Mount Rainier - Burroughs Mountain Trail

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we're lucky to have some incredible mountains and resulting adventure nearby.  Mount Rainier is about two hours from Seattle and a completely different world from the city and surrounding suburbs.  Pretty damn cool to jump in the car and find yourself looking at this in a short time.

For those outside the area, Mount Rainier tops out at 14,410 feet and is a slumbering volcano.  Should be pretty spectacular and/or frightening whenever that slumber ends.  Plenty of folks do climb to the summit, a fairly serious task, and a training ground for serious climbers.  

Surrounding Mount Rainier is vast area of smaller mountains, meadows and incredible scenery, much of it buried under snow most of the year. July through September (or so) is the window of open trails and warm weather.  Add in a clear summer day and prepare for amazing views.

The Bourroughs Mountain Trail is a semi-easy way to experience those views via the 7 mile hiking loop.  Drive up to Sunrise - great scenic drive - then hit the trails.  You get a bit of a head start, since Sunrise sits at 6400 feet.  On a nice day, especially a weekend, expect to see a crowd - though it thins out greatly after a mile or two.

My son Ian and I have done this hike a few times.  Our plan is to arrive late, around 3:00 PM at Sunrise.  Then as the afternoon progresses, hardly anyone on the trail, plus cool lighting as the sun goes down.  We recently did just that, with posted photos as proof.

See?  I don't make this stuff up...

Objects are larger then they appear.  Trees at the bottom of that valley are huge, just to give you some scope.

The only cloud in the sky.  My favorite shot of the day.

Ian stares down the mountain, the mountain won.  We turned around at this point, since only clad with sneakers.  Best case would be wet feet, worst case a painful slide into rocks. Live to hike another day.

Natural spotlight on my favorite biking 'n' hiking partner.

The gift shop was fresh out of ice axes, so we just winged it...

After turning back early on the snow covered Burroughs trail, took a detour on the Mount Fremont Trail - to discover a herd of mountain goats about 50 yards away.  They weren't all that scared and continued to feed, though keeping an eye on us the whole time.  Gave me ample time to change lenses and grab some great pics.  Cool experience.

Did a little sneaker sliding on the way back.

Sunset in progress, our hike concludes.  A very special area to visit, grab the chance if you can.

Arrived home well after dark, late dinner, memory banks hopefully packed with another cool father/son day out.  Washington state rocks, we're lucky to live here.  Now go find your own outdoor adventure, wherever you call home.

Washington Student League - Cool Video

Short video on the mountain bike program I was involved with last spring, coaching and running a middle school team.  A great program to get 7th - 12th graders riding and racing bikes.

Take a peek and get some kids out there...

Viva Italia Car Show - Woodinville, WA

Hit a local Italian car show a few weekends back in nearby Woodinville.  Sunny day, 15 minute drive from the house, pal of mine showing his '74 Alfa Romeo Spider, good excuse to crank up the Nikon.  I'm also a bit of the Italian car fan and dig the vintage stuff.  

Enough reasons/excuses to go, let's look at some resulting photo proof...

Okay, not Italian - but how often do you see a McLaren on the road - in blinding bright orange?  Not part of the show, but parked nearby and certainly interesting to gawk at.  Not sure of the exact era and model - a bit out of my price range - so I'm not worried about the details.  Fantastic looking anyway.

Okay, more in my price range - '70s era Fiat 124 Spider.  Fiat's best selling car for the era, by far.  Quite a few of these still exist and the easiest vintage Fiat to find and own today, if you're so inclined.  During the early '80s, I owned a succession of used Fiats:  '75 128 sedan, '75 128 Sport, '74 124 wagon, '77 X 1/9, and finally a '77 131.  On top of that, friends of mine owned various 128s, 124 and 850 Spiders.  I've been in a quite a few old school Fiats.

At the time, they were cheap and fun to drive.  Cheap to fix also, which came in handy since problems ranging from electrical issues to slipping cam belts - complete with bent exhaust valves - were part of the "fun" along with rust problems.  Joke back then was Fiat stood for Fix It Again Tony, and there was some truth to that.  I spent some time wrenching on 'em as well.

In Fiat's defense, let's face it, most cars of the '70s were built like crap.  The Fiat made up for it while driving - handled well, rev happy motors, with a light mechanical feel.  I'd like to own a vintage Fiat today for those very reasons.

New Fiat Abarth looking retro, yet modern.  The Abarth model being the hopped up edition of the standard 500.  Being the old school Fiat fan, glad to see 'em reintroduced to the U.S. market.  I've stopped at the local dealership a few times to poke around, though yet to actually drive one.  I'd go for the Abarth model, but for $25,000 or so, not going to happen anytime soon.

Thanks to globalization, the Abarth motors built by Chrysler in Michigan, then shipped to Mexico where the cars are manufactured - though all under Italian design.  Momma mia, I'm confused...

A few modern Ferraris on display, including this 360 in blue - very nice.  I'd dig the chance to drive something like this, just for the experience of it all.

