A lot has happened since the PCT.
Without getting into everything, I will say that Mike and I have persevered through some rough times but are happy to report we are doing better now. Life can be so difficult sometimes, but in every trial I believe there is something to be learned.
Here's to living in the moment and finding balance.
We are both currently working on finding a way to mesh our trail lives with our real lives which means finding time to set aside each week for hiking and adventuring. For the past couple of months we have been going on a weekly hike and I'd like to share this week's hike here. My hope is to use this blog now to document these adventures and be able to share them with all of you.
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| Near the trailhead, just heading off down the trail. |
The weather was cloudy and misty and a cool 45°F at the lakes. Due partly to the weather, and partly to the hike itself being long and lacking in views, we had most of the trail to ourselves and only saw a handful of people the whole day.
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| Mike on a bridge over a stream. |
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| View leading downstream into the forest. |
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| View of stream from bridge. |
Springtime was in full force down here (at around 800'-1000') and we were delighted to find the first berries of the season!
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| GIANT and delicious Salmonberries. |
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| Big banana slug. |
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| Snail |
Look at these guys. Aren't they cute?
We had to tread carefully on the trail and watch our feet because the trail was littered with slugs. I hate stepping on them. :(
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| Laura making her way through a tangle of downed trees. Can you see the trail? Neither could we. |
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| Mike as seen through a tunnel of blowdowns. |
There were so many trees down that, at times, the trail became a tunnel we had to crawl through. Lots of trees had to be climbed over, or climbed under - sometimes we had to walk along downed trees, balancing like tightrope walkers, making sure not to slip on the slick wood. It certainly made for a great whole-body workout and was slow going and very tiring, but also very challenging and fun!
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| View obscured by clouds. |
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| Trail sign at intersection framed by flora. |
At some point we got a glimpse of the only views to be had on such an overcast day. As you can see, the lack of view was made up for by the dramatic and moody looking clouds drifting over and shrouding the nearby peaks. Sunny days are nice and all but days like these are what made us fall in love with the PNW. The weather just makes it feel otherworldly.
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| Hitchhiking slug. |
Soon we made it to the trail intersection which meant we had only a mile or so to go to the lake. At this point I took off my backpack for a moment and got a startle when I discovered a slug had hitched a ride on my pack.
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| View of lake from its outlet. A single bright yellow skunk cabbage can be seen on the right. |
Getting to the lake was a little more difficult than expected due to the pathways being very overgrown. A couple of times we thought we had lost our trail, but a bit of bushwhacking did the job and we finally made it to our destination. It didn't seem like this lake is visited all that often and we enjoyed the fact that the perimeter of the lake wasn't marred by many human-made pathways and camp spots. It was just us, the drizzle in the chilly air, and silence.
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| Mossy banks on the edge of the lake. |
Around the lake we found a lot of different kinds of plants including beautiful purple heather (which is barely visible in the pic to the right), the very first blooms opening on some stalks of beargrass, flowers turning to fruit on the blueberry (or are they huckleberry?) bushes, and various other grasses and bushes.
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| Me cheesing for a selfie at the lake. |
We stayed for maybe a half an hour but we soon became quite chilled even after putting on all the layers we had brought. Having to bushwhack so much to get to the lake meant that we had been dumped on by countless trees and shrubs that were heavy with collected rain. We were already pretty wet by the time we made it to the lake and we only became wetter as we hung out and took photos.
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| Lake panorama complete with Mike and umbrella. |
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| Moisture-laden foliage. |
On our way back, we became doubly drenched since all the plants we had knocked free of rain had become wet again while we hung out at the lake. See proof above.
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| Mike with umbrella on trail. |
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| A handful of very ripe salmonberries. |
Overall, the hike was very enjoyable despite being lengthy, arduous, lacking in "views", littered with blowdowns, and overgrown at times. The weather was cloudy and cold but I think we made the best of what could be described as a dreary day. It was certainly a good hike for a day when climbing to a peak for views would have been pointless. The approx. 2000' of elevation gained over the ~6 miles was gained gradually and made it easy for us to keep a fast pace.
Lastly, if you noticed, our destination was called Granite Lakes but we only actually visited one. I assure you, the other one was there, and we could have gone to it...but it would have required more rain-soaked bushwhacking to get to and so we declined. Guess it means we'll have to revisit this hike again some other time.
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Stats (one way):
Trailhead to Granite Lakes
Miles: 6.2
Starting Altitude: 787'
Finishing Altitude: 3,091'
Step count: 12,690
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