Studio711.com – Ben Martens

On one of the hottest weekends of the year, we headed to eastern Washington (where it’s even hotter) to camp in the Potholes area. There is a state park nearby but we weren’t inside the park. We were actually inside the larger Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. The potholes area is a large number of smallish lakes that were partially natural but mostly man made. When a dam was put in place nearby, it raised the water table enough to create these small lakes. Because of the rock formations, most of the lakes feature sheer vertical rock faces down into the water which happen to make for great cliff jumping.

There weren’t any official campsites where we ended up but we found a good spot and set up our tents along one of the lakes. Even aside from the lack of running water, it was a lot different than our normal camping. There was no natural shade and we were essentially camping in a desert. And oh yeah, it was also a free range cow pasture so there were cow patties everywhere and coyotes howling at night.

Tim, Chelsea, Brittney and Devon got there on Thursday night but Tyla and I arrived on Friday night. On Saturday we did some cliff jumping, the highest cliff was measured at 21 feet, and spent most of the hot afternoon (upper 90s) lounging in the lake. Tyla and I picked up a dual innertube with a built in cooler in the middle. Unbeknownst to us, Tim and Chelsea had the exact same one!

It was a great trip and a fun new experience. The dogs had a blast running free and playing in the lake. Thanks for sharing your secret spot with us!

Photos are available in the photo gallery and a few of my favorites are right here in the post.

My main backpack for hiking is a Camelbak Snoblast. It’s a good size for day hikes. It holds all of my first aid gear, an extra piece of clothing and the three liter water bladder. It gets a bit small though in the early and late season when I have more bulky clothing or if I need to carry something for other people. It was time to upgrade so I headed to the store that has been claiming a lot of our paychecks lately: REI.

I ended up with the REI Flash 50 backpack. It’s big enough that I could easily do an overnight trip if I ever decide to go that far, but it’s in their “ultra lightweight” category. It doesn’t come with a water bladder but it has a holding system inside along with a hole over each shoulder for the drinking tube to come out.

A couple weeks ago, I also picked up their entry level REI Traverse Trekking Poles. I had been a bit skeptical, but as I start to hike more difficult terrain, I can see the need. I’ve used them on two hikes up the cable line trail and have been very happy with them.

I won’t use either of these new pieces of gear for the easier hikes, but I’m happy to have them in my arsenal when we tackle Camp Muir in a few days (at about 10,000’ on Mt. Rainier.)

We awoke at the Heathman Hotel for day 2 of Tyla’s birthday extravaganza. We started off with a delicious breakfast at the Trellis restaurant, snagged our car from the valet and then headed south. As we were packing up the room, Tyla finally guessed that we were going horseback riding so I filled her in on the details.

We drove down to Crystal Mountain for a three hour ride with the Crystal Mountain Outfitters. Whenever I sign up for a trail ride, I never know how much they’re going to sugar coat the experience. This turned out to be a very legit ride through some incredible terrain.

Tyson was our wrangler and it was just the three of us. They do a wide variety of rides from one hour to full day trips. We signed up for three hours but got about 3.5 hours. There was a lot of rain up north and I was nervous that we were going to get wet, but despite some clouds, we had great weather. Tyson took us up to and along the Pacific Crest Trail. I’m sure that the views would have been better without the clouds, but we still had a blast. I was waiting for Tyla to say something about the trail. It was extremely narrow on very steep hillsides but she was able to enjoy herself anyway.

Along the way we saw an elk, met up with another group of riders who was surprised that guided trips came out that far, stopped at a natural spring, admired huge fields of wildflowers, saw old miner/trapper cabins, and looked into an old mine shaft. By the time we reached camp again, we had covered about 2200 vertical feet over 8 miles. I can now saw that I’ve been on parts of both the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.

Thanks to everyone at Crystal Mountain Outfitters for a fantastic day! More photos are available in the photo gallery.

This is the fourth annual big summer camping trip where Matt, Laura, Andy, Stephanie, Tim, Chelsea, Tyla and I head out to a state park for a weekend. We make the reservations around Christmas time to make sure we can claim a weekend on everyone’s busy summer calendars. This year’s adventure took us to Birch Bay State Park up north near the border.

Tim, Chelsea, Tyla and I arrived on Thursday night and the rest of the crew arrived Friday night. We upgraded to two campsites instead of the single site we’ve gotten in the past. It was very nice having extra room, although ironically, this probably would have been the best park to cram four tents onto one site. The campsites were quite large!

