Goat Rocks Wilderness

At 5AM on Friday morning, we set out for the Snowgrass Hikers Trailhead. All proceeded according to plan until 26 miles off the paved road, a sharp rock tore a 1.5″ gash through one of my tires. I used my tire repair kit to insert 5 plugs, greatly slowing down the air leak. That was sufficient to hold air for about 10 miles, so we turned around and headed back towards civilization.

Upon hitting blacktop, we also got cell phone coverage. I called Tesla service and they would flatbed my car back to Fife, WA and replace the tire. Expecting that to take about 5 hours, I declined to explore my options. The two nearby rural tire shops had nothing in the correct size, so we headed towards I-5 and started calling every shop between us and Chehalis.

Les Schwab in Chehalis claimed to have a matching tire in stock. When we arrived, they had a Continental in 245/55R19, but it was the wrong series. They insisted they could only replace all 4 tires. My tires are nearly new, no thanks guys. Another call and Discount Tire in Lacy (27 miles North) had the correct tire, series, and size, so off we went again. The plugs held, Discount Tire replaced the tire, and shortly after lunch, we once again had 4 good tires.

For the second time, we set off for the Snowgrass Hikers Trailhead. As we got into the I-5 freeway, a car 5 car lengths ahead of us threw up something which left a quarter sized chip in my windshield. We pressed on and arrived at dusk. We camped overnight in Motel Tesla.

On Saturday morning we hiked over to Berry Patch Trailhead and headed North. We took the optional scenic detour to Goat Ridge and found the lookout is now ruins. We continued North and took the Lily Basin Trail #86. We stashed our packs and scooted out to Johnson Peak (7,257′) and tagged the summit at noon.

We descended almost bee-lining towards Heart Lake (a better route than our ascent), returned to our packs, and then visited Goat Lake. The camp sites were all full, the lake shore was crowded, but the lake was empty. I dove in and found out why: it was still ice-cold. We filtered drinking water, ate our first dinner, dried off in the sun, and then pressed onwards.

About a mile past Goat Lake we found an empty campground and set up for the evening. It was a lovely evening, cool and brisk and we slept well under my MSR tarp tent. In the morning we set our sights on the summits of Old Snowy Mountain (7,900′) and Ives Peak (7,920′).

Based on our previous days experience and the forecast, we again left our packs behind and headed for the summit of Old Snowy with just an extra layer and water bottles. Oops. As we ascended the wind picked up and the exposure made us regret the choice. To keep warm we picked up the pace and reached the summit before 10AM. We did not loiter and scurried right back down.

50° with 30-40 mph winds. Brrrr…

Being separated from our layers prevented us from hiking the ridge over to Ives Peak. We descended on the PCT, retrieved our packs, and then hiked out Snowgrass Trail #96 to the trailhead and our car.

Me too!

The scene: It’s a brisk mid-winter Seattle morning. Lucas has decided that we’re riding our bikes to school today. As we emerge from the garage, the sky is brilliant blue and the sun is streaming down in our faces. The lawns up and down the street are all brilliant green as this is our rainy season. It’s a lovely morning and all is well with the world. On this morning, after a night with no cloud cover, it’s still quite chilly and the shaded lawns  are all still frost covered. Both kids eagerly accept the gloves that I had thought to bring for them.

A very short ways from home, Kayla asks us to pause so she can tie her skirt up, keeping it well clear of her back tire. I comment, “hmm, we should get you a rear fender to keep your skirts off that tire.”

Lucas, not wanting to miss out on getting one of anything pipes up, “Should we get one for me too?”

I replied, “Of course, we don’t want your skirts getting dirty, do we?”

Beginner climbing in Yosemite

Mountaineers/Climbers that have been to Yosemite, I need your advice.

I’m going to be near Yosemite soon, with two hikers that have reasonable experience with 4th class rock. Our plan is to introduce them to 5th class trad. What I have in mind is something with a variety of low 5th class routes like Mountaineers Dome near Leavenworth. Suggestions?

Long Range Leaf: driving to Meany Lodge

Can our 2013 Nissan Leaf make it from Seattle to Meany Lodge on a single charge? The distance from our house is 77 miles and the nominal Leaf range is 84 miles. The key factor on this trip is Snoqualmie Pass, and the 3,022 feet we’d have to climb. I figured if I had any range left at the top of the pass, the gain from regenerative braking down the back side would just barely suffice.

