Journal

NEW Online Store!

webmaster — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:23:43 +0000

New Flash! You can now buy any of the photo's from my hiking adventures in the Methow Valley/Leavenworth areas on my new online store. There are currently 11 photos for sale online, but I have 100's of photo's varying is sizes 8×10, 11×14, 11×17, to 4 feet and 6 feet panoramas. Also quite a few of my panoramas have been bought and displayed on Duratran Backlit Film for use in light boxes. If you have flown to and visited Las Vegas you have seen many examples of this type of lighted photo displays. Eventually all my photo's will be uploaded to be purchased at the email me. A payment of half the fee would be required.

Enjoy the store here and my on going journal.

Enchantments Lakes run of 2008

webmaster — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:01:54 +0000

My hope for the hike was to beat my best time 9 hours 18minutes (estimated distance of 25 miles). But after taking 1300 digital photos (most were to be made into panoramas) the run wound up taking me 55 minutes longer.

On Monday August 11th I arrived at the Colchuck/Stewart Lake trail head at 5:55am and was on my way at 6:05am. I only needed to quickly pass one party of four men and I had the whole trail to myself. In fact all the way up Asgard Pass through the first quarter of the upper Enchantments I never saw another person “What a great birthday present”! I had determined to drink a lot more on the way up to Colchuck Lake and up Asgard Pass. This paid off as I easily made it non-stop past the lake then straight up the pass. When I hike by myself I never stop for more then 30 seconds to take a quick drink then head on. For me half the challenge of hiking is to see how fast you can go and how far you can push yourself. As I quickly hiked through the upper Enchantments the combination of the snow and the normal rugged background was so beautiful I found myself stopping every few minutes to take just one more photo. Little Annapurna kept catching my attention. I enjoy the view from up there, but I was still hoping to beat my time of 2 years before. Monday seems a good day to do a one day hike through the Enchantments as I only quickly passed a few random parties. Around each bend there were more beautiful areas to take photos of. The lightweight trail shoes which I wore this trip were not built for the pounding of a rocky trail I found out. My feet and big toe were taking a beating. The previous trip I had wore a pair of New Balance 710s and my feet felt great the whole time. The whole run and photo taking through the upper and lower Enchantments was so quiet and peaceful I felt like I was in my own world. Then reality came back as I came to the end of Lake Vivian where the waterfall starts and there sat 20 people with two other large parties coming. I thought back to the 1970’s and 1980’s when I could hike up to the Enchantments and never see another person. Those days are long gone. I didn’t stop I just quickly jogged past the invaders and headed down to Snow Lake. Running along the Snow Lake trail and crossing an old wooden log my left foot broke through a plank and I quickly fell flat on my face. I cut my right hand up, banged my right knee and the worst was when I run I usually carry my camera in my left hand - well I went down so quickly my natural reaction was to put my left hand down to break my fall which I did my camera was smashed never to work again on this hike. I was able to download all the photos off the two memory cards luckily. I was worried about my knee and cut hand, but the knee soreness went away as I ran and the cut stopped bleeding as I pressed a rag into the cut. The rest of the run was interesting until I passed Nada Lake. The last five miles from Nada Lake down to the parking lot is very boring.

Mystery Lake hike August 27th, 2008

webmaster — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:00:44 +0000

Just my luck I took the only day off this work week where it was windy, rainy and stormy. By the time I got to the lake (7.5 miles) I was soaked from my big toe to above my knees. It had rained hard the night before in the mountains and the waist high brush I had to hike though was very wet. My New Balance Trail shoes were so wet even changing my socks as I got to the lake didn’t make any difference. The one good thing about the weather was there were no horse packers there dropping off campers to stay for a week. I had the whole lake to myself. I was so wet and the wind gusting so hard plus the continuing light rain that my hands were actually shaking as I put my pole and reel together. My casting reel is very old dating back to 1916. It belonged to my grandfather and my fishing pole was a present for my 16th birthday given to me by my grandmother. It is the only pole and reel I ever use. With the wind gusting so hard (it was actually causing ripples across the lake and waves to wash up on the shore) it was very tough to cast and when I did get a good cast the wind delayed any strikes I received so I was always a second late in pulling and setting the hook. After an hour of this the wind and rain would stop for 10 to 15 minutes to give me a chance to cast out into the middle of the lake. What was interesting on this trip is that my usual power bait wasn’t working as the trout would only nibble on it. What was working were my old stand by Balls of Fire premier eggs. As I left the lake at 1:35pm I had one trout of 17 inches 2lbs, one 16 inches 1.5lbs and one 13 inches. I released two 11 inch trout. Carrying back fish in bags of water to keep them fresh for over 7.5 miles is very heavy that is why I released the two smaller ones. The way down was in the wind and rain, but I just kept think how good these fish were going to taste tonight.

