Dwayne's World with Bogie (the wonder dog!)

Christmas Eve Hike At Coal Creek

2011-12-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hadn't been on a hike for awhile and you don't get that much to choose from this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. Brenda and I had plans to head out in the afternoon to visit her friends, so a morning 6 mile Coal Creek hike seemed to fit the bill.

Another Year / Another Whiskey Town Hike

2011-12-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving, my cousin Mike and I took the dogs on a great hike at the Whiskeytown National Recreational area. I really loved how some of these pictures came out.

A picture of Mike and I, realize just now that we have been exploring different woods together for over 40 years.

A little post hike washing up for Beau!

Sutton Creek Recreational Area

2011-11-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

Our second stop was just down the road a piece at the Sutton Creek Recreational Area.

Exploring Devil's Churn At Cape Perpetua Oregon

2011-11-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

The storm Monday night was fierce and was still strong on Tuesday morning. We stayed in the room until checkout at 11 PM. At this point, the only game plan was to react to the weather. Last year I noticed there were trails all along 101, I simply hoped the weather would break long enough to enjoy one of them.

As luck would have it, we got two different small hikes on the way to our next stop at Coos Bay.

Awesome experience being down around all this natural beauty!

A couple shots of the wonder dog down by the churn.

Bogie is trying to get at the sand and I simply loved the background in the shot.

A Windy Monday On The Lincoln City Oregon Beach

2011-11-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving travel adventure started off by driving from Seattle To Lincoln City Oregon. We had planned on exploring a hike at Harts Cove. Unfortunately, the wind storm closed the park and we had to make due with a quick walk on the beach.

This short walk is all we got to do that day but we had the rest of the week ahead of us!

Bogie was enjoying himself in spite of the wind!

I'm looking a bit grizzled here! Not sure what to think of my face looking like an old catchers mitt (grin)!

Thursday At The Flaming Geyser

2011-11-27T14:17:00.001-08:00

Mark another one off the list from "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles Of Seattle" and number 55 was the last hike (that is dog friendly) from the Tacoma / Olympia section of the guide we hadn't explored.

As you can see, the geyser is modest. According to the book, gas rises 1,400 feet through a concrete cylinder.

There were a few side trails that were somewhat interesting. I think I liked the drive through the country more than the hike itself but still we had a very enjoyable afternoon. I would like to make a return trip with the salmon run is in full swing. That looks quite interesting!

Schmitz Preserve On A Tuesday Afternoon

2011-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the day, I went on a 12 mile jog and tried to take some pictures to help remind myself how pretty it was. However, that didn't do much for Bogie and I had just enough energy to take him for a nice walk. I pulled out my 60 Trails Within 60 Miles Of Seattle book to find a short hike that we hadn't explored yet.

Centennial Trail, Spokane Washington On A Saturday Morning

2011-11-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

Visited Spokane Washington this week and we were able to fit in a great hike Saturday morning. Centennial trail is a 37 mile paved recreational trail that runs from the Idaho state line and ends at the Nine Mile Falls in Washington. We explored just a sample of it but I'm sure we will return. For more information about the trail, you can visit http://www.spokanecentennialtrail.org/ .

Here you can see a picture of John (our host and guide) with Brenda. Thank you again John and Stephanie for such a great visit!

The Seattle visitors for a quick picture (Brenda, Bogie and myself).

Loved this shot early on and I can only imagine this is great rodent hunting for raptors.

One of the many strange rock formations suitable for a quick pose.

Here we are enjoying Deep Creek Canyon and chatting with some rock climbers that decided this was a worthy goal for them that day.

Some shots of the Deep Creek Canyon bridge.

On our way up to a view point of the canyon. Brenda and Bogie headed up at a pretty quick pace and had to wait a little while for John and I to catch up.

The view was fantastic and I was able to snap a shot of Brenda laughing as I said "Give Me Your Adventurous Profile".

A quick hike back as John lead the way exploring a trail that ran somewhat parallel to the road we drove in on. All in all, the weather and the hike was almost perfect for the time we had available to us that Saturday!

Sunday Morning "Run Scared" 5K

2011-10-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last week although we paid and registered, we decided against going to the Zombie Run 5K in Olympia. It was raining like crazy and too far to drive in that bad weather to run in that kind of weather. I heard about this 5K in which the proceeds benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we decided to give it a go. Personally, I just wanted to see how people would react to the costume I got Bogie and the feedback was awesome!

This picture has grown into one of my favorites of the year. I saw someone ahead of me pointing their camera blindly behind them. I decided to give it a go and never realized my head would appear in a "Kilroy" pose. As you scan the photo, look at

- the child's expression in the lower right
- the pair of hands holding up an iPhone for a picture in the mid upper right
- the woman whose costume is simply a handlebar mustache
- way in the back, the four guys going as teenage mutant ninja trulls

I love this shot!

Here is a peak at Bogies costume. The most awesome part about it is the pumpkin the the sleepy hallow riders hand would bop up and down while he was running!

Bogie and I before the race. I ended up turning the mask backwards for the run.

Another bogie shot.

My ride, date and running partner Brenda, who decided to go sans costume!

Sun Break Causes Day Off Hike To Rattlesnake Ledge

2011-10-26T07:54:00.001-07:00

Seattle weather has been looking like winter way too early this year. On Monday, I saw that Tuesday was supposed to be sunny. I quickly typed out a vacation day request and started making plans. I have been misled by local weather reports and had two destinations in mind.

I was still undecided all the way up to a few miles away from the first exit when I decided on Rattlesnake Ledge. I wanted to get back in time in order to go for a run. What can I say, I'm getting conflicted in my exercise needs!

This is the tree stump that Bogie and I took some pictures from on our hike on March 6th of this year. If you remember correctly, I ruined a camera when it (and the gorillapod mount) fell of the stump and into the water. No worries about that this time, look at how far down the water is!

A few more shots around the lake before heading up the trail.

Above you can see a couple shots going up to the ledge and below some shots at the ledge. Great day and destination for a quick hike!

Saturday Sunbreak Translates To Mount Si Visit

2011-10-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Crappy weather has already come back to the Pacific Northwest, this year wasn't the best one for day hikers. When the sun came out Saturday morning, Bogie and I rushed out of the apartment to enjoy it. We headed to Mount Si for the second time this year hoping that the parking lot would be accommodating. It was!

Nice hike on the way up, Bogie did fine with this being his first big hike since the surgery.

