Painted Peak July 28, 2009

My friend Adam and I headed north on the Mtn Loop Hwy and went to the trail head for the N Fork Sauk River. The weather was forecast to be hot and we were crazy to do this particular hike since there was so much elevation gain involved. Strapped with my backpack and camera, I was ready for a great day with many opportunities to take some photographs.
We hit the trail by 7:20 and the air was warm and there were a few bugs flying around. 1/4 mile later we turned left at the trail junction and we were on our way to Painted Peak, or as some call it, Red Mountain. The trail was steep and got more buggy pretty fast. At the location of a former lookout we got a good view of Sloan Peak.



For the next hour or so we had no views again but the heat was on the rise as we rose along the side of the mountain. Finally we broke out of the trees and were rewarded with some beautiful scenery.





We busted through some low brush as the trail by this point was non-existent. Some spots were steep and the Heather made it challenging to ascend. Finally after some really hard work and a lot of water consumed, we made it to the summit ridge and were offered our first glimpse of Glacier Peak, a volcano rising over 10,000 feet.





Our journey had started at 2100' and soon I was standing at 6975' and basking in the heat and the glory of reaching the summit.



Here's a picture that Adam took from the other ridge below the summit, My attempt of being "creative" with a summit pose.



Glacier Peak


Full 360 pano from the summit


After spending 30 minutes or so on the summit we headed down to Ruby Lake for a well deserved swim in the very chilly water.







We returned to the car by 4:20 and we were very warm and ready to head into town for an ice cold soda.

A day with my niece

I have many nieces and nephews back home in Michigan, but I have only one niece here in Seattle. She is Summer and recently she celebrated her 15th birthday. This summer she has been working at a day camp but happen to have this week off.
On Monday we spent the day together and went around the Arboretum lake area in a canoe. I of course took a lot of photographs.

We rented the canoe from the UW Waterfront Activities Center and we were off. Having never done this before we were both very excited. There were many girl ducks and even more ducklings of verying ages.















Summer is going to give me a hard time about posting this picture I bet :-)



The rest of the day we spent in Ballard checking out the locks and my stopping at 7-11 for a very tasty chili and cheese hotdog, mmmmmmmmm.

Helping an injured dog

After a long and hot day on the trails, all I wanted was a nice cold Pepsi.
Driving back on the Mountain Loop Hwy we rounded a curve to find 3 cars parked on the hwy and people helping an animal in the other lane. My first thought was that a small deer had been hit and that it needed to be put down. I got out of my car and saw the animal's legs flailing in the air and others were asking if i had a gun, apparently they had the same thought I did. I told them I didn't and got close enough and realized that it was a beautiful Weimereiner. She was foaming at the mouth and bleeding from a few spots. The owner was not around and neither was the driver that hit the dog. The dog was being held by a lady as i walked up to see if i could help. I was afraid that I was seeing this dog's last moments.
Her(the dog) owner showed up from the river and the dog was finally so spooked and in shock that she started running down the road. Her owner with no footwear took off after her. My only thought was to run too and try to help him if i could. I told Adam to move my car off the hwy if need be and i took off on foot. After 1/4 mile her owner was exhausted but i kept on. The dog was hurt, scared and on a busy roadway.
Another person at the original scene pulled up in his truck and picked up the owner as i continued on foot. If they could pass the dog maybe we could get her in the middle. She turned and started back toward me. I slowed down and started calling her name in a somewhat quiet tone to help calm her down. She easliy got past me and i turned around. Running back, others on foot were coming in my direction and hoping to put the squeeze on her again. This time she ran down to the river. I hopped the guardrail and ran down the river. She ran along the river's edge and I ran from boulder to boulder hoping that I wouldn't slip and get hurt myself. She was starting to slow and saw another person coming toward us. As I jumped onto another boulder (i was running as quiet as I could to not scare the dog) I slipped and fell into the river.
The dog saw that she was in the middle again and darted up the river bank. She fell on her first attempt up the bank but tried again. By now we had alerted those on the roadway (now we're right back below where she had been hit) and they were ready for her. When I got back to the roadway she was exhausted and standing in the grass and her owner was running toward her. When he got to her he gave her a big hug and started to cry.
I knew that she needed to get to a vet and I mentioned that I had a station wagon and could transport her to a clinic. I cleared out the back and she was quickly put into my car. The owner's brother rode in the back with her and the owner drove his car since his brother couldn't drive.
As soon as i got cell service i called my friend in Seattle and asked him to find a Vet's office along our route. Within 20 minutes we were at a Vet and the dog was being looked at.
She luckily didn't have any broken bones or internal bleeding! I was so happy to hear that I almost cried. She was going to make it! The owner told us how his dog, Deb, had been with him through a lot of hard stuff in his life and he was so happy that she was not seriously injured.
With some time she will heal and he has hopefully learned that even while playing in the river, dogs should be on a leash.
I am grateful that I was in a position to be able to help. Nothing brings me more happiness in my life than my pets. I'm glad that this guy was able to bring his best friend back home with him tonight.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Light Link Rail

Last Saturday Seattle launched it new light rail train system. When the voters first approved the money for the project they were assured 100K ridership per day, over 30 miles of track with 25 or so stations. What we got is an estimated 21K daily riders, 14 miles of track with 10 of 12 new stations.
Service to the airport is expected to start in December with a shuttle currently running from the southern-most station, Tukwilla, to the airport. Construction wil begin soon on the "U-Link" which will run from downtown through Capitol Hill to the UW campus.
I'm not ungrateful for the light rail, it's just too bad that the voters did not get what they were promised when they approved the funding for this project years ago.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Goat Island Mt, Mt Rainier National Park

Full set of photos can be found here.

