Things looked desperate. The gray jays had us surrounded. A chipmunk guarded the lake exit. It was our sandwiches or our lives.
Randy Gauthier, Patricia Lott and I were traveling "accessible" to a subalpine lake on this elegant near-autumn day.
Webster says "accessible" means "capable of being reached." By implication, an accessible hike would be one you could get to. Simple.
So why had Lott predicted, "I'll never hike the North Cascades again." Why had Gauthier said he'd "never considered hiking. ... don't want to do much outside."
September 22, 2005
BELLINGHAM -- Two airborne eagles decorate the mountain, one immature and the other white-headed. The mountain needs it.
The ungainly lummox known as Chuckanut Mountain, south of Bellingham and tucked between Interstate 5 and Samish Bay, doesn't spawn great reverence on first sight.
It's bloblike, a little lumpy. Conquering its slopes without supplemental oxygen won't attract widespread envy or wonder. Its southern bump, Blanchard Hill, isn't even dignified with the label of "mountain."
March 10, 2005
It was, in fact, a blind date. A bus full of strangers and, for me at least, destination unknown. I toyed with the idea of asking the bus driver where we were bound.
I had failed to call for the last-minute phone message that reveals the location of the One World Outing Club's next expedition. I didn't want to seem overanxious.
The custodian of the message, Lance Young, is a serious environmentalist and director of the Outing Club, an outdoor party on skis and snowshoes that makes tracks anywhere from Snoqualmie Pass to Norway.
January 27, 2005
STEVENS PASS -- There weren't enough burly hemlock trees to go around.
Each of us needed one to hide behind and shed clothes after 20 minutes of glorious sunshine.
As we crunched up the steep hill to Skyline Lake on snowshoes, with Stevens Pass in our rear-views, a slam-dunk stellar day unfurled.
David Coffman, an accountant with Snohomish County, was working on a new Christmas song based on the grinding, percussive sound we made on the packed snow.
December 30, 2004
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