When I Roll into the Wild Wild West: Keep Calm and Protect Your Food

We have made it to Seattle y'all! We split the drive into two days and on our second day our bodies had gotten so used to hiking everyday that we decided to stop at a trail in Snoqualmie Pass called Snow Lake. It was a super beautiful 8-mile hike to an alpine lake that started in a forest with ginormous trees and ended by the lake front with wildflowers galore.

Ginormous trees on the way to Snow Lake

Well there she is

We done did that hike and then moved on to meet up with Jen's friend Natasha who we are staying with.

The next day the three of us went to Mt. Rainier to do a few hikes near falls and then the skyline trail, a short 5.6 miler that's jam packed with great views of Mt. Rainier, beautiful wildflowers and snow...lots of it! A girl from Philly joined our pack and told us a lot of people slide on their bottoms for the snow but I was in thin soccer shorts so I just took her word and took the pictures. At one point we also saw a cool-looking building made out of stone that stuck out of a rock at the top of what looked like a steep but rock-lined path. So OF COURSE, we go for it. We realize about half way up that perhaps it's not a path (which it definitely was not) but at this point we just NEEDED to see what this building was. Drumroll please....a bathroom. Oh yeah. And none off us even had to go. YOLO?

Mt. Rainier

Natasha, Me and Jen

The bathroom...

Marmot #478

Sliding in the snow

On Wednesday my friend Rya flew into Seattle to join us on our crazy little trip for a few days and our now four pack headed straight for foggy downtown. We took an underground tour at Pioneer Square to learn about the history of the city which was cool and funny...apparently the city was first built on sea level with no regard to the tides so streets would flood twice a day and their little outhouses would as well, and, you get the point. After many attempts to solve the problem (above-ground sewer systems made out of wood being the best idea...) they decided to just raise the city above the old city, and the old city was where the underground tour was held. Post-tour we walked around by the water front, went in some touristy gift shops and walked around Pike Place Market to buy snacks and cool local crafts.

Downtown Seatttle

Preach

Bikes checking out showtimes

Thursday we planned to hike something in Olympic National Park but were having trouble deciding; a 6-mile guy here, a 5-mile stroll there, yet somehow ALL agreed on a 19-mile hike up, down and ALL AROUND a mountain ridge...uh, come again? The next morning at 5 am we were all questioning WHOSE bright idea this was but still with packs full of snacks and cameras in hand we piled in the rental to head towards the ferry, and ultimately the peninsula that held our doom.

Here's the timeline for the day; drive/ferry for two hours to a ranger station, discuss the plausibility off our success with a doubtful and aggressive female ranger for 20 minutes, discuss HER unnecessary anger towards us in the bathroom for 10 minutes and skirt around her to sneakily ask a much nicer male ranger about the trail conditions for another half hour. Get his approval and high five, then drive an hour to the trailhead where we take our last full-service bathroom break, sunscreen up, and begin our trek at approximately 10:15 am. Got a bit lost around 10:35 am (great start) but quickly found our way down the correct trail. Over the next 4 hours we trekked up and down the trails, around lakes, through streams and passed multiple backpackers who do this trail over 2-3 days, some of whom gave us their approval and offers of whiskey shots (tempting!) and others who looked at us like crazy city-folk who don't stand a chance (you're probably right). By 3 pm we made it to Bogachiel Peak for a lunch overlooking Mount Olympic, where 15 minutes later we had to share the view with a herd of goats. Natasha and Rya were afraid of their aggressive nature meanwhile Jen and I were more concerned with saving our food #priorities. The goats saw that we weren't messing around and peaced out, and by 3:30 pm we were back on the trail hiking through Oz-like wildflower fields and enjoying the views from elevation. Around 5 pm we realized that we were actually going to do this, at 5:30 pm doubted ourselves and at 6 pm were seriously contemplating taking up the cocktail and campfire offer from guys camping nearby. By 7:55 pm we reached the sign that showed .8 of a mile left where Rya and I ran to the end (full-service bathroom on the mind) finishing at 8:08 followed by Natasha and Jen at 8:15 pm. In your face Ms. Ranger with anger. At this point I was sleepless in Seattle so I passed out for the drive/ferry home and we arrived safely (thanks to Jen and vending-machine coffee!) just after midnight.

19 Miles in 18 Pictures: