Blue's Boots

I’ve obviously not been hiking as much as usual, because this short but steep hike knocked me on my butt earlier this week! I had planned on spending a week in the Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon, but the wildfire smoke is heavy there and I didn’t want to make the drive and spend days trying to simply breath. I opted for the Olympic Peninsula instead, and was able to get a last-minute permit for Grand Lake.

The drive up to Hurricane Ridge is windy and beautiful, especially stopping to look down to the coast and Straight of Juan De Fuca and seeing the thick cloud layer below, when you’re above it in the sunshine. Vancouver Island, Canada, is visible in the distance.

From Hurricane Ridge, it’s an 8-mile narrow dirt road to Obstruction Point Trailhead.

This is what I call a “reverse hike” – you hike down to the destination, which means that it’s a climb to get back to your car. It’s less than 4 miles and 1800 feet of descent from the TH to Grand Lake, across exposed Lillian Ridge (definitely not to be attempted in bad weather!), and down down down down to Grand Valley and the 3 lakes there: Grand, Moose, and Gladys. I saw 1 marmot and 1 rabbit while hiking. Along the way I stopped often to take in the many layers of the Olympic Mountains.

After setting up camp I sat out at a rocky beach in my amazing Helinox camping chair and read for hours in the sunshine, watching fish jump and soaking in the solitude. There is a beautiful waterfall nearby, well worth a short stroll to see.

Wildflowers were stunning, and surprisingly the mosquitoes were out but not horrendous like I was expecting. I saw many long-time flower friends, and also several that were new to me that I haven’t seen at Mt. Rainier.

We had a lovely vacation in Victoria, BC. Not a hiking trip per se, but we did a lot of walking and exploring, including a short hike to East Sooke Regional Park, Butchart Gardens, and the Victoria Butterfly Gardens. Getting there involved taking the Black Ball Ferry from Port Angeles into Victoria Harbor.

Victoria itself has a very European feel to it, and we enjoyed walking around taking in the sights. The Royal BC Museum is worth a visit, it’s between the Empress Hotel which is beautiful and the Parliament House, also beautiful. We topped off the trip with the AdrenaLine zipline, which is always fun!

Butchart Gardens is 55 acres of an estate that used to be a quarry, now turned into a beautiful series of themed gardens well worth a visit. There is a Sunken Garden, the site of the old quarry, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden (our favorite), many ponds and fountains, Italian Garden, the Piazza, and Mediterranean Garden. I could type for hours about all the plants (yes, I’m a plant geek to the core!), but I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Next stop was the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, where we were enchanted by the plants and hundreds (if not thousands) of butterflies all around. They also take in rescue animals including a flamingo, parrots, macaws, tortoises, turtles, an iguana, a caiman, and finches. It’s a place to slow down and take notice of the small things, to walk slowly and quietly and just be with the animals, insects, and plants. Other than the frogs and caiman, all animals are free to move about through the large indoor area as they please. If I were a rescue exotic animal, this is the place I’d want to be.

We started our final day there by driving to East Sooke Regional Park and hiking the short Creyke Point trail, looking out over a wall of fog in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and across to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The Madrona trees here are fantastic!

Last but not least, our family LOVES to go on ziplines. I’ve been on them in Idaho, Utah, New Zealand, and now Vancouver Island BC 🙂 So fun, and I got to do my usual flip upside-down several times.

My first backpack trip of the year was a very simple one, from the Sunrise Visitor Center at Mt. Rainier National Park to Sunrise Campground, less than 1.5 miles away. As usual, mosquitoes and wildflowers go hand in hand, at Rainier and many places in Washington State you don’t have flowers without mosquitoes. It’s the price we pay for nature’s beauty.

I had a lovely dinner and reading time at Shadow Lake close to my campsite. I kept an eye out for bears, as there’s one who hangs out here almost every year. No bears, but I did see fresh scat, so I know he was nearby.

I did the short hike up to Glacier Overlook for sunset. This is a great place for newbies to Mt. Rainier to take in the sights without a huge amount of effort. I was the only one there, except for a single marmot who was soaking up the warmth of the rock wall before bedding down for night. We spent about 20 minutes together in companionable silence. I didn’t attempt to get too close, we both kept each other company while also giving each other space.

