So I never really finished my post about Hawaii....eventually it will happen. But so much has happened since then thats worth talking about that it feels like a digression to go back that far :) It has been exactly one year that I have lived in Seattle now. I have ranged from an initial gutteral hatred for the place, which morphed into acceptance of a mediocre city, which then grew into love and appreciation for the beauty of this place...and now I have settled on really liking it here, but knowing that my heart lies back east. Its a seemingly good place to be for the time being, but knowing that I will eventually head back east sometimes gives my current state a very temporary feeling. Annnnyway, enough about that. The rest of this summer was beautiful, though I didn't get to enjoy it nearly as much as the first half. I hopped in with both feet to the school application process and stuck my nose in my computer for a good two months, working on odds and ends, essays, logistical details etc. In addition, I found out that I had to move AGAIN.....I have now moved 5 times since leaving Maine a year ago.....awesome. So we did a really hectic, frustrated house search and ended up in a cute but sub-optimal daylight basement apartment that has more quirks than perks. I found myself getting really stressed and unsettled, so I decided to dedicate october to refinding the mountains and sucking up any last sunlight and maybe even foliage I could before a loooong rainy "winter" sets in. So, first I set off to Granite Peak which is a nice close hike. Its about 40 minutes outside the city and I decided that would be a perfect hike to do on my own. The view from the top is a full 360 degree view of the mountains, including Rainier, and its steep enough for a workout but only about 8 miles round trip. I put some hot apple cider in a thermos, packed my book and my flute and set off. I met a girl on the trail and she was hiking solo too, so we paired up for a bit but I really had wanted to just spend some time with myself so I let her go ahead after a while. The best thing about this trail is the meadows near the top and how all of a sudden Mt Rainier (a huge gianormous volcano) pops out of nowhere.
What gianormous mountain? Oh THAT gianormous mountain?
When I reached the top I found a spot all to myself. I was so excited for hot apple cider. I'm not sure why, but I kind of assumed the thermos wouldn't work and that my cider would only be luke warm...so i took the cap off to feel. It seems I was right, no steam. So I went to take a chug at which point I realized I was HORRIBLY wrong and it was still scalding hot, so I pulled it away but managed to pour it all over myself in the process. So here I was, at the top of this beautiful mountain, now covered in scalding hot apple cider, which would soon be sticky....and I really didn't have a complaint in the world.
Mt Baker in the background, and my fluting shadown in the foreground :)
After finishing the rest, slightly more cautiously, I ate some lunch and played my flute for a while. It was so relaxing for that to be the only sound I could hear. That day was just what I needed. So the next weekend I planned to do another hike. But I wanted to go much deeper into the mountains, to something more difficult so I called up my friend Sam and we planned to do Cascade Pass. This is my favorite hike, and I posted pictures of it before. So, Sam and I drove up north for 3 hours (the last 20 miles of which was on a dead end dirt road). We got about 3 miles away from the trailhead when we stopped in front of giant orange baracades that said "road closed for road work". REALLY? You couldn't write that at the BEGINNING of the 20 mile dirt road? Just a thought. We just sat there and laughed so hard. But there was a different trailhead about a mile back that neither of us had ever tried so we decided to do that one. This one was called Hidden Lake Trail. We had no clue about the length or elevation gain of the trail, but we figured if there was a lake it had to be pretty. The trail started out really steep, just winding through some meadows, then it traversed across the face of the peak in front of us and took us up through some snow capped peaks. The further we climbed the more we were absolutely floored by the view.
Mt Baker in the background..
The whole day was a comedy of errors (all of which were of the 'had to be there' variety, so I wont bore you....suffice it to say we had tons of fun). This is now my new favorite hike. I couldn't get over the view from the top, with the lake (and it certainly was hidden), we could see Mt Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt Shuksan (all of which are amazingly beautiful glacier capped mts in the area) along with some incredible mystery mountains :)
Look at how hidden it is! They tucked it right in the middle of nature there!
So October is now coming to a close and I feel like I've given summer a proper farewell. There is so much more to be said, about all that lies behind and ahead in my world right now. But I'm signing out for now.
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