A nice little memorial close to the peak that someone set up. This is just about the perfect place for people to see.

One of the few pictures of Bogie and I with Mount Rainer in the background.

Here I was testing the zoom on the point and shoot camera!

All in all, I thank the powers that be for delivering such a beautiful day for a hike!

Friday Morning Visit To Little Mount Si

2011-09-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

It has been about three weeks since Bogie had his surgery and we were both anxious to enjoy a trail together.

Little Mount Si was one of the first hikes we explored when moving out here and its 4 mile length seemed perfect.

There is only one stream on the trail and Bogie made sure to enjoy it coming up to the summit and going back to the trailhead.

A first for us, there were two dozen or so kids on the summit when we arrived. I guess it was part of some "adventurers" party.

This worked out well since we both were a little tuckered out. I had gone for a 4 mile run before heading out to the hike. The picture at the top of this post is Bogie immediately after hitting the summit.

It was a hoot seeing all these kids interact with each other and it added an interesting new tweak to the hike experience. We held off on taking pictures until the group headed down.

Just like the last time, when I tried to take some pictures with the both of us (with the length of my arm extended out), Bogie took this opportunity to lick some of my well earned sweat.

Heading back down, we hit a little snag. With the hundreds of times I'm sure this has happened on our walks, this it the first one I've captured.

Thursday Morning Hike Of Mount Rainer - Skyline Trail

2011-09-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hiking season in the Pacific Northwest has been reduced this year due to record winter snowfalls, late snowfalls and overall cooler temperatures. I had no idea it would be the first of September before I made good on my new years resolution to visit the big mountain. However, I couldn't have picked a better day to ask off and the entire hike was glorious from the first step to the last.

Yes, bogie is missing from these pictures for a couple reasons. First off, pets are not allowed to enjoy trails within national parks. The second is that he is recovering from surgery to remove a fatty mass that has been slowly growing the last few years.

This last picture is right before reaching Panorama Point (6,227 feet). From there I had a couple options and decided to continue forward on the high trail but first ...

yes, a toilet is available here. Look at this view right as you exit the facility.

Here you can see some serious wannabe hikers going through some training on dealing with snow. I look at all the gear they are carrying and come away quite satisfied with my day hike load (being a jacket and a camera).

I'm sure the wildflowers are not a magnificent as usual this time of year. However, still wanted to try my hand at a couple shots!

No snowplow did this! Just the funny way nature on the mountain will pile up snow in one particular area.

On the way back, checked out a couple waterfalls. Check out the rainbow at the bottom of the last picture.

Thursday Morning Hike With Bogie To Lake 22

2011-08-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

At the day job, we are given three personal holidays and you have to schedule them in advance. I've been saving mine because hiking season has been off to a slow start with all the snow pack accumulated this winter. Even though there are still reports of significant snow on top of Mount Dickerman, decided to give it a go. It is a long trek from my new home south of Seattle and traffic was awful. We were about 30 minutes from Mount Dickerman when I decided to settle for the Lake 22 hike. Although the late start was a factor in this decision, the cloud cover was the real concern. I've trekked all the way to the summit before in conditions like that. One time the cloud cover burned off (excellent!) and one time it didn't (no view).

Trail activity was light, as you would expect on a Thursday morning. The views were nice on the way up.

The lake was pretty as always. This picture of me is on one side. I have a another picture of me below from the opposite end of the lake.

A nice set of shots as we progress around the side of the lake. You can see the bridge off in the distance in one of them. That is where the trail comes out to the lake.

Here you can see Bogie on top of a mini ice cave. In the first picture, if you look up to the top left, you can see a mammoth ice cave. A few hikers were up there and you could tell the cave mouth must have been 30 to 40 feet tall!

Here is that picture I told you about from the opposite end of the lake.

Slightly bummed out that we missed doing Mount Dickerman but the decision did seem to be the correct one. The cloud cover didn't seem to burn off while we were in the area and the summit would likely have been less than ideal.

Pictures From My First Jog Outing In San Diego 2011

2011-08-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

Every morning that I was in San Diego for the 2011 FileMaker Developers Conference, I went for a long jog along the bay front. I took almost 300 pictures while on this visit and this set is from that first morning jog.

Thursday Hike Up Mailbox Peak

2011-07-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, summer appears to have arrived in the greater Seattle area! On faith, I submitted to take one of my three personal holidays on Thursday in hopes to uncork a challenging hike with a great payoff at the end. This This hike with a final elevation around 4,900 feet, the real challenge is the 4,000 feet elevation gain within 3 miles!

My pictures start about 95% into the trail, where a rocky crown open up to a meadow of wildflowers, Normally, I'm not that much into flowers but it they were beautiful after nearly three miles of climbing (what is basically a tree root staircase). The good news about that climb is that you do have a nice tree canopy the entire way!

Inside the mailbox is a variety of stuff but I immediately grabbed the Sharpie and added my initials to the front of the mailbox.

Again, no real picture opportunities on the way down. Since it took 4 hours for us to make it to the peak, I assumed it would be much faster coming down. Not so much, as it turns out. The trail isn't so much switchbacks as it is a vertical staircase and it would be easy to misstep being (more than a little) tired and try to go to fast. This also was one of the few times that Bogie simply laid down a couple times to catch his breath and cool off. We brought plenty of water, so that wasn't it.

So about three times on the way down, I'd find a particularly muddy spot, let bogie cool off while I played Monopoly on my iPhone. I'd make a few rotations around Go, make some business trades, erect some houses on key properties and then continue on. There is one active stream at the trailhead and we stopped there for quite some time to let bogie cool off.

Oh, for those that might be interested, yes I did win the Monopoly game as well!

Sunday At Bridal Veil Falls / Lake Serene

2011-07-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Decided to get up early on Sunday, drive up north to my old stomping grounds and take in the Bridal Veil Falls / Lake Serene hike over by Index. I knew that I would have to get there early because the parking lot gets overloaded pretty quick on weekends. Still amazes me how you have to deal with congestion and gridlock when you are trying to “get away from it all” on a weekend. We are still waiting for summer to arrive here in the greater Seattle area, so a sunny forecast for a weekend brings out everyone for a hike.

I have done the Bridal Veil hike twice before and the Lake Serene once, but I’ve never done them back to back. They share the same trailhead but they branch into different directions about 1.5 miles into the hike.

Before you get to the branch, you have a nice hike through a nice green forest with plenty of streams and the wonder dog had to lay down in each of them, cool off his tummy, get a drink and then decide when it was ok to move on.

