WTF, a Food Truck? On a Hiking Trail?!

Our second hike of the day last Sunday was Carson Falls. It's fairly close to Cataract Falls, which we hiked earlier in the day. (See my blogs from Cataract Falls - part 1 and part 2.) In fact we drove right past the trailhead a few miles out en route to Cataract. As we drove past the trailhead we noticed something unusual about 100 meters up the trail over a slight rise— the unmistakable shape and bright colors of a food truck!

"WTF, how did a food truck get up there?" Hawk and I said to each other, noting the locked gate across the fire road that allows only hikers and bicyclists to pass. We figured it was a special permit or something, but sheesh! Commercialization of our public conservation lands. 👎😡

As I repacked my hiking pack at the Carson Falls trailhead— removing my tripod as I figured the cost/benefit ratio of carrying it on a much longer hike wouldn't be worthwhile— Hawk stalked up the trail to see what was going on with that food truck.



Well, good news/bad news. It turns out it's not a food truck. It's the "Tam Van" with information about protecting an endangered species of frogs in the Mt. Tam watershed. Good news: no commercialization of public conservation lands. Bad news: no hot dogs or ice cream available. 🤣

Helles Bock Beer Tasting, part 2

A few weeks ago I tried a taste test of two helles bock beers, Rogue Dead Guy Ale and Abita Andygator, only to discover as I read the labels while drinking that one of them wasn't acutally a helles bock. It was a helles dopplebock. ...Which, BTW, means "light double dark" or "light double goat". 🐏🐏🍻 But the good news was that Abita has another beer which is a proper helles bock, and I still had several bottles of it downstairs from a previous round of beer buying.



So here's a proper comparison of two helles bocks, both of them Americans: Rogue Brewing's Dead Guy Ale and Abita's Mardi Gras Bock.

Dead Guy Ale is the incumbent from the previous round of taste testing, though not exactly the winner. Both it and the beer I paired with it previous had "Good, but..." flavors. Dead Guy had a bready taste on the front that I didn't like. The other Abita I paired it with, Andygator, was slightly too sweet.

In this round the Dead Guy Ale maintained that odd, bready taste at the front of each sip. It wasn't just a weirdness with one bottle. Abita's Mardi Gras Bock is frankly pretty similar to its Andygator in over flavor. The Mardi Gras is slightly less sweet than its sibling— just enough less sweet to make the beer more satisfying.

Abita Mardi Gras Bock wins this round and goes on my short list of favorite beers so far. The ultimate test will be when I get another 6-pack of Estrella Galicia Reserva 1906— the best helles bock I've tried and possibly the best beer overall— and compare it to that.