SEASON'S LAST BACKPACK and HOW AN AARP MAGAZINE WAS LUGGED TO PETE LAKE

 

Park closed for season.  This would be the third try, the third state park, in our attempt to find a camp site for the night.  Our plan was to back pack into Pete Lake Saturday.  This was a hike that Leigh had wanted to do for some time and that part of the plan was pretty much set.  The decision to get close and car camp was more of a ‘game day decision’ and as we were punching into October, we figured we didn’t need a reservation. 

We were about 90 minutes or so from sunset with no campsite last Friday.  In my younger years my angst would have started to rise, but taking stock of the situation, we were getting into national forest land, we had a tent (2 actually) and food and water.  All we needed was a flat piece of ground.  Sure enough, just beyond Cle Elum State park, there was a small road that jagged left and over a bridge we could see a couple of trailers.  Why not take a look?

The camping regulations were posted and the trailers looked like they were used by hunters.  It was quiet and plenty of open camp sites.  Primitive, no facilities, but perfect.  We pitched our car camping tent, brought out our car camping chairs, the fire ring and the only thing that was missing was a table.

Star link, now frozen in the ‘flat mode’ worked perfectly as an ad hoc table.

Happy hour, dinner, great conversation and then to bed in the car camping tent, a katabatic tent designed for use on Mt Everest.  To us, the tent is palace-like.  It’s huge when compared to our backpacking tent, plenty of pockets for stuff and while you can’t stand up in it, it becomes a home away from home.  Not as comfy as the trailer, but for tent camping, it’s pretty nice.

Saturday morning the gears shift and the gear simplifies.  Everything we need for the night into 2 packpacks, each less than 25 pounds.

The Pete Lake Trail is 4 miles and as it was pretty dry, the stream crossings were easy.  400 feet of elevation gain made the walking easy.

A few other hikers, not many, but all friendly.  Including the group of 6 or 7 first year UW students who hailed from all over the US and were taking their first, in what I hope will be many, little adventures. Which included lugging an inflatable standup paddle board into Pete Lake.  Possibly a first.

Leigh allows 2 luxury items when backpacking.  A chair and a magazine.  Her magazine of choice on this trip was an AARP magazine.  On a backpacking trip.  Possibly another first.

The weekend was great and as rain is moving in on Monday, this could be the last weekend of good weather.  We think we made the most of it.

 The Pete Lake campsite.  The Nemo 3 tent is a great lightweight backpacking tent

The view from Pete Lake

Water is plentiful -- after filtering.  Leigh pumping water for dinner and next morning's breakfast.

Leigh in her happy place

The Kitchen set up

End of Cooper Lake on the way in

Leigh's side of the tent -- answering the question 'who reads an AARP magazine on a backpacking trip?'

Pete Lake

SEPTEMBER BACKPACKING

 

Sitting down drinking tea after a backpacking trip is relaxing.  The tent is cleaned and hung to dry, the sleeping bags are flaked out airing, and the pots are cleaned.    Leigh has taken one other backpacking trip this summer with friends, but this was my first, and likely last, of the year (although we're now thinking of 'just one more').  

We’ve been camping 3 weeks in a row.  First to Olympic National Park where Leigh and Becky did their 20 mile, 4000’ foot of elevation gain, one day hike.  5 days in the trailer, no hookups and we were quite comfortable.  Then to Grayland State Park.  2 days in the trailer, full hook up.  What luxury!  Then this weekend’s one night backpack to ‘Sheep Lake’, a picturesque alpine lake near Mount Rainier.

Backpacking tends to put things in perspective.  My pack weighs in around 25 pounds, Leigh’s a tad over 20.  Everything we need for a couple of days in about 46 pounds – that includes tent, sleeping bag, water, food, cooking gear and enough warm clothing to be comfortable to just below freezing.

And our kit was a bit larger than the through hiker we bumped into.  Walking on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) you bump into interesting people.  This guy was from San Diego and had started months earlier at the Mexican border.  When we met him he could almost smell the barn with the Canadian border so close.  He did, in fact, border on smelling like a barn, but that's part of being a thru hiker.  I asked him about 're-entry' and he had been giving that thought -- what it's like to hike solo for more than 2,500 miles then go back to a desk job.

Our hike was modest.  Just under 2 miles and about 400 feet of elevation gain.  This would normally be easy, but we started out about 5500 feet and I could feel a little of the effect of altitude. Still a relatively easy hike. Once there we picked out our campsite and Leigh wanted to hike over Sourdough gap at about 6300 feet and drop down into Crystal Lake where Andy and her camped one night years ago.

Sheep Lake is a nice little jewel of a lake.  Lots of trout as well.

Leigh and I relaxing

Leigh on the way to Sourdough Gap

The view from the gap.

Leigh with Crystal Lake in the distance.

Our campsite.  Protected, but the wind howled at night and the temperature dropped below freezing.  It was cold, but the bags we brought were up to the challenge as we were pretty comfortable.

Sheep lake, a morning view after a rather cold night.

The only selfie of the trip.  It was cold in the morning!!!

