Snowshoeing in the middle of the night? It sounded a little silly when I first heard the idea, but I quickly realized the
genius of it. The moon was nearly-full, the weather had been clear and calm, and avalanche danger was low because it had not
snowed in several weeks. A plan was quickly formed to head up to the Mt. Baker area on Friday evening; I brought my gear and
daypack to work with me on Friday. After work, Evan picked up myself and another friend, Sye, and we headed north to
Bellingham, where we rendezvoused with another five people who were going to join us on this unique adventure. From
Bellingham, we headed east up the Mt. Baker Highway, and reached the ski area parking lot at the ungodly hour
of
10:00 PM. The sky was perfectly clear, except for a few interesting-looking high clouds, and the moon was glowing brilliantly, illuminating the snow all around.
From the parking lot, we attained the ridge below Table Mountain near the ski area boundary, and we were treated to spectacular views of Mt. Shuksan and the valley below. The snow was hard and icy because it hadn't snowed for several weeks; crappy conditions for downhill skiing, but perfect for snowshoeing. The moonlight glistened off of the icy snow on distant ridges as our shadows followed behind us.
Around midnight, we reached the top of a higher ridge near Artist Point. Here we enjoyed views of Mt. Baker in its ghostly whiteness. This would be the extent of our travel, not an exceptionally large distance, but we had some business to attend to. It was Evan's birthday, so we busted out some birthday cake and candles. After gorging ourselves with sugar and coffee, we made a quick descent and returned back to the car by 1:30AM.
I had a lot of fun taking pictures of this moonlit landscape. My Canon Powershot A530 camera has a powerful manual mode; so by setting the camera strategically on the crusty snow and using a 2.5 to 4 second exposure, I could capture the landscape like it was daytime. See for yourself.
Back in Bellingham, I got a few hours of sleep before catching a southbound Amtrak train in the morning. I needed to find my own ride because Evan was going to stay in Bellingham for the rest of the weekend. By noon on Saturday, I was back home in Seattle.
Last weekend I did something pretty crazy, a 24-hour bike ride. My
friend Chris Langston put on this event and strongly encouraged me to attend. It sounded just so insane that I couldn't say no. With my single-speed mountain bike armed with a brand new Eno Eccentric hub and wheel (courtesy of Grandma's Christmas present), I rode down to the "Bat Cave" at 1st & Marion at the butt crack of dawn to begin this adventure.
The rules were rather simple: Stay on your bike as long as you can for 24 consecutive hours, whoever stays on the longest would be declared the winner. There was also a scavenger-hunt kind of course; we were given a list of about 70 checkpoints scattered throughout the region. Each checkpoint had a code word spray-painted on the ground, and we had to write down the word to prove that we visited the locations. The checkpoints were spread out between Edmonds, Lynwood, Woodinville, Kirkland, Renton, West Seattle, Capitol Hill, and even Queen Anne, and the route included some of the gnarliest hills in the entire Puget Sound area.
About 15-20 riders headed out from the starting line. I stayed with the pack for the first few checkpoints, but then was on my own. By nightfall I was in the northeasterly extent of the course, near Bothell, and headed south in the dark. On the eastside, the checkpoints were fairly spread out, and I found a wormhole or two to warp myself through the suburban wasteland. But by this point, the prospects of completing the entire course seemed pretty slim.
Around 10 PM, I reached Renton, and my headlight was fading. Riding in Renton in the dark was a scary experience, not recommended. From there I headed north, through Skyway, Rainier Beach, and eventually back to the Central District and Capitol Hill, where I bagged a bunch more checkpoints. It was about 1AM and I was ready to head back to the Bat Cave, where beer, friends, and music awaited. Was that the end of the ride? Oh no, there were still 7 hours remaining in the 24-hour period. The Bat Cave was equipped with rollers that would turn your bike into a stationary bike, and the rule was that you had to ride the rollers while hanging out in the bat cave. My butt was pretty raw by this point, and I was seriously questioning my sanity, as were the other few bikers remaining.
