Off to the Highlands

Loch Broom from hike

July 24, 2010

Robin and Nicci were kind enough to fill me with pancakes and bacon and then send me off to Waverly Station to catch the 0833 train to Inverness. Not noticing that 2 trains were parked on the same rail, I almost boarded the train to Aberdeen were it not for a very kind lady who pointed me back a few train cars. While waiting for the doors to open so that I could board the right train, 3 folks with daypacks that looked ready for hiking and suitcases walked up, and they were 3 members of our group, Fran, Jen, and Tom. There’s an interesting method of showing that seats are reserved – a little ticket with the seat number and date is fitted into a slot on the back of a seat. Fran gave up her 1st class ticket to sit with us, an act that eventually got her a free cup of coffee from the steward whose future was probably not to be as a Starbucks barista. We settled into watching the scenery as we crossed the Firth of Forth and headed north.

Stand of birches as seen from one of a couple of unplanned stopsEntering the Grampians

Kirkcaldy, Perth, Pitlochry – where we entered the Grampian Mountains – past Aviemore and the Cairngorms, a lovely place where I’d hiked in 2005 – and then to Inverness. As one is wont to do on 3 hr train trips, one visits the loo. In this case it was a space that had a circular sliding door to accommodate wheelchairs. Entering it was easy enough and Jen provided us with instructions when she returned to her seat. Tom then went back there and after a couple of minutes I happened to glance in that direction to see if there was a line, but all I saw was an elderly Scottish lady with her hand over her mouth, eyes wide open in surprise. Turns out that the automatic lock was finicky and basically didn’t work, and she opened the door on Tom. Woops.

But the loo wasn’t done with us yet. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere we came to a stop a couple of times – there wasn’t a rhyme or reason and it didn’t appear to be to allow another train to pass, but I didn’t think much of it. During this time it was Fran’s turn to visit this technological wonder and see if the door would lock, but she had to wait for a young man traveling in 1st class to be done. He seemed to move quickly away from the sliding curved door as I later recalled, disappearing behind the doors into the next section, much like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

All of a sudden we heard a banging and loud knocking on the door as the conductor yelled through the door, “Madam, you cannot hit the emergency stop button! It causes us to stop and this wastes time! You must open the door immediately! Let me in! Do not hit the emergency stop button!” After about 15 seconds Fran emerged from the fancy loo, hands in the air saying, “it wasn’t me – I didn’t hit the button!” Now we knew why the previous occupant left in such haste. He had.

Despite the unscheduled stops, we arrived on time and since it was still early so we grabbed a bite to eat at The Filling Station amidst many kilt-clad bagpipers and drummers – there was to be a parade and several WWII veterans proudly wore their kilts and regalia as part of the celebration. I didn’t find out exactly what was being celebrated, but it was quite well-attended by people from all over the area. I will never tire of hearing bagpipes being played in practice or in concert, the music enhanced that day as the notes echoed off the stones of the plaza.
After walking back to the station we met the remainder of our group – Rachel, Larry, Jessie, and Steve. Angela found us all together and off we went for the first hike of our adventure! The first adventure was packing the back of the van and then arranging ourselves, and we got rather good at this for the duration. Sitting in front with Steve and Angela provided some time to discuss hiking in Ireland which Steve had just done, as well as some of our PNW hikes that I’d done with a friend of mine, Gary, who had done 2 different hiking tours with Angela.

It was grey and 50 degrees in Ullapool, not unlike the unseasonally cool summer we’d been having in Seattle. We drove along Loch Broom to the location of our first hike, the dark color of the loch reflecting the changing shades of pre-storm light in the brooding skies. Angela identified many plants for us along the way including the very prickly gorse. There is a local drive to plant stands of native trees in a park-like setting along the route, which was very pretty. Angela also pointed out gneiss outcroppings and the peak of Stac Pollaidh that we planned to hike to tomorrow, weather-permitting.

Before turning in at the Riverside Guesthouse, a comfortable B&B with great breakfasts, we had dinner at Ladysmith. This was the beginning of a series of dinners for the entire trip that more than satisfied our hikers’ appetites. It was a delightful restaurant.

Edinburgh to Rosslyn and Back Again

quote on wall outside Parliament

July 23, 2010
Our breakfast group from Canada, Mexico, France, and Denmark discussed the many places people had been and how great the local bus service was. Not having ridden an Edinburgh city bus before, I opted for a trip To Rosslyn Chapel on bus route 15 that Robin recommended. Initially – and unfortunately – seated on the top deck in front of an American woman who not only sneezed and coughed incessantly in my direction, but also proselytized to her seatmate all about American politics in terms of absolutes that made me cringe, I made a dash to a seat towards the front of the double-decker bus. There I met Eko, a young Japanese woman who was traveling around Scotland for a couple of weeks, and she filled me in on some of the details of the chapel. See http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/ for more information and pictures on this intriguing structure!

