Lake 22 4-27-19

AppleWatch Stats:  5.87 miles RT (did not circumnavigate the lake), 1458 ft of elevation gain.

After being turned away by avalanches a few weeks ago, I decided to tackle the hike to Lake 22 again this weekend.  Not too long or steep for Cedar and Luna, and a little bit of elevation gain for me.  It looked like it was supposed to rain in the morning, but I didn't want to deal with the hordes of humanity that come later on, so I left early.

What a world of difference it was to see the trail completely snowless right up until the last 1/4 of a mile or so.  It was cloudy, but not raining, so I was doing great.  Also I was only the 5th car in the lot, so I knew the trail would be peaceful for the most part.

In addition to skunk cabbage blooms, there were trillium blooming

I stepped off the trail a bit to get to this gorgeous loud falls that was thundering down in a froth of white.  All of the waterways were more robust with all that melting snow.

About halfway up the sky got darker and darker and then broke open with tiny round balls of stinging hail!  Some people call this sleet I guess.  I threw my raincoat on, and had to keep brushing it out of Luna's wool.  Things fall right off Cedar, but everything that touches Luna sticks to her.  I tried to find a root ball or tree that would shelter us a bit, but didn't find anything in that section of trail.

By the time we got to the switchbacks across the slide area, the hail had stopped and just the occasional large snowflake was swirling down here and there like white feathers.  Again, it was amazing to look out over the valley, and look at the rocky slope and see how different it was from the treacherous snowfield I had been on so recently, punctuated with the rumbling of little avalanches.  So much nicer to cross it feeling safer, although I'll take the snow over the rocks as far as footing!

I let the dogs offleash to navigate a couple fallen trees and they ran ahead - they really blend in here!

Looking out over the valley

When we got to the lake, it was all misty and snowy and beautiful.  I only saw the three guys that I kept glimpsing ahead of us during the hike, and after they posed for some photos, they went around the lake.  I sat down with the pups and put Luna's jacket on.  The snow was picking up again and the wind was starting to blow.  I gave them some pieces of steak from dinner the night before and started on my trailmix when the snow REALLY started coming down! It was mixed with more sleet and it was blowing into my face and stinging.  I bundled up too and decided to cut our visit short.

Me at Lake 22 (it is falling snow by my nostril - not an icicle lol)

Luna begging me to hurry with her coat

Cedar begging for another piece of steak

Back down the hill!  Once we got into the shelter of the trees it was a little warmer, but the snow continued, sticking a bit to the evergreens.

In the open area you could no longer see across the valley, but as I went down toward the last switchback I could see the sun was starting to burn through.  A lot of people (a LOT!!!!) were coming up the trail now and I chatted with the first few.  We were all laughing about how we'd expected rain but ended up with snow and we were glad we were all prepared.

I couldn't stop for long.  Luna is sponge and now she shivered every time we stopped moving.  I was fine with hustling, so we hurried down into the lower forest.  There the sun did shine through and lit up every new leaf and curled fiddlehead.  It was gorgeous.

It ended up being a bit more of an adventure than I had expected, but I was glad it wasn't rain!

Camano Island State Park 4-20/21-19

This adventure involved breaking out my freshly de-winterized trailer and towing it, with Dave and the adventure dogs, to Camano Island State Park.  It was both 420 and Easter weekend, and the campground filled up fast.  Luckily Dave thought ahead and drove out to reserve a spot earlier in the day on Friday.  We didn't get the same spot, but it still had a fantastic view over Saratoga Passage and Whidbey Island.

The first evening we were there we saw a few whale spouts from humpbacks, but they didn't show themselves like they did last time.  The sunrises and sunsets were so beautiful over the water, even the muted pastel ones the crept out from around the clouds. 

There is something extra wonderful about being able to wake up and go out into a hushed dawn, with no sounds of traffic or sirens or even many other people that time of day - and go walk through the forest and down along the beach.  Cedar and Luna didn't seem to mind getting a couple miles in before breakfast either.

Camano Island State Park is really beautiful.  The sites are well-kept, and there are trees and bushes in between so you have some sort of sense of privacy and nature even though your neighbors aren't too far.  Most sites have nice flat areas for tents, and most are generous enough to pull a trailer into - even some pull-throughs. 

My trailer ended up being a little bit of an adventure on its own.  Without shore power the outlets didn't work, so Dave took a power pack for his anti-sleep apnea machine.  That only lasted part of one night.  In addition we noticed that the refrigerator, which is supposed to run on either electric or gas was choosing not to run on gas and electric wasn't an option for it.  So by the end of the weekend our cold food was pretty much room temperature.  haha  The dogs' least favorite part was when I cooked bacon and forgot to run the fan.  That little trailer has quite the smoke alarm!  Ugh.  Other than those things though, I really adore it - it's just the right size, comfortable, and I love the lay-out.

I think my favorite part of this weekend was all the wildlife.  I saw loons, white-crowned sparrows, bald eagles, gold finches, a garter snake, a mole, harbor porpoises, and more.  My time spent there left me both refreshed and wanting more. 

Franklin Ghost Town and Cherry Creek Falls 4-14-19

AppleWatch Stats:  Franklin Ghost Town: 2.6 miles RT, 304 ft of elevation gain, Cherry Creek Falls: 5.07 miles RT, 773 ft of elevation gain.

Today's adventure was supposed to be quite different.  I left the pups at home (due to expected ticks and snakes) and headed toward Ellensburg with the intent of hiking both Umtanum Canyon and Umtanum Creek Falls.  I left early and as I rocketed along I-90 I started seeing signs that said traction tires were required, chains required on large trucks, etc.  The weather was getting nastier as I went up in elevation and I didn't want to slide around on the pass or get stuck on the other side, so I turned around.

Since this is the time of year I typically go visit Romulous and James at the Franklin Ghost Town/Mine, I headed that way.  I thought the daffodils might be blooming, but they weren't.  Also, sadly a gun range has been put in somewhere near the cemetery so the nearly continuous popping of firearms takes away from the peace of the place.  Still, I was glad to have gone and not missed my annual visit.

I did see flowers blooming, bleeding heart and salmon berry flowers, as well as a little blue flower I don't know.  There were not many people up there and the ones I did run into were really friendly.

Since I didn't have my dogs pulling impatiently I took my time and wandered around looking at the rusty remnants and building foundations.  I was really bummed to see some asshat tagged most of them with red spray paint.  : (

Once I finished that hike, I decided to catch another on my way home, so I headed for Cherry Creek Falls out of Duvall.  Neither of these hikes have much elevation gain, but this one was a little longer than Franklin.  It was super muddy in quite a few spots, but there are handy streams to stick your boots in and wash that mud off.  Most of the streams don't have bridges, so you get to pick your way over.

There were flowers here too.  In addition to the bleeding heart, I was happy to see trillium blooming in the forest.  Most seemed about spent, but there were clumps here and there with fresh white petals.

There are a couple wrecked cars along this trail too. I'd love to know their story.  The first is fairly close to the road, and obviously along what is a gravel road that is now closed to motorized traffic.  The yellow one though, is a bit farther off it seems.

I was super lucky to have the falls all to myself for almost 10 minutes - not another soul there when I arrived, although I met plenty of people along the trail. Cherry Creek Falls was full and roaring, with mist coming off of the frothing cascade.

I was sad that Cedar and Luna missed the hiking since they could have done these, but it was a great day anyway.