2025.8.28. The Play that Goes Wrong at Seattle Rep

8/28, Thursday. I went to watch The Play That Goes Wrong at Seattle Rep, on its first preview day.

This is a laugh-out-loud funny comedy, by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields & Jonathan Sayer (the 3 founders of Mischief Theatre). This production is co-produced with Portland Center Stage, which I also liked.

The plot is simple. It's the opening night of the Cornley Drama Society’s production of The Murder at Haversham Manor, mishaps are causing mayhem on stage: props falling down, elevator malfunctioning, flight between the 2 female members. They still proceed with the show until its end.

2025.8.23. Kite Festival at Long Beach

Super hot weekend. We decided to go to the Long Beach for WA International Kite Festival on Saturday, still debating if we'd camp somewhere due to the long drive. Went to the same festival in 2009 and loved it then.

8/23, Saturday. Made a lunch stop off Raymond by Willapa River. Saw one after another fishing boats leaving the pier. Must be good fishing. However, their gears are more serious. From Raymond, it's quite scenic all the way to the coast.

The town of Long Beach was bustling. The kite festival is a week long event. Many teams were praticing their routines, carefully choreographed. 4 quadrons on the sand were fenced off for competition, demo and practice. We, the tourists, walk along the edges. The organizer was smart enough to leave a gap between each quardrons. Many more kites stay flying in the sky. We saw a few whales, one half guy only waist down, a large octopus, many butterflies and birds (including a large crane). All very colorful. The air is fresh, breezy and chill (not sure if it is even 70°F).

We saw 2 combats of box kites. The goal is to entangle others. Whoever remains in the sky is the winner. Maybe fun to do, not much fun to watch. The commentator is quite fun.

Then it's the demonstation. All the groups are fabulous. I especially love those large groups, this one with 12 people. I don't know how they avoid entangling their 12 kites.

The most impressive is this guy, one person flying 3 purple kites with long tails, all syncronized. Last time, we saw a deaf guy flew 3 black kites (no tails). It was very impressive. The most impressive group os TKL of 6 people. They did 2 demos. Both incredible. Won many applauses. Other wonderful groups that I got the names are: Quantum (4 kites), Sky Sisters (4 kites). This is really an exceptional show.

TKL finished the demo (or is this a competition?), at least for the day. Sunday is the last day of this festival.

At ~5pm, we left for Cape Disappointment state park. First, we parked at the boat launch lot and tried fishing off the pier. There's a fish cleaning sink and water hose. A lot of fish bones on the rocks below, attract a lot of sea birds. This family in the photo came to clean their catch: a large salmon. The dad told me where people are catching fish: over the jetty. So we headed there next.

So many people were trying to fish here. They all had long thick rods. The jetty is long, what this photo showed is only a small part. It requires some scramble to get to the water side. We tried our luck with fish and crab. Seems no one is catching anything now.

This is a good place to wait for sunset too. Good view. Groups of pelicans flew west from time to time, no idea from where they emerged. View of Oregon coastal mountains to the south. Jellyfish in the water.

Headed back after sunset. Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, which was just mud and marsh, now looked very pretty in the dying sunlight. A very long drive home.

2025.8.17. Grand Park from Lake Eleanor

8/17, Sunday. Still cloudy. Went to Grand Park via Lake Eleanor. Surprised to find a dozen cars parked on the road near the TH. Maybe folks want to access Mount Rainier without paying the entrance fee (or getting the timed entrance permit). Because 5 minutes from the TH, it's the national park boundary. The sign says: no fire, no pets, no bike. Plus an extra sign for "no pets".

It's an easy hike, only ~1 mile, 400' to the lake. Saw one tent. The lake is nothing special.

Better is yet ahead. More forest walk. 20 minutes later, reached a small meadow with a dried up pond.

Half an hour later, it's the south end of Grand Park. We proceeded a bit more into the park and found a great spot for lunch. Unfortunately, too cloudy to see Rainier. Of course, too late for flowers. Maybe mid July is the best time. Last time we where here were: 2008 and 2007. The Grand Park is large, maybe 1.5 miles in length 3/4 mile cross. Clumps of trees block the view for the whole area. May need to scramble up to Grand Park Peak to get the real sense of the grandeur.

I then proceed to walk around, off the trail, especially towards east where the flat plateau drops down steeply to Huckleberry Creek. The fun part is that there were so many grass hoppers, that each step kicked off a flurry of them jumping away from my feet. The flat park is not truely flat, a bit lumpy, some small ditches here and there.

