Patterson Mountain Trail.....Winthrop Washington

As we traveled up the Methow Valley the sky was bright blue with lots of clouds...the closer we got to Winthrop the stormier the weather looked....lots of dark clouds moving around and building up.....we decided as long as it wasn't raining really hard we would go ahead and hike.....The Patterson Mountain Trail starts across the road from the actual lake, nice parking area....climbs just a little ways up the side of the mountain, until you pass through two gates depending on which direction you take.....the trail makes a loop, from there the flower show really started and continued the rest of the trail.....at one point you have to climb up and over a wood ladder secured to a tree to get over a barb wire fence....pretty creative way to pass over the fence...would be very interesting to watch the runners that were going to hit the trail on Sunday complete this section....the Balsam roots, Sunflowers were starting to decline...but still plenty to get good shots of and get your fill of their beautiful yellow blooms....lots of lupine spread out among them, a nice variety of parsley's...and mustard's....the flowers were pretty fantastic and just what I was looking for after 3 hikes that were two early for much in the flower department....the hike is fairly easy.....a few steep inclined switch backs...the views of the Winthrop valley floor are very wide and expansive...nice view of some Mountains likewise....a little on the cloudy side over the mountains....as we reached the top the sky's started to break up and show some blue...it was over all a fantastic little hike...GPS tracked the trail at about 3 miles....we decided to skip the extra section out to the view point....a very pleasant hike...worth doing again for spring flowers and a great view of the valley floor......

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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

The Places We Can Go

Life goes on, things change, storms of life come and go. One thing that always remains the same is the feeling and quiet peace I feel from being in the mountains. This was a spur of the moment overnight trip. It was so needed and such a beautiful time. Left the house around 2:30 PM, traffic was so slow heading up Hwy 20, lots of folks heading out of Mazama. Arrived at the trail head a few minutes before 4 PM, and we were off down the trail in a few minutes. Three quarters of a mile down the trail a bee or some kind of flying ant decided to bite my nieces eye lid, talk about hysteria for a moment. I was pretty sure our trip was over, but we were able to move on with a very cold creek soaked multipurpose face mask. The sun was sinking fast and the wind was howling by the time we reached the top. Made some quick decisions on the best place to park the tents, and we set up camp. It was truly an incredible evening, hiked around a bit and watched the sun slip behind the mountains.

Carlton Complex Wildfire, Pateros Washington

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. I spent last weekend moving my animals back home to a mostly burnt out barn yard. We had a small patch of trees and garden space that escaped the fire, which was where my dog pens were located. So they were able to return to a fairly normal life. The horse pen was kind of a hit and miss burnt area, since there wasn't a whole lot of vegetetaion in it the fences took most of the heat. The metal panels got a nice rusty color to them, with some serious scorch marks. Besides my horse having red smudge colored marks on his nose from the fencing he seems to be adjusting to his return home. We have found temporary living close by so it has made taking care of my animals easier, and a stress off of where we be this winter. The town is slowly getting the debris removed and homesteads cleaned up. Lots of piles of rubble and cut down trees piled up in the city lot areas. I understand that Okanogan County and the Confederated Tribes Of the Co

Lost In The Right Direction

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