The next morning I woke at 5am to go back to Glacier Overlook to watch the magic of sunrise happen. The eastern side of Rainier is where the sun hits first, and it’s well worth the early wake-up alarm to watch the Mountain light up like a Christmas tree. It’s so nice to see the light change from the same spot over the course of 24 hours.

It’s been years since we visited Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, Salish Sea, WA. It takes a bit of work to get out there, a 2.5 hour drive through traffic to the Anacortes Ferry, waiting in line for the ferry, a 1-hour ferry ride with a glimpse of Mt. Baker, and then to our Airbnb on the far side of the island. A bonus was seeing a beautiful otter run across the beach while we were waiting for the ferry (and for those who don’t know me, I’m obsessed with otters!)

Mountain Lake / Moran State Park: We began by driving to Mountain Lake in Moran State Park and hiking the 4-mile loop around the lake. The color of the water is beautiful, it’s a mostly forest-y lake shore trail that is very peaceful.

Obstruction Pass State Park: The following morning we hiked about 2 miles at Obstruction Pass State Park, taking time to wander and explore the beaches and rocks at low tide. We saw starfish, sea slugs, and a hiding crab.

Cascade Lake: We also rented kayaks and spent a couple of hours floating around Cascade Lake at Moran State Park. I sure missed my kayaks, the rentals were less than comfortable, but it was still fun exploring and having a floating picnic lunch.

Mount Constitution: We topped the afternoon off by driving up to Mount Constitution and the tower there (built in 1935) to look out over Puget Sound, hoping for a glimpse of Mt. Baker. It was hazy, but we were able to see Sucia Island and several others. It’s the highest point in the San Juan Islands, offering 360-degree views if the weather permits.

Sucia Island Kayak: On our final day, we did a full-day guided sea kayak tour around Sucia Island, just north of Orcas Island. After power boating to Sucia, we got into tandem kayaks and began paddling. It’s beautiful, but unfortunately our kayak guide was more interested in racing as quickly as possible than keeping the group together and letting us enjoy the scenery. To say that it was an upper body workout at full throttle for hours is an understatement. Still, I’m glad we did it, though I was sore for days after.

(Interesting Fact: The first dinosaur fossil ever discovered in Washington State was found on Little Sucia Island: a theropod approximately 80 million years old. Little Sucia Island is pictured in the last photo.)

I’ve been camping, hiking and backpacking at the Hoh Rainforest several times, and it never stops enchanting me. Gordon Hempton, who studies nature sounds and is the founder of “One Square Inch of Silence” says that the Hoh Rainforest is one of the quietest spots in the lower 48 states – “quiet” as in no human-made noise pollution, so that the true sounds of nature can actually be heard. It is indeed a special place.

The Hoh Rainforest is also one of the places with the most biomass per square acre on the planet. Verdant doesn’t even come close to describing the sheer amount of green there. This is the first time I’ve been to the Hoh Rainforest without seeing elk, but I did hear a barred owl for the first time.

(HINT: It’s called a “rainforest” for a reason. It averages 12 FEET of rain per year. Rain + soil = mud. If you show up in your designer $300 sparkling white Nikes, they will not be sparking white for very long.)

The Hall of Mosses Trail is fantastic, almost otherworldly, with massive sheets of moss hanging from big leaf maple trees. This is a one-way trail, but apparently some people aren’t able to understand the signs pointing in one direction. Sigh.

The Spruce Nature Trail is a lovely walk through soft, cushioned earth with more ferns, conifers, and moss than anywhere I’ve ever seen. The Hoh River is beautiful along part of this trail, and I’ve never seen better examples of nurse logs anywhere else. There is a fantastic example of what the rootball of a single downed tree can sustain, how it can support and nourish new life. As Robin Wall Kimmerer and Suzanne Simard say – it’s all connected.

The Hoh River Trail is an out-and-back that leads up the valley toward the Blue Glacier 18 miles away, under Mount Olympus. We hiked the first few miles of this trail at 6 a.m. and didn’t see another human, just us and the sights and sounds of Mama Nature for miles.

Magic. Mother Nature’s Magic.

