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Skookum Flats, Mt. Rainier

May 8, 2015 / doublemom94

Let’s talk surgery first, then we’ll get into the Skookum Flats hike. Apparently my name should have been Humpty Dumpty, because I keep falling apart. I found out less than a month ago that I had grade 4 (a.k.a. bone-on-bone) arthritis of my right shoulder AC joint, so last Tuesday my most-wonderful orthopedic surgeon put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I had an open distal clavicle excision and acromioplasty. Apparently other body parts were jealous that my knees were getting all the attention, and they decided to very vocally express themselves. Surgery is done, healing is going freakishly quick, sutures are out, and I feel wonderful now…

So, on to Skookum Flats trail. I needed a not-so-steep trail since I can’t yet use hiking poles with my right shoulder. Skookum Flats was a perfect post-op hike, mostly flat, beautiful deep forest, and of course I hit my favorite wildflowers at their peak. Everywhere I looked there were trillium, calypso orchids, mahonia, skunk cabbage in full bloom. I hiked a wonderful, flat 6 miles on a gorgeous sunny day, and only saw 3 other people the whole time. Skookum Falls still had a decent amount of water, which was nice considering how unseasonably warm it is and our lack of snow pack this winter.

Nature therapy is the best rehab out there, I got to check another trail off my list, and I got to see some of my favorite native wildflowers.

Dusty Lake, Eastern Washington State

April 20, 2015 / doublemom94

We’ve been blessed with some incredible spring weather this year, and I’ve been taking full advantage of it! J. and I headed out early Thursday morning to the Ancient Lakes area near Quincy. We hiked a little bit further to Dusty Lake, thinking we’d have a better chance of fewer crowds. We set up camp near the lake, and some kind person had left a bit of firewood for us to use, so we were able to have a nice fire that evening. We spent the afternoon exploring the coulee, looking for birds and animals and wildflowers. We saw many different species of birds, a few wildflowers, a yellow-bellied marmot, turtles, and a lot of bats (I LOVE bats!). After a very lazy evening, I crawled into my tent and slept pretty well, like I always do when backpacking.

The next morning we packed up early and headed to Beezley Hills Nature Conservancy. Wow! Weather was perfect and wildflowers were at their prime. This is one of the largest concentrations of hedgehog cactus in the state, and they were just coming into bloom. A gorgeous area to wander around and enjoy a different side of Washington than I’m used to.

Next we drove out to Rock Island Grade and drove several miles up a steep dirt road for some beautiful views of the canyon and the Columbia River Gorge, with more wildflowers. There was a beautiful herd of free range horses that I had to stop and get photos of too. All in all, a wonderful April backpacking and wildflower hunting trip.

Mt. St. Helens – Hummocks to Loowit Lookout

April 9, 2015 / doublemom94

I spent a wonderful day going on a solo hike out at Mt. St. Helens. Started at the Hummocks TH since the road is still closed up to JRO until next month. I hiked through the Hummocks area to Boundary Trail 1 and then up the ridge to Loowit Lookout. Gorgeous day! I could see JRO, but my view was so perfect at Loowit that I didn’t feel the need to go another 3/4 mile. Sunshine, quiet solitude, a picnic lunch looking out over a gorgeous volcano – THIS is why I love to solo hike. I always feel so recharged after a day like today 🙂

Ginkgo Petrified Park and Wild Horse Wind Facility – Eastern Washington

April 5, 2015 / doublemom94

What a fun day in the sun! I met a fellow “Washington Hikers and Climbers” member for the first time, and she, my husband, and I drove to the other side of the Cascade Mountains for a bit of desert wildflower and sunshine therapy 🙂 We started with quiche and cookies from the Cle Elum Bakery, yum! Then drove to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park at Vantage, right on the Columbia River, and explored the bluffs above the river and took a lot of wildflower photos. It was a bluebird day and the sun felt wonderful.

Next we hiked an old deserted Jeep road for several miles, on the hunt for more wildflowers and bighorn sheep, which unfortunately we never saw. More sunshine and vitamin D…

Finally we ended up at the PSE Wild Horse Wind Facility, where we had planned on a last short hike for wildflowers before heading home. We walked in the visitor center to get a hiking permit, completely unaware that a tour was about to start. We had hard hats and safety goggles handed to us and were asked to join in, and we had so much fun! It was completely unexpected, and a wonderful bonus to our day. We got to see the inner workings of the huge wind turbines, and got to go inside one of the towers. These guys are HUGE, and photos can’t even begin to explain what it’s like to stand next to one of these… the tower is 220 feet tall, each of the 3 blades is 128 feet long, and the “box” at the top is the size of a full-size bus. At full speed, the tips of the blades are traveling at 150 miles an hour.

