au revoir for now!

Hello latest readers!

I've been missing in action because I am now stationed in wordpress. Please bookmark it. Well, since then I spent the first day of Summer hiking at Cougar Mountain, where I did the Coal Creek Falls trail. I went too close to the falls and ended up biting it right on my tail bone (which is still healing). I also went back to the forests of Evergreen State College and went all the way down to the Eld Inlet, then went up a different trail, and ended up doing a little bit of street hiking. Last weekend I took my sister to Snoqualmie Pass to hike the Franklin Falls trail for her birthday. Washington's Summer finally hit the 80's! Although I'm absolutely miserable at any temperature past 70. Oh, a friend and I also went to the Olympic National Park (no Twilighters allowed) to Hurricane Ridge where it was still packed with snow. So we went to the Sol Duc Falls trail. Absolutely beautiful. I spent the fourth of July with friends, and ended my night early at 10:30 with scared cats close to my side.

I've been busy trying to save up money for college, planning trips, working, having too much of a life to keep up with house work, and then doing a lot of house work when my to-do list starts piling up.

Here are some pictures from the past month!

Eld Inlet at The Evergreen State College

Oh, Evergreen nudists and your tomfoolery!

Eld Inlet

Franklin Falls at Snoqualmie Pass

Momma's eggplants. Spent the day being educated on making my own veggie garden by her :)

Parent's chihuahua, Casey, basking in the 70 degree sunshine.

Fourth of July's tank wars!

Me Casey-sitting today :)

Me hiking Sol Duc Falls trail!

Mmmm...Sol Duc Falls

Sol Duc trail head

Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park

Tree pose at Hurricane Ridge

Took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island to get to the Olympic Natl Park!

going up Sol Duc Falls trail

Coal Creek Falls, right before I hit the ground on my butt

Nike Horse trail to Cave Hole trail to Coal Creek Falls trail. Phew.

Two active volcanoes in two days.

(Click the panorama for a bigger view)

A few good things and a few bad things about Mount St Helens. Good things: it was more amazing than I imagined. The weather was GORGEOUS, and I'm so happy Garry and I waited until the weather cleared up for us to go. Bad things: The road leading up to Harmony trail was closed until Early June (and it's early June! Hello!?) because of how high the elevation is, and there was still snow. Therefore, leading us to put this trail to a halt. Oh, and we spent the night in Kelso. We went in a restaurant, and I was the only colored person there. Awkward much?

However, Mount Rainier wasn't too far away. And it was on our way home. After much debating with Garry, we drove there, and stopped at Paradise. And you know, Paradise was COVERED in snow. No, not just a few feet, and believe it was about 15 feet. And since it was sunny Mount St Helens, we were wearing our shorts. And since there was no way for us to change, we went exploring in the snow with bare legs.

The incline was steep. And normally that wouldn't bother me much, but I was trying not to fall or sink in the snow. I had to keep rhythm. Going up I was digging my toes in, and on the way down I was digging my heels in. I wasn't a heel-toe-heel-toe normal walk. And there were cross country skiers, snow shoers, and even one snowboarder going down the path we were taking up. All the more reason for me to practice hiking steeper inclines so Garry and I can go Winter snow shoeing and camping :)

Geological scratches

Mount St Helens and Toutle Canyon

Garry and I on the Boundary Trail #1 with Mount St Helens and Toutle Canyon in the background

Beautiful 80 degree day on Boundary Trail

Turning back

It was SO amazing to walk through a pseudo-desert like trail.

And since Forest Road 99 was closed to Spirit Lake, we went to Iron Creek Falls instead.

Iron creek falls.

Me and the plunging and raging falls

At Mt Rainier, and I conquered!

You try hiking on top of dense snow with just hiking shoes

Toes in first.

Tatoosh Range in Paradise Valley photo by Garry.

Sunday May 22nd, 2011: Federation Forest State Park hike

Location: Federation Forest State Park in Greenwater, WA

Trail: White River trail

Elevation: 100-200

Duration: 1 hour

Miles: 1.5 miles

Level: Easy

I wasn't at all disappointed with the spectacular views at White River, because it made for an amazing picnic. However, I was a little disappointed on the level of the trail, and how short it was. Federation Forest does offer harder and a lot longer trails, but I am very snobby and love hiking next to bodies of water. Access to Federation Forest is incredibly easy, and I will come back for the other trails. I will also come back for those trespassing "hidden" trails I just adore so much as well. I was also incredibly disappointed that I didn't get to see the cute gnome that greets happy trail goers (No, seriously. There is a garden gnome that lives in Federation Forest). To much rumors and everyone getting my hopes up for decent weather. There was sun peak! Some cloud coverage, but that does not bother me.

Rocks along the trail near the river.

Crooked bridge.

Fungi!

Our picnic spot! :D

LICHEN!!