More photos at: Picasa url=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jAbBC-GGyrQ7F-CsyYJyBdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlinkimg=https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M83J_4Ad9k4/ThEQSyKI1PI/AAAAAAAABJA/Rn3RI7wJCI0/s288/IMG_0210.JPG I started my morning with the hike up to Mink Lake. For the most part is was a simple (if steep) hike. It sounded like there were some nice rapids along the creek leaving Mink Lake, but the trail never came close enough to get a good picture. I started seeing patchy snow around 3000 feet, but there was only one small patch of snow was on the trail. There was a fair bit of snow around the edges of Mink Lake though. From there I hiked back down and started off toward Hurricane Ridge. url=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dIBCd9cDbhIGNgDhdCvT6tMTjNZETYmyPJy0l... read more

More photos at: Picasa url=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GQh9CkKvFWwTlkBqU1H9DtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlinkimg=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cOfNwUm9vos/ThEOlRBAAZI/AAAAAAAABHc/VSTZljweigw/s288/IMG_0178.JPG I got up with the truckers and headed back south a little further, then up the Hoh River valley. Along the way (actually, while I was waiting for the park gate to open at 8AM) I was able to answer a question I had been wondering about. If you look at a map of Olympic NP, it looks not entirely unlike someone took a bite out of the west side of the park. The large NPs are often surrounded by larger NFs, and Olympic is no exception, but the NF is also absent from this bite. The bite doesn't look to be all that populated (it actually looks nearly completely unpopulated), so ... read more

The next morning, I started the day by wandering around Newhalem, the historic town where the workers building the Gorge Dam lived and still home to the current operators. There, I got to see two powerhouses, The Gorge Powerhouse and the Newhalem Powerhouse, which diverted Newhalem Creek to produce the power needed to build the Gorge Dam and still used to generate power today. Unexpectedly, there was a nice, lit floral garden behind the Gorge Powerhouse. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures at Newhalem, the powerhouses, or the garden as I was hurrying a bit (though I did take the time to stop and smell the flowers) in anticipation of the driving I had planned for the day. Once I was done in Newhalem, I headed out of Ross Lake NRA and took I-5 south towards ... read more

More photos at: Picasa url=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tiNe_s_GnaOcDTMigNtpr9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlinkimg=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mrJMuaRnZ-k/ThELPiIrAKI/AAAAAAAABgE/VrcFnZKY5ls/s288/IMG_0112.JPG Grand Coulee Dam Mountain day. AKA Rain day. It never really poured, just an on and off drizzle to make the mountain driving interesting until I got to Spokane, WA, at which point what was left of the day became sunny and clear. In Spokane I left I-90 behind and started moving towards North Cascades National Park and Ross Lake National Recreational Area. Along the way was Grand Coulee Dam, a massive dam on the Columbia River that diverts water for irrigation. After this I continued on, stopping Omak, WA for the night. I probably could have gotten a few more miles in, but th... read more

As I tend to do for road trips, I left after work to get a few hours of driving in. Unfortunately, I didn't get to leave as early as I wanted due to the spectacular failure of something I take care of at work. Unfortunately, it took five hours (on a two hour SLA) to get connected with the vendor's technician (at 4 PM), and all he did was confirm the problem and have me enable more logging. A few knowledge transfer e-mails later, and I finally got out the door around 5:30. So much for getaway day. (While I was out, it was found to be a known bug and the system was patched. The tech said he searched for known bugs. Grr...) Not much to say about the drive. The first few miles of ... read more