We ended our day with a short hike in a beautiful area in the wind facility, again in search of more wildflowers. Then the long drive back home, totally tired out, and totally worth it. Such a wonderful change of scenery!

Palouse Falls and Eastern Washington State

March 29, 2015 / doublemom94

J. and I spent a wonderful 3 days in Eastern Washington State, following the sunshine. We started by driving to the Richland/Hanford area in search of burrowing owls and were lucky enough to find one of these very elusive birds before it flew away.

Then on to Palouse Falls State Park where we set up camp and spent the rest of the day wandering around, flirting with yellow-bellied marmots, birding, and soaking up the sunshine. We had a wild turkey walk right past our campsite that evening.

Next day we hiked out to a ledge below the falls, along the Palouse River, in search of wildflowers, but were a bit too early in the season and only saw a few. We then drove to Lyons Ferry State Park, which is closed, but we spent a while walking around the area looking for birds, and found a bald eagle next on the way back that we were able to get photos of. In the afternoon we hiked to Upper Palouse Falls, not nearly as much of a drop, but very wide with churning water that looked like it was boiling. Recent rains and all the runoff meant a LOT of water flowing through, and even though it was muddy it was just gorgeous.

Palouse Falls – note little people in the upper left corner

Clouds rolled in the 2nd evening, and unfortunately so did an extremely rude, obnoxious, loud, disrespectful group of 14 who thought that they could camp wherever they wanted to, even though all the sites were taken. They pitched camp in the dark on top of everyone else, and proceeded to be loud and absolutely horrid the rest of the night, so loud that we could hear them through the wind and rain that pelted us all night long. A boyscout troop actually packed up and left in the middle of the night because of them. So… not a good ending to a wonderful 2 days, but still very glad we spent time there!

On the way home we hiked at Columbia National Wildlife Refuge near Potholes, saw a lot more birds and some absolutely beautiful scenery, before heading home. We were going to stop and hike at Whiskey Dick, but the wind was so strong by that time we could barely get the car doors open, much less hike in it.

Overall, a wonderful 3 days (minus the pond scum people at the campground) and I finally got to check Palouse Falls and Potholes off my wish list 🙂

Mowich Lake in Winter – MRNP

March 18, 2015 / doublemom94

I’ve never been up to Mowich Lake in the NW corner of Mt. Rainier Park in wintertime. It’s only been summertime hiking for the amazing wildflowers and views from Tolmie, along with blood-sucking mosquitoes and far too many people crowding the trails. With the light snowpack this year, I finally decided it was time 🙂

The gate is still closed at Paul Peak trailhead. I biked about a mile up the road and then locked up my bike. After 2.5 road miles, the Grindstone Trail cuts off the last two huge road switchbacks and is a great way to get up to Mowich Lake. It’s an “unmaintained” trail but still in pretty decent condition, considering the time of year. Quite a bit of mud, but nothing that a good pair of hiking boots can’t handle.

The Grindstone Trail comes out on the road about 1/4 mile before the Mowich Lake parking lot, short-cutting 1.5 road miles. On the day I went, I had the entire place to myself and it was heavenly!! A lot of sunshine, a picnic lunch at the edge of the frozen lake, silence that was almost deafening, huge views, and not a single other person. Solo days like this do wonders to recharge my batteries and I always head home feeling so calm and peaceful afterward 🙂

Ranger Falls and Green Lake, MRNP

March 4, 2015 / doublemom94

I haven’t been on a bike in at least a century, but last weekend was so nice that S & S and I decided to break out the bikes and head up the Carbon River Road on the NW corner of Mt. Rainier National Park. The road is in good condition for bikes, considering how may times it’s been washed out. It’s a gorgeous 3.5 miles through old growth rainforest to the Ranger Falls/Green Lake trailhead, where we locked up the bikes and headed out on foot. Ranger Falls was much fuller than last year, since it had recently rained. After photos, we headed further up to Green Lake where we spent an hour sitting on logs in the sun, drinking coffee and tea and having a picnic at the lake, and skipping stones on the frozen lake (rather unsuccessfully).

