Talking Story Archives - Page 99 of 114

Kenstruction

Posted by Ken Campbell February 10, 2009 0 Comment 964 views

I’m sore. Feeling my age, I suppose. Normally, I feel a little fatigued after a couple days of paddleboarding, not before. But I’m leaving today for Hood Canal, gonna do a couple days on the water and see how far I get. It’s my reward to myself for getting the fence done. (“Done” may not […]

Gimme shelter

Posted by Ken Campbell February 9, 2009 0 Comment 918 views

The U.S. Forest Service went into the shelter-making business in the late 1920’s and the 1930’s on trails throughout the Olympic peninsula. As trails were being carved in to the land, shelters were constructed as part of the Forest Service’s multiple land use management policy, intended to encourage backcountry recreational use. By the late 1930s, […]

Selling books and telling stories

Posted by Ken Campbell February 7, 2009 0 Comment 818 views

A rainy Saturday in the Pacific Northwest. I’m heading up to Mercer Island today to do a couple of presentations for the Washington Water Trails Association Winter Sea Kayak Seminar. It’s always a crap shoot how these things will play out. This year, with the vagaries of the economy weighing heavy on everyone’s mind, it […]

In the map room

Posted by Ken Campbell February 6, 2009 0 Comment 909 views

When I plan a trip to a place I’ve never been before, I get every last bit of information out of the maps and charts I have for that area. I’ll get out the dividers and break down the route into discrete segments: At approximately 1.3 miles past the point, there should be a small […]

Rescheduling

Posted by Ken Campbell February 5, 2009 0 Comment 993 views

I’ve heard it said that life is something that happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. That sounds about right. I was scheduled to go to a 3-day ski demo next week up at Mission Ridge. To tell the truth, I was looking forward to it, maybe learn a thing or two… at […]

Super Bowl Sunday

Posted by Ken Campbell February 2, 2009 0 Comment 853 views

Sunday morning. A quiet morning with the air not too cold, not too hot, no wind (or not much, anyway). I can think of a lot of things to do that would not be nearly as pleasurable as time spent on the water with my wife. There was a time, before the boy arrived, when […]

A Starting point

Posted by Ken Campbell February 1, 2009 0 Comment 855 views

According to the Washington State Parks web site, “Belfair State Park is a 63-acre, year-round camping park on 3,720 feet of saltwater shoreline at the southern end of Hood Canal in western Washington. It is noted for its saltwater tide flats, wetlands with wind-blown beach grasses and pleasant areas for beach walking and saltwater swimming.” […]

Econ 101

Posted by Ken Campbell January 31, 2009 0 Comment 858 views

In the closing months of 2008, the U.S. economy took its biggest hit in over a quarter-century. According to the sages at CNN, the 3.8% drop in fourth quarter GDP was the largest decline since 1982. The sky is falling and it would seem that the prospects for future prosperity are a long way off. […]

The End

Posted by Ken Campbell January 29, 2009 0 Comment 1012 views

In 1853 the schooner Cynosure dropped anchor in Neah Bay. The Makah had had some interaction with white settlers and merchants before this point, but this encounter would prove very different, and far more tragic, than any that had preceded it. One of the crew – exactly whom is unknown – had been exposed to […]

A Green rush

Posted by Ken Campbell January 28, 2009 0 Comment 1008 views

Between 1849 and 1851, a series of six fires devastated San Francisco, each of them creating a serious need for lumber. At the height of the demand, rough-milled lumber sold for more than it fetches today, in some cases as much as $500 per thousand feet. Much of the timber that rebuilt San Francisco came […]