A while back, I decided to go into GIMP and create an image of me and my sons, but to overlap our faces, and merge them at the eyes, nose, and mouth. It’s a simple trick, really:
Bring in each photo as layers, preferably where each photo was taken at the same distance and position from the camera, though it’s not entirely necessary.
Resize your GIMP canvas so that each of the faces will fit, so essentially doubling the original image size.
Drag horizontal alignment lines from the rulers so that they line up with the original photo’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Drag vertical alignment guidelines out from the rulers to align with the eyes and nose.
Resize the side image layers so that the eyes, nose, and mouth line up with the alignment guidelines.
Move the side images so that they overlap with the eyes.
Create layer masks for each of the side images.
Apply a gradient to each layer mask so that it reveals the faces to the right and left, but hides the overlapping portion of the faces over the central face.
Export the image and save the XCF.
I loved this image. I really liked how it captured all of us, and showed our connectivity. For Father’s Day this year, I had them hop in front of the camera again, so that I could recreate the image. I might make it a yearly thing. Here’s the 2020 image:
StreetBeefsis a Virginia based fight club, started in 2008.
StreetBeefs background
StreetBeefs is a Virginia based fight club, started in 2008. They invite people with real life (potentially deadly) arguments to come and fight it out in a ring instead, emphasized in their motto: “Guns down, gloves up“. It is a great organization that helps people to solve their problems in a ring, with referees, rounds, and safe oversight. I first learned about the club from a piece by the NYTimes featuring Chris Wilmore, the club’s founder, and began to watch the fights on YouTube, engaged by the idea of peacemaking.
Some of the fights are beef fights, in which combatants are avoiding gunfire. Many of the fights, though, are between fighters who have no external conflict, and who have gained some following due to the popularity of the videos. One very prominent and highly recognizable element, practically a character in itself in StreetBeefs videos is the cage, which contains various names indicating wall-of-fame status, fights won leaderboard, and other various information. The names are legend in the group, famous within that circle, and seen by (potentially) over a million subscribers in every fight. Someone had painted the names on the panels by hand. Bright yellow letters soared on the black plywood panel. It looks raw, street, and dramatic. If anything, I thought, maybe it could be a bit more organized and legible. But it was cool, and honest.
The names are legend in the group, famous within that circle, and seen by (potentially) over a million subscribers in every fight.
I noticed that Chris’ shout-out advertising for sponsors was pretty effective in getting a brand in the eyes and ears of many. With that in mind, I decided to reach out to Chris to see what his advertising rates were. What could it hurt, right? I thought it might be a good way to advertise my services in Virginia, though subscribers to StreetBeefs watch from all over the world.
A video panorama of the cage as it was before the project.
In mid-June, Chris responded over chat, and we started discussing how advertising might work out. In chatting, I mentioned that I loved the StreetBeefs Cage, but that I had a little dream that maybe I could redesign it for clarity. Chris responded enthusiastically, and asked if maybe we could trade shout outs before fights for work on the Cage, and he’d hang a banner for me during intros. I loved that idea. In addition to graphic work, he also needed some reinforcements for the cage and gates, which would sometimes swing open when large fighters would knock in to them. He added that he wanted to keep the ‘street feel’ to the cage, and not make it too clean/refined/hard-edged, a feeling that many StreetBeefs members reinforced later in prompts online.
StreetBeefs Cage Redesign
We agreed, and we set a done-by date. The deadline was July 4th, for a mixer event that they had planned. I started working on designs, and sending them to Chris and other staff, like SunShine and Lord Esteban, for approvals. After a few designs, we came to an agreement. I also started to prepare a banner for the intros.
So, after agreeing on the design, I took a trip out to visit the cage in Winchester, VA, about 2 hours from my location. I got to meet Wolverine, which was cool given that I had seen him in many of the videos. I measured the panels, investigated reinforcing the cage, and started planning a supply list. Originally, I planned to replace the plywood panels and start fresh. Without a truck, spare cash for the replacement plywood, or electric on site, the panel replacement idea would need help and money to happen. We scrapped rebuilding the cage panels to simplify the project. Due to an unfortunate mutual miscommunication, we had to delay for a week, which cut the lead time dramatically, and the whole StreetBeefs project almost fell apart.
We talked and regrouped and came to an agreement the week before the event. I started to pack for the work trip and anticipated an easy execution.
My original supply list:
2 cans black spraypaint
4 cans yellow spraypaint
2 packs 5 inch cardboard letter stencils
1 set 3 inch connected plastic letter stencils
4 foot level for line layout
general toolkit of art supplies (knives, colored pencils, and various other tools)
Tripod
Gaffer’s tape
Scotch tape
Larger gate closer for install
Challenges
I arrived on site by 10 am just 2 days before the event. I quickly realized that a few things might eventually get in the way of me finishing in time:
There was no grid power on site. My phone battery relied on my car running. It meant no use of lights, projectors, or anything else requiring steady power that might come in handy for a mural install.
