Trail Review: Ingalls Creek Trail - Part 2

Continued from Trail Review: Ingalls Creek Trail - Part 1

Suckers.

Nothing happened. The only injuries I sustained were the bug bites. Which, to be fair, I'm moderately allergic to, and they made my legs swell to the point of bruising, and that is definitely a new experience for me.

Here's a picture of my legs at the end of Day 4 (they actually continued to get worse until the following night).

Those rings around my ankles are not dirt, they are just swollen bug bite rings! As of today (4.5 days later) they are all bruised and awful. They don't itch anymore but it looks like I have lesions on my legs. Not. Nice. Anyway, back to the story...

Up until this point in the hike I would give Ingalls creek maybe an 8 out of 10 on picturesqueness. It was okay, but nothing particularly special. The sub-subalpine meadow where we set up camp at the end of day 2 was definitely pretty, but only enough to make it an 8 instead of a 7.

We decided to tidy up our camp, and have me just carry one backpack with as little as possible in it, and then on the way down stop at our campsite, have some lunch and rest up a bit before starting back down in earnest. This was absolutely the right decision and I would absolutely recommend doing that rather than trying to pack all your gear up and down.

First view of Day 3

So we started up towards Stuart Pass and the lake and it got increasingly gorgeous. The light on the mountains was stunning and it really showed off the depth and cragginess of the area. We hit this gorgeous meadow, and had to stop for quite a while. I really wanted to spend some time taking photos, but more than anything Chris had continued to feel bad, and it really came to a head on day 3, he actually puked a little ways up the trail and was feeling pretty bad, both physically and just in terms of morale.

We didn't end up going to the lake proper, half because we had a dog, dogs are not allowed at the lake so we would have had to go to it in shifts, and we honestly couldn't find it. There was really no signage directing us toward the lake, and the only trail aside from the one that lead up to Stuart pass seemed to peter out in the middle of the field. So we decided to take the trail that headed toward Stuart Pass to see if we could find the lake, or at least see it from the top. I think we probably would have been more inclined to do a bit more searching if Chris hadn't been feeling so bad and I hadn't been concerned about how long it was going to take us to get out.

Panoramic of the south end of the meadow

We never did find the lake, which I'm still a little bummed about.

Ingalls Peak

I won't be very sad about it because seriously that meadow was bananas! I wish I could spend the rest of my life there... If it wouldn't be illegal, and a complete bitch to get supplies to. I could swear I took pictures of Mt. Stuart, but I can't seem to find them, I thought Mt. Ingalls was more striking anyway, but it still would be nice to have them.

About half way up Stuart Pass, Chris looked at me and I could tell he was just done. He asked if we could turn around. I really wanted to see how much farther it was to the top so I left him in some shade and we each set a timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes more walking I was going to turn around and come back to him, no matter where I was, and if I wasn't back in 1 hour Chris would come find me. I took the dog with me, so that if I got hurt I could send him back to Chris.

Now, I would normally not ever, EVER, recommend doing this. It's not good to split up (think of every horror movie you ever saw). As it is, I have some reservations about Chris and I hiking just the two of us. If something happened to Chris I would have a very difficult time getting him out, regardless of the terrain, but I really didn't want our trip not to have an end.

That's Glacier Peak (we think)

Endings are wonderful things, especially when it comes to hiking. It completely boosts your morale,  and makes the trip back better, there are 3 ways it does this: 1) You typically get to see something beautiful 2) You have a sense of accomplishment, which is simple enough in concept but I can't overstate how important it is and 3) you know that from now on it is, quite literally (most of the time), all down hill.

I hiked for about 10 minutes and I was at the top. I took some pictures, and some deep breaths, turned around and went back down to Chris to try and get him up to the top. Which I did, and he felt better for it. I've very glad I did because these pictures (left, bottom) were definitely worth the slight risk. I think it definitely improved the rest of the day for Chris as well, which was good, because all told on day three we ended up hiking about 12 miles. It was especially difficult getting started again after striking camp.

One pooped pooch!

The rest of the trip out was uneventful. We were able to do the whole thing in about 72 hours total. I would (and very well might) absolutely do this again, and encourage anybody. I think it's a great multi-night trip. You could try and do it in 3 days and 2 nights, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are in good condition and don't let bugs and overgrowth discourage you.

