c r o s s o a k

Mountain Sun to Moon

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:14:00 +0000

Sun going down above the clouds...

...to reveal the moon smiling down.

Adams

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:10:00 +0000

183 is the South Spur route (aka the dog route) from cold creek camp ground up Mount Adams.

The spring flowers were out in abundance around 7,000ft...

...but the landscape soon dried out.

The hike in gave us some time to practice poses for the summit photo...

...and to see how tall Martin is.

The first snow field was a welcome change from rocks and gravel

but it didn't half go on, and on, and on

until eventually we reached the lunch counter @ just over 9,000ft and found a stone wall to pitch the tent behind (out of the wind so long as you kept below 2ft) and a sunset above the clouds...

...which made for good piccy's :-)

Next day was a slow sicky slog up past piker's peak...

...to the top

where a miners hut remains,

and then a more rapid decent, pausing for views of St Helens and Mount Hood in the distance.

For the interested, the picture that started it, and more on flickr.

Enormous thanks to Chris and Martin for getting us all up and down safe and sound.

Kids on holiday

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Assaulting the lookout

New forms of interpretative surf dancing.

Checking the neighbours mail.

Kite flying.

Fluid replenishment.

Taking the 'technical route'.

Driftwood & Surf.

Sand hugging.

Rock pushing.

And a bit of bird watching for big kids too.

Oregon Seascapes

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:08:00 +0000

Fun at Fort Stevens State Park

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:03:00 +0000

Fort Stevens State Park had all sorts of fun stuff for the boys to climb on and in, stuff that was built to defend the Columbia River over the last 100 years or so.

Getting a piccy of all of them was, well, difficult.

We do love to be beside the seaside

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:58:00 +0000

Riding

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Riding the trail...

...is thirsty work.

New tricks

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:14:00 +0000

Camp Muir

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Mount Adams was closed (a case of forest fire) so we decided to try a little day hike from Paradise (5,400ft) to Camp Muir (10,188ft)

Paradise meadows was still partly under snow

but spring flowers were making a show wherever they could.

Panorama point made a good spot for piccy's of the crew...

...and of Mount St Helens (or what's left of it) and Mount Adams to the distant south.

Next was the climb up to the Muir Snowfield...

...with views up to the summit of Rainier and across to the scared valley left by the retreating Nisqually Glacier.

After a long slog up the snowfield: Camp Muir appeared through the misty cloud!

Where we pitched the tent and cooked up some lunch
(a different tent from the picture 'cause I forgot to snap Chris')

Going down, the clear weather changed to foggy as the predicted 12,000ft cloud base came in at about 5,000ft.

Going down was quicker thanks to a spot of glacading.
Martin, aka chief shoot spotter, and Chris, aka Mr. Speedy, led the way with Aiddy, aka I feel a bit tom-and-dick and need to check the GPS every 10mins so we don't slide off a cliff or into a crevasse, followed some distance behind.

Back to Paradise just before 7pm in the gathering gloom.
I conveniently didn't get a piccy of Chris beating me in a run back to the car (Martin correctly observing "it's all a bit matcho").

Good day out. Can't wait till the boys can give it a go :-)

Big thanks to Fay & the Boys for the day pass.

Rattlesnake Ledge

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:37:00 +0000

We planned a quiet hike up to Rattlesnake Ledge, but didn't bargain on the thousands of people for 'Trail Fest'.

Surprisingly, the trail wasn't as busy as the road full of parked cars suggested
(although it was busy at the top).
Maybe Rattlesnake Ledge was too tame for the people attending trail fest...

...or maybe the strange creatures lurking in the woods put them off!

Lunch at the top was pukka.

end of a long week

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Just what was needed at the end of a loooooong week. A flat.

Summer Studies

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:42:00 +0000

The boys getting down to some summer studying.

Plan C

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Plan A was to watch the fireworks
on Lake Union from Gas Works Park.
Plan B was to watch the fireworks
on Lake Washington from Marina Park.
Plan C was to watch the sunset
on Cottage Lake from Cottage Lark Park

Our nice walk was interrupted by a loud 'bang!'

Yes, you guessed it, fireworks :-)

So we sat on the dock and watched the impromptu display.
Our thanks to the cottage lake neighbourhood.

We were quite comfy on the dock, but some others decided that a close-up view required some paddling.

Duck Racing

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:09:00 +0000

This crowd descended on the beach just before 4pm, and, by the by, managed to get in the way of some serious sand castle building.

Why? To watch duck racing, Kirkland style. The fastest ducks, as blown against the wind by men (yes, they were all men) with leaf blowers, won some serious prizes.

The trampled sand castles were quickly forgotten when the boys realised that there were 1,000's of ducks to help catch.

Happy Birthday USA

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:05:00 +0000

We did July 4th United States style. The parade in Kirkland, lunch (ducks and a swim) on the beach at Juanita Bay, a barbecue at home and then fireworks at cottage lake.

Day trip to Rainier

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:42:00 +0000

Thanks to Dawn for transport, we had a great day trip to Mount Rainier, stopping off for donuts and a view of the Alder Dam on the way.

Kautz Creek was a trickle compared with last time we were here. In the November 2006 storm the creek decided it preferred a different route down the mountain

There was still snow at Paradise, but the road was open thank's to the snow blower and snow plough.

From Paradise we hiked the relatively short, but fun in snow, Nisqually Vista trail...

...which leads to an overlook of the end of the Nisqually glacier.

On the way back we stopped for a spot of downhill bin-bag sledging.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Oar-somme.

Twin Falls

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:56:00 +0000

We took Nana and Faith to Twin Falls on the South Fork Snoqualmie River

On the hike we were surprised to see a rare finster that lives in the woods, we managed to get this rare photograph just before the finster disappeared into his burrow!

Aunty Faith made a big mess by pushing down all the trees

The best view is of the lower fall!

Oh deer

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:43:00 +0000

A couple of deer stopped by to check out the apple trees

Nana's Roast Lamb

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:13:00 +0000

With Nana staying we were treated to 'Nana's roast lamb'.

Yum Yum Lovely.

Yeeha!

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:57:00 +0000

The boys get geared up for a peaceful day out on the range

Two for a cruise

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:55:00 +0000

Nana and Aunty Faith about to sail off into the great unknown

Beach

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Stone throwing competitions and boat counting on the beach at Golden Gardens

Happy Birthday Number One

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:45:00 +0000

Amelie is a big 'one' :-)

Happy birthday Amelie, with added 'cha cha cha'.

Summer Hike

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:18:00 +0000

The family thought I was crazy (well, more crazy then usual) when I geared up for a little hike on Mount Pilchuck (yes, that Mount Pilchuck)

But the conditions didn't disappoint: low cloud, rain and snow, and this is June, I mean this is meant to be summer.

No GPS, bad viz and fresh snow at the trail head (plus no other idiots on the trail leaving tracks to follow) meant navigation by map and compass.

Soon we'd climbed into a world of frozen trees, ice and dodgy snow

Where lunch came with a spectacular view of uniform gray and a most welcome brew (thank you MSR, the stove worked below zero)

We think we made it to the top,
but when everything is a shade of white you never can tell.

Are you standing on fluffy snow or fluffy cloud?
Just don't look down

Hide and Seek

noreply@blogger.com (aiddy) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Not the most obvious place in the house to hide, but close.