mountainsandsound

Why is gerrymandering off the table? I realize that nobody is actually being denied the vote in that case so constitutional rights are not in violation, but if you let someone vote and then minimize the influence of their particular demographic, then how much of a functional difference are we talking about?

Should we forget the 1960s era Jim Crow south? If you are saying that right now, regarding the voter ID laws, the GOP machine owns a widespread and systemic form of suppression that has a particularly troubling racial element to it, then yes. But it has gone both ways. Both parties have been responsible for attempting to minimize the political influence of those that do not support them.

To be fair, if Democrats could find a way to suppress the vote of the older white male demographic and put it under the guise of preventing voter fraud they would. But sure, doing it to an already disenfranchised demographic that correlates closely with race makes it more disturbing.

Kayaking is fun but can be hard core in the winter. With the right gear it's cool though. Tillamook Bay seems like it could be fun to explore, or paddling around the full length of Cape Lookout if you're super hardcore (probably something that requires a lot of skill and experience though). Do you have enough space in your place for a homebrewing setup? Not physical, but good stuff, a good "go to" hobby between summer and full-on winter.

Whoa. That sounds terrifying and funny at the same time. Did you split so you wouldn't need to see them or wait the requested minute? I've slept in a couple lookouts in the summer months, but got sort of turned off by the experience because the mice were really out of control. I like checking them out though, it's cool to think about the history behind them. Glad people have been keeping them up on their own initiative.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. What does etiquette call for when more than 1 party arrives at a given lookout? Seems like it could be a situation if multiple parties arrive and nobody brought shelters, thinking they'd be staying in a lookout.

That is Spray, and the internet, in a nut shell. And that's the way we like it! Recipe for spray: Climbing season done. Skiing a ways off still. Election year. Seahawks doing so-so.

I judged that their vehicles hailed from Seattle. I'm not actually into rural vs. urban, we all live some place where a job, family obligations, etc... all conspire to locate us. I just wasn't aware of the Seattle area contingency there until recently.

I notice a lot of city of seattle parking stickers right beside the fun little Mazama or Methow stickers on the rear windows of cars there.

Yeah, it wasn't overly obnoxious. Quieter than a brush cutter at full throttle. I've heard a lot about them but this was the first time I'd seen one in real life. I wonder if drones will someday be the next GoPro circa 2007.

Saw a drone at Vantage on Monday. It was hovering like a giant fly around feathers as I was headed toward sunshine wall. I had alternating fantasies about bringing it down with a shotgun at close range and with a rifle from a distance. Anyone seen this at Vantage or other crags? Are they from companies shooting promotional videos or just Joe Climber with a drone?

That sounds right. I have a friend who was once a devoted alpine climber and whitewater kayaker. He felt that once you reach a certain level in both sports, the increasing objective hazard starts to outpace the skill set needed for such routes. There was too much rolling of the dice when climbing advanced alpine routes or running hard whitewater. Now he skis like a fiend.

I think this is the season I'll finally buy my own beacon. I have almost exclusively borrowed or rented the Tracker 2 when I needed a beacon, and I'm pretty convinced this is the make/model I want. I have some time before I need one and I'm ready to wait it out for a good sale this fall. What would be a good sale price for a new Tracker 2?

My wife and my mother have finally coerced me into swapping my 7 year old flip phone for a smart one. I just couldn't keep fighting. Not sure if I need something that will help me waste more time on the internet.

Nice pics Alan. I hear estimates of time until an ice free arctic, anyone know of similar estimates for a (mostly) ice free N. Cascades? Kind of sad to contemplate.

Montana!? Lucky. The mountains to people ratio in that state is unreal. Nice pics.

Very cool. I was trying to get this to happen with a friend this summer but it's still on the list. Your TR keeps it alive for me though. Adam's East side has sort of a forbidden quality in my mind.

I can't say I disagree with you guys on that one. Although I would welcome the bad bruins back, part of me thinks that with the wild land we have and a source population just across the border, we would have already seen a naturally reintroduced population making its way down south if there was enough habitat to go around. If it's really true that the lower watersheds were the better habitats, I question how many grizzlies we could actually support in the north cascades. Mountain ranges are tough places to live. If you read the Lewis and Clark journals or other documents from before the west was conquered, you find out that grizzly bears seemed to be more abundant in the high plains and the slopes of the Rockies, rather than in the mountains themselves.

I see what you're getting at Jason, but I wonder what people would say if we were talking about climbing rather than about bad wildlife experiences. How many climbers stop climbing after living through a serious accident or the death of a friend? If caught in an avalanche in the backcountry, would a skier be wishing a helicopter could have bombed the slope prior to skiing it? Would a botched river ford have a drowning backpacker wishing the forest service had put a bridge in to make the crossing safer? To me these are all hazards that are part of the same wilderness package, and I wouldn't want to do much to make the wilderness a safer place, other than develop my own skills and judgement and bring appropriate gear. FWIW, I've been charged by a habituated black bear and surprised a grizzly at an uncomfortable distance. Neither of those incidences made me want to stop getting out into the mountains, but they did cause me to reflect on my behavior and think differently about the risk. I'm not necessarily pro-reintroduction yet, I haven't looked at the science of it, the recovery plan, feasibility etc... I'm more responding to feelings of general animosity or anxiety regarding grizzlies, which I am not assigning to any particular member.

Some years back, before I had taken any trips in grizzly habitat, I wondered how I would feel if grizzlies were to become reestablished in the Cascades. Wolves I was fine with, but I decided I didn't like the thought of grizzlies. I have since taken backcountry trips in western Montana and Alaska and I enjoyed the vibe I got from being in their presence. "Real" is a good way to describe it. I don't think it is unlike the feeling of "realness" in climbing brought on by exposure, commitment, remoteness, etc... except that the hazards are not posed by large mammals. It's all part of the wilderness package though. There's always the roadside crags if the mountains get too wild.

Some trip reports make me wish I was there, some make me glad I'm just reading about it from the safety of my living room. Yours is the latter. Good stuff!

I really wonder, if we were all left to our own devices with no interference from the Forest Service, how many people would you find up there on a nice summer weekend? 200? 400? Enough to have a wild outdoor rave with glow sticks, headlamps, and beatboxing?

Oly, would you consider a summer weekend backpack trip to one of those Enchantment Lakes to be the ultimate act of cool?

I dig your style dude. Sounds like the facial hair situation in college. Ironic mustaches were wildly popular, but full on beards, not so much. You could still have an unkept beard and have people think you were a real mountain man, guru, deviant, or some sort of drop out- even though you weren't. Now it's totally ruined. All it means now is that you probably have an expensive bike and you listen to really cool music. Hipsters make it so hard to stay counter culture. I don't know if the time is right to go back to the mustache, but we might be getting close. In the meantime, I've been thinking about going clean shaven with a short bull cut, faded in high. That'll stump 'em.

I'm not sure, but I get the impression that a lot of people from Leavenworth are in reality from the Seattle area. I had the same feeling in Mazama when I was skiing. Last time I saw that many City of Seattle parking sticker permits I was in Seattle. Nothing against Seattle... good city.