American Beauty

This past Friday I did one of my toughest hikes in recent times- a 19 mile trek across American Ridge followed by a 4.5 mile run down highway 410 to retrieve my truck! It was a long and hard day-but quite spectacular. American Ridge in the William O Douglas Wilderness is one of the loneliest spots in the South Cascades. The ridge trail is rugged-non-existent in spots and climbs and drops repeatedly and steeply- if you want to do a backpacking trip and be all by yourself-this is a trip for you. Now, when I say all-by-yourself-I mean no other humans- I met over 30 elk on this trip-most of them in the Big Basin which is a great place to spend the evening and one of the more gentle spots along this rough and rugged ridge. Full details of this trip will be in my Backpacking Book. And you'll want those details too because the Green Trails map is wrong- the distance is actually longer than what is shown and Harvey Manning doesn't mention the 1,200 foot drop and climb between one high basin and the other!

(photo- Bumping Lake and Nelson Ridge from American Ridge)

Explore the Entiat this Weekend at Trailsfest

I hope to see many of you this Saturday at Washington Trails Association's annual Trailsfest at Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend. At noon I will be giving a powerpoint presentation on the Entiat Country. Let me show you the amazing array of trails found in this fairly unknown (to west siders at least) part of the Central Cascades. I will also be talking about threats and conservation issues pertaining to this region, in particular the motorized incursions of de facto wilderness. Hope to see you Saturday!

(photo-View north from Duncan Hill)

A lot can change in 16 years

Which is why if a trail is going in one of my guidebooks, I head out to hike it again regardless if I have hiked it in the past-especially the distant past. I have read far too many guidebooks that have me questioning whether the author had actually ever hiked the trail--or hiked it within the last decade or two. Not the case with mine-I hike the trails-all of the trails-and again if may be as soon as I contract to do a new guidebook. I want my readers to be assured that they can trust my info-especially important information like whether a bridge is missing-as such is the case of the Waptus River Trail. Now does this still mean that my books are error free? Of course not-errors occur when you are putting together 85,000 word manuscripts and several people are working on production. But fortunately the couple of errors that have crept up in my books have been small and are quickly fixed in subsequent printings. I do my damnedest to make my books accurate. Of course, you my dear readers can help me out if you notice that I made a mistake-or if something new happens-like say a bridge washes out-I greatly appreciate your support and hearing from you. Enjoy the trails and stay-up-to-date on the conditions. The Waptus Bridge has been out since 2006. Back in 1993 when I had last hiked the trail (before last week) a majestic bridge spanned a roaring and intimidating stretch of the river. Ah memories-and a much easier hike!

Restless Souls in the Alpine Lakes

That would be the souls of my trail running shoes. They're restless and my feet are beat! My spiritual soul is just fine-very at ease actually! As most of you know I am currently working on a backpacking book. It is a little different than the standard backpacking books out there. It is meant primarily to be for weekend backpacking. Most of the trips are in the 18-25 mile range making them perfect for a one nighter for strong hikers are an extended trip for those who wish to linger. The book will include 70 trips from the Olympics to the Blues and almost all of these trips do not require a car shuttle-another hindrance to convenient trekking. The book is also meant to compliment the Day Hiking series--so if you like/have my day hiking books you'll want to add this volume to help you go a little farther down the trail. The research for this book is demanding. I currently have 49 more trips to complete --and mind you that I only have a few months to do it. So, how am I doing it? Well despite that the book is a backpacking book-I'm not actually overnighting on every trip. I'd like to-but time is a ticking. So, good thing I am a marathon runner because I am putting in some serious mileage-making sure the trails are fine-water sources are good- campsites are decent-all of that good stuff. I just finished my last two days over in the Salmon La Sac Area. Thursday did a 21 mile day hike to Waptus Lake and beyond- and yesterday did a 16 mile hike to Deep Lake. Good stuff-you are going to love hiking to these places-but do me a favor and spend some time-will ya? Okay-this week I'll probably be over in the Rainier area-and back in time to do my presentation on the Entiat at WTA's Trailsfest. Stop by and chat-I'll let you in on a few of the places in the new book. Some are popular-but others are hidden gems-all good stuff. Okay I need to rest before I head out again. Ciao.

