Chain Lakes

What an interesting few days.

We had been planning our first ever hike in camping trip for months.  We acquired gear in fits and starts (Yaaayyyy REI garage sale!) and we acquired knowledge at about the same pace via books, blogs, websites and the like.  Finally, the time arrived.  A quick check of the weather forecast dampened our spirits a bit.  The remarkably dry and sunny weather was about to come to a close.  We had initially planned a one night outing, just for practice.  Then, a friend announced she could come and we pushed it out to two nights and she would be there the second night.  Then, she could make it the first night and we all decided to stay two nights.  It would be us and Ruthie and her kids.  Couldn't be more awesome...right?  Well, the forecast called for a cool down and rain on our first night and then even colder with snow on our second night.

Yeah.

Snow.

So we worked on getting a few last minute cold weather things.  We weren't really planning on camping the snow yet.  That seemed a little more advanced a challenge than us rank beginners should undertake.  Not to be dissuaded though, we took off.  Sarah and the boys and I would arrive first and find a campsite.  Ruthie, driving from much further away, would find us.

And we were off.

All our gear.  Much heavier packs for everyone this time.

Snow?!?  Even Satchel thinks they're crazy.

Loaded for bear and ready to go. 

The trail skirts around the side of table mountain and then into the valley behind.

Pack only the essential gear

It's going to be a long, hot, and dusty hike.

Pretty though.

Sweet baby overshadowing Mt. Baker

Mt. Shuksan looks cool.  The lowest glacier is right by Lake Anne

Over the ridge, we descend into the valley.

Finding new views of Mt. Baker and the glacial melt.

Going down.  That is the first of the chain lakes.

We got down and passed the first camp area.  It was full.  So we decided to hike further and see if the next was full...it was and the next, and the next.  Camping is first come, first served and you are only supposed to camp in the designated areas.  So we hiked back again to the first lake and found a designated camping area tucked was up and far back from the water.  By that time, we were just glad to find something.  We set the kids out to watch for Ruthie and the gang while Sarah and I started setting up.

I was too busy figuring everything out to take many pictures of the set up.  Before long, Ruthie and Co. arrived and all was furious activity to get everything together before dark.  We got it though.  Then it was time to cook.  Sarah had pre made tons of food for the trip.  All we had to do was collect and boil the water.  We even had a little surprise.  It was Ruthie's birthday!

Some mountain goats decided to pay us a visit

Not too close of a visit though.

Sun going down, moon coming up.

Sarah and the alpenglow

We cooked and ate and got ready for bed.  While we were eating, a headlamp walked into our campsite and asked if we knew of any other campsites in the area.  We told it we didn't, but they were welcome to come into our area, there was room.  It seemed suspicious of our dogs (Satchel was with us as well as Ruthie's puppy Sweet Pea) and our two woman one man living arrangement.  It eventually left and camped right down by the water.  Not very leave no trace, but I understand.

So we ate Ruthie's rehydrated cheesecake mush and sang happy birthday!

YAAAAYYY MUSH!

Gtting dark, and spooooky.

Crazy kids.

Time for bed.

I'm not gonna lie to you.  It was a rough night.  Several things conspired to keep us from getting any sleep.  Max's sugar level kept dropping due to the activity level of the day and we kept having to wake up and check it and then feed him something. We forgot to close the vents and had a nice, constant cold breeze through the tent.  It did indeed start to rain, heavily at times. And so on and so on.  Sarah and I had terrible headaches and were not well rested when we woke up.  Ruthie didn't fare much better.

We woke to a different world.

You can see the headlamp's campsite.

Those are our tents way up there in back.

After the night we had, we decided to cut the trip short.  If it was going to get colder and less comfortable, we probably weren't ready for it.  And we certainly didn't want to be trying to find the trail on loose scree fields in freshly fallen snow.  We packed up most of our stuff and decided to hike around a bit before heading out though.  Ruthie and her kids hadn't even seen the other lakes.  So we set out.

Iceberg Lake

The Crew

Nut Jobs

The trail winds on

Hayes Lake, I believe.

And, being us, we searched for mushrooms.

There were little ones...

And big ones.  Too wormy to eat though.

There were colorful ones and little brown ones.

These guys were everywhere.

Eventually though, we had to head back to camp and hike out.  Of course, by this time, we all felt better and the weather had warmed a bit.  We entertained thoughts of staying the night.  Alas, we had already packed up much of the gear before the hike.  It was probably wiser to leave.

Ruthie with her version of Monster.  And the indomitable Sweet Pea.

Maybe we shouldn't stay another night.

Going

Going

Gone

We made it back to the vehicles and drove home.  None of us felt to great.  I developed a fever for the first time in years.  The next day, the storm blew through with high winds knocking over trees and we lost power.  Luckily, in the RV, we still had house batteries and propane.  We got to keep our lights, stove, and refrigerator. I called in sick to work for the first time in decades.  We got power back yesterday.

All in all, I call it a success.  We went, we stayed and we exercised good judgement in not staying the extra night.  The updated forecast called for 9-13 inches of snow driven in by 30-50 mph winds.  With me sick on top of it, could have been ugly.  With the weather turning early this year, it might be the last chance for an overnight trip this year.  We learned a lot and will be ready for next season.

Lake Anne

We did a hike yesterday.

It was cool enough that I wanted to go hang out at the lodge just to tell everybody about it.

We have been gearing up for this hike in camping trip we have planned later in the month.  We have been acquiring gear and learning skills and so on.  We decided yesterday to go out on a practice hike and test our stuff.  We chose a hike that was a bit of a stretch, but figured we could just turn around early if we wanted.

We didn't want.

The start...all enthusiasm.

The hike starts at a trail head near Artists Point.  It descends 900 feet into a valley and then traverses the valley floor toward a ridge on the other side.

