A year ago when I went to Mt. Baker to attempt to hike the Chain Lakes Loop, I took a wrong turn and climbed Table Mountain instead. Yesterday I returned to have another go at it.
Check-in time at the condo I rented for the night is 4pm, but the owner messaged me just before lunchtime to let me know I could come any time after 1pm. I didn't end up taking advantage of that, because I'd already decided to enjoy the trip up. First stop was a conveyor belt sushi joint up in Marysville. We don't have one of those here and I really like them. I left happy and very full. From there, I drove to a movie theater in Bellingham. Not really knowing how long it would take to get there, I decided to just go, and check the showtimes when I arrived. No sense in making more of a plan than that. Thankfully, a few of the movies I wanted to see were about to start, and I chose Girls Trip. It's hilarious and I'm looking forward to watching it again with Garrett when it's available for home viewing.
From there, it was on to Glacier, where I'd be staying the night. My original plan was to have a burger or something there and bring a pizza back to the room, half of which would be for breakfast and half would come home. I forgot the ice packs I was going to use to keep it cold in my trunk, though, so I just ordered a pizza to go and had a cocktail while they made it. I ate half in the room while I watched the Jeopardy! teen tournament, wrapped the other half up for breakfast, read a bit, and fell asleep.
I wanted to get to the trail head as soon as possible, and I gotta say, it's really hard to choke down half a pizza right after waking up. But I'm glad I ate there instead of later on because it was pretty messy.
It was raining a little bit when I headed out! The smell of rain after two months without it is intoxicating.
The road up the mountain is terrifying but at least it's gorgeous once you get there.
I'm really glad I went back, because I saw how hard it is to find the trail I was looking for even knowing where to look, and that there's a couple of ways to walk up the one I did last time, making it even easier to mix them up.
There was no escaping the smoke completely. I ended up with a bit of a sore throat.
Still beautiful, though.
Stopping for photos on the trail with poles is challenging enough, and I didn't feel like taking the time to create Instagram posts that wouldn't actually send for several hours. And I never felt like doing it afterward, so these never got the square treatment.
There are lots more nice photos on flickr. And I ended up with one of the nicest time lapses I've done.
And of course you need proof you were there.
I didn't go the whole loop trail, or even try to come close. It's a challening 8.5 mile hike and I figured I'd be pretty miserable if I exerted myself too much in the smoke. Plus I got to a spot where I'd have to slide down a bunch of snow, and I wasn't in the mood to do that or to climb back up it. So I just did a few miles total, and kept it fun.
I took Highway 9 instead of I-5 both ways, and it was really lovely. I really hate the freeway and I'm happy to take the scenic route even if it takes a little longer. I probably saved a little time going up because I wasn't in the Friday rush.
Garrett was originally supposed to come back from Canada today, but showed up yesterday while I was in the shower. I like that the bathroom we shower in is above the garage so we never get surprised by the other one driving up while we're in it. We had a lovely afternoon of movies and he made us one of the Hello Fresh meals that came while we were both gone Friday. We forgot to check on the Hello Fresh and Blue Apron accounts and ended up getting a shipment from both. Oops.
Today was a lovely walk over at the island, made even lovelier by the rain that came at the tail end of it. It was cloudy the entire time, too. I didn't get a ton of pictures, though.
There's a nice new sign at the start of the hunting trail, and they had to clear a lot of vegetation on both sides to put it there, but just a bit further up, the trail is overgrown. Kinda silly.
The bridge to the island has some cool history lessons in tile form, I should probably get photos of all of them.
Toward the end of the walk, it was rainy enough to look a little foggy. So nice.
The time lapse came out so cool! Unfortunately, it appears I didn't charge the battery very well, and ended up with 230 or so pictures instead of the normal ~1,300. This will definitely be a good spot to use in the future, especially as the mornings are darker. And I'll definitely have to go on a weekday when there's more traffic.
Decided to go ahead and get a hyperlapse of the drive, too. I did one on the way down the mountain, and there were some cool views in it, but the switchbacks made for too much motion. So I didn't save it. This one's cool, though.
More movies and cat cuddles today. Our neighbor just stopped by to make sure it's ok if he puts up a makeshift barrier between our yards where the fence doesn't go all the way across, so his dog can run around without being able to escape. Really, the whole fence needs replacing, but that'll be a big expense, so whatever he does now is fine for the time being.