(photo-Deep Lake from above-boy was it a big drop-1,200-feet worth-and climb back out!)

Big Four Ice Caves

The abridged version!

No, the caves haven't gotten any smaller. They fluctuate in size year to year and they're just as icy, cavy, and impressive this year as always. What's abridged is the trail-A bridge once again spans the South Fork Stillaguamish River making this hike once again accessible to all and safe and perfect for families with children. Since the bridge and trail reopened two weeks ago, an avalanche of hikers have been flooding to the ice caves. But, this trail and bridge can take that sort of avalanche and flood, some come on down and check this very cool natural landmark out. And let's hope that this new bridge can withstand the next set of winter torrents that Mother Nature has in store.

(picture-the old destroyed bridge is now a memory like the old Big Four Hotel)

Start with Al, Henry, Nancy, and Oprah!

This in today's Reiters-

(bold face my emphasis)

New climate strategy: track the world's wealthiest
Mon Jul 6, 2009 11:04pm EDT
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

To fairly divide the climate change fight between rich and poor, a new study suggests basing targets for emission cuts on the number of wealthy people, who are also the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, in a country.

Since about half the planet's climate-warming emissions come from less than a billion of its people, it makes sense to follow these rich folks when setting national targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the authors wrote on Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As it stands now, under the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol, rich countries shoulder most of the burden for cutting the emissions that spur global warming, while developing countries -- including fast-growing economies China and India -- are not required to curb greenhouse pollution.

Rich countries, notably the United States, have said this gives developing countries an unfair economic advantage; China, India and other developing countries argue that developed countries have historically spewed more climate-warming gases, and developing countries need time to catch up.

The study suggests setting a uniform international cap on how much carbon dioxide each person could emit in order to limit global emissions; since rich people emit more, they are the ones likely to reach or exceed this cap, whether they live in a rich country or a poor one.

For example, if world leaders agree to keep carbon emissions in 2030 at the same level they are now, no one person's emissions could exceed 11 tons of carbon each year. That means there would be about a billion "high emitters" in 2030 out of a projected world population of 8.1 billion.
EACH PERSON'S EMISSIONS

By counting the emissions of all the individuals likely to exceed this level, world leaders could provide target emissions cuts for each country. Currently, the world average for individual annual carbon emissions is about 5 tons; each European produces 10 tons and each American produces 20 tons.

With international climate talks set to start this week in Italy among the countries that pollute the most, the authors hope policymakers will look at the strong link between how rich people are and how much carbon dioxide they emit.

"You're distributing the task of doing something about emissions reduction based on the proportion of the population in the country that's actually doing the most damage," said Shoibal Chakravarty of the Princeton Environment Institute, one of the study's authors.

Rich people's lives tend to give off more greenhouse gases because they drive more fossil-fueled vehicles, travel frequently by air and live in big houses that take more fuel to heat and cool.

By focusing on rich people everywhere, rather than rich countries and poor ones, the system of setting carbon-cutting targets based on the number of wealthy individuals in various countries would ease developing countries into any new climate change framework, Chakravarty said by telephone.

"As countries develop -- India, China, Brazil and others -- over time, they'll have more and more of these (wealthy) individuals and they'll have a higher share of carbon reductions to do in the future," he said.

These obligations, based on the increasing number of rich people in various countries, would kick in as each developing country hit a certain overall level of carbon emissions. This level would be set fairly high, so that economic development would not be hampered in the poorest countries, no matter how many rich people live there.

Is this a limousine-and-yacht tax on the rich? Not necessarily, Chakravarty said, but he did not rule it out: "We are not by any means proposing that. If some country finds a way of doing that, it's great."

