Back to Whatcom Pass

A few years ago, my dad and I had made a trip up Ross Lake and were dropped off at Little Beaver for a multiple day backpack. The highlight of the trip was a trek over to Whatcom Pass. When it came time for the day to make the hike up to Whatcom Pass, he decided instead to use the day as a rest day. He still wanted to return to Whatcom Pass, though, so when our first option of hiking to Desolation Peak fell through, there was a natural second choice of coming over from Hannegan Pass. The plan was to start immediately after the Mt. Rainier climb so that Brian and Angela could give me a ride up to the North Cascades while they continued on to have a successful climb up Forbidden Peak. 

The drive was long as we had to wind our way through traffic to get to Marblemount where I met my dad. He picked up our permit and I thanked Brian and Angela for hanging out with me for a few days. Then we had another couple hour drive around before we finally got to the Hannegan Pass Trailhead. It was going to be about a five mile hike with significant elevation gain to get to Boundary Camp just inside North Cascades National Park. To add to the late start, it was raining fairly hard and it was going to be impossible to stay dry on this day. The first few miles showed us this as the trail was grown over and each step brought a fresh stream of water to rush down the pant legs and right into our shoes. 

We met quite a few people coming down the trail who looked more than happy to be leaving the area while we were going in. Some of those were trail workers, so after the first mile we had a couple of miles of good trail to hike on. Yet, the rain did not stop and we had no choice but to be soaking wet on this day. We made it about 4 miles in and the trail became much steeper with many switchbacks. We could tell that this was the approach to Hannegan Pass. After a while, my dad told me to go ahead and get to camp. He was going to be a bit slower, so I went ahead. It wasn't much longer until I reached Hannegan Pass and the trail began descending. Lots more switchbacks brought me to boundary camp where we would pass the night. 

I picked the campsite that had the least amount of wet brush to get over to. It was nothing more than a flat place with some wet dirt. When Dad showed up, we quickly put up the tent in the rain and had a wet meal before filtering some water. After that, there was nothing left to do but climb in my moist sleeping bag and sleep through the night hoping that the rain would stop. Given that it was already 9:00 pm by this point it was time. I read a few minutes from my book about a doctor who in the early 1900s near Seattle went on trial for starving people to death. That added to the ominous feeling of the cool, dark, wet night. I had an okay, but somewhat uncomfortable night's sleep. When I awoke in the morning, the rain had not abated. It is often that you climb into a tent in the Northwest and it starts raining or that you get in raining and come out to the dry. It is less often that I have been on a trip where it started out raining and continued through the night into the next day. 

 So we took our soggy selves and began the trek again. This time we were slowly descending through the forest high above the Chilliwack River. It was a mostly forested path with breaks along the way that gave us views of the peaks above and also places like Hell's Gorge and Easy Creek. As the day went on the rain began to dissipate as expected and there were also places where the trail was in much better shape given that there was a trail crew working on brushing the trail between the campsites of Copper Creek and U.S. Cabin. I wondered why it was called U.S. Cabin given that there was no cabin in sight. 

Within a mile of U.S. Cabin there was supposed to be a cable car that helped us cross the river. Instead, we found just a river. Figuring that we had missed the sign for the cable car, we were stuck with the choice of going back or crossing the river. We chose to cross the river. My dad chose a place upstream that looked a bit too sporty for me. He struggled with footing as the water was above his knees. I chose a place downstream that was a little bit better, but still took a significant amount of focus to keep my footing. It was a bit sportier than I was hoping for and now everything that had the time to dry out was now soaked again. 

We continued for one more mile until we ran into the junction of the Chilliwack Trail and Brush Creek. We saw the only other backpacker that day on the bridge and then the rest of his group after that. They were on the Copper Ridge loop and the info was that there was still a lot of snow up there. We continued on and our plan was to make it up to Whatcom Pass on this night which was another 5.4 miles up the Brush Creek trail with a large elevation gain. Dad said that we should split up because he was going to be slower on the uphill. I was glad to go for a while on my own so that I could move a bit quicker. 