The heat was in the 90s each day I was there, and the site is an open field. Working more than a few hours at a time in open sun was impossible. Re-upping on water meant a trip to 7-Eleven, about 15 minutes away.
There was no bathroom on site, and so a round-trip to the nearest public bathroom (that same 7-Eleven) was a 30 minute affair.
The place where I was is fairly remote from retail shops where I could get unforeseen supplies, usually 20 minutes or more away.
The site’s grass had (reasonably) not been cut since the last event, but the tall grass meant ticks, bees, wasps, and mosquitoes were at high levels. I often used a concrete-padded pavilion with a roof to arrange and tape the stencils, but the wasps did not like me being near their many homes in the beams.
Also frustrating efforts were the short gusts of wind that would pass through the field, often blowing 10 minutes of work off the table before the letters could be taped together along their seams. Sometimes I’d run over to the cage to do an install, and when I returned, I’d go find what had blown away.
I accomplished a lot in the first of two trips, despite these issues and challenges.
Day One
I began by overpainting the existing panels, which felt like a desecration to StreetBeefs. If it wasn’t done, though, the new design couldn’t happen.
The process of covering previous panels.
I realized that 2 cans was not nearly enough in painting over the panels with the black spraypaint. I figured that the 4 cans of yellow would not be enough either. 1 can covered about two large panels. So, I located the nearest hardware store in Google Maps, a True Value about 20 minutes away, and went to get extra cans of black, yellow, and orange spraypaint as an accent. Upon returning, I covered the rest of the panels with black spraypaint, and I began the process of arranging and scotch taping lines of the 5 inch stencil letters, in the relatively cool comfort of the roofed pavilion. It was also nice that there were a few trash cans and a bucket that served as work tables and chair out in the cage.
I printed out a page with the agreed-upon design to have all of the spell-checked names ready. Using the 5 inch cardboard letter stencils, I’d layout and scotch tape a line at a time, and then carry them over to the cage and use gaffer’s tape to hold them in place. Struggling to gaffe-tape a whole line proved difficult. I learned that it was easier to tape a few words at a time rather than the whole line, even on the small panels to avoid breaking the line apart at the scotch taped seams.
If a name had duplicate letters, or if one line had 5 of one letter, I needed extras. I had to trace and cut out duplicates of the letter or punctuation from scrap cardboard. A name like Ref Rob used up all of the R’s I had to use in that line. At the end of the first day, I felt like it was going slow. I had repainted the entire cage black, and finished just a part of the Staff panel. I decided I would eventually add the orange accent to the Staff panel and titles.
A video panorama at the end of day 1.
The stars and moon were incredibly bright and clear in the open field far from any traffic. It was deeply quiet.
Day Two
I camped out on-site in my car to save on costs. I enjoyed exploring the great gas station markets in Winchester, and I enjoyed getting my meals in them. After the sun went down, it was nice to explore the beautiful town. The stars and moon were incredibly bright and clear in the open field far from any traffic. It was deeply quiet. The next day, I awoke early, went and got breakfast and a gallon of cold water. I came back to finish the Staff panel. When I measured out the letters for the first Wall of Fame, I realized I had a brand new challenge.
The Wall of Fame Challenge
For every name like ‘Beach’, there were two or three names like ‘Jordanian Nightmare’.
The 5 inch letters I had used for the Staff panel would not work for the Wall of Fame panels. Not all of the required names would fit at that size. Two names in a line wouldn’t work in some cases, because the second name sometimes just would not fit. I measured again and realized that I had made a mistake. Either my scale on my design was wrong or my measurement of the panels was wrong. The 5 inch letters would not work. Fighter names averaged 11 letters each.
For every name like ‘Beach’, there were two or three names like ‘Jordanian Nightmare’. So, I looked at my tools to see how I could solve it. 3 inch stencil letters would work great. I’d need to paint them one letter at a time because the stencils were plastic and four to a sheet. I did not want to cut the plastic stencils or spend the day seeking out cardboard 3″ stencils. The 5″ letters were from Staples. A disappointing trip to Michael’s had every possible letter stencil, but all in wacky fonts. I did not want to take out time to run to Staples, because time was running out.
After thinking through a few solutions, I decided I would try hand painting each letter. I’d trace the stencil with a colored pencil that would show up on the black background, then hand-paint the tracing. Acrylic yellow paint would help, as I had nothing but spraypaint. Spray painting would be hard without masking the letters to the left and right each time. Hand-painting might greatly increase the time it would take to finish the panels. I still had most of the day to finish before the event the next day. I went to the nearby WalMart, picked up some yellow acrylic paint in tubes, and got back to the site. I decided to test it on the cage gate, which just needed the word ‘StreetBeefs’ added. If it took too long, I would possibly still be able to devise another solution before time ran out.
