Category: North America

  • Transcontinental Road Trip

    On April 2, 2024, Pin and I embarked on a seven week long road trip circling the USA from south to north, covering over 9,000 miles.

    I wouldn’t attempt this without the assistance of Tesla’s Full Self Driving beta software. It makes the long freeway stretches relaxing and more fun. I’ll try to enter installments as we go along on the trip.

    Our Tesla Model Y LR 2023

    Last summer, we drove 6,000 miles in the Western USA using Autopilot. It was helpful, but not close to perfect. This summer, we’ll be using the new neural network-based FSD 12.3.2.1 initially. It is much better, and can drive long stretches by itself with no intervention. I’ve been testing it for a few days, and it does quite well even on our windy rural roads.

    Our grand expedition begins with a one day drive 700 miles from Amboy, Washington to Palo Alto, California.

    More to come as we go along!

    worth a visit

    Redding, California

    critters

  • Grand Canyon rafting May 2018

    South Kaibab trail, Grand Canyon

    I stood on the south rim of the Grand Canyon several years ago, and marveled at its size, complexity and beauty. I decided to see it closer by rafting down the whole length of the canyon, 224 miles. The canyon is so popular now that the National Park Service limits the number of rafters allowed so as to preserve the natural beauty. You need to plan a year ahead, and go with one of the commercial outfitters who are authorized to make this trip. I choose one of the best, Canyon Explorations. Their ‘hikers special’ trip appealed to my desire to explore the many side canyons only accessible to rafters.

    To get there, we had to cross the Colorado River at one of the few bridges.

    Navajo Bridge 1928

    Looking upstream from Navajo Bridge. The Colorado River was a lovely shade of clear green.

    With our gear packed up in watertight bags, our six rafts were ready to launch.

    This is not intended as a guide to the river, and the pictures are not in order. My purpose is to simply give a feeling for the incredible sights and variety.

    I picked this time of year because the weather is cooler. In the summer, the canyon bottom swelters, often above 100°F. The weather was as expected, very pleasant temperatures. The humidity is extremely low, 10% or less being common, so everything, including your skin, dries out quickly . The water is always cold, as it comes out of the Glen Canyon Dam at about 52°F.

    We camped on sandy areas next to the river, sometimes putting up our tents, other times sleeping under the stars. Every day, we’d pull in to a riverside camping area, and the whole group would help unload the gear and food before choosing a place to sleep. The rafting staff provided us with delicious, healthy meals. The sun was our clock: to bed at dusk, up at first light (about 5am), breakfast, pack up and head on down the river.

    The rock layers are colorful, enormous and quite varied.

    Periodically we would stop and hike into side canyons, sometimes climbing very high above the river.

    Food was stored in these enclosures high above the river by local Indians.

    View from the Granaries looking down the Colorado River.

    We stopped to enjoy the warmer, colorful waters of the Little Colorado River

    Another pretty outdoor sleeping spot. It never rained during our trip, only spitting on us briefly once, so you could safely sleep outside without a tent. There were few bothersome bugs, although sometimes big red harvester ants would resent you camping on one of their trails. In that case, a tent would keep you clear of them.

    Local Indians chiseled petroglyph drawings into the rocks

    Stalactites made of salt

    Intrusive volcanic rock that cooled into black basalt rock. Each day, most of us waded into the river and rinsed off ourselves and our clothes. In the extremely low humidity, our clothes dried very quickly. You could do your laundry at night, hang it on the mesquite bushes, and it would be dry by morning.

    Amazing side canyons to hike in

    A Big Horn sheep

    On the way to Thunder Creek falls

    One of my favorite waterfalls anywhere…

    Deer Creek falls

    Just climb up and over this rock

    Sam, our trip leader, shows how to squeeze up through a small opening

    Scouting Lava Falls, difficulty 10 of 10

    LAVA FALLS FLIP from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Sam and Josh perform in the Grand Canyon from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Diamond Peak, as we near the end of the trip. And what a trip it was!

