Solitude in hiking

High Rock Lookout. You can see the tiny white cabin on top of center peak.

High Rock Lookout cabin (summer, 2009) with Mt. Rainier behind it.

When hiking alone as a deaf or hard of hearing person solitude can either be a peaceful place or a frightening one, depending on how you relate to being in the outdoors while alone, and unable to hear should that happen. It may seem frightening to some people on not being able to hear. But for me to hear with my hearing aid gives me that added dimension to my own version of what solitude is all about. And the opportunity to hear the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees and grasses, a babbling creek, roar of a waterfall, or birds chirping in the distance. And if I'm lucky hear the rattle of a rattle snake if I don't get too close (yes, I did see one and took a picture of it from 6 feet away, that's another story for another time).

I find it very peaceful, relaxing and whenever I hike to a spot high up on a mountain peak or on a ridge line area where I can see the vast distances spread out across before me. And witness the awesomeness of nature and her beauty. I grew up hiking, backpacking and camping as a kid and continue to do so as an adult.  I know what beauty is about. Nowadays, I get more of my hiking done that is work-related, getting paid to hike in the back parts of the forest as I go and get the needed survey data for my analysis. And the only way to get where I need to go is to hike.

At other times I hike when there is an opportunity to go when good weather comes my way such as hiking up to Gotchen Creek Meadows on the flank of Mt. Adams or hike up to High Rock Lookout where I hiked once before when I was a young boy at 8 years old did I actually remember that place on a hike with my mother and father, and my sister and brother that day.  Solitude is about revisiting your past as well. And I certainly enjoyed my 2 hour solitude there by myself.

I get my solitude "high" at these high places absorbing in the beauty and fresh air knowing that only a few people actually took the time to visit these altitude challenging trails. In fact, I met up with 4 older people on my trek to High Rock Lookout where one couple was from New Zealand and the other from Olympia, Washington. I had a nice chat with the people from New Zealand, especially the nice lady who had a quaint but soft New Zealand accent to her voice. I asked her to please speak up because I told her I have a hearing loss. After our brief 10 minute conversation on High Rock Lookout I asked two ladies to wave at me so I can take a picture of them as they departed on their way down the trail. One waving at me is from New Zealand.

One particular hike I fondly remember is a hike to a 10,600 ft ridge line peak that is part of the Sierra Blanca (12,003 ft) mountain ridge line in New Mexico. My hike was work-related and it was a 4.5 mile round trip hike starting at the end of a road in Bear Canyon as I hiked along Bear Canyon Creek trail inside the subwatershed.

(copy and paste Latitude and Longitude for Google Earth)
33 25' 05.20" N
105 49' 30.65" W

My hike began at 8080 ft on a 2.5 mile trail to a 10,640 foot ridge line peak where I stopped there for lunch.

(copy and paste Latitude and Longitude for Google Earth)
33 25' 05.20" N
105 49' 30.65" W

The place was an open grassy peak where to the west it drops off with trees downslope. The stop was breath-taking with a grandeur view of the Tularosa Basin valley below me where the Chihuahuan Desert is. I could see White Sands to the southwest of me to the Valley of Fire lava field almost directly to the west. And mountain chain on the opposite side of the Tularosa Basin valley could be seen. After an hour of absorbing in the beauty and fresh air, my lunch break was over. I hiked back down piggy-backing a ridge line back to my truck, a 2 mile hike where I had to bush whack my way through in some parts with downed trees. I wasn't on a trail but above the trail where I was earlier along Bear Canyon Creek. It was an awesome hike. I just wished I had brought my camera that day.

Another hike I took was the Dog Canyon hike in the desert of New Mexico near Alamogordo. My hike started at the 4400 ft elevation up to 4900 ft elevation where I did my taping for my "Adversity" vlog for hearing parents of deaf and hard of hearing children that speaking isn't something to be ashamed about. That hike was a relatively short one yet it was steep with with an elevation gain of about 500 ft, though the trail was well built and easy to hike on with some crudely made steps that were built in.  The weather was quite warm that day being that I was in the Chihuahuan desert and all that. The view certainly looked different being almost 50 miles further south from a hike I did up to a 10,600 foot ridge line peak.