I was wondering how the large amount of winter snow and the late arrival of summer might affect the view of the falls. It is just a .5 mile hike to the falls from the trail branch but it is almost straight up. In fact, a good deal of it is not switch backs but stairs! Pictures were almost impossible because of the high amount of spray and it would have been extremely dangerous to let Bogie get to close. On our last visit, he was able to wade right in and I was able to take one of my favorite pictures of him on a hike.

After taking in the falls and making the trek back to the branch in the trail, it is a 2 mile and 1,000 foot elevation increase hike to Lake Serene. We continued to be passed and then pass three of four groups. The difference was that although I’m not a fast hiker with a 12 year dog in tow (sometimes he leads but not as much each passing year), we don’t stop unless there is water for bogie. This part of the hike doesn’t have as many of those watering holes, so we get a pretty good workout!

The lake was beautiful (as always) but I was amazed how much of it was still covered with ice. We trekked over to “lunch rock” and ... well ... had lunch. A few dog biscuits for bogie, some plums / raisins for myself and I drained the first of two water bottles we had. Bogie went for a quick swim, we snapped some pictures and headed back down the trail. So we only stayed at the lake for about 40 minutes but enjoyed every second of it. I didn’t want to dally to long because I knew we would be greeted with a lot of traffic as we would be going back down. Wanted to try to get past the narrow parts of the trail as soon as possible. Didn’t work out that well and dozens of times we had to wait for small groups to go by but bogie did get to meet many fellow canines!

This did afford us an opportunity to take in the view on the way back down, which is amazing as well!

Denied Some Of The Higher Elevation Hikes But ...

2011-06-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize the snow pack was still so dense on some of the higher elevations, but I took a few nice snaps anyway.

Then found this trail head on the way back to the hotel. It wasn't in the book but turned out to be a quite nice second option.

Battle Creek Falls - Salt Lake City Utah

2011-06-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Just down the road from the Timpanogos Cave National Monument is number 49 in my 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles Salt Lake City was my next hike. The Battle Creek Falls was only 1.6 miles long but was a very nice introduction to Utah canyons and beautiful skyline views.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument - Salt Lake City Utah

2011-06-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Took a mini vacation / road trip to Salt Lake City last week. Part of the trip included a one day "Nerdtactular" that was a hoot but I really went to check out the area for its hiking potential. I didn't bring Bogie because I didn't know what to expect and he had a nice "staycation" in a house full of cats to admire and try to poke with his nose (which is some game he invented years ago).

After arriving in Salt Lake, I checked out the forums for the conference and there was a hiking related forum thread. The first recommendation was this hike, so I looked it up in a newly acquired 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, Salt Lake City Utah edition. It looked very promising and there was few other hikes in the same area.

Loved the hike to the trail entrance, it was paved all the way but a nice elevation to get the heart a nice bit of exercise. I didn't take too many pictures in the cave and you can check out their web site.

Our Second Furry 5K Is In The Books

2011-06-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

I had almost forgotten about the Furry 5K but we did get our reservation in on time. Although Bogie is going on 12 years young, I think we shaved a few minutes off of last years time. Of course on both occasions, we were not in it for speed. This is a blast of a race with hundreds of well mannered dogs, loving owners, beautiful day and exercise!

We did things a little different this time around. We didn't pickup our race packets on Saturday but opted to arrive to the race about a hour before it started. Remarkably, we parked in about the same spot as last year, picked up our packets, took all the free shwag back to the truck and got a nice long dip into the lake before race time.

As you can see, bogie was really enjoying the pre-race soak idea!

The race starting line was a little different as well, most notably louder! There were a few beagles in strategic starting positions and they all started to yelp at the same time.

This drove many of the other dogs a bit crazy and we were in the middle of a little canine rave!

Just before the two mile mark, I went off the course to let Bogie get another nice soak in the lake. I really think that invigorated him for the remainder of the race because he jogged right along with me until the end!

Lots of folks gave Bogie compliments at the finish line and it was a very fun outing!

Finally, I Decided To Hike Mount Si

2011-06-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've hiked Little Mount Si a half dozen time or more but I've never ventured a couple miles down the same road to hike Mount Si. Now that I'm living south of Seattle, the drive time here isn't a challenge at all. Weekend hiking traffic however, is a HUGE problem for this popular hike. This is the main reason why I never did it in the past.

So Sunday I arrived at the trail head about 7:45 and there were 20 or so cars already in the parking lot. By the time I returned from this 8 mile excursion, the lot was packed to the point of stupid. Good thing I'm an early riser.

This hike itself reminds me of Mount Dickerman, four miles straight up via switchbacks and four miles back down the way you came. The view at the top of Mount Si is quite impressive but doesn't hold to Mount Dickerman (in my opinion).

A snow break was very nice for Bogie and he couldn't wait to snuggle up with this small patch.

Yet more stunning views!

Yes, Mount Rainer was showing herself that day and hope to do some hiking over there later in this summer. As you can see, still has quite a bit of snow still left.

This was the last stream before the trailhead parking lot. As you can see, Bogie was pretty worn out by this time. The look on his face at this point was almost blissful.

Last Sunday Walk From Apartment To Green River Trail

2011-06-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some snapshots from last Fridays little walk from the apartment.

Last Friday At Squak

2011-05-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was a beautiful day and the forecast for Saturday / Sunday was rain. I had a new database to install on Saturday anyway, so headed out of the office early for a rare after work hike.

A bogie classic, I think this stream would be a wonderful place for a quick sit down.

Trying my hand at a nature shot of this massive moss covered tree.

Kind of funny but you see lost hats like this on trails all the time.

Eight stumps all in a row.

Hard to see but there is a pretty cool little waterfall way in the back!

Trying my hand at some nature shots, this grove of trees looked amazing in the afternoon light.

Another cooling stream sit down break for Bogie.

Saturday At Iron Horse State Park

2011-05-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I picked up a couple new trail books and have been itching to try out one of their listed hikes. So today's guide was "Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region" and we picked out number 22, The Iron Horse Trail: Washington Creek. That part of the journey didn't turn out well. The book is a bit confusing, it makes it sound like there is an awesome trestle with a spectacular view but there isn't on that part of the trail. So we did 9.5 miles and didn't reach the intended destination and it still turned out nice.

