Fort Flagler State Park

For this trip I had visitors, friends from Florida, and they wanted something that would be easy to moderate, with some good views. As it was going to be a sunny day, albeit a chilly one, I thought that one of the Puget Sound forts would be a good option! And so it was.

Big Four Ice Caves

Eric and I got a late-ish start today but we were doing a shorter hike today so it wasn't that big of a deal. We headed up to the Mountain Loop Highway and began the drive and climb into the mountains. It was heavily overcast and it wasn't long until we were driving into clouds. Snow started appearing on the side of the road as we passed through Verlot and became more substantial the closer we got to our destination.

Annette Lake Trail

Oh I've been bad. Though truthfully neither Eric nor I have been hiking as frequently, which completely ruins our awesome hike a week plans. But we picked it back up today with an awesome jaunt up to Annette Lake. Pictures to come! If you've got me on facebook, they're already there :D

Apologies - Hiatus

Sorry for the apparent hiatus.

Life got a bit crazy on the weekends over the summer. Between family visits (we did go on a few walks!), PAX Prime (gaming expo), horse shows and a 3 week bout with a nasty cold virus (in summer!), we have been crazy busy.

However, this weekend should bring us back to our regularly scheduled, once a week hiking. I'm excited!


In regards to the health reasons that we started hiking for, I am pleased to report that weight loss has continued, if at a slower pace. Hooray for progress!

Barclay Lake: 2nd Try Success!

We hit up Barclay Lake today, and this time the road wasn't covered in snow! It was a lovely hike and we had some good company to chat with on this easier hike.

Tonga Ridge Trail- Mount Sawyer Summit

So yes, the past few weeks I havent' posted. Two weeks ago we did a short little hike in Lord Hill Regional Park, which wasn't that impressive and a bit buggy. Last week, Eric hiked up Mount Pilchuck while I did my volunteer thing at the Seattle Aquarium and on Sunday of that weekend I went out on a boat in the Puget Sound.

But this week, this week we made sure to go, and boy did we pick an amazing hike. Not too bad of a drive to get to, the dirt road up to the trailhead was NICE. Way better than Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road.. ugh, so many potholes on that one. This was smooth.

Most of the elevation gain is done in your car, which is kind of nice, because the rest of the hike (1200 ft of it) gets you some nice views when you're done. Pictures to be added soon!


Teaser!

Lake Serene

Eric and I decided to head out on route 2 and return to a hike we'd done previously. We have already hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls but decided that going all the way up to Lake Serene seemed like a fantastic idea. So 7 miles and 1900 ft of elevation gain later... we did it! (Note : the 7 miles was round trip )

Have a teaser photo

Independence Day Weekend Camping Trip

Plans got slightly modified (originally we were going to go to Canada!) but we had fun nonetheless and got to see more of the beautiful National Parks that aren't far away!

Plans for the Holiday Weekend

And I think you'll all enjoy the ideas... Eric and I both have Monday off and I have the horse's care accounted for (who, by the way, was responsible for no hike last week...).

Tentative Plans are as follows:

Saturday:

AM: Amy volunteers at the Seattle Aquarium per usual schedule

PM: Pack and take ferry from Edmonds across to the Olympic Peninsula
Stop in Port Angeles and pick up camping permits, dinner, food?
Drive through Forks and Amy promises to not rig up flame throwers.
Set up camp at Rialto Beach

Sunday:
Pack up camp
Hoh Rainforest and 5 mile island hike along Hoh River
Find food in Forks (SIGH)
Head up to Rialto Beach and set up camp ON the BEACH! Bonus, it's a new moon so stargazing should be spectacular and the weather is supposed to clear in the evening.

Monday:
9:30 am Up and early hike 2 miles to Hole in the Wall along Rialto Beach for low tide fun!
Hike back, pack up car
Drive back up 101, stop at Sol Duc Hot Springs and soak for a few hours (Amy is hoping for a massage too...)
Anticipated long wait for the ferry back home and potential to catch sight of Seattle Fireworks?


So yay! I think I need to get an extra memory card for the camera though, this promises to have lots of awesomeness.

Ebey's Landing

I'm struggling currently with hikes for us to do. A lot of the good hikes are still snowbound to both vehicles and people (at least, those who lack the necessary equipment), so choosing a hike takes a decent amount of effort. The one I picked for today was gorgeous. It was out on Whidbey Island, which is a short ferry ride from Mukilteo. We headed up to Coupeville to hike along the praire and ocean bluffs at Ebey's Landing.

