Blake Island Paddle August 23-24

Finally after thirty years in the Northwest we did the Tillicum Village salmon dinner and dance show thing. Sure, it's more of a tourist event than anything else, but it's still fun. At least we did it in a less-touristy fashion.

We drove over the Tacoma Narrows bridge to Pomeroy County Park in Manchester near Port Orchard and loaded our kayak for an overnight trip on the beach next to the boat ramp. We figured that we might miss the evening dinner/show so we could stay overnight and catch the noon one. As it turned out, we were early enough but decided to camp anyway on the NW side of the island in the public camping area. We did not see the Cascadia Marine Trail campsites just around the other side of the point until we were on our way back from dinner later [It was clear later that, at low tide, it would be a long carry from the campsite to the shore.]. After setting up our tiny backpacking tent on the shaded, grassy bench above the beach (and spotting an otter running into the forest), we hustled back into the boat and paddled the mile or so to the main campground, marina and Tillicum Village. We were there in plenty of time to sign up for dinner which was not until 1730 - we had understood dinner was at 1630 from the information on the web but that was the time that the tour boat left Seattle, not the time dinner was served. So we had some lunch, took some pictures of the Village and a bold raccoon, and walked around checking out the beach and campground. There was plenty of room and there were shady spots with views of Seattle, pay showers and a snack bar.

By just after 1700 campers and boaters were beginning to drift toward Tillicum Village so we joined them. Just as the Argosy tour boat docked, big pots of hot clams were carried out and we each got a few clams and some broth. We ran into another couple of kayakers while waiting in line and shared our experiences and, eventually, a table in the longhouse. Great food (although the plastic, fish-shaped plates were a bit hokey) including traditionally-cooked salmon (uh, well sort of traditional - the split salmon were propped up in front of a fire but the fire was a gas flame, not alder wood), a good mixed-greens salad, wild rice mix, small potatoes and, at each place, a milk chocolate salmon. Water and lemonade were in pitchers on the table. The long house looked like it could seat more than 300 (There were 270 of us this time) at tables placed on ascending levels so we were looking down at the dark woodland-themed stage. The dance show began just about the time we finished our meals and each segment was short enough to keep the audience's attention. The most spectacular segment was a mask dance which was really well done. I especially liked the clacking of the beaks on the huge bird masks.

After the show we did not waste much time getting back on the water but there was plenty of light and we were soon back at our camp. C.J. suggested we take the trail back to the main campground so we could see what the night lights of Seattle looked like, so we grabbed our headlamps and headed east on the 1.25 mi trail. We encountered a number of deer - their eyes are big and very reflective in the light from our headlamps, but they did not seem in any rush to bound away. Our lights were not needed for the trip to the main campground but on the way back it was dark under the trees. Back at camp the ranger showed up and warned us about the raccoons, deer and otters. He invited us to use the "wildlife containers" (32-gal Rubbermaid garbage cans with bungy cords) to store our food but we had put all our food under the solid hatch covers of the kayak instead. He also checked that we had paid our camping fee (standard state park $17!). By then it was late enough to squeeze into our tent for the night.

The next morning we got up around 0730 (?) knowing that it wouldn't work to wait for the sun to hit our wet-facing camp. I got the old Svea stove going and heated up hot water for cocoa and tea and we had raisin bran and chocolate chip scones, neither of which were too badly smashed. Leaving our tent still up with our gear inside, we set off to paddle around the island although it looked foggy to the south towards Southworth. Tide was low and more shoreline was exposed than we had expected. We saw more sea otters, shorebirds, and boaters tied up at the mooring floats, but only one other pair of kayakers. Rounding the southern point of Blake Island, we saw the third campground (fewer sites and with no water), and realized that we would not be seeing Seattle as the view to the west was obscured by fog. It wasn't much farther before we were back at the main campground and ran into some wind and some rougher water, nothing really scary but I pulled on my sprayskirt after getting a splash of cold water on my lap.

Back at the west campground we shook the dew off the tent - it hadn't dried much at all - and loaded everything back into (or on - we tried tying a dry bag with clothes and a sleeping bag on the rear hatch). This time we went pretty straight west to the shoreline just north of Yukon Harbor and then paddled along the shore back to Manchester. We passed the NOAA research vessel again, the same one we had seen on the way to Blake.

On the way home we drove through Port Orchard and treated ourselves to shakes at A&W, and a Safeway deli sandwich which we ate in the park at Point Defiance. All in all it felt very much like a vacation.

Lakeview August 8 - 16, 2007

C.J. and I are in Lakeview for our annual camping/flying get-together with Wally and Ginny. The camping part has been good with cooler than usual weather but the flying has either been blown-out (i.e., perfect for hang gliders like Wally, Roger, Dirk and Page Perrin - who was up from his lair at Hat Creek to do a gold Lilienthal award flight) or, like last night, almost calm and not soarable.

We've done some exploring since the flying has not been great. [The first three days there was some kind of international air force maneuvers and we were restricted form flying until after 1500. In fact, on Friday morning, F-16s screamed over our heads in camp several times - fast and low!] One day we drove west of town to Drews Gap and up toward Grizzly Pk to a new hang gliding ramp that Mark Webber and Mike Tingy built. It juts out over a cliff facing east and is secured with chains bolted to the clifftop and cliff face. It's definitely not for paragliders and I think many hang glider pilots would consider it pretty extreme. Ken Musio and Mike Tingy are the only ones to have flown it so far and they did not need to utilize the LZ near Cottonwood Lake, flying to Abert Lake and Lakeview, respectively. Sunday we drove down to Canby to see the progress that Debbie and Roger (debbie@strawfly.com) have made on their property and straw-bale home. It looks really good with the stucco on the outside and some new concrete windowledges. They have an 800 kilowatt bank of solar panels for the house and another rotating arrangement of panels for the well pump. For such a dry ridgetop, they have a great garden (two gardens, actually) with serious fencing with electric wiring to keep out the rodents. Yesterday we went out to the airport to see Jules Gilpatrick in his hangar. He's got a big rotary engine Howard and a towplane he calls an "ag wagon". He flew the Howard out to Oshkosh again this year.

