Around the Seward Park
2:10 PM - Posted by ChetanG - 0 comments

Just another sunny Sunday in Seattle (huh ?) and we just  felt like doing this trip to the seward park  ..



Lot of folks (felt compelled to) joined as pedda dikku declared he was joining :) .. We had an elaborate brunch at Family Pancake house which was suggested by ....

We reached there in no time.. and then before starting the hike, for some extra energy ..




Here is a majestic view of Mt.Rainier at the beginning of the trail ...





Water was so calm that we felt we should throw some stones in it .. may be stick one or two on Mt.Rainier ..




After Rainier was all studded with stones and the shore ran out of  pebbles, we walked for miles and miles ..



(That milestone above is probably in light years)
Then we got to a place to play some frisbee  ... so we posed for more photos ...



We again tried to fill the Lake Washington with pebbles and sink Seattle, but it was getting cold so we continued on our remaining hike ..


And as we reached almost to the end of the trail , one of us felt overwhelmed by milestone blessed by health conscious, dogs who marked their territory on the trail



As we finished the trail, we immediately needed to recharge ourselves hot smoking chillis , at least so we were told by ...

and again ....








So there you go ..

 




We all had a glimpse of heaven and/or hell, as we ate these nuclear reactive chillis . These chilis can supply power to all major US cities for a month or may be more if you use them raw without removing their seeds . Thats how ..





That last pic required a lot more motivation than you think ... 
and the Gods thanked us as we rest (temporarily)..


Waiting for just another sunday like that !




Franklin Falls trail
4:16 AM - Posted by ChetanG - 0 comments

It was supposed to be really rainy weather today, so we didnt really plan for a hike when we met last night for Surrogates movie (btw awesome entertaining movie) followed by late night dinner at Dennys. Next day around 11am, the weather looked great so we thought we'd go to an easy quick hike, like the Denny creek trail in the Snoqualmie area.




But somehow we saw the Franklin falls trail-head before getting to Denny creek trailhead. It has been third time that we have skipped on Denny creek trail :). The entire trail is next to the Snoqualmie River and ends with the gorgeous and tall Franklin falls. Its only a 1 mile hike with some elevation. We had some great shots




right as we started the hike.....

We skipped some stones on the glistening river along our way and clicked some more pics .


We spotted some wooden cottages during this hike, which we felt would be a great getaway location (warning - they probably have internet there :D ) .


 

Vaishnav had a lot of fun getting cool shots of huge trees, macro leaves and dew drops ... We all had to make it to Kamal-Anitha's reception party at 6 that evening, so we started picking up speed and soon were near the gorgeous franklin falls. The last 100 feet or so were bit challenging though ..


We were able to see the rainbow in the waterfall's mist and the I-90 right next to it.
 



                               
On our way back we rushed and finished the trail in 35 minutes to catch up with the reception party. After lot of dancing in the party, followed by a movie and a fourth meal...


Next day, we woke up and met again for lunch , and saw another movie .. One heck of a fun packed party weekend ..




Olympic National Park
5:57 PM - Posted by Pallavi Damera - 3 comments
 This was the planned route to our 2 day Olympic national park trip, in summer 2008
 
Packed a bunch of food, strategically located right under Pratap's seat...


Ate biriyani at Hurrican Ridge visitors center... our first stop, it tastes different at heights... Pratap didn't realize there was curd in it...
 
 And then we all went throwing snow at Pratap:

 

Next on the trip was a small hike to reach up to the Sol-duc falls:



After the falls  we went to cresent lake, skipped stones... chetan taught us how.
And then again... a lunch break



Took the  Moments in time trail, that's right next to Cresent lake... it is hard to describe in words, will let the picture do the talking...
A passing thought when I was there... its definitely a place one could camp with their parents and take some easy trails around.



At night before heading back to the hotel we covered Port Angeles, that had ocean on 3 sides... was a nice experience trying to walk over big boulders that stopped the current...
 

My memory is going hazy... so the timeline may not be very correct, so guys on the trip... feel free to correct it...

On day 2, I think we covered Hall of Mosses, another easy trail. For some reason I remember eating a lot of chocolate... anyways we were wonder stuck by the multi layered life in Hoh forests. It was so beautiful, so beautiful, so beautiful....  It was around this trail I guess when senior told me, she thanks all the Gods for the moment she decided she wants to come to US for studying and so grateful for being able to see all this beauty... or something on that lines...

This has been one of our first trip into the thick green of NW national forests... The camera went all crazy with only green in the entire frame...


[cg] This poem by Millay might describe how it felt being there ..
AH, could I lay me down in this long grass
And close my eyes, and let the quite wind
Blow over me--I am so tired, so tired
Of passing pleasant places! All my life,
Following Care along the dusty road,
Have I looked back at loveliness and sighed;
Yet at my hand an unrelenting hand
Tugged ever, as I passed. All my life long
Over my shoulder have I looked at peace;
And now I would fain lie in this long grass
And close my eyes.


There are all kinds of landscapes one can see in ONP... from rain forests to water falls, hot springs to oceans and snow capped peaks. Below is the beach trail that is filled with tiny black pebbles... it was really hard to walk. On the way one could see so many dead trees pushed on to the shores and many adventurous campers. Hoping to beach camp like that some day,  under the stars, listening to the ocean, with warm camp fire and long conversations that last nigh long. 


This one was taken at the end of our trail at Rialto Beach... after which we drove back home, all six of us...


FINE...




Hike to Poo Poo Point - Chirico trail, Tiger Mountain, WA
11:30 PM - Posted by ChetanG - 2 comments
Attendance photo:


[Chetan][Sep 28th 09] Today was a beautiful sunny Sunday here . So it all began with a phone call from me to Vaishnav about going on a short hike nearby. Vaishnav and Bindu are budding photographers with new DSLRs , so they eagerly agreed for the hike. We decided to go to Chirico Trail in Tiger Mountains.


It was a really steep hike. It took us about 1.5 hrs to climb up.
This is the view of Mt.Rainier from the top --



Here is a video of all the pics created by Vaishnav:



Here are the stats for the hike

Type
Length
Difficulty
Rating
Gain
Latitude
Longitude
View
3.2 mi
3 / 5
7 / 10
1650 ft
47° 29' 59.53'' N
122° 1' 15.17'' W