Duckabush

Forest service logging the Lena Lake trail head and turning hikers away

view down the Duck

View up the Duck

7 miles 1,100 feet elevation gain. 

I got my bike back, but REI only had one pannier avaialable.  Maybe I will go on a hike and bike with just one pannier or maybe I will put a milk carton on my rach for now.  The matching pannier is coming in the mail but the one pannier I got broke before I even got to use it!  So when they get more in stock I'll have to exchange the one I already have.  What a PITA.. but at least REI has a good life-time return policy so I know I can take it back even after I have used it a bit.  I think  it is still usable even though part of it broke.

While I was at REI I got new snowbaskets for my trekking poles.  I was using an unmatched pair and one of the pair had a big crack in it and was not offering much support in the snow.  I'm still using an unmatched pair though, I'm not that vain.  I put the extra new matching basket in my pack.  Now if I lose a snow basket deep in the snow out in the middle of nowhere I will have a replacement in my pack.   My black diamond trekking poles are a bit heavy but they are sturdy.  Still I had to oil them up when they quit working.  My next set of trekking poles will only have outside locks.  These poles have both inside and outside locks and the inside locks have given me some trouble.

I had an ultra light pair of poles from Lekki but they cracked after just a few hikes, so I exchanged them.  But I've been keeping them in my closet and not using them.  Perhaps I should sell them.  I hike alone way out in the woods, I can't risk getting hurt due to a trekking pole failure.  But someone who weights less then me are does not hike as hard and hikes in a group could use these poles without fear.

I really want a pair of MSR lightening ascent 25" women's snowshoes.. but they are so expensive.  Maybe I could get them second hand.  I weigh too much for my plastic MSR snowshoes.

The woman who backed into me when I was trying to find REI last week has not called me back.  I may have to go through her insurance after all.

Strangely, after hiking two days in a row my knee feels better than usual!
7 miles 1,100 feet elevation gain

Last chanterelle of the year?

Taking a break

I found this recnetly.  It's the first psuedocyphelaria I have ever found.  I'm having a hard time seeing the  pseudocyphellae so the keys did not help me at all.  I had to look through the book until I found a matching picture.  Even the soralia  look funny, they could almost be confused for mini apothecias.

One beautiful lichen, it is a boring light grey when dry

Pretty moss