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I have finally recovered from most of the mosquito and fly bites I received on the weekend of July 22-23, 2006. Or at least I have recovered enough to post this bit of commentary on a wonderful weekend at Cougar Lakes, just East of Mt. Rainier.
I was guided by two intrepid explorers from a place they called Walla Walla. Last I heard this was somewhere near Bugs Bunny's home and was full of sweet onions. Anyway, these two, 'Brielle and Beezer, we'll call them B+B for short led me into one of the horsiest, hottest, bug-infested wildernesses I have ever seen. I had a FANTASTIC time!!
Actually I was a little worried when I arrived at the trailhead on Friday evening and promptly was bitten by at least 5 skeeters before I had even opened my first beer! But I made it through that first hot and buggy night by convincing myself that if I turned off the lights the bugs couldn't see me and they would just go away. At some point during the middle of the night they did go away or at least take a short nap.
On Saturday we hiked up to Cougar Lakes and were pleasantly surprised to find slightly fewer bugs at the higher elevations. We did however meet several large stinky animals which carried some lazy wilderness visitors. When passing Swamp Lake on the way to our destination, the stinky animals became quite agitated at the sight of Mr. Beezer. I can only presume it was due to his fondness for trail apples. On several occassions he reminded us that the smell of horse excrement made him hungry! I was afraid to ask if eating the horseshit would satisfy his hunger.
We found a nice secluded camp near the beach at the larger of the two Cougar Lakes. From here we set about trying to catch the fabled wild mountain trout with our fly rods. That evening I caught one 6-7 inch Brookie and Beezer caught two large minnows (5-inchers) before it became too dark to fish. During the afternoon on Saturday, while my inexhaustible guides slept, I ran up to the top of the ridge near the lakes and got an awesome view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. I nearly made it to the Pacific Crest Trail before I turned around so that I could make it back in time to wake up the guides for dinner.
On Sunday we spent a lot of time wading into the lake and swatting the air with our fly rods, but didn't have much luck with the fishing. We got a little sun and did a little bit of bathing or wading in the cool clear waters before heading back down the dusty stinky trail. I had a great time on this trip but am still wondering if the B+B guide service is not just a front for a minnow-poaching horseshit-eating couple of onion smugglers. I have posted some of the photos here. You be the judge.
On Sat. July 8 I planned on hiking to Lake Byrne which is near Glacier Peak. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the White Chuck River road had been washed out at least a few years ago! So when I arrived at the road washout, at 1.7 miles from the road beginning, I was a little pissed to say the least. The trailhead is at 10 miles from the road beginning!
Because I got there at the relatively early time of 8:20 AM I decided to try and make it to Kennedy Hot Springs which is at around 5 or 5.5 miles from the beginning of the trail. This means that a total round-trip distance of 26 to 27 miles would need to be covered.
So I took off running up the old road. The road was washed out at two locations in the first couple of miles but was in relatively good condition all the way to the trailhead. In fact the road was actually pleasant as the area does not appear to get many visitors, the forest was lush and the river rumbling could be heard at all times. The first mile of the trail was relatively nice if not a little over-grown in spots but thereafter the route became downright challenging and dangerous. I counted 11 landslides which I had to either skirt around in the riverbed or climb up and over. A few of the slide areas were a little nervewracking to cross below as rocks were heard falling! I made it to the confluence of Kennedy Creek and the White Chuck River only to find that most of the manmade structures and the trail had been obliterated by the river. I found the remnants of a camp area and a toilet (wallowa) after crossing Kennedy but I couldn't find a way to cross the White Chuck River to get to the hot springs. Besides I was worn out and it was already 2 pm, so I started back. I found an interesting cache near the Kennedy creek camp area: A USFS owned First Aid kit and backpack stored in a bucket. It appears that this is all that is left of the USFS patrol cabin which reportadly was located near here. I ran back to the car, pleading with my left groin adductor not to give up until I made it back.
Besides the fun of the trip and the beautiful scenery an added bonus is that I think I figured out the cause of my injury. The groin pain or tendinitis must have developed due to the metatarsal pads and superfeet insoles which I have been wearing. It may even be partly due to my trail shoes which don't provide nearly as much support as my road shoes. So, although, I have a long road to recovery, at least I think I have a clue as to how to overcome the injury. I was able to overcome the adductor pain by adjusting my gait as I ran. This is what led me to think that the pads and insole were causing an unusual stride which may have in turn led to the groin tendinitis.
I am betting that the White Chuck Road will never be repaired, unless a timber sale goes through. That road will never be repaired or re-routed for the sake of hikers or wilderness enthusiasts. Unfortunately this is not me being cynical. This statement is just based on reality. At least now I know where to go to get some solitude!
On my way home from work yesterday I got hit by a car while riding my bike. Fortunately, I only ended up with a few scrapes and bruises and so far it looks like my bike is ok too. The photo above was taken before the accident!