For my first trip this year to MRNP it was a lot of bang for my buck! Lex and I started on the trail at about 8:20am and headed down a wide densely forested trail with minimal elevation gain for the first few miles. The trail generally follows near the Fryingpan Creek to our south. At different points along the way views of the creek are afforded. About 2.5 miles up we get a view of a nice waterfall. To get the best view involved a bit of off-trail adventuring.



About a mile later we get to a crossing of the Fryingpan Creek on a large log with a railing. We stopped for a break and I ventured around with my camera for some shots of the creek and Rainier. I found a perk beyond some trees and found a slot waterfall just below the footbridge. Talk about a hard rush of water!!



Two guys had caught up woth us and we resumed not far behind them. Not too much further up the older guy yells back to us that there's a bear ahead of them on the trail. We tried to get him to quiet down as we really wanted to see the bear. We caught up and passed them in an attempt to get a few photos. By the time we got up ahead the bear had gone into the bush. Being brown he was hard to spot until I heard some movement. Much to our surprise he was about 20 feet from us behind a bush and he could have cared less about us. I really wanted a photo but was not about to go into the bush and attempt one. I love wildlife a lot, but i'm smart enough to know when to let it go. I tried to get a shot but it didn't turn out to good. Last time we let a group pass us by!!!

We found ourselves nearing Summerland and we checked our elevation and our map. We found that we missed our cutoff where our off-trail route would lead us. We decided to improvise our route and followed the trail for about another 1/10th mile and then proceeded towards the moraine.



We crossed a few small creeks and at one point when Lex stopped for a photo op I spotted a Hoary Marmot not too far away. I walked over towards him and he eyeballed me before running into his hole. We took pics of the mountain and soaked in the scenery. I went back to check on Mr Marmot and found him foraging for food. He noticed me and hauled butt accross the creek and towards his home again. This time I was ready with some video rolling. It was really cute to see him cruising and "jump" over the creek.

We crossed the morraine and the Fryingpan Creek and soon found ourselves in the trees heading up to the ridge that eventually leads up to Goat Island Mt. The first part of the ridge was tricky to travel as it had some heavy brush and trees. With our elevation gradually increasing we were looking forward to hitting the summit.



Out of the trees and onto the exposed ridge we traversed past small snow patches on a moonscape type terraine. We knew there was a false summit so we kept that in mind as we approached a high point. We continued along and saw our summit about 20 minutes away. As we approached the summit we realized that there was another high point about another 20 minutes away. We consulted our maps and realized that because of our need to summit the high point and summit fever that we had to continue along as the true summit was 70 feet higher than our current location, argh!!!



20 minutes later there was no more up and we enjoyed the views including Mt Adams to our south. With a 40 minute break we decided on our route of descent and started on our way. The first part was straight forward and we made good time. But then we got into the trees and really steep slopes. We put our trekking poles away opting instead to keep our hands free to grab onto to trees and such, or as we hikers would call it, "veggie belaying". We donned our helmets for safety's sake and continued on down. A few times we slipped but no injuries were accompanied, thank goodness. Finally after a real adventurist time we were back down at the Fryingpan Creek and left trying to find a safe place to cross. Back on the trail we kept our eye out for Mr Bear as we were close to where we had seen him earlier in the day.

With other plans in mind we made good time getting back to the car and arrived at 5:20pm. We gained almost 4000 feet of gain, about 10 miles over a 9 hour period. This was the simplest summit I've had in a few weeks and I look forward to getting another summit under my belt next Tuesday.

Teanway and Iron Peaks July 7, 2009

Full set of photos can be found here.

Adam, Dane and I headed east to find some dry weather and we found ourselves driving up the N Fork Teanaway Road and parking at the Iron Peak TH. Dane led our way up at a blistering pace and I chose to go at a slower pace, I was still tired from our recent trip to Bedal.



In 90 minutes we made it to the pass between Iron and Teanaway. We looked at both mountains and decided to head up Teanaway first. This was not an original part of the trip but Adam and I had our helmets and we all wanted to head up.
Dane headed up first with his exposed skull and Adam and I were shortly behind. I tried to follow Dane's route as Adam headed up another one to my left. I lost Dane's route and soon found myself in a spot where I was left asking myself "How the heck did I get into this spot?" Dane happened to be just above me on a decent rest spot and looked down to me and gave me a tip on how to get the rest of the way up safely. Reasons like this are why I don't scramble by myself but rather with people who know me and are more experienced.



