Heather Lake

 I awoke on Saturday to another cloudy overcast day in Seattle washington. I say this, because it is Jul 18, and as the rest of the US is dealing with Record Heat waves, Washington, is faced with a very mild summer. For me this is pure heaven, i love the overcast and rainy days. Espicially when deciding to go out and go hiking, which of course today was that day. It again means, that whatever trail i pick, will have thinner crowds than normal, as a lot of people hesitate from going out when it is this kind of weather. Which always boggles my mind, because Seattle rains all the time, if i really waited to go out for a nice day, i would seldom go out. But i understand with this mentality why so many people are depressed in seattle. As even i will admit that from time to time, to many cloudy days does dappen my spirits a little. But today was not that day.

When i started my day on saturday i was a little apprehensive, and i couldnt tell why that was. I wanted to go hiking, but i wasnt sure where i wanted to go. I was only planning on doing a short hike, but i wanted to go somewhere i had not been before. I chose MT. index because it seemed like a popular trail, that i new would be less popular today. As i headed out, i still had this feeling in the pit of my stomach, like maybe some kind of advenutre was callilng me. Or simply the unknown, whatever it was, it kept me on my toes. On my way into granite falls, i thought i new where i was, so i decided to check out a side road, that i thought would take me to a trail. And i did, but it was a trail that i had already done, so i turned around, and continued on to my designated trail. I did this like two times, making small side trips trying to find some unexplored or less popular area. I find i do this alot in my life when i get this feeling. I just get the urge to go out and do something spontaneously, i get the feeling to just go somewhere and to figure it out on my own, and today was one of those days. It basically means that keeping on my desired path is really hard, the littlest feeling of adventure one way or another leads me down a different trail. A part of me longs for crazy advenutre, that maybe that feeling would take me on some wild crazy adventure. Unfortunatly most times in my life, this is not the case, and a few times, it only ever got me into trouble. Today though, the big adventure was finding a different trail to hike then the one i had planned on, which was heather lake.

I had never been to Heather lake, or read anything about it, and i had forgotten my GPS at home, so i guess that little bit of excitement was all that i could get for that day. Needless to say it was a great choice, and a great hike. Heather lake, is on the way to Mt. Index, and the trail and woods surrounding it, is full of new growth forest. I say this, because you could see the old tree's that had been cut down(above), tree stumps like fossils of long dead giants. And as the mist hung over the tree's and the giant tree stumps once strong powerful trees, that had been there for thousands of years, now only a small portion of the giant that it used to be loomed before me, i was taken aback.
 The great thing is the small trees that have sprouted out of its trunk, new life starting to form after we destroyed it once. Will this all be for nothing, will this once proud forest grow tall once again, just to have man cut it down. These are the things i thought as i wondered up the trail.
 I was not very suprised to still see snow once i hit the lake, there was patches of snow around the lake, and up on Mt. Index in the background, and again for a second, i could hardly believe it was mid-july. Beaker lover of all nature was having a blast, running around in the snow, jumping in the water, and generally running around like crazy. My dog likes to attack water, he bites at it, and i wonder if its the water, or his reflection that he is really trying to get, needless to say it is amuzing to watch him jump into and out of the water, barking at it. I have found having a dog has really helped me smile more, its those little actions, him just being a puppy that makes me smile, that help me stop and appreciate all the little things in the world. The little things that bring a smile to our face, the extreme beauty that nature presents us, and those little adventures that make life all the more better. i look for these everyday, ways to smile, small adventures, beauty, these things are what make each day unique. Taking the time to admire the sunset, or the clouds, or the joy of watching a puppy all smiles and wagging tale excited over something as simple as water. I wish at times, we all could be as simple as that. That we can smile, and run around like kids over those simple things that make us happy. I think as we get older we look down on those things, when we should really be embracing those traits. Never forget how to have fun, never forget how to be a kid. 

RattleSnake Lake- and the Land of P.O.

The weekend began with some pretty awesome northwest weather on saturday. The sun was out early, without that somewhat common morning clouds, or marine layer that normally greets our mornings. So although it was still a bit cold from the night, you could feel the sun doing its job warming up the air. Saturday i decided that i was going to go and visit the parents in the land of P.O. or port orchard from those of you not from there. I will only really go into the drive to port orchard today as i am sure i will talk about port orchard more in the future.

