Conrad Meadows Backpacking Trip

Rachel, Marc, Tiffany, Kurt, Katie, Koree
Heading out on our adventure

Katie and Kurt, backpackers extraordinaire!

Katie, Tiff and Rachel surrounded by wildflowers

Lucky shot!

Conrad Basin

The girls!

Just one of the dozens of wildflower pictures I took.

There was even some snow fields to cross!

Footloose and fancy free!

Kurt, who suggested we take the trip in the first place. Thanks!

Marc and I could not resist a quick dip. Rachel followed, but felt a bit betrayed by the way Marc and I made it seem less freezing then it was! :) It felt so great!!! Appropriately the lake is called Cold Lake.

The crew

My sweetie

Rachel, wonder woman!

Our campsite, Wow!

Secret waterfalls

After a dip in the falls

Another shot I could't resist sharing

Late afternoon hike

Just beautiful

Tiffany, always ready for fun

So glad to have you all in my life!

Meanwhile, Lucy spent a long weekend with Grammy Pam and Grampy Dave. Thanks!!!

Over Labor Day weekend, my parents came up to Portland and Marc and I got to go on a backpacking trip with some good friends. It was our first trip away without Lucy. We love our little Lucy, but a trip of this nature would have been impossible with her.

We headed to the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington State, where our friends Tiffany, Rachel, Kurt and Katie joined us. We hiked about 11 miles, of which the last 1 1/2 miles was steep climbing. Oy! It was challenging, with full packs, but totally worth it as our destination, Conrad Meadows, was really quite beautiful. A glacially formed basin, it was a lot like Glacier NP. The wildflowers were peaking, and there was an incredible diversity of blooms.  There were peaks all around, and clear water creeks. The weather was perfect, and we were pretty much the only people out there.  On our full day there we kept a base camp and explored the basin without the heavy packs. Wow! It is hard to describe how truly amazing and special this are is. 

Marc and I have always felt so lucky to have so many wonderful friends, and our group for this trip was great. We love to go to shows with this crew, and it was fun to do something different. Katie and Kurt are inspiring as this was probably their 7th or 8th backpacking trip of the season.  Rachel is my old friend from Humboldt, who came to Portland and has continued to spread her passion for living an adventurous, active life. Tiffany is great as she is always up for a good time, but also always available for a good chat about life (as are all of these friends!). I love you all and am grateful that we got to get away together. 

Thanks to Mom and Dad for giving us the opportunity to escape, relax, sleep in and enjoy some adult time. :)  We love you!

Summer sadly had to come to an end...

Summertime!

Watermelon!

Elowah Falls

Sunrise when camping at the beach

Evan and Lucy!

Evan and Rose. Look at those eyes!

My girl

I am so far behind in updating my blog here, but I am still determined to "catch up" in order. In ten years when I look at this, it will not matter. :) And it is nice to reflect on all the fun things we have done.

When we got back from our vacation, the weather was great. Lucy and I had lots of fun playing in the front yard in our little swimming pool, eating watermelon and enjoying the sunshine. I took a bunch of pictures of our garden, which I would love to post here, but then my sister would make fun of me for taking pictures of flowers, and accuse me of turning into an old lady. :) The yard looked great though, lots of beautiful flowers. We took a hike out to Elowah Falls in the Gorge with our friend Katie, and it was so beautiful. An amazing falls that is "off the beaten path" and so we were the only ones there when we ate our picnic lunch.

We also took a last family camping trip with a bunch of friends out to the Oregon Coast. I was so excited as the weather reports were calling for 70s, which is amazing for the coast up here. I was picturing playing by the water...relaxing on the sand and reading a book...building sandcastles with Lucy...and while the weather did hit 70, if you walked out to the ocean the wind was so fierce that is was difficult to just hang out. We did manage to for a while with an umbrella set up as a wind break, but it was not what I was imagining. Sometimes this California girl misses the sunny, warm beach. The second day was not as warm, but calm out on the beach, so we explored some tide pools. We all had a great time, I feel so lucky that we have the chance to experience so many things, and have so many great friends to do them with. I realize I don't have any pictures of Marc...I suppose that is because the guys were off crabbing while the girls watched the kids. Dungeness crab sure is yummy!!! Mmmm, crab!!!