My first time at Cape Disappointment, and my first camping trip of the year, were just perfect (except for mosquitoes, but we won’t talk about those little blood-suckers much here). There is a little bit of everything here, beautiful forests, beaches, the Pacific Ocean, lighthouses, a wonderful visitor center, and old bunkers. On the far side is Oregon, in between the end of the Columbia River where it empties into the Pacific.

The mouth of the Columbia River, in particular the Columbia Bar, is a particularly treacherous section of boat/ship travel that has claimed over 2000 wrecks over the centuries, sometimes called “Graveyard of the Pacific.” It is considered one of the most dangerous sandbar crossings in the world.

The Campground was very quiet, and my site was close to the beach, but thankfully not too close because the wind out on the beach in the afternoons and evenings was fierce! But long morning walks barefoot in the sand were a joy after a dark and dreary winter.

The short Mckenzie Head Trail leads up to a hill with views, and several old military bunkers that nature is slowly taking back.

The Forest Loop Trail (1.5 miles) is a wonderful forest trail with a lot of little plant gems – it was a slow 1.5 miles because I kept stopping to look at all the spring blooming plants, until mosquitoes chased me along my way again.

The Cape Disappointment trail including the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center, Deadman’s Cove, and the Cape D. Lighthouse is another lovely forest + coast trail well worth exploring. The Visitor Center is built on top of old military bunkers, and it’s fun to explore through some of the tunnels and rooms, imagining what it would have been like to be there when they were active.

My final hike was the North Head Trail, from near McKenzie Hill out to the North Head Lighthouse. Again, beautiful forest and ocean views in one trail. Some of the spruces here are massive, with a large diversity of forest plants and critters including some impressive slugs.

What a good way to welcome in the 2024 hiking season.

3 million acres of desert might sound desolate, but Death Valley is so beautiful! It stole my heart when I first visited 4 years ago, and it was so good to re-visit this time. We explored some new areas as well as returned to our favorites. The highlight was being able to walk out into Manly Lake at the lowest spot in North America. (Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states, is only 85 miles away). Read on for photos:

Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level) and Manly Lake:

Knowing weather and high wind was coming in the next few days, our first stop in Death Valley was Manly Lake, a.k.a. Badwater Basin filled with a rare and temporary lake. Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level, making it the lowest elevation in North America. Interestingly, Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states, is only 85 miles away.

We walked out on the salt flats here 4 years ago, but this time it was surreal walking out through water. The last time there was water here was in 2005, 18 years ago. The lake was shallow but huge, miles wide and across. We walked out quite far, with water just above ankles, and enjoyed watching people with kayaks further out. The reflection of the Panamint Mountains to the west were stunning. At the car, our legs were coated with salt, well worth it for this experience.

We were so fortunate, because our second day in the park brought extremely high winds (gusts to 70mph) and the entire lake was pushed over a mile away, shutting down access to it.

Desolation Canyon

One of our two favorite canyon hikes at Death Valley, Desolation Canyon offers beautiful views from above down onto Artist’s Drive and the valley floor below. There are several spots that require a bit of scrambling, help from a hiking partner is much appreciated. Being able to see part of Manly Lake from above was a bonus!

I’m in awe that anything can live and survive in this environment, but Mother Nature finds a way. We saw a few thriving plants as well as lizards. Evening primrose was blooming, one lizard was a zebra tail, the other possibly a juvenile chuckwalla.

Golden Canyon and Red Cathedral

The initial section of Golden Canyon is very accessible, especially for those who aren’t comfortable with the minor scrambling that is required in some of the other canyons. That changes once you get closer to Red Cathedral.

The views of canyon walls, with Red Cathedral in the distance and glimpses of Manly Peak are beautiful. There is a connecting trail up to Zabriskie Point above, but we chose to go toward Red Cathedral, requiring more scrambling and ducking through small openings. I brought home a few knee bruises from near the end of the trail, worth it IMO!

Titus Canyon

Titus Canyon is (was?) a 26-mile, one-way high clearance vehicle road that I would love to drive some day, but for this trip we decided an early morning walk through stunning canyon walls would be a perfect way to start our second day. The gate at the bottom of the canyon was locked, so we weren’t sure if it was open to vehicles or not.

