Loving Life on the Range

While Ryan is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) this summer, I am going to come out and visit him along the trail in California, Oregon and Washington. He is hiking from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border, over 2,500 miles and he will be away from home for about 6 months.



He has a blog devoted to his adventures along the trail:

http://www.anotherlongwalk.com/

This month, I got to meet with Ryan at Warners Springs, CA.




http://www.warnersprings.com/





There is a resort there and not much else, but what a resort! You don't need anything else.


About an hour and a half drive outside of San Diego in rolling hills, the resort was once a stagecoach stop between New Mexico and Los Angeles. Because of the hot springs here, there have been settlements at this spot for hundreds of years. Kit Carson even lived here for a while.



Now there is a Spa, horseback riding, golf, tennis, hiking, cycling and sky sailing. We had our own cabana on the property and it had a fireplace! Especially nice when those temperatures drop at night here in the desert.

The cantina was super cute with these wonderful murals on the walls of cowboys and dance hall girls. One corner had an image from the folk song, The Preacher and the Bear!

The pools are fed with water from the hot springs. The "Hot" pool was around 104 degrees and the "cool" pool was 87 degrees. There is a bit of that sulfury rotten eggs smell, but the water feels so delightful, you can overlook that.




The first day I was here, I dropped Ryan off for a bit of hiking. We call it "slack-packing". This is when he hikes the trail with only a day pack and doesn't carry his fully loaded PCT pack. He hiked about 10 miles on this day, while I went to the Spa and generally enjoyed myself around the resort!


The next day, Ryan took a "zero day". A zero day is a day when a thru-hiker takes a break and doesn't hike at all. Zero miles are logged on a zero day. But what Ryan lost in hiking miles, he made up in air miles. We decided to go on a Glider Ride!

http://www.skysailing.com/



It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and we had a terrific time in the air. Well, I had a terrific time. Ryan enjoyed the view, but the turbulence of riding the thermals was a bit much for his stomach. He started throwing up about 5 minutes into the flight and he didn't get any relief until his feet were back on the ground. What a trooper! Instead of going down early (we had already paid for a full flight), he stuck it out and we stayed in the air the full amount of time to enjoy the view of the PCT from the air!!

Ryan's appetite was better that evening. After a dip in the pools fed by hot springs water, we had a wonderful dinner at the lodge. I wish every time I came out to meet Ryan on the PCT, we could have adventures like these!

Just half a mile shy of 50....

A gorgeous Saturday in Seattle and the Twin Falls Trailhead of Olallie State Park was packed! The trail was crowded with families and dogs! I met up with another USAirways employee to do a quick 3 miles roundtrip to see the falls.
There is a really nice waterfall viewing platform with awesome views of the 150-foot drop of the Lower Twin Falls. We also hiked out to where a bridge crosses over top of the falls.

So my mileage total is up to 49.5 miles and the pledges total is now $1,098! I fully expect to exceed my mileage goal of 50 miles since I have already exceeded my pledge goal of $1,000. There is more than a week left for hiking and You can help by still making donations on the WTA website during the month of August, just click on this link:

Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page

Lassen is Not Lesser

There are the Well Known National Parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite....The Grand Canyon and the Great Smokies...but Ryan and I like to travel off the beaten path to some of the more remote and less visited National Parks. They are often referred to as the Lesser known National Parks. They don't get the crowds that the more popular parks do and they still have amazing natural wonders and fascinating history. Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of these parks.

http://www.nps.gov/lavo/

Tucked way up north in the upper reaches of California, it is a mini-Yellowstone with all kinds of interesting volcanic features. The park contains all four types of volcanoes: shield, cinder cone, lava dome and composite. Hydrothermal features in Lassen include roaring fumaroles (steam and volcanic-gas vents), thumping mud pots, boiling pools, and steaming ground. Native Americans, emigrants and pioneers all give Lassen a unique history. There are amazing photos and research from the volcanic eruption in 1915. The visitor's center has been newly remodeled and has wonderful exhibits detailing all aspects of the park. All in all, it is a hidden gem of a park.

