The weekend after our sailing voyage with Brent, Heidi and Griffin on Tula, we headed to the mountains with our dear friends the Moores. They live across the street, and our kids have grown up together over the past nine years.We generally take a camping, backpack, or sailing trip with them every summer, and this year we decided to head south to Mt Rainier.
We found a great hike just outside the national park in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The short Teeley Creek trail links three mountain lakes, each bigger (and higher in elevation) than the last. We camped on the shores of Granite Lake, which was absolutely teeming with tadpoles--we saw literally thousands of them from the shore, so naturally the kids immediately jumped in with nets. In addition to the tadpoles, they found a few adult toads along the shore and on floating logs. The hike in, although short, was somewhat strenuous, so Chris and I jumped in too. The water was remarkably clear and surprisingly warm, at least on the surface--the temperature dropped about fifteen degrees when I dove down towards the bottom.
This weekend was also Chris' birthday, so we serenaded him with the traditional song and some beers that I packed in, followed by chocolate chip cookies. After an evening of songs around the campfire, we all turned in under the starry and remarkably silent skies.
We spent the remainder of our time in the mountains exploring the other lakes while the kids built forts, discovered birds' nests, and got stung by a few bees (everyone is OK, but they sure learned to avoid hollow logs and stumps!). It was a delightful way to spend a weekend with our friends and say goodbye to the mountains, at least until next summer.
We found a great hike just outside the national park in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The short Teeley Creek trail links three mountain lakes, each bigger (and higher in elevation) than the last. We camped on the shores of Granite Lake, which was absolutely teeming with tadpoles--we saw literally thousands of them from the shore, so naturally the kids immediately jumped in with nets. In addition to the tadpoles, they found a few adult toads along the shore and on floating logs. The hike in, although short, was somewhat strenuous, so Chris and I jumped in too. The water was remarkably clear and surprisingly warm, at least on the surface--the temperature dropped about fifteen degrees when I dove down towards the bottom.
This weekend was also Chris' birthday, so we serenaded him with the traditional song and some beers that I packed in, followed by chocolate chip cookies. After an evening of songs around the campfire, we all turned in under the starry and remarkably silent skies.
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| Our intrepid young hikers at the beginning of the trail |
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| Mt. Rainier! |
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| We saw thousands of tadpoles |
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| Lochlan with a tadpole |
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| One of the adult toads--I believe these were Western Toads, Anaxyrus boreas |
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| Chris, chillin' in a lake at 4,000' |
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| Thumbs up for clear water |
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| The Birthday boy |
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| Beautiful crags above Granite Lake--this was the view from our campsite |
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| Hot chocolate! |
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| The whole crew on the hike out |
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| A nice, short trail |
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