    It is simply impossible to convey how dramatic and unusual such a journey through the Grand Canyon is. It has to be seen to be believed. I hope this has given you at least a taste of the grandeur.

  • Alaska August 2017

    Next adventure: Alaska. Many of our family (most?) have been here before, but some of you may not, so I’ll put in lots of detail for you. This is a very long posting.

    Approaching Anchorage, AL at 11pm, it is still twilight. A number of glaciers stand out below us.

    Alaska is BIG!

    (noted later: my Alaska adventure included many miles by trail, 230 miles by boat, 300+ miles by plane, 850 miles by train, and 2600+ miles by car)

    I kept busy! Alaska, being so big, was a challenge. I regard this as just a survey trip. I only saw a taste of Alaska. Here are a few facts to try to put it into perspective:

    Alaska is more than 9 times as large as the State of Washington. It is 2 ½ times as big as Texas, the runner-up. Secretary Seward negotiated a price of $7.2 million dollars for it all. (After traveling extensively around Alaska, some was possibly overpaid for, as it is essentially useless other than for wildlife; while other areas were a huge bargain, as was the overall deal)

    5% of the area of Alaska is covered by glaciers. How much is that? Well, it’s bigger than 10 of the smaller USA states. It’s A LOT! You see them everywhere around you. Lest you think this disproves climate change, they are all shrinking, rather rapidly.

    Here are some local concerns from this morning’s Alaska Dispatch News:

    How to view photo collages as a slide show

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    That is a Canada lynx at Denali Park (not my picture). Denali is the first upcoming stop on my agenda.

    My trusty mountain boots seem to have worn out during this past year of intense hiking, and Mount Stuart was the last straw. I’m picking up a new pair at REI this morning. You must have well-fitting boots to hike 10-20 miles or more a day in rough terrain, and these do the job.

    While at REI, I buy a can of bear spray. Alaskan bears have been known to charge hikers, especially mother bears who might feel their cubs in danger, and it is considered prudent to carry bear spray just in case.

    The State of Alaska does not want fear of this statistically unlikely risk to deter tourism, and says “It is 50 times more likely to die on Alaska’s highways than by a bear attack.” I didn’t know driving in Alaska was that hazardous! 😯😲😱😂

    (later note: after driving 2600 sometimes hair-raising miles, now I understand. But though I saw a moose ahead of me on my last day, I managed to not hit any wildlife)

    Heading off to Denali Park by train. Two rainy days in Anchorage in August! I hope it clears so I can see the highest mouintain in the USA in the next few days.


    The Alaska Railway, Seward to Fairbanks. Completed 1923.

    The Nenana River carries tons of ‘glacial till’ (ground up grey rock flour). It’s too muddy for fish!

    Near Denali Park entrance

    Kantishna is where I will be spending the next 3 days. It is about 15 miles across to the summit of Denali.

    Denali, 20, 322 feet, the highest mountain in North America. Taken this morning on our way out. Denali is spectacular, amazing.

    I stayed at Camp Denali, 90 miles deep in the park. Denali is run differently than most national parks, in that access by car is very limited. Unless you are hiking and camping with permits, you must either just take bus rides through the park, or stay in one of a few lodges in Kantishna. Camp Denali is what is often called an ‘ecoresort’, and the only one that is in view of Denali.

    On the 90 mile drive in (rather slow, on the gravel access road) we saw lots of game: a dozen caribou, two herds of 7 Dall sheep, a mother bear and two 18 month old cubs browsing, another single bear browsing on berries very near where we were to stop for lunch (we didn’t), and many snowshoe hares.

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    Some of the wildlife I saw. These are not my pictures, as I was not carrying a long telephoto lens. They are what I was watching through my binoculars.

    You begin the drive through mixed permafrost terrain, which because it stays permanently frozen down deep, does not allow deep tree roots. Only spindly ‘black spruce’ can grow here. In nearby non-permafrost soil, white spruce can grow, and even they tend to be tall and skinny compared with those growing in less harsh winter conditions.

    The views are vast, with dramatic hills and mountains, viewed across big braided glacial river valleys. Your jaw drops and stays down. I hope my collection of pictured brings this to you a bit.

