Volunteer Vacation Part 2: Starting Work

Day 3 - Work day
June 19th Sunday

I woke with the brightening of the sky. I got out of the tent and started gathering ingredients for coffee and lunch from the bear box. As everyone else was rousing, we drank our coffee, made with a hand-held cone filter dripper - it worked very well, much easier than a percolator for camping. Josh and Joni determined we were having eggs and hash browns and prepared those. I made PBnJ sandwiches for the day. Each of us had brought a container to hold our sandwiches, which worked out well.
As the sun rose, it finally breached the far mountain, sending brilliance into the campsite and warming the chilly morning air. I went and stood, face into the warmth soaking it in pleasure!

Not much better than the morning sun!

Ranger Bill was giving us time to settle in, and he had some errands this morning. We didn't have much to do besides camp chores until 10am. Howard had the idea for us to come together and do group stretches as a team building exercise. At first I thought it was corny, but afterwards I changed my mind about that. It was a very good idea. Not only to help us stretch, but to look each other in the face and say something beyond just light chit-chat.

Limber now, we packed away the last of the food goods into the bear box and grabbed our day bags with water and lunch. We headed out to behind the airport where a couple trees were down. We climbed out of the pick-up and began following the Stehekin River Trail, that eventually connects to the Company Creek Trail. The first blow down was extremely tiny, not more than a stick, following the trail a bit more we found something slightly heftier, but still only took minutes with the saw. This section of trail is often used by locals on morning walks. The trail was clear and comfortable up to the other end of the runway where Bill awaited.

That work finished, we got back in the vehicles with our tools and headed to the formal trail-head of Company Creek. Bill gave us a safety debriefing with Howard's help, on the proper way to carry tools, and how and where to sit them when not in use on the trail-side.

As we began the hike Bill explained the lower part of the trail needed little maintenance - the real mission was much further up. As we went along we kicked lose stones and pine cones from the trail. The first couple tenths of a mile is relatively flat, at which point the trail cuts into the hillside as a steep switch back. There were a couple drains pointed out, correctly installed, and further up one that needed a bit more help. Joni, Josh, and myself dropped off to begin working on a few problem area a few tenths beyond the first vista. Josh and Joni began weed whipping the soft plants encroaching on the trail, and racking the debris created.

img from: nynjtc.org used from Google imgs

The blade is serrated and sharpened. You swing it back and forth to mow down soft tissue plants. The woodier plants require a pair of loppers.

I have a shovel and a Pulaski. The Pulaski has an axe on one side and a mattock on the other, it can be used for digging tread or chopping trees - very useful tool (and my favorite!). I re-work all drains that I see for the next .3 mile or so - digging out the bottom of the drain, adding rocks and rebury. Hopefully it will act as erosion control. As I slowly make my way up the trail I soak in the occasional break in the trees - oh what gorgeous trees! The understory is pleasantly green with grass, with a profusion of purple flowers nodding in the breeze.

Behind me Josh and Joni make the trail look awesome, nice and open and clear. We get to a good stopping point, the trail changing from gentle zig-zag to a ridge walk. The trail crests piece of land, going up hill the land falls away very quickly to a deep canyon, at the bottom lies Company Creek. On the right side of the trail the land slopes off into forest. The trail splits the difference and goes up steeply between these two choices!

 As we begin lunch Bette comes down to tell us after we finish eating Bill wants us to skip a section of the trail and met the rest of the group at a meadow further up. Drinking a cup of coffee and enjoys snacks and the sandwich, the three of relax for a bit before packing it in and heading up the trail. We pass some where recent evident work has been done on a section of the trail. Getting to a beautiful wild flower be-speckled meadow, the world opens up behind us. A awesome view down into Stehekin Valley becomes immediately viewable. The sun streams down into the opening, lush green grass and shrubs around the edges of the clearing are in stark contrast to the large primordial trunks standing just behind them. The trail winds itself through this magnificence to where the rest of the group stands in the shade at the top of the meadow.

Bills' plan for the meadow is to have one group work on the tread-way, adding a large boulder to the top of a drain. The rock must be sunk flat with the trail and supported by other rocks and soil. The rock itself can't wobble in the slightest. The other meadow project is to make a bench of natural materials, either rocks or a log or both. I pick this project and begin scouring the woods for something appropriate. Up the hill a bit more I find a down log that looks like it could be made to work. Liz takes a turn chopping at it.

After the lower section of the log is separated we all help dragging it drop hill to the top of the meadow. Next we go back up the hill to find some rocks to make bench ends so the seat is comfortable. We roll and carry some rocks and stack them up to make a stable and comfortable bench. After pruning the extra limbs Bill, Liz, Bette, and I enjoy our labor by sitting and gazing into the valley. Interestingly there seems to be no human habitation in the valley, the tree cover on the floor covers any sign of roads and homes. Even the airstrip isn't visible.

Quality Assurance testing!

Bill thinks the bench may not last the season. Rocks are great places for grubs and ants to hide. He believes the bears will see these rocks as a great thing to roll over looking for tasty treats. There shouldn't be anything living under the rocks for awhile, so I hope people in the vally can come and enjoy the view for ahwile before the ursas come and destroy our labor! Bill mentions many locals come up to the meadow, and I can see why. The view is wonderful, and it isn't a far hike up from the valley floor.

The entire group gathers around the trail as Bill, Howard, Josh, and Joni continue working on the drain. We gather different sized rocks for them to try to Tetris into correct positions. The rocks must be solid enough for horses and boots to not knock loose. They do a great job, and soon the trail looks whole again, all the work hidden by a layer of dirt. When I hike a trail now, I will not only think about all the obvious trail maintenance, but also the hidden work, the work that is buried but totally necessary to keep the trail from washing away. I so often just hike and rarely think about what I'm stepping on unless I trip. The efforts of volunteers everywhere so we can enjoy a view in the mountains is astounding!

We head up trail a small distance further and clear some more over grown trail for 30 minutes before hiking further along to cache the tools for the evening. We reach the edge of Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and come on the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. Bill explains there is less funding for the wilderness area, and thus much less work done to the trail going forward. Our true mission lies beyond these borders. How bad could these trails be? Tomorrow we will get a glimpse. We cache the tools behind a large log off the trail and turn downhill to return to camp.

On our way down we stop for a break at the meadow again, just to test the bench again. The view will probably stop us here every time we come down this trail. We head down and out, I critique my own work as be descend - could I have done better? Did I do enough? It will have to do, as I now know we have larger fish to fry (or bushes to whack, if you prefer!) in the wilderness now behind us.

Back at camp we take turns showering, how wonderful hot water feels on used muscles! Josh tries soaking his feet in the chilly river and gets a 4 second high score. On the way back from the bathroom I take a peak at the group campsite, and it appears water has been recently through the camp. While it is very pretty, it makes me glad I didn't set up a tent there! There was a mule deer in camp, very brave - she just gazed my way. This reminds of the deer in the Shenandoah.

