Zillow Saltine Challenge title defended. I was a repeat at 7 in a minute, but there was fierce competition. Bravo! #
@ken_ipl31 I was the winner with 7 crackers. A number of people reached 5 and the long tail spanned 4 to -1. Not sure how you lose one … in reply to ken_ipl31#
Amanda and our friend Stacy picked me up downtown on Friday and we took off to the east to go camp and hike in the Teanaway valley Northeast of Cle Elum. This beautiful valley was full of recreation this weekend with the revellers ranging from families, to ski tourers to big groups of dudes with trucks and motorcycles. We were frankly overwhealmed by the number of people in the Valley, but were able to find a nice spot at the Beverley Campground.
On Saturday we took off directly from our campsite and followed a delightful trail about 4 miles to a rock outcropping with the above view. The trail was nice following a small creek it’s entire journey from where it enters Beverley Creek all the way up to it’s source. We had to cross the creek several times which required de-booting. The snow became too much at about 5000 ft, but that was just as we came over the ridge and found this lookout so we were happy to stop and enjoy our lunch of cheese, sausage and crackers
This area is full of beauty everywhere you look. From the towering white mountains down to little flowers like this one that we saw poking through the layer of snow-compacted leaves.
Sunday morning found us with sore legs and thinking of showers so we jumped back in the car and made good time back to Seattle. After cleaning up our gear and bodies we found ourselves getting bored … after a little bit of poking around online we found that some friends were bike camping at Manchester State park on the Kitsap Peninsula. So … we jumped in the car and headed for the Ferry.
We got on the 7:40 ferry from Fauntleroy which had us crossing Puget Sound at sunset, one of the great pleasures of living in this part of the world. After grabbing some food at Fred Meyer we found our way in to the campground and enjoyed a campfire with our friends.
After a leisurely trip home and a nap on Monday I took off on my bike to an impromptu Memorial Day BBQ. We met up at Myrtle Edwards park and soaked up the sun in one of the city’s most beautiful places.
It was a fun and diverse weekend that’s left my soul sustained and my body tired. Hurray for a three day weekend.
As always you can see a bunch more photos at my flickr
After reading this trip report over at NW Hikers I knew I wanted to go check out highway 410 this weekend. That road has so much allure since it’s always closed when going to Crystal Mountain to ski. I’ve been out it to get to Sunrise before, but never up to the pass (that i know of).
When i read that it would be clear of both snow and cars this weekend i was eccstatic. The inital plan was to load bike, snowshoes and camping gear in the car on friday. Go up friday after work to bike in, then set up camp near the (presumably closed) highway. Then snowshoe from there on Saturday.
Well friday got lazy so this big adventure turned into just a bike ride, which was probably for the best as the gate ended up not being locked at all. I arrived at the gate at 9:20 and there was almost nobody else around. Leaving the car just outside the gate i took off up the highway and saw almost no cars for the first 45 minutes of riding.
Going up is steep but not unbearable. The scenery is definitely worth enjoying at a stately pace. I was happy to have my 28t chain ring in front, but generally stayed in the middle of the cassette. I felt really strong, which is nice because i’m still wary of my recently repaired knee. This road is as beautifully maintained as the scenery and the riding was truly a pleasure.
Looking over the white river as it rushes the melting snow off the mountain was quite a sight.
I found the road was closed at the junction with 123. There was a ranger there keeping people out, which was a shame as i really wanted to keep going to the pass.
On the way down i played with making a time lapse video by strapping the camera to my bike. I got a Gorrilla Pod last week which a flexible tripod that can be bent to hold the camera in a lot of strange positions. This first attempt was not perfect, but it does give the viewer a sense of what it was like to ride in the sun and snow:
I’m taking a picture of myself every day for a year. Or at least trying to, I’ve already missed two days. Anyway, lots of other people have done it as a part of the 365 Days Project on flickr.
It’s already making me think differently about taking pictures, but most of all it’s taking a lot of time. Lots and lots of time.
how was the meetup? 
