We had a great float with the Adams and Leach families on Sunday on the
Upper Wenatchee. The kids were water babies and spent much of the time
just floating downriver wearing their life jackets. It was a perfect
afternoon in an incredibly beautiful valley. Summer doesn't get much
better than this!
On Sunday morning we took a four-wheel trail up to Sugarloaf Lookout. It is up on one of the ridges above the cabin and has amazing views out to the Columbia Plateau, Lake Wenatchee, Glacier Peak and the Mt. Stuart. It is still an active fire lookout and the firewatch person, Gary, gave us a tour and told us all about the history of the lookout. It was really awesome to get up above it all and take in these massive views.
This is a firefinder from the 1930s that they still use today to figure out where the fire is on the map once a plume of smoke is spotted from the lookout.
I am trying to get the family backpacking at least once a summer now as I have so many fond memories of backpacking myself. However, due to incredibly buggy conditions, we probably should have just skipped it this summer. But, I wasn't ready to let this trip go, so here we are, getting ready for a hike to Lake Dorothy in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the west side of the Cascade Mountains.
The trail is fairly gradual with really good stairs and boardwalks built in. It is a great distance for taking kids backpacking or hiking, just 1.7 miles to the lake.
There is a beautiful creek crossing part way up the trail. We imagined how cool and refreshing it would feel to play in these pools.
There was beautiful vegetation, too - all the way from skunk cabbage to these delicate ferns and trillium.
The kids did a fantastic job on the hike. However, we ended up with no campsite at the head of the lake, and had to keep hiking another two miles on the lake shore until we could find an open campsite. That long of a hike was a little more than we bargained for and we had a late start too - not even getting on the trail until 3:30 that afternoon. But we did it! And here is a wonderful view from our camp spot - it was cool to spot the snow on the highlands in the distance.
Due to the overwhelming amount of bugs, we spent most of our time inside our tent. It was actually kind of fun that way and we played a lot of games together.
Here is a little video montage of these photos that my camera put together.
The next morning I finished up the lake shore trail to see if there were other campsites further down the way. When I saw that there were none unless you forded this large creek, I was thankful we'd gotten the spot we did.
Charlotte was an excellent helper and pumped all our water.
We hiked out Saturday morning and came across many families and groups heading in for the weekend.
We drove straight from the trailhead to the cabin and enjoyed hitting the swimming hole to cool down after the hike. It was just our luck that the Adams Family was stopping there with their raft at the same time!
Here are Charlotte and Edison jumping off the rock at the swimming hole.
We continued the schedule of swim meets every Tuesday and Thursday evening this summer. Edison has really improved in his IM, including this leg of breaststroke. His best strokes are free and back.
Charlotte's favorites are the 25 Breaststroke and the 25 Freestyle and she is proud of qualifying for prelims in all her strokes this year.
Edison also qualified for prelims in his fly again this year.
Edison and Charlotte have also been taking diving lessons at the pool. Here is a video of Charlotte doing a flip.
Edison has now mastered the "hurdle" which is the foundation of every great dive.
We spent Wednesday night playing cards with Katie and Todd while the kids played in the yard, including this stint relaxing in the hot tub.
We were able to squeeze in a little three-day sailing trip with the Adams Family to Indianola on the south end of the Kitsap Peninsula. We don't travel light - as indicated by all the toys and coolers on the bow. But it is worth it to have all the kayaks and paddle boards once we get to our anchorage.
We anchored in a spot with an amazing view of Mount Rainier.
This was a hopeful float - there were no keep-able crabs for us this weekend.
Edison got some rowing practice on the dinghy while Reed and Jack maneuvered the paddle board.
Jumping off the sailboat also proved to be a lot of fun.
At night we cruised into "town" up the incredibly long pier and got ice creams.
Ahhh - sunset and twilight in the cockpit once the kids were tucked in - divine.
Morning reading on the boat.
We stopped at Howarth Park Beach in Everett on the way home. Charlotte had a close encounter with this heron.
