Turtlehead Peak Hike, September 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Turtlehead Peak
Date: September 27, 2011
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 5 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,000 ft.
Time: 2 to 3 hours
Location: Red Rock Canyon, 30 Minutes West of Las Vegas
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: $7.00 Park Fee
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the summit.
Hiking with: Myself

When in Vegas, one needs a small hike to workout the excessive food and drink. Turtlehead Peak is a perfect hike to complete this task; it’s only a 30 minute drive due west of Vegas and it has a 360 view on the summit. I did this hike a year ago March with my wife Linna, but this time she decided to stay and shop with a close Vegas friend, Jie Liu.

By the time I started around 11:30 a.m. the temperature was in the mid 80’s and eventually warmed up to the low 90’s. The trail was empty and only saw 6 people on the trail all day. I was up and back in 2 1/2 hours and burned over 1,600 calories.

Mt. Dickerman Hike, September 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Mount Dickerman
Date: September 22, 2012
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,875 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington (Mountain Loop Highway)
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the summit.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Garth Heuchert, Patricia Chow, Ben Baker & Macho the dog wonder.

Linna (my beautiful wife) wanted to hike Mt. Dickerman for a while now so she coordinated this excursion with a few friends. Linna gets bored of my I-90 hikes and has been starting to enjoy the Mountain Loop Highway trails located north of Highway 2 in Washington.

The Mountain Loop Highway connects the towns of Granite Falls, Verlot and Darrington, Washington. It is paved for 34 miles from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass (2349′) where the highway becomes unpaved for 13 miles and then paved again for the remaining 9 miles to Darrington. Portions of the unpaved section were closed for several years due to flood damage, the Mountain Loop officially reopened on June 25, 2008.

The 360 view on top of Dickerman is to die for and the forecast called for party sunny skies which was good enough for us. As you can tell from the pictures the forecast was wrong, the weather was like soup on top and there was no view to be had. Linna threw out a proclamation that we must come back to capture the beautiful views that Dickerman has to offer. For more details on the Mt. Dickerman hike click here bit.ly/OSSuyI.

Mount Pilchuck Hike, September 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Mount Pilchuck
Date: September 1, 2012
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 5.4 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,200 Feet
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the look-out tower.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Mike & Michelle Curry

Olive Huang organized this hike and the starting time was 11:00 a.m. at the trailhead. The only problem, we pretty much all showed up at different times. It all worked out though, we all met on top and enjoyed lunched together.

Lake Melakwa Hike, August 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Denny Creek Trail to Melakwa Lake
Date: August 12, 2012
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,300 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the Melakwa Lake.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Cathrine Howe, Beatrice He, Andreas Wieberneit and Macho the wonderdog.

I haven’t hiked up Denny Creek to Melakwa Lake this year and knowing that all the ice was gone from the lake it was time to gather a few friends to enjoy a body numbing experience. Linna (my wife) invited a couple that she recently met in Seattle, Andreas Wieberneit & Beatrice He. We all met up at exit 17, off of I-90 along with another friend, Cathrine Howe.

It was a sunny day with temperatures in the eighties, so by the time we got to the trailhead we had to park along the road due to the amount of people; I figured there would be many on a warm sunny Saturday. After the 4 1/2 mile hike up to lake I was more than ready for that body numbing experience! Yes, the water was ball shrinking freezing, maybe 36 to 40 degrees. After a nine mile hike on a hot day meant for a cold beer at the North Bend Bar & Grill.

Iron Horse Bike Ride, August 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Iron Horse Bike Trail
Date: August 3, 2012
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 40 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,000 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 32, I-90
Users Group: Hikers, Horses & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry
Hiking With: Rick Massie & Jim Darmiento

I usually hike over the weekend, but a good friend and co-worker Jim Darmiento suggested we bike the Iron Horse trail along I-90. I met up with Jim and Rick Massie at Starbucks in North Bend, Washington for a little java and trail discussion. The beginning of this trail is very close to North Bend, on exit 34 off of I-90. The official name of this trial is the John Wayne Pioneer Trail; it’s an old railway, so the trail grade is very constant and gradual with the maximum grade at 2.2%. The trail is lightly graveled and thicker in some spots, especially over the numerous trestles.

Our destination was the Snoqualmie Tunnel under the Snoqualmie Pass, so we had 20 miles uphill and 20 easier miles downhill on the ride back. You can actually take this trail all the way to Idaho. Within three miles from our start I had a flat tire; Jim was caring spare tubes so I was back riding in 10 minutes.

