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“Enjoy this Day!” were among the first words Kim said to me yesterday and since I thought I had been doing a bang up job doing just that this entire trip, I looked at her a bit perplexed. She then proceeded to explain to me that there was nothing but rain in the forecast for days to come and this was going to be our only day of sunshine for sometime.
Kim seemed to have miraculously recovered from her cold (I knew the sulphur springs would help, just sayin) and with a weather outlook of sunshine and 50 degrees, we decided to hike Skyline Trail up to Panoramic Point in the Paradise section of the park.
We awoke at Campsite #7 in Mounthaven to sunshine:

Our campground was quirky cute:

Let me digress a bit. The day before we had taken a short trip into the park to visit the Longmire Museum which sadly was closed for the season. We did get to see a cross section of a huge tree with date markers on it which we both thought was beyond cool.

The middle tag showed the date the tree began:

The last tag shows the date it was cut down:

Hundreds of Years Old!!!

OK, back to the hike! We were past excited as we hadn’t hiked in a bit and were really anxious to get back to it. We drove through the Nisqually entrance to the park:

and drove the 18 miles to the Paradise Visitor’s Center. We drove past glacier rivers running through miles and miles of glacier rock.
At 9 miles or so, we stopped to get some pictures of Christine Falls:

Then we drove over the bridge over the Nisqually River which is fed by the Nisqually Glacier up on Mt. Rainier. I didn’t know it at the time but this would be one of the few views we would have of the mountain all day.

As we pulled into the Visitors Center,

we noted that the temperature was about 36 degrees rather than the advertised 50 to 60 degrees. Kim had the stocking cap she had purchased the day before and I decided to use the work gloves I had in the truck.

Nothing like being prepared for a 3 hour hike. In our defense, other than the gloves, we had all the other hiking essentials including our first aid kit, emergency blanket and lots of food and water.
The trail was as to be expected when hiking up a mountain, quite vertical for some time but we enjoyed the sunshine and the warmth that comes once you get moving.

As we got higher, the clouds and fog started rolling in on us

and at various points we couldn’t see too far in front of us.

So for you wildlife lovers, a brief aside. We had heard that the Marmots hibernate 8 months out of the year and were bemoaning our chances of seeing one. And, in fact, we didn’t see one, we saw about 15 of them throughout our hike. Kim spotted the first one near the trail and of course we were past excited. It actually didn’t seem to be bothered by us and almost appeared to be posing for me. OK, I got a bit too “into” the Marmots but they were just so damn cute.

We got to Glacier View which was at 3600 feet only to be informed by those coming down that we shouldn’t bother because you couldn’t see anything from the viewpoint. We decided to go up anyway hoping the clouds would shift and provide us a view or two. Sure enough, our timing was perfect!

And within a minute or so, it was gone. OK, it wasn’t gone as much as we couldn’t see it anymore.

We kept hiking and it started getting colder with snow on the ground

and then more snow.

Since it was cold, wet and apparent that we were too socked in to see much of anything, we contemplated heading on down. I am sure it will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that since we had gotten that far, we decided to proceed. After all, the clouds had cleared at Glacier View for us, hadn’t they?
And so, here is the view from Panoramic Point, 7,100 feet up and roughly half way up Mt. Rainier

We hunkered down and ate our sandwiches while watching the intrepid members of the climbing school head up the mountain in the cold with zero visibility. Apparently, being out in that kind of weather is good practice. We had planned to hike down another path but I had gotten cold, the paths were getting more and more snow packed and we did NOT have the right gear on so we decided to head back the way we came. Even though I had heard conditions up in the mountains could change dramatically in a short time, I was still amazed to experience it first hand. Just a side note, as we were headed down, we saw many, many people heading up who were not prepared for the weather. Some had shorts, short sleeves, no water or backpacks. One had on his dress shoes and work blazer. He was of particular interest because he and some of his friends went off trail earlier and Junior Ranger Kim Hodges was not amused.
Did I mention I was cold? My dollar 2.98 gloves were not helping so we hiked down fast. I only stopped to take three pictures on the way down:


We decided to venture into the lodge to get warm and toast our big adventure:

As the sun set on our sunny but not so warm day, we got one last view of the mountain

Good People! Greetings from Salt Creek Campground near Port Angeles, Washington. We have finally resumed our travels after a quick trip back to Boulder to bail water out of the basement. Words can’t express our gratitude to neighbors (The Hendricks!), friends and family for the help, support and good thoughts. We are so very lucky. We made our way from Seattle back to Port Townsend where we found Big Lil in excellent spirits and full of welcome back gifts.

A huge thank you to Stacy, Craig and Thor for everything. They served as Personal Physician, Hospitality Host, Big Lil Handyman, Tour Guide and Designated Object of Affection. I will let you all ponder who was who.
I have been struggling to process (no, Richie, not that kind of process) everything that has happened over the past few weeks especially in Boulder. I finally decided that rather than trying to blog about that experience, I would put that all away for a bit and just try to relax a bit and be in the moment. We were still a bit down because we were unable to meet up with Jacki and Bonnie as planned..love you chicks and hope you found some sunshine on the way home. The forecast had been for rain, which really is not much of surprise in this area, but we are finding that the weather rarely obeys the forecast and we have experienced surprisingly small amounts of precipitation which have had little impact on our fun as of yet.
We arrived at our amazing campground last night -thank you for the recommendation, Craig). We drove about two hours from Port Townsend and were weaving our way along a forest road when we drove right out to the edge of the ocean. There were probably eight other campers here so we had our pick of sites.

We selected one overlooking the ocean and from our front door you can see the San Juan Islands and Canada. We called it an early night mainly because someone over the past few days managed to share the gift of a nasty head cold with Kim.
We got up this am to sunshine despite rain on and off throughout the evening.

I love sleeping in the camper when the rain is falling. You can hear it ricochet off Big Lil’s metallic skin and it reminds me of the prolonged sound of BB’s hitting the floor. I love hearing everything going on outside while I am warm, safe and sleepy inside.
Our first order of business for the morning was to bring Basil Boy into the camper from the truck where we had inadvertently left him overnight in colder temperatures. During transport, Kim noticed that Basil Boy had a stow away from Stacy’s Port Townsend garden.

We extracted him from the underside of one of Basil Boy’s leaves and set him free in the grass by the ocean.
Because Kim was feeling punky, we decided to drive into Port Angeles to visit the Olympic National Park Visitor’s Center, go to the portion of the park called Sol Duc to enjoy the hot springs and call it an early day back at the campsite. Ah, the best laid plans. In the Visitor’s Center, Kim heard the Ranger say that Hurricane Ridge had and was expecting more snow and therefore, today was probably the only window of good weather available if anyone wanted to go up. Enough said, we enjoyed a scenic drive up, some cool tunnels and overlooks along with ever present National Park road construction crews. We got to the summit just in time for some snow

and clouds which obscured and thwarted my Ansell Adams intentions.

As much as I wish we would experience less rain, I love the way the clouds and fog combine to create some amazing views. Often we are driving below, through and above the clouds with the sun teasing us from various angles providing some striking visuals.
We toured the Visitor Center and enjoyed the obligatory National Park movie before heading down to soak in the springs. On the way back down we pulled over and got a wonderful view of the Dungeness Spit Wilderness Refuge.

We had hiked all the way out to the end of the spit (11 plus miles) a few days before with Stacy and Craig and it was amazing to see it from high above despite the haze.
We arrived at the Sol Duc portion of the park and quickly paid our $12, changed clothes and immersed ourselves in the sulphur hot springs.

