2026.6.21. Teneriffe by bus

6/21, Saturday. I have Saturday morning open, decided to take the Trailhead Direct bus to Teneriffe. 3 got on the first bus (not full) ~7:50am. The bus wastes quite some time because it now detours to South Bellevue P&R (new Lightrail station), instead of a quick I-90's Eastgate freeway stop.

It's dry this year. I'm not surprised that the water level of Teneriffe Falls is low. Due to time constraint, I didn't stop here, other than snapping a photo.

The Kamikaze Trail is more defined now - this is what I always take. I don't see why anyone would take the trail to Teneriffe described on WTA's website. No view, steep, but because it's steep, somewhat engaging, not as boring as the regular trail. Here's where you finally get out of the trees and reach the top rock section.

5 minutes later, you are on the summit. Today, I might be the first person here, because I didn't encounter anyone since leaving Teneriffe Falls. Not bad. 3900', ~2 hour 45 minutes. I took off my boots to dry the sweating feet, ate my sandwich, and enjoy the solitude. Hoping the clouds would lift more before I needed to head down. 5 minutes later, a hiker showed up, and asked me to take a photo of him.

I left ~11:20am, went straight down to the parking lot. Met a few hikers along the way. Practically running on the flat part of the trail. I arrived a couple of minutes before the schedule. The parking lot was hot and sunny. One guy was waiting behind the TH signage board for shade. I inquired about the bus. He said he missed the last one. But the next one should be coming soon. It arrived ~5 minutes past schedule. Better than I expect.

The bus made all the scheduled stops, most of them with no one getting onboard or off. I continued on the bus to Capital Hill, and surprised to see that the bus made all the bus stops not even on Trailhead Direct's brochure. I got off at Broadway + Pike. Perfect. Only a block to my destination, with extra time to clean myself up in the restroom.

2026.6.7. Kachess Ridge - French Cabin - Silver Creek loop

6/7, Sunday. I vetoed O.K.'s suggestion of Zekes Peak as a day hike, on the ground of too much bushwhacking, especially after the rain. I suggested this ~15 mile loop by Kachess Lake. A similar distance to drive (~80 min). It has many peaks, all new to her, so she's happy to bag these. We left home shortly after 6am. There were already 3-4 cars at the TH, only ~7:30am.

First is Mt Baldy, which is a 0.9 mile (1-way) detour (on Domerie Peak Trail) from the main loop. Last time I did this was with V.I., a common friend of ours who perished last May in a climbing accident. We started in dry weather. However, due to the rain yesterday, the bushes were very wet. My pant legs got so wet, that the water was dripping down to my shoes. Then we walked into clouds. Despite of the "most sunny" forecast, it drizzled, and then it snowed. See the frozen trees here on the summit. Thankfully, we both packed rain jackets.

Back to Tara Point, continued north in the fog along Domerie Peaks trail towards Thomas Mountain. It's just a bump on the ridge, all in trees. No view. Further north, the trail deteriated. Very steep at a couple of places, so slow going. Saw a group of young runners coming the opposite direction. Saw a stretch of burnt trees too.

By 1pm, the clouds finally dissipated. However, the ridge is mostly in trees, once awhile on open edge for a good view of Cle Elum Lake. Peak 5049, Peak 5282 have better views to east. On these baldy slopes, quite some flowers.

At the very north end of the loop, we took a short spur to bag French Cabin South Peak. The two of us couldn't decide where is the "peak". All treed, not worth going. On the way, a nice flat meadow, and some glacier lilies. I refused to continue north to the north peak, as it a bit too much out of the way. Took me some effort to convince O.K. to abandon that peak.

We returned to the junction with Silver Creek Tie Trail, and took that to the west. The next peak, French Kiss, is a worthy stop, right by the trail. Open, good view. Plenty ridge to ramble. Easy. Saw another small group on the next bump.

Silver Creek Tie trail goes below French Cabin West Peak (5528'), where O.K. veered off to climb. I found a log and took a break. Took my shoes off, ate another bar, ... Eventually got bored, and went around checking out how the climb would go. Ended up scrambling all the way to the summit. On the way met O.K. on her way down. She waited for me. This is a real climb. Nothing dangerous though. Class 2-3. No real track, just use common sense.

Back on the main trail. Next junction, we turned south (left) onto Silver Creek Trail. This trail mostly followed the creek, even though the creek is not always visible. No views, saw many trilliums, some oregon anenome.