Unfortunately the quick moving did not last for long as the name Brush Creek was applied for a specific reason that did not have to do with the first explorer losing their toothbrush there. The trail had not been cleared for the year. There were trees down, but mostly there was just an overgrowth of brush. At one point I had to stop and take a picture as the small dent in the large ferns was the only path through the immensity of brush. I figured it would be easy to lose the trail and I also figured that I should probably wait for my dad. I sat down, read my book, and waited for an extended period of time. 

As I was sitting there, who should come wandering from the other direction, but a black bear. He took one look at me and slowly turned around and went the other direction. Still, he was going my way, so he walked around me about 15 feet off the trail, took a good whiff, and loped his way around until coming back on to the trail on the other side of me. Of course I was a bit agitated by this series of events, so when Dad showed up a few minutes later, I was happy to see that he was unmolested by our new friend. We continued up the trail together before deciding to call it a day at the Graybeal Camp. We were encouraged to make this decision after the trail was completely washed out just above the massively brushy section. It took us a good amount of time to both fight the downed trees in the washout and to find the trail on the other side. When we made it to Graybeal it seemed like few people had camped here but that many used to camp there. We had a choice site by the creek where we were able to hang our wet clothes out to dry. We spent the rest of the day reading and playing cribbage. It was a nice place and I was happy to take the evening to rest up here. We even had a visit from a ranger who luckily for us was kind enough to change our permit for us. 

The next day we would actually make the trip up to Whatcom Pass. The trail actually got much better after after Graybeal camp with only a few down trees and a bit of brush. It was still going to be a long haul uphill, but we were able to do it without full packs on. There were many small waterfalls and water crossings along the way as the views to the mountains above continued to improve with each step. Dad and I hiked together all the way to the pass. We checked out the campsite that we would have had which would have been a great spot and then up to Whatcom Pass proper with views of Mt. Challenger and Whatcom Peak. 
All the way, I looked at all the mountains that I wanted to climb and contemplated if I could make it up Red Face Mountain. It looked reasonable and considering that this was the end of the line for Dad, I thought that I would give it a try. At the very least, I was going to try to make it to the Tapto Lakes. So we hung out at the pass for a little bit and then hiked back toward the campsite area where small boggy streams flowed around the lush vegetation. I decided to go up from right here. There was a trail going up right from the pass, but it looked like it led a way from the Tapto Lakes. 

So instead, I went straight uphill and eventually it got pretty steep. This looked like the most direct way from the map, but after a while I had to make my way away from the lakes considering the steepness of the terrain. It seemed like there was a steep rocky face and then another and then another before I finally popped out on this plateau. I headed right for the lakes until I realized there was a pretty sporty scramble to get down to them. I decided that there must be an easier way. Meanwhile the views were spectacular being even higher than the pass below. 
Mt. Challenger and Whatcom Peak were quickly becoming some of my favorite mountains as the glacier on Mt. Challenger just looked so fun to climb. I enjoyed the views and actually felt pretty content with my spot. I wandered to the east and eventually dropped off the plateau. On the way down I spotted a trail and made my way over to it. I wondered which way that I should go once I hit it. I decided that it would be worth my time to try to make my way down to the lakes. The trail took me around the plateau before I finally made it to the Tapto Lakes. 

These lakes were by far one of the best highlights of the trip. There was actually a series of 4 lakes with two large lakes and two small lakes. The trail wound down through some leftover snow, but mostly rock placing me right in the middle of two of the lakes. This would be a fantastic place to camp. I continued wandering until I had it to the farthest lake over that had a waterfall pouring down into it. This lake looked the most inviting, so I thought I would take the opportunity to get a nice cool bath. I did not have to worry about seeing anyone else up here as it truly did feel like I was alone out here in the wilderness. 

