Shaboom

For this weekend's hike we went to Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake. This hike was obviously very different from our earlier ones. The land is still recovering from the 1980 eruption. Although stark and desolate it was eerily beautiful. Below is a view of the Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake. The light and dark objects in the lake are trees.

New growth is happening all over with new trees, shrubs and flowers. With all the pre-1980 trees blown to the ground by the eruption the views were open and spectacular.

We were able to view Mt. Rainier . . .

Mt. Adams . . .

and Mt. Hood.

Dashing We Will Go

There are a couple of state parks located just a few miles from our apartment on Puget Sound. Last week we went to Dash Point State Park. The park has hiking trails and a campground, however, we decided to sit on a log while basking in the sun and watching the incoming tide.

SAM I am

This afternoon we went to the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. On display were many Buddhist works of art, a gallery of glasswork and some nature photography.


The park is located on one of Seattle's hills overlooking downtown.

For better views we climbed the steps to the observation deck of the water tower adjacent to the museum.

It's Miller Time

With the return of the stereotypical Northwest weather last week we decided to head to the drier eastern side of the Cascades for our weekend hike. We selected an eleven mile loop in the Wenatchee National Forest near Cle Elum, Washington, which included trekking along the flank of Miller Peak. Below is Miller Peak on the far left with some snowy higher peaks in the center.


Snow is now falling above 5000' and we saw evidence of it along the trail.

The hike ended as it began, following a stream flowing out of the mountains. As the sun went down we made it back to the trailhead for our return home to the happiest dog in the world.

Goody Two Shoes

On Saturday we took advantage of yet another beautiful weekend in the Northwest. (According to the local news the area has had thirteen straight weekends without rain). We decided to head a little south and a little east to Mt. Adams. The first part of the hike was through the forest and then we made our way into some mountain meadows. We finally had our first grand view:




We stopped for lunch after crossing Adams Creek and took in the views to the north.

On the drive out we stopped by Takhakh Lake for a final view of the mountain.

Next weekend we may head over to the Olympic Peninsula. It's unreal the incredible number of trails and hikes within such a short distance of our place. We don't have too many weekends left for hiking so we're making the most of them.

Ready, Set, Hike!

Today we went to the Snoqualmie Pass area for some hiking. The area is about one hour east of Seattle in the Cascades. Our eight mile hike included the Cold Creek Trail, and portions of the Pacific Crest Trail and Mt. Catherine Trail.