Ok, so we're behind on blogging. But so much fun stuff has happened. Yesterday, Thurs. 8.24, since we finally didn't need to spend the day looking for apartments, we went on our first hike. We drove a little over an hour to Mt. Pilchuck in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It was a 5.4 mile hike up 2,000 feet to a rocky peak at 5,324 feet.

Only one problem. There was dense fog, mist and occasionally very light rain starting from when we got out of the car. This might seem like it would ruin the hike. An though it was a bit disappointing, the fog, mist, and first time Cascades experience was actually outstanding. The fog gave everything a mystical, mysterious, errie feeling. It settled a deep peace and quiet on everything. We started out by hiking through old growth giant fir trees, with tons of blueberry bushes, ferns, and moss both hanging and on the ground. Next we came above forest level and hiked through granite bolders surrounded by valleys of small trees, grasses and bushes. It was a little like Maine, but more full and dynamic.

There was also an old ski area (there has been a trail to the top since 1909) which consisted of a pile of rotting boards, a few bolts in the rock and old pulley systems bolted into the rock.

When we finally reached the craggy top there was the coolest historic lookout tower. The building itself was larger than the small peak of granite that it was perched on. I was definitely nervous peeking off the void of whiteness down into precipitous valley below. However, it was a super cool place to have lunch after a good hike. On a clear day there are dozens of peaks visible, plus the Sound in the distance.

On the way down we stopped in this kind of rocky, alpine meadow with grass, boulders, bushes to watch these cute, furry animals eat grass, scurry around and talk to each other. We also ate some almost ready blueberrys.

Back at the car we watched a helicopter air lifting building materials to some remote site. It was really cool to watch them fly in with a long chain, and people on the ground attach huge piles of wood. On the drive home we stopped at an awesome local produce stand and bought our Washington fruits/veggies for the week. So that was our first hike.