At 7AM I pulled up the LEAF app and told the car to warm up the cabin. While still laying in bed. That’s a really nice feature! At 8AM we left Seattle with a toasty warm car and a full charge. I drove in ECO mode with the climate control off and the cruise set at 60 mph. As we passed North Bend, I had about 37 miles to go with a predicted range of 37 miles. That’s also where the climb begins in earnest.

As we climbed the pass, the charge meter dropped rapidly, yielding low battery alerts two miles before the summit. As I crested the pass, I guesstimated 5 miles left (the Leaf stops reporting below 6) plus the 5 miles I’d gain from regen. braking would total 10 miles worth of charge. Since the lodge is 13 miles from the pass, I opted to stop at the Chevron and juice up.

Lucas and I took a 20 minute ice cream break while our Leaf guzzled electrons until it had 10 miles of predicted range. I figured with 10 in the tank plus 5 from braking, I’d have plenty for the climb up to the lodge. We arrived with 8 miles remaining. Without the pit stop, we’d have likely run out a mile or two shy.

At the weekend work party, I took the head off TomCat’s Chevy 292 straight six engine, cut and ground steel plates and pipes, used a MIG welder for the first time (last weld, 25 years ago!), laid culvert, dug water trenches, and pressed apple cider. Lucas had a great time playing with a pack of 8 youngsters whose parents were getting the lodge ready for the ski season.

On Sunday afternoon we left the lodge with a full charge and a predicted range of 81 miles. After climbing 500 feet over the pass, the range crept higher and higher with each mile driven, peaking at 104 miles. As before, the key factor was elevation, and it’s mostly downhill on the return trip. We arrived home with 25 miles of range.

In summary, the Leaf has more than enough range to get home from Meany Lodge, but not quite enough to get there, due primarily to elevation. If we didn’t have another car, we could surely cover the distance by driving slower. With fair weather in daylight, 55 mph should do. If the weather was cold and headlights and/or climate control were needed, it might be possible at 45mph. I wouldn’t consider it fun.

Restless Genes

This explains a few things:

Researchers have repeatedly tied the [genetic] variant, known as DRD4-7R and carried by roughly 20% of all humans, to curiosity and restlessness. Dozens of human studies have found that 7R makes people more likely to take risks; explore new places, ideas, foods, relationships, drugs, or sexual opportunities; and generally embrace movement, change, and adventure. Studies in animals simulating 7R’s actions suggest it increases their taste for both movement and novelty. (Not coincidentally, it is also closely associated with ADHD.) — Restless Genes, National Geographic, Jan 2013, pg 44

I’ve always wondered why so many of the people I grew up don’t travel and are content to never leave the area in which they were born. The genetic difference is why it’s just not possible to explain to them why I did, why I climb mountains, why I’m restless, and why I thirst for adventure.

Costa Rica Trip Log

Day 0. Picked up Kayla from school at noon and headed for the airport. We parked our van with a friend in SeaTac who dropped us off at the airport. Our flight departed on time and we spent 5 hours walking backwards on the moving sidewalks, running in the not-so-busy parts of the airport, and otherwise amusing ourselves in Denver. The overnight flight to Costa Rica was fine, but not as restful as we hoped.

Day 1. We arrived in San Jose at 5 AM. After checking through immigration, we met Fer outside the airport and took a cab to the bus station. While waiting for the bus, I spotted a vendor selling apples out of a “grown in Washington” (state) box, which amused me greatly. Fer had picked up a prepaid SIM for me. I dropped it into my unlocked iPhone 3. After unlocking the SIM PIN and setting the data APN to ‘kolbi3g’, everything worked perfectly. We rode the bus to Alejuela and then another bus to Palmares. To our bodies, which are accustomed to the cool damp Pacific Northwest, it was a hot, hot, day.

Laura had taken the morning off work and had breakfast waiting for us. We exchanged greetings, took naps, played in the shaded back yard, exchanged dollars for colones, and planned our next few days. We also did a little shopping for pie ingredients. Fer had developed a taste for peach pie while in the states and wanted to make pies on her own. So we baked a delicious peach pie. 🙂

Day 2. We started with a cab ride to downtown and a 15m bus ride to San Ramon. There the kids were introduced to public restrooms as we waited for the 9:30 AM bus to La Fortuna. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours. We ate lunch in town, arranged Friday’s tour of Cañon Negro, and booked a cabina for Friday night. Then we hitched a ride out to Los Lagos Resort where we slid, swam, waded, splashed, and chased in the pools until dusk.

Kayla: We went swimming. We saw a volcano. We saw coconut trees with coconuts. We saw palm trees. We rode a bus for a long time. I picked up flowers for Fer Maria. We got stuff for bug bites. It is very warm in Costa Rica. The houses here are smaller and have metal roofs.