We cook dinner, and sit around the campsite chatting, but mostly just tired. We look up a few wildflowers we saw in Howard's wild-flower book. Everyone gets so sleepy after-wards we don't stay in this world for long. While eating dinner we see a couple ducks fly up river then later float down, they have odd markings so Howard looks them up in a wildlife book - turns out they are Harlequin Ducks, the name sake of our campsite - very appropriate! We clean up, we gather wood for fire, take one look at it and decide not to light a fire, rather we all head for bed! The muscles are kind of sore, I can definitely tell I did something other than sit in a cubicle today, and I love it!

Day 4 - Work day
June 20th Monday

More in the groove, we are up with multiple coffees in hand and breakfast in our bellies when 9am rolls around for us to head to the work site. Bill meets us soon enough and we head back to the large (2 parking spot) lot for the trail-head of Company Creek. On our way we stop through the 'Mall' otherwise known as the trash compactor. The Park Service provides recycling and a place for trash to residents so the residents would have a dumping area in the valley to attract bears. Things that people don't want, old clothes, espresso machines, whatever else is left for awhile before compacting and hauling off. It's a great place to pick up free thrift stuff. We also grabbed a few more tools that we think we might need at the top.
The hike to the top is just as beautiful, my jaw still drops when I see the first vista. We pause at the meadow again, sitting in the shade in the warming morning sun. After another stiff hike to the park boundary we stop for a snack on a couple large logs.

 The weather seems to be perfect, warm but not hot. We hike around a few corners and Bill drops off a few people to clear the trail. Liz and I head forward with Bill to round a corner to see a huge dead tree blocking the path, on the steepness of the hillside. The root ball is pulled all the way out of the ground up hill and the tree seems to be teetering on falling down further. Before we attempt a push we begin trim work on some limbs, next we top the tree, then we start hacking into the larger trunk that may get held up by another tree. The outer few inches of the tree is very soft, it crumbles with a beating with little resistance. Towards the center of the tree the wood is much harder and work slows. We three take turns swinging the Pulaski at it, then we switch to the saw for a bit. Finally I go up the tree and teeter it a little, as big as this thing is it's really moving! We get Josh and Joni, myself, Bill, and Liz to start rocking the thing back and forth. And CRASH! It impressively rolls down the hill off the trail and stops with a thud a few yards off the trail. If it's fall hadn't been broken so soon, it would caused mass destruction further down the hill... darn!
The rest of the crew finished clearing the back trail and we picked up our tools and headed further up the trail. Rounding a corner Company Creek became visible, off in the distance in the ravine to the left. Rushing white-water and small waterfalls roared up at us. Under a shady pine Bill dug a bench into the embankment and sat, calling a lunch stop. We ate our packed lunches with a great view down the Creek valley to the Stehekin and of Company Creek. After enjoying the food, talk, and view for awhile, we picked up our tools and headed on. Bill told us about a creek that we should travel to eventually, we should stop and clear the trail of any dead-falls of debris, but not to get bogged down on brushing the trail.
We did find a couple trees that needed clearing, all small. After 30 minutes of walking (plus time to clear the downed trees) we made it to the stream, only a few feet wide, running across the trail. The cold water felt very refreshing after dipping a handkerchief in to it. We also refilled some of our bottles of water. I dipped my cup in and drank, figuring there isn't much between the stream and the snow it is melting from!

Joni showing the timber who's boss

Directly after the stream the trees cleared and a meadow opened up. Clearing this and other meadows was the real reason we were here, and they really needed clearing too! Bill told us that there was a campsite on the other side of the meadow that we were on the verge. Howard and myself volunteered to go and find it. Bill had to g back down to Stehekin a bit early for an errand, Bette and Liz volunteered to go with him so he wouldn't be alone. Joni and Josh started some light clearing at the beginning of the meadow. As Howard and I moved through the meadow we stopped to clear some low hanging branches and other bigger stuff. The meadow is rather over-grown, but not terrible, the trail is visible mostly. There is one 'island' of trees in the meadow along the trail, as it goes up and over a hill. Down on the other side the brush gets more thick, the wildflowers and verdant greenery of the grasses and shrubs and explosion of life. The heat and humidity is thick in this minor jungle. Looking up and to the right a couple beautiful waterfalls are clearly in view. Underfoot the ground is occasionally marshy, in 2 places a stream comes and joins the trail for a short period.

On the far side of this first meadow there are two large trees, with rocks lining a path between them. Hanging on a tree a sign states 'Cedar Cathedral Camp'. Following the path between the trees, it drops 5 or 6 feet quickly, the trail garnished with an iris, into a small green glade. Here soft grasses grow, mingled with tiny wild flowers. A couple benches made from slabbed wood are positioned around a small fire ring. Directly beyond the fire ring is a small still pool. The roaring of the creek is close by, but the small cove catches water behind and island and sand bar, leaving it nearly motionless and less than a foot deep. The small glen doesn't have room for any more than a couple tents, however, so I will need to search around for a place to put all our beds.

More interestingly, across the cove, hangs another sign. Saying just 'Cathedral'. There seemed to be no path to the cathedral without getting wet feet. I looked to the left and saw a back way, having to climb up over and through some maple trees. Once through, I see enormous, previously hidden cedar trees. Arrayed in a small grove. I waled the path between them to a open spot that had two benches facing the trees. The feeling of near reverence seemed to echo around the place, the cedar lofting high above, their great torsos larger than any cedars I had seen before. The given name Cedar Cathedral became very apparent. Someone had nailed a cross into a dead portion of one of the trees in front of the benches making it a sanctified church in someone's eyes.

I marveled at the beauty of the trees, and that from the campsite, feet away, the cathedral was completely obscured. I climbed back through the maples and told Howard about it. He climbed back to take a look. I went in search for a campsite. Back on the main trail I saw a likely spot, unfortunately on the other side of some logs. I climbed over to check the potential, and there seemed to be enough spots for all of the tents. Satisfied we had a place to live, I waited for Howard before heading back to the rest of the group. He asked if I noticed the cross, he didn't seem to like the fact that it was there.

Joining with the Joni and Josh, we stashed the tools by the stream and headed down the valley towards home. The next day we had our work cut out for us. Howard and I would clear campsite, Josh, Joni, Liz, and Bette would begin working on the meadow - Liz and Bette starting at one end and Josh and Joni working towards the other. Bill would not be coming with us - we would be on our own. Bill had left a radio with Josh in case of an emergency and instructed him to check in the morning and out in the evening.

The trip down the trail went quickly, I brought up the rear so I could get some pictures of everyone.

In the valley and back at camp, Joni had found that she had a broken water bottle that needed replacing. I offered to go into Stehekin as well. The sun was out and the day was incredibly gorgeous. I went in and bought a deck of cards and another snickers bar as well as some beer for everyone. Joni found a water bottle, not cheap, but it says Stehekin!

