Walks with Moss: January 2018

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Lunch Lake with two external flash units

I left the house with two routes in mind, a new high route and and old low route. I wanted to try a new route. I say route because these are not hikes down trails or roads, they are planned routes that may follow roads or trails or may just go right through the brush.

When I arrived at the start about 2.5 hours drive from home, I found that the high route was snowed in. I would have to do the low route. I had plans to make the low route more fun though. I packed in two flash units and a new tripod to use with my Ricoh GRII camera.

So in spite of following a route that is really beginning to bore me I had some fun. I also took a different route out just to mix things up.

Usnea longissima lichen

Platismatia herrei lichen was my lunch companion today

Add caption

Hydnum umbilicatum

Finally captured this rock in a way that makes me happy

I made this place look much, much nicer than it actually is.

8 miles

My Yongnuo flash with a Yongnuo radio trigger mounted on my Ricoh GRII. The Yognuo flash is Nikon compatible. The flash will only work as a manual flash on my Rocoh (no TTL) and that is all I really need. I had no idea that this would even work, but on a lark, I decided to try it and yep, this camera triggers the flash just fine.

I used another identical Yongnuo flash mounted on a very small Manfrotto tripod with another identical radio trigger. This flash is so heavy that I worry it would damage the hot shoe on my little camera if I carried it by the camera, so I carry it by the flash.

I still don't own a full frame camera of any type and I'm not sure that I want one, they are so heavy and so expensive and have less reach.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Lower Washington Road Walk and a secret pond.

Flying Camera panorama

Since my favorite winter hiking place is now open to vehicle traffic, I'm looking elsewhere to have fun.

Noticed a road off the Mount Ellinor road that I had never seen before. Decided to see if that road was closed and hike it if it was closed. But it was open, so I went for plan "B", hike the road below Mount Washington. Ran into snow about half a mile before my turn, so backed all the way back down to the Lower Ellinor trail head. (There are two new pokestops at the trail head!) I was unhappy, the weather was foggy and wet and I did not know where to hike.

Staircase is out of the question with a dog. The Dry Creek trail is too damp and dark this time of year. The road above the gate on Elk Creek is really starting to bore me. I'm bored with Mount Rose and all of the crowds that it now draws. What to do?

When I got back down to the road I had hoped to hike, I was out of the fog and my mood lifted. Sure the road was open, but I was going to hike it anyway. That and the lifting of the fog really cheered me up.

I was carrying a lot of weight in my pack with my flying camera and an extra lens and an external flash for my earthbound camera. I lightened my load a bit by giving Sage one of her baggies of dog food and I dumped out my water. I would not need water from home for this hike.

The hike was quite fun, but I had left my GPS behind in my car after turning on the track log. I had cell service so I navigated by google earth topo and satellite maps. On the satellite map I noticed what looked like a pond and decided I would fly my camera up there on the way back to see if there was a pond. I did not feel like climbing the steep cliff to get there.

On the way in I also passed a parked truck, a real nice truck for a brush picker. I sure wish I had a nice truck.

I opted to have lunch in a flat spot that I noticed below the road. I think the spot was created when the earth slumped a bit. I did not want to be right on the road in case trucks drove by. During lunch I cast my new spell in Draconius Go "Field of Abundance" with that spell I can spin 5-8 pillars all through my lunch break without having to move. No need to enchant a pillar for eggs anymore.

I got chilly at lunch time but soon warmed right up thanks to having hot lunch and hot coffee.
After lunch I packed up and headed out with my fresh batch of eggs all in incubators. When I got back to the suspected pond area it was raining and I could not fly my camera so I climbed up the short cliff leaving Sage behind. Sage was not happy.

I discovered a cute little seasonal pond. I wished I had stopped for my lunch there instead. I did not stay long since Sage was still on the road below howling and barking in her loneliness. When I climbed back down I found a brush pickers coat and took it with me. The rain of course stopped by the time I got down, so I was able to fly my camera up there after all and this is what it saw:

Secret pond

On the way out I left the brush picker coat on the brush pickers truck. I later saw him coming down from the woods . I told him about the coat but was not sure if he understood me.

I flew my camera from the road for a bit and got some interesting foggy views before it started to rain really hard.

For the rest of the hike out the rain began lashing down and I hiked out as fast as I could so I could stay warm. I had extra clothes to wear, but I preferred to hike fast to stay warm.

I think my hike was 8 miles round trip with about 600 feet elevation gain.

Track log drawn after the hike

A good Shake

Lunch cooking

Secret Pond

Dog tired on a bed of Niphotrichum moss

Lake Cushman

Hot coffee

Lunch Spot

Monday, January 15, 2018

Rock Peak Area

Finally got to explore this area. Went in Phil's car because my car is too low clearance. I am shopping for good reliable 4x4 small pick up truck. The ride up was a bit hair raising and my neck still hurts today from being too tense. The car bottomed out quite a few times.

We found an amazing view and the lower Rock Peak after a short road walk and a very short brush crash. Launched my flying camera up there for a better view. Wish I had flow it farther.

On the way back down we found a plate movement monitoring station at another amazing view point. Too bad it was getting dark by then and my pictures are not good. I want to go back up there but not in anything low clearance.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Hiking Statistics 2017

Not my highest year in a while but still within my range. I did count some of my Seattle miles since I do spend the entire day walking when I go to Seattle. I've only done one hike so far this year.

I keep getting assignments or little jobs that only take an hour to do but take up my entire day by forcing me to stay home. I need to get back on the ball. Set a day that I always hike and stick to it come rain or come shine.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

First "hike" of the new year Dosewallips state park

Decided to do something different and spend the day exploring Dosewallips State park. Took the bus and got off at the Brinnon Store. Had a fun day exporing the area, time went by fast and before I knew it five hours had gone by and it was time to take the bus back home.