Repeat: Ancient Lakes

A little bushwhacking in the canyon

 

Ryan lugging out wood!

 Easy 2 mile hike out to the lakes

Tent Views

Tent shots are my favorite!

Location: Ancient Lakes in Quincy, WA (Central Washington)
Dates backpacked: April 1-2, 2017
Miles hiked: 7 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Permits: no permits needed, only need a Discovery Pass
Water: you have to carry it out, the lakes are not drinkable (for a 1 nighter, I carried out 4-5 liters)

We did the same backpacking trip around this time last year. We had such fond memories of the good weather and unique terrain, we headed back out there again this year! The weather is a lot better east of the mountains this time of the year, with Seattle still being in full gloom, we wanted some sunshine in our life!

We headed out with a larger group this year, last year was a head count of 4, this year was a head count of 8 people + 3 pups! We also learned our lesson last year, there wasn't much to forage for a decent fire, which had only last us 30 min. So this year, we each carried out a log of wood so that our fire would last all night, which worked out great!

Sarina, Ryan, Catherine, Cody, and I got to the trail head first. The others trickled in through out the day and met us. It's an easy 2 miles hike out to the lakes. We found a spot big enough for 5 tents and posted up near the lakes. The weather was perfect again this year! We setup camp, ate lunch, and hiked around during the day. At night we built a fire, made dinner, and had some s'mores to end the night.

Following morning was a quick breakfast, packed up, and hiked out by 10 am. It's about a 2.5-3 hour drive from Seattle, so it was nice to head back early to wind down from the weekend adventure.

Overall, it was an awesome time with everyone! Kudos to Caitlin for trekking out with us at 7 months pregnant! The 3 dogs got a long just fine, and there were no big mishaps. Another great weekend to add to the books.

Until next time Quincy!

The 2nd waterfall

Climbing up the side of the waterfall

I wonder what it was like 1000 years ago

How much wood could we lug out? And how dope of a fire can we build?

 The Hillenbrand's! 

 The Clark's!

 Girl Squad for the weekend

His first time to Ancient Lakes!

Central Washington

 Colorful skies are the best!

Fires going and dinner preppin'

Our Journey to Cape Flattery

Cape Flattery

Snow Camping 101 - Mt. Rainier Edition

Mt Rainier in all it's glory 

Joshua Tree National Park

That's a Joshua Tree

NYE Weekend in AZ

Horseshoe Bend 

In Search of Snow: Lake Valhalla

 Trailhead Parking Lot

Destination: Diablo Lake

Goodell Creek Campground Site #21

Crabs, Shrimp, & Clams on Lopez Island

This past weekend, I took a break from hiking and decided to go visit my aunt and uncle who live on Lopez Island. We enjoyed boat rides, loads of seafood, and got to car camp

Ferry Ride

Cody and I took a ferry from Anacortes to Lopez Island. These ferries are big enough to load 100+ cars onto. I made a reservation for my car ahead of time on the transportation website so I was guaranteed a spot for my car. Last time I didn't make a reservation, my friends and I ended up waiting at the ferry terminal for 3 hours.... Oops! lol. 

After the ferry ride, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house. We caught up with them, had lunch, and then headed out on their boat to check the shrimp traps they had put out. 

Boat Ride

Crabbing, shrimping, and clam digging seem to be a big part of my aunt and uncle's life, which is totally awesome. After checking the traps, we came back with some shrimp and a rock crab. Since crabbing season just finished that Friday September 30th, they didn't have any crab traps out. But that last day of crabbing season, my aunt & uncle did catch 18 dungeness crabs. So we got plenty of fresh crab to eat for dinner that night! Plus some. 

Car Camping

That night we camped at Odlin County Park. I booked a site online prior, but it wasn't very busy so there were plenty of walk up sites available (Also remember that it's October though). The park has drive up sites and also hiker/biker sites, in which if you visited without a car, you can try to snag one of these. Our site was right next to the water, a couple of other sites had beach access, pretty neat campground. 

It was a short trip, and we took the early ferry out the next morning. But we will be back soon though! Need to explore the island more. 

Until next time Lopez Island!

Always going somewhere 

Enchanted by the Enchantments

The gang right before we started

Backpacking Park Butte

Pano of Park Butte Lookout with Mt Baker in the back