Back at camp we lite the fire briefly after dinner, but it was very windy and chilly after the sun hid beyond the mountains. We put the fire out after a half and hour. I went to bed and read for a bit before sleeping through the night.

Day 5 - Work day
June 21th Tuesday

As we packed our lunches, we decided to take some additional food for when we were doing the back country camping. We figured it would be much easier to take up a few extra items to do in our day packs rather than carrying the same stuff up along with all our gear. Howard stuffed his bear canister full to leave and the rest of us took a few items. I grabbed a couple bags of apples.

After a brisk morning hike, stopping to rest at our bench, and to get a group photo. We made it to our work-site for the day. We discussed what we were going to do on the way up and everyone dived right in, eager to get things done! As Howard and I went across the meadow to start on the campsite we stopped and sawed down a couple trees. This is where my instinct to just man-handle things out of the way and his to precisely cut became very apparent. I wanted to break this branch in seconds. Three quarters if the way through the cut I say, "back up I can break it." he says, "give me five more minutes of sawing" one more saw stroke and the things breaks due to it's own weight! On we move up the meadow back to the campsite. I clear a path to the cathedral, not an easy path, but mostly just some brush and low hanging branches. Next I begin working on the tent sites, as Howard clears out some branches in the camp-site-proper. I clear the larger plants with stickers, and moved some branches and debris. I will need a rake to be able to do a more thorough job. After we break for lunch Joni and Josh begin also clearing the campsites, as that is priority for the next time we come back up here. Josh finds a few smaller logs and makes a step way over the larger log into the tenting area. Between the rest of us we clear enough spots for everyones tents. In the afternoon I also grab a weed whip and do a portion of the meadow as well as use the loppers to get rid of a place with lots of shrubs. I get several decent before and after shots of the work that was done this day.

before

after

 

after

As the day was winding down we had to hang the food we brought so no animals would get into it. Howard's bear canister would be fine left on the ground, but not everything would fit. Bette had a very brightly colored, but sturdy bag that we used. The bright colors were just a tease to any passing animal! We all surmised that the bag might not make it through the day we would be gone. We head back down the hill. Sore from a very hard day of swinging whip, rake, Pulaski, and all the other implements. We all need a day off, and tomorrow we get one!

Next: Day Off

Leavenworth on Dwellable

Volunteer Vacation Part 1: Getting There

If you follow this blog, you know I have been planning this trip since January. I hadn't done much to prepare, beyond just really wanting to go and making an itinerary. Well the day rolled around, and came upon me quickly. I am so very glad I signed up for it. As quickly as this has come the AT trip will creep up just as quick!

Acknowledgments and Special Thanks 
First of all I must thank a lot of people for making this happen! I must thank American Hiking Society for being such a great organization and coordinating this opportunity, Libby Wile was very helpful in connecting and organizing us. Next I want to thank the National Park Service for allowing us to get in there and providing for us while we were there; especially Ranger Bill Fitzpatric for coordinating and working on this for 2 years. Beyond that Ranger Bill took us under his wing, showed us what needed to be done, worked side-by-side with us, entertained us with great stories and really made us feel like part of the Stehekin family! Sonya was a big help also, driving the boat, hiking up to check on us, and being a very cool person! Josh stepped up and was the crew leader/coordinator - he and Joni  went food shopping, and Josh sent many emails and interfaced with the Park Service and AHS for all of us. The meals all turned out great too!! Great trail and base-camp cooking, for sure! Also a big thanks to Jim - a resident of Chelan and Stehekin - for volunteering his time to drive us from Wenatchee to Chelan! I want to thank the rest of the Company Creek Trail Crew (CCTC) for being just so great! Hats off to Bette for going through Seattle to drop Liz and myself off as well as driving us to Lake Chelan! Lastly, but far from least: I want to thank Cara - for waking up super early to take me to the airport, taking time off to pick me up, watching the house while I was gone, and for missing me while I was gone but understanding how much I wanted to go! I missed you too! And thanks for pushing me to write more details to take into account all my senses and to be as descriptive as possible, truly appreciated.

Now that the important stuff is out of the way I will do my journal entries.

Day 1 - Travel day
June 17th Friday
The flight from Baltimore (BWI) left at 6:40am. Cara kindly dropped me off at the airport at 5:40. The flight was on time and connected to the next leg of the journey through Nashville (BNA). I waved as I went over my parents house! So close but unable to see them, was a shame.
After a while in the air, snow peaked mountains hove into view - I was getting close! The jet descended and soon Mt Rainer became visible - so gorgeous! Snow clad mountains, and that magnificent peak dwarfing them all! Mount Saint Helens was off in the distance. For some reason the snowy tops surprised me.

 Mt Rainer

The jet touched down and I got my bags. After the Zion experience, I always have a big sigh of relief seeing my backpack slid down the baggage claim! Especially this time, as I had a series of connections to make to get to Wenatchee still ahead. The first was to catch the LINK train to downtown Seattle. The first portion of the train ride was above ground, so I got to see the out-skirts of the city. There were obnoxious people on the train, and plenty of graffiti on the buildings - though some of the wall art was very pretty. Seattle is a city, like any other. Of course I knew this, but I didn't want it to be so - I wanted Seattle to be some kind of insular place. 

The train became a subway for the last few stops. I got off at the last and went up the stairs into the city. I pulled out the phone map and started hiking towards REI, about 15 or 20 blocks away. I went through the business district, passing multiple Starbuck's - some within sight of another! As I neared REI I came upon Feathered Friends an outfitters that I look at from time to time. Looking out for the little guy, I went in to buy fuel for everyone in the group. The store didn't carry Jetboil or Jetboil fuel, but I did get the MSR fuel for myself and Howard. After purchasing the fuel I grabbed my bags and headed across the street to the flagship REI. The store is surrounded by a park, with a bike path and a hiking path for testing boots and bikes. Inside the store there are two extremely large floors, plus a climbing wall. There was also a fountain with an array of water filters for testing. The place was busy, and carries most every product, I scoped quickly for what I was searching.

After pursuing for a bit I got a post card and a magnet as well as I broke down and got a pair of gaiters - I figured working with debris flying I would appreciate them. I got a Mountain Hardware pair - smallest I could find. I will review them as I go along.

After paying I picked up my bags from Customer Service and headed back down in to the city. I stopped by a non-Starbucks coffee shop and got turned around before getting to the bus stop about an hour early. Apparently Northwest Trailways has a corporate office, if you Google that it takes you to an office building not the bus station - the buses use the Greyhound Station, who knew? I saw the space needle on the way, so I can say I've seen all of Seattle... err maybe not! I'd like to explore the city more thoroughly in the future, there seems to be many districts and many touristy places that I didn't get to see at all.

