First hike, 2018

Looking down the trail on Tiger 3 early in the hike; shot with my LG G6.

This was my first real hike of 2018. I've been lounging around, settling in after trips to Vancouver and New Orleans. I did a hike in Vancouver, but I think I lost the photos. If I find them,  that will be my first other real hike.

Today I partitioned my hike to allow me to compare distances with Map My Hike software to what the trail says.  Here are the details:

0.67 mile 95 feet elevation gain to 500-foot sign, shown as 627 feet with Map My Hike.
1.60 mile 1110 ft elevation gain:  634 to 1822 feet
0.53 mile         From 1813 feet, descending to 1.1 mile marker
1.12 mile         From 1364 feet, descending toward trailhead
0.67 mile         From trailhead to car, not counting distance from trailhead to 500-foot elevation sign.

Elevations leading on flat land to trailhead varies from 615 to 627 feet: It's about 115-127 feet off.

One of the segments -- from 1.1 mile market to trailhead was off by only 1.7%

Total hiking distance shown here: Hike was about 4.5 miles.

Heart rate got to 140 bpm; day was cool; not a lot of sweat.

Forgot my parking pass, so I had to park just outside the park.

City Hall Protest hikes

At 8 a.m., the bodies were already piling up inside the entrance to Seattle City Hall. The homeless and their supporters lay splayed along the floor in a silent protest of police sweeps to close homeless communities. I attended to shoot photos for Homeless in Seattle, and this led me to hike to city hall twice yesterday and again this morning. Then, in the afternoon, I hiked to the library in a futile attempt to obtain support from a staff representative to encourage distribution of information about the Homeless Web site.

At 8 a.m. cars were still streaming into the downtown, but the volume had already lightened up.

A topo map indicates that the condo is at 325 feet elevation above sea level. Kaiser Permanente is about 375 feet. And the Seattle Public Library, slightly higher than city hall, is situated at about 175 feet. The distance from the condo to City Hall is 1.1 miles and to the library, 0.9 miles; to Kaiser Permanente, 0.5 miles.

So, using simple math, here's my performance for the past two days:
1.1 (2)(2)(2) [city hall] +0.9 (2) [Library] + 0.5 (2) [Kaiser Permanente]
= 9.4 miles = 15.04 km.
(325' - 175') (8) = 1200'

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 361.62 km
Elevation Gain: 30,375 feet

Fall colors on Tiger 3

Descent from Tiger 3's 2.2 mile mark to the Talus Rock Trail

Yesterday I followed a different path on Tiger Mountain, taking in the fall colors and, toward the end of the hike, discovering a cave. The cave, which is situated at the termination of the portion of the hike depicted here, seems to have been created by a rock fall. For safety reasons, I skirted the cave, noting one approach that, if taken carelessly, might have resulted in a fall. This is worth a return visit for further study.

I found the cave by happenstance. After hiking to the 2.2 mile mark on Tiger 3 I began my descent, detouring onto the Talus Rock Trail near the end and following the Nook Trail fork to the Bus Trail. (See "nature photography hike".) This path involved another ascent, which gives me confidence that using the topo map above and using the additional ascent as a cushion, I'm confident I ascended at least 1,460 feet today. Adding to the confidence is the fact that, due to paving of Tiger's upper parking lot, I had to start from a lower location, which was well below the 500 foot market near the upper parking lot. From the car to trailhead showed at about 0.8 miles, using Map My Hike; From there MMH showed 2.08 miles to the 2.2 mile mark, so I'm going on faith that it was reasonably accurate for the other legs of the hike, and I'm claiming easily 6 miles today.

The sign directing hikers to the Talus Rock Trail. A fork from this trail leads to the "Bus Trail."

Here were some of the scenes that greeting me today:

Fall colors greeted me as I left the roadway to ascend the hill leading to the upper parking lot.

At this point I had begun the descent to the Bus Trail.

Statistics for the day:

Distance:  6 miles, 9.6 km
Elevation gain:  1,460 feet

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 396.18 km
Elevation Gain: 30,635 feet

Second Rainier, 2017

I'm finally claiming my second "Rainier" for 2017. Today I walked to Ivar's Acres of Clams and back, representing an elevation gain of 300 feet and a distance of 2.8 miles. Map My Hike would dispute those numbers, claiming a distance of 2.97 miles and a top elevation of between 210 and 253 feet, but it also showed me as going as low as 90 feet below sea level. My inclination for future hikes is to subtract 20 percent from any distance recordings with that software and to rely only on topo maps or other sources for elevation gains. At any rate, I've well surpassed the 92 feet I had to ascend to represent two Mount Rainier elevations, so for the rest of this year I will close each posting with this symbol, from my 2014-2015 run at Mount Adams:

The hike took me down Madison, through Seattle Library's downtown branch, and on to the waterfront before the return to the condo.

Later in the day I walked to Regal Cinemas at 7th and Pike to see the sequel to Blade Runner. The round trip was 2 miles and the elevation gain (Google maps) was 145 feet.

Here are the statistics for the day:

Distance:  4.8 miles, 7.68 km
Elevation gain:  445 feet

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 346,58 km
Elevation Gain: 29,175 feet

Long Beach, Oct 22-26

This was an ocean-to-mountain vacation stretching over five days with two friends: Larisa and Luda, who live in Federal Way. We stayed in a time share in Long Beach, WA, walking the beach, visiting light houses at the mouth of the Columbia river; Astoria, OR; the almost-ghost town of Oysterville, and the nearby Leadbetter State Park; and enroute home, Mt. St. Helens, where I hope to return next summer for some serious hiking. This trip, however, involved hiking no more than 10 easy miles, with nominal elevation gain, and because I didn't keep track, I'm not adding it to my statistics. All I'm posting today, is photos.

