Oh, Then There's This

Ok, so you might have noticed I have a couple of hobbies. Karine rolls her eyes when I mention them because she's not quite sure I have enough. That's sarcasm if you didn't catch it. So a couple of weeks ago we get home from work. I checked the front porch as usual for any goodies from UPS or the mailman. Not expecting to find anything, there sits two HUGE boxes on my doorstep. Addressed from my brother in Colorado, I noticed one of the boxes says "Orion" on the side. Shit - are you serious? Yes, he did. I looked at Karine and instantly got upset because I knew what was in them. This.

Yeah, an 8" telescope. My brother is an amature astronomor, and being the science nerd I am, I have a love of the heavens as well. He built his own telescope from a kit. Over the years, I've always wanted something fun to go stargazing with, but living in Western Washington, just not many good nights to go out. Well, now I have no excuse. I have my own. So now my hobby list includes stargazing - with an 8" telescope! In the last two weeks I've amassed a small library of star charts and reference books. I'm acquainting myself with the night sky. There's much to learn yet, so stay tuned. I'll definitely keep you in the loop on our gazing fluries.

Been A While...and Vanishing Frogs?

Hello Friends. Been a while but wanted to update you on things. Gee, what's happened since my last post. The annual end of summer 36-holes of golf day happened this year at the end of September. Geoff and I played Elk Run and Druid's Glenn (in Covington), finishing in rare form. Geoff basically completely hammered (on rum) and me, shooting 79/77 at both courses respectively. Not bad for only my 2nd AND 3rd time playing golf this year. I basically vowed to call it a season on that note.

Life continues to be busy with work and I'm hoping to get outside to have an adventure before Christmas. Mark and I need to hit our annual trip to Ozette/Cape Alava. We weren't able to get out there earlier this year due to my lower back being uncooperative. My back is finally more stable than it was and I'm ready for the coast. Stay tuned on that.

Karine and I plan to head out to Westport day after Thanksgiving to stay in the cabin for a couple days and listen to the waves. I can definitely say that wine will be had. Also, there will be a trip to Victoria, B.C. during the weekend of Christmas. Will post on that when we get back.

One thing I'd like to put on the radar is Jeff Corwin. You might know him as the excitable Bostonian who travels the planet in search of fun and interesting critters on Animal Planet. His recent venture is to open our eyes to a global issue facing amphibians. Frogs and the like are disappearing at an alarming rate. Global climate problems? Habitat destruction? Most likely, but there's another piece to the puzzle - the chytrid fungus. Here's an interesting article to read. No place on Earth now is immune to this killer, but scientists are working and learning fast to try and help this key indicator species.

Here's some links for more information:
amphibian ark
savethefrog.com
Jeff Corwin

Until next time, Happy Holidays! -E

Into The Fire

Last Saturday Karine and I headed back to Esmeralda for a little overnight backpacking. The forecast for the weekend? - Hot and sweaty. We packed up Friday night and darted out Saturday morning, making the long drive to Cle Elum, and then up the Teanaway Road. I noticed however, that there was a large plume of smoke off in the distance near our destination. Mt. Stuart appeared to be engulfed in a cloud of brownish-white. Ok, well, I didn't check the possibility to threat of forest fire before we left. It was a bit worrying - more because I really wanted to do this trip.


As we approached the forest service road it appeared that the smoke was well away from our trail. When we got to the trail head, Rangers had put up a closure sign to an area north of us, which shouldn't affect our hike. The hike was balls out with the weight of packs and 95 degree heat. Ok, so I totally suck at picking days to go backpacking. If it's not downpouring and creeks and rivers flooding, then it's too freakin' hot. Or it's snowing...I digress.

Long story short - we ended up at the upper horse camp. Much to my surprise, there was a small group of packers already up there. Figures. Here I thought we'd have the place to ourselves. Water was in bit of a short supply, but we hiked up a small trickle of a stream and found plenty of cool water to store for the night. Full moon tonite which gave us plenty of light.

