U.S. Soccer

Surprise, surprise! The U.S. Men’s Soccer team played in the final of the Confederations Cup against perennial power Brazil. I was only able to watch the final 20 minutes of the game on Sunday when I returned from hike. I was stunned when I turned the game on and saw that the U.S. led the match 2-1. I knew immediately what the impact of that score meant for the U.S. team. As I listened to the announcers speak about the magnitude of that score it validated my thoughts. Win, lose or draw, this score will create a buzz for U.S. Soccer that has not seen since they hosted the 1994 World Cup.

As I watched Brazil do what Brazil does to win the game my disappointed in the loss was overshadowed by the excitement I felt for U.S. Soccer. Once again it seems that the U.S. will be relevant in international soccer. The momentum that this tournament and more importantly this game has created for the U.S. leading up to next years World Cup really has me excited for soccer.

The U.S. team led by coach Bob Bradley, and players like, Landon Donavon, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, seems to have enough talent to play with the best teams in the world. This has not always been the case, as the U.S. Soccer team has lacked the talent to seriously challenge for a World Cup championship. I believe that next year the U.S. will be considered as a serious threat to contend for the title.

The results of last weeks Confederations Cup and the success of the U.S. team may have been overshadowed in the U.S. by the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, and the sentencing of Bernard Madoff, I still have heard and seen more soccer highlights then I can ever remember. Even on ESPN, where the majority of the talking heads despise soccer, there was actually a little excitement and perhaps even a little pride. I was listening to “The Writers Block” with The Registers Guard’s George Schroeder and Jay Jones of OneClickSportsNews.com and they spent a large portion of the show talking soccer. While it was very obvious that Jay Jones very much dislikes soccer and it appears he especially dislikes U.S. soccer, it appeared to me that he had actually done his homework and was somewhat prepared for the story.

What does all this mean? I don’t know, however, the fact that soccer is in the headlines at all is certainly a step in the right direction. My only hope is that the U.S. continues there recent success as they continue with the World Cup qualifying matches that they have coming up this summer and carry it over into next years World Cup. I know that I will be paying a lot more attention and I hope that ESPN and the rest of the sports world will as well!

Bobby Lake

What an amazing weekend! I spent the entire weekend at Bobby Lake on the Pacific Coast trail in the Oregon Cascades. This was my very first backpacking trip, and I can tell you that it will not be the last! If you have ever spent time at any of the high lakes in Oregon, you will know what I am talking about when I say this is perhaps the most beautiful place on earth.

I had stayed up late the night before, packing and repacking my backpack.(Thank you Maggie!) My learning curve was pretty steep. Do I really need two pairs of pants? Do I have enough warm clothes? It all seems simple, but when you have to pack everything into one backpack along with your tent, sleeping bag, fishing gear…, and then strap it to your back for 3 miles, well, even the smallest items require serious thought.

My brother Eric picked me up at my place in Eugene at about 9:30 Friday morning. I was like a child at Christmas the night before, tossing and turning, imagining the adventure that awaited me in the morning. The 90 minute drive to the Bobby Lake trail head was pretty quiet. I always enjoy the trip to the mountains.

One nice thing about backpacking is you are ready to hit the trail as soon as you park, no tedious unpacking of useless gear, just strapping the backpack on and heading into the forest. Starting the hike at 10:30 is nice, the temperature was about sixty degrees and I was comfortable in just shorts and a t-shirt.

As we hit the trail, I could feel the tension leaving my body. The 50 pound pack on my back felt comfortable and I felt strong. There were small patches of snow visible through the trees and occasionally we had to walk over small drifts. Eric is surprisingly fast despite the fact his pack is at least 20 pounds heavier than mine. This is his third trip this year and he is in great shape. About 10 minutes in, I start to notice the altitude, I am breathing heavy and starting to break a sweat. I still feel strong and I am enjoying the solitude of the forest. As I am following Eric along the Bobby Lake trail, I quickly realize how peaceful the forest is. It is an amazing feeling when you are in the forest and you no longer hear the vehicles on the highway, just the sounds of the forest. And the smell, I love the smell of the forest. There is something so therapeutic about leaving civilization behind.

