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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Fri 20 Jan , 2006 2:16 am
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Edain wrote:
The highlight of the trip was when I glanced into the glen of my forefathers.
I think it's cool you're close to your heritage like that. I don't know jack about my heritage...atleast no more than some foggy memories of my deceased grandmother's mentionings, and my clueless parents.
"Well, Daddy came from Alabama...." says my Mom. :roll:

Why is Glen Coe ill fated?


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cemthinae
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Posted: Sat 21 Jan , 2006 2:19 am
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Someone should organize a hiking moot... I'd be interested. :)

Great pictures, Lego. I especially love the two of the trees! :D

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Jude
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Posted: Sat 21 Jan , 2006 2:32 am
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Legolas the elf wrote:
Why is Glen Coe ill fated?
Glencoe - it's one word.

A horrible massacre took place there. :(

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Melkor and Ungoliant in need of some relationship counselling.


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Snowdog
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Posted: Tue 24 Jan , 2006 4:00 pm
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The ocean hike got posponed a week due to a stupid cough I can't seem to get rid of, and my bro twisted his back. So we will try again this coming Friday.

Lego! Its cool they still have firewatch towers! Most of the ones here in the Cascades have either been destroyed by fire, destroyed by repeated incessent winters, or have been removed to make 'the mountains pure and natural'. I think the one on Three Fingers is still there, and the one down by Mt Adams as well.

Edain, I recently heard from Heliona! She is learning to drive in America on "the wrong side of the road in a car with the steering on the wrong side".
:LMAO:

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Wed 22 Feb , 2006 2:12 am
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So, how'd the ocean hike go, Snow?




btw: April 3rd weekend trip planned to said firetower. Gonna bring in Spring wonderfully this year.


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Snowdog
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Posted: Wed 22 Feb , 2006 6:48 pm
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Well... it got posponed to this weekend, and now for two more weeks.. so it will be a early spring hike on March 11th.
Part of the battle is to actually get underway...

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EdaintheRanger
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Posted: Thu 23 Feb , 2006 12:34 am
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Ohh that's cool to know Snowdog. So Heliona was in the States too. Maybe living there? Well whatever, plenty of good observatories there if she is still doin' Astrophysics or whatever it was.

I'm back now. AZ is hot, dusty, dry and lovely this time of year. I visited quite a few places, even the famous Tombstone. The O.K. Corral is a lickle bitty place! We did a lot of walking around, especially as they like to park "at the back of the carpark"... It was nice to come back and only have to drive for two minutes to get to the supermarket. :D Oh and we saw Mt. Lemmon the local beauty spot. Some spectacular views. I guess I'll have to try out this huntin' and fishin' lark when I go again.

Company was great too. Anyone remember LeslieElfWarrior, or Markus the Knight? I got to meet them. We got along famously.:)

Glencoe. Yes my ancestors were slaughtered there. But that is water under the bridge.

Indeed, getting organised to do something like a good hike is a trick in itself.

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Snowdog
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Posted: Thu 23 Feb , 2006 11:31 pm
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Yeah, if it wasn't my sickness and my bro's throwing his back out, its a sudden family commitment, which by the way fell through anyway, and my bro's working. But I have gotten my hiking gear a little bit updated as I work on replacing all the 80's stuff I still have.

Heliona is in Martha's Vinyard Massachusetts.
AZ is nice this time of year as it isn't 100° F +.

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EdaintheRanger
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Posted: Fri 24 Feb , 2006 3:43 pm
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Martha's Vineyard?


Ohh that place so reminds me of Martha's Harbour by All About Eve...

Ohh the urge to sing it is so strong...

=:) Like I need an excuse to harp on about Juilette Regan's voice! :D

Listens to the music...

Reads the posts.

Man I wanna yomp up and down a mountain now!

:rage:

Wanna go! Wanna go!

Bloody weather won't let me...

Wesa got snow precious people. Wesa got snow!

Calms down gets a biscuit and settles for dreaming of walking the mountains...

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Wed 01 Mar , 2006 2:09 am
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We gotta plan a backpacking m77t in New Zealand one of these days. :D Once I get rich, I mean. :blackeye:


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Snowdog
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Posted: Mon 06 Mar , 2006 10:48 pm
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Yeah.... I missed the power ball this time!

Well, it tenetively looks like the oft- delayed backpacking trip to the ocean may be on this weekend.