In short, it was a disaster. The tracing took a long time. It did not look remotely clean. The acrylic paint color was not so much yellow as neon green. The single word ‘StreetBeefs’ took nearly an hour, and the heat was really taking its toll. The project would not be finished, because the plan didn’t work, and I needed a new plan and more time. I contacted Chris, told him the cage would most likely not be ready.
The new plan: spraypaint the letters individually using the connected plastic 3 inch letter stencils. This is how I ended up finishing all of the Wall of Fame panels, just not during this first trip. It included gaffe-taping the plastic stencil letters in place. Each individual letter is lined up, then tape is used to block the letters to the right and left. Spraypaint is applied, then tape is removed. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I documented this in the video below where I add Beach to the Wall of Fame. It leaves a messy imprint because of all of the motion around very fresh paint. That added to the imprecise, raw feel. It results in a letter painted every two minutes on average, which means about an hour per line per panel. You can see the hand-traced-and-painted method being replaced in the gate video below.
Adding the name “Beach” using the connected stencil method on the second Wall of Fame panel. Redoing the StreetBeefs name using the connected stencil method to overwrite the previous failed method of tracing and filling by hand. Here’s what got done on the first trip after two days.
Chris was very understanding. In the first trip, I completed the gates, the Staff panel, a single line on 3 Walls of Fame, and titles. I traveled home, watched the event that ended up using the new panels unfinished, and was a little discouraged. Despite driving, working and gathering supplies, sunrise to sunset for two days, I had not completed the task.
However, I learned a lot. Using the plastic stencils worked relatively quickly. I’d be able to finish the Cage before the next event. I learned a lot about what was around in terms of resources in a town I hadn’t visited before. When I returned, I decided to bring a tarp and water. I’d eventually go to Staples in Winchester to buy cardboard 3″ letters to finish the Most Wins panels.
Final supply list:
4 cans black spraypaint
8 cans yellow spraypaint
1 can orange spraypaint
2 quarts acrylic paint
2 packs 5 inch cardboard letter stencils
2 packs 3 inch cardboard letter stencils
1 set 3 inch connected plastic letter stencils
4 foot level for line layout
general toolkit of art supplies (knives, colored pencils, and various other tools)
Tripod
Gaffer’s tape
Scotch tape
tarp and zip ties to create shade
a few gallons of water
10,000 MaH power bank to provide non-vehicle power for phone
Day Three
The next StreetBeefs event was coming up on July 11th. I drove up late on Wednesday, set up the site, got something to eat, camped out, got up early. With the tarp in place, water on hand, and the power bank charged, work was a lot less stressful. I set up to continue the letters as I had on the Walls of Fame, using the same method. It was slow, but fast enough to do an entire line in an hour. Here is the completed wall of fame, essentially my halfway point on day 3, after about 6 hours.
So, the final part of day 3 was completing the Most Wins panels. I looked at the punch list for the Most Wins panels. I realized it was time to just go into town to Staples and get the 3 inch cardboard letters. It would save time to be able to string them together in the same fashion as the Staff panel. So I did, and I also purchased index cards so that I could easily make duplicate letters. Plenty of daylight remained. I had a great time-saving tool in the smaller cardboard stencils.
With the tarp in place, water on hand, and the power bank charged, work was a lot less stressful.
By using the tarp and staying hydrated, things were comfortable. I was excited. The taped lines of cardboard stencils were a lot quicker to install than the plastic stencils. I used index cards to duplicate letters in the stencil image below.
The panels were finally complete. I took a final panorama video for posterity. Then, I was on my way home, surprisingly, after the first working day of the second trip.
Conclusions
In conclusion, there were a lot of pros and cons in the planning, design, and execution of the project. I did not complete the project on time. It did not turn out exactly like the proposed design. There were a lot of interesting physical and design challenges that took time to overcome. The cage retained its hand-painted, raw street-fight feel. The solutions eventually worked. I’m very happy with the final product. The remaining open panels provide opportunities for extension of the lists and other possibilities. I’d personally like to see graffiti based designs by talented artists in the group on Facebook.
I’m really happy that I was able to work on the project. Chris was pleased. Most exciting for me, StreetBeefs is going to be shouting me out for a while in exchange for the work. I want to thank Chris, SunShine, Corey, Esteban and everyone else at StreetBeefs for helping me to make it work!
If you have a design, logo, branding, or art project, I’d love to talk with you about it. You can talk with me at lemasney@gmail.com. Check out my rates page for an idea of costs. Take a look at my portfolio to see my design work. Let’s do something great together.
The finished cage. LeMasney (LEE-MAZZ-KNEE) Banner
Kubrick revealed? The Dawn of Man superimposed over Dave’s dawn as a space traveler.
