Mountain Loop Highway
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie
Washington
August 13-15, 2016
Before heading out the next morning, I spent an hour with my
litter gun and picked up a half another 33-gal garage sack of
Bud Lite cans, juice boxes, Dr. Pepper cans from the river bank
to the road. I was able to flag down a ranger that was going the
other direction to have him send word in to have a truck and
crew come out and pick up the pile of bags.
We found a little gem of a State Park not far out of Sedro-
Wooley called Rasar that had an opening. Very clean with nice
showers and a dump station to boot. We walked down so I could go
swim in the cool glacial silt colored river. The Skagit River
is the 3rd largest river on the West coast.
We made it into Sedro-Wooley the next day, which was Tuesday, and talked with Marvin. We were still good with the schedule and Dana was planning on being there after work to take the window out. Before we settled down to camp in the grassy area next to Marvin's shop, we went to gather up supplies for our other project and some cash to pay Marvin and Dana after the window job had been done.
After spending more than a month's rent ($1600) to have the
brakes dealt with for the third time in year and a half, we
thought we'd relax a bit at Gas Works Park at the north end of
Lake Union in Seattle. The views were worth any hassle dealing
with traffic to get there; watching the boats, the people, the
dogs, the show of color on the wispy clouds at sunset. Of course
it was dark when we finally rolled out of there.
Darkness is a problem only in that it exacerbates my and Pam's usual poor navigation skills. When it rains and is dark, it's downright comical watching us get from point A to B without going through all the other letters in the alphabet along the way. Threading out way though the narrow streets of Ballard in Lucille is like taking the U.S.S Enterprise up a small river. You just know that you're going to go aground on some Honda Civic along the way.
We ended up in a place called Loyal Heights across the street from the neighborhood elementary school. We figured this all out in the morning, because when we found the spot we were only concerned about it being relatively flat. Finding someplace flat to park in hilly Seattle is a challenge. Not only was this place quiet and flat, it had a wonderful bakery just up the street! After an apple fritter and a cup of coffee, we were on our way towards Granite Falls and the promise of cooler temps.
We stopped at the ranger station to make sure that our National Park annual pass was also good as a substitute for the NW Forest Pass. It is. We made sure that we could just find a place to pull over on the highway and park and camp. "Anywhere, but trail head parking and areas specifically set for day use" were OK for camping in the National Forest.
We stopped at a day use area, had lunch, swam in the river-- twice, napped, read, and cooked and ate dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
About 5pm, we figured we should mosey down the road and find a place to camp to not have repeat of last night's adventure of trying to do that in the dark. A wide spot in the road literally sufficed as a campsite where we read the evening away.
August 14th
Monte Cristo is a mining ghost town at the end of the paved road portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. In the span of a short 100 years or so, this thriving town of over 1000 people has faded back into the forest with only a few buildings remaining. Like of lot of business concerns, Cash Flow may be King, but Actual Profits are the Queen. And, we know who really rules the roost. After the initial boom in the late 1800s, a railway was built to get the ore to the smelter in Everett. It looked like the profits would really be coming in until a slide took out the railway and it was determined that rebuilding it would cost more than they were making. With the railway out and no way to get supplies in, the people of Monte Cristo had to walk out with what they could carry on their backs.
Darkness is a problem only in that it exacerbates my and Pam's usual poor navigation skills. When it rains and is dark, it's downright comical watching us get from point A to B without going through all the other letters in the alphabet along the way. Threading out way though the narrow streets of Ballard in Lucille is like taking the U.S.S Enterprise up a small river. You just know that you're going to go aground on some Honda Civic along the way.
We ended up in a place called Loyal Heights across the street from the neighborhood elementary school. We figured this all out in the morning, because when we found the spot we were only concerned about it being relatively flat. Finding someplace flat to park in hilly Seattle is a challenge. Not only was this place quiet and flat, it had a wonderful bakery just up the street! After an apple fritter and a cup of coffee, we were on our way towards Granite Falls and the promise of cooler temps.
We stopped at the ranger station to make sure that our National Park annual pass was also good as a substitute for the NW Forest Pass. It is. We made sure that we could just find a place to pull over on the highway and park and camp. "Anywhere, but trail head parking and areas specifically set for day use" were OK for camping in the National Forest.
We stopped at a day use area, had lunch, swam in the river-- twice, napped, read, and cooked and ate dinner. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
About 5pm, we figured we should mosey down the road and find a place to camp to not have repeat of last night's adventure of trying to do that in the dark. A wide spot in the road literally sufficed as a campsite where we read the evening away.
August 14th
Monte Cristo is a mining ghost town at the end of the paved road portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. In the span of a short 100 years or so, this thriving town of over 1000 people has faded back into the forest with only a few buildings remaining. Like of lot of business concerns, Cash Flow may be King, but Actual Profits are the Queen. And, we know who really rules the roost. After the initial boom in the late 1800s, a railway was built to get the ore to the smelter in Everett. It looked like the profits would really be coming in until a slide took out the railway and it was determined that rebuilding it would cost more than they were making. With the railway out and no way to get supplies in, the people of Monte Cristo had to walk out with what they could carry on their backs.
