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.

Mud Mountain Dam Part Duex

Location: Mud Mountain Dam at Enumclaw, WA

Trail: Mud Mountain Rim Trail

Elevation gain: 200-350

Duration: 1.5 hours

Miles: 3

Level: Easy

Unfortunately, we didn't get to the river even though our guide said the Rim trail would be 3 miles round trip and we would be at the river. We didn't have enough time to get to the river, and there was still a 300 feet drop to the river still. The trail was kept at a constant flat trail until we got off the rim trail and went down the steep gravel trail, hoping we came to the river. Oh, and Washington State has reached 70 degrees yesterday at 3pm!

A very narrow trail for most of the hike, it made me feel a tad bit claustrophobic.

Oh, such a beautiful day. Also, there was an annoying bee following me throughout the hike.

Hey look, a pseudo chair/toilet from a stump!

Garry's A.D.D. kicked in and knocked on the fence with a small log.

The ladybug was uber patient with me while I was taking pictures of it for 10 minutes.

Yeah, we didn't at all listen to those signs.

I am OBSESSED with lichen!
(A lichen is not a single organism the way most other living things are, but rather it is a combination of two organisms which live together intimately. Most of the lichen is composed of fungal filaments, but living among the filaments are algal cells, usually from a green alga or a cyanobacterium)

This is off the rim trail, and going down to the river. Or trying to go. This was on our way back up...super steep.

Licorice Fern!

A short hike on one of Washington's only beautiful day of the week

Last Friday was a beautiful day in Washington. And I know this is still cold, but it was in the upper 60's, and all the rain we were having made this quite a treat. I even put on my short shorts to go hiking. Erin and I made a day to hike the Mud Mountain Dam trail, and then made a spontaneous trip to Federation Forest just 15 minutes further than Mud Mountain Dam.

Erin and I couldn't actually find the trail down to the river. Just the trail to the viewpoint.

Going down, but this was me looking up at HORRID steps. :\

Prettiness.

I love fungi growing on fallen stumps

The trail wasn't too maintained, I guess. In fact, it was a little dangerous.

The view point entrance.

Erin and I just outside of Federation Forest in Greenwater.

White River outside of Federation Forest. We stopped here and had a picnic of
hummus and wheat pita bread :D

Rock hopping the White River!

Rock hopping should be a serious sport. Because in the middle of me rock hopping,
I lost balance and my right foot stepped into the river. On the shallow end though.
I love you, water proof hiking boots

One last glance. *sigh*