Origins and Explanation or Why Kubrick is a Genius
This project, in which I arranged Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001 to play both backwards and forwards simultaneously, was inspired by the beautiful and enlightening documentary on Kubrick’s The Shining named Room 237 by Rodney Ascher. I was dumbstruck by the section that explained a theory of how to watch The Shining properly – Backwards and forwards. Here’s an introduction to that idea:
“Analysis and awe sit side by side in the parts of our brains that engage in pattern recognition. The Shining Forwards And Backwards feeds both of them at once. Last year some folks at a Brooklyn theater – likely highly stoned folks – got the idea in their heads to play Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining forwards while projecting the movie backwards at the same time on the same screen. What was shocking was that it worked. That’s not to say that Kubrick intended the film to be seen this way, but it worked nonetheless.” curated by lemasney from Fantastic Fest Review: THE SHINING FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS | Birth.Movies.Death. at http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/10/01/fantastic-fest-review-the-shining-forwards-and-backwards
And perhaps my favorite way to introduce this idea that even if Kubrick didn’t do this purposefully, it’s still fascinating:
“(T)he film’s framing lends itself to this kind of an experiment. Kubrick is so precise about placement within the frame that you can overlay random images and find juxtapositions and reverberations in imagery. Whether or not this is purposeful is besides the point – what matters is how it’s experienced.” curated by lemasney from Fantastic Fest Review: THE SHINING FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS | Birth.Movies.Death. at http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/10/01/fantastic-fest-review-the-shining-forwards-and-backwards
I was so moved by the idea possibly applying to other films of Kubrick’s, that I rushed to my machine, ripped a copy, and started playing. This post is an invitation for you to do that play too. It’s easy for you to argue that it was not Stanley’s intention to do all of this extra work so that just a few might see it. Once you see it, it’s harder to argue against that idea. So, how does one do it?
Methodology
Kubrick’s 2001, A Space Odyssey, backwards and forwards. (lemasney)
I don’t have access to projectors or film reels as The Shining theorists did. I did this right on my computer, and so can you. In fact, it’s likely the only way you’ll get to see it in all of its glory because of the copyright infringement of the product if broadcast without permission. I’ve had a few short clips taken down so far and rightfully so. I do not have copyright rights to the material. Because I am using this for the purposes of extending the content through critique and analysis, I feel I’m free to post this imagery, and have seen other examples, such as in the project that inspired this one:
“On Wednesday, March 9th, 2011, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, The Spectacle Theater screened Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining forwards and backwards simultaneously, superimposed. This experiment in projection was inspired by the analysis of The Shining by MSTRMND, and one line in particular: The Shining is a film meant to be watched both forwards and backwards. We took the MSTRMND gambit at face value. We put the US DVD version into Final Cut, removed all corporate logos and leaders at the beginning, and cut all credits at the end. The entire film image sequence was then copied, reversed and superimposed over the original forwards version. (For clarity’s sake we screened the forwards/backwards superimposition with the forwards audio only.)” curated by lemasney from KDK12 | The Shining: Forwards and Backwards at http://kdk12.tumblr.com/post/4879566957/the-shining-forwards-and-backwards
I believe I’d be able to argue that I did this without expectation of malice, but rather homage, to Stanley, nor personal monetary gain, while hopefully extending the film’s value through critical observation.
I still won’t post the whole rearranged film here, because it would easily be arguable that I had not done enough to change it, and I’d rather not have a showing with my voice over it, etc. You should see it in its true form, and that means you’ll probably have to do it or contact me for help, which I welcome. I am however sharing a lot of GIFs, the first of which are below. Please feel free to share at your own risk. I have a fantasy where I get the Paramount in Charlottesville, Virginia to do a screening for us on the big screen, but I doubt that I could afford the rights.
How to make your own Forwards and Backwards movies:
You have to have a non-protected version of the film in an editable format like MP4, which may mean getting the DVD and backing it up to a file, as I did. (If this is a new concept to you, check out this cool HowTo). You might get it some other way too.
Open the MP4 in a video editor (I use the open source video editor KDEnlive on Ubuntu Studio, you might use Adobe Premiere or something similar) on track one.
Open a second copy on track two and mute and reverse it. In KDEnlive, you can just right click on your original project clip and make a reversed copy. (Here’s the HowTo for that).
We mute the second copy because the audio weaves together the narrative of the two directions.
In order to see the second track ‘through’ the first, you have to add a transition between tracks to act as a layer mode for the video. I used Screen mode, which worked perfectly. (Here’s the HowTo for that.)
Render your edit, and begin watching. In the mean time, check out some of the short animations below to get some sense of what you will see.
I’ll explain more below and in future posts, but I can not see how the timing of the cuts and positions are anything but designed. Kubrick seems perfectly capable of going scene by scene, second by second, and arranging image A and image B to coincide. I feel certain of it, but others may not believe. I also believe in The Dark Side of Oz, where Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon replaces the soundtrack of the classic film The Wizard of Oz. If you can believe that was by design, this is easy, comparatively.