Trail Review: Ingalls Creek Trail - Part 1

Ingalls Creek Trail - July 19-22nd

Lower Ingalls Creek

32 miles
4,544ft of elevation gain, highest point 6,500ft
East of Snoqualmie Pass; I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly (except for Ingalls Lake)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Someday I am going to learn to carry a topo map, and I think if nothing else this trip will be the catalyst for me actually doing that. I'll get to that though...

So congratulations to me, this was my first multi-night backpacking trip and it was AWESOME.

The original plan was to go to Image Lake, however there was some concern about snow on the trail and the road being out 11 miles before the trailhead and we just did not want to have to deal with it. I realize that dilemma could have been solved by a simple call to the correct ranger station, but Chris and I hate the phone, so we went with a simpler back up plan. Ingalls Creek to Lake Ingalls and Stuart Pass.

Our first view of the mountains, wait a second is that.....

Ermahgerd, it's Mt. Doom!!!

We started out on the trail about midday which was a mistake. I think Chris and I have become totally spoiled by always hiking on the west side of the Cascades because no matter what time of year it is it really rarely gets hot. Ingalls Creek trail is on the Eastside and it might as well be a completely different state. It actually reminded me a lot of the Sierra Nevada: dry and scrubby with a lot of pine and fir trees. We had to stop fairly often to get water and cool off. We ended up stopping about 6.5 miles in at Falls Creek Campground.

This campground was wonderful for the first night because it was really well protected from light and heat exposure, which was really great since you never sleep too well the first night and it let us sleep in a little.

Day two was pretty rough, there had been a forest fire fairly recently so the next 4 miles were almost totally exposed and the brush started to get REALLY bad. Not far into the hike we had been warned by a couple we met that they had actually planned on going farther but turned around because the trail was so overgrown.

I don't know what it is about hiking that makes me think that everybody around me is a total wimp, but it does. Every time somebody warns me about trail conditions I just think to myself, well they're obviously big babies. To some extent I think I'm right, I mean, if I drive two hours to do some hiking, I'm going to do it. Unless it is actually impossible, not even dangerous, but IMPOSSIBLE, I will try. This was no different. When the couple we met told us about the overgrowth, I thought to myself, it's can't be THAT bad, besides I grew up in the woods, I'm used to trail blazing. Which is all true, what I forgot it how completely exhausting trailblazing and even walking on overgrown trails can be. Not to mention painful.

Here is how thick the brush was, I am in both of the pictures below, standing on the trail:

In the one on the right I simply just lifted the brush out of the way.... Yeah, pretty damn thick.


Between the brush, the heat, and Chris feeling kinda poorly we probably only did another 6-7 miles on day two. This was starting to get me worried, it meant that between days 3 and 4 we were going to have to do at least 18 miles, which would normally be completely fine, but I was definitely concerned about our pacing, especially since day 3 would also include some elevation gain.

We camped on the edge of this beautiful meadow with a bunch of pretty gorgeous views (up-right, left, bottom right) and had a spectacular view from our tent (Up-Left). Aside from our first view of the mountains while we were walking through the fire section, we had been in lowland and there hadn't really been much to see. So it was wonderful to get out in the meadows and sub-subalpine areas. There were also tons of wild flowers and blooming fire-weed that was out all over the place during day 2.

The only other remarkable thing about day 2 was that the bugs came out in force. I had brought bug spray with me, but these biting flies we're like "DEET? What do you think we are? PUSSIES?! NOMNOMNOMNOM."

I went to sleep and during the night I had this dream: I got badly hurt, to the point that Chris couldn't stretcher me out. He would have to leave me to get help, I kept telling him to go slow and not rush, so that he wouldn't hurt himself in the process. As soon as I finished telling him he sprinted away.

I didn't know then how prophetic that dream would be...

Link to Part 2!

Trail Review: Gold Creek Valley

Gold Creek Valley - July 7th

8 miles (+ 1.5-2 miles round trip of dirt road)
Negligable
Snoqualmie Pass; I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Easy

A little over a year ago Chris, Katie and I tried to hike Gold Creek Valley. We were looking for a good early season hike and it had been recommended. I can’t remember who or what recommended it. It was probably something along the lines of “This hike opens in May” and we thought to ourselves sweet! It’s May 18th (guessing) it’s got to be melted out! We totally don’t need to look at trip reports o WTA or anything...

