Amazing View
Amazing View
Originally uploaded by blueatheart. I went hiking today. Had a great time of it, but many problems occured. I'm tired, I'll just post a slightly edited version of Anna's and my conversation today:
[13:30] eflood328: back from hiking
[13:30] viola3141: hello!
[13:30] viola3141: :-)
[13:30] viola3141: very punctual!
[13:30] viola3141: how was it?
[13:31] eflood328: it was...interesting
[13:31] eflood328: it was a lot warmer out than I was imagining, so that was good
[13:32] eflood328: so
[13:32] eflood328: I found the *road* leading towards the path okay
[13:32] eflood328: but, then couldn't find the path
[13:33] eflood328: there were two cars parked in a little thing off the side of the road by some sort of path, so I parked nearby, next to the entrance to a cell phone tower lot, and went onto that trail to check it out
[13:33] eflood328: was very wide at first
[13:33] eflood328: an old unused road
[13:33] eflood328: then I found a huge circle where teens obviously come to drink and party
[13:34] eflood328: and a normal-sized path leading out of it
[13:34] eflood328: I followed this path, it led me next to a river for a while
[13:34] eflood328: and then there wer bifurcations, with the "bad" ways sort of blocked
[13:34] eflood328: and then all the choices started looking more and more blocked
[13:35] eflood328: but I followed what looked like the best choice every time
[13:35] eflood328: it kept getting more and more overgrown
[13:35] eflood328: eventually, I heard voices
[13:35] eflood328: and came across two guys with machetes
[13:37] eflood328: they were "clearing a trail" for dirtbikes
[13:37] eflood328: I first asked them "are you clearing the trail for the county?"
[13:37] eflood328: they replied negatively
[13:38] eflood328: then one of them looked at me suspiciously "do YOU work for the county?"
[13:38] eflood328: "nope"
[13:38] viola3141: what are dirtbikes?
[13:38] eflood328: he relaxed
[13:38] eflood328: mountain bikes
[13:38] viola3141: and are machetes knives or guns?
[13:38] eflood328: pedaling bikes
[13:38] eflood328: knives
[13:38] viola3141: ok
[13:38] eflood328: anyway, they told me there was a forest service road very nearby, just in that break in the trees
[13:39] eflood328: I thanked them and went on my way, only realizing afterwards that they were scared that they had been caught "creating paths"
[13:39] eflood328: and I might have had problems
[13:39] eflood328: but, then I tried following that "path" some more, and it basically was gone
[13:39] eflood328: I was just trampling through underbrush
[13:39] viola3141: so...
[13:40] eflood328: I almost turned around, but then I finally saw where the road would be
[13:40] viola3141: are you sure you were on a "legal" path all the time?
[13:40] viola3141: "creating paths"?
[13:40] eflood328: so I crawled for about 100 meters through the underbrush (it was too thick to stand or even stoop) rather than turning around
[13:40] eflood328: all right, 50 m
[13:41] eflood328: and then I was finally on the forest service road
[13:41] eflood328: to the right led upwards, to the left led downwards
[13:41] viola3141: did you have a map`?
[13:41] eflood328: I made a little mark in the road where I had come out, just in case the road didn't lead me out anywhere near my car
[13:41] eflood328: no
[13:41] eflood328: (well, actually, a fairly big mark)
[13:41] eflood328: with my heel
[13:42] eflood328: and then headed uphill
[13:42] eflood328: it went up the south side of the mountain
[13:42] eflood328: and then the road turned into a stream
[13:42] viola3141: :-)
[13:43] eflood328: and had two choices, the left, which was nothing but a stream at that point, or right, which went pretty flat, but looked like a "normal" path
[13:43] eflood328: I thought I was finally on the right track, so I went to the right
[13:43] eflood328: well, about 300 m into it, it began getting overgrown, and I couldn't go any further
[13:43] eflood328: so I turned back
[13:43] eflood328: and went up the stream path
[13:43] eflood328: got a bit wet
[13:44] eflood328: but the stream eventually went away from the path
[13:44] eflood328: just as the stream left the path, I was walking, and I heard a loud grunt
[13:44] eflood328: and then a bird fly away
[13:44] eflood328: I froze
[13:44] eflood328: it was not a human grunt
[13:44] viola3141: oh!
