Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Outdoors

Compass Declination

I was replaced the battery in my fancy Sunnto Vector watch which meant that I had to recalibrate some of the sensors including the compass. Calibrate a compass? We all learn in grade school that magnetic north isn’t exactly the same as true north, but it’s generally close enough that we don’t think about it. In the midwest it’s pretty close to the same, but out towards the coast the difference is significant. Here in Seattle if you follow a compass and walk north, you’ll be heading almost 17 degrees too far to the east!

Even more interestingly, the declination changes from year to year. In Seattle, it is currently decreasing by about a degree every 6 years. I strongly recommend that you click this Wikipedia link to watch an animation of how the magnetic field has changed over the last 400 years.

You probably don’t need to think about this in your day to day activities, but if you spend time outdoors, it’s good to have in the back of your mind in case you find yourself relying a compass in a survival situation.

benmartens July 5, 2010 Geek, Outdoors

Annette Lake

I’ve really had the itch to get some hiking and exploring done. Last Saturday the weather and our calendar finally aligned and we took advantage of it. I had planned to drive back down that dirt road that Tim and I found, but after chatting with a forest ranger on the phone, I found out that the trailhead was 7 miles beyond the closed gate because the road was washed out. After flipping through Beyond Mt. Si (fantastic hiking book!) we settled on Hike #20: Annette Lake.

It was a moderate hike with about 1900 feet in elevation gain over seven round trip miles. We set a good pace and made it to the top in good shape. Trip reports on WTA.org said that there was some ice around the edges of the lake last weekend but it was clear when we got there. There was some snow along the side of the trail and on the surrounding cliffs, but nothing we had to cross.

The lake is gorgeous. Brush and trees run right up to the edge of the lake in most places so there are only a few spots to access the lake. We found a small one, had some food, and braved the cold water. I made it in up to my knees and found it bearable once my legs were numb.

There’s a beautiful campsite by the lake but it was occupied by some unbeautiful people who were doing their part to destroy the surrounding area. Leave it better than you found it, people. It would be fun to hike up there and stay at that site, but you’d have hikers walking through the middle of your campsite regularly.

This trail isn’t too tough so it’s a bit more crowded than some of the more remote alpine lakes. Still, it’s past the more popular Tiger Mountain, Mt. Si and Rattlesnake Ledge hikes so that thins the crowd. Put this one on your list if you haven’t been there already!

There are a few pictures below and a couple more in the photo gallery, but to really feel what it was like at the lake, you should check out this panorama which lets you pan and zoom. If you don’t want to install Silverlight, you can click on the panorama below to vie the 9MB full sized panorama.



benmartens July 2, 2010 Outdoors, Panorama

Whitewater Rafting

Last weekend was crammed full with activities. Saturday was beautiful so we hopped on the motorcycle and had a picnic at the Ballard Locks. Since we were so close to the zoo, we stopped there to use our wedding gift zoo memberships. The zoo was packed but it was fun to see some of the new exhibits including the meerkats and the tree kangaroo that we adopted last year.

The weather on Sunday was wetter, but we headed east across the mountains for our whitewater rafting adventure. I got a half price deal through Groupon a while back and this was the day we scheduled to do it. We had no idea what to expect so we were a little nervous about what to wear, especially because it was much colder than I had hoped it would be. We wore underarmor and a swimsuit under the provided wetsuit. Then on top of the wetsuit I had a dry shirt, fleece, raincoat, and shorts. Do NOT wear any cotton on any layer.

We met Orion Rafting Expeditions in Cashmere and road a bus into Leavenworth where we hopped into a boat on the Wenatchee. There were about 6-8 people per boat plus a guide. I was surprised that we were on the river for over three hours. It sure didn’t feel that long. The trip itself was a mixture of relaxing floating and high adrenaline rapids. I ended up in the front of the boat so I got completely soaked. There were times when waves were crashing over my head and I was blindly trying to comply with “Ahead!” instructions from our guide.

The river is 100% mountain fed and that means it’s mostly snow melt this time of year. The water was around 45 degrees but somehow neither one of us felt cold. We even finished the trip in sunshine. The river was running at about 10,000 cubic feet per minute which is about as high as it will go and still be open to commercial rafting trips. They were rated as Class 3 rapids and I think that was just about perfect for our first time.

