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

Camping on the Coast

I picked my sister up in Portland on Sunday night and we decided to spend all day Monday in the Columbia River Gorge, hiking with my friend, Karen. We hiked Larch Mountain. A nice little 6 mile loop can be had by hiking Larch Mountain Trail, Multnomah Creek Way and Oneonta Trail. Along the way, we saw lots of wild blueberries, but they were still not quite ripe. A little sour. I was able to pick up a couple of letterboxes along the way too! The view from Woman's Forum looking back along the river was lovely.

On Tuesday, we left Portland and headed for Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast. We stopped at Camp 18 on Highway 26. They have a little trail there called the Humbug Creek Trail, so I hiked it for a measy little 3/4 of a mile. We stopped at McMenamins Sand Trap in Seaside, OR for some of their terrific beer and pub grub. By the time we got to the Campground at Fort Stevens and had the tent up, it was almost sunset. We thought we could knock out the 1 mile trail around Coffenbury Lake before it got totally dark. So we are hiking and hiking around the lake and it gets darker and darker and I am thinking that this is more than one mile!! It turns out the lake is one mile long. The trail around the lake is actually 2.4 miles! So we got in more miles than I had planned for Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we visited Fort Clatsop and I hiked the Netul River Trail for 1 mile. We spent most of the day in the galleries and shops at Cannon Beach. It was raining most of the day and we didn't feel like slogging along the trails. We also visited the Astoria Column and saw the Goonies house!

Thursday, we got up bright and early to return to Seattle. Took some photos of the Wreck of the Peter Iredale on the beach at Fort Stevens and then headed back to Washington State and Cape Disappointment State Park. We hiked the Cape Disappointment Trail to see the lighthouse and also the McKenzie Head Trail for more views. (and letterboxes) On the drive home, we also cruised through Raymond, WA to enjoy their sculpture trail. And we were able to make another stop at Burgerville in Centralia this time, for their Walla Walla Sweet Onions Onion Rings! With the Garlic Aioli sauce they are awesome! My sister has already posted some of her photos from the trip on Facebook!

So I have a total of 37.5 miles and $783 for WTA Hike-a-thon. Many thanks to my letterboxing friends who have contributed so generously. You Guys ROCK! or is it SPOR? Don't forget if you are mailing a check to me to have it in the mail by September 3rd. Checks should be made out to WTA or Washington Trails Association. And my Fundraising Page is set up to take credit card donations.

Amanda's WTA Fundraising Page

A Cautionary Tale

I just came across some old photos while cleaning out a closet and I thought they might serve as a cautionary tale to those of you letterboxing this autumn season.

I was on the hunt for my 100th letterbox in October of 2001. My sister had rented a car and we had driven down to the Columbia River Gorge to hike and letterbox. We were staying at the McMenamins Edgefield Inn in their hostel section. We had been having a terrific time, despite the rainy weather that year.
McMenamins Edgefield


The weather all week had been rainy and damp. We were on our way to my 100th letterbox find. It was to be The Octopus Letterbox by Funhog on the hike to Horsetail Falls. We had already planned to eat at Tad's Chicken and Dumplings for dinner to celebrate my 100th Letterbox find.
Tad's Chicken and Dumplings



Then disaster struck! We hydroplaned off the highway exit ramp and flipped the rental car. We were very very lucky and were not hurt at all. A fire engine had seen us flip and was on the scene almost immediately. Very cute, very young fire fighters, who were somewhat disappointed not to have to use the jaws of life to pry us from the vehicle helped us out of the ditch.
We waited in their rig for the cops to show up and then an Oregon State Trooper drove us back to McMenamin's Edgefield. Luckily, we have great insurance and the rental car people gave us another car the very next day and I was able to return to Horsetail Falls and find the Octopus Letterbox!

So what do you do at a Nancy Drew convention?

I just got back from Lancaster, PA and a whirlwind week at a Nancy Drew convention. I have been going to these book collector conventions since 1997 and the number one question I get asked is "What do you do at these conventions?"

Well, in a nutshell, it is an opportunity for Nancy Drew collectors and enthusiasts to get together and talk about Nancy Drew. When I first started attending these things we would do a lot more book shopping. Ebay had not taken over the internet yet and used book stores and antique malls all over the country were a mecca for book collectors. That's a photo of Lea and me at a convention in Maine in 1997 with some great finds at a dusty old book barn.

We usually pick a location that can be tied into a Nancy Drew book location. Lancaster, PA and Amish Country are the setting for The Witch Tree Symbol, Nancy Drew number 33. So we did things that Nancy did, saw the things that Nancy saw and ate the food that Nancy ate! At a convention in the Chicago area in 2006, we had a buffet of foods that were taken right out of the text of the book, The Secret of Red Gate Farm.

Last year when the Nancy Drew movie starring Emma Roberts was premiered, we had a convention in Hollywood. Some of the speakers at the convention were producers of the original ABC Nancy Drew TV show of the 1970's. And we toured Warner Brothers Studios where the Nancy Drew movie was filmed, that's me with a display of the costumes that Emma Roberts wore for the movie!


I also took the Universal Studios tour and saw the house that was used for the 70's TV show.



This year, we had Michael Cornelius chat about the book he edited, "Nancy Drew and her Sister Sleuths," a collection of essays on Girl Detectives in Fiction and also Penny Warner, the author of "The Official Nancy Drew Handbook". Another highlight of this years convention was the artist who did the cover art for several of the Nancy Drew Files during the 1990's, Tricia Zimic. She shared with us the process that she would go through to create the paintings that would then become the covers of the books.



