Mount Burroughs and some clouds

The latest excursion in our summer of hiking and camping was Mount Rainier, on the one cloudy weekend of August. It was just an overnighter, so we threw our gear in Chippy and headed up to White River campground, below Sunrise.

The first part of the walk took us up along the river – with occasional glimpses of the Emmons Glacier (above) but never more than a hint of Mount Rainier itself. We then came out into subalpine meadows, and almost simultaneously hit the cloud level…

It was a lovely, lonely hike up this south-facing slope of Mount Burroughs. We can only imagine how pretty it would have been in the sun.

The summit was bleak – no vegetation, no people, no sun, no sky. There was a stone bench and some chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, though. Good thinking, Ms Watts!

 

And pine cones!

As you can see from the background, the cloud was getting thicker. The inevitable finally happened and the last four miles of our ten mile walk were conducted in rain. As were the next four hours of camping and cooking at the campground. And the eight hours sleeping overnight, and all but the last ten minutes of our stay.

Still it was a great mini-break and now I want to go back when the view’s out!

A couple of stories I wrote

Just wanted to update you with a couple of features that have just gone live. The first is my epic fMRI lie detection feature for IEEE Spectrum. I’m really happy with this, not just because it’s my first full-length article for a US outlet but because it’s been really well edited and presented – and it’s the cover story of the whole mag! It’s quite techy but I hope you like it.

Two other super-stories today from The Sunday Times yesterday. The first is a piece on The Gates Foundation’s quest for a superfood for the Green Business pages. It didn’t quite come out the way I expected and I had lots more info on other aspects of the Foundation but overall it’s a good read.

And then I also had the cover story in InGear on the world’s best roads for supercars. Cheesy and slightly politically incorrect, but perhaps a welcome break from the worthy stories above!

Port Ludlow posse

Does anyone remember the slightly bumpy trip on the seaplane right before our weddding? Now was our chance to leave more at Port Ludlow than our regurgitated breakfasts, as Alison, Hart, Kurt and Ginger had organised a mini break at the small town.

Karen and I dropped in straight after our Flapjack hike. Trust Kurt to find some DIY to do even in a holiday home!

I like Hart’s attitude a little better.

 

The next day, we drove up to Fort Warden at Port Townsend, a charmingly decommissioned Army base. Here are Hart and Alison’s kids, Anna and Dash.

And a photo just for Dad. Kurt loved this too – he made us stop as two different self-saucing hot dog mascots just to get the perfect angle on the flag.

Flapjack Lake Day 2 (pm)

Here it is – we camped up just behind that swimming rock in the distance, pitched our tent, put food on the bear wire and got straight back on the trail towards that sawtooth ridge in the not-so-far distance.

It was another slog up through trees but then an incredible payoff. A hidden alpine valley just shaking off the last of the winter’s snow.

The wildflowers were in full bloom, streams were bouncing down the  slopes and the buzz of bees was everywhere.

But this is far as we would get – still too snowy, and too much chance of losing the trail or getting caught in a ‘slushalanche’

Back to Flapjack for a *very* brief dip in its glacial waters and then some well-deserved basking on the lakeside rocks. Bonus – no mosquitoes!

 

Here’s our camp. A nice secluded spot near the lake.

And to round the evening off, pasta a la Mark (nasty dried tortellini  with a home-made sun-dried tomato and mushroom sauce).

And just one more picture from the long walk down the next morning : a splendidly gratuitous slow-shutter waterfall shot.

Flapjack Lake Day 2 (am)

The next morning, we were up and out early to beat the mossies. The walk up to our first destination of the day – Black & White Lakes (yes, named after the whisky – long story), was incredibly steep.

But once we broke through to the alpine zone (at about 4000 feet), the scenery opened up and we found ourselves in bright sunshine and a swathe of wildflowers – here’s an avalanche lily (and Karen).

The views from the highest point were stunning.

But not as tempting the lakes themselves – we had a lovely long swim here and then had lunch enjoying the view.

It was then a roller-coastery walk across to our campsite for night two at Flapjack Lake itself…

Flapjack Lake Day 1

Last weekend, we packed our bag, squeezed dry pasta into Ziplock bags and headed out to the Olympics National Park for a three-day, two-night backpack trip. Here’s Karen looking fresh (but rather overloaded).

Honestly, there was just as much stuff in my pack – it’s the angle or me being tall or something!

We camped the first night at Big Log campsite by the North Fork of the Skokomish. We had the entire campsite to ourselves, with exception of about a million mosquitoes! Still, I couldn’t help feeling at one with nature.

The Olympics are truly an amazing place – so beautiful and calm. No cars, not even any planes that fly over. We went a full 24 hours without seeing anyone else…