Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 5)

Last week a friend of mine and I packed up the Hiker Trailer and headed for sunny skies in Eastern WA. It had been 25+ years since I’d been to Steamboat Rock State Park. I like heading east of the mountains in April to chase the sunshine, and to hike before the rattlesnakes wake up! The campground at Steamboat Rock was lovely, right on the waters of Banks Lake.

We hiked up to the stop of Steamboat Rock the next morning. There’s a section of trail that’s more of a scramble than a hike, but it’s short and actually pretty fun. The Rock is about 800 feet tall and 600 acres total. Wildflowers were just starting to open up and we spent several hours just wandering, looking at the incredible views, crouching down to see the tiniest of wildflowers, saying hello to a couple of fat marmots, and just sitting cliffside and taking it all in.

Dry Falls State Park is 30 minutes away from Steamboat Rock, and I’d never been there, so of course we had to explore. This is another place that makes me realize I should have been a geologist. The geologic history here is fascinating! Dry Falls was the result of the ancient Missoula Floods, and is believed to have been the single largest waterfall in the history of the planet. When it was flowing, it would have been many many times larger than Niagara Falls. We drove to Dry Falls Lake and from there hiked back to another “alcove” to Alkali Lake. Standing there looking up at the sheer size of the cliffs was amazing, and something that is impossible to describe through photos alone.

If geology is something that interests you, look up the Missoula Floods, Dry Falls, and the Scablands. Our planet is a pretty amazing place 🙂

I collect postcards and stickers from all of my travels… They’re inexpensive, easy to carry, and a lot of fun. This wall has a double meaning for me – It’s a daily reminder of the incredible places that I’ve been fortunate to visit, and it always has space for adding more, and more, and more. To quote Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

She was so brilliant at capturing a feeling with her words

I’ve lived here for over 30 years, and I see Mt. Rainier every day that isn’t overcast. Sometimes she surprises me and is still able to take my breath away! We woke up to the Winter Solstice with this amazing sunrise.  What a fitting way to celebrate a little bit more light every day 🙂

I just got home from a wonderful trip with my new Hiker Trailer to Wyoming and South Dakota.  Please click the “Wyoming and South Dakota” button on the right side of the page to see more!

One of the days we spent in the Scotland Highlands in May was a trip to the Isles of Mull and Iona, in the Inner Hebrides. It was a long day, a 1 hour car ride from our Airbnb, 1 hour ferry, 1.5 hour bus ride across the Isle of Mull (one lane road with turnouts, kinda fun in a huge double-decker bus!), and another short ferry across to the Isle of Iona – then everything in reverse. But the weather was wonderful, the scenery was amazing, and it was well worth every minute of the trip.

The final destination was the Abbey of Iona, which has been beautifully restored. It’s believed that the Book Of Kells (now in the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland) might have been originally produced here close to the year 800. It was also in Fionnphort, Isle of Mull, that I took a rather embarrassing tumble in a pile of seaweed and was soaked from the waist down – luckily I dried out in the sunshine in time for the bus ride back across the island!  Mull is known for its pink granite, and Iona is known for beautiful light green marble.

My family and I had a fantastic 3-week trip to Ireland and Scotland in May. Newgrange (Brú na Bóinne) isn’t a hike per se, but it’s one of my favorite places in all of Ireland and I wanted to share it here. It’s a passage tomb/mound built around 3200 BC. The exterior has been rebuilt, but the interior is still in perfect condition and has never been rebuilt or repaired, still watertight. No photos are allowed inside, but I encourage people to look online for photos of the interior. On the winter solstice sunlight shines into the interior for about 15-20 minutes; this is the only time of year there is natural light inside. Going inside is by tour only, from the excellent visitor center nearby.

This place gives us all goosebumps, in a very good and amazing way. It is older than Stonehenge or the pyramids of Giza. To be able to stand inside of thousands of years of history is very humbling and awesome. We love this place so much that my daughters and I all have a triskelion tattoo inspired by the swirls that are carved on the entry stone of Newgrange. If you ever get to Ireland, this is the ONE place I always suggest to people. The final photo is of Knowth, another nearby mound with excellent rock carvings, but not accessible on the inside to the public.

Not only was John Muir an incredible naturalist, he was also a wonderful writer. I have one of his most famous quotes tattooed around my ankle: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

Here’s another one that calls me to the mountains time and time again…

“SAUNTER”

“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.” – John Muir

I’m changing the game up a bit – This spring I ordered a teardrop trailer, and we were able to pick it up just in time for my birthday at the end of September. The brand is Hiker Trailer, built in Denver, Colorado ( www.hikertrailer.net ). The company is absolutely wonderful to work with, and will customize so that you only pay for exactly what you want. Each trailer is custom-built, and I am so thrilled with mine!!!

I got a 5 x 8 foot size. It’s small enough that I can tow it easily, and it’s so light I can even move it around by hand if I need to. The inside fits a queen-size mattress perfectly, so I have a folding mattress that can lie flat for a bed, or fold up into a couch – perfect for reading! Perfect for one person, but plenty of space for 2 also. The back galley has large shelves, a pull-out table, as well as a detachable side table that is perfect for cooking on. Eventually I will have an awning installed, hopefully next summer.

I take so many road trips and do so much camping, this trailer is going to make those trips so much better. I won’t have to pack and unpack for every trip. I’ll be able to  comfortably get out of bad weather and sleep in an enclosed, secure, weather-proof space instead of a tent. I’m in love!

I took my trailer out alone to test it at a Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, and it was so comfy I slept for 10 hours that night. It’s now tucked away in the garage for the winter, but I’ll be planning and scheming road trips for next spring and summer with it while I’m recovering from shoulder surgery 🙂