Karen and Tom Wanderings

Our next stop was one of the prime reasons for our trip ... Lake O'Hara.  It's located in Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies, just over the mountain from world famous Lake Louise.  Access is via a bus up a 11 km road (~7 miles), or you can walk it.  Overnight options are limited to a very expensive lodge, a climbers bunkhouse, or a 30-site campground.  One big challenge is actually getting lodging or bus reservations, since access is very limited and there's tons of demand.  We fortunately snagged 2 nights camping, and were very excited to finally get to visit.   Since we were blessed with bluebird skies and no smoke (for a second day in a row!), we headed out on a hike as soon as we finished setting up camp.  And what a absolutely stunning place!!  Big mountains, lovely subalpine basins, tumbling streams, wildflowers galore, and gorgeous lakes!  And accessed by a a combination of excellent trails and some well-marked...

After quite a few trips to the Canadian Rockies were planned, then aborted, over the years, the stars seemed to be finally aligning.  Our plan this time included a week in the Canadian Rockies, followed by a week in Glacier National Park in Montana.  The only possible snag was the heavy wildfire smoke.  In the weeks prior to our departure date, as the fires worsened, we closely watched the smoke models with a sense of resignation that this, too, would be another canceled trip.  Or equally bad ... not cancelled, but enough smoke to make it way less than ideal.  In the last few days, a possible window seemed to appear where the smoke was pushing to the south of our initial intended destination!  So, we headed out from Seattle with high hopes, and a mantra of "one day at a time".  Driving up through British Columbia, the smoke was thick in places, and some routes were closed due to fire activity.  But, as we pulled into the town of Revelstoke, t...

As usual, we managed to get in a number of hikes locally in the spring and early summer.  The unusually low snow pack let us get started very early (i.e., May 1).  All were hikes we had previously done, but a couple were many years ago, so it was good to get a refresh.  As always, we needed to balance the hike difficulty with our current physical condition, and were somewhat successful in that regard.  All were quite enjoyable, though our visit to Burroughs Mountain at Mt Rainier was unexpectedly conducted in the clouds with on-and-off heavy mist and cool temperatures! Salmonberry, Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trail Mt Garfield & Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Pratt River Waterfall en route to Melakwa Lakes Upper Melakwa Lake Lower Melakwa Lake Middle Wallace Falls Upper Wallace Falls Lousewort, Burroughs Mtn, Mt Rainier NP Lodge at Sunrise in Mt Rainier NP   More Middle Fork Snoqualmie Photos More Melakwa Lakes Photos More Wallace Falls...

After attending Brian's wedding (!) in the northern California wine country, we spent a couple of days in Point Reyes National Seashore, 30 miles or so N of San Francisco, to decompress.  And it was awesome!  Hikes in 3 dramatically different environments:  a dense, fern-filled coastal forest between beaches; a windy headlands carpeted with wildflowers; and a lovely beach with rocky outcroppings.  We'd been there before on multiple previous occasions, but it never fails to impress. Foxglove More Photos Details  Shell Beach to Pebble Beach Tomales Point Trail Limantour and Seret Beaches