Mountaintop

Wednesday, eight out of ten of us made it to the summit of Mt. St. Helens.  The wind was whipping most of the time.  Here is Mt. Adams through the clouds.  The scene was more beautiful at times, but it was too cold and rainy to get my camera out.

Here is the final push to the top.

Here we are at the top.  To the left is the crater.  The visibility was very bad.  We only saw a sea of fog.

Wallowas 50 Miler

Our backpack in the Wallowas was fabulous!  It is an incredibly scenic part of eastern Oregon and I want to go back!  We were a group of 15, so divided into two groups ~~ one going in a clockwise loop and our group going counter-clockwise.  Here is the pack line the morning we started.

This is Ice Lake ~~ a side trip on our first day.

Here I am heading up Glacier Pass.  It was a cold, windy day!

This is another of the beautiful lakes.  I think it is Cresant, but don’t remember exactly.

One toenail gone and hoping to summit Mt. St. Helens on Wednesday.

Inchies finished and in the mail

My inchies for the www.mqresource.com sqap are in the mail!  This is how my process worked.

1. gathered fruit and veggie stickers for a long time (daycare parents and friends supplied some).

2. used some of my sundyed painted fabrics.  added shredded vellum and yarn, stuck stickers on.

3. placed sheer over all of the “stuff” and quilted, nearly burning up my Gammill.

4. turned piece over, repinned, added more “stuff”, more sheer and quilted, again nearly burning up my Gammill.

 5. cut piece into one inch strips and zig zagged edges. 6. cut zig zagged strips into one inch pieces and zig zagged remaining sides.

8. Added beads.

Ramona Falls

Saturday, we hiked from Lolo Pass to Ramona Falls and spent the night.  Total, we hiked 12.5 miles and had a great time.

Here is Mt. Hood covered by clouds.

King’s Mountain

Wednesday, nine of us hiked up King’s Mountain in the Coastal Range.  This part of the trail is 2.5 miles, starts at 700′ and goes to 3200′ ~~ a bit intense.  Here is the start and very easy.

Here I am nearing the summit.

Lunch was provided by our day hikers and fabulous!

After lunch at the summit, three day hikers returned the same path we had just taken up.  The remaining six of us hiked the other side of the mountain to Elk Creek Campground.  It was more than intense at the beginning!  We side stepped much of the way, making sure each step was secure.  We didn’t start a switch back until the person in front was on the next one because if we fell, we’d take them out with us.  One part even had a rope to help get us over a cliff. 

Here are some of the Nalgene’s from our group.

This was the second day of our backpack.  The trails were absolutely beautiful!  We live in paradise ~~ no bugs!

Off to Mt. Hood this weekend with my husband and son for a short trip and then next week is a long hike on the Timberline Trail with a few side trips (Cooper Spur and Yocum Ridge) totaling 55 miles.

Stickers

I have been saving fruit stickers for a few months now and need to use them.  The idea is to use them in an “inchie” swap on www.mqresource.com.  This is my cupboard in the kitchen.

Here are some bananas I got at Trader Joes today.  Honest, I didn’t add any stickers to this bunch, but when I saw them and the price of 29 cents/lb., I couldn’t resist.

Several of us are backpacking the next three days and we cook group meals.  Our bar is set quite high and I have Friday’s breakfast.  In a combined effort to obtain these really cool stickers and really interesting fruit (they are flat), these were my choice.  The worry is that it should be rather warm here and I am not sure how they will hold up in the heat for two days.  In addition to the fruit, there will be a hot grain cereal with brown sugar, walnuts & dried rainier cherries, hot chocolate and steamed milk (approx. 1 1/4 cup powdered milk, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg ~~ on trail add 1 qt. water hot or cold). 

USATF of Oregon Master’s Champion ~~ 1500 meter

What an exciting day!  Yesterday, my son drove on the Interstate for the first time for 111 miles (with the Student Driver handwritten sign in the back window).  My husband ran the 1500 meter run and pulled up injured with less than 400 meters left.  Regardless, he hobbled in and placed first in his age group.  It was way cool to see his name on the scoreboard!