More Snow! More Snow!! MORE SNOW!!!

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” ~ John Ruskin

PawPrint Rest Stop and a Hiker's Hut atop a snowy mountain. Read on...

Put it away Santa. Christmas is over and it's February. Nice GSA 1200 though.

Another winter storm blast came through this week, and it isn't over.

We caught folks taking pictures of our home. Looked like a good idea, so we did too :-) 

A day off and snow was all the excuse needed to take a hike.

 Tiger mountain is close by. Kamiah and GrizzLee took to the trail hoping to be the first to summit West Tiger Summit #1 since the new snow. It features a hikers hut and great views ot the SE. It was all ours for the taking.

 Being first out on the trail meant that we had to do some basic route finding.

 Kamiah is an expert at this. She can find a trail in the worst conditions.

 She was a good girl while scouting ahead for the proper trail.

 A scenic bridge, just like out of a storybook. It was 19 degrees at this point. The snow was very powdery. 

 A fork in the trail. One way heads out towards the small town of Preston, WA; the other towards heaven.

 Bootleg trail and directions to the hiker's hut. Cool... very cool Still around 19 degrees out. Wait a minute... Pawprint Rest Stop? No wonder Kamiah knew the way so well!

 The hikers' hut.

 A great place to hang out when the wind is blowing.

 No wind today. Just great views, lunch and sunshine. I think it warmed up a bit here. Sorry girl, this isn't PawPrint Rest Stop.  

Look closely... You can see the Space Needle and the Olympic Mountains just below the clouds. (select picture to enlarge) 

We made it over to West Tiger #2 and summited West Tiger 3 as well. From there we traversed over to the K3 trail and plowed virgin tracks all the way back to the truck. All-in-all, around 11 miles of hiking in the snow. 
What great day off from work. A rare treat.

Unitl next time...

Weekends Don't Pay As Well As Weekdays But Only a Foolish Man Worries About That

 Weekends Don't Pay As Well As Weekdays But Only a Foolish Man Worries About That ~ GrizzLee

Made a new friend this past week. To say that Don is excited about paddling and kayaks, is an understatement. 

We paddled the Snoqualmie River. Oh yes, it was chilly, but it was fun. 

Don and Lee getting their boats loaded and ready.

The birdlife ws incredible. This was one of many bald eagles we saw that day.

 The river was relaxing and beautiful.

Don raced ahead to our lunch desitnation near the Tolt River (MacDonold Park)

 The Saturday paddle was only the 1/2 the weekend story. GrizzLee and Yukon Johann took the adventure bike out for some exercise.

We started our ride in Fall CIty and road backroads up to Sedro Wolly. We crossed over to Whidbey Island and toured the ocean coast.

 Here we see Johann attempting to take the adventure bike for a spin. The bike is a bit big for him. Give him a few years and he will probably riding high with the front wheel in the air. 

 The Deception Pass Bridge makes for a nice back drop.

We ended our day with 250 new miles on the odometer. We took the ferry back to the mainland and were all to happy to get home and soak in a hot tub of water. It was cold. Temperatures peaked at 45 and at times we were riding at freezing temps in the foothills of the Cascade mountains. Who needs heated riding gear when you have your winter coat of fat to sheild you form the elements. Poor Johann was a bit more chilly than dad. He kept mentioning that paseengers should have heated grips as well.

Until Next time...