Bus stations are odd places. They have the feel of a world left behind. It reminds of the Dark Tower Series in a way, or a post apocalyptic film. The world has moved on, the people, the fixtures, and the air of bus stations have an air of tiredness it seems. The bathroom art, though, is interesting.

A hole in the bathroom wall of the bus station contains art

The bus leaves the station and heads on to the Interstate 5 north, immediately running into traffic and staying in traffic for the next hour until the cut-off on route 3. Seattle further disheartened me. Miles and miles of Friday evening traffic, stretching through this large metropolitan area. The only difference between this Interstate, this traffic and this city, between Rio, LA, NYC, Baltimore, Washington, Atlanta, Honolulu, San Diego, Raleigh, or Kansas City are the beautiful snow-clad mountains occasionally seen in the distance (granted some of those other cities do also showcase mountains on their skylines).

I read while in traffic, once we turn on to route 3 I force myself to put the book down and soak in the mountains, fields, towns, and everything roadside, I traveled all this way to see Seattle, I picked taking the bus rather than flying into Wenatchee for that reason. The character of the state becomes more apparent as we wind our way along, the towns look liking working towns with many mentions of Big Foot, pick-ups and trailer parks, rural folks eking out a living on the scant tourism passing to better places.
The bus passes the flat land containing these towns and then reaches the mountains. The road follows a deep valley between tall pine covered mountains. The bus ascends for a very long time, following a roaring river, swollen from snow melt. Eventually the bus reaches a pass, with a ski resort situated in the saddle. I'm in the snow I saw from the jet!
Beyond the pass the road starts following another river down slope. On this, the eastern side of the mountains, the bus rolls into the town of Leavenworth, that has apparently reinvented itself as a tourist town. Everything has the looks of the Alps - Bulgarian and Swiss style roof lines, including the Subway and McDonalds.
The bus stops at a gas station, people jump off and run in the store for refreshment and bathroom or smoke breaks. As we re-board and get going again, one guy yells, "Hey driver! Hey driver!! I left my phone at the gas station, let me off, let me off!!" The driver pulls over and lets the kid out, "Your luggage will be in Wenatchee" 30 miles distant. I wonder how he made it, and I hope he made it without much trouble. The bus only comes through once a day in each direction. I feel bad for him - must have had important contacts he needed on that phone!

This side of these mountains is much drier, and apparently the perfect climate for grapes, apples, pears and other temperate fruits. The agriculture on this side sports dozens of wineries, in beautiful Mediterranean atmosphere. To be a tourist and cruise these wineries and orchards would be great! I'd like to come back for that... though I think I wouldn't come all the way out here just for that - unless I lived close by.
The bus arrives on the out-skirts of Wenatchee in short order, cruising slowly through downtown. Not a huge town, by any means, but apparently big for this area - it does have a regional airport! The bus station is down by some railroad tracks a block off of cuteish main street. I exit the bus and cross under the train tracks to get to a bike trail running along the Columbia River. After 3/4 of a mile, on a pleasant stroll down the path I come to an old, but renovated trestle bridge. The bridge was built to run a pipeline across the bridge to enable irrigation of crops on the other side of the river. The trestle allowed East Wenatchee to form. And that's where I head!

 Trestle bike bridge to East Wenatchee

The bridge has some great views looking up and down the Columbia, mountains and hills not covered in trees stretch to the horizons. The Columbia River looks swollen in her banks, but not to flood stage. On the other side of the bridge I cross a busy road to the Cedars Inn where I have reservations to stay for the evening. I check in, toss my stuff on the bed and look for a place to eat.
Fortunately there is a great dive bar that serves steak close at hand, very close, there is a back door into the place twenty feet away from the entrance to the hotel. After getting seated by the window I enjoy the banter of the bartender and locals that eat there often and the DJ that went out for a smoke break and let a terrible song come on. I drink a very good local beer, after asking the bartender what was good, and devour my steak; delicious!! After paying I head over to the 7-11 for Snickers bars to hold me throughout the week, I know I'll be craving one after a hard days work!

At the hotel I repack all my gear into my backpack rather than in the duffel bag I used to travel. I get to bed very late east coast time!

Day 2 - Travel day
June 18th Saturday

I sleep so well! Deep, dreamless, refreshing. I wake up with the alarm and grab coffee and continental breakfast. Listening to semi-local news I hear the Columbia is flooding down river, apparently it has rained a lot, further down! I have some time to kill so I go back to the room for a bit before catching a comped taxi/shuttle to the airport. While on the way there in the taxi (one of 2 in Wentachee) I hear that the other taxi is picking up, one, Howard Sherman from another hotel. I know that guy! He's with our group. Small town at work, news travels fast.
At the airport I sit for a very short time in the Pronghorn Cafe (like the airport, very short!!) and Bette arrives and introduces herself. We talk for a minute before seeing an SUV with a trailer pull up outside. We head out and find Josh and Joni arriving with Jim. We transfer some food items to the cooler Bette brought from her home in Portland. Josh and Joni bought food this morning - they have 4 large banana boxes full of tastiness! I hope we're not carrying all of that into the back-country. We wait for a bit, an airplane with Liz landing and disembarking in short order. Howard arrives about 15 minutes later. I climb in Bette's SUV with Liz in back, following Jim driving, Josh, Joni, and Howard.
Shortly out of Wentachee following the Columbia north, Liz's bag flies out of the trailer and hits the road, rolling to a stop on the center line. We jump out and retrieve it. It looks mostly unscathed, her having placed her gear in a laundry bag for travel protection. That's one tough bag and a good tip to follow!
We continue up the road and stop in a blip of a town, Entiat, for some additional groceries and ice. We go to a local coffee shop for lunch to get sandwiches - very quaint place, nautically themed, oddly enough. I figure Stehekin, having limited phone service via satellite, won't take credit cards, I get Jim to take us to an ATM also.
I notice, or rather continue to notice, that every few miles there are drive-thru espresso stands. Each very small, with room for a worker. This must be a Washington state thing. They love their coffee up here.
After getting back on the road we arrive at the cutoff and follow a smaller road towards the west side of Lake Chelan, following the lake for a few miles until we get to a NPS landing. We unload our gear and move it down to the dock using some carts left sitting around the landing. We use the bathroom and get some pictures while we wait for our boat to show up. There is a very cool map adjacent to the bathrooms showcasing the Lake Chelan area in raised topography, we pin-point where we are, where we are headed, and where Company Creek Trail work-site will be.
While on the dock, I look at a pylon and notice something very odd. A bell with a guitar pick stuck on it is pressed into the pillar of wood. Very strange, and it will make a small but good keepsake for the trip. I will have to pay it forward by putting something equally contrary to the surroundings somewhere else in the future!