I enjoyed my dip and then thought about my original goal of climbing one of the mountains. By this time, it was already 2 pm. It looked like I could get up on the ridge and follow it to the top of the peak, but given that I had already done quite a bit of hiking to this point and it would be rather late when I made it back to camp, I decided against climbing the peak. I felt that my day had already been sufficiently fun and challenging. I instead followed the trail back which led me once again by the Tapto Lakes. I was sad to leave the lake given just how awesome a spot it was up there, but I had to make it back to Graybeal. Besides the trail itself was truly amazing. I followed it past the lakes, up on to the side of the plateau and back down to where I had caught it. From there, it made its way further to the east until it met up with another trail going to another small pond. I decided to at least follow this trail and when I made it to this pond I thought about trying to find my way over to the Middle Lakes. These lakes would once again be spectacular, I am sure, but the route would take me over a steep scree slope, so I decided to bail. 

I followed what would eventually become a rather steep trail that plopped me right back at the pass. I realized that if I would have just followed this trail from the pass, it would have placed me on the right track to the lakes from the very beginning and then maybe I would have continued to feel inspired to try for the peaks. I was pretty happy with my experience, though, and now it was easy hiking down the Brush Creek trail and back into Graybeal Camp. This was the one day on the whole trip where it really was a nice day and I appreciated that we had that to get to the pass. It even felt like a sunny day making it back to camp where my dad said that he was happy to see me because a rescue would be tough to do. I was proud of just how much he was able to do at 69 years old! He, of course, was not pleased but I think we all could be happy with making it up to Whatcom Pass at his age. That is not an easy trip. We spent the evening at camp reading and playing cribbage. The next morning it was necessary to begin the hike out. Taking the advice of other hikers, I was not going to attempt the Copper Ridge loop. Instead it was back the same way which was improved by the trail crew that had been working and camping near to us. Good job trail crew!

Our one exciting part of this day is that we actually got to take the cable car. With two people, it actually turned out to be a piece of cake as we sent one person across at a time. The one on the other side was able to do most of the work of pulling the other across. The most dangerous part of it actually felt like getting off of the platform and climbing down the ladder. Not too much after that, I broke away from Dad as he continued to hike slowly uphill. Our goal was Boundary Camp and after doing the trip the opposite direction a few days earlier, we knew what was in store. 
It wasn't too late in the afternoon as I was approaching Boundary Camp when I got to see the second bear of the trip. This one was much lighter in color and given the recent conversation about the possibility of a grizzlies in the area, made me a bit nervous. I eventually announced my presence and he continued on with his routine of scavenging the meadow for food. This was right at Boundary Camp, so I choose our favorite campsite and then waited for Dad. He got to see the bear also. We were only a bit over 5 miles away, but he was not about to hike out at this point. It seemed like he was feeling the pressure of having to try to keep up with me, but it really did not bother me. At 38 years old, I was just happy to be able to be out here still having these adventures with my dad. 
The next day was definitely going to be an adventure because during the night, the rain kicked in again. We got to wake up to a soggy mess. We got packed up and made our way up the one mile to Hannegan Pass. From there, Dad let me drop my pack and I was able to hike up Hannegan Peak. As far as mountain views go, I am sure it is spectacular. On this day, it just looked like foggy mists. Still, I was glad I made the trip as it gave me a chance to spread my legs and breath hard going uphill. It was about an hour side trip for me. From here, we continued back to the trailhead. There seemed to be a lot of people out and about including a large group of runners. It did not seem like the best trail to run, but it was better than it would have been a few days ago when we started as the trail workers had brushed this part of the trail also.
It was the last chance to truly enjoy the lushness of the Pacific Northwest as after the trip, it was back down to the 100+ degree heat of the desert to spend the rest of the summer sweating. It felt like a strange thought given the dampness and cool mountain air that we were experiencing. We were able to get back to the trailhead and even gave some lucky couple a ride back to the road. This had been a fantastic trip and there would be many days in the future that I wished I could be back in the Northwest even with all its sogginess. 

