Sat Aug 31 2013 a tropical forest.

Sat Aug 31 2013
Spend the day in a tropical forest.

But how to take a good picture of a dark
covered forest, with only a few rays of sunshine.

In the afternoon, joined the fantastic ranger walk,
an old wood logger for 30 years, who starts his
retirement today after 17 years in in ranger service.
And  now, I knows everything about .... 

Sitka Spruce
 Light and very strong wood
 Used for airplanes in WW I
 Silver colored, fish net pattern bark
 This one 270 ft heigh, 550 years old

Douglas Fir
 Very strong wood
 Very tick bast, tick enough for a hiding place for bats

Western Hemlock
 The trash of the forest

Nurselogs
 Fallen big trees. offers minerals, moisture
 and warmth for new seedlings.

 But only a few survive when the roots reach soil.
 New trees seems to stand on stilts as the nurselogs
 moulders away.

Mosses or epiphytes, feeding only air and light.
living on bigleaf maples trees

Fri Aug 30 2013 West of Seattle

Fri Aug 30 2013

West of Seattle


A day of extremes.
Last night, rain and fog. The brewpub, so famous
for the view on the harbor, missed it. Could not see
even the other side of the street.
And then this, morning a blue sky.
So, could see the top of the mountains.
And, an hour later I was from sea level, above
5000 ft. And a small hike to the local peak of
5699 ft. on Hurricane ridge. Above the snow.
With nice views on Strait of Juan de Fuca,
even Canada is visible.
And yes, this is snow, on the left.

 Good view on mount Olympia (about 8000 ft).

And then an hour later, I was standing in a
tropical forest.

Looking at a waterfall.

Ended up in vampire land.
For the people who know 'twilight'
Story was set in 'Forks'. The city in the US with
the most rainfall and damp climat.
Who would not believe that vampires are around here.....

P1120952

Thu Aug 29 2013 Seattle

Thu Aug 29 2013


The  farmers market in Seattle

 Or need a fresh fish

The Ferry from Seattle to the Olympic Peninsula.

And yes, it was raining....

Another passenger

Wed Aug 28 2013 Seattle

Wed Aug 28 2013
Seattle

Also here, the gold rush, made the city, nearly
overnight. And after a fire destroyed to complete
business center at the waterfront, they rebuild
it, with the strange plan to bring the hole city
one floor higher. So after the fire, the businesses
got an entry at the 1st floor. But a second entry
was designed at the 2nd floor, which is nowadays in
use. The underground, is mainly used for the tours
and the ghost tours.

Up to the "Pyramid Ale House", next to the Safeco Field.
But with a Baseball game just starting, it was too
crowded to even think about tasting.
And yes, plenty of other brew stops.

The Needle.
Chihuly the artist and creator of gardens of glass.
If you have a chance to see this, go for it. Magnificent.
You can (or could) see them in "de Young" Museum
in San Francisco.

The garden is just under the Seattle space Needle.

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, has an interesting
visitor center, just around the corner.

Later in the day.
Went to the post office to pick up a letter
from general delivery. Found out that this
service is only from 10 AM to 3 PM. 10 past 3
does not work. So the next morning, 5 to 10,
does not work. Then, they could not find the
letter. Express over night is not general
delivery. Took minutes to find this out.

And another 'service' story. Where do you try
to change Canadian dollars to US dollars, in Seattle.
First try in a bank. No they could not do it. Try
another bank. Next bank. There is only one qualified
person for that, and see is sick today. Next bank,
the qualified person was available, but they charge
5 dollars, and you have to show 2 ID's to change cache...
At least they where that friendly to tell that next door
there was an exchange office, for free (?) and no
ID's needed.

But Pike's brewery downtown, nearly next to the
hotel (coincidence ?), solved all problems.
The triple monk's uncle is really, really good.

Tue Aug 27 2013 The iron goat

Tue Aug 27 2013
The iron goat

The most bizare hike. In the middle of the forest,
big concrete walls.

The North Santa Fe railroad build in this area
a 9 mile zig zag to climb the mountain.
But several landslides and snow avalanches
needed extra protections. The concrete walls
protected for avalanches, and extra wooden
roofs supported by the walls protected for winter snow.

In 1910, snowslides delayed two trains at the town of
Wellington. A vast section of snow on Windy Mountain
broke loose and crashed down, sweeping both trains of
the tracks into the Tye River below. Nearly one hundred
lives were lost. This was one of the worst railroad
disasters in the nations history and prompted more
improvements to avoid such tragedy striking again.

The origin

I will make my mark on the
face of this earth
and no man will ever
wipe it out !
James J. Hill, founder and
president of Great Northern Railway
the "Empire Builder".

Sorry, nature has taken over most of
the trails, and the several feet tick
concrete walls will be gone 'relatively' soon.

And this is the official "toilet".
Just the seat, no walls, no roof.
The impressive view let you watch
the trains passing by in  the valley.

PS: I know, all you readers are smart enough
to just blend out the ads. But if you click on
an interesting AD, this could give me an extra
beer at the end the of the year.
Just trying out if this system even works.
And forward the interesting posts to friends.

Mon Aug 26 2012 North Cascade scenic loop.

Mon Aug 26 2012

Continues the North Cascade scenic loop.

A region with plenty of apple orchards, and wineries.

And there are so many dams and lakes on the
powerful Columbia river.

Sun Aug 25 2013 North Cacades

Sun Aug 25 2013

The North Cascade national park is mainly
an area of 3 dams and reservoirs, close to each other.

Gorge dam and powerhouse 1961, 300 ft, 175 MW.
As pictured yesterday.


Diablo dam 1929, 389 ft, 159 MW.
You can drive over the dam, and this is the reservoir
with Bakers peak in the distance.
(Another park I missed, need to come back....)

Ross dam 1969, 540 ft, 450 MW

Washington pass and mountains
Above the 5400 ft.

Finally, made another good hike.
Up to Pyramid lake and mountain, about 11 km,
from 307 meter to 1,131 meter. Was planning to
go to the peak, but see now that I would have
needed several more hours....
Good that a turned around after 2 hours, especially
when the terrain become to steep to be save.

Ended in Wintrop.
And the local "old schoolhouse brewery". Wooh.
Amazing what they have, the smooth weath,
the 'Ruud Awakening' and 'Imperial IPA'  are a must.
This is the culprit of no blog update, last night.