July 26, 2008

webmaster — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:07:39 +0000

I did a quick speed hike up at Maple Pass. I went by Lake Anne, up to the first pass (I can't remember its name) round a few switch backs then I headed straight up to one of the highest points.
Once on top (6570 feet) I could look down on the waterfall which you go by if you head to the far lake (if you get off the trail at the first pass then across long long loose boulder fields (a few miles any way)

The sky was blue, bright and beautiful. No one else up there on top with me. In all I took 570 photo's and two QuickTime movies before my 1GB card filled up. This was just a fun fast hike to check out some new my camera settings, and to see if my lunchtime workouts were getting me in the shape I was hoping for - fast quick mtn hikes.

Still some snow up on the pass, muddy spots on the trail, and at the moment all the flowers are out in bloom.

July 12, 2008

webmaster — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:05:54 +0000

Beautiful day for hiking 92 degrees and clear sunny skies. I got a late start so I just went on a scouting trip to see if it is possible to completely scramble across all the peaks around Cutthroat Lake, WA. I would start at the peak above the Washington Pass Lookout area and follow from peak to peak around the lake and finish at the highpoint of Cutthroat Pass (6800 feet). I parked at the WA Pass Lookout parking lot then headed straight up to the top of the first peak (6570 feet). As you climb up you can look over your shoulder and see Liberty Bell. Once on top I started walking across the ridges between the peaks until I had a good view of Cutthroat Lake and Cutthroat Pass. From there I could see it looks possible to keep on going all the way around to the pass. There is one spot that could be dicey that is hidden behind one of the peaks. The front of the peak is a total drop off, but going behind it looks passable. I plan on doing this trip in late August or early September. If I do it by myself I will hike to and down Cutthroat Pass. Hike across the valley floor by the lake then climb up the distance ridge across the valley to retrace my steps scrambling across the peaks then back down to my truck. If another person goes then just head down Cutthroat Pass then take the trail back to the parking area.

Scatter Lake

webmaster — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:49:23 +0000

Weather forecast for June 15th 2008 was 83degrees, clear and sunny. My first hike of the summer is always Scatter Lake even though I know the lake will still be frozen and I won’t be able to fish. The elevation gain is from 1320 feet to 7450 feet and quickly shows me what kind of shape I am in. Because of the cool Spring I took my snow shoes just in case - good guess as I first ran into snow half way up the trail. I resisted putting on the snow shoes (as i wanted a good workout) till I was right below ScatterLake and climbing up the side of the water fall that flows from the Lake. I was heading straight up and kept sinking up above my knees. The snow shoes helped,but they also created a new problem, sliding. Each step had to be forcibly put down or otherwise I would start sliding. Instead of tryingto follow the normal trail which slowing snaked up the hill I headed straight up shooting for the bare crop of rock which overlook the lake. Up on top I could see the lake was still frozen with large cracks forming. With my snow shoes back on I ran down the hill to the lake edge to get some photos. I though the trip back down the waterfalls steep decline would be easy with my snow shoes, but as I started to run down, as I usually do, both feet went out from under me and I quickly started sliding. I must of slid a 100 feet beforeI could stop myself. Ha! It was fun, but too many trees and drops offs to allow that to happen it again. So I took off my snow shoes and just walked down digging in my heels deeply as I headed down. The rest of the way down was uneventful except for getting some beautiful photos of the waterfall half way down.

Here We Go...

webmaster — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:17:21 +0000

The spring of 2008 has been very cool here in the Northwest, so most of the trails and lakes are still covered in snow or ice. I have hiked up Cross Hill to take panoramas of downtown Twisp. It over looks the town of Twisp and while hiking up I kept hearing an eagle screeching. Looking through my binoculars I could see an eagle’s nest high up in one of the trees. To be honest, it could have been a hawk’s nest, but the screeching sounded like an eagle to me.

I start every summer out with goal hikes, as I call them. This year besides trying to do the whole Enchantment Lakes hike in less than 8 hours (my previous attempt took 9 hours 18 minutes – though that included stopping and taking 320 photos) I plan on hiking up both Mount Gardner and Mount Stewart in August and sleeping over night on top of both. Mount Gardner is 8956 feet and Stewart is 9415 feet. The other hike is to climb Liberty Bell 7720 feet which over looks Washington Pass (North Cascades Pass).

My first hike will be either Cutthroat Pass or Scatter Lake to Abernathy Ridge.

Many more photos will be uploaded soon.

EagleEyePics.com

webmaster — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:45:29 +0000

Welcome to my new website! I am so excited to get her up and running. It is so refreshing to have a place to share my passion of hiking/adventure + photography with the world. Check back often as I will be writing about upcoming adventures here, in the journal section, as well as frequently updating my photo portfolio.

Eric Smith = IDAD, created this for me.