Tick, RIP

The young stray cat Olympia and the kids took in some seven months ago has succumbed to the disease she already had when we got her and had to be put to sleep Tuesday. We had named her Tick in reference to the dog tick she also had when she joined us. What she had was Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which is incurable and fatal.

She really was quite a friendly one, and it's too bad she had such a short life, but I'm glad we had an opportunity to make her last months very comfortable. She'll be missed.

Best Photos

http://www.warpeyes.com/albums/best%20shots/

I now feel I have enough really interesting photos that I've put together an album with just the ones I think are the best. More are from Kauai, Hawaii than anywhere else, but Washington State's clearly catching up. This album is a nice alternative to the albums with 75 or so "hit and miss" shots and really captures why I like travel so much (even if there's one with Brad bowling in there, too.)

Wallace Falls Hike

http://www.warpeyes.com/albums/wallace%20falls/

This weekend I had to work on Saturday, but in the absence of anything pressing to do in the evening, I did a short two hour hike to the Coal Creek Falls. Unfortunately, since it was starting to get a little dark and ended up raining on me pretty heavily, the pictures weren't really worth sharing. (As an aside, I stopped to get some food from Whole Foods on the way home and the guy behind the counter asked, "Hey, how'd you get all wet?")

Much better was Sunday which, despite weather reports to the contrary, proved to be a gorgeous day. So I took this opportunity to go to Wallace Falls, a state park right next to Gold Bar, Washington or perhaps better identified by Seattlites as 13 miles east of Monroe. This is part of the Western Cascades. Particularly nice was that I had company this time, as Richard and Na came along as well.

This was a great hike on a beautiful day, about five miles round trip and an elevation climb of about 1500 feet. Along the way, there are four different lookouts where you can see Wallace Falls at various points. The last leg of the hike, from the middle falls to the upper falls, is the most difficult and since I think the middle falls is the most impressive, those that might want to hike this but take it a little easier wouldn't need to feel like they are missing the best part by turning back after reaching the middle falls. I was very happy, though, to go on to the upper falls and if there had been time (and Richard and Na had been up for it) I would have continued on to Wallace Lake, which adds an extra three hours to the hike.

Last week's aborted Summit Lake attempt made this hike all that much sweeter. It was good to pick something at a lower elevation this early in the season. I'll try Summit Lake again later, along with the many other opportunities in the Mt. Ranier area.

Photo Experiment

I found this photo experiment on my web site when I was publishing the new album associated with the last post and I think it's pretty cool. Too bad I can't seem to find the original photograph.

Summit Lake Attempt

http://www.warpeyes.com/albums/summit%20lake%20attempt/

I attempted to take a hike to Summit Lake about sixty miles south of Seattle. Unfortunately, it's too early in the season. I made it to an elevation of about 3600 feet on the road in my Jeep before needing to turn back because of the snow that made the road dangerous to drive. The trailhead was about two miles further along and about 800 feet higher. The trail itself is about 2.5 miles one way and climbs another 1000 feet or so.

I did get some nice photos from a one-lane bridge I crossed driving out there, plus shots from the road leading to the trailhead. There are two showing the road covered in snow. I had parked the Jeep and started walking to the trailhead, but only went about a half mile before turning back.

Don't be too alarmed by the picture I took of myself that's in the album. I figured that since I never have other people in my pictures, as I've done all the hikes for which I have albums alone, I might as well add a picture of myself since this hike was cut short.

I also wonder if I will now have a tradition of encountering wildlife on the highways to and from my hikes. Last week it was the black bear I mentioned. This week, a bird was flying crosswise over the highway and nailed the driver's side of my Jeep at full speed with a resounding thump. Ouch!

Monte Cristo, population 0 

Monte Cristo

http://warpeyes.com/albums/Monte%20Cristo/

Yesterday, I hiked to the ghost town of Monte Cristo, Washington. Of course, if there were ghosts there, I don't know where they would live, because the town is so obliterated that the buildings themselves are gone and in most cases virtually undetectable. For example, the Monte Cristo Preservation Association has put up signs to indicate where different buildings were, and the three story Royal Hotel is a sign in front of a bunch of trees. The founders of the town must have really liked the book, as they even named the street through the center of town Dumas Street instead of the more usual Main Street.

In many respects, the hike to the town is the best part of this particular exploration considering the very impressive scenery you see along the way. That people built a town deep in the wilderness like this, with incredibly steep mountains on every side, is just amazing. Of course, it's also why the town failed, as the value of the ore they extracted from the area wasn't enough to justify continuing in a place that proved to be very harsh, what with avalanches, blizzards, and flooding.

I took pictures until my camera ran out of batteries, which was far too early in the hike (or perhaps walk is the right word, since it was mustly just along a fire road rather than a trail.) I snapped a few more with my Treo, which means no color correction, flash, focus, or anything much but grabbing pixels, so you'll see the last few pictures in the album I posted above are kind of odd.

On the way home, as I was driving, I also saw a black bear loping across the highway. The lack of batteries for the camera was especially disappointing at that moment, as that's the first time I've seen one in the wild, even with all the camping I did as a kid in Alaska.

Weirdest Power Grid Game Ever

We played Power Grid again tonight. There was a bidding round that went like this:

Bryan: 39
Barry: 40
Trevor: 41
Aaron: Pass
Bryan: 80
Barry, Trevor, & Aaron: WHAT???!!!!

It ended up being all too typical for the game. I really blew it on the next to last round, which probably dropped me from 2nd to 4th place and allowed Trevor to pull off a win instead of being in 4th. Too bad for me!