And occasionally, I have tried to dress as my favorite sleuth. Here is a shot of me at a convention in Florida dressed as Nancy in "The Quest of the Missing Map," I also have a really cool blue shirt that matches the outfit that Nancy is shown wearing on the cover of "Clue in the Crossword Cipher."

This year we toured an Amish Farm and visited Farmer's Markets and Quilt Shops. I found out that potatoes and pasta really are vegetables! And I tasted some of the best homemade rootbeer in the world.






We even solved a few mysteries in the form of letterboxing clues! See if you can solve these:

Raneb's Realm

Night Flight

And I am looking forward to the Nancy Drew convention next year in Las Vegas. I have already written an article about this book and location when Ryan and I spent time there in 2003. You can read it by following this link:

The Secret of the Forgotten City

California Dreaming, I ain't Lion!

I had a layover in Los Angeles, CA and I was able to hike a few miles for hike-a-thon at the Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, CA. My total mileage is now up to 53.5 miles.

Carbon Canyon Nature Trail

The Park is near the site of a former settlement called Olinda. Olinda was settled by farmers and ranchers in the 1800's. With the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad, farmers and ranchers flocked to the area and cattle and sheep were pastured in the open fields which comprise the park. In the late 1800's the oil boom was on. A multiple of oil companies drilled in the foothills of Orange County. Olinda was an oil town with the oil company owning the houses, stores and the land. The area thrived as an oil boom town until the fields began to shut down in the 1940's.

The park was created in 1975 after a dam was built at the mouth of the canyon for flood control in the 1960's. The last physical evidence of the community of Olinda became a memory with the development of the dam. The park is full of the flora and fauna of southern California.
The Pepper Trees were especially lovely with their red fruit. There were lots of posters warning about mountain lions and sitings had been made as recently as the first of August. I do quite a bit of hiking in the hills around Los Angeles and you are always hearing about mountain lions attacking hikers and even bicyclists! I certainly hope that I never come across a mountain lion on the trail. I have read some tips on the internet about what to do if you come across a mountain lion and I will share them with you here:

1. Do not hike alone. The majority of lion attacks on people have involved individuals hiking or running alone. The size and noise of groups seems to deter lions. (difficult for me, but I was in cell phone contact at all times :-)

2. Do not run because running stimulates a mountain lion's instinct to chase. Instead, stand and face the animal.

3. Do not crouch down. The mountain lion experts conclude that a human standing up is just not the right shape for a cat's prey. But a person squatting or bending over can looks like a four-legged prey animal. If you are in mountain lion country, avoid squatting, crouching or bending over, even when picking up children. Crouching down or bending over also makes the neck and back of the head vulnerable. (difficult to not bend down when you are letterboxing! :-)

4. Do all you can to appear larger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you are wearing one. Keep everyone in your group together, appearing as one large shape to the lion. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly in a loud, low voice. Convince the mountain lion that you are not prey and that you may be a danger to the lion.

5. Fight back if attacked. Throw stones, branches, or whatever you can reach without crouching or turning your back. People have fought back successfully with rocks, sticks, tools, jackets, and their bare hands. Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to remain standing and face the attacking animal. Wildlife experts do not recommend that you play dead.


Back home in Seattle, I was able to get in one mile on the Des Moines Creek Trail down by the airport. It is along the flight path to SeaTac and the airplanes come in every couple of minutes. I really enjoy it! :-)



Only one week left for hike-a-thon and Ryan and I will be away visiting Ireland for 4 days, so I don't know how much more hiking I will be able to do for official hike-a-thon mileage. Don't forget to get your pledges into me by the first of September or do it yourself via the WTA website:

Amanda's WTA Hike-a-thon Fundraising Page

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me all month! Letterboxers, don't forget to send me your snail mail address so I can send you the Word of Mouth LTC.

Word of Mouth LTC

Some East Coast Hiking

I have to fly back and forth from Seattle to the East Coast for work and I was able to sneak in a few little hikes the last couple of days. In Charlotte, NC I hiked for 2.8 miles along the Torrence Creek Greenway and another mile on the Duke Energy Explorium Nature Trail, which is located at the McGuire Nuclear Station on Lake Norman. Lake Norman is the state’s largest man-made lake and was built by Duke Power in 1963 by damming the Catawba River with the Cowans Ford Hydroelectric Station. At the Explorium and the Nature Trail there are signs about what to do if the warning sirens go off! Luckily there were no incidents while we were walking around the nature trail and I didn't have to worry about evacuating the area. :-)

The next day in Pennsylvania, I hiked along the Radnor Trail in Wayne, PA.
This is another "rail-trail," always a favorite of mine! Electric trolleys, part of a railroad leading to 69th Street Terminal in Philadelphia, once followed this path. Today, bridges, supports that once elevated stations, and a substation building are all that's left of the "Strafford Branch" of the Philadelphia and Western Railway.



The Railway operated through the towns of Wayne, PA and Radnor, PA for fifty years. After the trains stopped running, it sat vacant for almost as much time. Now the right-of-way is in active use once again as a hiking-biking trail.

After a quick jaunt down the Radnor Trail, it was off to Valley Forge National
Historic Park. I climbed up Mount Misery along the Covered Bridge and Horse-Shoe Trails. The Horse-Shoe Trail is a 140-mile hiking and equestrian trail that runs from Valley Forge to the Appalachian Trail in southeastern Pennsylvania.
I had no idea that this trail existed. I think it is a pretty cool idea that it runs all the way out to the AT. Like standing on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail out here in Washington State and imagining that you could just start walking and end up down in Mexico! :-) Not that I would ever do anything like that....Ryan would, but not me! :-) Also while at Valley Forge, I climbed up Mount Joy! I couldn't end the day on Misery ya know!


Many thanks to Sheba and Miz Scarlet for squiring me around in Pennsylvania.

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.