Technology

©Paul K Anderson

© Paul K Anderson

© Paul K Anderson

© Paul K Anderson
Technology

I was lying flat on my back a month ago, gazing up at several bright lights and realized how very important, but also intrusive, high technology was to each of us.  In a couple of minutes the surgeon was going to insert several high definition T.V. cameras, and numerous surgical instruments through a half dozen small incisions and perform a procedure that several decades ago would have laid a patient up for weeks.

Instead, just a few hours after the surgery, I was ably walking back and forth, up and down the aisles of the post surgical floor, relatively pain free, happy to be moving.

Several months ago my daughter invited a boy to go skiing with us up at Mt. Baker.  I was curious to overhear what they would talk about since this was the first time she had asked a boy along.

A curious phenomenon took place, they seldom spoke but occasionally giggled  over something that was typed in the newest communication form, instant text messaging between cell phones, and between several other cars.  Something few of us "older generation" types will understand, interpret or rattle off with any semblance of grace and dignity.

I suppose that when these kids reach my age, there will be even more sophisticated micro cameras that will go in and assist in repairs of "texting thumb." 

Spring has returned to the lower Skagit and Samish Rivers. The Snow Geese have left for Wrangell Island off the coast of Siberia.  The Trumpeter Swans are readying their nest sites in the Yukon Territory and in Alaska.

The Bald Eagles, so prevalent just downstream in Marblemount during the late fall and winter salmon runs have dispersed except for the resident eagles that are beginning to rear the next generation.

Although a month late, the tulip fields are finally at their prime in fields west of Mt. Vernon.

Spring also marks the return of paragliders to Blanchard Mt. at the south end of the Chuckanut Range.

These adrenaline seeking athletes wait for the right updrafts, then run and leap off of the south or west slopes of Blanchard.

They soar out over Samish Bay, occasionally sharing a thermal with a local raptor. Too soon, gravity takes over and they slowly drift over the tiny hamlet of Blanchard and the boyhood home of the iconic broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow.

In the 1950's, Murrow hosted a T.V. series called Person to Person, in which he interviewed celebrities live in their own homes.

The morning of the show a large semi would pull up in front of the celebrities homes and the crews would unload complete lighting setups and up to six T.V. cameras for the multiple rooms where the celebrities would be interviewed.

Even at my young age I was able to empathize with many of the interviewees who gave up so much privacy by giving a tour of their homes, live before a nationwide audience.

Despite the fact that we too were intruders, we were still in awe of the technology that would allow us to talk (well not us - but Edward R. Murrow for sure) and see into the homes and lives of the rich and famous.  We were mesmerized by the power of 1950's modern technology and our own 12" black and white t.v.

Up at the resort Tom and Will are applying the finishing touches to the new generation of blue boats. New bottom paint is also being applied to the more experienced boats.

Carol is planting all the new flowers on the docks and in front of the cabins.

Soon the cabins will be slowly pushed back into their historic summer locations from their winter berths next to the log booms.

The Adirondack Chairs and benches will be placed in front of the cabins, and for the next 4 1/2 months guests and friends, without the distractions of T.V.s, cell phones and internet connections can practice what appears to be a lost art.

Sitting down with friends, relaxing below the snow capped North Cascades, and enjoying the solace of face to face conversation. 

An original form of communication encouraged here on Ross Lake for almost 50 years.

Edward R. Murrow might have enjoyed some of these discussions.

Enjoy spring everyone.

Waiting For Summer

© Paul Anderson           Odin Taking the Plunge

© Paul Anderson   War On the Dock
This past month, in the Puget Sound lowlands, the weather jockeys have recorded the 6th coldest March on record.  To find a colder March we would have to look back to the mid-1970's.

But, life goes on.  Skiing is still excellent up at the Mt.Baker Ski Area, in the lower Skagit River Valley the daffodil fields are blooming and although late, it seems that the tulips are getting ready to shake off the cool spring and finally burst out into their fields of color.

Down on Fir Island the farmers are starting to work the soil and the Snow Geese, you can tell, are getting anxious to start the journey north to Wrangell Island, off the northern coast of Siberia.

