Category — Nature & Outdoors

Having not-as-limber-as-they-used-be creaky knees is not the only problem I have when it comes to hiking. Having a creaky brain can be a problem too.

I am the King of the Ill-Advised Hike. The common-sense, follow-them-if-you-want-to-live guidelines that Northwest hiking guru Seabury Blair Jr. emphasizes in the Be Careful section of all of his Day Hike! and Creaky Knees guides are things my friends and I always ignored when we set out on hikes. An adequate supply of water? Nah, no need—there will no doubt be a drinking fountain along the trail. First-aid kit? Only dorks carry those—do we look like klutzes? A topographic map of the trail? Hey, up is up, down is down, and we’ll remember the route we hiked in on . . . etc., etc.

The result, predictably, has been a number of hikes that were unpleasant at best, and injurious or life-periling at worst:

One hike in the hills of Berkeley, California, ended with me stepping in a ditch I couldn’t see in the pitch blackness because we thought “we don’t need a light source—it’s not dark now” when we started. I endured two days of excruciating pain and torn cartilage in my left knee to show for that one.

Another time, only a tense argument followed by a triumph of democracy (two of the three of us voted to turn back while we still had a bit of daylight) between the hikers saved us from getting lost in the darkness far from the main trail on a brisk winter evening on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, California, when we had, of course, zero provisions. I suppose we would have survived the night, but to this day, I can still visualize the headline that could have appeared if we’d made the wrong decision: BODIES OF THREE IDIOT HIKERS AIRLIFTED OFF MT. TAM.

I don’t even want to think about the time a family member urged the others to hike from a vista point at the Grand Canyon to the base of the canyon on a whim one very hot September afternoon—again with absolutely no plan, map, or provisions. (For once, I wasn’t that family member.) Fortunately, that whim passed or the family threatened to throw the one who suggested the idea into the canyon; I forget which.

The belabored point I’m trying to make is merely that tired or aging limbs are not the only obstacles to invigorating, enriching, safe hikes. The biggest obstacle is often the muscle located within the skull. And the deft, entertaining way that is addressed is one of my favorite things about Seabury’s hiking guides, the latest of which is The Creaky Knees Guide Oregon. It’s the second of his books offering shorter, less-punishing “half-day” hikes for those with physical limitations that make longer, more challenging hikes impossible—or who would rather take a lighter stroll that emphasizes beautiful scenery and other visual rewards instead of mountain goat–like climbing skills.

The Creaky Knees Guide Oregon, like all of Seabury’s guides, is written in an entertaining, casual style that is like a friend talking to the reader, sharing stories and vital information. His tales from his own hiking experiences are often laugh-out-loud funny, but always with a point. He’ll tell you the sights and sounds to look out for to best enjoy the hike; with his detailed descriptions of the trails, signposts, and landmarks, you won’t have to worry about getting lost and missing the beautiful waterfall because you turned left instead of right at the junction with the spur trail. The hikes—eighty in all, including four urban trails—featuring all distances, hiking times, elevation gains, effort ratings, best seasons to hike, permit information, GPS trailhead coordinates, and topographic maps. In addition, hikes that allow—or are especially ideal for—children and dogs are identified.

And Seabury knows it’s no laughing matter to prepare thoroughly for even the most benign-seeming hike. In addition to “The 10 Essentials” that no hiker should be without, he describes weather and wildlife considerations that hikers should always be aware of (do you know the right thing to do if a mountain lion confronts you?). In his specific hike descriptions, if there’s a particularly hazardous or physically challenging section, he’ll tell you about it. These hikes are intended to be exhilarating and refreshing—not survivalist treks filled with surprises and danger. Seabury went out and risked his own limbs so you wouldn’t have to!

We haven’t even talked about the geography this new Creaky Knees book covers—the vast, fascinating state of Oregon, that’s what. Everything on the beautiful extended coast from Astoria to Whalehead Cove, the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, Central Oregon, more remote corners of the state, and urban trails in Portland, Salem, Corvallis, and Eugene. Even the most ambitious creaky-kneed hiker will need years to try all these hikes!

I know I’m itching to try them myself. And thanks to Seabury Blair’s terrific new The Creaky Knees Guide Oregon, for once my brain is going to be as ready for these hikes as I think my legs are.

The weekend I started reading The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest, Jack Nisbet’s excellent new biography on the nineteenth century Scottish naturalist and explorer David Douglas, my wife and I were on a trip to Kalaloch Lodge on the Olympic Peninsula, getting back to nature and “disconnecting” from modern life for a couple of days.

As I was reading the book, overlooking the ocean while sitting in front of our television-, Internet-, and cell phone signal–free cabin, it dawned on me just how different my definition of “roughing it” is to Douglas’s. Witness:

(1) For the two-night stay in our “primitive” cabin—which of course had electricity, not to mention a small kitchen with refrigerator—we packed one small suitcase, one overnight bag, one large ice chest, and three large grocery bags of provisions. (And, to be honest, a GPS tracker, two iPods, a digital camera, three books, five magazines, etc. . . .)