We had a casual ride up to the tunnel and stopped to have a snack before we entered the dark, damp, cool tunnel. I took my helmet off and put my headlamp on and turned on my light as I entered the darkness, but for some reason it was still very dark to me. I actually stopped and looked at my headlamp to make sure it was working…it was, so I put it back on my head and started off again. Same thing…couldn’t see, so I stopped again, but this time I found the problem…I still had my sunglasses on!

On the way back down to the starting trailhead, Jim completely blew out his back tire, not the tube but his sidewall on his tire. He was close to exit 47, so Rick and I quickly cruised back to Jim’s truck to drive back to pick up Jim at exit 47. We ended our day at our usual spot, North Bend Bar and Grill.

Granite Mountain, July 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Granite Mountain
Date: July 27, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to the top.
Hiking With: Rick Massie

I have been absent from the Cascade mountains because of traveling so I was needing a Northwest hike to bring me back to reality. I asked Rick Massie to join me on one of my favorite local hiking trails, Granite Mountain.

Rick came by the house around 6:00 a.m. and loaded his gear into my car, but when I started the car up to take off…my 10 year old 530i decided he was tired. My battery was dead so I quickly got out the charger and started the beast up. We started at the trailhead around 7:15 a.m. and made it to the top in a couple of hours. The trail was dry to the top, but the normal summer route was still packed with snow. We took the boulder field all the way to the look-out tower.

After the hike, we met up with an ex-worker, Jenny Gregg at Duke’s on Lake Union for lunch and a cold beer.

Japan Trip, July 2012

Posted on by
Reply

A visit to Tokyo in July is not recommended unless you are looking for a wet drenching experience. Not only was the temperature in the high 80’s, the humidity was horrendous; my shirt would get soaked by just standing around. I was staying at Tokyo Hilton in the Shinjuku neighborhood which is part of Tokyo. Shinjuko is one of the 23 city wards of Tokyo, but the name commonly refers to just the large entertainment, business and shopping area around Shinjuku Train Station; it’s the world’s busiest railway station, handling more than two million passengers every day.

The next day I went to Sagamihara for a meeting and later I met up with Norikazu Toyama, Yasuyuki Fukuhara, Chiho Ishine and my good friend Ryo Saito for dinner. We had great food, “few” drinks and a bunch of laughs. We all made a pack to climb Mt. Fuji next year; we will see if it really happens. By the time I got on the train at 11:00 p.m. I was spent; it was a combination of jet-lag, staying out to late the night before and the extreme heat. I was snoozing on the train ride back, napping on the train is typical and I was fitting right in!

My last full day I was off to Nagano by express train for another meeting. I have never been so far northwest of Tokyo before. The landscape was beautiful with numerous mountains and thick forestation.

Mt. Elbert Hike, July 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Mt. Elbert
Date: July 12, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,390 feet
Time: 5 to 7 hours
Location: Leadville, Colorado
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: None Required
Trail Conditions: Damp to Dry to the top.
Hiking With: Myself

I usually do something distinctive for my birthday and this year I decided to hike up the highest peak in Colorado, Mt. Elbert at 14,440 feet. This peak is the second highest peak in the lower 48 states behind Mt. Whitney, but is pretty much unknown beyond the state of Colorado. Elbert is a non-technical climb, but can be dangerous if you summit late and get caught in the afternoon thunderstorms.

I picked up my wife Linna at the Denver airport the day before my hike and we drove over to Leadville, it’s the nearest city to the Mt. Elbert north trailhead. We stayed at Motel 8, not a great place but it was only 10 miles away from the trailhead. Leadville is an old mining town that has a certain cool factor to it. It had been raining and lightening all the way into town and I was a little worried about the weather for my summit bid. By the time I woke up at 4:00 a.m. there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Linna wasn’t hiking with me so we decided that it would be better if she dropped me off at the trailhead and pick me up when I finished so she could keep the car to check out the small historical city during my death march. I got started at the trailhead at 5:30 a.m. and started off with my headlamp until it lightened up some. I must admit I was a little spooked at first being by myself in the dark on a new trail for me. When I was asking people at the hotel about the recommended time to start, I was getting all kinds of answers; it ranged from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.. If you start by daylight you will be fine. The trail started off fairly easy but got much steeper after ½ mile in. I live at 300 foot elevation in Seattle, so my body wasn’t acclimated to the altitude and I could feel it affecting my body some as I was picking up elevation. The north trailhead where I started is at 10,050 feet and summit is 14,440 feet…so you already start in the clouds.

