Maxine Takes Me & Madame McNutty On Virtual Washington Hike To Stehekin

The past couple months Madame McNutty and I have been being tormented by photos on Facebook making us homesick for Washington.

Both myself and Madame McNutty currently live in non-scenic American locations, with me in North Texas and Madame McNutty near where Lee surrendered to Grant.

Yesterday the Washingtonian known as Maxine emailed some photos of this year's hike over the North Cascades to Stehekin.

One can get to Stehekin via one of two ways. Either hike in or float in on Lake Chelan, via boat or float plane.

The first paragraph of text in Maxine's email explains, I think, the first picture, which shows Maxine crossing a chasm on a foot bridge...

I had an excellent hike to Stehekin this year, the weather was perfect and there weren’t any scary drop offs. The only unnerving part was on the hike out Bridge Creek Trail; the North Fork bridge had collapsed last winter from snow and was replaced by a swinging bridge.  I worried about this crossing for most of the summer and it ended up being a piece of cake.

Continuing on let's see some more scenery with some more explanatory text...

I believe the above must be Lyman Lake. I believe this because of the following text from Maxine's email...

We hiked to Lyman Lake our first night, the 2nd day we hiked a portion of the Pacific Coast Trail that goes thru Plummer Basin (we hadn’t done this piece before, last time we took the unmaintained trail which was a huge mistake), spent a 2nd night on the trail and then hiked the last 12 miles to High Bridge on our 3rd day and made it to the Stehekin Valley Ranch in time for dinner. 

I have had dinner at the Stehekin Valley Ranch. You can see that via the Stehekin Eating webpage I made following the Stehekin visit. These are primitive webpages made a long time ago. Hence the small photos of low quality. And for some reason Google seems to flood the pages with ads.

Continuing on with another scenic wonderland photo...

Some more text from Maxine which contributes to the feeling that I'd really like to go on a real hike...

I haven’t got the Lyman Lake area out of my system yet, I’d like to go back and spend a couple of days at Lyman Lake and day hike to Upper Lyman and Spider Gap. So remote there, we only saw 2 other people on that portion of the trail. I didn’t get as much hiking in this year as I would have liked. 

Some final words from Maxine...

I didn’t get as much hiking in this year as I would have liked. I hope to get to Cutthroat Pass this weekend for the Fall colors. The Seattle Times did an article last weekend about Fall hikes off of Hwy 20 and it’s always a nuthouse on the trails after that. We’ll see...

I was hoping to go hiking with Maxine this past summer, but COVID postponed going to Washington, again, two Summers in a row.

The first time I ever hiked up the slopes of Mount Baker it was Maxine who led the expedition. I have photos of that expedition, but I don't remember if I ever digitalized them. They are likely in an old-fashioned photo album stored in a big box in my closet.

Washington's Wildfires Cause Maxine A Smoky Laundry Illusion With Tootsie Tonasket

A couple days ago  I asked Maxine if this year's Washington dire fire situation was the worst she can remember, because that is how it is seeming to me from my vantage point a couple thousand miles distant.

I also asked Maxine for a hiking report, which I enjoy reading due to it causing that homesick feeling I enjoy so much.

Today Maxine emailed in a hiking and fire report, with three photos, including the one you see here. The other two photos show how badly the smoke from the fires has cut visibility.

Maxine's message, including the explanation for that which you see above....

Good Monday, 

Definitely the worst fires in my memory. Saturday was very smoky, I thought the smoke had discolored the white laundry I’d hung out to dry but Mike pointed out that it was just looking thru the air that caused  the illusion of discoloration.  At one point we couldn’t see the hills across the valley from our house.

Sunday we hiked the Skyline Divide trail. We did it a couple of years ago but it was very foggy and we couldn’t see anything. This time we were at the trailhead by 7 a.m ., had to take lots of breaks on the trail because the air quality was so poor.  Once we got out of the trees Mt. Baker was clear and beautiful-we followed the trail up and around until we were standing right in front of the backside of Baker. The smoke was settling in by the time we headed back down the trail and we could barely make out the outline of the mountain even though it was a clear day.

Our house is surrounded by trees. So far there aren’t any fires near us. There is a very small fire behind Whitehorse Mountain and that is the only fire of any significance on this side that I know of.

Maxine

______________________________________________

Maxine's location is about 30 miles, as a crow flies, southwest of the Newhalem fire in North Cascades National Park, which has been in the news the past several days.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Washington, Okanogan County remains on fire at multiple locations. Aunt Alice, aka Tootsie, in Tonasket, is working hard to stay optimistic, while having trouble breathing due to the thick smoke.

It has been an impressive thing to witness to see how the people of Tonasket and Okanogan County are using Facebook to connect people and to let the helpers know who needs help.