Hiking back down.  Off to Ellensburg for a well earned burger and a beer!!

THE VIEW ON DOGS (For Now)

 

Dogs and Cats

Not a week goes by when my 91 year old mother says ‘when are you going to get a dog?  You need a dog’.  She’s not alone.  Several of our friends enquire about the same thing as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.  And to them, it is.

I grew up with dogs.  I’m in my late 60’s and there have been scant few times when I haven’t had a dog.  I’ve also had a cat, but I’m more a dog person. 

Pet ownership is common in the US with some 2/3rds of all households having pets (according to the American Pet Products Association). Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Russia also have fairly high percentages of household pets.  It’s a thing that most of us take for granted.

When Indy, Leigh’s dog passed away, we went through the normal mourning period but there was no rush to replace him and now we’ve been some 5 years without a dog and have asked ourselves numerous times “should we get a dog”.  The answer was initially a ‘no’, then a ‘No’, and now borders on “Hell No” (at least for now).  Why the increasingly aversion to having a dog?

Life is better without a dog (gasp).  At least for us, and at least for now. 

We love dogs and eagerly anticipate babysitting Harley, Leigh’s ‘Grand dog’.  We tolerated, but came to (somewhat) enjoy taking care of Tater, an elderly neighbors dog.  Blind, deaf, toothless, quasi incontinent and prone to seizures, having Tater wasn’t easy, but he grew on us.  We had him for nearly 2 months in two different chunks of time as our neighbor battled health issues.

We know dogs.  We’ve trained dogs.  We’ve had good experiences with dogs and have known some really great dogs.  We aren’t anti dog.  At all.  But a dog is a responsibility.  A big one.  And they come with personal and social costs.

On the micro level,  a dog changes the way you live.  A dog is expensive and occasionally, at unplanned times, very expensive. Travel comes with more logistics, more considerations and more expense.  Impromptu trips in the trailer become a little more problematic.  National Parks don’t allow dogs.  Trips on the boat come with multiple trips ashore.  Trips on the kayak are linked to finding a dog sitter.  Same for many backpacking trips. 

We’re empty nesters.  The eggs have hatched, been raised, and have flown the the coop.  Why would we want to put a furry one back in?  One that sheds, barks, and fouls the yard?   Yes they are cute, yes they are smart, yes, they offer companionship, but they still shed, bark and foul the yard.  They certainly don’t simplify life.  They complicate it.  It’s a personal decision and a personal calculation on whether that complication is worth it or not, but after 5 dog free years, our answer, at the present, is ‘no, it’s not worth it’.

On a macro level, dogs have a large carbon footprint.  The meat consumption of pets produces 64 million tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 13.6 million cars.   Dog waste can contaminate soil and bodies of water for years.  Bacteria in pet poop can reduce oxygen and kill aquatic life.  Most plastic bags used to scoop up poop are not biodegradable.  In the US, an estimated 634 million dog toys end up in landfills each year, roughly 40,500 tons of waste.  The pet food industry and its industrial meat production is a major cause of deforestation.  If pets were their own country, they would rank 5^th in global meat production.

Pets have a negative impact on the environment (as do we).

For us, at present, the mobility and lack of friction for ad hoc outings have a greater priority than a need for the furry companionship.  Decisions like ‘oh let’s stay another day’ are easy.  We don’t miss a dog.  Yet.

The Game

 

PREPARATION VS PLANNING

 

Preparation Vs Planning

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while.  They’re different concepts.

Planning assumes a fair amount of control and details logical steps to achieve an end goal.  At work we have these all the times.  We have project plans.  Step 5 is contingent on Step 4, Steps 2 and 3 can be done concurrently, each step takes different times to complete and there are measured milestones along the way.  Stack them together and a project plan emerges.

Preparation is conceptually different.  At work it’s a fast supply chain.  You don’t know what opportunities are going to present themselves, but with a short supply chain you can react to things you didn’t plan for. 

Another analogy is sailing.  During our 2018 race to Alaska race we took great care in preparing the boat.   Sails, some turbo charging of the boat, and other key things to have a fully found, capable boat.  We were aware of other teams, with faster boats, who put an enormous amount of work in to "planning".  “Chart work” as they called it.   Preparation seemed to be secondary.  We had no plan.  We were confident in our preparation and reacted accordingly.  It paid off.

Swinging back to a topic closer to home, Mom is 90 years old and we have a family member who is frustrated there’s no ‘plan’ as she ages.  Mom lives alone, is fairly happy and self sufficient, and I’m trying to get up there every other week and other family members are starting to go up as well.   Mom has a robust social group – and that’s better expressed in the plural, groups, that are engaging and full of some pretty cool people.

So while there’s no ‘plan’, Mom is "prepared".  She has a long term health plan that allows for 3 years of in home help.  There’s no plan to use it at present.  We don’t know if it’s going to be next Tuesday, June of 2025 or some indeterminate date far in the future.  Even using it is not a fait accompli.  But it’s there.  Ready to go if circumstances require it. 

