A Day Hike

A few weeks back Frank's parent's came to visit, and we Rovey'd them into the wilderness and took them hiking Sanitarium Style. One of our many favorite places around here is the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. All of the trails up there go on and on and on forever, but they can also be used for fun, mostly casual (if you don't count fairly quickly moving creek crossings) day hikes.

My girlies... Stunning Vistas all around. Washington is second-most in glaciers in the nation...second only to Alaska. We didn't actually make it to any glaciers this time. Hopefully soon.

It's beautiful to just be up there though, even on a hot day it's cool in the cover of the trees, and the sound of rushing water is a restful constant noise. (Unless you have to pee, of course. Then suddenly it's not so restful.)

If you're a tree, it must be a comfort to know that other trees will catch you when you fall, and save you from the dreadful tumble down the mountainside.

There are not any words I could possibly use to explain or justify the strange absurdedness seen in the below photo and all the elements thereof.

So, I will not try.

I will say, however, that this was a very preventable three-foot drop through just a patch of snow. This same weekend a girl died on a glacier stepping through snow in exactly the same way.

Just goes to show that one must ALWAYS, no matter what, be aware, use caution, pay attention and think about what they're doing--the silliest bits of inattention can kill you, or at least result in a broken something-or-other when you're in wilderness areas and engaging in wilderness activities. A good reminder.

And, the wildflowers were pure bliss--I included too many in this post, but I actually didn't blog about half of the ones I took on this day. You're welcome.

Our friendly water-break buddy.

Me and my sweetie. :-) We love it out here.

We waded through several creeks (read: freshly melted snow) this day...finally we turned around at one that was running too deep and fast for us to feel like heading through, only to turn around and come back a few minutes later. Our kids were, as always, pretty much troopers.

Heading through the dark woods... Interjection: I love this man. :-)

And then popping out here and there to views like this doesn't get old.

I was instructed to look like Captain Morgan one minute, and the Lara Croft the next. I like to think I got a little bit of both in this picture. Ha!

We were here.
So much water... wow, SO much water. Creek after creek after river overflowing their banks. Wish we could send some of this water to places that desperately need it in this country!!
And, one of my favorite pics from the day.