Dry Bed Lakes

 

I missed hiking for a couple of weeks and I was starting to have trouble sleeping due to lake of exercise so I decided to combine hiking with fishing. 

Where I went is a secret. I thought I could pass some time by eating lunch while fishing but before I could even set my pole down I had my first rainbow trout on the line.  I got two more in the next hour or so and then they quit biting. 

I eat everything I catch. I think catch and release fishing is cruel. I also kill them as quickly as possible by breaking their necks before I even take the hook out. 

My budget is very tight now that I am back and my son has become disabled and has turned 18.

I was not actually at Dry Bed Lakes. 

5.5 miles with 200 feet elevation gain round trip

Jackpot Lake. First hike with Tato Dog

 

  

I'm back in Mason County and quite sad about it, but having a new dog forced me to get out and hike.  This dog is a handful!  I've been questioning if we can handle him.  

Today is his birthday and he turned one today.  He is a blue heeler and he is so full of piss and vinegar!  He is a velcro dog like none other I have experienced.  I have to be careful not to trip over him.  No fears at all that he will run off like the hound dog I gave a trail run in our home two weeks ago.  The hound was half lab so I thought he might not run off, but that was all he wanted to do, that and try to jump on my bed.  He was a just a nose with legs.  He was a sweet dog, but I knew he could never go hiking off leash.

Tato is better about staying off my bed but he jumps on me all the time!  I think he is slowly getting better about that too.

He does not like water, I hope he can get over that.  He won't be too happy hiking with me in a rain forest if he hates water.  

He does love to fetch and I almost got him to swim today.  I threw his stick into deeper and deeper water until he had to swim to get the stick.  Whenever he got deep enough to lose his footing he got scared and went back to shore.   But at one point I'm pretty sure I got him to swim just a little to get a stick.

So Tato's birthday present was having a long hike and learning how to swim.   We took a side trip to Lake Nawatzel for Tato's water fetching lessons I guess that added half a mile to the hike.

The Greed Diamond land around Lake Nawatzel is all permit only now.  All the logging land in Grays Harbor seemed to be by permit only.  Filthy greedy logging companies with the agricultural land tax break while managing their lands for recreation.  The property taxes that they don't pay get shifted to everyone else so we pay double now, with pay their property taxes and we pay to walk on their land.

Don't even get me started on how logging companies got land from fake homesteads and railroad deals. But at least a tree farm is not as filthy as a cow farm.

 There were so many gross cow farms in New Zealand, they smelled so bad and most of the beef was exported.  So the country was polluted and the citizens did not get much out of it.  All those nasty cow farms helped me to hate a tree farms a little bit less. 

About 7 miles with 300 feet elevation gain

Jackpot Lake

 

The weather forecast called for cold and rain.  It seemed a good day to stay close to home and hike a logging road.  It is easy to carry an umbrella on a logging road.

The walk to the lake was fast but very soggy.  I somehow managed to keep my feet dry on the walk in though.

At the lake I was confused.  Somehow I had forgotten what side of the trail the lake was on.  How could I forget something like that?  No problem though as the lake is visible from the trail.

So far I’ve had solitude on this hike every time except for one when I saw some motorcycles.

I took a long lunch break after pitching my tarp over a log.  I like to find logs to sit on that are surrounded by trees that I can hang my tarp from.  It can be a challenge to find a perfect spot to both sit and pitch a tarp.

The spot I found was not quit perfect, but I was able to use my umbrella to provide full protection from the rain under my log bench.  Without the umbrella my feet might not have been covered.

I put a little bit of Patches ashes in the lake even though Patches never came to this lake with me.  She loved lakes and she loved hiking in the Olympics so it seemed a good place to put a bit of her ashes.

I also hid a geocache near my lunch spot.  Since I am leaving soon I am trying to get rid of all my ammo cans by turning them into geocaches. I can also clear out odds and end in my house by turning them into geocache swag.

I will put all of my geocaches up for adoption after I leave.

I love sitting under a tarp in the rain while sipping hot coffee and watching the lake.  There were some ducks on the lake and an eagle in a tree watching them.

4 miles with no elevation gain

Jackpot Lake

A lonely hike very close to home just like the Governor ordered.

5 miles  100 feet elevation gain

Jackpot Lake

First hike with my new used D7000 camera.  I got it as part a  bundle with a lens I really wanted for the price of what I expected to pay for just the lens,  so it was basically a free camera.  It replaces my stolen D7100.  

There is too much dirt on the image sensor of my Ricoh GR II yet again and I don't feel like tearing it apart for a third time. Each time I tear it apart I risk breaking it and losing more screws. 

I feared that there would still be a lot of lay laying snow around and I did not particularly even want to hike, so I went to Jackpot Lake.  Once I got out there I felt good and was glad I made the effort.

I started this hike with Sage at about 10am. I parked at the end of Lake Nahwatzel Road.  As soon as I got started I realized that I still have not updated my gps with maps from the USA. So again I would be hiking with no map.

It did not take long at all until I realized I had made a very wrong turn.  I thought about just walking back to the car since I did not want to do the extra miles caused by having to backtrack.

But in the end I decided to keep going to the lake. I was having fun and it felt very peaceful out there and there was not much in the way of fun waiting for me at home.

I could have pitched my tarp at the lake but instead I just used my umbrella.  At the lake the weather was dry until I was all packed up, so I just pulled out my umbrella and finished my cup of tea under the shelter of my giant umbrella.

I really like having a coffee, then my noodles and then a hot cup of water or tea.   That second hot cuppa makes me feel nice and warm.

The hike out was straight forward with no wrong turns and just a little bit of route finding on my cell phone.  I had okay cell coverage the entire time so I was able to keep up with friends and family while I was out.

5 miles with maybe 100 feet elevation gain.  My GPS needed to have it's altimeter calibrated.