Day 107 - Seattle Pt 2

No trip to Seattle is complete without a trip to the Space Needle... and a fun staged photo.

The nearby Dave Chihuly museum was a special treat with this bright garden created from hundreds of hand blown glasses.

Or this unique view of the Space Needle through the green house fitted with elegant flowering glass chandeliers.

By mid afternoon I was ready to leave the city, so I drove east, stopping in Bellevue to watch the women's World Cup final then driving on to the Snoqualamie National Forest. I found a free community forest campsite down a long side road and pulled in as the sun was fading.

Comments

Day 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

Mountain biking the 100-mile 4x4 White Rim Road is said to be a great American adventure. But without any water, you need a follow truck to carry your water and gear, and reservations must be made three months in advance. So I just decided to hike down 1500 feet to the white rim and hike the road a bit. Steep, steep, steep was the descent down the Goosberry trail, but I reached the rim level in only 45 minutes! I hiked further down to the white rim road and then past to the very edge. Looking around for a possible path down to the river bottom 1000 feet below was a fun task, but a hard one as the "white rim rock" has a solid sheer 50-150 feet dropoff. I found one possible path down but a lone Nalgene bottle left down below the white rocks indicated an aborted attempt down. I continued to walk the rim for a few hours, finally climbing a small Mesa edge to enjoy the high view of the other side. After a brief respite, I walked back an hour along the Jeep 4x4 road to the G...

Day 23 - Superstition Mountains - Weaver's Needle

I began the day feeling tired-- perhaps a bit travel weary and sore from hiking, but also due to a self imposed caffeine detox. I drove the final stretch of the very scenic dirt road (pic1) -- Apache trail and made it to my destination of my favorite scary wilderness-- the Superstitions. I had one final four star hike to complete (according to Internet research). The plan was a 14 mile loop hike around Weavers Needle. The first part of the hike climbed a rocky hill with grand mountain views (pic2). I made it to the top vista overlooking Weavers Needle and then climbed down a rough trail a few miles past the base of the needle. See the needle in pic 3. I was anxious. The last time I was in the superstitions I had run into two rattlesnakes and I hate snakes. I was a bit rattled (pun intended) and it showed-- I was making very slow time and not enjoying myself much. I turned on some Darius Rucker music on my iPhone thinking the noise would ward off the snakes. Music...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Road Trip Daily

Search This Blog