The book makes it sound like the trail is over by Rattlesnake Lake, so we walked a trail around it. Had no idea there was a trail there and that mad the disappointment that our goal trail is no where near it. Still, we enjoyed this failed journey and bogie went for a couple swims. Bye the way, the other side of the lake is Rattlesnake Ledge, that we visited and I've written about a few time before.

We finally found the correct trail and we followed it all the way to Twin Falls (which we have also visited before).

It looks like the trestle that I wanted is quite a distance farther down the Iron Horse Trail from there even. Next time, I think we will start off at the parking lot for twin falls, follow it up to Iron Horse and then try to make it over to this elusive landmark.

Denied Mount Si - Rattlesnake Alternative

2011-04-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Left home a little after nine and that was evidently way too late to try and hike either Mount Si or Little Mount Si on a beautiful Saturday. Both parking lots were jammed and there were cars parked anywhere there was any free space! Went to Rattlesnake Ledge State Park as an alternative and even them had to park a mile or so from the park entrance.

It was so crowded that going into the park felt like going into an open air concert. Not what I'm looking for after having a stressful week at work. I knew that I couldn't go back to my other fallback hike (Squak Mountain) because there was a marathon trail run that was taking place. I knew this because a couple weeks ago I had seen the ad, came home immediately to check it out and saw that it was sold out. (Bummer).

Rattlesnake Ledge is a 4 mile hike round trip to a very popular ledge viewpoint, however the trail does extend out to a 8.8 mile round trip hike. A few years ago, I had explored the trails past the ledge but didn't go that far. Last month I only went to the ledge, turned around and came back.

As you can see in the pictures, the ledge was so crowded (people, kids & dogs) that it was quickly becoming unsafe. So we headed on down the trail to Snoqualmie Point. We didn't make it all the way because I was getting tired of hiking through snow. At one point, I set my iPhone timer for 30 minutes and decided I would turn around when it went off.

I don't mind hiking up in snow but coming back down without the proper gear can be a drag. Actually, I'd describe it more as a controlled slide and I wasn't really into it that day. However, in the back of my mind, I knew we would be back soon to finish this trail to the final peak.

Indeed we did jog or walk at a very fast pace all the way back. It was crowded again once we got back to the ledge to the trailhead but that was fine. Bogie got a ton of compliments (what a puppy) and even one person commented that "he will grow into a big dog someday" and this had me chuckling for a half mile or so!

Bullitt Fireplace On Squak Mountain

2011-04-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Because our first trail last Saturday didn't really do it for us, we headed back to Squak Mountain. Its ample parking, low traffic and variety of intersecting trails make it a great low impact training hike.

This time I took the South Access Road until it comes closest to May Valley Loop, then take that up to the Bullitt Fireplace. From there I really didn't know. You cannot see if there is a connecting trail to the towers we visited a few weeks ago.

Turns out there is a connecting trail but it isn't marked very well and twists around a bit. Saves a bunch of time and since we had already logged a couple hours on a trail, this turned out to be just about a perfect route to end the day.

Tiger Mountain Poo Poo Point Trail

2011-04-23T20:09:00.001-07:00

Saturday, we wanted to try one of the trails we hadn't explored yet from the 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles Of Seattle. These last few hikes in this book have been disappointing and this one was horrible.
Confusing trail system with all sorts of forks and branches, few (if any signs), what appears to be a firing range, junk cars and almost no view to be found.

From now on, I will simply remember this as pure poo. I did decided to try Squak Mountain on the way back and was very happy with it.

Exploring Green River Trail With Pictures

2011-04-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

Last Friday after work and Sunday after racquetball, bogie and I ventured to the Green River trail over by the house. On Friday, we went across the grated bridge (bogie not a fan) and Sunday we went down the road on the same side of the river.

On to the pictures!

My First Dog - Rinny (for rin tin tin)

2011-04-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

Last year I started a project of scanning all my photos in digital files and then the arduous task of organizing them. Then when that would be done, uploading them to the "cloud", via various services, for long term storage.

Came across this gem of the first dog I ever had (and technically he was one of my brothers dogs) but I certainly bonded with him hard.

Cedar River Trail - Landsburg Park

2011-04-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

The sun came out just a little bit, after an entire week of rain. Decided that we should try to knock another one of the “60 Hikes With 60 Miles Of Seattle” items off of our list. Decided to do number 21, Cedar River Trail, Landsburg Park. I had never driven through Issaquah and found that was delightful. I also was paying attention to where Front Street was because I would need to make a left turn on it for a future hike (number 19 in the book Poo Poo Trail).

The river was really high and the current looked a tad bit scary. Also, was amazed about how much moss was over taking much of the trees in particular areas of the trail.

It was only a four mile hike or so but we enjoyed it. I tried my hand at taking some abstract pictures of an old railroad bridge. All in all, a nice little hike but I am getting anxious (way too soon) for future all day hikes to come.

Interurban Photo Walk Experiment

2011-04-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I wanted to see how it would be like to walk over to the Interurban Trail is closest to the apartment and take some pictures along the way. I knew the pictures wouldn’t be impressive but you never really know until you download them from the camera. I also wanted to see how likely it was to walk with Bogie to the trail. This turned out to be OK but the trail just isn’t pretty enough for me to make it a regular thing. However, I do think it is possible for me to use it to ride a bike to work. I may see if there is a way to “rent” a bike instead of buying one for this next experiment. I know that sounds pretty lame but I really don’t want to add more stuff in my life that doesn’t work out. Anyway, on to the photos ...

Have to say I looked at the end of school day time of 2:53 and thought "really?".

Mud Mountain Recreational Area

2011-03-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

This is a hike that has been on the radar since August of 2008. That is when I did the Federation Forest State Park trail and drove right by this one. In fact, they are listed number 56 and number 57 respectively within the book "60 Hikes With 60 Miles Of Seattle".

These hikes were too far of a drive from my previous digs in Snohomish, the payoff view didn’t sound all that impressive and the distances are just average. Now that I’m down here in Kent, it is a great opportunity to finish up the remaining southerly hikes from the book.

Seattle in March, you don’t have much choice for pretty hikes but this was OK. We got a late start because it was so foggy until about 10:30. Evidently, many others were in the same boat. Only two other cars were in the lot when we arrived and about ten when we left.

According to the book, this is about 6 miles. With the wrong turns I made (including a loop / that was a new one), we probably walked closer to eight miles.

All in all, a nice hike. Next time, I think we will try to do the Federation Park hike and this hike back to back.

