Summit Lake Backpacking Trip

Aaron and I haven't been backpacking for a long time now it seems like. I tell you, things are SO much easier when you have older kids and can just take off whenever you want. So, take off we did.

We had been up to Summit Lake last summer as a day trip and decided we wanted to come back for an overnighter. It's a fairly steep hike up, but not very long - only about 2 1/2 miles. And once you get there it's so worth it. Amazingly beautiful!!!

It's about a 2 hour drive to get to the trail head on the foot heels of Mt. Rainier. About 30 minutes of that is just driving up the rocky mountain side. But, here we are ready to take off, pre sweat soaked. It was about 80 degrees up in the mountains, so pretty warm to be hiking with a 30 pound pack on your back!

About halfway up you come to your first little lake. Don't know the name of it or anything, but like all the Alpine lakes, very pretty. This is where the trail forks. One way is up to Bear Head Mountain Peak (very beautiful too, we have done that one before as well) and the other to Summit Lake.

Aww.. What a cute couple.

We are kind of having a late summer this year. In mountain terms, that means it's pretty much Spring up there. As a matter of fact, as we understand it, the snow has only been gone from here for about three weeks. As a result, wild flowers abound. It was so beautiful.

Finally to our destination. Once you step over the crest of the hill, and things open up, the Lake is there to greet you. It actually is so beautiful that you just stand there and stare for a few minutes.

Settin' up the campsite

Relaxin' on the Lake

We got a little visitor on our tent when we got back from the lake. Holy cow this thing was HUGE! I tried to get Aaron in the pic for reference, but I have to say, even that doesn't give this guy credit. Glad he was on the tent and not in the tent!

Mt. Rainier was right behind our campsite

Campsite again from the top of the hill. Mt. Rainier is on one side, the Lake on the other. What a nice place to spend the night!

There is a trail, about 1 1/2 miles or so, that goes all around the lake. On the South end it climbs pretty steep and is a bluff overlooking the lake. Last time we were here we didn't have time to go all the way around because Jeff was on a schedule. Well, we were spending the night, so we had nothing but time, so we took it around. You would be hard pressed to find a spot anywhere on this trail without an amazing view of something! As you can see from the pic, it's pretty steep going up, but very worth your trouble!

At one point, the trail deviates from the lake and takes you a little further South to this bluff. Again, a totally amazing view! To the East you can see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and a handful of lakes. To the West, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue, and all the surrounding cities. We sat up there for a long time with the binoculars trying to piece together what everything was. That's me way out there to show you how great it looks up there and how high we were.

Mt. Rainier from the bluff

Still a little snow left

After our hike around the lake we decided to move our camp site. The one we were in was in the blazing sun with no shade anywhere, and it was in a meadow. That meant very open to hikers, and LOTS of bugs. We found this site that was a lot more private, shady, and still LOTS of bugs, but hey, two out of three isn't bad.

Cookin' dinner. There are no fires allowed in the Lake basin, so we had to cook on a little sterno stove. It was a great stove though, and we had some yummy food. Macaroni and cheese w/ hot dogs for dinner and this amazing Apple Cobbler recipe I found online for dessert. We had so much cobbler leftover that we had if for breakfast too. Yummy, and not more cooking required. Win-Win.

After we got done eating, we went up on the hill to watch the sun set. We got these amazing shots of the mountain as it was going down.

That night we were going to watch the stars, but it was a full moon, so not many stars were out. But, I have to say, that I have NEVER been out camping before when it was so bright and the moon so large. We didn't even need flashlights to get around it was so bright. It was kind of cool.

It was a super great trip. Everything was perfect. Weather, location and company. The only thing that was a down were the bugs were totally out of control. Other than that, perfect.

Mid-Week Hike

Since the weather has been so spotty this year, and hiking season got off to a late start, we are taking our hikes whenever we can. Rattlesnake Ridge is close and short, so it's easy to pick up after work. A nice place to pack up a dinner and sit at the top to enjoy the view.

Poo-Poo Point

Nice weekend weather take two! Our first hike of the year. Jess and Alex have never been up Poo-Poo Point, and since it's close that's where we decided to go. They even got to see a couple para-gliders take off.

aww... so cute.

:o) - photo bomber

Chillaxin' at the top.

Iron Horse Trail/ Lk. Kacheelus

You know us - beautiful weather takes us outside. We headed out with our bikes to do the Iron Horse tunnel, but once we got up there discovered that they have closed it. Not to be disheartened, we just went the other way and rode to the lake and spent the afternoon there.

Breaking for lunch!

Oh my gosh, my husband is such a dork!! So he found this piece of wood that looked like a rocking horse, so a little fun he had. We were laughing pretty hard, so I guess mission accomplished!

My son is just a big a dork as his father. I guess it's true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. This is the walking stick he found. He walked around with this thing for some time, and as you can see in two more pictures, even rode his bike with it for a while. When he finally dropped it I think he was having a bit of separation anxiety.

Dunkin' the heads in the river to cool off.

It was a great day to be out and together!

4th Of July

We had a few options open up to us for the 4th. Our final plans were to go to our friends house, the Walther's, for dinner and socializing for a few hours and then ride our bikes to Lake Meridian for the city firework display. Then the rain came. Ugh! Our weather this year has SUCKED!

Riding our bikes for 6 miles in the rain to sit in an extremely crowded park, to watch some just okay fireworks in the rain, and then 6 miles back in the dark and rain, did not seem appealing to us. Plus, we were having so much fun at the Walther's we just decided to stay there.

Mike and his three brothers every year go to the reservation on July 3rd for a night of gambling and fun. They have a budget for gambling and a budget for fireworks. Usually they loose the gambling budget, but if one of them is lucky to win the pot goes for MORE fireworks. Between the four of them, they put on quite the show!

It was way more fun for us to sit with friends, new and old, by the fire eating, talking and laughing and watching those boys turn into kids setting fire to things than anything we could have done with a park full of strangers. Thanks for the invite Mike and Alita. We had a lot of fun and ended up not getting too much rain! It was a great night.