Day 3. In the morning we ate breakfast, surveyed the exhibits (ants, frogs, butterfly, gators, fish) and then went back to the pools. During midday, we retreated indoors and caught up on homework, some writing (see separate Day 3 post), checking email, and racing water bottles down hills. After the heat of the day, we returned to the pools for the rest of the day. We sampled drinks front the bar, got Neanderthal on them (no sense in wasting that coconut or pineapple meat!), and finished the day at the wet bar for dinner.

Plants and Flowers

I saw butterflies, frogs, ants, and crocodiles. The ant farm was big. The butterflies were beautiful. The frogs were small and liked to hide, so we had to listen for their croaks. The crocodiles were sunbathing. The green iguana was sunbathing. Here are some beautiful (pictures of flowers and frogs). There are hot and cold pools.

Day 4. As with every day in C.R., we awoke early. Our tour operators picked us up after breakfast and we rode out to Cañon Negro for our river boat tour. We made a bunch of stops on the way to see sloths, toucans, iguanas, and other birds. Upon arrival, we asked the staff to cut open a coconut so the kids could drink the water. They gladly obliged.

Even before boarding the boat, we saw a couple caimans in the river, as well as several varieties of birds. Once on the river, we saw bats, caimans, howler, white faced capuchino, and spider monkeys. We saw sloths, egrets, kingfishers, turtles, jumping fish, guanacaste trees, air plants, and a wide variety of other fauna. Then they fed us lunch and we bussed back to La Fortuna.

We ate dinner at a little mom-and-pop soda and then failed to buy the tres leches cake we had spotted two days prior. It turns out that the boy we saw didn’t sell them to the store. His mom makes them daily, and he sells them in front of the store. We would be gone before he showed up tomorrow, so we settled for some delicious pork kebobs being grilled and sold on a street corner. Here’s a little travel tip. In Latin America, resist the urge to eat at “dinner” time and wait until you see locals congregating around food vendors. If there’s a line of locals, you won’t go wrong. Also, to get ‘local’ prices, watch how much the locals pay, and offer the same amount.

Tours and Animals

We got up early and rode a bus for a long time. We took pictures with coconut and banana trees. We drank coconut water. They cut open our coconut and we ate the meat. We saw 2 caimans watching us from the water. On the boat ride, we saw monkeys, bats, sloths, turtles, toucans, other birds, butterflies, a snake, iguanas, and other lizards. My favorite part was seeing the snake.

Day 5. Traveled from La Fortuna to Cañitas (Monte Verde) via Eagle Tours’ 7:30 AM bus-boat-bus route. For $12, it’s a bargain and the views of the Arenal volcano from the lake are quite pleasant. Unlike most Ticos, our last bus driver wasn’t particularly helpful but we both recognized the farm upon sight. We arrived to warm welcomes at Marina & Aurelio’s farm. The kids spent the day exploring the trails through the coffee plantation, up and down the mountain, and feeding fallen flowers to the poultry (chickens, ducks, turkeys, and a peacock).

We began the process of meeting family with Randall and Laeticia. We toured his Bel Cruz cabinas (which are the nicest we have seen in C.R.), hiked their trail, and watched hummingbirds from his deck. Randall reserved our zip line tickets for us on the following day. Everyone in the tourist business (half the country) wants to make reservations and accept payments from tourists so they can get a commission. We avoided most of the “help” but allowed Randall to reserve for us because he makes the reservations and his customers pay at the park. It works out much better that way.

we rode a bus, a boat, a bus around the volcano. The boat ride was fun. I met Fer Marias grandparents. Their names are Marina and Aurelio de Bello.

Day 6. Early morning zip line (canopy) tour at Extremo. The kids did great. After seeing how well they did, the guides let them go on a zip line by themselves, and with us. I think rock climbing had acclimated them to being in a harness, hanging from a rope, and looking down from great heights.

After returning, we took a long slow drive around town with Marina and Aurelio. Meybel joined us for the drive out to the local lecheria (dairy) plant for fresca (cheese) and ice cream. We drove out to the Monte Verde reserve, stopped by the hummingbird (colibri) sanctuary and then meandered back to town. The roads are rugged and having elderly passengers makes for very slow going. We stopped off for fried chicken, Aurelio’s favorite, on the way home.

We went on some zip lines. The longest cable was 3,280 feet. We went on 15 zip lines, 1 Tarzan swing, and 1 rappel. We saw a waterfall and 7 howler monkeys and 2 babies. The walking distance was 3.8km. I liked the Tarzan swing. It was my favorite. Some parents were scared but not Lucas, Matt, Jen, and I.