Around 3AM, Chris led us on another ride, up north to Freelard, and then east along the Burke Gilman to Laurelhurst. After a brief pit-stop at the U-Village Starbucks, back to the Bat Cave via Eastlake. But it was only 6:30 -- another 90 minutes of stationary biking was required to complete the 24-hours. There were four of us left. By 8AM, 24 hours was up. We were all too tired to tally up the points, so we declared ourselves all winners.
Later back at home, I traced my actual route on the topo map program. I estimate that I rode about 120 miles in the 24 hour period. It's now Tuesday and my legs and butt are still sore, and now I have a cold. This may have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, now that I have achieved the bragging rights of having completed the 24-hour bike ride.
More photos from this adventure can be found here. There is at least one photo for each of the checkpoints that I reached.
January 14, 2007
Snowshoeing the Freeway
Yesterday, my friend Evan and I went on a snowshoeing adventure near Kendall Peak. Kendall Peak is situated near Snoqualmie Pass, just north of the Hyak ski area. We started at the snow-park adjacent to the I-90 interchange; there must have been at least 75 vehicles parked there, people engaging in all forms of winter recreation: snowshoeing, x-country skiing, snowmobiling, families with sleds and dogs, etc. As we made our way up the cat track, the crowds gradually thinned out. Eventually the track made its way up to Kendall Lakes, but we turned off the main track just before it dipped down into the basin. Instead, we attained the ridge east of the lakes. From here, the going got pretty interesting, and steep... We reached a local maxima on the ridge with a nice view into the basin below, and decided to stop and enjoy our lunch. The wind picked up and the snow started to fall as we sat here. Well, the snow wasn't exactly falling because it was coming at us at about a 45-degree angle uphill and sideways. From here, further progress would have been fairly treacherous, so we turned back after lunch. We attempted several shout-cuts on the way down; some were quite fun and successful, others not quite so successful. We made quick time back to the car well before dark, and headed back to town and straight to a friend's house where a hot tub was waiting.
January 3, 2007
I just got back from a 5-day vacation in Sandpoint, Idaho. I got to meet Amie's extended family; an impressive number of them reside within a few miles of greater Sandpoint. We spent evenings attending numerous family functions; a "seafood pig-out" one evening, dueling chicken noodle parties another night, etc. My vegetarian tendencies had to lapse with all of that food around.
Return from Sandpoint
Sandpoint is mere minutes from the Schweitzer Ski Area, and I spent two days skiing there. The snow was nice compared to the concrete that is often found in the Cascade ski areas, although the area hadn't received any fresh snow in the past two weeks, so it was kind of skied out. I like Schweitzer; it has a relatively few number of lifts, but each lift almost serves a different mountain, so the crowds are spread out and there is lots of terrain to explore.
Amie and I also went on a short snow hike up the Pack River drainage. It was supposed to be a snowshoeing outing, but the path had been well beaten down by snowmobiles, so we didn't really use the snowshoes. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful area to explore.
Enjoy a few pictures:
Descending into the fog on a groomed run at Schweitzer.
Amie hiking along the Pack River.
Cool ice formations.
Colorful sunset down the Pack River valley.
Tomorrow, it's back to work for me. Have a happy and prosperous 2007.
December 17, 2006
Mini-Katrina Aftermath
Whoa, that was some windstorm last week. My power was knocked out for about 36 hours, my basement flooded, and my backyard ended up a bit more disheveled than usual. My email was also down for a couple of days; if you sent me a message it may have bounced, so try again. I also have been battling a nasty cold these past few days, so in all, not the most relaxing weekend of my lifetime. Enjoy a few photos of the aftermath:
On a somewhat related note, here's catchy little tune to bring you some Christmas cheer:
Click to play: [God Module - The Source]
December 02, 2006
Today I went for a long bike ride in this crisp, clear weather. I started out from my house and headed east along the I-90 trail. I followed that trail all the way to Issaquah, where I intercepted the new East Lake Sammamish Trail. This trail follows an abandoned railroad grade, and was recently completed amidst much controversy.