Ryan and I decided to hike to Bumpass Hell. It is a popular area of the park that has the largest fumarole in the park. This fumarole (called Big Boiler) has high-velocity steam coming out of it that has been measured as high as 322°F, making it one of the hottest fumaroles in the world. The trail is supposed to be quite easy, even though you are hiking at an altitude of about 8,000 ft. There is not too much change in elevation from the trailhead at Lake Helen. The active area can be seen (and smelt!) from far away. It is filled with various steaming pools and unusual multi-colored soils, stained orange, brown, yellow and green by sulphur and other minerals. The sulphur/rotten egg smell fills the air. I was going to hike out to Bumpass Hell from Lake Helen. Ryan was going to take a longer route up from the Visitor's Center.

I left Ryan to start his hike and I drove around to the trailhead at Lake Helen. That is when I noticed the Trail Hazardous signs and the warnings that the trail was supposed to be closed because of the heavy snow. I had no idea if Ryan would be seeing signs like these at the lower elevations....he was hiking up from about 6,500 ft. I was a little leery to start the 3 mile hike, but the trail from the parking lot was well trod and pretty busy. Families with small children and grandparents were coming back from the trek, so I figured that it couldn't be too bad! Ryan would have another story to tell from his end of the hike.

He did eventually meet with me in the trailhead parking lot....but our estimates of how long the hike would take were off completely! The heavy snows made for slow going. We each had hiking poles which were a great help and my only regret is that I did not have my YakTrax with me for better traction.

On the way back to the parking lot, I encountered a Marmot along the trail.

wimp walk

Ryan decided that he wanted to walk the big O for thanksgiving. He got the idea after he had hiked the Florida Trail this past winter. When he went around Lake Okeechobee in Florida, he went around the western side of the lake and missed the eastern side. He knew that every year at Thanksgiving, the Florida Trail association hosted a 9 day hike around the lake completing the full 100+ miles and he really wanted to do the whole thing! So of course, what can I say? Of course, honey! Walk the big O!

The Big O hike

We flew down to Tampa, Fl where I have relatives and spent one night then we drove on down to Lake Okeechobee so Ryan could begin his walk.

We couldn't help but stop for a couple of letterboxes along the way and we were also excited about the gasoline being less than $2 a gallon in Florida!! we stopped for lunch at Checkers fast food restaurant so we could be sure to get the best french fries ever!!!!



We stopped at the Clewiston Inn for drink, in the bar they have a wonderful mural that was painted in 1945 and I had not seen it before. After our drink, we walked across the road to the movie theater and took in the latest James Bond movie: Quantum of Solace!

Clewiston Inn
Clewiston Inn Mural

The next day bright and early, we showed up for the start of the big O walk. I was only doing the "wimp walk" of the first 4 miles. Then they would shuttle me back to my car at the beginning. So we started off together. It was a beautiful sunny day and we quickly hiked the first couple of miles of the Big O together, then I left Ryan to finish the hike and I flew off to San Francisco!

what's up with the magazine?

I have hiked 32.6 miles for hike-a-thon so far! You might have noticed that I have a Washington Trails Magazine in the Photos about my hiking for hike-a-thon this year in my previous blog entries. In order to prove that I have hiked the trails that I say I am hiking, I am required to take a picture with the August issue of the magazine. I take a ton of photos of all my hikes anyway for the blog, so this hasn't been that much trouble for me. UNTIL....until my sister and I were already on the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula and I figured out that I had left the Washington Trails Magazine at home. We stopped at a Fred Meyers and several other grocery stores as well as a couple of bookstores and local general stores in the towns of Port Orchard and Shelton on the Peninsula, but we could not find another issue of the WTA magazine to use while taking pictures. I figured since it was just to prove that I was hiking these trails during the month of August that I could find an emergency replacement. So we bought the August issue of Northwest Magazine with a lovely picture of sunflowers on the cover to use while we were on our trip to Lake Quinault. So the pictures in this blog entry will feature Northwest Magazine with Sunflowers. Our first hiking stop was at the Huff N Puff trail in Shelton, WA. Gotta love a name like Huff-N-Puff for a trail! Although there wasn't much to Huff and Puff about, it was pretty tame as trails go.

