Grand Ridge Trail

Hiya, just pictures this week... and I have to come clean about something also. This first picture is Photoshopped. I know, its against all photography morals, but whatever, it looks cool. The second and third are the originals. I couldn't believe it when it happened, but I was staring agape at those mountains when this little butterfly landed on my arm... I guess I have a certain animal magnetism.

Oh also, real quick, the fourth picture is a panorama of the view from where I was at... click on it once to open it up in a new window, and then click the magnifying glass on that to make it even bigger. It looks kinda lame unless you do it that way, unfortunately.

Long story short, I went on a one night camping trip to Grand Ridge, and eventually hit Grand Lake, shown down below. It was spectacular... best spot I've hit so far. Enjoy.

Bogachiel River Tour #2

During our second tour of the Bogachiel River trail we had a crew from King County (Seattle) come out to work with us. They were glad to be out of the city, and we were glad to have some extra company.

I promised some pictures of the mules, and here they are. Four mules pack in all of our food, while the packers ride in on two horses to keep them in line... they seem to be pretty well trained though, and trudge along without complaint.

Each of them can hold on to two bear boxes with around 65 pounds of stuff in each.

And they can even ford rivers, although I don't think they like it very much... the stones are rough on their hooves.

We had hot dogs the first night...

...and burritos the second.

We setup shop along the river again, three miles past our last campsite.

After work we find time to swim and fish. We found a super deep pool along a curve of the river that's about 10 feet deep. Kylan caught a little trout, but we haven't had much luck with our spinning rods.

After we hiked out on the last day I met a couple of guys that were camping a little ahead of us and they said they were fly fishing and caught about 40 fish... we'll have to bring a fly fishing outfit next time.

Out next project is this bridge... as you can see its lost some of its railings.

I was also lucky enough to have my Dad come out and visit me for the weekend! We spent a day on the peninsula hiking around and having dinner with Don and Linda Farmer. The next day we drove in to Seattle and knocked around the Seattle Center.

We almost hit this deer.

And in a spectacular surprise, Dad took me up to the Space Needle for lunch to enjoy some crab mac and cheese and to take in the Emerald city... its hard not to look out an contemplate life... see how I'm contemplating?