Introduction and Exit
Please click on the images to see them full size. You can navigate through them by opening any of them and clicking on the arrows left or right.
Introduction and Title
The Dawn of Man
Dave and the desert
The human issue of eating
Obelisk encounters
Enrobed in light
The introduction and exit of the film are fascinating to watch simultaneously. Having read Clarke’s entire series of books on this universe, the obelisk is an alien intelligence, allowing humanity to flourish by giving insight to technology unknown before through contact. This happens to the missing link men in the first scenes, to the men on the moon, and to Dave, becoming the space baby, a newly born time-traveling entity. Some impressions and narrative for the GIFs above:
Click on Introduction and Title to see the perfect choreography of space baby Dave’s eye, moon, sun, and earth.
The Dawn of Man plays with the idea of burial (Dave passing from human form to time traveler) in the ground of the reverse scene.
The obelisk contains light (symbolizing intelligence) often in this version of the film. Eating becomes a recurring, overlapping theme for ideological acceptance, and in The human issue of eating, we get a glimpse of the hogs lying about Dave’s purgatory room, and Dave eating an alien meal for sustenance.
In Enrobed in light, and Obelisk encounters the intense landscapes of the time travel Dave screams through are set against the landscape of early man. Also, notice how the light surrounds, follows, and amplifies the brutal emotion of early man, and how the light splatters and spits around these newly murderous human ancestors, shining with new and powerful intelligence.
Bright light (as intelligence, but not always kind) constantly reveals itself in the backwards and forwards play, like HAL’s red-eye over faces or objects of intense importance or intimate intelligence in other scenes.
In my next post, I’ll talk about the next scenes and my impressions. I hope you liked this introduction to the project, and I’d love to help you to do this kind of thing too, discovering new tools along the way. If I can help you, please give me a call at 609 553 9498 or email me at lemasney@gmail.com. There’s even a feedback form below. If it’s something especially nice, it might go in the testimonials! I’m John. Thanks!
Hi, I’m John LeMasney, a father, artist, photographer, and new resident in Charlottesville, Virginia. I have the honor of announcing that Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL) has agreed to let me speak in a free technology series in their beautiful downtown location. I love technology, and want to share what I love about it, continuing the work I’ve done for 20 years in the Northeastern part of our country. If you have a topic or a venue that you’d like covered, please contact me, and let’s make that happen. Let’s do something great together!
John LeMasney cc-by lemasney
Making Photos Great for Free.
Wednesday January 4th from 6-7pm
In this session, come and learn about how to take your digital photos and transform them into art with Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney. With great free tools for photo manipulation, illustration, and catalog management, you can do what the professionals do without the costs. Come and learn about photo technique, lighting, and more, while growing your toolbox beyond point and shoot.
Okay google, what year is it cc-by lemasney
Introduction to Internet of Things and Home Ecosystems.
February 1st from 6-7pm
In this session led by Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney, come and learn about the leading ecosystems that have emerged as AI assistants in the home. We will discuss all the major platforms like Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Siri, but we will focus deeply on the present and future state of Google Home, Google Now, ChromeCast, Chromebook, and related items in the Google Ecosystem in a in-session demonstration. If you are interested in having your lights blink when your partner leaves work, having an always listening all intelligent assistant in your home, or learning automatically that you need to leave a little early due to local traffic, you should join us!
wordpress statistics and analytics
Analytics, or the art of discovering your audience.
March 1st from 6-7pm
If you have a web site or presence in social media, that’s great! How many people visited it today? How about last week? Where did they live? Were they 15, 30, or 50? How many people saw that Instagram post? What is your most popular pin on Pinterest? What browser were they using? Analytics is any system that gives you insight about the way that your content was used. Let Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney help you answer all of those questions and others when you learn about analytics tools in social media, publishing platforms, and other places. We will discuss many platforms for analytics, including Google, social media, and more.
IFLL initial logo study by lemasney
Design for the Non-Designer.
Saturday April 1st from 1pm-2pm
In this session, come learn about digital visual communication with Virginia based artist, designer, and photographer John LeMasney. You likely did not encounter a lot of visual communication training in school, if you went to school in the US. The problem there is that successful contemporary mass communication is expressed today by artists and designers with specialized skills like visual literacy, software tools, and a sense of brand and audience awareness that graphic design can amplify. Design is important today, and if you are not sure where to start, here is a good place.
This video is a recording of a gathering of birds in December in Virginia. I was surprised by the number and presence. In the video is my son Jack, exclaiming that I should stop capturing this beauty of nature. It’s at a 7 eleven in Waynesboro, VA along Rosser Avenue.
