2017.2.25. Angora Peak

2/25 Saturday. Fog in the morning. 11 of us + 1 birthday dog met at Sunset TC at 8am. After 2 stops, we started hiking around 10am. Almost blue sky when we started, but soon we walked into the clouds and onto snow. Snow was powdery, and making everything pretty. However, more often than I'd like, snow on branches fell onto me, some times straight down my neck.

After half an hour on the logging road, open vista due to trees were logged, we met up with 2 others in the group who live in Seaside. These two and a couple of us was here just 2 weeks ago. No snow then. The higher you are, more coast line you see, beyond Nehalem Bay to the south, and Ecola to the north. Another half an hour later, we headed into the woods. Stopped briefly at this hut (there's a couple of plank inside, low, but above ground.

Eventually, no more roads or trail. We headed up, a bit of bushwhacking. The old timer saved their track on GPS, so we were able to (slightly different route) to reach the top. Rock top just large enough to fit all of us. It's facing east, overlooking a thick soup of clouds! On a clear day (for example 2 weeks ago), you could see Rainier, St Helens, and Adams!

On the way back, we side tracked to a bluff. It was below the clouds, so very good view. Plus lots of green moss on the ground, adding color to this almost black and white day. Yes, minor scrambling is involved. Not too bad, just a little slippery today.

According to Craig, the organizer, we hiked about 9 miles, ~2800' ascent. We hit snow at ~850' and ran into about 6 inches of snow around the peak (~2800'). According to Sullivan, it's 6 miles, 1750'.

2017.2.22. Jeff Garmire Speaks at Lucky Lab

2/22. Wednesday evening. Jeff Garmire talked about his 2016 Calendar Triple Crown hike at Lucky Lab pub on Quimby, organized by Mt. St. Helens Institute. He's the 5th person who completed this feat. Even though I don't understand what's the point of hiking AT in Feb-March, rushing through Sierra in May, this is still an amazing achievement. He's young, looks very normal, sounds quite humble for his age. He said the base weight of his pack is 11-18 lb, depending on the season (what type of winter gears to carry). This sounds quite sane. I enjoyed the talk.

He walked on average 30+ miles/day for 252 days (including transit between the hikes). Longest day: 52 miles. Showed less than 30 times.

2017.2.19. Easy Waterfalls along Snoqualmie River

2/19, Sunday. Not as rainy as yesterday. Planned to snowshoe east of the pass, but the mist turned into heavy rain around Snoqualmie Pass. Stopped at Snoqualmie Falls, and Twin Falls instead. Waterfalls in winter and spring is always better than the drier season.

Puget Sound Energy has reinforced the trail down to Snoqualmie Falls. Now a locked gate prevented you from going closer, a pity. They did some art work using old turbine, and displays of a Snoqualmie tribal story of Moon.

Twin Falls state park is an easy outing. However, on this rainy day, it's very muddy. Went on two short side tracks (off trail scrambling) to get better views of the upper cascades and the lower falls. The lower falls is very pretty. Surprisingly, not rainy much here. Quite a few hikers, well, on established trail only. These falls are on South Fork Snoqualmie River. So the water here will eventually run over the generators at Snoqualmie Falls.

2017.2.18. Seattle Symphony with Joshua Bell

2017.2.18. A Slavic concert at Benaroya Hall, Conducted by Ludovic Morlot.

Bedřich Smetana           Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky  Violin Concerto, with Joshua Bell
Antonín Dvořák            Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

Excellent concert. Sold out. However, I found Bell a bit of a showoff. He's obviously talented. He plays a Stradivarius, which costed him a little under $4M.

Funny that on Boltbus back to Portland, I met a lady who went to the same concert.

2017.2.12. Angle's Point

2/12, Sunday. Less sunny, windy. Hiked the short yet rewarding Angel's Rest
On the way, there's a side trail to see a small waterfall. The real appeal is of course the very top. Large rocky crop. Great view upstream but especially downstream of Columbia River. Cannot see Mt Saint Helens though. Almost no people. It's so windy that I couldn't keep steady while taking a photo. Like everyone else, found a rock on the back side to have lunch.

2017.2.11. Neahkahnie Mt and Hug Point

1/11. A rare sunny weekend day after a week of rain. Went to the coast for Neakhahnie Mt north of the town Manzanita. On the way, parked at the big lot of Oswald West State Park and hiked along Short Sandy Creek to the beach. Not the prettiest. Saw one lady in wetsuit with her surf board.

Hiked up to Neahkahnie Mt from the north end, by hwy-101. A couple of down tree, one of them is right on a turn. About 6 of us continued forward, oblivious that we have gotten off track. We followed the ever faint track. Eventually decided to scramble up. Got somewhat muddy and scratchy. The top of the mountain is truly rewarding for the short hike, including the scramble. The view south to Nehalem Bay, Nehalem River and multiple headlands is wonderful.

Back at the car park, we hiked down to the cliff of Treasure Cove. Not bad.

Drove north to Hug Point for sunset. Beautiful beach. A few rocks sitting in shallow pools now glowing orange, dark reflections. Not many birds. If you don't mind getting your feet wet, you can walk north to another lovely beach. Saw a pregnant young lady in thin white flowing dress for photo shoots. I feel cold for her. More are cameras on tripods and men with heavy coat waiting patiently. There's a small waterfall onto the beach, which you can easily climb to the top where the little creek is. The water tumbles down in flickering colors under sunset.