We Did It

Summited Mt St Helens is what.

Where we, from left to right are, my brother-in-law Steve, my brother-in-law Steve's brother-in-law Steve, Patty's brother Doug, my niece Alison, Patty's nephew Steve, my nephew Kenneth, and Patty. 

Proudly holding our sign at the summit, just prior to popping the champagne (yes we had champagne, we are civilized you know, although it was twist top bottles).

It was not an easy hike.

This is the mountain, at the top center there are two dips, we hiked to the right most dip, you can see (once suitably bigafied) a thin grey line to that dip. That was the trail.

It was brutal.

The first two miles were along a nice easy path through the forest.

And then ...

Boulders. Lava boulders. And snow. And then ash (like walking on a beach, only up).

Three miles of this stuff.

Note the white poles, those were the trail markers. 

Did I mention boulders? (A Mountain, Mt Rainer?, nicely framed.)

Notice the yellow work gloves. They were so I didn't cut my hands when scrambling over those lava boulders.

Also note I'm wearing shorts and no jacket. It was 108° F in the valley that day. And it was hot on the trail. If not for a constant breeze, and the snow (more on that below) it would have been brutal as the last three miles were exposed above the trees. No shade whatsoever.

One final word about my attire. At the top there was a group of hikers, six women and one guy, and one of the women asked if I "was and adventurer". I guess I am. And as we were approaching the tree line on our way down, one of the volunteers who hike the mountain looking to help folks along the way asked if I was a tour leader.

I was the last of our group to make it to the top. 

Leading from behind ...

We had plenty of wonderful views. That's Mt Hood in the distance.

And the view from the rim, looking in to the volcano:

Across the way is the Johnston Ridge Observatory, where this adventure started four years ago.

Up on the rim we enjoyed the champagne and lunch.

And then we headed back down. Like this:

Sliding down on the snow. It's called "glissading" and usually requires thicker pants and an ice ax, as one is sliding down on the top layer of ice. But since it was so hot the ice had melted. And it helped keep us cool. Sharp eyed readers will notice I now have long pants on, through the miracle of zippers.

Here is a link to a glissading video taken by the youngest of the Steve's: click me. 

Patty and I at the top. Note the thin grey line of ash on the left. That is the same line visible in the second image above.

Now while I can't say that I totally enjoyed this hike, as some parts were just brutal, I can say that I did enjoy parts. Being at the summit. Sliding down. And arriving back at my car. :-) And I'm glad I did it.

When we got back to the 'resort' were we had spent the prior night, we met up with a group of women who had been on the trail behind us through the wooded part. They were on a guided hike. And they told us that they turned around just one mile from the summit because the tour leader said there wasn't enough time to summit. They were understandable angry, as there was plenty of time. All that work for no payoff. I too would have been pissed.

A spectacular end to our Washington adventure.

🏔  🏔  🏔  🏔  🏔

Thanks to Steve, Steve, Steve, Doug, Patty, Kenneth, and Alison who provided images for this post. And who were great hiking companions.

Prologue

In August 2017 we went to the Pacific Northwest see this. We spent a couple of weeks out there, traveling about Oregon (where we saw the eclipse) and Washington. And one of the places we went in Washington was the Mt St Helens Volcanic National Monument.

While there we did a bit of hiking. And I took some pictures.

And we visited the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Where we could look into the crater of the volcano. The still active volcano.

And while at the observatory we noticed a docent with a spotting scope, and we took a look.

And while looking Patty said, "are those people up there?" To which the docent replied, "yes".

And thus an idea was born.

Life Interrupted

My brother moved from Missouri to California in 1996. And he and I drove form Kansas City to San Mateo. It was the first time I was out west.

And until last year, I had been out west every year since.

Patty and I, and seven friends (all women) had planned to be out west this week.

At the place shown above, the Grand Canyon.

Like many people our plans have changed.

The good news is that our reservation at the Phantom Ranch has been rescheduled for 2021. Normally, and how we got our slots in the first place, one gets a bed at the ranch via lottery. And at first it seemed we'd have to go through that process again. But as the global, and local, situation worsened, things changed.

And I've another year to train.

VLA

Green Bank Observatory was not the first radio observatory I've visited.

It was this one.

The Very Large Array, which in this picture looks rather small. Hinting at the immensity of the universe.

