Terminated

This is a macabre post, so avert your eyes (or check out this site) if you don't like to think about anything really, really, really cute being injured, shot or killed!

As you can see, we have "Pickles." Pickles is a Cascade Fox. And unless you're an insensitive brute, most people would consider him a very adorable little guy. The problem is, Pickles was so charming, that he attracted a lot of friends, and with those friends came problems. This week, Pickles had to be euthanized (i.e. shot) because he was seriously injured. The general feeling is that he was injured because he was fed by humans.

So the story goes, Pickles was injured (or ensnared) a few weeks ago. Since then, he's been seen pathetically limping around the park near the road between Longmire and Paradise (let me say that this was not a very pleasant sight to witness). No one is sure what it was that exactly injured him, but something did destroy his right front leg. The general thought is that it was probably a vehicle, but maybe a trap. We really don't know. What IS known is that Pickles loved human food and became habituated to humans behavior. With that habituation came problems. The NPS biologist had this to say on the matter,

"After consultation with two wildlife veterinarians, we decided that this animal did not have reasonable prospects for survival in the wild. The leg injury was severe and there was some indication that there was head injury as well. This Cascade fox was fed by people well prior to the injury (even after the injury). Fed animals like this one quickly found that hanging around the frontcountry and roads between Longmire and Paradise was really rewarding. What the feeding public does not understand is that what they do has consequences - some very serious consequences.

This was the third Cascade fox/vehicle collision recorded since 2005. All were fed animals or cubs of fed animals. Vehicle occupants and wildlife are at risk when aimals are fed. Like the old adage with bears - fed wildlife most often result in dead wildlife.

Addressing the park's wildlife feeding problem is a big task that is going to take a while. We've been working to increase awareness of the issue with park staff and visitors but have a long way to go. We're seeking help from social scientists, trying different ways of getting information to the public, and are seeking funding to help reduce the problem. Please help me get the word out.

So here's the word. Don't feed the wildlife! Or...

Sherpa Peak

Sherpa Peak is a large bump on the east shoulder of Mt. Stuart. It does not get climbed near as often as Stuart. It was nice to climb something new in the range. Mark and Doug did it as a day hike.



Climbers near the false summit of Mt. Stuart. There was still a lot of snow at the end of June.




Mark leading the way up the West Ridge.






Doug working his way up.






Sherpa Balanced Rock is a feature visible from all over the Stuart Range. It doesn't get climbed very often. It looks like the wind could blow it over, but it is actually pretty well built. We couldn't leave without climbing it. Mark led the way up and Doug followed. It was nice to finally stand on top of that rock we have looked at so many times.
Sherpa Peak is the shaded peak on the right shoulder of Mt. Stuart as seen in this photo from Longs Pass. It was another memorable day spent above treeline!

Ingalls Lake and Ingalls Peak

A big group ready to hit the trail to Ingalls Lake and the South Summit of Ingalls Peak.

Ingalls Lake on a beautiful fall day.

Dave, Pete and Jim on the South Summit. Mt. Stuart in the background.

You again!

Yesterday morning Jasmine sounded her "Snake! It's a snake!" bark again. This time at least she had the sense to be angry with the non-biting end of the gray rat snake. His mouth was otherwise occupied anyway.



Wayne from Niches asked in previous comments if rat snakes ate eggs. Yes they do.



The blue one he's swallowing is a Mallard egg, which is a bit larger and heavier than a chicken egg.



Pretty amazing.



Tell-tale lump:



While his business end was busy, I sneaked a peek at his belly.



And got a closer look at his scales. I hadn't noticed the slight ridges the other day.



Not too hard to get into the duck pen.



Obviously I need to start removing the duck eggs first thing in the morning. We feed them to the dog so it's not a big loss, I just don't want the snake getting into the habit. If he keeps it up I'm afraid he's going to find the chicken coop.

Of course I'm not really sure if this is the same individual from earlier in the week - not sure how territorial they are. (I tried Googling it but kept coming up with herpetophile Fred from Fragments from Floyd instead.)

We saw another large gray rat snake close to the creek last night. They must be doing well this year.

Perfect Weather for climbing and skiing

Breaking with tradition, as oddly happened also in 2005, there was reasonable weather on the upper mountain over Memorial Day weekend. The normal Pacific NW tradition calls for drippy rain and snowfall. So with the good weather came a whole bunch of skiers and climbers.