[13:45] eflood328: I stood there for a long time, trying to see if I could see anything moving
[13:45] eflood328: but nothing happened, so eventually I kept walking uphill, slowly and quietly
[13:45] eflood328: I never saw anything, don't know if it was just the bird or what
[13:45] viola3141: a boar, maybe?
[13:45] eflood328: anyway, I continued walking for another five minutes, and then a large dead-end clearing
[13:45] eflood328: maybe
[13:46] eflood328: I said lots of bad words
[13:46] viola3141: lol
[13:46] eflood328: ate a cliff bar, took a few photos (although the trees were in the way)
[13:46] eflood328: the photos didn't really turn out too well
[13:46] eflood328: realized I hadn't brought any water with me
[13:46] eflood328: but I had a beer, so it was okay :)
[13:47] eflood328: I couldn't find my water bottle yesterday, so I was going to buy some bottled water, but completely forgot
[13:47] viola3141: jeez
[13:47] eflood328: oh well, didn't really need it anyway
[13:47] eflood328: anyway, thought about having the chocolate (Lindt 70%) and beer (Pyramid Snow Cap Ale) there, but decided I'd just have them back home if nothing else turned out
[13:48] eflood328: It was 10:15 at that point, I needed to be back here by 1:30 so my brother could go to work
[13:48] eflood328: thought I might have enough time to explore a bit more
[13:48] eflood328: so
[13:48] eflood328: I went back down
[13:48] eflood328: (was quiet again by that place with the grunt)
[13:48] eflood328: passed by where I had come out of the bushes (but I knew where it was)
[13:49] eflood328: and continued downhill a bit
[13:49] eflood328: then I got a pretty nice view, it wasn't too high, but the area around there is fabulously beautiful
[13:49] eflood328: (I'll send you some pictures later)
[13:49] eflood328: and then i could see my car, too
[13:50] eflood328: and as I hiked downward, I saw the trail I was on would lead me a little bit more towards the entrance to the road I had parked on, close enough to my car not to walk through the undergrowth again
[13:50] eflood328: and then I watched as a police car pulled up next to my car
[13:50] eflood328: and stopped
[13:50] eflood328: and a police officer got out
[13:50] eflood328: and started investigating the car
[13:51] eflood328: I was panicked, and wanted to shout at the officer that the car wasn't abandoned, nor was I trying to sneak into the cell phone tower
[13:51] eflood328: but knew I was too far away
[13:51] eflood328: and I knew I could never get there in time to stop them giving me a ticket if they were going to give me one
[13:52] eflood328: but I was worried they might tow the car
[13:52] viola3141: why were you so worrie`?
[13:52] viola3141: were you parked illegally?
[13:52] eflood328: because if they towed the car
[13:52] eflood328: no
[13:52] eflood328: then my brother would've been late to work
[13:52] eflood328: and it would've been all on my head
[13:54] eflood328: so I was hiking down
[13:55] eflood328: and I came across another split in the road
[13:55] eflood328: to the left was downhill, towards my car, where I could rescue it from towing and perhaps ticketing
[13:55] eflood328: to the right was the possibility of finding the road/path I had read about
[13:55] eflood328: I said fuck it to the car, and went to the right
[13:55] eflood328: uphill
[13:56] eflood328: walked for a little while longer, then there was another split in the road
[13:56] eflood328: the "lower" mountain's crest (which I still had not surmounted) was to the right-ish
[13:56] eflood328: and the main road went straight
[13:56] eflood328: but there was another road that went to the right
[13:57] eflood328: the straight road obviously went around the mountain
[13:57] eflood328: to something else, perhaps the larger peak
[13:57] viola3141: (brb, but don't let that stop your account)
[13:57] eflood328: ok
[13:57] eflood328: the road to the right then, I thought, might lead me to the short peak at least
[13:57] eflood328: then I could do beer and chocolate and head back
[13:58] eflood328: (it was 10:40 at this time, and I decided I needed to head back no later than 11:45 to make sure and be back on time)
[13:58] eflood328: so, I went to the right
[13:58] eflood328: for some reason, all over this road were old crushed cars
[13:58] eflood328: just littered randomly
[13:58] eflood328: I don't know why
[13:58] eflood328: anyway
[13:58] eflood328: after passing by a car that had been crushed such that it looked like a snail's shell
[13:59] eflood328: I saw a weird looking area to my left, in the side of the mountain
[13:59] eflood328: I investigated - it was a cave!
