Little Si

Another day off work, another hike. Last Friday we hiked Little Si, near North Bend. Little Si is overshadowed (literally) by it's larger neighbor, Mt. Si, but it still turned out to be quite the hike. It was a little tough, and although I know difficulty level is subjective, I would not have called it "easy" as our guidebook had. Definitely worth it with the really great views from the summit, however.

The terrain was different from most of the hikes we've done together. This hike had a lot of rock, dusty paths, different plants, and a less dense forest. We did not, however, have to climb any rocks like Rob is faking here:

That silly business is left to these shirtless men:(what I want to know is, how does the rope they use to climb get up there in the first place!?)The rocks we climbed were more like this, thank goodness:


The summit:

Rob at the summit, with Mt. Si in the background. Because of the weather, we couldn't see the top of Mt. Si. It might have been worth it, with the effects the clouds had. Vampire-esque.
The overhang was thrilling.

For Rob, not so much (not the biggest fan of heights).Totally worth the view.
After conquering Little Si, we headed to Snoqualmie Falls:

We are not super two-hikes-in-one-day-ers, so lucky for us, we had recently been told the secret of the parking lot at the bottom of the hill to the falls. This boardwalk is the only "hiking" we had to do to view the beautiful Falls:Also part of the boardwalk to the falls, and a lot like how prison must feel:

A very wonderful day, oh how we love summer (even overcast Seattle summers)
And oh how I love you, best hiking partner ever.

Gazaam Lake Hike

A couple weeks ago we took a hike with Simon and Torsten over on Bainbridge Island. Now one might think that the quality of hikes might not be too high on such a small, flat and elitist Island, and you are probably right. But it turned out to be a fun afternoon with the boys.

The whole time we were worried about the coyotes and owls -- spooky scary!

So the guidebook told us that the hike to Gazaam Lake was about 2 miles and that once we got there, we would want to spend some time wading in the water. While on the trail, I saw a body of water about 500 feet into the hike, and thinking that it couldn't be Gazaam Lake, I continued on convinced that it would be later on the trail.

So we walked...


and walked...


and walked...

and talked...

About the time that I thought we were going to hit the lake, we actually hit another trailhead and an exit for the trail. Figuring that we must have missed the turn somewhere, we ventured back until we ran into the lake that I saw at the beginning of the trail.


We figured that this must be the wading spot, so we let the boys wade. Then we heard a scream and found this:


Rescue was needed. Best part of the video: Rob Screaming, Torsten: "This is not how I expected my hike to go", Simon: "This is awesome" and "I wanna walk on the wood, too!"



Torsten was a little dirty after that:


But we smiled to make Mom think we were having fun:


We spared Torsten the duty of stripping down to get in the car, but we did make him sit on the blanket.

Wallace Falls Hike

Being a teacher certainly pays off during the summer...like when Monday rolls around each week, I get to say to Steph: "What do you want to do today?". Well last Monday we decided to hike Wallace Falls-- a great hike near Stevens Pass on Hwy 2.

Wallace falls is about a 5 mile round trip hike that has 3 waterfalls. The trail markers say "moderate" and I would agree. It has a lot of uphill climbs, but enough flat straight aways to give you a little bit of a rest.

Here we are at the Lower Falls:

After the Lower Falls it gets a little harder as you make your way up to the Middle Falls. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see there. And there really isn't even a place to sit--there is just a place to pose:


Here is a viewpoint of the Upper Falls (I think):



The view from the top was pretty cool ("I can see my house from here -- If I lived in Gold Bar or Sultan"):

There was also much danger to be found:

Even more dangerous:


Overall it was an awesome, tough hike that made us thirsty for more. It had some nice challenge to it, but you could do it in 3 hours. Check it out if you are looking for a challenge.

USA

I want to post some of our pics from the 4th of July - only a month late. Alicia posted pictures of all the family and fun - so there's just a few of those here.

I love this one of Aidan. Everything's more fun with him around.

We've been coming to Kayak Point for Independence Day for over 15 years. For the last 5 or so, my dad has made sure we get the same covered shelter. We're picky - and suckers for tradition.

Some kayaking happened, but not by most of us. Kayaking used to be the main event of the day, but that's changed and for the first year, my dad left the majority of kayaks at home and just brought 2 of them. I think this red one was the only one used. I guess we're not such the suckers for tradition.

Greyson starting something with the seaweed. He should watch out...

Wait for it...

Nice one, Grandpa Bruce.

Our friends, the McDonnels, joined us at Kayak Point, which was really fun for us. They brought baby Collin who didn't quite enjoy his first dip in the Puget Sound.
That evening, to honor our great country we went to a tribal casino. Then, to put a cap on our celebrations, we went to a parking lot carnival to ride the ferris wheel.

Rob was pretty bummed he didn't go on this charming ride

Camping

One of my favorite sayings is "Life Scout for life". It reflects my ability to have somewhat floated through scouting without obtaining much knowledge. This summer, I have been trying to improve on my camping skills. So far, I have been on 3 trips and Steph and I just went on another one this past weekend. We also invited our two nephews (Simon and Torsten) as well as our friends the McDonnels and Braithwaites.

It was Torsten and Simon's first camping trip. So it was fun to show them some of our favorite parts of the Great Outdoors--

The excellent foil dinners (Note Torsten's red eyelid from an earlier incident with the zipline):

Cameron's 6-pack S'mores:


Giant Mexican Marshmallows for roasting:

Sitting around the fire:

Here is the youngest member of our crew, Collin McDonel, chilling by the fire:

Cameron surprised us all by being a master fire-builder/marshmallow roaster:


Right next to our campsite, there were some spots for hammocks. While a person might usually use such things to relax. Simon and Torsten found a good new use out of them.



After a good night's rest, the McDonnels and Nylands headed up the Mountain Loop Hwy to go on a hike to the ice caves. Steph, Monica, and I had done the hike when I first moved here (a post of that hike, can be found here), but I was eager to do it again, especially with the boys.

Mapping out the trail:


The log that we had to climb over on our last trip had been replaced by a new bridge. Much better:


When we finally got up to the ice caves, it appeared that much had changed. The opening to the caves were much smaller, but they were still very nice and and cool.


Simon and Torsten enjoyed carving the ice from the walls.

This is the last cave, which we actually walked in last time. I am glad we didn't try it this time because some of the wall came crashing down while we were watching.




After the hike, the boys were pretty tired/thirsty:


We stopped in Granite Falls on the way home to go to Cranky J's. It was considerable more crowded this time around, but I still enjoyed my homemade cherry vanilla coke and Green River.


Overall, it was a fun weekend and we loved the time that we got to spend with our nephews and friends. Thanks guys!