Thursday, July 17, 2025

2025.7.17. Sea You At the Waterfront

7/17, Thursday. Seattle Aquarium hosts a booth at Pier 62 for Sea You At The Waterfront, quite a few days this summer. I stopped by this Thursday to check out what is it about. 2-3 (very) young employees, showing anyone who's interested to pop in. 2 bottles with different mesh in the water to fetch sample. Squeeze a few drop of that water on a plate to view plankton at a nice compact microscope. Saw many chains of diatons. One jelly fish like little bubble, who moves around. All displayed on the flat screen monitor, which is nice and easy to see, but too dim to show up on my photo. One unexpected obstacle is wind, which blows the water away from the focus area.

This same evening, Glazier's had an open house for the Analog Week. This lady proudly showed up her collection of miniature cameras. One (top left) can take 4 sequential shots. I was surprised to see a large turn out: so many people are still taking film photos.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

2025.7.15. "Mandela in Seattle" exhibit at MOHAI

7/15 Thursday, 6-9pm, in conjunction with the new Mandela exhibition, This event not only allows attendees to view the exhibition for free, but more notably are the 2 speakers of tonight. This one was instrumental in bringing Mandela to Seattle. He had some anecdotes of how they raised $15M each from McCall and Gates.

The exhibition has quite many artifacts of Mandela and footages and newspapers of the time. I also briefly walked by some other exhibits on the 2nd floor, and found this photo amusing.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

2025.7.10. The Bight - adventure story series at Feathered Friends

7/10, 6-7:30pm. The Bight adventure story series #2: Backpacking.
  • how to pack ice cream for a day:
    1. high fat content ice cream;
    2. pack full in thermos wrapped in down sleeping bag.
  • backpacking in San Juan islands via ferry:
    1. better with ebike!
    2. hiker/biker camps are always available;
    3. racoons will rip your gear in order to reach your food;
    4. ferry for foot passenger is mostly free, can wait out bad weather inside
  • don't be afraid of bear: the chances of being killed by one is rare. Only statistics, no useful tips
  • PCT southbound (July-Nov):
    1. buggy in WA in July; far from town for resupply in WA;
    2. Frogg Toggs ultralite2 waterproof rain suit set (I immediately bought one);
    3. lasting friendship;
    4. lots of cheetos and junk food
I did go to May 1st's Bight's first story night on spring skiing. It was excellent too. Looking forward to the next.

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

2025.7.9. Seattle Chamber Music Festival

Summer Festival of Seattle Chamber Music Society. Lecture by Lydia Goehr, titled “Listening Out of the Box; Chamber Music and Furniture Art”. Good speaker. However, the 2 examples of "thinking out of the box" were badly presented. She mentioned of a lecture yesterday, not sure what it was. Overall, a very good lecture, made me think of chamber music is a product in conjunction of a chamber. Acoustics of material and space was not discussed. I'm looking forward to the next lecture.

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

2025.7.8. Amazon stairs have new designs + new flower

Two new paintings on Amazon's stairs, signed by the same artist.

Heard this rare bloom on Seattle Now, I walked around the Sphere 2 weeks ago in search of this Rhodoleia parvipetala, a brush native to Vietnamese mountains. It looks a bit like camelia. In the vicinity, I also found pineapple guava, Chinese fairy bell, Japanese Mahonia, and Chilian Pichi.

Sunday, July 06, 2025

2025.7.4-6. Lyman Lake - Spider Gap loop

Spider Meadow is my first ever backpacking overnight, in 2006. That's what got me into backpacking, what I considered my only passion. Early July is too early for the peek bloom for flowers, but we also hope not peek for mosquitoes!

7/4, Friday. Driving 3+ hours to Phelps Creek TH. The last 3 miles from Buck Pass TH is much better. The rest of the road is not any better than before, as the recent trip reports indicated. Very dusty. Parked on the right (east) side of the road - which turns out to be a good choice if you hike out in the morning (still in the shade).

Ate a sandwich before hiking out. Sprayed permetherin head to toe. 72°C, sunny. Rain is in forecast this evening.

