April 2006 Archives

I needed some time on my own. Nancy had suggested a kind of silent retreat, away from work, computers, and family, and the more I thought about it, I liked her idea. I took Spoon with me on an overnight camping trip to Boulder River. This is about an hour north of Seattle not too far from Mount Baker.
Spoon absolutely loves hiking. He's ahead of me the whole way, trotting back to see if old slowpoke (me) is still coming. There were a lot of downed trees, deep ravines, and log bridges, some quite high off the ground (hard to tell from these cellphone pictures), but Spoon has absolutely no fear.



There were several large waterfalls (over 150 feet), but the depth and distance don't really show here. Very spectacular.

The end of the trail ended at the river after about 5 miles, with some nice campsites and rushing rapids.

Spoon is happy to have some shelter from rain and cold.

Even hiking 5 miles with 30 pounds does not undo 8 years of nerdification at Amazon.

But at least I'm warm. This is my gangsta face.



I spent several hours just thinking.

Important to tie the food up high so bears, foxes, and squirrels don't get it. Except a bird was able to fly in and peck open the bag of gorp.

On the way out next morning, Spoon poses with Boulder River's namesake.
Postscript: after the 5 mile hike out, I found my truck's door open and battery dead. So Spoon and I walked another 4 miles out to find a friendly person to give us a jump. He never gets tired; he was still running and barking after 9 miles in a period of 3 hours.