Regrouped we took a short break before heading to the last tricky spot before the last bit of ridge to the summit.


A look down from Teanaway Peak.



We headed down the east side of the mountain and after a small boot glissade on a snow patch we were soon back at the pass.


Looking south with Iron Peak on the right.

In 20 minutes we were on the summit of Iron looking back at what we just did on Teanaway.


On the summit of Iron Peak.


Looking back at Teanaway Peak.



Thank you Adam and Dane for a great day with the opportunity for me to learn a bit more and to continue to mold a couple of friendships.

4th of July on Bedal Peak

Full set of photos can be found here.

Most holidays I'm able to join my buddys in the mountains for a hike of epic proportions. This holiday was no exception! Alexie's idea was Bedal Peak, located northeast of Seattle about 2 hours away.
Our hiking group consisted of Alexie, Greg, Adam, Brent and myself. We started on the trail at 8:50 am and quickly were dealing with some very thick forest that covered the sun filled sky. The trail is not "maintained" and is what we would call a "boot path".
Our route meandered through the woods and greadually led up into the snow.



Soon we found ourselves in a snowy wonderland with the summit of Bedal Peak far above.



We crossed some exposed granite slabs and made our way up the the eastern ridge.



Adam at this point was leading as we crossed a steep snowfield. We had our ice axes at the ready as we were prepared for a possible slip on the snow and needed to self arrest. We carefully crossed and found a few chunks of rock top scramble up. He and I donned our helmets and headed up the rock. The other guys opted to take the slightly longer and snow covered route. We approached the snow free summit block and we carefully made our way up to the top.



Once on the summit the views were spectacular!!!!!







We headed back down from the summit and took advantage of some good snow conditions and got in some really good glissades.



Was a fabulous day this was. A wonderful holiday with great friends. This is a summit that I would like to visit again and soak in the views again. Oh, from this summit there were a few volcanoes in view including the below shot of Glacier Peak.

A visit to Michigan

Recently I joined my sister and niece on a visit to our hometown of Holland, Michigan. We caught the red-eye out of Seattle and arrived in Grand Rapids at 9:00am local time. After getting the rental car we headed to our parents house. On the way I called my friend Emily and found out that during a really bad storm the night before her sump pump in her home was not running correctly. So after dropping off my sister and niece I was headed to Emily's to play a weary-eyed handyman.
Later I visited another friend before heading back to my parent's house having been awake for the last 36 hours.
For dinner we were joined by our sister Kristin and her family which was really nice.
Father's Day came and my Dad's sisters and parents came over for the afternoon. It was nice to see them all. I hadn't seen my Aunt Mary in several years and we were able to get caught up. My Aunt Lori and I chatted along with my Grandparents. It turns out that my Grandfather and I have a few tv shows in common that we really enjoy, Deadliest Catch being one of them. I was able to tell him that I had been on the F/V Northwestern and had met some of the crew. His face lit up when I told him too, it was really cool. Grandma has dealt with health issues in recent years and it was good to see her in good spirits and relatively good health too.





Monday evening was dinner with extended family who live around the Grand Haven area which is about 30 miles north of Holland. We met up at Red Robin and had a festive time getting caught up with each others lives. The poor waitress had her hands full with several adults and more kids, but she did really good though.







The days are starting to blend together now but I did get a chance to see a few long time friends a few times too. I met my friend Andie for coffee one day and dinner another day too. We've been friends since I was in 9th grade and have kept in some contact over the years.
I also got to visit my friend Brad and his wonderful wife Jennifer. Brad and I have been friends since homeroom in 7th grade. Over the years we became good friends and spent some good times together. I was honored to be asked to stand up in their wedding and will never forget that wonderful day and the privilege of being a part of it too. Six years ago while on a mission trip with his church Brad had an accident which has him in a wheelchair now. He had been rushed to a hospital in Iowa City and when I found out I was able to get down there from Minneapolis and visit him on 3 separate occasions. I'm glad that I was able to be there for him and to have the ability to visit him like I did. Since then whenever I go back home I make sure that I visit he and his family. Everytime I see him he's in great spirits and I always look forward to visiting with them.



One evening my sister and I went to the beach where we spent many years growing up and walked out onto the pier. The memories that came rushing back as we walked around the beach and between the cottages that are only feet from the sandy shores of the lake.
On Wednesday I spent the day with my friend Emily and her wonderful daughter Allison. Emily and I have been friends since the 1st grade and we've always had a good friendship. We all had a really fun day which included running a few errands for them, lunch, mini golf and a stop for ice cream.I want to thank Emily and Allison for a memorable day.



That evening was dinner with my parents as we had to head out early in the morning to fly back to Seattle. As I get older the meaning of family and friends is more defined for me and is something that I hold very close to me.
To all of my family and friends, thank you for always being there for me and I hope that I've been able to do the same for you all. Until my next visit to Michigan.........