     

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    From the Kantishna viewpoint, Denali rises from 2,000 feet to over 20,000 feet, an astonishing ‘topographic prominence’, the highest such in the world.

    Our dining room. This charming family-owned and run resort is historic, having been established here in 1952.

    I was assigned cabin ’40° below zero’. Cozy, with a wood stove, propane lamps, and a view of Denali out the window (when it wasn’t buried in clouds, about half the time).

    On the first morning, the clouds parted and Denali was revealed. This is true only 30% of the time. One of the risks of going to Denali is that it may be cloudy for a week and you will not see the mountain at all–this happened to some friends.

    I immediately asked to go on a flight around the mountain given the patch of good weather that might not recur. My good luck was that one seat was available! We took off from a gravel airstrip just 5 miles from Camp Denali in a single engine plane holding five passengers and the pilot. I sat in the co-pilot’s position, which offered great views.

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    Driving along the road around the 80 mile mark on the way back from our second day hike, a young red fox darted out on the road chasing a snowshoe hare. He gave up, and proceeded to lead us up the road for some distance before deciding to just veer off the road.

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    The bears are gorging themselves on oval red soapberries (tried them, kind of bitter but edible) and wild blueberries (quite good, we had them in pies at Camp Denali, and could gather them around our cabins).

    alaska from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    A good pair of binoculars is essential–I took my 10×42 version. Many of the wildlife views are distant, and the park likes to keep it that way so the animals are not changed by our presence. Visitors are told to not make noise when watching. It is not safe to be too close to grizzlies, particularly mothers with cubs, so we also were very cautious about approaching them.

    It really is hard to exaggerate how impressive the park is. This is one of the most dramatic natural landscapes I have ever been in.

    I like the sentiment, and intend to follow its advice.

     

    Back in Anchorage by train, I’m embarking on two day trips out on the fjords south and east of Anchorage, reports to follow.

    My first day trip was by train from Anchorage to Whittier, then by fast boat 140 miles around in the nearby fiords of Prince William Sound.

    The Turnabout Arm of Cook Inlet has big tidal swings.

    Lots of glaciers along the way.

    Whittier is a small seaport town located below a dramatic glacier-smoothed granite hillside.

    Yes, that is a cap of snow up there!

    The highlight of the cruise was pulling in close to Surprise Glacier, with lots of glacial ice floating in the bay. Beautiful blue ice. While there are many glaciers still in Alaska, not so many make it to the sea these days. They are mesmerizing.

    Today, I traveled by train from Anchorage to Seward, the seaport beginning point of the Alaska Railroad. There, I boarded “The Spirit of Adventure” to explore the Kenai Fjords National Park.

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    Along the way, we saw 3 bald eagles, including one very close view. What a magnificent bird! We also saw many sea otters and several humpback whales feeding. Quite a dramatic trip. I preferred it to the Prince William cruise.

    The ultimate destination was the terminus of the Holman Glacier where it calves ice into the ocean.

    A seaworthy craft for our venture out into the open ocean on the way.

    Holman Glacier meets the fjord

    Now, onward. Trains, planes and automobiles! This time, planes.

    My destination is Brooks Camp, northwest of Kodiak, Alaska, in the Katmai National Park and Preserve. To get there requires two flights: one, a dual engine prop plane from Anchorage to King Salmon, about 1 ½ hours, and then a float plane to Brooks, another 20 minutes. Getting out there toward the Aleutian Islands!

    Heading west

    Time for a smaller plane.

    There, at last! Walk off on the beach at Brooks Camp. First sight: two brown bears eating salmon out on a sand spit to the right.

    Brooks Camp was originally the first fishing camp in this area. Later, a lodge was built, and the area became a National Wildlife Refuge, with a focus on bears fishing for the salmon that run up the Brooks River to spawn.

    And come they do! July is peak spawning time, but this year was a record spawn, and in August, the stream was thick with salmon, and bears were still at Brooks Falls tanking up on salmon calories to tide them through the long winter dormancy.

