Monthly Archives: March 2013

The Loch

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Last month, Jerry and I failed to navigate to Lake Haiyaha to see the igloos at Stomp IX. That didn’t seem to dissuade Jerry from taking another short winter hike with me, so this time we went to The Loch. I’ve been there many times, but don’t generally make it the destination – it’s just somewhere on the way to somewhere else. It’s a short hike, and in summer it is typically quite crowded. But I find myself more willing to take the shorter hikes in winter.

We hit the trail at about 11. I’m usually on the trail quite a bit earlier than that, but this being such a short hike there was no need to hurry. The weather forecast for Denver was for a warm day, about 70, with a slight chance of rain. Which, of course, tells us nothing of what to expect near the Continental Divide. We dressed warmly; I wore a sweater and my new heavy coat, with a baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes, a knit cap for warmth, and my new gloves. I wore the micro-spikes. Jerry decided against snow shoes, which turned out okay. He slipped a bit here and there, but wasn’t the only one without traction aid on the trail.

We managed to find a parking space at the Glacier Gorge lot, which surprised me. With the weather being so nice I figured there’d be quite a few people out on the trails and expected that lot to fill up early. Once on the trail, it wasn’t long before we were thinking we’d dressed too warmly. Hats and gloves were off and jackets unzipped before we made it to the junction with the Fire trail.

TracksWe were expecting a bit more fresh snow than we saw, but I still have a hard time figuring out exactly how old the freshest snow is. We saw a lot of animal tracks and spent some time discussing what sort of animal made each track. We came across an area where there were lots of small tracks and I saw one I thought would make an interesting picture. Before I left the house, I searched for the SLR batteries. I charged one but couldn’t find the other. When I went to take a photo of the tracks, the camera died. So the SLR was not so much a camera as an anchor. I shot the tracks with the cell phone, but I’m sure I’d have had better results with the real camera. I like the way the light went through the snow, illuminating the tracks from underneath.

Taking the Fire trail really does cut down on the traffic. We saw only one other group of hikers before we got to the Mills/Loch/Haiyaha trail junction, but the trail was nicely packed and we had no trouble without snow shoes. We ran into more hikers at the junction. They were headed to the Loch as well. They followed the sign, which put them on the summer trail. We headed up the Mills Lake trail a few yards to the bridge, then up the drainage. This seems to be a navigation problem for lots of hikers. We caught another group who were on their way to Mills. The tracks split at the bridge – right to the Loch, left to Mills. These folks went right before realizing their error.

Snow Cave EntranceGoing up the drainage, the trail gets a bit steep in places. Jerry had a bit of difficulty on theses steeper spots without traction. He joked that going down might be From Insidemore fun – he’d probably have to do it on his backside rather than on his feet. Just before getting to the top of the climb, some hikers on their way down said it was quite windy at the lake. It’s almost always windy at these lakes in winter, so no surprise there.

Once we got to the top, we were delighted to find that somebody had made a snow cave. JerryHard to say how long it’s been there, but long enough for several people to carve their initials on the interior walls. Looks to me like it took quite a bit of effort. The floor of the cave is the grassy meadow. It’s not quite tall enough for me to stand up in, but there was plenty of room for Jerry and me.

On the lake proper, the wind was blowing quite nicely. Snow wasn’t falling from the sky, but quite a bit of it was blowing around along the ground. We found a spot in the trees, mostly out of the wind. I started the camera and we retreated to the trees for lunch. Soon, the clouds came down the valley and snow began to fall.

Here’s the time lapse:

On the way down from the lake, we caught up to a bigger group clearly enjoying their descent. A couple of the girls fell on their butts, accompanied by much laughing. My micro spikes were providing sufficient traction on the steep snow, but it was quicker and more fun to sit down at the top and slide down.The Descent

When possible, I like to take a different route out than we followed on the way in. Jerry hadn’t done any winter hiking in the area, so I suggested we go down past Alberta Falls. I had a bit of doubt when we left the main trail. It looked like nobody had gone this way since the last snowfall. I didn’t want to get into any snow that would be difficult without snow shoes, but it was easy enough to find a “beaten path”. Some footprints were there, just covered by more recent snow. We quickly found the bridge over the stream and re-entered the drainage there.

After a short while, we came across some folks coming up. They said they wanted to go to Mills Lake, but I was skeptical they’d make it. We met at a place where the there’s about an eight foot climb up either ice or rocks. Jerry and I slid down here and I was wondering how you’d climb back up, even if you had spikes. Those folks were wearing sneakers; clearly not prepared to deal with snow. They must have made it to the top of that little bit, as a few minutes later we heard the squeals of laughter as they slid back down.

We ran into a few other folks on their way to Mills. These were better prepared for winter hiking, but they’d not been here before. I did my best to tell them how to get there. They’d be able to follow our tracks except a stretch where we walked across barren rock.

Peter the Great

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Peter the GreatI’m working on few long term projects. I’ve been reading whole-life biographies of the American presidents, in order, starting with Adams. I’ve been thinking I’d read Washington when I’ve finished all the rest. I finished Andrew Johnson a couple months ago and just ordered a Grant book. I didn’t suddenly one day decide to do this. I enjoyed the Adams book and thought I should read more about Jefferson. They both worked with Madison, and before I knew it I decide to keep going.

