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....

Blazing Trails To New Locations On Arlington's Village Creek

I had myself a different type of haunting experience in Arlington today at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Years ago I was at one of the turtle viewing locations on Village Creek when I was startled to suddenly see a guy on the other side of the creek. How could someone get to this location, I wondered, what with the underbrush so thick, and what with it being summer, the time of year when the rattlesnakes, copperheads and other venomous critters are extra frisky.

Well, today I found my way to that location. In the picture above I am standing about where I saw that guy years ago. That thin gray line you see at the top of the photo is the paved trail that one accesses from the VCNHA parking lot, which I had been jogging on a few minutes prior. That opening you see in front of the gray paved line is the turtle viewing location mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Though the air was heated today to a summer type temperature, if you are talking about a Western Washington summer, not a Texas summer, it was not hot enough today to get the slithering reptiles in danger mode.

I got gas today. $1.43 a gallon. I used to regularly call my mom and dad when I got gas, but of late I don't do that so much because usually when I get gas I am not alone and it seems rude to call someone when one is not alone in the vehicle. So, I called today from a Village Creek NHA picnic table, but got no answer. A call later in the afternoon was successful.

Tomorrow is my mom's happy birthday. Happy birthday, mom......

This Trinity River Whitewater Rapids Plan Would Have Filled Dallas Potholes

A couple days ago, after Elsie Hotpepper caused me to be puzzled I blogged about that which puzzled me, asking Why Does Army Corps Of Engineers Not Like Dallas Whitewater Wild Rapids Blocking Trinity River?

Yesterday I got an email from Facebook telling me that Elsie Hotpepper had tagged me. Getting tagged by Elsie Hotpepper always raises my worry level.

This particular instance of Elsie Hotpepper tagging me was due to the Hotpepper wanting me to read a comment made to her posting about the Dallas Whitewater Rapids.

The comment was made by Korean War historian and Trinity River Watchdog, Hal Barker. The comment in its entirety, copied and pasted from Facebook....

Hal Barker: Indeed. It cannot be made up. Only the City of Dallas could come up with a project like this for the 8 kayak folks who want to take the 2 second ride. 

My suggestion originally was that, in lieu of a fake rapid, that the City offer all 8 white water kayak folks who live in Dallas and want to ride on the Trinity free tickets by SW Airlines to Colorado with an all expense paid vacation whenever they want.

That would have cost about what it cost to buy the design for the project, and left over millions for filling potholes.

But no, the City wanted a Colorado experience in Dallas. So here we are, the Corps going on a rampage, the City forgetting to tell their bosses that the doo-doo was going to hit the fan, lawsuits, screaming executives, and Hal Barker going after Corps of Engineers documents they don't want to give up. This is like a Trump reality show....

Look Inside Fort Worth Stockyards Renovated New Isis Theater

This morning Elsie Hotpepper directed me to that which you see here, on Facebook, photos of "An abandoned theater in the Stockyards of Fort Worth built in 1930s and forgotten since 1988."

The theater being talked about is the New Isis Theater, with its reader board, for years, promising the New New Isis would be opening soon, ever since I first saw this eyesore soon upon my arrival in Texas, late in the previous century.

I have mentioned this Stockyards eyesore many times, in various venues, over the years, including multiple mentions on this blog you are looking at right now, for example...

The Fort Worth Stockyards New Isis Theater Travesty & The Baker Hotel In Mineral Wells Travesty

and

The New Isis Theater In The Fort Worth Stockyards Is Still Not New After All These Years.

The blog post about the New Isis Theater still not being new, after years of claiming it would be re-opening soon, included the following interesting information from a guy named Robert....

Dear Durango Texas,

As an FYI - The New Isis Theater is currently in the architectural phase of renovation. This will probably take 3-4 months and the renovation approximately 14-16 months. Hopefully we can achieve a look which will remove us from your expertly crafted list of Stockyard buildings in need of repair. You could be very helpful in this process by informing your web viewers that the original seats from the inside of the theater are available for those who would like to purchase a piece of history. These will need to be replaced because of they are only 16 1/2 inches wide compared to modern theater seats at 21". (a testament to the decline of our culinary tastes over the last 70+ years.)

Regards,
Robert
The New Isis Theater

The blog post which let us know the New Isis Theater renovation would be completed in 14 - 16 months was from way back in October of 2011.

Did J.D. Granger and America's Biggest Boondoggle take over the New Isis Theater renovation? Is that why in 2016 the New Isis Theater looks like that which you see below?