We spent the next two days camping and hiking around Lake Quinault. We discovered that there is still a lot of damage from the winter storms in this area of the Olympic National Park. I hiked the Lake Quinault Loop and the Gatton Creek Trail.
While hiking up past Irely Lake we encountered some folks doing trail work on that trail along Big Creek.
There were a lot of trees down over the trail and a couple of spots required us to scramble up and over as the trail disappeared around the debris. One of my favorite little hikes is at the Ranger Station on the north side of Lake Quinault. It is the Kestner Homestead Trail and takes you through an old homestead. A brochure at the beginning of the trail details what life was like on the homestead in the early 1900's.

There is also the Maple Glade Trail at the same Ranger Station and it is a short little nature trail.

I have been trying to eat sensibly, but after dinner, I splurged on Raspberry Shortcake!


On the way home to Seattle, we stopped in Aberdeen for a hearty breakfast at Duffy's restaurant.
Later at the Stewart Park trail, the sign was missing so we compromised there with a shot of the park sign that is above the picnic pavilion. I also hiked along the Morrison Riverfront Walkway.


For Hike-a-thon, I still need approximately $250 to meet my goal of $1,100. Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed so far! Also if you are a letterboxer and are contributing to receive the WOM LTC, please shoot me an email with your snail mail address so I can get that out to you ASAP. Also if you contribute $35 or more towards Hike-a-thon you are eligible for WTA membership and you can receive your own copies of the Washington Trails Magazine throughout the year. They have wonderful articles about the trails here in Washington State, as well as more general articles on Backpacking, Outdoor Gear and even Fire Lookouts! :-)

Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page

Conflicted about public transportation

I really wanted to take public transportation today to go on my hike. But, I am on a layover in Seattle and I only have 22 hours at home, those who know me well know that I will be sleeping for about 10-12 hours of that time! :-) So I only have about 10 hours to do my household errands, 1-2 hours is taken up by dressing for work and driving to and from work so I have about 8 hours left to hike for hike-a-thon, do laundry, stop for groceries, etc. I really wanted to take public transportation out to Discovery Park for a hike. So I went online to the King County Metro Transit Trip Planner and I found out that it would cost approximately $3.50 for the bus roundtrip and it would take about 3 hours round trip to get out to the park. Then I went to MapQuest and the AAA fuel cost calculator to figure out what it would take if I drove my car. It would take less than an hour round trip to drive myself and it would only take about 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon of fuel, so let's say $4.00 would be the cost. And since I was in my own car, I could stop and run errands along the way (the post office, the library, the grocery store) without any added delays waiting for buses. So in the end, instead of taking the bus, I ended up driving out to Discovery Park. Evil, evil, bad, bad, the single car driver clogging up the roads and destroying the environment with my horrible emissions. :-) But now I have time to write up my blog about my hike.


Discovery Park was named for the English explorer Captain George Vancouver's ship, the Discovery. It was originally part of Fort Lawton. Fort Lawton was created by the Army in 1898 and the first troops were assigned to it in 1901. After the Korean War, fort activity declined and most of the fort was declared surplus by the Army. The federal government was allowed to give surplus lands to cities and states to be used for parks and recreation and the lands were transferred to the City of Seattle in 1972. Fort Lawton still exists within the park as headquarters of the U.S. Army Reserve's 70th Regional Readiness Command and a military housing site. Every time I go hiking here, I see lots of boys sporting crewcuts running the trails and today was no exception. :-)


I hiked the 2.8 mile Loop Trail. The highlight of my hike was stumbling across a lost mole. This little guy was making good time shuffling along the trail. I was very worried about him because there were so many dog walkers out and about. I hoped that he would not be eaten by a loose, off lease dog. I don't know what he was doing up above ground and on the gravely trail no less! He was definitely lost. I will continue to worry about him and wonder what happened to him. I hope he found his way off the trail and back underground.



