The end of one adventure is only the beginning of another. This weekend, wonders of the Oregon Coast were shown to me. Within that ocean landscape I saw a promise to another grand adventure. Stay tuned folks. The Journey is just getting started.

 

  Hello everyone, I've been a bit busy but I haven't forgotten to post here. I've had some cool hikes the last few weeks and some pretty cool  road trips.Three weeks ago I hiked Franklin Falls over at Denny Creek Trail-head. It was a pretty easy hike, however breaking in new hiking shoes that dont apparently fit well made for some sore feet. From there we drove to Cooper Lake and Pete Lake trail-head. I wrote about that trip in better detail and shared a video with you earlier.
  The second hike was on Tiger Mountain, Northwest Timber Trail. This 5 mile hike was relatively flat and you hiked through many different systems of a forest. I don't have any pictures that would do it justice. It's just one of those hikes that any beginner hiker or anyone wanting to just get out should try. I highly recommend it. The third hike was again on Tiger Mountain. the north trail. It had some steep sections, and quite frankly the map system is a bit confusing. I would recommend buying a green trails map because it's easy to miss the right section and you can find yourself on a completely different trail then you started on. That being said, hiking towards the afternoon on this particular trail, i would seriously consider bringing some additional lighting source because it can get dark on the trail and with steep falls to the side of the trail, its an easy mechanical injury or worse. Before I turned back the best section apparently of this trail started around the 4 mile mark. I wil go back to this trail early in the day to have more time exploring it.
  I recently went on a road trip with my good friend Kelly to Mt.Hood and Central Oregon. Along the way i was able to visit a friend in Sandy Oregon which is where the "gold miners" from Gold Rush on the discovery show are from. Mt.Hood was beautiful and the Timberline lodge apparently was in the original Shining with Jack Nicholson. One thing i did not know is that the Pacific Crest Trail went right on Mt.Hood. That was pretty cool. From there we drove to Lake Trillium which Mt.Hood towers over. It was an absolutely gorgeous lake that one could camp at. I would say getting there early on a weekday would give you the best chance camping there.
  We stayed in Madras woke up early and I convinced Kelly to drive through Central Oregon. Crooked River and Smith Rock State Park is an absolutely fascinating place to be geologically speaking. I could have spent hours there just looking at its geological history. Without a doubt this place would have been perfect for any western movie complete with cowboys and six shooters. Smith rock which is in the Crooked river system is a place I intend to revisit on many occasions. It reminded me a bit of the Peshastin Pinnacles here in Washington state. 
  I really wanted to See the Painted Hills in the John Day Monument area. I was and wasn't impressed. The video will show pictures of this area in greater detail. I won't describe this area because I think you should discover it for yourself. We ended the trip in Kelly's all time favorite place. Multonomah Falls.

And without ado here is the video of the trip

Franklin Falls trip

At long lost a video of new pictures taken august 25th. I hiked a 2 mile round trip to Franklin Falls, fell down in the water while breaking in new hiking shoes. Afterwards my friend Kelly from the east coast, and I drove through Rosalyn where the tv show Northern Exposure was filmed, then through Ronald. WE took pics of Lake Cle Elum, Cle Elum River and Cooper Lake near the Pete Lake trail head. (that video is also on the blog just look for older posts)

Thought I would post a poem i wrote thinking about death.  I recently had a high school friend pass away in a car accident, so its been on my mind.  Here it is.

 

Farewell, Farewell. To this journey I take

Towards a fading sun, A lonesome tread to where I know not

I will tip my hat and smile, wave to all gathered

Grieving they may, for we shall depart here.

Alone we must go forward to the unknown.

Do not fear, for pain cannot exist.

Do not shame your tears, for they are not sad

For the sun may have set here, it will rise there

As long as there are memories inside your heart

I will not be forgotten.

I may be gone, but I am still with you.

I apologize for not posting in a long time. There are several personal issues I have been dealing with, Some I can share, some I wont. I am dealing with some complicated health issues. They are fairly significant for me. I went in to the doctors finally for one issue and in doing so they discovered another health issue. And that is I have a very fast heart rate. They order an EKG for my heart which basically showed what the doctor called just a name "tachychardia". Her suspicion was also possibly angina.So i have been put on medication diltiazem since i refused atenolol. This medication makes me quite fatigued when i take it in the morning.