We don’t have any pictures of us in the raft, but the one I used for this post might as well have been taken on our trip. That’s what our boat looked like, and the only difference is that we had seven people including the guide.

If you get the chance to try rafting, don’t pass it up!

benmartens June 10, 2010 Outdoors, Sports

Thousand Trails Camping

Tyla and I had our first camping trip of the year over Memorial Day weekend. Her parents and sister were camping at Thousand Trails campground in La Conner, WA. I almost always camp at state or national parks so it was interesting to go to a private campground. There were many more amenities available than at a public park.

Her family was spending the whole weekend there, but we showed up on Saturday afternoon around the time the rain stopped. We took a walk along the beach and then spent the evening by the fire. The campsite was a bit small and it was quite cold so Tyla and I decided to cram into the camper instead of sleeping outside in a tent. We actually fit pretty well on what amounted to a twin size bed and it was nice and toasty warm inside.

On Sunday morning we piled into the Expedition with Oskar and headed to Double Bluff offleash dog park on the south end of Whidbey Island. It was about 50 degrees, spitting rain and very windy, but Oskar was more than happy to gallop off into the surf. After wearing him out there, we headed back to the campsite with a brief stop at a market along the way.

The rain returned and they were leaving early on Monday anyway, so Tyla and I decided to make the quick 1.5 hour drive back to our own bed. Thanks to the Brandts for letting us invade the campsite for a night!

benmartens June 2, 2010 Outdoors

Forest Roads

Look at a good map of the mountains and you’ll see hundreds of forestry roads twisting through the wilderness. Almost all of them are gravel and some are so rugged that only the biggest logging trucks can make it through. Many of these roads are locked off with gates, but there are plenty of roads with open gates. I’d love to get a truck and explore, but for now, I’m stuck exploring a few of the roads in better conditions with my Subaru.

One thing that makes it especially difficult is that there is no single place to find out if the gates are open, trees cover the road, the road is washed out, or downed trees make it impassable. It’s definitely an adventure.

On Saturday, Tyla and I took a drive around the Mountain Scenic Highway loop. You can read that link for more information, but it’s about at three hour drive through some incredible country. About 15 miles on the east side is gravel road. The road winds along the river and there are a number of pullouts where people put up tents. There are no reservations here, but if you snag a site you’ll have an incredible view for the weekend.

Along the way, I turned off on a forest road that I’ve been wanting to explore. It wound about five miles up into the mountains. The first half was pretty tame, but on the second half, the road narrowed considerably. If two cars met, one would have to back up a very long way to reach a spot wide enough for two cars. I was having fun, but I felt bad when I realized how scared Tyla was getting and there wasn’t exactly much room for her to open the door to get out and be sick.

We almost made it to the top where there is supposed to be a nice lake but were stopped about 0.3 miles short by snow. We didn’t have good snow hiking gear with us so we very carefully turned the car around and headed home… while Tyla had her coat over her head to block the view.

I’m very excited to go back and try this one again when the snow melts and see what that lake looks like. Hopefully I can convince Tyla to come along with me!

benmartens June 1, 2010 Outdoors

Olympic Peninsula

Mom and Dad came out for Labor Day and we took a trip with Tyla around the Olympic Peninsula. On Day 1, we started with the Edmunds-Kingston ferry. We weren’t actually sure if we should even begin the trip due to the wet weather and the even wetter forecast. The ferry crossing was dry but incredibly windy. We made our way up to the top of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. It wasn’t raining there either and the clouds were loose enough to give us some good views. Not knowing much other than the fact that it was a little dirt road, I decided to drive the family out to Obstruction Point. What a drive it turned out to be! Do NOT drive this road if you have an RV or even a large truck. There are many points where it is really a one lane road with hill on the left and cliff on the right. The road was in pretty good shape and we made the 9 mile drive in about 20-30 minutes. Once at the end, we did a little hiking and then made the trek back. The highlight for Tyla was definitely the marmots. We drove back to Port Angeles and spent the night there (after I dropped my camera in the sand and broke it.)

