Things that might be decidedly odd…

Scottish Lakes II

This is what a clearcut covered in heavy snow looks like:

But seriously, I went up to Scottish Lakes High Camp this weekend for a bit of rest and relaxation in the backcountry away from anything having to do with running water or electricity. There was quite a lot of snow up there compared to last year. I took the above photo when I had to walk about 75 yards up the mountain in a detour section too steep for a fully loaded snowmobile. At points there was so much white everywhere that it was difficult to discern the topography of the terrain. Strange but disorienting.

Last year, there was no snow from US 2 up to the mid-mountain point where the transportation transitions from 4WD to snowmobile whereas this year there was a lot of snow all the way up. Here’s a shot of mid-mountain from 2007:

And here’s one of roughly the same area on the same weekend in 2008:

It was a great trip though. Ken, Robert, Jeff and I shared our own smaller cabin this year as opposed to last year when Robert, Ken and I shared with about 7 or 8 people. Having our own cabin was more low key, but that didn’t stop us from throwing a party Saturday night. I guess we’re still the party cabin Here’s a shot off our back balcony:

The rest of the photos are here.

Mt. Rainier

On Friday night, I went to party at some guys’ place that Larry knew. It was a fun party where I tried a tasty drink I’d never had before (pomegranite juice + vodka + soda water). I left fairly early since I had to get up at 5:30am the next day to prepare for my camping trip to Mt. Rainier National Park. Fortunately, I got up at the scheduled time and got picked up by Robert just before 6:30. After several stops to pick up other passengers, get coffee, get an air matress, get groceries, etc. we arrived at the campground to meet up with Don, John and some others who had spent Friday night there.

We ended up taking the free shuttle up to Paradise where the trailhead for the Skyline Loop trail started. It was a decent hike with some elevation gain, distance and great views of the mountain.

After the hike, we returned to the campground to set up camp and start dinner. We a great potluck dinner with way too much food, which soon stretched into an evening of drinking beer around the campfire. This morning, I got up a bit later than the rest of the gang but still joined in on the breakfast. Some people went to hike Pinnacle Peak, but a few of us stayed at the campground just kicking back for a while. Eventually, we drove up past Paradise to see the “Grove of the Patriarchs”, which is a section of the park with some large, old trees. It was an easy walk around and was a nice ending to a busy weekend.

From there, all of us headed our separate ways back to Seattle. All in all, a nice little weekend camping trip.

More pictures here.

Hidden Lake Lookout

This morning I got up really early to meet up with everybody for a hike to the Hidden Lake Lookout in the North Cascades. It took about 2.5 hours to drive to the trailhead, but it was well worth it. Even though there were a lot of bugs and it was a somewhat strenuous hike (4.5 miles each way, ~3500 ft elevation gain), the 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and valleys were quite spectacular. Definitely the best views I’ve seen all season. Here’s some snapshots (click each for its Flickr page), but unfortunately they don’t really do the view justice:

The rest of the pictures are here.