The Happy Ending to The Gleason Vacation July 7, 2016

Mountain bike day for the Gleasons!  It was overcast but not raining on Thursday.  We had beautiful weather the whole trip.  We decided to take an eleven mile ride round trip up to Mazama for lunch.  The trail started at Brown's Farm.  We couldn't find it.  We actually just stumbled on it by turning down a random road.  The trail really didn't start at the farm.  It started across the highway.  We went across the highway and parked.  We didn't notice any bike trail.  We saw a trail that was for winter use.  We asked and there it was...the winter use trail.  We started off on it and it was extremely rocky and narrow.  It was supposed to be a double track so you could ride side by side.  We both thought we were on the wrong trail but knew Mazama was just up the highway.  Mike went back and got his helmet and we rode on the highway.  Not fun, cars, lots of them.  It was a slight uphill ride to Mazama.  

 We have arrived!

 Water, water everywhere!

 Mazama has one grocery store and a sport store and that is it!  A few homes too.

 The one and only store and coffee shop.

 Mazama=Goat

 This is the patio area of the store.  The building you see in the back is the sports store.  After we had a sandwich we asked the clerk about the trail.  She told us we were on the right one and it only stayed bumpy like that for a few minutes.  We found the trail head and headed back to Brown's Farm on the mountain bike trail.  Not the highway.

 Much better!

 Over the river and through the woods...

 The landscape changed a lot in the 5+ miles back to the farm.

 Love these suspension bridges.  So much better than the highway.

 More water!

 The ride was complete!  It was a spectacular mountain bike ride.  Made me want to do it more!  Car loaded up and back to Winthrop.

 We walked through Winthrop many times on this trip but never noticed this.

 Mike made new friends.

We had a great time on this trip.  Mike and Jackie style!  Out in nature and enjoying each other and God's handiwork.  We feel grateful to live in Washington.  Until next year!  Gleason vacation over!

We Hiked Up and Up! North Cascades Loop July 6, 2016 Part 2

Of all the activities we did this was a favorite.  Why?  Because it was both challenging and beautiful. This is the Liberty Bell! A famous climbing rock mountain.  We didn't see anyone climbing this day. 

 This is a hike to Blue Lake.  A total of 4.4 miles.  A distance very manageable.  The first half was all uphill.  We climbed 1,100 feet from the start to the top.  We started at 5,200 feet and ended at 6.300 feet.  The end result was worth every step.  The first thing I noticed was of course the snow.  Snow in July...heaven!

 We noticed right away that we should have used mosquito spray.  They were everywhere.  I used my hat as I walked to swat them away. We didn't even like stopping to take pictures.  They surrounded us if we stopped.

 Look at this nice path.  It couldn't be too hard if we have this all the way.

 We didn't!  Not even 1/2 mile of the nice wooden walkway.

 Still looking pretty good but obviously uphill.

 It did get more difficult as we got farther into the hike.

 Thank you for clearing this tree off our path.

 The view got more and more spectacular as we climbed!

 A fresh mountain stream.  Just gotta have some of that.

 More snow the higher we got.  Rookies that we were we didn't wear hiking boots or take bug spray.

 Mud! Yes, there was mud.  So much for the nice wooden pathway.

 This snow and tennis shoes didn't go together nicely.  We both made it with no slipping.  Slowly and carefully.

 We made it! When we got tired we said no way we would stop.  We wanted to see Blue Lake.  It was just that! Blue!  I glacial lake high in the mountains.  Pictures don't do it justice.

 Snow reflected in the water.

 We were the last group to leave to come to the lake.  We passed several people coming down as we were going up.  We thought we were the last ones on the trail but we were surprised on the way down.

Hey, Mike we have a friend!  Look!  A mountain goat.

 Then there were three.  They acted as if we were not even there.  One came close enough to me that I could have touched him.  A friendly little pet did not happen.

 Mike had taken several pictures.  I said let's go and leave them alone.  I turned to go down the trail and surprise.  2 babies and a couple more adults.  We had 7 mountain goats all around us.  They didn't mind us being there at all.  I was a little concerned because they had babies but they weren't concerned at all.

 My favorite picture.

 Time to go and off they went and so did we.  We hiked back to the car and drove back to Winthrop.

 As we got to town we saw this.

 The horses tied up at the ice cream place.

 More fuel efficient than taking a car to get ice cream.  A spectacular day in the North Cascades.  One more day to go!