But April is finally here and it is only a little over two months before Ross Lake Resort opens again.

Here are a couple of shots to remind us of the approaching summer and what it is like to be young again and out of school for summer vacation.

North Cascades Institute Learning Center ...............A Good Neighbor

Old Growth Forest 170 feet Up

Life in the Tree Tops

© Paul Anderson

Great Blue Heron

Birds of Bellingham Bay

© Paul Anderson

Thunder Bay Writers Retreat

North Cascades Institute

Learning Center

Trumpeter Swans 

Samish River Delta

© Paul Anderson

I've taken classes from the North Cascades Institute on a number of occasions and I highly recommend them!

At the Thunder Bay Writers Retreat, three inspiring nature writers, Kathleen Dean Moore, Gary Ferguson, and Ana Maria Spagna encouraged and worked with us for 4 days as we wrote, observed, listened, hiked the trails and enjoyed the ambiance of the Learning Center.

Another class found me suspended from a large jib crane in a gondola with 6 other participants, 190 feet up into the canopy of an old growth forest. It was a truly remarkable experience! We moved up, down and over almost 6 acres of old growth from one of only several "canopy cranes" operating in the world.

Meandering the back roads near the lower Skagit and Samish Rivers, Trumpeter Swans were studied with one of the leading experts and protectors of North America's largest waterfowl.

You have the opportunity to take a whole catalog of classes from leading experts in their fields.

Topics of study, to name just a few categories: butterflies, raptors, watercolors, writing, poetry, geographical regions, sustainability, local foods, birding, glaciers and the high alpine, wildflowers, geology, amphibians, photography. The list goes on and on.

So if you are looking for a way to spend additional quality time in the Cascade Range check them out!

Contact the North Cascades Institute and request your catalog.

Just-As-Good-As-Any-Other-BBQ-Sauce

Before we get started a quick story (you'll get the point later in the recipe).

When we were first married, my wife decided to surprise me with a new recipe that she found from some generic article in the Seattle Times.  

It was for Sweet and Sour Chicken.  It called out to use 1 cup of Heinz Chili Sauce which is very bland like ketchup. I took a bite at dinner and you can guess what happened.

Steam shot out my ears.  Sweat ran down my neck and forehead. She asked me if I thought maybe it was kind of hot?

So, being newly weds, I gently replied "Oh, I don't know." "How do you feel about this recipe?"

She replied, "Gee I think it's a bit warm!"

"Really?" "Oh I'm not so sure about that, what did you use?"

"Oh it said to use Heinz Chili Sauce, but we don't have any and you're always telling me to be creative when I cook so I just substituted a cup of this Thai Chili paste."

Point taken.

2 qts water

2cups brown sugar

6 tblsp yellow mustard

1 large onion chopped

5 cloves garlic

1/2 stick butter (ok to substitute olive oil for sauteing onions and garlic)

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tblsp cayanne

2 29 0z cans tomato sauce

1 12 oz can salsa casera or equivalent (remember the story above)

1/4 cup Durkees Louisiana Red Hot Sauce or equivalent (Remember the story above)

1/4 cup Trapper Mexi-Pep Hot Sauce or equivalent (remember the story above)

Saute onions and garlic (I've even added shredded carrots)

Glop everything into a large pot and cook, and cook, and cook sloooowly so it doesn't burn.

I would leave the lid off since we want to reduce the liquids somewhat.

Taste and adjust to suit your tastebuds. Remember, you may like more vinegar, or brown sugar, or mustard, or you may just want to use ketchup instead of tomato sauce!  Again it's up to you and how you want the sauce to taste - try it, experiment!

Try cooking several more times over the next couple of days and then package what you need to take up to Ross lake Resort!

Rub My Ribs Rub

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tblsp salt

2 tblsp fresh pepper

2 tblsp white pepper

2 tblsp thyme

2 tblsp rosemary

2 tblsp garlic powder

2 tblsp onion powder

2 tblsp cumin

4 tblsp paprika (ok this was a test,  4 tblsp = 1/4 cup)

cayenne pepper (if/as req'd)  Hey! If you are manly use more, if kids around omit, it's up to you.

mix all together and break up any lumpy pieces of brown sugar.  Taste and correct with more of individual ingrediants.

