Skagit Wildlife Recreation Area

Made it down to the Skagit Wildlife Recreation Area a week or two ago with friend Rich.  The rains have the water levels up very high.  The birds are going nuts.  A pair of eagles in a big nest. Herons zipping about.  Eagles sitting in trees right above the trail. Canadian geese in the brush. Strikingly beautiful for being so local and such a short walk.

Spring is here...time to start making some bigger plans.

Sahale Arm

On Saturday, I went up Sahale Arm, off Cascade Pass in the North Cascades, for about 13 miles of trail. The day started with limited expectations. However, due to aesthetic conditions beyond my control, I ended up hiking, sitting, and even strolling more than running, spending the whole day in the mountains. It was an amazing day, with all sorts of wildlife out, and stunning views. 

The big news:  I saw FOUR BEARS! I never see bears, but on Saturday, they were hanging out separately, on steep slopes, just grazing like deer or elk. Three of them were specks, but one was near enough to get a much closer view, and I sat and watched him/her for fifteen minutes. Others reported seeing as many as seven, as well  as a lynx. I saw a few goats near the pass as well.

Hoary marmots and grouse were all over the place. I whistled at the marmots, and they would stand up and look around. A couple of them hung out on this cliff, just looking down towards Pelton Basin. We in my family call grouse "dummy chickens" and nothing I saw on Saturday made me change that tune. I chased one down a trail for at least a 100 yards. All it had to do was leave the trail, but it ran ahead of me on the trail, as if it were terrified. I even found a bear den, or what I think was one—the hole was big enough to cram a few bears in it. It kind of scared me.

My theory is the animals were all out because they need to make preparations for winter. I've heard about this sort of thing on the Discovery Channel.

The high point on the hike/run was 7600 feet, and there was some pretty steep climbing on the arm. I saw one other runner, and he was taking things much more seriously than me, motoring. The campsites at the Sahale Glaicer are rings of stones--there's one in the pic below of me in the foreground, before the sea of mountains. I want to camp there now--the folks I talked to who camped there the night before, under a full moon, called it an experience of a lifetime.

There were clouds in the sky, but everything was visible for ten miles, and that was enough, with Boston Basin, Mt. Johannesburg, Magic Mountain, the triplets and who knows what else viewable. Doubtful Lake is stunning, with an island sitting in the middle. The views to the east, down towards Park Creek and Chelan speak to the imagination. Maybe Labor Day weekend. I saw and even began the Ptarmigan Traverse trail, which is an epic mountaineering experience in the North Cascades.

More pics here.

It was a great day out on the trail, lost in thought, taking pictures, turning corners. I missed out on Waldo, and my congrats to all my friends who did it. It just didn’t sound like a good idea for me this year. Some year, hopefully. My fitness is down, and I can really feel my back when I try to seriously run. I did run steady down from the Pass, and the whole of the day wore me out. I plan on doing Baker Lake as my next 50k, and I’ll have a fun run on Cutthroat Pass in the North Cascades with my family next week, and then volunteer at Cascade Crest.

Coyote Nights

Skagit flats, including Chuckanut Drive, from the hang glider launch

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I did a five hour tour of the Chuckanuts Friday night, starting from Fairhaven around 6 PM. The stars were breathtaking, as were the hills in the chill. No moon to be seen. The stars felt like they were dropping from the sky--I wish I knew them better. There’s a supercomet around here somewhere, sometime, right now, but did I know this? No....The temperature was somewhere around freezing, the air was still, and my two shirts left me cold after a while. Bad planning there---I didn’t intend on going that long, or starting that late, but that's how it went. I was slow, particularly going up the hills, but I ran ok, especially since it was so dark. I bonked at about hour four, probably because I didn’t have any water left and I was cold. Did I mention--it was cold?
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Adventures with wildlife. About 1.5 hours in, I heard a pack of coyotes somewhere off to the west side of the Lost Lake trail. They were a loud bunch, scary at first, in the pitch black cold. “Ayyyye ayyye ayyeya!” (Go away!, I think.) “Ayyyae ayyyae ayy aee!” (Stop! Where are you, anyway?? Idiots.) I stood and listened to them for a while—they seemed to be up on a ridge above the trail. I thought about turning back, because I didn’t want to be eaten, and they were pretty near. Then I figured, no way, whatever. There are critters all over the place at HR, and I need to train for them. If I get attacked by a pack, I need to learn how to deal with it. Coyotes are no big deal anyway, just scary. Years ago, camping in Yellowstone, I had a pack yelping up a storm really nearby, as I tried to sleep in the back of my uncovered pickup. And then, when I was in my teens, my cousin and I were hiking a canyon in eastern Washington, and as the sun set, they started barking at us from the canyon walls. Still, I haven’t heard much talk about coyotes up in the Chuckanuts.
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And, it gets better. I left that party behind, and went over the shoulder above Lost Lake, wrapping around to Chinscraper. Right as I start up the Chin, I hear a coyote bark at me from no more than 50 feet. Really really near. AYYYE WEYYYE YAAY YEEE!! It was pitch black under the trees, except for my headlamp. I barked back, really loud and mean like. I probably could have just yelled, but I lost it a bit, and went FERAL. Then I started growling like a bear for the next ten minutes up the trail. Nice little shot of adrenaline to push me up the hill. This is one way to get past the work week.

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So, night running like this…maybe a bit sketchy, I know. But the coyotes, the stars, standing on top of Raptor Ridge, watching a satellite arc across the sky, trying to pick out Orion---on the right night, it’s an amazing experience. And, the fact is, HR has TWO FULL nights of running, and so I need to put in some night time running. There's no better prep than experience. From this Friday night run, I realize I should’ve carried more, like one more layer, and probably water treatment and supplement pills. And company, of course, that would be best--but it's tough finding someone who's going to do this, at my pace.
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Saturday I was pretty lame, but on Sunday I did my favorite 11 mile loop of Blanchard Mountain. Pictures here. Lilly and Lizard Lakes are frozen. Also, there’s a new outhouse up by hang-glider launch. I ran pretty well—better than on Friday night. I was tall in the saddle, very casual, and my pace was steady. I stopped a bunch for pics, goofing off, but it was a nice run to cap the weekend.
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Last week I wrote about mantras--I think I have one now. "This is the way to Hardrock." I think its important to have phrases and mental imagery that help with visualizing goals. "Successful people see what they want to have happen, and unsuccessful people see what they don't want to have happen," says Coach Vernacchia. And this is the way...
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Lizard Lake, On Ice

Samish Island

Trail Near Lilly Lake

New Facilities

Lilly Lake

Birds and Other Matters

I ran and hiked around Chuckanut this morning, for about three hours. I took the drive to the trailhead at Larrabee Park slow, stopping a couple times on Chuckanut Drive to check out the swans, snow geese, and storks, seen above. I have no idea whether these birds are all the same, or technically different, but they are big, they are white, they are loud, and they have long necks. They are also all over the Skagit this time of year. Later, they head up to Alaska, I think. Eagles are supposed to be here too right now—this is the Bald Eagle Festival weekend—but they avoided me this morning. I might go find them tomorrow.
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So, for my “run”---(I’m taking some license in calling it that)---for my run, I left from Larrabee Park and went up by Fragrance Lake, then up Chinscraper, and then ran the full C-nut Ridge to Dan’s Traverse. Turned it around from there, did some backtracking to Cleator Road, and then ran down and around Fragrance again. I have not been doing hills since the cold spell, and I really felt it going up—I was absolutely awful early on, mostly hiking and huffing. It was cold, really cold, 25 degrees cold. That’s my excuse. It was cold and my blood needed to warm up. Plus I had a chonga bagel beforehand.
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Once on top, I did sort of better though, and it’s all because I plugged into music. I’ve gotten away from music in my running—big mistake. The first song was Abba’s SOS. Abba is the BEST palindrome group of all time, and this is the greatest palindrome double down ever. (Sorry Aha--it's just true.) The second song then was Pearl Jam’s Not For You, and I like the guitar on it. The third song was Kenny Chesney’s Don’t Blink, which is a pop country song about not blinking or your life will go by before you know it. Lots of wisdom in country songs. Admittedly, minds may differ on the quality of these songs, but the minds that differ are wrong—these are good songs. So, clear skies, long views, and good tunes. I needed that. My new training strategy is to listen to more music when I run.
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Parking lot at the top of Chinscraper/Cleator

