Turtle convinced me that her and me and Zoe needed to go hiking today. (tough sell, I know) So we left the house around noon, sort of planning on hiking to Heybrook Lookout off of Highway 2 (near Index).

Well... since we had a really old hiking book (this was supposed to be an adventure...!) and the directions to the trail head were inaccurate to say the least... we didn't find that trailhead. We DID find a forest service road and decided to follow that and see if it led to any hiking. It ended at the trailhead for Barclay Lake. Oh, okay...we'll do that! We did find the trailhead for the one we were originally looking for on our way home.

Yes, we were acting like Tourons today, but that was intentional and part of the fun. Down the trail we go...Zoe off leash and behaving incredibly well behaved (!!!). It may have had something to do with all the treats we were giving her. She LOVES hiking! And she keeps track of us... Turns around all the time as if to say "aren't you two coming...?" There were very few people on the trail... We saw 4 other dogs (all also off leash). One was Zoe's twin and the other three were black labs.

The trail is really pretty. There are boardwalks for about a 1/3 of it, which, as Zoe found out are really slippery in wet places.  lol. She was running and fell off of them a couple of times. She's about as graceful as I am! LOL.  Trilliums, yellow violets, skunk cabbage, red elderberry and salmonberry are all in bloom, so I got my flower-fix for the day.  The rest of the trail is your typical North Cascades terrain. Rocky, muddy... wonderful.

It is about 3 1/2 miles to the lake. Beyond that the trail turns into an unmaintained mess. Social and game trails spiderwebbing all over the place. We turned around at the inlet for the lake. There is several decent camp sites at the lake. One had broken red glass (Red???) all over the place. A few downed logs to play over/under with, but the trail is in really good shape otherwise. On the way out, Turtle gave me a lesson on how to blow snot-rockets. Gross.

We stopped and had lunch at the lake and enjoyed the views of Mount Baring. (Does this mountain remind anyone else of a certain piece of anatomy??) There was a slight breeze blowing toward the inlet of the lake, making ripples in the water. Purty.

    
Three hours, 7 miles... flowers, water, trees and a little sunshine.  Starbucks on the way home for mocha frappachinos. I'm happy.

First of all, I beat Sarbar to the ranger station where we were meeting. That NEVER happens! Supposedly it was rainrunner's fault? I ended up buying a new patch for my pack and a new hiking book.  Ford swindled the ranger lady out of some Smokey Bear stickers and comic book. A quick little carpool to the VERY crowded trailhead. Why oh why don't these people know how to park!? Wankers! lol. Then after a quick change of shoes for Ford and myself, it was time to hit the trail... Ford blabbin away... At least he's developing an interest in plants and stuff.  I swear he asked me about every single plant on the trail... and was making me smell the fir needles!  It was looking the the cloud cover was going to blow over...allowing for some nice views.

Lunch was a quick one near the lake. As we sat there, the rain came in and it cooled off considerably... Brrrr... I even put my gloves on for the hike out. One thing about the Cascades that the Olympics don't have (that I think is really neat) is all the huge rocks strewn about in the trees. If I didn't want to make it to REI later in the day I would have been tempted to push to Mt. Defiance...

As we headed out, we had to cross the stream again... Ford was doing pretty much exactly what I told him to... "put your feet where I have mine..." I guess he didn't realize he should wait until I MOVED my foot! lol. So he basically misstepped because he put his foot next to mine where there wasn't room...and slip...*SPLASH!!!* Poor kid! I tried to catch him (I had his hand/treking pole in one of my hands) but he almost took me out too. He was a good sport about it though... after a minute of shock-whining (well, he IS six!) he was fine and marched on out. He did tell everyone on the trail on the way back that I let him fall in the river. Thanks.  lol.

It was a quick hike out... Sarbar and I had fun listening to butt rock and making fun of people (on cel phones, smoking...) at the trailhead while Ford got changed and I switched shoes. Then back to my car. I hope Sarbar likes the cheezy 80's cds.