We drove out there and didn’t even get to the actual trail before things turned slushy. Apparently you used to be able to drive up to the trailhead, now you need to park at Gold Creek Pond and walk about ¾ of a mile to the trailhead. Not a big deal, and the only reason I bring it up is this: there were people getting ready to go cross country skiing on our way from the pond to the trailhead. That should give you a pretty good idea of how snow it was.

I hear you thinking, surely they turned back, they’re not total morons who would try to hike an unfamiliar trail in two feet of snow when one of them was only wearing tennis shoes and jeans. Oh how wrong you are imaginary conversationalist. We are absolutely that dumb. My guess is we went about 2 miles, maybe a little bit less. We lost the trail a couple of times, but what finally made us turn around was we all fell into tree wells up to our hips.

This time was waaaaay better.

There was no snow. It was warm but not outright hot, the trail wasn’t crowded or muddy or anything! It was pretty much perfect. It’s an incredibly easy hike. We ended up turning around where you need to ford Gold Creek to continue on to Mt. Alaska, we’d read reports that things got a bit overgrown and nasty after that and we were looking for an easy recovery hike because of how hard we’d pushed on the the 4th. Not to mention that Chris’ ankle was only just starting to feel better.

It was a gorgeous day. There were tons of wildflowers, including my personal favorite (aside from daffodils or narcissus but they're not indigenous): wild tiger lillies (right). About ¾ of the way through the hike it opened up into the valley where there had obviously been an avalanche or mudslide or something. I find that kind of destruction oddly beautiful. It was one of the most enjoyable, mellow hikes I’ve had so far this season, I highly recommend it if you’re in need of an easy day. Start earlyish though (we started about 10:30), on our way back we passed twice the amount of people going out towards the trail than we’d seen on it all day.

WTA Link for Gold Creek Pond (no entry for the trail itself)

Trail Review: Pratt Lake and Temporal Shenanigans

Pratt Lake - June 23rd

8 miles

2300 ft Elevation gain

Alpine Lakes Wilderness; I-90 Corridor

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Moderate

Hikers beware! Pratt Lake has a temporal distortion on the trail! Wait, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, let me go back...

You start your hike up to Pratt Lake, in the same way as most hikes in the Alpine lakes wilderness. It’s a nice walk through an Evergreen forest with a mild-moderate incline. The highlight of the hike for me was the view from a ridge above Talapus Lake. I think if it had been a bit clearer we would have been able to see Rainier very prettily situated.

You continue up, there are some super cute bridges that you cross over, and if you did the hike early in the season (like we did) you’ll be walking through some snow. There was some crazy mist that was hanging out over the snow that I’m a little sad I did not take pictures of.

Till now everything proceeds as it ought to. Time does nothing out of the ordinary and you are just happy hikers!

You hit the saddle and start descending into Pratt Lake basin, we had to do some scary-ish skirting over snow/ice fields on an incline (not recommended without ice axes, we’re just idiots). Pass over some rocky/boulder fields. You walk through a little bit of forrest and you’re at the lake.

And it takes a fucking year to do all that. No really, it looks like a long descent and it is. Until you start to go back up.

The lake itself is pretty ho-hum (so ho-hum our whole group forgot to take pictures), or at least it was for us on this particular day. I think if it had not been so very cloudy and overcast that would not have been the case since I’ve seen pictures of the lake on sunny days, and the color and clarity of the water look pretty stunning.

Then you start ascending up out of the basin and it takes like 15-20 minutes. What in the holy hell is going on here? It took us an hour to go down and 20 minutes to go up. While the terrain was not the smoothest, I have never in my life had this happen. I have some knee issues so I’m a little slow going down but it never takes less time.

The only conclusion I can come up with is that there is a temporal distortion. If this happens to you, keep calm, call the Doctor.

WTA Link

Trail Review: Boulder River

Boulder River - May 27th

8 Miles
500ft Elevation Gain
North Cascades (near Darrington)
Good for Dogs
NW Forest Pass
Rating: Easy

Our hike on Boulder River started off pretty dramatically and ended... nicely, though it was a bit anticlimactic. Chris was ill so I ended up hiking with our friend Katie. The drive to the trailhead was quite lovely. I always love driving out to the North Cascades, I think they are the pretties mountains I've ever seen. People always gush about the peninsula. Feh. Give me the North Cascades any day of the week. See (below)? That's just barely getting towards them, they get so much better!

However, when we got to the trail head there were at least 10 Search and Rescue vehicles. The drive isn’t a short one from Seattle (about 1 hour 15 minutes), so we were super worried that we wouldn’t be able to hike.

