parallel universe newsletter summer 2009
TRANSCRIPT
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GRAYDON RESERVE INDEX, WASHINGTON SUMMER 2009
A PANORAMA OF RIVERS and mountains fills the view in this photo from the summitof Mount Persis. The new Wild Sky Wilderness includes Gunn and Merchant Peaksand Spire Mountain and many other high alpine areas and lowland forest.
Spring saw a few niceupgrades to the old Gray-don Reserve. We added twopicnic tables to replace thetwo that went downriverwith the November 2006flood. Muir Woods is nowmore open and walker-
friendly thanks to a bit ofclearing. There we plantedsome twinflowers, Solo-mon’s seal, black lily and,believe it or not, the ubiqui-tous bluebells. The route toHighview is now clear ofwinter blow-down. The wet-land garden and rockery have a host of new plantsto join the old favorites. Theping-pong table is up andrunning. And six little in-cense cedar are taking root
along the river.
In a place of beauty,high hopes for the future
If you like what you see around here,
you’re in luck. The scene may look the
same far into the future. Much of the
landscape on all sides — a sparkling
river, jagged peaks, forested hills — is pro-tected one way or another.
Last year brought two great conservation
victories. First came creation of the federal
Wild Sky Wilderness. And then Heybrook
Ridge, prominent in any view from around
here, was permanently saved from logging.
I’ve spent some of my best days over the
past 20 years scrambling up the mountains
that are now within the 106,000-acre wilder-
ness. My favorite is Mount Baring, the
double-summit peak that stands in proud iso-
lation just east of here.
In fact, without Mount Baring I don’t think
there would even be a Graydon Reserve. My
son Andy and I were high in a snow chute be-
neath Baring one day in the spring of 1990
when the route got too dicey and we turned
back early — and this gave us time to check on
a realtor’s sign for land on the banks of theSkykomish. I bought it.
The Wild Sky Wilderness that spreads out
north and east of Index also encompasses
Gunn Peak, a tasty lure for weekend alpin-
ists, the meandering highland paradise of
Cady Ridge, old-growth forest, salmon
streams, hidden Lake Isabel, and a lifetime of
other treasures.
It even includes the point we privately re-
fer to as Graydon Peak. My climbing buddy
Dick McConaughy and I trekked to the top
one day and realized that such an impressive
summit deserved a name, even though it’s
simply the western high point of the long
ridge leading from Gunn Peak, which is just
22 feet higher.
It took nine years of congressional ups and
downs to make the wilderness designation a
reality. The Senate approved the Wild Sky
twice, only to have it killed in House commit-
tee. For supporters of the Wild Sky, the vil-
lain of the story was the Republican chair-
man of the House Resources Committee,
Richard Pombo.
After voters in Pombo’s California district
sent him home, the House passed the bill. But
it took a couple more years of political dealingbefore the bill finally ended up on the desk of
President Bush, who signed it May 8, 2008.
Logging, mining and motorized vehicles
are prohibited in a wilderness area. Hiking,
climbing, hunting, fishing, rafting and other
recreational activities are permitted.
THE HEYBROOK RIDGE story was an-
other cliffhanger. Would the town of Index —
population 157 — be able to raise more than a
million dollars to buy the 129 acres before the
PLEASE SEE PAGE 8
What’s new
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SUMMER 2009
Eily’s Park is getting the usual tourists: a young New
Mexico couple sunbathing on a blanket, another couple
basking on lounge chairs, a roaming gang of
schoolkids. Meanwhile Don cuts grass, Jonelle gardens. Can’t
waste a sunny day by lying around. . .
. . One green, one blue, one yellow,two undecided: the picnic tables
here are beginning to look like a
box of Crayolas. . . . Down the road
at Wave Trek, river guide Erika Morris
says their coffeeshop is still in the
works. It can’t come too soon. . . . .
Whitewater freaks are lining up at Wave Trek
for their turn at a run down the wild Sky. The operation run by
Blair and Kathy Corson has transformed the
former Index Tavern into a magnet for outdoor
adventurers. Goodbye lounge lizards, hello
river rats. . . . Forget the Roundup: the new
Index Community Gardens site is strictly a
chemical-free zone. To see about planting your
veggies at one of the prettiest places in town,
contact Sue Cross or David Cameron.
―Record snowfall, blizzards, freezing rains, avalanches, mud-
slides and high winds.‖ With these chilling words a Seattle Times
story explained why a batch of counties in-
cluding our very own Snohomish qualified for
federal disaster money for last winter. . . . .
The good news: we did not get 100 inches of
rain last year. According to David Cameron’s
rain gauge, the total was only 99.515. . . . .
