Trail Tales

The use of elevation in naming peaks is also common in the military, as I've seen in historical accounts (e.g., Fred Majdalany's The Battle of Cassino, which regularly does this).  But I've never known if those are based on elevation above sea level or elevation above the immediately surrounding area.  Those will give different results, often wildly different.

Thanks, Mr. Kung. I think I know which photos you’re talking about. Depending upon the size of your screen, etc., the grid of photos may align itself differently. But I’m sure one of them is the one with the dark trees in the foreground and the view of the mountains (and that’s Seattle across the water) in the background. I really like that one as well.

All I can say is that you have good taste. I really like that other photo as well. When I open it on my iMac’s 27” screen, it’s very dramatic. On my iPad (which I’m on now), a bit less so. Size matters, I guess.

One of the things I will note is that these iPhone cameras (at least the one on my iPhone SE 2020) do a great job of capturing highlight and shadow detail. The processor is doing all kinds of on-the-fly tricks to make this so. As much as I love my Nikon DSLR, I would have to usually work on a photo a good while to try to get the sky to look good and to keep the shadow detail.

And no brag, just fact, But my friend takes some photos as well with his Android phone. And I’d say he’s developing a good eye for photography. But it’s clear the iPhone is vastly superior in terms of picture quality. I may be able to text you a private link so you can see for yourself. I’ll do that in a moment.

Was that your shadow in the last photo?

Yes, that was my shadow. And, Mr. Kung, I'm glad you like that grass-and-grain shot. I was sort of reaching to compose something.

I did sixteen miles in and around Port Gamble yesterday. We’re enjoying a spate of good weather. It’s been 79 the last couple of days. It will be cooling down to 73 today. But no one is fooled. We’ll pay for this in May with solid overcast skies and constant drizzle. But the aberration is nice.

This was my first time out without a double-layer of sweatshirts. I had no sweatshirt on at all, although I had a backup windbreaker in my backpack. But there never was a need for that. The weather was perfect. With such relatively low humidity, I barely felt the 79 degrees other than the freedom of not having to wear four layers.

There were not many people on the trail. I did meet a younger chick who was sort of the mirror image of me, riding for pleasure and not decked out like Lance Armstrong in order to be seen. We shared a few kind words when we met at an intersection of logging roads, both staring at our phones trying to gain our bearings.

I’d been on this same route dozens of times. But as part of the deal to cede the land to the public, the timber company is doing one last clear-cutting. And so much was cut down that I no longer recognized the landscape. I made no missteps and went on instinct. But it’s funny how the same roads with no trees around them suddenly is so confusing in terms of navigating.

At the end of the ride, I stopped at the espresso stand in Port Gamble and got an iced latte and a sandwich. The stand is in the parking lot of a small restaurant with an outdoor eating area where groups of yutes who were not actively eating were all masked up. I looked at them with subtle bemusement, trying to hide any outward display of contempt. But I’m sure a little bit of “you’re all idiots” leaked through.

This place is really a great place to bike ride if you’re looking for long expanses of off-road trails, easily navigable. But I think most bikers need to be seen to be biking. Back on these trails, that is not the case. But I shouldn’t complain about the relative privacy. That part of it is nice although I do like meeting the occasional person.

I took a small hike today. Up on Green Mountain it was 48 degrees and breezy but the sun was out and it was overall a pleasant day.

Met a couple Japanese families. They are always very polite. Didn't say all that much to them though.

On the way down I met this girl and guy coming up (19 - 20 years old, I'm guessing). She's ahead of him and smiles at me in a flirtatious way and says hi. She's gorgeous and vivacious. I say hi back and then walk into a tree.

No, I'm kidding about the tree part. So she walks by and the boyfriend (definitely wasn't a brother) walking behind her had his face buried in his phone. I wanted to slap the jerk and say, "Take her hand and appreciate what you've got you idiot. And put down the phone.")

But I, of course, didn't say anything...unless my inner thoughts were so loud that they projected out and were transmitted by the Ether.

Now, I could have caught the fella just as we was trying to pick out a restaurant to take his gal to afterward. But it sure looked like another man-boy yute. No wonder she had a sparkle in her eye when she looked at me. She saw a real man. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I believe you may be right. It appears many people around the world are getting upset with this bullshit. 

In addition to the issues of money and control, I think our masters are pushing the vaccine mandate so hard  for a couple of other reasons. 1) They know they have made a huge mistake, but cannot admit this as the admission would leave them open for very serious repercussions. 2) In the same vein, they are trying to make sure there is no "control group" i.e. non-vaccinated, so as to insure that objective information cannot be gleaned with which to compare the health of those who received the vaccine and those who didn't.  Pfizer already did this with those in their phase 3 studies. Pfizer went against all previous vaccine protocols by doing this. 

If, as is looking more and more likely, the non-vaccinated do much better health-wise than the vaccinated over the next few years, those vaccinated who develop more illnesses will be very upset with their betters. Someone who is critically ill with a disease which can likely be traced back to the KFF experimental gene therapy, say cancer, will be less worried about the consequences of punishing those, such as Fauci, who were behind the biggest fraud and crime perpetrated on humanity.