Another 4th of July Hike... This one was packed with kids, dogs, families, cars parked 1/4 mile back along the road. Great day! Hazel got to walk on her own part of the way back, and dip her toes in the river...
Lake Annette used to be one of Super Mom's regular trips. She's hiked it a dozen times easily, and knew where we were every step of the way. And this hike has had the most steps yet.
We were supposed to meet our friends Kim and Tom at the trailhead, sometime around 10:00. But Hazel decided it was time to grow her first tooth, and she kept us up -- we were barely moving by 9:00 and no breakfast yet. It ended up being 2:00 before we were on the trail, and we finally passed Kim and Tom half way in as they were hiking back out.
Wow! What a spot. And Super Mom was indeed super, making it up the most strenuous hike yet, since before pregnancy!
It helped that Stella, our friends' 5 year old daughter, kept going in spite of complaints...
This one was a thigh-burner for the first 3/4 of a mile, climbing a thousand feet straight from the car. We stopped for lunch in some boulders at the top of the steepest part, and thankfully it flattened out a bit after that.
But the last 1/2 mile was covered in snow, just 2 days from August. Crazy.
After last week's slog, we decided to keep our 4th of July hike a simple stroll. We've now identified several hikes so easy we had never bothered to actually do them. First up: Franklin Falls.
The wild thing about Franklin Falls is its location: in the middle of Interstate 90. Quite literally, Franklin Falls is between the eastbound and the westbound lanes of I-90, just west of Snoqualmie Pass. I have driven through the pass dozens of times, and not known it was there!
Our first attempt at a more strenuous hike, this one was on a hot sunny day east of Snoqualmie Pass, and started right out climbing skyward.
Gorgeous day, great to be out, but a bit too steep for being out of condition... turned back after crossing the first clearcut, too much sun... We'll come back another time.
Long overdue for another real hike. Thanks to the WTA site, we found this hidden, quiet trail right next door to the over-crowded Rattlesnake Ledge.
A 3 1/2 mile round trip, it was Hazel's first hike facing forward, and she was transfixed most of the way up but a bit overwhelmed by the top. So Jill sat down and gave her a snack, right in the midst of a really nice view... It was a cloudy, overcast, coolish day but not a drop of rain and quite the pleasant outing!
It was the first warm sunny day of a very chilly spring, the first day to exceed 60 degrees. We packed up and hit the road at our usual noonish start, and went for a drive down to Tacoma Narrows bridge, giving Hazel a nice nap along the way.
At just shy of 11 weeks old, Hazel went on her first hike. It was a nice stroll through the woods up towards Bridal Veil Falls, just outside Index, Washington. Mid March, early season, lots of snow but 49 degrees at the trail head when we started...