Year: 2017

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A Snowy New Year

Snow on Columnar Basalt

I love backpacking. More specifically, I love spending nights with at most a thin piece of nylon (and my sleeping bag, etc.) between me and the night sky. What if I went backpacking during every month of the year.

Sheltie mix
Reba – the faithful trail pup

It sounded great. Reba agreed. She clearly stated that the whole year sounded good – outside, trails, maybe snow. It all sounded good to her.

My usual victim consented to accompany us and then came December! It was cold outside. Weekends were in short supply. Oh, wouldn’t it be neat to welcome in the New Year in a tent? Yes, let’s do it.  (And while we’re at it, that counts as December and January.)

We headed out to the Lower Skokomish….oops, snow. More snow than my unmodified 1994 Landcruiser could handle…. time spent digging out. Fortunately this was on December 30.

Snow on Columnar Basalt
January 1 in Quincy Lakes Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area, WA

Time for Plan B!

Quincy Lakes. Success! We didn’t go in far. We took in two sleeping bags apiece. We cooked supper at the campsite, but in the morning, we waited and ate breakfast in the car.

(Reba, of course, took some time to make snow angels and thought we were just a bit wimpy!)

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Vision for My Student Website

Green Valley and Mountain

Adventures in the outdoors could have been a blog about something real until I became a Highline student. Now it is more a blog about the imaginary and the past tense.  It will also sell imaginary and real advice about specific hikes. The inspiration will be real adventurers / trips I have been on, but I may embellish or change the point of view to spice things up.

Fort Worden near Port Townsend, Washington.
Taken at Fort Worden near Port Townsend, WA.

The topic is just “Adventures in the Outdoors” rather than specifically backpacking, because I like variety and like to get out and do other things like canoeing, car camping, and ranger-led hikes. While the focus is the outdoors, it may include some exploring of historic places, just not my house.  (It’s old, but not old enough to count as historic!)

In addition to descriptions of hikes or trips in the outdoors, it may include posts about how I planned for these trips, resources I use for planning, equipment I took on these trips, and also recipes or menus for use while in the out-of-doors. One resource I find invaluable it Washington Trails Alliance website which you will learn more about in future posts.

Pinnacle Lake on the Mountain Loop Highway in Washington State.
Pinnacle Lake on the Mountain Loop Highway in WA.

Since the website is about the out-of-doors, it’s colors will reflect the colors most prevalent in the outside, mostly greens, browns, and, here in Washington, grays. The layout should allow for pictures, have balance, but not be crowded or busy. As many of us have expressed, we don’t want a crowded trail. For better and, mostly, for worse, all pictures are taken by me (and may not be begged, borrowed, stolen or otherwise replicated without my permission) unless otherwise noted.

I don’t really have a clue what functions I want to incorporate on this site, but since we’ll have to sell something, it must have that. It should, of course allow people to sort the posts by date and topic. Perhaps, a calendar when of when material was posted would be useful.

I hope my posts inspire you to find your own adventures. Attached are two pictures that may inspire you to read this blog again.

Mel, your hostess as we wander.