Photo courtesy of AAI

Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa, the first man to climb Mount Everest in less than 11 hours, has turned his sites to Mount Rainier.

Saturday morning Gelu will try to be the first man to make the round trip from Paradise to Rainier’s 14,411-foot summit in less than four hours. Gelu is attempting to set the speed record as a fundraiser for schools in Nepal.

Even climbing guide Liam O’Sullivan who set the unofficial speed record Aug. 5 with a 4 hour, 46 minute, 29 second trip, expects Gelu will crush his record if weather permits.

“I think the weather will be fine,” Gelu said.

Gelu plans to start climbing at 5 a.m. Saturday.

I took an early morning bike ride near Lake Wenatchee recently and caught the notoriously choppy lake (It's always windy)as flat as a mirror. Thought I'd share:

So you're having trouble squeezing in one last camping trip this summer.

Same here, but I hatched an idea yesterday.

My 7-year-old son, Alex, has been pressuring me to go camping one last time this summer to watch the Perseid meteor shower - something we've made a bit of a father-son tradition out of the last three years.

We camped on our trampoline in the backyard Monday night and saw about five shooting stars. But, he informed me, that wasn't as cool as staying at a campground.

So, last night after I got off work we loaded the car for a 720-minute camping trip - 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.

We hit a ma-and-pop campground near the house. (I'm not telling you where because, quite frankly, neither of us really liked the place.)

So what can you do in 12 hours?

Well: Set up camp, go swimming, tool around in an inflatable boat, play horseshoes and volleyball, light a campfire, tell ghost stories, talk about 7-year-old stuff, tear down camp and lay out on a picnic table to watch the meteor shower (We didn't see anything).

We had a blast and we were back home by 8 a.m.

Here's Alex getting a feel for the inflatable boat. I got the boat when I was about his age and was quite surprised it still worked.

Old Fort Townsend State Park on Port Townsend Bay is expanding according to a statement released this week by the Trust for Public Land.

According to the statement, 30 acres of old-growth forest and bluff habitat will be added to the park and provide additional public shoreline access.

The 367-acre park was established in 1958 and has 40 campsites, a kitchen, shelters and an amphitheater. The park gets about 132,000 visitors per year, according to the statement.

"The State Parks and Recreation Commission is thrilled to expand Old Fort Townsend State Park," Joan Thomas, Commissioner from Seattle, said in the statement. "This acquisition will allow visitors greater opportunities for access and for experiencing the wildlife and natural beauty of Puget Sound."

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