Seven Steps to Oblivion

Seven Steps to Oblivion 

(reflections off a rock)

Photo by Jo Miles: Jumpoff lookout with distant smoke

 Seven steps to oblivion.   

You climb the seven steps up to the

old cabin, step on the catwalk,

enter the door.  All is as it was, now

You hear the wind through the guy wires,

The wind around the corners,

And over the top

Of this strong old relic.

     The breezes and the cooling

Against the sun through glass

     Balancing a cold planet

   Against what heat

 Can be captured

     From the afternoon.

This is the code of planets

      Circling the night sky

           Circling the crystalline Orbit./mh

Tieton Sky/ mh

And, looking down river, October 2012

                                                              Tieton River/ mh

Book Review: East Of The Divide

Book Review: "East of the Divide" by Chester Marler

 Photo by Matt Dahlgreen

“East of the Divide (Travels through the eastern slope of the North Cascades, 1870-1999”, by Chester Marler: North Fork Books, 2004- Leavenworth, WA 98826.

Photo by Tom Hulst

 The East Slope of the Washington Cascades, running north from the Columbia River to Canada is a large, rugged mountainous zone that, along with it’s foothills and river basins, has generated a lot of classic mountain literature.  Standing in my bookshelf is a number of books of exceptional quality that includes the historical meandering and mountain lore of Fred Becky, the classic 1880 -1931 mountain reminiscence by Claude Rusk “Tales of a Western Mountaineer” and the early memoirs of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, (“Of Men and Mountains”) who followed his boots and thoughts from 1917 up to 1951.  All of these books are worth rereading time and again and they are the pillars on which we measure our own mountain walks. 

Winter Waterfall, Cowiche Canyon, photo by Jo Miles

 In 2004 North Fork Books in Leavenworth released Chet Marler’s “East of the Divide”, a unique book in it’s own right that carries the conversation started by earlier mountain pioneers and writers to the next level.    Marler’s book is a lot like hiking with a friend, and the familiar sounding narriative articulates thoughts about place, setting, relevant history, and human use, all in an even and thoughtful voice. 

Shellrock Peak, photo by Jo Miles

 Disguised as a wandering trail guide and historical review, the book calls on just about every whistle stop that one would expect from a long hike with a friendly Wilderness Ranger.  Every page has hidden gems, all too numerous to mention; insight into  place, approaches to reading the setting, and thoughts about “the edge”.  Examples include : “Serrated skyline,,, where I naturally became immersed in the details of the landscape… in the mountain not everything of value is spectacular, imposing, or overwhelming….even a struggling white bark pine growing in a rocky outcrop, or a grouse making its mating  call can become starting points in perceiving the complexity and beauty of the natural world…..something that survives that long (a giant Larch)  gives us a different sense of time, changing our perspective of place and process……scramble trails”, and etc. 

Lookout Outhouse, photo by Jo Miles

 Likewise, the mention of Old Fire Lookout views, abandoned single strand phone line insulators,  hollowed-out mountain goat beds, a photo of the old cabin at Spanish Camp, Sheep herder trails and travelways, Trail blazes, and the host of similar details bring the hiking stories alive and gives us tie points to cross check our own pedestrian rambles. Who, for example, will know in 100 years that some pack horses are better than other pack horses or understand so well what that really means (p. 190) without Chet’s kind words. 

Ross Lake from Desolation, photo by Kristin Hiler

 Much like Walden, this is a book about seeing, expressed in the context of long walks.  What it imparts is the casual, understated poetry of the measured narrative responding to alpine setting.  Modern mountain poets would do well to dip from these pedestrian rhythms and patient observations/mh.

Man examines tree: photo by Matt Dahlgreen

A few more words:  Chetster Marler also has a book out by Wolverine Press, titled, "Snow and Spire".  The photos on the attached link to a "Snow and Spire" review look great!  The link to information about that book is:  http://www.justgetout.net/Wenatchee/23241

Just click on the link above and you can see photos.  

News from Jumpoff Lookout

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News from Jumpoff Lookout

Here are some pictures of our efforts to winterize Jumpoff Lookout.  We have now pretty much closed in the cabin from winter snow and made notes on what else needs to be done in the future to assure building protection.  I'll present photos here with notes. 

