Hittin' the trails...

Hiking in Washington

The past 2 Sundays I have hiked in the mountains. The first Sunday, we went to Rattlesnake Ledge (no snakes, I asked) and hiked approximately 9 miles, 3 of which were in deep, packed snow. What happens when you hike with a group of guys? You risk your life.

Before hiking, group photo opp! L-R: Donald, Jesse, Brian, Richard, Alfred (twins, yes), Kjell (prounounced "Shell"), and me across

On the edge

Pretty Washington

More pretty Washington

Me & Jesse

Questioning how much further I can go...

Apparently, I went further...the first gate through the snow

Notice the guys have sticks in their hands now. At the first sign of snow, I picked up the perfect nature-made hiking stick (who needs to pay $100 at REI?) to help trek through the snow. The guys decided this was brilliant (because it was, thank you very much), and proceeded to gather their own sticks from the trees around us. And, that is how I saved our lives. The sticks proved quite useful, especially on the way down.

Mount Si--Hike #2

Our second hike, yesterday, was much more jungle-esque than the first...

This is not what the trail looked like the majority of the time...this was the entrance to a historical viewing point.

Jesse & me at the top of a cliff. See behind us? Yeah, you can't. We were literally walking in the clouds.

Richard & Jesse up in the clouds

Cloudy, cloudy

Still cloudy...this was the guys trying to climb to the very tip-top cliff when it was freezing cold, cloudy beyond visibility, and starting to rain. I waited at the bottom of this section.

All in all, fun times hiking. At this rate, I'll be in excellent shape by the end of the summer!