Denver pics are up at long last

Well it took long enough but I have finially post the pictures from our trip to Denver a few weeks ago. We snuck out to get little sun and check out Monica and Dave's new house. Great trip, lots of loving on their dog Stella and I can't wait to get back.

Pics are here (click me).

Hurricane Ridge at last

Link to all the pics (Click Me).

Well the gang got our act together and got out for a trip this weekend. This was actually the trip that we had planned last year that turned into the camping trip on the Pacific coast.

We snuck out of Seattle around 7:30 Friday and after grabbing a little dinner we hit the ferry over to the peninsula. Everyone was a little leery about the campsite being available after the last fiasco but at about 11:00pm we pulled up to the Heart O’ The Hills Campground at the base of Hurricane Ridge.

Since it appeared that all the campsites were covered in snow we picked the first one and setup camp. After waking up in the morning we realized that in the darkness we had picked the only snowy campsite and that the one next to us was not only snow free but also had a pile of firewood stacked up. Oh well, someone else will be pretty happy about that.

We were not planning to go too far in so we did not rush out of the campsite and ended up getting to the ranger station about 11:30 or 12. After talking things over with the ranger we decided to go ahead with the plan we had and snowshoe in to camp.
Due to the crazy weather on top you are not allowed to park at the visitors center but instead you arrange for a ranger to follow you down the road about 3 miles, where you drop your car, and then they shuttle you back up. We were thinking the process would take forever but about 5 minutes after getting to the top Dan was following a ranger down to the parking area. I should at this point say that we could not have picked the weather any better. The visibility was great, and the temperature was mild.

Every part of the trip seemed to top the next. When we got the visitors center the view was amazing, after we hiked in and setup camp I had decided this was the prettiest spot I had ever setup camp. After we setup camp Dan threw out the idea of hiking to the top of Hurricane Hill which was a few miles away and that way we could catch the sunset from up top. We got camp setup nicely and tightened everything down so it would not blow away. About 3:45 we started heading to the top with packs full of food, extra clothing and headlights.

Wow… I think I said that about every 5 minutes as the scenery just became more and more beautiful. All that kept running through my head was that this was only 3 hours from my house. That is a dream come true.

We got up to the top about 30 minutes before sunset and had plenty of time to check out the view, make some hot chocolate with a little bailey’s to keep us all warm, and chow down on almonds and dark chocolate. Life could not have been any better.

Finally with dusk settling and the temperature starting to drop we reluctantly packed up our gear and headed back to camp. Even the hike back in the dark was great with the last lingering pieces of the sunset fading out over the peaks and the lights from the coastal towns blinking on.

After what seemed like 30 minutes we were back in camp. We started up the next round of dinner, finished off a little port that Dan and Laura brought, and then as the temperature really started to drop we all headed off to the tents.

The wind picked up shortly after we turned in and we woke up to a beautiful snowstorm. The high winds made breaking down camp interesting, to say the least. After learning that if you left a girlfriend in the tent as you broke it down it would not blow away we had broken camp and hiked the short walk back to the visitors center.

I believe everyone agreed that this was one of the best trips they had ever been on. Between good friends, perfect weather, and amazing scenery the weekend could not have been any better.

No real news

Been out skiing a few times so far and managed to get out xc skiing with Dan and Laura last weekend. So far it has been a pretty lame snow year so no real trips to speak of. We have a trip in the works for next weekend so hopefully pics and stories to come.

Halloween

Had a great Halloween. The pics can be found here. Link

The plan was a core group would be "Faces of Ferrell". The idea being that we would all show up as a Will Ferrell character.

Great day of fishing this saturday

Dan and I got in a great fishing trip up to Rachael lake this saturday. The hike in is a pretty good push with the first 3 miles being pretty flat but the last mile going straight up.

It was a beautiful fall day with all of the leaves changing on the way up. The fall out here is very different from the color I am use to in NC. There were also not people from Florida parked all over the place so that was a change from NC as well. Instead of having everything changing there were just patches all over the mountains and around the scree fields that were bright red and orange.

We got started a little late as usual but by the time we made it up to the lake the sky was perfectly clear and the wind was setting in across the lake for the day.

Since I have yet to catch a fish in Washington and was beginning to believe that they did not really exist up here I did not have high hopes for the lake. About 10 minutes into fishing I hooked my fist trout, Dan got the next one and I caught 2 more after that. All in all we probably only fished for about an hour but it was great.

We kept the last two fish we caught for a little lunch before we headed back.

 

We packed up all of our gear and headed up into the woods to build a kitchen. I got some water boiling for the red beans and rice dan brought and he got started on a fire for us to cook the fish over. Neither of us had any idea how we were going to cook these fish over the fire but we improvised and ran sticks down through them and then suspended them over the fire. In the end our system worked great and we both agreed that it just does not get any better than hanging out at an alpine lake away from everything eating fish that you just pulled out of the lake.

It was hard to head out for the day but the sun was starting to dip as we hiked away from the lake. A few hours later after walking 45 minutes in the dark we got back to the car with stomachs still full and headed back into Seattle smiling.

I am hoping for a repeat next weekend.

Mount Saint Helens

Link to all the pics: Here

Ok, so all those other hikes we did were not nearly as cool as this!! I will not write too much about this one since the pics say it all but Dan, Laura, Natalie and I headed up to the mountain Saturday morning and started the hike up the mountain at 6:15 Sunday... wow, that was an early start. With all of our stops it was about an 8 hour round trip hike. I have never hiked anywhere like this before.

It was great getting out with good friends and seeing an amazing new landscape. Worth every step!!

WOW what a hike!!

Summary: Dayhike where I said "wow" a million times
Link to all of the Pics: Here
So I thought last weeks hike was cool but Natalie and I got out this Sunday and did a hike that blew it away!!

We started off the day by getting up at 6:45 and going down to the Iron Girl 10k at Greenlake that Natalie ran. It was a very cool event with 2700 women running. I had been planning to go for a day hike after watching her race but when she finished she said she still had enough energy to make the hike, Iron Girl that she is.

So we headed up to the cascades with a rough plan of what to hike. We had actually tried this trail earlier in the year but turned around when it got to be late afternoon and the only people we saw going up had ice axes.

We started out at 2200 feet and headed up Hibox Canyon. After about 2-3 miles of pretty flat walking we started heading up. The first stop was at a really pretty alpine lake. From there we headed up the trail to see what was up there, still not too much of a plan in mind. As soon as we started climbing I got the bug to take the trail up to the top of Alta mountain (6400 feet). We checked out the ridge line and it looked pretty do-able. The Marmots and Pika's again whisteled us on. Natalie was still feeling pretty good so we kept going. As we climbed the scenery kept getting better and better. After many many false summit we hit the top. What a view!! From the top we could see Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, and Mt Saint Helens, along with all of the other cascades peaks surrounding us. After hanging out at the summit a little too long and saying wow about 1000 more times we decided we should head down.

In the end it turns out we did wait around at the top too long. The last hour we hiked in the dark with my headlight and finially hit the car at 9:00pm. It was a long day and we were wiped out but it was worth every step... I can't wait to go back and explore some of the other surrounding peaks.

Next week we are off to hike Mt Saint Helens.... Should be another great set of pics for that one. We are crossing our fingers on the weather.