The last two English camps were hot but successful - a heat wave hit Hat Yai just in time for Dylan's arrival. After two days of fun with the kids, we were all droopy but happy. Our going away party with the Smart English crew was also a very good time. We all went to one of our favorite Thai restaurants, ate yummy food (some of which P Toi, our manager, cooked for us) and sang bad karaoke. A lot of people had some commendable things to say about us, and we were given some very nice Thai clothes that we look forward to wearing on special occasions at home. We'll miss all of our friends from Smart English!

With school officially wrapped up, we hit the road to show Dylan a bit of South Thailand. We headed first for the Trang coast to Haad Yao Nature Resort, where we had a fantastic self-guided paddle through the mangroves to a HUGE cave. After exploring the cave, we headed back only to hear from Khalil (the resort founders' son, and a great cook) that we'd actually missed the "main" cave, which was up a ladder to the side. Dylan and Trevor couldn't resist heading back, and braved the turning tide and setting sun to do the real thing. I settled in on the deck to read a book. We also had the good fortune to make it over to the "secret beach", which can only be accessed at low tide. With tons of small caves and rock arches, it might be the prettiest little beach we've seen so far. For a small beach, it also offered a lot of prime nature-viewing, with langurs (leaf-eating monkeys), brahminy kites, a white-bellied sea eagle, and the tracks of a small monitor lizard, which we followed in and out of the rocks.

Anxious to get out to the island, we headed for HYNR's sister operation on Koh Libong, where one has the opportunity to boat or kayak into dugong habitat for a chance to see the rare animals. This trip was not possible at the time, and after enjoying the beach and extremely friendly village for a couple days, we decided to head for Khao Sok National Park a bit early.

We checked into the Rainforest Resort, a quiet establishment along the Sok river, and picked two bungalows up on the hillside. We saw a flying lizard on one and a beautiful green tree frog on another, so we decided this must be the lucky place! Our big jungle hike the next day was outstanding. We saw lots of hornbills, langurs, macaques, lizards with horns, and countless other amazing examples of tropical forest life. We swam in a beautiful little gorge on the Sok river.

The next day we decided to go up to Cheow Lan Lake to stay in a floating bungalow. The boat ride to the bungalows alone makes the trip worthwhile: huge limestone cliffs and pillars shoot straight up out of the lake, with thick forest growing on seemingly impossible slopes. We took a lot of pictures. Arriving at Ton Teuy, we enjoyed some fantastic food, and found the staff very friendly, and very encouraging of our Thai!

Unfortunately this beautiful place was struck by tragedy on our first day there. A group of 9 people (2 Thai guides and 7 tourists) was caught in a flash flood through a popular cave near our bungalows. In the evening hours we watched a large-scale search and rescue operation unfold. A single tourist was the sole survivor. The caring, diligence, and effort of all involved was touching and impressive, even if the end result was extremely sad. As the search stretched into the second day, we made plans to leave early, and were an hour away from boating off the lake when the operation concluded with the celebration of finding the survivor. With our concerns of being in the way allayed, and the bungalow staff insisting that we stay on, we opted to stay one more night. We had a fantastic connection with the staff that night, talking about the park, what happened, and their friends who were gone. None of us will forget this experience any time soon.
Back at the Rainforest Resort, Dylan had one last lunch with us before catching a bus for his "One Night in Bangkok" (and one day, too) before flying home. He was there for my 100th Thai bird (the ruby-cheeked sunbird across the river, not the mystery sea eagle on the lake - sorry Dylan)! We were very glad to have him here with us, and think a good time was had by all.

Initially it looked like only the lake portion of the park would be closed, but then it was announced that all parks in south Thailand would be closed for at least a week for a safety assessment. After sneaking in one more short hike, we decided it was a firm sign to head for the beach, and that we should treat ourselves to the fancy snorkel trip we've been contemplating. Our boat leaves the day after tomorrow, and we firmly resolve to sip fruit shakes on the beach until then!

Labels: birds, Hat Yai, hiking, teaching, Thailand

Our last couple weeks have focussed on finishing classes with our students, enjoying ourselves exploring Ton Nga Chang waterfall, and hosting Em's school's English camp at another waterfall.

We both finish teaching class this coming Wednesday and our last camp is this Friday. The program we work for (Smart English Hat Yai) holds English camps for each of the three schools where we have western teachers. Em's camp (last Friday) was the first of the three. Pictures from Jiraporn's camp and school are here.

