Mt. Si Talus Loop Trail

10 February 2011


Carpe diem! Sunny skies but cold air as we climbed the Mt. Si trail once again to Snag Flats (1.8 mi from the trailhead) passing the lower end of the Loop at 0.8 mi.

The Talus Loop was a much more pleasant trail, first contouring through a deep, forested drainage and then breaking out into the bright sun of a south-facing talus slope. The trail had been nicely defined across the talus, and a dry-laid stone wall placed on the uphill side. In the wall a space had been left for a bench alcove complete with backrest. It was a great spot to stop for lunch.


Moving on, the trail descended gradually through moss-covered trees then began a couple of switchbacks. At the east end of the second one, when it appeared we were following a very old skid road, we continued east, crossed a stream and in less than ten minutes reached the Mt. Si road. We could have followed it down to the trailhead at the schoolbus turnaround, but that would have meant a long walk on the paved road back to the Mt Si parking lot. We returned to the Talus Loop trail and continued down maybe another half mile to the intersection with the Mt. Si trail again. It was nicer to walk down in the sunshine, rather than the gloom of almost-dark we had experienced last week.

Lots of folks on the Mt. Si trail today, all of them passing us. However, we saw only one person on the Talus Loop trail.

Mount Si...

Due to routefinding error!

2 February 2011

C.J. with a friendly gray jay near the summit

The Talus Loop, accessed from the Mt Si Trailhead, was our goal for this sunny but cold day. Since the route was only 4.2 miles we didn't get on the trail until shortly after noon. Less than a mile up the Mt. Si trail C.J. spotted a trail coming in from the right and (rightly) guessed it was the Talus Loop. I thought that it might be but wanted to start the loop from the higher entrance so we continued up. At about 1.8 miles we found a fork marked "Talus Loop", but I pushed on to the Snag Flats interpretive area where a short boardwalk and some signage explained the old damage due to a 1910 forest fire. Thinking the upper entrance to the loop was still ahead, we pushed up the switchbacks. It wasn't until we had passed the 2.5 mile mark that I became convinced that we had missed our chance to get on the Talus Loop.

A passing hiker confirmed our situation but pointed out that we were almost to the 3-mile mark and that there was a good viewpoint at 3.5 miles. By now it was almost 2 p.m. so we took a break for lunch in a relatively sunny spot. So far it had been cold enough that the trail surface was frozen and ice crystals were poking out of the soil, and the east wind increased the chill factor. The view at 3.5 was to the E and SE and we could see that we were much higher than we had been on the Kamikaze Falls hike because we were looking down at Grouse Ridge. Since the summit was only a half mile farther, we started to break out of the forest by 3 p.m. and soon were in sunshine and warmer air with a view of North Bend and the valley (and the roof of our house glinting in the sun in the photo (left)).




After some additional lunch which we shared with the local gray jays, we scrambled to the base of the Haystack and then back around to the main trail.

By 3:40 we were on the way down. For most of the descent our pace was much faster than when coming up but the strain on our knees and the gathering darkness slowed us down. It wasn't completely dark when we reached the parking lot at 5:45 but we probably would have pulled out our headlamps if we had any farther to go. I hadn't expected to ever climb the 3200 ft ascent and 8 miles of Mt Si trail again, but we were glad that we missed the turnoff for the Talus Loop this time.

Kamikaze Falls Hike

26 January 2011

The rain stopped a day ago and the sun came out so shortly after noon. C.J. and I took the short drive to the roadhead of the old Mt. Si road, now gated and supposedly decommissioned. There is enough room to park 4-5 cars without blocking the gate or encroaching on the school bus turnaround area, but we were the only ones there. C.J.'s watch showed about 1310 as we headed up the road.

About 1/2 mile in we turned right on a side road that quickly became an improved trail which paralleled the road as it climbed the flank of Mt Tenerife. In about a mile we came to an obvious junction and turned right, uphill, on a trail that had been cut through a talus field.

Above the talus field, where we stopped for a scenic lunch break, the trail had just started to switchback when it met the stream that issued from Kamikaze Falls.