Back on trail and hiked out. The small meadow at the north end of Grand Park has some gentium in good bloom.

An easy and relaxed hike. A bit too far to drive for such a short hike. Next time, I'll come in July for flowers, and maybe do the northern loop, check out Crescent Lake, Crescent Mt, Independence Ridge, Sluiskin Mt...

2025.8.16. Fort Nisqually + Westpoint waste water treatment

8/16, Saturday, overcast.

Waited at the Dupont City Hall parking lot for the Seattle History Field Trip meetup, as instructed 10 minutes before the Fort Nisqually tour by Dupont Historical Society at 10am. Another Seattle couple arrived. We all waited until 10am, still no sign of the Seattle group.

Walked on Sequalitchew Creek Trail for a few minutes across Center Drive to the 1843 Fort Nisqually site. There, a table covered by white cloth, laid with archeology magazines, stickers, surrounded by a few people. Carol Estep from Dupont Historical Society is leading the tour. Once a year the Dupont Historical Society opens the original Ft. Nisqually site here for a free guided tour.

What's disappointing is that there's no structure left at all. Just the site. It was moved here 10 years after Hudson's Bay Company builds Fort Nisqually in spring 1833, the first non-native settlement in Puget Sound area. There's a replica of the site with a couple of original buildings in Point Defiance Park. The photo to the right are the tombs found in the site and moved here.

It was Carol's historical photos and stories that made the place alive. She also told us something about the Dupond Company that owns all the surrounding land here. It started as a gun powder making enterprise, and any statics could be a disaster. So nothing metal was allowed, not even your belt.

Had to leave around 11:30 for the afternoon tour at Westpoint Waste Water Treatment Plant at Discovery Park. The closing down of I-5 north in downtown was causing havoc. By the time we arrived, it was almost 1:30! Thankfully the group was still in the classroom. 2 instructors and about 10 random people.

Everyone donned a hard hat, a reflective vest, and safty glasses, then we left the "education center". After going through the "intake" building, which smells quite bad, we went to the control center with many monitoring screens, matricis with historical data. 1 employee on duty. This guy in gray shirt is some kind of supervisor. He answered our questions.

Then we visited the pumps, the sediment tanks (half of those are being clean and reconstructed). Aeration ponds (with ducks), the solid waste room (not inside, only looking through dirty windows).

Last, the new room with battery banks, for emergency. Saw the 3 odor mitigation towers from the parking lot. The solid waste is actually packaged up for fertilizer. They have partnered with some agency to distribute this human waster fertilizer, but not widely available (not for retail).

It is a good tour. It's offered quite a few times every year. Highly recommend it. The main take away is that we can only put 4P (pee, poop, pewk, toilet paper) down to the toilet, nothing else.

2025.8.9-10. Granite + Trico from Robin Lakes

8/8, Friday. O.K. arrived very late. We plan to climb Granite and Trico above Robin Lakes. Heat is expected Sunday and Monday. At 6200', we hope it wouldn't be too hot at Robin. We decided not to camp without the tent fly, and no stove, to save weight. I took my Nemo this time.

8/9, Saturday. Left home around 5:50am, worried about the parking situation. The same TH parking is the start of many trails. A lot of people backpacking. When we arrived shortly before 8:30am, no proper spot. O.K. parked her car almost right in front of a trail!

The first 3 and some miles is flat, good surface in the trees, with occasional view of the river and river side camping spots: some occupied. Tall bush of huckleberry, some ripen, thimbleberry too. The best view is next to Hyas Lake.

The next mile is going up, util a junction. Continue straight for Deception Pass and onward to PCT or Jade Lake. Turn right to Robin Lakes (hiker only, no pack animal) and drop down to an easy creek crossing (good water source for now). The next mile gains a bit more than 1000'. Steep at times. Eventually, the view opens up. Excellent down to Hyas Lakes and across the valley.

We took a break on a big boulder by Tuck Lake. Ate half of my lunch. It's rather steep all around the lake (rocky). The obviously access to water near the trail is very shallow and full or debris. The lake is quite pretty, with its own island.

The next few minutes is very confusing. I always get lost here. Up and down the granite at the right side of the lake, on the way, going through some campsites. Eventually the trail becomes more obvious. Views across the valley (towards Daniel), and down to Tuck Lake.

