Dreams of Sasquatch: Solo to Mason Lake & Mt. Defiance

Conversations with the Invisible on a day hike to Mason Lake then climbing up to the top of Mt. Defiance in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of Cascadia

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This is an unfinished work in progress. Feel free to explore what’s already here. Thanks!

Looking down from atop the summit of Mt. Defiance (5584 ft / 1702 m) into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Lake Kulla Kulla is in the lower left. Mason Lake beyond over in the right center. Bandera Mountain rises behind Mason Lake, followed by Pratt & Granite Mountains further back towards center ridge side. Foto by the author. Monday 22 June 2015.

Gazing deeper, steeper from Mt. Defiance into the belly of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

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Spider in Autumn

A large female Cross Orbweaver Spider, Araneus diadematus, becomes the Queen of the Front Porch where we lived in Green Lake during Autumn’s last gasp before the onset of Winter, 21 November 2014.

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Queen of the Porch

She scurries quickly.

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Bandera Mountain: Solo in the Mountains for a Day

Bandera Mountain: 5245 ft / 1598 m
False Summit (West Peak) of Bandera: 5157 ft/1572 m

This little adventure turned out to be medicine for mind, body, & soul. Record of a stiff dayhike & a madcap scramble up a modest but steep peak in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness as I nurtured my spirit and trained my bodymind for more demanding adventures. 

***Unfinished work in Progress. Please enjoy what’s here to see & read, and thank you for your patience.***

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Mason Lake from the summit of Bandera Mountain. Several good campsites lay in the woods below beyond talus & scree.

Summit selfie from later in the evening. Sunday 31 May 2015.

Seattle is surrounded by exceptional outdoor adventure riches. An hour’s drive east took me to a trailhead into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. I was off work and alone on this Sunday at the end of May 2015. I chose Bandera Mountain for a steep dayhike. Part of my training for challenging hikes and scrambles in the mountainous backcountry of Cascadia. But really I went to heal my body, mind, & soul. This short, little, madcap adventure allowed for all these things to occur.

Mt. Rainier amid turbulent late Spring skies from my grunt up Bandera Mountain.

The weather was warmer than normal as an extended drought persisted, most of the snow usually around was gone. With so much going on in my everyday life, I felt a deep-seated need to get out onto the trails into the backcountry. Even felt compelled to push off-trail thru rocks & vegetation to find sanctuary for deep inner peace amidst outer beauty & physical hardship. The woman I was dating at the time, Little Sky, had to work this Sunday. My friends were already busy, and all of my kids were away doing their own thing. My oldest daughter, Morgan, was back east thruhiking the Appalachian Trail. While I would have preferred some company on the climb, sometimes going solo is the most satisfying way to go. So solo it was!

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Solo among Crowds: A Dayhike to Bridal Veil Falls

Dayhike up Mt. Index to Bridal Veil Falls on Sunday the 10th of May 2015

Low water already & it’s only May…Bridal Veil Falls in the 3rd year of a drought.

 

 

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A Slime Mold comes to Visit

Two Weeks in the life of one Fuligo septica in Pictures

Meet Bobby Sue, a beautiful Dog Vomit Slime Mold, who chose to visit us in Green Lake for a month. Bobby Sue appeared on the edge of the front steps around the 10th of May 2015. This foto was taken on Tuesday the 12th of May after the slime mold had already crept a short distance.

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An afternoon ramble into the Alpine Lakes one day in May

The author tramps into the woods with an urban friend to show her a taste of the Wild with a view of mountain lakes

 

Olallie Lake from the ridge connecting Pratt & Granite Mountains, Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, Washington/Cascadia. Monday 25 May 2015. Foto by the Author.

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We buried Grandpa up in a Tree

Night falls with rain
Darkness and pain
Heart opens into oblivion
Without even one hemisphere of brain
Wholeness is Whole
Our planet’s heavy with Child
After we buried Grandpa up in a tree
For buzzards and insects to spread him
Upon the wind for God to inhale
Yet God dances Wild
In the mists of creation
Flinging limbs in our direction
As every bloody stump stamps
Stars and flowers across tapestries of dirt
In the distance screams echo among howls
Love isn’t lost
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