At Camp Schurman, the skiers took over. After all was said and done, there were more successful skiers than climbers! Here is an all women's team that ripped down from the summit on Monday afternoon. They reported excellent climbing conditions, and relatively icy ski conditions... But that wasn't a problem for them. On the other hand, I witnessed another skier tumble and fall roughly 200-300 vertical feet near 12,600 feet. It took his teammates a few hours to collect his equipment and get him back to Camp Schurman. He wasn't hurt too badly, but it was awful to watch it play out through the telescope. YIKES!

On an important administrative note, here is a heads up to those who don't think they need to register. There are intensity patrols happening in the backcountry and they are checking to make sure that all teams have permits. This weekend, a few parties were turned around and some were cited for failure to register for a climb. Make sure you get your permit and climbing pass before taking off. If you need help, give us a call 360-569-2211 ext 6009.

California: Morro Bay

When I was stationed at Point Mugu, California in the mid-1970s, one of my favorite getaway destinations was Morro Bay. After 33 years, I was able to return there on March 28th. Of course it had changed, but much of it was as I remembered it – beautiful.

Reflected in the receding waves, Morro Rock is the landmark and iconic image of the area.

An hour or so later, the fog started rolling in.

Nearly hidden by the fog.

The sun is about ready to disappear behind the bank of fog, which could be seen for miles along the shoreline. There was no colorful sunset on this night!

Horse Won't Herd

Tuffee was trying to herd Nita. Now she looks at me as if to ask "What do I do now? She won't herd."

Skeleton Dolls

Sarah, my sister, makes skeleton dolls. She calls the Dolls From the Bone Yard. The skeleton is plastic but the rest is all handmade. She sells them at farmers markets and craft events in and around Las Cruces. If anyone is interested leave me a comment with an email and I will get back to you. Shown here are cowboys, Mexicans, witches, Cap'em Jack from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, nurses, and fancy ladies. She also does Doctors, angels, brides and grooms, hippies, solders, and fisherman. I couldn't get over how cute they were. She sells a lot for the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead which is about the same time as our Halloween.

Echo Ridge Nordic ..

We had some time to get away and decided on trying out Echo Ridge. A Living Social coupon sealed the deal for accommodations and we were off. Our drive out was planned so we would stop in Leavenworth for lunch and then Mirabelle would nap between there and Manson. Arriving in Leavenworth to our favorite lunch spot, the Munchen Haus, closed had us spending more time there then we wanted. And as hard as Mirabelle tried, she didn't fall asleep until we were near Knapps tunnel which had us driving around before we arrived at the hotel. So we didn't end up getting any skiing in the first day, but due to the daily fee of the location that may have been for the better.



The next day started well with breakfast baked goods from the Red Apple before making the 30 minute drive up to Echo Ridge. I hadn't seen the grooming report for two days and wasn't sure what to expect. They were clearly getting close to the end of season, but it was difficult to determine how close. And they were still grooming almost all of the runs, so it had to be good...right? The drive up involves leaving town and heading through orchards until reaching the Echo Valley downhill ski area, which seems like a nice little family place to ski. Then the road turns to dirt and continues up switchbacks with some snow drifts and steep drop offs thrown in. We arrived to bluebird skies and parked in the lower parking lot expecting perhaps to only ski the green runs out of the lower lot. The goal was to ski those runs in the morning and return to the van for lunch and head out again in the afternoon. But we would see what Mirabelle might want from the day.



After bundling up Mirabelle in the Chariot and handing her a churro, we were ready to go. It appeared the trails were groomed the previous day and there was about a centimeter of fresh snow on top as well. Conditions in the track were a touch icy going uphill. And pulling the extra forty pounds or so behind me kept me out of the track all morning. The trails were pretty mellow and we were having a good time so when we completed the trails out of the lower lot I asked Mirabelle if she wanted to keep going and she said "yes!"





We headed up the connecting trail to the upper lot which was the only blue we would do for the day and then did all but one of the green trails out of the upper lot. At some point Mirabelle had fallen asleep which allowed us to get in about eight miles of skiing for the day. The conditions we found on the upper trails were equal if not better to the lower trails and we really had a good time. The upper trails offered more views including down to Lake Chelan and over to the Stuart Range.

We skied back down the steeper blue trail to the car and had lunch.







After lunch we donned snowshoes and walked away from the parking lot thirty meters or so to build a snowman. Mirabelle at first enjoyed snowshoes, but as the terrain became more uneven she had difficulty not stepping on her own feet and was starting to lose patience with them. The end result is her memory of snowshoeing is positive. After snowman construction Mirabelle did a lap of the parking lot on her skis before we opted to head back to town.





