Hello my friends. I hope you are all well and enjoying the summer weather. I'm in Portland right now, leaving this afternoon to head to the Oregon coast, then heading down through the Redwood Nat'l Forest and ending up in San Fran this weekend for a concert.
I spent about 4 days in Seattle and had a great time. Thats a really cool city and the weather was perfect. From I-5 South going into downtown you could see so many tiny sailboats on Lake Union that it looked like a collision was inevitable. I checked out the Pike Place market, the REI Flagship store (awesome), various parks, and the Ballard Locks where they control the water levels allowing boats to cross from Puget Sound into Salmon Bay and vice versa.
To leave Seattle and head to the Olympic Peninsula I hopped on a ferry with my bike that shuttled me across. It only cost about $7 and was kind of a cool experience. I spent the next couple of days exploring the peninsula and Olympic Nat'l Park. I stopped in a place called Port Townsend, an active port thats famous for harboring and repairing old wooden boats.
Olympic Nat'l Park is home to an incredible array of ecosystems and climate zones. You have the 8,000 foot glaciated peak of Mt. Olympus, temperate rain forests that receive about 12 feet of rain annually, the rugged coast of the pacific northwest, and all of this is linked together by a system of streams, rivers and lakes. It's a fascinating place, and it pissed rain on me the entire time I was there. I loved it.
I camped on the beach one night and had a great sunset. The next day I was hiking back out to my bike (about a 1 mile walk on the beach) and I came across a group of Japanese tourists. The man with the largest camera looked at me and said "Oh, tough guy." It was hilarious.
From the peninsula I made my way down to Portland. Again I was incredibly lucky with the weather. I stayed with a good high school friend Elizabeth and had the chance to meet some of her friends up here. They're all really cool (as Elizabeth herself is a very cool chick), and I thought one of her friend's, Anna, was particularly cool. So when Anna gets off work today she and I are going to head down the coast and camp out for a couple days. Then I'm off to San Fran and in the final stretch of my journey. Stay tuned for a couple more updates, enjoy the new pics, and I look forward to catching up with you all upon my return. Much love.
Dane
"Keep the shiny side up."
p.s. Pop, glad to hear that the California Sandbag doubles tourney at the Spitfire was a success. I intend to claim my place at the top of the podium when I get home.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Blessed Rhino
What up party people? Sorry it's been so long. I haven't had access to a cpu in a couple weeks. I'm up in Seattle stayin with the homie Jones, Stevies good friend from Colorado College. Just rolled in last night. Let's rewind...
After leaving Bozeman MT, I rode up to Glacier Nat'l Park. It's right on the Canadian border and is hands down the prettiest park I've been to yet. It was a post card around every bend in the trail. It's also the first place where I've really felt a true sense of wilderness, and almost been too spooked to keep going forward.
I had planned on doing a two day loop and camping a night at a campground called Old Man Lake. The CG was open when I wanted to do the trip, but had been closed the entire week before cuz of grizzly activity. The lady in the backcountry office assured me that she's not afraid of bears and then went on to tell me that there's no way in hell she would camp at Old Man. A poppa griz tried to bunk up with a father and son who were camping out there. Apparently the bear picked up the scent of the father's jock itch cream and decided it was good enough to try a bite of his leg.
So instead of overnighting it I made it into an 18 mile day trip. I walked for a solid 9 miles before I saw anybody else. I was coming to the end of the valley I had been hiking up toward a mountain pass, and I knew I was near Old Man CG. There was a powerful headwind witch meant that I had a grrrreater likelihood of startling the bear since he wouldn't hear or smell me coming. It also rendered my bear spray essentially useless (unless I intended on spraying myself in the face with it and blinding myself so I wouldn't see this massive grizzly bear eat me up).
The hairs on my neck were standing on end and my senses were in hyperdrive. I knew there was a big griz out there accustomed to the presence of humans and eager to chomp my jock itch creamy leg. The part that spooked me the most was that I honestly felt like the bear knew I was there, too. I walked down into this ghost camp and didn't see any signs of the bear, so I hiked out and finished the loop with all my appendages.
I left Glacier after about a week and made it all the way to Spokane, WA. I had had enough of sleeping in the dirt so I decided to flip for a motel room (only the second time in two months). I went out that night and found myself entered in a beerpong tourney at a local bar. Except they weren't playing the way we're used to. They were using only two cups per side and paddles. It was a fun learning experience.
The next morning I was going to town on some primo continental breakfast and got to talking to an older couple there. They were from Seattle and on their way to Phoenix to visit their son. He was a Christian pastor or minister and told me that Jesus loves me and is following me on my trip. After breakfast we went out and Pastor Dick (I'm not blaspheming, that was his name) gave an official blessing of my motorcycle, one hand on my bike, his other hand on my forehead.
I said "amen" and then "sweet" and saddled up and took off. Maybe its just a coincidence but that same day riding west on State Route 20 in northern WA was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience. I was on the verge of becoming emotional from how absolutely beautiful the cedar and evergreen covered mountains of the Cascades are.
