This past weekend was the beginning of the first real winter we’ve had this season. I took a couple of hikes to keep my blood circulating and to visit a couple of favorite local haunts. Saturday I zipped up to Pine and Cedar Lakes in the Chuckanuts and on Sunday I ambled along the Whatcom Creek trail to Whatcom Falls Park, returning via the Railroad Trail.
Saturday was the beginning of our current snowfall. There was just a bit of slush at the Pine & Cedar trailhead, but by the time I’d gained the roughly 1500′ to the lakes the snow was 5-6 inches deep, relatively light and fluffy. continue reading »
How can you lose a lake? In the Chuckanut Mountains south of Bellingham you just bury the thing in a deep valley beneath a high sandstone cliff and ring it with lush Douglas-fir, hemlock, and cedar forest with a dense groundcover layer of salal, sword ferns, and low Oregon-grape. Add a muddy trail and you’ve got a perfect place to lose yourself for an afternoon.
That’s just what I did this afternoon under a sodden gray sky and chilly temperatures. Well, I didn’t actually get lost, but I did pay a visit to Lost Lake. Here’s the DNR map of the Chuckanut trail system I carried in my pack. You definitely want a map for the maze of trails up there, but it’s definitely worth it. continue reading »
January 1st, New Year’s Day, I donned shorts and boots and headed for Oyster Dome. That’s the prominent rock outcropping rising a couple thousand feet above Chuckanut Drive at the south end of the Chuckanuts or the north end of Blanchard Mountain. It’s a popular hike, despite being steep and muddy. I went for exercise and to rekindle old friendships with the inhabitants of the winter forest.
The view from the top out over the San Juan Islands is spectacular. I made this photo handheld with my little Canon G12 pocket camera, planning to stitch the frames together later in Photoshop. continue reading »
What a day! And what a difference a month makes. Compare this photo with the one from October 12.
I was sitting happily captioning photos this morning when I looked out the window and saw that the sky was a stunningly clear blue. I stepped out to the side yard where I can see Mt. Baker and it was clear all the way to the top of the mountain. Much too nice to stay inside so I gathered my gear, made lunch, changed into winter hiking clothes, and headed up Mt. Baker Highway to the end of the road at the Mt. Baker Ski Area. One little glitch along the way. I forgot my wallet at home, realized it when I stopped for gas in Deming, and had to return to Bellingham for it.
I didn’t get to the ski area parking lot, which was full, until almost 12:30. That was OK since I wanted afternoon light. But it wasn’t OK, because I was racing the clouds that had started to roll in.
I strapped on my snowshoes and headed up toward Artist Point, initially following the groomed ski runs until I got to the top of Blueberry. There I passed the “entering wilderness if you have a problem tough luck” sign as I left the ski area and entered the backcountry. I wasn’t particularly concerned about avalanche danger even though we’d just gotten a ton of fresh soft snow. I continued up to Austin Pass where I stopped to make the photo at the top of the post.
From Austin I climbed up a steep boot and ski track that mostly followed the summertime Wild Goose Trail. It’s the short, steep, and fast way up. The snow was soft and deep so I was glad not to be breaking trail. I made the photo on the right soon after topping out from the steep climb. The ski tracks looked to be from yesterday as they’d started to fill in.
I don’t know just what made these tracks zig zagging across the snow. Could have been a meadow vole or other small rodent that dens under the snow. There were several sets of tracks similar to these in the snow just below Artist Point. I particularly liked this set of tracks because of the way they curved around. What distracted the critter from a straight path?
By this point there were fewer people around since most folks out today were sking or boarding inbounds at the ski area. Just a few hardy soles made the hike for some fresh tracks below Table Mountain. I was sinking nearly to my knees wearing snowshoes. The Artist Point outhouse was buried in snow deeper than the top of the doors. Within a couple of weeks it’s likely to be completely buried as it is every winter. The official snow report was 72 inches on top of Pan Dome and Artist Point is higher so there was probably more snow up there.