Wet Saturday On The Foothills Trail

2011-03-12T19:56:00.001-08:00

Way back in 2002, the wonder dog and I left Illinois as I took a job in Fife Washington. The company I went to work for provided a furnished apartment for the first three months and I picked up a book called Rails To Trails. This trail was the first one that I explored from that book and today we paid it a return visit.

This is a hiking trail at all, flat blacktop in place of railroad track. Although it rained the entire time, we enjoyed it along with plenty of runner and bike riders. Well, enough of the commentary and on to the pictures.

One tired dog on the ride home!

Sunday Hike At Rattlesnake Ledge

2011-03-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

So I decided to forego taking the trip into Seattle to take advantage of the Emerald City Comic Con ticket I had. Really wanted to stretch my legs on another trail and decided to try the Rattlesnake Ledge hike again. The last time I did this trail was in June of 2008 and wanted to see what the winter version of this hike looked like.

A nice 1.8 mile trail that was part green and part white with snow. Quite a few switchbacks and this was a nice change from yesterdays road grade outing.

Where is the view? I can only guess it is there but you can click this link from my June 2008 excursion (Rattlesnake Ledge State Park) to see what it should look like. No fear, I’m sure I’ll do this hike again this summer since the apartment is so close to this trail.

Enjoying the snow!

Here are some of the final pictures with my Panasonic DMC-ZS6 camera. I had decided to try and use the small gorilla pod to take a picture of bogie and myself. Out of nowhere, a stiff wind blew and the camera went right into the lake! So another year of hiking and another camera destroyed! You would think I do this intentionally in order to keep trading up!

Squak Mountain - South Access Road

2011-03-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

The sun came out on Saturday and decided I wanted to go back out to Squak Mountain and try one of the alternate trails. In fact, I had the South Access Road in mind which looked to be a low impact six mile round trip hike. I didn’t expect to see that much snow and it turned out to be a few inches at the worst part, perfect for hiking.

So the blue highlighted path is the route I had taken a couple Saturdays ago (see Saturday Squak With Rocks). This hike is highlighted in orange. I found this a very nice training hike and I even ran part of the way back. That is until I fell down (tumbled actually) when Bogies leach got wrapped up with a fallen tree. In fact, I went down the trail about 1/4 mile until I decide to check that I had everything. Key (check), wallet (check), phone (check), camera, camera, camera (ah hell). There it was, sitting right next to the tree, so no need to buy another camera yet. (update on this on my next post about the Rattlesnake Ledge hike on Sunday).

So you can see, this is a very flat road and not a trail.

Snow!

The end of the road is a microwave tower and there wasn’t any payoff view at all. Did chat with a nice couple here that took a series of trails in the opposite direction to reach this point. Oddly, I met them coming down from my Sunday hike (again on my next post Sunday At Rattlesnake Ledge).

On the way back, snapped this picture of some moss covered trees. As you can see, the rapid pace down to the trailhead took its toll on the wonder dog!

Exploring Green River Natural Resources Area

2011-03-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

So the new apartment is about six miles from work and I’d noticed a couple markers for trails at both ends. I was wondering if they might connect and perhaps biking to work might be something available in the future. Most of the internet resources I found suggested this was the case but they stop short of what I need to be sure. Saturday I decided to try out a new set of insoles and walk to the Green River Natural Resources trail head. From there I would wander down that path to see where it connected to the Interurban Trail. Later in the week I thought I might take a walking lunch, find the closest Interurban Trail connection and see how far I get coming from the opposite direction.

The Green River trail is through a wet lands and provides a living space for many creatures within the local urban sprawl. Here you can see trying my pathetic zoom lens again to capture the image of a bald eagle perched on a utility tower right above me. Most assuredly he was ready to swoop down on any rabbit, mouse or creature of similar size as his afternoon meal.

This map turns out to be handy and I need to go back and take a bigger picture of it to meet my biking routing aspirations. You can see the big loop called the Lakes Trail. I live on that man made lake and walk around it every early morning with the wonder dog. So you can see Saturdays progress as I walked to 64th avenue, to the Puget Power Trail, to the Green River trail and ended at Van Doren’s Landing Park. I took this picture before I made the turn around and it is amazing this picture stops at that point.

The east trail is covered mostly with sandbags as a protection against winter flooding. Only a few inches of that side of the trail are exposed for walking.

So I tried to cross the bridge to the trail without sand bags. Thing is the bridge is one of the wire mesh kind and that totally freaks bogie out. His eyes must miss the details of the grading and appears to him that we are walking on thin air. So I decided this time to venture down the side with the sand bags.

So this is where we turned around for this excursion. I would imagine we walked about three miles before turning around for a total of six miles of exercise. It is nice to know a park is in the middle in case I have bike problems or need to use the rest room on the way to work. I haven’t ridden a bike to work in about twenty years, so this is still a theoretical assumption but one I like dancing around in my noggin.

Saturday Squak With Rocks

2011-02-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday turned out to be a very pretty day and I was hoping to relax and recover from some cutthroat racquetball the night before. As I quickly approach the 50 year old milestone, I find myself running self diagnostics on my body all the time. Thing is that the wonder dog hadn’t played racquetball and all he saw was a fantastic day. As I sat at my desk, every ten minutes or so I’d feel the nudge of his wet nose. This has become his way of saying “Dude, I don’t know if you noticed this but “.

I’m thinking my foot doesn’t feel too bad and I have a new pair of boots I purchased on sale. Also, there are many south Seattle hikes in my “60 Great Hikes Within 60 Miles Of Seattle” book that I haven’t explored. These are shorter hikes and it didn’t make much since to drive that far from my previous lair (north of Seattle by 30 miles). I had tweeted that we were going to try the Wilderness Peak Loop but were denied due to an overflowing parking lot.

So a few miles down the road is Squak Mountain State park and my last visit here was in July of 2008. Here is a link to that posting (click here). The parking lot is huge and they have a large number of diverse trails. I didn’t remember any spectacular payoff views that time but do remember getting lost for a hour or so with poorly marked trails. So I wasn’t ambitious in this exploratory effort. Besides, this is fairly close to my new casa and perfect for quick weekend training hikes.

The zoom on my point and click camera is not that great but did snag a neat picture of this woodpecker. Funny that last time I was on this trail, I snapped a picture of an owl. I don’t remember ever snapping pictures of birds on other trails.

I’m not sure where the rock thing comes from and decided to see what the internet said. Answers.com says ...

They are called cairns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn . Opinions vary on why people construct them and what they mean, but personally I find it to be a landmark of human presence. People pass by it and add more to it, as a way of saying "I was here." Unique and simple expression that you can leave without harming the environment.

