Another pet

A few days ago, we aquired a most unlikely pet. She's very cute, but she's a rabbit. A rabbit was just about the last mammal that I would have wanted to have for a pet. Not that I have that many things against rabbits, but I just don't have much of an attraction to them. They don't like to be held, and they have long nails to make sure that everyone knows they don't like to be held. They also are not as cute as rats and mice. Since I don't have the time to take car of any pet that we have, I'm not too picky about what pets we have. So we have a new rabbit. Her name is Shadow. For a very amusing story about shadow, see www.project7.rockthecross.com

Times like these I envy the dog

Work is long, and most of the time I don't like it. My bed is warm and cozy, but I spend little time there. I love my family, but it seems that I rarely see them anymore. I need a new job. If I have to spend so much time away, it should at least be for something I like.

Why Basset Hounds aren't the best guard dogs...

Part I of my labor day adventure: Why no one climbs snowking Mt.

On Friday night Daniel and I decided to climb Snowking Mountain in the North cascades. I had been wanted to go hiking this weekend for the past several weeks. It was late Friday by the time we got all the planning done, so I decided to just throw everything into bags in the morning and pack what I wanted at the trailhead. It was a great idea, but I ended up sleeping in and then of course I had trouble finding some things that I really wanted, and forgot about others because I was rushed. I didn’t start seriously planning the trip until late, so we were forced to bring only MRE’s to eat.

After a very long drive we finally arrived at the forest road and found that it ended a few miles too early where a bridge had washed out some years ago. So we packed and started walking where the road ended. It was a nice trail, secluded and peaceful, and gaining elevation but not too steep. Then we came to what had been the end of the road. There were remains of a camp fire and at first I couldn’t see any other trail. Once we got to the other end of the clearing we saw the trail. But it wasn’t really a trail. At least not like any I had ever seen before. It was more like a hole in the woods that went almost straight up. So up we went, breaking
brush and climbing stairs of tree roots. It was steeper at more difficult than even the glacier on Mt. Adams. The trees were so thick that I didn’t even bother with the GPS while we were moving. After a while we stopped to rest and get a fix and I realized that we had climbed 1000 vertical ft in half an hour. A look at the map revealed that we had twice as much left just to reach camp and after some discussion we decided to turn around.

Pictures, from Top to Bottom:
Top: The trail that we came out of at the end of the old road
Middle: looking downthe trail after we had come up.
Bottom: About to go into the trail up the mountain.

Part II of my Labor day adventure: Mountain Loop Scenic Highway?!

Once we reached the car we headed back into town and called Ariele to let her know about change of plans. We decided to head to Mt. Pilchuck and get an early start and climb it around dawn. My atlas showed that the quickest way from Darrington to Granite falls was via a “Mountain Loop Scenic Highway”. I had heard of the road and so we headed down it to camp for the night at the base of Mt. Pilchuck. About 9 miles out from Darrington, the road suddenly turned from being paved to dirt. We spent 5-10 minutes trying to figure out where I had made the wrong turn, and then it dawned on me that Mt. loop scenic highway is another anomaly of Washington State. Despite it’s name, it’s not actually a highway, and most of it is not even paved. Since my Xterra performs very well off road we kept going. Another 12 miles of dirt later I realized that not only was Mt. Loop scenic Highway not a highway, but it wasn’t a loop either. The road was closed and there was nowhere to go but back the way we came. It was already 1030pm, so we stopped to spend the night at a campground at the end of the road.

Part III of my Labor day adventure: Mt Pilchuck

The plan had been to get up early and summit Mt. Pilchuck near dawn, but we slept again. It might have been the most restful night that I’ve spent on the ground. After some time at the river near the campground we headed to granite falls through hwy 530 and a myriad of country back roads.

Mt. Pilchuck is a very picturesque mountain, and from the north it reminded me a lot of Mt. Hood, only much smaller and less snow covered. It was steep, but not nearly as much as Snowking Mountain. On the way up to the summit we saw three dachshunds making the ascent with their owners. I was impressed that the little dogs could climb such a mountain. We climbed at a very fast and steady pace until about halfway up the mountain I smelled fresh blueberrys. Our progress was significantly slower after that.

Once we reached the summit we had to scramble up a few boulders to climb the ladder to the lookout tower. The view was impressive, but again would have been much better without the clouds and smog. The only nearby mountains we could see well were three fingers and Glacier Peak. On a clearer day we could have seen many other peaks, including Rainer, Baker and the Olympic mountains. Pilchuck was definitely a mountain that I enjoyed climbing and would not mind returning to. There were some rocks that looked like they would have been fun to climb, and a very picturesque and secluded lake that would be fun to camp at.

Tolmie Peak and Eunice lake

A few weeks a ago I decided to take a day trip out to Mt. Rainier. I got going late, so instead of going to spray park like I wanted to, I only went to the short Tolmie peak trail. It was rather warm that day, and I didn’t start out right. When I got to the trailhead I found that the camel back had leaked all over most of my gear, The camera was low on batteries and memory, I had forgotten to bring several things that I wanted, and it was my first time out with my new GPS and I couldn’t get a fix. I repacked my bag with what was still dry a set off. When I got to Eunice lake, It was very clear and beautiful, but the sight of Tolmie peak towering above the lake was a little intimidating. I gave in to the temptation to turn around there, but when I started back and saw the majesty of Rainier through the trees, I had to climb higher to get a better view. So within another 20 minutes I had climbed the extra 600 vertical feet to the fire lookout at the top. The view was amazing, but significantly less than it could have been because of all the smoke from the wildfires in the area. I had brought Ariele’s nice camera with the telephoto lens and really enjoyed the chance to look at Rainier up close and had it been a clear day I would have had some excellent photos of the glaciers. On the way back I found quite a few blueberry bushes along the trail and they made for some very tasty foraging. I would like to return to this trail later in the season when it is clear and there is dusting of snow.