As we got closer to the trail a woman informed us to please make sure we yielded to search and rescue, since they should be on their way back and carrying equipment. She then walked over to their FOOD TRUCK to get a breakfast burrito.

I will let that sink in. 

Search and Rescue has a food truck. With breakfast burritos! This sparked an entire conversation between Katie and I about how we would love to join Search and Rescue, except we don’t have climbing skills, helicopter piloting experience, or a desire to possibly have to get out of bed before 7am. We concluded we could not join Search and Rescue, but that breakfast burritos are delicious.

After that things were pretty much routine. We ran into aforementioned Search and Rescue personnel and they informed us they’d been out since 2am helping some stranded hikers. Further proof that Katie and I could not get breakfast burritos.

The hike was nice. There are a couple of nice waterfalls along the way and you never stray too far from the river itself, which I also find keeps me relaxed. I will say the trail conditions were not ideal, the trail was VERY muddy. Not “oh dear I might get some mud on my boots muddy,” more like Never Ending Story “ARRRTEX!!!” muddy. The grade is fairly level and we didn't need to take breaks at all going in or coming out. Though there was some route planning involved on how to avoid the majority of the mud.

The hike itself ends sort of weirdly. There’s no real conclusion, no this-is-the-place moment. It just sort of stops and you get to sit by the river have some snacks and turn around a slog it back. If you’re lucky there will be some crazy ass mist that is just hanging out over the river though. Which is pretty cool.

WTA Link

Trail Review Greenwater and Echo Lakes

Greenwater and Echo Lakes May 4th and 5th

14 miles (including Echo Lake)

1600ft Elevation Gain

Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, near Enumclaw

Good for Dogs

NW Forest Pass 

Rating: Easy

We did this hike back on May 4th and 5th, but then got really busy with my birthday and a bunch of other stuff and I got distracted. Chris, our friend Katie and myself left Seattle around 8:45 and drove out the Greenwater Lake trail head. This was our first real overnight of the season, and unfortunately Chris and been having really bad acid reflux, so we were moving pretty slow. The hike out was lovely, it was warm but not hot, and while there were quite a few people on the trail it didn’t ever feel crowded.

We got to the end of the second of the two Greenwater Lakes, and a man with a struggling campfire told us he had tried to get to Echo lake and had been unable to go the entire way due to snow. Being the stubborn, independent types we are we decided we needed to see it for ourselves. After all, this man had a tea-cup sized dog, so obviously he was insane, not to mention he had shorts on so maybe the “snow” was just slush that was 100 yards long and we’d be able to cross it easily.

We could not.

We went another 1.5 miles before we hit the snow. It started out manageable enough, the trail was easily spotted, but after about ¾ of a mile of increasingly deep, often slushy snow, we were done and decided to turn around.

Luckily just after we had passed the guy who said there was snow ahead Chris spotted a campsite that he said looked amazing. I couldn’t see it through the brush, but after we turned back we decided to head for that spot. The campsite ended up being on an island where two forks of the greenwater river converged and dumped into the lake. We had to scramble across some fallen trees, but oh man. BEST. CAMPSITE. EVER.

We spent the night drinking wine we had packed in, and playing camp Disney trivia (that’s where we bring some Disney trivia cards but not the whole board game). Then as we went to bed we listened to an audio book of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and recordings of Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone reading selections from Edgar Allen Poe. In all a pretty awesome evening. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

WTA Link: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/greenwater-lakes

Backpacking Gear List

I love packing for overnights. They’re less stressful when it comes to packing because you don’t have to agonize over every ounce and cubic centimeter of space. This list is pretty exhaustive, I’ve divided up the list by what each individual should have and then things like sunscreen etc. that only one person needs to carry. That being said I would almost always recommend that for every 2-3 people you have secondaries of these items. There are some items that it’s good to have different people carrying. For instance when Chris and I hike one person carries the water filter and one person carries the first aid kit which has iodine tablets. That way if we lose a pack we have a way to sanitize water. Other things we typically split up are fire-starting equipment and food, which can be a pain on multi-days when we’re both unpacking to put stuff in a bear bag. However, I feel better knowing we won’t have all our eggs in one basket if something were to go wrong.