I’ve been reading Russian history for quite a while, at first mostly World War II. I have a copy of Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra that I read half way through thirty odd years ago. I read Catherine the Great shortly after it came out. I read a Stalin bio a year or two ago, and intend to read the same author’s Lenin book. I’ve had this Peter book for several months but I’ve been a bit intimidated by its 855 pages of smallish print. Now that I’ve finished it, I’ve decided to read about all the key Russian rulers. The key ones, not all of them, and obviously not in order. I just put Ivan the Terrible and Alexander II on the want list. After those, maybe three more Romanovs and Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev. I anticipate it will take me a decade or more to finish the American presidents, but this Russian list I can knock off in three or four.

So, to Massie’s Peter. It’s subtitled His Life and His World. This describes the book in five simple words. Peter’s entire life is examined, and Massie deftly places it in context. We learn the social and religious settings of the time and place – the women secluded in the terem; a church schism over whether to cross using two fingers or three. The big story of Peter’s life is fleshed out with sidetracks to his nemesis Charles XII, the Sun King Louis XIV, and George I, the German on the English throne. Plus, many small stories of Peter’s advisors, generals and admirals, ambassadors and statesmen.

Peter led quite a life. Witnessed the murder of family and friends in the Streltsy uprising when he was ten, had his own son tortured to death, fought wars, built ships, drank like a maniac, had seizures all his life, and built a great city. Was married twice, had mistresses, and gave his second wife the story book rise from foreign peasant girl to Empress and autocrat. All this in fifty three years.

Overall, I thought the book was excellent. Given its length, it was a relatively quick read. I feared it would take a month, but it’s quite the page turner. I was never bored, and the many side trips really place Peter in context. I found it a good history of Europe of the time with a particular emphasis on Russia’s part. I haven’t read much history of that particular time and I found it quite informative and interesting. Sometimes when I finish a book I wish it had been shorter or longer. Even at 855 pages, I felt this one was just the right length.

Portland, this time

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This week I spent three days in Portland, OR for the first time. That would be the 54th airport I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. Also seven weeks out of the last eight on the road.

I flew out Monday morning, booked on the 5:50am flight. I’ve flown out of DIA on Monday morning flights in the neighborhood of 80 times. I normally arrive at the gate as they start boarding or a few minutes before. This time I got there 6 minutes before departure. They close the doors at 10 minutes.

This week’s rental car was a Nissan Altima. It doesn’t have a key, just a fob. Push a button on the dash to start. But what do you do with the fob? I guess you’d pocket it once you unlock the door, but I just threw it on the passenger seat. I had to wait at the counter a few minutes for the car to be cleaned. It was either wait, or drive a minivan. So while I was waiting I leafed through a hiking guide to trails along the Columbia River. If I get to take another trip there in summer I’ll have to make sure I get out for a short hike. It also occurs to me that if I stayed an extra day I could hike to some glaciers on Mt. Hood.

When I went out to eat the first night, I learned they don’t have sales tax there. I had heard there are no self service gas stations by law, but the sales tax was a surprise to me. At the gas station, I was the only one who got out of his car and I chatted with the two attendants. They both mentioned the local slogan – “Keep Oregon Weird”.

Had dinner at McMenamins – John Barleycorn a nice little brew pub a half mile from the office. I had the chicken sandwich. The combination of the nicely toasted bun, half inch thick slices of tomato, and the “secret sauce” made it a messy, tasty eat. I had their amber, the Hammerhead. Probably should have considered their Ruby, a raspberry beer.

I flew US Airways, so I took the shortcut through Phoenix. It felt very familiar when we deplaned on the return trip when you get that blast furnace effect at the end of the jetway. Welcome to Phoenix! I had about an hour between flights, which left me thirty minutes to find some food and the right gate. We arrived at A17, and I’d leave on A18. Sweet. Except that all the restaurants in both A concourses were closed. Had to go all the way to the B concourse for a hot meal.

At Pizza Hut I grabbed a pepperoni pizza and a soda. It’s bigger than a personal pan pizza and it’s not their pan dough. The pie and the drink, over $11. Head all the way back to my gate, using six moving sidewalks each way. Are these movers for people in a hurry, or are they for people who are lazy? It can’t be both. The lazy ones make it impossible for anybody to hurry.

Back at the gate nearly half the seats are empty. The sun is streaming in nearly horizontally; anybody sitting facing the window gets it right in the face. Some opportunists have taken the seats behind pillars. Silly me, I’d have aligned the rows normal to the windows rather than perpendicular.

Ah, the glamour of business travel!

Back to WA

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2013-03-04 17.52.36The glamor of business travel, continued…

After spending five weeks out of six in Connecticut, last week I was back in Everett. I didn’t take either camera with me on any of the Connecticut trips; I didn’t have much of a chance to wander around looking for anything interesting. But for this trip, I figured it might be fun to get a little time lapse of the ferry coming and going from Mukilteo. Turns out to be not that interesting, but so it goes.

While letting the camera run, I met a group of folks from Ukraine – a man, his wife, and his parents. I tried my very rusty Russian on them and we chatted for a while. The parents didn’t speak any English and I’ve lost nearly all my Russian so it wasn’t much of a conversation. My Soviet army belt buckle got a reaction, though.

The GoPro didn’t do a very good job of capturing the light. It’s automatic shutter controls keep it from showing the fading light as the sun set.

2013-03-04 17.53.49Much to my surprise (not), it rained half the time I was there, clear for the first and last days. My flight left Seattle just before sunset. On the climb out, we had a nice view of Mt. Ranier, the last rays of the day’s sun bathing the snow capped summit in pink.

On the mundane side, I’ve managed to get a different kind of rental car on each trip – seven in a row now. This time was a Chevy Malibu. It’s the first rental I’ve had with automatic head lights. I discovered that the intermittent windshield wipers change speed – on one setting they were intermittent when driving slowly but went to constant when I got over about 40mph. The wonders of technology.