September 1, 2013 - Saint Edwards State Park Beach Hike, Kirkland Washigton

Today we went on a hike that was special for Jessica and her Mom. This is a hike they did very often as little kids years ago, and it was special to share that hike with Claire for the first time. We parked near the old Catholic Seminary building that is now part of the Saint Edwards Park and started off on the continuous downhill trail 1/2 mile to the beach on the shores of Lake Washington. We were joined by Nana Chris and Max the dog. Once we reached the lake, Claire was able to get her toes wet in the water and play inside a huge tree base. The walk back up was good exercise. There is also a very large play structure built in 2003 at this park near the seminary building.

Jessica, Levi, Luke and Claire at the start of the trail down to Lake Washington.

Seminary Building at Saint Edwards Park.

Claire inside the base of a large tree.

Christine, Max (dog), Jessica and Claire on the shore of Lake Washington.

August 31, 2013 - Twin Falls Hike at Olallie State Park, South Fork of the Snoqualmie River

The Twin Falls hike along the Snoqualmie River turned out to be our busiest hike of the year. With the combination of the Labor Day weekend, a hot sunny Seattle day, and this beautiful hike being only 25 miles East of Seattle; we were on the trail with many other adventurers. Also joining us on this hike was "Nana and Papa", Jessica's parents Chris and Jamie. The hike starts of along the South Snoqualmie River and follows along the river, with many up and down elevation gains. There are many spots along the way to leave the trail and go down the rivers edge. The Twin Falls were about 1.6 miles into the hike, and was our turn-around point. This hike is an out-and-back hike, not a loop. The bridge to view the falls is between the two falls, so one fall is below and one is above the bridge. The bridge is very narrow, and that made getting good pictures of the falls difficult. For over 3 miles, this was a good, athletic hike, and easily handled by Claire. This was a special hike for Claire, since she was able to share her hiking adventures with Nana and Papa.

      

Claire, Papa, Nana, and Jessica.

Claire peeks through a tree root growing on a fallen tree stump.

Claire and "Papa" Jamie, scale a giant rock in the woods.

Levi, Luke, Claire and Jessica on the bank of the Snoqualmie River.

The trail.

Adventure!

Upper Falls of the Twin Falls, the sun glare makes it hard to see the falls clearly.

Snoqualmie River.

Snoqualmie River.

Levi, Luke, Claire and Jessica on the bridge over the Falls.

August 24, 2013 - Mt. Saint Helens - Hummocks Trail - Elevation 2500 feet

Today we visited Mt. Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument and hiked the Hummocks Trail located about 8 miles before the Coldwater Visitors center. After a picnic lunch at the Coldwater Lake area, we started out on our hike. Right away, we noticed this trail was very different from all of the other Western Washington trails we have hiked so far. The trail surface the entire way was a very fine, dark grey powder that is made up of dirt and ash from the 1980 eruption. Also, this was a very young forest, everything that has grown here is less than 32 years old. This was a starling change from the 500+ year old Douglas Firs and Cedars we are accustomed to seeing on the trails. This trail was full of wildlife, we saw 2 different types of snakes, 2 different frogs, many different color dragonflies, even a duck. There were also many more insects than we are used to seeing, and a few very large ant hills with trails of ants by the thousands. Claire did great on the 2.5 mile hike except for the sharp rocks that stuck out of the trail surface, they were the same color as the dirt, and that made it hard for her to see them, causing her to trip more than usual.

The Hummocks trail is named after the giant Hummocks that are seen along the trail. Hummocks are huge mounds of rock, ash and mud that were formed in the days after the eruption. This trail runs along the North Fork Toutle River, which was a huge path of lava flow during the eruption.

As for the peak of St. Helens, there was substantial cloud cover today, so we were unable to see the top part of the mountain. There were moments throughout the day when the cloud cover was so low it felt like we were going to bump our heads on the "ceiling". Overall, this was a great hike, and is a great way to get away from the "visitor center" crowds are really experience the nature of St. Helens.

 Following our hike on the mountain, we stopped at a fantastic roadside restaurant in a beautiful old house called Patty's Place, the dinner food was great and the Strawberry/Rhubarb and Northwest Berry Cobbler was excellent. It was a great dinner and a fun place to eat.

August 10, 2013 - Mt. Rainier and Grove of the Patriarchs Hike

Following our Silver Falls Trail hike, we drove up to the Paradise Visitors Center on Mount Rainier. This part of the park was very busy, so we stopped at a picnic area just Southeast of Paradise and ate a snack, took these pictures, and then headed back down the mountain towards the Stevens Canyon park entrance and the Grove of the Patriarchs for our second hike of the day.

 

The Grove of the Patriarchs hike was a 1.2 mile round trip hike to a special grove of ancient trees near the Stevens Canyon Entrance of Mount Rainier National Park. The trail head has a good size parking lot with a bathroom. It was showing signs of rain at the start of our hike, but never really did rain. At about 0.5 miles into the hike, you have to cross a "shake shake" bridge, something both kids enjoyed. Once we got to the special grove, there was a loop boardwalk that went through the forest to all of the massive trees. These trees were truly amazing, including 2 firs that are over 1000 years old. As you can see from the pictures below, this is a special part of the forest, and is worth the walk to visit these giants.

 

   

Luke and Levi, in front of an uprooted giant.

Ancient Cedar and Douglas Fir.

That is a big hug.

Ancient giant.

Claire in front of the twin, 1000+ year old Douglas Firs. 

This big!

Trees growing on the top of a fallen tree!

Claire and Jessica marvel at the giants.

Claire and Jessica on the boardwalk trail through the Ancient Grove.

Platform to look into the fallen giant.

Claire and Jessica carefully navigate the "shake shake" bridge. Levi and I ran across!