Partially frozen Fragrance Lake

Clear skies, looking out towards Orcas and Lummi Islands

Mount Baker, Pacific Rim of Fire

Weasel

Weasel sighting tonight. Mostly white, black face, loping, same as the critter above otherwise. It looked sort of like a ferret. I now know that long tailed weasels ("mustela frenata") moult to white in the north, as winter approaches. I also saw the big porcupine again, on the same run. I'm sure it's the same one as last week---I bet it's there every night--it was in almost exactly the same place, and it had the exact same waggle. The porcupine's needles almost glowed in the dark--I didn't even need my headlamp to see it. Thinking of starting a wildlife channel. Probably will keep things to the blog for now. Here's a weasel distribution map:

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http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/maps/wa/mammals/WA_long-tailed_weasel.html

Two Porcupines

I headlamped two porcupines the other night, while running after work. They are slow, slower than me even! They were in separate spots on Blanchard, but not too far apart, so maybe they are Friends. One had its quills all up on end, and it looked huge. Picture by NPS, "public domain," via wikimedia, yadi yadi yadi oww.

Snake In The Snow

IT IS STILL SNOWING! I can't remember a May snowstorm, but we may just be going for it.

I am posting pictures of a snake I found this winter, while out on the trails. Here's the story---I was running on Mount Galbraith one Saturday morning, and this snake was sitting in the middle of the trail, on top of the snow, frozen like an Otter Pop. For real. It was a goner. The snake was like a brick or a stick--if I swung it against a tree, it would've shattered, or something. I don't know how reptiles handle this every year. I've never seen a cold blooded creature frozen. I picked it up--and I don't like snakes---but I had to see what would happen. I wrapped it around my wrist, and ran down the mountain, for roughly a half hour. I wanted to see what would happen. Sure enough, after a while, the snake started to warm up, and reanimate....wiggling a little, but sort of dopey, and not a threat to me. So, I took a few pictures of it back at the rig, and then threw it in the back of the pickup.

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I figured I'd let it loose in my backyard, but I ended up giving it to this waitress, who said her kids like snakes. Apparently they sell for $20 on the street. The snake was doing fine in captivity, I was told, a week later, but then---a few weeks later--the snake died, because the waitress fed the snake too many crickets at once, and the crickets attacked the snake, and tore it to shreds. I'm not sure I believe this---I think the kids might have been involved---but it is a pretty cool story. I've never heard of attack crickets.

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I've seen some other good critters this winter. I saw a porcupine out behind Lost Lake a few months ago. It was big and slow and had green quills. I've seen a few owls and a bunch of raptors. During the fall, I saw tons of salmon in Padden Creek--they get big. Last night when I was running, I heard a ton of loud bull frogs, off the Interurban. I'm pretty sure you can spotlight bullfrogs, and then throw them in bags. I spotlighted a deer on Sehome Hill a couple months ago. I am definitely going to try it on these frogs this summer.

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Last night's run was awesome. I love long Friday night runs, and taking some time off does wonders--I ran well. 3.5 hours. Started in Fairhaven, went up the Chuckanut Ridge in reverse, down Chinscraper, around Fragrance and out the backside, and then back to Fairhaven. The Ridge was completely clear of snow, but it is a touch slower in reverse. Caught the setting sun from the ridge, full moon on the flats. No one around, except the frogs.