This list is a good starting point for multiday trips as well, you’ll just need to adjust the amount of food and spare clothes you’ll need. As long as we’re on the subject of clothes, and since I can’t think of a better place to mention this, let’s talk about when you’re sleeping. I have a 30 degree bag, which if you're a girl you know means you're not comfortable after about 38-40 degrees. So for early season hikes, or when I know I'm going to be somewhere that's going to be particularly chilly during the night I have to bring extra clothes to sleep in. For me this is sweats, a long sleeve cotton thermal, slipper socks and a sweater. I can shed a layer if I need to but I don't sleep if I'm cold.

My trip for this weekend got cancelled so I won't have pictures. The next time I'm packing for a trip I'll take some photos. Also as I continue to post gear reviews the items will link to examples.

Gear List
Sleeping bag and mat
Water Reservoir or at least 2 one QT bottles,
Multi-tool
Food
Clothes: I always bring 1 more pair of socks and underwear than I need
Mess Kit
small flashlight/headlamp (we also keep one in our tent as a backup)
Backpack cover or large garbage bag

Tent (make sure you have your poles, stakes, etc.) and footprint/tarp
3 kinds of fire (ferro rod, butane torch, lighter, matches in waterproof container, magnesium rod etc.)
50 ft of 300 lb test cord
First aid kit
Compass
Map (if needed)
Water filter and iodine tablets
Stove and fuel
Cooking pans
Toiletries (Small Hand Soap, Small Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Comb, Floss, small Fast-Drying Camp Towel)
Sunscreen/Bugspray
Bear Bag (we just hang an OR Stuff Sack from a tree)
Garbage bag

My dog carries all his own stuff except for his water. This is possible as long as long as your dog is big enough, they really don’t make packs for dogs under 25lbs, here’s a list for your buddy

Dog Gear:
Dog Backpack
Food (don’t forget to put in bear bag at night, even if there aren’t bears it’s good to seal this guy up in case of raccoon etc.)
Treats
Poop bags
Toys
Cloth travel bowl

Sweater (if needed) for when you stop

Deception Pass State Park: Part 2

This post is going to go up a day early since tomorrow promises to be a bit hectic. 

I woke up after dozing off for a bit and thought to myself “Hmmmm there’s no dog in my sleeping bag. Where the hell is Jaxx?” He usually sleeps in my bag when it’s cold, because he’s spoiled and I don’t mind the extra warmth. I woke Chris up to make sure he wasn’t with him. Turned out he’d nosed his way out of Chris’ door. Shit. Shit. Shit.

If you’ve ever had a pet disappear, you know it sucks. It’s especially awful when you’re in an unfamiliar place and your dog has a particular affinity for cars. I ran out of the tent and started whistling from him. Got about 50 yards from camp and this woman came around a building and asked “Did you lose your dog? Is his name Jaxx?” Oh thank god. He had just wandered into a neighboring campsite where people were still up. My dog likes to party. Needless to say we’ll be investing in some small carabiners to seal the tent zippers at night. But everything was fine, although I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night, first because I was totally afraid that I was going to lose Jaxx again, second because by this time the tent was slowly beginning to collapse.

For me the tent wasn’t really a problem. I like small spaces and it wasn’t completely collapsed so I didn’t have tent material on my face. The nice thing about your tent collapsing is that it’s really toasty. It’s a general rule of thumb that the less space inside a shelter and the lower the ceiling the warmer it’s going to be, since warm air travels up. This goes for primitive shelters as well. However, Chris is a lot bigger than me and he had damp tent on his face. Not pleasant. He didn’t want to move to the car, so poor guy ended up rolling up his sleeping mat and using it to prop up the center of the tent. Around this time I finally passed out. 

Ko-Kwal-alwoot

Next day we struck camp pretty quick and went up to the north end of the park (Fidalgo Island) to do some additional hiking. It was warmer and even prettier out. On the way we stopped and took some pictures from the bridge (Above). We started out at Rosario Beach, which WTA had mentioned as a very pretty spot. My favorite part was this gorgeous carved Samish (Native Americans indigenous to the area) statue of Ko-Kwal-Alwoot, also known as The Maiden of Deception Pass, who ended up marrying the family that rules the sea. The carving is beautiful, but really I love the story, you can read it here.

Day two was short, we were both pretty exhausted from the previous day’s hike and the long night. Only hiked about miles total, but it was a beautiful day. The Olympic mountains were out in the west (click on the photo below to see them a bit more clearly). One thing that struck me (on both days), especially being from a coastal region myself, is how clear and empty the water is here. I’m used to surging surf, tons of kelp and sea life. In the area I grew up in California the water and sea life is pretty similar to what you find in Washington marine areas, tide pools and rocks seem to be alive with all manner of sea urchins, crabs, starfish, different types of sea plants. Here it was just empty which, while a little jarring for me, does make for some beautiful water. I could almost pretend I was in the Mediterranean.