Let me see if I can find an example of a person on Facebook connecting the Okanogan County community. Found one. Patrick Plumb, go to Patrick Plumb's Facebook page. I think he may be the mayor of Tonasket or the chief chief of the Tonasket Tribe.

I hope relief in the form of rain comes soon to all the states currently on fire....

In A Mountain Free Zone Of Texas Vicariously Enjoying Maxine's Washington Mountain Hiking

On the left you are looking at Washington native, Maxine, leading a visiting hiker up Sauk Mountain. The trail up Sauk Mountain is ever so slightly unnerving due to the fact that the trail is a series of switchbacks, out in the open, no trees, working its way to the top.

I last hiked up Sauk Mountain at some point in the 1990s, with my favorite nephew Joey, in what became one of the more infamous "Nephews in Danger" incidents, due to the fact that as we made our way to the top the temperature dropped with the drizzly precipitation turning to ice which had the final few switchbacks ice covered which added an element of risk.

But, Joey and I continued on to the top and then gingerly made our way back down to safety.

Years later, in the current century, Joey's mom, my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, took up the hiking hobby, which eventually had Cindy hiking up Sauk Mountain, which then had Joey telling his mom about the "Nephews in Danger" incident. When I was later asked about this incident I plead not guilty due to the fact so much time had passed that some sort of statute of limitations had to be in play.

Maxine is an avid year round hiker. When the high country of the North Cascades is frozen over Maxine hikes the lowland hikes of the north Puget Sound zone. Through Maxine I get to vicariously enjoy Washington mountain hiking.

The state I am currently in, Texas, does not have much in the way of mountains, except out in the West Texas Big Bend Region. I have seen the Quadalupe Mountains in the distance,whilst driving to and from Texas. I would like to go to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and do some real mountain hiking.

The closest I have come in Texas to what seems like a real mountain hike I experienced by hiking to the top of Enchanted Rock down south in the Texas Hill Country.

A couple days ago Maxine asked me if I'd seen the Washington Trails Association website. I had not. I blogged about the Washington Trails Association website this morning on my Washington blog in a blogging cleverly titled Washington Trails Association Website.

The WTA website covers all of Washington's 31 Wilderness Areas. Daily, hikers post trail reports. Some days there are dozens of trail reports.

As far as I know nothing like the WTA website existed whilst I was still in Washington. I relied on old-fashioned trail guide books for my trail hiking information.

For several years now, in the fall, Maxine has hiked Cascade Pass to Stehekin. I have always wanted to do that. I've hiked to the summit of Cascade Pass several times and have floated the Lady of the Lake on Lake Chelan to Stehekin, one time.

Well, there is no mountain hiking in the near future for me. Today I may go do some mountain biking with Arlington's Village Creek Indian Ghosts.

One more picture of this week's Maxine hikes. Below Maxine and her hiking troop are on Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park. I can not tell if the view is looking west, towards my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, or looking east towards Stehekin and Lake Chelan.

Maxine Had Me Breaking Skagit Which Has Me Looking For Tarrant Breaking

A couple days ago I asked Maxine a couple questions about my old home zone of  Skagit County. One question was about Pilchuck Falls which had been in the news in late June due to the loss of a Skagit Search & Rescue rescuer named JB Bryson who was lost along with one of a pair of hikers who had fallen near Pilchuck Falls.

The other question I asked Maxine had to do with my being perplexed as to why kids where no longer allowed to pick Skagit Valley berries, while tons of the world's best berries went to waste.

Maxine answered my two questions, with the first answer about the Pilchuck Falls incident, rendered poignant when it turned out JB Bryson was a Sedro Woolley High School classmate of Maxine's.

In her email reply Maxine pointed me to a Skagit County Facebook page I'd not heard of called Breaking Skagit. I checked out the Breaking Skagit Facebook page to quickly find out the breaking part of the name referred to breaking news.

On the Skagit Breaking Facebook page I saw that there is also a Skagit Breaking website.

Both the Skagit Breaking Facebook page and the website seem to me to be extremely well done. This had me curious as to who was behind Skagit Breaking. That curiosity led me to Skagit Breaking About Us page where I eventually found the names of the Skagit Breaking creators, none of whom I knew.

The About Us statement states that they are not a "News" site,  right after saying, "We provide  scanner traffic from our local Police, Fire and EMS airwaves. I enjoy off beat news, and in addition to local news, we also post  odd news stories from around the globe."

I read that Skagit Breaking was not a "News" site just as I was wondering to myself how is it little Skagit County, population of 118,222, manages to have more than one real newspaper, whilst the county I currently live in, Tarrant County, with a population of 1.88 million, has nothing that I know of like Skagit Breaking. Or the Skagit Valley Herald.

Maybe some of the small towns in Tarrant County have real newspapers that I've not seen. Is there a Haltom City Town Crier (other than Layla Caraway)? A North Richland Hills Harbinger? A Keller Knocker?

