Short Trips
NEWHALEM -- For years I always considered Newhalem just an annoying 30 mph zone on the North Cascades Highway that slowed my journeys east over the mountains -- usually to the Methow Valley.
That impression changed dramatically last week when I spent two days exploring Newhalem proper and part of the Ross Lake Recreation Area, which is part of the much larger north unit of the North Cascades National Park.
By Jeff Larsen | July 22, 2004
DECEPTION PASS -- A few seconds can seem like forever when your kayak is tilted on its starboard rocker in a 4-knot current and your right ear is on the verge of splashing into the salty sea.
You hang there precariously like a boulder on a cartoon cliff, one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, before reflexively lifting your paddle out of the current -- where it never should have been -- and flexing your body at the hips toward the port.
You pop upright; your head feels the flush of relief, then embarrassment.
By Greg Johnston | July 22, 2004
Gas prices keeping you close to home this vacation season? Through Labor Day, Northwest Weekend is offering weekly ideas for close-to-Seattle getaways you can get to and back on 10 gallons or less of gas. And just to make it more "real world," our tips are fine-tuned to whether you own a big SUV or a gas-sipping hybrid electric.
July 22, 2004
Hike of the Week
The Bean Creek Trail is a spectacular hiking route that provides access to Earl Peak, a non-technical scramble in the Teanaway. Strong hikers with cross-country skills can study the map for other approaches to this peak, but for hikers Bean Creek Trail No. 1391.1 offers mega wildflower displays, solitude and roaming potential.
By Karen Sykes | July 22, 2004
Gearing Up
A few weeks back, I promised a column on how to dry your own spaghetti sauce, which is a fantastic and easy way to bring some home-cooked flavor to the woods. You either can make your own sauce from scratch (see my favorite recipe below), or use your favorite jarred sauce -- just choose a brand that doesn't have chunks of veggies or meats in it. Smooth marinara works best.
By Kristin Hostetter | July 22, 2004
CHELAN Down below, boats were buzzing across Lake Chelan and its beaches were filling with sun-baked vacationers. But high in the hills above the Central Washington lake, my only company on a mountain-bike trail was one very startled deer.
We almost collided when I zipped around a curve on the narrow, ridge-top trail, just as the deer came prancing along the dirt path.
We stared, wide-eyed, at each other for a moment before the deer bounded down the steep, dry slope.
By Kristin Jackson | July 22, 2004
Take a Walk
Location: Yakima.
Length: Several miles of trails.
Level of difficulty: Level-to-gentle dirt/gravel trails. If you take the cross-island trail, you may have to ford a shallow side channel of the river (less than one foot deep).
By Cathy McDonald | July 22, 2004
It's a glorious sunny morning and a bunch of us are taking part in the best kind of bike ride there is one that's all downhill, and in which the closest cars and tractor trailers and SUVs and motorcycles are hundreds of yards away.
By Mike McQuaide | July 22, 2004
