Adventure Reports

 Sunday morning the kids came for brunch and reports on their recent adventures. 

After we all sat down to eat I called on Jake first. He stammered and said he wasn't ready. Well, Ok then, moving on.

Irene was next, but since she and Jill were on the same mountain trek, they both participated. We  had already seen photos on Facebook, so we knew where they had been and how it looked. It looked sort of scary to me, but Irene said it was not scary at all, not even walking on the part called the "Knife's Edge". They were in the Goats Rocks Wilderness portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. It was a four day, three night high mountain hike. Jake had hiked this part of the PCT before so he had lots of questions about "Did you go there, did you see this, did you camp here?" Tom and I mostly listened.

I'll share some of Jill's photos .

Day 1, setting out on the trail

Sheep Lake

Wildflowers

Day 1 camp at Snowgrass Flats by the springs

Golden hour on Mount Adams

Sunset on Mount St. Helens

Day 2 Knifes Edge with views of Mt Rainier

Going up

Looking ahead to peaks at 6981ft  and then 7210 ft

Over the top and down. View of Mount Rainier.

Day 2 Elks Pass, and starting down

Day 3 All down in the forest

Day 4 Back up on the ridge to peak at 6711 ft

Mountaineers and Mount Rainier

Traversing just below the summit of Hogback Mountain

Natural beauty

White Pass Ski Area

The end of the line, pick up by Aunt Jan, and a night in a condo to rest and relax. 

Mount Rainier is one of my most favorite places on earth, and I get sad when I think that I will not now be able to hike its flower filled meadows. Of course I was never able to do what they are doing, but I continue to be thrilled that my two kids. and now my granddaughter, love spending time and challenging them selves in our beautiful mountains.

While Jill and Irene went south in the Cascade Range, Jake went north to the wilds of the North Cascades. 

It took the first day to drive to the trail head and hike in to the camp in the Entiat Cirque in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. From here it is possible to climb three peaks.

Jake sent me these photos after his report so we could really appreciate this endeavor. 

Day 1 Camp

On the first climbing day the summited Seven Finger Jack.

At the top. Jake's climbing partner Steve. 

Jake at the top. Look at those views!

Glacier Peak in the distance.

Their camp, back down off the summit.

They also made it to the top of Mount Maude, and then decided to save the third summit for another adventure. Jake says it's not fun getting older and having parts of your body not cooperating. I know.

Instead they took time to just enjoy the peacefulness of their wilderness camp. 

There was one more adventurer in our midst. Isaac doesn't hike. He shops. He and a good friend and fellow high school graduate spent their get away in Hawaii. They enjoyed the beach, snorkeled, shark cage dived, and played tourist in Honolulu. They did plenty of walking and bike riding to get around and through the crowds. Isaac did not return with photos. Instead he proudly showed off his new Gucci shoulder bag and Louis Viton wallet. 

He's happy, and he earned the money working full time at his Pizza joint job, so we'll embrace his differences. 

Tom and I were very happy to have had this time together and to have been able to share vicariously in the adventures of our family.