The above photo is what the interior of the renovated New Isis Theater looks like in 2016. This is one of the photos in the Jonny Goodday Facebook post which Elsie Hotpepper directed me to.

How did this theater get in such bad shape? Why is this boarded up eyesore allowed to continue blighting Fort Worth's best tourist attraction, the Stockyards, decade after decade?

Throwing Thursday Back To 1027 Washington Avenue In Burlington

I do not believe I have ever participated in the phenomenon known as "Throw Back Thursday".

I suppose my lack of participation in this phenomenon has to do with not having anything I've felt like throwing back on a Thursday.

So, last week, or the week before, something caused me to look for photos of an October 1994 incident where I was snowed in by a blizzard in a log cabin at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

During the course of looking for that photo I found the photo above, long forgotten.

On the left that would be my Favorite Nephew Joey, standing next to my Favorite Nephew Jason.

If I remember correctly this photo was taken in December of 1999. I'd made a winter driving trek back to Washington to attend to something the details of which have turned foggy due to the passage of time. I do not remember why my nephews and I returned to the location of the photo, but I believe this is likely the last time I have been at this location.

1027 Washington Avenue in Burlington, Washington. The house I grew up in.

Who would have thought, when I took this photo in 1999, that six years later I would pick up these two nephews and their girl friends at D/FW Airport, where I was informed that Jason would be getting married soon, with me flying north for that wedding a year, or so later, followed by the arrival of Spencer Jack a year or so after that.

Who would have thought, when I took this photo in 1999, that in October of 2015 my Favorite Nephew Joey would be standing outside a Grapevine, Texas McDonald's, meeting up with his Favorite Uncle, because Joey was in Dallas to install some high tech electronic gear at an Expedia outlet?

My nephews have aged since the above photo was taken. They no longer look like kids. While like some sort of creepy Dorian Gray Benjamin Buttons thing I have not aged at all.

So much for Throwing Back Thursday.....

Why Does Army Corps Of Engineers Not Like Dallas Whitewater Wild Rapids Blocking Trinity River?

I saw that which you see here a few minutes ago, from Elsie Hotpepper, via Facebook.

Til the past week, give or take a day or two, I did not know that the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision already saw a whitewater wild rapids installation.

A wild rapids installation which cost a few million bucks and which blocks upriver boat floating on the Trinity River.

That blockage has turned the Dallas wild rapids into a problem with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose job it is to make sure America's navigable rivers remain navigable.

How this Dallas wild rapids thing got installed without the Army Corps of Engineers being in the loop is a mystery to me.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, I have long known that a proposed wild rapids installation is part of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision. I learned of the Fort Worth wild rapids via signage installed, long ago, by America's Biggest Boondoggle,  in Gateway Park, which is the location of the proposed Fort Worth wild rapids.

I don't quite understand how wild rapids are supposed to work in an area where the topography is a bit flat, hence a slow moving river.

If the Dallas wild rapids is now an issue because it has blocked navigation, why are the multiple dams across the Trinity River, as it passes through Fort Worth, not a navigation blocking issue?

Are the Fort Worth Trinity River dams not relevant, navigation blockage-wise, because the Trinity River is no longer considered navigable by the time one goes upriver as far as Fort Worth? Who knows?

What I do know is I have wondered ever since I saw The Boondoggle's Gateway Park signage touting the Gateway Park wild rapids feature how in the world that would work, what with that absence of much elevation change problem that I already mentioned.

I have not seen the Dallas wild rapids on the Trinity. I have no idea where this is located. By Tramwell Crow Park, perhaps? I have seen the steep boat launch at that location.

If the Army Corps of Engineers is threatening to pull the plug on Dallas' water, why doesn't Dallas simply remove the silly fake wild rapids? Have people actually been using these fake rapids in kayaks to have themselves a pseudo wild river experience? Seems unlikely.

Then again, 10 years ago I would never have dreamed that the local sheep could be convinced it is a good idea to float on inner tubes in the Trinity River, drinking beer, while listening to music blaring from an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island....

Finding More Picnic Tables Than Indian Ghosts In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area

Yesterday was so warm it would have qualified as a HOT summer day back in my old home zone in Western Washington.

Overnight, clouds arrived, along with a steep temperature drop, as in yesterday at this late point in the afternoon the outer world was nearing 70 degrees. Today, at this late point in the afternoon the temperature is in the 40s, and feels much colder.

