Washington's Miss Chris Takes Us Again To Bare Mount Rainier

Saw that which you see here on Facebook this morning, via Washington's Miss Chris.

Miss Chris, Sheila and Macie live in Lacey, a town a few miles east of Olympia, and closer to Mount Rainier than their former location in the Seattle suburb of Kent.

I have never seen Mount Rainier this bare of white ice, known as glaciers. Mount Rainier usually sports multiple glaciers.

I have not seen a recent photo of the Washington volcano I used to live near, Mount Baker.

I suspect Mount Baker is less white than Mount Rainier, due to Mount Baker, at 10,786 feet above sea level being quite a bit shorter than Mount Rainier's 14,411 elevation.

Spending the majority of my existence on the planet living near sea level in Western Washington, with mountains any direction one looked, those mountains look so tall.

My first time seeing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado I was non-plussed, because they did not look as big as mountains I was used to seeing in Washington.  And then I realized the base level of the Rocky Mountains is way above sea level. As in Denver is a mile high, so, naturally the Rocky Mountains do not look as high as they would if Denver were at sea level.

There are mountains in the Colorado Rocky Mountains that one can drive to the top of, such as Pikes Peak, at 14,115 feet above sea level, almost as tall as Mount Rainier.

There are no mountains in the Cascade or Olympic Mountain ranges that one can drive to the top of.

I miss mountains...

Non Tandy Hills Type Slippery Sauk Mountain Joey Hike

What with today being Saturday, and Saturday being the day I often go hiking Fort Worth's Tandy Hills, and what with there being what look like hills in the above photo, someone with extremely poor eyesight might think they are looking at the Tandy Hills.

That person would be thinking incorrectly. That is not a hill. It is a mountain. Sauk Mountain, located in the Skagit Valley of Washington state. Sauk Mountain is on the far west edge of the Cascade Mountain range.

I saw the above photo this morning on Facebook, via the first wife of renowned best selling author, Martin B.

Seeing this photo caused me to feel slightly homesick.

Sauk Mountain is one of the more easily accessed Cascade Mountain trails. If I remember right the trailhead was about 30 miles east of my abode in Mount Vernon. Slightly further than the four miles I drive to the Tandy Hills, but infinitely more scenic and more challenging to hike.

I have hiked to the summit of Sauk Mountain multiple times. In summer, when the high country opens up, free of the snowpack, Sauk Mountain draws hundreds of hikers on a good weather weekend day.

My last time hiking to the summit of Sauk Mountain was not on a good weather summer day. It was on a mid fall bad weather day.

My Favorite Nephew Joey and I had been doing a lot of mountain hiking the previous summer, like hiking up Mount Baker.

When Joey and I arrived at the Sauk Mountain trailhead there were only a couple other vehicles parked. And we soon saw that the owners of those vehicles were coming down the mountain, almost to the parking lot.

Joey and I decided to go for it, even though a few flakes of snow were falling. And it was freezing.

If you look closely at the photo above you can see the switchbacks of the trail which takes you to the summit of Sauk Mountain. You can also see that when this photo was taken some small patches of snow remained near the top of the mountain.

When Joey and I did that hike, that fall, there was already an accumulation of snow. When we  reached the last few switchbacks the trail was covered in ice, and slippery, but we kept on going til we reached the top.

And then the snow began falling in copious amounts. Around that time it crossed my mind  that I was being a slightly irresponsible uncle. I told Joey we'd go down the trail real slow, til we got off the iced over part of the trail. And that if we slipped and started to slide down the mountain, to just treat it as sled ride til a stop could be made.

Well, there was no slipping, we made our way slowly back to safety, where eventually the vehicle's heater warmed us up enough to stop the shivering.

Since I have been in Texas, Joey's mom, my Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law, Cindy, has taken up the hiking sport. Cindy has hiked up many of the Cascade's most popular trails, including Sauk Mountain.

I do not know if Joey has ever told his mother that he and his irresponsible uncle hiked Sauk Mountain in an icy snow storm....

On Top Of Fort Worth's Mount Tandy Thinking About Hiking Washington Cascade Mountain Trails

We are on top of Mount Tandy, in the picture, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Looking at this view it seems unlikely that this setting is in a town of over 700,000, with beautiful downtown Fort Worth being only about 3 miles distant.

