Tuesday 7/1/14 - Portland/Seattle
Today I woke up on Ryan's small couch and like the good friend that I am, I drove him to work. He then gave me a tour of the Nike campus: kind of a symbiotic relationship. It is gorgeous and has tons of great fields and facilities. Then he went off to work or train or workout or whatever he does there, and I started on my way to Seattle.
I drove directly to Von Trapps, a German beerhall that Cronin took us to last year. It was showing the USA World Cup game, so I met Cronin there with some of his resident friends. The food was so good. The game was not. Oh well, let's go Germany.
We then went to a park/beach right on Lake Washington. The water felt great and it had INCREDIBLE views of Rainier. There was even a little dock with a high dive board. Imagine jumping off a high dive with Mt. Rainier as your backdrop. Now die because your life just peaked.
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| Just the view while swimming. HOW DO YOU ADJUST TO THAT??? |
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| Dat Skyline |
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| Just a couple of champs champing it up |
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| Gasworks! YOU ARE ART NOW. |
James, Cronin, and I then went to a dive bar with "zoo" in the name (so you know it's good) and had a few beers whist reminiscing until it was time to head home. Such a great laid back day. I love Seattle.
Wednesday 7/2/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today I got up early with Cronin and his roommate Becky. While they went off to work, I drove the two-ish hours to North Cascades National Park. A beautiful park in the North of Washington, near Canada. I spent most of my day driving to various viewpoints to see sweeping vistas of these magnificent mountains. Especially Diablo and Washington Gap overlooks. I could stay at these two all day. And the weather is great, so driving through the park is just a really pretty, fun time.
The river running along the main highway (where I stuck to most of the day) is home to three hydroelectric dams that help power Seattle. These dams offer some pretty great views as well, especially since you can drive or walk over two of them. So freaking pretty. It's just really cool to see a work of engineering art in the midst of a gorgeous mountain range. Hard to beat. I basically just found myself snacking or eating lunch by the river most of the day just taking in the sights. What a lazy bum. Tomorrow is my day to venture forth and do some intense hikes up into the mountains. There's still a fair amount of snow, but I should be all set with my microspikes.
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| I had to photoshop this to look uglier so it wouldn't completely blow your mind |
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| SO FREAKING FUNCTIONAL |
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| Nature makes electricity for us sometimes |
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| It's July and that's snow over there |
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| "Oh I didn't see you there, you caught me hanging out by this hydroelectric dam and mountain" |
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| I started getting annoyed by all the "normal" timer pictures |
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| Also there were random mountain goats |
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| And some birds. Whatever. |
For now I'm just hanging out at Diablo overlook, trying to see i the sunset will be decent.
It was ok... the mountains were so close that the Sun just went behind them and didn't really go through enough atmosphere to make the really crazy colors that I'm used to at this point. But it was still a nice night, cooking up some dinner back at camp. I'm heading back up to Diablo overlook later at night to see how the stars look up there.
Yeah I didn't do that. I was tired and the sky looked overcast.
Thursday 7/3/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today was nuts. I hiked 18 miles today amidst some of the grandest mountains I've ever seen. I ended my day super exhausted, but happy about that accomplishment.
I started early, driving about an hour over to Cascade Pass trail. This requires you to leave the park and come in on a gravely, dirt road. Thanks, that's always a fun and not-nauseating ride. I started the hike up to Cascade Pass at about 8am, originally intending to hike up to Boston Glacier. But the entire morning I was fogged in. I couldn't see anything, even after the path turned to snow and I had to pop on my microspikes. Oh well. At least I made it to Cascade Pass... I think? The trail kind of disappeared in the snow, and then got dangerously steep, which is where I think the trail continued to the glaciers. Risking my life for fog wasn't worth it, so I turned around. The views cleared a bit on my way down though, so you know, that's fun for whoever got to see that later in the day.
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| Wow, such a great view from up here! |
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| That's pretty cool... it'd be nice if I could see this stuff when I was higher up maybe. No? Ok don't worry about it. |
I then immediately drove to the town of Diablo to hike Sourdough trail, which I was advised against by a park ranger. She didn't realize I have my microspikes though, and that I'm a complete baller. Snow can't hold me back. The trail description was "steep and strenuous." No. Fucking. Joke. Definitely one of the steepest trails I've hiked before. I made fast time at first though, running up these steep switchbacks; I was motivated by the fact that I started hiking at 2pm and wanted to finish the 10.5 mile round trip hike before sunset. It was definitely strenuous too - a lot of parts weren't maintained (I think it's too early in the season possibly), so I was climbing over a lot of downed trees.
And then I got to where the snow started. Kind of scary, because the trail just disappeared beneath the snow. But I saw a pair of boot tracks, so I followed wherever that guy went. There was supposed to be some sort of fire lookout at the end of the trail, but nope, I never found that. Instead, I followed my mystery guide's tracks around through a snowy meadow and up a steep, STEEP incline to the top of a mountain. I was worried on multiple occasions that I would slip, which would have resulted in me sliding down the entire fucking slope to the bottom of the mountain. But I had faith in these random footprints.