After a bit of shivering this morning I decided going running with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts, again, would warm me up.

So, around the noon time frame I drove to Arlington and did some running. This warmed me up somewhat, but not much.

Late last spring an Arlington park crew removed the thick underbrush along both sides of the paved trail which runs through the Village Creek Natural Historical Area. This did not seem, to me, to be a very natural thing to be doing. A result of the clearcutting has been that you can see way in the distance, where previously the view was blocked by brush.

Today I made note of this clear view when I noticed how many picnic tables I could see. I took several photos of the sea of picnic tables, but in none of them could you much see the ones in the distance.

The picnic tables you see in the foreground of the photo are located in one of two concentrated  picnic table zones, both with large off the ground fire pits. The two concentrated picnic table zones are only a short distant apart, with the first one just a short distance from the parking lot.

I bring up this forest of picnic tables because, while I'm sure the Arlington park's people meant well with all these picnic tables, the fact of the matter is over all my years of  visiting this park I have only rarely seen anyone using any of the picnic tables, or burning wood in one of the two fire pits.

Seems a shame that these picnic tables are so underused. A shame and a waste. I'm thinking that moving most of these picnic tables to another Arlington park might be a good idea. Like Veterans Park, which has way more visitors and way fewer picnic tables.

The fact that the Village Creek Natural Historical Area is not an appealing picnic spot is another reason I think it odd there are so many picnic tables. Like many Fort Worth parks, this Arlington park has no modern restrooms, not even outhouses, and no running water, unless one counts the water which flows through Village Creek.

Anyway, it just struck me as a sad scene when I noticed how many unused picnic tables I was able to see, way into the distance, and behind me....

Fort Worth's Bearded Lady Stuffs Her Texas Twinkie Jalapeños With Pulled Pork

Texas cuisine is so tempting it is a wonder, to me, more Texans do not have a weight problem.

For instance, six or seven times a week Mildred Halbert's parental units have a feeding at one of the many Dallas/Fort Worth food purveyors.

Usually when Mildred Halbert's parental units have one of their ubiquitous feedings they document the occasion on Facebook, such as what you see here.

A delicacy known as "Texas Twinkies" which Mildred Halbert's parental units enjoyed yesterday at a Fort Worth feeding establishment called The Bearded Lady.

I used to know a lady known as The Fat Lady who was a real good cook. Best cookies ever. I have never known a lady known as The Bearded Lady who is a good cook.

We learn about "Texas Twinkies" when Mildred Halbert's paternal parental unit describes the Bearded Lady lunch as....

 "Havin' a few Texas Twinkies for lunch! (bacon wrapped, pulled pork stuffed in jalapeños covered with pineapple chutney) #GonnaMakeYourTongueSlapYourBrainsOut#TheLadyBraidsHerBeard.

I don't get that hashtag thing one sees all over, but in this case I think it relates to the line at the top where Mildred Halbert's paternal parental unit says "feeling tongue slapped at The Bearded Lady."

I have never been to The Bearded Lady. I don't know where in Fort Worth this feeding establishment is located.

For years Elsie Hotpepper and her co-hort, Mary Not Contrary, have been saying they are going to take me out to lunch. But, they never do.

Maybe someday Elsie and Mary will take me to The Bearded Lady for Texas Twinkies.....

Is Dallas As Bad A Sewage Polluter As Victoria British Columbia?

Way back late in the last century a scandal erupted in the Pacific Northwest, with that scandal being an issue between Washington and British Columbia over some extremely disgusting, bad behavior by the British Columbia provincial capital of Victoria.

Until the scandal erupted most Washingtonians were not aware of the fact that the city of Victoria pumped its raw sewage, untreated, into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, that being the body of water which separates Washington from Canada.

British Columbia officials claimed that the tidal action of fast moving currents treated the raw sewage, naturally.

However, Washingtonians, who had witnessed the large plume of discolored water that frequently appeared from  the area  of Victoria's sewer pipes, thought differently.

Starting back  in the 1960s Washington sewage treatment had elevated to what is known as tertiary treatment. Which basically means the treated sewage is restored to a safe water state before winding up back in Puget Sound. The waters of Washington, both the rivers and the Sound, soon were no longer polluted. This had multiple benefits, such as salmon returning to Lake Washington.

So, you can see why it grated on the nerves of the people of Washington to learn that the capital of British Columbia was shooting raw sewage into the straits through which salmon swam on their way to Washington rivers.