Rub all over the ribs before cooking.

Ross Lake Resort and Ribs

OK, its a given that most fishermen like ribs!

Especially if it's on a fishing trip and you have already had your fill of Ross Lake rainbow trout for the past couple of breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

These ribs are easy to make in advance or in your cabins oven or on the gas bbq. 

They're great to munch on sitting in front of the bunk house and cabins while reliving your fishing stories (I meant lies) again and again about the ones you've caught in the past or the ones you hooked here in '76 but they somehow shook off - yada yada yada!

So grab an ice cold one from the cooler, plop down on a bench or Adirondack chair, put you feet up - look up and watch that glacier creep down the north face of Colonial and in a couple of hours start munching on these ribs.

* Slabs of Ribs - you decide how many. Regular pork ribs, St. Louis style or baby back ribs!

* Aluminum Foil - don't forget to bring it with you!

* Rub My Ribs Rub  (recipe follows)

* Just-As-Good-As-Any-Other-BBQ-Sauce (recipe follows)

- If you have time rub the ribs down a day before and keep in refrigerator (wrapped in plastic wrap). Don't be overly obsessive, you can always rub the meat just before cooking.

- Remove plastic wrap and double wrap each slab in aluminum foil - it's okay to have a little excess room on top.

- Place on cookie sheet and bake in 300 degree oven for 2-2.5 hours.

- Test for tenderness at end of regular cooking time by lopping off a couple of those ribs and eating them!  Hey! You are the cook and if anyone complains - glare at them or stare them down! It's ok to cop an attitude because you are the creative genius behind this dinner!

- Order the whiners to get the cook a beer or margarita* from your friendly neighbors next door (*but only if they serve better ones than you make - like Cathy and Jeff).

- If done, drain the excess juices from foil, cut into serving sizes like 4 ribs to a piece(remember to repay the neighbors with ribs) and eat as is!

- But wait!  What if someone wants BBQ sauce? Well, serve it as a side or better yet slather it all over a slab or two and finish off on the grill of the gas bbq next to the cabin (sans foil so you get a few tasty blackened sauce spots).

Waiting to Be Used

© Paul Anderson    Waiting for Use

Connections

Do you know the connection between the upper Skagit River (and of course Ross Lake), the Columbia River Gorge, the Palouse wheatfields of Eastern Washington, and the National Bison Range - Moiese, Montana?

© Paul Anderson Boulder Intrusions Ruby Creek/Skagit River Watershed
© Paul Anderson Windsurfing, Columbia River Gorge. Oregon/Washington

© Paul Anderson Son on Wheat, Waiting to Ship the Harvest, the Palouse, Washington

© Paul Anderson Bison Calves and Shorelines, National Bison Range Montana


Well, it's not that they are close to each other! Hood River, Oregon is about 350 miles, Palouse, Washington is 420 miles, and Moiese, Montana is 565 miles from Newhalem and the National Park Visitor Center!


If you guessed that the Columbia River had the largest watershed in the western USA flowing directly into the Pacific Ocean and the Skagit River had the third after the Sacramento River basin you would be accurate - but wrong about the connection.


OK! Here's the story.


Approximately 14,000 years ago the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered much of Western Canada, Southeast Alaska, the Yukon Territory and the Queen Charlotte Islands.


Periodically the ice sheet would advance south into the Puget Sound Region of western Washington, down the Purcell Trench in the panhandle of Northern Idaho, and parts of western Montana.


The ice sheet dramatically altered the landscape of the Puget Sound lowlands.


So, when one of the lobes of the Cordilleran moved south into Idaho it dammed up the Clark Fork River with a lobe of ice 2,000 feet high!

Think of that when you drive across Diablo Dam which is just 390 feet tall!