Tour de Eastside
As I rode the gravel-surfaced trail for the first time, I could see why there was there was controversy: The old railroad line was constructed pretty close to the shoreline, and over the years (well mostly within the last 15 years, apparently) houses have sprouted up in the lots all along the line, the property owners trying to fit obese mansions in the awkward waterfront lots. Some houses are on the lake-side, with some people's front doors less than 20' from the trail, other houses are on lots split by the old right-of-way, and it was like riding right through someone's front yard. Many have erected some pretty ridiculous fencing, some with automated gates and such, to separate their fortresses from the hordes of uncouth recreationists that now populate the old right-of-way.
Anyway, I followed this trail up to its northern terminus in Redmond, and then took a little break at Marymoor Park. From there I followed the bike trail/route that parallels SR-520. This trail is interesting, it's not in the greatest of shape, but in a fun kind of way; lots of little bumps, steep hills, overgrown vegetation and some navigation skills required. The end of my bike ride was at the Evergreen Point Transit Station, where the only way to get a bike across the floating bridge is to load it onto one of the many buses that stop here. Total riding distance today was about 35 miles, although the long gravel trail made it seem longer.
It so happened that a route 271 was the first bus to stop, and it so happened that this bus continues to the U-district and so happens to stop a block from the Big Time Brewery, where I enjoyed a couple pints of cask-conditioned Coal Creek Porter and a bowl of vegetarian chili before chasing down another bus to take me up the hill and back to my house.
My online presence is now completely transitioned onto an open-sourced, Linux-based system. The final piece of the puzzle was getting the email server software working correctly, a small feat in itself. I'm using a combination of the Postfix mail transport agent, Dovecot IMAP server, and Squirrelmail webmail interface to handle my email. I'm still tweaking the various settings, but the new setup is already much improved over the old.
This means that I can now decommission the old WindowsNT box that ran faithfully in my basement for many years, operating my website, email, and FTP server. It was known as "The Jezzmachine." Jezzmachine ran well without needing much attention until the last six months or so, when it started crashing about every other week and I think got some viruses. Since Jezzmachine was based on an old version of Microsoft's WindowsNT Server, and Microsoft was no longer providing updates and bug fixes for that old version, there was nothing I could do to fix it, other than buying Microsoft's latest, expensive, server package. As I was going through the Jezzmachine's hard drives looking for files that I might want to save, I noticed a bunch of executable files with random-like file names in the C:\ directory, many of them were created within the past few weeks; this is a sign of ill computer health, so on this date, I had to put down the Jezzmachine for good, may it rest in peace.
The new server is named 'jezzubu', a moniker derived from the old name combined with the Ubuntu Linux operating system that runs it. Getting jezzubu up and running has been quite a project and learning experience, (see my blog entry from when I first started this project) but I now have a better understanding of the inner workings of the operating system, way more flexibility, and I think that future upgrades will be much easier now that I have the base infrastructure established.
November 28, 2006
Snow!
I like it when it snows here, as it usually does about once or twice per year
in Seattle. Even though my office doesn't shut
down for anything but the most severe of weather, it still seems like a bonus day off. Suddenly that important meeting and critical task due today can wait for more favorable weather. While those that commute from the suburbs find themselves stuck at home, or worse, still trying to get home from last night, I easily, but carefully, zip around on my bike through the snow and proceed with my daily routine unhindered. Outside, the neighborhood is blanketed all in white, bundled up children frolic in the fresh powder, and only the snow crunching beneath my two tires permeates an eerie silence.
November 16, 2006
Ah, the Alaskan Way Viaduct. It's been consuming my time at work lately, I've been busy analyzing schemes for keeping the buses moving while the viaduct is closed, including a complete restructure of how buses are routed through downtown (not for public release yet). We're supposed to be calling these "construction mitigation measures" but then they're also being designed to be in place for almost 10 years!
A New Viaduct?
I still have mixed feelings for the viaduct. I previously advocated for replacing the viaduct with a smaller structure that would preserve the connectivity while not necessarily accommodating all the peak traffic demand. But now with the increased cost estimates, the lengthy construction impacts, and the series of mitigation projects that are being planned, it seems like we could get along okay without that roadway. If we can get by for 10 years, why not indefinitely? Imagine what else we could do for the $10 billion or so that the tunnel is likely to cost.