    Brooks Camp is a bit amazing. It is as if you are living inside the bear cage, but the cage is as big as Alaska and there are no bars (that don’t sell whisky). The bears have the right of way, and you must work around them, and leave them free to live as they always have. I like it.

    Bear 1 from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Bear eating salmon from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Young bears at play from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

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    I met a couple of pro photographers along the way, and they agreed to share this great photo of a mother brown bear and her 3 cubs. Thanks to Bob and Mary Ann Bjornsen

    Living with the bears was fun, a totally new experience. I’m glad I made the effort to visit Brooks Camp. I flew back to Anchorage on a drizzly Sunday in the co-pilot’s seat of a Piper Navajo twin prop plane, talking aviation with the 747 captain who pilots these local flights when he has time. Anchorage is having a rainy August. Don’t forget your rain gear top and bottom if you come up north.

    Next up: two weeks exploring with a 4WD Jeep Cherokee around Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, at 13.2 million acres it is America’s largest National Park. How big is that? Bigger than 9 of the states in the USA, and 1/3 larger than Switzerland. That should keep me busy!

    Big mountains lie ahead! Mount Sanford, 16,237 feet.

    First, I drove a little over 300 miles from Anchorage to McCarthy, the end of the road. It is as deep in the big park as you can get by car. It runs along the former railroad grade of the railroad built in 1910 to haul the copper out from the Kennecott copper mine.

    Quite a bridge!

    If you drive under the bridge, and can do a ‘mantle’ move up onto the abutment, you can take a hair-raising walk on this catwalk above the gorge.

    This big link joins the center span together

    At road’s end, you must walk across a pedestrian footbridge and catch a shuttle for the 5 mile trip up to the Kennecott Copper Mine site. In 20 years, more than $1 billion dollars (current value) of copper was mined, crushed, and separated for shipment by rail.

    The burlap sacks are processed copper ore on its way to the coast at Cordova, thence by ship to the smelter in Tacoma, Washington. Due to a historical typo error, the mine is spelled with an ‘e’ in the middle rather than an ‘i’

    It is amazing that this 14 story high processing building on the hill still stands. This site is a National Historic Landmark.

     

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    And just up the valley is Mount Blackburn (16,390 feet), the fifth highest mountain in the USA, and the highest volcano in the USA. From it flows the Kennicott Glacier. What appears to be gravel moraine here is actually glacial ice covered with a thin layer of glacial rock. It is HUGE! Fully 25% of the Park is covered with glacial ice!

    The tributary Root Glacier is offers some great ice climbing practice areas, so I decided to do my first ice climbing.
    First you must venture out on the ‘gravel’ edge, which is frozen hard, and is really just ice with a thin crust of gravel. Crampons (spikes strapped to your boots) are essential.

    Really glacier with a crust of rock.

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    Just climb up that vertical ice and snow wall and over the top.

     

    Amusing demonstration by Cody of one way to climb up and over an overhang using a technique known as ‘figure four’

    Ice climbing figure four move from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    My last adventure in McCarthy was a flight around the mountains and glaciers of the area. Here is a collage of the spectacular ice formations, including ice falls (essentially, ice waterfalls).

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    This is an unusual feature only seen in Alaska: a ‘rock glacier’. It is 90% rock, 10% ice underneath, pouring down the hill. There are a few of these.

    And this is where the Kennicott glacier is joined by the smaller Root glacier. The dark areas are moraine gravel, and when in the middle where glaciers have combined, they are called ‘median moraines’.

    My glacier/ice climbing adventure was fun and unusual. Ice climbing uses more upper body than rock climbing, so you best be in top condition before doing a long such climb.

    There are some very small bugs in many parts of the world that are often called ‘midges’. They are not a mosquito, but the females want a blood meal from you. In Washington, we call them ‘no-see-ums’. In New Zealand, they are called ‘sandflies’.

    Their bite itches, and can get infected. They also can transmit some diseases, so it’s best to defend yourself. As repellants don’t work, covering up with a head net and gloves works best. Some midges are so tiny that they can go through ordinary window screens.

