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?

Washington's hottest wilderness

-literally!

Last month I had the opportunity (finally) to hike in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness. Other than the Washington Islands and San Juan Islands Wildernesses-all this leaves for me to visit for Washington wildernesses now-is the tiny trailless Wonder Mountain Wilderness. In essence, Juniper Dunes is trailless too-just hike willy-nilly over an amazing dune system-the last intact protected interior dunes in the state. The wilderness is small, 7,100 acres-surrounded by agriculture and ORV-thrill parks. The Dunes too were once molested by ORVs and 4x4 scars still exist in this harsh yet fragile environment. Rainfall is scarce here-only 7 to 8 inches a year. This is the closest thing to a desert ecosystem that we have here in Washington. And with that said-now is not the time to visit. Being just outside of Pasco, the Dunes lie within the hottest part of the state-not unusual to have over 100 degree F days here throughout July and August. Visit in the fall or spring-definitely, spring when you can access the wilderness through the north easier-too-get-to trailhead and enjoy the amazing flowers. This place is hot! But, go check it out when it isn't!

Nahanni National Park now sevens times larger!

This just arrived in my inbox from
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

CPAWS is celebrating the historic announcement today by Environment Minister Jim Prentice and DehCho First Nations Grand Chief Gerald Antoine of the final boundaries for the greatly expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories.

The world famous park reserve is now nearly seven times the size of the original one established in 1972. It will permanently protect over 30,000 km2 of Boreal wilderness - an area the size of Vancouver Island.

"The Nahanni is the jewel of Canada’s Boreal forest, and one of the world’s greatest wilderness treasures. Canada has shown true global leadership by protecting it," says CPAWS National Executive Director Eric Hébert-Daly.

"With this announcement the federal government has created a national park that can take its place alongside Banff and Jasper as one of the world’s great protected areas," says Harvey Locke, CPAWS Senior Advisor for Conservation.

The announcement of final boundaries comes nearly two years after Prime Minister Harper and former Environment Minister John Baird promised a massive expansion of the park, crowning years of collective work by CPAWS, local First Nations and many others to convince the federal government to permanently protect this iconic wilderness area.

Nice job PM Harper and proving that conservatives care about the environment too. I haven't made it to Nahanni and the NWT yet. I have spent some time in the Yukon though hiking Kluane National Park, one of the most spectacular places in North America. I imagine Nahanni rivals it.

(photo compliments of CPAWS)

Court House Continuum

You can add to my list of favorite Washington courthouses (no, I haven't spent time in them fighting infractions!), the Jefferson County Courthouse. I can't believe I forgot that one! I was in Port Townsend this past weekend giving a talk at the Jefferson County Historical Museum and had the opportunity to walk around town a bit later. (Also the opp to view a special comic book collection-thanks, Bill!) I forgot how beautiful PT's courthouse is.

And you can add Port Townsend to my favorite towns for doing a book talk at. PT has surpassed Bellingham in the number of attendees I have gotten at an event. I had over 80 fellow hikers crammed in the city council chambers to hear me talk about hiking in the Olympics. Sold a considerable amount of books too. Thanks PT!

And if I wasn't a guidebook writer maybe I would go in business printing left-wing bumper stickers. I'd make a fortunate selling them in PT. What is it with far lefties anyways with their constant need to be a walking billboard to shove their views in your face? You rarely ever see a far-right winger with more than two bumper stickers on his/her vehicle. But lefties-their entire VW van is plastered in them-maybe its holding those junkie carbon-belchers together! Bumper stickers are like cats-if you have more than two you definitely have some personality disorder! And don't even get me going on tattoos and piercings. At times when I was walking around PT I felt like I was back in the 1890s at a circus sideshow! Oh, Romano you just don't understand free expression- the hell I don't I'm using it right now!

Seriously, PT is a beautiful town and a great place to hang out and there are definitely some characters there. But there are characters everywhere-conservative, liberal, apolitical, apocalyptic-they just are more noticeable in PT. Or to paraphrase New York Comedian Eddie Diaz when he commented on meeting me in Seattle years ago. "Romano-uh? back in my hometown Romano is like dog crap in the city-there's one on every corner!" And in PT there's one shall we say confromed non-conformist (I swear they all read the same handbook on how to dress, dance, and what to eat and say) on every corner as well. Ain't America grand?!

June 6

D-Day 1944

and De-day I moved to Washington in 1989

Wow, I can hardly believe it! It was 65 years ago today that our boys stormed Normandy to kick once and for all some Nazi butt! It is a day that will live in infamy-one that we paid a huge price for in human life-and one that showed that we Americans stand for truth, justice and freedom. I sure hope our president today didn't have any apologetic words for this great American historical moment. I am so thankful and proud to live in this great nation and to live a lifestyle that I have created thanks to this nation.