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Tue 07 Mar , 2006 11:27 pm
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Re: Powerball.....yup, that's what it would take. :blackeye:


Oh well, your ocean hike sounds good enough. Hope it goes well.


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Snowdog
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Posted: Tue 14 Mar , 2006 9:23 pm
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It went much better than initially expected. My bro and I took off amid a nast lightning & thunderstorm in Seattle, with rain, snow, and hail. We got over to the Washington Stat penninsula via a 20 minute ferry ride, and we were heading west. It got interesting when we reached Lake Crescent, for it turned from the usual drippy wet western Washington late-winter night to a mid-winter-in-the-Washington-mountains day. There was snow and ice all over the road, and this was the windiest part too. Lake-effect snows coated the lands all around it, so there were some moments where we questioned our sanity as we carefully meandered swervy highway 101 along the lakeshore. But we made it past, and were again in fog and wet to the turn off to Ozette.

The Lake Ozette road was paved all the way to the Ranger station! The last time I was out there (1987) it was only partially paved with some serious gravel road washboarding the rest of the way. The paved road was a nice treat!

We camped at the ranger station since it was 1AM when we arrived, and Jim had his old tent for us to use there. Good thing too as it rained some during the night, and I didn't want to have to pack in a wet tent. The weather during this adventure, we had rain (expected) snow & ice (unexpected), Thunder and lightniong just to the south of us (somewhat expected) and glorious sun (unexpected but hopin').

Saturday started partly cloudy and cold! It was in the low 30's which is uncommon for the coastal area anytime in winter. The hike started well after some confusing last minute readying of the pack. I had to make an emergency repair as on of the belt retainers broke. I used shot cord from another part of the pack to repair it and make it usable. I didn't go out there to not hike due to broken equipment. I need a new pack.

The trail started out as the typical rocky northwest trail, but after the trail divide wher eyou choose to go due west 3.1 miles to Cape Alava, or due southwest 2.8 miles to Sand Point. Sand Point trail is easier but Cape Alava is a better way.

Either trail is part ground trail, part boardwalk with the ceder planking most of the way to Cape Alava. It was wet mostly (expected) which brought out its usual treacherousness, but in Alstrohm's Pararie and other open areas it was covered in snow and ice! Those stretches made you glad to see plain ol wet boards! Fortunately there were no spills for either of us though there were a couple slippages.

We made the coast about 2PM, and the tide was on its way out. We set off south down the beach to find a suitable place to camp. There used to be alot of nice little camps along a bluff that was shored up by driftwood... at least in the 80's up until last fall there were. In December a MAJOR storm hit the coast with a combination of weather factors that led to most of the camps becoming part of the beach. Around the winter solstice, a deep low pressure system came through that drove in 50 foot swells from the Gulf of Alaska. The wind, swells, low pressure, and the normally higher than usual high tide at the same time combined to take on the beach. The high water mark was in the camp we did find, barely intact thanks to a several hundred year old stalwart Douglas Fir tree that refused to give up yet. It stuck out toward the ocean at a 45° angle and there was about a4 to 5 foot drop around its roots. but it held on the leeward side and aside from a rise in the dirt where it raised its roots, the camp was intact. It was hard scrambling up the freshly cut off bluff though.

So this was home for the rest of Saturday and well into Sunday as we didn't leave until around 3PM. Much of the time was spent gathering wood that seemed even remotely possible to burn. I found this foot square ceder block, and with a few swings of the hatchet I was able to chip off some nice cedar pieces and the inner wood was somewhat drier, and after a little balking, the flame did take hold. It was a high-maintenence fire though for once it was burning you had to keep a steady supply of the damp, wet, or soggy wood on top of it so it could 'steam out' the water. In the end we burned everything we brought to it.

Saturday night was nice as the tide came in and the ocean grew louder. The moon rose and made some light through the broken cloud, and a light but stiff east wind was coming down th slope and blowing the firesmoke toward the ocean. Very unusual for the coast as the prevailing winds commonly come from the southwest, or sometimes the northwest, but always from the water to the land. This wind was cold with that touch of artic chill it had to make snow the night before along the trail. The night went on as we had chili for dinner and I broke out the weight sacrafice treat.. two pike Kilt Lifter ales! Bro had been bonging regular, and I took one now that I didn't have to think. After talking and playing withthe fire, I left and took a walk on the beach in the moonlight trying to judge where the high tide would reach. It peaked around midnight at about 8 feet. I headed back to find my bro prepareing a fresh load of wood. I dropped a few candidates I picked up off the beach and they went immediately into the steamer. I soon thereafer went to the tent and climbed into my warm sleeping bag. That light, steady wind was getting colder!