And no major floods over the winter. But the
snowfall! Upper Avenue A became a slippery
one-lane, four-wheel-drive track bordered by
walls of white. Our vehicles stayed below by
the road while we got our daily workout hik-
ing up and down the long steep driveway. . . . . And how do you
know when you’re leaving the incorporated town of Index and
entering Upper Avenue A? Well, you could read the sign on the
power pole outside Pastor John’s house. Or you could just
glance down at the river’s overflow channel and spot the beaver
dam that’s right on the boundary line.
Erynn Sullivan is away from Avenue A for a
while to study surveying at Renton Tech. It
agrees with her: ―For the first time in my life I’ve
got a 4.0.‖ . . . . There was Norbert Sorg, gamely digging up the jungle of blackberry
vines in front of his cabin. You could almost
hear each vine hissing the words of another fa-
mous unkillable organism: ―I’ll be back.‖. . . .
Our closest neighbor, War-
ren Hartz, says he’s partially red/green color-
blind. Quite a confession coming from an art-
ist who creates gorgeous hand-dyed silk ties.
At silkfromthehartz.com, he explains that he
consults on colors with wife Edie and daughter
Lisa. . . . . We seem to get one new house per
decade on Upper Avenue A. In the 90s it was WARREN
NORBERT
Citizen reacts toIndex weather
Don’s green house on the hill. This decade brought Kevin and
Norbert’s cabin. And now Micky Doner is putting in a road and
clearing a site for the house of the 2010s.
The county creeps toward rebuilding Index-Galena Road, closed
since the disastrous November 2006 flood.
Standing not so patiently by arethe people who used the road
to reach their cabins or to hike
and fish in the paradise of the
upper Sky. Current cost esti-
mate: ten to twenty million dol-
lars. Completion date: unknown.
. . . . With the sudden appearance of No
Trespassing signs at the Index Lower Town Wall, rock jocks were
jolted into action. Matt Perkins of the Washington Climbers Coa-
lition says they now have an 18-month option to buy the prop-
erty from the owner. Price is $115,000. And for
now, the signs have been taken down. . . . .
Tobey and Cobi and one-year-old James areback east while Tobey installs two climbing
walls. Before leaving, T&C packed their skis up
the scramble route toward Gunn Peak, then
skied a chute that dumps into Lewis Creek. Says
Cobi: ―Scariest run of my life.‖ Says Tobey: ―I’ll
be back.‖
The lovely drive to the Graydon Reserve passes through Frank’s
junkyard, a kind of highly disguised blessing. We treasure it as
the black hole that sweeps us into our little parallel universe. (Or,
as Paul describes it, ―the storm before the calm.‖) . . . . ―And
what,‖ I am asked, ―is a Graydon reserve? A reserved Graydon?
A Graydon in reserve? A way to reserve a Graydon? It doesn’t
make any sense.‖ I try to respond calmly. ―Now now, it’s just astate of mind. It means nothing and everything.
It makes me happy.‖ . . . . Big black Lewis was
first. Then in late May, sleek brown Boca and
fast white Blanca become the second and the
third dogs to reach Highview, including a
climb up the wet and slippery Keyhole. . . .
The Cantina del Rio (formerly the storage
shed), a big hit at Dana and Jordan’s wed-
ding, is getting a major upgrade. We’ll splash on more garish
primary colors inside, decorate with Don’s Baja souvenirs, and
send the invites for a late-summer Cerveza
Madness party . ¡Viva Mexico! . . . . Not to be
outdone by the new flag at the Index town over-look, Jonelle sewed up a new flag for Skyview,
high above the reserve. Spot it if you can. . . . .
Sarah Witzel celebrated a sunny Saturday birth-
day at the reserve when she turned nine on May
23. Sarah and sister Anya and parents Paul and
Lisa are off to Shanghai the end of July for a two-year
teaching stint at Shanghai Community International School.
¡Viva Index and Shanghai!
[DON]
TOBEY
SARAH
BLANCA & BOCA
ERIKA
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“We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
The Pinwheel Galaxy meets the Swirl.Galaxy photo: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon Sky Center, University of Arizona
A publication of the Graydon ReserveSummer 2009
Editor Don GraydonAssociate Editor Jonelle Kemmerling IT Support Paul Witzel, Brad Music
Contributing Writer Bob Hubbard Publisher Yellow Submarine Press Photos and Design Don Graydon Printer Kool Change Printing
Scientists envision a vast number of parallel universes, some of them much like our own . . . only different. I often feel that the Graydon Reserve exists in a paralleluniverse—a place similar to the everyday world, but blessed with a touch of over-
the-rainbow magic. The concept of a reserve was inspired by a visit to the BloedelReserve on Bainbridge Island. There, Jonelle and I discovered the kinship betweenthat landscape of dark fir and cedar forest rich in mosses, ferns and wildflowers and
our own home on the western edge of the Cascade Mountains. Our eight acres, areserve in spirit if not in fact, begin at the Skykomish River and rise hundreds of feet
through woods and cliffy terrain with narrow whitewater streams and tiny waterfalls,
the spires of Mount Index lording over it all. I hold the deed to this place, but canyou ever really own such beauty? Jonelle and I offer this newsletter as a way to
share our love of the reserve and as an invitation to come enjoy it with us.
