February 20, 2017- Mt. Erie Hike

Hiked Mt. Erie on the way to Whidby Island. It's a part of the Anacortes park system. We started at the Whistle Lake trail head. On the way up, we bypassed the lake and hiked straight up. It was aabout 2.5 miles to the top of the mountain. Once we started climbing, it was a nice steady hike up. We read it was 900 feet of elevation gain.

Shelby at the top

View from the top of Mt. Erie 

Girl and her dog on the way up. 

On the way back down we decided to hike around Whistle Lake. We ended up on a very small trail and did some bushwhacking before we made it back to the main trail. Pretty lake.

While it was raining in Seattle all day, we had a dry hike. Penny had fun too. She was pretty muddy when we returned. Bath time today.

Snowshoeing at Crystal Mountain January 2017

It was a picture perfect day to do some snowshoeing at Crystal Mountain in January 2017. The boys, Mark and Shafiq, went up for a day of skiing. Jessica and I decided to join them for some snowshoeing. There is a ridge hike, about 4 miles round trip, that we hiked. We had to hike along the ski lanes for part of the time, but after we navigated that, we had the ridge mostly to ourselves. Skiers go there to get into the backcountry, but they have to carry their skis, so not many ski back there. The way back to the lodge was almost all uphill, so that's where we got our exercise!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Jessica and Erica

View of Mt. Rainier from Cyrstal

tall shadows

Getting some vitamin D when we returned.

La Push December 2016

Nice family visit to La Push for three nights the end of December 2016. We stayed in a "dog-friendly" cabin, #45. It certainly was dog-friendly. They didn't have much furniture at all.

The weather was pretty rainy, but what do you expect in December. I also wasn't feeling well, but we did make it out to 2nd beach for a nice hike.

Mark & Shelby hanging out on a rock before the tide got them.

The crew checking out a heron on the beach.

We also went out to the Hoh Rain Forest for a nice hike with Shelby.

Snow in the Hoh. Beautiful!

Beware of the bees.

On the way home, we took a detour and drove out to Neah Bay and then to Cape Flattery. Wow, how beautiful. The northernmost point in the contiguous United States.

Last Day in La Push. It was sunny.

View from Cape Flattery

It was great to get away and spend some time with family.

The Great North August 2016

August 1st, 2016 we left for our 2 week journey through the beautiful Canadian national parks and Glacier National Park.

We spent the 1st two nights in Kewlona, British Columbia. It sits on a lovely lake amidst the Canadian wine country.

Lucy, Emma, Shelby & Nate on Okanagan Lake

Enjoying the warm evening with the Einsteins

The next day we did some wine tasting. The first winery we visited was Mission Hills. It sits atop a beautiful hill overlooking the valley. Lovely wine for sure!

Selfie in the wind

We had dinner at a nice brewery and got ready to leave early the next morning for Jasper.

August 3rd we arrived in Jasper. We stayed at Whistler campground in Jasper National Park. We were able to see a few lovely rainbows from our campsite. It was warm when we arrived. Nice night for camping. 

August 4th we took a nice hike on the 5 lakes trail. It was about 8 miles round trip. We passed 4 of the five lakes. Red chairs are installed in many of the Canadian National Parks. Of course, there were two installed at an overlook of a lovely lake. 

Lucy, Emma, Shelby, Nate, Erica & Brooke

1st red chairs we saw

Last of the lakes we visited

One of many family pictures

Later that day we went river rafting on the Athabasca River. It was a class 2 rapids trip. We were dressed in wet suits as the river was very cold. It was a fun trip with some good rapid sections. Beautiful river.

Our final day in Jasper, Aug 5th, we hiked the Sulphur Skyline trail. It left from the Miette Hot Spring parking lot, about an hour away from our campsite. It was a steep hike, 5 miles round trip with 2300 feet of elevation gain. The final 1/2 mile was pretty much straight up. The trip up was worth it.

Having a snack at the top

The Large erratic boulder that was dropped by a glacier many years ago as it traveled over this mountain.

After the hike, we visited Miette Hot Springs. It was a lovely 104 degrees. There are two hot pools and two cold pools to shock your system. Nice way to end a hard day of hiking. We ate lunch at our car and had to fend off some big horn moms and babies. A few of them even attacked another visitor. He got on the table and fended them off.

Finally, we visited Maligne Lake on our way home. It's quite beautiful. We left Nate in the car and did a short hike on the Mary Shaffer Trail a short way around the lake. 

View of mountains surrounding us as we drive to the lake.

Mount Warren in the distance.

That evening we spent our last night at camp. During the night, we had a huge thunderstorm with lots of wind, rain, and lighting. Our tent got pretty wet. We had to get moving quickly the next morning, so we put away a wet tent. 

To be continued ...