Walks with Moss: Grisdale Hill from the 23 line overlook

Crabapples rotting on the long abandoned tree

Click to see the car on the High Steel Bridge

Salal left behind by brushpickers. I hope it does not go to waste.

Rainbow from the Summit of Grisdale Hill

Dog in Lake West near camp 3

Moonscapes

Little White Mushrooms, not to be confused with little brown mushrooms.

Lake West with South Mountain reflections

My first hike with my new dog, she is a Springer Spaniel and that is a breed that is bred to do a lot of walking and running. I started my hike in the rain and cussing out my husband because I could not hike in the sun yesterday. But after I reached the summit the rain stopped and a nice rainbow or two came out. The on top must be seen to be believed. Every time I make this hike, I am once again surprised at the view.

I found out that some of the fruit trees on the banks of Lake West are crabapples. Logging camp #3 was on the banks of lake west for 50 or so years.

The nice woods around Lake West are now tagged for “selective harvest”. That sounds better then a clear cut but it is still disappointing.

We are out of groceries but the local discount store is selling stale power bars five for a dollar so I packed 5 power bars for lunch. I forgot to pack dogfood so the dog got a third of my lunch.

Doggie enjoyed her hike and of course had no trouble keeping up. She walked about 200 feet ahead of me for the entire trek. She made several wrong turns but she checked to see where I was often enough to realize when she made a wrong turn without me needing to call her. She did not hesitate at all to go for a quick swim in Lake West.

I had company on the summit for the first time ever but they did not stay long, so the company was pleasant enough. Some people where doing target practice before Lake West but they were very polite and stopped shooting as I passed by. They were shooting pumpkins. One of them looked like it would have made a very nice pie, it had beautiful thick flesh.

A lot of people were out enjoying the national forest today, some of them were getting Christmas trees on Simpson property, they were probably thinking they were in the national forest. Gun fire could be heard echoing in every valley and I saw a frowning bow hunter on the forest service 23 road.

I saw a few soggy chanterelles and some puffballs but no other edible mushrooms. The woods on top of Grisdale Hill look like an ideal place to find chantereles. Around here it is best to hunt for them in second growth douglas-fir forests with mostly moss for groundcover.

I am home now and I am very tired, I have the chills and I have a sore throat. But I can not seem to sleep. I have my usual December fever or cold or sinus infection or what ever.

My house was in pretty good shape when I got home, it only needed to be picked up a bit so I guess the kids behaved. My husband went grocery shopping and is now cooking dinner. I think this is the first time he has done a real shopping trip since before I broke my wrist. He must have finally gotten hungry. After I had been home for ½ hour he asked how the dog worked out on the hike but has not asked how my hike went. I guess he is distracted by something on Usenet. He is a Usenet addict.

10.7 miles with 900 feet elevation gain
140 miles on my hiking shoes

GPS also says
Total Ascent 1289
Total Descent 1552
Weather changes make these numbers different.

Starting Coordinates
N 47*20.430
W 123*17.488

Other times I have blogged Grisdale Hill

Friday, April 25, 2008

Sunday, January 20, 2008