Guitar pick and Bell

Our boat arrives with Ranger Sonya piloting and Ranger Bill meeting us. We load gear and part ways with Jim; thanks again! The boat trip will take around an hour to go up lake to Stehekin. Around every corner is a new and wonderful view! The southern end of the lake looks a bit dry like what has been seen since Wenatchee, more treeless Mediterranean looking hill-sides. At first there are many residences on the shore-line, especially on the western side of the lake where the road continues for another couple miles. The houses begin becoming much less frequent and only accessible by water craft. There are some beautiful homes situated with wonderful views and nice seclusion. The vision to have a summer home in such pristine surroundings is a spectacular idea, but one I doubt I will ever be able to afford, however I'm sure some of these get rented out for short terms - what a great retreat that would be! The further up lake and into the mountains we head, the lusher the hillsides become.

 I stand out back in the whipping wind sucking in the view, and maybe some diesel fumes.

The views are unlike anything I have seen. The water is choppy from the wind and the boat makes a lot of spray foam out the sides as we progress. Waterfalls can be seen descending rapidly to the lake in cuts into the hillsides. Up lake snow covered peaks can be seen making everything else look insignificant. The sky is gray and clouded, but it doesn't look like rain clouds. The forecast has called for a slight chance today and the rest of the 10-day to be clear and mostly sunny. I hope the meteorologist is right! The barren hills further up were caused by fairly recent forest fires, within the last decade. Ranger Bill explained there is one part that hasn't burned yet and everyone is waiting for it to go! Many of the burned trees still stand blackened on the hills, looking like silent sentries looking out from the ridges.
The boat ride, I am told, cost the Park Service a lot of dollars for the round trip up and down lake roundtrip! Gas is not cheap. Fortunately the NPS has a fund for each park ear-marked for volunteer programs, there is just mounds of paper work to file to get a sliver of that money.

Views from the boat

Stehekin landing comes into view on the east side of the lake, the end of Lake Chelan in view as we dock. We disembark, carrying our equipment to the end of the dock to be staged into vehicles. Bill gives us some time to peruse the 'bustling' landing area. I go in to the gift shop but buy nothing, and I wander briefly up a hill to the NPS visitor center to see another topo relief map more concentrated on this end of the lake. After a bit I wander back down and see none of the Crew have come back yet. The restaurant is just opening so I go in and get a Sam Adams Summer Ale and sit on the deck outside. As I sit there 3 rafts of rafters are towed into the landing from the mouth of the river, all look like they had a great time, smiles all around.

 I sit on the deck and enjoy the brew as I enjoy the view!

Howard comes by and asks about the visitor center and I direct him that way. A short while later I see that our bags are being loaded, so I put my beer bottle in the recycling bin and head down to put the equipment and food in the NPS pick-up truck. After everything gets loaded we hop in the trucks for a five mile drive up the valley to our campsite for the night. Bill explains some of the history of the place and points out the landmarks as we pass. The road follows the lake shore for a mile before passing into the woods and skirting the main river that fills the lake. I notice that many of the cars are old, still running but now infrequently seen. An old Ford there, a really old Datsun here. And sitting on front yards and abandoned in the woods are even older vehicles, the effect like stepping back in time. I suppose it is expensive to ship a car up lake so they keep the ones they have running for as long as possible.

 Keep it workin' til a tree falls on it

As we approach our campsite, we come to an intersection, our road is on the left, across the river. We cross a very interesting trestle-style bridge to the west side of the river, and take another immediate left into Harlequin Camp. First Ranger Bill drives down and checks out the large group camp, he says when the water is up that camp can flood. We use the turn around and go back the way we came a few campsites to smaller ones that are a few feet higher. We get out, as we get out Josh realizes that Howard was left behind! We clambered in the vehicles and got out of Dodge (Stehekin in this case) without doing a head count. Howard was still in the NPS welcome center. Opps!!! After picking the campsite and unloading gear Bill goes back for Howard in his NPS SUV. We are going to be lent the pick-up truck for the entirety of our stay - very nice!

We all go about picking our tent sites and putting up our tents, hanging clothes lines, and organizing food somewhat. Liz has a zippable net bagging that we put some beer and wine in and tie off behind so tree roots on the river bank - the water is frigid and will keep these beverages at a good temperature.

As we setup our tents we ponder how Howard will react to being left behind. Will he be a good sport? Will he be mad? Not knowing each other we don't know what the reaction will be. Soon enough we find out. Bill pulls up and Howard hops out. He goes to Josh and says something along the lines of, "is this how you're going to run this trip?!", and then moves down a couple campsites to make his tent site away from us. Ouch! Not off to a good start for Crew continuity.

After setting up camp and conversing a bit, one of the girls (I can't remember which one, sorry!) came up with the idea that all of us go up there as a group, a beer in hand as an offering of peace. We roll up and he accepts the apology. We get an assigned number, which everyone promptly forgets (expect me, I was number 4!) but the important thing is we will now be very aware to look for six people of the crew before heading off!

Bill showed a couple people the airstrip, and more importantly where the showers are. We trooped up there to familiarize ourselves with the area and see two large yurts behind the shower house. We peak in the yurts to see cots, couches, reading lamps - the works! The yurts are for summer seasonal workers that do some trail maintenance and other Park jobs.

The leather chair was VERY comfy!

We aren't staying in these, but the showers are a nice enough touch. I came out here to backpack and sleep in a tent, I won't turn down a hot shower though! I was mentally prepared to not have any creature comforts at all for ten days.

The area between camp and the showers is a pleasant walk down a gravel roadway. There isn't much traffic. The structures around are mostly owned by the Park. There is a mechanics shop and a recycling yard. A water pump stands in a field for car washing. Attached to the shower house is a pavilion containing a couple picnic tables, a refrigerator, a large sink, and a microwave - all outside but covered by a roof. We use the sink, but nothing else. Off to one side of the field, the grass chest high and richly green, lies a very nice looking house with a fenced in garden and a bus that resembles the bus from 'Into the Wild' in the front yard. The mountains beyond the large trees in the valley floor surround and permeate everything here. One cannot help but feel those old hills bearing down. Any break in the trees or any meadow or open space provides one with a great view. The air is crisp and clean without loud noises to distract. As the evening shadows grow long, and being in the valley the sun disappears quickly but stays light long, the air turns colder very quickly.

Alexander "Super Tramp" not included

At camp we eat a dinner from the box of food. Josh and Joni did an excellent job of making meal plans to fit the stages of the hike. Tonight includes a salad too! The Park Service provided a 2-burner camp stove with a 5-gallon propane tank and a couple large pots and a girdle to cook on.

After dinner and cleanup Josh outlines the plan for the week. Tomorrow we have some clearing to do by the airport and then we start up Company Creek Trail with Bill. We continue to work with Bill Monday. Tuesday Bill is off and we work by ourselves. Wednesday is our day off. Thursday we backpack into the back-country to get a full days work without the commute on Friday. Saturday we come back to the valley in the evening and leave on Sunday. The meal weights and plan are built around this, and this way we get some back-country camping in there too! So we will get the best of both worlds - showers at the beginning of the week, wilderness at the end.

