Backpacking

Mom wanted to test her scary new hammock. After spending all day searching for a lake to hike to online, we drove off to the Snoqualmie National Forest with our backpacks. To get to the trailhead was a bumpy, but decent drive. Left the car and headed up the muddy path. The hike difficulty was listed as "moderate", I enjoyed bouncing ahead of Mom and saying hello to the 2 couples heading back their cars. Mom cursed the second half of the trail because it was nonexistent. I was thrilled to find the lake at the top, but couldn't get down to the nonexistent shore or even get a good photo op because of the untamed nature. As we headed back down the trail to find a place to set up camp, Mom slipped a couple times. I did not point out that my backpack, I guilted her into carrying, had fallen into the river bed! No more backpack! We found a couple trees, close enough together, on top of huge boulders with glacier striations. As the sky got darker, the clouds rolled onto us and never left. It reached about 36 degrees at the coolest part of the night.

Since this was the first hammock attempt outside of the backyard, Mom didn't know that the trees were too close together. She was funny looking in the jack knife position. I was uncomfortable most of the night and ended up, for the last hour or two of sleep, on the ground a few feet away. I looked like a little fawn hiding! When Mom finally rolled out of the hammock, I was disappointed she had lost that stupid backpack. My breakfast was in it! The bugs seemed to avoid her, but my back was covered in bites. She packed up all the wet belongings and hurried back down the "stair master" trail.

I was tired, but enjoyed eating the water and tips of one kind of grass. We were much slower going down, Mom kept yelling at her knees, and was really cautious. I was really happy with my KFC on the way home as a reward :)

Wet, muddy, miserable, stair climber, wonderful, exhausting, painful hike!

AllTrails
http://alltrails.com/tracks/track-jul-10-09-36-…Read more