A couple weeks ago Em began teaching a "Thai animals" section that would be covered again in a couple of her camp activities. The topic looked so fun I piggybacked some of her materials (often the case this term). Teaching a topic that excited me gave me another glimpse at the beauty of educating. I have been more focussed on trying to get the students to learn English in a fun manner and still enjoy this principle challenge. But taking this opportunity to research and teach a topic I'm interested in yielded additional rewards of this work.

At the camp, Em conducted a Scavenger Hunt where teams had to find cut-outs of different animals amongst a forested creek bed. Each animal had a secret code written on it, and the first team to return with all the correct codes won. I held a hornbill relay where students raced to see who could carry the most food to their respective nests. They first had to collect one peanut with long tongs and then run to their nest and drop it in a small hole in future board (similar to the small opening mudded together in a typical hornbill nest). If this activity didn't wear them out, I then conducted a "Mother Monkey, Mean Tiger" activity which replicated a survival of the fittest game in an exerting fashion. The day did have some spoken English, some fun games such as tug of war, balloon relays, and of course some song singing.

Em and I have spent the last couple weekends exploring around Ton Nga Chang Falls. This area boasts seven tiers of falls, and they are all quite impressive. While this area is a popular tourist spot, almost nobody hikes beyond the first couple falls (.5 km from the trailhead) so it is an easy place to get intimate with the jungle.

On our first voyage we spent more time in the middle tiers exploring the rocky creek beds, inspecting a large toad, and swimming in a pool where we found a 6-foot-long dead rat snake. On the second trip we blazed a trail to the last of the waterfall (#7) where we saw a long millipede, admired more types of orchids, enjoyed more swimming, and heard gibbons. Whether it's gibbon calls, cicada chirps, or the gurgle of the stream, the natural noises of nature are a great reprise from the horns of the city.

We are excited to spend time soon with our friend Silky (also known as Dylan). He lands in Hat Yai on Thursday and will sing songs at observe my school's camp on Friday before we head out for some fun beach time and jungle exploration.

Labels: Hat Yai, hiking, teaching, Thailand

For our third long weekend out of the last four, we loaded the motorbike and headed to Thale Ban National Park. Yes, this is pronounced like the terrorist trained posse from the Mid-East. No, we did not need to create an improvised explosive device to enter the park gates.

This park sits on the southwest portion of Thailand bordering Malaysia and hosts wet ecosystems ranging from tropical rainforest to mangroves. The park headquarters and bungalows we stayed in are located next to a small lake tucked between steep forested hillsides. This valley is a huge migratory path for birds and one can see many different species throughout the year, including multiple types of hornbills.

The hornbills are most prevalent after their nesting periods (springtime) and we never saw one of these bulky-billed beauties. But we were treated to many types of swallows and swifts darting around the swamp salas and boardwalks at all times of daylight. Never seen but always heard were the rare barking tree frogs.

One morning we headed to the Wangpra Meadows for wildlife and bird viewing. The directions on all park & internet resources were correct but they neglected to mention that the final 10 km after the last left turn was a bumpy dirt trail well suited for a motor cross race. We took our time scooting in while enjoying the calls from two different families of gibbon monkeys. Play the video below to hear the sounds of these majestic mammal callings.



While the meadows were a little too wet to trek great distances, we were lucky to see a couple falconettes, banded woodpeckers, leaf birds, and crested bulbuls. That afternoon we took a nap after lunch hoping the rain would stop. Hours later and no sign of the precipitation relenting, we threw on the ponchos and headed out into leach territory.

Park headquarters has a group of nature trails that places one immediately into the lush diversity of this jungle. While the trails are longer than we might have expected, we never completed either of the two loops. Throughout the weekend, we started out on three of the four different legs and each time were forced to do some difficult trail finding before wisely returning. We learned later that the park strongly recommends a guide and this time of year there are no guides. Thinking of myself as an experienced mountain traveler, I continue to be humbled by the difficulty of navigating dense jungle climes.