All these years later I believe Victoria, despite promises to modernize, still releases sewage into the straits which has not been cleaned up to American standards.

Meanwhile in Texas.

I was vaguely aware that there was an issue in Dallas regarding the south part of town not having full access to the town's sewer lines.

A recent article in the Dallas Observer titled COUNCIL GIVES MONEY TO A MALL, BUT WON'T SPEND ON SEWERS. THAT'S SO DALLAS sort of shocked me with the realization that Dallas is pretty much almost as bad as the Canadian town of Victoria.

Two blurbs from the article...

Pitre (pronounced PEEtree) owns 120-plus acres of land near the new University of North Texas' southeast Dallas campus. He is one of several black land-owners in that area who have been campaigning for years — unsuccessfully so far — to get the city to extend sewer service to their part of the city.

But the DART station at UNT will be on a septic tank, because Dallas still has not extended a sewer main close enough to that location for DART or any other developer to be able to afford to connect to it. Recently, when the city rebuilt a major thoroughfare next to the campus —  an ideal time to put in sewer cheaply because the road was torn up anyway — the city declined to do so.

__________________________

I had no idea that a large American city existed without modern sewage treatment covering a large part of the town.

South Dallas is sewer line free?

Does this mean Fair Park is not connected to a sewer line?

Are parts of Fort Worth similarly backward?

Is that why the majority of Fort Worth parks are serviced by outhouses rather than modern restroom facilities?

Is the South Dallas zone, which is not connected to a sewer line, solely dependent on septic tanks? Or do a lot of people have outhouses in their backyards?

What does it do to the ground water to have so many septic tanks in a concentrated area?

Why would Dallas spend money on extremely cool futuristic looking bridges when a large portion of the town does not have modern plumbing?

Victoria, British Columbia took a big hit, tourist-wise, after the Sewagegate Scandal erupted. Would Dallas take a similar hit, tourist-wise, if it became known, nationally, and internationally, that a large part of the town is cut off from the type amenity one expects in a modern city?

Very perplexing.....

Texas Woman Visits Washington And Finds It Astonishing

I was looking for an old email, yesterday, when I saw a blog comment email from Techsas Woman from around three years ago which I did not remember.

My not remembering this email is clearly yet one more indicator of my failing memory function, because not only had I previously read this comment, I had hit the publish button on it and had replied to the comment.

In my memory's defense, I have multiple blogs, with the total number of posts on those blogs being in the thousands, all of which can get commented on.

The comment  from Techsas Woman and my reply.....

Techsas Woman has left a new comment on your post "The Skagit Valley's Big Rock With Spencer Jack's Grandma Cindy & The Nookachamp Star Child Falling From The Sky": 

I was so happy to find your blog, as I have a Texas / Mt. Vernon connection, too, though from the other side. My Texan daughter moved to Mt. Vernon three years ago. My husband and I made our first visit two years ago and found the beauty to be astonishing - the San Juan Islands, Deception Pass, Snoqualmie Falls... breathtaking! (The second thing we found astonishing was the number of ex-patriot Texans we ran into up there.) While I find some of your remarks towards Texas and Texans to be awfully stinging, I'm so pleased to find great travel commentary for the area. We're heading back in late June with hopes to head up towards Mt. Baker and also make a trip to Vancouver. 

Durango Northwest said...
Thanks for the comment, Techas Woman. Did not get "Techas" til I read the comment. I can't remember any stinging remarks directed at Texas or Texans. I have age related memory issues. You are really gonna like Vancouver. Very scenic. And the town's Skytrain & Sea Buses make it easy to get around. If your visit to Mount Baker is to the ski area you are in for some classic mountain driving that might be unsettling if you've not experienced that before. Later in summer hiking up Mount Baker becomes doable from the south side, hiking to the side you can see from Mount Vernon. You might also like driving over Stevens Pass. It being, in my opinion, the most scenic of the Washington mountain passes, with Leavenworth on the east side being Washington's best tourist themed town. The North Cross State Highway is also very scenic with another tourist theme town on the east side, in Winthrop. I miss Washington and its extremely varied topography.

_________________________

I can't imagine to what Techsas Woman refers when she says some of my remarks regarding Texans and Texas are awfully stinging. Anything I have ever remarked has always been reality based. I guess reality can have a bit of a sting if ones view of ones world is through tainted rose-colored glasses....