Just to the north of the top of Mount Tandy, on the other side of the I-30 freeway, sits Gateway Park. Gateway Park is where J.D. Granger is busily planting 80,000 Magic Flood Stopping Trees in his personal mission to save Arlington from any excess flooding  brought courtesy of J.D.'s Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Has anyone seen any of the Gateway Park Magic Trees that J.D. says he's planted?

I heard a "peep" from a fairly reliable source this morning regarding the Paradise Center. I think we may be hearing some good news about this scandal soon. Real good news. Non-profit organizations doing good works are always grateful when what is known as an "Angel Donor" comes along. I believe such an "Angel" has appeared in Fort Worth.

Let's leave the Paradise Center and go back to the Tandy Hills.

Someone Anonymous asked me a question in a comment to my April Fool's Day blogging.

I said, "Today is the day that in the past I've announced I am moving out of Texas. And then at some point in the day someone realizes this is my idea of an April Fool's joke. Well, this year it is no joke. I am moving out of Texas. I just don't know exactly when."

To which the Anonymous commenter asked...

"Are you really going? Have you hiked the Tandy Hills enough that you need some new terrain? will the next blog be durangocolorado?"

Yes, I believe I will be leaving Texas, likely sooner than later. I do not believe I will be moving to Colorado. I don't think I could have a Durango Colorado blog, as that name is likely taken because there is a town called Durango in Colorado, just like there is a town called Durango in Texas, which I did not know when I got my durangotexas.com domain. I did know there was a town in Texas called Durango, by the time I started my Durango Texas blog.

As for hiking different terrain. I was wondering just yesterday how well I'd handle the Cascade Mountain trails that I hiked when I lived in Washington. I lived pretty much at sea level when I lived in Washington. In Texas I think I'm around 500 feet above sea level most of the time. Has this made my lung power slightly stronger? I have no idea.

I don't know which of my favorite Washington hikes I'd choose to go on if I had time for only one. Maybe Green Mountain, due to the cool firewatch station at the top and the amazing view of the sea of peaks and the views of Washington's least seen volcano, Glacier Peak.

Hiking up Mount Baker from Schrieber's Meadow is the Washington hike I've probably done more than any other. In the fall you can pick wild blueberries on Schrieber's Meadow.

Must cease thinking about Cascade Mountain hikes now or I'll slip into a state of melancholy homesickness.

I think I'll go swimming and lounge in the sun.

I Am Going Swimming While We Go Over 110 Sunday In North Texas

I am going to be floating in that blue thing in a few minutes. It was 85 this morning out on the patio, sipping hot coffee, watching the sun start to light up Sunday.

Yesterday was 100 degree day 15 in a row in North Texas.

Today is expected to be the HOTTEST day of the summer, so far. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth have predicted the Heat Index could go above 110 degrees today.

Apparently the wind prediction for today is for pretty much Dead Calm, thus no wind chill factor to counter act the HEAT.

Two years ago today I was shivering in Tacoma, with the shivering provided by Mother Nature, not air-conditioning. I think I prefer my shivering to be provided by Mother Nature, instead of a machine.

At this moment in Seattle it is 67, heading to a high today of 89. In Western Washington very few people have air-conditioning. But, when it gets hot in Western Washington, unlike North Texas, you can go on a short drive and be up in the Cascade Mountains, where it is much cooler. You can fairly easily get yourself on a nice cooling glacier. Or you can easily go wading in the cool waters of Puget Sound.

There are no glaciers I can drive myself to in Texas. I can drive myself to cool water, though, like down in San Marcos.

I think I'll have to make do with the lukewarm water of my pool.

Two Years Ago At This Very Minute I Was In A Plane Heading To Washington

In a couple hours it will be 2 years since I saw the view in the photo. That is not a stormy wild ocean you're looking at. You are looking north, towards Mount Baker over the Sea of Peaks of the Cascade Mountains in Washington.

A few minutes after this picture was taken I was landing in Seattle, around 9 pm, if I remember right, picked up by a pair of poodles.

Since it is 7 pm Central time, right now, where I was, precisely 2 years ago, was, I think, Albuquerque. I did not have to switch planes, we landed to pick up new passengers and get rid of others.

I remember today, 2 years ago, was HOT here in Texas, just like today. In the high 90s, with the Heat Index in the 100s. I remember overheating checking in at Love Field.

When I arrived in Seattle and exited the terminal, the first thing that struck me was that it was so COLD. When I got to where I was staying, in Tacoma, I was led down to a dungeon like quarters in the basement. It was very cold. That night I laid in bed shivering. When I could shiver no more I got out of bed and searched for more blankets. Eventually I was able to layer enough blankets on top of me to stop the shivering.