Instead of a herd path that followed the stream, the well-designed but rocky trail used another dozen switchbacks to reach the base of the falls (at 2.4 miles,












but that may have been someone's measurement before the switchbacks were cut). We decided against continuing to the top as the sun was already sinking toward the top of Rattlesnake Mountain.















The trip down was considerably faster but the trudge out along the road seemed to take forever. We reached the gate long before we would have had to don our headlamps, but it was after 1700 and it was getting pretty gloomy.

Rewarding ourselves for seizing the day, we ordered up some pizza for dinner.

Windy Pass XC-Ski

19 Jan 2011

After days and days of warm rain C.J. and I were not sure how much snow there would be at Snoqualmie Pass. The temperature dropped below freezing on Tuesday and the Pass Report claimed 3 new inches. We parked at the not-yet-open Hyak Ski Area (Summit East, now) and found a couple of inches of snow atop frozen mashed potatoes.






The trail along the Cold Creek USFS road had not been groomed but there were a few ski tracks showing that three or four folks were out ahead of us. At about 5 km we passed the clearing which used to hold a yurt but now only had a porta-potti.









Beyond the trail began to climb, and switchbacked twice before we got high enough to start getting views of the nearby mountains, Tinkham and Silver. Pretty soon we found a good scenic lunch spot and settled down for some serious soaking up of the sunshine. After lunch we pushed up the trail to (non-)Windy Pass (about 8 km from the parking lot) and a view across to (probably) Kendall Peak through the low clouds.



The slide down took considerably less energy than the uphill slog. It would have been more enjoyable if the trail-grooming snowcat had not passed us just above the second switchback and turned the snow surface into ground-up ice crystals.





There were a couple of places on the way down where the trail had been slightly improved by the groomer, but you still had to be careful when crossing some of the washouts.

Granite Peak Trail

Midweek after Christmas we got a 2-3 inch covering of snow in North Bend followed by temperatures that stayed below freezing. Best of all, the skies cleared and we could see the sun. There wasn't much more snow at the base of Snoqualmie Pass at the Granite Peak/Pratt Lakes trailhead when we started out around noon. With several vehicles in the parking lot, and their occupants on the trail ahead, we weren't surprised to find no need for snowshoes. Even as we climbed higher, the tree foliage seemed to be holding most of the snowfall and the trail remained easily hikable on foot. At the one-mile mark we turned onto the Granite Peak Trail and started climbing more steeply. Another thousand feet of elevation gain brought us to the open slide path that the trail paralleled. We strapped on the snowshoes and stomped out into the thigh-deep snow of a clearing to a spot with a splendid view across the valley to Silver and Tinkham Peaks: another scenic lunch spot. On the way out we kept our snowshoes on until we started to run into some little stream crossings above the junction, then walked down the rest of the way.

Back at the car around 1500, I drove in along the road to Denny Creek CG to the end of plowing at the last private cabin. There were a dozen cars parked there - hikers heading for Franklin Falls (2+mi, or 0.6 mi from Alpental Road) or up the trail toward Melakwa Lake? Cars were also parked on the plowed road into the Annette Lake trailhead - looked like a busy day for snow hikers although we saw only three parties on our short trip (four if you count the family looking for a sledding spot in the woods near the Granite parking lot).

Christmas Greetings

Ho, Ho, Ho, a Merry Christmas to you! We hope that you are looking forward to another wonderful year as much as we are.

The big event this past year was our long-anticipated visit to Nepal in February. After a couple of days in Kathmandu getting acclimated to the most Third World-ish country we have yet visited, our group of paraglider pilots flew to Pokhara where we enjoyed ten days of flying with the Annapurna Range in the near distance as a background. We also camped two nights trekking-style flying during the day and enjoying excellent meals prepared by our Nepali guides. Our final adventure was a three-day tour of Chitwan National Park in the lowlands; we did the whole safari thing including riding an elephant through the jungle and sneaking up on several rhinos. The entire three weeks in Nepal was an amazing experience.

