All Posts Written by "ken"
Thinning
During the warmer months, the kelp beds in the Narrows get bigger. These are nowhere near the extensive gardens you can find in the Straits or out along the coast, but the water here flows fast enough, and there are sufficient nutrients, so the kelp grows well. Bull kelp, or Nereocystis luetkeana for those addicted […]
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Up the mountain with Edward Abbey – III
I often have difficulty getting to sleep at altitude, a combination of over-exhaustion and anxiety, and the night spent at Camp Schurmann is no exception. What keeps me awake on this occasion, however, is the wind. It begins shortly after we crawl into bed, just small puffs of a breeze at first, but it doesn’t […]
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Up the mountain with Edward Abbey – II
I am first out of the sack in the morning, lighting the stove and getting the water started on its way to the boil. In this regard I am very much like Abbey. In all his stories, whether he was floating down a river or hiking in the desert southwest, he was always the first […]
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Up the mountain with Edward Abbey – I
It is a two-hour drive from my house to the mountain. From Tacoma, east through the cookie-cutter suburbs and bedroom towns, past the farmer’s fields and the gravel pits, through the country, or what passes for country, in these gray and frantic, post-industrial days. Through the sleepy shires of Buckley and Greenwater, tiny burgs waiting […]
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Up the mountain with Edward Abbey – Intro
I’ve been spending a fair bit of time this week working on some mountain writing, specifically looking at Mount Rainier. I’m supposed to be writing some route descriptions and narratives about various hiking and mountain biking opportunities (and I am, I swear I am), as well as a few other projects. Next year, for example, […]
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Things that go vroom in the night
Since the second Narrows Bridge was built about 3 years ago, the traffic flow on Hwy 16 has gotten better. There used to be backups that went for miles at rush hour and just driving the ten or fifteen miles to and from Gig Harbor could take an hour. A few hundred million dollars later […]
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The little girl
Growing up in California, I was always told that it was El Niño that brought the wet weather. The periodic oscillation in ocean temperatures moves weather patterns around and brings a higher total rainfall to Santa Barbara and the rest of SoCal, sodden winters that seem to last forever. Of course, it’s still Santa Barbara, […]
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Straits sampler
After getting our things packed up at Hobuck Beach, Marc, Tiffany and I set up the shuttle. We drove first to the boat launch at Pillar Point and ate some lunch, then drove the other van back to Clallam Bay. We put in at the little park in town, me on the SUP, them in […]
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The Delta
The Nisqually River begins on the flanks of Mount Rainier and flows more than 50 miles to its confluence with Puget Sound. The Nisqually Delta is a wonderland of riparian life, biologically fecund and inherently beautiful. It also happens to be a perfect place for kayaks, canoes and stand up paddleboards. The intricate waterways that […]
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Hoedown
I rolled out of town around 9:30. “Early mid-mid morning,” as Steve Martin might say. It still takes a long time to get to Neah Bay. There’s just no way around that. I’ve learned to love the drive though; you sort of have to. Up through the Kitsap is nothing special, most of it anyway, […]
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A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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