On our bigger nature trail walk while hearing another family of gibbons, Em spotted a flying lizard. I only saw it resting on the tree, but she saw it fly (twice). Right after this, we heard some rustling in the upper canopy and looked up to see a gibbon swinging elegantly through the trees. Not only smooth, but this creature also traveled through branches making hardly any sound at all. He stopped a couple times to give us a good look and it was quite memorable. We see macaques (long tailed monkeys) around Thailand all the time and admire their swift mobility. But after seeing the gibbon in action, we have a whole new appreciation for acrobatic agility.

Click here to see more photos of our Thale Ban trip.

The Friday night before we left for Thale Ban, we had a dinner party at a nearby favorite restaurant for Em's birthday. We frequent this place regularly because of the ambiance on the outdoor deck. Sure enough, it rained this particular evening so we sat inside where I sadly realized there was a karaoke machine in action. True to eastern entertainment, this karaoke machine was the hit of the evening as the ladies couldn't put the mic down. Pitt dominated one microphone for a couple hours while Em, Gi, Win Win (Gi's 5 year old daughter), Toi, and May sang a few back-up rolls.

Teaching is going well and I continue to learn the importance of "mixing it up." While I am strongly encouraged to follow the school's syllabus, I really wanted to throw some environmental education into the loop. I figured since my 5th graders were working on recreation activities and a very smart group of kids, I would try to introduce the "Leave No Trace" concept. The first challenge was working on translating with Jean, my assistant. I then headed into the classroom with various pieces of garbage for the kids to guess their decomposition times. Not expecting them to really be able to have an English conversation about the topic, I think it went well and some of them learned the importance of packing it out. I think I also gained some false respect from some of the tougher boys since one of the articles was a cigarette butt.

Labels: birds, Hat Yai, hiking, teaching, Thailand

Thailand's coastline is famous for those crazy, dramatic limestone cliffs and islands that shoot hundreds of meters straight up out of the sea, and look like they should topple over any moment. Nowhere are these features more photographed - and hyped - than in Krabi. A four day weekend (hooray again for bountiful Thai holidays) gave us just enough time to see what the fuss was all about. (pictures and map)

We arrived on Railay Beach Saturday afternoon, and spent some mellow time just enjoying being out of the city. Our place at the Railay Beach Club (thanks so much for the recommendation, Bodhi!) was pretty amazing, and we had some good chill time on the deck enjoying the natural setting. On Sunday we had a beautiful few hours of paddling, poking around the karsts (the name for those limestone protrusions) and sea caves.

Monday was reef day: ancient reefs in the morning, and new reefs in the afternoon. Those improbable karst formations are actually the remnants of an ancient barrier reef that was 5,000 km long. When the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia 30 million years ago, the same forces that created the Himalayan Mountain range uplifted the reef, the end result of which can be seen throughout Southeast Asia. Water erosion carved the stone into the existing karst formations. (Geology-in-a-nutshell courtesy of Thom Henly's great book Reefs to Rainforests, Mangroves to Mountains.)

Monday morning we explored the two well-known caves in the area. The Princess Cave (Tham Phra Nang) is really more of a huge hollow in the cliff with a shrine at the deepest point, which is right on the beach under a massive overhang. The walk there along the base of the cliffs offers plenty of opportunity to poke around in small cave openings. The Diamond Cave (Tham Phra Nang Nai) is more impressive from a cave formation standpoint, and with lights and a pathway, was really easy to get around. While you're walking around wondering at the fantastic things water can do with limestone over time, it's hard to imagine that even further back this was living reef at the bottom of a shallow sea.

To do the "new reef" part of the day, we unfortunately had to take a boat trip out to some outlying islands. Apparently there used to be reef just offshore, but it's been almost entirely destroyed by dynamite. We snorkeled at three different islands, and were impressed to see a lot of neat things we haven't run into anywhere else. The soft coral was very cool, with lots of long coral whips, barrel sponges, and some lovely little sea fans. We saw a barracuda and a harlequin sweetlips, and we got to snorkel through a cave.

Tuesday morning we decided to brave the hike to "the lagoon" (AKA the princess pool). We were warned that the hike was pretty gnarly... and this proved correct. Muddy trail, muddy rope, rock scrambles with rope assist... It was also an amazingly beautiful hike, ending at a lagoon completely surrounded by towering limestone cliffs. Well worth the effort.

Labels: hiking, kayaking, Krabi, snorkeling, Thailand

Ron and Pat's Thai tour is finally underway! They rolled into Phuket last weekend, and we all spent a couple of days in Kata lounging under our beach umbrellas, enjoying the very nice pool at their hotel, and drinking decorative fruity drinks. The guys were burning up the backgammon board, and only getting slightly sunburned in the process.

Rolling directly from there into little Kuraburi must have been a little bit of a shock, but everyone seems to be adapting well. We got to hang out with the NATR crew before they took off for a fun/work retreat, and it was good for Ron and Pat to meet all the crazy kids Trevor's been working with. We were also happy to treat them to some real Thai food - considerably cheaper than Phuket options, and a lot yummier.

On Wednesday we went with Andaman Discoveries into the village of Ban Talae Nok. Trevor has been out there a lot as the program has been developing, and it was really great for him to watch the community members warming up and getting more involved with visitors, as well as seeing us have such a great time. We drove along the beach and were given a run-down on the tsunami damage, and the rebuilding process. Back at the new community center, we got to meet some members of the soap-making committee, and make our own soap strings. It was neat to see how the ladies have been able to come together and make some supplemental income for the village. Our tour guide, Tui, did a great job of translating back and forth so that we could ask questions and joke around with them.

The villagers who participate in the homestay program rotate, so each home has a chance to play host and the money is more evenly distributed. A woman named Maria cooked us a tasty fish/veggie/rice lunch at her house, and then she and a couple of the ladies helped fit Pat and Tui and I out in headscarves. It was a hot day, and the extra headcovering made it that much hotter! I suppose the ladies must get used to it, though. After lunch we learned how to make roti - a kind of traditional fried bread/pancake. We weren't super-smooth like our instructor, but it was fun. We finished the day off with a row in the mangroves before saying goodbye and driving off into the sunset.

Thursday we went out "fishing" with Bau, a fisherman friend of ours. We only did a little bit of fishing (he said the water wasn't very good for fishing - in terms of tide changes or clarity) but we did get in some primo beach and snorkeling time on a lovely little island. A quick tropical shower on the way in left us completely drenched, and Bau's mom considerately offered us some hot coffee and biscuits to help warm up.

Friday we followed up some fantastic Dim Sum breakfast with a bit more beach time closer to Kuraburi. Very lazy, with books and backgammon. Back in Kuraburi Pat and I both had lovely Thai massages (!) followed by Som Tam dinner with Jeab. Today we did a fairly rough hike up to some gorgeous rock pools on the river. Ron and Pat were troopers on the hike in... Ron came out as the grand champion with 9 leaches! Yay Ron! We were all in agreement that the destination more than made up for any hardships along the way, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours swimming, resting, and sliding around on the rocks before hiking back out.

Tomorrow morning we're off to the Surin Islands for some more great snorkeling, and then we'll be at Koh Phra Tong for yet more beach time. So far team Kostanich has been up for the Thailand challenge, but can they handle another week of sand and sun? I'm guessing yes.

Labels: hiking, Kuraburi, Phuket, sustainable tourism, Thailand

The longer we are in The East, the more we appreciate (and miss) the easy access to wilderness found at home. The island of Koh Tarutao just gave us a strong dose of this love to roam around privately amongst wild flora and fauna (pictures).

Tarutao is the largest of the 51 islands constituting the Tarutao National Marine Park in the Andaman Sea abutting the sea border with Malaysia. Em and I spent a few days on Koh Lipe last month which is the only island not run by the national park system as the government donated it to the sea gypsies who have lived there for centuries.

These sea gypsies have allowed private bungalows to continue to pop up along the beachfront. While Koh Lipe still possesses a very nice vibe and does have excellent coral right off its beaches, there is hardly any native environment above sea level around and little room to wander. Koh Tarutao, on the other hand, is massive and only a fraction of it has been touched by man. The park system has three areas offering bungalow accommodations, dining, and camping. There are many other spots to throw a tent but the access to fresh water, good cooking, and most importantly, being camped at one of the prettiest beaches I've ever visited, kept us in Ao Molae from day 3 until we returned to the mainland on day 12.

