[B+L]

The deer at Moose Lake were sort of obnoxiously goat-like in 2003, so it's not surprising that they've learned to catch rocks since then.

satanic pee drinker

[bobbi]

60s+ gals hiked along the elwha river trail, stopping at goblin's gate and the suspension bridge. we saw a couple of kayakers (play boats) having a fun time on the river! i had my photo taken at the ledge at goblin's gate...an update from 10 years ago

on the edge of the ledge

okay...photos from today's hike

goblin's gate

elwha river

shade trees

kayakers

on the suspension bridge

if you've been to Humes Ranch, you'll notice an apple tree that has a hole in its trunk yet continues to bear fruit! awesome!

hole in the apple tree trunk

apples!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Did a 4 day backpacking trip starting at Deception Pass/Hyas Lake TH. I'll try to do a full TR and post pictures later. Went with a big group, we had an ambitious plan for a loop including climbing Mt. Daniel and then returning via Peggys Pond/Cathedral Pass. We bailed on that somewhere in the middle and had to backtrack. Still a great trip. First day we camped at Tuck Lake. Had a friendly goat in camp in the morning. We did a quick trip up to the Robin Lakes (still more frozen than melted; Tuck was completely thawed out), then broke down camp and headed to Deception Pass. Below the pass continuing towards Marmot Lake was a significant avalanche path w/ lots of blow down we had to pick our way thru. Beyond that the trail was in good shape. Marmot was completely melted out. We continued around the lake and up, up, up. No Name Lake was mostly snow covered still, but Jade was thawed. Camp 2 was at Jade. Holy cow that is a gorgeous lake! You gotta earn it, but worth it. Several of our group climbed up the small glacier between Dip Top and Lynch to take a gander at Pea Soup Lake and the north side of Daniel. None of us really liked the look of continuing from that point, so we retreated. But that is one of the better viewpoints I've ever had. Wow! Pea Soup was mostly iced up but some beautiful blue was showing thru. Daniel was playing peek-a-boo but we got some decent glimpses. We headed back down, got clear of the blow down and camped in the basin below about a dozen waterfalls (gorgeous!) about a mile or 2 short of Deception Pass. The weather had been variable from totally sunny to mostly cloudy, but had stayed dry until our last night (Saturday). We got doused. Quick easy trip out this morning. Lots of beautiful lakes, quite varied terrain. From Deception Pass on was all new territory for me. Big thumbs up for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness! edited to add: we didn't see or smell smoke from the Chiwaukum Creek fire. I was pleasantly surprised, I was worried about that right before our trip started. Cle Elum/Roslyn were clear and smoke free on Thursday and Sunday.

[n16ht5]

Gnomee took me out riverboarding Riverboarding Skykomish

[Distel32]

Out and back to Harts Pass from Rainy. Even without the views, still such a nice place to spend time. One steep traverse remains after Cutthroat, all other snow very benign. Brush in the W. Fork Methow area and Brush Creek. The few trail washouts on the steep contours before Snowy Lakes and also around Tatie are easy, until a big storm hits. All photos and GPS

[kiliki]

Spray Park on Saturday was the first time I've ever been there and not been eaten alive by mosquitoes. In fact I did not see a single one despite all the standing water. Amazing. They're probably hatching as we speak. Large snow patches in the upper part of the park still. Avy lilies galore, some magenta paintbrush.

Rainier

The Mowich trailhead and trails are always a trip. Tacoma's own little corner of the park I guess. We saw: large multi generational groups on the trails with music playing from ipods; a dog in a baby sling (yes on the trail); people very inappropriately dressed and prepared for hiking (flip flops, short shorts, no water); we were asked numerous times, "where does this trail go?" Or, "are we almost at the falls?" when they were not even close. Wow! It was crazier than Paradise IMO. Many folks were asking the ranger at the trailhead what there was to do in the area. How in the world do you end up there and not know anything about it? Someone at the trailhead asked us if he were at Paradise, and when we told him no, he asked for directions. He wanted to do Skyline Trail. I said I could show him on a map and of course he didn't have one. How did HE end up there??

[H. Hound]

Hi\Lo lake is still High

[zephyr]

[forest gnome]

got all the gear, super tiring we had to take breaks when boarding... oh and chief's report....that was fun too....must say I've got one nice butt....

[yukon222]

Dayhiked into Blanca Lake on Saturday morning. Lots of people at the lake and many, many more hiking in later that afternoon.

DCG_3895 - Beautiful Blanca Lake

DCG_3907 - Whippets more interested in whistling marmot than Blanca Lake!

DCG_3915-16 Party time on Blanca Lake

DCG_3924 - Hard to hold the whippets attention!

DCG_3925 - Last look at Blanca Lake

[Hiking_Husky]

A couple friends and I spent the night at the top of Mt. Pugh this past weekend (July 26/27)...beautiful weather! Trail was in great shape, and took about 5 total steps in snow (along the ridge). Fun scramble, great views, amazing sunrise/sunset!!!

[puzzlr]

[Hiking_Husky]

Haha, thanks for thinking our bivy so artistic! Yeah, we took a tarp to lay out to keep our stuff clean and dry. Don't worry though, we packed it out so as to let others try their hand at art...it was a great bivy spot!

[fourteen410]

At first glance, this looks like a parachute - that would be one way to go down Pugh

[kbatku]

Did a loop hike out of Dog Lake campground (White Pass) up to Cramer Lake, then over to Dumbell and spent the night at Buesch Lake. Camera died so no photos, sorry. Amazing few bugs for that area, but some people seemed to think they were terrible. Saw one astounding thing on the way up and REALLY wish my camera had been working because there was a guy CARRYING A BALE OF HAY STRAPPED TO HIS BACK. Well, technically he was sitting down when I caught up to him, but you know what I mean. He didn't look happy, and when I asked the older guy who was with him how much the bale weighed he said "about sixty pounds" so he came by his discomfort honestly. Anyway, nobody at Cramer, Dumbell of Buesch, so I got the primo spot at Buesch for the first time in years. Saw sizeable fish jumping, which was a surprise considering how shallow the lake is. Also saw a bunch of colorful ducks and got swarmed by camp robbers. Nice lakey camp. Hiked out on the PCT south Sunday, saw a goodly number of people there of course, some even said "Hello" back. Completed the loop by cutting down Dark Meadows trail (boring) and back home in time for dinner.