I am beat from a long day of travel. Josh and Joni are even more beat though - their travel from Minnesota was delayed in Seattle and they didn't get in to Wenatchee until very late the night before. We all headed towards our tents after an eventful day. I noticed that, though it was late, there was still plenty of light. Being so far north and so close to the Summer equinox the daylight lingers until 10 or 11 - I never did see it get dark, I always fell asleep before it did and woke up in the middle of the night to blackness. My tent welcomed me, the new Big Agnes down sleeping bag felt wonderful to get into as the temperatures dipped into the 50's.

A small but comfortable home

This concludes Part 1: Getting There

Stay tuned for the next in the series as I go through my notes and write the rest! Next: Starting Work, Day Off, Finishing Work.

Thanks for reading!

Leavenworth on Dwellable

Stay Tuned

I will be posting about the Northern Cascades Volunteer Vacation with American Hiking Society when I get back.

Mid-week we will have a day off to go day hiking or whatever else we want to do. I haven't decided. There are quite a few trails around. I may go up the valley and try to set foot on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail - west coast equivalent to the AT), or I may try and climb a mountain and see a glacier, or go down the valley to see more of Lake Chelan. 

I am very excited to be going! I will miss the girl, and she knows it - but going here was planned before I met her and going to Washington State will be fulfilling dreams I've had for awhile. The amount of pictures I'll be taking is going to be amazing! I can't wait to soak in the beauty. The temperatures seem to be between 50 at night to low 80's during the day - good weather to be working and camping. The people element should also be fun, everyone seems fairly cool from the small amount of interaction I have had, all seem like they are avid hikers - but to belong and volunteer to a group called American Hiking Society, I guess you'd have to have some kind avid interest in it!

I am also looking forward to be trying out nearly my full range of equipment that I want to be taking on the Appalachian Trail. Early this year those were colder weather trips with more gear, also short travel day trips so I added more stuff 'just to be safe' or 'just in case'. This time my pack is slim and without extra items that I probably won't need. Base weight was ~20lbs, which I'm satisfied with. Also there was an abundance of room in the back for food for 5 to 7 days on the AT. I'm really psyched to try out everything! I'm hoping this trip will test my gear, myself, and my readiness.

Besides food (and that entails a LOT of expense - food storage bags, boxes, postage) and all the time and preparation that will go into that I have nearly all the gear I need for the Trail. I would possibly like new hiking poles, a SPOT device, a flip phone, extra memory card, Dirty Girl Gaiters, and a Packa. Oh, and maps! I have the all the ones from Maine and I have a scattering of VA and MD. I need to go through and make a list of maps I have to maps I need. Some hikers don't travel with maps, some will use just the guide book, others just go with it. But planning is fun to me. Pouring over maps is fun to me. I want to mark the maps as I travel for mileage purposes, to relate each day to my journal so I can be fairly certain of where I saw something or where something took place! Also it will be helpful to coordinate where I can meet people and how to get to Trail towns and Post Offices. On that note, I should probably get two sets of maps. One for me and one for the support team...

I have a couple of concepts for DIY modded equipment that I want to try out - I'm not going to even touch on them until I've tried it out - and if it really works then imma patent the ideas, and then sell them to you ;) I've looked around and they don't exist - that doesn't mean they don't. It may also mean they've been thought of but violate the laws of the universe - which won't stop me from trying to do it anyway!

I am off to finish preparations to go West! Have a great few weeks!

Trail Days!

Friday May 13, 2011

Cara and I packed the car and left Baltimore at 10am with Kaya in the back seat. I called Newman on our way out and he was still in the midst of packing subsequently he'd be a couple hours behind us - however there were already people from Washington Backpackers that had left and would be looking for a place for us to setup camp.
Cara and I made good time, stopping infrequently. The cloud laden sky followed us for several hours before breaking and letting blue sky and patchy sunshine through. After Roanoke I could see a thunder shower ahead of us, we went through a brief period of heavy rain before winning free.
Down towards RT91, the cutoff to Damascus, it became evident that a tornado had struck the area. Roofs were ripped off, houses destroyed, trees toppled, and advertisement signs gone. It looked as if the storm had happened a week prior, as clean up was well under-way. It was sobering to see the fury of mother nature.
We arrived into Damascus at 4:30. I drove us to the General Store across from the tenting area and payed $20 to park in the field next-door. We walked over to the store to use the facilities and grab a snickers. I called the numbers of the people that were supposed to be there already. On the 3rd number I got in touch with Gino. Cara and I grabbed the tent, as the sky was looking threatening again and I wanted to have a place to stow our stuff if it began raining. We came in to the far right and followed the path behind the new baseball diamonds to a field where some tents were being setup. We met Gino and he lead us from the field back to where he and Matt had staked off some areas for us to camp. A small stream lay just beyond Gino's tent.
Cara and I looked close by and found a spot we thought would hold the 4-person tent I had purchased for this trip. I needed a car camping tent for Cara, myself, and Kaya! As we cleared the area of poison ivy and stinging nettles the sky got darker and finally began raining. I decided to setup the tent quickly rather than wait it out. We hustled, pulling everything out, removing plastic and rubber-bands from the new tent. The base went together quickly, easy enough. We tossed the rain-fly over, both of us getting soaked by now, the rain having picked up the pace. We clambered into the tent, first pulling the fly this way, then that way, a couple puddles forming on the floor where rain was falling off the fly into the door of the tent. We sat there for a bit then decided that the experience would be much better if we had beers in hand!
Cara, Kaya, and I walked back up to the car, dripping wet, at this point, and grabbed the cooler and some other gear. Back at camp, with the rain lessening, and a cold beer in hand, we properly set up the tent, moved it out of a depression and staked it and the fly down. I toweled out the inside and we put our day packs and other gear inside. Cara was getting numb at this point so we walked back to the car to blast the heat and get some feeling back into hands! She also changed into dry clothing and put on a rain jacket. We carried the big blue tote down to the campsite. This trip was quite the opposite of backpacking or ultralite!! The guy at the end of the trail near our campsite made quite a few comments on all the stuff we carried back to camp!

In the blue tote was all kinds of goodies - including the tarp. I strung that up next to the tent. As I was doing that Cara noticed one of our neighbors bare-assed in the stream behind our camp, only partially hidden by some trees.

