When I decided to move to Colorado, I knew things would be a little different there: The air is thinner, the signs outside towns give the elevation instead of the population, and lift tickets cost $75.
It wasn’t until my bags were packed and the house empty that I was forced to consider everything I was giving up: teriyaki, drive-through espresso stands, three-hour lines for the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry. But you won’t find the heart of the Pacific Northwest at an espresso stand, no matter what "Frasier" tells you. Living in Washington is not about the Space Needle, Pike Place Market or the biggest building in the world over at Boeing. It’s about the water, the green hills and the white-capped mountains.
Sure, Colorado has 53 14,000-foot mountains, but they start out at 5,000 or 6,000 feet. Mount Rainier rises 14,000 feet pretty much from sea level. And, although Colorado has forests, there’s not a tree in the state that wouldn’t be dwarfed by even the most middling hemlock in the Hoh rain forest. And while there are rivers in Colorado, they tend to disappear around August.
So, as a final service to the people of Snohomish County, here’s a list of the things that I will miss the most about this place, and the things that you should treasure as long as you stay here:
Mount Pilchuck: There is something about this rugged little mountain that epitomizes Snohomish County to me. I think it’s the views: To one side, you’ll see the rolling farmlands and river valleys of Arlington and Silvana, to the other, the forested foothills and stark peaks of the Cascades. On a weekday, the 3 1/2-mile trail to the peak is my favorite hike in the county. On a weekend, it’s a little too crowded to really enjoy the climb, but I still can’t complain about the view from the top.
Stehekin: The little valley at the end of the big lake is one of the most beautiful spots on this or any other planet. Taking the Lady of the Lake on the long trip from Chelan, the dry hills of the east give way to the lush forests of the North Cascades. Driving up the road from the landing, you follow the river as the mountains rear up on either side. And eventually, that road simply stops and there’s no way to go farther except on foot. Day hikes to McGregor Mountain or Agnes Creek, or expeditions up or down the Pacific Crest Trail, or out over the North Cascades to the Suiattle River Valley. One of the best parts about Stehekin is the people you meet, the PCT through-hikers who can talk about food for an hour, the locals who have only a cursory interest in the outside world and the visitors who have found their way to this secret spot.
Orcas Island: Some people prefer the isolation of Shaw, or the history of San Juan, but I’ve always loved Orcas. I love climbing the watchtower atop Mount Constitution and exploring the hidden coves on the island’s north shore. I love driving the winding country roads that meander through the middle and sitting on the beach in the rain.
Westport: Washington’s best-known surf break is uniformly unpleasant. On the rare warm, sunny day in summer, the water is crowded with surfers, but the waves are reduced to mere ripples. When the swell is big, the weather is always nasty — cold and windy. So what’s to like about Westport? Partly it’s just the macho novelty of surfing in a place as cold and rough as the Pacific Northwest. Partly it’s the decent waves you can catch just off the jetty. But mostly it’s the same things that make surfing great anywhere: the rhythm of the break, the anticipation of waiting for just the right set and the thrill of catching the wave and flying across the green face.
Edmonds Underwater Park: I am by no means an accomplished scuba diver. I barely qualify as a novice scuba diver. But I know how lucky we are to have this submerged gem just next to the Edmonds ferry dock. Volunteers have built a network of trails and sunk a half-dozen boats for divers to explore. Because there’s no fishing, the ling cod in the park grow to five feet or more, and the park is teeming with life. And, since the park never gets deeper than about 40 feet, divers can stay down for as long as their tanks last without worrying about decompression.
The backside at Stevens Pass: Even on the busiest day at the height of ski school, you can find a stretch of snow to call your own in Mill Valley. Why people would rather wait in line for 10 minutes at Hogsback instead of sliding right onto the Jupiter chair has never made any sense to me, but I thank them for it. The last time I skied at Stevens, the front side was bathed in fog so thick, you had to feel your way down with your poles. On the far side of Big Chief Mountain, though, the sun was shining and I didn’t have a care in the world. Whenever I go to Stevens, I head straight for the Tye Mill chair and don’t come back to the front until they turn on the lights and close the back chairs.
Jetty Island: Summertime transforms this sandy refuse pile into the perfect getaway. Because you have to take a boat or the Everett Parks ferry to get here, Jetty Island feels remarkably isolated for a place only 100 yards off shore. And that isolation makes the island wonderfully peaceful. Sit on the beach or wade in the warm, shallow water and take your mind off everything.
Boulder Drop, Skykomish River: I’ve run this rapid probably a hundred times, and it still gets my heart racing. A long, tough class IV rapid midway through the 10-mile Cable Drop run on the Skykomish — beginning near Index and wrapping up a few miles east of Gold Bar — Boulder Drop is a rite of passage for whitewater kayakers and the biggest drop on the ride for rafters.
The first time I braved the drop was in a raft. When we hit the bottom hole, the raft stopped, but I didn’t. Herald photographer Michael O’Leary was there to capture a classic sequence of me getting ejected and then pulled back into the boat. The first time I tried it in a kayak, I could hardly grip the paddle, I was so nervous. Since then, I’ve run the rapid at low water, when the rocks were barely covered, and big water, when the whole rapid turns into a frothing, frightening mess. It’s always the highlight of any run on the Sky.
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