Mackey – Page 3 – Scott's Sketchbook

A Weekend in the Studio

About a week ago I had surgery on my nose and it hasn’t been particularly fun. I’m still in the “take it easy” phase and am not supposed to do any strenuous exercise or lifting until, I think next weekend. So this weekend, home alone, I’ve been diligently working on various side and personal projects.

Every time I make some statement that I’m no longer going to take on sidework, a tsunami of inquiries rushes me and like an addict, I just take them all on. Finally, after some hours put in these past few days, I think I’ve got my side-job workload back down to zero.

No more. For reals this time.
Maybe.

Peak Goals 2025

Black Peak, North Cascades. 2017

As I’m sunken comfortably into my sofa devising this list, my nose is swollen to twice it’s size; recovering from a septoplasty & turbinoplasty less than 48 hours ago, I feel pretty rough and am instructed to “take it easy” for the next two weeks.

Mitigating the inevitable mental spiral whilst sitting around dreaming of what I could be doing: plan, plan, plan.

And so here is my list of 10 peaks I’d like to bag in 2025, in no particular order:

Chewelah Mountain, 5776 ft | Selkirks, WA
Looks to be so straightforward, I’m not sure why I haven’t yet done it. May be a good early season hike, perhaps in May or early June.
peakbagger.com
Calispell Peak, 6858 ft | Selkirks, WA
Not visually impressive, not technical, but it has some good elevation.
peakbagger.com
Black Peak, 8991 ft | North Cascades, WA
I’ve camped at the base of Black Peak before, one of the most beautiful overnighters I’ve ever had. Unortunately due to some poor navigating and suboptimal sock choices, I ended up with severe blisters that prohibited me from climbing anything sketch. This year, I want to go back.
peakbagger.com
Earl Peak, 7039 ft | South Cascades, WA
Attempted Earl last summer with my bro-in-law but we got off-route on the approach from Bean Peak and had to scramble down the side. It’s absolutely doable as a day hike but worth the effort to string together a couple of other summits.
peakbagger.com
Mt Stuart, 9419 ft | South Cascades, WA
Will hopefully tackle this Bulger with my bro-in-law later this summer. He did it last year and had invited me, but I had obligations or some such bullshit.
peakbagger.com
Halsey Butte, 5399 ft | Blue Mountains, WA
The Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness Area is known for its remote, rugged terrain. This peak is not oft visited and has earned my attention.
peakbagger.com
Eagle Cap, 9572 ft | Wallowa Mountains, OR
The Wallowas are one of our favorite places to explore—just shocking beautiful scenery. With how many times we’ve camped, hiked, biked, etc. it’s surprising to me how little of the range we’ve actually gotten up into.
peakbagger.com
Ironview Peak, 5024 ft | Superstitions, AZ
Unfortunately in all of my years of hiking Arizona, I never got into peak bagging. It was all low land, canyoneering and cross-country exploring. Maybe after I recover from this nose job, I’ll book a weekend flight and nab this sucker under the guise of a family visit.
peakbagger.com
Reeti*, 9042 ft | Northern Alps, SWI
This is a symbolic summit in that, I’ll be traveling to Switzerland this summer to do some trail running, hiking, photographing, and chocolate eating. Certainly, a summit in the Alps will be gained but which one specifically I don’t yet know.
peakbagger.com
Mica Peak, 5203 ft | Selkirks, WA
A solid day trip, perhaps with snowshoes. Hopefully this will be done and dusted before April.
peakbagger.com

Smoot Hill W7W/WE-033

It’s been a mild January thus far and this weekend, although windy, was a prime 42F. Running a bit short on time, a close-to-home hill would be on the menu and Smoot was today’s flavor.

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure about the accessibility of this summit. Some fencing along the nearby gravel road has Washington State University signs declaring no trespassing—but I’ve spoken with two individuals who have assured me that as long as you are traveling by foot and being respectful there is no issue.

Parking is obvious at the Rose Creek Nature Preserve. Considering the above, I booked it rather quickly up the hill until slipping into the trees where I’m a little less exposed to the road. The summit approach is rather unremarkable. There’s a lightly groomed path, probably for researchers to access the wildlife preserve, which meanders the ridgeline towards the summit. It’s straightforward until eventually reaching an intersection. Now heading south you’re less than a quarter mile and under 200ft elevation from the AZ. Plenty of trees there for a bit of a wind break (or shade).

