The Explorers Club, Northern California Chapter

Explorers Club letterhead showing Chapter officers, logo, and National officers

News Flash, Bekins Exhibit

Joan Linn Bekins will present an exhibition of macro photography "Flower Power" July 9 - October 5, 2001 at the MGH Medical Building, 1350 South Eliseo Drive, Greenbrae (hours 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM). There will be a reception for Joan on Tuesday, July 17 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. email to Joan (joan@joanlinnbekins.com) and visit www.joanlinnbekins.com for an exhibition preview

Photograph iris petal.
Iris douglasiana © Joan Linn Bekins

Angel Island Photographs

Angel Island Picnic, Saturday, June 23

Many people took photographs at this grand event. Jerry Hughes posted his either later that day or the next day at http://jghughes.net/explorers/picnic062301/pic062301.html

Paul Sumi, a guest of Mike Diggles' and Mary Jane Coombs', took a lot of shots also and many of these are shown below in different categories

  • The Picnic
  • The Tent
  • The Mount Livermore Summitting

    The Picnic

    We gathered via vessel from either Tiburon, San Francisco, or Berkeley. The fellowship and food were grand

    Photograph of Boat basin.
    Boat basin.

    Photograph of Explorers Club Flag and 'trophy heads'.
    Explorers Club Flag and 'trophy heads.'

    Photograph of Captain Crunch and Dynamite Dan.
    Captain Crunch and Dynamite Dan.

    Photograph of two couples chatting with great animation.
    Heated debates.

    Photograph of couple chatting .
    Less-heated debate.

    Photograph of Michael Diggles.
    Michael Diggles.

    Photograph of two guys opening a small keg of Grolsch beer.
    Ah, the payoff.

    Photograph of people serving food.
    Serving time.

    Photograph of woman grilling.
    Grilling.

    Photograph of Mary Jane wearing silly captains hat with plumes.
    Mary Jane with Captain Crunch's hat.

    Photograph of man photographing Morton Beebe.
    Photographing the photographer Mort Beebe.

    Photograph of group at table.
    Conversation and wine.

    Photograph of boy and inflatable penguin.
    Scott.

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    The Tent

    As "advertised," we brought along John Roscoe's tent he used in Antarctica when he was Admiral Byrd's Science Advisor. The thing weighs 42 pounds. Elsa Roscoe says he used it last in 1948; the date on the label says 1945 so that's about right. We opened it up, having decided not to test it before the picnic so that whatever surprises were inside the storage bag would be enjoyed by all, even if the bag contained nothing but moths and mummy dust. Well, the bag contained a tent and a tent liner but no tent pole. So the adventure began. We got Captain Crunch to pull a couple lines and a Crescent wrench off of his boat and we managed to get a line over a tree limb so we could hoist the tent without a pole. The folks at Angel Island State Park don't let visitors put stakes in the ground because they poke holes in the sprinkler pipes so we used packs, ice chests, picnic-table legs, tree trunks, people... whatever we had handy... to hold the lines out.

    Photograph of Elsa unfolding tent.
    Elsa with John's tent.

    Photograph of Elsa unfolding liner.
    This is the liner to the tent (Diggles photo).

    Photograph of David tossing the line over the tree limb.
    David tossing the line over the tree limb.

    Photograph of three people watching the action.
    Spectators.

    Photograph of two people watching the action.
    Amused spectators.

    Photograph of Michael in mid air.
    Michael trying (and failing) to snag the partially lowered line.

    Photograph of Mary Jane on Michael's shoulders.
    Mary Jane trying to snag (and succeeding in snagging) the partially lowered line.

    Photograph of Elsa holding tent pull-out lines.
    The tent went up.

    Photograph of line tied to folded wheelchair.
    We tied the lines to anything handy (Diggles photo).

    Photograph of erect tent.
    Finished project.

    Photograph of four-foot inflatable penguin and tent.
    The penguin added (?!) reality.

    Photograph of woman holding line.
    Don't just hang out; hold this tent line.

    Photograph of Michael with camera looking at four-inch lined hole in tent liner.
    The stove pipe went through this hole in the tent liner; there is a matching hole in the tent itself.

    Photograph of Label overview.
    Label overview.

    Photograph of Ground plan.
    Ground plan.

    Photograph of tent drawing.
    Tent drawing.

    Photograph of Instructions.
    Instructions.

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    The Mount Livermore Summitting

    The highest point on Angel Island is Mount Livermore. Being Explorers, many of us made the summit attempt (about 700 feet). Some went before lunch; our group went after lunch. At 80, this is Elsa Roscoe's latest summit (her previous summit was Vogelsang Peak some years past).

    Photograph of Mary Jane and Michael holding hands while hiking on a trail through the trees.
    Mary Jane and Michael on the Summit Attempt.

    Photograph of Mary Jane and Michael with David Larsen.
    Mary Jane, Michael, and David at a viewpoint along the way.

    Photograph of Golden Gate Bridge.
    Golden Gate Bridge.

    Photograph of Tiburon from the hill.
    Tiburon.

    Photograph of Pacific Heights from the hill.
    Pacific Heights.

    Photograph of Alcatraz from the hill.
    Alcatraz.

    Photograph of San Francisco from the hill.
    San Francisco.

    Photograph of the Bay Bridge from the hill.
    Bay Bridge.

    Photograph of Alcatraz from top.
    Alcatraz from top.

    Photograph of Mike, Mary Jane, and Elsa climbing the hill; San Francisco in the background.
    Mike, Mary Jane, and Elsa.

    Photograph of Mike, Mary Jane, Paul, and Elsa on top;.
    The four of us on the summit.

    This was the last event of the lecture year (academic year). We do not meet during the field season. We will see you all in the fall; have a safe field season. --Mike Diggles

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    Date created: 07/03/2001
    Last modified: 01/20/2002

    Web page by: Mike Diggles, Webmaster. email to Mike (mdiggles@usgs.gov)
    c/o U.S. Geological Survey, MS-951, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. (650) 329-5404

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