Sunday, July 10, 2011

4th of July Weekend - Hwy 20 to Northeastern Washington

For the 4th of July weekend, Justus, Adventure Dog and I headed to NE Washington to visit my Dad, brother, sister and her husband.  The weather was terrific and we took Hwy 20 which is a pretty drive from start to finish.  Much more beautiful than I-90 in most places.  We stopped to camp at Lone Fir campground Friday night and enjoyed the sound of a nearby creek for a lullaby.  I got to try out my new tent too!
The next morning we hiked to Cedar Falls, which had a trailhead not far down the highway from there.  It was a pleasant 3.5 mi round trip hike.  Not much elevation gain, and it was warm even in the morning, as the sun not only hit the trail, but reflected back off the hillside. 

We hiked up the trail, hearing Cedar Creek far below and birdsong and enjoyed many wildflowers all the way- lupine, Columbia lily, Indian paintbrush and penstemon among others.




Cedar Falls itself was beautiful as well, and we were glad we had done this nice leg-stretcher before continuing on.



Once at my Dad’s we spent several relaxing days fishing, eating, panning for gold, canoeing and just sitting around chatting and relaxing.  It was a rejuvenating weekend.  We saw deer, turkeys, osprey, eagle, beaver, muskrat and turtles.  The water level was really high, which made things a little different.  The pontoon raft below is captained by my brother, Jim, and in the canoe it’s Me, Justus and Cedar.  Poor Cedar got a fish hook in his chest over the weekend.  It didn’t seem to hurt him to pull it out and it healed nicely.  Luckily it was a new hook with no rust. 



The last night we were there we all went up and enjoyed spending a couple hours freezing and being eaten by mosquitos while watching fireworks.  Happy 4th of July everyone!

1 comment:

  1. Great pictures! I love that you got some video of fireworks. People were setting some off yesterday while Mom and I were out with Odin. Stupid people. It was too light out to see them anyway.

    I'm so glad we could get together for a nice long weekend. loved it!

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