This was the first activation using my new mast, the “POTA Explorer” which is a rather stout 33ft carbon fiber pole. Because it’s so much taller, with thicker diameter segments, than my trusty SOTA Beam 6 (19.6ft), the Explorer’s penchant to tip is more significant and I had to prop it up in a tree to keep it from falling over. I’ll be adding some prusik cord for next time if I need to guy it.

The activation was relatively smooth with a dozen contacts including a summit-to-summit.

Also this year, I am planning on photographing all of my activations on film. This was a bit of a test run as I haven’t shot much film in the past 20 years and I haven’t developed film myself since college circa 2001-2003. I’d say this turned out to be a success and am looking forward to the added pain in the ass this will all surely be.

Nikon F2 | Ilford FP4+

Thanks to all of my chasers, this was a good solid run as I shook the dust off my SOTA skills. The S2S with K7FOP and K7ATN was especially a treat, as always.

Holiday in EU

Last year we visited my family back in Arizona for Christmas and the round-trip tickets cost somewhere in the ballpark of $700 each. I said something along the lines of: “…next time we spend this much on plane tickets, we’d better be drinking beers in an European pub.” That initiated some conversation which eventually led to flights being booked into Munich.

Linz, Austria

Pilzen, Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic

Dresden, Germany

Frankfurt, Germany

Ins & Outs 2025

Boy, this last year was a real fuckin’ churn. Trying to make sense of all that swirled around us can bring on the most piercing of migraines–yet here we are. Looking over our shoulders while blindly anticipating the next few steps.

Despite the shitshow that the world continuously reveals itself to be, life around here has been quite tender lately. Some personal progress and time-well-spent with my loving partner has superseded the things printed in the news.

The calendar has flipped as well as my age. The time to reflect is here, once again, in the form of some non-committal list making.

The Outs 👏

chaco
digital
gin & tonic
run it dry
fleece sweater
“what-ifs”
trails
0.7mm pencils
internal thoughts
papa murphy’s
racing to the start line
posting
lattes
teevee

In/Still In 🤘

birkenstock
analog
wine
zipper lube
waffle hoodie
1% improvements
bushwhacks
0.9mm pencils
journaling
crock pot meals
enjoying the process
printing
cappuccinos
card games & puzzles

One tradition I dodged this past year was event-driven endurance racing. Besides a turkey trot there were no marathons, bike races, trail runs, triathlons, or any such sort. That was all fine and well, but I do miss the buildup to and the effort during these events. So here are a few I’ve scribbled on the calendar for 2025:

Tour de Blast

Mogollon Monster (42k)

Seattle Marathon

No big reaches there, just some milestones that’ll require consistent good ‘ol fashioned work.

I’m also preparing for a long-term photography project that should be both challenging and rewarding. No specifics to share yet but at some point this spring/summer I’m sure that I will have a working page dedicated to it’s progress.

Am also hoping to make progress learning two new “languages”: German and Morse Code.

And finally, while there are no tickets yet purchased, there are some travel plans to exciting new places in 2025.

To summarize: I’m hoping to maintain a level of chill and a smile. Do more with what I have and let go of the wants for things I don’t have.

Pullman Winter Ultras

Every December/January, the Palouse Road Runners hosts two free “ultra” marathons we affectionately title the Pullman Winter Ultras. It’s a simple and relatively hands-off premise: you sign up for free and run anywhere between 1-4 eight-mile laps around town, no matter the weather.

And the weather in Pullman this time of year can be heinous.

I race-directed this event but because it was minimal support, I basically hung out at a coffee shop all day and gave some check-in props to runners as they came by every hour or so.

This was my first year directing the thing and we had a solid turnout of about 30 participants. The weather was relatively prime until rain started at around hour five. Everyone had a solid time and I’m stoked to see who returns for the January edition.

Smoot Hill

Another weekend with decent weather. Another first activation.

This time it was Smoot Hill, super-close to home and the only reason I hadn’t tackled it until now: I wasn’t exactly sure anyone was allowed up there. It’s technically on WSU property as it is a nature preserve, but after speaking a cycling buddy who mountain biked up there a couple of years ago and spoke to someone who manages the land, as long as we’re respectful and not on motorized vehicles they’re generally okay with it.

Good enough for me.