GRAYDON R ESERVE 51303 Avenue A PO Box 166 [email protected], Washington 98256 [email protected] See map of the reserve on pages 6-7
SUSAN WALLACE CARTOON
Next time you visit the littlehideaway throne near thehut, you’ll also be able toadmire the work of sisters
Anya and Sarah. Anyapainted the bold sun on the
lid, while Sarah stood onher head to create themountain scene inside.
SUMMER 2009 3
The public faces lockout from two roads
that head into the mountains near Index. The
roads are managed by the Forest Service.District Forester Barbara Busse okayed
the closures after requests from the timber
companies that own lands along the roads.
Regarding Forest Road 6028, the timber
company complained about garbage dumping
on its property. The road starts just east of
Baring and heads north into the lands be-
neath Grotto Mountain and the south peak of
Mount Baring. The road is now barred.
For Road 62, Longview Fibre reports
dumping, vandalism and illegal shooting.
Road 62 takes hikers and climbers to the
trailhead for two of the finest summit scram-bles in the region: Mount Persis and Mount
Index. As of mid-June, the gate had not yet
been locked.
The closures are especially troubling be-
cause flood damage to other roads has already
cut access to some of the area’s best hikes and
viewpoints.
For me, the Road 62 situation is an old
story. The road was gated ten years ago, then
later reopened after ne-
gotiations among hik-
ers, Longview Fibre
and the Forest Service.
I and fellow hikers Neil
Bresheare and Dave
Letcher became the
citizen activists who
campaigned to reopen
the road, planning
work parties to clear
the roadside of years of
illegal dumping.
This time around,
Neil is back on the
phones, again looking
for a solution. On his
call list are folks at theForest Service, Long-
view Fibre, the county council and the sher-
iff’s office. Hikers and climbers are debating
the issue on the forums at nwhikers.net and
washingtonclimbers.org. Neil is at 425-388-
7651; Barbara Busse is at 360-677-2414.
For myself, I’d hate to again lose practical
access to Mount Persis, with its spectacular
views from the summit — including a look
directly down to our little town of Index.
[DON]
HERE WE GO AGAIN
Locked gateson forest roads
Don and Neil on MountPersis, with Index below.
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SUMMER 2009
Muir Woods is much larger than it
looks on the colorful little map of
Don’s place. For a two- to three-
acre woods it is at once too small to get lost in
and too big not to. It is perfect for wandering.
Topographically it’s a gently sloping bench
sandwiched between a moderately steep
lower slope (that rises from Avenue A and
ends at William’s Meadow) and a quite steepupper slope (beginning around the Alder
Meadow area). Low knoll-like ridges inter-
finger with shallow swales throughout Muir
Woods and are serviced by a vein-like system
of trunk trails and capillary paths.
I was on a scouting mission of sorts, to see
if I could douse out a few stories from the for-
est. From the top of William’s Meadow I wan-
dered uphill and to the right, to the head-
waters of Saw Creek.
ON THE WAY IN it was obvious this was
a diverse forest, not some timber company’s
monoculture: you could look up almost any-where and have trouble finding three trees in
a row of the same species. You could look
down and see five or more species of herbs or
ferns without moving your head. Standing
above the sylvan pools of Saw Springs I
counted twenty-six species of plants just by
turning in a circle.
The world around me was exploding with
life and incident. I was sitting with my back
to a stump, brain foaming over with data,
looking for some sort of theme that might
unite all these growing things. I was rapidly
approaching information overload and de-cided to look for something simpler to contem-
plate than complexity.
In Muir Woods the curtain was up on the
late-spring wildflower show. An easygoing
look at a few of the more prominent wild-
flowers seemed like just what I needed in this
crisis.
People who are used to the big showy flow-
ers of florist shops and urban gardens might
initially have trouble finding and appreciat-
ing the forest’s smaller, often hidden, flowers.
As you stand looking down, half-inch-wide
flowers don’t look that impressive. But close
up — especially when viewed through a good
magnifier — they reveal their complex geome-
tries and simple beauties.
I looked around. The trilliums were past
their prime, and the tepals had already fallen
off the fairy bells. The false lilies-of-the-valley
were starting to whiten up their flower spikes
with the tepals of their tiny flowers, while theplants known as twisted stalk were putting
out lines of their own little bell-shaped flow-
ers along their stems, like pennant flags at a
used-car lot.