Ending our 2011 Road Trip

Sinopah boat ride on Two Medicine Lake

Lucy enjoying the boat ride

Glacier sure was beautiful!

Enjoying our last night in Montana

Sunset as we arrived at a campsite on the Lostine River

Lucy loves those goggles

Lucy also loves the tent, and her puppy

Action shot on the Lostine River, NE Oregon

My honey

What a girl!

Again, what a girl!

Almost home...the Columbia River Gorge and Mt Adams in the distance

As with any vacation, our road trip to Montana had to come to an end. As a final Glacier adventure we took a boat ride on Two Medicine Lake in the 1926 boat Sinopah. The ride was fun, and we learned a lot more about the park, both geologically and historically.  Glacier National Park has been a highlight on the list of places I have been. The sheer immensity of the place makes you feel small, but full of life all at once.  It is an inspiring place to be. Sadly, we had to leave. Our last night in Montana was spent in Whitefish, a mountain resort town that would be great in the winter!  We walked to the downtown area and had a fabulous dinner at the Craggy Range Bar and Grill. I still dream about the rib-eye steak I had there. We then went to a brewery and had the game room to ourselves. Lucy loved the table shuffleboard, and Marc, Bob and I enjoyed a few beers.  It reminded us of when we lived in the Arcata area, a small town with an outdoor vibe. When life was so simple and carefree!!! 

Before returning to Portland, we took one last pit stop in Northeastern Oregon, camping for two nights on the Lostine River. Again, beautiful.  It was especially relaxing, staying in the same place and just enjoying each other.  Marc got some fishing in (he was eluded by a large trout that jumped several times right in front of him, all day long). Lucy played in the water, throwing rocks, exploring and just plain being cute. She sure loves to camp.  I caught up on some reading, lost in the series "A Song of Ice and Fire", which I am still deeply entrenched in almost five months later. It's awesome. I was glad we had a bit of time to take a deep breath as a family and reflect on our journey.  We are blessed that we were able to take the time for this trip, and had the resources to make it happen.  I hope that as Lucy grows and time goes by we are able to continue this tradition, exploring the US and making memories together!

Glacier National Park Part 2

Hiking out to Avalanche Lake

A highlight of Glacier is the abundance of crystal clear water.

Happy Family!

Lucy Kat on the Cedar Trail.

Dinner in East Glacier

I'm lucky to have such a great Father in Law

Peaks overlooking Two Medicine Lake

Nice evening playtime

Running Eagle Falls

Lucy said "I do it myself" brave girl!

Hiking to Upper Two Medicine Lake

The glaciers carved these deep, round-bottomed canyons all throughout the park.

At the end of a ten mile hike, feeling of accomplishment.

That's my girl!

After a couple of nights in West Glacier, we headed to East Glacier. Glacier NP is so huge that four days there only let us barely scratch the surface. Sure, we got to drive the amazing Going To The Sun Road, and hike to some beautiful spots, but we left so much of the park unexplored that you could easily spend two weeks there and not get bored. The wildflowers were blooming everywhere, and we saw so much wildlife (but no bears, even though Lucy wanted to see one).  East Glacier is on the Indian Reservation and is much less populated. We went on a ten mile hike and hardly saw anyone! It was in an area frequented by bears which was a bit spooky. Hiking through fields of huckleberries (Lucy loved them!) and cow parsnips, both yummy Grizzly food...I was in charge of heading up our group, and though I often felt silly belting out all of the old camp songs I know, and making up new ones...some silly singing is better then surprising a bear, which happened to a runner elsewhere in the park during the same week. Despite sharing the space with bears, I highly recommend taking the time to visit GNP!