'70s era Ferrari BB 512.  Fantastic looking, I really like this era of Ferrari.  Having something like this in the garage to play with would be huge fun and of course, huge bucks.

Alfa GTV, probably the best looking body style ever designed for a road car.

My favorite car of the show, race prepped '80s Alfa Milano, plated for street use.  I talked to the owner for a bit, car was originally built for race duty - though never raced and street driven instead.  Insane and cool, I'd take something this in a second.

Impeccably restored Alfa Romeo - better then new condition.

My pal John's '74 Alfa Spider.  Clean example of a driver - not daily - but certainly used for nice days, rallies, and car events.  Early smaller bumpers and headlight covers look great on this model.

 

Serious race prepped '80s Milano, trailered in for the show.  Fantastic looking race sedan.

The second Ferrari 512 spotted at the event.

The Dino model, Ferrari's attempt at affordable cars for the era.  Affordable now debatable.

Fiat X 1/9 escapes from the show.  After Fiat pulled out the U.S. market in the '80s, the X 1/9 and 124 Spider were sold under the Bertone name for a few more years, before completely disappearing from out shores.

Alfa Zagato Junior, something you don't see every day.

Very red later model Alfa GTV, stares down the McLaren and Miata.

The small informal nature of this show made for a relaxed afternoon.  Plenty of time to snap pics and chat with folks about their cars and other vintage items of interest.  Not a bad way to spend a summer day in my book.  Not bad at all...

SOVREN 2013 - Vintage Racing Rocks

A few weeks ago, July 7th to be precise, I headed down to Pacific Raceways to soak in some vintage racing, via the yearly SOVREN event.  If you dig vintage race cars and/or vintage racing, a must attend for the Seattle area.  The event spans three days, so plenty of interesting cars, people, and racing action to witness.

Vintage racing historical expert I'm not, but recognize some of these cars from poking around various car magazines over the years.  Seeing 'em for real, actually increases my interest to learn more about 'em and the history involved.  Vintage cars, race or street, interest me more then modern vehicles anyway.  Fantastic body designs, slightly crude engineering, very mechanical, but dead serious.  There's a mechanical directness and purity involved, not found with modern cars.

Last year was my first attending this shindig, so I penciled it in for this summer.  Some Pics 'N' Words from the day...

Fantastic looking Porsche 908.  Probably my favorite car of the day, at the top of the list anyway.

Rear view of 908, sharing lunch in the shade.  Pit area is wide open access, excellent for getting up close, taking photos, or chatting with folks.

Gaggle of Datsun Roadsters, courtesy of local Datsun club - Northwest Datsun Enthusiasts (NWDE).  My pal Dave is a member owns a few vintage Datsuns.  Other clubs had various cars on display, plenty to gawk at besides actual race cars.

Porsche 908 in action.  Seeing and hearing these examples of race history is always a thrill.

Porsche 917 in flight.  Not easy getting super close to the circuit for photos.  300 mm zoom to the rescue.

2013 or 1973?  Hard to tell...

Falcon on the attack.  I'm more of the foreign car guy, but get a kick out of these V8 powered American TRANS-AM (ish) type cars.  Loud, fast, very cool.

This SOVREN event spotlighted 50 years of the iconic Porsche 911.  Many nice 911s in attendance, including these two captured at speed.

Well prepped '69 Alfa Romeo GTV on the fly.  Later in the race, crunched from impact with tire wall.  I met and hung out with these folks a bit during the day, great sense of humor and enthusiasm for the sport - even while loading up the very damaged GTV for the drive home.

Datsun Z on the move and further example of why vintage car body design rocks.

Dance of the 911s.

A beacon in a parking lot of blandness.  Really nice BMW 2002 beams with color and personality.

Another parking lot find in form of vintage Ferrari.  Daily driver?  Probably not.

Porsche 917 at rest between races.  These are not static displays, they're living examples to be enjoyed and raced hard.

Yes please.  Utterly fantastic era for race cars.

Vintage shapes and graphics - a fast moving canvas - awesome.

Very quick Porsche Speedster blurs the competition.

Another sweet example of Alfa GTV, probably the best looking road car ever produced.

My ignorance at play here, not familiar of exact era and history of these cars - but perfect looking to me - pre wings, open mechanical look, and exhaust system art.  Photo geek me would love to shoot these cars, minus the background clutter.

Flying aluminum egg.

Aunt Marge must be pretty cool...

Very trick looking 911.  Agree?

After a few zillion photos taken and two SOVREN events under my belt, I plan to make this a yearly gig.  Huge collection of historic autos, cool vibe, and open access to all - make this event a must see for anyone interested in such tomfoolery.  And that would be me, sign me up for next July.

For the remaining pics, bit of slideshow.  Enjoy...

Human Powered Helicopter

Caught this video making the Internet rounds and thought it worth reposting.  Actual human powered flight.  The sheer size of this thing is insane, yet flies by pedal power.  Pretty damn cool...

Unlocking the Truth - The Kids Just Wanna Rock...

Fantastic short film about two 12 year old pals, their band, inspirations, and growing up.  I got a huge kick out of this video and story.  Rock on little dudes, rock on...