The walk was quite pleasant via a cut path through fields. A lot of predator scat along the path and a large footprint (see photo below) that might just be a big dog but I’m not exactly sure. It was a brisk but bright November afternoon in the upper 30’s. Parking at the Rose Creek Nature Trail, I crossed the road then crossed the fenceline making my way about 1.5 miles to the AZ.

Up top, the wind was a thing and the clouds began to roll in. Thankful that I always keep a spare jacket in my SOTA bag, I layered up before getting the antenna rigged and on the air. Not wanting to waste much time, I spotted myself on 40m and after a couple of minutes the chasers came in hot. Eight of ’em, one right after the other and signal reports 5.5+ all around.

Giving the SOTAwatch feed a look to see if there were any S2S possibilities (nothing that materialized), it was time to get going. I was starting to get a little chilly and knew that Corrie was waiting for me to get back so we could pick up apples at the WSU organic farm. The hustle back down the hill was uneventful besides a mule deer sighting.

Another Dual F.A. Day: W7I/NI-268 + W7I/NI-269

The temps have officially dipped and we’re in the shoulder season of unpredictable and generally unfavorable weather. Saturday looked to offer a bit of a window, so I dug out a rough plan to work two more unactivated W7I summits: NI-268 and NI-269.

This pair was super close to one another and road access seemed open, and it was indeed. The drive in via Winfall Pass Road was downright pleasant with some of the widest, smoothest dirt I’ve been on all year. I parked in a saddle right between the two summits which I internally referred to as the ‘ham cleve’ and flipped a coin on which to tackle first.

The southern summit, 268, was a nice roadwalk up to the very top. There had been some active logging recently as I passed multiple smoldering burn piles. The AZ was wide open with a few standing trees and plenty of downed branches to which I could attach the ends of my antenna wire.

After 5 QSOs I packed up and started booking it to 269. The initial approach was much the same but this summit was still heavily treed and the roads suggested by the historical maps were no longer there. Things got thick quick, and once I found myself within the AZ I began looking for somewhat of a clearing in order to get a wire up.

Due to limited space, I opted to just run my EFHW as a 20/10 sloper (rather than the usual 40/20/10 inverted-v). It got the job done with 5 QSOs on 20m (including 2 summit-to-summits) and 2 more QSOs on 10m. Clouds rolled in and the temps really dipped during this one, so after exhausting the quiet 10 meter band I tore down and got back down the hill to the car.

Next time, I would follow the two-track as far as I could towards 268 before bushwhacking a little as possible straight up the hill. Not sure it’s really worth it for 1 point, but everything else about this activation was pleasant so I’m sure I’ll do it again next year.

Autumnal Shoe Swap

We’re full into the fall weather here with temps in the 40’s and 50’s, leaves doing their thing and the sun setting at like 5:30pm. It’s fine, it’s all fine.

My running/hiking shoe situation has been a bit unchecked this past year. I don’t know how many miles I’ve put into what but the shoes are feeling thin and that’s usually a good sign they need to go. This time around I decided to just commit and replace all of the shoes at once. Real clean slate, fresh-start shit.

For the record: they’re all Altra shoes. (‘cept for the old boots)

Starting in the front are my trainers. Pair on the left are Altra Provisions from last year. I actually had two pairs: one for the road and one for the gym.. and while the gym ones are still in use, these light blue roadies have been swapped for a pair of Torin 7’s.

Top right are my old yellow Lone Peaks. Love these things and have gotte my money’s worth out of ’em. They’ve been replaced by a bright, near-ugly pair of TIMP trail runners. The only reason I didn’t get new Lone Peaks was because they were quite literally, all out of stock. I’ve had TIMPs before and liked them, so I’m hoping these will do their job.

Finally, top left, my old hiking boots: Oboz something-or-other. They’ve been fine, mostly. Sometimes they’ve given me horrendous blisters, sometimes they’ve been alright. But never what I would call “comfortable”. Also, I’ve been wearing them on winter treks for probably the past 6-8 seasons. Their replacements: Altra Lone Peak all weather high tops. I’m not a high top guy but when you’re trudging through snow, you gotta keep your feet as dry as you reasonably can.

I’ll try to remember to file an end-of-season report on these suckers with how they performed. Hopefully I’ll put them all to good use.

Campus Rec Mural

An indoor wall graphic I was commissioned to design for the WSU Student Rec Center featuring club sports historical and present. Representative movement through the mural encourages the viewer to progress along the hallway towards their physical goals while the screen and bench provide opportunity to pause and investigate.