Returning To Common Ground.............

A Return Trek to the Yellow Jacket Sno-Park.....Lost River Road, Mazama....this time it was snowing pretty good...no snowmobiles on the trail...looked like it had been a day or two since anyone has been up it....the weather was sitting at about 18 degrees but still felt pretty good....My nephew is quiet the trooper....one of my constant companions for hiking and snowshoeing.....I can almost always drag him out to the great outdoor with the promise of a stop at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery and Blue Star Coffee....We ventured off the trail after we made it up a switch back or two....wandered through the trees...it was quiet the battle to get up the side hill....lots of deep snow and pretty slick....took some effort to make any progress...of course the little one just bombs it up the hill in front of me...makes me feel soooo out of shape....snowshoeing is quiet the exercise.....made it to a fairly even spot and headed out at an angle to connect back with the main trail...it was a pleasant little hike among the trees....dropped back down onto the trail for a short rest then from there we took the short cut trail straight back down to the parking lot.....on our way back down the Methow Valley we stopped and waited for 2 fuzzy deer to cross the road just outside of Twisp....they didn't seem to be in a big hurry to get out of the way....they pretty much own the road up here....beautiful weather the last few days...blue sky's.....sad to be stuck in the office and have to wait for the weekend to get back out there......

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Echo Basin, Eastern Washington

Echo Basin was our last early spring hike in the Eastern Washington area. We were planning to hike the Frenchman Coulee side that heads toward the waterfall but changed our mind due to the amount of cars parked at the trail head. So down the road just a little ways we went to hike the Echo Basin trail. Even with a early start the sun was way too bright, not hot, just bright. We hiked up the jeep trail that starts on the left hand side of the road as your facing the Columbia River. Didn't seem like a real exciting trail till we reached the sand dunes, which put us closer to the rock walls. Up and over the sand dunes and on up a goat trail to get above the walls. Without really knowing were we were going we just winged it. Lots of faint trails and trails in the sand, hard to know which was the true trail. The rock walls are huge and fascinating, the columns are even more interesting up close. We hiked until we had a view looking down into Echo Basin, and a nice look at th

Cutthroat Trail.......Snowshoeing North Cascades Highway

I have a confession to make, I have been having some winter blues. Not sure if they can be officially called winter blues due to we have had little to no winter. I have been very impatiently waiting for the snow to arrive, it comes, blows through, makes the ground white, then its gone. The last few days we have been sitting at temperatures in the 40's. What is up with winter. One thing I can say for sure is I am very thankful for the few trips we made up highway 20 before the silver star gate was closed. Our trip to Cutthroat Trail was back in November, when we had visions of winter coming to the valley very soon. The snow was nice and fluffy and deep. Pleasant day to get out and enjoy it, one of those days where your not sure if the clouds where going to allow the blue sky to show it self or not. We parked right off the highway with a couple of other cars and Snowshoed up the road to the trail head. Wasn't very long and more hikers, cross country skiers, and furry

Looking For Mountain Views....................

Since I couldn't get anybody to go snowshoeing with me this last weekend....I went on a drive and took pictures.....It was a lovely day...lots of variation in the clouds...started down on the Columbia River in Pateros and continued on down towards Chelan...stopped at the park...which has a great view of the mountains...then on up around Manson...drove as many roads as I could looking for the best view of the mountains....drove a couple of roads I have never been on....what a festive little town Manson is right now....Drove on up towards Echo Ridge trail area...roads got a little on the icy side up in that area....then found my way back home....now I have a camera card or two loaded with pictures...plus basketball pictures.....lots of computer time...The season is moving right along...lots of new snow in the mountains...Can't wait to get out there and play.

Lost In The Right Direction

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