Karen and Tom Wanderings

Palisades Lakes Palisades Lakes is located in the north-eastern portion of Mt Rainier National Park, but nominally has no view of the mountain.  Certainly the reason we hadn't visited before now.  But with great weather, and the reportedly snow-free trail, we opted for the bigger vistas of the sub-alpine country instead of the lower, more heavily wooded hikes that were our alternatives. And an excellent choice it was.  The hike has the unusual characteristic (at least in the NW) that the trailhead is the high point, so you initially head seriously down.  Multiple beautiful lakes, sunshine, and green meadows dotted with flowers, subalpine firs and mountain hemlock.  Very soothing.  We even found the energy to do a side excursion to the top of Brown Peak, which had big-time views in every direction ... including Mt Rainier.  After grunting back up to the trailhead, we made a mandatory stop at Sunrise to take in the close-up views from there.  Anothe...

In normal circumstances, this little outing might not have made it's own post.  But, after 10 months of issues, including body non-compliance and Covid lockdown, it needed to be celebrated.  Summer comes pretty late to the mountains in Washington, so adventuring into the high alpine country still requires negotiating snow, though it's never clear how much or where.  So, I opted for a day trip to relatively-low Goat Lake in the North Cascades (in an area sometimes known as the rainy valley). While not a particularly spectacular hike by Cascade standards, the trailed wandered through a lush, fern-filled forest ... bursting with shades of green!  A large creek tumbling down the mountain provided a soundtrack, and a number of substantial waterfalls to admire.  And some huge trees (mostly cedar and hemlock) populated the forest for the last couple of miles to the lake.  Interestingly, much of the area had clearly been logged many years ago, but some of these m...

As our PCT-support obligations ended and Tom's hamstring healed, we headed out for a few days of backpacking in one of our all-time favorite places:  the Goat Rocks in the southern Washington Cascades.  The hike into Snowgrass Flats and the PCT, where we set up camp, was straight-forward and uneventful.  The meadows near our camp were a bit drier and less flower-filled than some of our past visits, but the views of the surrounding peaks, including Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens were just as special as we remembered.  After wandering a bit to get water, we headed up to the summit of Old Snowy ... first through subalpine meadows and trees, and then through rocky, barren terrain.  The approach was quite airy, but included more spectacular views ... including Mt. Rainier to the north, Mt. Gilbert to the east., and the famed "knife's edge" portion of the PCT.  The late afternoon light only made it all more beautiful.  After returning to camp, we decided to "c...

We continued to support Brian (aka "Views") on his PCT hike through the North Cascades to Canada via resupplies at Stevens and Rainy Passes, and ride home from the end at Manning, BC.  And we took the opportunity to do a little hiking ourselves.  Tom handled the Stevens Pass resupply (in his friend's new Tesla)!  No hiking that day. For the Rainy Pass resupply, we camped a bit east of the pass, and did a late afternoon hike to Blue Lake.  Very nice, and not very crowded.  And some nice views of beautiful peaks.  The following day, we left the car at Rainy Pass and headed north on the PCT to Cutthroat Pass, then a couple of miles further.  Absolutely stunning (which we already knew, but it was still great)!  Brian had the key to the car, so he could eat and grab the food he needed while we were hiking.  He also decided to ditch some of his gear (i.e., his tent, phone, portable battery charger) for the final 67 mile push.  We chatted wi...

A visit by our nephew William, gave us a great excuse to head on down to Mt. Rainier National Park for a hike.  This time, we chose Skyscraper Peak, and it was great.  Big country, blue sky ... just perfect.  And William was totally impressed! A few days later, we headed back to resupply Brian on the PCT at Chinook Pass on the eastern edge of the park.  We spent a few hours as trail angels ... providing trail magic (brownies, fruit, and drinks) to weary PCT hikers.  Met some great people!  Then an evening hike around Naches Peak, before meeting Brian at dark.  After he finished his waiting meal and sorted through the food he wanted, we left him to camp by the trail so he could get an early start.  We headed down to our camp at White River Campground, which we secured earlier in the day, and hiked up to Summerland and Panhandle Gap in the morning.  Again, big awesome country and great weather! Somehow, we never seem to get tired of "The M...