Check-in time at the condo I rented for the night is 4pm, but the owner messaged me just before lunchtime to let me know I could come any time after 1pm. I didn't end up taking advantage of that, because I'd already decided to enjoy the trip up. First stop was a conveyor belt sushi joint up in Marysville. We don't have one of those here and I really like them. I left happy and very full. From there, I drove to a movie theater in Bellingham. Not really knowing how long it would take to get there, I decided to just go, and check the showtimes when I arrived. No sense in making more of a plan than that. Thankfully, a few of the movies I wanted to see were about to start, and I chose Girls Trip. It's hilarious and I'm looking forward to watching it again with Garrett when it's available for home viewing.
From there, it was on to Glacier, where I'd be staying the night. My original plan was to have a burger or something there and bring a pizza back to the room, half of which would be for breakfast and half would come home. I forgot the ice packs I was going to use to keep it cold in my trunk, though, so I just ordered a pizza to go and had a cocktail while they made it. I ate half in the room while I watched the Jeopardy! teen tournament, wrapped the other half up for breakfast, read a bit, and fell asleep.
I wanted to get to the trail head as soon as possible, and I gotta say, it's really hard to choke down half a pizza right after waking up. But I'm glad I ate there instead of later on because it was pretty messy.
It was raining a little bit when I headed out! The smell of rain after two months without it is intoxicating.
The road up the mountain is terrifying but at least it's gorgeous once you get there.
I'm really glad I went back, because I saw how hard it is to find the trail I was looking for even knowing where to look, and that there's a couple of ways to walk up the one I did last time, making it even easier to mix them up.
There was no escaping the smoke completely. I ended up with a bit of a sore throat.
Still beautiful, though.
Stopping for photos on the trail with poles is challenging enough, and I didn't feel like taking the time to create Instagram posts that wouldn't actually send for several hours. And I never felt like doing it afterward, so these never got the square treatment.
There are lots more nice photos on flickr. And I ended up with one of the nicest time lapses I've done.
And of course you need proof you were there.
I didn't go the whole loop trail, or even try to come close. It's a challening 8.5 mile hike and I figured I'd be pretty miserable if I exerted myself too much in the smoke. Plus I got to a spot where I'd have to slide down a bunch of snow, and I wasn't in the mood to do that or to climb back up it. So I just did a few miles total, and kept it fun.
I took Highway 9 instead of I-5 both ways, and it was really lovely. I really hate the freeway and I'm happy to take the scenic route even if it takes a little longer. I probably saved a little time going up because I wasn't in the Friday rush.
Garrett was originally supposed to come back from Canada today, but showed up yesterday while I was in the shower. I like that the bathroom we shower in is above the garage so we never get surprised by the other one driving up while we're in it. We had a lovely afternoon of movies and he made us one of the Hello Fresh meals that came while we were both gone Friday. We forgot to check on the Hello Fresh and Blue Apron accounts and ended up getting a shipment from both. Oops.
Today was a lovely walk over at the island, made even lovelier by the rain that came at the tail end of it. It was cloudy the entire time, too. I didn't get a ton of pictures, though.
There's a nice new sign at the start of the hunting trail, and they had to clear a lot of vegetation on both sides to put it there, but just a bit further up, the trail is overgrown. Kinda silly.
The bridge to the island has some cool history lessons in tile form, I should probably get photos of all of them.
Toward the end of the walk, it was rainy enough to look a little foggy. So nice.
The time lapse came out so cool! Unfortunately, it appears I didn't charge the battery very well, and ended up with 230 or so pictures instead of the normal ~1,300. This will definitely be a good spot to use in the future, especially as the mornings are darker. And I'll definitely have to go on a weekday when there's more traffic.
Decided to go ahead and get a hyperlapse of the drive, too. I did one on the way down the mountain, and there were some cool views in it, but the switchbacks made for too much motion. So I didn't save it. This one's cool, though.
More movies and cat cuddles today. Our neighbor just stopped by to make sure it's ok if he puts up a makeshift barrier between our yards where the fence doesn't go all the way across, so his dog can run around without being able to escape. Really, the whole fence needs replacing, but that'll be a big expense, so whatever he does now is fine for the time being.