And down we go.

Beautiful day for a hike

Look at all the thimble berry bushes!  Too bad they were all gone.

Hiking the valley floor

There were mushrooms.

He didn't eat it.

Down in the vallllleeeeyyyy, the valley so low.

Just for pretty

Then, after three miles or so of hiking the valley floor, we started up.  900 feet up to the top of the next ridge.

Our target is the low point in the saddle up ahead.

Ankle twisting scree field

Mt. Baker

From halfway up the far ridge looking back to the parking lot

I'll zoom in a bit.  Artist point on the left, table mountain behind it.

It was steeper than it sometimes looks

Finally, we crested the ridge and were rewarded with our first views of Lake Anne.  It was beautiful.

Keep walking a little bit though, and the real views show up.

Mt. Shuksan and the lower Curtis glacier

The roar of the waterfalls cascading of the mountain was awesome.

Michael didn't pause for long, he wanted to get down to the lake and jump in.

Both the kids swam.  I was too busy filtering water and cooking to get in.  Sarah was too.  We didn't have much time.  As it was we were looking at finishing the hike back in the dark. At least we brought headlamps.  Unless, of course, I pack mine away in a weird location and can't find it when I want it. 

Not a bad little picnic spot.

Love that person standing right where the lake drops off to nowhere.

Long hike, hungry kids.

We got our camp stove working, cooked and ate and filtered water for the return trip.  There wasn't really much time to spare.  Tired, but happy, we packed up and headed back the way we came while we eyed the tent campers enviously.  What a gorgeous place to spend a beautiful summer night. 

Lower Curtis glacier with some of the smaller waterfalls

Then it was time to head back.  The light was changing.  I knew we would be back in the wooded area when all the sunset stuff started happening and didn't think we would get much in the way of pictures.  So, after we crossed Swift Creek, I packed the camera away.

Bye Lake Anne!

Going down.  You can see the return destination in the saddle across the valley

Miles to go before we're through.

Scree fields going down too.

I just like this one.

Tough hiking kid.

After I packed the camera away, we hiked on for a bit with the sun dropping fast.  Sarah told me to turn around and look.  I had to pull the camera out one last time.

Alpenglow

Then we finished the hike.  8.2 mile round trip, 2200 feet of elevation gain, almost 8.5 hours.  By a six year old and a nine year old carrying their backpacks.  They did it with only minor complaints about being tired.  They never quit and never tried to.  I am so proud of them.

Tired, but happy.

Checking in, with pictures!

Wow, where to begin. 

It has been a delightful whirlwind of visiting friends and relatives.  We are still in the campground with no wifi or sewer connections.  Life has its little challenges.  I find myself waiting for laundry to dry and wifi at the lodge.  Let us catch up, shall we?

We had my sister Michelle in town for a week.  We did the Tough Mudder in Whistler, it was great.  We also took her up to Artist's Point to see the mountains and Larabee State Park to see the ocean and Deception Pass because it is pretty.  Then she had to go...and we were sad. 

Then, a few days later, my mom came in to town and we were happy again.  She stayed fora  couple of weeks.  We took her to Artist's Point, and Deception pass, and North Cascades National Park and up into Canada to see the Golden Ears Provincial Park.  Pretty cool.  But, alas, she had to leave as well.  And we had a sad. 

Then, a couple of days later, our friend Ruthie came to visit!  She stayed for a couple of days and we went up to Artist's Point and this time climbed Table Mountain.  It was great.  She left...sad...only a day or two though.

Then my brother Brian and his family Barbara, Deanna and Melanie came to visit for a week.  They rented a lake house near the RV park.  We went and saw Artist's Point, climbed Table mountain, went to Deception Pass, went to Canada and crossed the Capilano suspension bridge and they even went to Seattle and on a whale watching tour.  I had to work for those last two, no biggie.

See...busy. 

Lots of pictures though.  Some really good ones too.  I don't have a ton of time or bandwidth, so I have selected a few of my favorites.  It is good to be busy.  We are sad everyone is gone, but might get a visitor from Houston next month.  Something to look forward to. 

A cloudy Mt. Shuksan from Artist Point

The Twin Sisters with Mt. Baker peeking out from behind.

Three levels of family with the Liberty Bell complex behind at  Washington Pass.

Deception Pass with flowers

Sunset on the water in the San Juan Islands.  Need to crop it, no time!

Brother and kids overlooking Samish Bay

Pretty Lupine on Table Mountain

Love my Wild Mountain Momma!

Horseshoe Bend Trail, Nooksack River

A visit we will always remember. 

See No, Hear No, Speak no, with Deanna and the boys.

Laundry is ready!  I'll try not to be so long next time.

We are trying something new

There's nothing quite like adding a few additional challenges to your existence.  Really, it helps spur growth. 

Yeah.  That's it.

So, the RV park where we were staying decided it no longer wanted long term people in the short term area.  There is a longer story blog post in that little incident, but it will have to wait.  Regardless.  We decided to extend here in beautiful Bellingham, WA.  Then our RV park told us we couldn't stay.  It is the high season here.  There are NO other RV spots.  It was something of a dilemma.  But, we searched and scratched and figured. 

So now we are dry camping.  Yep, no sewer connections.  No WIFI either.  It is interesting.  When we need to dump water, I transfer it into a portable container and haul it to the dump station.  We are turning this into a great lesson for the kids on water conservation. 

The park is beautiful though, with lots of trails.  Inconvenient, but beautiful.  Beauty often is inconvenient.  You just decide it is worth it. 

So, posts may slow for a while, but we are still here.  I am trying to work on a major update for the website too.  Things will be busy even if they don't always look that way.  We will try to get back to pretty pictures soon.  I'm going to work on adding some useful information too. 

Stick around.