Keep right as you go higher. In less than a mile from Tuck Lake, get to a granite area overlooking the south Robin Lake. Started seeing tents here and there. Dropping down towards the middle of the two lakes. We found a nice campsite in the trees near the drainage between the 2 lakes. However, this is no wilderness, it's a village, at least 20 more tents. Many tents on the meadow at the lake shore, killing all the grass and flowers in the process.

After setting up our tents, ate lunch, repacked, and headed towards Granite Mountain. Walked the ridge between the lakes On the way, great view of Robin Lakes below us. ~600' up, drop down to a saddle, and go up again, to a ridge. Great view. Follow it to the summit of Granite. All with clear and good trail to follow.

Here's O.K. on top of Granite. This very last rock requires a little care to get on, otherwise, all too easy. View is splendid from here. Glacier Peak to NE, many blue ponds below, and Lake Klonaqua. Only 3pm, and we continued to the South Peak of Granite. No more trail.

Back to the ridge. The SE of Granite is sheer drop. The ridge between Granite and Granite South is too bushy near Granite. We dropped low. I went a bit too low, and walked past this nice lake with only one tent. Much better than in the Robin Lakes area.

Mostly rock and boulder up to Granite South. I stayed closer to the ridge. Walked by a snow section, where I refilled my water bottle. Great view down to more lakes and Stuart. The sheer drop of the east side of Granite looks scary.

Back at camp. We both ate cold soaked dinner. On a hot day like that, it's perfect. Then we walked up to a boulder, waiting for sunset.

Warm night. Full moon. Without the fly, it was too bright to sleep.

8/10, Sunday. I was up at 5am, and woke OK up ~5:20am. With the full moon, didn't need to wait for the sun to rise. We headed out ~5:40am towards Trico Mountain. On the way, sun rise coated the mountains with red hue. Can see Rainier and Adams more clearly now, with color on. Again, there's a trail to follow. Pretty easy. Caltopo and Gaia labeled Trico on 2 different spots. They are close to each other, seems at the same elevation.

On a separate note, we walked by 3 ponds that are called Potholes, and 2 potholes yesterday below Granite South. The name intrigued me, so I looked it up. It's where dead ice was left behind by retreating glacier. Probabaly not the cleanest water source, since they usually don't and in-out flow. Bad stuff gets accumulated.

The morning excursion didn't take long. Back at camp, we ate breakfast while packing up. Another advantage of not bringing a tent, is that it's fast to setup and take down. No need to worry about condensation and later cleaning.

A little after 8:30am, we hiked down. Made a short break at Tuck Lake again. Saw a father and son fishing. Too mosquito-y for me. Back to TH a little after noon.

I drove back home, after a stop at Cle Elum Safeway for gas and bathroom. Arrived home ~5pm, 88°F, HOT. (Monday will be hotter!!!) O.K. continued south to her home.

12 miles RT and 3350' to camp at Robin Lakes. From the camp, ~2.8 miles RT 1450' to Granite + Granite S + 700' back, ~2.2 miles RT 600' to Trico + 100' back. Total 17 miles, 6200'.

2025.8.2-3, Fishing at Fisher Lake

I hurt my left foot last Monday on stairs, and it was swelling and blue. By Friday, swelling had subsided, but still a bit blue, so opt to Fisher Lake for an easy overnight. I figured I could handle 10 miles spread over 2 days.

8/2, Saturday. Left Seattle after lunch. Hwy-2 was a bit slow but not congested.

Tonga Ridge TH is over 4000', the car made all the elevation via a ~10 mile gravel road. The road surface isn't too bad, possible in a regular passenger car. There were already 8 cars parked there.

The trail goes up for a short while, and then on a rolling ridge in the trees. The first view is on a short spur to the north. Too cloudy today to see Glacier Peak. Met 2 parties of hikers coming out.

About 2 miles in, there's a side trail left going up to Mount Sawyer. It's 3/4 miles and 680' up to the summit. The trail is easy, very gradual after the initial 5 minutes. It zigzags over a huckleberry slope. The higher you are, the better view to the south: Mt Daniel and Hinman are the most. Met a couple hiking down. The last big is somewhat rocky, but the nicely made trail makes it very easy. There are 2 flat spots to pitch a tent. No 360° view. Walk around for views to different direction. A bit hazy today, especially to west and north. Otherwise, great view. Met the young couple who parked in front of us. Ate some huckleberry. Most need another 2 weeks to ripe.