If you like it please share! If you like them, please subscribe for more! I’m always looking for ways to connect with people about tech, design, teaching, and lots of other topics. If you think we should talk, connect with me at https://about.me/lemasney
“Birds migrate to move from areas of low or decreasing resources to areas of high or increasing resources. The two primary resources being sought are food and nesting locations. Birds that nest in the Northern Hemisphere tend to migrate northward in the spring to take advantage of burgeoning insect populations, budding plants and an abundance of nesting locations. As winter approaches and the availability of insects and other food drops, the birds move south again. Escaping the cold is a motivating factor but many species, including hummingbirds, can withstand freezing temperatures as long as an adequate supply of food is available.” – The Basics of Bird Migration: How, Why, and Where | All About Birds from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/the-basics-how-why-and-where-of-bird-migration/
That’s my boy, Jack, below. I love him and his brother David more than life itself. Jack and I went camping and backpacking on a hiking trip this weekend.
Jack’s 11th Birthday smile
But, this weekend, I failed. That’s okay. Failing is okay in our house. In fact, it’s expected and encouraged. I have failed at a lot of things in life, on the path of learning about them, and so, I’m familiar with the benefits of failing.
Still, it does not always feel great in the moment. I failed to get to the ‘grass-covered peak’ of a cool mountain on day 2 of a 3 day backpacking hiking trip. Though I’m a seasoned walker, this was my first backpacking hiking trip, and I learned later that some of the other fathers were marathoners, and all except one other father (who successfully managed the hike, and was a marathoner) had gone hiking before, many times. They had an understanding of the gear, terrain, and stamina. I learned late in the trip that one of the fathers hiked the Himalayas with his wife. I have not run or tested my lungs in years, maybe ever. I walk a lot, and I figured it was the same language. Mountain hiking is like running to me now. You have to have control of your breath, and a good understanding of your body under physical stress. I, for one, was not ready for this trip, but I did not suspect that going in. What’s worse, it was a father-son trip, and my son thought he was ready because I thought I was ready. Deep sigh. So, where to begin?
A synopsis of the hiking trip:
12 people, fathers and sons, were going on a three day camping and hiking trip. We’d travel about a mile on the first night to a camp near the parking for Camp Shenandoah and camp. We would then wake and hike from that spot to the top of Elliot Knob on day two, about 8 miles uphill and over 2000 feet elevation on a 4000+ foot peak, and we’d return on day three. Here’s a screenshot of those two points.
Trail map from Camp Shenandoah to Elliot Knob
Here is a topographic look at the area:
And here is a link to Elliot Knob in Google Maps (interactive):
“Elliot Knob is the highest point in Augusta County, and one of the highest peaks in Virginia. Just west of Staunton and secluded in Buffalo Gap, this hike features two waterfalls, several great views to the west and east, and a grass covered summit. If you’re lucky, this hidden treasure can be all yours for a day. From the small parking area pass the closed gate and head up Falls Hollow Trail. The trail is marked with both yellow blazes and yellow plastic diamonds, and follows an old logging road for the first 1.5 miles.” curated by lemasney from Elliot Knob Hike at https://www.hikingupward.com/GWNF/ElliottKnob/
My 11 year old son and I made it to within a half of a mile of the peak, and we were not able to go any further. We started up at 8:30am, and by 5 we were exhausted. By 7, we had finally decided to give up on the ascent. The others had gone ahead, after I informed the last leader I saw at 5pm that we were done, and that if they did not see us, that we had decided to exit, which we eventually did. I’ll explain the details of that rather harrowing experience in the considerations below.
Failure is only failure if you do not learn from it.
So in that light, I’m going to share with you all what I learned on this trip. These are ten things in no particular order, that I wish I had really heard or understood when seasoned hikers told me about them, leading up to the trip.
Consideration 1: Know the hiking trip before you go, and consider your limits.
I learned about this trip just a few weeks ago. I did not know any of the other fathers or their kids. When I heard about the opportunity to take an 8 mile trip with seasoned hikers, it sounded like the safest way to gain insight into such an adventure. We were able to borrow tent and packs, and the rest of the gear and food would be a minimal investment. We learned a lot, and most of the trip was joyful and manageable. I saw bright orange lizards, beautiful waterfalls, rock formations, 10 different kinds of mushrooms, striations and geologic history, and one of the most beautiful foggy mornings in a sunlit forest that I have ever seen. I saw the tops of all of the other mountains in the area. It was only in the last few miles of the hike that the wondrous discovery was replaced with a sense of just getting there, until getting there seemed impossible, at which point it was.
Part of the issue is that the research I did for this post is the research I needed to do for the hike. Seems simple, right? I relied instead on the expertise of the other leaders, and should have taken a more serious look at the map, studied it, and known where we could have shortened the trip more safely.