The Mayor of Seattle has pledged to make Seattle a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and automobiles are the primary source of these emissions, so why encourage more of them with a fancy new, and expensive tunnel? The Stranger had a good article a few weeks ago on this topic.
At the same time that the Viaduct is being debated, Metro Transit just got the green light from voters to build a set of new Rapid Ride lines, one of which will go out to West Seattle and another out to Ballard. It won't be quite as spiffy as the monorail might have been, but it's still a transit spine that parallels the major traffic flows that the Viaduct currently handles. In my opinion, investing in a fast and reliable transit link, in tandem with some surface arterial improvements, is a better alternative than a new mega-tunnel or viaduct replacement. It's an alternative that we'll be living with for at least 10 years anyway regardless of what becomes of the Viaduct.
November 7, 2006
It's election day today, so in case you haven't voted yet, I'll offer another endorsement of another
local issue that I have a keen interest in. Witihn the city of Seattle, a transportation maintenence measure is proposed. I'm planning to vote yes on this, because I think that would would
fund some worthy projects. Some good arguements have been made for voting against the measure, such
as, that this levy is funding things that should be routine maintence items, and that the mayor is
trying to defer these items to pay for a new fancy-ass waterfront tunnel. These are valid concerns,
but this levy promises to fund things like new sidewalks and bike lanes, which are
items that often get put at the bottom of the priority list. The tax is progressive, since people
with expensive property will pay more, so does it really matter whether "routine" maintenence items
are funded through the general fund or by a special levy?
Another Election Day
Vote yes on City of Seattle Proposition #1.
October 31, 2006
I recently installed a new skylight above my kitchen. My food preparation area had been a really dark space in desperate need of some daylight. So with a friend's help, we cut a hole in my roof. This was quite disconcerting. We also had to cut a hole in the ceiling above the kitchen, which opened up new uncharted territory up in the attic; this section was not connected to the part that I had uncovered in my earlier attic project.
New Skylight
So now I have a very nice, and fairly inexpensive, renewable energy device; when there's light out, I don't have to use the electric light, thus saving energy. Most importantly: No leaks! It survived last week's downpour without even a drop. But now I also have a gaping hole above the kitchen that I have to do something with.
The next step is to finish the space between the ceiling and the skylight. I'm thinking of ripping out about half of the ceiling to create open space and to allow the light to spread through the room. The other half of the ceiling would remain to become a loft. I will also add insulation, which this 1900 vintage house currently has none of. Did you know that there is a new 2006 tax policy that allows you to deduct the cost of insulation, new windows, and skylights from your federal income taxes?
When I'm finished with this project, plus the corresponding one in the front of the house, I will have a lofty house that is well lit and well insulated. How's that for demonstrating pride of ownership?
October 28, 2006
New Toy
I just bought myself a new toy, a 10-channel Berhinger Eurorack mixer. I'm going to use this mixer to make all kinds of interesting sounds, maybe I'll even churn out some of my own ambient tracks on it. I'm still trying to figure the thing out, it sure has a lot of knobs, switches, and plugs. I'll let you know if I make anything worth posting.
October 21, 2006
Jaunt up to Delta Lake
I learned that a friend was going to drive up to the West Fork Foss River trailhead, so I thought I would snag a free ride and go for a day hike on this beautiful late-October Saturday. My friend was intending to go to Copper Lake and Big Heart Lake, but I really wanted to check out Delta Lake. So I tagged along until Trout Lake and then to the first switchback on the climb up to Copper Lake, at which point we parted ways. This is the beginning of the route to Delta Lake; I know from past experience that the best route is to drop straight down from this point and then cross the outlet of Copper Lake after descending about 200' elevation. This crossing can be tricky during periods of high water, but today I had no trouble. After crossing, I continued descending almost all the way to the bottom of the valley, and then intercepted the distinct fisherman's path that leads direct to Delta Lake. This is a nice time of year to do this route; the first frost had hit many weeks ago, so much of the leafy foliage had lost its leaves and it was easy to follow the path. I brought along a pair of loppers and trimmed some of the more-annoying brush along the way, which should make for easier going come next spring. The path is steep, but quite followable all the way to the lake.