 

 Home-Sweet-Home

Cara and I were getting quite hungry at this point, and the rest of the group was heading into town to catch a concert at the town pavilion - we decided to tag along in the darkening evening to grab some food in town and maybe catch the music if we found something. Kaya trotting happily along-side, we made our way into town. At the Creeper Trail the group turned left towards the town park, Cara and I continued to town. We turned right on Main, passing a few churches and hiker hostels, one church showing a slide-show presented by (or maybe ABOUT) Warren Doyle. The next church up had free coffee and snacks - we wanted real food though so we continued up to 91, turning right towards Sundog and Subway. At the edge of town we saw nothing we wanted, so I went into Dot's to check their menu - which consisted of anything in the world... deep fried. I ordered the chicken tenders, what I hoped would be the least offensive item to be fried. After getting the order I went outside where Cara waited with Kaya. Cara saw some picnic tables in front of Sun Dog so we crossed the street and asked if we could sit at the end. The hikers there said sure, then proceeded to invite us to eat bow-tie Alfredo and a fresh vegetable salad along with some bread! The cook insisted on heating the sauce for us before serving it. Then we all sang happy birthday to the cook! awesome people opening up just by sitting down! This is why I love Trail Days! Needless to say, most of the deep fried chicken from Dot's got wasted.

As we finished dinner Theresa called to let us know she just got into town and was on a pay phone since AT&T had no signal. I told her where we were and she drove down and picked us up so we could walk her into camp - and we got a ride back to camp.

She parked in the $10 lot, which I hadn't seen on our way in to town. Opps! Theresa had packed like she was back-packing. The only car camping item she had was a camp chair. We walked back to camp and she left her stuff under our tarp as she found a place to setup her tent. A few minutes later Newman arrived with his girl-friend and son. They left quite a bit of stuff under my tarp.

We crawled into the tent, cleaned Kaya off and situated her on a blanket by our feet. I brought my foam mattress and my 3/4 Thermarest - Cara got the more comfortable thermarest, of course, chivalry isn't dead! By the end of the night Kaya had the thermarest and Cara was on the ground between the two pads... apparently dogs don't prescribe to chivalry. There were drums beating and singing and revelry late into the night. I woke sometime later to a quiet camp.

Saturday 

Darwin came by the tent at 6:30am to tell us we were getting up for the hike soon. I lay there for awhile longer, listening to the birds singing their praises to the morning, the trickle of the stream, and mostly just the lack of noise in general. Soon Newman and others came over to our tarp to prepare coffee and hot water for tea and oatmeal. I motivated to get out of bed and we soon were packed for the hike and drinking some coffee from Newman's percolator.

We gathered all the people from the group and headed out - 4 cars full of people, including: Newman, Brandon, Kirsten, Darwin and his two dogs, Theresa, Matt, Toaha, Natalie, Barry, and Emil and his wife. Gino decided to go fly fishing before needing to head home that evening. Theresa rode with us, as we caravaned through the mountain towards Mt Rogers. 

We finally made it to the parking area after a couple turn arounds. We put our packs on and headed up the trail. The sun was shining and the day was fairly clear. Off on the horizon there were some clouds, but they looked far away. We hiked up the spur trail to the AT and the we followed the AT through a patch of trees. Off in the distance we could see a horse back-rider on one side of a fence and a wild pony on the other. A pony sighting!

The Trail curved up over the hill and back down to the field we were looking at from afar. As we closed in on the gate, the same pony we saw came trotting out of some brush. He saw Kaya and started running toward her, then the horse looked over and saw Darwin's dogs and ran towards them instead. At first we didn't know what the ponies intentions were, so we drew back and distracted the pony with apples. As it turned out, the pony only seemed to be coming down to say "Hi" to the dogs - enthusiastically. The pony was completely tame, it seemed, and liked our presence, occasionally licking our hands for the salt. We took many pictures of our new pony friend before putting our packs on and heading on.

Beyond the gate the Trail split, we continued on the AT towards Mt Rogers. The views behind were spectacular, the valleys hidden by mist, the far peaks jutting through those low clouds. The clouds we had seen on the horizon were closer now.

We ascend to some more balds, over some rocky area. The AT cut off to the right, while another trail went up and over the rocky bumps on the tops of the bald. The AT chooses the easy way! The views were slightly better, and the rocks were fun to climb. Kaya is a rock climbing champ! To Cara's 'Heel' and 'Wait' commands, Kaya listens very well, not pulling on the leash.

Over the first rocky out-cropping and on to the second, the clouds were closing in on us quickly, the wind a bit more chill. Two people were having trouble on the rock hopping sections, so they went out to the AT to meet us on the other side of the hills. We stopped and ate a couple bars and took a few more pictures. In the bald around us we could see a few groups of ponies scattered around. At the base of the 2nd hill we re-grouped and took a photo of us all before polling everyone on whether we should start heading back or try to summit Mount Rogers. Everyone seemed to be trending towards going on - Brandon piped up and reminded us it would look exactly as it does now. A few other factors lead me to side with our voice of reason - the hiker parade was to start at 2pm, they close the road back to the campsites some time before that, we were getting hungry, the clouds we had seen in the distance were now rolling over us obscuring the view and spitting rain - that could potentially become a worse storm at any time. Convinced, we headed back the AT route towards the cars.

 

It didn't take us long to get back to the cars. Though we did stop to play with a larger group of ponies and their foal. Kaya got nose to nose to a few of them, she wanted to play with them. We had hiked upwards of four miles, not a long hike, and not particularly strenuous, but filled with ponies, good views, easy conversation, and some fun rock hopping.

We made it back into town right at 1pm. Parked back in our spot, the group split. Cara, Kaya, and I went into town directly to see the hiker parade and the gear vendors and grab some food. Everyone else stopped back through the campsite to drop stuff off. Cara and I walked up to the town green and perused the gear. We each found some stuff that could really come in handy - her a Loki jacket caught her eye, with built in mittens and face mask - good for the always cold individual! We also found a full length Thermarest for a price to good not to get for her. I found a kinetic energy charger - which would work great, but at 11 oz, really isn't needed on the AT, where you are always a couple miles from the nearest electric outlet! I could see having that out west or in Alaska. I also saw the Packa - which I had seen online, but really got a good feel for it, I want on now, and think it is one of those items all backpackers need to have. It is a raincover/raincoat/poncho all in one and at the same weight as just my rain jacket - it is feature rich with zip-pits, a flap to sit on, can be used as either just a pack cover or just a rain coat. It fits over the shoulder pads of the pack and doesn't allow water down one's back. The Packa The best part was, the guy manning the booth is the creator, designer, and sole salesman of the device - also a thru hiker. This product needs to catch on, and I don't see how it won't!

By the time we got to the end of the vendors, the parade had began - fortunately we were at the end of the street so we still got to see it all - all the fire trucks, and classes of hikers, all the different trail associations, and some random guys on horse back. Interesting parade, to say the least!

After the parade we went and finished looking at the few vendors we missed before heading down the Virginia Creeper Bike Trail towards Sun Dog. We had seen an ice cream parlor on the way into town that struck our fancy! I bought a couple little things in Sun Dog and we sat on the porch of the ice cream place. Our timing, impeccable, it began pouring rain, us covered and dry on the porch! A bunch of scouts rode up on there bikes, some getting caught in the rain. There was one boy that forgot his wallet and some of the other boys were muttering about ("i'm not his sitter"), Cara quietly offered to get him a cone - this simple act moved me. She's a good person.

