Dud of a meteor shower/ Memorial Day weekend

23-26 May 2014

A rare crossing of earth with the path of a comet from 200 years ago was supposed to produce anything from a few meteors to a "meteor storm" on the night of 23-24 May. Our friends, Peter and Naomi Gray, invited us to watch from their Eastern Washington yard and spend the rest of the night. Since they threw in a dinner and a breakfast prepared with fresh eggs from their "lap chickens" we couldn't refuse.

The drive to Ellensburg on Memorial Weekend Friday was unsurprisingly slow from the top of Snoqualmie Pass almost to Easton. As is usually the case with these kind of slowdowns, we saw no reason for it - no accident, no construction, no gapers block, even. [Maybe it had something to do with the rain - I know that I was wondering if we were going to be able to see the sky at all, much less any meteors.] Anyway that put us at Peter and Naomi's around 1800, a half-hour late, but we weren't on any rigid schedule. There was still time to cuddle their strangely-friendly hens, meet the new chicks and have dinner and visit. Sometime before 2300 we went out behind the house and studio to an open area that was reasonably sheltered from light and stretched a tarp out to lie on. The strong winds we had had earlier had died off and the temperature had dropped to where layers of fleece felt comfortable. Unfortunately the Camelopardalid Meteor Shower was more like a trickle and we saw only two bright ones with long steaks. There were, however, a surprising number of satellites. Mars and Jupiter were also in evidence. We stayed out until after midnight which should have been the time of maximum meteors then gave it up and went in to crash on the living room futon.

Peter and Naomi made a big pan of scrambled eggs and veggies and C.J. had brought blueberry streusel muffins for breakfast. Naomi had an 0900 class on oil painting to teach and we couldn't talk Peter into skipping the chores he had planned for the day, so we were on our own for a hike. The Desert Hikes book once again had many local choices and we picked one west of Thorp, Shell Rock. The road/trail was now gated so we didn't have the option of driving the first 3/4 mile to the top of the ridge [but it was a steep, rocky road anyway with one rough, washed-out area]. At the saddle (top, at the 3/4-mile mark) we took a detour to the south to climb a bump and look down at the Manastash canyon and the Lazy F camp and retreat center (with a field big enough to land a paraglider).

C.J. found many flowers to photograph along the trail

Then we continued NW along the road through scattered ponderosa pines and lots of flowers crossing a gate onto state land. Every so often we'd head west across rocky but flower-strewn fields to the cliff edge and look down into the Manastash drainage, but the wind was so strong that it would not have been comfortable to eat lunch there. We settled on descending a slope to the east into the trees where there were ponderosa pine needles to cushion the rocks for our seat pads. Not far beyond we came to a junction; one way indicated "authorized vehicles only" by order of the Dept of fish and Wildlife. Later we found that we had gone about 2.75 miles to that point (more with the detour to the first overlook). To make a loop trip, we headed south cross-country, eventually descending into a canyon and walking along a dry stream bed until we hit another road/trail which took us to the original saddle at 3/4 miles from Manastash Road where we had left our vehicle. The GPS and mapping app on my phone were a big help in doing the XC navigation and indicated a distance of 2.77 miles back to the car from our turnaround point. C.J. says, "And as we came back to the car, a group of young folks were just coming to the trailhead. They must've seen George's Purple Heart license plate, because one of them said, "Thank you for your service, sir." I thought that was pretty cool!"

The drive home through Thorp and along Hwy 10 following the Yakima River to Cle Elum was more scenic than retracing our route on I-90, but didn't take much longer. We were home around 1700 and ready for a shower.

Sunday I was back to replacing the deck boards near the sliding glass door, a job I had started on Thursday. Too bad the new treated 2x4s are so wet that I can't stain them until we have some dry weather and they dry out a bit. I did manage to get the front yard mowed before it started raining again.

Monday is Memorial Day and appropos of that I should note that Washington State provides veterans who have at least a 30% disability an ID card which gets the holder free admission, camping and boat launch at all State parks. We first saw a hint that such a thing was available when we camped at Beebe Bridge Campground near Chelan. The fee sign included a category for disabled veterans with ID card. When I checked with the Chelan PUD, which runs that campground,  they said that I had to apply to the state. C.J. and I are looking forward to putting the state parks on our list of places to visit now that camping there will not be so expensive.

Beach'N Weekend 2014

2, 3, 4 May 2014

From the top of Steamboat Rock

The end of April had a string of days with summer-like temperatures in the lower 80s. The weekend, however, was predicted to be rainy and cold again. Not so Eastern Washington and Chelan. Unfortunately for flying, the winds kept us on the ground and and on the desert trails. Of the almost thirty pilots who braved the "breezy" forecast, many got in flights either on Friday or Sunday, with a very few sneaking in a flight between even higher gusts on Saturday.