A bit of plant anatomy here: Just as petals
surround a flower’s seed- and pollen-
producing organs, the sepals surround the
petals. Sepals are usually green, though pet-
als may be any color. Before the flower opens,
sepals cover and protect the developing pet-
als. When petals and sepals are identical in
form and color, they are just called tepals in-
stead. Class dismissed.Between wintertime, when the forest floor
is relatively bare, and summer, when the
place is rank with flowers and tall growth,
there are a few weeks when just a few wild-
flowers are out and blooming, when the place
is lush and green and not too complicated. I
call it Lily Time because most of our local
wildflowers in the lily family tend to bloom
then.
Plant blooming times aren’t chained to a
calendar. Some years the blooming season
starts earlier, some years later. Some years
many weeks pass before a plant species goes
from flower to seedpod, and some years it
seems to happen quicker. This is one of those
latter years: things were happening fast.
TRILLIUMS ARE THE first of our lilies
to bloom and have the largest flowers. The
flower consists of a whorl of three large white
petals alternating with three smaller, green
sepals. The petals start out white, but gradu-
ally turn wine-red with age.
It’s not unusual to run across folks who
claim the red-petaled trilliums are a different
species. You can confound those people by
Naturalist Bob Hubbard
holds a degree in forest man-
agement, with additionalstudies in botany, entomol-
ogy and geology. He is an
Index town councilman and
past chairman of the town’s
planning commission. He’s
also a trailblazer, literally,
currently developing trail
routes for the new Heybrook
Ridge county park.
Wildflower time
A WALK IN THE WOODS
I countedtwenty-six
speciesof plants
just by turningin a circle.
is a bloomin’ wonder By BOB HUBBARD
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SUMMER 2009 5
pointing out that if they would merely hang
around and watch, they could actually wit-
ness the white trilliums change their species.
Less well-known are the fairy bells, proba-
bly because their flowers are much smaller
and hidden from casual view. Ours are
Hooker’s fairy bells— large herbs up to two or
three feet tall, but spare and sparsely
branched.Teardrop-shaped leaves up to four inches
long attach to the stems at intervals, on alter-
nate sides. A two-foot fairy-bell plant might
have only a dozen branch tips, and half of
those might lack flowers. The small, white,
bell-shaped flowers hang down from the
branch tips in pairs, hidden beneath the
outermost stem leaves.
Twisted stalks look a lot like fairy bells,
but the twisted stalks grow larger and have
flowers not just at the branch tips but all up
and down the stems. The leaves of twisted
stalks flare out around their bases and ap-pear to clasp the stem, giving this species the
common name of clasping-leaf twisted stalk.
A fine large pair of twisted stalks grows on
the creek banks up at Saw Springs.
False lilies-of-the-valley are a big part of
the show. You’ll see them as soon as you pass
William’s Meadow and enter Muir Woods.
Their dark green, heart-shaped leaves some-
times blanket the forest floor so densely that
it feels like you’re walking in salad.
AS LILY TIME begins to wane, Saxifrage
Time waxes: fringe cups start to bloom, fol-
lowed by mitreworts, and then thousandmothers. Each of these plants sends up little
sticks of flowers from remarkably similar
tufts of basal leaves.
Whereas our lily flowers have simple-
shaped white petals or tepals, the flowers of
saxifrages are host to fantastically shaped
petals. Fringe cup has tiny petals that are
strap-shaped, like long tongues, and fork into
many outer tips. They spill over and hang out
of the cup-shaped flowers like so many minia-
ture snakes’ tongues. Like trillium petals,
they turn red with age.
Thousand mothers (also called youth-on-
age or piggyback plant) have little flowers
that almost defy description. When I look at
them, I see dragon heads sprouting Salvador
Dali mustaches from upper and lower lips.
But to judge by the name, somebody some-
where must have seen little mothers all lined
up, stuck to the stem by their heads.
OF ALL THE FLOWERS I saw that day
at Saw Springs, I think I like mitreworts the
best. Their petals are like long, thin crosses
with not one but many crossbars. Each min-
uscule petal tip is tapered to a point and the
overall look is more like a feather than a
petal. Even though the whole five-petaled
flower is only about half-an-inch wide and the
plant is barely six to eight inches tall, it’s well
worth the effort to seek these flowers out and
put a magnifying glass to them.
Lily Time and Saxifrage Time go togetherwell: their flowers all bloom in a contiguous
stretch of time, and each species brightens
the forest in its own unique way. If you miss
one flower’s blooming time you still might
catch another’s.
I roamed a bit more, noticing ever more
wildflowers: bleeding hearts, candyflowers,
violets, bittercress, devil’s club, enchanter’s
nightshade, salmonberry, foamflower . . . .
I was flirting again with information over-
load, so I found my way back out to the drive-
way, the world of humans, and dinner.
ON A WALK THROUGH THE WOODS at the Graydon Reserve, Bob Hubbard points to astand of thousand-mothers plants (piggyback plant). Or could it be fringe cup?The two can look remarkably alike to the untrained eye.
