I've even raped and killed a mountain panda in the hills of Shaanxi.

Summer Meltdown - music festival in Darrington

backpacking near Cathedral Rock - 8 miles total

And I have a bike, too. It's a 1995 Raleigh, but it's in really good condition.

Last weekend Reg and I picked 4 pounds of blueberries at the U-Pick in Bellevue, then we totally lost our shit at Hempfest (literally, my wallet and Reg's bag of "medicine"). I found my wallet at least. Reg found another kind soul to give him medicine.

We're starting up Munchkin nights every Tuesday (or at least something every Tuesday) so Reg doesn't go crazy from me not being around, or something like that.

Reg and I are supposed to go to Colville this weekend but I really have other stuff I'd like to get done, like lead a friend on a vision quest. (Oh yeah, I bought a Djembe at Hempfest.) Also, Slutwalk.

I think I broke my toe (or at least sprained it, but the MEDICAL EXPERTS ON FACEBOOK say it's broken - but as it's the 4th toe, a doctor can't do anything I can't for it, except give me vicodin) on Aug 30th at 11pm, I tripped over a cord and it folded back ALL the way to the top of the foot. Woo fun, I stayed off it as much as I could, but then Bumbershoot and oh lord walking all day.

SO I have been gimp-walking, driving (ugh), and using Reg's cane when I feel particularly like House. But it got a lot better the second day, and it's a lot better now. I can almost put my whole weight on my foot (although I have to land on it funny) for a half hour of walking. I expect it'll keep improving, and I really hope that by Friday I can use it properly. I mean, even on the 2nd day, I could outwalk tourists, but I had to use all the muscles in my other leg to do so. I'm used to walking at least 2 miles a day, so I've been kind of grumpy about this. (Also, my period started this Saturday, so I was grumpy all week anyway.)

The weather turned Saturday night, but it's nice again now, and supposed to be for at least another week. I'm super excited to go backpacking again, and then the next weekend, hopefully camping WITH FRIENDS in the desert, and then THE NEXT weekend is Decibel Festival, holy shit ORBITAL and MATTHEW DEAR.

There are about 10 separate places where it's ok to leave your car overnight in the Quincy Wildlife Preserve, and I wanted to check out Dusty Lake first, if it had been taken, we'd try another. But at 7:30pm Friday there weren't any cars parked there, so we set up camp as the sun went down. Fell asleep pretty early and woke up around 8am - we hadn't bothered to put on the tent fly so it was still relatively cool. I told Reg we needed to get up early to hike to the lake proper (we were technically camped at the trailhead) before it got too hot.

So we did, about 3/4 of a mile to the lake. It was a really lovely day, and the lake was gorgeous. I washed my feet in it when we got there, 'cos Dusty Lake is aptly named. And I forgot to bring an extra pair of socks, since except for the hike and night I was wearing sandals. After a while at the lake we headed back, and then other people started showing up. Actually, after we started dinner Friday night, some couple showed up to go fishing. They must have left around midnight, just before the cop showed up asking about automatic weapon fire. (We'd heard it earlier but I thought it was fireworks.) But yeah, apparently you hear gunfire all the livelong day out there anyway, but we definitely heard some automatic weapon fire while at the lake too.

After our little hike we set up a blanket for shade till about 4pm, during which time about four cars and trucks came to do the lake hike. It was 92F in the shade, I could not believe people were hiking in that weather, but oh well. I was too lay to walk to the outhouse every time I had to pee, so I went to find a rocky area out of site, and I found someone's old tent and camp chair. (We'd also forgotten to pack our camp chairs.) Reg grabbed the chair and fixed it up and we kept trading off sitting in it.  

At around 6pm we started the fire for dinner, and then it started to rain. Seemed to stop for a minute, then BOOM again woah. I fortunately had brought my rain pants and jacket, so I made our hot dogs and everything in the driving thunderstorm. It was still about 80F but felt a lot cooler, since I had to run to the tent to get my clothes. And after the rain stopped, it was 8pm and still relatively cloudy, so it didn't really feel very warm.

So we fell asleep really early and woke up at 7am. Well, I did, Reg didn't wake up for two more hours. It was 78F in the shade, felt really nice so I read while sitting in the duct-taped chair. Someone rode up in a dune buggy ORV type thang, kids around our age (or I guess mid-20s) from near Seattle after Reg got up. He chatted with them while I packed our stuff up. (Reg had packed everything Friday, so I did this chore Sunday.) I finally finished cleaning the tent out and went for my daypack, where I thought I'd left my trip tunes/CD rom. Unfortunately it was in my main bag, so I had to dig in there. Fortunately it was in a jewel case so quite easy to find. I put on Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, which let me assure you is superb driving music for the desert.