It's easy
to imagine how they lose whole cities in the Mayan jungles over
a couple of centuries. The forest has nearly completely regained
its natural reign over this space in just a short 100 years.
At he beginning of our walk into the town site, we met Patrick.
He was originally headed for a side trail called Gothic Basin,
but after hearing our stories about the town site he decided to
follow us and see for himself.
Patrick was good company on our 4-mile hike to the town. He came to the conclusion that working his entire life away wasn't working for him, so he down-shifted his role to something that did not consume his entire waking life and filled the free time with time outside hiking and biking. A true inspiration.
I was headed down such a conclusion. I didn't have a good plan or rather a solid plan to do something specific after leaving my current work role, yet even so I was ready to quit and try to find a life outside of work. I was lucky to have a supervisor who was smarter than I was impetuous that convinced me to stay long enough to begin receiving my pension. This mere 18 months have given me enough time develop a good-enough framework for the next phase of my life while providing a trickling of income to make the savings last a bit longer. I expect to have to find work along the journey to supplement the larder, but it will be to fund-the-living as opposed to living-to-create-the-funds approach.
We waved to Patrick as he was headed back home and we were headed into the unpaved portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. We drove for a bit looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. At a certain point, I just pulled off the road at a place that might make a good place to stop. It had a bit too much angle to the parking area to camp, but it was good enough for a swim in the river and nap. I turned off the refrigerator to prevent any damage due to the parking angle, got out and went for a swim in all my hiking clothes. It was a tad cold for any one with common sense, but luckily I don't possess enough to get in the way. I dripped dry long enough to not flood the van, changed clothes, ate a wrap that Pam had made. The next logical step was to take a nap.
We were making out way slowly down the Mountain Loop Highway and right next to the river was what looked like a great campsite. I was wondering why it was still open since every other great spot already had occupants. Pam guided me between two large rocks and we leveled the van. with just a couple of 2x6s. Once I got to wandering around, I could see why the camp was empty is because the previous users of the site must have just left. From the pile of garbage bags, it seems like they must have been there for at least a couple of weeks. And, there must have been a lot of them. They were also the kind of campers that don't put out their fire, as it was still smoldering too. At least they piled the garbage bags into a couple large piles to make it easier for someone to clean up after them.
Patrick was good company on our 4-mile hike to the town. He came to the conclusion that working his entire life away wasn't working for him, so he down-shifted his role to something that did not consume his entire waking life and filled the free time with time outside hiking and biking. A true inspiration.
I was headed down such a conclusion. I didn't have a good plan or rather a solid plan to do something specific after leaving my current work role, yet even so I was ready to quit and try to find a life outside of work. I was lucky to have a supervisor who was smarter than I was impetuous that convinced me to stay long enough to begin receiving my pension. This mere 18 months have given me enough time develop a good-enough framework for the next phase of my life while providing a trickling of income to make the savings last a bit longer. I expect to have to find work along the journey to supplement the larder, but it will be to fund-the-living as opposed to living-to-create-the-funds approach.
We waved to Patrick as he was headed back home and we were headed into the unpaved portion of the Mountain Loop Highway. We drove for a bit looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. At a certain point, I just pulled off the road at a place that might make a good place to stop. It had a bit too much angle to the parking area to camp, but it was good enough for a swim in the river and nap. I turned off the refrigerator to prevent any damage due to the parking angle, got out and went for a swim in all my hiking clothes. It was a tad cold for any one with common sense, but luckily I don't possess enough to get in the way. I dripped dry long enough to not flood the van, changed clothes, ate a wrap that Pam had made. The next logical step was to take a nap.
We were making out way slowly down the Mountain Loop Highway and right next to the river was what looked like a great campsite. I was wondering why it was still open since every other great spot already had occupants. Pam guided me between two large rocks and we leveled the van. with just a couple of 2x6s. Once I got to wandering around, I could see why the camp was empty is because the previous users of the site must have just left. From the pile of garbage bags, it seems like they must have been there for at least a couple of weeks. And, there must have been a lot of them. They were also the kind of campers that don't put out their fire, as it was still smoldering too. At least they piled the garbage bags into a couple large piles to make it easier for someone to clean up after them.
Before heading out the next morning, I spent an hour with my
litter gun and picked up a half another 33-gal garage sack of
Bud Lite cans, juice boxes, Dr. Pepper cans from the river bank
to the road. I was able to flag down a ranger that was going the
other direction to have him send word in to have a truck and
crew come out and pick up the pile of bags. 
We found a little gem of a State Park not far out of Sedro-
Wooley called Rasar that had an opening. Very clean with nice
showers and a dump station to boot. We walked down so I could go
swim in the cool glacial silt colored river. The Skagit River
is the 3rd largest river on the West coast.
We made it into Sedro-Wooley the next day, which was Tuesday, and talked with Marvin. We were still good with the schedule and Dana was planning on being there after work to take the window out. Before we settled down to camp in the grassy area next to Marvin's shop, we went to gather up supplies for our other project and some cash to pay Marvin and Dana after the window job had been done.
No comments:
Post a Comment