Speaking of my bike it has been getting a good workout lately since I haven't been able to run for nearly 5 weeks now. According to my doctor I have tendinitis at my left groin. So I am starting my recovery now. I have been biking when I have alot of energy on the weekends and doing some short walks in the evening.
This non-running and recovery is much harder than running ultra-distances. I am trying to look at this setback as a new challenge. If I do it right maybe next summer I can run a 100 miler!
I am back from vacation and still injured!! How is this possible? Anyway I thought I would post a picture here of what my right foot gets to experience every evening. Maybe this injury is just a symptom of my old age! I am trying not to dwell on it . . .
Last saturday I returned from the great vacation to visit John and the canyonlands. Once again I was absolutely blown away by the beauty, the apparent solitude, the adventure and granduer I found in the canyons of Utah.
We spent our first five days in Dark Canyon. Although we abandoned our technical loop plans on the second day, we still had a great time daytripping up and down the canyons. We spent our first night on the trail under a tarp during a windy and rainy thunderstorm. Welcome to the canyon! Amazingly, the night was not all that uncomfortable, once I was sure that the tarp was well staked down and was not going to blow off. The second day in the canyon, we attempted to climb up and out of Dark Canyon per our planned loop, but gave up when we discovered our packs were too heavy and our will too weak. When planning the hike I definately underestimated the difficulty of steep off-trail hiking and climbing with a 7-day comfort pack (minus tent). So instead, we hiked back up canyon to a great cottonwood wash and made camp for the next couple of nights. On the third day we hiked down canyon again and continued on to Cataract Canyon and the mighty brown Colorado River. We also did a short trip up a side canyon which involved a little climbing.
On the fourth day we spent 13.5 hours hiking and running a little up Lean-To Canyon. We accomplished our goal of going nearly all the way up canyon from the Dark - Lean-To confluence to the airstrip on top of Middle Point. This was one of the most amazing days of exploration I have ever had. We started early in the morning but were turned back after an hour of hiking when we encountered a 200 to 300 foot high dry waterfall at canyon bottom. Once again I (or maybe we) had done a poor job of planning and guidebook reading. We had missed the description which clearly stated that we should take the trail high on the canyon shelf. We backtracked to the confluence and hiked up over the obstacle. This dry waterfall / obstacle was amazing as the dry riverbed was absolutely flat like a road up until the drop off which was steeper than vertical. I took several photos, one of which is shown to the left, but no camera can adequately convey the scale and verticality of this feature.
Anyway, our high ledges detour directed us back into the bottom of the canyon where we travelled up the slickrock floor of the canyon. We passed through an absolutely gorgeous spring area with hanging gardens and large cottonwood trees. In a few locations we followed small trails or footprints up onto ledges in order to bypass some additional drops (dry waterfalls) and pools. 
When it appeared that we were nearing the upper end of the canyon we struck out on a course up and out of the canyon. Using the GPS, map and compass we guesstimated our position and set out for the airstrip which was located on top of the plateau. I have to admit I was a little amazed when John spotted a plane parked in some trees near a clearing. After reconnoitering the airstrip and walking down the nearby dirt road for awhile we decided to backtrack to camp. I only wish we would have had the time and energy to run out the dirt road and continue north until we were directly above the rim of the Colorado River. Based upon the map I can just imagine that the vista from this point, near Middle Point, is awesome!
The following day we packed up and hiked out of Dark Canyon, up the "appallingly long talus slope." Although it only took 45 minutes to go up the talus slope to exit the canyon, it truly was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. Because of the steepness of the slope and the heavy loads this climb was like ascending a rickety ladder with a gorilla on your back. My legs were shaking by the time we crested the top of the slope.
After loading up the car and finishing off the warm beer we set out with the intention of exploring the Maze in Canyonlands National Park. We stopped in Hanksville on the way back north had a greasy hamburger dinner, picked up some gas, and beer. Unfortunately, we only got a six pack. Note to self and to John: always buy two or three times as much beer as you think you will need when heading into the hot desert (also get more water!). We drove into the BLM / Glen Canyon Recreation Area land which is west of Canyonlands NP. We found a car camp spot just outside the park and spent a very cold night out, on the high plateau. It definately got below freezing as water in the water bottles froze.
The next morning we checked in at the ranger station and inquired as to our options for seeing the Maze. We were informed that we would either need a higher clearance vehicle or we would need to hike at least 14 miles just to get to the Maze. Since we only had a couple more days we decided to check out the alternatives in the BLM area just west of the park.