If you look at the first map screenshot above, it shows you essentially two points. This was what I understood of the hike, just these two points. The other maps were just in my imagination. The elevation lines on a topography map, I learned in a meeting for planning, meant a hundred foot incline. We’d pass twenty of them. Neat! I had seen a trail map, but I simply did not understand the scale of what we were to do. The trail map for the second part of the trip in ascent to Elliot Knob follows, and I should have studied it:
The other hikers had endurance, understanding, and pace that Jack and I did not have. I consider myself fit. I walk every day and track it. To give you some sense of what I am normally capable of versus what we did that day, consider this:
LeMasney fitbit history, ending 8 20 2016
What this shows is that I try everyday to get 5k steps, and I love the feeling at the end of the day when I do. I do not walk up mountains, I do not encounter thin air, and I am not wearing a 60 pound pack. I got two new badges on this trip: the 30,000 steps in a day, and the 35,000 steps in a day, and so did Jack, in thin air, with packs. That’s pretty damned awesome. We actually hiked further than everyone else on the trip because the escape was backtracking our ascent for miles, but it was a lot easier going down a mountain than up. I do not think this will keep us from hearing that we failed from the peak reachers, but it feels kind of nice as a caveat. 🙂
In short, we were not ready for this trip. I’m fit enough to live well, but before I do this again, I’m going to do 10k steps a day for a few days in advance of the trip, with a pack. If I can’t, I should not be going.
Consideration 2: Have three hiking trip plans.
The plan was to follow the pack and to go to the end. We needed an additional shared plan in the event anyone had to leave near the middle of the trip, and a third plan in case anyone was not able to do the final approach. In the end, it was chaos, darkness, fear, and the unknown that put us in danger. It was clear-headedness, awareness of what we had passed and how it connected, and logic of the way that a service road worked that got us home. Part of the issue was the fear of letting others (who we did not know well) down or putting others in danger if we departed suddenly. The option should have been discussed ahead of time, and I’ll make sure it is next time.
Consideration 3: Know how many calories you need on the hiking trip, and pack no junk.
When packing food for a trip like this, a thousand options exist. You can get prefab meals and MREs and cook pasta and sausage bakes. I got a pie iron for this trip that only came out of the pack when I carried it to lighten the load on my back. Silly, in retrospect. I had a camp stove, newly bought. It is still in the box. I carried fuel up and down the mountain without using it. Jack and I ended up eating trail mix (great), bagels (yum), apples (sweet!), cheap granola bars (uh-oh), prepackaged fruit cups (whoa, no), and an entire loaf of crusty bread (great) and some canned tuna (ew). I even brought two eggs (wait, what?) that I ended up throwing into the woods as a snack for some lucky fox instead of our hearty Sunday morning sandwich I had envisioned with the pie iron over the camp stove. There were also about 8 cookies. In retrospect, with clarity, I should have packed the most nutritious, simplistic, no-cooking, no-water-required, no pie-iron, no weight food I could stuff into 3 day’s bags with easy access. I figured higher calories was good, but in retrospect higher quality calories were required. I spent two minutes unpacking to get a snack every time, so ease of access is essential.
I typically eat 1400 calories in a day, restricted from my normal 2000 calories because I float between my goal weight of 200 pounds and 210 pounds. Fitbit tells me I burned 4735 calories that day. I brought enough food to have Jack and I eat 2000 calories each per day. That was almost 1.5 times too little food. Others had food, but I will have enough next time.
Fitbit Calorie Burn
Very important: Get a self contained water filter with enough capacity to quench your intense thirst a few times between water stops, and make sure that you have sufficient water stops. I had a waterbottle with a filtering straw, and two backup bottles, and we used them all day long. There was never enough water between stops, so make sure you can bring it with you.
Consideration 4: Pack precisely what you need, with weight and safety in balance.
Things I’d given anything to exchange:
A thin body mat and a blanket or a hammock instead of my inappropriately huge winter-camping sleeping bag with down lining.
More whole-foods in trail mix form instead of cooking utensils or gear (pie iron, stove) and certainly less junk food, high in sugar and little else.
USB Batteries, compass, three flashlights instead of a dead cellphone.
Protein based trail mix instead of Tuna, cookies, or poker mix.
A tarp as a structurable tent. (Jack promises to veto this)
Organized larger plastic bags instead of any trash-creators, like wrappers or boxes or plastic.
Consideration 5: Have comfortable, thick-soled hiking shoes.
This was emphasized, but I did not grok the importance. I brought two pairs of shoes: a pair of walking shoes that I was not familiar with, and a pair of sandals that I wear most of the time. The walking shoes kept my feet from blisters, but I felt every rock beneath my feet. I never wore the sandals. Jack wore jeans and sneakers. We were barely walking by the end of the day.
Don’t mess around. Get great boots for hiking, with compression features, ankle support, and thick mountain-proof soles.
Consideration 6: Have a backup plan, an escape route, and a few ways to communicate.
Here’s a short list of items I should have had on this trip:
A map of the trail with topography and clear escape plans.
working smart phone
whistles and shared signals
walkies for each hiker
contact info for each hiker
Backup USB batteries to power devices for each day of the trip.