Second Ascent

The idea for this trip started the previous summer. That is how far out that you have to plan when you are working adults with families. Brian Hays had been my hiking and mountain climbing buddy since we were in high school. During our adult years, though, the trips became more sporadic after our one summer of working in Zion together until finally they dissipated altogether. This was due to a few reasons. One was that we were never again living in the same place at the same time. The second was that Brian's focus was always directed toward something bigger than what I felt the need to endure. Third, of course, is that he had a network of contacts closer to him that would do many of these trips that seemed more interesting to him. I knew all of these things already, so when I called him after the summer of 2018, I thought it might be a long shot.

I wanted to see if he wanted to go on a peak bagging trip where we traveled up the West Coast and climbed some mountains along the way. I felt that the summer of 2018 had been a great summer for me, but it lacked some mountain climbing. I have always trusted Brian as a hiking partner because no matter the situation, he seems to take the lead because he sees himself as the most competent to do that. He was hesitant at first because he had a trip to the Bugaboos in Canada planned out for that summer and it would be hard for him to take off too much time from work. I put the idea out of mind until a few months later, he seemed to change his tune. This time, though, the trip had morphed into climbing Mt. Rainier.  Every time I had mentioned doing anything in the Northwest, this is what Brian had always said he wanted to do. I had climbed Mt. Rainier at 20 years old when I was in college at the University of Washington. It had been a great experience, but honestly it was not one I was looking forward to repeating. What I remembered most was being exhausted from a lack of sleep, having issues with the altitude, and trying really hard to not fall given my lack of experience with glacial travel.

It would be interesting to me to see how the older, more experienced me of 2019 would compare to the younger, more ambitious 20 year old. I still tried to talk him into another trip that having a friend that was experienced in mountaineering would be great to have along like Mt. Olympus, but his sights were set on Mt. Rainier followed up by a trip to Forbidden Peak in the North Cascades. Forbidden Peak was definitely out of my comfort zone, so I declined that opportunity (if I was even invited), but made plans to climb Rainier. He was going to also bring along his wife Angela, which was awesome. She is also an experienced mountaineer and just as intense as Brian is when it comes to these sorts of trips. I had not personally done more than just day hike with her, but I know that she had climbed some pretty impressive peaks in the Tetons and other places.

As the day drew nearer, it became less obvious that the climb would actually happen. Typically, when you plan a trip of this magnitude, something falls through with logistics before the trip actually happens. That was not going to be the issue though. Brian and Angela had bought their tickets already. The date was scheduled for the beginning of July. I had taken a whole extra bag of gear in our small Honda Fit full of climbing gear just to make this happen. The issue was the weather. Having arrived in Western Washington a week earlier, I knew that the weather had been pretty unpredictable. It was a wet, cold summer so far and looking at the forecast, the window for the climb would be pretty small. Any changes of a few hours could impact our climb. Still, as the day got closer, there was that small window of time.
Brian and Angela showed up at my mom's house the night before the climb at a little after midnight, so they were both pretty tired the next morning when I saw them. You couldn't tell, though, because they were both ready for the attempt. We spoke a bit about the weather, but Brian thought the window looked good. Instead we ate a good breakfast and went through gear before packing up and heading out. I hugged Jacqueline and the kids before I left and the expedition had begun. We took Brian and Angela's rental car up to the Park. Along the way, I got to point out many of the places from where I grew up. They both seemed impressed with the Northwest with its large trees, abundant water, and cool summer days. We never had a view of the Mountain driving up which was unfortunate, but not surprising.
We got to Paradise in the early afternoon. The first thing we had to do was to get ourselves a climbing permit. Brian had got a backcountry permit from a climbing ranger that he had met in Canyonlands where he was an instructor at the Basic Search and Rescue Training Course. We would not be seeing this contact that he had on this trip, but because of that, we were going to get the hookup with some climbing and camping gear halfway up the mountain at Camp Muir. We debated whether we needed to get the climbing permit also, but I went with yes. Even though the cost was pretty expensive of $50 a person, I still thought it the correct thing to do. When we met up with the backcountry ranger there, he seemed to think we needed it also. Brian and Angela were both a bit upset about this, but I was happy to do it. It did take a good chunk of time, though.
Finally, we were prepared to set out at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I knew that the beginning of the trail was all on pavement, so I left my mountaineering boots in the backpack and headed out in my running shoes. I was glad I did because I felt like I needed to run to keep up with Brian and Angela. Both of them seemed to feel the need to go fast up the mountain. I consider myself in pretty good shape, but I was sweating a bunch trying to keep up with them as we fought the mists of July. We still could not see the mountain even when we were on it. We eventually made it to the place where wearing running shoes was a bad idea, so I threw on the boots. Having gone up to High Rock with Jacqueline just a few days earlier, I knew that the climbing boots were going to slow me down, due to the fact that they had shrunk and were a little too small. They also were just heavy, so as we hit the snowfields below Camp Muir, Brian and Angela were well out in front of me. I still was not slow, though, as we made it to Muir in a little over 3 hours, but I just wasn't as quick as they were.