I really never did warm up that entire month in Washington. I remember 2 days before finally escaping the frigidity, I was in a Safeway with an enormously obese woman. It was cold outside, yet that grocery store seemed to have its air-conditioning running. I remember the shivering started again. Of course, I got no sympathy from the enormously obese woman, blessed as she was with a natural warming blanket, like a whale's layer of blubber.

Just a second, I must go check what the temperature is in Seattle right now...70!

I have my A/C set at 82, 70 is very chilly.

After several nights of cold terror, spent shivering in that Tacoma dungeon, I discovered a third floor loft which the dungeonkeepers thought was too HOT for human habitation. They'd even added two high-tech air-conditioning window units in the hope of making the loft habitable.

I asked if I could move from the dungeon to the loft. Permission was granted. The temperature gauge on the A/C units said it was 81, cooler than I keep it where I am right now. So, finally I was able to sleep without shivering.

A couple days after my arrival my mom and dad arrived. I proceeded, apparently, to ignore them, while they proceeded to devote a lot of time to processing an awful lot of raspberries.

Time flies. I can't believe it is 2 years since I put myself through that living hell of entire month in Washington. How did I get talked into that? I think I've blocked that memory.

Leaving My Texas Rut To Fly Over Camano Island In Washington

No, in the picture you are not looking at the Pacific Ocean from a Hawaiian Island. You are looking at Puget Sound from a Washington Island named Camano.

This morning someone with whom, in the distant past, I frequently drove, told me I was in a rut and needed to take a Roadtrip.

That sounds like a reasonable prescription to me.

But, I don't see that happening today, so instead I flew up to Washington via Google Earth to fly over Perry Mason's sister, Lori's, house on Camano Island.

From Perry Mason's sister's house you can see the Olympic Mountains and Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a volcano. One of 5 in the Washington Cascades. Mount Baker last erupted some time in the 1800s. Here in Texas we don't have to worry about mountains blowing up, we just have to worry about manmade things blowing up, like natural gas pipelines.

I could see Mount Baker from my house in Mount Vernon. I miss seeing mountains.

I miss a lot of things.

A short distance from PMS's house is Ustalady Point Park. We are looking west from Ustalady Point in the picture.

This morning, back in Texas, my therapist, Dr. L.C., seems to be enjoying being a Drama Queen, arguing with Elsie Hotpepper. Why can't people try harder to just get along?

Meanwhile back to Washington, I'm worried about Tootsie Tonasket and people not getting along in her world, which seems to be driving Tootsie to drink. That's not good.

So, it's another Saturday in my Texas rut. It's a warmer Saturday than the last one, which saw snow falling.

Seas Of Peaks & Midland Flatlands

Like I said earlier today, when you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

The young lady from Midland, whom I mentioned on my Roadtripping Blog, had asked me if I knew of any waterfalls within 2 hour roadtrip distance from Dallas/Fort Worth, commented on "The Sea of Peaks," saying...

"The pic of you lying on the flat rock over looking your beautiful descriptive simile of white caps on the sea...makes me feel like I'm on the seashore of endless worlds...truly inspiring and if doesn't want to make a body move...I don't know what will...:)"

I've driven by Midland, Texas a time or two, both heading west and east. Flatest, most mountain-free stretch of land I've ever seen. But there are sort of mountains within easy driving distance of the flatlands of Midland. The Young Lady who has never seen a waterfall went to those mountains a few days ago and blogged about it.

In the picture above those are some of "The Sea of Peaks" as seen from the Mount Pilchuck Lookout. Mount Pilchuck is pretty much in the Cascade foothills on the far west side of the Cascade Range. From the summit, on a clear day, you can see the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound, Mount's Baker, St. Helens, Rainier, Adams and others.

Click here to seem more Cascade Mountain pictures, including some of me taking my nephews on Dangerous Adventures that their parents knew nothing about.

The Tulips are Blooming & I'm Homesick

I'm homesick. I've not seen the Skagit Valley of Washington in Spring Tulip mode since I moved to Texas in 1999. The color carpetting is sort of like Texas wildflowers on steroids. That is Cultus Mountain in the background, one of the Cascade Mountains foothills, looking east towards my old hometown of Mount Vernon. If it weren't so cloudy you would see the Mount Baker volcano towering over the valley. You will see no Bluebonnets if you visit Washington state during the spring. I think they may have been eradicated for being a pesky invasive weed.