Heat

It's been an unusually warm summer this year in Seattle, but today took the cake. The official high was 103° F (40° C), which was the highest temperate ever recorded in Seattle. That's right: the hottest day since they started measuring temps here in 1891.

Most houses and apartments here - including our townhouse - don't have air conditioning; it's usually not cost effective to install it. On average, Seattle gets 3 days of temps over 90 degrees in a summer (and 1 in 4 summers have no days >90°).

We've had to start sleeping on our lowest level in the guest bedroom, where it stays relatively cool. But it's still been pretty uncomfortable at home. Like just about everyone else in the city, we've been spending a lot of time at the beach. Water temps in Lake Washington are a balmy 80°; but the Sound is still a nice hypothermia-inducing 55°. Now we just need the weather to shift so the winds come from the ocean rather than from desert-like Eastern Washington.

Kendall Katwalk

On Saturday, Anya and I did our first all-day hike of the season.

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is one of the major long-distance hiking trails in the country (it's the Western equivalent to the Appalachian Trail). It starts at the Mexican border, follows the Sierra Nevada through California and then the Cascades through Oregon and Washington before ending at the Canadian border. It crosses Interstate 90 about 50 miles east of Seattle at Snoqualmie Pass.

We hopped on the northbound PCT near the Pass amongst a forest of giant trees. From there, the trail steadily climbs for 6 miles (and ~2800 vertical feet) through thinning alpine forest, meadows, boulder gardens, and exposed scree slopes to a steep ridge near Kendall Peak. It passes from one side of the ridge to the other at a saddle (~5800 feet above sea level), so for a short time you're walking on an 8-foot wide trail with nothing but sheer drops on either side. That feature, called the Kendall Katwalk (sorry - the misspelling of "catwalk," however annoying, is the official name) was the destination for our day hike.

The pictures and captions speak for themselves, so here I'll just say that it was a spectacular hike - amongst the most scenic alpine trails I've ever been on.

Oregon

My parents were here visiting over the Fourth of July, and we all went down to Oregon for the long weekend. We used Portland - one of my favorite cities in the U.S. - as a home base because of the great hotel & restaurant options. We spent some time walking around the city but also took a couple of day trips.

One day we escaped the record warm temps (in the 90's) in Portland by going to the coast. About 90 minutes West of the city, in a beautiful location on the Pacific Ocean, is Cannon Beach. Anya and I had been there a couple years ago and always wanted to go back. The whole Oregon coast is a spectacular place. We didn't do much in the actual town; we mostly just hung out on the beach. You can see why in our pictures from Cannon Beach.

Another day we drove ~30 minutes East of Portland to the Columbia River Gorge. That's the place where the Columbia River (the largest river in North America that flows into the Pacific) has carved a dramatic course through the middle of the Cascade mountains. The steep sides of the gorge - especially the Oregon (southern) side - are lined with waterfalls.

We hiked a steep, switch-backed trail that followed Wahkeena Creek - which falls about 1400 vertical feet in a run of about a half mile. The trail passed through an amazing hanging valley that was like something out of a fairy tale (or a motivational poster - pick your poison). After the hike we stopped for beers in the outdoorsy town of Hood River. The consistent wind through the Gorge makes Hood River a mecca for windsurfing and kiteboarding. We took a few good pictures but they don't really do it justice.

We finished off our trip by stopping at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland ("The Rose City"). Those pictures here.