Neo was very disappointed in all the hiking smells of yesterday, when he couldn’t join in, so today was a short hike for him at Cougar, in via Shangri-La and out via the Tibbett’s trails. Jason decided to join us for this three mile hike, making it an outing with the whole pack.
It was a cool morning, making fleece a good accompaniment, but otherwise was very quiet and free of people. So, we gave Neo a bit of off leash time, to see how he’d do. Like the good little scout he is, he tried to stay in front (though wasn’t really concerned if he wasn’t), but kept strictly to his duty of making sure that the whole pack was visible to him at all times. If Jason lingered behind, he’d turn and wait for him to catch up. If we tried to separate by a couple dozen feet, he’d turn, wait for the person in the back, even as the person in front passed him, then zoom back to the front just long enough to have to turn and wait for the person in back again. He kept us both in view, but didn’t quite figure out the trick of just walking in the middle. It was cute, and gave us a chance to practice off leash recalls. It wasn’t bad, but let’s just say he has more work.
As always, more pictures available at: Kendall Katwalk 08-07-09 Flickr Set
Class this morning assured that I would be up early, but the lingering migraine made me uncertain. So set auto-pilot to on, pack up the gear, and get in the car. Fourty-five minutes later, I’m at the trailhead to PCT at Snoqualmie Pass and hitting the trail.
Bleeding Heart Gone to Seed
The cool weather was a nice change after last week, and a number of folks appeared to have taken advantage of it, as I saw a number of backpackers coming back to the trailhead, some had fishing gear, some had huge packs, but all were in good spirits. The abundant fields of flowers were certainly something to keep them in good spirits. There were lots of familiar flowers, many still covered in mist from the low lying clouds of the evening. Interestingly enough, they had started to go to seed in a number of cases.
Fields of Wildflowers
The low hanging clouds stuck around all day, keeping the temperatures cool, and creating very ineresting formations in those clouds as the warmer air lifted up from the valley floor and making a show throughout the day, all over the valley. It helped to keep the bumble bees happy, as they had field after field of flowers to feast on, even over the boulder fields.
Small, Intriguing Cairn
These boulder fields may be my first of the season, and they were real, honest to goodness boulder fields. Unlike my last trip three years ago, when there were more cairns, there was only one there today, but it was a very interesting one. Throughout the whole trip, birds were singing loudly, but they got even louder across the boulder fields, and joined in with the pikas. You could see a pika scoot along the rocks every once in a while, but they mostly stayed well out of site. I’m pretty sure that I heard a marmot whistle as well, on the upper boulder field. And, of course, the requisite chipmunk along the trail, of course, and various insects.
Chipmunk with Full Cheeks
Cricket, Staying Surprisingly Still
It was lovely to be able to take the time to take pictures at my leisure, having seemingly all the time in the world to go through my battery and memory card. It also gave me time to notice some interesting things – particularly that areas of the ground seemed wet. But only under trees. At one, it almost felt like there was a little bit of a waterfall that ended just at the trail. Higher up the mountain, I figured out the deal – the trees were condensing the moisture out of the air and causing it to rain, but only underneath the trees. You could stand there and watch it “rain” (albeit very slowly) just underneath some of the trees. I’m sure some particular configurations worked better than others, but it was really pretty cool.
Join me for the approach up to the Katwalk:
Dramatic Katwalk Pictures
Even after reaching the the Katwalk, the tumultuous clouds had not disappated, providing an interesting backdrop to the narrow walkway and steep cliff falling away below. I paused for a little while, in the chilly temperatures and stiff breeze, taking pictures, taking a snack, and chatting with the handful of people who were coming through from the north. There were a few who had just come in for the day hike, but mostly folks who had been overnighting somewhere north, or farther along the PCT. Definitely a lot of fishing gear – some of which had seen better luck than others.
A Very Tasty Salmonberry
When it was finally time to turn around, I let the camera have a bit of a rest. Partially to stay warm, but partially to get some trail behind me, I hoofed it a bit more quickly. Everyone so often, the sun would break through the clouds, and provide a little bit of warmth, and a lot of brightness. With so many lovely views on the way back to the trailhead, it was hard not to stop and take a picture, and eat a salmon berry or two. And perhaps chat with the folks hanging out for a rest and pet the dogs who were quite well behaved.
I’ve taken the keyboard back from Neo, and took him back to Cougar Mountain. We did the four mile loop along Cave Hole Trail and Quarry Trail back to Red Town Trail. A loop that I, Neo, and everyone in the greater Puget Sound has probably taken at some point – maybe many dozen times, particularly at running speeds.
It was once again shockingly empty, coming across less than a handful of people, most of them trail running. No pictures, just a lovely hike and a lot of fun sniffing for Neo. An excellent afternoon out, Washington style.