When we got to Muir, this is where the perks of park service life kicked in. Brian eventually found the rangers there who were busy with poo flying operations. Having come up a couple of times with my dad to Camp Muir when I was a child, I knew all about the poo operations here. He got us some gear and later hobnobbed with the rangers. I did not say much because there was not much for me to say. I realized now how disconnected I was from Park Service life and the experiences that come with it. Most of our evening was taken up with melting snow for water the next day, but we got ourselves fed and settled in to our three person tent for the night.

Everything had gone great up until here. We had placed our tent at the end of the camp area, so there was not many people close to us. It seemed like most of the camp was settling in, so as we got into our tent to try to get a few hours of shut eye before the early morning wake up, we did not expect to have a rough evening.

But, right as we were trying to sleep, another group of young guys arrived at Camp Muir and started to set up their tents right next to where I was laying my head for the night. You would think that if you came in late, that you would be respectful of those around you. Instead, these guys could not stop talking about the stupidest things. I did my best to lay there quietly and try to sleep, but they were loud until after 10 pm which unfortunately was the time when other groups were waking up to begin the ascent. This was sort of shocking to all of us. We knew that people were getting up early to do the climb, but this was ridiculous.

For the entire night, there was constant noise in camp until finally at 12:30 in the morning Brian said we should just go because we would end up getting stuck behind other groups the entire day if we didn't. Our goal was to leave an hour or so later, but given that we were not getting much sleep, this was forgotten. Angela, fortunately, had been sleeping, but was okay with the earlier start. We got all geared up with crampons, ice axes, and tied into the rope. Brian would lead, Angela next, with me bringing up the rear. I was happy to see Brian start out kind of slow. The pace he was keeping was actually perfect until we got behind our first group. I could not believe how slowly some of these groups were moving.

We had to continuously find ways to pass other groups before getting on Disappointment Cleaver where we would get stuck behind others. Still, the pace did not seem too fast which I was pretty happy about. We moved quickly and carefully up the mountain passing many places where we would be on snow and then switch over to rock again. The crampons got pretty beat up on the volcanic rock, but it would have been a pain to take them on and off up the whole mountain. Eventually we made it past the Cleaver and Ingraham Flats to where the peak started to get steeper. To me, it seemed pretty easy to just keep my head down and follow the blue line that was the rope in front of me as Brian got the job of finding the correct route. Most of the time, it was not difficult, though, because it was mostly a highway up to the top. There was always the potential for danger as there were two spots where fixed lines were in place, but there was never a point where I felt uncomfortable with the risk as long as I did not lose my footing. My 38 year old body was doing pretty good and kicking my 20 year old butt with dealing with altitude until about 14,000 feet.

Then, I started to need a few catch my breath breaks, but it wasn't too long before we got to the Crater where we could unrope. Because of this, I don't think I became irritating to Brian and Angela, though I could tell that any stops were a bit of a let down. You don't want to be that guy. They made it up to the summit a bit faster than I did, but we both got to enjoy the amazing view which we were lucky enough to have completely clear skies. The weather had been ideal without even a trace of wind as we climbed. I considered us very lucky. We also had the summit mostly to ourselves given that we had passed 95% of the other groups on the way up. The ascent had only taken us about 5 hours and we were standing on Columbia Crest at 6 am. We enjoyed it for some time as you could see so many of the Cascade Peaks clearly on this day, but soon it was time to pass by the fumaroles and back to our gear to begin the descent.