The next morning it was raining in town, but I had hopes of snow level occurring before the ski lot and I was right. This time we headed up to the upper lot to get on some blue runs. Snow was coming down steady, but not very heavy as we geared up and left the parking lot. Since we weren't sure on conditions we started out on the only green we had not yet done and if we found it to be too icy we would turn around and repeat some of the trails from the previous day. While the grooming done the previous afternoon had hardened up overnight, the fresh snow falling on top made conditions pretty good in most places with some more sun soaked parts being more icy than treed sections. This trail would have offered some nice views, but due to the snowfall, there was limited visibility. An interesting thing this trail did offer was what I'd call the magic white carpet. Some areas where there was no snow around except for the eight foot wide (16" deep) swath in which we were skiing on. The surrounding hillsides looked almost like summer. Turn the corner on the ridge, and you were back in winter wonderland complete with better trail conditions.





We arrived at the end of our green trail and opted to take blues back. These were pretty fun and not nearly as steep as the lot to lot trail and were not significantly more difficult than the green we had been on. I feel like they did offer more terrain variation though. Somewhere on our way back Mirabelle said she was done, so we headed back to the car sticking to blue runs and finishing our morning with about 3.5 miles under our feet. The snow was still coming down, but it was around the time we wanted to leave for home. We thought about staying another night, but opted not to and started heading down the mountain for home.



This was a really fun outing and reminded both of us why we like Nordic skiing so much. Mirabelle had a great time too! We had a lot of fun and so no one else on the trails while we were out. (We saw some people in the lot, and the groomer about to go to work, but we had the trails to ourselves.) It was really fun and a great location. We are thinking of making this into an annual trip.

Belton-in-Rutland - Wardley - Ridlington - Belton

Led by Barry. 9.5 miles. According to the garmin there's about 900 feet of ascent. Fine, warm sunny. With Maureen, Gordon, Eddie and me.



From the war memorial in Belton, near the church, we turned downhill past a green with a lime tree and a seat (too early for caffeine!), the Old Smithy and Rutland Manor, to a point where a footpath sign points to the left. We went through the gateway and immediately right, crossing the field to a stile in the far right hand corner. We followed the Rutland Round along the hedge and over a footbridge, then took the path along with the hedge on our right. We crossed a bridleway and continued to follow the waymarks as the path goes downhill, crosses another bridge, then uphill to a gate in the hedge and on to the old A47.

They shut the road through the woods





Seventy years ago.





Weather and rain have undone it again,





And now you would never know





There was once a road through the woods .(Kipling)

We walked left along this, then turned right to the present A47's junction towards Wardley.

From the old road to the new

We crossed the road and walked into Wardley village with its well-kept houses and small church.

St Botolph's church, Wardley

Time check?

No walk is complete without one of us going back for something!

We turned down the lane past Wardley House, opposite the church. There are terrific views of the countryside.

View from Wardley House

We walked along the track, following it round to the end of Wardley Wood. Here we turned left into the wood, but instead of walking straight though we diverted slightly to the left, in order to avoid some of the mud. We then followed the edge of the wood and headed up towards the A47 again.

Wardley Wood and beyond

We were not really where we wanted to be, so it was a case of heading downhill and meeting the path we had left earlier. Once we'd found it, it took us up to the Old Leicester Road going into Uppingham.



We had to walk for a few hundred yards along the A47 - the north side of the road has just enough verge to make this ok. We crossed back to walk along the old disused road, then crossed over to join the footpath which follows field boundaries more or less north. There are plenty of signs telling walkers where they shouldn't go, and by avoiding them we made our way towards Ridlington.

Rolling countryside

St Mary Magdalene and St Andrew's church, Ridlington

We walked round to the other side of the church, and along the road for a short distance before turning right along a marked footpath. Apologies for the garmin trace here on the map - I'd turned it off in the church and forgot to switch on immediately afterwards.



We found the footpath towards Leighfield. This was straightforward, with a little help from the 'Keep Out" Notices. It goes downhill from Ridlington, passing a flock of Jacob's sheep.







The path flattens out as it approaches the River Chater and the fishponds near Leigh Lodge.

Newly planted trees and the bridge over the Chater

Bridge and fishponds

A good spot for a second break before tackling the long uphill road to the left.









At the top we turned left, then took the path indicated on our right. This went downhill quite steeply towards Belton. The path joins the road to Lambley Lodge, which we followed for about half a mile, downhill then up into Belton.