It was getting late by the time I reached the logjam at the mouth of Delta Lake, so I turned back at that point. If I hadn't spent so much time trimming the trail, I would have made it to the other end of the lake for the view of the multiple waterfalls feeding into the lake, and maybe even would have continued up to Otter Lake. But alas, these days are getting short, and a hasty return was prudent. Made a quick descent back to the main trail and then back to the parking lot, using a headlamp for the final 1/2 mile. Rendezvoused with my ride and then back home to Seattle.
cc: Washington Trails Association trip report.
October 19, 2006
New Bus Service Proposed
This November, King County residents will be asked to vote on a package of new bus service, funded by a 0.1% increase in the sales tax. This proposal has been called Transit Now. One of the more exciting elements of the packace is a new kind of Bus Rapid Transit serivce that will be called "RapidRide;" but what Transit Now primarily does is just fund more bus service; i.e. buying a few more buses and hiring more bus drivers.
You should vote YES for King County Proposition #2.
Sure I might be biased, since I work for Metro Transit and all, but Transit Now won't change whether
I have
a job or not, or how how much I get paid. In fact, Transit Now would just keep me more busy,
particularly
since the Speed & Reliability group would have a lot of involvement with getting the RapidRide
service up
and running. I am endorsing Transit Now because we need more transit service across the entire
region. This is one of those
rare times when you can vote in support for transit without also voting for roadway and freeway expansion
(like those transportation mega-packages that have failed in past years); the cost of bus service is really
miniscule compared to the cost adding freeway lanes. This sales tax increase is expected to cost the average
household $25 annually, less to those households that buy less stuff. Also, the new transit service would be put on
the street as early as next year (Hence the name "Transit Now"), none of this waiting 10 years for
mega-freeway construction. So on November 7, be sure to go out and vote, and vote YES on Proposition No. 2,
Public Transportation System Sales and Use Tax.
October 11, 2006
I found that one of my old favorite internet radio stations is back online!:
New Audio Streams for my Ears
http://divbyzero.de/
This site from Germany features three different streams: One 'chill & slow' stream, one with live psy-trance mixes, and another with single psy-trance tracks.
I have also been on a bit of an industrial kick lately, and I found myself listening to this station for hours on end:
http://www.digitalgunfire.com/
It motivated me to tackle a wiring project that I have been meaning to do for a while. This is a top-secret project on my internal combustion vehicle, and for security reasons I am not at liberty to discuss any further details.
October 10, 2006
Last weekend, my cohorts at Environmental Structures and I conducted another subterranean sound test deep within the Cascade Mountains. We built upon our creative discoveries of the past four years, and had our biggest and best underground doof yet. The test went off without a hitch, and we even collected a generous donation for the Volunteers for Outdoor Washington.
Emerging from the UndergroundOctober 2, 2006
A New Feline
He can be a little terror at times; he likes to bite my nose at 4AM while I'm trying to sleep. As I'm sitting here at the computer, he's crawled up the back of my chair, weaseled he way onto my lap, and is now sitting up and chewing on my beard. He also likes to chase me as I'm walking to another room and leap onto my leg without warning. Then there was the incident with the toilet paper... Oh well, he's pretty cute so I guess I'll keep him.
September 30, 2006
I think I have finally settled back into my Seattle groove after returning from Alaska. I feel pretty refreshed from getting out of town for a long while, and ready to tackle new things now that I am back.
A New Beginning
Coincidentally, it is time for a blog page refresh. As I am a certified transit dork, I do this more or less in tandem with the trimesterly Metro Transit service change. The last trimester was mostly about my Alaska trip; if you want to read the story of that trip, start here and scroll up. If you have already read it, take another gander if you want, because I have added specific links to my pictures and to other websites, not to mention a few proofreading edits.
So enough about Alaska, and onto new things. Check back here soon; I'm going to try to continue to keep this blog active and interesting.
© 2006 Owen Kehoe
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