November, December Outings 2009
November is my least favorite month of the year. I’ll try not to whine but I really dislike “brown hikes” – by that I mean lack of fall color and gray skies when the landscape seems drained of color. I haven’t been keeping my camera very busy on trails the last few weeks; hence, no compelling trail descriptions. There are only so many lichen/mushroom photos one can take!!
I’ve been to the Issaquah Alps several times on hikes to Rattlesnake Mountain, Little Si, Boulder Garden Trail, Tiger Mountain and the like but those hikes were mostly for exercise. The most interesting “hike” in recent weeks is an outing to the Taneum, South Cle Elum region of eastern Washington. Here, we hiked on game trails and enjoyed sprawling views under a big blue sky but it wasn’t a “real” hike. At least not by our standards for trail descriptions as there is no trailhead for such a hike and with photography being the focus of the hike there is little need to keep track of “stats”.
Early December has been a little better as the temperatures drop – then, frost and ice make for interesting photography, especially what I call “abstracts” for lack of a better word.
We are not comfortable driving at night, especially in rainy or snowy conditions so our hikes (such as they are) tend to be closer to home. The budget is lean these days and “getting away from it all” in the usual sense of the word is a little too pricey for us at this time.
So here we are, ensconced in West Seattle and not venturing very far – to keep sane we enjoy neighborhood rambles to local pea-patches, county and city parks. For exercise we return (sigh) to places described before not only by me but by many – the Issaquah Alps and other lowland hikes. While such hikes are not terribly exciting it is better than not hiking at all.
We did get a Sno Park permit and will be enjoying snowshoe trips further away from Seattle but right now the snow is downright nasty – in fact, it’s not even snow, it’s ice!!
In lieu of the kind of hiking I enjoy, I’ve taken up running again – I’m up to 6 miles and run 2-3 times a week. Oddly, I enjoy running in “bad” weather more than “good” weather. I’m truly grateful that I can run at my age without injury, aches or pains. I always come back from a run with fresh inspiration, even if such inspiration doesn’t reach this blog.
Hopefully this rather lifeless entry will soon be replaced by either a more compelling place to hike, write about and photograph.
November is my least favorite month of the year. I’ll try not to whine but I really dislike “brown hikes” – by that I mean lack of fall color and gray skies when the landscape seems drained of color. I haven’t been keeping my camera very busy on trails the last few weeks; hence, no compelling trail descriptions. There are only so many lichen/mushroom photos one can take!!
I’ve been to the Issaquah Alps several times on hikes to Rattlesnake Mountain, Little Si, Boulder Garden Trail, Tiger Mountain and the like but those hikes were mostly for exercise. The most interesting “hike” in recent weeks is an outing to the Taneum, South Cle Elum region of eastern Washington. Here, we hiked on game trails and enjoyed sprawling views under a big blue sky but it wasn’t a “real” hike. At least not by our standards for trail descriptions as there is no trailhead for such a hike and with photography being the focus of the hike there is little need to keep track of “stats”.
Early December has been a little better as the temperatures drop – then, frost and ice make for interesting photography, especially what I call “abstracts” for lack of a better word.
We are not comfortable driving at night, especially in rainy or snowy conditions so our hikes (such as they are) tend to be closer to home. The budget is lean these days and “getting away from it all” in the usual sense of the word is a little too pricey for us at this time.
So here we are, ensconced in West Seattle and not venturing very far – to keep sane we enjoy neighborhood rambles to local pea-patches, county and city parks. For exercise we return (sigh) to places described before not only by me but by many – the Issaquah Alps and other lowland hikes. While such hikes are not terribly exciting it is better than not hiking at all.
We did get a Sno Park permit and will be enjoying snowshoe trips further away from Seattle but right now the snow is downright nasty – in fact, it’s not even snow, it’s ice!!
In lieu of the kind of hiking I enjoy, I’ve taken up running again – I’m up to 6 miles and run 2-3 times a week. Oddly, I enjoy running in “bad” weather more than “good” weather. I’m truly grateful that I can run at my age without injury, aches or pains. I always come back from a run with fresh inspiration, even if such inspiration doesn’t reach this blog.
Hopefully this rather lifeless entry will soon be replaced by either a more compelling place to hike, write about and photograph.
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