 When i was a kid and drove to and from Port Orchard it always felt different than it does today. One of the many things in my live that has changed as i have gotten older, the once hated and can’t wait to leave area, becomes a place that brings me great happiness and joy. The trees that line the freeway, the hills in the distance, the sound, and the mountains behind them remind you that you are driving into the peninsula. There are no buildings or high rises in the distance, only tree's, ocean and mountains. As a kid, i felt when we left on whatever vacation trip we were heading to that i was being released from my prison, the prison that was port orchard, the prison i ironically thought the tree's put me in which always seemed a million miles away from everything and everyone.  I have sense grown to love those same areas those sparsely populated gems that line our freeways, dot our country side and really make up the whole of our world. I know that major citys shape the world that we live in by sheer population, but its the small towns, that really make up this great world of ours, those seldom thought of gems that dot the country, where you can step away from non-stop action of the big city. Where so many people ache to leave as a child, but long for as they get older.
 I love driving into Port Orchard these days, whether i am taking the freeway over, driving through the trees, deep into the peninsula, or its driving through the industrial complexes of west Seattle, to take a ferry over where i can take a break from the drive, and simply enjoy the many islands that fill the peninsula, drift by. And if you’re lucky enough to be on the ferry when the sun is setting you are graced with a sunset behind a snow draped mountain range, with the sun's setting colors splashed across the Puget sound’s glassy surface. Almost as if the water is on fire.

On Sunday i awoke early to go out and do a power hike, although not really known to me that this was the case. I was planning on joining some friends to go and hike rattlesnake lake, so i wasn’t expecting much. Mainly i say this for one reason, most times i have found when going with other people, they don’t share the same urgency that i tend to implement on a regular basis. I am one of those, OK i am ready, now lets go, and sometimes can be all go and no quit. Which works for me as I have long legs, and tend to take long strides, and walk fast, but not so much for those that can not keep up with this stride. I was expecting with this group, that although we had set up an early meeting time to head up, they would not be ready, as we would have to wait on someone...and then ultimately we would get up to the trail an hour or two after we had initially said to leave. To my surprise although we ended up not going with everyone, the people that were going, were ready to go right at the said time, and we actually left close to that. This was great, as i knew that the trail we were heading to was a pretty popular , not very backcountry trail. This was an understatement as i drove up to the trailhead.
  As i arrived at the trailhead for rattlesnake lake, at first i was shocked at the parking...which was three lots deep, with overflow, and side street parking. Having not done this hike as i new this was a popular hike, i was still shocked at the people. The day was a perfect hike day, the sun was out but hidden slightly by a light cloud haze, that would soon burn off as the day wore on. This would mean that it would be nice, but not too hot. For me this was perfect...actually almost a little to nice for me, as i prefer a little bit of rain.
What this weather did mean for my friends that were going to go but didn’t make it, was an excuse to not go, because they saw clouds, which meant rain, which meant, I don’t want to go hiking in the rain. Personally for those people i find that it probably wouldn’t of mattered what the weather was like, as they already had it in their head that they were not going to go. So if it wasn't that excuse it would most likely have been something else. I would say that this upsets me, but i have come to find that this is the nature of a lot of people, even myself included. Its one of those things were you don’t want to say no, but if you don’t say yes then i know that it just won’t happen. If there is any leeway in there, any hesitation, that for some reason, always blossoms to simply not going.

 The hike itself was a nonstop trail of people up to the top, which featured a large rock to sit on and look out over the valley, and over rattlesnake lake. Although this was quite an amazing view, the throngs of people that I was sharing this view with, definitely made it feel more like a tourist stop, than hiking in the forest. The problem I find with a trail that is highly populated is that you really get a variety of people heading up to hike. This hike we were joined with a large group of college kids sporting various levels of drunkenness, although I couldn’t tell it it was because of an early party morning, or leftover from a big party night Saturday. This group was loud and disorganized which meant there were lots of people waiting to pass different pockets of this group.  Now I encourage anyone to go out and enjoy nature, and I cant talk to much crap about these people, because as long as they aren’t messing up nature, at least they are outside in the forest, under the sun, and not in front of a TV, so you have to give them something for that. Its just that these are not the kinds of groups that I enjoy sharing the trail with. I enjoy the solitude, the personal revelations you can have on a hike, the simple enjoyment of the nature around you. This is harder to do with a lot of people. All in all, it was a good hike up and back, and after the hike was all through I let my puppy beaker run around in the lake chasing after a somewhat amused golden retriever. I feel like my puppy wanted to play but the golden didn’t want anything to do with my dog. Which was quite funny to see my dog jumping around the golden trying to get him to play with him, but completely ignoring my puppy beaker.

