Mima Mounds

Standing on a mound, looking out at the mounds

We had our pick of events yesterday between Tour de Blast and the Capitol Criterium. Instead, we opted for a 55-mile country ride south and west of Olympia. The main attraction, besides solitude and beautiful roads, was the Mima Mounds.

We started from my rental house in Olympia and took the Chehalis Western Trail south. After 15 miles (and a few turns off the trail) we arrived at Millersylvania State Park - a great stopping point for a snack and water bottle refill.

Deep Lake at Millersylvania State Park

We criss-crossed local roads past people’s farms and homes until reaching the booming town of Rochester. Nick has raced here before and pointed out the way to Independence Valley. We turned the opposite direction, though, and soon battled fierce headwinds as we approached the hills. We were rewarded as we turned north by a tail wind and made good time up to the Mounds.

They’re admittedly a little hard to see in the picture, but they’re neat in a Roswell-alien-like way. There are thousands of these over-sized gopher hills (about six feet tall and 40 feet across) in the Mima Prairie. They are made of silt and sand (probably left behind 13,000 years ago when the Vashon glacier retreated) and sit on a bed of gravel. Each mound has a “root” of silt that extends into the gravel below the mound. No one knows for sure how they formed. Theories include formation of polygonal ice wedges in soil near the edge of the glacier, burrowing by colonies of pocket gophers, and erosion or deposition by glacial floods around regularly spaced trees or shrubs of a long-vanished ice age landscape. What do you think?

For a turn-by-turn route description of a 35-mile variation of our ride that starts and finishes at Millersylvania State Park, click the map below.

Burfoot Park at sunset

Instead of going home this weekend, Nick is driving down here for a south Sound adventure. Since I didn’t have to drive anywhere tonight, I took the opportunity to check out Burfoot County Park. The sun was just going down as I got there. Next time I’ll remember to park outside the park, so can stay longer without being locked in at dusk.

Parade of the species

Him: Hey hon, what should we do tonight?

Her: Let’s take the goat for a walk around Capitol Lake.

Him: Oh, let’s!

sighted at the end of our walk this evening

Just look at that face!

Rendezvous

Nick in People’s Park across the street from Tempest

Nick and I were missing each other like crazy earlier this week, so we decided to meet in Tacoma for dinner. I picked Tempest, which is owned and run by Tom Douglas’s sister. I’d heard fantastic things about her cocktail concoctions and the food was well-priced.

Little did we know that it was located in the heart of Tacoma’s infamous Hilltop neighborhood or that Tempest was a gay bar. Neither turned us off of the place - it really was a fantastic neighborhood bar. It did, however, add to the adventure of rendezvous. 

Climbing in the Olympics – Take Two

Me with rope leads Stan and Jim on the summit of Warrior

The climbing gods must be smiling on me. Last weekend’s trip up Warrior marked the third climb in as many weeks that were successful.

Eight of us met at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Quilcene Ranger Station. The Forest Service desk jockeys had no reliable information regarding the road or trail conditions, so we headed out. We picked the Big Quilcene River approach because the standard approach via the Dungeness River Trail was missing a key bridge. With spring runoff at its peak, we decided not to risk a river crossing. We also anticipated magnificent views from the camp at Marmot Pass and a possible scramble of Buckhorn Mountain.

Right from the start it was apparent that we had a strong group. Unfortunately, the smallest party member also had one of the biggest packs. This slowed us down significantly. The team rallied to carry some of her gear which helped a little. We reached Marmot Pass but were sorely disappointed by the whiteout that welcomed us. So much for the views! Since it was mid-afternoon, we convinced ourselves that descending to Boulder Shelter would be a good idea.

At 5 a.m. we were off again, headed towards the Warrior-Inner Constance Cirque.

Alpenglow on Mt. Mystery

Continued...