Perils of Caffeine in the Evening

Since today, Father’s Day, is a travel day (yep, Milwaukee again), my son and I went hiking yesterday on Rattlesnake Ridge, just outside North Bend, WA. The cool thing is, I think he actually wanted to do it. After a childhood of resolutely inveighing against it, he now really likes hiking, and the more challenging, the better.

A challenge to his 25-year-old self, however, can easily become a death march for 57-year-old me, especially when Mrs. Perils isn’t along to use as a foil (”slow down a bit, son, your mother’s getting winded.” (this fools no one about who’s actually getting winded)). He was very courteous, though, as I could tell he was holding back when we came to an especially steep ascent.

Here we are at our lunch stop, a prow of rock that afforded a commanding 270-degree view of the Snoqualmie River valley (Click any photo to enlarge):

Here’s the view east, with the Cedar River reservoir peeking out in the center:

And here’s the view west, towards Issaquah and Seattle. In the center is Mt. Si, which provided the backdrop for the opening credits on the TV show Twin Peaks, although this view is from the opposite side.

Mrs. Perils and I had given ourselves some aluminum trekking poles for Christmas, but I hadn’t used them until yesterday. Well, I carried them, but ended up not using them at all during the ascent because they would have interfered with my ability to keep up, and also because I really didn’t feel a need for them. Their purpose is to reduce the amount of wear on knees and hips, especially when carrying backpacks, and I had brought them because (click for secret subscriber-only message) and I was anticipating some hip pain from it. Luckily, nothing really hurt while I was hiking. I used the poles sporadically on our descent, trying to figure out a technique for their employ. Most of the time, I just carried them, though, as the boy managed to make the downhike an anaerobic experience as well.

It was a great day for a hike, despite the overcast. Except for a short period when we were high enough to be in the cloud layer, the rain held off nicely until we got down to the parking lot. Then, over a distance of about 200 yards, we were thoroughly drenched, making for wet-dog syndrome on the drive home.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you who are fathers, and all of you who have fathers!