Mt. Rainier National Park

After coming down off of Cascade Pass, we immediately started south towards Mt Rainier National Park.  The drive from North Cascades, back through Seattle, to the White River Campground on the east side of Mt Rainier took us about four hours.  We were greeted with much different weather...cold and a light sleet as we were setting up camp for the night.  Luckily, we were able to buy some firewood and got a nice campfire started as the sun went down to stay warm.  Wednesday morning we woke up to near perfect weather, blue skies over Mt Rainier.  From our campsite, we decided to hike into Glacier Basin.  The trail followed the White River towards Mt Rainier.  The contrast of the white glaciers against the blue skies and surrounding evergreens was a beautiful sight.  After about 3 miles and an 1800' climb we arrived in Glacier Basin and of course had to plant the Vols flag...

After our hike to Glacier Basin we got packed up at camp and headed for the south side of the mountain to do a tourist visit of the rest of the National Park before continuing south towards Oregon.  Incredibly, the weather changed almost immediately as we drove around the southern edge of Mt Rainier.  The blue skies turned overcast and then a light drizzle.  Our first stop was at the Paradise Valley visitors center.  This is typically where Mt Rainier climbers base from.  Paradise Inn is also here. Usually you can get great views of Rainier with very little effort from the Inn but no such luck for us.  After picking up a couple souvenirs we continued on our way.  We made stops at Narada Falls and Christine Falls on our way out of the park.

Leaving Mt Rainier National Park we took a beautiful drive through Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the South Cascades.  About an hour into our drive we lucked into a turnoff for Mt. St Helens.  We didn't originally plan on seeing St Helens in an effort to get closer to Oregon for the night but we couldn't pass it up.  The drive into St Helens Volcanic Monument was pretty surreal.  The aftermath of the eruption is still very visible.  It was really cool to learn about the history of the volcano and the destruction and now the regeneration of the landscape.  After spending a little bit of time at Windy Ridge, we continued south towards Oregon.

North Cascades

Abe and I got to take an incredible trip to the Pacific Northwest at the beginning of the month.  We had been planning a trip to Washington and Oregon since the spring.  Labor Day weekend finally arrived and we were off to Seattle for a week of hiking, camping, backpacking and soaking in the incredible landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.

We flew into Seattle from Atlanta and Dallas the Sunday morning before Labor Day.  After a few quick stops in Seattle to load up on groceries and some gear that the TSA didn't deem appropriate to bring on an airplane we were headed north to North Cascades National Park.  It immediately became clear that Washington state was unlike anywhere I had ever been before.  The combination of mountains and endless water made for beautiful scenes around every corner.  The Evergreen State is exactly that.

We got to the North Cascades late afternoon.  After a quick stop at the ranger station for some hike recommendations, we settled in at Marble Creek Campground for the night.

Monday morning we headed to Hidden Lake Lookout trailhead for our first hike.  After navigating some challenging roads, we made it to the trailhead.  The hike was 8 miles round trip and climbed 3,300' from the trailhead to the lookout tower high above Hidden Lake.  The hike started out in dense forest before opening up into a deep creek drainage with views to the valley below.  After a couple miles the surroundings change dramatically from subalpine meadows to bare granite.  After navigating some late summer snow patches we reached a high saddle and Hidden Lake came into view.  We were really lucky and got mostly clear views to the surrounding giants of the North Cascades.  Breathtaking scenery.  After a quick lunch, we climbed through the boulders up to the Lookout Tower at the summit.  Perfect first hike.

We had originally planned to do a backpack into a primitive camp near Cascade Pass Monday night but our trip up to Hidden Lake took us a little longer than we expected.  With altered plans we set up the tent Mineral Basin for the night.  We headed up to Cascade Pass Tuesday morning.  The weather was much more overcast than the day before.  When we arrived at the trailhead, we were literally in the clouds.  Couldn't see a thing.  As we began to climb the switchbacks the clouds quickly began to move out and the views opened up. Stunning again.  Glaciers, granite, subalpine meadow, endless forests of evergreen.  Although the clouds covered some views they created a wonderful sense of place.  This felt like the Pacific Northwest that I always imagined. 

Floatin'

Kyle and I have been wanting to "float the river" for a while now since we have lived in Dallas. Kyle set the plan in motion and we recruited some locals (Daniel and Chelsey Youman) and Matt McAuley. We set out on Friday after work and headed south towards Austin. We met and stayed with some of Chelsey's friends who so graciously hosted us. I have never been to Austin so I was interested to see what it is all about. We stayed in San Marcos and were introduced to "river surfing" that evening... it's is exactly what it sounds like which is also confusing because how do you surf a river? It can happen when there is a man-made wake/wave created in the middle. I did not dare try, it looked way intense. Chelsey toyed with the idea but wasn't given full encouragement when she heard some people try for multiple summers just to get up. Although we didn't try it was a nice night to sit and watch and take in the views! 

The next morning we woke up and prepared for a day floating the river. We started off the correct way with some breakfast tacos from the local gas station. Again sounds weird, but it's the way to go! So delicious. We had a few minor set backs when getting tubes and such ready for the river. Apparently the whole state of Texas decided to float the same day. None the less we were off and floatin'! It was a perfect day, nice and hot. It was much different than any floating that we have done in TN. A bit slower and a much bigger crowd but it was definitely fun! It ended up taking us about 5.5 hours to float-- I have no idea what the distance was? There were so many people that at one point the whole width of the river was blocked with wall to wall people! We also had a mini crisis when we didn't anticipate water shoots and cell phones... happy to report everyone and everything survived. Well wait, take that back... Chelsey's shoe is still MIA. After a full day of fun in the sun we were all pretty tired but rallied for some dinner at the famous Grist Mill. I think everyone got burgers or chicken fried chicken. Once again, the Grist Mill delivered a nice solid meal!

The next day we headed into Austin for a mini city tour and breakfast/ lunch... note this is NOT brunch at Gordough's. It was pretty crazy to say the least. Everything had a doughnut in it. I opted for fried chicken and doughnut combination. It was tasty, but very rich and filling so I think I ate about half.. maybe less. After our mini tour we headed to Barton Springs pool. This place was awesome! It is a man made pool filled with spring water. Water was nice and cold on the hot day. 

After an adventure filled weekend, we headed back to Dallas. Everyone was exhausted but Kyle was a trooper and got us home safely! 

Below is some evidence from our weekend: