Whitehorse Trail

 

In the first couple of weeks of March, Helen and I made two trips down to Arlington and Hwy 530 to cycle the Whitehorse trail that runs on the rail bed of the old BNSF line between Arlington and Darrington. The trail has existed for years but had become rundown. It received new life after the Oso Slide disaster and as of now is complete except for two sections; between the Centennial trail and Trafton and a short stretch east of the Darrington rodeo grounds.

For our first ride we parked at the old Cloverdale Farm in Trafton. It's half a mile off 530 on 115 Ave NE. This blue silo is part of the parking lot.

The trail is wide and recently re-graveled and generally follows the course of the N. Fork of the Stillaguamish River.

After several miles of farms and wetlands the trail crosses Rte 530 and the river and is paved for the next several miles through Cicero till it recrosses the highway and goes back to gravel.

The trail rises slowly passing through the small community of Oso and gradually revealing more mountain views as it head toward the Oso Slide Memorial site which commemorates the loss of 43 lives when the hillside gave way crossed the river and buried multiple homes in March 2014

Just beyond the site the trail crosses C-Post Rd. A parking lot here is the perfect place to stage for the eastern portion of the trail. This section feels a little more remote with farms replaced by cabins and evergreens the dominant trees. Multiple little bridges take you over various creeks flowing into the Stillaguamish but the river itself hides most of the time. The views now are mostly of the mountains.

After crossing Swede Heaven Rd the trail becomes more of a grassy track but remains eminently ride-able.

Finally after passing the old mill at Fortson Ponds and the fish farm we arrived at the Rodeo and Bluegrass Festival grounds. The closure is just east of here so we turned around and returned to use the festival picnic tables for lunch before the downhill run back to the truck.

So all said a great couple of days riding with about 22 miles of riding currently available. We divided it up into 2, twenty mile days. For a long one day ride, parking at the Cicero bridge and going to the rodeo grounds would probably be the best bang for the buck! probably around 32 miles.

Broughtons

September weather can be almost anything on the north end of Vancouver Island and the Broughtons are most easily accessed by a water taxi so three of us decided to ditch the camping gear and paddle out of The Paddlers Inn for 4 nights and three full kayaking days.
We played the usual ferry games and made the long drive up the island to Telegraph Cove in time to catch the water taxi at 3pm.

With eleven guests, eight kayaks and a lot of fog Bruce McMorran guided us across Johnstone Strait and between islands for two and a half hours to his summer home for the past 30 years.

After unloading gear we settled in to our rooms. The main building has six bedrooms and a large kitchen/living area plus toilet/shower. A couple of lucky folks  got the cabins; one on it's own float and another up on shore overlooking the north sound. The rest of us divvied up the Bunkhouse accommodations and set about making our various evening meals. The disparate choices of meals that kayakers come up with always amazes me. Without the need to store foodstuffs in kayak hatches the innovation really took off!

With 3 full days of paddling open to us, Frank, Lori and I decided to visit the Benjamin, Burdwood and Fox groups of islands on consecutive days. Weather forecasts precluded rain and strong winds. Our challenge was going to be the morning fog and building winds in the afternoon.

The first day, heading across to the Benjamins  would see our thickest fog. The above picture is not that bad but there was no point in photography at the fog's worst!! We hugged the north shore of Baker Island and headed through the narrow passages that surrounded Insect Island before  threading our way through Rees and Davies and into Fife Sound for the return trip. Just in time for the wind! We had it at our back but the long fetch meant some rolling, breaking wind waves that had us surfing home to showers and Happy Hour. Oh, the Decadence!

We picked day 2 to be an easy paddle north to the Burdwoods. Once again the fog was heavy leaving Paddlers Inn but with promise of sunshine.

The fog plays tricks with your eyes and for a while we thought we were seeing the wake of a phantom vessel but then it became apparent we were looking at a large group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins coming at us from out of the mist!

That really was the highlight of the day but as the fog cleared and we entered the Burdwoods, the beach lounging and views were as good as it gets.

Our last day was our longest.

We followed Cramer Pass southwest with an ebb current and averaged 4.6 mph through the narrows and out into the Fox group. For the next three hours we wandered in, around and through these islets, checking out dead ends and waiting for the tide to turn.

 Finally we paddled through the narrow rocky gap between Mars and Tracy Islands and on the return journey noticed we had current heading our way! Time to head home!

At 9am the following morning we were on the water aboard the Buffer Zone with visibility less than a hundred yards. The ride home was chartplotter and radar all the way in to Telegraph Cove harbor. The worst fog of the trip!

Downtown Scottsdale

As an ex Londoner I get a kick out of hiking in the city, any city. In the winter we live just north of downtown Scottsdale and easy access via the Arizona canal allows us to walk in to town for food, drink, entertainment and events. Unlike the back country where the pleasure lies in the unchanging natural setting, the fun in city walking revolves around the constantly changing buildings and particularly the bar and restaurant scene. Some years back, after conversations that began "Now what was that bar called before it became....?", I decided to take photos of the existing "scene" and update it occasionally. Just last week I wandered downtown and did some rephotography.

