Great report, and awesome pics. I love mountains. Can't get enough pics of mountains.
FYI, they say that when a dog eats other animals (or humans) feces, it's lacking Iron in it's diet. Or it's just a gross dog.
Great report, and awesome pics. I love mountains. Can't get enough pics of mountains.
FYI, they say that when a dog eats other animals (or humans) feces, it's lacking Iron in it's diet. Or it's just a gross dog.
It'd be called "The Antics and Misadventures of Crazy J". It'd have stories about starting a small avalanche while backcountry skiing near Mt Baker, living through bouts of salmon poisoning (when he ate part of a spawned-out salmon carcass on the banks of the Columbia, threw it up, ate the puke, then developed a fever of 105 and had to go to the vet ER), and Lyme disease (from 125+ ticks in Hells Canyon, Oregon), and eating used condoms, broken glass, smashed beer cans and of course, cat turds. He was also groped by an insane, alcoholic bum during a beer run in Las Vegas near the Liberace Museum who was impressed by his athletic physique and wiry fur.I see a book in the offing....The Misadventures of Crazy J.
I need to go visit my sister and BIL who live in Seattle again and get back up in those mountains.It's not as long or expensive a trip as some think. There are sometimes cheap plane tickets to Sea-Tac airport. Buy a month in advance try not to fly on Fridays or Sundays. Rental cars can be like $20 a day. Look at Hotwire.com, Expedia.com, and all the other online airplane ticket search engines for sales like Airfare Watchdog.for those who can't get out there I will live vicariously through
your pictures.
Greyhound bus used to stop at Stevens and Snoqualmie passes on the PCT, and Manning Park, British Columbia where it ends. I've taken busses to all 3 spots. Greyhound bus goes to Bellingham, WA. It's usually an easy hitchhike up to Mt Baker from east side of Bellingham.
The rainshadow is pretty cool. It's good to take advantage of. In early season (June, early July) we usually go over to the eastslope like the Pasayten Wilderness north of Mazama, Winthrop and Twisp, WA. The Eastslope is more like Idaho or Montana. The valleys have grassland, aspen groves and sagebrush steppe "high desert".I am always surprised at the diversity of the Cascade range, the rainshadows, and completely different climates depending on what side of the range you are on is awe inspiring.
The high country hiking season on the west slope of the Cascades (which has the lush, green rainforests with huge trees, moss, ferns, big glaciers) is pretty short, from late July through September. Trail access depends on the preceeding winter's snowpack and spring weather. Bring your extra long treehuggers if you want to hang your hammock on the Westside.
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Go on Google Map and zoom in on the northern Picket Range in the North Cascades National Park north of Newhalem and Diablo Dam. That's some mountains! This guy usually posts on NWHikers.net has awesome pics of the Pickets here.
The thing with the North Cascades is that a lot of areas have no trails. Some of the best areas require off-trail bushwhacking which can be brutal. Also, recurrent storms and landslides keep taking out key bridges and access roads. The PCT on the west side of Glacier Peak isn't open to normal hikers. Most thru-hikers take the reroute on the east side of Glacier Peak. It's potentially deadly to ford the glacial rivers that drain the west side of Glacier Peak since the bridges washed out in fall/winter storms.
When we lived in Oregon, where there are more elk, a lot of people had problems with their dogs rolling in piles of elk pellets or in elk carcasses. Thankfully, our dogs never took to that. But, they do like human stinkiness.My golden retriever (now gone) had a penchant for dead things. When we lived out in the backwoods of New Hampshire we'd find pieces of various kinds of dead animals she'd bring home and leave in the yard.
He's just gross and nasty. He's laying next to me now and just farted. The smell is truly foul.FYI, they say that when a dog eats other animals (or humans) feces, it's lacking Iron in it's diet. Or it's just a gross dog.
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I'm surprised no one mentioned Scott Williamson or Tattoo Joe.
Last edited by hikingjer; 08-19-2008 at 22:48.
LOL, well if we ever meet remind me not to let him lick my face....!!!
John
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