Leaving the summit crater was actually the most challenging part of the descent given that there was a stream of other climbers making their way up while we were finding our way down. We had to get creative with our route choice leaving the established path in many steep places to get around these other groups. I was definitely the slow one on the descent, constantly feeling the pull of the rope. I am not sure who was initiating these pulls, but I was going as fast as I felt comfortable going. Hiking in crampons and large mountaineering boots was not something that I did daily, so I felt the need to be careful with my foot placement given that a slip meant a slide down the glacier with potential for injury or worse. Still the Hays group had this drive to go much faster. At one point, I had to remind them that we were doing just fine on time given that it was still only 7:30 in the morning. It all came to a head at the Flats when I fell on my face in front of another group trying to keep up with them. I saw the chuckle on Brian's face when it happened, but it was obviously frustrating for me. I am sure that I was frustrating them also with Angela being the happiest person to be off the rope at Camp Muir being the middle person between one person who wanted to go faster and another that wanted to go slower.

We made it back to Camp Muir at 9:00 in the morning. This is where we could finally feel like we had done it. One thing Brian had said to mock the people who were waking up at 10 or 11 pm to begin the ascent was that this was only Mt. Rainier and not K2 or Everest, but for me I did feel pretty accomplished having climbed this mountain again. This was an experience I was glad to have. Even though the rock was terrible and I was exhausted from a lack of sleep, I would not trade the experience away for anything. Did I want to do it again the next day? Heck no. I can't say that climbing Mt. Rainier itself is that enjoyable of an experience, but being there on the mountain is such a different experience from what I do every day that I sure appreciated it.

We rested for a while at Camp Muir, or rather, Brian and Angela rested. I was not about to fall asleep, because there was this impending large storm on the way. It took a decent amount of time to dig the tent out of the snow, but eventually we got ourselves packed up to head down. I was definitely a slow poke on the way down given that my feet were hurting from the mountaineering boots. If this was a more frequent experience, I would buy another pair of boots. Given that they cost 2-300 dollars, I was happy using these even if they were painful. We did do some butt sliding down and the Hays even ran into a friend of theirs from their Rocky Mountain days who was heading up to Camp Muir where unfortunately for him, he got to endure the weather that we missed with sleet and high winds. We were back to the parking lot about 24 hours after we left it with another amazing mountaineering experience under our belt. They were both amazed at the immensity of the mountain as we could actually see it on the way down. Brian dreampt of future expeditions up other routes that I would not be joining him on. It was interesting seeing our interest in the outdoors had truly diverged. I was always interested in going somewhere new, yet not technically challenging whereas Brian seemed focused on those things that pushed his limits. Given that Brian's limits were much higher than mine, I knew that there were unfortunately not many future trips in store for us.

We made the most of this one though getting back to my wife and kids staying at my mom's house in Eatonville. We had dinner out and then got some decent sleep before having to leave the next morning to go up to the North Cascades. They were climbing Forbidden Peak, while I was meeting up with my dad for a backpacking trip. He gave me a ride up where we were able to discuss much of what had been going on in our lives. I will always consider Brian a great friend and I feel like he met the exact right person for him by marrying Angela. I appreciated that they spent some of there short vacation with me and I was happy to be able to get a second ascent of a peak that meant a lot to me having grown up in the shadows of Mt. Rainier. Who knew when the next trip would be for us, but hopefully we can eventually meet in the middle again to find another exciting future adventure. 

Lena Lake

It was time to begin our next backpack, this time in the Olympic National Forest. It was our first chance to take the kids backpacking with their Popo, which is the name that they called my dad. We looked for a trip that everyone would enjoy, so we settled on the Lena Lake trail. This was a spot off of Hood Canal. We drove up the previous day to my mom's house to drop off some gear and get ready for this trip. After a good night's rest, we were driving over to Olympia and then up the 101 until we were right outside of Hamma Hamma. We easily found the Lena Lake trailhead where we met up with Popo.