[13:59] eflood328: but it was a cave with wooden supports inside!
[13:59] eflood328: I think it was a mine of some sort!
[13:59] eflood328: I obviously did not go in, I'm not stupid
[13:59] viola3141: b
[13:59] eflood328: but I took a few photos from the outside
[13:59] eflood328: it was quite cool
[14:00] eflood328: anyway
[14:00] eflood328: then I continued on the road
[14:00] eflood328: which, again, fizzled out into overgrowth
[14:00] eflood328: disappointed, I turned around
[14:00] eflood328: checked the clock again: 11:07
[14:00] eflood328: I decided to go back on the straight path until 11:45, then eat chocolate and drink beer and turn around
[14:01] eflood328: so I did so
[14:01] eflood328: and I finally started getting really wonderful views
[14:01] eflood328: I saw into seattle, it was evidently raining there, though
[14:01] eflood328: really far away too
[14:01] eflood328: anyway, kept walking, and I saw I was heading for a ridge
[14:02] eflood328: so I decided I'd get to the ridge, even if it were a little after 11:45 that I arrived
[14:02] eflood328: but I got there right at 11:45
[14:02] eflood328: and - wonderful views
[14:02] eflood328: was not the top of the mountain by a long shot
[14:02] eflood328: but lots of snow was visible in the distance, I could see into snoqualmie pass and everything
[14:02] eflood328: I drank beer, ate some chocolate, and headed down
[14:03] eflood328: about 1/4 of the way down, a truck came out of nowhere around a corner
[14:03] eflood328: I jumped out of the way, but he wasn't going too fast, so it was okay
[14:03] eflood328: he waved to me, and I smiled and nodded to him
[14:03] eflood328: and passed by without further incident
[14:04] eflood328: then I went down down down
[14:04] eflood328: and reached the end of the trail
[14:04] eflood328: guess what I was met with at the main entrance?
[14:04] eflood328: "NO TRESPASSING"
[14:04] eflood328: a big fence with barbed wire
[14:04] eflood328: attached to one of those horizontal pole gates
[14:05] viola3141: jeeeez
[14:05] eflood328: anyway, it was left unlocked, likely by the truck guy
[14:05] eflood328: so I opened it, and walked out
[14:05] eflood328: should've taken a picture of the lock combination when it was unlocked, but didn't
[14:05] eflood328: otherwise I would've had to climb over it
[14:05] eflood328: or around it, inot the stream
[14:05] eflood328: river, really
[14:06] eflood328: anyway, from there it was just a short walk back to the cell tower (made it really easy to know where my car was, at least :) )
[14:06] eflood328: and then I got to see whether or not I got a ticket....
[14:06] eflood328: nope
[14:06] eflood328: everything with that turned out just fine
[14:07] eflood328: ate a bit more chocolate
[14:07] eflood328: and then headed out
[14:07] eflood328: back here
[14:07] eflood328: oh
[14:07] eflood328: when I was walking up that last trail
[14:07] eflood328: I was walking
[14:07] eflood328: and suddenly, I heard what sounded like a large animal trampling through the undergrowth on my left
[14:07] eflood328: I froze again
[14:07] eflood328: the sound got a bit louder
[14:07] eflood328: I walked back down the hill a bit
[14:07] eflood328: then waited
[14:08] eflood328: the sound continued, but never got any closer or further away
[14:08] eflood328: and I was far enough away at that point to worry, plus it was a steep embankment on the left
[14:08] eflood328: so I cautiously crept forward
[14:08] eflood328: and then realized
[14:08] eflood328: it was a drainage pipe
[14:08] eflood328: spewing water at irregular intervals
[14:08] viola3141: you were far enough away to worry??
[14:08] eflood328: not to worry
[14:09] viola3141: ah
[14:09] eflood328: so
[14:09] eflood328: yeah
[14:09] eflood328: very...interesting adventure