Overall definitely go visit Whidbey, but I would recommend going during the week, or off season to avoid lots of groups. Unless you are one of those people who love car camping, because you're very social and inevitably make friends with everybody in neighboring sites. Good for you, you damn alien. 

WTA Link for our second hike here. It's also highlighted in red on the map of the park in Part 1.

Deception Pass State Park: Part 1

 

Location: Whidbey and Fidalgo Island

Difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (couple of short steep sections)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: Variable
Fees/Passes: $22 for drive in $12 for bike/hike in sites

Season: Year round, but I recommend off-season

This past weekend Chris and I really wanted to get out of the city. The first camping trip of the year always seems to end up being car camping. Probably because we don’t have our gear assembled yet and are just generally not prepared (as you will see). So this year we went out to Whidbey Island and camped at Deception Pass State Park. We were suppose to go with a goup of hikers we are friends with but the date ended up getting moved to this coming weekend, at which time Chris and I will be in Olympia visiting family. Since both of us were looking forward to the trip we decided to go a week early on our own.

The trip was kind of a mixed bag.

First thing we were in a state park campground. Which means it was noisy and we were jammed up against neighboring campers. Luckily it was still early in the season so it wasn’t completely packed, we only had neighbors on one side and there was some decent brush giving us some privacy, but still it sort of ruins it if you can hear somebody’s radio. There are some bike/hike/kayak in spots that are a little more secluded which I’d like to check out sometime. Especially the boat in ones since they’re on smaller surrounding islands.

When we arrived we decided to set up our tent so we’d have less to do when we got back from our hike. It also gave the marine fog a little extra time to finish burning off. I pulled out the fly, the tent, the..... oh shit. No poles. Chris had forgot to check the bag before he packed it. Luckily we have a Subaru Forester so if things like this come up we can always sleep in the car, but Chris decided he was going to fashion some tent poles out of sticks and some zip ties we had in the car. So what should have taken about 3 minutes took about 45. While it wasn’t the prettiest tent in the world, I have to say, he did a pretty good job.

By this time it was absolutely gorgeous, about 70 degrees and clear as a bell. We hiked around the outside of the southern part of the island (outlined in red above). From West Beach up around the perimeter of Goose Rock. All the trails we hiked on were in very good condition. The trail around West Beach is at least partially paved, and then the rest are well maintained, with only a few spots that were muddy. We saw some very pretty views. Including one stunner with some islands and Mt. Baker all virgin whiteness standing in the distance (yeah that’s totally not a cloud in that picture below, that’s a mountain). The tidal flow that goes through Deception Pass itself is super scary. It’s just boiling surging water. I’d love to kayak around the island sometime, but I’ll definitely not even get close to that area (there will be a picture of this in part 2).

After our hike we went and had a couple beers on the beach (in non-glass containers thank you!). Going through winter in the Northwest always leaves me, and pretty much everyone, wanting to soak up the sun. Also, we forgot to bring board games. When we came back to camp and had camp Indian food (which I will post on at a later date), enjoyed our campfire and went to get some sleep. Or so we thought...

Continued here.

Product Review: Osprey Hydraform Reservoir (70oz/2L)

Uses: Day Hikes, Over Nights, Possibly multi-days (see below)
Cost $27 at Campmor.com (links below)
Times Used: 10+

Two posts today since I'm going to be out at Deception Pass on Whidbey Island this whole weekend, camping and hiking. There should be a post on that either Monday or Wednesday. My plan is to try and post MWF, but yesterday was super slammed and I'll be working in the office tomorrow, so no blogging. 

I know a lot of people get nervous about carrying bladders (including myself), especially on multi-day trips where the concern that you would lose your water container and get your gear soaked to boot is very legitimate. I might go more old school for multi-day trips, but I think for over nights and day hikes you absolutely should be using a bladder. I have a big hydration problem when I hike, I just don’t stop as often or drink as much as I should. So despite my own reservations, I decided to go shopping for a reservoir for myself.