 Ok with that being said, i have one thing to get off my chest..... For everyone out there, when you have someone around you who is constantly negative, overly critical, and unable to understand their actions and words, and in general a jerk... Sometimes you just have to cut those people out of your life.  For me, I do not wish to live my life listening to someone's constant negativism, and constantly going out of their way to prove they are better. It is fruitless, immature, and in general it will show in their lives how miserable they actually are.  In the end such people can and will pull you down.

I made a small video of some of the unexpected beauty here in Washington State. Everyone enjoy, and please leave a comment.

A good friend of mine Neils Humphries rafted the Green River Gorge  in the same area of my hike. It's a pretty good video taken on a Go Pro camera. Enjoy everyone.

I'll describe this hike in further detail when i have more time. I have a video for everyone, plus some guest blogger, as well as some cool upcoming trips.

I hiked Wilderness Peak over on Cougar Mountain. It's about 4-5 miles and 1200 feet elevation gain. This was a tad challenging as I've had issues in the past with steep inclines because of my weight and stubby legs. However It worked out real well and I was able to get some good training for the AT and was relatively pain free. Unfortunately It was really wet from the rain/mist so I was unable to take more then two pictures. This is the best of the two.

I also recorded two videos tonight of me talking about today's hike and a hike i did many years ago which i like to refer to it as the hike from hell.

I walked 10 miles today. I started south on California Ave to Erskine Way. Walked down Erskine/48th to Beach Drive. From there after a mile i met up with my parents who walked with me to Alki and then departed as i continued walking Alki/Harbor Ave to Avalaon Way then up to my house.  At a small park on Beach Drive my parents and I came upon a stone tablet painted with white stripes for tic tac toe, with smooth rocks with painted X's and O's. For the record my dad cheated lol. Here are the pics.

 

Hello everyone. I decided to make a video of my trip to Olympic Peninsula. Enjoy!!

Thought I would share a video of something close to my heart.

   It is sad when one confronts a truly evil thing and that individual/s cannot comprehend why it is.

I walked to Schmitz Park today and hiked its 1.7 mile trail system. From there I walked to Alki where i bought some vanilla rooibos tea and watched the sun set. From there I walked past the lighthouse then back up Admiral Way and finally on California to my house. Total distance was around 9 miles. It was my second long distance walk with a 10 pound weighted day pack. My neck is a little sore but beyond that I'm fine. I will definitely being doing this walk on a regular basis. The sunsets can really be stellar on Alki.

I've been coaching at a freestyle club in WC and am happy to say there is some talented young wrestlers in the making. After Monday's practice when most of the kids left, an ex-wife and mother to one of the wrestlers stormed in screaming her head off. It was completely inappropriate. I hope it doesn't happen again. There were some kids behind her, and this is at 8 pm. A lot of the kids who go there may be coming from difficult situations at home and I would hate to see them have to deal with it there as well..

 I will be walking 8 miles tonight again. I'm still a bit sore from sunday but should be ok.

I just walked 8 miles in 3 hours. I walked along california to sw admiral way. From there all the way down sw admiral way to 64th. Then to alki and all the way on alki/harbor ave to west Seattle;e bridge and up avalon way to my house.

  I apologize for not having posted for a while. Between looking for my internship, bad weather, and other things going on I haven't had much time to do anything. On the 29th of January I did go on a hike on Cougar Mountain. There was snow, ice and downed trees/limbs everywhere. Hiking that portion was no problem. But it was also nasty weather with the wind and rain. The route we chose was inaccessible because of low powerlines, so we just ended up walking about 2 miles. I did discover that I am indeed starting to develop hiking endurance, of which I am quite happy for. However I need more actual elevation hikes to train. There is a possibility I will be hiking this weekend on Tiger Mountain. I Will let you know if I am able to get out there to hike it.

  January is a rough month for me. Usually it marks the end of the regular wrestling season and heading into the league, regional and state championships. This is my first year not coaching in a long time and i must say I'm part happy and relieved not to have that kind of stress. The other part is I do miss it and I feel I still have a lot to accomplish in wrestling. I don't know what will happen.I do know there are a lot of places I would love to travel to. Florida being chief among of places... south Florida to be exact. I want to see white sandy beaches with warmer aqua colored waters.