We arrived in time for a lovely tour by a docent who not only gave us the mere facts about this 500 yr old beauty of a chapel, but also informed us of the meaning of its presence to the local area. After suffering the ravages of weather for several hundred years as well as the unintended ill effects of renovation in the 1950s, the sandstone of the chapel was now sufficiently dried out and an all-encompassing scaffolding was starting to be dismantled. In fact, the docent remarked with a look of sheer joy on his face that a sunbeam came through one of the windows during his talk, the first time that had occurred in 13 years. Of the many unusual architectural characteristics of this chapel is the fact that there are Christian, Pagan, and Masonic symbols throughout the church. Some may remember seeing them from the movie “The DaVinci Code” that included a scene from the chapel.

Photographs of the chapel were prohibited, but below is a postcard of the apprentice's column. Here is a list of the remarkable details that I found interesting:
~ details of corn/maize in an archway. Keep in mind that this chapel was begun 50 years prior to Columbus’ 1492 journey to the New World, so that begs the question - how did they know about this North American crop, corn?
~ angel playing bagpipes. One of the dearest images I saw both at Rosslyn and at St. Giles’ High Kirk in Edinburgh
~ angel hugging the Gospel
~ stars, crescent moon, and sun motifs on the ceiling, as well as the rows of forget-me-nots, roses, and lilies
~ several green men, longtime Pagan symbols
~ musical notes in the form of carved tubes decorated with different Masonic symbols
~ statue of the murdered apprentice, his weeping mother, and the guilty party condemned to forever gaze upon the incredible masterpiece of a column carved by his apprentice in the master’s absence
We finished our tour of the chapel with sausage and haggis sandwiches, Eko’s introduction to traditional Scottish cuisine, and headed back to Edinburgh. I was in good exploring company!

Eko wanted to find the Elephant House, the tearoom where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. We did locate it and sat at table 9, where Ms. Rowling wrote. Scores of muggles wrote many fond messages on the walls of the loos, thanking her for that splendid series!

Table 9

Visiting Scotland entails walking, eating, and drinking, then repeat the cycle, and we began the next escapade of the day by walking by a very entertaining and charming street performer, our king in shining armor. Along with many children and their stuffed animals, we were knighted by him.

Across from him was the stately St. Giles High Kirk, which is worthy of a much longer visit than we could get in that day.

It is a beautiful church inside and even with the steady tourist movement you could sense an ability to find peace within. On down the street we walked to the Parliament building where the top quote is located – very cool architecture! – and then climbed to Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Crags. The weather was gorgeous with a deep blue sky that complemented the sunset-drenched rocks of the crags. It was a nice bit of exercise that of course had to be offset by a nice dinner at The Abbey Bar (and its menu of 50 Scotch whiskies). I had the Scottish game casserole which included in its delicious brew venison, partridge, duck, wood pigeon, pheasant, hare, and rabbit in a red wine sauce. It was a very pleasant ending of a fun day sightseeing with a new friend, and we parted ways with each other’s contact info. Amazing how small the world can be – residents of Seattle and Yokohama meeting in Edinburgh!

Salisbury Crags

Eko and me at The Abbey

Scotland Hiking!

July 21-22, 2010

It was time to travel again and this time I signed up for the REI Scotland Highlands and Islands hiking tour. Being 8 time zones and 20 hours or so of travel time away from Scotland determined my early arrival in Edinburgh, which left plenty of time for my body to catch up to the right continent.

When seated in pre-hinterlandia in the back of a plane with only 10 minutes to catch your connecting flight across the Atlantic, you hope that your body catches up with the right plane. It did, but only after a sprint to the gate.

I stayed at a beautiful B&B with wonderfully gracious hosts – The Elmview B&B in the Tollcross area south of Edinburgh Castle, across from The Meadows. Randy and Nicci, my wonderful hosts, are great sources for local information and ideas of what to do. And the breakfasts were divine.

Off I went exploring one of my favorite cities in the world, first to the Castle to visit the humble St. Margaret’s Chapel and the beautifully solemn National War Memorial.

http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/index/tour/highlights/highlights-scottish-national-war-memorial.htm. Inside were a couple of areas dedicated to wartime nurses in various organizations, and I found the whole memorial to be very moving. Afterwards I walked to the National Museum to see the Lewis Chessmen, a collection of 12th century Scandinavian carved walrus ivory chess pieces that were found in Uig on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. I love the expression on the Berserker, as seen in this postcard:

photo courtesy of National Museums Scotland

I finished the day off with haggis, neeps, and tatties and more walking.

Happy New Year!