I’m wondering if folks that have gotten turned around on the trails like myself are leaving them as markers?

Anyway, we only did about 4 miles of the Central Peak trail and stopped well short of the peak. Mostly because I wanted to spend the day getting my stuff organized in the new apartment ... but ... feel it is likely that I’ll return to this trail many times in 2011.

Sunday Morning At Coal Creek Parkway Trail

2011-02-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Sun came out today and we took off early to enjoy the Coal Creek Parkway trail. Got to the trailhead before 9 am and parking was fine. Left about 12:30 pm and traffic was awful.

Although I've seen signs like this before, the big rock next to it made for a good bogie picture opportunity!

Trail was in good shape but I did take a few wrong turns along the way. They have opened up some new routes and that confused us a bit.

We actually did get down into the waterfall and took some interesting shots. But I thought these pictures would look better on the blog.

Harry And The Hendersons / Wallace Falls

2011-01-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

About Wednesday of this week, I decided (wet weather be damned) I was going to do some sort of hike this week. I had latched on to Barclay Lake and set off to do just that this Saturday morning. A dozen or so miles from the turnoff on Route 2, I noticed more snow than I expected. When I got to the 4.5 mile forest road that leads to the trailhead from Route 2, changed my mind. I have a 4x4 and I don’t completely suck using it but those forest roads can get a little funky. Snow, mud and weekend traffic can easily lead to slipping off the road and I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with that. Besides, Wallace Falls state park that I passed on the way has a big parking lot and that seemed an admirable “Plan B”.

Now I’ve passed the Sasquatch expresso stand and Zeke’s Drive In dozens of times the five + years I’ve been out here. Since they both were on the way as I backtracked to Wallace Falls, decided to stop into both.

I didn’t know there was a little dog walking trail at Sasquatch expresso, that there was a “Harry” wood statue on that path or that the area was were some of the movie “Harry and the Hendersons” was filmed.

Had heard that Zeke’s had awesome burgers and have seen lines outside the “walk up” window during the summer months. In fact, those lines are somewhat similar to the beloved Custard Cup in my hometown of Danville Illinois. The burger was pretty good, not awesome, but still yummy.

With the late start and early sundown (4:30 PM), we didn’t have much hiking time at Wallace Falls as I had hoped.

The river and streams were very active, it was wet and plenty of folks on the trail. Still, we had a nice hike and I was able to finish another book in the Dresden Files series on my iPhone!

First Accumulated Snow Of The Year - Measured By My Jack In The Box Antenna Ball

2010-12-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Sunday Afternoon At St Edwards State Park

2010-12-22T06:52:00.000-08:00

The sun came out Sunday and decided to make a quick trip to St Ed, walks the trails and let the wonder dog take a quick dip into Lake Washington.

Bogie having some fun with new found friends.

All in all, a nice couple hours!

Some shots at The Sundial Bridge

2010-11-27T16:56:00.001-08:00

Before consuming a great turkey dinner that Mike and Ruth put together, we went on a quick walk by the Sundial Bridge!

Whiskey Town Falls Wednesday and Brandy Falls On Friday

2010-11-27T16:52:00.000-08:00

Went on a couple hikes in the Whiskey Town State Park in Redding and couldn't ask for better days for either of them.

The first was the Whiskey Town Falls trail and both dogs enjoyed the ride in Mike's truck bed to the trailhead.

My favorite of the two was the Brandy Creek Falls trail. In fact, I'd have to say it is my favorite of all the Whiskey Town hikes we have done in the last few years. It had a nice steady climb to the falls with a nice frosting of snow. The pictures I took of the falls themselves didn't turn out as good as I hoped though. Next visit perhaps!

Hecta Head Lighthouse

2010-11-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

The only other sightseeing stop on Tuesday was the Hecta Head Lighthouse. The hiking guide called it "the most photographed lighthouse in Oregon" and it is easy to see why. The lighthouse was classic but I really enjoyed the short mile hike alongside the coast.

Da Snowy Oregon Coast

2010-11-27T16:30:00.001-08:00

If I had my act together, I would have researched the best place to stay at our stopping point in Lincoln City. The next best thing is to blunder right into it and that is what we did.

I found a coupon for Looking Glass Inn and it looked just dandy on their web site. Turned out to be right on the beach, so we opted for a couple early morning walks there instead of the planned morning hike.

After our second walk, a seagull was relaxing on my snowflake dusted truck.

Cape Lookout State Park

2010-11-27T14:43:00.001-08:00

We headed down 101 to the Cape Lookout. Due to the weather, we were behind schedule and it continued to be ugly weather. I'm sure it is a very pretty hike during the peak season but we had your normal ugly hike along the coast.

Cape Meares State Park - Tillamook Oregon

2010-11-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Our first leg of the Thanksgiving trip was down I5 to Portland, take 26 East, take 6 East and then follow that all the way through to Cape Meares State Park. Got on the road about 5:30 AM and it started getting ugly right way.

We normally don't get bad weather for Thanksgiving but this year was an exception.

It was kind of fun however, I haven't been on the coast during bad weather since the Navy days in the early 1980s.

This is the first lighthouse we visited on the trip and it was a short and squat. It would have been very cool if it had been working at the moment but no such luck.

Thanksgiving Week Mini Vacation

2010-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

For about six years now, I've been trading visits with my cousin Michael and his family in Redding California. One year I come down there to visit and one year they make the trip up to Seattle to see me. Keeping an eye on the weather up to the last minute, the wonder dog and I started our little four day adventure.

We wanted to do some hiking (of course) but almost every trail we could find east of I5 was closed after October. Decided to give the Oregon coast a try on the way down to Redding. This late in the year isn't recommended for those hikes either but decided to roll the dice.

The evolving plan included leaving Seattle early Monday morning and make it to Lincoln City Oregon and crash at a hotel right on the coast. Had picked out a little walk to a lighthouse and a five mile trail on the coast itself. Then planned on another lighthouse visit, two more trail before stopping somewhere in the Eugene Oregon area. Then over to the Oberlanders Wednesday, Thursday and then see how weather looks before making any firms plans in regards to heading back.

First Snow Of The Season

2010-11-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

Rainy Weekends Preventing Our Hikes

2010-11-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

A little bummed out that every weekend we have had ugly rainy days and not really worth going out into yet. I hate to push it for ugly hikes when I know we have an entire winter for that. So we have been chilling out, doing Centennial Trail and I've been trying to reduce my stuff overhead with numerous Craig's List postings.