Next morning we woke up very early to a bit of wind and some high clouds. From the direction of the wind, it caused an inversion of the fire smoke to come back over the ridge into our valley. Not good. Visibility got nasty and so did breathing that stuff. I cooked up some quick breakfast and we broke camp. Luckily going downhill is faster than going uphill. 2 hours up to camp only took 40 minutes down. It was nasty though. The smoke in places was very thick and coated our throats and lungs. After throwing our junk in the car, we pulled off the road and grabbed a change of clothes and headed down to the creek for a wash. The water as ice cold, but it was refreshing. No one around so hey, why not be naked.

The trip home concluded with a much deserved cheeseburger and fries in Cle Elum at a little drive-in joint. So good. Driving over the pass found some thunderstorms and nasty rain all the way home. Never fails being on the western side of the Cascades.

The Beach

We have some very close friends, Dennis & Beth, that let us use their cabin down at the beach just south of Westport. Thanks to them, we had a splendid weekend with my brother Alan and his wife Chrissy. Rare when they are able to come out here from Colorado, sans daughters.

First night together found us in Seattle at Safeco Field to watch the Red Sox and M's duel it out. Turns out this would be the last time bro and I would see Manny play in a Red Sox uniform.

Bro, Me, and Karine at the game...

Day one at the beach hunting the waterfront for kites!

Pre-dinner festivities. Cap'n Al and his First Mate, E-Dogg. "Did you say another beer?

Aye, Aye Skipper!"

Always clowning around, even while working with flammable materials. I'm grillin' up some ribs for the feast of epic proportions.

Out at the beach flying some kites. I bought one of those stunt kites you operate with two hands. Pretty rad! Kinda hooked on it. Another hobby?

I demonstrate to Alan how this thing works. "First off, you have to disconnect your head from your neck..." Talk about sore neck from looking up for two straight hours. Could fly that thing for hours.

Saturday - rain and fog. Welcome home, bro!! Driving around the cranberry fields. Can you say 'Ocean Spray?'

Ah the weekend comes to an end. Lovely sunset on Friday.

Back To The Basin

Sometimes you luck out and get one of those days that don't come along very often. This day was no exception. Mark and I set out on a little journey starting our day with an hour long mt. bike ride thru Dash Point St. Park. Afterwards we headed East towards Cle Elum again. If you get to Cle Elum, you might stop at one of the attractions in town and that is the Pioneer Coffee Company. There's usually some interesting characters around including the baristas and there's a killer hot-dog stand on the corner. Just in case...

So up the Teanaway we went again to the North Fork and the Esmeralda Basin trailhead. It's a busy trail and parking can be limited - so best to get up there early for best parking options. Also, it's a national forest fee area so make sure you have a parking pass. The day started out warm but the breeze kept us cool. There are numerous streams and creeks but the later the summer the less water you'll find at the upper part of the basin.

A stream and meadow along the trail.

There's great places to explore and before you start switchbacks, you may find some limbs laying across a barren patch of trail. For a side treat, step into this little bypass and you'll be surprised at some great little wildflower meadows full of indian paintbrush, purple mountain daisies, columbine, glacier lillies, and desert parsley. Higher up on the trail phlox and shooting star can be seen. If you stick to the basin trail you will be rewarded with nothing less than spectacular views.

Columbine and purple mountain daisies litter the meadows.

Staring into the reaches of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

If you sit long enough you get treated to a little "character" along the trail.

This little guy came within about 20 feet just sitting watching us...and watching for hawks.

Mark takes a well deserved water break. Because I don't like to pack water, it's very handy tohave a water filter with you so you can filter cold, fresh H2O along the trail.

Posing at the top.

The elements continue to carve this land.

Esmeralda Basin

So last year in 2007 Mark and I did some exploration of an area north of Cle Elum up near the Stuart Range. Fantastic area up the N. Fork of the Teanaway river called the Esmeralda Basin. The valley hike was gradual up to the top and once you got above the timber line the views were spectacular. Looking back down the valley reminds me of shots similar to Yosemite. You might see a resemblence. Some horse traffic up in this area and the place is littered with trails. Water later in the season is scarce, especially up near the top.

