River (2400') 
Time of Year Best: late September to May
Recommended Map: Grand Canyon National Park. Bright Angel Canyon and North/South Rim #261 (Trails Illustrated)

Group Picture at Bright Angel Trail-head

Bright Angel Trail 

In November, we hiked up the Bright Angel Trail from Indian Gardens Campground to complete the loop that started with the Hermit Trail and Tonto Trail.  We arrived at a very busy Indian Gardens in the late afternoon, camped, and departed early the next morning.  From India Garden Camp to the Bright Angel trail-head is a very tough 4.7 mile climb offering breathtaking views and breathless cardio.  In December of 2009, I hiked the entire Bright Angel Trail and South Kaibab Trail.

If you are climbing the entire 9.5 mile (19 miles round trip) route, rim to river, I highly recommend that you reserve a spot at the Bright Angel or Indian Gardens Camps.  Even with an early start, hiking the entire canyon, top to bottom, makes for a long day with little time to enjoy the canyon as it should be enjoyed.  Both Bright Angel and Indian Gardens Camps are very popular and reservations usually need to be made months in advance.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.  Enjoy the pictures

Bright Angel Sunrise

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Bright Angel Mule Warning

Hike Review: South Park Peak and High View Trail in Joshua Tree

Location: Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California  near Yucca Valley
Distance: 1 mile and 1.3 miles
Difficulty: easy, kid friendly
Elevation Change: 275 and 400
Time of Year Best: Year round (very hot in summer)
Recommended Map: Joshua Tree National Geo Map

Directions: The parking area is located near Black Rock Canyon Campground in the northeast corner of Joshua Tree National Park.  Just before entering the camp, turn right the dirt road and follow this until it dead ends into a parking lot.  A trail leading north out of the parking lot and into a wash is the South Park Peak loop.  The High View Trail heads south.  The parking area for these hikes is on the border of Joshua Tree National Park and Yucca Valley.  The High View Trail is in the National Park and the peak loop isn't. 

Summary: The South Park Peak loop is just under a mile and climbs 275.  The High View Trail is 1.3 miles and climbs 400 feet.  These are very short, easy hikes that are not without some good heart pumping up hill exercise.  Both are kid friendly and both offer great views.  I hiked this in December.  The mountains to the west were covered in snow.  The temps were perfect and the skies were sunny.


Source: Deserts Summits: A Climbing & Hiking Guide to California & Southern Nevada

Hike Review: Baker Dam Loop at Joshua Tree National Park

Location: Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California

Distance: 1.3 miles
Difficulty: easy, kid friendly
Elevation Change: none
Time of Year Best: Year round (very hot in summer)
Recommended Map: Joshua Tree National Geo Map

When visiting from the west entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, the trail head is nine miles into the park on the left.  Road signs will point you to the appropriate parking space.  The hike is very easy to navigate and there is minimal elevation change.  Much of the trail is on granite rock.  The highlights: water in the desert, dam, cattle watering trough, rock piles, petroglyphs, and blue skies (usually).

Book Review: The Hobbit

Title: The Hobbit or There and Back Again
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure

The Hobbit has captivated readers since 1937.  For generations it has fed imagination.  On December 14, those images will be presented on the big screen.  Enchanted lands, goblins, magical rivers, elves, lonely mountains, trolls, a dragon and much more...how will this idea in our minds compare to the image put onto the screen?  Will it ruin or reconfirm our imaginations?

Bilbo, a sedentary homebody, is dragged into an epic story of life and death proportions.  He is forcefully volunteered to accompany 13 dwarfs on an unexpected journey to reclaim the Misty Mountains where Smaug, an evil dragon sits atop an amassed treasure.

Personal growth, destruction, life, death, happy, sad, joy, fear, anger, selflessness, selfishness, greed, and generosity, the story of contradictions is the story of life.

Movie Trailer - The Hobbit

The Hobbit Official Trailer #1:

The Hobbit Official Trailer #2:

The Hobbit Official Trailer #3:

Hike Review: Grand Canyon Hermit Trail

Location: Northern Arizona
Distance: 9.8 miles from Hermits Rest (trail-head) to Hermits Rapids; 7 miles to Tonto Trail
Difficulty: strenuous
Elevation Change: 6,700 feet to 2,300 feet (Colorado River)
Time of Year Best: Year round (very hot in summer)
Recommended Map: Trails Illustrated Grand Canyon East #262

Summary:  The hike down the hermit trail is beautiful, steep and rocky.  There is not words for the wonders and beauty that unroll as one descends into the Grand Canyon.  But haste not and marvel not while hasting, there is ample opportunity to twist an ankle especially when laden with a heavy pack.  Park staff stopped maintaining this trail in 1931, but fairly consistent hiker traffic has been sufficient in maintaining  an impression that would be tough to miss.  There are several small stretches that have been covered by the flow of falling rocks resting until a time unknown. Carefully maneuver these obstacles and enjoy the beauty.  The hike to Hermit Rapids is 9.8 miles.  The hike to the Tonto Trail turnoff is a long 7 miles.