Karen and Tom Wanderings

After an afternoon making our way south from Moab through the vast emptiness of the remainder of Utah, and spending a night in unremarkable Farmington, NM, we visited the Bisti Badlands (aka Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness).  It's several thousand remote acres of crazy geologic formations that change around every corner.  Apparently, it's a bucket-list sort of place for photographers (and there are some incredible images on the web), but, due to it's remoteness, actual visitation is pretty limited (the only number I could find was 2000 visitors per year).   In an ideal world, we would have camped there to get a full dose of the evening/morning light and the huge night sky, but logistics got in the way, so we settled for an early morning of wandering.  It was still quite the eye-full, and the range of sizes, colors, and shapes was pretty mind-boggling.! Intrepid Explorer The "Egg Hatchery" The "Egg Hatchery" Petrified Log The "Manta Ray" ...

With a few weeks between commitments at home, we took an opportunity to hit the road and visit our kids in New Mexico and Colorado ... and do a bit of exploring while we were at it.  Leaving behind the rainy, fall weather in Seattle, we gladly cruised for two days through the vast, sunny expanses of Eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah.  While not seeing too much of specific interest, it seemed the fall harvest was in full swing.  In south-eastern Washington, we passed some sort of transfer station with a line of double dump trucks overflowing with potatoes! On the third day, we paused our trek for a half a day in Moab to stretch our legs a bit on a modest hike to Corona and Pinto Arches.  These are not in Arches National Park, but instead are a beautiful, 10 mile drive along the Colorado River from the main highway.  The hike was invigorating, and uncrowded.  Besides the massive arches, we also spent a few minutes watching a small raptor (hawk?) and ...

My good friend, Ron, was in town, so a visit to the mountains was required.  We headed up to the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park (again), and hiked to Skyscraper Mountain.  There was a nip to the air (high of around 50 degrees) and a bit breezy ... signaling the oncoming fall/winter weather.  But it was invigorating.  The top of Rainier was obscured by a cloud cap, and there were a few clouds moving around lower, providing interesting views.  And the crowds were sparse!  Very nice for what was probably the last hike of the year in the Pacific Northwest. Mt Rainier from below Skyscraper Mountain   Berkeley Park 3rd Burroughs Mtn and Steamboat Prow Aster? Seed Head More Photos

Wanting to make the most of the prime backpacking season, I planned on heading back to Necklace Valley, in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Cascades, for a night or two.  I'd been there twice ... once in my rookie days, and once when Karen was barely pregnant with Kelsey.  There's some beautiful high country up there!  But, this time, my knees met their match.   For the first 4ish miles, the trail is a very nice tread, gaining 800 to 1000' through beautiful forest, generally following the East Fork Foss River.  Then it crosses the river and turns seriously up, gaining another 2500' over the next 3 miles.  The unfortunate part is that the quality of the trail degrades significantly ... a talus slope, then rocks and roots, while heading quickly up.  At any rate, after about gaining about 1000' in this section, my knees were complaining, and I was uncertain as to how they'd handle the remainder of the up, and the eventual coming down.  Being h...

  Finally, it was time for the inaugural Bionic Knee Backpack. After almost a year of rehabbing and constant exercise, plus multiple non-trivial day hikes, I (Tom) felt the knee was ready. And, of course, it had to be a worthy destination. So a one nighter to Spectacle Lake was selected. It's located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area of the Cascades, 15ish miles north of Snoqualmie Pass. I'd day-hiked there many years ago, and had always wanted to stay overnight. The hike was a bit on the long side for a first go (10ish miles each way), but a very modest elevation gain (2000') kinda compensated. The weather report was ambiguous and oscillating between not bad and not too good, but I finally decided to just go for it. The drive across the mountains was really socked in, leading to some serious second-guessing the decision to go. But, too late! And sure enough, about a half hour over the pass, it was clear and sunny, and stayed that way for both days (it c...