THE DISTINCTIVE three-petaledtrillium is an early springfavorite in the Northwest.
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A L D E R F A L L S
Cocoa takes a break.
T H E B
A R I N G H U T
Anya and Sarah play while Jonelle works.
T H
E S E C R E T G A R D E N
Nick and Krista share a secret. T H E W A L L
Kathleenclimbs
to the hut.
F
A L L I N G W A T E R
A free-flowing fall day.
E M I L Y ’ S P A R K
Jordan and Brad laze about. S K Y K O M I S H R I V E R
Don with his beloved rocks.
P E N N Y L A N E
An autumn stroll.
S W I R L
Payton stands at the center of it all.
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M U I R W O O D S
Jacque and Nita gaze in wonder.
S K Y V I E W
Jim strikes a pose.
H I G H V I E W
Don and Jonelle high above the river.
Waiting for its next climbe
W E T L A N D G A R D E N
Yellow iris line the pond stream.
Foxglove rise behind a field of sweet William.
H O U S E O N T H E H I L L
Henriette and Andy bathe Graham.
C A N T I N A D E L R I O
S E R P E
N T I N E
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Belly up to the bar.
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SUMMER 2009
Alpine
splendor
awaits
at the
end
of the
Serene
trail
chainsaws went to work? The answer is
yes, but only after residents led by
Louise Lindgren ignored the odds and
set to work like the Little Engine that
Could.
Across the river from Index town,
the forested ridge dominates the lower
half of the view, with that behemoth
Mount Index high above. A huge de-nuded hillside would not be a pretty
sight. Owners of the ridge put their
clearcutting plans on hold to give the
town one year to find the money.
Donations trickled in. But you can’t
raise a million dollars from barbecues,
raffles, T-shirt sales, and bluegrass hoe-
downs. Louise and her hardcore ac-
tivists also blitzed the media, govern-
ment officials, potential big-money do-
nors, conservation groups, anyone and
everyone who could help the cause. The
Association of Professional Book Index-
ers took a fancy to the town’s name and
sent $500.
The breakthrough came with a half-
million-dollar gift from an anonymous
Seattle donor. And they went over the
top August 4, 2008, when the Snoho-
mish County Council voted to con-
tribute $700,000. Heybrook Ridge will
now become a county park.
HERE AT THE Graydon Reserve,
we’re bounded high on the north by
land set aside for Forks of the Sky State
Park and on the south by the Skyko-
mish River. No room for Costco or Wal-
Mart.
The North Fork of the Sky is not a
federally designated Wild and Scenic
River, but it most certainly is a wild
and scenic river.
From our house, we hear the kayak-
ers and rafters shouting as they ride
the whitewater past Emily’s Park.
Government constraints on such ac-
tivities as tree cutting and habitat de-
struction give considerable protection to
the river. I found this out rather
abruptly some years ago when the state
forester ordered my contractor to stop
cutting trees near the river, where I
wanted an open picnic area. I got off
without a fine but had to come up with
a revegetation plan.
With the state’s current budget
woes, there’s no telling when Forks of
the Sky State Park will be developed.
We don’t mind. The steep forests are
wonderful as is. And on the river we
have our own park, a half-acre with a
frisbee field, firepit, picnic tables. Emily
Graydon, born a century ago, would
have the time of her life in the park
named in her memory.
[DON]
FROM PAGE ONE
Citizens go to work, and a park is born
THE LAKE SERENE trail takes hikers to a dramaticbasin beneath the east walls of Mount Index. Themain trail ascends steep forest to the lake. A spurtrail leads to the base of the upper falls. An oldscramble route (dotted line) ascends from theupper falls (for the fit and adventurous only).
and snowfields that rise 3,500 feet to the In-
dex summit. Hike in summer to bask in the
immensity of the setting.
The lake is serene, but you won’t find se-
renity there on a sunny weekend. The fine
trail completed a decade ago attracts nature-
hungry lowlanders by the dozens. Try to go on
a weekday. If you must hike on a weekend,
start early.To get to the trailhead, start at the Index
General Store. After stocking up there, drive
back to the main highway, U.S. 2, turn right
and cross the bridge over the river. Turn left
immediately past the bridge onto Mt. Index
Road. Take the right fork in less than half a
mile and pull into the parking lot. (You need
a parking pass, available for sale at the store,
or park along Mt. Index Road.)
FROM LOW IN THE Skykomish Valley,
the trail climbs 2,000 feet to the lake in about
four miles. The first mile or so follows an
abandoned roadbed, crossing a stream nearthe start. If you don’t like the narrow, angled
footbridge (no railing), just rock-hop across
the stream.
Soon after leaving the roadbed and enter-
ing deep forest, a right fork in the trail climbs
steeply in half a mile to the base of the main
Bridal Veil Falls. Head on up if you want a
close look at the most dramatic of the falls fed
by Lake Serene.
