Wrong Day For A Hike In North Bend

In the spirit of this blog, I planned to drive up to North Bend, Wash. and knock off Mount Si. I figured it would be Seattle's version of Dog Mountain, and that the drive would most likely be worth it for the workout and just to visit the filming location of Twin Peaks.

The Snoqualmie-North Bend region is pretty, lush and evergreen. Two of my internet-wilderness crushes, the Alpine Lakes and Kendall Katwalk aren't much farther down the I90 corridor. At one point a bald eagle dove across the road in front of me, just minutes before I heard on the radio that a small plane had crashed into Mount Si around 2 a.m. and SAR was underway. Well, shit.

I blundered on, through sheer stubbornness. I had slept all of two hours the night before and wasn't in the mood to call it a day having driven three hours already. I thought I could at least access the main trail, since the report said the crash was on Little Si. But no dice. The police had cordoned off the trailheads and closed the entire mountain. Choppers were staged in two locations that I saw. The cop I spoke to suggested Rattlesnake Mountain as "awesome!" This would turn out to be a pack of lies, but he had better things to worry about, like the three dead people his crew was trying to extricate.

I headed over to Rattlesnake Ridge, banged that out in under an hour and sulked all the way home. The Si trail had looked mostly free of snow but for a dusting on top, and I will most likely not bother to drive out there again. But as I was leaving town, I saw the helicopter pulling up a stretcher from the forest. So I'm safe and sound, and that's really all I can ask. It's hard to be too put out when faced with an accident like that. But I do wish I had been prepared for Teneriffe or even known about supposedly grueling Mailbox Peak, just east. Oh well. Next time I'll have better maps of the area rather than some internet printouts of a cheesy dayhike.

SAR helicopter, hovering over Little Si.

Wachlella and Oneonta in the Columbia Gorge: Photo Album

Stacker Butte, Dalles Mountain Ranch

This easy, weird hike was well worth the long drive for its treeless high-desert hillside and awesome top-to-bottom views of Mount Adams. I was all alone, too, just me and Dave Gahan. And, no, you don't want to hear my rendition of "Just Can't Get Enough," trust me.

Helvetia Ride, Redux

I hated last October's Helvetia Ride so much that I decided to ruin a gorgeous 50-degree day doing it again, only this time we added a climb out of Beck Rd.'s scenic canyon to really ensure that I was a wreck by the time we got home. It was 4,000 feet of climbing in 40 miles, it was brutal and it was awesome. Not bad for February, even if I did get passed by every other biker out there.

How can staying inside and watching the Super Bowl be better than this?

Me and the backside of a barn (I'm the blue one).

Loving life on Skyline.

Yup, feeling awesome.

Dr B says this is a shortcut.

He lied.

Mmmm, downhill. This ride has some of the fastest, funnest downhill. Until it doesn't.

Right before dropping into Helvetia.

Everything is pretty on a sunny day.

All these roads are dicks if you ask me.

What's he laughing at?

This was right before I lost my will to live.

I saw Saddle Mountain and Jefferson on this ride, neither of which is pictured here.

This is me summoning the strength to go on by imagining myself flying away on a sparkly pony.

Plainview grocery store... tell me about this thing you call... Red Bull?

So it's not RAMROD... but it's February!