Skiing White Pass - Cascades

Here is a little video of my weekend up at White Pass with the old krew.

Man, I miss that place.

I just wish they had some freshies.

When I get a chance, I will fill in a few more details of my trip. In the meantime, here is a video I put together:

Squaxin Island and Hope Island Paddle - Boston Harbor, WA

I showed up at the marina a little before 9:00 am under typical December dreary skies. It was cool (about 40 degrees), and was expected to warm up more than that. The water was calm. The makings for a small epic day on the water in the on Puget Sound.
I did a full days rental of Eddyline Typhoon for about 33 clams, which was bad. In the past I had paddle the Eddyline Fathom, which is a tad bit longer and little less beamy. I think the Fathom paddled a little bit faster and easier, but I really don’t have any complaints about the Typhoon. For todays paddle, where it had long stretches on going straight, and not much tucking into tight spots, I would have preferred the Fathom. Both boats are really-really good, and I would certainly consider buying one.

Anycow, I split from the dock about 9:30 after getting my foot pegs all Feng Sui, and the my cameras all set up. It was a dreamy crossing of Dana Passage as the tide was still in slack mode. The outgoing flood wasn’t supposed to be all that big, which is good because I couldn’t remember what which way the current was going to flow around Squaxin Island. My counterclockwise loop around Squaxin took me up through Peale Passage. I like this island and Hope Island because there is barely any development on them, so it is a nearly perfect outdoor experience.

I didn’t look at my watch at what time I got up to the top of the Island, but I think it was around 11:30 or 12:00??? I still had about 3 more hours of tides, and it was nearly reaching its zenith. Just my luck, it seemed to be going against me. Rats, but it was all that bad. I honestly couldn’t tell the tide was hitting me until into a tight point about of the Island on my southbound leg.
I did spot a pair of bald eagles on Squaxin; just hanging out giving a screetch or two as I approach their shallow little harbor. I think the video I shot of them came out pretty good. Other than that, the only other really neato wildlife I saw was a stinking seal or two.

Todays trip wasn’t very demanding, so I opted to loop around Hope Island too. This also allowed me to get of the boat and stretch my legs out. Squaxin Island is covered with no trespassing signs, as it is part of the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation.

I noshed on some turkey-cheese-crackers at damp picnic table, and took in the sights and sounds of the sound.

I road the last little trailings of the outgoing tide back to Dana Passage, and by the time I got to the point of the doing the open water crossing the tide was slackening.

I pulled back into the marina about 2:30, and was purely satisfied with my little excursion.

Thumbs up to the mild tides, mild temps, and keeping dry under dry skies.

Here is a vid of the day:







When I make it back home, it is always a goal to get some paddling time in. For my third Boston Harbor Marina rental, I paddled around Squaxin and Hope Island (about 14.2 miles). Here are couple other trip reports from my Boston Harbor trips.

Snowbowl - Preseason

I did a little preseason skiing up at Snowbowl, as I work on getting 'the sickness' back.

Actually it was pretty good day.

Pretty good snow on the groomers, but beware the off piste stuff has NO BASE.

It was really cold up there. Shoot, my camelback (with insulated hose) froze within 5 minutes of leaving my car. I had to tuck it into my shirt in order for it to thaw out.

I moved pretty slowly, as I started at the Sunset Chair and topped out at Agassiz Chair (11,500 vf). Both laps took about 2 hours.

The first lap, I came down Upper Ridge, and the second I came down the Spur Catwalk.

There were plenty of people up there doing what I was doing, and there was plenty of talk up on top of hitting the ungroomed stuff on the new runs. I didn't interject, but I did object, cuz I knew there was nothing in between the fluff and the rocks under it. I pretty much stuck to the groomers, and when I did flow threw the freshies on the side, I hit rocks. I actually hit ate it kinda hard when my ski hit a rock, smashing my knuckle on a boulder. That smarts. At the bottom, I heard over and over how the off piste skiing the utters had done was so not worth it.

I fear for the fools who try to get good turns in backcountry on terrain that has no base.

Picketpost/AZ Trail 11/26/11

Ugh, that was a beatdown yestaday, and I am in pretty sorry pedaling shape.

I planned on bailing early, but the trail and scenery just got better and better. I survived on the fruits and vegetables I ate for breakfast, one apple (plus a slice of apple - compliments of Dag Nabbit) one stale package of cliff blox, one gu, a handful of scooby snakes, and two handfuls of peanuts. Oh yeah, that I and shorted my camelbak bladder out of a good 30 oz, cuz there aint no way I drank 100. I actually had to crack open my 5 oz safety reserve bottle. No real cramps, but my quads were really tight.

