Here’s Brian’s presentation at the 2023 AGM of our 2022 expedition.
Flying Seattle sunset, March 2023
I finally got my first flight of the year in back in March! The sunset did NOT disappoint! PNWonderland!!
PNB Spring 2023
Social media clip of Worlds to Come at Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) on 8 June 2023 Our $29 tickets for the “Beer and Ballet” performance. Everything PNB does is amazing. We’re happy to support our local professional theater!
Lord Huron / Spokane, May 2023
For Memorial Day weekend we had originally planned on skiing Diamond Peak, but the warm temps made “corn farming” unlikely so we opted to spend it checking out Spokane, where home prices are still surprisingly affordable. I previously was aware of Lord Huron’s show there, but didn’t want to “waste” a weekend in Spokane. Ironically, … Read more
Chinook Pass / Naches Peak, June 2023
Katt, Riley, and I did a “birthday tour” by climbing and skiing Naches Peak (~6360′) at Chinook Pass, WA on June 4th. Although the snow looked more like early July with all the suncups, there was plenty to go around and it was absolutely GORGEOUS up there! Best, Chinook Pass is the NE border to … Read more
Ski Artist Point, May 2023
Danielle, Katt. Riley and I skied Artist Point from Heather Meadows on May 20th. We camped in the valley the night before and cooked red pepper pasta for dinner, and a brisket and potato hash for breakfast. Yum! Unfortunately due to the unseasonably warm conditions, the snow hadn’t “corned up,” and to make matters worse, … Read more
Ski Tronsen Meadows 2022-2023
One of our favorite places to ski is Blewett Pass / Tronsen Meadows, as there’s a network of cross-country ski trails, dry snow, and most importantly, hardly any people! Since it’s not hammered with tourons like Stevens and Snoqualmie passes, we can let Riley and Mickey run free and we’ve nary seen a soul out … Read more
Ski Willamette Pass POW, March 2023
Last year, my brothers Mike and Kev and I skied Hoodoo, which we determined to be our first of many annual “Ski Bros” vacations. This year we originally planned to Ski Bluewood, but Kev’s wife broke her leg just days before the trip so we reorganized and drove down to his place for a trip … Read more
Second Occasional Annual Ski and Soak, Spring Break Spectacular, 2023
This year we decided a mid-winter “ski and soak” vacation was in order. So we set out in early February to Montana! For this Ski and Soak, we skied Lookout Pass, Lost Trail Powder Mountain, and Ski Discovery. We soaked at Jackson Hot Springs (Jackson, MT), and Elkhorn Hot Springs in Polaris, Montana. Day 1: … Read more
US Highpoints bucketlist
List of US State Highpoints that I have yet to complete. As of February 2025, I have completed 38. For a list of the US State Highpoints I’ve already completed, go here: US State Highpoints Number Elevation(feet) Peak State R/T distance(miles) Elevation Gain(feet) Notes Rank of these 1=hardest 1 14,505 Mt. Whitney CA 22 6148 … Read more
2023 Bucketlist
Just a few rando thoughts about what to do in 2023: Vacations: Backcountry Skiing: Frontcountry Skiing: Backpacking: Flying: Caving: Highpointing Hot Springs:
Personal Geographic Extremes List
This is my ongoing list of Geographic “Extremes” from my life. Here’s a map of all of them (click on the map to go to Google Maps) North – 66.56 degrees South: 18.91 degrees East: -16.85 degrees West: -158.28 degrees High: 14,460 feet ASL Deep: – 1586 feet below the entrance
Best Food Ever!
This is a list of my favorites – sometimes you discover something that sticks with you basically forever. Here’s my list: Best Strawberry Ice Cream in Puget Sound Best Brisket Sandwich Tank House, Sacramento, CA Best Pulled Pork Sandwich Pomegranate Bistro, Bellevue, WA Honorable Mention: Breakside Brewing, Woodlawn neighborhood, Portland, OR Best French Dip au … Read more
Patrol Mountain Lookout
Attached is a story of a fire lookout volunteer who has been hiking up and spotting fires from Patrol Mountain in the Scapegoat Wilderness for nearly thirty years! https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2022/0811/On-a-Montana-mountaintop-this-lookout-watches-for-fire-and-hope
Celebrating 50 years
Born in 1972, I celebrated my 50th birthday in 2022. 50 years is a major milestone for anything! As the year progressed, I discovered a lot of things that also turned 50 this year. 1972 was a damn good year! Scapegoat Wilderness Scapegoat Wilderness. My favorite place to go caving became the first grass-roots designated … Read more
Gaper day at Chinook Pass
First time camping up at Chinook Pass for backcountry skiing. Katt, Johnny, Riley, GrandPaw and I commenced setting up camp in the trees just up the hill from the road. It must have been a good day because I don’t remember the fact that we did the following, in true “gaper” fashion:
PNW Bucketlist
Climbing Ski Mountaineering Skiing – lift served Caving Flying Backpacking Hot Springs
Flying the Olympic Peninsula
In October 2022, I flew out to Seiku, Washington on the OP to pick up my friends Will and Aly for a visit and to collect some Fly Washington Passport stamps from Seiku, Quillayute, and Forks airports. It was a great day!
