[qm1pooh]

Well, my wife and I finally got our belongings, so we took the opportunity to do our first hike in Washington. With a BBQ coming up in the afternoon we decided on something short and close. We left Seattle at 7AM and got to the trailhead at 8. The road was in good condition and the Scion xB made it up the hill just fine. There were still plenty of spaces in the parking lot, which was a surprise. We started hiking at about 8:15. Trail was in really good shape for most of the way to the lake, except for a little bit of mud near the crossing of the creek. Spent a few minutes at the lake (our first Alpine one), then back to the car. The traffic on the trail was steady the whole way down, and cars were parked a good ways down the road when we left at about 11. All in all, a good primer to the hiking around here, and just the sort of warm up we needed for the season. And, what better way to celebrate one's Independence than a hike?