The middle of nowhere, IS somewhere.

There are no grand philosophical revelations, no starry eyed excitement, the grass isn't greener where I go (actually, sometimes it is, but you know what I mean), and I don't want to polish some mountain man image. It's not to become one with nature, or test my will against it, or even understand it better. It's escapism, in its purest and simplest form.

I actually had planned to add more to that, but the escapism worked, and I'm calm now.

I accomplished a number of things here, some were unforeseen. First, I'm in significantly better shape than I thought. On the bike ride in (the first 12 miles of forest road), I felt like crap which I assumed was because of the heavy pack on the ancient bike. I discovered on the way out that the entire road is like a 1% grade, which you can't see going up, but I basically coasted all the way back to the car, which is why I'm home earlier than I expected (also because I got bored). Left home at about 6:30 after teaching the kids martial arts in Edmonds, and was on the trail by around 8:15ish.

I got to my first camp at Downey Creek, set up in the fading light (about 9:30, good ol' solstice), and since EVERY campsite along this road and trail had fire pits, I decided I would treat myself for the first time in ages.


Tuesday was a long haul, starting with actually getting to the trailhead. Sulphur creek is an old, dead car camping site.


Like, seriously?!?


You could totally make it!


Then on the trail. So, one of the things I (re)learned was that I hate repetitive forest hikes that don't actually go anywhere. The other thing is that from this trail, there are trails that DO actually go cool places.... when the snow isn't trying to kill you. Lots of cool waterfalls though:




I'd be impressed if they shot that from far away.....but I doubt it.


Oddly, I immediately thought of my friend Shelly, who isn't actually obsessed, but always seems interested in bones of all ages.




I should have taken a picture from down below, this bridge is pretty high up actually. Also, it's a suspension bridge, so it wobbles when you go across it...




So, I hiked probably 4 miles beyond the bridge (which I'm told is the 6 mile mark) with a number of detours, backtracks, and side trips, I eventually gave up trying to find a campsite, hiked back, and set up at the horse camp by the bridge.


Both the trail AND the road were being worked on, WHILE I was there. Interesting.


Anyway, woke up at 9 or so and headed out after breakfast. My original plan was to take it easy, get out to the halfway point and camp again. However, I was kinda bored and making damned good time, by the time I started riding the bike, I got hit the realization that it was literally all downhill to the car.... so away I went.

But while I was hiking and getting bored, I started taking pictures of the trail.


To my knowledge, there is no place untouched by logging, but there were sections of this trail that might have been...I may have to look it up.




To me, ferns are a happy plant. They're so soft and pleasant, no thorns or hard edges. So many varieties, from the huge mesozioc ones in Hawaii, to the cute mini ones here. I love ferns.


On your right, there is a banded metamorphic mess, typical of the cascades. In the river is a mess of valcanics, you know, from the volcano. (This river is actually the main lahar path from glacier peak, which could be another reason there are no ancient trees here)


On the way out I actually walked around the Sulphur Creek campground while eating lunch.... definitely been a while since this place has had traffic.


This is actually on the road in. Theres a detour around the side. I just found the obviousness of the sign humorous.


So, I made such good time, that I decided to go for a cruise. Lake Diablo called my name. Stopped by the overlook, the sign said high wind warning, but shit....it was like a hurricane up there! Daayyyum.


Anyway, loooootta miles on these old bones. Until next time children....

Hikes of May: Goat lake and the Suiattle River

Mid may, did a quick overnight trip with Andrew to Goat lake. Tried to explore the overgrown trail that goes to the far end of the lake... have the cuts and bruises to prove it.

Did some crappy star pictures from the logjam. It was kinda hazy, so they didn't really turn out.


The morning was nice enough though, very still water.


Or at least it was, until this guy started paddling around in the inflatable raft he lugged up there...


We then took the time required to properly photograph the awesome waterfall.




It's one of my favorite waterfalls in Washington, I think it's the biggest attraction on this hike.


A bunch of us made plans to go backpacking memorial day weekend, and it turned out that various spring storms dumped many extra feet of snow in the mountains, and our weather has been unseasonably cold and wet anyway, so it got bagged. I did homework on the worst days, but sunday turned out to be kinda nice, so I went for a dayhike with Dyan.

My goals were to scout out the Suiattle River Road (which has been seeing some maintenance lately), because it's where a number of previously famous scenic hikes used to leave from, but the road had some washouts.

It's a pretty road, and past the ONE washout, the road is actually in BETTER shape than the road up to the washout. I plan on fixing my mountain bike and taking a stroll some day.


We walked about 5 miles in and sat on the river bank for lunch. We found this remarkable rock that was too heavy to carry all the way back. It's all quartz that probably filled some crack in a bigger rock, which had a big bubble also... then that original rock has split and washed away, leaving this sweet quartz...thing behind. Would have made a great doorstop.


Buck Creek, at the buck creek campground.


MORE GEOLOGY!?!? A huge boulder with some freakishly sinuous folding.


Columbines


Since we're awesome, and the road was flat and clear we made damned good time, and were back at the car at about 2:30. With so much daylight left we decided to scout out more trails. Squire creek pass was close, and has trad climbing routes Dyan was interested in.

On the way in we saw a BEAR! Looked like he was eating the berries on the side of the road. He must have been young, because he had an amazingly clear and even coat of fur... I decided that there should be bear shows (like a dog show), and I would enter this guy (who I've named Grills), and I would win.


An old growth cedar up in the hills


This is the climb she was interested in....use the trees for scale... too scary!


This was shot out my car window.