Last night we drove up a road behind the Buck Creek Guard Station to a high point and hiked out about 0.6 mi to Wally's launch. The idea is that when you launch you are already across the Fandango Valley gap and can hope to get up in the glassoff and head N toward Lakeview. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong night because the wind pretty much died and we had barely-extended flydowns to the field below (owned by Ray Cloud, whom a neighbor assured us would have no problem with us landing there; the neighbor even invited us to hand in his field where he has mowed a perfect heart enclosing "B+E"). C.J. and Ginny accompanied us down to launch and had to hike back out to the car. Along the way Ginny lost her fleece jacket so we went back to look for it this morning - and found it! Then we went up Sugar hoping to get C.J. and Wally flights on their hang gliders. It looked good until the wind picked up around 1130 and canceled the flying. Later we tried Sweet-N-Low and were able to soar our paragliders, and Wally managed to get to 9200' at Sugar and cross the Fandango Gap as far as where the county road meets US 395 south of New Pine Creek. Shortly after I returned from Sugar (having climbed only to 6600 ft) the wind died down and the hang gliders watched Roger sink to the bailout. I toplanded on Sweet-N-Low; or rather sank out and stalled my wing in the last three feet. C.J. and Dirk broke down their gliders and we all drove down.

The last day we tried Sugar again but much earlier - still too strong and lots of cumulus we haven't seen this week until now. We had toasted ham and cheese sandwiches and veg-ed around camp until Ginny suggested we go in to town to check out Blackcap. We did, but it was way too south so we headed back to Sweet-N-Low once again. Dirk was already there and optimistic on the radio about conditions. By the time we got there I thought it was too strong for PG (although Wally was getting his PG gear ready). C.J. set up her Falcon and the wind got even stronger. It looked like we were skunked again. Wally gave up on the PG reluctantly and set up his U-2, and the wind moderated. Roger and Dirk launched; we helped C.J. get her glider out to launch where she had a great takeoff and ridge soared for a while before heading over to Sugar. Conditions had improved enough for me to launch and I got off pretty easily and crept slooowly over to Sugar climbing steadily. When I got to 7000 ft (launch at 5600), I had single-digit speed into the wind and didn't waste any time crabbing out to 395 in front of S&L and heading downwind over the back. Crabbing I was making 24 mph and turning straight N (lined up with the road to Buck Creek) I saw 33 mph on my GPS. Not a bit of lift so, after crossing the Lassen Creek canyon, I turned NW down FS 30 and glided out as far as I could, turned around and landed in no (!) wind. C.J. checked with me about wind speed and direction and chose to go out to the Sugar LZ. Meanwhile, the hang gliders had all gotten to 7500 or higher and flown across the gap, landing about the same time I did just north of New Pine. Ginny drove down and checked on C.J. then picked me up and dropped me at camp so I could get the Trooper and go retrieve C.J. while she went after Wally and crew. C.J. and I got back to camp with plenty of time to shower (in the dark) and heat up some more of Wally's Mexican spaghetti sauce for dinner. It was a great to end on a winner" for our Lakeview trip".

Thursday we got up around 0700 before the sun had a chance to heat up the tent and broke camp. We were out of Lassen Creek by 0845 and home almost exactly twelve hours later. We stopped at Picture Rock Pass between Summer Lake and Silver Lake to walk off the road to see the pictographs (petroglyphs?), in Bend at the Columbia Outlet, in Madras at the Dairy Queen, and for dinner in Yakima. Just outside of Madras there was a raging brush fire right alongside the road, and for the whole trip there was plenty of wind especially up near the OR-WA border. {C.J., Ginny and the bears}

Tables, Cabinets and R/C Gliders

I finished that bistro table for the porch and then the next issue of Wood magazine had the plans for matching stools. Actually, the kitchen stool worked okay and I cut down the legs of my old classroom stool for a second seat, but it would be nice to have the stools match the table. I made the first one with the only change being to attach the seat to the legs with screws from the bottom, instead of glue, so the seats are removable just like the top of the table. After finishing the first one, I pulled the metal linen closet out of the bathroom and started building a replacement. The carcase went together pretty easily except for having to "convince" the shelves into the dados. The outside was stained dark walnut, then varathaned and the inside painted white. Putting the face frame on was a little trickier because I had to get the face frame cross members lined up with the top surface of the shelves. I installed the completed carcase in the opening even with the back of trim boards around the opening. Then I built two doors out of a 6 ft x 2 ft glued up panel and some 1x2s. After staining and varathaning and finding the right hinges, I installed them flush with the trim and put on a couple of porcelain and chrome knobs. It certainly looks nicer than the old metal cabinet (which got moved out into the garage and is now being used to hold the unused freezer containers and such).

Meanwhile, I finally got together with Scobie Puchtler at Gas Works Park and used his trainer transmitter to try out his Swyft radio controlled glider. After getting a couple of hours of "stick time" I decided to go ahead and get one so went back to his shop and got the kit, the servos, a battery set and went over to Woodcraft and got CA (high-quality super glue). Clearly I did not know what I was getting into because it took me two days just to read the direction (on PDF). I got started in mid July and, when I left for Lakeview around Aug 7, I was on the last few directions out of 190 steps. So I hope to finish it up and get with Scobie for trim and first flight so I can be flying by my birthday - maybe not soaring, but at least launching, turning and landing.