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I got up early this morning to hike before the heat of the day. I would have liked to have gotten up earlier to be at the summit for that early light, but I enjoyed what I got.
I arrived at my trailhead by 8:00 and reached the summit of Duncan Knob a little after 10 and I had the trail and the rocks to myself. I basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the view for almost an hour before heading back. When I got back on the Gap Creek Trail, I heard voices. I had to do a double take, but sure enough, there were people heading up. I guess I got there and left at the right time. Two pair of people passed me, and my perception of solitude was shattered. Oh well, they were headed up and I was headed down, I could still have the rest of the hike to myself, right?
For the most part, that was true. But as I drew nearer to the parking area, I passed a lone backpacker and then a group of 3 women and another family of 3. But by that time, I was minutes from the car. I guess I wasn’t the only one who thought Easter was a good day to take a hike.
I haven’t been very good at updating this or my livejournal in a while. I’ve been fairly busy for the past few weeks. I returned to my job at the mountain campus (www.mountaincampus.org, check us out) in the middle of March and spent the first two weeks cleaning up and preparing for the season. With all of the heavy snow this winter, we had a fair number of trees fall in critical places, so we spent the better part of a week removing some of them. It’s been so wet, though, that we can’t get to all of them with the truck yet, so there are still many downed trees remaining. We also got all of the tents set up and the buildings deep-cleaned so they would be presentable for a summer camp open house.
Last Friday, Steve and I went camping at Hone Quarry outside of Harrisonburg. The Forest Service campground is small and rustic, and nestled in a deep hollow of Shenandoah Mountain. It’s a beautiful spot that feels isolated even though it’s fairly close to civilization. It’s also not very crowded in the off season. We managed to choose the coldest night to camp. Temperatures dropped down to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the comfort limit of my 20 degree sleeping bag. It’s good to know the insulation survived the washing machine. In the morning, we hiked the short trail to a rock overlook and then tried to drive to Reddish Knob, but at 4300 feet, the road still had some snow drifts near the summit that were not going to fare well with my car. We headed down the mountain and went to Second Mountain for an afternoon of bouldering.
Last weekend, the new staff arrived for the start of training. We’ve been teaching them the ropes (literally) while playing on the elements and getting them set up for the new season. Training continues next week and we’ll get our first school group the week after. Here are a few photos documenting our fun. Continue reading Life at Camp
While we were out in Idaho, we had the pleasure of taking a day and hiking. While the Moscow area was devoid of any snow this year, the surrounding mountains still had a bit of the white stuff, and forget about trying to get to the big mountains. It was winter, after all. I’m particularly excited about the nearly year-round hiking available out there. In the summer, I can retreat to the high country. In the winter, I can head low into the canyons where it stays pretty warm late into the fall and warms up quickly in the spring.
Hell’s canyon was a bit far for this trip and may have required driving on some snowy forest service roads in the higher altitude. But as I soon found out, there’s plenty of good terrain closer to “home.” Just south of Lewiston on the Washington side of the Snake River is Asotin Creek. The creek begins in the Blue Mountains and winds its way down to the Snake, carving a deep gorge up to 1500 feet deep in many places.
Unlike the canyons of the southwest, these are carved into Basalt in a slightly less-dry environment. The result is more vegetation, though it’s still mostly grasses and shrubs. There are small patches of evergreen forest on the canyon floor, particularly on the northern walls.
The drive in to the trailhead seemed to take forever, at least 20 minutes on a dirt road. At one point, I thought we’d be at the head of the canyon, not very deep below the rim. But upon further investigation, I found that the trailhead in the state wildlife management area wasn’t even halfway up the gorge. We ended up only hiking about two miles in, but I’m already hooked. I’m looking forward to returning and hiking beyond our stopping point, maybe even spending a night or two down there.
But more importantly, this sets the tone for exploring Hell’s Canyon, a gorge deeper than the Grand Canyon.
 
 
I suppose I ought to let you, my readers, up to speed on my future. In January, I received a notice of acceptance to the University of Idaho. So last week, Erin and I went out that way to visit the school and the area. Long story short, we love it out there. We even found a house with a barn and riding ring that we like and should be able to afford. While I still have outstanding applications at a few other schools, we are more than 90% sure that come August, I will be a Ph.D. student in Idaho.
Idaho? What’s there? I thought it was a big hole in the ground. Go ahead, crack all those jokes. Idaho is a huge state with a population that barely exceeds one million. Much of the state is extremely conservative, people who are very Christian and have the “government should stay out of our lives” mentality of the west. Guns, God, and no Government. It’s sickeningly amusing. But Moscow is an anomaly, a spot of dark blue in a sea of blood red. Moscow is extremely liberal and progressive. I noticed only two car dealerships in town and one specializes in Subaru. Moscow is all about keeping it local. Buy locally grown organic food from the Co-Op. Buy locally made merchandise from any of the shops downtown. Or just support a small, locally owned family business including a book store, game shop, outdoor gear shop, two pet stores, and the list goes on. Moscow is like a very miniature Portland, Maine.
The part about northern Idaho that I really like is the abundance of recreation opportunities. Just outside of town is Moscow Mountain, covered in trails and a mix of private and public land. Hop up to an hour away toward Lewiston for some canyons to explore. Extend your drive to up to 3 hours and you’ve got some big mountains and sweet roadless wilderness areas. To the north is Couer d’Alene, the I-90 corridor, some big lakes and ski areas. To the south is Idaho’s Seven Devil’s Wilderness, to the southwest is Hell’s Canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon) and Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness, to the east is the Bitterroot range. And for longer trips, Glacier, Mt. Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic Naitonal Parks are all withing driving range. There’s world class white water rafting on the Snake, Salmon, and Clearwater rivers. And when I need some city culture, Spokane is less than 2 hours away and Seattle and Portland are less than 5 hours away.
 Fox sparrow Passerella iliaca  White-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys  Northern cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis |
Today I took the camera out to photograph the birds. We’ve got a feeder in the front yard, but all the birds flock to the seed spilled on the ground. So I threw the dogs inside, scattered a can of seed on the ground, sat and waited. It didn’t take long for the birds to come in. Around the farm, I’ve been mostly seeing the usual winter birds: Cardinals, Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina Wren, Junco, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and some non-feeder birds: American Crow, Raven, Black and Turkey Vultures, Red-tail Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Flicker, and so forth.
During today’s photo shoot, I discovered that we have more sparrows on property than I originally thought. While going through the pictures, I identified Fox Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow, both of which are uncommon according to the Sibley field guide.
If I learned anything from this photo session, it’s that my lens, the Canon EF-s 18-200 is not very good on the long end. The images are surprisingly sharp, but Chromatic Aberration is difficult to work with, Autofocus is inaccurate much of the time, and it’s really just not long enough for photographing small birds. Someday, I will have a Canon 100-400. But at least this lens is better than my old 70-300. |
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