klenke

This study has been completed. [ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

This study has been completed. [ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

Okay, Dru, you bring your mtn. lion pet and I'll bring my wolf pet and we'll put them in a ring and see what happens. Perhaps we can do some betting on the side like cock fights. It's not about predatory efficiency here, it's about ferocity and drive. A wolf, in a pack or alone, is pretty ferocious when cornered or in danger. And it's not about size here either. If you took that logic, a wolverine would be nothin'. But, in reality, not many things out there will mess with a wolverine. And since wolves and wolverine share the same etymology, can you see my 'logic'? Oh, and I'm not smoking anything in particular, I'm just smoking--as in "I'm smokin' now!"

This study has been completed. [ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

This study has been completed. [ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

My comment to Beck was facetious as it is common for people to mistake coyotes for wolves. Perhaps you saw a husky. You may very well have seen a lone wolf, though on the west side of the crest it's more unlikely. I do recall a recent wolf "problem" with livestock in the Okanogan being in the news. Oh, and Dru, a wolf is much more than a dog. Furthermore, a mountain lion would have no chance against a wolf. But then, they probably avoid each other.

This study has been completed. [ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

Gary: At first I thought you were serious. But then I read the 20th essential and realized it was a joke. No self-respecting sherpa would ever be caught helping a Mountaineer member.

Beck, You probably saw a fat coyote. Doubtful it was a wolf.

AMEN TO THAT!!! The wolf should be revered not feared. What a great animal. It is tops on my list of favorite land animals. The bald eagle is my favorite animal all told, though my inner anime sometimes takes precedence.

"...and there was a sixpack of microbrews back there too." Maybe they were underage and were good little boys. Ha ha. Yeah right.

Climbing Graybeard from Easy Pass would be an easy endeavor (class 4 max along the ridge/face). Great views. If you're talking about the face to the east of this ridge, then I don't know. But this is when the road is open, as Dan says...unless you want a long long hike in.

Sorry to hear about your loss. My car was recently broken in to as well...and they took a stereo item that won't be usable outside of my car. A grab and dash all for nothing. Knowing that tape can be removed from climbing gear, etc., I use an engraver to make a specific mark on non-load bearing surfaces of my gear. Then, if I lose the gear or someone else might possibly have it, I can always check for the mark. You can buy an engraver for <$10. On gear like sleeping bags I don't have a comparable system but could come up with something there too. For a loss >$5,000, this is more than a simple theft and should be handled as such by the authorities. Else, stealing from a Brinx truck would be no big deal.

Hey Mike, thanks for the Rat Creek warning. A couple of times I was going to use it to get to Cannon Mountain.

Yeah, I think Roger Waters misses her too.

Here Here!MountainMan gets both the award for Worst Approach and Worst Descent. He's the first MountainMan to win both awards since...(insert your best/worst friend here)

Little known fact?... The sun actually rises north of east in the summertime due to curvature of the earth. Remember on June 21 the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees toward the Sun. Plus, the Entiat ice face does face just slightly east of north. [ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

One nice thing about the PNW is that there is no poison ivy north of Olympia (or so I've read). So, for the most part, in the N. Cascades you can bushwhack to your heart's and leg's content without having to worry about a rash from poison ivy or oak. Also, on the Puget Sound side of the crest there are no rattlesnakes. And Devil's Club (aka Bear Club) versus Slide Alder? Hmmmm, that's a difficult one. Often to me it seems the Devil's Club takes you by surprise and you get pricked grabbing it unintentionally. Slide Alder is always a barrier you see coming (more or less) that you have to cross.

Is the bushwhacking any more heinous anywhere in the USA than in the Pacific Northwest (excluding the Alaskan panhandle)? Those of you from the desert/southern states, if you've never hiked cross-country in Washington on the west side of the Cascade Crest, you have no idea just how bad the bushwhacking can be. It's a world unto its own and takes a special breed of climber just to have the guts (nerve?) to willingly flail through it to reach the goal. And is there any more sublime a joy than to come upon that eventual alpine clearing after a couple of hours of non-stop bushwhacking? There are valleys in the Cascades that NO ONE ever ventures into if they hope to come out again. Sulphur Creek is one such example.

I once free solo'd Mt. Si on Earth Day going backward with my eyes closed and one leg strapped behind my back while listening to Britney Spears music on my headphones and wearing an N'Sync T-Shirt. [ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: klenke ]

The guy I was with was fearing we'd need to do an impromptu (unintended) bivy in the middle of nowhere between ridge crest and trail. He probably said this right after we'd come out of a slide-alder downhill traverse (you know what I mean here). However, we decided to press on in the blackout because we knew the trail was down there somewhere. If you miss it, you'll eventually get to the creek. I was in the lead when I stumbled on to the narrow trail. My headlamp was so bad I couldn't tell if it was the trail or not until walking along it for some way.

dkemp: I've been in that Stetattle Creek valley too. Real heinous in there beyond trail's end. My story is two of us going in via the trail (in an attempt to climb Elephant Butt), losing the trail, finding Torrent Creek, ascending along side it, making way for the highest point on Stetattle Ridge (SE of the Butt), going back along ridge, leaving the ridge too early, and descending back down to the valley trail in the dark in a bushwhack. For those of you who haven't bushwhacked in the dark with a shitty headlamp, you need to try it. You haven't lived until...blah blah blah.

And if you bivi on the road it's stamping. Paul

"Great Solo's in the Cascades"? I once saw Han Solo up on Outer Orbit.