Many creek crossings, most are easy, some needs care.
Queen's Cup, Velarian, Long Bluebell, Meadow Rue, strawberry and thimbleberry are prolific along the forested trail. Saw only 1 or 2 tiger lily by the trail, a few more along the road. Many butterflies. 2 kinds: white with red dots, and brown.

By the time we arrived at Spider Meadow, the sky was overcast. Still, this view made my heart sing, even though this is my 4th time here. Maybe I'll scatter my ashes here some day. Lots of campers here already. Climbed up a big boulder at the beginning of the meadow for a break. Flowers is best 5 minutes north now. Maybe 10 days too early. Most prominent is bluebells. Paintbrush, jacob's ladder, very few lupine and columbine Continued north crossing the meadow. I found 2 good tent sites at the north end, more secluded.

At the next trail junction, turn right onto Phelps Basin - another beautiful circle of towers. My 3rd time camping here. There's a good camp site already taken by a ranger. We crossed Phelps Creek by this site. Had to take off hiking boots and roll up pant legs. Pitched the tent at the other viable site at the lower basin. Here's a photo of Sunday morning, when the sky is bluer.

After setting up the camp, walked a bit north to the heather fields. The pink ones are blooming very well, interspersed by anemone's seed heads. There are also quite some Crusick's speedwell, Thompson's paintbrush or western paintbrush, a few shooting stars, Lace fern,

Dark clouds were getting lower. A bit windy, no mosquito problem. After cooking dinner, we crawled into bed.

7/5, Saturday. Up at 6am. Repacked for the day. I stored food in this odor-proof bag, and laid on a patch of snow. Crossed the creek and back to the trail junction. The ranger asked if we wanted her tent site, as she was leaving, after 3 nights here. She informed us that mosquitoes are pretty bad in Lyman Lakes basin.

Headed towards Spider Gap. The first mile or so to "Larch Knob" camp is on a drier (south facing) slope. A lot of flowers here. Looking down to Spider Meadow is also very nice. Larch Knob camp has a couple of sites, good view. A little creek between the camp and a rock wall. This photo is taken by the wall.

Continued up to Spider Gap. Shortly above Larch Knob, snow is solid. Very good sticky condition, now slushy or icy. Micro-spikes are perfect. At the upper section, just below Spider Gap, there's an easy ramp to the right ridge, with minimal extra elevation gain. Great view of Phelps Basin below and the peaks to the east.

At the gap proper, Lyman Lake basin below looks so inviting. Here, to the right, we can see a track through the snow and rock, conincide with the Spider Gap high route. An early lunch break. Mosquitoes were annoying from now on, if you stop. Put on head net.

Glissaded down the upper steeper part. Lots of red algea on the snow, so much so that I thought we cut ourselves. At the bottom of the snow field, followed the trail east of the first Lyman Lake. A lot of heather flowering, all 3 kinds: pink, cream, white. Started to see larches. Met 2 ladies with empty overnight packs going the opposite direction: towards Spider Gap. They inquired about the snow condition. They came from Suiattle River TH west of here (off Hwy 530, north of Darrington).

Continued north to the Upper Lyman camp. On the way, saw many marsh marygold, a few shooting stars. More larches. Saw a tent with 2 chairs. Great location. The lake here is small, more like a swelled river. Still glacial blue. Very pretty. Ate the rest of lunch here. Quiet and no one else.

The next ~3 hours are an adventure. Spent some time looking for trail 1256.4 marked on Gaia GPS map, which I'll reference this here as Spider Gap high route. Couldn't find any trail. I followed this virtual track over the grassy area east of Upper Lyman camp.
Scrambled up a verticle wall, via some trees. At some point, I had to crawl over some tree branches. I came out of here on to a plateau. Took this photo, in case I need to retrace my way back. I marked in green on the map. After this initial scramble, it's a gentle slope with trees and grass. Then the 2nd scramble, I stayed between this talus field and vegetation. Also marked green. The pink on the picture is more or less where I went.

Once on the ridge, it's more or less flat. Less snow as I went south. I saw faint track from time to time, and deer prints. View is excellent to both directions. Many larches. Some mosquitoes.

