Pinnacle Peak Trail

On the way back from Federation Park, we decided to do a quick hike on the Pinnacle Peak trail or also known as The Cal Magnusson Trail. The trail itself is right by the King County Fairgrounds in Enumclaw WA. It is pretty much straight up for a little over a mile. A very good workout and there was a number of younger folks running directly to the peak and back down again. The peak itself is uneventful, as the view is totally obscured by tree growth. A pretty trail but not much opportunity for picture taking.

Heather Lake Trail 3 - Washington State

April had a friend (Vicky) visiting from Idaho and wanted to take her out to Heather Lake. It had been almost a month since we had been out there and thought the snow pack might have receded to the point we could walk around the entire lake. Well, we were able to do about 75% of the lakes circumference but the remaining 25% would have been challenging. However, the 75% of what we did was quite good for us. We were almost to the lake itself before we hit snow and we there was a some mud before that (although not bad)




Yes, it is true ... my dog is actually a cylon ... need to call BattleStar Galactica folks for a proposed spin off series.

The water in Heather Lake is so clear and reflects the color tones of the landscape around it.

Here Vicky is taking Bandits photo.



Three dogs, lots of snow and one beautiful lake.







Well, here we are going to sign off on another great Pacific Northwest trail adventure!

Congratulations Nick and Ariel!

Congratulations Nick and Ariel!

The purpose of the trip was to see this wedding of my nephew and his bride. A very delightful ceremony that was quick and low key.

Lake Mingo Trail - Vermilion Country Illinois

This was a staple of my life during 2000 and 2005, when I lived in Danville Illinois. This is a 7.25 mile long trail around a man made lake that I used to run (with Bogie) approximately 3 times a week. It is a great trail run with plenty of Illinois wild life to enjoy, challenging but not too much and feeds the spirit (as much as the body).


Here you can see a carving of the lake in a display at the park station.



Right below the sign above is a wooden box that is ... supposed ... to contain maps of the lake. I think I’ve actually seen maps in there once in the last 10 years. I thought I’d check and see (something to scan and put into the blog). Imagine my surprise when I found a birds nest, with baby birds within it, screaming “feed me some worms momma!”. Too Cute!






Here are some basic shots from the trail ... if you click the picture to enlarge ... you an see the pink evening clouds of dusk showing up reflected in the lake



Best zoom shot of a heron I could get with my crappy camera



At the 7 mile marker, we come up on the village setup in the park. Here you can see a train station that was transferred to the park from Bismarck Illinois (where I went to high school) and the old O’Leary’s train car that was moved to the park as part of the display as well.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Here are a couple pictures in the museum. Since you cannot take pictures anywhere but this one location ... not much to share. Probably a good thing because of the overwhelming negative tone of the museums content.

Just got back from spending a four day vacation back home in Vermilion County Illinois. Here is some snaps from a visit to The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The library was closed (it was Sunday) but the museum was open.

After thinking about it quite a bit, I’ve decided that I didn’t like the museum much ... and I suspect ... Lincoln himself wouldn’t care for it much either. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of information there, the presentation of it was world class and the two theater presentations were excellent. I’m glad I went and if I’m in Springfield Illinois again with time to kill ... I’ll probably visit it again.

Here is what I didn’t like. First off, you cannot take pictures in many of the exhibits. It is not because it would hurt the content, because almost all of it is recently manufactured content. There is very little in the way of relics and I could understand a picture taking restraint in order to preserve a piece of history. Instead, it was like saying “we took an incredible amount of your tax money to build this museum and by god you are going to have to pay to see any of it. You will not be allowed to share your experience or interpretations with others because ... well ... we don’t want to limit potential income in the future. “

Another critical flaw in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum is the out and out hateful tone of the entire presidency. Imagine going from a room that shows a slave mother, father and child on an auction block with slave owners tearing the family apart with a 10 year old child in agony as he is trying to hold on to his mothers dress. Go from there into a large room full of political cartoons filled with hate and illustrating Lincoln as everything from an idiot to the devil. Not kidding, floor to high ceiling of multiple pictures, the worst of which depicting Lincoln as Satan. Then to a room that shows each week of the Civil War as a second and illustrating the number of Americans slaughtering each other for each week through the war. Then plaques that show letters home from soldiers that never made it out of the war alive. Follow that with a hallway of video holographic images screaming at Lincoln about the Emancipation Proclamation. Some screaming it goes to far and other screaming it is not far enough. Finally, you end your tour with an absolute fantastic display of Lincoln about to be shot in the head.

There is more of this, I’m just touching on the high .... correction ... most low points I can remember. Oh, forgot the also great exhibit of one of Lincoln’s sons on his death bed, with Lincoln in the doorway and his distraught mother by her sons side. Yeah, if Lincoln could see that now ... I’m sure he would really like that image to be burned into a part of his legacy.

Oh and the lighter side ... really cannot remember much at all. I don’t remember one exhibit dedicated to all the best things I’ve read about the man. How understanding he was, how funny he was or what a wonderful impact his life had on our country.

Basically, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum plays out like a hard hitting Oliver Stone movie.

Are all these negative things important to remember, of course they are. I just would like to have seen more (or some) effective positive content for balance.



Outside in the city of Springfield ... a lot nice picture taking potential.

Vermilion County Wetlands Boardwalk

Just got back from spending a four day vacation back home in Vermilion County Illinois. Here is some snaps from the Vermilion County Wetlands Boardwalk. My friend Rachel suggested it as we were on our way to check out my old Kennekuk Lake Mingo trail. This was quite a nice little nature area and very glad she suggested it.

Squak Mountain: Double Peak Loop Trail

Finished my pressing work early in the day today and decided to head out for some trail action. Bogie thought this was an excellent idea and we pulled out our 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles Of Seattle book. We decided on number 17, the Squak Mountain State Park: Double Peak Loop. It was a quick trip to the park and the books directions were spot on perfect.

This picture is actually taken we finished our hike. If you click the picture to enlarge, you can see that Bogies eyes are a little tired. All in all, Bogie and I hiked for a little over 4 hours straight and it was a very sunny day.

The book shows a network of trails but it is very understated in the book. In fact, we got lost for about 2 hours and this is with my coming off of a knee problem a week and a half ago. The signs are not as plentiful as they could be but there was a map at the entrance into the park. The map was pretty great and the trail itself is quite beautiful.

Here you can see one of the many signs for a very short trail called the Pretzel Tree trail. It is for kids obviously and very cute.

The trail was in pretty good shape on the west side and very overgrown in spots on the east side. The east side is where we got lost on the way back. Not sure how we got turned around but still was a great mid day hike.


Here are a couple pictures of Bogies new puppy hair cut. I’m sure he was much cooler on this, longer than expected, hike.

Still on the west side, saw these marks on a couple of the trees. Could these be bear marks?


Here are a couple pictures of the original Bullitt home fireplace.

You will probably have to click this to see it and still the picture doesn’t do justice. A large owl swept along our path and immediately perched in a try right above us. This is the first time I’ve seen an owl in the middle of the day on a trail hike.

This sign was literally on the ground and evidently wasn’t what I thought it was. We ended up being on an entirely different trail. So it is definitely time for me to stop being ill prepared for hikes and invest in a good compass and perhaps some GPS equipment.