View of Mt. Rainier from I-90 floating bridge at 9:30 am

Sami and Jeanne, two of my hiking buddies, decided that a snowshoe outing was just the way to celebrate the first day of the new year. We settled on snowshoeing up a forest road near the Gold Creek Sno-Park that ends up overlooking the Kendall Lakes. This trail cuts across the face of a hill that overlooks I-90 as it descends Snoqualmie Pass (if you're going towards Spokane), and because of this, it can get some wild weather. Today the wind was blowing 30 - 40 mph at the summits around Snoqualmie Pass. Great potential for blowing snow, cold-cold-cold wind, and, as we found out, faulty equipment! More on that later.

Maple wings

It was a beautiful day when we arrived! Fortunately, we weren't in the path of the winds on the side of the hill we were walking until we reached the area at about 4,000' where you can either continue upwards to the top of a hill where you see lakes in the summertime, or over to an adjacent unnamed hill just south of Guye Peak. We could see clouds of snow blowing off its top as well as the summits of Silver Peak, Denny Mountain, McClellan Butte, and Snoqualmie Mountain. Rampart Ridge loomed to our SE and because of the temporarily clear weather, we could see contours of nooks and crannies accentuated by the snow that usually don't stand out as well.

Rampart Ridge

Denny Mountain

Snowman kit
Jeanne getting ready to head downhill

In addition to the normal 10 Essentials that one should carry with them out in Nature, one should also have a bandana or two. The front gripper of one of my wonderful 8 year old bright red snowshoes broke away from the metal connector and all of a sudden my gait was somewhat crab-like. Hmmm. It was easy to sink down 1 - 2' in this great powder, so I really didn't want to just walk in my boots. But I remembered that I had a bandana - color-coordinated a nice red - so I tied the gripper through the first strap and around the side of the snowshoe. It actually held very well and even though I had to drag that shoe a little in order to reduce snow buildup under my boot, it didn't slow us down going either uphill or downhill.















Happy trails and great journeys to everyone during 2008!

A White Christmas

Lake Keechelus

10" of snow fell Christmas Eve, traction tires were required on Snoqualmie Pass, and the 4WD had a full tank of gas, so obviously I had to head out for the first snowshoe of the season! My destination was at the Hyak exit east of the pass where the parking lot was already full of new plastic sleds and lots of happy little folks under 4' tall. I followed part of the Iron Horse Trail, dodging large pickup trucks and many off-leash dogs all the way down to the lake. A smallish peninsula juts out into this stump-filled reservoir, and that looked like a nice place to sit for a bit and take in the scenery. Since it was 22 degrees and a chilly wind whistled through the pass and over the lakes along the highway - which gave the back of my head an ice cream-type brain freeze - I didn't stay too long. Here are a few pictures from this sojourn.

Interesting conifer

My Annual Favorite Street Sign

Scout Lake, 11-11-07

I'd heard that the weather in the mountains wouldn't be too bad (always a subjective notion), so off I went with a neighbor to see if the big storms last year had obliterated the road to the Scout Lake trailhead. The old logging road was potholed enough, but entirely driveable.

There is a very underused road partway up the main logging road, and that's where we began our hike. The weather was very grey, but the snow line was very clear and we were going to go above it. We loaded up on the usual extra clothing, food, H2O, gloves, and hats. And did we ever need them when we got to the lake at 3900' and the wind came down the side of the cirque and across the water! It must have easily been in the 20s with the windchill.

Talus covered much of this side of the lake. Lots of avalanche potential when heavy snow. And of course I'm standing on the icy, snowy rocks at the base of that talus in the bottom picture.The path parallels Hansen Creek and one would think that you could just walk along the banks, but no, there are some nice 10 - 20' dropoffs with waterfalls, tons of fallen trees and defoliated Devil's club (thorns wholely intact). Redtwig dogwood, brilliant green ferns, golden orange chantarelle mushrooms, and dark, dark green conifers made up most of the landscape until we got into the snow, and it all became the dark green equivalent of sepia and white. I imagine in a few weeks there will be at least a foot or two of snow, and white and the dark brown of any exposed trunks will dominate the visual field.

This little waterfall is just below the outlet of Scout Lake.

But the few inches of sticking snow that we walked through was plenty cold and Scout Lake was starting to freeze over with a slushy layer that rippled in places according to whatever was underneath it. A waterbug skimmed the surface and I can't imagine that it had much of a protective fat layer to hold it over the winter. The reflected trees and rocks on the glassy surface resembled a Fair Isle sweater pattern.

The hike up was 1 1/2 hours, only 1 hour down - pretty slippery mud along the way and several blowdowns to climb over. Oh, yes, and there was that 30' traverse over the creek balancing on 2 large trees...

This is only the last third of the crossing.

Coming down the road we had a clear view of the Granite Mt. lookout across I-90. A dusting of snow covered its bald top and I'm sure the wind coming down the I-90 valley kept it even colder than where we had been!

Lookout at the very top of Granite Mt.