Hi! I haven’t gotten to write on here until now, but my mom left the screen unlocked, so I’m writing this trip report for her. If you haven’t met me, I’m Neo. I’m almost 1 year old (my birthday is next Wednesday; I want toys and cookies and chicken and more toys and cookies) and I’m a standard poodle. No, I’m not a girl, no matter what you think of poodles. Humpf!
Can I come out now?
My mom kept talking about “Paradise”, but didn’t seem to be too inclined to get out of bed this morning. I guess it was all good for me, because she packed up my stuff into that great-smelling thing she puts on her back when we go fun places. I beat her down the stairs and tried to jump into the car on my own, but she always catches me just before I leap and hefts me in, while I try to flail my legs to tell her I could do it on my own. Ever since I had shoulder surgery, she’s so picky about these things. At least it wasn’t a long drive, but she made me wait so she could heft me out again when we got to the place where all the other cars parked. It’s so hard to wait once I hear that parking break go on!
Why are we waiting?
There were hardly any people on the trail, so I got to sniff around instead of walking right next to mom. I like that better. But she kept stopping at these big giant sticks coming out of the ground (that usually had some pretty interesting scents on them, if you ask me). Then she’d point her grey box at me until it beeped, but I’m kinda used to that thing by now. I’m not real fond of it, not when there are so many things to smell, but she’s got the cookies.
One of these? I'm not a fan!
But she never stopped for too long, and I don’t think I missed any good smells. I gotta tell ya, it’s a pretty interesting place, this “Cougar Mountain”. I don’t know what a Cougar is, but it sounds pretty interesting if this place is named after it. There were lots of these long flat bits, with strange bumps down the middle. I’m not really fond of those metal bumps – they feel weird on my paws! But the only other option was the wet mud on either side, and no matter how much she tries to spray me with a hose, I still don’t like getting my pretty little paws wet. See, they just kept coming, it was awful!
Where is it?!
I could hear all kinds of rustling in the bushes, and I could smell the birds (there was a bird in my house when I was littler, so I know what they smell like), but everything was hiding and was hard to see. Not that I didn’t stop and try to find these things – and not like mom gave me enough time to find them. I mean, what if it was one of those big, loud, mean birds with the blue bodies and silly little crest? It might have tried to attack her, and I wouldn’t have had enough time to flush it out and send it running.
There were also these big giant trees – but they were the wrong direction! They were still pretty tall, but they were across our path. My mom kept encouraging me, and saying “go on”, but they are kind of big and in the way. I found the secret at one of them
but that didn’t work on all of them! I mean, not only did they have good things to smell, and there wasn’t any time, but they’re as tall as my shoulders. Who knows what’s on them! Sometimes, I had to just jump. I like jumping and all, but jumping is for getting to people’s faces and hands… Not this weird stuff.
Jumping is fun, but where are the treats?
Anyway, we finally climbed up some stuff – ooo, lots of crinkly leaves under foot! Those are so fun! Mom made me sit on this little plateau. I wanted to go explore all the bits that went down – they smelled a lot – but she made me turn around. There were so many little side paths here, and she never let me go the way I wanted to. But she gave me directions – if a bit late most of the time – so I knew which way to go. I mean, I could have let her go in front, but then I couldn’t scout out the sniffs!
I caught it!
Mom moved a little faster from this point, and stopped less to point that silly grey box at me. And we played catch, too. I love catch. It’s fun with balls, and it’s fun with floppy toys. But it’s most fun with food, and that’s what she had! Of course, she kept hitting me in the nose, or the head, or the teeth, but we finally got one! She looked around at all the bright plants here and there, totally ignoring me waiting for her, but she says you can see those “pictures” at this place: DeLeo Wall Flickr Set.
She kept looking at her wrist, and grumbling about "stinging nettles".
Oh, yeah, and we met two other doggies on the trip too. Neither of them had to have a leash on, but I had too! Pout! The first one was this big yellow lab (I’ve played with those before) who was all squirmy and fun, but she was just begging mom for the treats in her hand. I don’t mind sharing though, and at least she had to work to get the treats too. They’re good treats, after all! The other one (I haven’t seen one of these fuzzy, fox-looking ones before) seemed friendly at first, but when I asked her to play, she barked and nipped at me. I tried to run away, but mom was still holding on to me, and when the other dog got between us, mom tried to avoid falling on the other dog (I would have just fallen on her), she landed in the bushes. She kept looking at her arms and legs, and was very slow getting up and kept looking at her wrist the whole rest of the trip. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to defend her, ’cause that dog was kinda snippy!
Time to go home and get lunch!
Three balls! I can retrieve all three at once; try it!
We finally ended up back at the car – we always do – and I got more water and more treats! Then a ride home, and I like rides too. And, wouldn’t you know it, dad was waiting for me at home! I had to search around in the room in which I sleep, the room in which they pee, the room that has all the yummy smells, but finally found him in front of that bright screen and clicky thing his hands make noise on. All in all, a good fun day out, and when I get to play fetch with my toys at the end, it’s even better.
