Seattle Area hiking

At home for a few days and I was able to fit in some Seattle area hiking for hike-a-thon. I went to the Mercer Slough Blueberry farm for some U-pick Blueberries. They have a nice system of trails that meets up with the Lake to Lake trail. I only did 2 miles that day.

The next day, I went up to Cougar Mountain for a ramble among their many trails. I parked at the Sky Country Trailhead and happened upon an art installation.

Art at Cougar Mountain

much like last year when I visited Carkeek Park! In fact, I think it is the same group again, COCA, the Center on Contemporary Art. I was totally intrigued by a piece that had mutilated stuffed animals in cages. Weird!!

The Old Man Trail from the Sky Country Trailhead goes around some old mine shafts and it is a good reminder that you should not go off trail at Cougar Mountain. Even though some of the DANGER signs are hidden by the greenery. Can you letterboxers guess which boxes I found today??

I did another 2 miles and now I have to go fly around the world for a while.

I am up to 29 miles hiked and Ryan and I together have raised $640 for the WTA!

Don't forget to check out Ryan's blog of his PCT adventures

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com/



as well as the webpage on the WTA website for our hike-a-thon stats




www.wta.org/hikeathon

Amanda's WTA Pledge Page

I hope to hike at least 40 miles on my own at home, on my layovers at work and while joining Ryan on the PCT. If you don’t want to donate via credit card on the website, checks can be made out to WTA (Washington Trails Association) and sent to me at the address below. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Amanda Arkebauer, PO Box 16131, Seattle, WA 98116

Road Trip and Hiking

I found myself in Seattle, trapped by the SeaFair Festivities! I-90 Bridge CLOSED. So with the Blue Angels shrieking overhead, I stayed close to home and hiked for 4 miles on the Longfellow Creek Trail . I took a different route (for me) and parked my car at the High Point Library and followed the trail down past the West Seattle Golf Course and Greg Davis Park to the Dragonfly Pavilion and then returned to my car.

Then it was off to meet with Ryan on the PCT in Ashland, OR. On the drive south, I stopped first in Olympia, WA and did 2 miles (and found a couple of letterboxes) at Priest Point Park.

Next stop was Eugene, OR and the Ridgeline Trail (more letterboxes and 2 more miles)

finally, I finished the day in Cottage Grove, OR and did 2 miles on the Row River trail --a Rail to Trail, I just LOVE those! nice and flat :-)

Don't forget to check out Ryan's blog of his PCT adventures

www.anotherlongwalk.com



as well as the webpage on the WTA website for our hike-a-thon stats

We have raised $455 for Washington Trails and I currently have 19 miles hiked!


WTA Hike-a-thon

Amanda's Fundraising Page

I hope to hike at least 40 miles on my own at home, on my layovers at work and while joining Ryan on the PCT. If you don’t want to donate via credit card on the website, checks can be made out to WTA (Washington Trails Association) and sent to me at the address below. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Amanda Arkebauer, PO Box 16131, Seattle, WA 98116

Hike-a-thon begins...the first 6 miles

Well, I started off hiking 2 miles per day for the WTA Hike-a-thon!

I met with some friends in Davis, CA and hiked two miles on the UC-Davis Arboretum trail. Then I spent the next day with my sister in Folsom, CA and hiked 2 miles on the American River Trail.

Next, I met with Ryan on the PCT near Yreka, CA and I hiked 2 miles on the Yreka Greenway trail while he caught up with his blogging on the internet.

I hope to hike a couple of miles on the PCT with Ryan when I drop him off. Don't forget to check out his blog

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com

and

http://www.amandafromseattle.com

as well as a webpage on the WTA website


http://www.wta.org/hikeathon

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1468&AID=1098&PID=149244

I hope to hike at least 40 miles on my own at home, on my layovers at work and while joining Ryan on the PCT. If you don’t want to donate via credit card on the website, checks can be made out to WTA and sent to me at the address below. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Amanda Arkebauer, PO Box 16131, Seattle, WA 98116

Trail Magic!

Flew out to meet Ryan on the trail this week. I flew into Sacramento and I just love these artsy columns in their baggage claim area. Ryan's birthday was this week, so I totally embarrassed him by greeting him with balloons and a birthday cake. But of course he did enjoy the cake and the other PCT hikers enjoyed it also.