From the base of these upper falls, an old
fisherman’s track ascends sharply to the lake.
Old-timers who know the track sometimes
Lake Serene. The name alone makes you
yearn to be there. But this high mountain
lake is much more than a pretty name. Its
spectacular place beneath the awesome east-
ern ramparts of Mount Index make it among
the most prized of Cascade lakes.
Hike through the snow in May and watch
from the lake as avalanches pour off the cliffs
8
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SUMMER 2009
take this scramble route up and the tourist
trail down.
A short distance beyond the trail fork, hik-
ers on the main trail reach a footbridge that
affords a fine view of Bridal Veil Creek as it
plunges over a large lower falls. A bit farther
on, you’ll come to yet another impressive cas-
cade, a channel of the creek that pours over
great smooth rock slabs.For the next mile and a half, the trail
switchbacks relentlessly up and up. A long
traverse near the top takes you to the lake
basin. You’re in a new world here, quieter,
calmer than on the exposed trail.
Cross the long log bridge over the lake’s
outlet for a walk along the northern edge of
the water. When the trail starts to head
steeply upslope, keep going. You’ll arrive in a
few minutes on the big rounded Lunch Rock
that rises from the lake, the perfect place to
sit and savor the scene.
For climbers, Lake Serene is only the
starting point. Technical climbers with an eye
on the North Peak of Index continue on up
the northern shoulder to the start of the
climb. Adventurers aiming for the easier (but
not easy) scramble route to the main peak
will hike all the way around the lake (or walk
over it during freeze-up), climb the steep
ridge at the end of the lake, then make their
way to the base of a great chute, or couloir,
that climbs another 1,300 feet to the broad
open ridge that leads to the summit.
THE LAKE SERENE TRIP is only one of
many glorious hikes around Index. Favoritesfor family hikes are Wallace Falls, Barclay
Lake, Heybrook Ridge and Tonga Ridge. More
ambitious day hikers trek to Eagle Lake or
Malachite Lake. Some of the prime hikes, like
the trails to Blanca Lake and Cady Ridge, are
now less accessible with closing of the Index-
Galena Road due to flood damage.
Folks who like some routefinding chal-
lenge in their hikes try the rough trails to the
Index Town lookout and the top of the upper
Index Town Wall. Starting at the Graydon
Reserve are short, strenuous ascents to the
Skyview and Highview lookouts.
Mountain scramblers take on the standard
routes up Mount Persis, Mount Baring and
Merchant Peak. For a bit of technical chal-
lenge, there’s Gunn Peak and Mount Index.
I’d be happy to point the way to any of
these hikes or climbs. I might even tag along.
[DON]
Check out the endless hiking possibilities
in the neighborhood in “55 Hikes Around
Stevens Pass,” from Mountaineers Books, by
Rick McGuire with photos by Ira Spring. Buy
a copy, or read the one at the reserve.
9
Extremely Important
Information
The annual Index Arts Festival fillsdowntown Index (the whole block)with arts and crafts, music, food andmore art. Saturday, August 1, 10a.m. to 6 p.m. indexartsgroup.org.
INDEX ARTS FESTIVAL
Randonee alpine touring skis. Kahru175 cm skis with Ramer bindings.Good gear, fine shape, 14 years old,lightly used. $85.
20-inch Stihl chain saw, model 034 AV Super. With chains, files, case.Excellent shape, though not run inseveral years, so will need cleaningand tune-up. 18 years old, but it is aStihl. $100.
Four-step collapsible stairs, for entry to a small camper. Heavy hammeredmetal, with bracket. Free to a goodhome.
Contact Don for all. 360-793-9148
CHEAP SKATES
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. BarbaraKingsolver and her family set out tospend a year eating only the food they could grow or buy locally. In beautifulprose Kingsolver outlines our national―eating disorder‖ and tells how shefound a better way to eat. [LISA and DANA]
Preaching the Blues , with Johnny Horn. Sundays 9 a.m. to noon, FM
90.3. Mellow blues, new and old.Music, not commercials. [JORDAN]
Ode magazine. A hymn to the possi-bilities for individual and social pro-gress. Ode tells the success stories ofpeople and ideas that make a differ-ence. odemagazine.com. [JOANNA]
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of theBeautiful Basics of Science. Baffled by science? Let New York Times sciencewriter Natalie Angier make you actu-ally care about—maybe even under-stand—physics, chemistry, biology,
geology and astronomy. [PAUL] Roman Holiday. Gregory Peck is thenewsman who finds his princess in thissad and funny film about yearning,duty, love and heartbreak. Has any-one else ever been as sweetly beauti-ful as Audrey Hepburn? [DON]
BEST IN THE UNIVERSE
Index town: indexwa.orgN. Fork Skykomish: skyko.orgIndex artists: indexartsgroup.orgWave Trek:
outdooradventurecenter.com
Washington Climbers Coalition:washingtonclimbers.org
OUR WORLD ON THE WEB
”This place is peaceful,cozy, green, and agreat place for kids!”