Snapped this picture last night as Bogie was enjoying a chew.

Cloudless Sky Saturday Hike Of Mount Dickerman

2010-10-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to hike much lately due to the combination of the day job (with a daily 2 hour commute), crappy weekend weather and a ongoing plantar fasciitis. When Friday turned out so gorgeous and practically cloudless, I had Mount Dickerman on the brain. Although the view from the summit is always worth the trip, cloud cover has been an issue for every excursion this year.

We left about 8 AM and it was very foggy on the drive through Snohomish to Mountain Loop highway. The nippy temperature of 37 degrees at the trail head had me don on a sweat shirt, however I doubted I would need it with the plethora of switchbacks for the few couple miles. I was correct and it ended up hanging from my belt for all but 20 minutes of the hike.

I was quite surprised to see snow cover towards the summit. but someone else was certainly into it. It seemed to cling to sides of the trail as a decoration and prelude of things to come ... soon.

Great shots with the cloudless blue sky.

Bogie rarely climbs into the back seat of the truck but he did after this hike. He stayed back there until we pulled into the driveway. Love those hikes that feed the body and and soul.

Lake 22 On A Saturday Morning

2010-09-26T14:14:00.001-07:00

Seems like ages since the wonder dog and I have been on a hike. Yesterday morning looked like our opportunity so we got an early start. Was happy to see just a few cars in the parking lot at the trailhead but it sure didn’t stay that way. On our way back down, we met at least a dozen hiking teams and on easily had over a dozen members.

It was a very nice hike up to the lake and the views were quite beautiful.

There was just a little bit of the winters ice flow left and some hikers made the trek up to check out one of its ice caves. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort on this trip and we continued our way around the lake.

Monday hike to Gothic Basic

2010-08-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last Monday was the last day of my mini vacation and wanted to knock out a new challenging hike. We selected Gothic Basin off of Mountain Loop Highway (starting elevation 2840 feet - ending elevation 5200 feet - 9 miles round trip). This is a branch off of the same trail that leads to the Monte Cristo mining town site that we have visited within the last couple years.

Starting out, the hike was a steep climb but not the rapid switchbacks that are found on Mount Dickerman. In many ways, this is a more challenging hike but I didn't feel as drained after completing todays journey.

There were numerous waterfalls and the view is pretty spectacular all the way up. This might be why I wasn't so tired because I took in frequent breaks to let Bogie enjoy the waterfalls and for myself to enjoy the view.

Here you can see Bogie taking a cooling off dip in the meadows before the final push to the basin. Also a self portrait shot just before we enter the basin proper.

The pictures do NOT do the basin proud! I thought it was a remarkable view with all the small clear pounds created by the melting snow. It was only a half mile to Foggy Lake but I decided not to go any further. It was already 3PM and we had been hiking since a little after 10 AM. In hindsight, I should have because we made remarkable time (for us) on the way back. Although Bogie was obviously getting tired. I have some movies that I'll upload later and you can actually see him nodding off as we stopped at the last big waterfall coming back.

So we stayed, had lunch and enjoyed the basin view for about 30 minutes. Bogie gobbled down 4 good sized biscuits and even accepted some of the dried fruit I brought along for myself.

Friday Hike - Oyster Dome

2010-08-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

After hiking Mt Dickerman on Thursday, decided to try a new and less taxing hike. Turned out to be fairly taxing as we did the Oyster Dome hike over by Mount Vernon. It is a 6.5 mile hike that has an elevation gain of 1900 feet (ending off at 2025, so that is pretty much straight up in spots).

It was a nice hike, a few views of the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Mountains. There is a series of Bat Caves near by and the directions from there back to the dome trail are a bit confusing. All in all, pretty nice but not sure I’d make that trip again for this hike alone.

Thursday Hike Of Mount Dickerman (August 2010)

2010-08-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

So that we could do some popular trails outside the crowded weekend, took a few days off from work. My right heel is still bothering me from last weeks hike with Mike but decided to do the challenging Mount Dickerman trail again (elevation 5,723 feet - 2,700 feet gain from trailhead).

It was overcast for much of the excursion but still a pretty good outing.

Oops, left the zoom on and ended up with a decent picture.

It was weird but some ugly clouds came rolling in for about 15 minutes. It was kind of neat being inside this low hanging cloud.

A final drink at a previous waterfall. Bogie was laying in the water when I caught up with him but I was too slow with the camera.

Oberlanders In Seattle

2010-08-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of our excursion to downtown Seattle including the EMP, Science Fiction Hall Of Fame, Space Needle and Pike’s Market.

Ben with a birthday at Hooters. (How Sweet!)

Barlow Point With Mike

2010-08-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

A follow up on the Ice Caves posting, our second expedition took place just a few miles down the Granite Loop Highway at Barlow Point. I’ve added a few posts in the past about this hike and it was a great addition to our Big 4 Ice Caves adventure.

Big 4 Ice Caves With Cousin Mike

2010-08-07T15:09:00.001-07:00

Some of my earliest memories include playing with my cousin Mike and last week (40+ years later) we were able to add another layer to those memories. Mike and the entire family unit drove up from Redding California to visit for a few days. On Tuesday, Mike and I went on a quick hike to the Big 4 Ice Caves and then Barlow Point.

I want to express my sympathies to the family that had a lose just a few days later at the Ice Caves.

Having Some Fun With A Tennis Ball

2010-07-17T09:23:00.001-07:00

Forgetting he is 11 years old now, playing with a tennis ball like a puppy again!

St. Edwards (July 2010)

2010-07-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Gloomy day, but that has been be case for the last five July 4ths that I remember. Sort of bummed out that I won’t be able to do a nice hike this weekend but not surprised. Hiking season doesn’t seem to start in earnest until mid to late July. So a nice local fall back trail is St. Edwards.

It is nice for the wonder dog because the mid point of the trail is Lake Washington. As you can see, he had a bit of trouble getting out of the lake where he went in.

Centennial Trail Shots With The New Camera

2010-07-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

The sun was supposed to be out by 9am but it took until 1pm. I didn't have faith today and didn't go hiking. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I did decide to go into town to deposit some checks and we did a quick little walk on Centennial Trail. Wanted to try some test shots with the new camera.

At first, they wouldn't load to the web site and then I noticed the resolution was way too high! The pictures were 4 - 5 MB a piece. I'll have to adjust the way I save and store these images.