Prior to Maxine telling me about the incredible memorial event that took place in Sedro Woolley for JB Bryson, another Sedro Woolley-ite, Betty Jo Bouvier, mentioned being amazed and impressed by the size and scope of the memorial.

Read the Breaking Skagit article about the JB Bryson memorial event and notice the good writing, the detailed article and wonder to yourself why it is you never read such a thing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

If only I knew how to make websites I'd make a BREAKING NEWS TARRANT COUNTY website....

Today I Am Recovering From Last Night's Potato Roll & Snake Nightmare Caused By Maxine

On the left you are looking skyward, looking west past the speared security fence which keeps me semi-secure, with this location being near where my mechanized vehicular transport device is parked.

As you can see blue sky is not the dominant theme at this point in time at my location on the planet.

For more reasons than one I opted not to roll the aforementioned mechanized vehicular transport's wheels anywhere today to a location where I might get myself some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

One reason for no wheel rolling is fairly obvious. As in a threatening sky with some precipitation already precipitating, though not in amounts even remotely precipitous.

Another reason for no wheel rolling is I got myself some mighty fine endorphin induction action early this morning, via a slightly cool pool.

But, the main reason I am opting for no wheel rolling, hiking or biking today is an incident which occurred last night when I found myself having a bizarre nightmare which involved Maxine and myself having a serious issue over potato rolls and butter.

In the nightmare this seemed to be at a Ukrainian crisis level of serious.

At one point in the nightmare somehow the potato rolls and butter got involved with a big snake.

When I saw the big snake coming for my potato rolls, butter and me I gave it as hard a kick as I could muster.

But, in reality, what I found out that I was kicking, upon instantly awakening, was the wall  on the west side of my bed.

A consequence of that wall kick is it somehow hurt my right knee. I thought a hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning would abate the woe.

It did not.

Climbing a flight of stairs is currently slightly problematic. So, pedaling a bike or hiking hills does not currently seem doable.

I am sure I will quickly recover from this latest nightmare related malady, as long as Maxine and her potato roll and butter aggressive ways stay at bay....

Leaving Mountain-Free Texas To Hike With Maxine In The Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness

In the picture you are in the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on the west slope of the North Cascades, a few miles northeast of my old home zone in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Very specifically, you are looking at Watson and Anderson Lakes, with one lake up close and one in the distance.

Maxine sent me this picture today. Maxine hiked to this location over the weekend. Maxine has visited me at my location in Texas. Maxine knows how scenery deprived my location in Texas is.

I don't think Maxine sent me this picture to make me homesick, but that has been the result.

In 6 days it will be exactly 5 years since I have hiked in an actual mountain zone. That mountain would be Mount Rainier.

One of the very first times I hiked in the Cascade Mountains was with Maxine.

Me, Maxine and Miss Mac.

That hike was up the south slope of Mount Baker. Mount Baker is one of Washington's 5 active volcanoes.

I don't know how many active volcanoes there are in Texas. Most likely none. Seems like there'd be some, what with all the underground explosive material in the form of oil and shale.

Mountain Biking Gateway Park While Maxine Makes Me Homesick For Goose Rock

Since today is Saturday I did what has become my Saturday habit of late, as in I took my handlebars to Gateway Park to do some mountain bike pedaling.

I had myself a fine time pedaling today, rotating my wheels for over an hour.

And then it was on to Town Talk where my treasure hunting was not too successful today.

This morning I got an email that made me a bit homesick. The email was from Maxine. Maxine lives upriver in the Skagit Valley of my old home zone. Maxine is in training for her annual hike over the Cascade Mountains to Stehekin.

Maxine's hiking training today is taking place on Goose Rock in Deception Pass State Park. The trails of Deception State Park, including Goose Rock's trails, were sort of my Tandy Hills equivalent when I lived in Washington.

It was a longer drive to get to Goose Rock than the 4 mile drive from my abode to the Tandy Hills.

If Goose Rock existed at my current location I think it would likely be called Goose Mountain. And it would be a major tourist attraction because there would be nothing like it for hundreds of miles in any direction.

In about 3 hours the Tacoma Wedding of the Century will be taking place. Two  months ago if you'd asked me I would have said I would be at this event. I also got invited to a Train Wreck today in my old home town of Burlington.

This morning Betty Jo Bouvier asked  me which event I was going to be attending, the Train Wreck or the Wedding. I told Betty Jo I would be attending both in spirit.

I think I made the right decision in deciding not to fly north to Washington at this point in time. I got an email  this morning that reminded me of what a hotbed of crazy Tacoma is.

The temperature in Tacoma right now is 69 degrees. Transpose those two numbers and you get the temperature right now in Fort Worth, as in 96 degrees.

I believe today's Tacoma wedding is an outdoor deal at something called the Japanese Pavilion in Point Defiance Park. At 69 degrees I would have been a shivering mess.