I prefer the Nut Cracker!

Okay, time for something totally irreverent. I spend a lot of time on the road exploring wonderful cultural, historical, and natural places. But occasionally I come upon some truly bizarre things and places. Take for instance the Titty Twister. It's a real store in Pau, France, a small college city in the country's southwest. Just what do they sell or do there I ponder? Is it some kind of bizarre game to play on those French beaches? Is it some new fashion device by Madonna? A new dairy desert? I never did go inside to check it out. I passed the store on a Sunday afternoon and the French at least have the decency to take the day off for the Sabbath. I do wonder however if Titty Twister can be found in the northwestern French city of Brest. Touche!

Looks Like its Gonna Be An Olympics Christmas!

My recent release, Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula has been selling well this Christmas season. Good! I want see lots of you out there exploring this fascinating region. My book is the most comprehensive day hiking guide to the region. You'll find 125 hikes. Over 2/3 of them you can do all year round, so you can head right out the door on Christmas morning after getting this book.

My guide also highlights parts of the peninsula that usually don't get covered in guidebooks such as the south flank of the Olympic Mountains. You'll also find in this book a handful of hikes on the Kitsap Peninsula, Grays Harbor, the Capitol Forest and the Long Beach Peninsula, one of my favorite places in the state.

Check it out-you'll be happy with this guide. And you may want to browse your favorite online bookstore for my newest book, Day Hiking North Cascades. It will be out in March and you can pre-order it. You'll find 125 hikes in this one too. There are hikes in the Mount Baker Area, Mountain Loop Highway, North Cascades Scenic Highway, the Chuckanuts, Methow Valley, Skagit Valley, and the San Juan Islands. And my promise to you like all of my guides-you will get the most up-to-date and accurate descriptions. I hike all the trails in my books and they have all been done recently.

If you like these guides and I know you will-there are two more coming out; Day hiking Central Cascades (spring 2009), and a Backpacking Washington book. Yahoo-enough research to keep me busy and enough hikes to keep you happy!

End of a High

End of a high pressure that is. Well, it finally looks like we are going to get some typical late fall weather around here once again in the Pacific Northwest. The snow levels have dropped, the rain has begun, the days are once again dreary. But boy, were the last few days nice. What a Thanksgiving weekend! Actually, what a great November overall! A far cry from the deluges of last November.

It may very well be a good ski year here. Global warming alarmists will have to take a break until our first summer heat wave! Seriously though-I've lived in th e Pacific Northwest for 17 years and I can recall only a handful of really cold and overly wet winters. It's been pretty mild out here. Great for running, but not so good for skiing. But it looks like this winter I may have to visit the slopes a little more often. And of course get caught up on my next book during those days that just aren't too inviting to go out and play.

(Photos- Windy Point -Iron Goat Trail 11/25: Goose Rock-Deception Pass State Park 11/20- both locations are in my upcoming book, Day Hiking Central Cascades)

Everybody Mangia!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we stuff our faces and bellies on this day of thanks and appreciation let us not forget how fortunate we are. Fortunate to live in this country of freedom and prosperity. Fortunate to have the mobility to hike, run, bike, ski and paddle in an array of wild lands preserved through the hard works of others before us. Others who saw the value in these land beyond development and exploitation.

I am thankful for my health-my life-my disposition-my history and my destiny.

I am thankful too for all of the wonderful Thanksgivings of my past, especially the ones spent on Truman Street in Bridgeport Connecticut at la casa de mia nona. It was there that I learned my first Italian word-Mangia- The command form of "to eat"-as in "Everybody eat!"

Mia Nona taught me a few other things too-and one was to be appreciative of what you have. She left Sicily as a young girl. Lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and September 11, 2001. She saw a lot and none of it got her down. She was just happy to have her home, her family, and her cooking! I hope they serve a mean meatball in heaven, Nona and to honor you on this Thanksgiving we shall eat. "God-a-bless"is what I'm sure she would say to all of this. Happy Thanksgiving!

(photo of me in Cantabria Spain taken by John Osaki)

A Giant of a hiking season

Well the hiking season must be coming to an end. Yep, the snow is falling, the sun is barely showing its face and Turkey Day is just a few days a way. To tell you the truth, I welcome the reprieve from the trails. What?!? Yep, you heard me right. I hike over a 1,000 miles a year and now I need to record all of those miles into a manuscript. Currently I am working with Alan Bauer on my third (and the sixth in the series) Day Hiking Book by the Mountaineers. This volume, the Central Cascades has me tramping the trails along US 2, near Lake Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Lake Chelan, and the Entiat Valley. Nice country indeed. I'm about half researched on it with lots of writing yet to do. As I put word to screen I fondly recall another great hiking season. Here's looking forward to an even better one in 2008!

(Photo-Little Giant Pass, one of the supreme highlights of this year's hiking season)

Swan Song-

Frog Chorus

It's been nearly five months since I left the urban jungle known as Seattle for greener and saner grounds-namely Skagit County.

