Cascade Pass & Sahale Arm Trail, North Cascades National Park

Life has been interesting so far this summer. Our summer was filled with lots of smoke this year, once again. I drove to work for a few weeks with a back seat full of things I decided I was not leaving behind this time. Just in case the fire decided to jump over the ridge of Billygoat mountain and take Pateros out again. Sad to say but a few of those items are still riding around in the backseat, due to laziness. I have been out hiking, July was mostly a good month, August we struggled to get anywhere due to smoke, closed trails, roads and just not enough heart to leave home to far. My brand new home office-studio has basically sat empty, my computer has gotten lonely and collected dust. Around the first of July our plans to overnight into the Pasayten were canceled due to...to busy and guess what, the woods caught on fire. One wonderful day in July my camera decided to take a dive out of my truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot....apparently cameras and pavement do mix very well. So way to many weeks later, Nikon was able to fix it and return it to me. Good thing because I was afraid I would have to sell the house to buy a new one. So after sitting under a cloud of smoke for weeks on end, we have been having beautiful sky's the last few weekends. Managed to get two weekends of hiking squeezed in. I don't have any recent pictures to show yet....maybe come Christmas. But the future is looking good, sand, sun, beautiful water is just around the corner....VACATION. Once again the pictures are from last year....embarrassed to say that....kinda. But real life for me. I keep saying someday! I have hiked Cascade Pass several times over the last couple of years, never a disappointment. It takes some motivation to get get up early and hit the road, but always worth it. The last little climb from the pass up to reach the Sahale Arm is always a challenge for me...getting old and I might have indulged in a few extra mocha's....pastry's....while trudging thru the ashes of my life. Moving forward one day at a time.

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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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