Cascade Pass Hike

Yesterday, Julie, Gail, Kevin and I hiked up Cascade Pass. It is around 7 1/2 miles and 1800 ft elev gain and has to be one of the best hikes in Washington. The views are spectacular, even at the trail head. Lots of people on the trail, but nothing like it would have been on the weekend. We saw a marmot and a few chipmunks, mountains, glaciers, indian paintbrush, heather, and more. The hike is great in that it gains the elevation at a steady pace so no really steep sections. At the top, we had to negotiate a couple of snow sections but Kevin kicked in steps for us. It was a wonderful day in the northwest.

Hex Mountain Hike

Julie and I tried a new hike a couple of weekends ago. Hex Mountain which is near Salmon La Sac. The hike was about 6 miles and 1500 ft elev gain. Since this hike was on the east side of the mountains, I was expecting it to be a scorcher. Luckily, we had a nice breeze on most of the way up and at the top the wind was really howling. It was a beautiful hike with a 360 degree view at the top. We could see Mt Rainier, Cle Elum Lake, Ingalls/Stewart range and the range near Snoqualmie Pass. There was rumor that the trail was used by motorcycles and while we did see the tracks we never saw any motorcycles. In fact, the only people we saw on the trail was one other group of four people that we passed on our way down almost at the trail head. So we had the hike all to ourselves which is always great.

NWOC TISK & SURF WKND 2011

Last week was the annual class for Northwest Outdoor Center's Total Immersion Seakayaking class. We spent three days near Fort Flagler paddling the bays and then headed to coast for surf lessons. Great group of students. The annual potluck on Saturday night with alumni and students of course had lots of great food and the desserts were over the top. Here are links to pictures

TISK 2011
https://picasaweb.google.com/K​ayakingNWOC/TISK2011


Surf Wknd Class 2011
https://picasaweb.google.com/K​ayakingNWOC/SurfWkendClass2011


Surf Alumni
https://picasaweb.google.com/K​ayakingNWOC/SurfAlum2011

Barclay Lake Hike

Today, hiked with girls up to Barclay Lake. It was a beautiful day for this short easy hike of 4 miles with elevation gain of 220ft.

Friday afternoon hiking in the Northwest

In June, Kevin and I went on a short hike close to our home. Twin Falls is a place to stay away from during the weekends as it is very popular, but during the week, it is a great short hike - 4 miles round trip.

Rolling with NWOC

NWOC June 2011 Whitewater Class learning to roll in the pool

Tamara's Birthday Hike to Calabasas Peak

Tamara and I hiked up near Calabasas Peak in southern California on her birthday. It was a beautiful sunny California day and not too hot for this Northwesterner. We hiked leisurely up the mountain taking zillions of pictures as we climbed. I don't think we actually made it to the top of Calabasas Peak as we missed the side trail that went up there but we still had spectacular views from the top of the mountain we did make it up. Our hike was almost 4 miles with elevation gain of almost 900 feet (at least according to google maps). So nothing too strenuous just a great day to enjoy the sunny weather. Did I mention it was sunny? You can tell that I was loving it coming from the rainy northwest.


Google map of our hike

Vegas with old friends

Spent a week in Vegas with my parents and old friends. Denny & Carol Dixon, Butch Knapp & Sam Dority, Gene & Carol Kautz and myself.
Had a great time.  Due to snow in Seattle ended up extended the trip so now enjoying Dinuba.

Great time on the Total Immersion Whitewater Week

Spent a great week kayaking the Wenatchee and Methow rivers.

Seakayaking with NWOC

Just got back from my annual trip with NWOC seakayaking in the Sound and Surf. Great group! We had sun in Pt Townsend but fogged in at the surf. Typical for Washington, but the boating made up for it.