I find it increasingly difficult to motivate myself to drive long distances to hike, thanks to the continuing high price of gas. Plus, I am going to have to drive some long distances in the new few weeks – to Diablo Lake for a boat ride with Jan (and I will probably drive there by myself before the boat ride to see how long it takes and make sure I know the way). To Maple Falls for a WTA Outreach Event.
Speaking of which I drove to Bellingham on Sunday for an event. Here are my two fellow Trail Ambassadors at our table:
Ski to Sea Race in Fairhaven, Bellingham
Not sure where I will hike next – or when. I will do my usual Thursday grocery shopping with Brittany and Dean tomorrow and on Friday the painters might start on our house.
I didn’t make it to Dirty Harry’s yesterday, I am shooting for tomorrow to do that. I did Cedar Butte and then swung by Christmas Lake on the way back.
Parenthetically, I might have solved my bike seat problem (too hard). I just got a pair of padded bike shorts and I will try them out when next I pedal.
I hate to have to cut the bike trips short just because my old butt gets sore.
St. Edward State Park is becoming my new conditioning hike. It is much closer and easier to get to than the Section Line. There are plenty of trails to choose from, including a couple that are steep.
Tomorrow I hope to get out to Dirty Harry’s Balcony, always a good workout and great views.
Yesterday I took the bike to the Cedar Falls trail head and biked east on the PTC. My legs felt heavy. I was worried that something was wrong. So I turned around only about 2.5 miles out. And the instant I started going west I realized what the problem actually was: PTC east is uphill. I have hiked it many times and I never noticed the slight grade. I was pedaling along thinking it was flat. I will go back next week with this in mind, gear down a little and go much farther.
Plus, I ordered a pair of shorts with a padded seat. Even though I stuffed some foam rubber underneath the seat cover it was still a bit uncomfortable.
I will get this biking stuff right (only done it 3 times so far) and add to my outdoor toolbox. Plus, I have an inflatable kayak and I will take that out.
When I got back to the car I stowed the bike and did a little hike around the area, so I wound up doing about 8.25 miles total.
I walked a few miles today but what I did could not be called a true hike. But I just love the city of Edmonds. What a great little city.
I can get there by walking out my front door to a bus stop, and take the bus to Edmonds, which is what I did today. Edmonds has it all. It is a waterfront city, with a nice beach on the Puget Sound, with views west towards the Olympic Mountains. I took a couple of photos of the mountains but, once again, my camera and skills were inadequate to the task.
I did manage to capture the Edmonds-Kingston ferry as it was coming into port as seen above.
And I walked along the marina, ogling the many boats:
Boats Unlimited
Edmonds has a nice art museum, it is the home of Rick Steves, the travel guru, as well as the Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA) where we have enjoyed artists such as Judy Collins, Graham Nash, and Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives. In fact, Marty and Co. are coming back in June and we have tickets.
And, last but not least, every Saturday throughout the summer Edmonds has a summer market, with several streets blocked off and various vendors – food, arts and crafts, pet paraphernalia, etc. – lined up for business. Jan and I are planning to take the bus there on 5/27 to walk on to the ferry (expect to wait in line for an hour or more if you want to haul your car over the sound, but as a walk-on there is never a wait). As a senior with the local senior transit/discount card, my total cost for a round-trip across the sound, a beautiful experience, is only $5. $5!
Edmonds. There is so much to do (did I mention the scuba diving attraction?) I just wish we could afford to live there.
I had a good workout yesterday, starting at the South Fork Picnic Area parking lot, climbing up to the PTC and then going east, to the Garcia junction and then taking the service road NF9021 up towards Truck Summit. Less than a half mile from the Garcia junction a metal canister just off the trail caught my eye:
Urn
A close look revealed that it had contained the ashes of one David Matthew Estrella. I thought it was a nice tribute to what I presume was his love of the outdoors to put his ashes near a trail. But when I looked more closely I could see that someone had opened the canister and scattered his ashes, which are already quickly degrading:
Ashes to Ashes
It was a sad and jarring sight.
On the way back I noticed a freshly sawed log with sap seeping out of the cut:
Sap
This is another case where, had I a better camera and better camera skills, I could have captured how beautiful it was, almost glowing.
I signed up for a WTA trail work party on June 10 working on the CCC Trail so I drove to the Middle Fork today and hiked from the Middle Fork parking lot to the CCC Trail and east as far as I could go. The photo above shows where I decided to turn around. Too much water running too fast. I can do some rock-hopping but, although I looked up and down the stream I could find no place that seemed safe to me.
So I turned around and, to add some extra distance, I returned via the Middle Fork Campground, to the connector trail, and then down the Pratt River Trail a little ways. I wound up wandering over to the Taylor River view near the parking lot. I just sat there for awhile. I love it out there.
The confluence of the Middle Fork and Taylor Rivers is nice:
River View
And the CCC Trail itself is in very good shape and the forest is beautiful. You can literally stop anywhere along the trail, look around, and be knocked out by how wonderful it is to be in the forest in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
I did not want to drive a long way today so I headed to Kenmore and Saint Edward State Park. I did about 4 miles, going down the North Trail, up the Grotto Trail, down the South Canyon Trail, up the Seminary Trail, and then I wandered around on a couple of the trails on top.
A fun day and a nice workout. I have various duties to perform on Thursday and Friday but I hope to get out on the weekend.
