Washington State

  • Hiking,  Washington State

    Sprite Lake | Enchantment Lakes & Wenatchee National Forest

    After we found ourselves at Perfection and Inspiration Lakes we wound our way around the north end of Perfection back down towards the much smaller Sprite Lake. We took a few minutes here for a snack and photo break. There were several wildflowers along the path that I won’t even try to identify, though I did briefly look online. If you are familiar with alpine flora in Washington state please help me out! I do think these are some kind of phlox though. These little flowers are reminiscent of blueberries so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in that family. Sprite Lake was a pleasant resting point before we…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Inspiration & Perfection Lakes | Enchantment Lakes

    I know, I know, I haven’t finished writing about our trip to Washington State. My excuses are a: laziness, b: a crappy computer that has on several occasions shut down when I’ve had photos open in Photoshop thus leading to loss of interest in processing photos, and c: other interesting things that have been going on. But, I’m hoping to remedy this soon and finish the photos and writing about the trip. When I last left off, I was talking about goats. The goats were still prevalent for the rest of the trip and were definitely a source of entertainment! On our second morning of being in the Enchantments we…

  • Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Hoh River Trail | Olympic National Park

    A continuation of our trip to Washington state back in August…. We packed up our campsite and set off early down the Hoh River Trail, early enough that everyone in the campground was generally still sleeping. The forest itself was relatively quiet with a few birds chirping here and there, the sound of the river faintly heard in the distance. If we continued on this trail we could eventually end up at Mt. Olympus, however our destination for the day was only about 3 miles down the way to waterfall. A short hike and waterfall??? Sounds like a winner to me…and the sights—-oh the sights were truly magnificent! Little bits…

  • Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Goats! Goats! Goats! | Enchantment Lakes

    Chris’ big goal for the hike was to see goats. He was so excited about seeing them and he got his wish. They came out of the woodwork as soon as we started slowing down to look for a campsite. I swear they smelled us several hundred yards away and knew that humans equaled food and/or salt. At one point at our campsite there were six or seven goats hanging around, most were moms with their kids. A couple of times they eased themselves a little too close, causing us to shoo them away. I was expecting the marmots or chipmunks to be pesky, not the goats! Pesky or not,…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Up Top | Enchantment Lakes & Wenatchee NF

    Climbing up Aasgard Pass was slow going, taking us about three hours to get up to the top. For the first third of the trail cairns marked the path somewhat clearly. I was leading, and somewhere near the middle of the climb I started having difficulties following the trail as the path became more scree-like instead of boulders. It didn’t help that there were smaller cairns that sometimes lead in different directions. A couple of times we slid a bit, causing us to halt in our steps and steady ourselves. Around the two-thirds-of-the-way mark I heard sounds but couldn’t see anyone. I looked up and to the left and found…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Colchuck Lake | Enchantment Lakes & Wenatchee National Forest

    At the junction of the Stuart Lake trail and the trail that leads to Colchuck Lake we stopped on a rock to take a break. The walk from the Mountaineer Creek had left the shade of the forest and began winding its way up the side of the mountain. Overall not difficult but the heat was rising. Despite the northwest having a reputation for being rainy and cloudy, we came during a week or sunshine and temperatures upwards of 100* in the valleys and 80s and 90s in the mountains. We sat eating a snack, fending off a sneaky chipmunk and then meeting several groups of hikers, including two women…

  • Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Marymere Falls | Olympic National Park

    We had a long drive ahead of us as we had to leave the Olympic Peninsula and head to Wenatchee National Forest but that didn’t deter us from making a stop or two before completely leaving the Olympics. I *may* have been a little too excited to have picked up Canadian radio stations….I mean, Canada was right there. Wanting a short but scenic hike we chose the Barnes Creek Trail to Marymere Falls for its nearness to the road due to our time constraints. The trail itself is flat until shortly after crossing the creek and then it is a decent ‘up’ but it is well graded and not difficult…

  • Travel & Places,  Washington State

    Forks: Quiet and No Glittering Vampires

    I really thought we were going to miss visiting Forks. We’d approached the Olympic peninsula from a different direction than I’d scouted online so I didn’t think we’d make it. If you have no idea what the significant of Forks, Washington is you have probably never read or watched something called Twilight. Forks was, well, quiet, what you’d expect from a small industrial town (think logging and fishing). It has a handful of small diners, a couple of gas stations, a grocery store and I’m sure there was a little bit more but we drove right through town and exited out the other side. Chris was nice enough, and probably…