As a birthday treat, Ryan got to "slackpack" for the days that I came to visit. This means that I would drop him off at the trailhead and he would hike with only a day pack. Then I would pick him up at another trail head later in the day and take him back to a motel with soft beds and hot showers!
A pretty sweet deal for a thru-hiker. Ryan would still put in a 10-12 hour day of hiking and while he was doing that, I did some touristy things in the area, visiting local ghost towns and happening upon a summer festival in the town of Graeagle, CA.
I would also do trail magic for some other hikers on the PCT while waiting for Ryan to show up at the trailheads. I made sure that I had a cooler of cold sodas and lots of candy bars and fresh fruit.

Ryan was also able to catch up on his own blogging. We always have to get a room with wifi. The other plus of "slackpacking" is that Ryan gets to eat real food and doesn't have to whip up his trail food on his homemade soda can stove. We had dinner at the Polka Dot last night. You know you are in California when the local Burger stand has fried green beans as an option. And they have avocado as a choice to put on your burger.

Don't forget to check out Ryan's blog detailing his hiking adventures,

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com

And remember that we will be raising money for the Washington Trails Association with hike-a-thon in August. Be sure to check us out on the WTA website

http://www.wta.org/hikeathon

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1468&AID=1098&PID=149244

I hope to hike at least 40 miles on my own at home, on my layovers at work and while joining Ryan on the PCT. If you don’t want to donate via credit card on the website, checks can be made out to WTA and sent to me at the address below. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Amanda Arkebauer, PO Box 16131, Seattle, WA 98116

Hike-a-thon 2010 the countdown begins!!

It's that time of year again. Only 23 days away, starting August 1st, I will be taking to the trails to raise money for the WTA. First of all, thanks to everyone who supported me last year for the Washington Trails Association hike-a-thon. I raised over $1500 for Washington Trails!

This year, Ryan is hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and he will be hiking hundreds of miles across Oregon and Washington during the month of August. I will be providing support as his “Trail Angel” so I wasn’t sure how much time I would have for actual hiking this summer. We decided to participate in hike-a-thon as a team this year with Ryan cranking out the majority of the mileage. Our Team name is Thru-Hiker and Trail Angel.

In fact, WTA trail crews will be out on the Pacific Crest Trail starting this July to repair parts of the PCT damaged from the 2009 Lemah Fire north of Snoqualmie Pass. The PCT is closed in this area and there are reroutes and detours via Forest Service Roads and other trails. This is just another reminder that the trails require constant maintenance and repair for our enjoyment.

Washington Trails Association is the state's most active group serving the hiking community. The WTA recruits over 2,000 volunteers annually to help repair and maintain our trails, they advocate on behalf of hikers for trail funding and protection, and they publish informative resources both in print and online that help hikers get out on trail more often.

We are seeking pledges for hike-a-thon. You can pledge a flat donation or an amount per mile. All donations are tax deductible. And every little bit helps! Last year I had pledges as low as 10 cents per mile or a flat $3. It all adds up. *For a contribution of $40 or more, sponsors are eligible for Washington Trails Association membership.

We have blogs on the internet detailing our hiking adventures,

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com and

http://www.amandafromseattle.com

as well as a webpage on the WTA website

http://www.wta.org/hikeathon

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1468&AID=1098&PID=149244

I hope to hike at least 40 miles on my own at home, on my layovers at work and while joining Ryan on the PCT. If you don’t want to donate via credit card on the website, checks can be made out to WTA and sent to me at the address below. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Amanda Arkebauer, PO Box 16131, Seattle, WA 98116

urban trails

Hike-a-thon 2008 updates! I have lost 4 pounds! and
I have currently hiked 43 miles for hike-a-thon. This past week, I have been flying in and out of Seattle, so my hiking has been limited to urban trails. The Longfellow Creek Trail in West Seattle, the Foothills Rail to Trail in Orting, WA





and a couple of miles on the Burke-Gilman Trail out near Lake City, WA (Ryan did the whole trail for Hike-a-thon in 2004
Ryan's Adventures 2004) On the Burke-Gilman Trail, as a walker, you are definitely in the minority--lots of bicycles!





And in St. Petersburg, FL I was able to hike for 5 miles on The Pinellas Trail. Ryan did the entire trail in November 2006 while we were visiting my Dad in Florida. The only elevation you get is when there is an overpass over the busy highways.



