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For Winter Solstice this year, Mom and Dad took Robin, Daniel, CJ and me to Kauai for a week long trip. Hiking, snorkeling, lounging, and hot tubbing was enjoyed by all.
I'm volunteering doing snowtracking with Conservation Northwest again this year, and we had our first day on Saturday, hiking at Snoqualmie Pass.
Our transects went quickly, so we hiked cross country for a bit, then took a well groomed trail up to the top of the ridge, then back down.
At one point we spotted squirrel tracks in the snow traveling down one hill and up another, and determined that it was traveling north. Then, on closer inspection, we realized it was actually traveling south - the distance between groupings of four tracks would be longer going downhill!
Labels: adventure, environment, photos
We went hunting for mushrooms on Sunday up in the North Cascades (off the Middle Fork) and found a ton of chantrelles, as well as some edible boletes and puffballs! There was plenty of fresh (still shiny) elk droppings, and CJ found large cat feces - too small for cougar I'd say, but it'd be a big bobcat... There were also a lot of pretty things in the woods.
Pacific Tree Frogs have a distinctive "Y" on the top of their heads between their eyes.
CJ's in the background foraging. He has an amazing eye for spotting mushrooms!
Tentatively identified as a Western Redbacked Salamander, with a broad stripe of red-orange (perfectly the color of old needles) down its back.
Pacific Tree Frogs have a distinctive "Y" on the top of their heads between their eyes.
CJ's in the background foraging. He has an amazing eye for spotting mushrooms!
Tentatively identified as a Western Redbacked Salamander, with a broad stripe of red-orange (perfectly the color of old needles) down its back.
Last weekend I went backpacking in the North Cascades at Mesahchie Pass. There's no trail, so we brushcrashed up to the pass - about 5 miles, 3000 feet elevation gain, 5 1/2 hours hiking time, 7+ hours elapsed. My 'old faithful' external frame pack was totally unsuited to the style of hiking (lunging through conifer branches and willow banks) but I survived. This trip, like the snow tracking earlier this year, was with Conservation Northwest, and the goal was to switch camera batteries and reapply lure (think beaver anal secretions in liquid form - smelly).
More photos plus trip chronicle!
Mom got me a new earring rack, huzzah! Apparently I have a lot of earrings, I've already filled it pretty much completely up! But I still think it's time to make new... Of these, I made 35 pairs, bought 18, and was given 42.
I just finished up another fun, time-consuming graphic design class - this time for the web! We designed new portfolio sites (at last, tracydurnell.com will have different content than my blog! well, as soon as I finish coding...) and redesigned a random Hawaiian coffee-seller's website. Here's my homepage design for em:
In July I took CJ white-water rafting in eastern WA. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so worried from the last time I went rafting (raft tipped, threw us all out in a big rapid with the river super flippin high - water so cold it knocked the air out of you - fend for yourself swim for the other raft look for parents later! - lost one of my tevas) but it turned out to be totally tame because I booked so late in the year. Random photography companies take pictures as you go down the rapids - I'm Rivers Inc Boat 1 7-12 if the link doesn't work.
How I know I should be a scientist: I <3 data! Here's a sweet chart comparing how different people spend their days, allowing you to compare what percent of Americans are working vs. sleeping, eating, watching TV, etc at any given moment of the day. And the site Daytum lets you keep track of random personal data like "miles walked" or "movies watched" or "drinks drank" or whatever the hell you want to keep track of. I can't decide what I want to track, so I haven't started yet!
Zomg.
I just finished up another fun, time-consuming graphic design class - this time for the web! We designed new portfolio sites (at last, tracydurnell.com will have different content than my blog! well, as soon as I finish coding...) and redesigned a random Hawaiian coffee-seller's website. Here's my homepage design for em:
In July I took CJ white-water rafting in eastern WA. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so worried from the last time I went rafting (raft tipped, threw us all out in a big rapid with the river super flippin high - water so cold it knocked the air out of you - fend for yourself swim for the other raft look for parents later! - lost one of my tevas) but it turned out to be totally tame because I booked so late in the year. Random photography companies take pictures as you go down the rapids - I'm Rivers Inc Boat 1 7-12 if the link doesn't work.
