Henry & Dad's Final Hike of Summer

The weekend before Henry headed to NYU, he and Dad went to do their final hike of the summer. We intended to do Oyster Dome, a notable hike near Bellingham on the Puget Sound Coast, but when we got up there, the 'mountain' it's on was entirely clouded in, so we scrapped that and found another plan.

Instead, we went to the Cumberland Conservation area, which is a small peninsula on the Skagit River off the road to North Cascades National Park, which has been set aside for hiking trails. It's very undeveloped, and we took a short mile-long hike to the riverbank, and then walked along the beach for another mile-and-a-half or so. 

Certainly not the dramatic hike we were expecting, but still a nice afternoon.

Jack Heads off for his Junior Year

Early Sunday morning, Jack headed off to Boulder for his third year. It was an adventurous start - after loading his car, he turned the key and ... nothing happened. After some investigation, we bought and installed a new battery and the car started fine. We double-checked that there were no problems with the alternator, which passed fine, so after about an hour delay he was off!

Hike to Malachite and Copper Lakes

Two weeks before heading off to NYU, Henry and John went hiking off Route 2. It started with a stop at Trout Lake about 1.5 miles in, and then a grueling uphill slog to Copper Lake (a very large alpine lake) and then back to Malachite Lake (a steep climb as well). The lakes were beautiful though the hike in all was a bit more than 11 miles.

Summer of Construction

Midway through August and our house is still quite unsettled with construction. The entire side yard has been taken over with construction for the new power lines, and, more disruptive, our kitchen remodel is continuing into week five of what was supposedly going to be a five-week project, but likely will be eight-to-ten. It's made for a bit of an unsettled summer, as we're barbequing most dinners and don't have much space to prepare (or eat) food, but it will (hopefully!) be over soon.

Day in La Conner

Mary Jo and John took a day to themselves and drove up to a quaint town on the water about an hour-and-a-half north of Bellevue: La Conner. The town itself has a series of shops, art galleries, and restaurants right on the water, and we had lunch at one. We also walked along the beach for a bit and then sat at another gorgeous beach and read for a while. It was a bright, sunny day and not too hot out - a very relaxing and wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Henry & John Backpack near Mount Baker

On a steamy Saturday in late July, Henry and John went backpacking near Mount Baker in the northern reaches of Washington. 

We drove up on Saturday morning, about a three-hour drive, the last forty-five minutes of which was down an unpaved forest road up into the mountains. We parked at the trailhead, loaded our packs on our backs, and started up the trail. 

After about three miles, and two hours, we reached Excelsior Pass, which crested to a beautiful view of Mt. Baker, Mount Shuskan, and lots of other mountains. We followed the ridge for another mile or so, and camped at the top of a knob with an amazing view all around. We were about four miles north of the summit of Mount Baker, and two miles south of the Canadian border.

We setup our tents, cooked dinner, and swatted away countless bugs who were, unfortunately, all around, preventing us from enjoying it as much as we could. It got quite chilly overnight, and in the morning we packed up and hiked back down the mountain. All in all a great outdoors adventure!

At the trailhead

Walking by an alpine lake

Hiking through a slope of wildflowers

Our campsite

Mount Baker in evening light

Our campsite was on the knob on the right

Sunset from our campsite