At some point she’ll likely stop driving.  While there’s no plan in place there are plenty of options to use one of several taxi services or leverage one of her ‘helpers’ (she has 3-4 that visit the house if not every week fairly frequently doing house cleaning and outside maintenance).  There are options which really don’t yet need to be explored as there’s no current need.

So while there’s no ‘plan’, Mom has taken and cultivated the appropriate preparation for life's uncertainties.  With all the uncontrollable in life, preparation, not planning, is the key to happiness.   Things rarely go to plan causing frustration.  But confidence in your preparation means fewer things to worry about.

“Planning leads to awareness. Preparation leads to readiness.”

Both have their place, but as I age and accept all the uncertainties that life offers, preparation leads to better outcomes.  We don't have the control over events that we may want.  We never well.  It's not that planning is unimportant.  But preparation is more important.

Bellingham Delivery Trip

 

Cambria is getting a new top.  It's long over due.  Well beyond its useful life, the aging sunbrella and cracked windows will be retired and give way to a slightly redesigned model.  The objective is to have move a little more to a permanent top with solar on top.  The current canvas has an athwartship (yeah, it's a word) zipper that allows for the aft portion to be taken down in good weather.  The forward portion can also be rolled up to totally open the cockpit.  Great.  In theory.

First off, the weather is seldom good when we're on the boat.  If it's July or August, we're likely to be backpacking or hiking in the mountains.  The boat, for us, has become an off season haven.  And when it's good weather, I'm bald and fair skinned.  I get sunburned looking at tropical commercials on TV.

The top hasn't been down in years.  We often remove the side curtains, but whether for sun protection, shedding rain, or retaining heat in the winter the top always is up.  I debated a permanent top, but a friend walked me through the steps and cost of fabricating one and it was above my comfort level with expense.   There are no straight lines and even the cost for a canvas top is astonishingly high (I got 3 bids, all within the same general number).

So this will be a semi permanent top, with removeable side curtains.  It'll have 2 longitudinal zippers to peel back a portion during hot weather to get airflow (that feature is used often) and I'm hoping to augment my current solar array with flexible panels on top.  

With the recent addition of 'starlink' Cambria has become a nice off the grid aquatic home with the ability to be fully on line anywhere between here and Alaska.  The new top will enhance comfort in less than ideal situations.

I'm also putting in zippers in the aft window to allow for full rotation of the winch handles.  This will allow for fully enclosed sailing.   

But first I needed to get the boat up to Bellingham where Greg and team, at Oyster Creek Canvas will design and build the top.  

Leigh was kind enough to give me, my bike and gear a lift to the boat before she departed the following morning to visit her father in Spokane.  We had a nice outdoor dinner at sunset (will this summer ever end?? It's mid-October!)

Sleeping on the boat is heavenly.  Quiet, gentle movement of the water, it's wonderful.  I did wake up a few times reviewing my mental checklist as a got ready for a 70ish mile, 2 day, singlehanded journey from Seattle up to Bellingham.  I've done this trip a few times but more commonly run up and down from the islands.  I chose to run up the inside and go through the Swinomish Channel -- something I haven't done for over a decade.  

The currents were modest and little wind was in the forecast.  A simple dawn to dusk run up Puget Sound.

The never ending summer of '22 is paired with wildfires and the smoke this weekend was visible all day.  The dirty orange sun rose after I had gotten underway.

I rarely watch football anymore, but between starlink and streaming services, watching college ball while underway is a nice diversion.  Above is was the Iowa Texas game and below dishy is angled north retrieving a signal.  The wonders of technology never cease to amaze.   My mind roams back nearly a half century earlier when I took a 29 foot boat up to Alaska with no electronics at all.  Not even a depth finder as we had a lead line.  Now I can do zoom calls from the boat.  

Below was typical of most of the day.  No boats (except for fishermen off Shilshole and especially Edmonds.   Off Edmonds I counted 40 small fish boats with a quick sweep of the binoculars.  The day was calm, quiet, with a faint haze from the smoke.

The Swinomish Channel is a dredged channel connecting the upper end of Saratoga passage with Fidalgo Bay, entirely avoiding exposure to Rosario Strait.  It's a nice comfortable alternative to the sometimes raucous nature of Rosario.  It's narrow but well marked.  You do need to pay attention.  I'm hoping that the boat below isn't the old 'Roanoke'.  It kinda looked like her but I didn't see a name on it.  The Roanoke was a platform used by Al Cummings and Jo Baily-Cummings for their 'Gunkholing' books on cruising the Pacific Northwest.  Both have since past, but between her curiosity and enthusiasm and his folksy nature (Al was a radio personality in Seattle for years) their 'Gunkholing' books still make for good reading on where to cruise.  And, perhaps more importantly, why.

If it is the old Roanoke it'd be a sad last chapter in that boat's history.

Below is a shot from the channel

After getting underway just before sunrise, I was tying up just before sunset.  Cap Sante marina is pretty nice and I'm hoping that after being on the wait list for 3 or so years I'll finally be able to move Cambria north permanently.