I passed treeline to see some breathtaking views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the lake waaaaay down below (I think this mountain was an elevation gain of 5000 ft). At the snowy top of the mountain is was 360 degree view surrounded by amazeballs mountains. Surrounded. It was beautiful and incredible. So glad the fog had cleared. Words can't describe the feeling of romping on top of a mountain completely surrounded by the Cascades. Absolutely astounding.
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| Get out of here |
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| So yeah just mountains in every direction |
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| I "like" this stuff apparently |
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| So now I have to go down there again |
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| Meh, it's ok I guess |
The trip down was certainly quicker, but not without its dangers (namely, getting lost and/or falling and breaking a leg). With the Sun setting, I admit that a few scenarious that would end in me dying popped up in my head. Since I was on the trail alone (I literally didn't see another person the entire hike), it wouldn't take much. A broken leg, a random slip, or just getting lost in the snowy, trail-less area would certainly be it for me. I shook those fears off. Sliding down the snow was quick, nothing would stop me until I hit a tree at mach speed. I pondered this when I noticed the Sun creating a perfect rainbow circle in the sky, thanks to the thin mist of cloud above me. I couldn't take a picture of it, so I will have to remember it as a truly unique and awesome sight.
The remainder of the hike down, past the snow sections, were very tiring (it was a long way up). My dogs were barking beyond any level dogs had previously barked in all history. So glad to take my soaking wet boots off.
I combined my dinner with my new campsite neighbors, which is great, because i'm down to half a bag of raisins and a can of beans. Plus it's good to have someone to talk to. Back to Seattle tomorrow.
One last note about the North Cascades in general - there is no reception for radio stations in most places. Literally no stations. I can press the "seek" button and it will scan through the entire frequency range and keep looping until I stop it. I hadn't seen that before.
Friday 7/4/14 - Seattle
I got up early and started my way toward what I assumed was Seattle. I didn't have reception for most of the drive, so i was driving blind (in terms of directions, not vision. That would be a horrible way to drive). But hey I made it, so everyone wins. I met up with James in Capitol Hill at a bar to watch a couple World Cup games.
I met some of his friends, and at this point had enough beers in me to decide to join them as they took a ferry over to Bainbridge to watch fireworks.
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| Sweet views from the ferry |
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| More of those same exact sweet views but actually different views |
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| Just a couple of champions riding a boat |
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| EVERY FREAKING TIME with this thing! |
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| Now we're on the other side of the Sound because TECHNOLOGY |
Drinks were had, fireworks happened, the view of Seattle was insane - it was just a blast. We had to make the last ferry over, but had enough time to hop into the Sound for a swim. I also got slightly lost on my way back to Cronin's. But nothing crazy, just hitchhiking for an hour and hopping into an Uber car that was not at all meant for me. It was a grand day overall.
Caturday 7/5/14 - Vancouver
And today was the day that I took a hungover drive up to Vancouver, British Columbia with Cronin. It is only a 2.5 hour drive... depending on how long the wait at the Canadian border is... so it's actually way way longer.
But hey we made it... to Canada! Our hotel, however, was in the absolute worst part of Vancouver. Shoddy buildings and completely insane people. A LOT of homelessness. So yeah we were experiencing some trepidation as we started exploring the city. But by the time we reached the Gaslight district the city looked pretty nice.
Our first task was to immediately find some food because we were starving. So we ate a ton of Japanese food and then had a drink at the brewpub down by the harbor (Canada spells it "harbour" though). Whistler beer. The port area was beautiful. We walked around for a good long while and went to the Vancouver Lookout, grabbing a beverage while checking out some cool views of the city as the restaurant revolved 360 degrees.
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| Cronin's gonna Crone |
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| And then some Olympic torch thingy thing |
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| That's something too! |
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| Pretty good setting for a Bloody Mary |
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| And then there's this spheroid that is possibly vaguely museum related |
We walked around a ton more - we seriously walked so much today holy crap. And then went back over to the Gaslight district for a drink and some doner kebab. We didn't stay out too late, but had a good time with a drink here and there. So we called it early after a long day of walking around the city. This city reminds me of a cross between Chicago and Seattle - lots of skyscrapers made of glass in a pretty setting.
Sunday 7/6/14 - Vancouver/Seattle
Today was raining when we got up. It's weird; the only times I've been in the rain on this trip were one night in Yosemite and in Canada. But it was a short day in Vancouver. We woke up, had the shitty continental breakfast, and drove North to Stanley Park.
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| Vancouver in the rain - it's like regular Vancouver but with rain. |
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| Totem Poles! |
We really didn't have much impetus to walk around in the rain. But we did end up seeing crazy totem poles and a lighthouse. So that's good. Anyway, after that we drove back to freedom aka the US. And back in Seattle it was sunny and we had some delicious salmon!
Unfortunately now is the time that I have to pack. And it is going to take some doing. And that rental car reeks. This redeye back to Boston is going to be tough.
Fantastic west coast road trip! I guess it's time to start planning the next one.
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