We spent our first two nights at Ao Phante Malaka, the park headquarters and pier. If we didn't know Ao Molae existed, we would have had a wonderful time staying in Phante Malaka for our entire visit. Our first morning, we chose to hike to the lookout just behind the camp for sunrise. We noticed a few macaques (commons monkey species in these parts) on the way up, thinking it was cool. Minutes later as we watched the red sun rise from the east, we had one macaque pretty much force us to move. His anger began by snorting at us and scratching the ground like he was a bull about to charge. Then he grimaced at us and violently shook the tree he was holding. OK, time to move on. In the gazebo at the top, we had more problems. We took out a snack, soon realizing that this was a mistake. Once they saw we had food, they became a little more aggressive. As I mock charged one of them, he mock charged back towards Em. OK, time to leave.

I went for a run right after this and had some more hissing from the macaques. We figured we would report their unpredictable and somewhat frightening behavior to the park staff as we expected they would send some rangers up to the gazebo to knock the monkeys around a bit and remind them who's boss. Oh no. Instead, they reinforced our concerns, "Yes, they are dangerous....and if they bite you it is worse than a dog biting you." Lovely. We were also told that it was best just to give them any food we had so they would stop threatening.

Our last day at this spot, we noticed macaques getting into the restaurant's trash and very little effort from staff trying to stop them (a sign on the front deck of the same restaurant threatened a 500 baht fine for feeding the wildlife). Given the food-human connection around park HQ, the monkey behavior made sense. Whenever we saw macaques away from this spot, they were logically more fearful of our larger size, less convinced of gaining a meal from us, and never really a problem.

Before leaving Ao Phante Malaka, we took a long tailed boat up the mangrove-lined estuary to the entrance of Crocodile Cave. Yes, there used to be crocodiles in these waters and our guide was not totally convinced they were all gone. On the way to the cave, we saw a couple large water monitor lizards before the boat grounded. This tour must be done at low tide to safely get in and out of the cave and it must have been really low this day. So, the driver, us and the other couple Tony and Katrina got out in the water to help push the boat. Fortunately, Tony was a large Dane whose strength probably saved us from waiting for the tide to rise. We went up the cave initially on a small wooden raft until we got to dry land and then were led around on a longer-than-expected walk amongst huge stalactites, stalagmites, and other impressive formations.

We had a great visit with Tony and Katrina, and they added to our desire to check out Ao Molae as they bragged about the beach where they were staying. In no hurry to leave as we were enjoying the shade the pine trees provided while still basking on the sand, we still decided to pack it up and head south to Ao Molae.

There we slowly but surely sunk into some serious beach time without ever really getting bored. We had snorkeling on either end of the bay, great bird watching with hills rising steeply behind camp, were centrally located for great walks or morning jogs to a waterfall hike, other beaches, a cross island journey, or back to park HQ via beach or road. These road walks turned out to be quite enjoyable. Because the path was cleared wide enough for a vehicle, it allowed space to view birds unlike the limited visibility while hiking in the dense jungle. It also served as a great wildlife corridor as we learned that humans are the minority of species utilizing this path of least resistance. There is a park maintenance pickup and shuttle bus that probably combined for ten daily trips on the main road, less on the smaller fork our camp was on. So, when walking on these "roads," we would see one vehicle every couple hours.

One day we made the 12 km journey to the east side of the island where the prison was located. Tarutao has a crazy history (including the filming of Survivor for all you reality TV buffs) going from sea gypsies to prisoners of war to pirates and to its current state of conserved recreation. For more facts on this lovely isle and marine park, visit here. And a map of the island - helpfully annotated with all the key Survivor locations - can be found here.

During this 12 km journey, in addition to tons of birds, we saw scorpion, snake, macaque, dusky langur, monitor lizard, geckos, and the most unique fauna of the trip, the palm civet. This four legged, skunk-marten like creature came bobbling towards us like he was drunk and blind. I kept looking at him waiting for him to notice us and wondering how he had lived so long in this wild world. Upon Internet research when returning home, we first identified it, and then learned that it is a nocturnal animal and explains his confused behavior when we saw him.

I can not leave out the bird life. It has taken some time, but I really started to appreciate the hobby of bird watching on this trip. I think it was because we sat in some neat spots where we were surrounded by noises of the jungle. Plus I have been outdoors with Em long enough where there is some residual knowledge/pleasure coming my way. Our first day on the island, we saw the oriental hornbill and continued to see many of these tropical beauties, one morning counting nine in one tree. White-bellied sea eagles and Brahminy kites are also found in abundance, and we often watched from the beach as they circled and dove over the water. Multitudes of tiny, jewel-like sunbirds were showing off their iridescent colors along the roadsides, while Asian fairy bluebirds and racket-tailed drongos swooped about more furtively in the understory.

