Making my way over and between barnacled, blunt-edged rocks and boulders along the north shore of Bowman Bay, quiet clickings increase in proportion to my pace. Shore crabs in a dozen different colors drop from the rocks on which they rest as I pass by, then scurry to safety. It’s one of several super-low-tide days in …
Category Archives: Recreation
Got What It Takes To Loop the Lakes?
Running along the dry, rocky trail strewn with pine needles in the Anacortes Forest Lands, I never expected to see a murder in progress. The perpetrator, Thamnophis sirtalis, lay dead across the trail, its prey having progressed nearly halfway along its digestive tract before it came to an…ahem…dead stop. I grabbed the nearest stick and carefully …
Cle Elum Ridge Run 25K: Sometimes, You Just Have To Show Up
A line of bibbed runners file past as we enter the Taneum Junction Campground parking lot in Cle Elum. This is not a good sign, but it’s what we expected. We had just made our way back down a windy, washboard-y gravel road, marked 3330 instead of the intended Forest Service Road 3300, confusing the similarly-numbered …
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What’s SUP?
The second day of summer 2017 was the best one ever for a couple of stand up paddle boarders lucky enough to book a tour with Jennifer and Shawn McFarland of Sound Yoga and SUP. Moments after the leader suggested the group stand down and move towards the shore for a break, a pod of five …
Bad News, Free Shoes, Spectacular Views
Standing alone in our tiny, two-room, bathroomless cabin in Winthrop on race morning, I took a step, felt a twinge atop my thigh, and collapsed, which didn’t seem like a great start to my Cutthroat Classic 2017 adventure. Even worse: it happened twice more before I’d even made my way to the start line. Less …
Ragnar Trail Rainier: It Ain’t For Babies
“It’s Ragnar Trail for babies,” I told my teammates a month from the start of the race. I’d seen the trail map screen and neglected to notice that the 800′ of climb shown was for the Green Loop only. A week later, while scrutinizing the site, I realized my mistake. Total climb: 4,500 feet, which …
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A Fish Called Wanda
My feet hit the slick, rocky bottom of Whistle Lake’s shore. I stood. And tried not to cry. I’d just completed a quarter mile out and back swim with my friend Erin, relieved that I hadn’t drowned but afraid to do it again. Signing up for a triathlon from the comfort of my warm, dry …
Dock Crabbing At Cornet Bay Is About To Become One-Third Less Fun
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever,” said Jacque Cousteau. Spellbound seagoers who patronize Cornet Bay have the RCFB to thank for awarding a $1,664,000 grant to the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission to fund a pier replacement project, which should improve their boating, or at least mooring experience at …
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The Science of the Clams
The intruder made a beeline for the shore, slowed and placed her hands in the frigid water. I watched, hoping she wouldn’t notice something I coveted and wanted to keep quiet: an unusual sea squirt species. She rinsed her hands, shook them off, turned and walked away. My secret was safe. Three years ago, in …
Race Report: 2017 Chuckanut Mountain Half Marathon
A Washington Department of Natural Resources publication includes the article Paleogeography and Paleontology of the Early Tertiary Chuckanut Formation, Northwest Washington, “Residents of northwest Washington feel at home in a landscape where majestic forests provide a foreground for rugged mountain vistas-except on the many days when the panorama is obscured by fog and drizzle. Fossils in the Chuckanut …
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