The south 1/3 of this "high route" is traversing a large talus slope west of the ridge. I wish I brought my helmet. Once awhile I found some track, and followed it for 2 minutes, and then it disappeared to some steep rock scramble. It happened more than once.
I stayed mostly at 7000', a little lower than what's indicated on the map. The view west to Lyman Lakes is nice. Near Spider Gap itself, I found the clear track which I saw when I went down Spider Gap on snow. Saw people on the snow up and down the gap. I connected to the main track just below the Gap.

Saw a ptarmigan. The 2.2 mile 1256.4 high route took me 3 hours. The rest is straight forward.

Back to camp ~5:30pm. The site where the ranger was is now occupied. The snow patch where I laid my food had completely disappeared. Cooked dinner. Waiting for sunset for hours, but no color. Our basin has high ridges both east and west, blocking sunrise and sunset. Stars were not very good at night. The sky wasn't dark, could see the surrounding without flash light. A bit windy at night. Only saw 1 mosquito.

7/6, Sunday. Up before 6am. Walked up to the heather field for photos. Cooked breakfast. Packed up.

Reached TH around 11:40am. 40 min delay from Gold Bar to Sultan. Otherwise, smooth sailing.

During the scramble on Saturday, my pants were torn apart :) I had to wrap my fleece around my waist when I took the train home. A lesson: hiking clothing needs elasticity!

Armed with bug spray and bug net, I didn't get a single mosquito bite. Despite of loosing my beloved umbrella, and ripped pants, I call it a success.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

2025.6.29. Pride Parade

Seattle's Pride Parade is always fun to watch. A lot of groups. A lot of colors. A lot of flags and balloons. A lot of noise. All sorts of people. Some in wheelchairs. Everyone is happy.

The parade started at 11am, and we went ~1pm near the finish line. Stayed until 3pm, and it wasn't done. Mexican consulate has the best costumes. Quite a few small marching bands, dancing groups. We were just commenting on not many Asians, there came a Taiwanese group with a sign "first Asian country to legalize same sex marriage". A group of naked people near the end, some with both male and female physical distinctions. One teenage girl proudly walking topless without breasts. A large group of people in husky head and paws. Must be hot in today's weather.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

2025.6.28. Iron Peak via Beverley Creek

6/28, Saturday. I signed up this WNPS field trip. 4 of us from Seattle, 1 from Bellevue who met us at the TH. One of us is 78 year old! She's in great shape, looks a lot younger. All of them are more knowledgeable than me. I learned a lot, also confirmed some flowers that I guessed 2 weeks ago on Earl Peak.

We started from the same Beverley Turnpike TH, wooded habitat. After ~0.5 mile, at the first junction, turn left following Beverley Creek. Some of us were delighted to see quite many white flowering rhododendrons.

Another half a mile later, we enter a meadow filled with scarlet gilia and buckwheat. I've never seen this much scarlet gilia before. We spent quite some time in this area. Some rare plants that are only found in the serpertine soil: Wenatchee paintbrush, Thompson's pincushion, lace fern and Shasta fern.

The trail goes through the meadow, steadily gaining elevation, away from the creek. More and more rocky, until going through a large scree field. The scree is not barren. A lot of Shasta fern. Richard, the hiker leader, scrambled up, looking for alpine collomia. We all started searching. I was the lucky one who spotted the lone plant.

Another trail junction. We turned left, crossed the thin creek again. More trees here. There's a camp site next to the water, where we made a snack break. The next 0.7 miles has many shooting stars, some bog orchid, some columbine (in different shades of red), some white rhodies.

The next trail junction, we took the left fork towards Eldorado Pass. Now dry and rocky. Wenatchee Lomatium, Shasta Buckwheat (new to me), bright rock penstemon, lupines of various shades (from yellow to scarlet), Anemone drummondi, phlox. The view is getting better as we approach the pass. Stuart is looming in front. Rocks here are yellow and red.

From here, turn south along a gentle ridge to the Iron Peak. 0.7 miles. Sand and rocks, reddish brown. May have iron. One of the highlights here is alpine Claytonia on the highest ridge. There are also a few Whitney's milk vetch, still in flower. Lots of white daisy, buckwheat, Thompson's Cryptantha (endemic). Lady bugs.

Had another food break on the summit ridge. It's so flat, not sure which rock is the highest. Very good view all around.

We walked down together happily. Didn't find another collombia on the way back, nor the one we saw earlier.

I was dropped off in downtown.