Tumbleweed

We’ve spent the past week camping in the Central Cascades doing day hikes and trail runs to get out in the great outdoors. We were planning to do another backpacking trip but the weather has been really hot so we decided to just stick to day hikes so that we don’t have to lug around a heavy backpack all day. Last weekend I was doing my long run and saw two fairly large rattlesnakes on the forest service road that I was running along. It definitely put me on high alert! When you’re on the lookout for snakes, why is it that every single stick looks like a snake? Below are shots from Blue Lake and Lake Valhalla which were two of our hikes. In our research for places to hike, we kept reading about the Enchantments Traverse which is a very popular hike outside of Leavenworth described by some as one of the most beautiful hikes in the country. It’s next to impossible to get a permit to go backpacking there so we decided to just do the whole hike in one day. It’s a 19 mile hike with over 5,00...

After having a slow start to the summer with very few adventures, Ginny and I have been packing things in the past couple weeks. Ginny went on a bike trip on the Olympic Peninsula and the San Juan Islands and then went to Denver for a girls trip. See her write up below for more details.  After wrapping up our housesit in Portland, I headed out to the Hood River area to stay with my old friend Rachel for a couple nights. It was great to reconnect with her and see the beautiful area of Hood River/White Salmon. Rachel took me stand up paddleboarding a couple times and I did alright for a newbie with only one major wipeout to speak of. After visiting Rachel, I headed up into the mountains for the weekend to get some last minute training in around Mt Adams. I stayed in the van near Takhlakh Lake in Gifford Pinchot National Forest and it was a really peaceful spot to spend a couple days. I ran up to the PCT a couple times which skirts the west side of Mt Adams and provides impressive vie...