June 12 2011 Woodland Park Zoo

It might not have been a hike in the true sense of the word, but we did do a lot of walking, and there were some hills, lots of wildlife and flowing water. I even fed an Elephant named Bamboo some bamboo using a bamboo stick!

Poo Poo Point Bust

So we attempted to head to a trail head that would take us up Tiger Mountain to Poo Poo Point, which is a nice expanse of green lawn at the top of a mountain with good views.

Well, Friday and Saturday were clearer than I'd ever seen the area. You could see Rainier in perfect clarity and all of the mountains to the east, west and north. Sunday was supposed to be similar to those days.

Well, we started out and there were already clouds to the south. We could hardly make out Rainier. When we finally arrived in Issaquah to find the trailhead, we were under those clouds, so the sunshine was gone (not enough to stop a hike... but still discouraging). Finally, the directions to the hike were muddled on top of there being construction of a new high school right around the trailhead. There was additionally minimal parking available without a longer walk.

Still, we persisted through, made a false start that ended up being okay but we didn't know it, then drove around, found the described trailhead, and parked further away and walked in and started the hike. It was cool in the forest, and pleasant but there was no signage regarding where the actual trail was that took off up the mountain.

We encountered a group of people who had done a loop trail and they informed us that Tiger Mountain was closed to all users for trail maintenance. And that's where we called it quits. We did a short hike up a portion of the trail, before the closed section, then turned around and worked our way around the construction fencing back to the car and drove home.

We ended up eating lunch out by the lake by our apartment, then biking over to a friend's house. The bike ride was nice, about 7 miles round trip, which is about what our hike would have been, and complete with hills. I'll have pictures up of the few wildflowers I saw today but otherwise this was a bust.

Eastern Washington Adventure!

So this Memorial Day weekend Eric and I decided to take a longer day and head across the Cascades and check out a desert hike in Central Washington. One location had been recommended to me by a coworker and it was short enough that I found a second hike in the same area so we planned on doing two. And then, even better, I found there was a Petrified Forest State Park on the way too so with that our itinerary was decided on!

This was a trip of epic proportions and I have a LOT of photographs, including the progression of our travel across the Cascades.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie River: Upstream

We headed back out and braved the potholed road of DOOM again for an easy 6 mile hike along the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River. I thought it was going to rain today (so did the local weathermen) but Seattle gave us the finger and provided a cloud ceiling, glimpses of sun and NO RAIN! It was a lovely hike :D

Heather Lake

Today promises to be a wet, rainy day, but we're persisting and chose what looks to be a nice hike up to a lake! There might even be snow so it'll be an adventure.

And now updating... boy oh boy was there snow....

South Whidbey State Park Camp and Hike

Yes, that's right, you read the title correctly. The post for May 8 actually will be encompassing both May 7 and May 8 and Eric and I, along with our friend Nick, decided to test out some of our camping gear and do some car camping!

Sunday May 1

There will be no hike this weekend due to my brother's graduation from college.


Congrats Scott!

Gray Wolf River Trail

The weather is thumbing it's nose at us, I swear. Thursday, Friday and Saturday have been gorgeous, with clear blue skies and Saturday the temps even climbed into the 60s.

Today, Sunday, our designated Hike day... gray and rainy.  *shakes fist* CURSE YOU WASHINGTON!

But the hike was pretty good anyway!  And Happy Whatever You Celebrate Today, whether it's Easter, Eostre, Zombie Jebus Day, Zombie Awareness Day (Remember to double tap!), the day Jesus laid a brilliantly colored egg with candy inside or nothing at all :D

Otter and Big Creek Falls

We're heading here today! Looks to be a nice hike! And people have been out this year so the warning about the bridge being out must be old hat by now. Hurray!

April 10, 2011: Skykomish River

Eric and I honestly did try to get out and go for a hike today. However, we discovered that the road up to the trailhead was above the snowline and my little bitty Jetta was NOT making it through. So we called it quits, played around on a river bank and got some needed errands done (like an oil change for the jetta...)

But I will have River pics here! Without further ado, I give you the Skykomish Scenic River Access!

Arizona! From April 6, 2011

Reserving a spot for a hike I did in Arizona.

Sadly, I did not bring my digital camera and ended up making do with some purchased disposable 35mm film cameras. I've seen the images and I'm not impressed with them, but they are at least neat, and a change of scenery.

Rattlesnake Ledge

Nice weather today so I've picked a view hike! See you later!

Iron Horse Trail: Washington Creek to Twin Falls

It's a rainy day, and we're leaving later than usual, but no fear, we bought headlamps from REI and rain jackets. I anticipate a wet, but enjoyable hike.