The ice dam was 5 times the height of Diablo Dam and it created a lake with water volume as large as two of the Great lakes. The lake was called Glacial Lake Missoula.


The National Bison Range, 40 miles north of Missoula, Montana and next to the Flathead River, was smack dab in the middle of one section of the lake and when the lake was at its highest level only the top few hundred feet of the 2000 foot hill (that made up the majority of the Bison Range) stood above the water level of the lake.


Notice the subtle lines in the background of the two bison calves photo- those are different shoreline levels of the lake.


Periodically, the lake would fill up to the top of the ice dam causing the ice to become buoyant. When that happened alll hell broke loose.


Breached, the dam released a volume of water equivalent to many times the flow of all the world's rivers, it was a flash flood of biblical proportions. The water swept into Washington state scouring out the scablands of the Columbia Plateau, removing all vegetation and topsoil and creating large "pothole" lakes in the volcanic bedrock.


Downstream of the Tri-Cities, the water was slowed by the mile wide Wallula Gap - creating a hydraulic dam - enough to lose some of the sediment load. When the water finally swept past, mud flats hundreds of feet thick were left behind.


The water continued down through the Columbia River Gorge where it rose as high as Crown Point - 733 feet above the river.


Over several thousand years, new ice dams blocked the Clark Fork River and the episode was repeated again, and again, and again.


Scientists estimate 41 times.


When the mud dried and storms swept in off the Pacific, the winds - constricted by the Gorge (thereby increasing the intensity like a jet engine) - formed huge dust storms that rolled across the landscape for days.


When the dust storms reached the heights of the Palouse Hills the load of rich dust - earth - loess was deposited in some places hundreds of feet thick. The particle size of the loess was perfect for retaining sparse winter moisture ensuring that the wheatfields of the Palouse would neither require irrigation nor suffer from droughts that plagued other wheat producing areas of the country.


Today in the Gorge, those same winds have created a tourism industry centered around windsurfing.


Here in the upper Skagit River another lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet crept up the river from Canada effectively blocking its migration down to the Fraser River in southern British Columbia. An ice dam was created here too and over time a deep lake was formed that eventually topped a ridge. Water breached the ridge slicing down through the hard rock and creating the narrow, steep walled gorge that today serves as the foundation/bedrock for Gorge, Diablo and Ross Dams.


The Skagit River had reversed its direction.


And there you have it!


Ice dams blocked rivers!


When the water breached the dams and the surrounding landscape, dramatic changes took place.


And these changes have directly benefited all of us with clean energy, recreation opportunities, wildlife protection, food for people around the world, and some pretty spectacular areas for fishing and photography!

Ross Lake Recipe - Caesar Salad

© Paul Anderson  After Dinner Conversation
I'm amazed, walking past the cabins in the early evening, of all the varieties and quality of scents that are drifting around from all the gourmet cooking that is going on!

Cathy and Jeff, our Ross Lake neighbors each year (and friends from the cabin next door), invite their friends every year, and each couple cooks one night.  And every year, each couple tries to out do the other.

And every year I am the beneficiary of their culinary skills and generosity.  "Eh Paulie! Ya gotta try this appetiser!" 

"Paul try this beef tenderloin with chocolate mole sauce!"

"Pablo another margarita!"

"Zwei margaritas Cathy & Jeff por favor - merci!"

Then on Saturday Jerry and Allyson backpack in with the boys and share fresh halibut, or salmon, or dungeness crab caught early that morning out in the Straits of Georgia.

Or I walk past some of the other cabins and Doug and his wife ask if I want a beer and some great goat cheese they just discovered down at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

And I feel like a bigger mooch than Keena and Roland, the two resort supervisors, who get fed by everyone, and who always show up and sit politely at the doors of the best fed cabins.

But, I eventually make it back to our cabin - filled with the latest news from over the last year, and I with a slightly lopsided grin begin to prepare our dinner.