Clouds were by now starting to roll in from the south and west. Mt. Baker was obscured and Shuksan was in and out. I had planned to continue out the ridge to Huntoon Point, wanting to photograph Shuksan from my favorite tarn just below the point. But with the thick clouds and no trail through the deep snow I decided Artist Point was a good destination for today.
I broke trail the short distance to the overlook toward Swift Creek and Baker Lake. Clouds obscured the lake as well as Mt. Baker, but the snow crusted on the Mountain Hemlocks along the ridge created more accessible drama. I ate my peanut butter sandwich under this tree, admiring the way the wind had blasted the snow into the branches, almost completely hiding the foliage.
I’ve been up to this spot many times over the past 19 years and most of the time on winter visits the trees look much like this. The branches are short and stubby, hanging down to shed some of their snow load. I think this effect is caused by the relatively wet snow we receive in combination with the prevailing southwest wind. We call it the pineapple express, but I don’t think this tortured lollypop of a tree looks anything like a pineapple. A popsicle, maybe.
Hopefully this is just the first of many days I’ll be out playing in the snow this winter.
In case you’re wondering, I shot all of these with my Canon 1Ds Mk II, handheld for a change with the 24-105mm IS lens. The two of the tracks are pretty much straight from the camera, but the view of Shuksan and the Hemlock have been manipulated in Lightroom.
I’m a pretty healthy guy. I watch what I eat, get lots of exercise, and spend a lot of time outdoors. I’ve lost nearly 20 pounds in the last couple of years and am getting close to where I think I should be. I see my regular family physician once a year for a physical and rarely have need to visit in between. I take no drugs except an occasional ibuprofen for a headache or muscle pain when I’ve overdone it. With all that I’m probably outside the norm for most Americans.
I’m also self-employed, which means that if I want health insurance to cover some catastrophic health event I pay as an individual. I don’t get the benefit of an employer-negotiated and subsidized rate with the insurance company. Last year at the “open enrollment” period we switched companies to get a lower rate. Then they raised it more than 10% mid-year. Our family coverage costs us $402 per month for a high-deductible plan. We pay the first $3,400 of medical costs each year before insurance kicks in. We’ve got the accompanying Health Savings Account, but basically just run medical expenses like eyeglasses and the dentist through it for the tax advantages. We certainly haven’t built up a balance there and other investments pay a better return.
The folks in the photo above, Frank and Liz Morrow, caught my attention this afternoon while bicycling a loop around Lake Samish. They were holding their banner on the North Lake Samish freeway overpass to help spread the message. I stopped to talk with them briefly. Liz told me that most of the drivers passing by honked or waved their support for the message of universal health insurance coverage. She said she thought most people really do support it, but agreed with me that there’s a lot of paranoia being spread around by a few people who are opposed. Liz and Frank’s t-shirts promote Health Care Now!.
My friend David Perry posted this great video explanation on his Facebook page tonight. It’s worth sharing as it’s one of the clearest explanations I’ve seen.
At the end of the day, I want a system that provides basic fairness in health care and health insurance to everyone in our nation, which is not the case now. Access to health insurance should not be based on employment status any more than it should be based on religion or political party. A federally-run single payer system is one good model that can be very fair and efficient. It may not be the only way to reach the end goal, but it deserves a chance.
Thanks to the folks on the overpass for motivating me to share these thoughts tonight and for letting me snap their photo with my iPhone.
I didn’t get to the ski area parking lot, which was full, until almost 12:30. That was OK since I wanted afternoon light. But it wasn’t OK, because I was racing the clouds that had started to roll in.
I don’t know just what made these tracks zig zagging across the snow. Could have been a meadow vole or other small rodent that dens under the snow. There were several sets of tracks similar to these in the snow just below Artist Point. I particularly liked this set of tracks because of the way they curved around. What distracted the critter from a straight path?
I broke trail the short distance to the overlook toward Swift Creek and Baker Lake. Clouds obscured the lake as well as Mt. Baker, but the snow crusted on the Mountain Hemlocks along the ridge created more accessible drama. I ate my peanut butter sandwich under this tree, admiring the way the wind had blasted the snow into the branches, almost completely hiding the foliage.