Well this was my travel adventure for this weekend, stay tuned for next weekends adventure.  

West Fork Foss River- Trout and Copper Lake

For the 4th of July weekend i decided that i wanted to get away for the long weekend, and do my first multi-night backcountry campout. For this i decided to go to the west fork of the Foss River. Looking at the trail report, this trail linked up to 5 lakes, each lake more spectacular then the next. The only hiccup that we saw was simply that there was snow above Trout Lake, and the last person that went could not finish the hike due to, too much snow, and no visible trail. With these things in mind, our packs all loaded we headed out.

 Saturday was a spectacular day, we left late in the day around 2 and as soon as we left, was immediately stuck in traffic. A small part of me worried as we drove along at a 2 mph rate that there would be a lot of people already at the trail, and already camping. I will admit that the big part I love about back country camping is the simple solitude of it. To be able to go out in the wilderness, and share it with a few select people, is truly enjoyable, and the farther you go, and get away from people, the more free i feel. Although i am a lover of technology, i also feel that at times we can get lost in it. Where it becomes too much of our regular lives, it’s almost like an addiction. I think its important to go out in nature, or out of your area, and get away from it all, be free from distraction, from massive's of people, and find yourself. Take a technology break if you will, from the things that become more and more ingrained in our lives.
 So after a long drive along Hwy 2 at around 10mph we finally cleared the traffic, and made the trailhead. i was at first pleasantly surprised to find a nice forest service road, at first initially paved, that then gave way to gravel with minimal potholes. I will admit, i do not have the backcountry car, i have an older mercury sable, which gets me to where i need to be, but will not if i face too much of an obstacle, like massive potholes, or obstructions in the road. Needless to say this road had none of that, and i was greeted at the trailhead with only 4 other cars, and at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday of a 3 day weekend, i found that quite awesome. The likelihood of all of these car’s actually staying overnight was minimal, so i knew the lake would be a solitary camp. Leaving later in the afternoon is a great choice if you are planning on staying overnight, it eliminates most of the super hot weather in the daytime, as by the time we hit the exposed areas of the trail, the sun had already dipped below the other side of the mountains for a shady but steep hike. The trail started nice, but instantly hit a snag with a sign "Experience backpackers only" that read follow the pink flags. Looking around we found them, and timidly followed the pink flags, along a dried up river alongside another river until we came to a passing. Now the passing was simply a fallen log, over a raging river with a pink flag on the other side, beckoning for us to follow. Having my puppy with me, i first looked around to see if there was a better way to cross, but going downstream a bit, i did not find anything that wasnt fast moving, and quite deep, with that being said, i headed towards to the fallen log.
Now with a 50 lb backpack on, and no guide poles i slowly started walking over the slippery log. i slowly inched my way across and once on the other side i turned to find that my puppy had followed me across. When i stopped though he got nervous  and started walking back, i then grabbed him by the tail and made sure he didn't try that crossing again. It’s not like he was worried, i am sure, but i was worried for him. I helped him down form the log, and waited for Tressa ( my fiance) to cross.
After we had both successfully crossed, and our blood pumping a little faster, we found another pink flag through the trees, and continued to make our way. The rest of the hike for that day was pretty simple, there was quite a few tree's that you had to maneuver up and over or under or around. Which isn't to bad, but when you have big pack on, all buckled up, it makes these obstacles just a bit trickier. Our puppy though, Beaker is ever the hiker, he never wants to be picked up to cross obstacles, always going for his own path, either following us up and over logs, or simply climbing up the side of a mountain and then back down again, only to look at us like, that was easy, why didn't you try that. I really think our puppy just shows off sometimes.
The hike itself was short to the first lake, after you navigated the obstacles, and other then a short but steep incline we made it to Trout Lake.
We were the only people up there at that time, although we ran into a few people coming down the trail. We decided to camp at a spot right by the lake, with a stellar view of the lake and the mountains behind it. Since there were no people at the lake, we decided to save the other lakes for tomorrow, and setup camp. One big reason for this, was simply it was still nice out, and i really wanted to go swimming. Now i know that this is glacial/snow melt water, and i was expecting cold, but it was warm enough so i figured if there was a time...now was it. So we set up camp, and shortly after donning my swimsuit i jumped into the lake. Which immediately followed me jumping out of the lake, because damn that was cold.