Caesar Salad:

2-3 cloves garlic (how close and how soon you sleep next to your significant other will help determine how much used)

2-3 anchovy slices or 6" bead of anchovy paste from tube (see comment for garlic)

1-2 tblsp worchestershire sauce

3-4 tblsps red wine vinegar

1 tblsp good mustard (hey use yellow if that's all you got)

mayo

olive oil about 1/4 cup to start

parmesan cheese - buy the good stuff and shred it yourself (try not to use the green cylinder "powdered" parmesan)

croutons

lemon

lettuce - normally romaine (but who really cares because eating the salad while sitting in front of your cabin will only enhance this salad) 

**********************

- Smear the garlic to a pulp

- add anchovy, worchestershire, red wine vinegar, mustard and moosh it all together

- add about 6 globs of regular mayo to begin, or use low fat, or fat free mayo.

- slowly drizzle in, while stirring, the olive oil.

- and then correct everything to your taste!  Add more mayo if too runny, more anchovies, more vinegar - it doesn't matter - it's your taste buds that have to be satisfied!

Oh and don't get too hung up on following the recipe exactly - example: use white wine vinegar or basalmic if that's all you got.  When you substitute or change this recipe the flavor will change somewhat, but it is still better than going without the salad.

If possible let the dressing meld (that's meld not mold - as in incorporating all the layers of flavor) together in the refrigerator for a while.

Wash and dry lettuce, add dressing to taste, add cheese, drizzle lemon juice on top, add croutons, mix and enjoy!

Wait!!!!  Don't forget cracked pepper when you plate - if/as required!

Believe it or not most rugrats love this salad - even the teenagers who sometimes ask "wot's a vegie table?"

Photo Technique - Graduated Neutral Density Filter

© Paul K. Anderson
Here is a tip for quickly improving your photographs of the landscape.

More than with any other tool, (except perhaps my tripod) my photographs improved significantly and dramatically when I acquired my first graduated neutral density filter!

I'm not talking about the kind that "screws" onto the end of your lens like your round skylight or polarizing filter, but rather a rectangular piece of "glass" that slides into a holder that "screws" to the end of your lens.

By being rectangular it can slide up and down in the holder so you can adjust where the darkest/lightest part of the filter is located relative to the horizon or other features in your image.

Why?  Well, the camera/film/chip can handle only so much of a range in light values.  To keep it simple, that means usually one part of the image is either too light and the other too dark or vice-versa in difficult light situations! 

The graduated neutral density filter "compresses" the extremes of light to what the camera/film/chip can handle and more closely approximates what your eyes and mind see.  

Depending on which filter you buy, the "top" end of the filter is one, two or three "stops" darker than the clear, untinted  "bottom". The darker portion transitions gradually to clear glass.

In my photograph, the sky was almost totally white when I correctly exposed for the boat, dock and lake.  By adding a two stop GND filter, the sky darkened enough that the true  or more realistic texture and color of the dawn clouds emerged.

The modern digital camera has a solution but you want to use a tripod. 

You take a photo exposing for the darker areas and another for the brighter areas.  Then, when you process the images in your computer, you take the best image from both exposures and seamlessly meld them together using the proper photo software.

It's an effective way of accomplishing the same thing.

But I prefer using the graduated neutral density filter. That's just me.

Here is a link to one type I use:  Singh-Ray Filters.

Stress Free Zone

© Paul K. Anderson

Young Dylan, a cup of cocoa at his side, is working hard (LOL) to get rid of all his stress after spending the morning fishing with a good friend on Ross Lake - amidst the high alpine peaks, fresh air, forested slopes, and glaciers of North Cascades National Park.

Years ago I lived on an island in the salt marshes of southeastern Georgia. I was playing a round of golf by myself one morning and was going to tee off on one of the holes.

I saw another golfer standing near a pond up the fairway watching a young boy fishing with a long cane pole.  I approached the man to ask if I could play through or join him for the round and we started talking.

It turns out I recognized him, he was an owner of an eastern NFL team and one of the richest men in America.  He had probably everything that money could buy, but at that moment all he thought about was how much fun and how stress free a life that young boy was living. He told me he would give anything to be as stress free as the young fisherman.

And that is the power and allure that fishing has for many of us.  It brings back memories of time well spent with family and good friends, dads, uncles, cousins and favorite mentors. It brings back memories of adventures and special locations.

