Karen and Tom Wanderings

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 

I had an opportunity to visit Kelsey in Albuquerque in January.  While she worked, I had plenty of opportunity to walk around the downtown area, as well as along the Rio Grande.  Though not much of a urban photographer, I did take a few photos of some artwork, as well as some along the Rio Grande.   More Photos  

The biggest down-side to traveling in the fall is missing some of the best hiking weather in the Pacific Northwest.  After our return from the Southwest, I was planning on a 1-night backpack in the North Cascades to immerse himself in the golden larch trees, but a big snowstorm hit a few days beforehand.  Instead, I opted for a day hike to a new destination (also in the North Cascades) ... Easy Pass.  It was far from easy, but not as bad as the guide books had made me imagine.  Some great colors on the hike up, and a solid dose of those magical larches at the pass itself.  And some pretty nice views, too!  Not a bad way to close out the hiking season! Fading seedhead of the Western Pasqueflower More Photos

After spending a night in Moab, we took a morning hike in the always-impressive Fisher Towers before heading out to Dead Horse State Park to camp.  We'd been to Dead Horse a couple of times, but only spent a few hours mountain biking.  This time we explored the park more thoroughly, and caught an awesome sunset.  Tom got up in the wee hours to try a bit of star-photography (with similarly meh results), and hopped up again to catch a gorgeous sunrise. After a shortish morning hike together, we decided to head for home.  Quite an awesome trip, with a nice combo of new and familiar territory.  And lots of funky, bizarre rocks.  The weather was generally quite a bit hotter than we expected, yet we got hailed on, too!  The driving-to-hiking ratio was certainly higher than we'd like, but as we get older, we find that we can't hike all day ... but also aren't capable of much sitting around.  Ah, just gotta be comfortable in your own skin!   ...