This week's climate talks in Italy are a prelude to an international forum in December in Copenhagen aimed at crafting an agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. At the same time, the U.S. Congress is working on legislation to curb U.S. carbon emissions.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

My take-I couldn't agree more. It just happens that the biggest climate alarmists in this country are also some of the wealthiest people in this nation. Their plans to cap and tax and get us all into tiny cars or on crowded buses would only be a hardship to the middle class, working people and the poor. The rich can easily pay their silly tax proposals to assuage their guilt about their consumption. So let em! Oprah and Al- how much carbon do your jets emit on each single trip?! Yep-more carbon than I can possibly emit in my lifetime! Its about time that the Als and Oprahs and Waxmens fess up for their own consumption and stop trying to put the blame (and burden) on the rest of us. And its also the Gores, Nickels, and Pelosis who spew the most hot air -let's cap their rhetoric and trade it for some sane energy policies that won't destroy industry and burden the middle and working classes in this country. Meanwhile China and India continue to add a carbon-belching power plant to the landscape every what now three days?! Good grief!

(photo- Al Gore's house -what's the carbon foot print on this "little earth friendly adobe?")

Scruffers hates fireworks (and so do I)!

The heat this Independence Day weekend would have been enough discomfort for my two cats, Giuseppe and Scruffy Gray (aka Scruffers) but they had to endure the bombs bursting in air as well. I had to spend a good part of the weekend consoling my kitties-especially Scruffers who we adopted two months ago. This poor little guy has lived a tough enough life without having to freak out while neighborhood rowdies set the sky afire. But I have to admit that I too spent most of the weekend stressed- worried that my house would go up in flames from some idiot's errant bottle rocket. You know- I love the Fourth of July but I absolutely can do without the fireworks. And many of my friends it appears concur. I see no reason why we even allow fireworks to be sold (can't understand why it is okay for Native Americans to sell something legally that the rest of us aren't supposed to posses-and where is it in Native America culture that fireworks play? If anything-if we are going to allow a certain ethnic group a privilege that is not extended to the rest of society- we should allow the Chinese to profit on firework sales-after all they invented the stuff! But, I digress). Seriously, the Fourth is a great celebration-but blowing up things, terrorizing war vets and animals and setting the countryside ablaze makes no sense to me. Especially this year in the Northwest with our tinderbox fire conditions we allow for such foolishness to go on. As of this morning there were four fires burning in my county-only one of them was from a natural cause. Thank God it is raining today and thank God Scruffers is back to his snugly self no longer in a catatonic state hiding under the guest bed. Peruse the papers today and you'll read familiar stories of firework induced injuries and firework sparked house fires. Not a good price to pay for our Independence is it? Next Fourth of July, how about heading to the mountains to hike, bike, swim, paddle or just lounge around. Bring your loved one with you and perhaps you'll see a little fireworks-the safe kind-and the one kind to set over and over again. Scruffers encourages it-He wishes you all a safe rest of the summer.

Happy Independence Day!

Boy-talk about a late post. Got up early this morning- fed the cats-read the paper-hung the flag-headed to Sedro-Woolley with Heather to run in the Logerrodeo 5.17 mile foot race-hung out with friends-running club members-acquaintances-came back-took a nap- planned hikes for the upcoming summer-listening to Shania Twain and Martina McBride- going to fire up the grill soon-Ain't America great? Don't ever forget it! Happy Independence Day!

Horseshoe Basin is a real ringer!

I just got back from a short two day 26 mile backpacking trip to Horseshoe Basin in the Pasayten Wilderness. Talk about a fantastic place for exploring. Set up camp in the wide grassy basin and then choose among a half dozen 7,500 to 8,000 foot peaks to "walk up" and explore. I headed up Armstrong mountain-right on the BC border and Windy Peak the following day. Armstrong is amazing-all alpine tundra with lots of ridges and two border monuments. I bagged the high point over in BC and proved just how easy it is to walk back and forth over the border-yeah like the drug runners and illegal aliens don't know that already!

Windy Peak is south of Horseshoe with a trail up it. It is a hot hike through open tundra, rocky slopes and the Tripod burn zone. But what a view! You can actually see Baker peeking in the distance. I hiked off of Windy via the Clutch Creek Trail which is really difficult in spots with lots of bad tread and a steep hellacious climb out of the Middle Fork Toats Coulee. Oh well-that's why I do the research for you so you now know! This will all be in my upcoming Backpacking Washington book. I'll give you lots of pointers and suggestions in it on the region-but here's one right now- wait until late summer to come over here for the mosquitoes cant get enough hiker blood right now. By late summer however, much of Horseshoe's pretty wetland pools will be dry. Little buggers-only thing keeping this destination from being complete paradise!

