Alex Wetmore is always busy with something... » Lake Hancock http://alexwetmore.org Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:30:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Two Trips, both a little different than planned http://alexwetmore.org/archives/575 http://alexwetmore.org/archives/575#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:10:00 +0000 Alex Wetmore /blogs/alex_wetmore/archive/2009/04/06/two-trips-both-a-little-different-than-planned.aspx On Saturday morning Andrew, Rory, Andre and I drove up to North Bend with goals of riding up to Lake Hancock and Lake Calligan. It was already sunny and warm at 9am, and the weather reports just suggested that it would get even better. I think we all thought there might be snow up in the hills, but we found it much earlier than planned as we started the climb from the North Fork valley floor up to the first lake. Just a little bit up the trail and at about 1500 feet we found our first bits of snow. A 1/4 mile later the road was no longer passable.

We got to the fork for Lake Hancock and decided to ditch the bikes and hike up to the lake. An hour or so later the snow was up to our calves and we decided to turn back. We enjoyed a fast descent in snow turned slush and then experimented with each others bikes before finding our way back to the car. We’re all excited to return the area and eventually find the roads that link it up with our trip from a few weeks prior.

Andre plays "Dr Strangelove"

Andrew rides up through the first bits of snow.

Andre demonstrates his hack for sunglasses on a day which really needed them. Everyone else followed.

Rory and the rest of us make one last attempt at riding through deep snow.

The trek back down

Nice views abound

Today Christine and I took the kayak down to Nisqually Delta. It was another beautiful day which highs around 70 and clear skies. We were hoping to explore the delta and see lots of wildlife (primarily birds), but due to a two timing issues (time of day and time of year) we saw less than we were hoping for. We still had a great paddle,enjoyed wonderful scenery (great views of Rainier and the Olympics) and saw some cool birds.

Great views of the Olympics. The boat ramp that we launched from is in the front.

We saw this bird of prey immediately after setting out

Lots of these guys were out and digging for worms.

Mudflats in the foreground, Mt Rainier in the background.

The whole weekend was a great way to kick off spring/summer. I look forward to another busy year of spending time outside. I hope that I have a little time to work on bike projects too.

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