We sat, finishing our cones and letting the rain slow, before putting up our rain hoods and heading back into town. We made our way eventually back to camp, stopping at the sponsor tents and getting some stickers and beer cozzies from Osprey.

Back in camp we kicked around looking for a spot to start a fire. Where Gino had camped the night before, right on the bank of the stream was clear - so I went down the stream and started chucking big rocks up, Kaya chased the rocks back and forth, and Cara put them in a circle for the ring. Go team, lol. We gathered some firewood and sawed it up, stopping to pop tops and begin drinking. I had bought a bag of firewood in MD, kiln dried, so it didn't take much to start the fire, even with all the wet wood on hand. I placed the other firewood around the fire to dry it out. After we got a good bed of coals I put on a baked potato and the hobo dinner - beef cubes, onions, green peppers, a dash of salt pepper and olive oil.

As we sat and drank we talked to various people walking or stumbling past. A friend of Kirsten and her friend Powhatan (Jonathan) stopped by. Powhatan is thru hiking for the second time this year, last time he thru-ed was in 2001. Great guy, very laid back fun to talk to, good humor. He had the long beard and an insatiable desire to drink beer. He bounced back and forth between Newman and Kirsten were under their kitchen tent, and were Cara and I were tying one on by our fire.

Eventually our food was done, and while the meat was a bit over done the potato was perfect. We savored it with a few more beers. Darwin came by and made us do a couple shots of Johnny Walker Red. The guys from West Virginia - one that Cara had seen bare-assed the day before - came by and spoke to us for awhile, they were worried their music playing was bothering us, quite the contrary!! Between the mandolin and a drum with their very Appalachian folk singing style I couldn't have asked for a better way to enjoy the evening. They were very nice guys too. Glad to have had the pleasure of camping near them.

After listening to the music, and the howls and occasional bottle rocket, beating drums, wind in the trees and trickling stream, Cara and I stumbled the few feet back to the tent. With Kaya clean we went to sleep - or rather I went to sleep - apparently Cara had to go to the bathroom and went wandering around for one all the way up close to the general store. I remember none of that; I passed out!

It began raining during the night and rained most of the way until morning. Plunking on the tent roof while we stayed dry inside.

Sunday

We were awoken by the next camp over yelling that it was 15 minutes until sunrise, they stayed up all night waiting for it! We dozed off for a few more hours. We got out of the tent and made coffee then bacon then eggs and english muffins - roughing it I know! We went over and shared some bacon with the group. Some were already packing up and getting out. After a slow relaxing morning we began packing up, the rain firmly finished. I went over and got the car and we packed everything quickly. After saying our goodbyes - we headed out. We being muddy, grimy, tired, and itchy - but happy and content at the same time. We took our time going home, stopping frequently and just generally enjoying the trip, but boy did that shower feel wonderful when we got back to Baltimore!!!

Not a double rainbow - but I will take a full on, all the way rainbow!!

Updates

It's been awhile since the last post, and nothing too exciting has happened since the last post. Awesome things have happened, just nothing adventure related!

A couple weeks ago I went on a company cruise thru Key West to Cozumel and back to Miami. In Cozumel I went on the 4-wheeler jungle excursion. It hadn't rained in 2-months there, so the dust was prodigious, to say the least. Still a lot of fun, though rather outside the bounds of what I typically do. I did see some colorful birds and some iguanas and get to hear about some ancient local history of the ruins we visited while tearing around on the ATVs.

More recently I went to San Francisco with Cara. We walked around the city, felt the cold air coming in off the bay. I met her brothers and cousins, her parents were there, as well as her sister-in-laws family. A whirlwind of new faces and conversations.
As we drove south, I was reminiscent of the last time I was in San Jose, I had been alone there for work. One day I drove east and hiked in the brown mountains on that side of the valley. Arid qualities abounded, browned grass and earth, dust with rattler belly marks, coyote scat and tracks, and signs warning of cougars. The next day I drove west, to Big Basin, where I walked among the redwoods and sequoias.
Time was short on this trip, we were there only 3 full days; the activities were all family related, as was expected! I enjoyed meeting everyone, all very good people; I know this was important to Cara. The beach was gorgeous, the afternoon temperatures excellent, and wine tasting and lunch on the cliffs fantastic!

I received conformation concerning the Washington Volunteer Vacation. The planning of it was cumbersome, but I have laid out an itinerary, which honestly I don't mind doing, but would rather not as I like going places without a rigid plan - however, on this excursion I needed to be at a certain place at a certain time, and without taking extra days off and spending extra money on lodging/car rental/etc I had to have the events line up, while trying to find decently priced flights.
 I fly into Seattle and have a few hours to go north into downtown on the light rail to see REI (get fuel and whatever else I might need but don't have for the trip), from there I can sight see for a bit Pike's Place whatever else I can walk to - though I will have a full pack on all this time - so I gotta remember to pack light! Then I jump on a bus that goes east over the mountains to Wenatchee. Wenatchee does have an airport, but looking into getting a flight there was difficult, not only did all the flights come thru Seattle, they all had 6+ hours layover times from the arrival flight and I would need to get there another day in advance because of the wait times. From the bus station in Wenatchee - after a 4 hour bus ride thru the mountains - I will be in walking distance of the hotel I will be staying at for the night. The next day I will need to get a ride from the hotel to KEAT, the airport, for the pickup from the volunteers from AHS. From there we drive north to Chelan and get a NPS supply boat to pick us up and take us the ~40 miles up the lake to within 5 miles of our camp for the week.
On the way back it's not quite the same, first we get the boat ride back, 2 hour drive to Wenatchee by 6pm, bus to Seattle, arriving at 11pm. Jet leaving 1am to fly through Houston and then back to BWI by 2pm the following day. That is the marathon day of constant travel - start the day hiking, boating, driving, bus riding, light rail riding, plane riding to finish. Reality will be crashing down on me after a full week of blissful nothingness - no distraction, just waking working, soaking in the beauty. Currently there are 5 people confirmed for the trip. The group leader and another person have the same address in Minnesota. The others are from Flint and Philly.
I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, and working on the trail. The description reads: "Volunteers will perform trail brushing and clearing, and reroute a remote trail climbing toward Bonanza Peak in the Cascades. There is a cold glacier-fed creek flowing near the camp"

In a couple weeks I will be heading down to Trail Days with the Washington Backpackers. I am an organizer, so I rather feel obligated to help out, however, I'd like nothing more than some relaxing time. I do want to go see the ponies on Mt Rogers, logistically it's going to be tough if 20+ people actually show up. I may show up later than Newman, just so I don't have to participate in carrying the 4 metric tons of equipment from his car to the campsite!!!