Baby's First Hiking Trip

Daniel and I didn't get to go because we had to work but a couple of weekends ago Nate and Pam and our parents took Anastasia on her first overnight hiking trip to Dumbbell Lake in Washington. I guess she absolutely love it and was a little champ. I couldn't resist posting some of the pictures because she is just tooo cute! I'm glad she enjoys being outside as much as the rest of it. Next trip...? Ice climbing!? ;-)

The Little Family

I Love My Backpack


One With Nature

Mom and AJ

Dad and AJ (take a look at her face with the smoke!)

Grandma and AJ (is that a future pyro?)

Grandpa and AJ

North Early Winters Spire

Two days off, beautiful weather, what to do? Drive 7 hours to the North Cascades for a climb!

Earlier this summer I blogged about a climb we did on the South Early Winters Spire. The North is directly beside it. We did the Northwest Corner route, which follows pretty much the leftside of the rock in the picture. The faint white line in the left middle of the rock closer to the top marks the West Face route, next on the to do list. We thought about linking the two, but with just doing one we were able to spend some time in Seattle with Kelly and Jason, cuddle with Patrick, and catch up with Kelly's brother (and our friend) Mark, back from fishing in Alaska (into an early retirement at the ripe age of 24).

We spent the night at the Cutthroat Trailhead, woke up early and started the hike at the Blue Lake trailhead. 1hr15min later and we were flaking out the rope at the base. We were glad for our early start to beat the crowds on a Saturday for this popular area. I led the first couple of pitches, linking the two, beginning with a crack and a short chimney the book rated as a 5.8 (felt a little easier to me) and a short low 5th class to move the belay up. Daniel took the third pitch with 5.8 flakes (these felt way hard to me...possibly even the crux IMHO).

Daniel then took the 4th Offwidth 5.9 pitch. It helps to walk a#4 Cam up the challenging section at the start. An enjoyable pitch that made you work.

I took the fifth 5.9 pitch , starting off with 5.7 friction moves then a 5.9 finger crack and roof. I enjoyed this pitch a lot....easier than the offwidth too! Then the sixth pitch we soloed up a fourth class scramble to the top. It felt sooo good to be in the sun. I forgot it was September but was definitely reminded when I was layering up in the shade in the AM with hats and puffys and capilene and still not incredibly warm. When we rounded the top to the sun it was beautiful, sunny, and clear with no wind. We pawed through the summit registry and soaked in some rays before rapping down taking 3.5 hrs base to base.

Summit photo and a free-hanging rap off of the chockstone

Reuben loves the City

City

Of

Rocks

It was our two year anniversary on Wednesday the 27th! I'd like to say that that day we had a good time, but both of us were working. Daniel on a 24hr shift and me on my 8th 12hr night shift in a row. (I had signed up for some extra shifts...and then my skeleton schedule had gotten switched around, and I never got called off.....sooooo.....that was an experience. The longest I've ever done was 4 shifts in a row. It wasn't horrible to be honest, but I can't say I would repeat it either).

The Team

But back to the topic, Thursday morning all three of us hopped in the car and headed East to the City of Rocks in Idaho for a long weekend of rock climbing and spending time together. I love the City...and it turns out Reuben does too. It was so much fun to watch him free-range. He was a good boy too! He hung out in the shade while we climbed quite well and even carried his own water in his doggy backpack for the longer hikes (*not very long). Great hot weather lasted until Sunday when the sky turned from clear to dark much too quickly. Those dark clouds turned into a pouring, thundering storm that turned us back West headed for home a day early. We were having such a good relaxing time that I was sad to go, but as usual , we have added to our ticklist for the next trip! Daniel and I had a great anniversary weekend, and even got to soak with a bunch of our friends in the local hotsprings each night who had also made the trip East. Great job Shannon on your first multiple lead climbs!

Reuben at play

Reuben at Rest

Reuben and I practicing looking coy

Not a puppy anymore!

Bye City, see you soon!