Wasted a few minutes to look for a way down on the ridge. No track, too brushy. Took the same way down to the main Tonga Ridge trail. A nice slope filled with bracket fern and fireweed, then trees again. In less than a mile, walked into a huckleberry meadow. Here, you'd need a GPS map. Too many side trails, more than what's marked on my map.

After a few minutes, it's a steep uphill, which leads to another huckleberry meadow, mixed with some plants looking like waterlily. Must be swamppy a month earlier. By the time I was here, mosquitoes were on to me. It was already 7pm.

Then another uphill, before dropping down through woods to Fisher Lake. Very large, pretty. My partner had already secured a nice camp site, and was fishing when I arrived. A little buggy at this hour (7:30pm), no fish.

Repacked a day pack with food+water, fishing gear, headlamp. We headed further east for Semaphore Lake. We passed through 3 more camping parties. The next site is the best, large, good view of the lake. I went to take a photo of the lake, and one guy told me that they went to Semaphore Lakes earlier today: good fishing at lower lake, no fish at upper lake. The trail gets faint after the outlet of Fisher Lake. There are a couple of ribbons. We didn't have too much trouble finding the track (none on my map). It basically circle the bottom of Jumar Mountain.

The upper lake is also very pretty, quite big. It even has a small island. A tent on the island. A red inflatable at the far end of the lake. No more track to the lower lake. Probably need boulder hopping. My partner caught a cut throat trout, while I was washing nearby (it was muggy today). The guy on the boat rowed back to the island. I heard him saying good fishing at the other end. I didn't see any fish here. We put the fish in a plastic bag, and headed back. It was already 8:30pm, and getting dark.

Half way up, we lost the trail. With headlamp, we bushwacked maybe 10-15 minutes, got back to the trail right near the outlet. A short adventure.

Back at camp, I fried the fish in the newly purchased pan, while my partner took another swim. Only added salt. It was very good. What a splendid finish of a day.

Almost 10pm, when all is cleaned up. No more mosquitoes. I spent quite sometime trying to hang our food (together with the fish bones), without success. No loose rock, so I used a shoe. But no good tree limb for me to throw the rope without fear of getting my shoe stuck. Gave up. Star wasn't good, half moon, light beyond the ridge to the south. Warm night. Still air.

8/3, Sunday. Packing up a little after 8am. Sunny, more clouds. I forgot my earbud and hiked back to look for it. Didn't find it :( As we hiked out, the clouds got thicker and lower. No view, but much cooler than yesterday afternoon. Again, no wind. Met 3 parties coming in. The first couple had fishing gear.

56°F at the parking lot. 11am. Still got stuck in the Goldbar traffic. Not too bad: extra 35 minutes. The congestion started in Goldbar. While stuck in the queue, snapped a photo of this Haystack Company in Sultan. They sell antique and decoration. According to Google review, they also operates an Airbnb.

2025.7.31. US Navy ship tour

For 4 days (Thur-Sun), public was invited to the ship tour during the fleet-week, at US Coast Guard base at Pier 46. I walked from Bainbridge Island ferry south between 2 fences. It was about a mile south of Bainbridge Ferry. Even after I saw Pier 46 sign, the entrance was still farther south. A very large area.

The coast guard let us sit inside its helicopter. This one is based in North Bend (Coos Bay), OR. Many booths, encourage you to enlist, trying out rifles, ... Not a bad turnout. The tour of each ship needs to wait. They process us by batches. Photos are allowed only on deck.

USS Jack H Lucas, named after Jack H. Lucas, who served in the U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima and survived after jumping on to a grenade. The ship was built in Mississippi, and was commissioned in 2023. Based in San Diego. The ship is 509 feet in length and has a crew of 359 enlisted Sailors, 27 Chief Petty Officers and 41 officers. The USS Jack H. Lucas is the Navy’s first Flight 3 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.

USS Somerset (Wikipedia), named for Somerset County, in honor of the 40 passengers and crew who gave their lives on United Airlines Flight 93 at 911, whose names are engraved on the ship. The ship is 684 feet in length and has a crew of 699 Sailors. It is an San_Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. 2 helicopters on deck, one is manned by 4 guys, one by 2 (one lady). Many trucks in its bowel, a canon too.

Overall, it was interesting. While I was touring USS Somerset, Blue Angles were performing or practicing. Very loud. We all stopped to watch when they flew over.