In contrast, for his 1826 exploration from Fort Vancouver to the inland Pacific Northwest that lasted several months, besides the clothes on his back, David Douglas packed only “one extra shirt, two handkerchiefs, a blanket, a single cloak, and no stockings at all.” His one indulgence for the journey: 100 pounds of collecting paper to preserve his samples and specimens.

(2) We spent hours preparing for our “spontaneous” campfire on the beach. This included buying a package of bratwurst, buns, corn on the cob, bottles of squeezable ketchup and mustard, paper plates and plastic cutlery, aluminum foil, skewers with extendable handles, a box of kitchen matches, a stack of newspapers as starter, and two pre-cut bundles of firewood from the general store. Despite all this, it still took me an hour to get a decent campfire going, and even with our fancy skewers, we managed to simultaneously singe and undercook our brats, not to mention both dropping our corncobs in the sand while roasting them over the fire.

By comparison, after grueling 12- or 15-hour days of crossing hard terrain, Douglas and his party were often lucky to locate a dry place to camp, and even if they didn’t, they had no choice but to find a way to start and maintain a fire if they wanted to survive the night. On a good day, they would be able to hunt game for a nourishing dinner so Douglas and crew wouldn’t have to resort to eating plant roots (not necessarily predetermined as edible) or one of his collected avian or mammalian specimens for supper. During really bad stretches in hostile terrain, the party might be forced to eat one of their horses. Corn on the cob rarely accompanied their campfires.

(3) We found a few jellyfish washed up on the beach and saw a lot of birds, trees, and a few squirrels.

Douglas identified more than 80 species of flora and fauna that now have his name (douglasii) attached to their scientific monikers, and is credited with introducing hundreds of other species to the world outside of North America.
Author Jack Nisbet
Photo by Dean Davis Photography

Obviously, these are extreme contrasts. But even the most hardcore hiker or camper will never have the opportunity to explore and experience the vast and staggering wilderness of the Pacific Northwest in the way David Douglas (and others like him) did. Jack Nisbet’s amazingly detailed and documented narrative of Douglas’s life and travels gives us an idea of exactly what it was like to see through the explorer’s eyes. We are fortunate that despite the encroachment of civilization, so much of the wilderness and natural beauty of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia remains for us to appreciate.

But I can’t help wondering: Would David Douglas think so?

Events for Jack Nisbet, author of THE COLLECTOR

Wednesday, October 7, 7:00pm
Auntie’s Bookstore
Spokane, WA

Friday, October 23
Montana Festival of the Book

Thursday, October 29, 7:30pm
Powell’s Books (on Hawthorne Blvd)
Portland, OR

Saturday, November 7th, 1:00pm
Spokane Costco (store #66)

Sunday, November 8, 2:00pm
The Seattle Room at The Seattle Public Library (book sales by Elliott Bay)
Seattle, WA

Monday, November 9, 7:00pm
Third Place Books (Lake Forest)
Seattle, WA

Tuesday, November 10, 7:00pm
Village Books
Bellingham, WA

When I started at Sasquatch last month, I quickly began to scheme. The wildly unorthodox plan I’ve been hatching involves completing my holiday shopping early. Really early. That way, come December, I’ll retain my sanity and actually enjoy the holidays instead of frantically careening from overcrowded store to understaffed post office and back again. I know, I know, it’s only October, but this little experiment in off-peak living has the potential to be a real stress reliever. So far, my proximity to Sasquatch and its delightful catalog of children’s books has been a big help.

I’m currently oohing and aahing over the Alphabet Bird Collection, and I want to personally thank Shelli Ogilvy for checking one more name off my gift list. When I first saw the stunning art for the Alphabet Bird Collection, I had that elusive reaction every diligent gift hound constantly seeks: that moment when you come across something that immediately makes you think of the person you’re trying to buy for. It’s perfect!

From Avocet to Zone-tailed Hawk, Ogilvy introduces readers to each bird with a gorgeous, rich-hued painting, playful rhymes, interesting facts, and each bird’s song phonetically mapped on a musical scale. It’s a great combination of visual and auditory stimulus that will likely have the budding ornithologist on your list drooling…or at least “sweee-sweewee-sweee”-ing along with the Junco or “kyow-kyow-kyow”-ing with the Quetzal.

Here’s a sneak peek of my favorite bird:

Diving from the air in quick pursuit,
The Kingfisher hunts for fish or maybe a newt.

Sing along to the Kingfisher’s song:
“tshrrrR tshrre tshrrR”

Now all I have to do is ensure my three-year-old nephew doesn’t check this blog post!

P.S. If you’re like me and every gift giving opportunity induces both thoughtful reflection and anxiousness, you’ll also want to check out this gem; Shanon Lyon’s insightful Gifts with Meaning: How to Choose Unique and Thoughtful Presents for Any Occasion just might be your lifesaver and mine.