THEN... I was off to the flagship REI. <rolling eyes> What a nightmare!! BUT it was the last day of the big sale... And I wanted to use my 20% off coupon. Nope, couldn't do it online because I had store credit I wanted to spend... So, after 15 minutes of trying to get parking, 15 minutes seeing if they had the sleeping bag I wanted and 15 minutes waiting in line for customer service...Bah!! The lines went all the way to the stairs!  Ahhh... $200 lighter... I have my sleeping bag and stove on order. 

So... While Sarbar and Rainrunner were freezing their butts off at Colchuck lake, we were just on the other side of the Stuart Range enjoying the sun at Ingalls Creek. 

Jbrowers and Pixie met at my house early saturday morning. Everyone else bailed due to injuries and other obligations.  We headed to the Cle Elum bakery and met up with Evanhill, his wife and girls.  After much deliberating on what to get at the bakery... YUM!    We were off to the trailhead. We saw deer, a heard of elk and an osprey before we even hit the trail. 

We got to the trailhead around 11. After getting organized and changing shoes, we hit the trail. The sun was out in full force and the wildflowers were in full bloom.  The trail follows Ingalls Creek and we were blessed with views of both the creek and the Stuart Range.      

After about a mile, Evanhill and his family turned around, but not before I had the opportunity to tell the "mousey butt" story AGAIN!  LOL. 

        
After a quick breakfast (Thanks Pixie for packing in my danish! YUM!) and coffee, we were on the trail by 9:30 or so. About 2 miles down the trail the sun came out. We only passed 2 people on the way out... and I almost stepped on a lizard that was sunning himself on the rocks. There were some hippies at the trailhead, dressed all in cotton and packing their PBR's to head into the backcountry...

After shedding our soggy socks we were off to the Ingalls Cafe,  where we met Karma Police's (could be!) freaky twin... Talking about the "revolution is coming" and how George Orwell was right when he wrote 1984... He locked the door with us inside!! Creepy!    But kinda funny too...

Then it was off to Leavenworth for beers and Cold Stone ice cream.    Then home...

This was a major call out of the Posse to meet Preacher from Ohio. 14 people and 3 dogs showed up for the potluck at Lodge Lake! 2 mile super easy hike in. We had a ton of food and really enjoyed sitting around by the lake swapping stories.

So after everyone ate and sat around gabbing for awhile, they headed back to the trailhead while myself, Pixie and Durante616 went the other way for a night in the backcountry. (I'm trying hard to win this little contest Sarbar and I have going...) We headed south on the PCT, not knowing exactly how far we'd want to hike...

Pixie and I let "the boy" (LOL) decide our route and we headed uphill... We hit the ridgeline around the middle of the day. UG. Full sun, scorching hot, dry and awesome views!  Onward and upward we go... getting rockier and seeing more flowers.

In bloom?
bunchberry (dogwood), salmon berry, strawberries, service berry, pink heather, paintbrush, subalpine spirea, arnica, shooting star, marsh marigold, columbine, sitka valerian, mountain ash... I'm sure I'm missing some...

After hiking on some forest service roads and along a ridgeline, we were at about 4 miles in at Olallie Meadows, which I still think has a lovely name.  Durante616 stepped on my shooting stars as I was trying to take a pic.  He did no damage, thankfully, and I got my pic. (He reminded me of this on the way out too! ) It was hot and buggy here, but really pretty...and we kept hiking...

Down another forest service road (lots of trailheads and hiking in this area!) past the junction to Mt. Catherine...We'll have to come back for that one... and down down down to Twin Lakes... About 8 miles for the day. While we were scoping out a place to set up camp, we ran into a couple of dayhikers that were making camp suggestions for us... "I think there's some good sites up the trail further..." and Pixie says back "oh, I think we've done enough hiking for one day." Judging from the looks on their faces, they probably thought we hiked in from the road. (about a mile) LOL.