(copy and paste Latitude and Longitude for Google Earth)
32 44'53.19"N
105 54'35.90"W

Solitude means different things to different people. As a person with hearing loss my solitude is about nature and the environment where I get the opportunity to enjoy the high altitude views. It's about the smell, the sound, the view and even the effort to get where you want to be will experiencing solitude be more refreshing than ever. The crunching steps of my boots on the trail. The swiping of a few handfuls of huckleberries to quench my taste buds.  A car trip cannot replace that same feeling of solitude, nor will it get you that same feeling of reward the effort it took you to a place few people hike to. The spirituality is different when you are one with nature, hiking a trail while you mull over your thoughts, alone. I have a lot of hiking ahead of me and lot places to visit in Washington and Oregon, especially next on my radar is my "super-secret" swimming hole near Tygh Valley, Oregon that I went often went as a kid with my folks who grew up nearby in Dufur, Oregon. There is solitude in hiking. When will you take yours?

Hike to High Rock Lookout

I reported earlier about my planned trip to High Rock Lookout near Packwood, Washington but those days were rained out if anybody wanted to join. And finally I had a chance to hike on a perfect, gorgeous day with sunny weather, blue skies and warm temperature. Previous hike I chronicled was to Gotchen Creek Meadows on the southern flank slopes of Mt. Adams if you're interested in reading. Enjoy my slideshow that ends with a video shot at the top of High Rock Lookout panning the landscape below me. The fire lookout is still being used today during fire season to watch for signs of forest fires. It is on the National Historic Register when the lookout was built in the 1930s.

Be sure to click on the YouTube screen and enlarge to fullscreen. Also, be sure to view it in high definition. It's more spectactular that way.

Enjoy!

Hike to Gotchen Creek Meadows on Mt Adams

It went well today. My seven mile hike. This is my best hike so far and enough to add to Facebook's Deaf and HH Hikers of the Northwest.

I drove almost three hours to get to the end of Forest Road 150 which is where my hike started. This is about a 30 minute drive north of the of town of Trout Lake. From the end of the road FR 150 I embarked a 1/2 mile hike stepping over dead, downed and blackened trees that burned from last year's Cold Spring Fire. I had to hike through this burned over forest since there was no trail to begin with in order to reach Trail #11 so I can hike to Trail #9 which is another 2 and 3/4 mile further. All this hiking was uphill starting from the 4500 feet elevation to the Gotchen Creek Meadows and beyond at about 6300 feet elevation. From there you can see Mt Adams up close her southern flank. All this took me 6 hours of almost non-stop hiking with water breaks and snacked on GORP along the way to help keep my energy up. The hike up hill took me a little less than four hours and the 2 hours to come down. It got a little hot coming down with temperature getting up into the upper 80s and was especially noticeable in the burned out forest part.

Below are my pictures of my hike today. Enjoy!


At the start of my hike to Gotchen Meadows which is 3 1/2 mile hike...up...from 4500 feet elevation to 6400 feet. Took me 3 1/2 hours to get to the meadows plus another 1/2 hour hikeing past that. The burned trees are from last year's fire on Mt Adams' south flank known as the Cold Spring fire.



I see dead trees!


More dead, blackened trees called "Widowmakers," and for a good reason, too.


Walking among the dead, blackened trees. Good thing it is sunny and very little wind. Still, these dead trees can fall over at any time. The sign says "Snipes Mountain Trail # 11." My hike is to Trail #9 which is 2 3/4 mile at that point but it took me about 3/4 mile just to get this point. The rocky stuff you see behind the sign? That's the Aiken lava flow (10 miles long and about 1 mile wide) created some 3,500 to 6,000 years ago.


Pretty yellow wildflowers.



Slowly getting out of the black.



Up on a bluff looking across the burned trees and in the distance you can see the Aiken lava flow. It was too hazy in the distance to see Mt. Adams.



Gotchen Creek Meadows "gate." Sign says to please keep the gate in place and help protect Gotchen Creek Meadows (mostly from cattle).


Gotchen Creek Meadows. One meadow out of a series of them on the way up. In the forefront you can see purple, white and some yellow wildflowers.


Mike at one of the Gotchen Meadows. Some snow can be seen behind me. Elevation about 5600 feet. Lots of mosquitos here. I can't stop for a lunch break. So, I eat on the go and keep moving so mosquitos won't have much of a chance to land on me.



Gotchen Creek. Elevation approximately 5700 feet.



The sign behind me says: "Yakima Indian Reservation Boundary Tract D. Welcome." Elevation approximately 6200 feet.



Another Gotchen Meadows and you can see Mt Adams up close.




A little wooden bridge that crosses Gotchen Creek. Elevation approximately 6300 feet.


Standing in front of Gotchen Creek waterfall. I was blocking it. Next photo below shows it. Elevation approximately 6300 feet.



Gotchen Creek waterfall. Hard to see. Had to reduce my picture definition...running out of memory.

The return trip back to my vehicle took me about 2 hours instead of 4 hours walking up.

Boy, am I beat today! But it was a very good day!