Cambria: NIGHT HIKE

A far too early sunset from Bellevue just before heading out

November in Seattle. The days are half as long as they are in June. Last night’s sunset was 4:28. Tonights sunset will be a minute earlier.

All of this makes keeping up a mid week hiking routine tough. Or more fun, depending on your point of view.

Last night we had a good crew going up cable line. Justin and I for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Marc who has hiked with us many times, and new comers Michael and Violet. Michael and Violet are recent transplants from the midwest, and have been in Seattle for about 3 months.

The hike up was challenging as aways, but a good conversation set up and everyone had a good time.

On the way down, Justin’s natural fast gait took him ahead of the group and, taking point, he was the first to see 'the eyes'. Several yards ahead of us, alone, he encountered an unexpected noise and when he turned his headlamp towards the noise in the woods, he froze. There was something out there in the dark looking at him.

Justin used the time tested wilderness method of alerting us to possible danger. He texted.

Sure enough when we got to the spot, there were a large set of eyes staring back at us about 50 to 70 feet off the trail. Justin asked what type of animals were around here. There are bear, coyote, mountain lion, and back in the 60’s someone claimed to have seen a sasquatch a little east of where we were.

We couldn’t see what was attached to the eyes, but they were definitely alive and the head was moving back and forth. The way the head moved, my hunch was a large owl.

Being the brave, courageous set of guys we were, we asked Violet to venture into the woods to see what type of animal was attached to the eyes, but she declined the invite.

It probably was an owl. Or a bear. We’ll never know.

A little farther down, Justin ran into another set of eyes (it was just his night). This time, he got pictures...