Day #: 94 Ride #: 62 Day's verts: 900 Total vertical feet climbed: 104,900
Daily Deal: Wild cacophony
Ride Journal: Hartstene Island, WA
Bruce Brown
4/3/2000

Hartsten_040300.jpg (15388 bytes)

Hartste2_040300.jpg (9618 bytes)

Looking past the Morgan's cabin to Pt. Wilson on a sunny morning.
Rode up from the Morgan's cabin on Harstene Island -- technically sea level -- exploring first the upper reaches of the development next to Wheelis's. There is a water tower for the community water system at the top, on the edge of the neighboring clearcut. Unfortunately, I only found the roughest of hunter trails leading out, so I retraced and eventually rode gravel roads to a hilly section of woods in the middle of the island, where I played around on old logging roads for several hours.

At dusk, after I had returned to the cabin, there was a wild cacophony of animal noises from the water, shore and air. The laughing of the gulls and loons was woven with the running calls of the shore birds, the hoarse cry of raven and great blue heron, and at regular intervals, the loud explosive report of seals slapping in a twilight so deep that they could not be spotted, even after repeated shots in the same place out on the dark bay.

Approximately 900 verts.


Mtr2_040300.jpg (15041 bytes)
Mt Rainier sunset from the deck of the Morgan's Hartstene Island cabin.

This is an excerpt from Vert Quest, which chronicles The Man Known As Mongo's pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period.


© Copyright 2000 by Bruce Brown
and BF Communications Inc.

Astonisher.com and GalbraithMt.com
are trademarks of BF Communications Inc.

BF Communications Inc.
P.O. Box 393
Sumas, WA 98295 USA
(360) 927-3234

Website by Running Dog Running Dog