Ancient Lakes 2-29-20

The latest weather pattern here seems to be some nice weekdays (and some rainy ones), followed by a rainy weekend.  Desiring a non-soggy hike for a change, I decided to head over the mountains to see what was on the other side.  Dave decided to come along with Cedar, Luna and I, so we all headed out early, driving east.

We went over Stevens Pass on the way - and it was a breathtakingly beautiful winter wonderland.  The snow was coming down like mad, and there was a thick layer of snow and ice on the roadway.  If you didn't have all-wheel or 4-wheel drive, chains were required.

Once we got past that fun stretch, we wound down past Leavenworth, Cashmere, and past all the vast orchards - the sun was shining and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds sailing around - woohoo!  It looked like summertime.

The hike itself was really lovely - a sagey desert surrounded by towering, crumbling columns and knobs of rock - basalt?  Definitely igneous.  The only sound was our footsteps and the cry of ravens.  It was so peaceful.  Now and then we did pass other hikers or mountain bikers, and they were all really nice and happy to also be out in the sunshine.

After about 2 1/2 miles we reached the ancient lakes area, and the farthest lake agains the bluffs had a waterfall pouring in.

We sat down and ate our lunch where we could see and hear the falls, and while we were eating, we saw a beaver swimming around in the lake.

On the way back there was a particularly large chunk of rock that had either fallen from the nearby cliff or possibly used to be connected and the material in between had eroded away.

We drove back through Snoqualmie Pass, as the conditions there were better than Stevens, so ended up doing both a loop hike and a loop drive.  What a great day out!

Westport WA 1/24-26/2020

After finding out that some of my family members were planning a trip to the coast on my birthday weekend, Dave and I agreed that this would be an awesome opportunity to crash their clamming trip for some ocean and family time.  On Friday after work, we headed to Westport, WA.  We hadn't picked the destination and had never been there but my cousin recommended a dog friendly hotel, and we were up for the adventure.  We stayed at the Mariner's Cove Inn - it was not on the beach, but was dog friendly (for a fee), and the owner was really nice.  It was also pretty cute, with a stream flowing through the property, a covered bridge and lots of outside seating.  I should have taken some pictures of it.  I would stay there again - it was in a nice central location.

My birthday was on Saturday, and started with a nice early espresso from the Cptn Jack's Espresso, yum!  Then, as soon as it was light, Dave and I took the dogs to the Westport Lighthouse State Park.  They have a really nice paved trail through the dunes, with some social trails to the beach, little lookouts, benches and social trails into the woods/wetlands on the other side.  Lots of exploring is possible here.  We just walked down to the end of the paved trail and then back on the beach.  It was so fun!  Here are a ton of photos!

After that we went shopping downtown in some of the little gift shops and had a delicious breakfast at the Blue Buoy.  We could hear sea lions, but didn't see any - we did see this cute seal in the harbor.  I love that it is off season.  I don't love crowds.  I also loved that although it was supposed to be rainy and windy this weekend, it was just cloudy and mild.  We really lucked out and could spend almost all our time outside.

Another cool feature in this rustic little down is their aquarium.  The two docents working there, were incredibly knowledgeable and friendly.  They really made our visit there the best, since flood waters had clouded up the aquariums a little.  It was almost eerie seeing the cool local fishes swimming through the gloom.  The other cool thing was they allowed dogs in.  Cedar was more excited about trying the shrimp and small fishes they were feeding the resident fish (and we got to feed them too! it was fun!), but Luna actually looked into the aquariums at the fish and was interested in seeing them swimming.  Her favorites though were the 3 ducks that live at the aquarium.  She was polite to them, but I think she wanted me to let her in there with them haha.  I wish I had more photos of the aquarium too!

That night we went to the clamming beach while it was still light just to check it out, and I left my fanny pack on a bench at the parking lot there.  We realized it was missing when we got back to the hotel and drove back to the beach.  By then it was dark and we were trying to find two large trucks that were in the parking lot when we were - we drove down the beach where there were dozens of other vehicles driving and parking so the people could get out and go out into the wet sand at the edge of the waves to dig razor clams.  It was wild seeing all those lights bobbing around everywhere. Amazingly, Dave flagged down a ranger and the people had not only found the pack (which had in my money, ID, and credit card as well as my camera), but had turned it in!  It was such a relief and good ending to a nice day.  We found them and they tried to refuse a reward.

After the we ate delicious pizza and had a beer at Blackbeard's Brewing Company.  I had a really unique and yummy mead drink there instead of a beer.  It was a great ending to a really busy and fun day!

On Sunday we drove down the coast to Tokeland.  There we had breakfast at the Tokeland Hotel and Restaurant.  There were deer on their grounds and hummingbirds coming to their feeders.  Great and unique food!  Then it was time to check out the ocean one more time and part ways.  What an incredible weekend!

Lake 22 01-20-2020

Today was overcast but not raining, at least to start with, so I headed up early to Lake 22.  I didn't bring Cedar and Luna because I knew it was going to be too cold for their feet in all that snow.  It was snowy from the trailhead all the way in.  The only places that were clear of snow were running water.  It was beautiful though.

There were several trees down across the trail from all the snow and winds.  One I slithered under and the other was a huge root ball blocker along with the tree - looked like it had been part of a small slump/landslide there.  That one required leaving the trail and going around.

There are also a few waterfalls along this trail.  The best music!

I thought this fungus looked like a little face made out of melting toasted marshmallows.

I didn't see any wildlife other than this happy little wren.

When I got up above the trees into the 4 switchbacks that traverse the slide area, I was surprised that even on such a cloudy day there was a beautiful view!

When I got up to the lake, I was surprised at how much snow there was!  The sides of the bridge, which normally you can rest your elbows on, were more at ankle height!

The lake was covered with snow and ice - it had a little bit of a bluish tinge in places.  It was so pretty and peaceful.

I had brought hot water along in my extra pair of socks, and used it to make ramen noodles!  It was maybe an odd breakfast, but delicious to eat hot noodles in the snow while looking at the frozen lake and listening to the occasional crack and rattle of small avalanches up on the cliffs.

There was a lot of postholing and slipping by me, but my yaktrax and poles kept me pretty much upright the entire snowy hike.  It was too much for my traction though - I had a casualty.

Happy hiking!