The next day we broke camp early and headed up the rest of the mountain. On the way up crossing a river on the way up, we came upon some backpackers coming down the mountain. After talking with them about the snow, they informed us that around the corner we were going to hit some snow. Now it is the first of July and i was expecting snow, but not massive fields of snow, covering whatever trail was there. This is really where the hiking got fun. Because now we weren't really following a trail, more just a few footsteps in the snow, at  sometimes, it was hard to tell if we even were. At one point we lost the trail completely and decided to just traverse up the side of the mountain to a ridge where we assumed there was a lake on the other side. After about half way up the mountain in the snow, our puppy ever the leader branched off to the right. looking over at him, i noticed that he was stopped and looking at me like, i was an idiot. And upon closer inspection, i realized i was, because he was sitting at the trail, and we were way off. So we followed him for the rest of that section. After crossing two fields of snow, we finally came upon copper lake. At this time we were wet from crossing the river, and cold from traversing through the snow, in wet shoes. We decided to go as far as we felt comfortable, and luckily found a solitary campsite again, right on the lake that we traversed down to, and setup camp. We knew where the trail was, and how to get back to it, so we decided that this was a great place to stop. I will admit it was quite strange one night camping in the sun and blue sky's staring at a crystal clear alpine lake, with granite walls surrounding you one night, to starring out on a frozen lake, covered in snow, with a snow laced mountain and hills as the backdrop, sitting in the only non-snow covered location and wondering where we in Alaska? The massive change in weather was quite a blast, and our dog loves the snow, so for him it was joy. He chases snowballs down the side of mound of snow, jumping off at the very last second, only to repeat it all over again.
Being so far off the trail we only came upon one other group of day hikers, and only because they were lost and found us because of our campfire. I directed them as best as i could, and although i never saw them again, can only hope they made it back to the trail safe and sound. Because they were only in shorts and t-shirts and in the snow at night, it can get quite cold. I will say i enjoyed both lakes, and can’t wait to go back and see what the other lakes look like, maybe not covered in snow, but right now i don’t see that as a chance until maybe august, maybe then the snow will have melted....just to start accumulating again.
Well i guess i will stop this one here, maybe add some more later, but i hope you enjoyed my experience and let me know what you would like to hear more of in the future.

Welcome to Wires Around the World

I wanted to start this first blog off i guess explaining a little about what i want to do with this, and where i want to go.
My name is CJ Powell, and i am from Seattle Washington, i currently work full time, and go to school at night, and DJ on the weekends. I have been DJing for about ten years, and recently moved from Los Angeles, back to Seattle where i am from. My DJing has taken me to some cool places, but not nearly the places i thought it would. I thought that i would travel the world DJing, but instead i worked my ass off, became somewhat successful, but never left LA much. This is not what i wanted to do, so i decided to make a life decision, and i moved to seattle, where i could do more hiking, snowboarding, and outdoor activities. While still DJing and producing music, and being close to my family . I also got engaged to a wonderful woman that shares my passion for travel.
Having moved back to seattle, i started instantly looking up trails and spots to go hiking. I started snowboarding pretty much every weekend, and slowly begin to feel that urge to do even more. Now i have decided to move to New Zealand or somewhere overseas and travel the world, if only for a couple of years. I also love to write, and i would love to share my thoughts about the world as i see it, so i decided to start a blog. I dont know if anything will ever come of this, but at least i can share the places i have seen, and the people i have met, and hopefully chronical my adventures, and share some of my clever...if only i think so, observations.
So that is what this blog will be, it will be me sharing my love to write and the places i go hiking, the places i travel, the people i meet, and the places and events i DJ. Soon it will be places i have traveled abroad, and the many friends i make along the way.
With this i am always looking for feedback of places to go, or people to meet, and share some words with. I believe the meaning of life, lies in each one of us. We all have a little bit of the answer, a little bit to teach everyone else. My goal in life has always been to learn what that is, to learn from people, and places things about my self, and hope that i can share those things with the people and the world around me.