On Friday, Tim, Chelsea, Tyla and I hopped in the car and drove 2 hours east to Artist Point. It’s a spot above and beyond the Mt. Baker ski area. It’s only open for about two months out of the year because there is so much snow. In fact, the road opened for the first time that very day. There were still 20 feet of snow in some areas! We had fun playing in the snow and then headed back. It was a lot of driving but I’m glad we got to see it. I rode up there last year on my motorcycle and have always wanted to take Tyla there.

Saturday was spent playing cornhole, walking along the beach, and exploring the little town. On Sunday we headed back home.

Of the four trips, I think this park was my least favorite. The park was nice, but it didn’t have as much to explore as Deception Pass, Fort Flagler and Moran State Park. But still, it was good to be out camping. Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great weekend!

Photos are available in the photo gallery.

Let’s say you’re lost in the woods and you didn’t pack a compass. Now what? There are ways to determine direction based on the way trees grow and moss growing on trees but there are various situations where those aren’t available or reliable. What then? If you can see the sun, you’re in luck.

Point the hour hand of your watch at the sun. Half way between the hour hand and the 12:00 position is due south. Remember this simple trick and you’ll always be able to get a bearing. Unless it’s night… or very cloudy…

There are some caveats. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, this trick will point north, not south. This should also be done using the true local time without any adjustment for daylight savings. The farther you are from the equator, the more accurate this reading will be.

Your pack is full and you’ve been looking through hikes. If you’re looking for some advice, I recommend that you try these 4 in order.

Once you complete these then you’ll have a good range of hikes under your belt and a good idea of what to look for in a hike. As you start to expand your abilities, you’ll be able to do the hikes that have fewer crowds. These four hikes are all very busy, but think of it this way: all those people can’t be wrong! They all have very big payoffs for relatively little effort.

Hike	Distance (miles)	Elevation Change (feet)	My Review
Twin Falls	3.0	500	Link
Rattlesnake Ledge	4.0	1160	Link
Talapus and Ollalie Lakes	4.0	1200	Coming Friday
West Tiger Mountain #3	5.0	2100	Link

In previous posts, I forgot to include a couple common courtesies that every hiker should follow and teach their children:

• Stay on the trail. Don’t shortcut the switchbacks. It only takes a couple people to destroy a hill side.
• Leave it better than you found it. Don’t leave trash and pick up any trash you see.
• The uphill hiker has the right of way. If you’re coming down hill, find a spot to pull off the trail and let them by.

This ends the Hiking 101 series. We live in an amazing part of the country. Don’t take it for granted. Go forth and enjoy the great outdoors!

Now you’ve got your pack ready. How do you know where to start hiking? If you want a good, consistent experience for comparing hikes, I recommend two books: Beyond Mt. Si or Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region. I have the former but it’s getting a bit hard to find online. If you’re sitting at the computer and thinking about hiking, go to wta.org. They have a new hike finder tool which lets you see hike locations on a map.

But how do you know which hikes are in your skill range? There are a few things I look for in any hike:

• Length and elevation are the two biggest ones. The best way to know what you can handle is to start small (less than 5 miles and less than 1000 vertical feet) so you have a baseline experience to compare against. Elevation change is generally the most important statistic. If you’re still getting into hiking, avoid hikes with more than 2000 vertical feet.
• How do you get to the trailhead? Is the whole route there paved or are you going to be on a dirt road of questionable quality? Is the road closed or gated? The hike description should give you some idea, but if you have any questions call a ranger and ask.
• Do you have to pay to park at the trailhead? Many hikes that start on forestry service roads require a Northwest Forest Pass. You cannot always pay at the parking area! I keep an extra day pass in my glove box. You can order them on the internet, pick them up at REI, or get them from a ranger station. Look for “pass required” in the hike description.
• What does the actual route look like? This can be a bit hard to discover, but it can make a big difference. If the path is wide and smooth, you can cover a lot more ground than if you’re scrambling up rock falls and streams.
• Do you have enough time to finish the hike? I think I’m an average to fast hiker. I can cover a mile of shallow incline at a rate of 20 minutes per mile. Very steep/difficult terrain slows me down to 40 minutes per mile. Once you figure out your own pace, you can use that to estimate the length of the hike.
• Look at the weather forecast right before you leave to get the latest info. This will help you dress for the right temperatures and let you know if any foul weather is expected.
• Early in the season, the higher hikes will be blocked by snow. The road to one hike I’m looking at right now is still blocked by 20 FEET of snow. No joke. The best way to check for this is to look at trip reports on wta.org.

The only real way to get good at picking hikes is trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try a hike but ALWAYS be prepared and be willing to turn around if you run out of energy or time. Don’t get stuck out in the woods after dark or in bad weather!

Tomorrow I’ll recommend some hikes for you to start with.