I did some research and ended up going with Osprey, even though it’s on the pricey side, for a few reasons. The material is SUPER durable. It has a frame that contours with your back, so it’s not weird or uncomfortable as you drink. It’s anti-microbial with a wide mouth that helps it dry out faster. It’s BPA and PVC free. It also has an attachable magnet that you can put on your bag so the bite valve isn’t flying all over the place and getting in your way. This sounds kind of frivolous, but I’ve tried carrying this thing without something to hold the bite valve and line in place and it’s irritating when it flaps all over.

The one thing I don’t like is that even though it’s got anti-taste stuff it still tends to taste a bit like plastic, unless I rinse it out a bunch before using it. I’m very sensitive to tastes though. I am also considering upgrading to the 3L instead of 2L since I tend to go through 2L on a warm day in a few hours. It is a little on the heavy side, so if you do ultralight or trail running I would recommend something else. Also every bad review of this product I’ve seen comes from trail runners. They seem to get leaks, too much jostling around maybe? I have never had a problem with leaking of any kind and no problems with the valves. I would definitely recommend it for hiking though, especially day use.

Version I have here 

Updated Version ($30-$35 here

Trail Review: Anti-Aircraft Ridge

Location: Issaquah Alps

Difficulty: Easy (~600 ft of elevation gain)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: 6-7, but lots of opportunities for shorter hikes as well
Fees/Passes: None
Season: November - April

It’s always tricky in Western Washington to figure out good hikes in March that isn't going to be snowed in. You’re options are either to go out to the peninsula, the San Juans or some places in the Southern Cascades. The Peninsula is tricky if you have a dog, since so much of it is National Park, in addition both it and the San Juans have the added complication and cost of ferry rides. Going down to The Gorge or Southern Cascades isn't ideal either, it’s a long drive and areas may still be snowed in. If you don’t have time to do an overnight or multiday hike, this means you’re in for an extremely long day.

Which is why early in the season a lot of people, especially in the Seattle area end up settling for hiking/walking in some of the more expansive urban parks in Seattle (Discovery Park, Carkeek Park, etc.) and parts of the Issaquah Alps. A nice bonus for these hikes is that none of them require passes or have day use fees.

Chris, Jaxx and I have done a few of these, and this was probably one of the prettier ones. There are tons of trails in Cougar Mountain Park so you have a lot of options in terms of length. There isn't a lot of variation in difficulty since there isn't much elevation gain or loss for any of the hikes. Some have short bursts of slightly steeper terrain, but they are typically short. There are some nice views if you can find places without trees. You can see the lake in the valley below and we did get a nice peak at Mt. Baker in the distance. My favorite section that we hiked was Klondike Swamp. While it doesn't have majestic views it has definite swamp(ish) charm, lots of gnarled trees covered in moss etc.

WTA recommends this hike November through May, mostly to avoid mosquitoes I probably won’t hike here after April because of crowds. On an overcast (not rainy) day we saw probably 10 people or more, which doesn't sound like much when I write it down, but I like more solitary hikes. I imagine this place gets packed by mid-late spring.

Sorry about the lack of photos, cam-jam was dead.

WTA Hike Link (including directions)

Inaugural Post

ME.
I am Allison.I love the outdoors. I was raised in a really rural area of northern California and spent most of my life playing in tide pools, wandering around redwood forests, running around the local reservation and just generally being a crazy kid. About two years ago I started hiking again on a regular basis. I hike with my boyfriend Chris and our dog Jaxxson.

Chris and I are really great compliments to each other in terms of our outdoor style and experience. He's a former boy scout and is very much into preparation and planning. I'm a little bit more impulsive, but the knowledge I've gained of edible and medicinal plants, mushrooms, sea-life (and how to eat it) just based on where I live means I have some pretty good knowledge when it comes to being outside.

Jaxxson, well he's just himself.

WHY.
There are a few reasons why I want to start this blog. The primary reason is to help hikers, particularly people who are just starting and people who hike with dogs. I also want to help people learn about different types of edible plants, mushrooms, traps, survival stuff etc. Of course to tell stories, I really enjoy writing, and to show off some photography. My last reason for starting this blog is I think that one of the best things we can hope for in a capitalist society is getting paid for something you love. So I'm hoping that I can make a little money off the site.

CONTENT
My plan is to do several types of entries. Trail reviews, Product/Gear Reviews and Recommendations, Backpacking/Camp Food Recipes, Book Reviews, Tips and Techniques (including some primitive/survival stuff), and hopefully some guest content occasionally and anything else I think is fun or relevant (look out for an upcoming post on making a tiny freshwater tackle box).