On another subject, last year I lost 10 pounds during the month of August. Primarily this was due to my increased activity level for hike-a-thon. I did not change my eating habits at all. This year, I hope to increase my weight loss to about 15 pounds by combining all my hiking activity with sensible eating. So I DID NOT STOP at the Red Mill for a burger and a shake after my hike at Discovery Park.

Red Mill Burgers Website

This is a HUGE concession on my part. I really, really, really wanted that burger, but instead I am at home eating a sensible salad. I keep telling myself that it will be all worth it when the scale registers me 15 pounds skinnier at the end of the month. :-)

Don't forget that you can contribute to the WTA Hike-a-thon directly on their website this year, no need to mail me a check or wait to see me to hand me cash. They will be happy to take your credit card number over the internet. :-)

Click here for Amanda's WTA hike-a-thon fundraising page

Also a big thanks goes to Gollygee, Lisascenic and Robb, and Monkey Mamas for their $25 pledges. Doublesaj and Old Blue are going to have to donate an additional $30 to match their challenge. We need one more letterboxer who has not donated previously to donate at least $25 for another $10 from Doublesaj and Old Blue!

Hike-a-thon is off to a rousing start!

My sister, Alisa flew up from Folsom, CA to go camping with me on the Olympic Peninsula. I got in late, late, late on Tuesday night from flying a trip to Amsterdam and met up with her at my apartment. We only got a few hours sleep before we gathered our gear together and headed off for adventure.
First stop was a yummy and filling breakfast at Endolyne Joe’s here in West Seattle. It is located right near the Fauntleroy ferry terminal and I just love their theme food. This season it is Brazil!

http://www.chowfoods.com/endolyne/index.aspx

We got on the Fauntleroy Ferry to Southworth over on the Kitsap Peninsula and began our journey. Once on the other side of the water, we stopped in Belfair, WA for a little hiking at the Theler WetlandsTrails. We hiked 3 miles on the River Estuary Trail and I was able to find one letterbox.

http://www.thelercenter.org/wetlands/index2.php

Next we drove up to the Staircase area for a hike in Olympic National Park. We immediately discovered evidence of the destruction of the storms of last fall. I had wanted to do a loop hike incorporating two trails, Staircase Rapids Trail and the North Fork Skokomish Trail, but the bridge was out due to the storms last fall. So we just did an out and back hike on the Staircase Rapids Trail for 2 miles total.
The day was beginning to dwindle down, so we drove over to Elwha Valley to find a campsite for the evening. Because we got there so late in the day, the Altaire campground by the river was already full, so we settled for the Elwha campground across the road. It would become our home away from home for the next two nights. A campfire and roasted marshmallows finished out the day.
Bright and early on Thursday morning, we got up and started hiking to Hume Ranch. This hike has many names in the different guidebooks I consulted. It is called the Hume Ranch Loop, The Elwha River Valley Loop and The Geyser Valley Loop. There are also many different mileage reports given for the hike depending on which side trails you take and how far down the river you travel. Alisa and I only hiked as far as the Hume Ranch cabin, looping down to the river and Krause Bottom and taking a side trail to see the Goblins Gate. We estimate that we hiked 6 miles total. We hiked along the ridge to Michael’s Cabin and on to Hume Ranch, then descended to the river bottom and hiked back towards the trailhead. Along the way, we met lots of hikers coming in the opposite direction. We discovered why when we had to hike up from Rica Canyon and it was straight up for a half a mile! It would have been much easier to do the loop in the opposite direction.