The month is half over and I have made great strides towards my goals for hike-a-thon. Don't forget to get all pledges in to me by the 1st of September! Letterboxers, be sure to snail mail me your address so you can get the Word of Mouth LTC! To make things easier, you can donate directly on the WTA website, just click on the following link:

Amanda's WTA Hike-a-thon Fundraising Page

First Camping Trip in the Behemoth

This past week Ryan and I took the first camping trip in my new car. I have taken to calling the car the Behemoth because it is so much larger than the VW that I was used to driving. We drove down to the Eugene, OR area so that Ryan could climb a 250 ft. Douglas Fir for his birthday. www.pacifictreeclimbing.com

We camped at an area called Fall Creek near Lowell, OR. It is about a 6 hour drive from Seattle and a lovely part of the Willamette National Forest. We had a campsite next to a babbling little creek and on Sunday night, we had the campground to ourselves.
The next day bright and early, we met with the guys from the Pacific Tree Climbing Institute so that Ryan could begin his climb. I was originally going to go in search of internet access or look for some local letterboxes. But the Tree Climbing guys convinced me to come along and I ended up suiting up in harness and ropes and climbing up the 250 ft. Douglas Fir right behind Ryan! We hiked a few feet into the forest to a group of three trees that the climbers have nicknamed "The Three Musketeers". We would be climbing Aramis.

Another lady joined us and there were two guides to help us up the tree. We were outfitted with climbing harnesses, gloves and helmets. Then it was a matter of inching our way up the tree. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to climb up to about 200-210 feet. I was certainly the slow one.Ryan was a natural. At about the 100 ft. mark, they have hammocks or "boats" secured in the branches of the tree for when they have people spending the night! It is at this point that you can see that the Porthos tree has lost it's top.




We had a lunch at the top of sandwiches, apples and cookies. The views were terrific. The ropes we are climbing on are secured at the top of the tree. We asked how they get the ropes up there and found out that when they first climb a tree, they shoot the ropes up with a bow and arrow. They will climb up, checking along the way to make sure that the tree is sound and not diseased or rotted in any way. It was a breezy day when we were climbing, which was nice because it kept away the bugs. But at the top, you could feel the tree sway with the wind. Then it was a simple thing to rappel down to the bottom again.
You just had to be careful about not hitting the branches on the way down. When I reached the ground, my legs were like spaghetti. I definitely used muscles that I was not used to using! You used your quads in your thighs and your upper body the most to get up the tree. My hands were also sore the next day. I didn't even know that I had muscles in my fingers. I must have really had a tight grip on that rope. :-)

From Lowell, OR we went into Eugene to spend the night. I had plans for Tuesday to visit the University of Oregon at Eugene. In their library, they have some boxes of papers from the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Edward Stratemeyer was the creator of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and countless other children's book series. In the papers, they have a manuscript of a Nancy Drew book and fan letters written to the Syndicate authors from 1928 and 1929. Fascinating stuff. While in Eugene, we met up with a bunch of local letterboxers and had a wonderful night of Pizza and Margaritas!


On Tuesday, after spending time in the University Library, we drove out towards Sisters, OR. There, we met with some letterboxing friends at a campground on Suttle Lake. We spent two nights there on the lake, camping, hiking, letterboxing and telling stories around the campfire. All in all, I was very pleased with the performance of the Behemoth.

As a reminder, for those of you who have not already, you can pledge to my Washington Trails Association Hike-a-thon directly on their website this year. WTA Hike-a-thon I am already almost halfway towards my goal of $1,000 and August has not even started yet! That is very encouraging. I have gotten a lot of small pledges from flight attendants who did not pledge in previous years, so that is great -- Thank You! And Doublesaj and Old Blue have put out a challenge to letterboxers: They'll increase their pledge by $10 for each letterboxer (up to 4) who pledges $25 or more who've never made a pledge before. So far, no one has taken them up on that challenge.

Plans for Hike-a-thon 2008

It's that time of year again and I am getting excited about the WTA Hike-a-thon 2008. This year the group at WTA has created an individual webpage for me to keep track of my pledges which is really terrific. It lets you guys donate your money directly to WTA with your credit card. Of course, I will still have the blog for updates on my hiking mileage etc. And you can still send pledges to me, I will be collecting cash and checks to turn in at the end of August.
My WTA Hike-a-thon Fundraising Page


My sister is going to come to visit Seattle and we have a camping trip planned to the Olympic Peninsula, always one of my favorite places to hike. I also want to challenge myself to use more public transportation to get to hiking trails this year! I know I said last year that carless hiking was not for me, but with the price of gas in Seattle creeping towards the $5 a gallon mark, I think I might need to rethink that attitude. And it is certainly possible to take the city bus to hiking areas around urban Seattle. That will be a bit of a challenge and should add some local color to my adventures this year.

On the WTA website, I listed my goals as raising $1,000 and hiking 50 miles. I accomplished both of these goals last year so I am pretty confident that I can do it again this year, despite economic troubles and my couch potato tendencies. I hope I can count on everyone who contributed last year and I hope that we can convince some new folks to help out this year for a successful August hike-a-thon. And no car troubles and no black eyes. :-)

-Amanda from Seattle

More Car Troubles...