After changing shoes and relaxing for a bit, we set up camp, noticing that the trees around us had lightning scars... right as thunder was booming around us! Yikes! The thunder was cool though, echoing through the valley we were in... The storm rolled around us and we didn't feel a drop of rain!  Someone nice had left the makings for a fire set up in the fire pit and Durante616 made us a little fire. For dinner I cooked up some Annie's white cheddar and shells, mixed with a package of tuna to share with Pixie, and she shared some wonderful three-buck-chuck wine with us! Chocolate and dried mangoes for dessert! This guy came through camp... and we thought he was just a touron at first, but no, he was a photographer... "trying to get shots of the moose that's been hanging out here..." Um...we don't have moose here.

After dinner, we all were just kinda zoning out by the fire, relaxing, telling stories before heading off to bed. Durante616 and I put out the fire (or so we thought)and the three of us headed to our seperate tents... about 1/2 hour later I heard someone get up for something... The fire had restarted itself!  Durante616 put it out completely this time. Then it was off to sleep with the sound of the creek gurgling behind me... MMmmmm...

In the morning... I slept in until I heard Pixie and Durante616 get up. Heck, I was cozy! Then I got up, went and filtered water at the pretty log crossing. Then it was coffee and breakfast... then packing up and chatting with the random people coming through camp. It was a steep start, but the trip back wasn't too bad. We had a nice lunch at about the 1/2 way point...

Out to the cars and off to the North Bend Bar and grill for grubbing food and beers! I think Pixie and I were thinking only of beer on those last few miles out...

Pixie, Durante616, SeaCoyote, Rainrunner and myself had a fanfreakingtabulous weekend!!

The trailhead is at 3500 feet. From there we had rolling hills, gaining 1200 feet or so over 5 1/2 miles to Spider Meadows. OMG    What an incredible place!    Flowers and marmots all over the place. My pics come nowhere near to doing it justice. Pixie and SeaCoyote had a little dance ala the "sound of music" in the meadows... Then it was onward and more upward to camp.

Pixie, her brother Doug, Durante616, SeaCoyote and I did a short, hot, buggy backpacking trip to Merritt Lake (Glacier Peak area). Sarbar wimped out on us and decided not to come...CHUMP!      It was only 3 miles to the lake, but STEEP...and HOT. How many times did we stop? When we got to the lake there were these scary/creepy/troll-looking "goat people" there with their pack goats. They looked like they had just come down off of the mountain (yes, I know we were in the mountains, but they were creepy!)  We got to camp at 5100 feet and set up in the dust...yeah, the dust. UG! We were so filthy by the end of the weekend! And Zoe didn't help by playing in camp, kicking up dust.

  

After tents were set up, everyone except SeaCoyote went for a little swim. Cold, but really nice on a hot day. It took me a long time to finally go in all the way...And I discovered Zoe doesn't like swimming. LOL. Doug found us a bench on the other side of the lake and swam it across to us. It didn't make a very good surf board. lol.

    

Then it was time to lounge around camp all lazy like, tellin stories and whining about the heat/bugs. It was better once we got the fire built. 

Dinner for Pixie, Doug and I was Prosecutor's Island Royale Salmon. YUM! Doug had packed in some hamburger helper (already cooked) so he had that too. SeaCoyote had some sticky rice and spicey stuff and Durante stole my ravioli idea. If nothing else, we ate REALLY well on this trip! At dinner time the wine came out and progressed into the evening of stories around the campfire. 

The stars were freaking amazing! It was so clear and beautiful out...you could see the milky way. 

In the morning, the mosquitos were even worse. Even Zoe had had enough. We ended up hiking out instead of exploring the ridgeline because of the bugs and it looked like the weather might be turning on us. So it was off to breakfast at a cafe (what was the name of it?) at Cole's Corner. 

