www.saveourgulch.com
http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=75944291053267413
One of the biggest adjustments I've had to make in moving to Seattle is living in an urban environment. There are very few large green spots on the map in the vicinity, but Japanese Gulch is an oasis. This rugged and lush piece of land is sandwiched between Boeing, a corporate park and the towns of Mukilteo and Everett, including many homes. It is the best mountain biking, hiking and views within an hour of my house...and hundreds of thousands other's homes. Unfortunately some of the landowners are trying to develop a large parcel of the land.
Last Wednesday, I attended an Everett city council meeting intended to push the council to save the gulch. The room was packed with hikers, bikers and homeowners who want the Mukilteo and Everett city councils to somehow save the land as is. The city council seemed very receptive to the idea, but were concerned by the legal minefield necessary to do so. I'm even a little unsure of how its supposed to proceed. Let's hope all the support carries through to the heavy lifting...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
hello again
Isn't the point of a blog to post things on it? I have to remember that.
I had a great weekend. On Saturday, my cooworker Jarrod and I went to Mt. Baker to ski. Just driving there was an experience. 20 miles from the mountain there is no snow and it is raining. Then the snow just starts rising. By the time you reach to parking lot, the snow is 10 feet deep. Its hard to tell where you are because of the walls of snow everywhere. The actual skiing was fun, but rough for me. It was like learning to ski all over again and I had a hard time staying on the surface. My skills and skis were not up to the job. It was fun in the fact that I could do absolutely no wrong regardless of whether I was on my boards or somersaulting through the snow.
After lunch, disaster struck...Jarrod bit it hard on a packed run and broke his collarbone. Sorry dude. So the day ended on a sour note, but I'll be back for more.
Sunday dawned sunny and warm! This was the first sunny day I've seen in a while, so I went out for a road ride. I was having fun cooking up and down some good hills, but once again the tables turned. Flat. Had a pump, but no tube or patch kit. Long 5 mile walk home.
Sorry I don't have any pics of the travels and tribulations. Here's Sunday dinner though...thanks for the recipe Deb and Doug! Happy B-day btw.
Oh yeah, and here's a pic of one brave cat. This is taken straight out my second floor window. Curiosity did what to the wha?
I had a great weekend. On Saturday, my cooworker Jarrod and I went to Mt. Baker to ski. Just driving there was an experience. 20 miles from the mountain there is no snow and it is raining. Then the snow just starts rising. By the time you reach to parking lot, the snow is 10 feet deep. Its hard to tell where you are because of the walls of snow everywhere. The actual skiing was fun, but rough for me. It was like learning to ski all over again and I had a hard time staying on the surface. My skills and skis were not up to the job. It was fun in the fact that I could do absolutely no wrong regardless of whether I was on my boards or somersaulting through the snow.
After lunch, disaster struck...Jarrod bit it hard on a packed run and broke his collarbone. Sorry dude. So the day ended on a sour note, but I'll be back for more.
Sunday dawned sunny and warm! This was the first sunny day I've seen in a while, so I went out for a road ride. I was having fun cooking up and down some good hills, but once again the tables turned. Flat. Had a pump, but no tube or patch kit. Long 5 mile walk home.
Sorry I don't have any pics of the travels and tribulations. Here's Sunday dinner though...thanks for the recipe Deb and Doug! Happy B-day btw.
Oh yeah, and here's a pic of one brave cat. This is taken straight out my second floor window. Curiosity did what to the wha?
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Necklace Valley
Yeah 4 day weekends! I spent Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in the Necklace Valley in the Cascades. The first few miles of the hike in reminded me a lot of the Olympics...very green and lush old growth forest and a smooth well-traveled trail.
Something was definitely living in this downed tree. I couldn't see very far in, and I wasn't about to stick my head in. Soon after this, I headed up a very narrow gorge that lead to the Necklace Valley. I gained elevation very quickly and the temperature dropped while the snowpack climbed. I saw lots of these around.
...so I sang some songs about how I love bears nice and loud so that they would hear me coming and noone would surprise anyone else. After about 5 hours of hiking, I reached the first of the lakes in the valley.