On Sunday we drove from Port Angeles to the Hoh Rain Forrest on the west side of the park. It was raining. Shocker. They get 140” of rain a year with another 30” of mist. We took the ranger led hike, learned a bit, and got soaked despite our ponchos. We continued on to Ocean Shores where, once again, it was not raining and we enjoyed the beach for a while. The beach there is an official state highway so I took the Subie out there for a while.

Sunday morning we headed to the jetty on the south end of the island and then made the long drive home.

I think we made a great move going in spite of the rain. It sounded like it poured all weekend in Seattle and, although it was cloudy, we didn’t get much rain on our trip. There are a lot more things I want to see over there, but this definitely crossed a few items off my list!

Photos are in the photo gallery under Olympic Peninsula.

benmartens September 15, 2009 Outdoors, Travel

Wellington

If you’ve read The White Cascade, you probably recognize Wellington as the sight of one of the greatest train disasters in history. In 1910, a couple train got stuck on the tracks by a huge snowstorm and was eventually taken out by an avalanche killing 96 people. It’s located in Stevens Pass and on Thursday, Mom, Dad and I headed there to check it out.

I tried to hike to Wellington on Father’s Day last year but got turned around by snow. This year we didn’t have any problems like that. We drove to the top of Stevens Pass, caught the north end of Old Cascade Highway south down the valley to the Wellington trailhead.

Unfortunately it was raining just hard enough to thwart our attempts at a good hike, but we hiked about a mile underneath a concrete snowshed and saw the entrance to the old Cascade train tunnel.

Since our train adventure ended a bit early, we headed on to Leavenworth. After a quick stop to walk through the shops and get some fudge, we drove south and did the three pass blast in the Subie (Stevens, Blewett, Snoqualmie.)

benmartens September 9, 2009 Outdoors, Travel

Moran State Park Camping Trip

Every year around December, we check out the Washington State Parks website and see which campgrounds are filling up. There are usually some good campsites left at those parks and we snag one for the following year. Previous trips have been to Deception Pass and Fort Flagler. This year it was Moran State Park on Orcas Island.

The first challenge was getting everyone to the campsite. Tim, Andy and I headed up on Thursday afternoon after leaving work a little early. It’s a 70 minute ferry ride and there are not a lot of ferries each day. We eventually made it to Orcas a little after dark, found dinner at a bar in Eastsound and then made our way to the campground.

Our campsite was perched up on a cliff overlooking Cascade Lake. The site had a nice view but there weren’t any level spots to set the tents which made sleeping interesting.

On Friday, Tim, Andy and I hiked with Tucker around Cascade Lake and Mountain Lake, drank some beverages and played cards. Matt and Laura arrived just after dark, and Tyla and Chelsea arrived after 11. Tim and I were getting a bit nervous that they may have gotten lost, and with no cell reception at the camp site, we headed out to track them down. Thankfully we spotted them on their way to the site so we flipped a u-turn and led them to the campsite.

Saturday was a full day of hiking to the top of Mt. Constitution (the highest point in the San Juans), bumbling about in rented row boats, and playing cornhole.

Sunday morning came too soon and we had to pack up to leave. Thankfully we got on an even earlier ferry than we had planned (it was late because of fog) and we made good time coming home.

It would have been nice if the whole group could have been there longer, but I’m really happy that we got to go. I wouldn’t stay in that same site again. There are a ton of good ones to choose from though and the park is gorgeous. Thanks to everyone who came!

Photos are in the photo gallery.

benmartens August 31, 2009 Outdoors, Travel

A River Runs Through Me

Sunday was another hot day, so Tyla and I decided to take a little adventure. Three Forks Park (just north of North Bend) was one of the first places I discovered on my motorcycles rides. It’s not much of a park, but it is a good place to access the Snoqualmie River about a mile upstream from the falls. Normally I just relax on the bank but on Sunday, we decided to try to swim for a bit too.

We walked along the bank until we found a quiet spot away from the few people who were there. The smart people brought some shade with them, but we weren’t that smart this time. After swimming around for a while, I found a place to cross the river and ferried our stuff (and Tyla) across the river. We chatted, read books, and had a great afternoon.

I hesitated to write about this place at first because I don’t want it to become overrun. Then I realized that the three people who read this probably aren’t going to go anyway.

benmartens August 6, 2009 Outdoors