East Side: We put in a new plexiglass window in the opening and a new shutter on the end, this side all tight.   

South side: Looks Ok, ( see the cover shot above)  all tight, now lets look at the North side: 

Here you see the new plexiglass window, installed on the shutter and Jo Miles tightening down a shutter that was in place.  These windows gives more light inside and hopefully will discourage visitors from pulling off shutters.  We want to come back with the proper shutters in the spring, but this should keep out 90% of the snow this winter.  Winter snow piles up inside when the shutters are missing, resulting in floor rot.  We want to stop or eliminate this damage to the lookout floor. 

Below is the West side which has  some small holes, behind glass,  but it will also survive another winter.  We'll make this tighter next summer. 

We now plan to cut two narrow shutters for the last two "unshuttered" windows and replace the plexiglass on the west side.  Right now everything is covered and the building is snow tight.  

Inside the cabin are some derelict, but original build-in furniture.  Let's take a look.  This is the fire finder post.  It's solid and ready for a fire finder, but some sanding and a coat of varnish should help it some. 

These pieces of built-in furniture are original but damaged.  My thought would be to remove them, and have a Yakima Cabinet shop do the repairs, then return them to the lookout.  You can here see the floor covering is coming off and the floor littered with broken glass and litter 

and here are two interior pictures showing how much light the plexiglass panels give to the interior, hopefully they will discourage panel removal by visitors. 

We looked it over and think the next project is to clean out all the broken glass, crap and broken-up modern floor covering  from the floor (and remove from the site) to make it appear clean and  cared for.  This heavily damaged modern  "lanoleum" now only serves to hold moisture and damage the old floor.  Once the floor is clean and the litter removed we can start to think about repairing the cabinets (and windows)  and formulating future projects.

This project would not be possible without volunteers.  I first of all want to thank those who replaced the roof a year ago, and for now I want to thank Jo MIles: Driver, photo editor, and repair specialist.  A huge THANKS to you JO! 

6 hours and ready for winter.

And here is our view looking west up the Tieton Basin as we depart for home.  This  view shows why we care about this lonely old lookout station, the last remaining lookout building in Yakima County. 

For now, Please join the National Forest Fire Lookout Association and do what you can to restore the last remaining old lookouts in the Northwest.  More later/mh

Shanks's Pony

Shanks's Pony, by Morris Marples: An early history of Pedestrianism

Photo of Goat Rocks by Tom Hust

I've just finished the book "Shanks's Pony" and I want to pass along my thoughts about this book to friends.  Published in 1959 it's way more of a "used book" than anything current and because it deals primarily with the history of English Pedestrianism, with only a few American's referenced, it's sort of "Old World" in it's references, stories, and outlook.  

However, this book digs into the connection between the interest in walking and the interest in preserving the natural landscape more than later American writings because it goes back to a time when the two weren't related culturally, sort of like Americsn farm music before "Country AND Western".  It draws the connecting line from walking English Country roads to first the pack and then the tent, then Alpineism.  I'm not saying it has a lot about our concepts of Wilderness, but going back to the 1600's casts a revealing light on the post Marshall/Leopold/Muir writings and gives any outlook on Wilderness a standard of where the present "legislation and culture wars" were not a part of the whole "outside" thing?  We have come from a time when mountain scapes were known as "rude settings" to something quite different, along a line of evolving understandings and appreciation of "the natural.  

Anyway, this book is only available in used copies (ebay??) but if you run across it at a reasonable price I think you will enjoy reading about the times when "Walkers" along English roads would walk 72 miles a day for 5 consecutive days, pretty much for the Hell of it.  It talks about the walking feats of the romantic poets (they should be known more for their walking feats than their pathetic poetry), and it does bridge into Americans pedestrians (one reference to Thoreau, two references to Whitman?).  The world probably won't stop if you don't read this book but if you do, you'll have a much better handle to understand the tradition that evolved into our appreciation of the natural setting; how far we've come and how close we still are to the foundations of our relationship to Mountains/mh.

Shanks's Poney, by Morris Marples.  J. M. Dent and sons, London/ 1959