SARAH SEZ
● More dismal rainfall statistics
● Bob Hubbard’s beetlemania
● The Serpentine revealed
● Italian stew recipe
● The latest natural disaster
● Secrets of the Swirl
● Relativity explained (if space permits)
IN THE NEXT ISSUE (if any)
This week’s special:
Help create the Serpentine, a monu-mental piece of land art in Emily’sPark, using the mounds of flooddebris collected over the past 12years. Saturday, July 4, 9 a.m.–6p.m. No experience necessary.
Ongoing opportunities:Garden the climbing crag with wirebrushes, from ground or on rappel.
Bushwhackers special: Help discovera new route from the hut to theDark Tower. For the very hardy.
Splash the interior of Cantina del Rio
with gallons of gaudy color.Cerveza? Of course.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIESAT THE GRAYDON RESERVE
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SUMMER 20090
Like any gardener, I have a need to fill
in the empty spaces with things that are
lovely to look at, delightful to know, and
heaven to smell. (Sounds like that old song,
doesn’t it?) This has become particularly true
with our wetland garden.
In our lower front yard, water flows much
of the year. It comes as runoff from Deer
Creek Plateau and apparently from an under-
ground spring. The spring was once an im-
proved water source for someone (probably
early twentieth century), as evidenced by a
ten-foot-long timber and a small rock wall,
uncovered several years ago when Doncleaned the muck out of the upper part of the
wetland and built a pond.
In taking on the challenge of gardening in
a wetland, I’ve learned a number of things:
■ Flowing water plus heavy, frequent rains
equal a need to replenish soil. Otherwise, all
that remains in the wetland is granular gran-
ite and algae.
■ If you have a favorite alpine wildflower,
don’t expect it to appear the same if you
transplant it or buy one from a nursery and
plant it down at an elevation of 600 feet.
■ It’s beneficial to your health if you wear
high rubber boots and learn to balance with
your feet and one elbow on three rocks, each
at a different height.
It’s been a pleasure to find both native and
non-native plants that like the wet habitat.
While the areas surrounding the wetland
abound with bleeding heart, spring beauties,
forget-me-nots and Indian plum, the only
original flowering plants in it were the piggy-
backs and dandelions. We gradually added
more color than was provided by those and by
the native grasses and rushes.Now when our late spring finally arrives,
and on into the fall, we gaze on patches of
bright blue ajuga, marsh marigolds, skunk
cabbage (yes, we love both the leaves and the
aroma), deep pink candelabra primrose, yel-
low water iris, deep blue Siberian iris, crim-
son flag, turtlehead, spiderwort, hostas and
ligularia. Deer fern, sword fern and other
ferns add foliage interest.
Some plants thrive under adverse condi-
tions: snow, flood, drought, rocky soil. In fact,
it may not be a good idea to transplant them
into a gentler habitat. My experience with
transplanting marsh marigolds (my second-
favorite wildflower) from an alpine home into
our low-elevation wetland was an eye opener.
They flourished the rest of the season. The
next spring: nada. No sign of them.
Next I resorted to a nursery-purchased
marsh marigold. For three years it has been
rewarding me with a mass of lovely blooms.
But the big blowsy bush bears only a little re-
semblance to the pristine, ground-hugging
plant we see in the sparkling early-spring
runoff in the wild. Thus during a recent nurs-
ery visit, I resisted the urge to buy a pot of
my favorite — the mountain pasqueflower, or
western anemone. I’ll await the thrill of see-
ing it poking up out of the snow on a high
mountain hike.
Our only unwelcome residents are the
buttercups that keep trying to take over and
the slugs that chew up the ligularia, hosta
and marsh marigold. Although I gave up on
showy scarlet lobelia cardinalis after two
roaming deer chomped the plants to the
ground, I admit it’s fun to take photos of thelovely creatures before I shoo them away to
Penny Lane.
You may be familiar with a rose named
Sheer Bliss. When little blue butterflies use
the ligularia flowers as mating grounds and
swallowtails flit through the garden to the
sound of the water flowing from the pond,
the wetland garden is a wonderland. Then I
think of that rose.
[JONELLE]
Secrets of a wetland garden
THE BEAUTIES of the wetlandgarden include Siberian iris(upper left) and (above) thequieter pleasures of purplishspires on the tall royalpickerell, deep-red lobeliacardinalis and pink turtle-head. Vying for attentionbelow are skunk cabbage,marsh marigold, and aswallowtail butterfly on the
blossoms of the ligularia.
Be patient, humor the deer and wear high rubber boots
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SUMMER 2009
Vandalismat the
Reserve!