Sunday dawned bright and clear, with temperatures below freezing. I slept in as I heard my bro have to get up to pee. Sometime later I woke needing the same thing, but a couple hours had passed. I got up to a warm fire and had some raviolis for breakfast. The sun was out all day and we loitered about until 3PM before finally donning the packs and heading south down the beach.

This got tough. the hard wet sand was nice, but we had to duck through branches of a tree that lay out toward the ocean, and then the sand turned into small pea gravel which didn't give good footing.Then it went back to wet sand but it was 'sinky' when taking steps. Then we had to round the headlands around Wedding Rock, then down though the soft sand and rock toward Sand Point. Half way you rounded another headland and after that the lasy 1/2 mile was good hard wet sand again. The day was sunny all the way, and it was when we went inland to return that we were in the cold damp, some snow and ice about... such varying conditions! Here's some pix...

Me surveying the trail...
[ img ]

What I saw... SNOW on wet ceder boardwalk!
[ img ]

Arriving at the ocean...
[ img ]

Down to the beach we survey the winter's work...
[ img ]

Searching for a suitable campsite...
[ img ]

The source of the thunder we were hearing...
[ img ]

We found the remains of a campsite and set up home...
[ img ]

The storms stayed south and the sun set...
[ img ]

And the chill night closed about us as we fed our fire...
[ img ]

Last edited by Snowdog on Fri 17 Mar , 2006 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Wed 15 Mar , 2006 3:03 am
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Nice re-telling, man! And cool pics!...the tracker Snowdog! :D Bummer to hear about the campsites, though....but then again, who am I to judge Mother Nature's handiwork?
So you did a sort of loop hike....you didn't take the beach out straight to the campsite, correct? or atlest went a different way back?

I noticed the ferns in the pic of your bro in camp...Looks kind of like a rainforest...I want to check the WA forests out!!! A friend of mine went once and brought back pics...i noticed the similarity of that undergrowth and the ones in his pics. So cool...i'll most likely try Mt. Rainier one day.

re: high maintenance fire -- hehe...yup, lots of work, but worth it.

Well done, Snow! :D


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Snowdog
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Posted: Wed 15 Mar , 2006 5:11 pm
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Yeah its a rain forest. Lots of boggy, marshy swampy ground, hense the boardwalks for trails.

[ img ]


The wet ground mixed with high winds do create hazards...

[ img ]


Its a loop trail. We took the Cape Alava trail out, went south down the beach about ¾ mile where we found our campsite, then went south down the beach the next day to Sand Point then back the Sand Point trail

[ img ]


This is the Ozette River flowing out of Lake Ozette. This was taken as I crossed the bridge from ther Ranger Station to the car park.

[ img ]


If you want heavier rain forest, take a hike up the Hoh river valley which is about 90 miles south of where we were.

Mt Rainier has lots of good hiking trails long and short. If you're into extreme adventure and have alot of time, you can circumnavigate the mountain on the Wonderland Trail. I haven't done that, but have hiked part of it.

Western Washington, and especially the penninsula is covered with this heavy undergrowth mixed forest. If you make it out this way we'll have to go on a hike. I know of alot of places off the beaten path. :)

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Thu 27 Apr , 2006 2:04 am
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Washington is cool. :cool:


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Snowdog
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Posted: Tue 16 May , 2006 6:54 am
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I think so. I took this same walk again and spend a few days out there by the sea!

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Thu 01 Jun , 2006 2:49 am
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"Down by the seaside...
See the boats go sailin'..."


;)


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Snowdog
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Posted: Sun 11 Jun , 2006 7:54 pm
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Yeah, its the only good place to go early season.
Next week my bro & I are going to try hiking to some of the lower lakes around Mt Rainier!

Good to see ya Leggo!

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Legolas the elf
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Posted: Sun 11 Jun , 2006 10:33 pm
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Mt. Rainier...cool! :D
It's the off season down here.....humidity...heat....yuck. No thanks. :P

Good to see you too, Snow. :)


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