Manke Mt. Morning

Day 33: It is rare that I hike with a companion other than when botanizing, so when my friend Yonit suggested a local non-Park hike, I almost told her I'd pass, more out of reflex than for any other reason. After a few minutes' consideration, I accepted her offer and we began discussing possibilities. Pack Forest was her initial suggestion, but they have done so much logging as part of their experimental forestry program that scenic hiking opportunities have dwindled so far as to be almost nonexistent. I suggested Nisqually State Park, and since Yonit had never been there, she left the selection of the route to me. I laid out a five-mile loop with a side trip up Manke Mt. The frost was still firmly on the pumpkin when we met at the parking area and geared up in our winter woollies, and by the time we'd gone two miles, we were both ready to shed a few layers before starting the uphill climb to this very minor summit. At 908' (276 meters), Manke hardly merits a dot on the map, but some years ago, someone nailed a carved sign to a tree to mark what they believed was the high point. Maps might disagree with that assessment by a few feet, but for us, the unofficial summit of Manke (as indicated by the sign) and halfway point of our adventure suggested a lunch of cookies before descending on a trail littered with maple leaves still frost-covered and crunching beneath our boots.

Out At Last

Day 353: I got out! It wasn't much of a hike and it almost didn't happen, but since I allowed myself to be convinced that I really should get a flu shot even though I'm having no social contact, I decided I'd check on my Shaggymane patch to see if dinner had sprouted yet. I pulled up at the little-visited trailhead, got out of the car and was just shouldering my pack when someone else pulled in and parked 25' away. In all the years I've hiked this particular trail, I have never seen another car at the pullout. Why this day? Thoroughly peeved, I took off my pack, got back in the car and drove to a different spot. I know the area. There's more than one way to get where you're going if you're familiar with the network of bunny trails and interconnections, and there are multiple options for making loops so you don't need to backtrack. Some are brushier than others, but that's never stopped the Crow. Plan A was quickly revised into Plan B, and incorporated a side trip up "Manke Mt.," unofficially named and not a summit of any significance despite its hand-carved waypost. A little over four miles later, I was back at the car without retracing any of my steps, but with no mushrooms in the bag. Then it was into Eatonville to get my vaccination, and when I told the pharmacist I'd just come in from hiking, he had one pressing question: "Did you see any mushrooms yet?" Yep, competition is strong in these woods!

Puget Sound Garter Snake

Day 11: The next time I see this guy (or one like him), I will use the proper form of address when I request a portrait: "Would you mind, Mr. Pickering?" There are two subspecies of Common Garter Snake in the Pacific Northwest: Puget Sound (Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii, above) and Valley (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi). The most obvious distinction is in their colour. Fitchi is striped with yellow and marked with red dots, while pickeringii sports a vivid aqua blue. Both can be found in grasslands where sufficient moisture is present. Mr. Pickering took me somewhat by surprise because I was focused on a forest of Shaggymane mushrooms about a foot to his right. I would never have forgiven myself if I had trodden on him. He was warming himself in noonday sun, not moving a muscle even when I knelt down to gather the 'shrooms. Life's rough when you're a snake and the nights are cold.

Discovering Manke Mountain

Day 3: The theme for today was set by an email from one of my contacts at the Nisqually Land Trust. Based on signage at a particular location, I had stopped by the office to report an issue with invasives and discovered that the property where I had found them is now part of the new Nisqually State Park. While that makes my reporting job easier, the issue of the boundary signs needed to be resolved. To that end, I made a preliminary run to waypoint all the existing signs for later removal by someone else, a person who will need to be at least a foot taller than I am. Although I had a seven-mile route planned out, I decided to explore a side trail just to see where it went. In a small clearing, I found a hand-routed sign, "Manke Mt." I'm not sure who Mankes were, but the family must have been fairly large; they have a road named after them in a different county. According to my USGS map, however, this is not the true summit of 908' Manke Mt. That lies slightly further east, and an abandoned road goes directly across it. Still, the sign was a fun find. I finished up my hike with a total of 23 signs which will need to be removed, and "Manke Mt." is definitely not one of them.