Consideration 7: Bring the right tools, and test your gear.
What I brought:
a fork/knife/spoon multitool
a $3 3 LED flashlight
a smart phone that died on the first night
a flip phone with low battery
a borrowed tent
two borrowed framed backpacks
What I needed:
A swiss army knife
A $10 heavy-duty 9 LED flashlight
USB batteries
I needed to open and set up the tent before the trip
I needed to have a better understanding of the way a contemporary hiking backpack works. After really examining it upon return, after wearing it for a long 12 hour hiking day, I realized that my pack was set up for a much smaller frame, which made the pack work against me.
I needed to know that one of my key frame grommets was missing the pin, and that my pack was unhinged and unbalanced most of the trip as a result. It was repaired by one of the leaders midday, but only because he noticed and took action. By that point, I had done a lot of extra work, and it took a toll.
Consideration 8: Determine and discuss exit points and fallback camps. Ask 100 questions.
We should have known exactly what to do in the event that we became hopelessly separated. Without communication, visual contact, or even the way to make a very large sound or show, we could have been stranded.
Here is a list of some things we did not expect as we finally reached route 42 at the end of the service road, as we turned on our flip phone, low on power:
It was pitch black dark at 8 pm.
There was no cell service for a fifteen minute walk up or down a road that I did not know the name of (Route 42 beside the National Forest, I learned later).
There was no civilized station of service (gas, convenience, police) of any kind for any visible distance.
I never got a cell signal and so I’m not sure what sequence of calls I was going to make, but I never considered 911.
We would end up having to flag someone down, ask for help, and thank them profusely. We got a ride after flagging down a car when we gave up on getting a signal. Having an 11 year old and hiking gear in the dark on the side of a fast road helps you to share your urgency. We were saved by a Iraq war vet and her Virginia native husband who knew Camp Shenandoah like the back of his hand. God bless those people, who asked only that we ‘pay it forward’. I shared that we would.
Think of the worst and prepare for it.
Consideration 9: Don’t separate from the group.
You may be wondering how this part happened. The fact is that towards the end of the day the status quo of having everyone be in visual sight waned. The strongest able-bodied hikers often scouted ahead and would stop at major turns in the path, or when leaders would slow them down. For the last hike up, it was less important to do that theoretically, because there was only one path up, no offside roads, no alternate paths, no other way but down. As a result, I imagine that the mindset was just keep going up. That was the advice we got, with a smile. “You’re so close!” was encouragement, and we agreed to try. The leader and his son who we had last contact with, who had waited for us at the service road, left for their final ascent, 1.5 miles up, but a bulk of the ascension of the overall trip was in that last 1.5 miles. We tried that until we could not try it any longer, between 5 and 7 pm, when we had to descend to keep the light. Our last contact was a hopeful one, but we expressed our doubt that we would make it up.
The biggest issue with this was that the hike down, especially in our debilitated state, was treacherous, dark, and unknown. Safety in numbers, so stay with your group. In our case, we would have had to have done something like what we did eventually, but because it diverted from the plan, it was a surprise, and it should have been a (potential) part of the plan instead.
Consideration 10: Make choices, not defaults.
Jack and I discussed a lot of things in our last ascent to the top of Elliot Knob. We talked about the feelings we were having, including fear and despair. We encouraged each other to have hope. We cried. We talked about the disappointment of everyone else having done what we were not able to. How we could maybe make it if we tried. How we were safer to think about alternatives. That we had options.
The only thing keeping us exhausted on the side of a mountain in pitch black trying to set up a tent while crying and looking for bears with a flashlight was our discussion of that possibility. We decided that safety in retreat was better than exhaustion in success or regret in disaster.
I am crying as I write this at Jack’s bravery in light of the choice of either danger or failure. It was no contest, but we considered both for a long time as we were forced to rest, as we were trying to take labored, heavy-breathed steps up a steep incline like I had never traversed before, with heavy packs we could not drop, as we ached and yelped as we turned each corner and saw another quarter mile of difficult trail upward, with no towers in sight, like those we had heard about at the peak. We heard, saw, and felt nothing but nature. No cars, no humans, just nature, getting darker, and an uphill trail. We felt alone.
Jack ascending the trail
Jack and I learned a lot about the beauty of the deep woods and mountains of Virginia. We learned about preparedness and resourcefulness. We saw the tops of every other mountain in the county. We learned about the flora and fauna from a biologist. We met new friends and learned about their lives and philosophies. We saw vistas and waterfalls, and the intense life-giving sun changing the air as we walked. We learned about our limits. We learned about the importance of safety in the most unlikely places. We learned that we can rely on one another. We learned that we will always work with each other to be safe first, and winners at other times.
It’s the journey, friends, it has little to do with the destination. Be safe, have fun, make choices and get home.