Day 7. We awoke early. Again. After breakfast, we drove out to El Mirador but the vista views were obstructed by cloud cover that refused to lift. Being in a cloud forest is remarkably like being at home in Seattle—cool, gently precipitating, but so gently that I wasn’t wet after a 15 minute walk. We picked up a couple cuttings of some plant, watched the trains, and walked around the cloud forest. After returning to the farm, we did some homework, laundry, and got locked out of the house. (Great story, ask us about it.)

Noticed that photos taken with the phone in “airplane” mode have no GeoTag data). Duh. Oops.

Cloud Forest

We went out to the Santa Elena cloud forest reserve. It was beautiful. It was rainy and windy. We saw a train. We saw a waterfall. We washed clothes and put them on a line to dry. And my shoes too.

Day 8. I awoke very early (2ish) because Jen was awake. The winds were whipping and she was imagining our laundry departing from the clothes line and sailing away. We got up and fetched our laundry under perfectly clear skies. After breakfast, Matt baked a chocolate cake. The ladies watched with great curiosity as he melted chocolate chips into a cup of coffee. Later, as the baking cake started to smelled up the kitchen, the curiosity became keen interest. Once the cakes cooled, he spread the ganache over it and had ample left over. After sampling the ganache on a banana, the ladies lamented paying no attention while I made the ganache. We appeased them by translating the recipe.

Then we took a drive around the area, seeing more of the family farm, coffee plants, the mountain they own, and learning more of the family history. We visited close friends with a nursery. Aurelio selected a half dozen plants to add to his yard and spent as long haggling price as selecting plants, Latin style.

After the tour, we had cake and coffee. We walked a family sized piece of cake up to Randall’s shop where it was well received. Since Randall’s wife is a baker, she insisted on the recipe. We spent the next while translating ingredients and measures to the nearest C.R. equivalents. After the 4 of us completed translating, she asked me directly, “What is your secret?” We explained about differences in chocolate. Chocolate is grown here, but it is all exported. Processing happens overseas, so getting some premium chocolate, or even dark baking chocolate here is unusual.

Chocolate and Flowers
MATT baked a chocolate cake for our Tico family. The cake was good. We shared it with other people. We visited a garden. It was beautiful. We helped Aurelio plant some flowers.

Day 9.
We caught the bus from the farm to CITY, and then bussed from there to CITY, where we caught the bus to Liberia. There we waited for Fer to arrive, and then took a $50 cab ride from there out to the JW Marriott. Along the way we stopped at a roadside vendor and picked up two watermelons. Of the four watermelons I purchased, I paid more for all of them than I would had have in Seattle.

Once at JW, we spend the rest of the day in the pool. For dinner we split two very expensive entrees and followed them with lots of juicy watermelon. Watermelon is the perfect dessert after playing in a pool all afternoon.

For eating options, we had little choice. After arrival at the JW, we were isolated by distance from everything. A cab ride into town was $30, or $14 per person on their shuttle. Plus we’d have the wait for the cab to arrive. If we had rented a car, we would have been loathe to spend an hour of extra driving on dirt roads just to go into town for dinner. The alternatives to spending $30 per person for breakfast and dinner weren’t much better.

travel day
We rode hot sweaty buses and a taxi to get to our hotel. Then we played in the pool and lie down in a hammock.

Day 10.

Beach and pool day

After a big breakfast, we went down to the beach. I found some shells. It was hot and the sand was hot too. Later we went inside. I did my homework. Then we can go play in the pool again.

Day 11.
Depart from the beach area. $50 cab ride to Liberia, $3 bus to Palmares. Baked a chocolate cake.

Day 12.
Shopping at the market. Bus to Zoo Ave. Fabian rescues an orphaned kitten. after getting it home, we force feed it some milk, then spend the next few hours combing off a hundred of fleas and nits. Seviche for dinner. Mmmm.

Day 13.
Hang out with the family. Do laundry. Take pictures. Bus to San Jose airport and spend the night at a very nice Marriott. Play in pool and hot tub. Meet even more Seattle natives who are visiting Costa Rica. Dinner in the executive lounge.

Day 14.
Wake at 4AM. Be at the airport at 5AM. Bump into a friend of Jen’s from graduate school who also departing Costa Rica with his daughters. OUr kids play together while we wait for our flight. Flight departs at 7AM. 5 hour layover in Denver. Arrive home at 9:30 PM.