mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06I guess I like to make stuff, such as tomlechner.com, laidout.org, hikertoonist.com
The Eagle Creek Trail was hit pretty hard in the big rain storms in December, but opened back up last week. Each time I hike this trail I've seen something new, this time it's fresh trails cut through large washouts, and also first time ever seeing 4 harlequin ducks in between waterfalls, diving and swimming around the river.
Last weekend, I went up around Mt. Rainier/Tahoma, specifically the Tatoosh Range, for the first time. It was supposed to be a rock climb with a Mazama group, but ended up snowing on and off all day, and turned into a snow hike with various climb safety evaluating instead, but still amazing. Also the first time I saw a marmot in person!
#bloomscrolling and #hiking at Silver Star Mountain. The trail was mostly in a cloud layer, so the distance views weren't great, but there were quite a variety of flowers out!
With a Mazama group, I did my first attempt at a Mount Hood summit! I got almost to the top, but couldn't quite all the way up the 45ish degree ice slope of the Old Chute right before the top. A little sad to not reach the summit when everyone else did, but I'm also not dead so it evens out. I'll summit next time. We started at 9 pm Thursday, hiked all night in the dark, except for snowcats grooming the ski area, with the moon and stars illuminating a very clear night. It was amazing.
Dog Mountain sunset #hiking summary: 6 humans and 3 scorpions, including me (in the human category). Still a lot of flowers, but the balsamroot is somewhat past peak. Paint brush and lupine still going strong. Some patches of bluehead gillia and phlox. I love spotting the scorpions, which glow blue under a blacklight!
I keep waiting for winter to start, but it looks like spring has jumped the queue, and from all the El Niño talk, sounds like summer is not far behind for the rest of the year. Anyway, lots of flowers starting to bloom at Cape Horn on the Columbia River. #bloomscrolling
The view from Dog Mountain. I definitely take way fewer photos when I'm with a group! There was snow up here a couple days ago, but it seems to be all washed away by the huge amount of rain. Just a little frosty, but really windy. Still some snow hanging on across the way!
Snow shoe #hiking along the Newton Creek Trail on the east side of Mt. Hood. The trail paralleling the creek still has maybe one or two feet of snow, but the snow thins out as you get to the ridge. Worst snow cover since 2014 apparently. From snow records, often there's lots more snow dumped till April or so, but I'll believe it when I see it. Still a lovely hike.
Apparently ok #HairIce conditions this week! This type of ice, which is actually fun to talk about unlike some other ice, occurs under some rare conditions. Fallen twigs and logs in broad leaf forest, temperatures around freezing, and humid, plus it needs some Exidiopsis effusa fungus that just really likes hair styling. The 4th photo is not actually hair ice, it's just the curly fries version of needle ice, which in a just world would be called toupe ice.
If you are near downtown Portland before (or on) June 28, it'll be your last chance to check out the Northwest Museum of Cartoon Arts before they close down. They have a fabulous exhibit of Will Eisner pages. I always love to see how much whiteout got used. There's also a rack of old Mad Magazines to read! https://nwmoca.org/
Almost the end of a Mazama mountaineering class. It's been a lot of fun. Last weekend was climbing and rappelling practice out on actual rock. First up was Rooster Rock, which is a big basalt tower, presumed to have fallen off the cliffs around nearby Crown Point sometime during the Missoula floods. Chinook called it iwash (which means phallis), and the colonists called it Cock Rock, but later went with "Rooster Rock" I guess because they couldn't find pants big enough to cover it up.
Conditioning #hiking for week one of a mountaineering class with the Mazamas.. And one of my hiking poles snapped! Not even on tricky terrain. The other pole was already bent just enough to not retract all the way. I've had the poles almost 20 years, so I guess they had a good run.
Little bits of snow on Angel's Rest in the Columbia Gorge. Probably but hopefully not the last snow at this elevation this season.. This is about 1500 ft, seemed like there's more snow at the moment about 1800ish ft and up. Snow in the distance towards the Silver Star area looks good!
If you happen to like video games, and also rock climbing or mountaineering, you'll probably enjoy the game Cairn that just came out. Best climbing mechanic ever. I was lukewarm about the story until I finished the game, but then I really liked it!
@intrepidhero@vmst.io Well it did make you have to find it, and it makes you want to replace it, so clearly the UI just didn't make its true purpose clear initially.
@intrepidhero@vmst.io Yeah, the big snow storm in the rest of the country sure took pains to miss us! Felt like spring up there.. must have been in the 50s in the sun.
@intrepidhero@vmst.io A half measure would be Trump Eraser, which replaces his name with a string of your choosing. Kind of like Guild Wars 2 replacing swear words with “kittens” in chat boxes. Doesn’t solve the problem, but does make it slightly more palatable to read.
@intrepidhero@vmst.io Yeah, the first time I saw it, I thought someone had dropped a kleenex, but on closer look, whoa!
Star Trek can keep their 3D chess, behold Cthulu chess! ...using the #ForcedPerspective and #Blender #b3d for #swirledseries
@intrepidhero@vmst.io It’s now the hardest “hike” I’ve done, and also the hardest all nighter I’ve done! (So far)
@intrepidhero@vmst.io Maybe. Whatever hangs out there must be pretty skinny. They were about chest height, I'd expect bat houses to be higher up maybe.