Back down to the bikes, and since the road has a slight grade to it, the ride from the trailhead back the car was a wonderful glide back through the rainforest. If you like huge trees, moss, draping ferns, and river views, this is a must trail!

Lewis River – Bolt Shelter

February 16, 2015 / doublemom94

My first backpacking trip of the year, in FEBRUARY!!! Our weather is so crazy, I never thought I’d be going out overnight this early in the season (I do NOT handle cold nights well). We drove to the Curly Creek trailhead at Lewis River and backpacked out to the Bolt Shelter. It was originally built in 1931, restored in 2013, and is one of the nicest shelters I’ve ever seen in Washington.It even had a very creative Hobbit table and we felt very spoiled.

We thought about camping 1/4 mile away in a much sunnier (and warmer) spot along the river, but the swarming ant hills and thousands of jumping spiders on the grass changed our minds for us very quickly. This quirky warm weather too early in the season is waking up all kinds of creatures that should still be sleeping.

After setting up camp and naming a few massive Douglas firs (William and Eleanor), we collected firewood knowing we’d want a nice big fire at night or we’d be too cold. Steve worked at getting a fire going with wet wood and we were able to keep it going until 11 o’dark, sitting around the fire having surprise birthday muffins and shots of Limoncello! It sure felt good to crawl into my warm and toasty tent and down sleeping bag, and I slept really well, like I usually do when I’m out under the stars.

The next morning Steve miraculously got a fire going again (thank you!!!) and we enjoyed a sunny, lazy morning by the river. After packing up and heading back to the car, we drove further up the road to Lower Falls, which was well worth the bit of extra drive. The falls are incredible right now with all the rain we had last week. Felt like I was at a mini-Niagara 🙂

What a good weekend with friends, sunshine, campfires, massive rainforest trees, waterfalls, and birthday cake!

Lake Tahoe – Eagle Lake and Echo Lakes

February 16, 2015 / doublemom94

We spent a wonderful week at South Lake Tahoe the first week of February. Unfortunately, the snow levels are dismal and our snowshoes never made it out of the car. But, we did get to do two wonderful hikes that were virtually deserted so we had the trail to ourselves.

We first went to Emerald Bay and hiked out past Eagle Falls to Eagle Lake. We have a lovely picnic lunch on the shore while soaking up the sun and making some much-needed vitamin D. The lake was completely frozen over, and it was beautiful to have the whole area to ourselves.

The next day we headed out to Echo Lakes and hiked several miles of the PCT along the shoreline. I had flashbacks of Yosemite with the huge pines and junipers, and granite everywhere. Again, the lakes were frozen over and beautiful, and we didn’t see another person the whole time we were out there. At one point we were serenaded by a coyote and then watched it run across frozen Upper Echo Lake, wish I knew what it was talking about.

For a final fun side trip, we took the Heavenly Gondola up to the observation deck and the Heavenly ski area. What a fun ride (and expensive, but worth it)!!! Many of the ski runs were closed due to lack of snow, but there were still a lot of people up top skiing on man-made snow. Again, we spent time walking around in the sunshine soaking it all in.

I’d like to go back sometime, it would sure be fun to rent a cabin on Echo Lake and take our kayaks. I think a week of summertime out here would be wonderful!

Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground, MRNP

November 19, 2014 / doublemom94

J. and I decided to take a long, steep way up to the Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground patrol cabin to see it in wintertime. Loooong. Steeeep. I’ve been through in summertime while on the Wonderland Trail, and in that season it’s a riot of wildflowers (and mosquitoes). Adding cold temps and a good amount of snow in November, it was a hard day, but still a lot of fun and The Mountain cooperated by letting us see her for about 2 minutes before clouding over. It’s 12 miles R/T from the Kautz Creek trailhead, with about 3200 feet of elevation gain, most of it through dense forest with no views, but still beautiful.

We crossed several small high meadows before getting to the actual Indian Henry’s meadow. We were just about to call it a day and turn around when we saw the patrol cabin on the far side of the meadow. It has to be the most beautiful little cabin I’ve ever seen. We only spent about 15 minutes resting on the front porch before heading back, not wanting to end up hiking after dark.

After the 6-mile hike back down 3200 feet of elevation loss, our legs were jelly by the time we got back to the car, but still very worth it and we felt like we were on top of the world for a little while. 🙂