It was a steady steep climb and I made it to the summit less than 3 hours. There were two people already on the summit so I had one of them use my iPhone to snap the official summit picture. I called Linna to let her know I had summited safely and I would be back in three hours. I also called the office group back in Seattle and they all wished me a happy birthday over the speakerphone. On the descent I called Linna about ½ hour before I was at the bottom for pick-up. She was waiting there for me with a large Americano from the local coffee house.

After changing my sweating clothes at the trailhead, we headed for Aspen where I would spend the rest of my birthday.

Nebraska Trip, July 2012

Posted on by
Reply

I had two main reasons for this trip, to see my sister Nova in Nebraska and to summit Mt. Elbert on my 52nd birthday in Colorado. I flew to Omaha via a Minneapolis connection by myself; Linna would join me later in the week in Denver. It was a smooth and sunny flight over to Minneapolis; the beautiful Cascades still had a lot of snow on top.

After flying into Omaha, I grabbed a rental car and drove over to my sister Alicia’s house in La Vista, Nebraska for a long overdue visit with her and her children Kason and Jolie. Later in the day I drove over to Lincoln to meet up with Brad Wilcher an old classmate of mine from high school. I lived with Brad and his family for a small stint my senior year in Cozad and we have maintained a worthy correspondence ever since. We ended up having a few beers at a local hot spot talking about old times, people and sharing a few laughs.

The next day was a leisurely drive to Kearney, Nebraska to meet up with my sister Nova where she was having some medical testing done. She was diagnosed with cancer about 1 1/2 years ago; she looked great for what she has endured. After her testing we met at the Alley Rose, about the only nice restaurant in this small college town of 30,000 people. I didn’t have any plans after dinner so I decided to call John Dorsey on a whim who lives in my hometown of Cozad. After a quick 45 minute drive I was sitting in John’s backyard enjoying a refreshing cold beverage with him and his son Mike Dorsey. Mike is a retired Marine and is living out to Johnson Lake for a few months before heading onto Alaska where he will guide big game hunts and fishing trips. John was nice enough to offer up a guest bedroom and a delicious brunch the next day. Before driving out to Johnson Lake for a swim I stopped by to chat with Deb Hunke, another old classmate of mine.

Later in the evening I met up with my ex-brother-n-law Brad Stallbaumer and his wife Gina Krysl Clyde at the local Elks Club. During dinner a woman came over to grab a spare chair from our table and to my surprise it was another classmate of mine Renee Rowe, it seems I run into her on every Cozad trip I make. After dinner we cruised around Cozad and to check out Brad’s house where he is adding another 2,200 square feet.

I left Cozad around 9:30 p.m. to head toward Denver; I thought I would stay at the Hampton Inn in North Platte about a 45 minute drive west. They were full, no biggie I said to myself…I will drive to the next town toward Denver. Well, the next town and the next town were all full too. I finally pulled over in a hotel parking lot and crawled in back of my rented Jeep and crashed about 1:30 a.m. After sleeping for about 6 hours I woke up in my same clothes I had on the day before and went into the Hampton Inn and had breakfast. I picked up my wife Linna at the Denver airport at 3:00 p.m. and headed for Mt. Elbert, my birthday hike.

China Trip, June 2012

Posted on by
Reply

I took a Delta flight from Seattle to Beijing direct on a timeworn Boeing 767; Delta has been using this same airplane for the Seattle to Beijing and back since they opened this direct flight up a couple of years ago. I officially complained the first time I took this flight and out-of-date plane to Beijing; I was surprised they would use a plane with small overhead bins and no personal video at your seat for an 11 hour flight. Since my first complaint I have been on this same plane now approximately 8 times, I am a sucker for punishment! Equipped with my new iPad3, it took some of the suffering away.

This trip I was lucky enough to be upgraded to first class…over booking on Delta’s part. Of course they stated the upgrade was for my loyal business with Delta, I didn’t care how they spun the story I was pleased.

The smog index wasn’t nearly as bad as the last two trips to Beijing, but the heat was 30 degrees higher than Seattle’s current temperature; Beijing hit a high of 99F/37C. I got up early the next day and did 1 hour work-out trying to knock off that jetlag. Nice brunch and back to the airport for a departure to Shanghai. I landed in a downpour and it continued to rain for the next 24 hours….torrential down-pours at time. After checking in at the hotel and a cool shower I headed down to the famous Bund Street to meet up with a few friends and have dinner at the famous Jean Georges www.threeonthebund.com/dining.php. After dining, we strolled along Bund Street to take in the beautiful skyline across the river.

This was a short trip for me and I was back home in 5 days.

Bund Street