Sekiu (11S)
Departed Boeing Field (BFI), King County International Airport, and headed via Port Angeles to Sekiu, Washington, a very small village at the northwest corner of Washington state (The lamest state).
Unfortunately, no matter how high I climbed over the sound, I couldn’t escape the blanket of thick wildlife smoke covering the region. Yeeeech!
My first trip in a plane to the Olympic Peninsula, I studied YouTube videos in advance, which greatly supplement the usual method of looking at Sectional aviation maps and Airport Facility directories. Needless to say, between that and my moving map on my phone, showing precisely my position with its built-in GPS, I was all set for my arrival and made a flawless approach, entering a left downwind for runway 08, descending between the trees on short final to an up-sloping runway; always a situation where you’re on your toes!
Will and Aly, who live in Sekiu and Clallam Bay, picked me up and we got brunch at By the Bay Cafe. With nearly full tanks, I calculated our weight/balance and takeoff distance twice to ensure we were within my personal comfort zone, and departed downhill on runway 26 and headed over Wills house and on to Neah Bay, where they both pointed out their workplaces in the sleepy Makkah village.
Next we flew over Cape Flattery, the NW point of the lower 48 states, and Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery Lighthouse. This is the south side of where the Strait of Juan deFuca meets the Pacific Ocean, where all ships headed to Seattle, Vancouver, and other points in the Salish Sea converge. The horizon on the Pacific is smooth and infinite. We escaped most of the smoke.
Quillayute (QIL)
Headed south down the beach at the minimum altitude of 2000 feet due to the designated Marine Sanctuary, we head to Quillayute (QIL), an abandoned military airfield from WW2, which still contains some original structures including a hangar and admin building which currently houses a NOAA weather station.
This airfield housed dirigibles and trainer aircraft. The concrete apron is unchanged for nearly 80 years!! We got the requisite Fly Washington Passport Stamp and peek in the windows of the admin building. Inside are desks that must weigh 200 pounds, used but unmoved in all this time. We can see abandoned workstations, including computers that appear to be from the 90s, and now appears to be a single desk with a modern computer. A museum of sorts that is a visual timeline from the 1940s to present day. The work of perhaps a dozen computer reduced to a single consumer grade computer. Fascinating
Forks (S18)
Next, we made the very short hop over to Forks (S18) and made a long straight in to Runway 04, which is sometimes used as a drag strip! Here we just hopped out long enough to grab a stamp, survey the best departure, and away we went – flying low over the city of Forks on the departure, as there were less trees via that direction.
Return via Jefferson County International (0S9)
Leaving Forks we flew a direct route and entered a right downwind for runway 26 this time. After some goodbyes I opted for an uphill departure after watching a club Cessna 150 depart and alight far sooner than I expected. For me as well, even with the slight uphill I left the surly bonds while Will filmed me from below, straight out over Cllalam Bay and direct to Jeff Co.
The Spruce Goose Cafe at Jeff Co is a locals favorite. I got there in time to get a burger and fries and take a photo of an old friend, a club plane (N738EP) that has sat on the tarmac for over a year awaiting a new engine and annual after a prop strike. Katt and I got my Passport book and stamp in Auburn in Seven Echo Papa and I don’t think I’ve flown it since. From here it was direct back to BFI, and other than the smoke it was a fantastic trip!!
Stampin’ and Campin’
September 2022 Katt and I flew to Lynden (38W) and Point Roberts (IRL) to collect some Fly Washington Passport Stamps and go camping! Point Roberts has a nice grass strip and is an enclave of the US, as it is on the northern side of the Salish Sea and either requires a boat or plane to get to without crossing into Canada, where it is accessible by automobile. There’s a nice campground at the southern end of the field as well as a couple of restaurants within a ~15 minute walk of the airport!