Bands on the Run

I ran my ninth marathon yesterday, the inaugural Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon. Now, normally I shy away from big city mega runs-I prefer small laid back community runs-but I was on assignment for Northwest Runner magazne-and hey I had a job to do!

For the most part I had a positive experience-although this was my worst finish of any marathon I've run-the first time I didn't break 4 hours and the first time I thought I wasn't going to finish. I was doing well-I had trained properly- and everything was going smoothly-kind of, until mile 22 when my calves cramped up so badly I had to stop running. Evidently the 75 degree sunny day depleted my electrolytes and I didn't fuel up on them until too late. Man-watching my calves bulge out and overextend looked like a comic book super hero-but boy I bet Spiderman doesn't feel that much pain. I was able to jog-walk the final 4 miles to finish and it all could have been worst.

The course was decent- the crowd support was good-the volunteers were excellent-my biggest complaint were the bands. Not that they sucked-although a few did- it was that there weren't many out there- We were supposed to pass one every mile- I can only remember about a dozen of them-and out of that dozen only half of them were worth listening to. Oh well- The race rolled with its ups and downs on the course including the viaduct-which will be a running memory soon-but the race didn't rock. And my marathon time didn't rock much either-time to train better for the upcoming Victoria Marathon in October. See you on the run!

Anatomy of an abandoned Trail

Using Karen Sykes' Hidden Hikes in Western Washington, I ventured over to Barlow Pass this past week. The Barlow Pass Trail is in excellent shape and in no danger of disappearing. However, the connecting Old Government Trail is fading into history. Yep-death of another trail. I lament yet another trail being loss to either lack of maintenance, lack of access, and/or lack of government funding and interest in keeping it alive. It is amazing how much our trail inventory has shrunk just in the past 20 years.

I only hope that the Obama administration with its propensity to pull money out of thin air and liberally sprinkle it across the land-will see that next to auto companies, banking firms, fraudulent vote getting machines, and corrupt loan offices-that maybe some of my hard earned tax dollars can make its way to our trails! Please! FDR who also spent quite a bit of public money spent quite a bit of it on our natural resources. And 70 years later we have quite a legacy for it. I'll take trails over GM any day for an Obama legacy.

Meanwhile-the Old Government trail isn't completely unhikable. The tread is still in pretty decent shape-and while there are lots of blowdowns across it-almost all of them are quite easy to negotiate. You can easily amble 1.5 miles down this trail. Bring along a saw and help clean it up. I'll do my part by publicising it and trying to get you to hike it. Save our trails!

Appalachian Spring Fling-

Don't cry for me Argentina!

Great! Thanks to South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, the next time I head off on the Appalachian Trail for a few days my wife will be checking to see if I have Yerba tea stains on my teeth when I return. Luckily for me the last and only time I was in Argentina was with my wife! And she has joined me on the AT too! Heading out on the AT for a week has got to be an all time new excuse for covering up an affair. At least Sanford chose a healthy pursuit to cover-up for a less-than-healthy for your family and career pursuit.

Yep-another politician caught cheating on his wife. What a surprise! But what makes its worse here-it is another hypocritical Republican espousing family values then heading down the drunk frat boy highway. At least president Clinton never talked about family values, Gov Sanford you are a disgrace-and you had such a career ahead of you too. Didn't Eliot Spitzer's demise warn you enough to keep it zipped? Well at least your affair was with a woman. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay-it is just when a social conservative gets caught in a gay affair the hypocrisy level goes through the roof! So, Mark start singing-Don't cry for me Argentina- the truth is that I never hiked the AT- just did a little wango-tango in Buenois Aires and am now left with lots of bad air in the Palmetto State.

Hang your head in shame Sanford-maybe its time you did go hike the AT and do a lot of thinking while you are on the trail!

Et Tu New Hampshire?

