Spencer Island & Langus Riverfront Park

Last weekend we headed out to celebrate Keith's birthday a little early with a geocaching trip to Spencer Island. 

Spencer Island is 400 acres located in the Snohomish River estuary.  The northern portion is owned by the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife; the southern portion by Snohomish County.  We explored both ends.  According to the signs bikes are not allowed, at least on the south end, so we walked.  This bridge marks the entrance to the park.

We saw a mama duck with her ducklings, swallows building nests from the mud along the riverbank, lots of other kinds of birds (sorry, identifying birds is not my strong suit) and this guy......

A couple pictures from the northern end of the island:

We found this very cool train themed geocache.

Apparently 70 degrees in Washington is pretty warm because some had to strip down to cool off!

The southern portion of the trail consisted of some boardwalks jutting out into the marshy areas.

After finding all of the geocaches on the island that are accessible by foot (several more are reachable by boat only) we headed to Black Angus for a tremendous steak dinner.  Sure wish we still had one of those restaurants locally.  Considering that was the biggest meal we had eaten in some time and it was such a nice evening we decided to head to the Langus Riverfront Park (adjacent to Spencer Island) and find a few more geocaches and enjoy a walk along the Snohomish River.  This was a very clever cache located at the boat launch.  Here is how it looked just as we found it:

Here is what it looks like when you screw off the cap:

The picture makes it seem obvious but it actually blends in quite well.  You just have to notice that all of the other holes on the dock railing are empty!  We didn't realize it at the time but we actually ended up setting our own personal daily cache record by finding 15 geocaches this day.  We had lost track and didn't realize until we got home and got them all logged.

One last picture of a portion of the Langus Rivefront Trail at its most nothern point.  Most of it is paved and perfect for a bike ride; this particular section is grass.

Overall we walked almost 8 miles exploring these two areas.  It's all flat trail so there was very little groaning from Nicole.  This area is located close to I-5 and you never completely escaped the sound of the traffic but I am glad we finally got a chance to explore this area.

We signed up for the Amazing Race through United General Hospital and are looking forward to receiving our first assigned hike this coming Monday!

What Goes Up Must Come Down

This thought kept running through my head on the last two hikes that Keith and I did.

On May 7 we hiked up Bowman Mountain.  We had already done the first mile with the kids and this trip we hiked to the 2.6 mile mark.

The access to Bowman Mountain is off Mosquito Lake Road in Acme, about 4 miles from Highway 9.  It is a logging road.  The gate may or may not be open but public access is limited to bike or foot traffic.  There is active logging right now and I think we had three logging trucks pass us but they always slowed down.  Eventually our path diverged from theirs. 

The first mile is a gradual incline with occasional flat stretches.  After that it is a steady unrelenting uphill hike.  Geocaching along the way helped break up the monotony of the constant upward climb.

I would love to reach the summit one of these days (a 6.2 mile hike one way) but that just isn't possible in the approximate 5 hour window we have while the kids are in school and my current physical condition.  Hiking like this each week though will certainly help the latter.

This was our turn-around point:

The road continued to climb from this point.  Going out and around this clearcut would most likely have brought us to the impressive views that are the reward of this hike; views of Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters.  Next time!

On May 16 we had plans to hike on Blanchard Mountain.  I tried to research ahead of time to see if a Discover Pass was required.  Well, it is.  We will be getting one but it wasn't worth the risk of a $99 ticket so we headed to Squires Lake.  Hiking through the park we accessed the PNT and hiked to the summit of what is referred to as Alger Alp (1315 foot summit, about 1000 elevation game from the trailhead). 

Again, mostly an uphill trek but not as difficult as Bowman Mountain.  Very peaceful once you get away from the I-5 traffic noise.  We only met two other people outside the Squire Lake Park boundary.  Our reward for this hike was a great view of Mount Baker on one side:

and the Skagit Valley on the other side:

We found two geocaches on this hike, both near the summit.  Also managed to miss another cache on the way up, so another reason to come back in the future.

I will be purchasing that Discover Pass and we'll be heading to Blanchard Mountain on Monday.  Exact destination there is yet to be determined.

Happy Reading New Year!

Taking a little bit of time this New Year's Day to reflect on my reading for 2011 and plans for 2012.

I read 36 books in 2011 and listed to 5 audiobooks. I am enjoying the audiobooks on my short commute to and from work so that is something I will definitely be continuing.

Some of my favorite reads from 2011 were:

"Tatiana & Alexander"--Paullina Simons
A sequal to "The Bronze Horseman". Though I did not find this one quite as good as "The Bronze Horseman", it was worth the time to read the continuing story of the two main characters. Historical fiction, WWII, Russian History, a love story......all good stuff! I have yet to read the last book in the trilogy, "The Summer Garden", so that is on this year's reading list.

"Full Dark, No Stars"--Stephen King
I usually either love or hate Stephen King books. This one I loved. Four short stories that I found very interesting and entertaining. This was one of those books this year I could not put down until it was done and it's possible I may have neglected a few household chores and/or not heard everything my family said to me during this time! Also by Stephen King this year: "Mile 81" and "The Long Walk" and listened to "The Gingerbread Girl"; although I don't recommend these as highly.

"In the Garden of Beasts"--Erik Larson
Mom and I picked this book to read on our Yellowstone Trip. We had previously read "The Devil in the White City" by this author (also highly recommended) and had been wanting to read this one as well. The first surprise was that the book was non-fiction. It tells the story of America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in 1933. Very interesting to read about the changes happening in Germany during the build up to WWII and a glimpse inside the life of an ambassador.

"The Invisible Bridge"--Julie Orringer

Although I am slowly transitioning the majority of my reading (and all new book purchases) to my Kindle, this was one of three books I bought at Costco this summer. Hey, if Keith is going to send me to do the Costco shopping, there will be some collateral damage! Another WWII historical fiction epic but the main characters were from Hungary and I don't think I've read anything previously that looked at the persecution of the Jews in that country and the country's involvement in the war. Highly recommend this one!

And, my biggest accomplishment this year, was reading the entire Bible. This is something I had wanted to do for a long time. This summer I joined an online challenge to read the Bible in 90 days and I did it! There is no denying it was tough at times. My reading took place during All Star and tournament baseball, summer trips to Yellowstone and Birch Bay and busy geocaching weekends. But it is an accomplishment I'm proud of.

I don't want to set too many reading goals for 2012. I read on the whim a lot of the time but I do want to finish "The Bronze Horseman" trilogy and read "The Hobbit" again before the movie arrives in theatres in December. I am also reading The Bible again, but this time over the entire year and in chronological order.

Right now I am reading "Alva, That Vanderbilt Belmont Woman". On our trip to New England this past Fall, we stopped in Newport, Rhode Island and toured the "summer cottage" she and her husband had built there. It was one of my favorites of the homes we toured. I saw this book in their gift shop but decided to buy a used version from Abe Books. The author is attempting to tell Alva's story in "her own words". This glimpse into the high society of New York City in the last 1800's and early 1900's is quite interesting.