The weather was even nicer Sunday than Saturday, but we could see the Cascades starting around Ellensburg, covered in clouds. And lo and behold it began drizzling just past Snoqualmie Ski Area. Then around North Bend (my first and only pee stop on 90) it just really started coming down. Well, not really that bad, but gross enough that I pulled on my wool hoodie. The McDonald's was packed, so I ran to the Taco Time to pee. No line at all there, whew. Franz Ferdinand started on my CD as we got back on 90, and not long afterwards we were home in the 62F overcast 98004. Dammit.

More pics here.

The Perseids hit the same time as the full moon. We drove up near Table Mountain north of Ellensburg, not all the way to the top as the forest was getting intense, and it was already getting dark since we started late.

Anyway, we found a decent pullout with evidence of other campers (broken glass, I hate beer-swilling morons) and got our camp ready. I forgot the silnylon but it didn't matter. We had a thick pad underneath our RidgeRest and inflatable mattresses, then our sleeping bags and down jackets. I also pulled on a light wool shirt over my t-shirt, and wool long johns under my hiking pants. With a wind jacket I was very comfortable. It was windy for sure; we passed a windfarm on the way out, and could see its lights well into the night.

The point was to see meteors, which we did. Unfortunately, because of the full moon, you couldn't see much. It wasn't much better out there than it would have been on a clear night in Seattle (which it wasn't), because the moon was so bright. We didn't need flashlights or headlamps most of the time. The few shooting stars we saw were rather bright, naturally, as we wouldn't have seen them otherwise. But around 3am we decided we may as well head back home. I put the car in 1st gear and started the drive. It's really steep up the mountain, but super flat back out of the FS land.

Anyway, the area is nice, and we plan to camp there again. Also, we wanted to see if we could stand to be out of doors without a tent, and apparently we can. The tarp wasn't necessary at all for this outing, but it's less than a pound so in the future it'll rock. Thanks to the 14mph wind at 40F there were no bugs, but the wind was a bit nippy out of the sleeping bags. Might just bring a little bit of bug netting with the tarp if we want to try that kind of thing again.

• I cut the bottom off my hair a few months ago, since red dye+bleach== pinkhair. It's growing out though, so I look a bit more like this user icon photo.

• I gained most of the weight I lost last year, due to ice cream and things of that nature, but I've started losing it again, a bit more slowly this time. Once again, eating less and exercising wins. I've actually convinced Reg this time to stop eating snacks constantly, as he is unhappy with his Prozac weight gain. Anyhoo, he's lost about 10lbs and I've lost about 5.

• I'm trying to get serious about backpacking. I've idly thought for a couple years about the Pacific Northwest Trail, but clearly it's not gonna happen unless I condition like a MF. I basically stopped walking every day when I got my job almost 2 years ago, but whenever I go for a walk now, I don't get winded unless I motor. Or if I carry weight, which I've begun doing. I put a heavy wool blanket in my pack, then a water-filled 2.5L Platypus, then a bunch of CDs. Or loose ankle weights. I go quite a bit slower carrying 15 or so pounds on my back. Anyway, at least 30 minutes of that every other day.

• This winter was a little snowier in the mountains, but the spring was REALLY snowy. Which means most of the good hiking trails are snowed under still. (some pics to demonstrate) However, one of the more famous trails, Lake Stuart/Colchuck, is pretty much snow-free. And Leavenworth is going to be 83F Saturday, so that's likely the plan this weekend.

• Reg wants to road trip to CA around Labor Day this year. Hopefully I can get the time off and still afford to pay bills.

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/horseshoe-basin-pasayten

I think I got some kind of rash from my camping watch (it has a braided band) b/c I have it on the wrist I wore the watch on, and then when I switched it appeared on the other wrist. Dunno if some bug crawled in and lived in it or what, but it hurts and itches and I can't get much relief. Anyway I don't want to do anything but whine about it, so I'm just gonna point you to my camping pics. I'll write up the weekend later.

Originally posted on herbaliser.vox.com

Half a mile on this trail hurts.

pics here

I gotta say it's crazy how busy FR 4330 was this weekend. There were probably 500 people camping on that road. Not sure why. Oh sure, it's breathtakingly gorgeous up there, but it felt almost like a state park with all the families and dogs we passed. I wouldn't mind taking a backpacking trip I suppose, but the drive on the one-lane gravel road for 12 miles is pretty annoying, especially if there are two or more cars in line.

Had a good weekend. Pics here.

The only annoying thing was the setup of the outhouses to allow for, ahem, wind tunnels going out of the toilets. Very weird and annoying. The wind itself nearly killed us the first night, but on the other hand it blew away every mosquito. They were there Saturday night, and now I seem to have West Nile.

Originally posted on herbaliser.vox.com