About three quarters of a mile in we start to meet our biggest adversary, the mosquito. These tiny little creatures are relentless. As we follow the trail through the forest, the mosquitoes come and go like an angry, buzzing wave. As we pass through these clouds of nasty blood suckers, we are constantly swatting them from our face and arms. While annoying, these mosquitoes do little to dampen my mood. I am still loving this adventure and I can’t wait to see what is around the next bend or over the next hill.

I began developing blisters on both feet at about 1.5 miles and now I am starting to slow a little. I am wearing the only “hiking boots” (I use this term loosely) I own. I guess that is what I should expect from a $30 pair of boots. At about 2 miles in, the Bobby Lake trail intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail, and we travel on the PCT for about a quarter mile until the Bobby Lake trail splits off. As I walk down a slight hill I can see the lake through the trees and it is much larger than I had imagined. When we get to the lake, we leave the main trail and begin the trek around the lake. Just when I thought I had made it, I remember that Eric had told me we would be camping on the other side of the lake. My feet are blistered now and I am starting to fatigue. We travel along the edge of the lake for a few hundred yards and we come to a rock out cropping. It is an easy climb, but with a 50 pound pack and blistered feet it is pretty challenging. Eric points across the lake and informs me that we are camping over there.

As we climb down off of the rock outcropping, the trail begins to get pretty overgrown. It is pretty obvious that few people venture past the rock. My feet are pretty sore and my legs and back are tired, I push myself to keep up with Eric. Despite the pain in my feet and my tired muscles, I feel great. The feeling I get as I push through the pain and fatigue, knowing that I can’t just stop and sit down to rest is amazing. Even as Eric disappears through the forest and the trail disappears in front of me I gain confidence in my ability. I know that I am close, but I feel as if I could go further if I had to. Eric must know that the camp is close because he is completely out of sight now. The trail that I was following is nothing more than an occasional break in the brush. I know that I just need to follow the lake and I will find camp. As I climb over fallen trees, and duck under low hanging branches, I marvel at my new found confidence. The brush along the lake has gotten too thick and I can see that if I move up the hill the brush is lighter. I venture away from the lake feeling as if I can conquer the world. The forest opens up as I get further up the hill. I look around and there is no sign of a trail and the lake is out of sight now. Am I lost? No way! I continue up and over the slight hill and as I start down the other side I see the lake again. Eric is standing next to a table made entirely from logs from the forest in the middle of an amazing campsite overlooking the lake.

Eric and I unpacked and set up camp. For four hours Friday, Eric and I sat next to Bobby Lake, watching our poles, listening to the silence of nature. At around 4 o’clock, Shane and Jason walked out of the forest and into camp. I had never met either of them but Eric had camped and fished with Shane before. Adam, Mike and Jay made camp around 8:30 that night. Mike brought me my Nike’s and saved my feet from cheap boots. (Thanks Mike!) Shane’s dad Terry joined us early Saturday morning. An amazing man with an endless supply of fishing stories, I can only hope that I am that fit when I am his age.

Eric and I had been fishing for over eight hours Friday and we had a few bites but no fish. Adam arrives, throws a worm in the lake and within 30 seconds he has his first bite and a minute later he lands a 17 inch rainbow trout. Unbelievable, I know! I did catch one rainbow trout myself, only about 16 inches but the largest fish I have ever caught and the first fish I have in over 10 years. Jay was eager to clean and cook the trout for me, by far the best fish I have ever eaten!

That night and the next day was exactly what you would expect of a camp full of men, fishing, drinking and telling stories of fishing trips past. Most of which will never be spoken of except while sitting around a campfire.

After getting up at about seven on Sunday, I immediately started breaking down camp and packing up. As soon as I unzipped the fly to my tent I was tackled by hundreds of mosquitoes. We packed up and hiked away from Bobby Lake at about 9 on Sunday morning. Eric and I hiked out with Adam, Mike and Jay. Adam has been hiking to Bobby Lake for more than 20 years and we took many short cuts through the woods on the way out. I felt so strong for the hour that we hiked to get to the trailhead, I felt like I could have gone another 5 miles.

I made it! The Bobby Lake trail is an easy hike, with nearly no climbing. But for this first timer, I found a part of myself that has been missing for years. I have been bitten by the outdoors bug. As I sat next to that lake, swatting mosquitoes and watching my motionless fishing pole, I found myself planning future adventures.