(I'm going to make a video like this for the Cedar tree in my back yard too)
I'm was feeling pretty distressed when I learned that the beautiful cedar tree that has graced the view from our back window is about to be cut down. Also a bit distressed about a work situation. So at the spur of the moment I decided to do a short overnight backpack trip.
I did this trip two years ago at about this same time, and there was no rain in the forecast so I though I was good to go. I packed only my 6 ounce cuben fiber tarp for shelter from the condescension. I needed to save weight since I was packing two cameras and and external flash unit.
This is a destination that is not a secret but still, I don't care to advertise it at all. I could easily turn into the tourist nightmare that is Lena Lake.
My plan failed. It started to rain and I was not prepared for rain. I had to stop and repack everything that was on the outside of my pack to keep it dry. Then I hit snow. I was not afraid to camp in a little bit of snow, but then it kept raining and raining. The snow was getting deeper and I was getting tired. The though of hiking through the grey rain on the cold snow and then camping in the snow and the rain was demotivational. Trudging through snow with a 25 pound pack was demotivational too.
I turned around just half a mile from my goal and that is something that I rarely do. The rain kept coming down for a while after I turned back and I knew I had made the right choice. I stopped at a popular dispersed car camping spot and had a nice lunch and I had some fun flying my camera on the way out.
In spite of being turned back and having to do a day hike with a full overnight load, I enjoyed the hike. Mentally I felt much better. I'm perimenopausal and I have an emotionally liable personality at the best of times, so I'm really suffering lately. Hiking is the cure though.
Now the day after I almost managed to go all day without thinking about the beautiful tree in my back yard that is about to die. I was told that it will be cut down before they start construction on a title company building.
We are not looking at all forward to losing our open view to a giant commercial building, but at least it is going to be just one story tall and it should be a fairly quiet neighbor. At one point there was talk of building a fast food place with a drive through window back there and that really would have been hell for us.
9 miles with 1,000 feet elevation gain
Rhizomnium glabrescens, I think
Magical alder grove that I always fail to capture the way I want to
Practicing my off camera flash skills on my most willing subject
Lunch by Cedar Creek
Sage action shot. It is very hard to get action shots with my hiking camera
High water and fence post reflections on the Skokomish Valley road
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