Category: Trip Report
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Birding Camano Island – Port Susan Bay and Iverson Spit
We’ve had some lovely sunny, cold weather here lately, and we were happy to have time on Friday to enjoy it. I’m recovering from some chronic foot problems, and am only allowed short walks on level ground, so we needed something gentle. Birding sounded like a good activity for the day. The winter birds are…
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Larch Love: Blue Lake (North Cascades) Trip Report
If you spend much time around serious Washington hikers, you are sure to hear stories of the mythical larch. You’ll see photos of glowing golden trees set against bluebird skies, brilliant red huckleberries, or the first fresh snow of the winter. For good measure, you’ll also see photos of otherworldly rock formations, and for the…
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Feels Like Home: Another Trip to Big Four Ice Caves
There are some places we go that just feel like home. We’ve been there many times over the years, sometimes multiple times a year. We’ve seen these places in all different seasons and weather. Big Four Ice Caves is one of these places for my family. Aaron took me there for the first time before…
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Guemes Channel and Ship Harbor Trail, Anacortes
A couple of weeks ago we took advantage of a warm afternoon to hike a new trail to us: Guemes Channel and Ship Harbor Trails up in Anacortes. We found these little gems in Craig Romano’s newest hiking guide for the San Juans and Gulf Islands. Leaving from a cul-de-sac, the trails go off in…
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Mt. Rainier Fling Part 2, Backpacking to Snow Lake
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about our first day at Mt. Rainier last week. This post covers our second and third days, backpacking to Bench and Snow Lakes. We took our time on Tuesday morning, packing up and leaving Cougar Rock Campground. The weather continued to be warm and clear. The Mountain…
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The Hike That Wasn’t
I was so excited last Friday to take my new friend Susana on a hike in the mountains. She just moved here from Spain a few months ago, and I wanted to show her the beauty of our wilderness. We had planned to go to Dock Butte and Blue Lake up by Mt. Baker. We…
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Finding Nature Around the Edges
We got back last week from spending two weeks with my parents. A large chunk of that time was spent driving down to California and back for my cousin’s wedding. Dad drove the truck and RV down, and we took my 94-year-old grandmother, so it was mostly a lot of driving on the freeway, staying…
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Columbia Gorge Discovery Center – Spring Break 2014
This is the fifth post from our Spring Break Trip. We are almost done! The first was about hikes from the Catherine Creek Trailhead. The second post was about the Vista House and Gorge waterfalls. The third was about camping and exploring at Columbia Hills State Park. The fourth was about the Goldendale Observatory. We have one more destination to…
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Sheep Lake Backpack
With my son off to teen camp this week, I wanted to do something special with my 8-year-old daughter (she has picked the trail name Queen Alacorn, or QA). She really wanted to go backpacking with me, and was super excited for a Girls’ Trip. But we couldn’t find anyone to come with us. Then…
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Icicle Gorge Trail – 6/26/14
I took the kids hiking at the Icicle Gorge Trail yesterday. The weather report had been worsening all week, and I really wanted somewhere dry, not drippy. So I scrapped plans to go to Longmire and headed east instead. I think I made a good decision – the flowers are amazing right now along the…