We packed our gear and then were off. Zyla seemed to be the one to lead the way on this day and she had been impressive to me. This was not a quiet trail as there were many folks coming down the trail. We figured there might be a good crowd given that the 4th of July was coming up soon, though, there were not as many people going up as coming down. Also, it seemed the majority of the people were day hikers. There were many people giving the kids compliments. That should boost their spirits a bit because they were still at that stage where they were not quite sure if they enjoyed backpacking yet.

The trail had quite a bit of elevation gain, but was in really good shape given the popularity of the hike. It was a rather easy going and there didn't seem to be any danger of falling off the trail which Jacqueline seemed to enjoy. The views were a lot of trees with the occasional bridge over the small creeks, some of which were dry. Only one spot could we actually see something like a waterfall, so as far as the scenic nature of the hike, you had to enjoy a good Northwest forest to be happy here. Given that we were now desert dwellers, we were happy for this change of scenery and for the cool temperatures.

It was only a few hours of uphill hiking before we were able to see the lake. We had to hike nearly to the other side of it to find our camping spot. Given the large size and amount of sites, we figured in would be a busy night in camp. Fortunately, we were wrong as possibly the drizzly forecast for the following day delayed other people's trip plans because there were only a few other parties sharing the lake with us for the evening. There seemed to be a few people around when we got there, but after throwing down the tent on some level ground, we were able to hang out by the lake for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The kids quickly found interesting ways to entertain themselves by setting up a store at the end of a long downed tree that marked the edge of our camp. We entertained ourselves reading books, playing cribbage, and just generally relaxing in the cool mountain environment. Everyone seemed content with our camp spot and we all slept fairly well through the night preparing for the following day's hike.
Awaking the next day, we prepared for the worst. The forecast called for rain, but so far we were lucking out. It was still fairly cool and overcast, but no precipitation as of yet. We had a leisurely start to the day's hike up the Brother's Trail, but I was afraid that the hike would get shelved before it had even begun.

We came to a creek crossing which looked like it could be challenging for the kids. One wet child could easily ruin the trip, so I crossed first and then helped everyone else make it across. Luckily the logs were pretty well stacked to make the crossing easy enough for the kids to do it. After that, we skirted the far side of the lake for a while before heading up through the mist into the dark forest. Jacqueline was happy with this part of the day because this forest was much more alive then the more manicured trail that we followed yesterday. Slugs, millipedes, and snails abounded along with many varieties of plants, flowers, and fungi.

I could tell that Popo really enjoyed being out there with the kids and they loved having him there. He was constantly hiking with or talking to the kids, which is great to just have another voice to help them appreciate the wilderness. The trail was in okay shape. It went up pretty steeply, but given our lack of heavy packs, it did not seem to bother anybody. There was one point where we had to cross on a bridge that Conrad was not too sure of. Instead of doing the bridge, we took a much harder crossing through the dry creek bed below which was hard to get down to and back up from. Eventually the trail started to get a bit too shady, so we said the heck with it and turned around. We knew we were going to have to at some point anyway.

On the way back down, the weather couldn't really decide what it was going to do, but by the time that we made it back to camp, it had decided that it would rain. Most of the afternoon was spent hiding from the rain in the tent, reading or playing cards. It seemed okay given the weather and we made the best of it. Eventually it stopped and we were able to get out and hang out with Popo for dinner and more fun around camp. During the night, we had some intermittent rain again, but by morning, it was mostly just a hazy fog that filled up our camp. By this point there was not much else to do but high tail it out of there.

We had an easy stroll downhill and were able to finish off the trip with lunch at a seafood place in Hamma Hamma. It was alright, but overpriced. Jacqueline broke her vegan diet for a small bit of seafood and immediately regretted it. I was pretty proud of how hard she had been working to eat vegan and this was not a great experience to break the diet. I did not have the mental fortitude to do that. We parted ways with Popo, but we were glad that we had a chance to share this experience with him. I hope there are many more trips in the future for the five of us.