Here is a test of a pretty tight zoom.

Pretty nice overall but I'll have to spend some time getting used to some of the differences!

Monte Cristo (June 2010)

2010-06-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

This hike was another leap of faith in weather.com, because it wasn’t a pretty day when we left. The hiking gods were smiling upon us once we reached the Monte Cristo trail head. We had hiked this trail last October and really enjoyed this early summer version. Here is a link to last years hike (click here).

The weather was almost perfect and we made very good time down the trail before the river crossing.

In fact, we made it to the Monte Cristo town site much earlier than I expected. It being a weekend day, there was a lot of folks enjoying the trail and we didn’t linger at the town site very long. I had taken a lot of pictures last year but I experimented with some alternate shots. I really like the one with bogie and the old lodge sign!

After we reached the Monte Cristo town site this time, we decided to venture down the Poodle Dog Pass trail. I knew that we would get there or even the Silver / Twin Lakes because of snow pack. However, I wanted to check it out for a future hike sometime mid summer.

We passed by Sunday Falls but I didn’t find a position that afforded me a very good picture of it. The trail was nice but we eventually turned around before reaching the lakes (because of the snow pack). I still had memories of trudging waist deep in snow from the Mount Dickerman hike. Plus, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get any good pictures because ... I DROPPED MY CAMERA INTO A BIG MUDDY PUDDLE!

Here you can see a very nice shot with soggy camera innards.

I have been upgrading my point and shoot camera every year for awhile now. So now I’ll be moving from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1 to Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6. I didn’t want to have to learn a whole new camera and the reviews for it are kick ass! I do hope the big moisture drop in the middle of the lens on my ZS1 clears up but looking forward to using this new model!

More Pictures Of Our New Neighbors

2010-06-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

These were snapped by my landlord.

Furry 5K Is In The Record Books

2010-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Seward Park for the Furry 5K, the first race I have done with the wonder dog. He did OK, he was pretty tired the last mile and was obviously ready for it to be over. I think we came in about 38 minutes and some change. Not bad considering how many stops we made the last mile and had one potty break in there as well.

Got Some New Neighbors - Baby Coons!

2010-06-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Landlord had cut down most of a dead tree a couple years ago and it turns out to be mostly hollow. A momma coon has had a litter in their and they occasionally take a peek outside.

Lake Serene (June 2010)

2010-06-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Lake Serene trail is shared, to a point, with Bridal Veil falls hike. I’d done the later a couple times but had never taken the fork in the trail that leads to Lake Serene. So last Sunday was the day to explore that hike and it turned out to be more exercise that I thought! Here a links to the previous Bridal Veil hikes ( 2008 - 2009 ).

The hike starts off with a long romp in the woods and many streams along the way.

Although not as dramatic as the Bridal Veil falls, these were quite nice. Lots of winter water still running downhill on the trail!

More woods hiking going straight up and the occasional visa view of the Cascades.

An off leach friend would catch up with us from time to time and then trot back down to his owners (a little farther down the trail).

More woods hiking going straight up, a nice place for bogie to cool off and yet more nice views of the Cascades.

At last, the lake! Very nice and we hung out here for quite a while before heading back.

The trail was a very nice exercise and bogie was totally worn out. He couldn’t keep his eyes open and kept nodding his head. Finally, he relaxed and started snoring on the way back.

New Leash For Furry 5K

2010-06-14T06:28:00.001-07:00

Evidently when you sign up for a 5K now days, you get on the email list for all kinds of things. That is what seems to have happened to me since running that little 5K in Snohomish a few weeks ago. I would bitch about it but I’ve found that I like what I’m getting! Case in point, “The Furry 5K” going on next weekend in Seattle. The proceeds go to the Seattle Human Society and I’m sure the race will be a real hoot ... er ... bark! Had to pick up a new leash for Bogie because I only had the “long as hell” retractable kind. The race requires a hard leash, no longer than 6 feet.

Saturday we went for a test run with the new leash and it was AOK. Bogie is a pretty smart dog and realized the difference and didn’t try his usual “I think I’ll pee on that bush just one acre over yonder” routine. The race is next Sunday and I’ll be sure to post pictures!

Iron Goat (June 2010)

2010-06-08T05:30:00.001-07:00

I always enjoy the Iron Goat trail and this time was no different. We have had some pretty crappy weather lately and the outlook for Saturday was sunny. I took it on faith as we left early in the cloudy morning and timed the good weather almost perfect for arrival. Here is a link from last Septembers hike of the Iron Goat (click here).

This picture I snapped via the timer on my camera and it was attached to a gorillapod hanging upside down in a tree. Nice experiment!

FYI... I did have a rather startling moment though coming back down the road, a cougar ran across the path of the truck. I have never seen a cougar in the wild before and was quite startled by its sheer size. I am NOT a gun person by any means but this experience has me debating the merits of carrying one on hikes.

Lake 22 Hike (May 2010)

2010-05-31T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have had some pretty crappy weather the last couple weeks and rumor had it that Sunday morning was our best chance for a nice hike. We took off about 7:30 AM and it turned out to be a great time. We arrived at Lake 22 before the crowds but met most of them on the way back. Bogie received his ample number of “he is such a cute puppy” accolades and even received a hug or two. Never mind that bogie is actually 11 years old, he wears it well.

My memory of the hike last year was that it was quick, pleasant and the undergrowth prevented me from circling the lake. The hike seemed longer and more challenging to me this year. At first, I thought it was because I did a long run yesterday afternoon. After looking at last years posting, I realized it was because I had sandwiched this hike between a couple other long hikes and that made it seem short. Here is a link to last years hike. http://dwayneworld.blogspot.com/2009/09/tuesday-afternoon-hike-to-lake-22.html

Lots more water this time around and that made this late May hike a totally different one than a late September one. The waterfalls were more vibrant, loud and made the trail a bit moist in areas.

Midway through the hike you can see some great panoramas of the mountain range.

The lake was awesome and almost as great as Heather Lake (which I posted recently and that I hike often). The trail head for each of these lake hikes are next door neighbors but I don’t know how far apart they are actually.

This year, we actually made it around the lake. It was very nice and Bogie was able to get his rolling in the snow fix in.

Some folks like to play with rocks on their hikes. I mentioned this back on my Headlee Pass hike last year. In that case, it helps keep hikers on the correct path. Here it is simply fun!

Some more pictures as we trekked around the lake.

On the way back, hit a small bit of the trail that was quite mossy!