This is a shot from a viewpoint that overlooks Lake Cushman and has looks up the valley (which runs around to the right) of the North Fork Skokomish River. One of my favorite hiking locations. I was on my way back from a hike up Mt Rose, which is the hillside on the right of the image. It’s a steep trail and a good workout. I didn’t get anywhere near the top, since it was New Year’s Eve Day and therefore not many hours of daylight … and I got a late start.
Back in the ’60’s, one of my first long hikes was an attempted crossing of the Cascades using some ‘high routes’. A friend and I were going with just the two of us and (looking back on it) overly optimistic plans. The weather didn’t cooperate: we ended up getting snowed on for a day or so after the third day or so. Perhaps we were lucky that we decided to bail. The weather remained stormy for several days (it was mid-August and a cold front blew in). We hiked to the nearest road, hitched a ride into the nearest bus line. It was still an adventure … and probably safer than if we had continued. It would have been a rugged go, and I’m not sure we would have been able to keep up our schedule … even if we found the right track … since we were following ‘high routes’ for a lot of the time, we weren’t using trails. So route finding would have slowed us down … probably more than we expected.
That’s my pack and ice ax just after we departed Lucerne (Washington) a SMALL town along Lake Chelan that is boat only access. This is my only photo of the trip. Taken with a Kodak Instamatic, I believe. One of my earliest remaining images.
This is the ridge that is just west of the North Fork Skokomish just north of the Staircase Ranger Station in the Olympic National Park. There’s something about misty ridges that attract and hold my attention. I’m not sure why that is … mystery? memories of when those clouds started raining on me?
It is something that comes with the coastal areas in the Pacific Northwest, though.
“Old trucks never die, they just go to sleep.” A young friend (a mechanically inclined young man) told me that once when I referred to an old truck as “dead”. It’s good to remember.
Or, maybe it’s a Hairy Woodpecker. Still nice to have it visit my feeder.