    If you don’t take a $10 headnet with you when setting out to hike, you may regret it.

    Midges from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Next, I headed up Nabesna Road at the northern edge of the park:


    White Mountain

    Snowshoe Hare from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Snowshoe hare. This hare turns pure white in the winter to hide in the snow.

    I made two hikes here, but then rain settled in, so I pointed my Jeep north to Fairbanks and beyond. Just 140 miles north of Fairbanks lies the fabled Yukon River and only 60 miles further, the Arctic Circle. I wanted to see this unusual area.

    My first time north of the Arctic Circle (we were close in Norway).

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    I drove south from Fairbanks back to Denali Park, so I could explore some of the first 15 miles in from the entrance. I got lucky, and the weather was fair, with puffy cumulus clouds, though a chilly 41°F, as even in late August, you can feel the approach of winter. Denali Park will close till next summer in just 2 weeks. My first stop was to see the sled dogs that are used in the winter to patrol the snowed-in park:

    Sled dogs are the dog equivalent of Olympic athletes, bred for strength, endurance, energy and enthusiasm.

    The upcurled bushy tail is important, as it protects the dog’s nose and breathing when curled up in the snow at night.

    Two Russian visitors enjoy petting one of the lead sled dogs.

    On the drive into the park, the clear skies allowed this nice glimpse of Denali, almost 80 miles away.

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    I drove in as far as you are allowed to take your own car (15 miles of the 90 mile road), and hiked up the ‘Savage Alpine Trail’.

    High up, I saw four Dall sheep across the valley. Magnificent!

    Dall sheep resting in Denali Park, Alaska from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    This is the closest I came to Dall Sheep. Their preservation was the motivation for seeking park protection for this area.

    Waking up on a cloudy morning, I decided to drive on down to Anchorage, and then beyond to the Kenai Peninsula. I arrived in time to hike up the Flat Top Mountain trail (in the rain). What a rainy August! Ketchikan, AK has had the rainiest summer on record.

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    Double rainbow over Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet near Anchorage, AK

    Much of Alaska is accessible only by airplane. This is a program to help villagers ship food and supplies.

    The further out you go in Alaska, the more everything costs, due to transportation costs and a short summer season.

    Next, out to the Kenai Peninsula. Ugh, too much rain!

    The view from this spot IF it wasn’t raining. Best I can do is roadside sign picture.

    This is only 8 years ago!

    Typical ‘taiga’: from Russian. Also known as boreal forest or snow forest. A biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces and larches. The taiga is the world’s largest biome apart from the oceans.

    Lots of spindly black spruce, which can grow above permafrost.

    The Homer, Alaska pier

    I have loved libraries since childhood, and often stop there. Great place to recharge your electronics also.

    I LOVE the Homer library. An architectural gem, very inviting yet homey.

    Relax and read in the ‘living room’ by a fire

    A local library patron who allowed a portrait.

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    There is quite a good ski area near Anchorage. Looks pretty black diamond to me, which my pilot friend Rob confirms.

    My last hike is to Crow Pass. 7 miles RT, 2100 feet of elevation, so the equivalent of a little over 13 miles. 41°F when I set out, and overcast. A very pretty hike among the glaciers of Alaska, and the vast big views. I saw 17 mountain goats along the way, as well as one marmot. On the top of the pass, the wind must have been at least 40 mph, and the wind chill about 20°F. So on the way back, in the interest of survival, I put on all layers, and covered my face to prevent frostbite. This is on September 4th!

     
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    How to sum up Alaska? Wow! Big! Huge! Breath-taking vistas. Vast areas of taiga, so driving around can take days. Lots of wildlife left to be natural. Glaciers, glaciers, glaciers! Harsh weather–a friend who lived and worked many years in Alaska says that the effects of climate change are very apparent here: more severe weather, warmer, colder, wetter.

    I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to visit such a spectacular natural area. It really is one of the top areas in the whole world.