2 May, Friday - C.J. and I finished packing the car and trailer with almost everything (I forgot my hiking backpack this time, and we both left our cameras home.) and were off at 0930. We had no trouble finding a pull-through site at Beebe Bridge PUD campground for the off-season (and senior) rate of $15/night. After setting up, filling the water tank and hooking up electricity and water, we set off for Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock. (We had already checked with Steve Wilson who had flown

Split Boulder on Steamboat Rock

earlier, and he had not recommended the conditions.) It was about 1 hr 15 min to the State Park and trailhead for Steamboat Rock. Leaving the car parked at the rest room of the Dunes campground, we walked up the wide gravel trail through a sea of mostly bright yellow arrow-leaf balsam root flowers. The next bit of trail was a scramble on steep loose rock followed by a second not-quite-as-steep scramble to a trail junction. We took the left branch leading southerly and then another left to a third climb to the high point and the southern edge of this basalt erosional remnant. A trio of hikers followed us to the viewpoint and gave us some information about where to go for even better views. [The Desert Hikes guidebook showed a loop trail but the Best Wildflowers Hikes book showed no such thing.] We set off along the edge of the 600 ft high cliff and talus until the herd path petered out and then we cut cross-country to descend to the next section of the Rock. A short climb brought us to a boulder split vertically into several pieces, an obvious landmark. From there we

Six hundred feet to the surface of Banks Lake

ran into a more defined path along the edge of the cliff with great views to the west. We could see Barker Canyon across the lake where we had launched our kayak for a couple of paddle trips in previous year. We were glad not to be paddling today in the very

Shadows at Steamboat Rock

strong winds. In fact, we we glad that we were not walking on the very edge of the cliff, and that the wind was southwest and not easterly. The trail continued more or less along the cliff edge gradually closing the loop around the southern end of the Rock and skirting the eastern side. All along the way there were lots of wildflowers, some we recognized and some that were new to us. Eventually we descended to the trail junction we had left at the top of the steep "trail". Going down was tricky and our hiking poles were put to good use. Our hike of between five and six miles had taken about four hours. Instead of driving back through Grand Coulee and Leahy to Mansfield and camp, we headed south from Steamboat Rock SP along the eastern shore of Banks Lake to Coulee City where we hoped to find a place for dinner. The one restaurant was closed and the two bars didn't look promising so we continued on arriving an hour later at camp for a good meal of marinated fish, polenta and salad.

4 May, Sat - after a relaxed breakfast of pancakes with plum jam, we drove up to Lakeside Park to register for the fly-in with Lori Lawson. There were only about ten names on the list at that time, but more signed up later. Although we had seen three or four paragliders flying - most to the Chelan Falls soccer field rather than to the beach at Lakeside, we had decided that the winds were too strong to consider flying. Desert Hikes had several more hikes that were not too far away and Lori told us about some new trails right in the Chelan area. We decided to go for a hike in Moses Coulee near Jameson Lake, a nature preserve centered on Dusty Hills Falls (Dutch Henry Draw), about four miles north of US 2.  [On the way we drove through Waterville which must be the county seat of Douglas County. The courthouse is there as well as a museum and a hotel, and Shockers Snack Shop (the local high school team is "the shockers").] Unlike Steamboat

Dusty Hills "Falls"

Rock, there weren't many wildflowers and there was no climb at all. Dusty Hills Falls was not roaring or even flowing - dripping water was feeding a small pond at the base, fouled by cow pies. We headed south along a cattle trail which kind of disappeared in the forest of head-high sagebrush. Eventually we crossed the dry McCarteney Creek (all the dripping water must have percolated into the sandy soil) and came out into a meadow that looked to have been formed by a long-ago fire burning off the sagebrush. Another half hour of walking took us to a cleft in the wall of the coulee and a good, scenic lunch spot. We returned on the west side of the dry creek and found the trail much more defined. Back at the car we turned north to visit Jameson Lake, a long, narrow lake populated by somnolent fisherfolk in folding chairs and small boats. There appears to be a large DNR dry-camping area beyond the resort's RV park. It was pretty empty on this May weekend. On the way back to camp via McNeil canyon, we spotted the Jorgensens and followers at the old gravel pit/training hill and stopped to say hi. Later we heard that the wind was too crossed to be good for training. Back at camp we took showers while it was nice and warm and then rested until it was time to go

Pool below falls

back to Lakeside for the pizza feed. [When we got back to camp I noticed that the towbar was missing its 5/8 in. pin and was starting to pull loose. We stopped at Walmart to get a replacement on the way to

Spotlanding on the Lakeside beach

Lakeside. Did someone steal our pin? Did the safety pin get pulled off somehow?] Lori had ordered ten pizzas from Valerie's (after getting the "We're too busy to be helpful" feeling at Local Myth) and received eleven so there was plenty to go around. In the wind, the pizzas didn't stay hot very long - the usual problem in early May. Lori had also provided a nice Caesar salad, and watermelon as well as bottled water. We stuck around until 1930 then went back to the trailer to read and rest.

4 May, Sun - While we were eating breakfast we saw three paragliders flying down to the soccer field and one soaring. Since we had no idea how many more might be flying on the Lake side, we didn't waste too much time. Still we had to pack up the trailer and haul it up to the park where we found a place to park on the right side of the road. Rather than disconnect and drive up we asked Lenny Baron if we could ride up with him and he came back to pick us up after he dropped his son and friends off at the junkyard to hike to the top. It was pretty chilly and breezy on top and I pulled my flightsuit on over my fleece jacket. We watched a few people take off and the  hangs were doing fine but the paras had rough going as they flew through the rotor right off launch. We both decided not to fly as did Kevin White who we drove down with. Gene Beaver, Mark Rogers (a new pilot, student of Steve W) and Steve Wilson. When we arrived at Lakeside we found that Steve had landed in the lake, Ron had landed in shallow water and other folks had also found big sink just before landing and barely made it to shore. Mark had gone to the soccer field, Gene had flown across the lake to his lodging near the city park. C.J. and I hung out with the other pilots and had lunch before leaving around 1420. We ran into rain on the way to Wenatchee and more rain on and off the rest of the way home. It was still raining lightly in North Bend (around 1650) but we got unloaded and the trailer inside before it started raining harder.