Our first day hike in this vast, and nearly visitorless, playground was down Bluejohn canyon, the canyon made famous by Aron Ralston's infamous day trip. Recall that Aron Ralston got his hand stuck while descending Bluejohn and spent several days waiting for a rescue before cutting off his hand with a pocketknife. This alone was enough to make us want to check out the canyon. Is that a little sick and twisted? Anyway we were not sure quite where to go to get into the upper north bluejohn canyon (and this descent would require a rappel) so we started down west bluejohn canyon. We made it through a short narrows with a little overly dramatic downclimbing on my part. It must have taken me 1/2 an hour to make a couple exposed moves on top of a dirty sloping bench before I joined John at the bottom of the slot. After this shallow slot the canyon opened up and joined with the north canyon. We continued down canyon and were soon in the infamous narrow slot canyon where Ralston spent several days. I don't have alot of experience with slot canyons, but I have to say this was an absolutely spectacular and a little technical canyon. It was extremely fun and a little challenging squeezing through and clambering over boulders in this slot where it became so dark that we had to put on our headlamps! After awhile we came to a vertical drop with a small pool below. It was obvious that this was the end of the narrows as the canyon looked like it was widening below the drop. I also knew from reading Ralston's book that this was the final rappel before the hike out in Horseshoe Canyon. Since we didn't have a shuttle to take us back to our starting point we did not put ourselves in a non-retreatable position by rappeling down the drop. We backtracked to the car. Because we got back to the car so early, around 4:30 we packed up and sped over to the Horseshoe Canyon trailhead to hike up from the other end.
Horseshoe Canyon has a large parking lot and obviously is a well-visited area due to the ancient rock art. In fact, the actual canyon is located within a satellite area of the national park. Around 5 or 5:30 pm we left the car and ran down into the canyon hoping to see as much of the rock art as we could before it got dark. This was a brilliant idea, because we had the entire canyon to ourselves. Before long we found the first of a couple of major rock art or pictograph sites. At the Great Gallery I was blown away by how extensive and varied the art was. We pondered the meanings behind the rock art as the entire canyon bottom faded into shadows. It was a truly mystical and a little bit haunting to be so near to such old and strange figures. Some of the art figures were reportedly created up to 4,000 years ago! We hiked out of the canyon in the dark under a cloudless and absolutely star-filled sky.
After a night car camping at the Horeseshoe Canyon parking lot we drove over to the Angel Point trailhead at the Dirty Devil River. Here we descended down slickrock into a large canyon with a truly dirty river. The Dirty Devil was so full of sediment that later in the day it clogged my filter even before I had pumped 1/5 of a quart of water! We hiked up a couple of canyons, including Robbers Roost. Unfortunately, this was not the place to wear shorts, due to the abundance of sharp prickly bushes, not all of which were the famed blackbush. There were also huge prickly pear cacti groves and all manner of sharp sticks, branches and weeds. The sun and the heat were somewhat relentless and our water supplies were extremely limited (due to our poor re-supply in Hanksville two days before!). So we hightailed it back up the canyon walls where the car and a 2.5 hour waterless drive awaited. As noted above, I attempted to filter water at the Dirty Devil as I knew that we would not have enough water for the drive back to civ. Unfortunately, filters were not made for 50% sediment / 50% water!
Once we were at the car the Jimi Hendrix was set on high volume and we set out for the long and bumpy ride back to the paved highway. By 1 AM we were back in Denver raiding the Gallagher kitchen and taking full advantage of the water and beer supplies.
I can't wait to go back!
Yesterday I went for my first spring hike in the mountains (not the lowlands) and boy did it feel like winter! Every once and awhile the sky would start to clear but after 15 minutes of hiking ominous clouds would race in and the wind would shower me with ice crystals from the snow on the ground. It was refreshing to be out on the tops of the hills feeling the full blast of weather. The wind was blowing so hard you can see my goat was even blown over in the wind -->
I went to Mt. Washington and hiked to the top of a ridge near the peak. I'd been here before, just hiking up to the climbing areas. But yesterday I went further up onto logging roads and into tons of snow. In some places it was slow going with postholing up to my knees. I tried an off-trail route straight up a bowl on the northern side of the ridge but was turned back by at least 40 degree steep loose snow. I didn't really need an ice axe but a huge snow shovel (or snowshoes) would have helped!
Anyway I backtracked and followed an old logging road grade around the side of the ridge before clambering to the top. The views of the I-90 corridor aren't much to write home about but it was great to be outside and moving. After the hike I soaked my feet in the icy Snoqualmie River. So I'm hopeing my right foot will feel better this week!!
Blue Sky Red Rock Blazing Sun. Only two weeks and I will get to wander through some (Dark, Middle, Bowdie, Youngs, Cataract) canyons for up 7 days!! The following photo is old canyon porn from my Paria trip a few years ago:
I've gotta get outta this office!!
I just had to post this quote since I have seen it a couple times recently and it is so important for me to remember.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that
you didn't do than by the ones you did do."
- Mark Twain