  • Washington State July 2017

    I was born in Aberdeen, on the central Pacific coast of the State of Washington. When I was 2 years old, my family moved to Amboy because my father was part of a venture that had won a contract to prepare a new railroad grade to a plywood mill. My parents bought 17 acres that includes a section of Cedar Creek, and came with a 1930s little house with no indoor plumbing. After renovations, that became my childhood home.

    Here, though still in diapers, I’m helping dig a ditch for the new sewer line. We all worked. More than 65 years later, that well-designed and built septic system still does the job.

    As I have two brothers living there, I decided to make Amboy my home base and legal residence after leaving Hawai’i. This is an area of rolling hills covered by Douglas Fir forests, with dramatic snowy volcanic mountains nearby.

    This pond near Cedar Creek has been used to raise and release salmon smolts to help restore salmon spawning.

    Cedar Creek where it runs through our family land.

    Though I have been concentrating on international travel and trekking these past two years, there is much good hiking in Washington, so I scheduled in two months to visit family and walk trails that I missed as a teenager.

    Mount St. Helens, whose explosive eruption in 1980 was the most destructive and expensive volcanic disaster in the history of America. The top dome and north side were blown away, killing 57 people and causing more than a billion dollars in damage, leaving this broad, jagged top.


    Photo by Les Nugent

    In 1970, I climbed to the top of the pre-eruption mountain. Spirit Lake is below my foot, and Mount Rainier in the background. The smooth round profile of the mountain often was compared by Japanese visitors to Mount Fuji in Japan.

    The mountain viewed from Spirit Lake before the eruption.

    My first hike was in the area a bit south and east of Mount St. Helens, near Mount Adams, on the Indian Heaven to Lake Wapiki trail. This is described as “One of the best hikes in the Indian Heaven Wilderness: dramatic views of Mount Adams and distant views of Mount Rainier, Goat Rocks and Mount St. Helens.”

    Indian Heaven’s lakes, meadows and wild huckleberries made it a popular gathering place in the late summer for local Indian tribes. They picked berries, socialized, and raced horses.

    Meadows like this are common in Indian Heaven. So are mosquitos! Fortunately, I came prepared with gloves and headnet, and they were not able to feast upon me. I decided that it would be better to wait till later in the season to camp up there.

    Half of the area has been reserved for harvesting by Indians.

    Wild huckleberries. They have a more intense, tart flavor than blueberries. Human fans of them compete with other huckleberry lovers such as bears, birds, coyotes and deer. As more trees grow up in Indian Heaven, the huckleberry numbers have been declining. Perhaps in years past, natural wildfires kept the area more open.

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    After hiking in about 2 miles on a steep grade, you are rewarded by this view of dramatic, glaciated Mount Adams.

    Another 2 miles brings you above Lake Wapiki, which is a lovely camping spot.

    My next exploit was to camp at Goose Lake (near Mount Adams) with my friend for more than 50 years, Les Nugent.

    On the way back, at his suggestion I visited Ice Cave.

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    Columbia Gorge Windsurfing from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    My next hike was to Goat Lake in the Goat Rocks Wilderness area near Mount Adams. The Pacific Crest Trail runs through GRW.

    I’ve decided to include some backpacking/camping in my trips, something I used to do a lot, but then middle age and family intervened, and I got out of practice. Being able to camp at remote sites extends your range, and gives you the possibility of more ‘Edward Abbey’ pristine back country experiences. Some of our best wilderness areas require backpacking, perhaps so as to limit the numbers and impact.

    Goat Rocks Wilderness did not disappoint. It was one of the most spectacular, pristine places I’ve ever been in the world. More below, but first, the view from my campsite at Goat Lake.

    I will try to convey with a collage of pictures the stunning beauty of this area. It is dazzling in person.

    Along the way is a lovely waterfall emerging from a very unusual rock formation

    Goat Creek Waterfall from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

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    On the way, I met this US Forest Service trail crew. They were carrying (among other tools) this six foot long crosscut saw to clear the trail of large fallen trees. You have to be tough to hike this far in and do all that’s required. They looked tough enough, and were friendly, too. I’m glad some of my taxpayer dollars are supporting this work.