We were done with the Hume Ranch hike before lunch and we decided to drive into town for more urban hiking along the Olympic Discovery Trail.

http://www.peninsulatrailcoalition.com/

This would also allow us the opportunity to eat lunch at a fancy seafood restaurant and perhaps after our urban hike we could take in a movie at the Deer Park movie theaters on Hwy 101. Green Guillemot had hidden some letterboxes along the Olympic Discovery Trail and we were able to find them as we walked the rails to trails corridor. Along the water we had wonderful views of Port Angeles and even Canada only 17 miles across the strait. A friendly burro was grazing in a field near the trailhead. After the movie, we returned to the campground and were able to enjoy another evening by the fire.

The next morning we broke up our camp and headed back to Seattle. The plan was to do a lot of little hikes along the way to the Bremerton Ferry terminal. We stopped in Silverdale, WA and hiked 2 miles along the Clear Creek Trail, and found another letterbox.

http://www.clearcreektrail.org/

We were on our way to Anderson Landing Preserve when disaster struck! My car had been having symptoms of problems all month. It was slow to accelerate and it did not have any power on hills. I had been having a hard time climbing the hill on my street in Seattle and I would often just avoid hills with a lot of grade. We had even vetoed a trip up to Hurricane Ridge yesterday because I did not think my car could make it.

On the way to Anderson Landing, we found ourselves on a very steep hill and my car just could not make the climb. The rpm’s kept rising and the speed kept dwindling until we were stopped and the smell of the burning clutch filled the air. With only 2 bars on the cell phone, we were finally able to reach AAA and a tow truck was soon dispatched our way. Unfortunately, there would be no more hiking or letterboxing today! On the ferry ride back to Seattle, we were able to see some aerobatics airplanes practicing for SeaFair over the city. All in all, I found 8 letterboxes, hiked 16 miles and I have pledges for $765 from 20 people! I am still $235 away from my goal.

Gearing up for Hikeathon 2007!

Thanks to everyone who supported me last year for the Washington Trails Association hike-a-thon. I raised over $1000 for Washington Trails! This year I want to try and at least match that again. For those of you who don’t live in Washington State, we had a lot of storm damage last fall to our wilderness areas. Statewide the damage estimates top $70 million and are expected to grow as the high country snow melts and more instances of damage and wash-outs are uncovered. Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks were hit very badly. Many roads, bridges and trails have been washed away and damage from trees down has closed access to many trails this summer. Instead of participating in Hike-a-thon this year, my boyfriend Ryan is actually getting his hands dirty and volunteering for WTA repairing trails. For two weeks in August, he will be working to repair sections of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Cascades Mountains. I have a day job, so I will be hiking on my days off for Hike-a-thon 2007 and collecting pledges to support Washington Trails. All the dollars pledged go directly to protecting and maintaining trails here in Washington State. They really need your help this year more than ever!


I am seeking pledges for my hiking. You can pledge a flat donation, such as $50 or an amount per mile, such as $1 per mile. Any contributions over $35 will be eligible for Washington Trails Association Membership. (With membership you receive a Washington Trails Magazine) This is a great little magazine and has many interesting articles on the trails in Washington and also general articles on topics such as backpacking with children and reviewing camping gear etc. 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 $5. It all adds up.

Last year pledges of $10 or more got VHS and DVD movies that were set in Washington State. This year I am pruning my book collection. Specifically, I have books from two of my favorite authors, John Sandford and Nevada Barr, to give away to each person who pledges money for WTA. I plan to give out the books randomly, but if you are looking for a specific title from one of these authors, let me know when you pledge! I will have a blog up on the internet detailing my hiking and pledges.

http://samanark.blogspot.com


I will need to collect all money from my pledges by September 3, 2007. Checks can be made out to WTA (Washington Trails Association)

Thanks,
Amanda Arkebauer
206-579-7094