I’m taking a well-deserved rest today and watching some recorded Seahawks football from last night. Yesterday I hiked with three CHS2 folks to Buck Creek Pass in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. We had originally planned to hike on Pilot Ridge, but the weather forecast for the east side of the Cascades was better than for the west side, so we did an alternate trip. The plan was to hike 19 miles and about 3200 feet of gain to a lovely pass. According to the GPS one of us brought along, we ended up hiking about 21 miles roundtrip to get to the pass. The views of Glacier Peak were awesome but we were all pretty beat by the time we got back to the trailhead. Dinner at the 59’er Diner sure was a welcome treat afterwards.
As we were hiking along, we came across a couple of women coming down the trail after spending several days up in the wilderness. We talked a little about their trip and I asked them if they’d done the side trip to Image Lake—a beautiful lake that in the right conditions reflects Glacier Peak. It’s a little bit off of the main route, but many folks make the effort just to see it. One of the hikers told me that they hadn’t and had found the scenery they did see on their trip “beautiful enough.”
I thought about that statement as I was hiking along and came to the realization that it was a great attitude to have about any sort of vacation type trip. So many times, we get caught up in the notion that we have to experience every possible activity or scenery available in an area that we do things just to check them off the list rather than taking the time to savor the experiences that we are having. Vacations become a rushed series of activities rather than a time to relax and reflect on the good things that we are able to do. It’s more enjoyable to abandon this mindset and focus on just a few select activities.
I’ve found this to be especially true on many of the National Park trips that Matt and I have taken. Most parks have so many cool things to see and do that it’s impossible to do it all one trip. For example, at Crater Lake National Park, Matt and I took the boat ride on Crater Lake to Wizard Island. We were dropped off for several hours. The two big activities to do on the island are swimming in one of the coves or climbing the crater to the high point of the island. If we really hurried, we could do both. But it was so much fun just to pick one activity and truly enjoy it. We opted to swim in the lake (that didn’t take too long—very cold) and then spend the rest of our time getting a few Disco Lion pictures and hunting around for crayfish. We got a great picture of me holding a crayfish. It was a fun time spent just bumming around and enjoying the lakeshore.
I encourage you to keep this in mind as you go on any trips that you have planned in the future. Instead of trying to do everything and running the family ragged, pick just a few special events that you will enjoy doing and remember when you’re back home.
August & September Hike Signup
All August hikes are open for signup for more than two hikes. Feel free to take advantage of open spaces we have available in the hikes in your group.
September hikes are available for signup. Please limit yourself to signing up for one hike. You can sign up for more than one starting on September 1st at 9:00 AM. If you’re in CHS2, Mark Harniss will be leading a hike to Mt David on 9/25. Here is the description:
9/25 Mt David, Mark Harniss (16 miles, 5400 ft gain). This hike is located in the Wenatchee National Forest, north of Lake Wenatchee. Climb well-graded switchbacks through forest to a high ridgeline via a steep, blueberry-filled trail. The endless view walk along the ridgeline makes it all worthwhile though. At the summit there is an old lookout site and a stone outhouse as well as drop-dead gorgeous, panoramic views of the Glacier Peak wilderness including an in-your-face close-up of Glacier Peak. The last 200 feet to the summit are a bit “airy” but manageable. Email the hike leader if you have any questions. Guidebook: 100 Hikes in Washington's Glacier Peak Region.
August hikes with space still available:
CHS2:
8/28/10— Sourdough Mtn, Mark Harniss (12.5 miles, 5100’ gain)
8/29/10— Stileto Peak, Sue Shih (14 miles, 3720’ gain).
WTA Trail Maintenance Signup
All CHS/WTA combined trips are completed. If you have not completed your trail maintenance requirement you can schedule an outing on a non-CHS trail maintenance trip with either WTA or some of the other outdoor organizations. Once you have completed your trail maintenance requirement, please email me to let me know what date you did it on as we keep track of this information for graduation purposes.
CHS Pictures:
If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view. You can access the picture site through the CHS Web Site or directly by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/hiker.chs.
No comments:
Post a Comment