    I met this group from Tennessee on their way down from camping. They have a friend (far right) from Seattle helping.

    Their group included this nine year old camper! Glad to see new hikers on the way up. It takes spirit to hike this far in and camp. Kudos! Long may they hike.

    On the way out, I walked up to the top of the ridge above Goat Lake. This is Mount Rainier from there. Like that unusual,possibly lenticular cloud?

    My next hike was into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness north of Cle Elum, Washington.

    A friend that I climbed with many years ago and a friend of his backpacked in to camp near Lake Ingalls, in order to climb the West Ridge of Mount Stuart.

    “Without a rival as the crown peak in the central Cascades of Washington, Mount Stuart has been pronounced the single greatest mass of exposed granite in the United States…its northern and eastern faces are the alpine climax of the Wenatchee Mountains. They make a powerful impact on first sight…The mountaineering problems are magnified by the mountain’s massive dimensions and its complexity.” Excerpted from “Cascade Alpine Guide”

    It is hard to judge the size of a peak from a distance. Here are some numbers to put this in perspective.

    Mount Stuart is 9415 feet high. Being this far north, it is as snowy if it were perhaps 12,000 feet or more if located in the California Sierra. What matters more is its ‘prominence’ or elevation above nearby features. It has a ‘topographical prominence’ of 5354 feet, which is exceptional. The south face (in the picture) rises over 5,000 feet in just two miles.

    We camped near Lake Ingalls, pictured here. That is Mount Ingalls in the background.

    There is a large herd of wild goats here. Sometimes they will just wander through your campsite! Wild goats are attracted to hikers because where there are hikers, there is less threat from predators, and they like to lick urine on rocks for the salt. This goat is shedding last year’s wool. You find tuffs of it on the bushes.

    Wild Goats near Lake Ingalls, Washington from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Part of the wild goat herd grazing on an outlet creek from Lake Ingalls.The young goat is eating the blossoms of wildflowers.

    It was a treat to be around all these wild goats. However, you should always remember that they are wild, and possess a sharp set of horns and hooves, and stay a good distance from them. If they feel threatened, they may defend themselves.

    The West Ridge of Mount Stuart is both technically not too hard (perhaps 5.4 difficulty) and harder than you might anticipate, as it is remote and long and has some sections of great exposure where you move across areas with a drop of thousands of feet below you. It is dramatic, spectacular, and exciting. Once you get yourself up there (alone, we saw not another soul up there), you must rescue yourself. It is serious, sobering, and lots of fun. The views are literally stunning.

    Two photos by Jaime McCandless

    As we had one less experienced climber with us, we had to use ropes and belays on sections we could have climbed unroped (called Class 4 by the Yosemite system, which means you can climb unroped, but also could have dangerous falls if you are not on rope), and moved more slowly over difficult pitches, and that slowed us down.

    The trip report we relied upon did not adequately address the difficulty level, nor accurately describe the route. As a result, we wound up not quite to the top at sunset, and had to bivouac on a very small ledge overnight. In retrospect, I think that few climbers would be able to do this route without a bivouac along the way. There is no running water along the way, so you must carry a lot or rely on melting snow.

    With better information and planning, it could have been safer and more pleasant. A lesson to be learned here is that it is wise to always go prepared and equipped for a cold weather bivouac, despite the fact that this requires bringing more clothing and gear, which makes your pack heavier. You should not rely on others hoping all will go well.

    The ledge was so small only one of us could lay flat, while the others had to sit up. It was cold, and we got little sleep. Unless you can lay flat, it is hard to fall asleep. Had the bivouac been planned, there are some larger areas available along the way, such as at somewhat lower ‘west notch’, which would have been more comfortable.

    Another group of climbers bivouacing at the West Ridge notch a few weeks earlier.

    Without that, and warmer gear, it was painful, and a long, hard night. At 4am, I stood up and danced in place to warm up and restore my circulation, as I was not sleeping anyway. As soon as there was enough light to resume climbing, we did, about 5am.

