The Great Northwest

My hike on Sierra Blanca in NM at 10500 ft (2008). Looking to the East.

Here's a captioned video (see bottom of page) from one of my several hikes I did last year. It's a video of me visiting High Rock lookout point in Washington near Packwood. It was my 2nd time visiting the place. The first time was when I was a young 7 year old deaf boy with my family on a hiking adventure. I specifically remembered this spot and it was like coming home to a spot that I found so fascinating as a deaf boy being at such a high altitude and seeing a majestic mountain in front of me. In fact, that day when I hiked up there as a boy it was that same warm, sunny day. Only this time I brought my camera, my joy and solitude of that place.  Much of my memories growing up as a deaf/hh boy was the numerous camping, hiking, and swimming adventures I had with my family out in the Northwest. The video below is one of the many series of videos I plan to capture the places I've been to in Washington and Oregon when I was a kid. I'll also video-tape many places that I've never been to as well.

In Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina (2001)

Just because you have a hearing loss doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the great outdoors. Yes, it's a cliche'. But it's good see blogs or vlogs with deaf and hard of hearing people detailing their outdoor adventures and visits. Frankly, there's not enough of them. Being outdoor allows you the opportunity to connect with nature and when we die, we return to the ground and become nature again.

I've done several years of hiking in the deserts and mountains of south-central New Mexico. Fascinating and beautiful place. Though it was my time to move again and that was to move back to my old stomping ground in the great Northwest. The only regret is that I didn't take enough pictures or videos back in New Mexico. Video cameras were a bit expensive back then. But today it's cheap and easy to use. It won't be just me having fun but my family will be a part of that adventure as well.

White River Falls swim hole near Tygh Valley, OR (2010

Other hikes I am fortunate in doing is related to my work where such as fire fighting in Washington and Idaho, partake with a fire crew on prescription burns in New Mexico or hike the burned forests and fields for my post-fire mitigation work while the area is still burning and smoldering with the smell of acrid smoke lingering heavily in the air. 

But mostly I do the hikes into the woods to access streams and lakes where I do my analysis inaccessible by vehicle. And frankly, I get to have my lunch breaks in some of the nicest areas deep in the woods, by a stream or sit on perch overlooking the forested valleys with a river or creek winding its way down below on a warm, sunny day. No wild cougars or bears to cross my path. Knock on wood. Of course, I have had my days when it was wet or snowy where I had my lunches there. Part of my job.

This year I plan to visit more of Oregon, one of my favorite state to go and hike and have fun there. The landscape, especially east of the Cascades mountain range where it is drier, is just simply gorgeous. Basically anyplace immediately east of the Cascade mountain range is gorgeous anyway. Perhaps this year I'll chronicle my visit to my old super secret swimming hole located between Dufur

Dufur, Oregon. One of my favorite town to visit. Grew up here playing  there.

and Tygh Valley, Oregon that me and my family had a blast every summer swimming there while growing up. But I won't tell you the exact location cause it's a secret swimming hole! 

Dufur is a quaint, old friendly town in Oregon. It's a town where my mother and father grew up. It's a agriculture community that thrived on growing hay and wheat. I basically grew up there because my family visited Dufur so much during the summers while I was growing up in Tacoma, Washington.

Swimming with my daughter on White River Falls (summer 2010)

My hiking in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon have taken me to some wonderful places of natural beauty from the deserts of New Mexico to the top of a 11,000 foot peak of Sierra Blanca to the jagged rocky peak of High Rock Lookout mountain to the cool river of White River Falls to beat the hot Oregon summer weather to hiking the changing landscape on Gotchen Creek trail. But not only did I witness the beauty of nature but the ugly side of nature when wildfire rears its ugly head temporarily destroying the forest. Only time will these forested ruins come back to life and stake its claim once again. Fire fighting for me as a
hard of hearing person was a tough job to do. Not only was the job tough and physically demanding it was

Myself on a prescription burn in the Guadalupe Mtns of New Mexico

dangerous whenever you are out there fighting fire, the loose rocks above you, the trees that could fall on you at any time (i.e. widow makers), and the ash covered hole that used to be a stump where you can fall in up to your leg and perhaps break it or get burns.

All in all I covered a lot grounds in both the good and bad part of nature. I don't plan to stop. I've just begun.

So, if you're a deaf or hard of hearing blogger or vlogger, please show us your pictures or videos of your outdoor adventures whether it's hiking, white water rafting, camping, mountain climbing, fishing, or swimming in one of your favorite places at a lake, river or creek. What makes you seek the great outdoors? It'd be great to see them. And if you're from the Northwest, then hurrah!

Mike near Conconully, Washington fighting the Tripod Complex fire near the Canadian border (2006)

Video: Hike to High Rock Lookout

Here's a short video of the views on High Rock Lookout not too far from Packwood, Washington. Once you get to the top you get rewarded with a 360 degree view of the landscape all around you and below you. On this clear day I got to see Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. Not many people get to go where I can go. This hike require you to be relatively fit. The trail is short covering 1.6 miles one way but steep in many places along the way with the steepest being the last 150 feet to the lookout building. If you're not fit or overweight then I suggest you do not take upon this moderately hard hike unless your doctor gives you the approval.

As I Hide in the Shadows

I hide in the shadows.
A silent person among the shadows.
Do not look for me but seek the mountain behind me.
Beyond the shadows where I stand as a silent person.

A mountain that speaks volume of nature's call.
I am puny and small.
Limited in space and time.
Yet the mountain is big and timeless.

Do not look for me for solitude.
Seek the mountain's snowy fortitude.
It is loud for all to see.
Its embrace soothes the soul.

I may not hear nature's call.
But my mountain shouts to all.
If you need a friend
Look up to your white, gentle giant.

I hide in the shadows.
Black as a crow.
I am not important.
But my mountain is.


Picture: Mt Rainier. September 2010. You can see me in the shadows on the right.

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!

Beautiful Mt. Adams

In one of the many hikes I do out in Washington I find this scenery around Mt. Adams breathtaking and scenic on such a sunny and beautiful day. The location of this spot is on a steep trail that lead up to Forest Road 22. The picture I took was at an elevation of 4280 feet. From that spot you can see Mt Adams 15 miles away looking to the south-southeast at the north flank of that volcanic mountain that rises to 12, 276 feet.

Tomorrow, I plan to have pictures taken from the south flank of that mountain at an elevation of around 6,300 feet. The south flank is on the other side of Mt. Adams in this picture. I'll be on a high alpine meadow full of wildflowers and ripe huckleberries. It'll be a two mile hike in plus some more and then the return hike back to my vehicle. There'll be some snow at this elevation. And from there I'll be able to see Mt. Hood in the distance 55 miles away to the south on the Oregon side. The forecast for tomorrow? Sunny and quite warm.

Perfect.