Aside from Nepal, our winter activities were mostly hiking (not much snow in ’10), some XC skiing and snowshoeing and, on very rare occasions, paragliding and (for C.J.) hang gliding. By May we were getting tired of the rain and cold so when we got an invitation to a fly-in down in the Southwest, we loaded up the Aliner and took off for two weeks in the canyonlands of Utah and the Memorial Day flying at Alamogordo, NM. Great scenery, and New Mexico was wonderfully sunny and HOT!

We came home to more chilly rain, giving C.J. lots of time to work on scrapbook pages (both digital and paper), but putting our garden way behind schedule. Meanwhile, George had started (finally) to build cabinets to line the upstairs room. At this point we have about ten feet of the 40-some feet completed.

We escaped the western Washington rain for several short trips to Chelan, and were joined by Ginny and Wally for a week of fun in the sun. We also continued our August tradition of joining C.J.s since-kindergarten girlfriend (who lives in North Carolina) and her family for a few days on the Oregon coast. In October we were in Bend, Oregon for a week of chilly but sunny hiking and kayaking followed by the USHPA board meeting. Winter started early in 2010 with close to a foot of snow on our deck the week of Thanksgiving so we were really glad we'd scheduled a trip to Florida for a Farnsworth get-together in early December. Next up is a camping and flying trip to southern California - we’re hoping for that typical SoCal warm sunshine this time.

On the health front, some good news, some not so good. C.J. seems to be weathering the 60’s well. George, however, was diagnosed with diabetes and is taking some medication, exercising more, and (C.J.) is watching his diet. Fortunately the VA (Dept of Veterans Affairs) has accepted George as a fully covered patient (the Purple Heart medal has finally paid off!) so all the tests and treatment are done at no cost (not to mention the free digital hearing aids he scored). At about the same time, George became eligible for Medicare, so he has that health coverage as well.

If you are really interested in the details about any of our trips or other activities, check out C.J.’s digital scrapbook at http://sturtevantcj.blogspot.com and/or George’s travel blog at http://sturtevantg.blogspot.com. Other photos at picasaweb.google.com/GSturtevant

We hope you and your loved ones are healthy and happy. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! Write and tell us about your 2010. You can reach us both at georges@nwlink.com.

Rob's Birthday in Florida

1-7 December 2010


Ginny came up with the idea of getting together to celebrate brother Rob's birthday (4 Dec) and thank him for all he's doing to care for Mom Farnsworth. By the time the day rolled around, all siblings but one had gathered in Palm Coast for eating, drinking and sharing memories.

1 Dec, Wed - Patti, bless her heart, let us park our car in her garage and then drove us to SeaTac for our 11:27 United flight. After all the talk about TSA scanning and patdowns, it was a non-event as we went through the same old security as last time we flew in February. Our flight was delayed almost an hour (giving us time to grab a sandwich) but we reached Chicago with plenty of time to make our next flight to Jacksonville (and grab another sandwich) arriving around 22:30. This was the first time we flew with just carry-ons and it worked very well for this short trip to what should have been a warm climate. Hertz had no compact cars and offered us an SUV or a Mustang. We took the bright red convertible just to savor the look on C.J.'s siblings' faces. It was about 80 minutes from the airport to Palm Coast where we checked in to the Best Western. [BTW, car rental and hotel were arranged as a package through Expedia at a very good price. Airfare was covered by our Mastercard "World Points".]

2 Dec, Thu - We slept-in a bit then had breakfast in the hotel lobby - eggs, sausage, and biscuits and gravy as well as cold cereals, waffles, and pastries were available. We picked up a bouquet of flowers and dropped in at the house to say hello to Mom F. and Rob. Later, Ginny stayed with Mom F while we went to lunch at the Golden Lion in Flagler Beach with Rob and Pat, C.J.'s oldest sister.

On the way back we stopped to buy a couple of rakes at Walmart and spent some time clearing most of the leaves and pine needles from the front yard. For dinner we drove to Daytona Beach where Ginny was staying with Pat in one of Pat's timeshare condos on the beach. Mary showed up (a day earlier than expected) and we had an excellent pasta and sausage meal and an interesting conversation until way past our bedtime.