The entrance to the canyon is immediate from the parking area, and very easy walking so it’s possible to take in the huge walls without needing to pay much attention to where your feet are going. We meandered for about 1.5 miles up the canyon, loving the beautiful patterns of rocks in the canyon walls. I had a lovely sit-spot meditation in the sun while DH explored further up canyon. I was serenaded by white-throated swifts and canyon wrens.

Back to the car, where we noticed that the forecast wind was definitely making its presence known.

Ubehebe Crater

We had not been to see Ubehebe Crater on our previous trip, so decided to explore since it was in the general direction of Titus Canyon. By this point the wind was becoming much stronger, buffeting our car along the road. This road feels like driving to nowhere, desolate but beautiful. Near the crater the terrain changes to what I imaging the surface of the moon looks like.

By the time we got to Ubehebe, we could barely open our car doors against the wind. Standing in the wind, being pelted in the face by flying sand and small gravel, leaning into the wind at a crazy angle while walking, was definitely an interesting experience! We had planned to walk the entire loop around the crater, but that was impossible under the weather conditions. After a short and difficult stroll up to Little Hebe Crater for a few photos, we retreated back to the car, fighting fierce wind the entire way.

Mosaic Canyon

Mosaic Canyon, very close to the Stovepipe Wells area, is one of our favorite canyon hikes in Death Valley. Another one with a bit of scrambling required, and 2 work-arounds when you think you’ve hit a dead end. The NPS Death Valley website gives a good description of how to get around these two spots in their “Hikes” page.

Mosaic Canyon is named for the beautiful patterns and textures of the rock found throughout the canyon. Some is scoured marble or granite, which means scrambling up a 6-foot smooth wall can be a bit of a challenge, another great place where a hiking partner is a handy thing to have!

We had a lovely conversation with a raven part way up the canyon, and noted several flowers blooming as well. Unfortunately at the end of the canyon were 2 large groups that were being ridiculously loud and annoying, so we didn’t linger but immediately turned and headed back down, this time sliding down the smooth walls, much more fun than trying to climb up them!

Artist’s Drive

A beautiful one-way loop road that meanders through the eastern foothills, through varied terrain and colors. Stopping and getting out at Artist’s Palette to see a hillside of beautiful colors is worth it (but maybe not in 70mph wind!)

Zabriskie Point

Perhaps the most popular viewpoint at Death Valley, a short drive from the Furnace Creek area. The short walk from the parking area opens up expansive views to the foot hills and valley floor below. It was possible to see part of Manly Lake, as well as the dust storms that were exploding in the valley below.

It’s also possible to see the trails that connect Zabriskie Point to Golden Canyon below. We might have considered hiking the whole thing, but at this point in our trip the wind was intense, making it hard to stand up straight, much less hike in it.

Driving in Wind and Sand

We are so thankful that we got to visit Manly Lake and do the hikes that we did, because by the end of our second day it was becoming dangerous to drive or be outside due to the extreme wind. (A spot in the Sierra Mountains, not too far away, clocked a 190mph wind gust during this time!)

Rhyolite Ghost Town

On our third full day, we decided to not attempt going down into Death Valley due to extreme weather conditions, winter storm and high wind warnings. We did explore Rhyolite Ghost Town, just outside of Beatty NV. It’s amazing to think of how people were able to live and work in the mines in these conditions. The train station must have been a stunning building at its peak. And an entire house made out of bottles… good way to recycle what was used the saloon.

While weather was not perfect, we are still so thankful to have been able to go back to this amazing place, to walk in a lake that only appears once every few decades, to re-visit some of our favorite hikes and explore new areas.

Canyonlands Needles District | Corona Arch, Moab | Canyonlands Island in the Sky | Arches | Goblin Valley | Little Wildhorse Canyon | Capitol Reef | Bryce Canyon

The canyon country of southern Utah pulled at my heart yet again. I’m sure it will never stop. I’ve been to most of these places before, places I keep going back to because I adore them. This time was different, because my husband came along for the adventure as well so he could also experience the magic that I feel every time I’m there. 70 miles hiked, some familiar friends and some new challenges.

This is the short version. For many more photos and written words on my adventures, see the LONG VERSION.

Canyonlands Needles

Corona Arch

Canyonlands Island in the Sky

Arches

Goblin Valley

Little Wildhorse Canyon

Capitol Reef

Bryce Canyon