Mark and I were so happy with this choice in hikes that we vowed to research more of it. The following weekend we came back and this time Karine came with us. She had a ball. It was a great day and don't do what I did - I forgot the inserts for my boots. So I had to do the hike in my tennis shoes (provided by North Face).















Karine gets her first "near" summit. And then we pose for a picture.

Mark and I take a moment to frame in this shot.

One of the views from the top looking in the direction of Leavenworth. We plan to explore more of this region this year doing some backpacking. Stay tuned for more. -Eric

In Memorium...Farhad (Far) Koloushani 1978-2003

Sometime on January 16/17, 2003, my scuba diving instructor and budding friend, Far, died during a free-diving incident in Ginnie Springs, Florida. He had been teaching here in Olympia. Then after dating and marrying a girl that was in my dive class, he moved to San Diego where she went into medical residency.

Far was a few years younger than me but I have to say was one of the most mature, well natured, smart, and funny individuals I've ever met. He had extreme patience with people in and out of the water. An absolute natural teacher.

There are several memories I'll always have of Far. One that stands out is of a dive that we did at Sunnyside beach in Steilecoom (WA). Just Far, me, and one other guy. I needed to check off a couple things for my PADI certification and Far invited me out to dive with them and we'd hit the skills, then just have some fun. A very cold December day. During one time that we surfaced, we popped up into a fog bank and snow was falling. The air temperature was colder than the water temp. Dry suits are wicked sweet! It was amazingly quiet and we just floated on our backs for a while chatting and enjoying a snowy day in the water. A very warming experience to think back on.

Far had a zest for life and that life was taken too soon. When Josh from the dive crew called me and told me he had died, I couldn't believe it. To this day I know he died doing something he absolutely loved and I'll always take comfort in that. I'm lucky to have known him and he will never be forgotten. Dive on my friend... -Eric

Ride Into The Pits of Hell

Every year we do a ride at Devil's Gulch outside of Wenatchee. I think we're on year 3 or 4. Time flies and I can't remember. But it's a great way to end the summer. So far it's Mark, Jason (pictured here), and me. A lot of beer might be consumed too (post ride - no RUI for us!).

What a great ride. There's no rush to do this long downhill and we take the opportunity to have plenty of fun. Like this one time when I decided to stop pedaling across a creek and got soaked - after bouncing off two massive boulders. Slight bruising on my left calf. And let's not forget Jason trying to push Mark into said creek...

Say goodbye to summer, gang. Jason, Mark, and Eric pose for one last pic. Until next year...

The Hominid Tale

You might be wondering - "what's this Happy Hominid thing?" Well, put simply - it's us! We're the hominids and we're here to stay, at least for the moment. From our oozy beginnings in the primordial soup to our conquest of space, we hominids have seen and done a lot. We are a curious bunch and that gets us into trouble now-and-then, and sometimes we don't play nice with others. But to the core of our species is the Happy Hominid. We're happy to just be out doing what we like.

Back in college, I met this groovy dude in one of my biology classes. He was a bit older than me and I figured we didn't have much in common. Ho-ho! Not so! Turns out we had lots in common. First and foremost was our love of urban brunettes. Second, we were down with good standup comedy! But at its core, we also had a mutual love and respect for the outdoors. The mountains called and we formed a strong friendship that's lasted 14+ years now. Thru that I have explored several parts of the Pacific Northwest and continue to do so to this day. Even after my pal had moved back to Michigan and then to Arizona.

This sight is an outlet for me to share in some of my adventures here in the Pacific Northwest, rain or shine. I welcome you to share your comments with me, as well as your stories of adventure, no matter where it may be. I hope you find a piece of the Happy Hominid spirit and it inspires you to keep doing what you're doing or get out there and try something new for yourself. And don't forget the slogan: "Happy Hominid!" -Eric