From my office window I now peer out over farmland and low lying hills. Swan and geese flutter over my home. Pacific Tree Frogs greet me at my porch. I don't miss the sirens, incessant airplane and highway noise-the rants and profanities of undesirables walking down the street, inconsiderate tenants blasting poor excuses for music, and the cold non-greets of Seattlelites.

Nope don't miss it one bit. I spent way too long in that city. Sure its pretty-one of the prettiest big cities in North America. But it's a city! A place where people don't talk to each other-neighbors don't know each other-the pace is hurried-and the cost of living is unbearable. I grew up in small town New Hampshire and longed to return to greener more peaceful environs. I've found it in Skagit County. The people are friendly-the pace is unhurried-the mountains, forest, and sound are at my feet and they're easily accessible. And the background score? Swans and geese and tree frogs. How sweet it is!

Photos (Swans in Hokkaido, Japan; Frog in Willapa Bay, WA-I'll photograph some local critters soon!)

Canada Celebrates a Native Son

Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of Louis Riel Day in Canada. It was on November 16th in 1885 that Louis Riel was hanged in Regina, Saskatchewan. An instrumental and influential figure in Canadian history, most, if not practically all Americans haven't a clue who he was or what he did. Last year I had the opportunity to visit Batoche on the Saskatchewan prairies where Louis spent his last days of freedom. In the winds coming off of the South Saskatchewan River I was touched by the spirit of Riel.

Today in Toronto, hundreds of Métis Citizens and friends gathered at the Northwest Monument at Queens Park to commemorate and celebrate Riel, the leader of the Red River Rebellion and Father of Manitoba. "November 16th marks a significant occasion of observance for the Métis Nation," said Métis Nation of Ontario President, Tony Belcourt. "This date gives us an opportunity to bring about an enlightened focus on the significant role and achievements of Louis Riel and the Métis Nation in the building of Canada."

The Métis are a distinct Aboriginal people with a unique culture, language, and heritage, and with an ancestral Homeland that centers around Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, parts of the Northwest Territories, as well as the northwestern United States. For further information: see the MNO website at: http://www.metisnation.org/

And to Louis Riel, "Alors, allez au ciel!"

Wassen Happening

Intrepid outdoor photographer James Johnston; the man who blessed my Columbia Highlands Book with so much pixel magic is organizing a hike on Sunday, December 2 into the Oregon Coast Range's deepest darkest wilderness. And you're invited to attend with him on this arduous journey into the Wassen Creek Canyon to view the mysterious Devil's Staircase.

In Jame's words, "I want to extend a personal invitation to all of you to accompany me on a truly epic hike. I propose to descend into Wassen Creek Canyon to catch a glimpse of the legendary 'Devil's Staircase.' The area is one of the most inaccessible parts of the Oregon Coast Range, ridiculously steep and coked with impenetrable vegetation. It will almost certainly be raining. I don't know how else to characterize Wassen Creek, or our expedition, except to say that it's an area that has been proposed as wilderness many times over the past fifty years, and hopefully will be again soon."

Hear, hear, James-I'm with you on that. Almost all of the Siuslaw National Forest (which houses Wassen Creek) was ravaged by logging over the past 60 years. Only three small wilderness areas were created in this vast coastal forest; Drift Creek, Cummins Creek, and Rock Creek. I have hiked to Drift Creek on a couple of occasions and it is indeed a special place. I can only imagine that Wassen Creek is too.

I encourage you James to help get the word out on this special place just as you helped me get the word out on the special threatened landscapes of Eastern Washington. Your recent article in the Eugene Weekly is a great start! Hikers: you can continue the good fight to protect this area by joining James. He'll be departing from the Kinkos back parking lot (13th and Willamette in Eugene) at 8:30 am on Sunday, December 2. He hopes to see many of you there with him.

Manchester Marathon Makes its Debut!

Heather and I returned to my "homeland" this past weekend to partake in the inaugural Manchester City Marathon. We both opted for the 13.1 mile race-the half-because we just weren't up for the full. I ran the inaugural Eugene Marathon this past spring and it beat me up. Hey-it's 26.2 miles! Anyhow, this new race has the potential to become a New England Classic. After over 70 years absent from New Hampshire's largest city, the marathon has returned. The course is pretty, taking runners through some of Manchester's nicest neighborhoods and through the historic mill yard, once the largest in America. The crowd support was wonderful-lots of people cheering along the way. Of course, the good weather helped-it was 40 and sunny at the start-50 and sunny at the finish. Just a little wind here and there to remind you that it's November. The course however, is not easy, it's hilly. There is a doozy at mile six to weed out the well-trained from the not-so-well-trained. Note to self-train harder!

A pleasant surprise was finding out that fellow Washingtonians, maverick Marathon Maniacs Chris Warren and Steve Yee were in the line-up. These guys get around. But New Hampshire wasn't their destination-they were on their way back from marathoning in Europe. Manchester just provided a "rest stop" on the way back to the west coast. Okay-I have training to do. A half marathon in Washington in January and more races in New Hampshire when I return to the Granite State for Christmas.