Did two trips last weekend. One was with my buddy Peter up to Marmot Pass in the SE Olympic mtns. Stayed Friday night at a little motel in Quilcene. Took off at 0530 and got on the trail at 0700. Hit snow so couldn't drive to TH. Had to stop 4 miles short (4!) of the TH. Hopped on skis and rounded the first corner... then took skis off and trekked along bare road for a mile or so. Snow was off and on until somewhat higher elevations. Dammit. From the formal TH to the Pass is 5 miles. 9 miles up. Whew. But we pulled it off. Pete was committed to doing an ass-kicking trip. He got his wish. Beautiful views from up top. Returned to vehicle at 1730. I was quite blistered by the end of the day. Pete was snowshoeing and used his hiking boots so had an easier time in the bare spots. But skis saved me some energy for significant stretches, so was about equally difficult i guess.
This pic shows the remnant debris from a big avalanche coming down Buckhorn mountain. As you see it's quite melted down now tho.
Here's a pic looking down the valley we'd just hiked up. Beautiful clear view of Cascades on this fairly cold day. Glacier peak visible at left in distance.
A pic of me at the top looking west from the Pass.
A pic of Pete, exhausted, at the Pass.
The other trip was one that Orli organized. We snowshoed/skied in a fairly popular area up near Snoqualmie Pass. Slava (the postdoc i work with) and Ci came along with several of Orli's other friends. The trip was short but sweet. It was pretty socked in so we couldn't enjoy much scenery, but it was nice to get out. And at least this trail was totally snow covered. Wow. Had 4 dogs along with us. One little-bitty dog was running around harassing the bigger dogs (2 golden retrievers and a siberian husky). Fortunately the big dogs were not hungry and did not eat the little dog as a snack. My blistered feet were plenty happy to keep it down to a 3 hr round trip.
Here's a shot of me and Ci.
Here's an artsy picture of Orli.
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5 comments:
That always bothers me too, when people say God bless America instead of the world, or even the universe. Pretty views you got on your first hike. The second hike looks like fun too.
I thought the speech was good, but I agree on the last line. We live in a global economy and all nations depend on each other. The time for blessing only America is past.
Beautiful photos. I feel for your poor blistered feet.
Obama did recognize other countries and religions during his speech AND he spoke in complete, coherent sentences!
I always have thought God Bless America is limited in scope in a variety of ways. We need a word more encompassing than God as well.
Yes. In general, the inauguration was very very refreshing. :)
May Athena and Zeus smile upon all of us.
I like "the Great Spirit" as the all-encompassing deity. Somehow, that seems to cover all the bases, including pantheism or even no god at all, but just a feeling of the power of the univers...
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