I knew there was a shelter somewhere on the west side of one of the lakes, but the scope of my map was way too large and it was hard to make out fine detail. After looking for it for about an hour, I finally just found a nice level area near the confluence of 2 streams and set up bivy camp at sunset. Being in a north facing valley, sunset comes early and sunrise late.
Task A#1 was hanging the best bear bag setup of my life before it got any darker. I've been somewhat lax in the past about bear-bag setups and cooking, but that was when I was more worried about mini-bears (chipmunks) getting into my food than ursa major sniffing around at night. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner (Annies with tuna and dried cranberries..mmmm) nice and far from camp too. By the time I was done eating it was pitch dark...but not for long.
I had forgotten about the full moon. Around 7pm the moon rose over the east ridge of the valley. It was light enough to easily walk around without a headlamp. The following pictures were all taken without flash at long exposure.
I spent the next few hours taking photos and reading, and by 10pm I finally went to sleep. Only 9 hours til dawn. It was a cold night and at dawn I did not want to get up...it was about 0 F. Not expecting temps this low, I didn't have down booties with me...big mistake. When I finally did get up, I dropped the bear bag, downed a cup of tea, packed my day bag and started hiking as fast as I could. Nevertheless, my feet were frozen by the time I started moving. They didn't fully thaw for another hour or so.
I hiked to the head of the valley and out onto a shallow but very frozen swamp so that I could see around. Everything around looked steep and very daunting. I had crampons, but no snowshoes, so postholing was a problem in the deep snow areas. I made for a gap in the mountains to the southwest and figure I could work my way up the west ridge from there. Almost as soon as I left the valley floor the sun broke over the south ridge of the valley and I was immersed in bright sunlight. I reached the La Bohm gap and continued up the western ridge of the valley, hoping to reach one of the rocky outcroppings above where I had camped. The top of the ridge was much steeper and exposed than it looked from below, so I didn't get very far before I ran into a barrier. The barrier could have been overcome with some 5.easy climbing, but a fall would have been very bad and I was alone...so I had lunch, snapped some photos and headed back down the ridge.
Sunrise..kinda
La Bohm gap, with Chimney Rock Mountain? in the distance
frustrating
looking north
I traversed through a large talus-filled bowl under the ridge and back to camp. I broke camp and started down the valley at about 12:30. I soon found the shelter I was looking for the night before. I was originally planning on spending another night out, but the cold and lonesome made me pack it in. I must be getting soft.
Something was definitely living in this downed tree. I couldn't see very far in, and I wasn't about to stick my head in. Soon after this, I headed up a very narrow gorge that lead to the Necklace Valley. I gained elevation very quickly and the temperature dropped while the snowpack climbed. I saw lots of these around.
...so I sang some songs about how I love bears nice and loud so that they would hear me coming and noone would surprise anyone else. After about 5 hours of hiking, I reached the first of the lakes in the valley.
I knew there was a shelter somewhere on the west side of one of the lakes, but the scope of my map was way too large and it was hard to make out fine detail. After looking for it for about an hour, I finally just found a nice level area near the confluence of 2 streams and set up bivy camp at sunset. Being in a north facing valley, sunset comes early and sunrise late.
Task A#1 was hanging the best bear bag setup of my life before it got any darker. I've been somewhat lax in the past about bear-bag setups and cooking, but that was when I was more worried about mini-bears (chipmunks) getting into my food than ursa major sniffing around at night. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner (Annies with tuna and dried cranberries..mmmm) nice and far from camp too. By the time I was done eating it was pitch dark...but not for long.
I had forgotten about the full moon. Around 7pm the moon rose over the east ridge of the valley. It was light enough to easily walk around without a headlamp. The following pictures were all taken without flash at long exposure.
I spent the next few hours taking photos and reading, and by 10pm I finally went to sleep. Only 9 hours til dawn. It was a cold night and at dawn I did not want to get up...it was about 0 F. Not expecting temps this low, I didn't have down booties with me...big mistake. When I finally did get up, I dropped the bear bag, downed a cup of tea, packed my day bag and started hiking as fast as I could. Nevertheless, my feet were frozen by the time I started moving. They didn't fully thaw for another hour or so.
