North Cascades

Lots of new flowers!

July 14: We finally let the newlyweds have their place to themselves and took off for Highway 20. Our goal for the day was maybe a little ambitious: hiking up Sourdough Mountain, ~5,000' of elevation gain in 5.5 miles - 3,000 of those feet in the first two miles! We easily found the trailhead, had a light lunch, and were on our way shortly after noon - slow and steady on the countless switchbacks. The trail was nice, lots of cool plants and scenery along the way, and only a little questioning where the trail went toward the top. We met quite a few people coming down that must have hiked up in the morning and lunched at the top.

One lady asked if we had seen any bears - she had come across one early on in her hike up! Everyone was informing us of the beautiful views up top - really there were some nice vistas for most of the hike.

We got approximately one mile above the starting point of Diablo Lake

Rudy noted we already failed avoiding winter on this trip when we encountered some snow fields.

We'll at least try to avoid getting snowed on...

There is an old fire watch cabin at the top along with some great views of the surrounding mountains.

Apparently some beatnik writers worked some summers here

So many mountains!

We could even see mountains in Canada

The cool breeze kept our break at the top short. The hike back down included more stops for pictures - so many wildflowers! A lot of pictures didn't turn out so great, and I missed the tiger lily I saw on the way up.

Our legs started feeling the big descent about halfway down, hopefully making us stronger? We spent more time eating huckleberries on the way down too, even sharing a patch with a little black bear!

Huckleberries

I was happy we didn't panic, just slowly walked back up the trail a few hundred feet with only a snort from the bear. Even talking/yelling at the bear, it didn't want to go away. It wasn't until another couple hikers caught up to us that I thought to try taking pictures, and we saw we could just cut a switchback to continue down the trail without further disturbing the bear.

Not a great picture - but there's a bear!

As we were chatting, it eventually moved on and we were able to continue on the trail comfortably. We did a little 'jogging' down the trail in the last few miles - not sure if it helped or hurt with sore legs later, but it was fun! We got another little wildlife encounter with (I believe) a sooty grouse and her chick - I was surprised how close we were able to get, though still not close enough for my lack of photography skills!

The hike took nearly six hours, so we were already thinking about a meal. We had a little wash-off in the glacial lake Diablo - Rudy was able to jump in, I only waded in to my waist...also a nice little chat with the father-son hikers we were hopscotching with most of the day, and saw the bear with. After they were picked up, we set up the stove at a picnic table and made a simple and delicious supper of cornmeal, veggies, salsa and cheese. After cleaning up, and enjoying the nice quiet evening, we were ready for an early bed time.

July 15: Yep, sore legs! We found a relatively flat trail nearby - Diablo Lake Trail, and did a morning run/hike, checking out the upper and lower dams, and hung around that trailhead for a little while.

Only 800' above the lake this time

Upper dam

7" long slug!

2" long centipede!

It was cooler and overcast, so wimped out on another swim! Rudy worked on sewing magnets into one of the window shades, and we did a little reading and napping before heading back into town.

Chillin'

Being productive

Lower Dam

Only one stop at a Cascadian Farms stand - I didn't realize it was the big food brand until we went in. It was informative on how they farm the area and minimize impact to the surrounding land. Near the freeway we saw some Ragnar Relay runners. Ragnar is a pretty big event here - it seems everyone I've discussed running with has at least mentioned it and has participated in one! Once in Bellingham, we made a shopping excursion and stopped by Peter and Julianna's again to drop off a map we borrowed, and eat a little more cheesecake :) I signed us up to volunteer at a race happening on the 16th a little south of town, so we drove down there and spent the night a park and ride near that. Apparently this was a Ragnar staging spot - we had portapotties!