The views of the valley were nice, if you ignore the development. If nothing else, it was a good weather day in February. Good for finally getting out of the house and stretching those legs, even if it had to be on an over-used/abused trail. Too many people here for my taste. The trees were so GREEN! Beautiful. It felt good just to be breathing fresh air again.

This was so much fun! The location wasn't the greatest, but I got volunteered by my roomie, Katie to take her and her sister snowshoeing for the first time. We had great weather and it was fantastic just to get out of the house for a bit...No, the snowman isn't ours, but we did make snow angels with our snowshoes on! :)

This was a class field trip. Tom Hinckley rocks! :) We had a great time looking at different stands of trees and what phenomenons were occuring in them. History of fire, mistletoe, human disturbances...great stuff!! :)  I got to play naturalist and teach several people about the plants. A lot of the pics on the plant page are from this trip. I especially liked the tree that had grown over and into the rock (above). The roots are clinging to the rock, but are in the ground also. Very cool.

Would you believe this was class?! We went out there to look at serpentine rocks and how plant growth is affected by the chemical composition of the rocks. Hah! More goofing off and hiking than education (or maybe I was being tricked?) What a fun, but crazy trip! Tom Hinckley (the prof) took us STRAIGHT up Iron Peak. No trail, just follow an animal trail. Man it was steep! (see photo on right...we hiked up that). The views from the above were wonderful, but it had started to snow heavily and the wind really picked up, so we weren't able to make the summit. It was impossible to walk back down the way we had come up, so we slid down on our butts! Tom even hiked back up again to do it a second time. WAY FUN!

I finally got to meet someone from the Backpacker Forums!! Sarbar and Ford were great to hike with. I wish I had that kid's energy! He was such a little charmer. It was a beautiful sunny day, and such a treat to be able to go hiking in the middle of the week. There is a nice view of Rattlesnake lake from about halfway up the trail. At the top, there is a great view across the valley to Mt. Si. Also at the summit is a big hole that Ford tried to trick other hikers into stepping into. Little devil. This is a great 'training hike'. Steep, but not too long.

Yet another great Backpacker Forums trip with the PNW posse! Despite Sarbar's *ahem* stretching the truth about the elevation gains and losses and our concerns about having water for dinner and breakfast. :) It was hot and dry and very very dusty. We were on the PCT for most of the time, so we stayed above tree line. The weather cooperated with us, so we got some fanfreakintabulous views! Especially from the top of Norse Peak (1st two photos above). Camp looked like a gear convention and four of us had the exact same tents. I got to try out my new Ti mug and take my roomie backpacking for the first time ever. She's already talking about "on the next trip..." so I think its safe to say that she had a good time. On sunday morning we heard what I believe was a cougar scream and hiking out past Norse Peak we heard elk bugling. I love fall. :)