By the time we got back to the car, it was past 6pm. Probably 15-16 miles, 5000'. I drove home. Made noodle for dinner (continue the birthday theme).

2026.6.6. Seattle International Dances Festival

This weekend, my peak-bagging friend O.K. wanted to climb a few peaks in the Teanaways with me to celebrate her birthday. Due to the windy and wet weather forecast for Saturday, she opted for a day hike on Sunday. When she arrived ~2pm, and me with 4 little cakes for her birthday, it turns out that her birthday was quite a few days ago. For entertainment without climbing, I got tickets to 2 events, one at 5pm, one at 8pm.

First we went to Seattle Center to see the Philipine Festival (part of an ongoing Festal weekend series at Seattle Center). I always like colorful costumes.

Saturday turned out to be a fairly nice day, at least in Seattle. Not much rain. 5pm, we walked to Art Love Salon for a talk on Beethoven's 9th Symphony by Kunal Taravade. I really enjoyed it. Taravade is not even in music industry. He uses images and videos to talk about music. Dissecting the aspiration and structure of the 4 movements of this symphony: breaking new grounds. Before the lecture, there was even a small reception. So, dinner was taken care of.

8pm Opening night of the 2026 Seattle International Dance Festival. I've heard of this festival, but today is the first time I attended a performance. This event is organized by Cyrus Khambatta, artistic director and founder of the 6 dancer company Khambatta Dance. This is a week-long event with 2 weekends. Many local small dance groups, and some come far away.
The first work tonight is by Khambatta Dance, titled "404 - Human not found". According to Cyrus, the speech used in the dance is generated by AI. An AI robot dances with human. She's later replaced by a better model.
Second work is a 2-dancer work presented by a Korean group, MYOWNMOVE, titled "Constructed Selves". A strange piece. These two acted like with broken limbs, one dancer uses the other's limb for his/her pose. Interesting.
The last piece is a short work combining the two companies in a new choreography.
I enjoyed these dances. Afterwards, 2 dancers and the choreographers of of each team sat on stage for an Q&A. Needed an interpreter.

2026.6.6. The Great Seattle Fire

6/6 Saturday. 10am, I joined a Seattle history field trip at 1st and Madison, guided by 2 enthusiastic amature historians. In 1889, on the very same day at the same spot, in the ink shop below, the Great Seattle Fire started. We walked to Pioneer Square as the fire progressed. Learned how the city was and how it changed. These 2 guys know a lot.

Some reference given:

• Short Youtube video: https://youtu.be/xtgIu9FOoD8?si=ny6uG5pyVNdqikI2
• New perspective https://issuu.com/kevinmax1/docs/1889_aprilmay2019/s/92388
• City of Seattle Source Documents https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/the-great-seattle-fire-of-1889

Continued on the same theme. Today MOHAI is hosting a fire day. A bunch of fire trucks are here, where you can check out, and climb onto the driver seat. They have really long flash lights (now you can call these torches), carry power generators.

I visited Virginia V, the historical ferry boat (June, 1922, part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet). You can pipe lake water out of a hose. A nice day on the water.

2026.6.3. Westin Run club + Chief Sealth High School Orchestra & Choir

6/3 Wednesday 6:30am. Global Running Day at Westin Seattle. I wasno't even aware of a global running day (first Wednesday in June), but I'm aware of the run every Wednesday at Westin. I'm waking up early these days due to jet lag. Decided to join the run. Today, the route goes to Olympic Sculpture Park, right by this new installation of Aiweiwei's Zodiac. After the run, there's a table of snacks and T-shirt set in the hotel lobby. Even got a large water bottle. Some random hotel guests came by and partook the freebies.

At 7:30pm, went to a community concert, where Chief Sealth High School Orchestra played side by side with Seattle Symphony. The school choir was also on stage. Program is gone from Seattle Symphony's website. Here it is:

Antonio Vivaldi           Concerto for twi Chellos in G minor
                          -- Chief Sealth High School Orchestra
Alan Menkin &             "Colors of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahantas
Stephen Schwartz          -- Chief Sealth High School Orchestra
Stephen Schwartz          When You Believe
/arr. Aubrey Snyder       -- Chief Sealth High School Orchestra & Choir
& John Moss
Aaron Copland             El Salon Mexico
                          --Seattle Symphony
Jimmy López               Aino
                          -- Seattle Symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich.      Festive Overture, Op 96
                          -- Seattle Symphony
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky  Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker Suite
                          -- Chief Sealth High School Orchestra
                          -- Seattle Symphony