I took a spontaneous trip to Mt. Baker’s Artist Point with my 7-year-old niece Ava this past weekend. On a family hike earlier this year, she held my hand and commented several times that she wished we could go on a hike together, with just the two of us. Her words stayed with me for the rest of the summer and so I decided that it was time for a special Aunty-Niece Day.
In celebration of hike-a-thon, I went on a hike this weekend with with my team, The Amazing Shaw Family. We chose Fragrance Lake for our adventure as it’s centrally located between our homes. We hoped the hike would push but not overly challenge my niece and nephews, who range in ages from 4 to 7.
We awoke in a fog again on Sunday morning. Thankfully, it didn’t drench our tent this time as we hadn’t affixed the rainfly. We packed up reluctantly, knowing it was the last day of our hike.
We awoke on Saturday morning in a cloud of fog. Droplets of mist hung in the air and soaked the tent. I was glad Daniel talked me into affixing the rainfly last night or we would have gotten soaked. I walked south to filter water and find the privvy. During my PCT hike last year, my fellow hikers and I made a game of rating the trail toilets. This was not the worst toilet I had ever seen…
The Ozette Triangle has been on my bucket list for a long time. Located in Olympic National Park, this 9.4-mile loop hike includes both lush green forests and rugged coastal beaches. An easy elevation profile combined with several options for beach camping make this a favorite backpacking trip for hikers of varying levels of ability. We reserved a wilderness permit several months ago as permits are required for overnight camping. And so Friday morning found us heading west toward the Olympic Peninsula via the Bainbridge Island Ferry.
On Wednesday, I celebrated the launch of Washington Trails Associations’s hike-a-thon by bringing a friend to my favorite trail. Meghan hasn’t been to the Redmond Watershed Preserve before and it was fun to share the trail with a someone new. I’m excited to participate in the hike-a-thon again this year, this time as a part of The Amazing Shaw Family team. We are raising money for the Washington Trails Association – a fabulous organization that promotes and preserves local area trails and our public lands.
I sat with my back against a rock, watching the mountains reflected in the lake below. As the sun slowly dipped over the horizon and twilight descended around me, I sighed with happiness. This is what I have been missing since I left the PCT last fall. I started my adventure earlier that morning, scrambling to readjust as my original hiking plans for the weekend fell through…
We found ourselves with some unexpected free time this past weekend and so Daniel and I decided to take a last minute backpacking trip. The night beforehand , I spent hours pouring over maps agonizing over what route to take. I was hoping for a trail near an alpine lake or with alpine views (or both!) – but with a relatively easy level of difficulty. Daniel is slowly recovering from a torn meniscus in his right knee and I’m worried he may re-injure it if we push too hard.
On sunny days, Mount Rainier majestically dominates the skyline as I commute to work each day. The mountain feels like a dear friend after I hiked the Wonderland Trail in 2016. I briefly visited the northwest corner of Mt. Rainier National Park this past spring when I hiked the Carbon River Trail, but it was too cloudy to see the mountain that day. Next time, I vowed, would be different. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to return ever since.
Last year I called the Pacific Crest Trail home for six glorious months. I’ve wanted to return to the trail many times since then but, alas, circumstances have prevented it. This past weekend I finally got my chance. On Saturday I planned a trip to Mirror Lake along the PCT starting from the Windy Pass Trailhead, which is a relatively easy 6-mile jaunt roundtrip with only 1000 feet of elevation gain. I first hiked this trail 3 years ago when I was only dreaming of hiking the PCT. It seemed like a fitting way to make my homecoming.
This weekend, I hiked to Talapus Lake with my 3-year-old nephew Ben, my brother Jonathan and my sister-in-law Sarabeth. Talapus is one of many stunning lakes that gives the Alpine Lakes Wilderness its name. The lake is accessible by a short and gently-sloped path – which makes it a very popular trail for hikers of all ages and abilities. The trail became increasingly crowded the longer we stayed but I found it to be more manageable than some of the other more popular Seattle-area trails.
Granite Mountain has been on my bucket list for a long time. Located just west of Snoqualmie Pass, the mountain is famed for amazing 360-degree views of Mt. Rainier to the south and Mt. Baker to the north. It’s also one of the few hikes in the area to feature a lookout tower at the summit. The Granite Mountain trail is off-limits most of the year due to extreme avalanche danger. Now that summer has arrived, the snow has finally melted out – except for the last mile or so which crosses a snowfield.