So, where is the beach time you may ask. Oh, it is there, sometimes all day, but always some every day. The water was usually calmest and hence most clear in the mornings so this was the prime snorkeling time. Though not nearly as good as around the further-out islands, we really enjoyed the occasional snorkel, conditions permitting. We also got in some nice morning and evening strolls, just seeing what the ocean tossed up on shore that day, and what the crabs were doing about it. But most of our beach time was spent laying on the sand in the shade of a large casuarina tree. We would venture into the sun for quick swims or a few tosses of the Frisbee or longer sessions if it was cloudy or within a couple hours of sun rise or sun set. Mainly we read books or played cards while our eyes were able to stay open. Tough work. There is a stereotype of islanders that they are lazy and don't think or care about too much. After 11 days, we easily see how this stereotype can be true and at some level, admirable.

Even though we packed our home stove, we usually ate one or two meals in the restaurant and got to know the staff. The "laying around in the hammock, have to get up to cook every once in a while, yes I am lazy and no I do not care about much" staff. Good folks.

We are now preparing for a little quicker pace of travel as my parents arrive this weekend for a couple weeks of beach and culture fun. Look out, Thailand!

Labels: birds, hiking, Koh Tarutao, snorkeling, Thailand

We finally put more pictures up – our hike to the waterfall this afternoon, Trevor and Joe’s experience at the Festival in Burruwa (in the Solong Winter folder), 3 surprise days of skiing at the local hill, and some pictures of life here at the Iceland.

We had been planning five days of camping up on Gulaba, and had our bags packed and a taxi hired for the morning of the 20th. Morning dawned with another snowstorm, so we scratched that idea. The next day was sunny, but we didn’t think the road to Gulaba would be open, so Trevor and I walked to Manali. We took the scenic route through the villages and orchards on the west bank of the Beas, and enjoyed friendly faces, plentiful bird life, and greening fields set against a backdrop of freshly snow-covered mountains.

With the clock ticking on Joe’s time in Solang (he had a ticket for the 1-day cricket match in Delhi the 28th) we decided we’d better get him up into the mountains one more time. Our bags were still packed, so we set out for Dhundi and Beas Kund on the morning of the 22nd. We planned to set camp further up the valley than on our last trip. There comes a point in the tour when the valley narrows, and a choice needs to be made between touring up the river bed, or taking a high route over some benches to the right. Our choice to take the high route didn’t work out particularly well. Several harrowing hours, nasty gullies, and difficult-to-traverse debris fields later, we set camp well short of our intended destination. It’s hard to complain about the site, though. Trevor and I agreed that it might be the most beautiful spot we’ve ever camped, with sheer rock cliffs, hanging glaciers, the river below, and Hanuman Tiba presiding at the head of the valley.

Morning brought bluebird skies and the sun on our tent at 7am. We set out for Beas Kund, but topography and avy considerations taken into account, we decided we were not in a position to make the tour. So we did a quick lap of the slope above us on some nice spring snow, and went back to camp for some serious lounging. We dug an L-shaped couch (complete with coffee table) and added the sleeping pads. Sunny, snacking, card-playing perfection, with an incredible view.

At dusk we were just finished eating dinner in the tent (protein nuggets in soup with pasta – yummy!) when we heard very strange noises coming from outside the tent, near the cliffs above our campsite. Somewhere between a goat, a hawk, and a dying crow…a repeated bleating/cawing that we didn’t know what to think of. Trevor made the excellent point that it would be better to check it out while there was still enough light to see, so I headed outside. I saw motion a few hundred feet up the hill – what looked like a fox. Joe and Trevor got outside the tent in time to see it make its way – stopping several times to look back at us – across the hillside and away from us. A few hours later we heard the same strange noise again. (A Google search has since revealed that foxes do make noise exactly like what we heard - who knew?) Overcast skies and a chilly wind convinced us the next morning that we should head home, and we had an interesting and enjoyable exit ski along the river. By the time we got home, it had gone from drizzling to raining, and it rained, snowed, and hailed for the next three days.