The one at the right shows Luda and Larisa viewing one of two lighthouses at Cape Disappointment, a finger of land that reaches out at the junction of the Columbia and Pacific Ocean as if to point at all the shipwrecks there. The location of this lighthouse, marked on a panel on the opposite side of the structure, shows Latitude/Longitude of 46-17-57 N / 124-04-48 W.

To the southeast, a second lighthouse showed remains of a platform capable of holding 15-inch guns. The lighthouse was armed during the Civil War, according to information provided at the location. The photo below shows a gun platform and the buildings associated with it, where, presumably, the gun crew were quartered and materiel stored.

A small building along the driveway to the lighthouse.

A ship rests at anchor on the Columbia at Astoria.

The Pacific's tracks in the sand at Long Beach

The beach at Oysterville at Willapa Bay was quite different from the beach beside the time share.

There was sand on the beach at Willapa Bay, but there was also a muddy bog.

Larisa and Luda bundled up for a hike on the overcast, drizzly afternoon at Oysterville.

On the subsequent hike through Leadbetter State Park, Luda discovered mushrooms.

She proclaimed the mushrooms edible. There were lots, but we had nothing to carry them in.

There was also an abundance of witches hair moss.

An old automobile engine, repurposed (perhaps) and abandoned, lay along the trail.

On our final day, we drove east for 2.5 hours to see the volcano. At 1,000 feet elevation, there was a cloud bank and we wondered whether St. Helens would even be visible. But well before we reached the Johnston Ridge Observatory, the sky became clear and the mountain came into view. We climbed to a viewpoint, where a strong chill wind swept up over the ridge, flapping our garments and making it hard to hold the phone-camera steady.

A log points away from the mountain that blew it over on May 18, 1980.

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 337.8 km
Elevation Gain: 28,730 feet

Die another day!

A broken tree blocks the path on Tiger 3 Tuesday, Oct. 17, blown down by strong wind.

The sky began disgruntled, and then it got really mad at me before I had hiked a half mile up the Tiger 3 trail today. The weather report was rain and winds. Not much rain, but "winds" was an understatement. I had probably walked less than a quarter mile when I heard loud, ominous cracking sounds in the swaying trees by the trail. I glanced  around, and decided to always position myself by a solid-looking tree when I heard a crack.

Before long, I came across the scene in the photo above -- a broken tree section and branches almost blocking the trail. I looked at the swaying trees overhead, considered the conditions, and stepped around the broken log, proceeding upward cautiously. That's when I came across the fallen tree in the photo below:

This was a fresh fall, right beside the trail, which must have occurred within the past day.

Like the log I had just passed, this fall is fresh. Really fresh. The wind was gusting more powerfully, and trees were swaying. How many of them were weakened and ready to topple? I walked ahead a bit, and the higher I got on the trail, the angrier the wind became. Was this getting personal?

I turned back and was halfway down to the trailhead when something snapped above me. I accelerated forward, but not forward enough to get past the falling branch, below, which landed in front of me at my feet. It could have been any branch, and a lot bigger.

It wasn't a big branch -- but it might have been. Time to call it a day.

The illustration below shows the route I hiked. When compared to a topo map it appears I reached 880 feet of elevation, and barely a half mile from the trailhead.

The hiking lines pinpoint the location of the trailhead and the point at which I turned back.

I headed back to the condo with a plan of complementing this effort with a hike to Ivar's Acres of Clams on the waterfront. That hike represented a 350-foot ascent from Alaskan Way.

Today's statistics

Distance: 3.8 miles, 6 km (Tiger and city hikes)
Load: Too short a hike to count
Elevation gain: At least 600 feet

Stats for year to date:
Distance: 337.8 km
Elevation Gain: 28,730 feet

I am 92 feet away from my second Rainier for the year.

Tiger 3 at 2 mph: my second Rainier . . . almost

The sight that told me I had trekked 2.2 miles from the trailhead

No time today to do the hike to the viewpoint of Tiger 3. I have an appointment in the late afternoon, and I have to get back early to avoid the northbound crush on I-5. So I decided to hike to the 2.2 mile turnaround, descend, and visit the homeless camp briefly before heading back. But today I came within 700 feet of my next major milestone -- my second Rainier. Mount Rainier's summit is 14,411 feet above sea level -- unless rising sea levels have changed that figure. To date I have ascended 28,130 feet this calendar year.

It rained steadily during the first part of the hike and I wore my Outdoor Outfitters rain pants and a light raincoat. I slipped on a padded garment to keep warm, and in my enthusiasm to get started, forgot my backpack, including the 10 essentials and my water and lunch. But I remembered the hang tag, at least! And the rain pants had to add a little bit of resistance.,

I set off at 9:40 a.m. from the car and made it to the 2.2 mark at 11 a.m. By 12:10 p.m I was back at the car. Two and a half hours to walk 4.4-5 miles.

I had to stop a couple times to wring out my balaclava headband. When I wadded and squeezed it, water flowed out a couple times. And a couple times I felt cramps in the back of my legs, so as soon as I reached the car I hydrated.

Today's statistics

Distance: 4.4 miles, 7 km
Load: 0 pounds
Elevation gain: At least 1,000 feet

Stats for year to date:
Distance: 331.8 km
Elevation Gain: 28,130 feet