    View from our bivouac ledge at 9200 feet altitude as the twilight faded.

    At 9:40am, we finally reached the summit! Here is a picture of that area from Jaime McCandless, who had climbed the West Ridge a few weeks earlier.

    Hiking back down via a technically easy (class 3 and 4) but very long route took more than 12 hours. We arrived down in the creek area very late, and at 2am, two of our party elected to bivouac rather than try to make it back to our tents in the dark. Not relishing another bivouac, I went on, and arrived at my tent at 4:30am, very glad to crawl into my sleeping bag.

    All in all, a worthwhile hike and climb. Despite its hazards and difficulties, it was memorable. Mount Stuart is one of the most rugged, steep peaks I have climbed. The granite rock it is made of is a pleasure to climb upon, and very pretty. If you decide to climb it, be sure you have the experience and equipment to do so safely, and allow plenty of time, food and water.

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    More hikes soon…

  • Soaring at Williams, California June 2017

    My next destination lies in the Central Valley of California, just 124 miles west of Truckee. Its attraction to me is the opportunity to continue my gliding (soaring) instruction at Williams Soaring.

    Mural depicting the historic Williams Hotel, established 1877, burned down in 1923.

    Williams is a small agricultural town of about 5,250 people southwest of historic Colusa. When I pulled into the motel where I will reside while I fly, a vintage Ford Model A on tour with its owners caught my eye.

    My dad owned one of these in the ‘Day’. They were produced from 1928 to 1931.

    Williams Soaring uses a German glider, the Schleicher ASK21 as their primary trainer for  beginning students. With a 56 foot wingspan and a 34:1 glide ratio, it is a high performance, but very stable glider.

    Introduced more than 30 years ago, it must have been ahead of its time. Though stable enough to be a good trainer, it is rated for aerobatics. If you know how, you could do loops, rolls and inverted flight in the ASK21. These days, smaller, shorter wingspan gliders such as the Fox are the aerobatic gliders of choice.

    I liked the looks and specs of this glider, and my first flight confirmed this. It is a pleasure to fly, comfortable, smooth, quiet and stable. My nine flight days here should be productive and fun.

    For more advanced aerobatics, there is a MDM-1 Fox. It has shorter wings, and is quicker (and hence less stable), and is very strong so it can withstand strong g-forces.

    Here, Ben Mays, my flight instructor, prepares to take up a passenger for an extreme aerobatics demo ride in the ASK21. For aerobatics, both must wear a parachute. The ASK21 can do many, but not all, aerobatic maneuvers.

    ASK21 Aerobatics from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Remember: there is no motor. You must plan all this so you can make it back to the airport and land.

    A few videos for those interested in how gliding works:

    Launching a glider by aerotow from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Circling a glider from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    Landing a glider from Mel Malinowski on Vimeo.

    On July 7th, I was approved to fly by myself (solo) for the first time. This is a big (personal) deal, as especially in a glider, with no motor, you have just one chance to plan and land. Blow it, and you may wreck the glider and die. For the owners of the sailport, they are risking a $40,000 glider in your care. It is not an approval given lightly.

    Just before lunch, I set out in an ASK23 (single seat rather than dual) glider for my first solo flight. As recommended, I towed high, to 5,000 feet, so I’d have time to get used to this glider I had never flown before.

    What a thrill to be up there by myself! It was beautiful. I had time to enjoy the view of the Sutter Buttes to the east, the only volcanic peaks within the Central Valley of California:

    Now, I had to plan my approach correctly and land. Is this hard? Yes and no. With experience, it seems routine. But the stakes are very high. Once you are up in the air, alone, you just get one chance each flight to do this right.

    My landing was not perfect, but good. Hooray! One more step. Now, I focus on improving my piloting skills.

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    Having completed another step (10 solo flights), it is time for me to move on.

    (Note: in early September 2017 I returned briefly to qualify for and take my FAA test ride. On September 15th, I succeeded, and now have my permanent Glider Pilot’s License)

    Special thanks to Ben Mayes and Rex Mayes (and Mal) of Williams Soaring.