An impromptu Snow Lake trip. Last day of September. Warm, sunny, with the knowledge that this won't last much longer. I couldn't afford to go and I couldn't afford not to.
On the way up we took the less traveled Source Lake (above) route. On the slope above it the kids threw rocks by the waterfall in the sunshine and said lets stay here. I settled in happy to have made it this far and then watched as slowly the whole crew in small waves of their own accord continued scrambling up the slope—partly on all fours—gripped by the pure glee of discovery and wonder that the mountains are capable of inspiring. It felt good to simply follow in the wake of that.
pumping water is big fun
We ended up doing a round trip, eating a late lunch on big beautiful glacier rounded rocks above Snow Lake, even got in a little bushwhacking, then headed back down the main path.
After all those miles and minor scrapes no one fell asleep on the car ride home—amazing!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday
Monday, September 29, 2008
free pancakes
I put this mailer card together last week, an event announcement for community planning around the new light rail station opening next year.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Silent Lakes
After two weeks of rain in August―two weeks! August is always solid sun―it had to be good weather in mid-September. The power of imperative does not disappoint—we had beautiful, clear, warm, and sunny weather. It coincided very nicely with a trip to the mountains my brothers and I had planned.
The drive up went fairly smooth. Only one small detour took us by the Boeing plant up North unexpectedly... the one with the 100 ft. photo banners hanging off the buildings. Quite surreal, I'd never seen that before. Which I can also say about the underwear clad barista we drove by minutes before (no relation to detour) emptying coffee grounds into a dumpster in high-thigh cut black, lacy underwear topped by a black fleece jacket... all fleece or flesh... new trends in northern Aurora Ave fashion? Sometimes you just need to get out of Seattle to see what's really going on. Although I hear that this sort of fashion is exactly what the minister of Uganda is railing against.
addendum: or perchance performance? doubtful, but I had to laugh when recently I stumbled upon this
On the way to the Easy Pass trailhead we stopped at the Marblemount Ranger Station to get a permit. The one that expressly states no camping on heather (as has Beckeys for a couple of decades now). But then again, America is an exceptional country. The rest of the Hwy 20 drive was as beautiful a drive as always. Every car club ever thinks so too. We saw about 100 Rolls Royces on the drive back. Get yr drive on while there's still fossil fuel to burn... Actually, this was probably the furthest I'd driven all year.
The first day we hiked up and over Easy Pass down into the Fisher Creek valley, up the valley and up another pass (the steep one below) into moon-shine and upper Silent Lake.
The sheer beauty and magnetic powers of the cascades can energize me to hike until I drop, especially when the moon is full and the sky is clear, but the rationale here was to get up and over the snowfield while it was still soft from the warmth of the day before it turns into cement overnight...
We had axes, but no crampons.
The moon between Fisher and Black peak.
I got up at dawn and hiked up the Arriva ridge.
Arriva ridge 180 westward view, from left: looking across to the glaciers on the North face of Black Mountain. The valley below is Grizzly Creek, the next mountain over is Meulefire, behind which is the impressive NE face of Mt.Goode. To the left in the distance, Glacier Peak. Mt. Logan is the one cut off between frames, the black V... in the distance between Goode and Logan are Buckner and Forbidden (capped by one of the first clouds that were soon to be plentiful that afternoon). The west peak of Mt.Arriva is on the right and the beautiful glacial green lake below terminates the upper South fork of Fisher Creek; Mt. Baker is the white mountain in the distance.
Click on photo above to get full view.
In the afternoon this bear came loping over the pass on muscular haunches rippling bleached hair in the sunlight, moving quickly down to the lake and then swimming across without hesitation. Not the first time surely - was for me though, wow! a swimming bear...
On the other side of the lake, after shaking like a dog, he threw him?self against a small tree and rolled off the other side. I went to that tree the next day and could barely bend it... that bear easily weighs twice as much as me and probably a whole lot more.
That same lake, lower Silent Lake. I spent the afternoon walking barefoot all around here.
Lower Silent Lake drainage: the beginnings of Grizzly Creek. Black Peak glacier.
Coming down Fisher Peak ridge, upper Silent Lake and our camp below. See that blue 1 pixel dot to the left of the lake? - our tent.
The last night was spent on the Fisher Creek pass, sun setting on one side and moon rising on the other. Good spirits all around...
The eastern view, sunrise.
The hike out was another beautiful day. Very warm. Hot even. Requiring a pause that refreshes. View up the Fisher Creek valley. It was hard to leave.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
up the Middle Fork
Originally the plan was to do the annual Snow Lake hike this last week of August, but the response was, as the little ones like to say, a big fat zero. There's been an unseasonable amount of rain this year, some people were out of town, some unextractable from town... but we weren't about to throw in the towel. We just switched gears. Farther, longer, warmer. Bring the towel!
It's August, but it sure felt more like Fall, so off to the hotsprings we went...
The drive up was nice. Sunniest day all week.
I hadn't been since they shut down the road and built the foot bridge, so we took the bike and trailer to cover the extra mileage.
I tryed four times to shoot a vid while riding up, but each time the cameras settings got jostled and rearranged, rough road—
I love it when the environment contributes creatively...
The path to the springs is beautiful.
When we first got up to the springs a group of ten year old girls were just leaving. My "warrior queens in training" as the woman who was with them put it. Alright! good to see... we may phrase it differently, but no doubt we're on the same page. The rest of the afternoon we had the whole place to ourselves.
The next morning we got there right around the same time as a couple and their four year old son—perfect. 
The little ones had a great time and I got to go back into the dark steam of the cave. It was so nice just soaking for hours and letting the body rearrange, drinking clear water right out of the stream, and then walking back down the path all relaxed and peaceful.
The last soak was shared with a small parisian family and their NW host. Good company all around.
Here's a vid that's not a vid... wanted to see what a long pan of a still would look like—with sound. Does sound make water move? maybe only sort of...
The current caretakers are really nice. I'd actually never been in the summer. Usually I go when there's snow, or the possibility thereof. That's my idea of the perfect hotspring experience. But it seems that winter also coincides with the time of year when the caretakers cabin is inhabited by a... well—as a friend put it—a rather curmudgeonly gnome.
So it was a nice surprise to be handed a bag of home-baked cookies and chocolate when we checked out. (We'd woken up that morning, not only to all night of rain, but our food bag, that I'd hoisted up on the food storage wire, was lying on the ground amidst soggy pine needles, a big hole chewed in the bottom from which protruded a half eaten bar of chocolate... Closer inspection revealed that the bags tie line had been ingeniously severed (chewed) by an intrepid squirrel or chipmunk. Somewhere out there, a very well stimulated furry animal was flying through the forest...)
Had we known, the tight lidded plastic food-storage buckets would have been the way to go, but the caretaker didn't realize we were staying overnight, and we didn't know about the crafty chipmunks...
Back at the car CP was sound asleep. The road is rough - but apparently not too rough to sleep. All that soaking makes for good napping...
Earlier she said, "next time, let's stay four days!"