I was convinced they would magically cure Kim’s cold. We soaked and people-watched for about an hour until we heard two of the ladies who were from the senior center saying their bus would be leaving in 30 minutes. Picturing the two of us fighting 12 “vintage” ladies in a hurry for the six nozzles in the community shower, we decided to exit the springs as quickly as we could. For the most part we were successful, but that did not keep Kim (who MUST have been delirious with fever) from befriending a number of the ladies during and after the group shower. At one point, I came in and she was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by no less than four, very prim and proper, unclothed women chatting away like they were her long lost friends from back in the day. Kim Hodges -Friend to All.
We decided to grab dinner on the way home because the cook called in sick for the night. The only place between us and home was the Lake Crescent Lodge.

It had gotten great reviews and was absolutely adorable. It featured lots of little cabins for rent and a retro main building with windows throughout for views of the lake from every part of the lodge. It had a great feel to it. People throughout sitting by the fire, playing cards, reading and sipping wine. Peg and Bill, you should stay here for one night if Olympic National Park is on your list for your spring trip.
I got a few shots of the sunset over the lake;


and we headed on back to our campsite on the ocean. Love the sound of the water right outside our door. FYI, we are out of cell phone and WIFI range here and expect to be tomorrow in Mt. Rainer. Kim keeps asking me if we are EVER leaving Washington. Here’s hoping Kim feels a bit better tomorrow (although she was a trooper today) and that our good friend, Renee had a most wonderful birthday.

It is 10:00 pm on Monday and we are both really tired but we just can not seem to let the day end. We had an indescribably beautiful day hiking Cascade Pass. The ranger recommended it and we had read on-line that if you have time for only one hike in North Cascade, this is the one you should do. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. One said, “don’t be discouraged by the road to the trail head” which turned out to be one lane, narrow and steep, gravel and eventually dirt. One said, “if you don’t hike at all, the views from the trailhead are unbelievable.” And so, they were:

Disclaimer: The pictures will not do it justice, especially since I kept bumping the settings during the hike. Richard will have to give me some hiking with your camera pointers.
We made sure we were packed up for 5 hours or so of hiking and started up. It was a 3.7 mile hike each way and I swear to you that the first 2.5 were straight up. I struggled the first 30 minutes or so mainly because I am still not in the shape I should be. It was hard to tell if I was dripping sweat or just dripping because it is so humid here. Early in the hike, we were in the rainforest and everything had moss on it.

Kim suggested we not rest too long for fear it would begin to grow on us. The beginning of the trail is extremely dark rainforest which changes to mountain meadow, boulder field and finally the summit.
We saw little wildlife on this hike. I thought I heard a bear at one point. I heard this heavy breathing. Not merely panting but a more guttural, low groaning sound like a being in severe distress. It scared the @*&#*$ out of me and I actually thought about running away from it. Then I realized the sound was in fact coming from me as I was trying to haul my happy tush 3.7 miles straight up the mountain.
As we progressed higher and higher, we kept getting better views of the surrounding glaciers. They started out above us, then as we climbed they were across from us and eventually below us:




We got to the top in about 2 hours but we would have done it sooner if I hadn’t had to stop constantly for pictures.

The view from the Summit:

We had lunch at the summit and met some nice folks from Phoenix and saw quite a few rock climbers and overnight backpackers. Headed down:

Four and a half hours later, back at the trailhead…yippee.

We had the most perfect of days and we just can’t stop smiling at what we were able to experience. I wish I could describe it and do it justice. Kim likes to say “use your words” so let me give it a try.
It was one of the most beautiful, unbelievable, exquisite, miraculous, abundant, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, wonderful, incredible, stunning, awesome, resplendent, dazzling, lovely (as my Aunt Harriet would have said), moss-covered, mushroom-filled, waterfall-laden, glacier-packed places I have seen. And even those words don’t begin to do it justice. The words I think fit it most are magnificent, sacred and spiritual. What a gift this place and this day has been!

