Category: earth

Sunday evening in Oregon.

Had all gone as planned, my brother and I would’ve hiked down from the heights of the gorge today after three days in the wilderness. As it happened, though, we managed to trek the entire thirty miles in two days, and made out exit yesterday evening instead. Finished a day early, and unwilling to pay the money necessary to change my flights home up a day, I managed to have a whole extra day in Portland. Turned out to be a good thing; time to rest my over-sore muscles.  Portland always seems to have something going on, so I hobbled out with my folks and brother to the local Polish festival for some Polish food, drink, song, and dance.  Not a bad way to spend an unplanned sabbath with family.

As for the hike itself, what a brilliant trip.  I’ve never hiked up Oregon way, and being broken in along one of the Gorge’s most popular trail was a grand entrance.  Out thirty miles took us up the Eagle Creek Trail to Wahtum Lake, where we flipped our steady ascent and headed back down to the Columbia via the Pacific Crest Trail.  A few miles into that and we veered off along Ruckle Creek for a massively steep descent.  We camped over night a few miles below Wahtum Lake at a beautiful spot alongside an unnamed creek just off the trail.  In Oregon, unlike most places in California, you’re allowed fires at night – so we built a nice warm one in a ring of rocks and sat around it drinking port from our hip flasks.  The first day was easy, the second day was insane, but partly because we pushed ourselves to finish early.  Altogether, it was a great weekend in-country with my brother… one of the coolest things I’ve done with him since our days playing Star Wars in the backyard.

Anyway, I gathered some of the better pictures I took along the trail and am presenting them here for you.  Check ’em out by moving your eyes an imperceptible bit south down this very page…

And now… with the hour getting late and me still having to pack before catching a 5am train to the airport, I must bid you adieu.

Goodnight.

Monday again.  Well, not now… but tomorrow, when you read this, it will be.

Back from another weekend of camping.  Back-to-back tent-hotel with us plus the wee one.  Perhaps not for some, but for us a real spot of light to be among friends and nature with the family.  Yeah, set-up and tear-down never seem to have as many hours betwixt them as I’d desire, or, rephrased: I’m wasn’t ready to leave the woods and come back to work; but… we’re back and I tried to be productive with the couch time.

What did I do?  I published some four months of pictures to Keaton’s gallery.  No; really.  I did.  So, if you’re among my many recent detractors, those in the, “When are you going to publish new pictures,” or, “I can’t beleive you haven’t updated since February” camp – you can kindly stuff a sock in it now.  Click this sentence and let’s get it over with; we at sounds familiar will be waiting for you when you get back – and we better see a grin so wide on your face that it gives away your internalized joy at the new snapshots.

OK then, let’s do some writing.

In a disturbing trend in our tiny, oft debris-strewn household, the odds that either Sharaun or I will brew a pot of coffee around 8pm have gone from an almost never 100:1 to something nearer 3:1 in recent months.  I don’t know when this change happened, but an early-evening cup of coffee has become something of a delectation for me.  I call this trend “disturbing” because it’s just another indicator to me that the normal human process of aging is progressing just well and fine within me.  As a child, coffee seemed a bitter elixir for the aged, a lifeblood so essential that it could be sucked in hard candy form when not available as a fluid.

Old and me, we ain’t strangers.

Remember a year ago when I had all those problems with birds eating my backyard fruits and veggies?  Well, I’d almost put that frustration behind me, mended those fences between the fowl and I.  Almost, that is, until their voracious appetites dredged the whole emotional issue to the surface anew this year.  So far they’ve ruined ripe tomatoes, plums, and one of only two apricots my young tree managed to produce (I was so indignant on that last one, I proceeded to eat the remaining fruit around the peck marks).  Stupid hungry birds.

Goodnight.

Monday night and sore.

Back from Yosemite, and with Monday as vacation it’ll be another abbreviated workweek.  And, due to some scheduling oversight (or not, I forget) we’re off camping again this weekend.  It’s cool; although I do miss having a weekend at home to actually do some things (or no things, for that matter).

The trip was fantastic.  The Sunday Half Dome hike turned out better than I could’ve hoped.  The weather was amazing, the trail wasn’t overcrowded, and I felt great the whole way.  We got a late start, arriving at the trailhead about a quarter to seven in the morning.  The crew made good time for the first seven or so miles, bringing us all from the valley floor at about ~4,000ft to above the treeline at about ~7,800ft to the east of Half Dome on the famous trail.  At that point, some threatening clouds had begun to ring the valley, hanging above the granite walls that rim it, and there was an increasing amount of separation amongst the crew.

Worried at the weather, and with Mike and I still feeling relatively fresh and strong, we made the selfish decision to push hard for the summit and leave the other three behind.  I felt a little bad about it, but we tackled the exposed part of the hike to the saddle before the cable-climb with such vigor that the thought soon left my mind for the burning in my calves.  We had agreed that we’d make a gametime decision at the base of the cables, based on how the clouds looked – and, when the time came we opted to go.

The cables were crowded and the ascent took much, much longer than I’d have liked.  Without having to hold up for all the slowpokes and panickers, I really do think Mike and I could’ve pressed to the summit in fifteen or twenty minutes; but, as it was it took us more like forty to get to the top. Once there we ate the Lunchables I’d hiked up to refuel, took a couple pictures, and rested just a bit before heading back down.  After another twenty minutes waiting in the queue heading down we were on the granite steps again and, before too long, on our way out.

All told the ~17mi trip took ten hours, and I haven’t felt physically better on a long hike, ever.  My legs were fresh longer than ever before, and, even though I started to crash at one point on the descent I was able to pull out of it with a Cliff bar and some good conversation.  Mentally, I like to attribute this to my new weight loss and increased stamina – but that makes me feel somehow arrogant.  But, it sure did empower me along the way.

I love that hike.

And, as for the non-hike part of the trip – we had a great time with friends.  Our little tent cabin in the valley was cozy and the camp meals were delicious as always.  In fact, the post-hike pizza and beer were about as fine a meal as I can recall having in any recent time.  Keaton had a blast playing with Gracie and even got to do a hike of her own the day we did Half Dome: All the way to the Vernal Falls footbridge (which is, honestly, quite the accomplishment for four women, two three year-old girls, and an infant).

So yeah, Yosemite was great.  I’ll post some pictures soon (including a long-overdue update covering the last few months – I promise).  And now, back to work tomorrow and I don’t want to go.

I don’t want to go.  Goodnight.