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| Newhalem Creek Falls |
Popping in at the North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem,
Washington to see our tax dollars at work I went out and hiked the "Rock
Shelter" trail to view a historic site where Native Americans have cooked
their hunted goat and worked their wool for over 1300 years. I wasn't able to
locate any wool or even a scrape of leftover goat meat so I continued on to the
Lower Newhalem Creek Trail to spy the creek's falls. Along the way I couldn't
help but notice the forest was covered in vibrant green moss as if green snow had
somehow managed to penetrate the forest canopy and lay about like a fresh
blanket. It's a very furry forest!
Continuing west a little further down the road I had a
gander at yet another set of falls, named "Ladder Falls". Back in the
day (1950/60's) this would have undoubtedly been the most psychedelic
waterfalls in the world. Sponsored by Seattle Power and Light, one of their
visionary managers convinced the Feds to allow the company to install quite the
audio and visual array along the falls which run parallel to the dam and power
generation station. Visitors from all over the world would come to tour the
grounds including the meticulously maintained gardens of exotic (and non
native) plants , while the falls and surrounding grounds were bathed in
multicolored lights all the while listening to contemporary music piped in
through loudspeakers hidden in the tree tops. It sounds like it could have given
a Pink Floyd concert a run for its money and may well have served as an
inspiration to Walt Disney. Unfortunately, today the gardens have lapsed back
to their untended native species and energy concerns have put an end to the
light show. Oh, the 'good olde days!'.
Driving the next day in Mazama I saw some mountain bikers so
I pulled over and took their word for it that there was a good ride to be had.
So I had a go at the Mazama Community Trail (MCT) and rode a 14 mile loop. The
Methow Valley System Trail Association has really done a nice job of getting
permission from local land owners to facilitate a great community trail which
is easy for all levels and has some short, more challenging spurs for those so
inclined.
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| Winthrop, a town stuck in the 19th Century |
Later as I drove through Winthrop and took in the town's
"old time" store fronts I
wondered if I had somehow slipped backwards in time to the 1800's. Eventually I
made it to Omak which seemed to have enough of a population for me to
reasonably assume I would be able to find a replacement tire for the one I
can't seem to stop from leaking even with a can of "Fix-it-Flat" and
inserting a number of tire plugs!
My assumption proved wrong as the only place I could find a
replacement tire at was closing in another 5 minutes so I drove into Spokane.
Deciding to forgo a temporary used replacement I decided to bite the bullet and
purchase a whole new set of tires. Oh the joys of shopping for reasonably
priced tires for a heavy duty vehicle in a small market! My best bet seemed to
be the local Walmart. The tire department was unmanned for the evening, but
their stock was on display so I managed to locate three of the correctly sized
tires I needed. I kept my fingers crossed that they had the fourth hidden
somewhere.
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| Can't decide which is cooler- the Purple late 80's Trans Am, the "Gumballs" on top, or the Dummy inside!!?? |
Lady luck was with me in the morning when the tire guys told
me that they did indeed have the fourth tire in the shop. So I had all four of them
installed as I watched the latest Star Trek movie for the second time while
killing time in the waiting room.
With brand new sneakers on the van (love that new tire
smell) I was ready to put Washington in the rear view and re-enter Idaho which
had recently showed me a very nice time notwithstanding my bike accident and the scar which is still
healing.
Northern Idaho is about as wide as a 'wafer thin mint' so it
doesn't take long to traverse it, but I did managed to extend my time there
with a visit to Schweitzer Mountain to get another ride in the bag. There they have a really popular trail called
"Bear Grass" but its "Downhill" only. In other words, you
have to buy a lift ticket. I chose instead to ride the 5.5 mile X-Country loop
called "Sammy's Style". (Ride
Specifics: Service road ride up, right onto Huckleberry Hill, Right on to Upper
GRR. Left onto Overland. Merge left onto Lower GRR, Right onto Rolling Thunder,
Right back onto Overland. Left onto Screech Owl and finish). Short and
Sweet! And really Fun. Also, the huckleberries were in season so the snacks were
courtesy of Mother Nature!
The only thing bothering me at this point is that my
refrigerator is blowing fuses and I haven't yet been able to track down the
reason. It is, none the less, another wonderful day and I'm not going to let
that bring me down. I'll deal with it down the road once I've entered the
"Big Sky Country" of Montana........
For Photos and Videos please check out the following links:
Facebook (A sampling
before someday posting to my Photography website)
Twitter @DJphotopics
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