I spent the next four days on a solo backcountry trek covering about 50 miles of the parks interior. At one point I ended up in the remote town of Stehekin on lake Chelan, which has a year-round population of 80 people. The only ways to reach this town are by foot, ferry, or float plane. The town consists of a post office, a store (very limited selection) a restaurant and a ranger station. Despite it's remoteness, it also has a world class bakery. I mean people in Paris are buzzing about this place. No joke. It was just featured in Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine and will appear on the cover of the August issue of Sunset Magazine (mama save that issue). So after three days of freeze dried beef stew and cliff bars, I just pigged out on pizza, soda and cupcakes. It was awesome.
I left the park yesterday and had to hitch about 70 miles back to my motorcycle. The first stretch on SR 20 was easy but the last 21 miles were over a crappy gravel road that was hell to ride up. I ended up paying a couple of locals $20 to get me to my bike. The wife was a talkative one but the husband wasn't saying a word, just eating a microwave burrito and drinking a can of sparks (malt liquor energy drink-a real classy bunch they were). I finally found out from the wife that he was basically brain dead from a car crash she had gotten them into 5 months earlier. It was a slow, bumpy, interesting ride.
So I'm posted in Seattle for the next couple days, doing laundry, sleeping on a couch and happy not to be wearing a backpack. After this its the Olympic Peninsula, then down to Oregon. Any and all recommendations are welcome. Love and miss you all. Until next time.
Dane
After leaving Bozeman MT, I rode up to Glacier Nat'l Park. It's right on the Canadian border and is hands down the prettiest park I've been to yet. It was a post card around every bend in the trail. It's also the first place where I've really felt a true sense of wilderness, and almost been too spooked to keep going forward.
I had planned on doing a two day loop and camping a night at a campground called Old Man Lake. The CG was open when I wanted to do the trip, but had been closed the entire week before cuz of grizzly activity. The lady in the backcountry office assured me that she's not afraid of bears and then went on to tell me that there's no way in hell she would camp at Old Man. A poppa griz tried to bunk up with a father and son who were camping out there. Apparently the bear picked up the scent of the father's jock itch cream and decided it was good enough to try a bite of his leg.
So instead of overnighting it I made it into an 18 mile day trip. I walked for a solid 9 miles before I saw anybody else. I was coming to the end of the valley I had been hiking up toward a mountain pass, and I knew I was near Old Man CG. There was a powerful headwind witch meant that I had a grrrreater likelihood of startling the bear since he wouldn't hear or smell me coming. It also rendered my bear spray essentially useless (unless I intended on spraying myself in the face with it and blinding myself so I wouldn't see this massive grizzly bear eat me up).
The hairs on my neck were standing on end and my senses were in hyperdrive. I knew there was a big griz out there accustomed to the presence of humans and eager to chomp my jock itch creamy leg. The part that spooked me the most was that I honestly felt like the bear knew I was there, too. I walked down into this ghost camp and didn't see any signs of the bear, so I hiked out and finished the loop with all my appendages.
I left Glacier after about a week and made it all the way to Spokane, WA. I had had enough of sleeping in the dirt so I decided to flip for a motel room (only the second time in two months). I went out that night and found myself entered in a beerpong tourney at a local bar. Except they weren't playing the way we're used to. They were using only two cups per side and paddles. It was a fun learning experience.
The next morning I was going to town on some primo continental breakfast and got to talking to an older couple there. They were from Seattle and on their way to Phoenix to visit their son. He was a Christian pastor or minister and told me that Jesus loves me and is following me on my trip. After breakfast we went out and Pastor Dick (I'm not blaspheming, that was his name) gave an official blessing of my motorcycle, one hand on my bike, his other hand on my forehead.
I said "amen" and then "sweet" and saddled up and took off. Maybe its just a coincidence but that same day riding west on State Route 20 in northern WA was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience. I was on the verge of becoming emotional from how absolutely beautiful the cedar and evergreen covered mountains of the Cascades are.
I spent the next four days on a solo backcountry trek covering about 50 miles of the parks interior. At one point I ended up in the remote town of Stehekin on lake Chelan, which has a year-round population of 80 people. The only ways to reach this town are by foot, ferry, or float plane. The town consists of a post office, a store (very limited selection) a restaurant and a ranger station. Despite it's remoteness, it also has a world class bakery. I mean people in Paris are buzzing about this place. No joke. It was just featured in Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine and will appear on the cover of the August issue of Sunset Magazine (mama save that issue). So after three days of freeze dried beef stew and cliff bars, I just pigged out on pizza, soda and cupcakes. It was awesome.
I left the park yesterday and had to hitch about 70 miles back to my motorcycle. The first stretch on SR 20 was easy but the last 21 miles were over a crappy gravel road that was hell to ride up. I ended up paying a couple of locals $20 to get me to my bike. The wife was a talkative one but the husband wasn't saying a word, just eating a microwave burrito and drinking a can of sparks (malt liquor energy drink-a real classy bunch they were). I finally found out from the wife that he was basically brain dead from a car crash she had gotten them into 5 months earlier. It was a slow, bumpy, interesting ride.
So I'm posted in Seattle for the next couple days, doing laundry, sleeping on a couch and happy not to be wearing a backpack. After this its the Olympic Peninsula, then down to Oregon. Any and all recommendations are welcome. Love and miss you all. Until next time.
Dane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