Hi everyone,

I need to fill you in on our Seattle area adventures but we are having such an amazing time here in North Cascade that I thought I would go ahead and tell you about this part of our trip now.  Especially since we take off tomorrow to head to the Washington coast, hop a ferry and go see Stacy and Craig in Port Townsend.   We arrived in the North Cascade area on Saturday afternoon (9/7) and the weather was and has been spectacular.   After much discussion about where to camp, we scrapped our plans to camp in the National Park itself in favor of the KOA in Concrete, Washington because it had water and electricity.  To our never-ending shame, we remain “whores for the juice.”
We got a great campsite at a great price and this is the nicest KOA and campground we have visited so far.
 
As I was backing the Airstream into the camping space, (a procedure that still instills quite a bit of anxiety) I asked Kim what was behind our campsite. She went and looked and came back and said, “It is a Putt Putt course and I will kick your ass.” After dinner, that is exactly what she did. I was up 2 strokes with 3 holes to go and after she sank 2 holes in one, I was the big loser!
I did however redeem myself later that night at the Mah Jong!
We spent Sunday exploring the park. It is fairly primitive which means there wasn’t many structures, signage, lodges, etc. That combined with the lack of many visitors to the park at this time of year, made it one of our favorites. We hit the Visitor’s Center and the ranger suggested a small hike for today and a longer one for the next day. We drove to the Gorge Dam which was built in 1920 to provide power throughout the region as far as Seattle.
Then hiked over the suspension bridge (great job, Kim) and up to Gorge Creek Falls.
After our short hike, we decided to have a picnic lunch. Kim said “I am going Peg and Bill on you, I need a picnic table.” I decided to turn towards Diablo Lake because I was certain that I innately knew there would be a picnic table nearby. We ended up on top of Diablo Dam!

We decided to drive over the damn (pun intended) thing and have lunch down by the lake.

After a fabulous sandwich prepared by yours truly and some chips, we headed to Thunder Knob Trail for a 3 mile trek. The first thing we encountered is a washed out section of trail that we had to ford.

Renee….it totally reminded me of crossing that log on our hike in Crested Butte but not nearly as scary!
Early in our hike, I conducted an “oh shit there is a freakin bear” drill to ensure I was prepared and able to deploy by bear spray quickly and efficiently.

Meanwhile, back in Boulder, apparently Richard and Kellye were also concerned about a bear attack at the Longs Peak Scottish Festival.

During the hike, we saw all sorts of things growing in what essentially is a rainforest. We saw moss on trees and rocks, mushrooms of every shape and size as well as:

We hiked to the top of the trail and ended our day with a great view.
Tomorrow, we are off for an awesome hike billed as the best in North Cascade so we are beyond psyched.

Hey all,
Thanks for the great comments and encouragement. I guess it is a good thing to be able to say that we are having such a good time, I can’t find time to blog.
It has been 14 days and 1,251 miles since we left Boulder and tonight, we find ourselves in beautiful Wenatchee, Washington. You may recollect that this particular destination was not on the rather detailed itinerary prepared by my navigator and yet here we are!
We left Glacier and drove to Great Falls, Montana which was yet another sort of last-minute addition. We went there to see the Lewis and Clark Museum with my aunt and uncle which was surprisingly well worth the detour. We both really found the museum interesting. I know, we are “geeks.”
On Sunday, September 1st, we headed west again and ended up in Couer D’Alene, Idaho at the Wolf Lodge Campground for the night.

We decided to stay two nights and take a break from driving. We got caught up on our wash, hit the grocery store and saw a bit of the downtown which was really quaint. Our morning walk in the rain was productive for Kim (she found a lighter by the side of the road that still worked, discovered our one-armed snowman which is our official Idaho Mojo and spotted an osprey/nest).

I, on the other hand, found a pair of broken sunglasses, an old black sock and I saw a cow. I did rally a bit and spotted two white-tailed deer towards to the end of the walk.