Utter than that it was an ahsum day on the trail. Good company. Outside of Sedona, I think the portion of AZ trail we pedaled was the probably the most scenic trail I've been on.

Thanks everybody for letting me shove the camera in your face.

Apache Lake

So much to be thankful for, especially for the natural beauty that Arizona lakes have to offer.

I headed out to Apache Lake for nice little Thanksgiving day adventure out at Apache Lake.

I left my house about 5:30, and was paddling by 8:00. The waters were calm as the sun was coming up, but I as I experienced many times before that the winds usually pick up out of the east as the earth comes to life. Today played right into my plan, as I road the winds down the lake to the west.

I had a few things on my list to explore and see today:

1) See some bighorn sheep - CHECK
2) Find the canyon/cave/grotto at the Alder Creek Wash - CHECK
3) Climb up to the waterfall - CHECK (Well mostly, the spring wasn't kicking out enough water)
4) Find the Hermit's Cave - CHECK
5) See a bald eagle or two - DENIED to

I headed immediately to the north shore and had my eyes peeled for the sheep roaming around the bluffs. Before I knew it, I was at Alder Creek Wash (party cove) and I didn't see one stinking bighorn. I still had my hopes up and my eyes were still peeled.

I left my kayak down in the wash, and set out to find the canyon/cave/grotto, and I found it almost immediately. I saw a youtube video a while back that these doods shot of the canyon, and I've been intrigue to find it ever since. It was really kewl when I stumbled upon it. I found the trees that obscured it and the entrance to the cave had a RV sized boulder laying on top of two equally sized boulders. I was super excited at this point. The first room led into a second through a narrow passage. I had a scramble up to the third room and beyond that. I was a little on edge, cuz this seemed like prime mountain lion habitat, so I had my pepper spray handy the whole time. Really neato exploring. I did spot a few beer cans, so I knew this was pretty popular destination. I could have continued farther up the canyon, but opted to do that another day, and I didn't want to get hurt while traveling alone. I must have topped out about 100' vf, near the big obelisk that you see from the wash. There is no way to capture this grotto in video of neato it was, but I tried...

I scramble back around the top of the canyon, and then started my hike up to the waterfall. There was a little bit of water in the creek bed, but when I got up to the waterfall, and I could hear it on my approach, but the water coming down was hidden by the boulders. When the water is flowing from the spring, it is really neato, but today I was denied.

On my 1 mile back down from the waterfall, I saw a ram way up bluffs above me. He certainly saw me before I saw him. He was probably about 300 or 400 yards away, and about 400' up. The saving grace about my situation was that I wasn't forced to capture him on video from my boat. I am amazed at how stable the footage turned out, I also wish I was a closer. I am also amazed at how agile this bad boy was. I did catch on video, him scramble and leaping on the rock face above. Neato! On my way back down the wash, I spotted a second ram on the opposing bluffs. I bet these two have had some serious rutting battles, and I wish I could be there for that.

Once I got back down to my boat, the clouds were setting in, so I decided to call it a day. I did have one more stop, and that was at the old Hermit's Cave on the south shore. It is a couple miles west of Crabtree Wash, where I started my trip. This was a pretty neat cave. Inside, it a bulkhead built up and backfilled, for a level platform.

The only disappointment was not seeing any eagles today, but I did see a small tarantula.

Lotsa things to be thankful for in my life, but being in the moment, in such a neato place rules. I literally heard about 1 minute total of boat noise on the water, and that was about a mile away. The other thing I was extremely thankful for, was that my car started back up, cuz the battery was on its last throws. (It actually died the very next day).

Here is a video of the day:

Verde River (Novembe 19, 2011)

Not much of a post here, but I just wanted to jot down a few notes on my trip down Verde River on Saturday.

The pedal up from Beasley Flats to White bridge (about 10 miles) took me less than 50 minutes (I was on my mountain bike this time). The other times I've done this, it has taken me about a little over an hour, on my wife's cruiser .

The flow was about 200 cfs, the highest I had done it yet. Still far-far away from being a crazy float down the river.

It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to float the 11.4 miles from White Bridge to Beasley Flats.

Saquaro Lake

Here is a little vid for today's paddle on Saguaro Lake: