New Additions

With winter coming on fast, and the days getting cold and rainy, it's finally giving me time for some much-needed catch-up on the site. I've updated the home page again, this time adding a link to my real-time SPOT page. By clicking on this link, it will take you to a Google Maps page that will pinpoint my exact location as transmitted by my SPOT Personal Tracker. I've started using this on overnight and solo trips to keep the wife updated on my location and status. It gives the loved ones peace of mind, and even though I carry a GPS for Backpacker, it's fun to get home and see on the maps where I've been. Tracks and messages are only displayed for seven days from transmission, so I'll start posting notices on upcoming trips where tracks and messages will be transmitted.

I'm also working on expanding my Take a Hike page with new trail reports and photos. I've just added the Enchantment Lakes in Washington. This was a 5-day backpack we did a couple years ago in the spectacularly beautiful Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I'll be expanding the image gallery for this hike soon. More new trail reports I'll be adding in the coming weeks will be from hikes and backpacks in Yellowstone and Haleakala Nat'l Parks, and Garibaldi Provincial Park and Banff Nat'l Park in Canada—all with linked image galleries, and the more recent ones with GPS tracks. There will be lots of new stuff coming, so check back occasionally to what's been added.

Book Review - Rising from the Plains

On the recent trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, I picked up Rising from the Plains by one of my favorite geology writers, John McPhee. The story begins by the telling of a school teacher moving from New England to the plains of Wyoming in the dawn of the 1900s. There she meets, and eventually marries, a rancher and naturalist who is none other than the cousin of John Muir. Eventually, the couple have several children, one of whom is David Love, the pre-eminent geologist for the state of Wyoming.

Throughout the book, McPhee recounts the tale of Love's parents' experience living and raising his family on the plains, and his introduction to the field of geology and its influence on his life, as toured and investigated with Love himself. The book also raises some moral and ethical dilemmas faced by geologists today, in their struggle to preserve nature, while at the same time endorsing its development. A somewhat lighthearted and entertaining read, compared with some of his other writings, Rising from the Plains weaves a tale of life in the Old West and a love of the land, with a look into the natural forces that created what we now see amid this section of the Rocky Mountain chain. Available on Amazon.com.

Photo Finalist & New EPs

The photo judges over at BetterPhoto.com have selected one of my images as a finalist in the Nature and Landscapes category for the September contest. The photo is from our summer backpack to the Elfin Lakes in Garibaldi Provincial Park, B.C. It was a particularly colorful morning, and the lake was still as glass, offering some spectacular mountain reflections. I haven't yet processed through the rest of these images, but its on my short list of to-do items, so should have the gallery up soon. I'll also be posting a GPS track on Backpacker.com. In addition to the finalist pick, I've also picked up nine more Editor's Pick awards, mostly for images from Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I have images in two other photo contests, one for Outdoor Photographer, the other for the Washington Trails Assn. There'll be some tough competition there.

Nov. Backpacker

The new November 2009 issue of Backpacker magazine is on the stands now. No, that's not my photo on the cover, but I do have three photos inside. The first is a small photo of Lower North Falls, on the Trail of Ten Falls in Silver Falls State Park, OR. This image is found on the New Trips Near You! spread near the front of the issue, and is in conjunction with the GPS track I did for this hike. The other two images are found in the feature story, National Parks Hall of Fame - one being of summer huckleberries in Olympic Nat'l Park, WA; the other of Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o Crater on the Sliding Sands Trail in Haleakala Nat'l Park, HI. This is an exciting issue for me, as this is my first issue with multiple photos published. I've been doing a ton of hiking, shooting and trail tracking this summer, so I'm hoping to find many more in Backpacker's - as well as other publications' - pages coming soon.

Also of note, I've redesigned my website's home page. It now has a cleaner look, and I've incorporated a sidebar sub-menu where I can highlight recent additions - new image galleries and trail reports, and links to the most recent GPS tracks on Backpacker.com. I've also added an Awards page. There's only one photo in there presently - the Ramona Falls image that won in The Wilderness Society's Wild 45 contest - but I hope to add more soon. Check it out; I'd love any feedback you might have to share.

Gear Review - Not a Single Pebble

So, while preparing for my hike to the previously mentioned rim of Mount St. Helens, I wanted a pair of gaiters to keep the sand, pebbles and ash out of my boots, without having to wear my knee-high, heavy-duty snow gaiters. I started shopping around, looking at several pairs by numerous brands, and finally settled on the Sportee model by Black Diamond.

