Augtober

For 2008, September isn't really necessary. Instead, it should be replaced with Augtober.

Augtober starts about August 15th or so and will run until October 1st. Snow was forecasted for White Pass, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker on Saturday. Can you believe it? Half the trails on my to-do list just melted out and are ready for me to visit them. Can you see me rolling my eyes?

If you are interested, my next outing is scheduled for Sunday, Sept 14th (or is that Augtober 32?). Hopefully snowshoes won't be needed.

Pray for beautiful weather and keep the snow at bay until mid October.

Happy Trails!

My 100 mile summer commute

Pat myself on the back.

This summer I took the opportunity to turn my morning solo commute into a bus + walk commute. While it was a great opportunity to save a few dollars on gas, slow the addition of mileage to my vehicle and help to save the environment, it also took a lot of my free time by increasing the length of my commute.

A regular round-trip car commute for me via car takes 60 minutes, 60 miles and 2 gallons of gas. Plus, I get to set the air temperature and listen to the Adam Corolla show. Plus, I can leave work during the day for errands (or lunch).

The round-trip bus commute takes 3 hours but only costs $1.50 (or less if you buy the monthly pass and use it often). So, it's nice to save money, but the extra two hours of commuting every day is a bit unreasonable. Also, there's a risk that you'll end up sharing the seat with some unpredictable personas.

So, why is this being discussed on this blog site?

Simply so that I can announce that my summer of bus riding also allowed me to walk more than 100 miles as I made my way from the downtown bus station to the office (and back). It's not hiking (and I didn't take a single picture) but it's physical and I really enjoyed those 25 minute walks twice a day.

Believe it or not, there were only two days in which I donned a raincoat. Other than that the weather during my walks was fantastic!

Bus fares are increasing from the $1.50 round trip up to $4.00 round trip on October 1. While it would still be about 50% cheaper (at today's gas prices) than driving, I'm not sure if I'll repeat this project next summer or not. Those two additional hours of travel time could be used more wisely I'm sure.

Oh yes, I also had the pleasure of meeting two people on my daily bus rides who really helped to make the travel time enjoyable. Thanks Jeff, Phil and Shauna. Enjoy your ride.

Why am I blogging?

So, basically this blog came about for a few unexciting reasons.

I know a couple people who have blogs... my wife knows a couple people who have blogs... but we don't have a blog, nor do we know how to blog.

My wife suggested maybe we could have a blog.

Well, if these acquaintances can blog, surely we can figure it out as well.
Sure enough... here it is.

Now I've learned that setting up a blog is a bit of fun - experimenting with all the components of style and stuff like that.

The hard part - but you probably already knew this - is coming up with something interesting to say. Something that other people might be interested in reading.

This post... and the one before it... probably haven't been too interesting. Heck, I'm almost bored typing it. Almost.
If you are bored, go visit my two favorite blogs: http://www.thesneeze.com/ and http://www.cockeyed.com/ . I enjoy the randomness and the antics. Nice job Steve & Rob.

This particular blog site is initially intended to be hiking related, because that is what is on my mind when I'm not dealing with family, soccer or work. Once this blog is situated and rolling I'll probably start another one that will focus on my family and all the wild adventures that come with the territory.

I just learned that you should save creating the title for the post until after you are finished typing the blog message. This was originally going to be titled "More Introductions"

Just for kicks (and for my experimentation) here are a few evening pics from my neck of civilization.

First Things First

Yep, this is my first blog post.

Nothing exciting to share at the moment.

Please be patient while I explore these blog options and whatnot.

In the meantime, feel free to browse my northwest hiking trip reports which are currently indexed at:

www.bigrockexcursions.com/elvistrips.html

You'll notice that they are all linked to my favorite hiking website: www.nwhikers.net

My experimental (aka work in process) website can be found at:
www.bigrockexcursions.com
The "Excursions" tab has a couple of embedded youtube videos I made for my 2007 and 2006 hiking trips.

Enjoy... and check back later.