Unlike the Green Bank Observatory, this one had no restrictions on digital cameras. Cellphones needed to be turned off, although you could turn one on, in airplane mode, snap a picture, and then turn it off. I surmise these scopes are listening at different wavelengths.

No bus tour here, a walking tour instead. And we, that's Patty in her gray coat, were able to walk right up to one of the dishes in the array.

Another difference was that there was no 'radio quiet zone' here. Of course, this is pretty much the Middle of Nowhere, NM so there isn't the need for a quiet zone. At least not yet. And the array is situated in a large valley, the surrounding mountains blocking out much of the radio noise.

The worst source of interference is caused by a source I'm listening to as I type this, satellite radio. The dishes cannot be pointed within ten degrees of one of the satellites as the signal will overwhelm any astronomical source.

📡  📡  📡  📡  📡

We visited the VLA in December 2011. This was our first Christmas trip together. Our main destination was Bosque del Apache NWR,  to see the large flocks of overwintering birds. Maybe I'll blog about that someday ...

Weekday Wanderings ... Midway

On a Wednesday in May 2011 I found myself in San Diego. Just up the hill from the USS Midway, now a museum. So with an afternoon to kill I wandered on down, along with several of my then colleagues.

I was in San Diego for a business conference. My company, two owners ago, hosted an annual users conference, alternating east and west coast locales. The most recent prior owner did away with them.

It seems even on big ships space is at a premium.

Needed to store all the aircraft I suppose.

As a kid I was fascinated by airplanes. And was very cool to see them in person.

Not all that much runway. Now imagine that the sea isn't quite as calm and there are other planes in the air. Some maybe even shooting at you.

Magnificent ingenuity, a testament to the cleverness of us humans. But also a monument to our stupidity and inability to live together peacefully. I feel that way about military aircraft these days. Incredible what can be achieved. Sad what we spend so much resources on.

Anticipated Encounter ...

... which fortunately did not occur.

My Dad and I were visiting Yellowstone National Park when we came upon folks lined up along the side of the road. This usually means interesting wildlife. So we joined the throng. And saw this.

But upon closer observation, most of the cameras were pointed to the right of the Moose and her calf.

Alas, I was not in a position to get a photo of what they, and the moose, were looking at.

Many, perhaps most, wildlife photographers are respectful of their subjects, and shoot from a safe distance. But there is always that one that has to get closer. And just outside the frame, hidden from me behind the foliage, is that photographer. Fortunately for him or her, there as a drop-off between them and the moose. One that mama Moose could not scale. Much to the disappointment of the crowd around me, who had their cameras at the ready for the 'when animals attack' moment.

🦌  🏔  🚗  🗺

My brother and I were in Moab, Utah hiking about when my sister called. Dad wanted a 'new' car. My sister was getting a new car. She had an old car to trade in. So we hatched a plan. My three siblings and I would divide the trade in value amongst us, buy the car from my sister, and give it to Dad.

The best part of the plan? I would drive it cross country from my sister's place in Spokane to Dad's place in New Jersey. Dad thought this was a fantabulous plan and asked if he could come along. Thus one fine day in June 2002, with no set agenda, Dad and I headed east.

Here we are at Yellowstone. Somewhere behind me are my life Sandhill Cranes.

The reason I was able to take my time on this cross country trip is that I was unemployed. My prior employer had been purchased by another company and while many of the front line workers continued to be employed with the new owners, the management team, including yours truly, was let go. A situation I find myself in once again, as my company was just bought by another, and it is not clear that everyone will find jobs in the new combined company.

Given that Patty is a teacher and gets the summer off, this may mean another cross country trip. If so, I'll try not to wait seventeen years to blog about it.

An Unexpected Encounter

Last summer, Patty and I joined my sister and her family to visit Glacier National Park (where I saw my first ever bear in the wild!).

We were to encounter other wildlife as well.

I was sitting on what had been a boardwalk out to a lake. But a bridge had washed out further up the trail, which now led a different way. So the boardwalk was now a bench.

Surprisingly, I was the last to finish my lunch, and as I turned to put the remains in my pack, I was startled to see a Moose bearing down on me. It was were the grass meets the trail in the image above. It too was surprised when I jumped up.

Seems this was its normal path to the lake (there were prints in the mud to the left). It veered to my right, its left, and continued to the lake.