This afternoon we took a hike to a lovely waterfall just across the valley. We didn’t even know it was there until our friend Dev recommended we check it out. We started out after lunch, spotting one of the most interesting birds I’ve seen here before we even crossed the Beas - the hoopoe has eye-catching black stripes on its wings and back, and an impressive fan-shaped crest on its head. We continued on over the bouncy wooden bridge and through the boulder field of the river bed. The falls are not far from Old Solang, but even though you get a glimpse of them on the trail to the village, they are not exactly easy to get to. We tried the direct route first – following the stream up into a fantastic gorge, with ferns and flowers growing out of the overhanging rock walls. As the gorge narrowed, we couldn’t go any further. We retraced our steps, going around up through the village and over the ridge above. Views of Friendship peak over blooming yellow mustard crops, flocks of mountain finches performing synchronized aerials, and purple wildflowers clustered around every stream we crossed would have made the route worthwhile regardless, but we eventually rounded a corner to see the falls tucked back in a narrow valley, with sheer rock walls behind. We displaced a couple of kestrels, likely there in pursuit of the flock of snow pigeons cautiously foraging at the edge of a few patches of snow on the hillside. Two piles of pigeon-colored feathers (one in the lower gorge, one right by the falls) attested to the kestrels’ success. After sunning ourselves on a rock just outside the spray of the falls, we headed home for dinner.

Tomorrow we hope to head up to Gulaba again… wish us luck for better weather than the last two times!

Labels: hiking, Iceland Hotel, India, Kullu Valley, ski touring, Solang, Solang Valley, wildflowers

Bear, glaciers, deer, steep peaks, marmots, sunsets, and a nasty bushwack. Yes, a fantastic trip!

Leaving the trail late Monday, we lucked out missing the rain, and arrived via headlamp to a campsite next to Royal Lake. The next day we wandered higher into the basin, impressed with the amount of deer and marmot around. We setup camp next to the bigger tarn towards the west side of the basin below Mt. Deception. Mr. Royal Basin himself, Rob Palmer, joined us that evening. He brought two surprises for us, his buddy John, and a bottle of Jamaican rum...both which turned out to be quite entertaining. Thanks Rob.

That afternoon Rob and I went up to the ridge between Royal & Deception Basins so I would have a better idea of the start of our cross-country route. It was truly awesome to see how stoked Rob was to be back in this area as he continually was gazing up around him with a permagrin on his face.

The next morning, Rob & John headed down, and Emily and I headed out on a fantastic day trip up to Surprise Pass over a small receding glacier. The glacier had a thick layer of sediment on top and crazy longitudinal crevasses that were created from water erosion. It was a great laboratory to see up close the insides of these geological machines. Through lateral moraines, there is evidence throughout the basin of where glaciers used to reach to. Instead of seeing Olympus as expected from Surprise Pass, we saw the lower rolling hills that constitue the north end of the park. With the sun shining directly on us through the Needles and Mt. Clark, a flat rock provided a most cozy nap location which was more rewarding than the vistas.

We returned to camp, chilled out, and hoped the weather would remain good. The next morning we not only had clear skies, but a lovely visit from 8 young deer as we ate breakfast.

We then packed up and headed south up the ridge to Deception Basin. Em was getting picture crazy as we continued to ascend, impressed more and more with the views. I truly admire her ability to get in yoga like positions to take flower pictures with her overnight pack on. I also see this as great Himalayan training! I knew she would be stoked when we topped out and looked south at Mt. Mystery (another mean peak). Check out this 360 panorama. This area is quite contrary to the generalization that the Olympics are small and rolly. Mt. Deception and Mt. Mystery are jagged and tall as Deception is the second largest peak in the park, just ~150' lower than Olympus. This area is hidden from the Seattle view by Mt. Constance.

We descended into Deception Basin and set camp up high (high enough to view Olympus)! After some chill time, we wandered the extents of the basin from the lake at the terminus of Mystery's glacier to the outfall of the basin. Em struck gold with more tadpoles, but otherwards a mammal-lonely area. That night we viewed the sun setting between Mystery's steep north ridge and Deception's dramatic south ridge.

The next day begun great! More blue skies with some low fog rising out of the valleys. We moved east over a ridge to eventually circumnavigate Hal Foss Peak before dropping into Heather Creek. We dropped our large packs just after the ridge and scrambled north up Mt. Fricaba. This summit gave us great views of Warrior Peaks and Mt. Constance. Very relaxed, we layed down and napped on the summit. We didn't realize at the time how enjoyable this was and would be dreamed about.