How I know I should be a scientist: I <3 data! Here's a sweet chart comparing how different people spend their days, allowing you to compare what percent of Americans are working vs. sleeping, eating, watching TV, etc at any given moment of the day. And the site Daytum lets you keep track of random personal data like "miles walked" or "movies watched" or "drinks drank" or whatever the hell you want to keep track of. I can't decide what I want to track, so I haven't started yet!
Zomg.
Labels: adventure, design, random
As part of a citizen science initiative, I volunteered to snowshoe track animals along I-90 two days this winter.
It's nice to get out in the winter sometimes. Snoeshoeing ftw!
Each transect was 1k long. This route followed an established cross-country ski track, but the others were through unbroken snow.
We followed orange flagging on the unmaintained routes, but some of it was tricky to spot, like this, right at ground level, and required blindly choosing a direction and traipsing around for fifteen minutes until we could spot the next flag. They hung the flagging in summer, so some was covered with snow.
Each team had a more experienced leader who could help us identify tracks. Here he's investigating a coyote trail just off the transect.
The tracks headed up towards the stream are from a pair of coyotes. We later attempted to track them through this riverbed.
Labels: adventure, science, self_improvement
I forgot that I took pictures when I was home! I went on a bunch of hikes, apparently.
Wow, Photoshop's "Smart Sharpen" tool is amazing! Definitely helps since I have trouble focusing perfectly with my glasses and all.
Dad by the sad dead Big Madrone.
View of Mt. Tam from Lake Lagunitas.
Future Big Madrone replacement? Yeah, in 200 years...
Dad and I hiked out by the Inkwells, where they'd done a lot of trailwork so it was easy to see the pretty waterfall.
Wow, Photoshop's "Smart Sharpen" tool is amazing! Definitely helps since I have trouble focusing perfectly with my glasses and all.
Dad by the sad dead Big Madrone.
View of Mt. Tam from Lake Lagunitas.
Future Big Madrone replacement? Yeah, in 200 years...
Dad and I hiked out by the Inkwells, where they'd done a lot of trailwork so it was easy to see the pretty waterfall.
My internship is ending in a week--as a happy final note, I got to tag along and photograph bobcat kitten surgeries yesterday! The four carnivore biologists homed in on the kittens in their den by locating their mother using radiotelemetry, then after the mother got spooked and jumped the den, we interns and a volunteer veterinarian joined them to implant radiotransmitters in the kittens.
My parents came to visit last week, so I dragged them pitfalling one day.
Labels: adventure, news, photos, science
I visited Anza Borrego Desert State Park with Danielle, my high school friend.
One day after pitfalling, our boss told us to take a hike.
Last week we caught two mountain lions in the span of three days! That makes it sound like it's not that special, but the biologists here have been trying to catch a lion since last May, and in five plus years of trapping cougars, these were only the 10th and 11th mountain lions they caught.
Also, over President's day weekend, Adia and I went backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park.
Also, over President's day weekend, Adia and I went backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park.
Labels: adventure, photos, science
I am living in the Santa Monica National Recreation Area, on Mulholland Drive, and doing an internship through the park service. For my first two weeks, I am helping out the bobcat crew, which involves getting up every day at 5 am to go check traps and then spending 8-10 hour days looking for cats etc. Yesterday we actually caught a bobcat! In another week I'll switch to my own work, pitfall trapping for reptiles and amphibians.
Labels: adventure, news, photos
I've posted my photos from Comic-Con and my recent Yosemite backpack trip.
Hannah came to visit me last week, and we played tourists and hung out a lot.
On the day she left, she made me some beautiful paper snowflakes while I drew her a picture.
6 am, just cause we could.
Brian, Korey, Myla and I had a photoshoot for an ad for A Capella that Brian was making.
Hiking on Mount Tam in July.
Hannah came to visit me last week, and we played tourists and hung out a lot.
On the day she left, she made me some beautiful paper snowflakes while I drew her a picture.
6 am, just cause we could.
Brian, Korey, Myla and I had a photoshoot for an ad for A Capella that Brian was making.
Hiking on Mount Tam in July.
On a whim, I went on a road trip to Kansas City with Jeremy and Brian last week.
7 miles out-and-back including a quarter mile "unmaintained" extension, the hike to Alamere Falls is turning into one of my classics.
Alamere Falls is a series of waterfalls that eventually cascade over a 30(?) foot cliff onto the beach and into the ocean.
Sally's friend Erin found the state of the trail unacceptable.
Rather than scramble back up the trail, we turned the hike into a 9ish mile loop by walking along the beach to Wildcat camp and back along another trail.
