A hike into the clouds

Friday was a beautiful day in Concrete, Washington. We got up, made breakfast for the kids, had our morning coffee, and got geared up for a hike. After we donned our hiking boots and filled up the Camelbacks (will these things work with Bailey’s and coffee? I should try….), we drove out to Sauk Mountain Road. This road was eerily similar to the road we took for our family picture jaunt (aaaah! flashbacks!!). However, the surroundings were quite different. The beautiful, tall green trees outlined our path as we drove up the side of the mountain. Emily asked, "Daddy, when we get there, can we touch the clouds?"

We found the trailhead and parked the family truckster.

We were high enough to see the clouds drifting past us as we began our hike. The hiking trail was lined with pretty, wild flowers….so many different kinds.

The trail was not too steep, and there were a lot of switchbacks on the way up. However, it was pretty narrow, and one misstep could send you tumbling down the mountain. I might have told the girls to “be careful” a little more than five thousand times. Once again I thought about my recent increase in life insurance and asked Sherri to go in front of me.

About two miles into the hike, we encountered snow on the path. Snow! We hiked a couple hundred more yards and saw that the rest of the path was covered with snow and was very slick. Another five thousand “be carefuls”. The fog and clouds had not burned off, so the visibility was very limited.

We hung out near the top for a while and then turned back. Ashley made a snowball and told us that she was going to carry it down the mountain. She let us know that if we did not make it down the mountain before it melted, we’d all have to do 10 push-ups. We made it down a lot quicker than we made it up. Although it was overcast and we didn't get the 360 degree views that this hike typically offers, we loved the trek.

After the hike we went back to our place to ask the owners where we could rent some fishing gear. Our plan was to head up to Baker Lake and let the girls do some fishing.  Instead, they found some horses and roosters at the main office, and spent a lot of time with the animals. When they were finished feeding and playing with the animals, we headed to dinner.

What are YOU lookin' at?!

After dinner, we went back to our cabin and made some reservations for the coming weeks. We are winging some of this trip, and while sometimes that has been stressful, it has also been kind of fun, as we never know what adventure we’re headed to next.