I hiked to the head of the valley and out onto a shallow but very frozen swamp so that I could see around. Everything around looked steep and very daunting. I had crampons, but no snowshoes, so postholing was a problem in the deep snow areas. I made for a gap in the mountains to the southwest and figure I could work my way up the west ridge from there. Almost as soon as I left the valley floor the sun broke over the south ridge of the valley and I was immersed in bright sunlight. I reached the La Bohm gap and continued up the western ridge of the valley, hoping to reach one of the rocky outcroppings above where I had camped. The top of the ridge was much steeper and exposed than it looked from below, so I didn't get very far before I ran into a barrier. The barrier could have been overcome with some 5.easy climbing, but a fall would have been very bad and I was alone...so I had lunch, snapped some photos and headed back down the ridge.
Sunrise..kinda
La Bohm gap, with Chimney Rock Mountain? in the distance
frustrating
looking north
I traversed through a large talus-filled bowl under the ridge and back to camp. I broke camp and started down the valley at about 12:30. I soon found the shelter I was looking for the night before. I was originally planning on spending another night out, but the cold and lonesome made me pack it in. I must be getting soft.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
settling in
The new place....
I'll post some more once I get it set up a bit.
Andrew was here last week and we went to the Olympics Peninsula for a quick backpacking trip. I'm already hooked on this place and you can probably see why.
I'll post some more once I get it set up a bit.
Andrew was here last week and we went to the Olympics Peninsula for a quick backpacking trip. I'm already hooked on this place and you can probably see why.
question answered
The title of this blog no longer makes sense. I've found my spot in the universe for the time being. I'm going to try out a new title.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Seesaws and Sunsets
My cooworker Erin and I went back to Galbraith on Sunday, this time with a map. This place has everything...flow, tech, stunts and mud.
The Diamond Knot brewery has $2 Tuesdays, so naturally I head there after work every week. It 100 yards from a point of land in Mukilteo where the ferry comes and goes. I got there at just the right time this week.
The Diamond Knot brewery has $2 Tuesdays, so naturally I head there after work every week. It 100 yards from a point of land in Mukilteo where the ferry comes and goes. I got there at just the right time this week.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Apparently I'm a...
....fucking idiot! Or so said the passenger in a pickup as he drove by me when I was biking home on Thursday. The people here are known for being Northwest Nice, but it only took 3 days of bike commuting to get this friendly greeting. Don't worry, the Jersey Boy in me replied with the bird.
New set of slicks and the Dragon is faster than ever!
New set of slicks and the Dragon is faster than ever!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
X marks the spot
Barring any major disasters, you can find me here from Nov. 7 on. I might even have to change the name of this blog.
HOME SWEET HOME
Actual address is 943 Cedar Street, Edmonds, WA 90820. Google is a few hundred feet off.
I'll have the best view in town. Google earth tries...
HOME SWEET HOME
Actual address is 943 Cedar Street, Edmonds, WA 90820. Google is a few hundred feet off.
I'll have the best view in town. Google earth tries...
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Galbraith....good people
This weekend was gorgeous, so I took the chance to do lots of riding before the rain settled back in. On Saturday, I rode Galbraith Mt. near Bellingham. This place is awesome and I met lots of other riders out on the trails who I could tag along with since the trail system is expansive and its very easy to get lost. I was having a blast up until I realized that my camera was no longer on my back! I went looking for it and had given it up for dead, so I just tried to enjoy the ride and not be too pissed at myself.
Sunday was perfect too and I rode Japanese Gulch again. I have a pretty good mental map of the place now and know where the good stuff is. And where the freeride stuff is. I'll take photos next time I'm there....its absurd.
Monday I got an excellent surpise. I had posted a lost ad on a local mountain biking forum and received a response from a guy who had found my camera! Its back now and I even have a few pics from Galbraith. Steve, you are the man!
Mt. Baker
What's around that corner?
Sunday was perfect too and I rode Japanese Gulch again. I have a pretty good mental map of the place now and know where the good stuff is. And where the freeride stuff is. I'll take photos next time I'm there....its absurd.
Monday I got an excellent surpise. I had posted a lost ad on a local mountain biking forum and received a response from a guy who had found my camera! Its back now and I even have a few pics from Galbraith. Steve, you are the man!
Mt. Baker
What's around that corner?
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