strike two

Dirty Harry is laughing at me from his grave, I'm sure of it.

Before I get into yet another disappointment on the Dirty Harry trail, I'll fill you in on the weekend which can be summed up with one photo:

a long night
"a long night"

After one failed attempt, Lucas and I successfully ate an excellent meal at a Vietnamese place in the U District on Friday, however later that evening Jack did him in a little worse than poor Casey in the above picture.

Dane flew in Saturday and crashed at my place that night. He invited his friend Jenny over and I invited Casey and we had a little party at my house, which was fun however I missed the tall one. When Jenny walked in to my apartment she saw all the photos on the wall and asked "What is all this?" and Dane said "She's a photographer"...which was the first time I was ever described as such. It felt good, damn good.

Sunday brought breakfast at the 5 Spot on Queen Anne...soooo good...and then with full belly I bid Dane and Jenny goodbye (after her asking me out, which was adorable. It'll be nice to have some girlfriends up here) and decided to head up to Dirty Harry again.

trillium ttv
"trillium ttv"

I drove up the road a little to verify where the actual trail was and then parked my car at the gate and walked in the 1/2 mile to the trail. It's a steady rocky climb with not much of anything to look at other than trees, however I did spot some trillium, which I was happy about, and some violets.

The map I had found stated that Dirty Harry's truck was on the side of Museum Creek about 100 feet up and the map showed a wide creek crossing the trail and when I came upon it, with a very sketchy "bridge" over it, I decided to just hike it into the brush and follow the creek. However, there is a lot of run off right now and I encountered many creeks flowing once I made it into the woods. I figured I'd follow the largest of them all since there was only one on the map and I started up the hill.

As I've said before, the biggest issue with this mountain is that Dirty Harry clearcut the entire area so there are rotting logs and hidden holes everywhere. Navigating through the terrain is dangerous and tricky. I'm lucky I didn't fall into the creek, but I twisted my ankle pretty good about three times. I stopped quite a few times to scan the area, thinking that the truck would be camouflaged by the brush, but I saw nothing.

dirty harry junk
"dirty harry junk"

I spent a good hour and a half searching, but nothing. So I headed back up to the actual trail and decided at least I could make it to the balcony. I came upon this junk in the trail and tried my hand at some more ttv. I hate this shot, though. I took a few others and have been working on it, but I added this one in as apparently this marks the way to the turn off for the balcony. Had I read further along in the trip report I would have known this, but of course I didn't so I continued on up what is actually the trail to Dirty Harry's Peak and, if you continue, Web Mountain. I came to a rocky clearing and was rewarded with views of McClellan Butte, Mt. Washington and the Iron Horse trail way below me. Landscape shots are eluding me, but honestly photography is taking a back seat at the moment on this trail so I can find that damn truck.

lil buggy
"lil buggy"

I decided to turn around about a mile up the road and backtrack to the main trail. Curiosity got the best of me again when I saw hiker markers along the trail and I headed back into the woods to see if I could find the truck, but again nothing and I had wasted enough time on this trip. My only consolation is I found a lovely hiking stick for the season....and I shall name it Harry.

I am positive with a GPS I could find what I'm looking for, but although this search has been exhausting it's like a little treasure hunt and when I do finally find it on my own without any electronic help I will feel a nice sense of accomplishment. Or I better...because damn.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Love the photography! If that's all yours, then bravo.
stacy marie said…
tis indeed all mine, so thank you!
now get off the fucking computer and go enjoy you're birthday, damnit.