Pixie, Turtle, Zoe, Treasure, myself and Doug (Pixie's brother) hiked in to Eagle Lake. We got a REALLY late start... like at the trailhead at 8pm or so! Most of the hike in was in the dark, up and over logs, through the bushes... (Tigger would have loved it) It was too freaking hot and some of us were too hung over from the party at my house the night before to do much hiking durning the day on Saturday. LOL! 

I was trying to identify flowers in the dark, and Doug was identifying the sillouetted peaks for us. Nice nice. We hiked through a beautiful meadow and set up camp next to the lake. Stars and the moon were out... MMMmmm... beautiful

  
We all slept in the next day. REAL Scrambled eggs and coffee for breakfast, then Doug and I took a hike around the lake while the other ladies napped and read. The water was WARM!!! We ran into some people Doug used to live/work with at the little cabin, then it was back to camp for lunch and a float in the lake. 

  

We had packed in swimming pool floaty things and all got sunburnt! It was great until the wind picked up!  Brrrrr... By that time it was getting later in the day and it was time to hike back to the cars and get some dinner. Nice quick hike out... I think we talked about food the entire way out!

Well first off, my co-pilot (Doug) made me miss the exit to the trailhead... "oh, we'll just turn around and take the same exit on the way back..." but there ISN'T one! LOL.  So we were the last ones to arrive at the trailhead. When we got there Sarbar greeted us with homemade lemon bars. YUM!  Then it was a quick change of shoes and we were off!

There were so many freakin people! We hiked through the nice cool fog, heading more and more uphill as it started to burn off. By the time we reached the place on the trail where the views started, it had pretty much cleared off. 
     
We had lunch at the Katwalk (What happened to the photo of me at lunch? It wasn't on my camera! Hrumph!) and started telling ridiculous stories and jokes as usual! Good times! Kendall meadows is beautiful, with even more views.  The Olympics have NOTHING on the cascades as far as rocks and variety of views go... I want to see more of the PCT! We dropped into the basin and down the steep trail to Gravel Lake and camp.
     
Doug caught frogs with Ford while I filtered water and read my plant book. He was also crazy enough to swim across the lake... BRRRRR!!!!  We also went scrambling around the north side of the lake and up to the ridge above the lake. Unlike Gerard, we took a more western (and safer!) route up the rock slope. You could see Mt.Baring from up there!! And just about every peak between Snoqualmie and Stevens! Amazing!! On the way back down we found a waterfall to the west. Purty. 

     

It was hot and we were getting tired, so it was time for dinner... Chicken N Dumplings! A new experiment for me. It was YUMMY! (too much water in the dumplings, but it worked okay anyway. I'll post the recipe later) Wine and popcorn was for dessert. And yes, you can repop the kernals that don't pop the first time in your JiffyPop pan!  Durante616 gave Turtle a lesson on map and compass. After a lot of really bad stories and jokes, everyone headed off to bed. Quote of the night: "It's not safe to walk and whittle..." 

I don't know what Sarbar is talking about with the bats. I didn't see any. Doug and I did watch the full moon rise!  Apparently it was 3am by the time we went to bed! Everyone's tents were soaked in the morning. The fog must have settled in on us at night?

Ridgescrambler was up and gone before anyone stirred the next morning. Sarbar, Ford and Turtle were the early birds, as usual! Sar and Ford couldn't take the bugs any longer, so they broke camp before Gerard, Doug and myself were woken by Durante616 "Rise and shine ladies" So we got up. Doug went and filtered water and I cooked breakfast. Eggs with green onion, tomato and Romano cheese. Washed down with some coffee. YUM YUM YUM!    Durante616, Gerard, Turtle and Zoe hit the trail and we were about 15 minutes behind them.

The tourons were worse on the way out than they were on the way in!  And the views were even better. We took some cheesy posed photos on the Katwalk and talked about food pretty much the whole way out! The rest of the gang had only beaten us to the car by about 10 minutes, so we must have been making pretty good time.    Then it was off to the North Bend Bar and Grill. The food is good... but the service was pretty awful. (It was good last time!)