It was 20 years ago today that I arrived in Washington state with my VW golf packed (which I still own) without a clue what I was going to do. I figured I work for the summer-get some hiking in-and then head back east. That never happened (the move back east part). While I miss my dear New Hampshire-things fell in place here in my adopted state of Washington. I went back to college -went to grad school (all which I did while waiting tables to support myself-Horatio Alger would be proud)-taught a little- wrote a little-and then made the big plunge as full time writer and author. It has been a great journey- two decades worth of wonderful tales. I'll never forget when I bought my first Manning and Spring Book-100 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes-devoured it-bought another Manning-Spring guide- hiked it out-bought another and another-and now I have been handed the torch to carry on this great Northwest Hiking legacy. I am proud to represent the Mountaineers Books- to have you trust me as a guide-to have you as a reader and supporter helping me to become a successful writer. I'm looking forward to another 20 years in the Northwest hiking and writing. I thank God that I live in a country where I have the freedom of the hills (to you Harvey) and the freedom to live a life of my choosing (here's to you Vets-for your service and commitment to this country). God Bless America and her open and wild spaces. Now get out there and enjoy this great wonderful land!
(Wow-that has got to be the most patriotic blog entry I have ever written-these reflective pieces do it to me!)

Here's a vintage photo-from a Feb 1990 bike ride on San Juan Island-I first came to the Northwest by bicycle back in 1980-so I figured the bike theme would be nice- dig the flat top!

Falling for the Palouse!

I just had to stop by Palouse Falls on my way to the Juniper Dunes Wilderness two weeks ago. I have stopped to admire these falls several times in the past while in the area. They are in my opinion the prettiest major waterfalls in the state. You can have Snoqualmie Falls. There is no hoity-toity resort teetering on Palouse's edge nor or there scores of latte-sipping label-flashing oh-that's-pretty-lets-go-shopping-now types cluttering the viewscape (Okay-just a few!). Seriously- Palouse Falls are absolutely gorgeous. What makes them so? Well their height is certainly a factor-but so is the stark desert-steppe surroundings and the grand canyon that the river rushes through afterwards. And no development-just a wild rugged section of the arid and geologically fascinating southeast corner of the state. The falls are protected within a state park (that I'm surprised former governor and now Obama administration lackey Gary Locke didn't close when he liquidated about seven parks in Eastern Washington in 2002). Make sure you support this park and our other priceless gems by making the $5.00 park donation on your vehicle registration renewal. Five bucks is the price of one of those lattes over at Snoqualmie Falls. Five bucks for our parks is a bargain and it won't leave you jittery or add a pound to your waistline.

Flour Power!

If you find yourself heading out to the Blue Mountains sometime soon, you absolutely have to check out the Pataha Flour Mill just east of Pomeroy. The mill operated from the 1880s to the 1940s supplying flour for various staples, among them macaroni for my paesoni in San Francisco! There's not much else in Pataha these days, even though it was briefly the county seat of Garfield County. The US Congress helped the seat go to Pomeroy. Never before or since has the US Congress declared a county seat. Damn Arthur administration meddling with state's rights! Anyhow Garfield county is a fascinating place. Washington's least populated county-only 2,350 residents-1,500 of them in Pomeroy-I love this place. In 1910 the county had over 4,500 residents. Now, if only King County could shrug 50% of its populations it too would be fun to visit!

Hike the Blues Away!

Whenever I take to the trail I hike my blues away. But in the southeast corner of Washington I praise the blues-I welcome the blues. The Blue Mountains that is! Quite possibly Washington's least known and least hiked mountains -unless of course you hail from Walla Walla or are an elk hunter from eastern Washington-then you know these mountains all so well.

I've only made two trips to these mountains so far-and was just there last month on my Eastern Washington spring road trip. Still quite a bit of snow on the higher elevations and a little too in the Tucannon River Valley. But on the southern slopes-not much white stuff. I hiked 4.5 miles up the Tucannon River Trail then hiked another 2.5 miles up to Hunter Spring at elevation 5,700 feet. What did I get in return? Views! Wildflowers! and a few ticks too~

The floral show was stunning and the views down the Tucannon Valley and out to Diamond Peak (pictured right) were wonderful. I'm including two treks in these mountains in my upcoming Backpacking Washington book. If you are looking for a good day hike-and one that won't be incredibly hot in summer try the Tucannon River trail (described in my Best Hikes Dog Book). Summers can be brutal out here on the ridges; hotter than a nun's dream! Autumn is perfect. I'll look for you then. I'll be trekking across the Mount Misery Trail detailing the route for your reading pleasure. I'll also be singing the blues!