Here we be again..............Maple Pass Trail, Hwy 20 North Cascades

I promise this will be our last visit to Maple Pass Trail this year. Unless we take up Heli-skiing, not likely but tempting. I really tried to convince my fellow hikers that we needed to go across the road to the Pacific Crest Trail and up to Cutthroat Pass, but no go I was out voted. I think they were more concerned with how far we would be hiking that day instead of seeing Larches. The trail started off a little muddy, water standing in some areas. This is the first trail that we have used hiking poles on. Usually we bring them, forget them in the truck or end up getting tired of using them and try to poan them off to one of our other fellow hikers. We just haven't got the whole hiking pole thing down yet. We have even managed to leave them leaning against a tree and had to go back and get them. But they came in very handy this time, especially getting around some very muddy spots and as we hiked father up the trail the snow go fairly deep. It was a beautiful day, cold when we left the trail head, but not too far up we were stripping hats and gloves. It was pretty cool to hike this trail with so much snow on it. The views were clear of the mountains and awesome as usual. We hiked up above the view point for Lewis Lake and the snow was knee deep and getting deeper, went up around the next bend, the trail follows the backside of the lake and things didn't look to good for going farther. Weather was warming up and the snow was showing signs of shifting. So we back tracked to a spot with a view of the mountains, ate some lunch and built a snowman. It was a fun relaxing day, no burning desire to turn out the miles, just out to enjoy the fresh snow and see some larches. We goofed around on our way back down, took our time. Give a boy a hiking pole and he has 24 hour entertainment. There's nothing like like getting a big o' pile of snow down you back because he reached up to smack a high branch covered in snow with his pole as he walks by. He did go back and find my very expensive lens filter on the snow covered trail after I realized I had dropped it, man that would have been a painfully expensive hike. It might not have been the trail I wanted to hike, but it was still a beautiful day with some great views of the mountains and a few larches.

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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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