I discovered that my brilliant plan to lighten mypack and take advantage of he 63F nights were not even close to brilliant (maybe a little closer to the opposite of brilliant). Turns out, even wearing all my clothes, and using the sleeping bag liner, any place that was touching the bivy (thigh, hip, shoulder) was drained of heat. Next time, not skipping the sleeping bag. Given that the nights were supposed to drop six degrees over the next two nights, and K’s sore throat was sounding worse, I figured that it wasn’t the best of ideas to continue another night, and just get far enough in that we’d have to take the full four days, and when I broached the subject I. The morning with K, she agreed.
So we made our breakfast, packed up our stuff (trading who was carrying the bear caninster, got water from the best pump site I have ever sen, and headed back the way we came. K was generally feeling ok, but her lack of voice kept the trail talk down. It was absolutely a great slow hike, though. I took to a walking meditation of counting slow breaths as I walked, and we started taking more and more pictures. The morning light offered a change from the late afternoon light we had the day before, and we felt no time pressure, so it was more of a stroll than anything else. And a great one at that.
Sol Duc Falls 1
Sol Duc Falls 2
We stopped by the falls for a photo break, getting lots of various angles on the water – and she helps me try out a couple of new pictures for my website. Lighting and distance being tough, we didn’t try for too long. We passed lots of people asking how far it was to the falls, but had lost track of time while leapfrogging each other on the trail, to take more photos.
Spider on the Trail
It was lovely to take the time, and have someone who also wanted to take the time, to just explore the random things that come alive on a photograph. It keeps your mind in the forest, and is kind of like a treasure hunt. There was even a squirrel that cooperated by posing in various cute ways for a good three minutes and a spider that wandered down the trail with me.
Swinging Bench!
We ended the hike passing more and more people, families mostly, out for a stroll from the resort. Lots of teenagers with iPods, kids with cute hats and shoes, and parents with large cameras. The sound of a gaggle of kids in a pool greeted us as we began to emerge from the forest, and soon we were back at the car, changing shoes, grabbing a snack for the road, airing out the hot car, and taking a go on the swinging bench.
It was generally a lovely, fairly easy, hike through a very pretty forest with lots of bridges over clear, cold water.
A second returned call to the Olympic ranger station got my trip, with only some minor modifications, back on order! The woman who helped me set up the trip (since there were more camp spots than my map showed), was incredibly helpful! Granted, I’m not thrilled that I’m not allowed to use my Ursack and have a hard sided canister instead, but hey, I’d be even less thrilled about bears in my food.
My chicken soup is drying in the dehydrator, and my gear is waiting for packing. Well… except the clothes… Always more laundry to do!
At some point, even the best planner makes a mistake, and heavens know I am a far cry from the best planner. So it is with poor planning that I find out, three days from my expected departure, that the Olympic National Forest Sol Duc/Seven Lakes/High Divide area has limits on camping permits. And, naturally, they’re out of them. Sigh.
With only one other person on the trip, whose schedule is flexible, at least I have the luxury of replanning. It’s always tough to replan, atthe last minute, when the original plans are exactly where you wanted to go, but it’s not like there’s a dirth of options!
I just must remember to check on these things earlier.
I have, however, been doing a great jobs preparing all my dehydrated foods. The trip might not happen as planned, but there will be food!
I’ve got my backpacking trips all planned out. Every single weekend, I’ll be sleeping under the stars. (Ok, ok. Under a tent. I do really hate mosquitoes.) I’ve yet to plan the day trips, and it’s made worse by seeing the special achievement awards – ‘most state parks visited’? ‘most miles in a day’? ‘most trails hiked’? ‘best hike-a-thon blog’? They all speak a little competitive voice in my head.
Only I still feel undertrained. And I have… an insane amount of ambition about this thing. When I look at the mileage on a map… it just doesn’t seem all that bad. Eh, what’s a couple of 9 mile days in a row? Eh, what’s a 24 mile day trip?
Hike-a-thon is three weeks away, and I am woefully under-prepared.
I don’t have my hikes all planned out. I haven’t been training for three months. I don’t even have backpacking food drying out in the dehydrator! (Ok, ok… perhaps I’m being a bit silly.)
But, plans are starting to come together.
At least two backpacking trips are on the table: 1) Deception Pass (the one in the Central Cascades, not on Whidbey Island) and 2) Dutch Miller Gap (a repeat, but that was an awesome trip!). Ptarmagin Ridge is in the plans as well, and maybe Lake Elenor (Mt. Rainier).
And then the day trips. I think gas costs will keep me close to home, but that’s ok. Perhaps this is the year I’ll do the whole traverse of Tiger Mountain – something like 30 miles, if I remember correctly.
