We hit the trail at 9 am, climbing by chair lifts on a beautiful day. I was scheduled for a committee conference call that afternoon with the United States of America Snowboard and Ski Association (USASA) and hoped for cell coverage. Nope, bummer.  We have a fantastic new ED, Mike Mallon, who I enjoyed committee work with when he was volunteer President of the Board.  Not so odd to be thinking about snowboarding when you’re walking through ski resorts.  It will snow before I know it.  Bummer that I ran out of cell service before the call.

The bugs have been ferocious in Washington.  We hiked 18 miles and camped by a lake. It was so frantic to get my tent up and out of the bugs, I tossed everything out of my pack while pulling on a head net and pants, then squished dozens inside my tent where I made dinner and waited for Sliderule to make it in.  The following day it rained off and on and there were a zillion human beings along with the bugs.  Beautiful country though.  So the third night we planned to camp at a small site, then hike a relatively less amount of uphill to Snoqualmie.  This is an absolutely glorious hike, traversing a cirque in the alpine with views for hours.  Very little dropping into the trees and the green tunnel.  Then you pop over a ridge with the I-90 six miles down switchbacks and can practically smell the Hurry Curry at Aardvark’s.  Definitely made me hurry, definitely the best curry I’ve ever had!

Lord Vader turned up the next day after getting a ride to Snoqualmie.  I saw him on the trail a few days ago as he was hiking the section he missed due to injury last year.  All done now, congrats to a super nice man.

We waited till check out time at 11 and took a short day to camp by a lake with a thousand recreational hikers.  I love the sound of kids having fun outdoors, but I love it even more when dark drives them in their tents to bed!