Blog Archives

Tieton memories

Posted by Ken Campbell September 15, 2011 0 Comment 1182 views

The Tieton River runs out of Rimrock Lake. A trickle most of the time, but in September water is released from the dam in enough volume to turn the watercourse into a steady Class III. It’s not technically difficult, but there isn’t a lot of room for error either. The river resembles a pencil, running […]

Traveling without a net

Posted by Ken Campbell September 14, 2011 0 Comment 1079 views

“Abandon your mobile phone, laptop, iPod, and all such links to family, friends and work colleagues. Concentrate on where you are and derive your entertainment from immediate stimuli, the tangible world around you. Increasingly, in hostels and guesthouses one sees ‘independent’ travelers eagerly settling down in front of computers instead of conversing with fellow travelers. […]

Decade

Posted by Ken Campbell September 12, 2011 0 Comment 1088 views

For ten years now, on the weekend after Labor Day, I’ve had the opportunity to go kayaking with the same group of ladies. (Actually, I missed one of the years and the group has oscillated between 5 and 12 different attendees, but you get the point.) This past weekend centered around Deception Pass, the waters […]

If you can make it…

Posted by Ken Campbell September 9, 2011 0 Comment 1120 views

I can’t make it. I’ll be in the Deception Pass area, on a rare paying gig. I wish I could be there though, just for the chance to wear another little pink heart as I watch another installment of what passes for justice here in the US of A. The hearing is today in Port […]

Regrets?

Posted by Ken Campbell September 8, 2011 0 Comment 1136 views

It’s that time again. Apparently. Thinking of all the trips I didn’t take this year, all the places I didn’t go. That Highway 12 trip? Still out there. The Olympic Grand Circle? Aborted, and I’m still second guessing that one. Haven’t done much on any of the Olympic river trips, the “Summit-to-the-Sea” gigs that I […]

Big Hump

Posted by Ken Campbell September 7, 2011 0 Comment 1242 views

There’s a fire burning out on the peninsula. I don’t know if that’s truly unexpected, given the hot weather we’ve been having lately and the uncharacteristic lack of rainfall, but the fire is believed to have been man-made. An untended campfire, apparently left to burn out on its own, failed to do so and, poof! […]

Labor Day

Posted by Ken Campbell September 6, 2011 0 Comment 1166 views

I can hear the thunder of rock fall from somewhere to the west but I never see it. Except once. Clouds of dust and debris hang in the air and huge boulders bounce down the steep terrain and make me glad that I am over here, instead of over there. Mostly though, the visible signs […]

Cloud Camp

Posted by Ken Campbell September 4, 2011 0 Comment 1101 views

Camp Muir, just above the 10,000 foot mark on the south side of Mount Rainier, used to be called “Cloud Camp.” It was renamed in honor of John Muir, who spent a couple of nights here during his climb of the mountain back in 1888. I haven’t been here since 1996, almost as long as […]

Making the old man proud

Posted by Ken Campbell September 2, 2011 0 Comment 977 views

He won’t be five years old until January, but he’s been telling me for months now that he needs his own paddleboard. As he’s gotten bigger – and heavier – I’ve begun to see things his way. We found an old windsurfer for free (does anybody even do that windsurfing thing anymore?) and got him […]

Deception Pass, then and now

Posted by Ken Campbell September 1, 2011 0 Comment 1063 views

I can still remember the first time I took a kayak through Deception Pass. The roar of the current in full flood, the horizon line as I approached the narrow opening, where the water ran downhill so fast that the surface was no longer level, as if I were looking at the flow of a […]