This was the first image I was able to get. The Moose, barely visible, is in the center of the image. Off behind the boardwalk-bench.

I rushed down the trail to catch the Moose heading in. If you look closely at the last tree on the 'point' beyond the Moose, you'll spot Patty hiding behind it.

Here is link to a video my niece Alison took as it went by: Moose Video Link. That's my brother in law Steve in the blue shirt with the camera, and watch for Patty behind the tree!

Once in the lake it calmed down. As did the folks at the lake.

Just like the people, it seemed it just wanted to take a dip and cool off.

Eventually it wandered off, along the shore about 100 meters away, where it headed back into the woods.

After the initial fright of a thousand pound animal bearing down on me it was a very cool encounter.

🦌  📹  🦌  📹  🦌

Thank you to Alison Day for the Moose video.

A Big Bright Spot

On our trip to Utah this past March, I did what I usually do, looked out the airplane window.

And I saw this, a big bright spot.

A big bright spot that traveled along with us, moving across the landscape below. You can see for yourself in this linked video. (Warning, this is just a boring video of a barely visible bright spot moving across the farm fields in the center of the image. Enjoy!)

This is an example of the Opposition Effect. This occurs when looking at the anti-solar point, as the shadows cast by objects in that direction are completely behind those very same objects. And are thus blocked from the viewer. This lack of shadows makes the area appear brighter than its surroundings.

Click here for an explanation of the phenomena (as always for anything optics related, it is from Les Cowley's excellent Atmospheric Optics site).

Here is another video, this one showing a dark spot surrounded by a subtle glow moving across the ground. In this case the plane is lower in altitude so we can see its shadow.

☁️  ☁️  ☁️  ☁️  ☁️

Of course, to observe such phenomena the sky needs to be clear. Earlier in the flight it was cloudy, as shown in the image below. And the Opposition Effect was not visible.

No doubt hidden behind that Glory.

House on Fire

If you time your visit just right, you'll arrive as the sun climbs over the rock wall, illuminating the sandstone on the ground below. Sandstone which reflects the light back up to the rock above the Anasazi ruin of a 'house'.

And if it s clear day, and your timing is right, it will look like the house is on fire.

It will look like this. (Did I mention you need to get your timing right?)

And this.

🔥  🏠  🔥  🏠  🔥

The 'houses' were probably granaries for storing corn and not for human habitation. And this is just one of many (thousands) such ruins in Bears Ears National Monument.

We almost didn't see the 'fire' as we mis-identified the Canyon and the trailhead. And after walking two miles down and searching for a ruin that wasn't there, we had to hightail it to get back to our car and zip on down the correct trail. But make it we did and were rewarded with wonderful views and memories.

And some nice pictures.

Mythical No More

In July 2018 we visited Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada with my sister and her family. And I saw this: a momma Brown Bear and her three cubs. It was actually the second bear siting of the trip as we saw a lone bear on the first day of our visit to Glacier National Park in Montana.

In both cases as we were driving through the respective parks we came upon cars pulled over to the side of the road. So of course we joined them. The first time, in Glacier, I was not able to get my camera out in time (we had yet to get to our lodgings and I had to dig through the luggage; rookie mistake). The second time I had the camera at the ready, but a park ranger came along and chased both us and the bears away. And this was the only shot I managed.

But I saw them.

🐻  🐻  🐻

I've been to Yosemite, multiple times, where folks had pics on their cellphones of bears outside my hotel. I've camped in glacier (an previous trip) and went hiking all over; the only bear seen by the group was one dad saw walk across the visitor center parking lot as he waited for us to return from a hike. And there was the time I was in the second car when the first car saw a bear cross the road. And so on.

I've been in bear country plenty of times and it seemed everyone but me saw the bear. "You just missed it"; "It was here this morning"; "It was just around the bend back there"; I heard again and again. I started to consider bears in the same category as unicorns and dragons. Mythical beasts.

But that's no longer the case. I saw them.

🐻  🦁  🐻  🦁  🐻

And on the way back to Glacier from Waterton we were in two cars, with me driving the second. And the first car stopped for seemingly no reason. There was a reason, a Mountain Lion was crossing the road in front of them.

But this time I wasn't that guy.  I saw the cat as it crossed as well.

I saw it.