  On January 12th I turned 34, and yes I do feel my age at times. I look around me, and see all my friends with families and careers and I don't have any. It's sad in so many different ways. The most prevailing emotion is a sense of loneliness that at times can be hard to move forward with. I have my own reasons for why I have no family, most of which I feel are too private to share with anyone.

On January 13th the day after my birthday 2008 my uncle passed away. He had been a cancer survivor for 16 years. the chemo treatment when his disease came back completely destroyed his immune system. What I can remember is he started becoming sick again before the summer of 2007 and spent the majority of that time in the hospital. The week prior and leading up to to my birthday because of my insomnia I was the most logical choice to stay with him overnight. It was very mentally draining. And the one day I asked for not to he passed away.

  My uncle Vern was someone who had a specialness about him. He did not have much in his life. Never married, and no kids. He was someone that had a different aura.  He could relate to younger kids better then he could with adults. Some of my most profound experiences are because of Vern. He was a gifted person with patience. And somehow he was able to see into dark water and spot fish. He may not have gone to college, but he had that deep knowledge of fishing that many people fail to grasp in all their lifetimes. I can remember my first time catching a trout was with Vern. I even go to go sockeye fishing on Lake Wenatchee and my great grandfather Henry. Not many people can ever say they've been able to do that. Because of my uncle Vern I got to know my great grandfather. Fishing was his gift, and in his own way he gave me that legacy. Like Him I found I had a singular talent that was very powerful and in each of our own ways I hope to make just as a lasting powerful impact on someone like he did with me. His fishing and my wrestling. When he passed away in his will... Vern left me his fishing poles.

  So when people ask me Why I want to hike the Appalachian Trail I can honestly say there's a legacy waiting for me.


 

Its been pretty wintery last few days with 4 inches that fell here in Seattle. Today on Jan 19th it began with an ice storm that gradually turned into heavy snowfall again. My sister Jenn took some pics today of ice covering plants at her house. Shes letting me post them for all of you to see.

 

Yesterday Seattle finally got some snow, and today I walked to Camp Long and took some pictures and videos.

 

Thought I would share a little bit of fun video courtesy of my friend Keith. this was taken from Ocean Shores and those pants I am wearing are close to slipping off me without a belt.

 This was an eventful day. I had planned out to go hiking today with my friend John. However he did not show up to almost 1 pm complaining of a bad back. So I took him onto the trails at Camp Long, and walked about 2.8 miles. I made sure to double check with my pedometer and It was pretty accurate to the map data. Afterwards my friend John told me we should have gone on a real hike. I had the urge to smack him upside the head.  Fortunately I'm too nice of a guy.

  Feeling a bit cheated, I went on my nightly 4 mile walk. However I walked past Hamilton viewpoint and continued down the hill to Harbor ave  also know as the Alki Trail. because I felt cheated, I kept walking past Saltys all the way to the West Seattle Bridge. Instead of walking back up Avalon Way I turned and walked back to the way I came. I walked back up California Way  to California Ave. Which actually was far more gentle that I previously thought. Or It might just mean I am finally getting into better shape. Finally by the last 2 miles walked on California Ave my feet, knee, and shoulders were getting tired, mostly it was my feet. Which felt pretty badly abraided. I must figure out a better sock shoe system. Now tallying up the miles via google maps and my pedometer apparently I just walked 8.2 miles without stopping. Adding in my 2.8 miles at Camp ong that makes for an even 11 miles I walked today. Even though i am in  some pain mostly my shoulders and neck, I'm satisfied with my progress. In fact I did not feel out of breath at all not one single time and I am happy to report no lower back pain. This was indeed a good day.
 

Walked another 4 miles today to Hamilton Viewpoint. I totaled up how many miles walked so far and am at 52 miles. Go Team Fuzzy.

Ok walked 5 miles on Monday and 4 miles on Wednesday. I have lost 20 pounds since I started walking.

I walked over 4 miles today. I dont really feel sore at all and my feet were relatively ok. I think adding another layer will allow me to get more then 4 miles at one time. My eventual goal is ot get ot 16 miles in a day.