One of my favorites is the space that has housed Furio, Bonfire and Rehab Burger Therapy in quick succession. Each place has been good but the turnover is fast!

I missed Furio but Bonfire has now morphed into...

In this case not much more than a quick coat of paint and a few accessories.

When Mulligan's Brick Bar closed....

They got a little more radical

But some of the old favorites go on for year after year

Downtown Scottsdale is actually at least three if not four or five distinct districts that as a whole has in excess of 100 bars, restaurants and nightclubs. After a lull during the Recession years the bar/restaurant building has started anew along with something approaching 2000 new apartments. These three are right next to each other in the Entertainment District and are all brand new construction.

Although I have focused on the food and drinking establishments, downtown also has as many Art Galleries as bars and a huge amount of public art that I hope to feature in a future post. Combine all that with the people watching and downtown Scottsdale makes for an urban hike worth doing again and again!

Nuchatlitz

Ever since we started spending summers in Bellingham, I've tried to take a couple of extended kayak trips each year. The first one in 2013 was in July to the west coast of Vancouver Island exploring the Esparanza Inlet and Nuchatlitz group of islets.

It would be hard to live anywhere in the US and have it be easier to get to Vancouver Island's west coast than Bellingham but it still requires a full day of travel involving Border crossings, 2 hour ferry rides lots of 2 lane driving and 40+km of gravel roads over the central spine of the island to get to the salt water. As a result we camped in Zeballos and saved the 11 mile paddle to the open Pacific for the next day.

Previous west coast trips had reinforced the need to get on the water early so no one needed a wake up call the next morning. Diurnal winds start blowing up the inlets late morning and make for choppy to ugly conditions by mid afternoon. We curtailed lunch and made it across the well named Rolling Roadstead to Catala Island before the worst conditions hit. Typically by 8pm that evening the wind calmed, the sea flattened and we could look back to the main island shaking our heads!

After yesterday's early start, breakfast was a leisurely affair and our circumnavigation of Catala island was a relaxed one. We hung with sea otters, worked our way into caves and paddled under arches and past seastacks. We wisely returned to camp as the winds got up to 20mph in the lee of the island. The Roadstead was once again rolling!

We left Catala early next morning and crossed the long open stretch to Belmont Point sneaking inside the outer skerries of the Nuchatlitz group as the wind and swell rose. The last mile with steep swells on the stern quarter made for a fun approach to Belmont and kept us pretty much confined to camp for the rest of the day. The fishermen did get out to the kelp beds to fish and I lived up to my reputation as a bear magnet with an encounter on some just offshore islets. We nodded politely at one another and continued in opposite directions!

Belmont proved to be a perfect camp for the windy conditions with sheltered camp sites and a semi hot spring.

On the following day we paddled further up Nuchatlitz Inlet exploring caves on our way to Benson Point but conditions quickly deteriorated and so after checking out the huge camp it was back Belmont in conditions that did not allow for photo taking!

This shot of the outfitter camp at Benson gives barely a hint of conditions on the water. A fairly good rule of thumb is "the clearer the weather the stronger the wind". The open nature of the Inlet funneled the swell and the return journey involved losing sight of paddlers ahead in the troughs.

Our final full day saw us return to the main Nuchatlitz Archipelago and camp on island 40, secure inside the reef but with winds gusting over 30 mph on the Kestrel wind gauge further exploration proved impossible.

Next morning our earliest launch of the trip got us safely back to the vehicles by noon and a midnight return to Bellingham; windburned, sunburned, tired but happy.

Back to the Broads

After a gap of 37 years I made it back to the Norfolk Broads this October. The last time was in 1976 on a Broads cruiser with high school friends before heading off to college. This time, my wife, Helen and my brother, Colin were on board along with one of the originals from high school, Hugh! The Broads are in eastern England and are made up of seven rivers and wide, shallow areas known as "broads". There are no locks, the rivers are tidal and the bridges low. 

By far the best part of the Broads is the multitude of small villages and hamlets that line the river banks. Better still, each one has at least one riverside pub! The surrounding countryside is flat and reclaimed marshland similar to Holland and intensely farmed. The whole area is a National Park though somewhat different to how we classify NPs in the USA, since they have permanent settlements, farming and even industry. The designation is there to "freeze" the area as is and restrict development. The vast majority remains rural and is a very important wildlife preserve.

Over a period of a week we probably motored no more than 60 miles and stayed on the Northern rivers. A similar paced week could be spent south of Great Yarmouth on the Yar and Waveney rivers. We fished, 

visited Medieval churches,

 hiked along footpaths 

and  spent some time drinking beer, Woodforde's Wherry Ale.

Wherries were the 18 wheelers of their day, transporting bulk goods to and from the coastal towns of Gt. Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There is a large interest here in wooden craft and several wherries still sail the rivers

So 37 years later I finally got back and enjoyed myself more than ever, probably because I was sober this time! Helen loved it and wants to return so maybe a couple of years from now we'll get to the South side.