5/11/10 Mt Baldy, Domerie Peak and Thomas Mt

Here's a link to the complete set of photos, right HERE.
Ok, so last night I slept in the back of my Subie on a foam matress and bedding at the TH and got an early start today (6:45am) The trail started out in a nice thick forest and gained elevation rather quickly, like Tiger Mt Cable Trail quick!



The GT map shows the first section of trail gaining 1K feet in .8 miles. Well the .8 miles is a bit short of actual. After about .8 mile I reached a logging road where I followed it to the left for about 30 yards then found the trail on the left once again and proceeded up more, gaining elevation quickly again.
I had stopped along the logging road for a view of a goat across the valley, he's in the video :)

I headed further up the trail and eventually reached the junction with the Easton Ridge Trail and turned left up the Domerie Divide Trail.
Soon I got a view to the west .



I started to hit a few snow patches but nothing to get too worried about. Finally I reached the top of the ridge but couldn't find the trail jct marker, oh well. I headed south along on top of heading towards Baldy and Domerie. The snow was firm enough that I didn't need the snowshoes yet.



I stayed a bit below the ridge and soon passed over Baldy which didn't seem too significant.
I continud up to Domerie and the clouds were wisping over the ridge and plummeting down the east side towards Lake Cle Elum.
I spent a few minutes on the summit with limited views before heading back north to eyeball Thomas.



After the trail jct the route drops about 200 feet into the forest where the snow was deeper and softer.
I donned my snowshoes and made decent time through the flats then quickly the ridge got steep and narrowed as it climbs towards Thomas.
Finally I reached the summit and the views to the east were grand!



I put on a dry pair of socks and 20 minutes later I headed back down. By now the clouds were clearing and the views everywhere were getting better. The climb back up the ridge from the flats was a bugger, I was tired and the snow was even softer now too.



Finally back at the jct I soaked in more views.



Back down the trail I finally removed my snowshoes near 4600' and made my way down the steep trail to the footbridge where I stopped for a few photos of the man made waterfall.



I met a Ranger and chatted her up for a few minutes before heading to my car and heading home.
What an awesome day to be out in the mountains!

A few words and photos

So lately I've been trying to take care of myself and do more to get settled into my new apartment. My kitties are adjusting and seem to like the new place with it's views and increased space over recent apartments we've been in.



Work has been filled with a lot of changes. For the last year different departments have gone through restructuring and some of the branch libraries are now closed on Friday and Sunday's. Well recently the changes have hit my department. Three new people are in the department along with one being our new boss. After 3 1/2 years of working at the library change is hard to adjust to.



Summer is right around the corner and I'm trying to solidify my travel plans. I have vacation time set up from July 3-14 and the library will be on furlough from August 30-Sept 6. so that gives me another week off. Previous plans of traveling with my sister and niece have fallen through so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. I know that I want the time off to include some time in the mountains, possibly in Wyoming and Colorado, but I'd also like to visit family and friends back home in Michigan too. The tough part for Michigan is the cost of airfare and car rental while I'm home. Any travels to the Rocky Mountains would be done in my own car.



The hard part about traveling back home is when it's time to leave and come back to Seattle. I love living in Seattle and having the mountains and water so close by, but my family and friends are back home. I have a large family and I hardly know any of my niece's and nephews because I've always lived away from home since they've been born. I have friends there too who I've known since elementary school and they are some of the best people that I've ever met. I do have some great friends here in Seattle too, so sometimes I get really torn between both places.



I do know that right now I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I do have a good job that has made it possible for me to get out of debt. The mountains are less than an hours drive away and Puget Sound is literally 10 minutes away and the shipping canal is 5 minutes from home. I keep in touch with friends and family back home through the internet and phone calls and it's wonderful. As I get older though I'm going to have to decide what is more important to me, living in Michigan with friends and family, or the mountains and friends that I have here. Also I have my biological sister and niece out here too. Without them I would have never moved out here. They have both helped me out in life in more ways than I could ever dream possible. I have been able to watch my niece grow up for the last 6.5 years and it has been wonderful to watch her grow up into the great girl that she is today.
For now, I keep living my life for today and am grateful for everything that I have.

Bad at keeping up

I've been really bad at keeping up with my blog the last few months. I've since moved and have gone home to Michigan for about 4 days, took some additional vacation time and have gotten back into the swing of hiking. Here are a few videos from recent trips.

Where have I been?

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything in almost 2 months!! Well this one will be short as it's late in the evening and I need to get some sleep. I will say that I went for a hike today not too far from home. I took very few pictures and of those none really looked worthy enough to post. I did make another hiking video of the trip, so I'll post that instead. Enjoy!!!

What's up?

So my last post was just photos and no words. So this time I'll add a few thoughts and of course some photos.

School is going pretty good. My classmates and I are having some frustration with the internet portion of the class, but that'll iron itself out over time I think. For now though I have my first draft due tomorrow for my first full essay. The topic is our experience with the education system and our thoughts on it and also our experience with reading.



The essay will be 750-1000 words. My draft is mostly done and we'll see how the editing process goes.
Otherwise, work is.....well it's work! It has it's ups and downs and extreme challenges, but it pays the bills and keeps food in my kittie's tummys, and mine too.



Haven't been hiking lately but I've kept my shutter finger busy. Yesterday I bought a new monopod and today I got the battery grip for my camera that I ordered last week. My next photographic purchase will be a while as my next item will cost me a few dollars, a 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens. Basically all of that means that it's cost me about $2,000, yikes!!!!!!! I'll stow some cash aside for it while I build my savings.



So that's life lately. I hope that you enjoy the photos!!! :-)

A few new photos

New Videos

The other day I ventured out in the rain and took some video with my handy little camcorder. I found that I really enjoyed getting out in the grey damp air and seeing life through a different perspective. With the animals and the music, I feel like I'm taken somewhere else. I hope that you like them.