[Quark]

Yes, again. Indulge me. Repair of the WHitechuck Road to Straight Creek Road slated to begin summer, 2010. Left late 'cause I had to go back into the house 4 and a half times to get stuff I forgot. I pulled in to the Chevron on 45th twice, left twice. 1) forgot my wallet and left 2) got my wallet and returned Chevron only to discover no money or cards in it [interestingly, in my wallet is a recipe for pound cake my sister gave me in the 1980s]. Went home again, foraged for cash, found a wad of dough, headed out. All this in & out confused the hell out of the cats. Called Confuse-a-Cat Service. Left again. Too embarrassed to stop at Chevron (they were getting suspicious). Went to Shell. (This is my life, people. ) Had a bodacious day. Hot chocolate was shared, and while digging in my pack for grub, I found the bottle of orange juice I had brought. A glimmer of memory flooded my brain (or was it an aneurism...?). I recalled that when I was a little kid, I used to mix orange juice with chocolate milk because it tastes exactly like a Tootsie Roll. So I did that yesterday, for the sheer nostalgia of it. It's good; you should try it. We walked to the bridge site, where the road crosses the Whitechuck, and walked the White Chuck Bench trail to the massive washout there (it's a five minute walk). The leaves on the road were dry-frozen solid, like flakes of thin, frosted glass. The russulae mushrooms had frozen while at their height of beauty, so were preserved for us to enjoy. Some pics:

Big cedar - hikers for scale

Man meets gigantic tree

Redcedar and yellow sapsucker snag

Returning to rig from bridge

Snowy trees on the banks of the Whitechuck River

Bridge over the Whitechuck

Bridge over the Whitechuck from Bench trail - logjam deposited by 2003 floods

Stout pier - logs wrapped around bridge

Ghetto bridge railing

Wood box culvert fully intact, roadbed washed out around it

Whitechuck River, 2003 log deposits

Washout 2 on Whitechuck to the left, getaround road to the right

Whitechuck Mtn from m.p. 1.7

approximate location of new roadbed

Rivulet and sand-rock patterns

[grannyhiker]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose trip starts are somewhat disorganized!

[puzzlr]

[Quark]

Folks; Yes, impressive trees all around the Whitechuck Road. When the area was logged, they left quite a few big ones. We considered walking one more mile to the grand-daddy cedar that after 70+ years of leaning inward over the road, finally tipped and fell across the road last summer (we didn't because it was getting late). A photo of the downed cedar with an environmental engineer standing under it is in the EA that was prepared earlier this year for the Whitechuck Road. If you have a copy of the EA, check it out - it's on Page 11. I'm too lazy to find it on the MBS website; it's late. I learned that the tribes get first dibs on a cedar carcass like that. I'm interested to know the process of this sort of thing, and if the tribe has inspected the tree yet.

[Hulksmash]

The intersection of 27 and 23 is not very far from that bridge...i'm wondering if you got that far. Just wondering if the excavator made it to that point.

[furthur]

Quark sez: I recalled that when I was a little kid, I used to mix orange juice with chocolate milk because it tastes exactly like a Tootsie Roll. Furthur sez: And when I was a bigger kid, we mixed Kahlua with orange juice for the same thrill.

[Quark]

Hulk; we turned around at the bridge, so didn't get to Straight Creek Rd. You're like a horse chomping at the bit about that road, ain'tcha? Doubtful they'll let any traffic past Rat Trap Pass, 'cause once on the Whitechuck, there isn't anywhere to go, unless you're a no goodnick wanting to build a tarp house at the Bench trailhead and burn tires.

[Hulksmash]

I don't know about burning the tires, i might need something to keep my tarp from blowing away.

[George Winters]

The cedar Quark mentioned looks a lot like this:

[deerhunter]

Nice report. Not much gravel showing on that road anymore is there. I was up there on my bike last spring. It's not a very pleasant ride with all the small trees across the road and the washouts. Did you happen to see any sign of 4-wheelers up around the bridge? I think those roads are being ridden quite a bit in the summer.

[Quark]

George - that cedar looks exactly like the cedar I mention - it's eerily similar. deerhunter - we didn't see evidence of 4 wheelers back there recently, but there are 2 tracks in the road beyond the 3rd washout. I guess the novelty has worn off....? Even the campsite at the Bench trail was clean except for a worn out camp chair. You're right - there's not a lot of gravel on that road any longer- it's deep in leaves and fir needles. It's still odd to see it like that. You're also right that it's not a pleasant bike ride. JimK and I chose to walk it rather than ride bikes to the Meadow Mtn trailhead a couple of years ago. More deep pock-pits are forming in the road, so anyone walking or riding should take care (in 2007, JimK had stepped in a pit that was thigh-deep - we're lucky he didn't bust a femur [by "we" I mean more "he" than me]). I sure as heck wouldn't mind applying for (and getting) a job with the contractor chosen to do the work.....

[Yana]

Quark - do these things really happen to you? Surely you must be making some of them up, no? For example, how does a recipe from the 1980s survive in your wallet for so long but cash and credit cards migrate out?! At least there were no weeks old chicken sandwiches this time (at least not that you mentioned).

[Quark]

Well....."wallet" is a strong word. I actually carry a plastic baggie with the words, "Quark's wallet" written on it. I think the recipe card was something I once took to the store so I'd know what ingredients to buy to make a cake for a party, or something. But I don't recall making any damn pound cake this year (or any other year, for that matter). That recipe card may have been transferred from wallet to wallet for years. I just bring wine to parties - always a hit - and I know that going in - so typically, I don't even try to fool myself into thinking I'd actually cook. The meaty guts of the wallet are laying on a dining room table at a house in West Seattle. I'm headed over there now, to retrieve it.

[Rich Baldwin]