Mount Pilchuck 8/28/11

Sunday was a beautiful day for a sunny hike- pretty rare in the Pacific NW.  It was also a first date hike, which made me wonder about the wisdom of going up a dusty trail in the hot sunshine with someone I hoped to make a good impression on.  We gathered our dogs and packs and up we went.
Cedar and Nova did OK together.

The trail was steep, but not too bad.  There were still tiny patches of snow here and there melting off.  The rocks and snow patches in this picture reminded me of a Bev Doolittle painting.

The views were phenomenal.  I am very used to a nice view of clouds and mist.  This was such a treat.

Mount Baker was looking beautiful as well.  Baker is pretty spectacular and always gleaming with snow.  Maybe I will climb it someday.

The fire outlook was pretty neat, but Nova was pretty much done with the trail near the end where there was a patch of snow. She had a lot of problems with dogs on the hike, as she had no training and barked almost continuously.  It was a little nerve-wracking. 
I took Cedar up toward the tower, but the boulder scramble was a bit too much for him.  So none of us made it all the way into the tower.  There's always next time!