11
enjoy a bit of hiking for the reward of spec-
tacular scenery along with their wine and
cheese on the deck. I use the hut as a base
camp for my trail-building and explorations
even higher up the slopes.
The hut is put together like a tiny RV or
sailboat. In a room barely 10-by-10 you’ll find
a dining table, pantry, bookshelves, two-
burner stove, cooler, sink, chairs, double bed,floor cabinets, gas heater, and lots of bedding
and kitchen gear, wine glasses included. (The
outdoor toilet is a bit farther up the trail.)
The official name is the Baring Hut, for the
distinctive double-summit peak to the east,
Mount Baring. It’s also a climber’s hut, sup -
plied with ropes, harnesses and carabiners for
folks who want to try their hands and feet on
the near-vertical west wall of the hut cliff.
Of course I didn’t create the hut alone.
Here are my helpers (listed in the category
where they gave the most help):
ConstructionBill Poulson
Andy Graydon
Pete Bjordahl
Climbing-wall
cleaning
Jens Hauch
Jerrett Harms
Ron Hobbs
Warren Wilson
Penny Giering
Tree-cutting
Jim Burgess
Dan Finley
Toilet-seat
painting Anya Henning
Sarah Witzel
Contributions
Windows: Dick and Beth McConaughy
Door: Paul Giering
Lumber: Paul and Lisa Witzel
Tile: Twila Gagnon
Lamp: Tom Morgan
Water barrel: Dana Kemmerling, Jordan Rabinowe
Climbing rope: Dan McLaughlin
Lantern: Ann Urich
Lumber, countertop, construction,
painting, trailwork, etc.
Jonelle KemmerlingOvernight reservations
360.793.9148
[DON]
It seems to me you have two options for
building a little getaway hut on your own
property:
1. Buy a storage shed at Home Depot and
have it delivered. Paint it pretty, then bring
in a cot, a few chairs and a cooler. Have your
friends over that evening for beer and a
barbecue.
2. Find an inaccessible location high on
the cliffs at the back of your land. Build a
trail to the site. Off and on over the next five
years, haul Quikrete in your backpack forfoundation posts, drill holes in the rock for
more supports, hand-carry beams and lumber
and windows and tin roofing up a quarter-
mile of switchbacks, and build a tiny cedar
hut at the brink of a 40-foot granite cliff. Pop
open a brewski and take in the views of river
and mountains. Then head back down for
another load.
I picked option number 2.
It was more than worth it. Now the hut
welcomes visitors throughout the year who
How not to build
a hut
JIM GRAYDON NEVER walks when he can climb.Here he scrambles the south cliff below the hut,heading for the climber’s gate in the deck railing.
MOUNT INDEX presides overJonelle’s breakfast on the deck.
Teenagers!Beavers!MotherNature!
WHICH IS WORST?
A board on top of thenewly painted yellow picnictable was broken at the
end, clearly the work ofvandals. Nearby, a big up-right sitting log had beencast down, and one of theEmily’s Park swing seatshad been torn off the rope.Perhaps worst of all, some-one had cut down a smallIndian plum tree.
Then the next day, an-other tree cut down, thisone a young cherry.Jonelle discovered theculprits. Not teenagers.
Beavers. The family thatbuilt the dam just down theroad from us was roamingafield in search of food.
After consulting theexperts, we spent $45 onwire mesh fencing andwrapped it around thetrunks of favored trees: afew cherries, a couple ofapples, some vine maple,and a nice cedar. Now wewait and see.
Meanwhile up at the
hut, another vandal was atwork. From a scar in thecliffs less than 50 feet eastof the hut, Mother Natureloosed a granite boulderthat upended an old logand blocked the entranceto the Path Less Traveled.
An earthquake in 2001created the original scar.Beaver: fotosearch.com. Teenager:Christopher J. Menning, audiophysi-cal.squarespace.com. Mother Nature:Qczma, qczma.deviantart.com
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N. Fork SkykomishRiver
Use this handy guideto find your way here
from anywherein the cosmos
UNIVERSAL LOCATOR MAP
NGC 1333 b l St h L hi (th i l t d) E th f R t Stö kli N i El S l M it J t ft Nil St t USGS I d i l G l E th
RECURRENT RUMORS of heavy rainfall in Index
appear to be true. These monthly statistics for
2005 through 2008 plus the first five months
of 2009 are from the home rain gauge of
Index resident David Cameron.
RAIN BY THE BARREL
Now you see it,now you don’t THE BIG BOULDER known as Beer Rockappears and disappears at the whim
of the river. On May 30, competitors inthe Trioba adventure race had to goover or around the submerged rock.But last summer, Anya Henning just
swam to it and climbed on board.Until November 6, 2006, Beer Rock
rested placidly on the shore at Emily’sPark. The great flood of that day sent it
about 80 feet downstream and outinto the current, where it sits today.