Friday, April 18, 2008

Off to work

The weather has been crazy for the last little while - snow and hail in the city for the last few days, and more this weekend. Freezing levels have been around 1500 feet, so there's a lot of snow out there! Good for the climbing season, bad for poor Seattlites who are starting to wonder if we'll ever see the sun again.

Fortunately, I have to get out, even if I would rather sit on the couch and eat chocolate - the Denali Prep courses mean a week of whatever weather Mt Rainier hands us. Off we go!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Picked up and brought in

Ah, the damp and chilly experience that is the Northwest in spring. Of twelve days out, eight of them were spent in rain gear, sometimes admiring the shining aliveness of the rainforest, sometimes head down wishing I had decided to bike in Arizona instead.

Took the ferry across the water from Seattle and caught the Hood Canal bridge to Highway 101. Around the top of the Olympic Peninsula, then down the coast and around the various harbors at places like Aberdeen. Crossed over into Oregon with a few days left, so kept going south a bit past Tillamook before taking a left and heading in to Portland - about 588 miles all together.

Camped mostly along beaches, logging land, and closed campgrounds and didn't see another person camping the whole time. Beautiful. It's been a while since I did a solo trip (too long!), and possibly longer since I was over on the coast. It cleared up for a beautiful weekend heading into Portland where a friend came down to do double duty visiting his friend there and picking me up.

The funny thing is, despite the rain, I didn't really want to come back. At least once I found myself thinking that I could just keep going and head all the way down through Mexico... I felt like I ran away from home and got picked up, taken back, and told to play by the rules. I'll try to pretend, at least for a while.