Exquisite Beauty

Friday, September 24th - - Words cannot describe, nor photographs convey completely, the simplicity and incredible beauty of this place... Crater Lake National Park.

The Tree of Swirl

The Tree of Swirl, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Whoa! This picture must have been Photoshopped, right?! Wrong - it's all done in camera.

This photo actually shows a tree in my backyard. I got it by zooming in while simultaneous spinning the camera. Pretty cool, huh?

Taking It Personally or Taking It in Stride?

When drivers behave rudely towards us, we tend to perceive them as being "hostile to cyclists". But what I wonder sometimes, is whether this is a fair assessment given how drivers behave to one another.



Consider that...

Drivers honk at each other all the time.

Drivers cut each other off.

Drivers roll down their windows and shout "learn how to drive, you moron!" at one another while making indecent hand gestures - even if they are the ones at fault.



Is driver behaviour towards cyclists really worse than their behaviour towards other drivers? And if not, should we just take it in stride, rather than taking it personally? One could make that argument.



Of course, the big difference between intimidating other drivers and intimidating cyclists, is that cyclists are considerably more vulnerable - something I am highly aware of when a driver plays "chicken" with me while turning left at full speed as I am trying to go straight through an intersection, on a green light. Bike lanes and protected bike paths do little if anything to solve this problem if there are no cyclist-specific lights at intersections. It is difficult to take things in stride when the competition is stacked against me both in terms of speed and in terms of safety. But I try to remember not to take it personally.

Pit Profile 2/14/

If you are heading to higher elevations, be aware that the top of the slope heading up to Panorama Point was icy on Saturday under a light layer of new snow that has now increased to a depth of about 6".

The current forecast is predicting almost a foot of snow at Paradise this weekend.

Waffles will be happening throughout the day on Monday February 20 in the Old Station at Paradise. Fuel your adventures. Again please bring your own cup/mug and a topping or fixings to donate.

In the Woods

We took our first trip to the Jemez Mountains last Thursday to start woodcutting for the winter. When we got there we had to sit in the truck and wait for a rain shower to pass before we could start cutting. After the rain I noticed this nice pine tree with lots of green moss on the left side and the log and rock at it's base to make a nice photo.

Unfinished Business at Chiricahua

Just in case you might not have noticed, I was fascinated with Chiricahua National Monument and its myriad stone formations. Having spent four days there in mid-March and going away without having attempted the longer trails, I “had” to return to complete them. Besides, it really is a nice place, one of my favorites thus far.

Except for that first day, the weather for the remainder of my second stay at Chiricahua couldn't have been better. Daytime temperatures were in the mid-70s and at night it didn't fall below 40. I had blue skies and sunshine for the next five days (April 24th through the 28th).

The Natural Bridge Trail, is 2.4 miles long. You return on the same trail you went out on, thus the round-trip is 4.8 miles. It takes you up through a canyon, down the other side, and around to another canyon. It is an up-and-down trail, relatively easy walking, with sand and rocks, but some level stretches also.

When you get into the other canyon you are taken through a forest of pine trees and then up a short distance on the canyon walls. The destination, the Natural Bridge, is somewhat underwhelming. It is quite a ways away across the canyon. Still, it is quite a nice hike. You get some good views of the desert floor below and other mountains in the distance as well as of many weird stone formations and the occasional desert flower.

These fellas greeted me as I walked to the trailhead of the Natural Bridge Trail. They really weren't all that friendly though, they didn't say a word as I walked by, just glared silently!

The desert and another range of mountains off in the distance. The trail went through the forest of trees to the left after descending into a second canyon.

Can you see the Natural Bridge? It's there in the middle, right below those clouds. Really.

Okay, here's a close-up view... it is still underwhelming.

Beautiful Cactus Flowers. The only ones I saw on the trail (or anywhere else in the park for that matter).

Crevasse Falls

The past weekend went by without a hitch (no 911 calls) However, no one made the summit either. The recent climbing trend has involved crevasse falls. In the past two weeks, clients, guides, and rangers have all taken spills somewhere along the Ingraham Glacier Direct or upper Disappointment Cleaver route. No one was seriously injured, but the word on the glacier is that there a number of hidden or sketchy crevasses to cross high on the mountain. The latest report says that the wands have been removed from the Ingraham Glacier Direct, and the guided climbing teams are putting a route up the DC.

The other interesting trend that is being noticed is the number of skiers vs. the number of climbers. Over the past couple of years, I've seen an increase in the number of ski mountaineers on the hill in May and June. There have been quite a few weekends where we've actually seen more skiers than climbers at the high camps! It's no surprise that skiers and boarders flock to Rainier when the conditions are good (April/May/June) but to actually observe fewer climbers is interesting.

And with that said, ski demon Sky has been at it again. On the one day of really good weather last week (Friday), he and Dave Brown stormed the Success Couloirs and made short work of the route on skies. Not to be out done, Jason Hummel posted a sweet Fuhrer Finger trip report (a bit dated, but nice images). Photo by Dave Brown