"Trailhead" you can see the fog up higher.
A foggy roadwalk
Other times I have blogged South Mountain (click on them to see the great views)
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
To get to South Mountain you take the Shelton-Matlock exit off of highway 101 and head for Matlock. Go several miles until you pass Mill five then go about ½ mile until you see a large dirt road to the left take it and then take the first left. This is the 800 line it was a railroad line once and this part of the Olympics have been absolutely savaged by Simpson Timber Company. It is also owned by the timber company.
Wasted Wood
It always makes me sad to see all the destruction but I tried to remind myself that deer like clearings so maybe there are more deer and cougar here where the forest was. Then I rounded the corner to see three pick up truck loads full of deer hunters At least they were kind enough to yield to me as I roared off to my destination at 45MPH down the dirt road. Some hunters like to drive slowly in hopes of finding an animal to kill and they don’t like to let other people pass them by and have a chance of getting to the animals first.
A small East summit tower
Oh my what a rainy day, my Seattle Sombrero got a good test. When I put on my rainpants I was pleasantly surprised to find that my waist has shrunk a bit since the last time I wore them. Going up South Mountain for the view seemed pointless so instead I went up it for the thrill of seeing the East Summit (or was it just the middle summit?) for the first time. South Mountain is close to home and the days are getting shorter. I started my trek at about 10:30 and made it up to the top sometime around 1:00. The shed on the East summit has a camera pointed at the door. I wish I could have gone in the shed it was so wet and cold up there. Too wet and cold to pause long enough to eat my lunch. I made some funny faces at the camera by the door and wondered if there was a camera on the tower too. I was so cold that when I got back down to the saddle I decided to go up the saddle to the West summit instead of going down. The exertion of going up again would warm me up some.
East summit shack camera
East summit shack
bottom of the East Summit tower
Top of East Summit Towers
I think the Shelton Police use this repeater. I'll have to bring my scanner with RF capture technology up here one day.
There was a truck and horse-like trailer parked at the top of the West summit. That surprised me since the gate below was locked I did not expect anyone to be up working on the tower. The workman was nice but I did not stay for long before I headed back down. I mentioned the East summit shack camera to him and he said it could see all the way to the West summit. So there is a camera on the tower then. No way that camera could see to the other summit in today’s fog though. I am glad that I always suspected a camera was up there and took measure to hide myself in the woods when answering the call of nature.
Complete track log
I finally headed down for real at about 2pm. I had 4 miles to hike and two hours until sundown. No problem but I did want to make it home before darkness fell because the windshield wipers on my Jeep are broken and the glare of on coming headlights on the raindrops on the windshield after dark blinds me. I heard a lot of gunshots as I was headed down and I hoped that no one was shooting up my Jeep. Last winter someone shot a tree down just a few feet from my Jeep so I had good reason to worry.
I made it home just before dark settled in. I sat in the driveway for a minute or two wondering if I really wanted to go inside and face my destroyed house. My kids destroy the house when I go hiking and my husband does nothing. The cold and the desire to blog about my hike made me go inside. I was surprised to see the house was not trashed. My youngest is in bed sick and my oldest has been off trading pokemon on the GTS at the local internet café most of the day. She now owns a shiny level 100 Galade with a power anklet.
Before hiking
After hiking
With the elevation gain this hike took a bit more out of me then last weeks longer hike but I’m still flying from hikers high at the moment. I know I will be sore in the morning though. My hiking gear was so wet and muddy that I have put most of it in the washing machine.
My husband informed that while I was gone hike people were trampling each other to death in Wal-Marts all across the country. Maybe the "black" in black friday does not just stand for profit margins. This year Bush signed and order making the day after Thanksgiving "Native American Heritage Day" I'm sure that the irony of honoring Native American Heritage on black friday is not lost on most of us with Indian roots.
I'm only hypomanic today and I was not very manic yesterday (I did go for a 3 miles hike around town to temper it) so maybe I will start coming down a bit now. I'm going to be tired and sore tomorrow so any mania I do experience tomorrow will be greatly subdued. Paranoia and hallucinations seem to be taking the place of my mania but I won't go into the details here. I won't go back up camera infested South Mountian until my headspace changes some. I kept my right wrist elevated above my heart for the entire hike and I felt very little wrist pain but I am looking forward to when I can get more use out of my right hand. I have started physical therapy to that end.
9.3 miles
2400 elevation gain plus some ups and downs
128 miles on my soaking wet hiking shoes now
Profile zoomed in on the two summits clearly shows that the west summit (on the right) is higher.
EntireElevation profile log
Elevation profile from the "trailhead" to the East Summit
Other times I have blogged South Mountain (click on them to see the great views)
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