3 Dec, Fri - Somewhere we had heard of a trail that looped down to the Palm Coast Marina and back to the community center. So starting at the Community Center seemed like the logical beginning. We found a brochure there with a map and set off down the median between the lanes of Palm Coast Parkway, along the St. Joe Canal (a fork of the St. Joe Creek we had paddled on a previous trip), and under the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. We stopped at the Tropical Kayaks shop to check on a possible rental for several of us and then continued along Clubhouse Drive back to the Community Center. Later, we gathered at Rob's and left Doreen, the visiting nurse, with Mom while the rest of us went to Hooligans for drinks and a large selection of snackies. Greg showed up from Delaware just as we were about to wind things up, but at least he had time for a beer. Once again we gathered at the condo in Daytona for dinner, this time salmon was on the menu.

4 Dec, Sat - Leaving Mom with Doreen again we all met for breakfast at The Pier in Flagler Beach. Afterward Rob led us to Wickline Park and a nearby boardwalk that extended into a marsh on the Intracoastal Waterway side of the barrier island. The far end of the path had lots of gopher tortoise burrows but we didn't see any of the critters. I did spot a wood stork as well as the ubiquitous egrets and herons. On the way back Greg, C.J. and I walked though the farmers market marveling at the huge avocados. Mary and Pat were off on a quest for fine manicures, but later Mary spent the afternoon preparing for the night's pot roast dinner. C.J. and I were in charge of dessert and bread and found a nice artisan loaf of roasted garlic bread. Dessert was up for debate but we eventually settled on a ice cream cake roll with chocolate cake and mint choc chip ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Dinner was a big success: good food, good company, and Mom seemed to be enjoying herself. We all decided to follow Rob's suggestion and leave as soon as dinner was cleaned up so as not to overtire Mom.

5 Dec, Sun - Ginny and Greg met us at Tropical Kayaks and we paddled up the canal to "Manatee Cove", a pond surrounded by a golf course. We didn't see any manatees but there were lots of birds. Leaving the cove, we paddled east to the Intracoastal Waterway and turned north into a strong wind, not quite strong enough to produce whitecaps. After a few hundred yards we found a sandy beach to pull up on and lazed around in the sun for a while before paddling back to the marina. Greg came back to the hotel with us as he was going to spend the night in order to get an early start home on Monday. Later, we rode over to Rob's with Greg, hung out for a while, then went down to Daytona for another dinner, this time shrimp scampi.

6 Dec, Mon - Greg left early leaving his jeans in the closet while we slept on. Then C.J. and I visited several parks: Herschel King (not much more than a boat launch and playground), Graham Swamp ( which provided a good walk along a forested sand ridge above the mostly drought-dry swamp), and Bulow Plantation State Park. At Bulow we walked the nature trail to the ruins of the sugar mill (photo, left) and springhouse. There is a boat launch and canoes are available to rent ($10/hr, $40 all day) for a paddle on the Bulow Creek canoe trail. We had lunch with Ginny and Rob at The Meeting Place then we took a walk along the Intracoastal Waterway where we spotted three large dolphins. Later we returned to Rob and Mom's for a London broil dinner.

7 Dec, Tues - We got up at 0530 to a dark and cold morning - the temperature was in the low 30's and folks had covered their tender plants and fruit with blankets. By 0630 we were on our way to JAX arriving around 0800 for our 0949 flight to Washington, DC. The TSA must have been having a slow day because both of us were scanned, my waistband was probed, and C.J.'s hands were checked for explosive traces(!). The flight to Dulles was on a commuter plane with just four seats across and we were assigned seats in the Economy Plus forward section since all the Economy seats were taken. Our roll-aboard luggage would not fit in the overhead bins so they were checked at the gate and we picked them up outside the door to the plane at Dulles. We had a very short layover and then were on our way at 1236 arriving in Seattle where it was 20 degrees warmer at 1510 or so. There was not much to see except clouds on the way across the northern US except in a few places that were snow covered. Patti made our day by picking us up at 1600. We were home to our chilly house by 1715.

Pat, Greg, C.J., Rob, and Mary at Wickline Park nature trail, Flagler Beach