Green Mountain

I promised to write a separate blog post about our hike up Green Mountain.

If you are local, you have to hike there, you hear me? It's so worth it, albeit a little gnarly with 3,300 feet elevation gain and a total of 8.5 miles. But our seven-year-old daughter did it (hint: pack lots of treats for bribing), and our tiny Shih Tzu doggie did it as well. There was lots of panting involved, but both humans and dogs are allowed to do so when you climb up to 6,500 feet.

It's not only the exercise that takes your breath away. It's the view. Look.

We hiked this a couple of weeks ago, before the wildfires around us (one in Canada, and one right up the road where we hiked) obscured the views with haze and smoke.

On top of this mountain sits a historic lookout with a 360 degree view. It was originally built in 1933 and used for years to house seasonal fire lookouts. In 1987 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. 

On the way up, there are billions of wildflowers, a few small mountain ponds, and large expanses of meadows. 

Let me show you some of the flowers. By the way, my 12-year-old son Luke took most of these pictures, so thanks, dude.

The little lake was cute, and a breeding ground for a trillion mosquitoes and black flies. Did I tell you that the bugs were terrible? There's a reason we love hiking in the fall, when colder temperatures kill those suckers.

Kai's girlfriend came with us. If you want to get to know a person, take them on a hike and see how they deal with pesky bugs, heat, tough elevation, and blisters. The verdict is in, and I knew it even before the hike: I like her a lot! Which is fortunate, because I've never had a teenage child before, and I was dreading the whole dating thing. 

She didn't complain once (as opposed to my little daughter, who whined incessantly about the bugs and steep trail). 

She loves handling snakes, which freaked me out, but more power to her! 

Here's what the Washington Trail Association has to say:

"Once at the lookout, the views are world class. Mount Baker is visible to the north, Buckindy, the Ptarmigan Traverse group, and Dome Peak rise above the Downey Creek valley to the east, with the top of pointy Mount Sinister peeking out behind Dome. Glacier Peak dominates the southern skyline just west of the Suiattle River valley, along with the usual Mountain Loop suspects: Mount Pugh, Sloan Peak, Del Campo, Three Fingers, White Chuck and White Horse.

WTA Pro Tip: Traveling to 6500 feet on mostly exposed slopes warrants more attention to packing than many other similarly proportioned dayhikes might. Bring lots of water, especially in the summer (all the more if traveling with a dog), wear base layers you can strip down to if it's hot but pack something windproof and something warm and puffy if it's cold up high. In the summer you will want bug spray, and on any sunny day, sunscreen and lip balm should be on hand. Don't forget your dog's nose and upright ears, though check the ingredients: zinc oxide is toxic to dogs. Leave time for berry picking if they're in season and more for photo taking. Bring a headlamp."

I hope to see you out there!  And if you're not local, I hope I am enticing you to visit our beautiful corner of the world!

In fact, if you want to hang out with us at our homestead, we have two more spots open for our Homesteading and Wilderness Retreat August 19 and 20!

One of the greatest things about summer, or six thousand feet of elevation gain in two days

One of the reasons we choose to live close to the wilderness is easy access to some of the world's most beautiful places.  Now that most of the snow has melted in the mountains we can go hiking, which is one of my great loves.  My husband Steve and I have dragged our children up mountains since they were little, and it shows.  They are strong hikers.

My sons and I did two hikes last week, with a total of 6,000 feet elevation gain and 16 miles of hiking.  Come with us, and I'll show you why we love these mountains so much.

The first hike was Green Mountain, leading to a fire lookout with a 360 degree view of a sea of mountains.  Highlights: the wildflowers, Mount Baker and Glacier Peak visible in the distance, and a small lake to jump into and cool off in.

I love these excursions with my sons.  They used to whine and complain about heat, sore muscles or mosquitoes before, but not any more.  Now, I don't have to cheerlead them up the mountain - in fact, they encourage me when my knees start hurting on the way down.

Our conversations are fun up here... miles and miles and hours and hours of walking leaves time for talking about things they don't usually talk about.  This time, the topic of conversation was about girls.  Very enlightening, indeed.  My boys are growing up.

Two days later the whole family went hiking, including our little six-year old daughter Eva and two of the boys' friends.  The hike was on the East side of the mountains, a one and a half hour drive over the Cascade Mountains and different climate.  We knew eight miles and 3,000 feet elevation gain would be very hard for Eva, but we decided to push her.

Little did we realize that the day would turn into a 91 degree scorcher.

All was well on the way up, where large Ponderosa Pines offered shade, and mountain views distracted us from the steep trail.

But the hike led into a brushy area where a wildfire had swept through, and the energy shifted.  It was hot, scratchy, overgrown, and a little creepy with all the burnt and dead trees.

Eva crashed.  We ate lunch huddled under a tree to find shade. The other kids were chipper. Eva wasn't. The end of the hike was 1/4 mile ahead, so we decided to push on, Steve carrying Eva.  She acted fine on top, running around with the other kids, and all was well again.

But then, on the way back, Eva started looking pale, refused to walk and threw up.  Poor thing had too much exertion and too much heat.  

Steve carried all 60 pounds of her down the mountain.  Four miles. 3,000 feet elevation drop.  On his back.  Without complaining.  

My husband is beyond amazing.  While I spend the walk down feeling guilty and concerned about my girl, he single-handedly, single-back-edly carried his daughter down the mountain.  My admiration for him (which already is pretty damn high) rose exponentially.  This man has been the rock and solid foundation of our family for 14 years, and he never complains.

Phew.

I'm a lucky woman, and so are our kids. 

Here are all of us resting on the way down.  Eva fell asleep on top of me.

When we got to the car in one piece (Halleluja!!!!) and drove to Mazama to get some drinks and treats, Eva threw up again and then perked up.  She drank a cherry soda and was transformed after that, chatting and happy.

The next day, she was back to her normal, energetic, exuberant self.

Lesson learned: it's okay to push kids physically, but don't do it in 91 degree weather, and make sure you have a mule person with you that can carry heat stroke victims.

Other news of the week:  The garden is producing tomatoes and lots of other veggies.  For dinner, I go "shopping" in the garden and make from-scratch meals with produce I just harvested minutes earlier.

Also, my kitchen is messier than ever, since we spend all our time outside.  Who has time to clean the dishes?

I will leave you with images with more natural beauty.  I took all of these pictures either in our garden or within a 20 minute walk from our house.  Really.