But before I get to the car issues....after criss-crossing the country a few times, it was time to go across the ocean again. I was supposed to go to Glasgow, but I traded at the last minute for Munich. Gotta love the flexiblity of the Flight Attendant lifestyle.

Once in Munich, the weather was cloudy and dreary, not unlike what it had been like in Seattle. So what to do on a dreary day in Munich? Take the train to Dachau. Now, I was surprised that more people don't know about the WWII Concentration Camp at Dachau, Germany. I thought that when I said I was going to Dachau, that people would automatically know that I was going there to see the Concentration Camp Memorial. But that was not the case, so I am going to give you guys a little history lesson for a moment.

Dachau was the first Concentration Camp to open for business in March 1933 and it operated as a prison, work camp, extermination center and training camp for the SS Guards until it was liberated by U.S. Troops on April 29, 1945. It was actually the model for all the Nazi concentration camps that would come after it. The ironwork on the gate when you enter the camp says Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work will make you Free." At this camp the prisoners were exterminated through work. They were slaves for Hitler's war effort. I was amazed by the size of the facility. It was on the grounds of a abandoned munitions factory from the First World War. It served as a refugee camp after the war and until the 1960's when Holocaust survivers initiated the drive to make the site a memorial. The entire place has been turned into a museum and memorial to the people who died there. It is free to enter the memoria and a lot of new exhibits opened in 2003 with everything labeled in German and English. Except for this stone located by the crematoriums it says in German: "Think about how we died here"

Back in the USA, I had a day off and hiked the Lake to Lake Trail for hike-a-thon. This trail is located over in Bellevue, WA. It was a dreary day here in Seattle. It just would never stop raining, so I decided not to let a few raindrops stop me from getting in some mileage. The thing about a rainy day in Seattle, you generally get the trails and playgrounds to yourself. I hiked from Robinswood Park all the way to the Lake Hills King County Library. The Library is a great place to stop and turn around. I got to check out the books for sale to support the library and they have nice clean bathrooms. It had been about a year since I had last hiked along the Lake to Lake trail and there was a new Farm Stand near the P-Patch Garden just past Phantom Lake. On my return, I had to stop and buy some flowers for my apartment.

This week, I decided to go down to check out Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Since my car had been having trouble, I decided to give it a break and I drove Ryan's car down to Point Defiance. I parked at the Rustic Picnic Area and decided to hike the Outer Perimeter Loop Trail. It is marked by squares on the tiny little trail signs. And it can get kind of confusing in the interior areas of the park when the Outer Trail merges with the Inner Trail and crosses and joins the Spine Trail! All are represented by symbols on these tiny little trail signs, as you can see in this photo. If you are walking at a quick pace, you can sometimes miss a trail intersection. The trail meanders along the cliffs above Puget Sound and there are great views of the Tacoma Narrows Bridges. These Bridges are at the site of the famous Galloping Gertie Bridge that collasped in 1940 after being in service for only 4 months! The newer bridges are nicknamed Sturdy Gertie. The newest bridge opened this summer and I believe it is a toll bridge, but I don't know for sure because I have not been over it yet.

I also saw some wildlife while I was hiking around Point Defiance Park. A mama raccoon and her 3 babies were trying to cross the road. I caught this photo of Mama and one of her babies!

So I know you are wondering about the car troubles that I alluded to in the title of this post. Well, I'm out at Point Defiance Park and I had driven Ryan's car, which I don't do that often. Ryan's car has automatic locks. My car is older and has manual locks, plus my Volkswagen won't let you lock the driver's door from inside, you have to lock it with the key from the outside. Can you see where this is heading?

I was out on the trail when I first noticed that I was missing the car keys. I was frantic. I thought I had dropped them somewhere along the way. I backtracked for quite a while. I didn't see anything. I was convinced it was hopeless and the keys were lost in the woods. But wait, maybe the keys fell when I got out of the car and are lying in the parking lot beside the car. So I hike back to the car and look all around the driver's door. No keys on the ground. I am really frantic now. I look inside the car and there are the keys hanging from the ignition. Boy, do I feel like a dummy. I'm gonna have to put AAA on speed dial. Well, all's well that ends well. The AAA locksmith was out there in less than 30 minutes and I was able to drive back to Seattle without any further incident.

I have 49 miles under my belt for hike-a-thon. Only one mile to go. And pledges are up to $1105. Thanks so much to everyone who pledged this year! Don't forget, I need your money (checks made out to WTA) by September 3rd. If you want to paypal me, just drop me an email and I can give you the info for that.