These gaiters perform superbly. After 10 hours of trudging up, then down, through sand, scree, ash and rock, I didn't have so much as a single pebble in my boots. One of my favorite features - not found with other brands' models - is the adjustable neoprene boot strap that securely holds these gaiters in place. Other models use a simple lace and eyelet system - this would have quickly worn through on the sharp volcanic rock I was scrambling over. The heavyweight nylon is sturdy yet lightweight, and the water repellant coating helps keep the socks dry. Velcro seams with top and bottom snap-buttons offer easy in-and-out, and an adjustable shock-cord lets you cinch them up to your own comfort. Only minutes after I put them on I completely forgot that I was even wearing them. These will be a welcome addition to my repertoire of hiking apparel, and I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in keeping those annoying trail pebbles out of their boots. Available at MountainGear.com, and numerous outdoor retailers in either black or gray.

To the Edge of the Abyss

I'm sitting at my desk today, my legs a mess of strained muscles and aching knees, from my weekend climb - yes, that's climb, not hike - to the south rim of Mount St. Helens via the Monitor Ridge route.

The day started promising, with sunrise breaking on a crystal clear morning, but not long after clouds started to inundate the mountain. The climb was difficult, at many times with very limited visibility. The views from the top - for what they were with all the cloud cover - were impressive, but not the grandeur I was hoping for. The descent was torturous. But I'll be going back up again next year, looking for the perfect-weather day to capture better views. In the meantime, check out the photo gallery of the hike; and check back later for a trail report and GPS track.

Help NRDC Stop Wildlife Poisoning

The Dept. of Agriculture's Wildlife Services animal extermination program is currently using two highly toxic poisons on our public lands: Compound 1080 and Sodium Cyanide. Deploying these deadly poisons to kill nearly 13,000 wolves, badgers, bears, bobcats, foxes and dogs a year is unnecessary, hazardous, and cruel. It's time to call an immediate halt to this outdated and dangerous practice. Compound 1080 and Sodium Cyanide also threaten human safety. Such poisons have no place on our public lands where dogs, hikers and even children can be exposed.

Visit the NRDC's website and urge the Dept. of Agriculture to direct Wildlife Services to discontinue the use of Compound 1080 and Sodium Cyanide M-44 devices immediately, by choosing more effective alternatives to these poisons for predator control, especially greater reliance on nonlethal methods.

Book Review

Part of my fascination with the outdoors isn't just the mountains, lakes, glaciers and meadows that make up a pretty picture. There's also an underlying curiosity about "How did that get there?" and "Why is that like that?" When I was in college, going for a degree in journalism, I was required to take a science class. I figured, "Hey, I like the outdoors, I'll take geology." I spent the next several years in as many geology classes as I could fill my schedule with - even considered changing my course of study, until I looked at the math and chemistry requirement to get a degree in geology (Ugh! No good for a right-brainer). So settled for the journalism degree, and squeaked out a minor in geology.

Because of this love of geology, and the natural workings of our planet, I recently read Simon Winchester's Crack in the Edge of the World. This is a fascinating account of the mechanics of California's San Andreas Fault, and the cause and effects of the disastrous 1906 earthquake that leveled San Francisco. This is far from a dry science textbook, as Winchester also tells the detailed story about the birth of San Francisco, and it's original intent to be the "Paris of the West Coast." And learn how, as in all things lately, the greatest fuel for catastrophe is American politics. A very entertaining and informative read, I would recommend this book for anyone that has an itch for geology, history, and a sprinkling of good 'ol natural disaster.

New Tracks Posted

Backpacker.com has posted two more of my GPS tracks: the Trail of Ten Falls in Silver Falls State Park, near Salem, Oregon; and the St. Mary's Glacier trail near Idaho Springs, Colorado.

The Silver Falls trail is a classic Oregon hike - a fairly easy, 8-mile loop that explores a deep canyon with – you guessed it – ten waterfalls, varying in size and shape, ranging from 20' to nearly 200'. Check out the track on Backpacker.com, or my trail report with photos.

The St. Mary's Glacier trail is a short hike to the continental U.S.' southernmost surviving glacier, nestled on a steep slope over St. Mary's Lake. This is a short, pretty hike, easily done after visiting nearby Mt. Evans, with the highest paved road in the U.S.

I'm continuing to work on tracks from the recent trip to Wyoming, and will be submitting those soon. I'm also adding new trail reports to the newly named Take a Hike page on my site.