Sunday, August 27, 2006

Once again, a thwarted birthday hike

I took the third week of August off of work to go hiking. I planned one hike, but my car couldn't make it down the terrible road to the trailhead, so at the last minute I changed to a different hike. I went to Necklace Valley. Pretty, but not worth the horrific trail you have to endure to get there. Pictures are in the usual place. I did the mile-long scramble up talus to get to Chain Lakes, which would have been nice if the sun was out. Of course, it was totally overcast, with no view whatsoever of the peaks across the valley. Oh, and it was 51 degrees, and the clouds blowing across at eye-level were very cold and wet. The high-point of the hike was the sow and cub that I got within 30 feet of before seeing them. They ran away so fast I didn't even manage to get a reasonable picture, just bear butts running up the slope away from the trail. Curses! Foiled again. On the other hand, I saw more frogs on this hike than I have seen in the last 10 years. And the blueberries were perfect.

But before that, I accidentally found a new job. I wasn't looking, it just happened! I was minding my own business and got a phone call from an ex-coworker, who told me about the opening. I went for an interview on the 17th and got an offer on the 18th, which I accepted. I start my new job on September 11th.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Change

It seems that when things start to change, the changes don't stop with just one thing. They snowball into changing everything in reach.
 
An old friend called me last week about a job opening in his company. I think I may be changing jobs right at the same time that my current company is being acquired, which happens to be the same time that I am graduating.
 
Nice timing, eh?

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Strange day

It is only 8:39 in the morning and my day is having major mood swings.
1. I found out that someone for whom I have great admiration and respect died in a hiking accident the day before yesterday on Mt. Formidable.
2. My boss is trying to set me up on a blind date.
3. An ex-coworker from 3 or 4 years ago called me to tell me about a job opening in his company.
What could be next? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Spectacle Lake

When I told my compadres where I was spending the weekend, I got a lot of warnings about staying cool, staying hydrated, and loading up on sunscreen. I set out early and arrived at the Pete Lake trailhead at 6 am armed with a cotton shirt, a hat, a ton of Gatorade and salted almonds, and 40+ SPF gel. Luckily, I went one step further and brought lots of DEET. The moment I stepped out of the car I was swarmed with mosquitos. It was already 71 degrees, but there was a bit of cloud cover that I expected to burn off.

The four and a half miles to Pete Lake is just long and flat, nothing to look at, and the mosquitos never let up. I stopped by the shore of Pete Lake for a drink and a snack, swatting at everything that moved, and headed up. 

Just after Pete Lake the mosquitos thinned out. When I got to the Lemah Creek crossing, I saw how high, fast, and wide it was and decided it would be wise to add the extra 3/4 mile trip on the Lemah Meadows trail to join the PCT and take the footbridge route. Some of the PCT is a little overgrown, and some of the growth is Devil's Club. The rest of the overgrowth is just wet and full of spider webs. It was actually nice to get soaked walking through that - it was a nice cool-down.

Miles later of more uneventful trail and I finally hit the switchbacks up to the lake. Again, no views, but there was one rather fantastic, crashing waterfall that looked like something you'd see in Vegas or Disneyland. 

Right after that is the one big blowdown. A huge dead tree fell over the trail. You can't go over or around it, so you have to crawl under it. With a day pack, it might be a little more navigable than with an overnight pack. Over the whole trail, I saw one group of about 8, one other solo hiker, and two couples. All of them were going in the opposite direction. I was hoping for a lack of crowds, and I got it.

Finally, at long last, I got up to the first views of Three Queens and the peaks surrounding Spectacle Lake. It took me about 6 hours between leaving the car and getting to the lakeshore. I made my way down to the lake to find that I was alone and had my choice of campsites. I wandered down the first shoreline reached by the trail and did not find what I wanted. I went around the South shore and then North onto the large peninsula and found a campsite near the end with a view of the Western portion of the lakes and the peaks surrounding it: Huckleberry Mountain, Chickamin Peak, and Lemah Mountain. Heavenly! 
  
Eventually, two other campsites were tak en, and there was a group of 4 that fished and left, and one other solo hiker who stayed for a short time and left. The lake was very quiet.

I set up camp and ate lunch, then set out to find the trail to Glacier Lake. No such luck. I went back to camp and relaxed and took in the veiw, had a swim, watched the fish and the ducks, and relaxed some more. The cloud cover broke breifly a few times. The temperature hovered around the mid-nineties, but when the sun broke it shot up to 103. That gets a little uncomfortable, but that's what alpine lakes are for.  The sunset I hoped for did not materialize - too many clouds. It was nice, but not... well, not spectacular. I finally crawled into my tent and passed out. A deer woke me up around midnight, crashing around in the campsite, looking for leftovers or something.

I did not go up to Spectacle Point due to time and energy constraints (after hunting for the Glacier Lake trail for too long), but word is that there are still a couple of nasty snowfields on that portion of the PCT.

When I woke up this morning, it was already 64 degrees.  I ate and packed out, taking one last look for that Glacier Lake trail - for next time. I left the lake at about 6:30 and got back to the car, 11 miles later, at 11:15 and 88 degrees. I must have been in a hurry to get through the skeeters. I saw only 8 people on the trail this morning, all on their way up to Pete Lake.