The rainy season in Seattle has begun. After days of being trapped inside because of the rain I was getting pretty antsy so I decided to go out and face the monsoons head on. Latigo was dragged along as well, but I promise he had a good time playing in the rain and snow! Last year, Maura and I snowshoed to Snow Lake near Snoqualmie Pass. There are a number of lakes that you can continue onto from Snow Lake and I wanted to check them out. My original goal for the day was to visit Snow Lake, Gem Lake,…
Sunshine Wall – Vantage
Fall has officially hit Seattle and the rainy weather convinced me to road trip the 2.5 hours out to Vantage for some sunny rock climbing. Friends Casey and Matt joined in the shenanigans and of course Latigo came along for the ride as well. We got a moderately early start – everyone was in the Explorer and on I-90 by 7:45am. We made good time through the pass and were all very excited as we left the rain behind and beautiful rays of sunshine began to beam down on us. I watched the thermometer on the dash slowly rise as we…
Eightmile Campground and 8-Mile Rock
Rain was predicted for the weekend but that doesn’t generally stop us from seeking adventure! We set off Friday night for Icicle Creek Canyon. It’s one of our favorite spots in the State of WA and we haven’t camped here since early spring. We aren’t the only ones who enjoy this area and the campgrounds are generally packed every single weekend. We hoped that because it was the weekend after Labor Day and the gloomy weather report would keep the crowds away and we would be able to secure a site at the popular Eightmile Campground. There are five campgrounds…
Cutthroat Pass to Snowy Lakes
Labor Day weekend presents an odd combination of an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, we have a long three day weekend to go adventuring in. On the other, so does everybody else. We knew that no matter where we went or what we planned it would be busier than normal. Looking for a hike for the weekend was made easy using Craig Romano’s Backpacking Washington guidebook. This is by far my favorite guidebook we own. It is easily navigable through handy charts at the beginning of the book. One of my favorite places in the world is…