It helps remind us of what is important.

The Log Boom

© Paul K. Anderson

Besides protecting the resort the log booms can serve another important purpose..........

Exploration routes!

Old Friends

© Paul K. Anderson

This past fall waiting down on the boat dock I ran into a couple of old friends.  That's Rick on the left and Dennis on the right.

I first met them back in the early to mid 80's at a company where we all worked.  It turns out that Dennis and I had several mutual friends from back in the mid 70's, when he was a ski instructor at Keystone Resort and I was a certifiable ski bum drifting around the mountains of Summit County, Colorado.

Tom Barnett the resorts owner went to Meadowdale High with both of them, and Dennis worked at the resort the first year Tom took it over.  

So these friends have been coming to the resort with groups of other friends for close to 35 years now.

Time For Yourself

© Paul K. Anderson

© Paul K. Anderson

If you don't feel like fishing and want to get out and about there are many hikes to go on and many coves and inlets to explore around the lake.

Kathy, Nancy and Colleen are headed up the Ruby Arm to the creek for a picnic lunch and break from the kids and guys.

Just around the corner from where Ruby Creek enters the lake, many of our guests create cairns or temporary rock art from the numerous rocks and boulders that are exposed after the spring runoff subsides.

Flowers

Carol is an artist.  She arranges all of the pots, barrels, and planters that you see along the docks and in front of the cabins.  

From spring until late fall something, somewhere is in bloom around the resort.

And you know what?  We don't typically drag hoses around to water the plants!

We don't have to.

We have a bucket to scoop water directly from the lake.

Keeping The Home Fires Burning

Because we are a floating resort, we have a unique delivery system for most of the daily tasks that you would find at any resort.  Basically - everything is delivered by boat!

Back in the cove, beyond the bunkhouses, is our heavy work area. We have a floating sawmill and we have floats for chopping and splitting the wood that you find stacked near your cabin.

During late autumn and through the winter, fierce storms can hit the area. Trees most exposed on the shoreline sometimes topple over and into the lake.

Each spring when the runoff is at its peak from the surrounding mountains and glaciers, the creeks and streams flood. Trees are swept into Ross Lake and drift down lake towards the dam.

In front of the resort and the dam you notice a series of log booms.  These booms serve an important purpose.  They protect the dam (and also the resort) from wave damage and from trees and logs that come down the lake.

With the approval from the National Park and from Seattle City Light, Ross Lake Resort will remove these threats from the water and use them for firewood. Throughout the year staff will be chopping, splitting, stacking, curing and delivering wood to the cabins.

The Fish Were Biting This Past Season

Here is some eye candy for all the fishers out there.

In Memory of....

© Paul Anderson

On the wall of one of the buildings heading to the office from the cabins are memorials to friends, families, fishing buddies who have come to Ross Lake to "fish these waters."

What a Great Group of Rangers

© Paul Anderson

For all of us that love the outdoors, is there a better group of dedicated people than the National Park Rangers?

They provide the first official response to any problem we encounter in the National Parks -hiking, mountain climbing, boating, fishing, kayaking.

They protect the natural resources of the most spectacular areas in the United States for all of us!

They help educate millions of people each year to the wonders of America!

If you see one of our Rangers out on the trail or lake don't forget to wave hello!

And don't forget to visit the North Cascades National Park Visitor Center just down the road in Newhalem. They have excellent displays, movies and book store loaded with informative readings for your visit here in the North Cascades.

Mom and Son Returning from Fishing Near Cougar Island

If you want to photograph your friends, family or group, one location I highly recommend is the waters around Cougar Island shortly after the sun comes over the mountains to the east.  Depending on the direction you are shooting you can have mountains front lit, side lit, or flylines backlit like those shots of Doug Horton and his red line.

The photo "Morning Fishing Below Jack Mountain" also was shot from Cougar Island.  

Please remember if you go on Cougar Island to respect the privacy of the campers who have taken the time to obtain a permit to camp.

© Paul Anderson