Sally and Erin took off their shoes so they could run through the surf.
My room's current unpacking status--if you refer to the earlier picture, there has been vast improvement!
Sally wanted to go to the beach and hiking, so we drove up to the top of the mountain and hiked down to Stinson Beach, then back up--4 miles each way.
We drove back Fairfax-Bolinas road, where the fog was cresting over the ridge, to avoid traffic.
Mom, Dad, Kirby and I went to Roy's Redwoods but hiked through the dry grasslands instead. Kirby folds her ears back to keep out burrs like a good dog.
This is so Brian and me.
Wishing to bring home some fair art or touch of Bellingham, Brian and I made pirogies. It went fine until the pirogies got too warm and all stuck together, so we had to cut them apart with a knife. Also, I only had whole wheat flour, so they were a little healthier tasting.
Brian helping me pack. Ok, I think he was working.
Aimee claims her rabbit's a girl.
The platypus knows it's next.
We detoured to Mt. St. Helens for a photo op on our way to Portland, where we spent a day, going to the art museum and OMSI (which we got in for free since it was so close to closing time!) and hanging out with our hosts.
This sunset and the fine mexican food we got are, I'm sure, the only nice things about Redding.
Apparently I have difficulty typing the word susnet.
We stopped in Davis for a night and went to a party.
I still haven't finished unpacking, but it looks better than this. Robin said my unpacking method was to move boxes I didn't want to deal with out into the living room, which is somewhat true--I wanted them to be put into storage.
Monica gave Brian and I tickets to the Mountain Play--HAIR--since she was in it. Ironically, I played in the band in our high school's production, so I knew 70% of the lyrics. Unfortunately, we had to get a ride up the mountain with her, so we got there at 8:30 and the play didn't start until 1. Also we had only slept 3 hours the night before. Monica said the cast was amused during their pre-play runthrough watching us laying miserably in the sun on stone seats.
I went to the East Coast for a week to see a bunch of my friends who I was with in New Zealand. I stayed in a house with Jen W, Gem, Leo, & Lauren, plus a couple other people I didn't know before. One night we had a potlatch for EcoQuesters. When all my buddies were at school or studying, I hung out with Erin, their roommate--she played an entertaining video game (Harvest Moon: Magical Melody I believe) a lot. The three objects of the game were to rescue the harvest fairy, maintain a healthy farm, and find a husband. Everyone in the house is probably going to be diabetic later due to their sweet tooths--we had ice cream practically every night, and also made cookies and cake.
Brian's now up in WA with me. We tried to go to Boundary Bay one night for dinner, but after the waitress forgot about us at the bar for an hour, we headed to the Horseshoe.
Friday night I threw a going-away party. Aimee shaved my friend Brendan's head.
On Saturday Brian and Eva and I wandered around downtown Bellingham and scored some free comics because it was free comic book day. Brian and I saw Spiderman 3 at midnight on Thursday night after attending a BBQ (we ate burritos instead) and snagging some pizza and beer (the cashier and person behind us in line at the gas station were both from CA!).
Because we didn't run the dishwasher right away after the party, on Saturday Aimee had to drink her Midori melon/peach vodka concoction out of a yogurt container since there were no cups.
Sunday, I dragged Brian, Hannah, and Aimee an hour up the Mt Baker Highway to this old growth stand.
Director Brian ran through a lot of takes to get this shot.
Photo credit: Brian Fong.
Brian's now up in WA with me. We tried to go to Boundary Bay one night for dinner, but after the waitress forgot about us at the bar for an hour, we headed to the Horseshoe.
Friday night I threw a going-away party. Aimee shaved my friend Brendan's head.
On Saturday Brian and Eva and I wandered around downtown Bellingham and scored some free comics because it was free comic book day. Brian and I saw Spiderman 3 at midnight on Thursday night after attending a BBQ (we ate burritos instead) and snagging some pizza and beer (the cashier and person behind us in line at the gas station were both from CA!).
Because we didn't run the dishwasher right away after the party, on Saturday Aimee had to drink her Midori melon/peach vodka concoction out of a yogurt container since there were no cups.
Sunday, I dragged Brian, Hannah, and Aimee an hour up the Mt Baker Highway to this old growth stand.
Director Brian ran through a lot of takes to get this shot.
Photo credit: Brian Fong.
