Christmas Hike

Merry Christmas everyone. Sounds like a good day for a hike. We spent the morning exchanging gifts and then headed out to the Elwha for a hike. I really like the Elwha because even in winter it is at low enough elevation that we can access a good stretch of trail. We decided to hike out to the Goblin Gates and see how we felt from there. All four of us did the hike and it was a beautiful day to be out. Dad wore his Santa hat and looked the most festive out of the four of us. From the gates, Jacqueline, Dad, and I took another trail that led us to Humes Ranch, while Laura returned the same way to the trailhead. 

The cabin was definitely restored and was a homestead over a hundred years ago. It is funny how we pay attention to those things when they are inside National Parks, whereas if that same homestead was outside of the park it would be built over possibly by family members of the original owners without two thoughts. This trail looped around and ran us into another cabin and then eventually the trail back to Whiskey Bend. I think our total hike was four of five miles, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the day instead of just sitting around eating all day long.

Birthday Hike

It was Jacqueline's birthday, so naturally we had to go for a short hike. We were visiting my dad and Laura in Port Angeles. The day was supposed to be pretty nice, so we thought that we would take a drive up to Hurricane Ridge. They kept the road plowed most of the time in the winter, so you could get up to high elevation by just driving. The views were excellent as we could see all the mountains in the distance. It was a bit chilly out, but we kept our little pregnant birthday girl bundled up. We first hiked up the hill and out to a viewpoint. From there we went into the visitor center to look at maps. Next we hiked up the road a ways. Laura stayed in the car for this section, but my little pregnant birthday wife kept trekking. Jacqueline's mantra throughout this whole pregnancy has been, "I don't wanna do too much", but she has been trying to keep herself active even if my coaching takes me away too often. We hiked about a mile and then turned around feeling that our trek was sufficient. I realized that I had been to all of these places before, coming by myself in February 2003. It was really good to get out and after that we were back home for a birthday dinner and presents for my wonderful wife.

Thanksgiving in Canyonlands

Brian and Angela Hays invited Jacqueline and I to come stay with them out in Island in the Sky and celebrate Thanksgiving. We were all for it as I have known Brian and his family for many years. We are only a couple hours drive from them, but found it hard to make the trip with work commitments. Having the whole week off from school at least, not basketball though, we took the couple days we had and made the drive. Brian had to work, but he was able to take the whole crew on a hike. It was only a short hike but was perfect because it was good for the pregnant wife and the rest of the whole crew too. There were eight of us total as Angela's sister made the trip along with Brian's sister Sarah, his bro Matt, and his mom. We took it nice and leisurely enjoying the desert and the slickrock as we went. Even thought the air temperature was a bit chilly it was still a great time to be in the desert as the snow was not going to stop our progress. 

Brian had a funny moment on the hike when he pretended to be giving us a guided hike interpretational tour when another visitor came by. That visitor began following us, so he increased our party to nine. Brian was nice to him and you had to feel for someone who was alone for Thanksgiving. That is definitely a holiday where I appreciate my close family of Jacqueline and the baby growing in her tummy. We were only out for a couple of hours because we had to go back and make some turkey dinner. We all crammed into the shed at Brian's house and had an excellent dinner. We played games in the evening, including Brian's newly learned favorite of Ninja destruction. Anything that involved strength, quickness, and a small bit of pain are activities Brian will always participate in. The next day we took a drive to the La Sal National Forest where we picked out a Christmas tree. Ours was rather small because we don't have room to put it in our house. The rest of the crew continued for a day of play in the sun and snow, while we had to return to prepare for a long basketball season.