But I digress.
From Idaho, the plan was to proceed to North Cascade National Park but a quick check of the weather indicated nothing but rain for the next four days. We had read about a cool winery ride from Walla Walla to Yakima but that was in the opposite direction. On a fluke, we happened upon Wenatchee which has numerous new, up and coming, wineries. We drove 3 hours, found a campsite and spent the afternoon at wine tastings talking to some really nice people. This area grows miles and miles of grapes and apples (Honeycrisp and Fuji) as well as pears and peaches.

We actually got stuck in traffic because a semi hauling apples had run into a ditch and there were apples all over the highway. We plan to hike and do some birding tomorrow. I am so glad we got off the freeway for a bit or we never would have found this area. I think we will most likely head to Seattle for two days and by then, if the weather experts are to be believed, we should have great weather to head up to Cascade.
We have been in touch with Craig and Stacy and we have tentative plans to head to Port Townsend after Cascade. Of course, as is the case with all plans, this is completely, totally and utterly open to change.
Just one other aside, we had been taking pictures of the “Welcome to ****” signs as we entered every state. I must confess to becoming a bit obsessed with these signs. Got Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana but totally struck out on Idaho. We missed it coming into the state because we were passing another RV up in the mountains when we saw the sign. As a result, I was beyond determined to get it this morning when we left Idaho and entered Washington. But sadly, it was not to be. There were “State Line” signs all over the freaking place but not an Idaho sign anywhere. No, “thanks for coming”, “see you next time”, “see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.” Nothing!
I do truly believe I will get over it but just saying “you can’t always get what you want.”
BTW, Kim has been posting the evolving Mojo enclave on Facebook. I will try to add the latest to the blog sometime soon.
Hugs to all!

Everyone told us we would love Glacier National Park (GNP) and truly words could not describe the vastness, the beauty and the special feel of this place. We were fortunate to have a wonderful visit over the past few days.

Here are the top five things I LOVED about our time at GNP:
5 – The Bears or Lack Thereof. We were told by just about everyone that GNP was overridden with bears. They even had some campgrounds were closed to tent campers because the bears were joining them for the evening happy hour. We got to Apgar and immediately purchased our bear spray. As we hiked the trails, I practiced whipping the spray out of my backpack holster and aiming at the imaginary bear’s face and away from mine. It was an odd feeling hiking with Kim as she hoped we would NOT see a bear and I secretly hoped we would. We both managed to agreed that a distance sighting was preferable to a one-on-one encounter. On our last day, I was overjoyed to hear my aunt yell “Stop the car, I see a bear.” We pulled over, jumped out and ran full out back to the spot where we had the best vantage point. I snapped a picture:

Then Kim proceeded to inform us and specifically my Aunt Peggy that what we had seen was not a bear but in fact….wait for it….anyone want to guess, especially Renee? Yes, it was a cow. While we were all disappointed, I believe the tourists in the seven other cars that pulled over when we did were among the most depressed.
4 – The Wildlife. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t score a bear, moose or mountain lion sighting but we did see plenty of other
animals thanks in part to being with a number of “nature whisperers.” (Note: The pictures look better on a full screen which you can view by clicking on the photos. Yes, I am still learning)

3-The Water. The water had melted from the Glaciers and was the clearest water I have ever seen. I couldn’t stop watching the water from the waterfalls to the lakes to the creeks.


2.The Rocks. Much like the water, I couldn’t get enough of the rocks. They were amazing colors, shapes, sizes and often smooth as silk. We spent hours looking at them and enjoying their unique characters.
1 – The Simple Thing I Loved Most About Glacier National Park was being able to share such an amazing place with three of the people I adore most. My Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bill taught me to get out, explore and enjoy absolutely every seemingly inconsequential aspect of being out in nature. The joy and wonder they find in each moment spent outside exploring the world makes me smile and is a constant reminder of the wonder all around us, each day.
My partner, Kim, shares my love of the outdoors and is not only my life partner but my cohort in our birding, nature loving adventures.

How did I get so lucky?