Back at the packs, we traversed south along a somewhat nasty slope (steep, loose, firm, somewhat nasty). We ended up losing our elevation for safety and then asceding a ridgeline to get to our desired point to drop into Heather Creek. This whole time the marine layer was pushing east off Hood Canal, and not only filling in the valleys but consistently swirling up around the tops of the peaks. We were relieved to discover our descent into Heather Creek was fairly easy (more scree surfing!). We knew a designated trail begun towards the bottom of the valley. The problem was there was thick forest before the trail. Yes, alders filling up any lower canopy of the hemlocks and firs. Very nasty. After a break and a short tree climb to get a lookout, we knew we needed to head back away from the creek. This is when Em must have conducted a major mental prep-talk (which she did confirm later) as I had trouble keeping up with her the next 20 minutes. All in all, we still had tons of daylight and didn't have to negotiate skis through the timbered mess.

We finally found the trail and then decided to head down it until the first decent looking campsite. Well, after a couple hours and with headlamps on, we came to a clearing with tall grass where the trail seemed to spider into many directions. Rather than let things continue to get worse, and discovering there was flat space in the grass, we decided to call that area our camp. Relieved, Emily unloaded her pack and we headed to the creek for water. Next to the creek, we discovered a designated campsite with firepit, log seats, and spade. Now relieved and happy, we moved our packs to the site, quickly got the tent setup, and enjoyed a hot dinner. We had been moving for over 10 hours ascending ~2300' and descending ~5300' mainly with large packs.

We awoke slowly the next morning and saw our first person in 3 days as he yelled over to warn us there was a momma bear with a cub a little ways back. Sure enough, we saw the same two bear as we were heading down the trail later that morning. Quite a great conclusion to a backpacking trip that had it all.

Labels: hiking

Last weekend I headed down to Kelso for some hiking with Dad and Jenny. On Saturday Dad and I (Jenny was on call to help her mother-in-law deliver a horse) headed for the Mt. St. Helens Silver Lake Visitor's Center. We spent quite a bit of time inside looking at the displays, and it turns out we should have done that afterward. We barely started the walk around the lake when it started sprinkling, and in a a few more minutes it started pouring. After waiting under the trees and sipping our coffees for a while, we decided to make a break for it, and ran the rest of the way around the lake.

That night I got to see Jenny show off her riding skills, and had a nice visit with Loki, who seems to have this farm life thing figured out ok. He and Chris still have some disagreements over bedtime (he doesn't think he should have one, she doesn't want him to get eaten by coyotes), but other than that he seems to be having a good time catching mice in the woodpile and ignoring the rabbits.

On Sunday we had a nice walk down at the refuge. The head-high grass made it pretty impossible to spot any deer, but we did see lots of red-tailed hawks, vultures, and ospreys. And Jenny showed off her skills as a butterfly-whisperer.

Labels: hiking

Back in April, Dad and I had a really nice hike up to the top of Dog Mountain, down on the Columbia River. We caught a lot of the spring wildflowers at their peak, and took a lot of great pictures. The trail takes you up about 3000 feet from the river, and the flowers keep changing as you make your way up. Unfortunately, we didn't notice the big "look out for poison ivy" signs until we were leaving, and Dad ended up with a nasty rash.

Labels: hiking, Washington, wildflowers

Last weekend we went down to Tacoma for some fishing and hiking. We met up with Dad and Uncle Bruce Saturday morning and fished around Fox Island for a few hours. We only had two lines, so Dad and Bruce fished while Trevor drove the boat and I provided moral support (and later manned the crab pot). Uncle Bruce caught a nice 23-inch salmon that we ate for dinner, and Dad caught 2 salmon and 2 sculpins that all went back. I pulled up 2 rock crabs (very tasty with the salmon for dinner) and a little sun star.





Sunday Dad and Trevor and I hiked up to Hugo Peak at Pack Forest. We had a little sun and a little hail, and a very nice hike. We saw some varied thrushes, a woodpecker (probably a hairy woodpecker), and a pair of bald eagles that may have been nesting.

Labels: hiking

In December we made it over to Wenatchee to hang out with Adam and Donni. Trevor, Todd, Adam and I had a nice (if icy) hike up to Lake Colchuck.

Labels: hiking

Yellowstone 

Labels: hiking