March 6: Deception Pass with friends

We returned here! For a third time, but now it's more 'Springy' so that was awesome. Our hiking plans originally were going to be a trip out to Snoqualmie Falls but apparently the hiking path that leads you to a good viewpoint is closed until 2013 while they work on improvements on the trail (!!!!) So we last minute decided to head up to Deception.

Friends from Florida (an former coworker and his father) had just moved up here like us and they were wanting to share in the hiking enjoyment that Eric and I have been having. We were more than happy to include them!

I should mention, as this is a good point to do so, that if you're ever in the area on a weekend, let me know! We love to have hiking buddies. It makes for more varied conversation and I love to share the beauty of nature.

Coal Creek Park

This one should be easier and fun with a bit of historical significance added in for bonus!

Mount Constitution

Barring any difficulties, we will be taking a nice view hike out on Orcas Island. It's a bit longer to get there so we're making an extra effort to get up and out of the house (plus the weather is supposed to deteriorate as the day goes on, but it's BLUE now!) Trip up to Anacortes and then a ferry ride out to Orcas!

See you later!

Boulder River Wilderness: Boulder River Trail

It's a bit of a longer trail today (8.4 mi roundtrip) but not as much elevation gain! See you later!

The trailhead is reached by taking a long, windy, gravel road riddled with potholes up to the trailhead.  There are some significant drops off of the edge of the road so make sure you STAY ON IT!  If you're really worried, you can always park lower and hike the road in and add a few miles onto the trip. We decided Uggy could brave the rough conditions and so she did and we made it in and out in one piece. Hiking was good too (though it's another that's on my "Return" list, actually, I should make a tag for that...)

Read on!

Random quick update

I'm almost caught up with my backlog. I'm partway through January and don't have that many of February (yet!). In the meantime, to keep this post interesting, have the bubbling spring that we saw on the Sauk River Trail back in early December.

Bridal Veil Falls

We'll be off to this hike shortly!

Today was cold, dreary and wet.... AKA... perfect waterfall hiking weather!  And boy did we pick a great one! There was an option to continue on and even camp at a lake but we were short on time and decided to be content with the waterfall. Read on for AMAZING pictures!

Tiger Mountain: Silent Swamp

Seeing as how I'm still sore from last week (just wait till I finish the write up about THAT hike, let me tell you), we (read: me) decided to go a bit easier on this hike.

It's still going to be around 6.6 miles round trip, but the elevation gain should be a bit more forgiving. And I'm thinking of bringing along the film camera to experiment! So pictures on facebook might be delayed, you probably won't notice any difference on this blog :P

Oyster Dome

6.5 miles and 1900 ft of elevation gain. Promises to be a tough hike! I can't wait! Pictures to follow.

The reality of this hike was MUCH harder than either of us anticipated, and truthfully, it was the first time where I actually felt worried about us making it back to the car. Thankfully, we had enough resources to return safely, if slowly, and it at least served as a wake up call to things we might want to potentially carry with us just in case something should happen.

But I should also add, despite the difficulty... WOW was this hike rewarding....

Meadowdale County Park and Beach

Fingers crossed for seal sightings!

This hike wasn't so much a hike as it was a vigorous walk and playtime at the water. We were short on time and thus picked something local to see what we could see. It was still a nice walk and we managed to add in a bit of jogging too to keep things interesting and challenging.

I still enjoyed it very much and would DEFINITELY return! Especially with kids or with a little one in a stroller. It's not so long, and it has the reward of sand and water at the end to encourage kids to go with you to the end. And lots of driftwood!

Twin Falls State Park

Todays hike will be shorter ( 3 miles) but we will be attempting to jog it. It's an easier grade so I figured a perfect intro to trail running. Let's hope the footing is good and not muddy as we are going in sneakers!

"Issaquah Alps" aka Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park

Today we changed it up a bit and ventured south for our hiking adventures. We also, joy of joys, used my husband's phone to track our gps position. In this manner we were able to calculate total elevation gain, max elevation, average speed, and total moving time. It's neat information to have! We'll also be uploading it to the computer for some more data that will be neat to share with you all.


In the meantime, since I'm backlogged on photo posting, I'll give you some of the raw data to tide you over.

Total Distance hiked: 7.03 miles
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 2560 ft
Maximum Elevation Attained: 1261 ft
Total Moving Time: 1hr 45 min
Total time out in the park: 3 hr 45 min
Given my weight and total elevation gain, I burned: 1469 calories.


Hell yeah!