Mike and I hiked Elk Mountain where we gained about 2000 feet in elevation in about 2 miles. The top .5 mile was covered with snow, which made the steep uphill a little treacherous for this clumsy girl. Mike showed me a new technique for uphill treks in mud or snow that kept me from sliding too much. The downhill was much much more difficult. We went further than the summit, but soon lost the trail in the snow and had to turn around. It was 4 miles and took us 3.5 hours. When we did this hike in July without the snow it took us 1.25 hours to summit, and yesterday it was about 2 hours to summit. We picnicked on the way down.
It was a beautiful day, but too bad we couldn’t do the loop.You really notice the highway on the way down.
Thank God for the Appolloni Vineyards visit after our hike. If you hadn’t noticed there’s quite the post-hike trend.
I’m becoming slightly fanatic about food these days. I realized this as I was switching my minestrone soup from a plastic bowl into a glass bowl so I can use the glass in the microwave. It makes sense to me, but it still might be a little crazy.
Wait, there’s more.
I have decided to completely avoid trans fatty acids (hydrogenated oils), and high fructose corn syrup, and other over-processed foods. I don’t care what the agro-businesses have to say about how it’s natural, it tastes like shit!And just because something starts out as natural (although according to king corn, you can’t actually eat the corn that they use to make high-fructose corn syrup) doesn’t mean it can’t be poisonous. arsenic: natural, mercury: natural.
For a long time I have been avoiding purchasing these types of items, but I’ve taken it a step further. I am avoiding all foods that I can’t read their label or buy as a whole food and make myself. This means when my co-worker has a birthday, I will not eat the cake unless it’s homemade (not Betty Crocker), or from a bakery that I know does not use these ingredients. You do have to be careful because a lot of bakeries use high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. They’ll buy premixed cake powders. They don’t taste nearly as good.
This started a while ago when I became more interested in being healthy. I exercise just about every day and we cook at home most nights. Then I watched King Corn and it really hit me how horrible these chemicals are for the environment and my own health. The acres of corn are ruining our natural resources and stripping the ground of nutrients forever. One of the problems is that people want cheap food, but should food really be cheap? The more we use this cheap method, the worse off we will be. The same person who bargain shops their food, turns around and buys several meals out a week. Why not cook better stuff at home, and eat out only on special occasions?
Who has the time to cook at home, we say. But, who doesn’t have the time? Think about it as a time investment. 5 hours a week now buys you many, many hours that wold be spent being sick later. What are we cutting out of our lives when we cook more? A few TV programs? Will they matter in 5 years?
Other problems are that we don’t want to spend money on food and we want what we want, when we want it. Maybe we should skip the new cell phone, the new outfit, the hair cut, and spend our money on food. Agro-business is making money because we are all bargain hunting food. And they are making money because no one is noticing quality anymore. They tell us that the shiny red apple tastes good. But, they’re actually mealy and gross. We want a strawberry in December, so they make it so. But why do we want that damn pale tasteless strawberry? Is it really necessary? What do you do with it anyway that makes it so important?
On Sunday, we hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from the Bonneville Dam Trail head. It was about 7.5 miles and it took us around 3.75 hours. This hike was incredibly disappointing at first, not only because we weren’t coming across much fungi, but also because the trail took us through some nasty clear cut forest.
Finally after some time, we crossed a road, and then saw Gillette Lake, which is a crystal blue lake formed by the mountain snow melt. This changed our attitudes completely. Suddenly the rainy day didn’t even matter.We passed three lakes total and a few bridge stretched streams. Mike decided he thinks we should do the PCT in its entirety.
The bridges were slick with moss and I nearly sent my head splat on the wood. More than once. Maybe my feet are deformed in a away the naked eye can’t see.
It wasn’t until we turned around at the Two Chiefs trail that we realized our bodies had been working. Then the real rain began. We thought we’d gotten through an entire early spring hike without getting drenched, but, in the PNW, that is impossible. By the end, my pants were falling off heavy with water.
So, we completed our fourth hike this year: Vernonia trail, Forest Park, Harris Ranch Trail- Drift Creek Wilderness # 1347.
Then we went and got beer and pizza at 360 Degrees near Camus, Wa. They have a pretty rad happy hour form 4-6 and the place is damn good despite its cold strip mall exterior and middle of nowhere location.
Thank God for the Appolloni Vineyards visit after our hike. If you hadn’t noticed there’s quite the post-hike trend.
