A Walk in the Clouds

Above the clouds of Issaquah, Robert speaks with photographer Tory Watson.(Photo by Roger Matthews)

Poo Poo Point, Tiger Mountain, Issaquah WA--It was a motley crew on the Chirico trail yesterday: Post-partum moms, fliers lugging parasails, dogs, families, Roger, Robert and a professional photographer ascended  above the clouds over Issaquah. At the 1,855-foot elevation of Poo Poo point, while Seattle lay beneath overcast, the people on top had already seen Rainier to the south and now they could spot Mount Baker to the north.

Mount Baker was visible through the haze. (Photo by Roger Matthews)

This will be the last hike that Roger and Robert take together this calendar year. Roger is what you humans call a "snow bird," and he will be spending the colder months in Arizona.

Oh, I should explain--Robert  decided to let me do the postings to this blog. I'm learning backup, so that if anything happens to him, the blog will go on. Since I'm virtually indestructible, not much is going to stop me. But it is kinda hard to type, since I don't have fingers, or even hands. It is what it is, when you are a blue one world futbol. But I'll do my best.

Frustrated by America's most-stolen car: The hike started out about an hour late, because of Roger's humanity. First of all, he had this thing people have to do in little booths they call "honey buckets." And when he came out, he was kind of stern looking, because he realized he had done something else people do occasionally. They put their car keys in their coats and then shut the coat in the trunk of the car while they go spend time in the honey bucket.

Roger's partner showed up a half hour later with the keys, laughing at him for not being able to get into the most stolen car in America -- a Honda accord. While the two men-folk were waiting for the woman to show up they did a little mini-hike to sort of pad the elevation gain statistics.

The hike was kind of dream like. The light that made its way through the overcast made everything seem especially green, almost like a cloud forest. Here's what I'm talking about:

Light on the path to Poo Poo Point was softened by the overcast.

It is moist enough on this trail that ferns sprout right out of the bark of the trees.

Noisemakers: A couple of ladies we met along the way were carrying noisemakers on their bellies. Their belly packs made little murmuring sounds and they wiggled a bit. They also had little pink arms sticking out from them. Robert made some sort of comment to the ladies that it wasn't so long ago that the contents of those belly packs were inside the women. Their hike had something to do with what Robert called post-partum re-conditioning, or something like that.

On the way down we also met people with really big backpacks containing flying equipment. They autographed me and then headed on up to the top. That's our photo, below:


 Janell Davidson, packing her 30-pound kit, and Steven Weltyk, packing 40 pounds.They had hiked the Chirico Trail to Poo Poo Point's parasailing launch site many times.

Finally, at the top of the trail, we came out into daylight. That's Roger in the photos, below:

Roger emerges from the forest cover onto Poo Poo point, where hang gliders launch.

Tory Watson's camera snapped  time-lapse photos of clouds skirting nearby Squak Mountain.

Issaquah peeks up through the clouds.

Robert hitched me to a cyclone fence next to a radio tower to take in the view.

And now for today's stats: Including the mini-hike while we all waited for Roger's car keys, total elevation gained was 2,020 feet from a 3.8-mile hike. That brings our totals to date to:

Thursday's Hike: 3.8 miles
Elevation gained:  2,020 feet
Packing: 13-pound backpack and 20-pound weight vest
Accumulation to date:  59.18 miles, 16,505 vertical feet

Love,
Wilson
(and Robert)