Well, add New Hampshire to the cash strapped states considering the idiotic idea of liquidating their state parks. Bad enough my adopted state of Washington doesn't fully value their parks-now my home state wants to throw some parks under the budget bus too! Democrats control the governorship and both houses in New Hampshire. When the Republicans controlled the state throughout most of the 20th century they added parks. Granted the parks were never fully funded-but during the recession of 1979-81 the state never even considered getting rid of some of its crown jewels. I can't believe the list of parks on the hit list- Cardigan, Kingston, Silver Lake, and Pisgah-those are some of my favorite places and a couple of them are excellent hiking destinations as well! Governor Lynch-I actually respect you-I hope you stop this madness from occurring. I would hate to think that your sate park legacy may replicate governors Locke and Gregoire of Washington. First the old man crumbles-an act of God-now the state park system is crumbling-an act of indifferent legislators who value our natural, cultural, and recreational heritage very little.

What's the Point, Roberts?

Heather and I spent the day yesterday in Point Roberts, WA. That's the part of Washington that can only be accessed via British Columbia. It's a roughly 2 mile by 2 mile parcel of land that is cutoff from the rest of the state. Back in 1846 when politicos decided on the 49th parallel as being the international boundary-they didn't make an exception for this little piece of land. So, what we have now is an exclave of America in which 1,300 people call home year round costing the federal gov't a mint to keep the customs station open for this place to keep it American soil. How about just giving this piece to BC and saving the treasury some cash? After all, over 70% of the people who live on Point Roberts are Canadian! And you need Canadian money at many of the establishments- and the gas stations sell petrol by the liter-but in American dollars! Yep-this place is odd-matter of fact other than Alaska-which is definitely an odd place too- only two other areas in the United States are similar exclaves-both in Minnesota.

So what did we do in Point Roberts? We ran an 11.2 kilometer run around most of the community. An odd distance indeed for an odd piece of real estate. The race was great-called Jog for Jug--it was sponsored by Tsawwassen BC based Run Inn and almost all the race's participants were from BC. I counted only two other WA license plates at the event. We were foreigners in our own country! But we quickly adjusted! All race participants were awarded -get this- a jug of beer! Now, I thought that would be a glass or mug-nope! A full pitcher! Heather and I of course joined in with our fellow runners-boy those Canadians can drink- and of course after consuming our jugs of beer- we needed to walk it off. So, we ended up spending all day at Point Roberts-finding out that this parcel of land has some lovely public beaches. Matter of fact Point Roberts is quite lovely overall-and if it was part of nearby Tsawwassen it would have probably been covered in high density development. S0-I'm glad it is part of Washington and we're keeping it-it's worth it! After all-just ask the Federal government about throwing money at things to keep them going-at least with Point Roberts I get to enjoy some great public beaches-even if I have to cross the international border 4 times in one day to visit! Anyhow- definitely check this place out-and check out my upcoming feature in Northwest Runner about the very unique running scene in Point Roberts!

A Deer Dilemma

First off-if you are a regular reader of my blog, you have probably figured out that my lack of blogging in the past week must mean that hiking season is in full swing. Yep! I'm off doing serious research again--working on two new books. Two books? Yep-you know about the Backpacking Washington book-well-the other one I'll be making the official announcement soon-but let's just say that you'll have plenty of territory to gorge on when it come out. Which leads me to-I was out doing research in the Silver Star area outside of Vancouver WA this week when I was dealt a deer dilemma. I was returning from a hike to Little Baldy on a terribly steep and rutted road when all of sudden right in front of me a doe and very young fawn appeared. The doe took off down the road. The fawn dropped and feigned dead. Trouble was the little guy did this right in the road. He was not hidden nor did I have a way around him. I stopped and backed the car hoping that he would rejoin his mom. Nope! Just lied there in the road playing dead. I waited- No movement. Great-how am I going to get out of here I thought. I looked at the road-no way I could scoot around him without driving off the road. That would not be good. I had to move the little fellow I thought. But I was so afraid that I would stress him out (he certainly was stressing me out) and that his mom would abandon him. I did not want to leave my scent on him. I wrapped my hands in two well worn wool socks (that I wore as outer socks) that were full of mud, seeds and other natural scents. I then gently lifted the little guy and placed him a couple of feet to the side of the road. He continued to play dead. I was able to drive by safely. I hope his mom returned shortly. It was quite an experience and I hope that I didn't endanger the fawn. What a dilemma. What would you have done my deer friends?