Deuter - The Baughn Diggity Adventures

Days 8-10

These next few days were like going through a time warp between summer and winter in the same day. It was quite bizarre. On these days we did some more GeoCaching, made our own trail, went sledding in the snow, hiked across a waterfall, and enjoyed the Mt. Rainier area.

Mt. Rainier

Our first day scoping out Mt. Rainier was a busy one and we didn’t even get to see the mountain! However, we had an absolutely blast! The day before on our drive into town we had already scoped out a few spots to stop and hike along the way. This helped make the day a little easier. Being that the house we rented was not equipped with internet…or cell phone signal, we had to rely on Blanton’s Market in town for their free wi-fi. Don’t fret, we did go in and buy something every single time! If you are in the Packwood area, Blanton’s really is a great little grocery store with very reasonable prices and fresh fruits and veggies.

Sledding

Alright onto our day. Our first activity…snow sledding. Yes…you read that right, snow sledding…in June! We had a blast. It was pretty cold, about 34 degrees,

but for the most part we had plenty of warm clothes. Poor Evan though, we didn’t quite pack the right pants for him and his pants weren’t really water proof. So he rode around in the car without pants on afterwards for a little while. He didn’t care though, he had so much fun sledding it made it up for all of it. The house we were staying through AirBNB had a sled they offered for us to use so we took full advantage and were just lucky enough to find a great spot to do it. Click here to see a funny video of our hiking adventures, click this link https://youtu.be/sg8ff_iMCKg

No Name Hike

Anyone know what the best kind of hikes are? The ones were you rarely run into a soul. There’s just something about the ability to get out into nature on a random trail with only one parking spot for a vehicle and making it your own. I don’t even believe this trail had a name to it as it didn’t appear on my Washington Trails App. However, it was very quick, and had an amazing view of the river at the end. We threw rocks, walked across a series of logs that had piled up and just enjoyed the atmosphere at the bottom of the mountain where there was no rain or clouds.

The View Itself

I’m not going to lie, I really wish we had delayed our trip a few weeks so that we could have had better weather and trail conditions. However, had we done that we would have encountered so many more tourists on the roads and trails of Mt. Rainier. So, because of the weather and the shear number of people, we didn’t spend much time near the visitor center or driving around. We did the one drive through the park so that we could saw we did it, and came away with the view to the right on the one sunny day. That day was pretty incredible as every turn we made we were fortunate to have a different perspective to see the mountain.

Comet and Christine Falls

This hike was really pretty interesting. It was one of the more strenuous hikes because it was essentially straight up. As we hiked up, we passed multiple groups coming down who said they turned around because they couldn’t pass, the snow became too difficult. The hike itself had some really pretty view in the short distance. However, we did come to an area where we could not pass with the kids. It was what looked like was a usual slanted rock stretch heading straight down about 200 feet to the bottom. What made this difficult was the snow build up. It was just any snow build up. No, this snow build up had half way melted and had left what was essentially a hollow cave/bridge for you to walk over. It was probably at the most 18 inches thick, so walking across it was pretty dangerous. We chose not to bring the kids, and in fact I was the only one that kept going. I knew by looking at the WTA app that I wasn’t that far from the last waterfall, maybe 3/4 of a mile. I made it across and started jogging. Without a carrier and other baggage, it felt like I could run for days…that didn’t last long though haha. I eventually made it to the more difficult snow area and I just kept sinking down in the snow. It was actually pretty painful on my knees catching me off guard each time. The view was so well worth it though and if there was more time I would have kept hiking even further.

Cora Lake Trail

Now technically this trail wasn’t within Mt. Rainier National Park. It was actually part of the “sister” park the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest. What was amazing about this trail was we were literally the only people anywhere within miles. We traveled up a random forest service dirt road. It appeared to be serving more as a logging road lately as they had been doing some planned clearings to help the over growth. The hike itself wasn’t difficult, finding the geocache on the hike took a minute, but it was fun. The hard part was finding the other geocache at the end of the trail. We spent probably an hour trying to cross the creek where the trail typically crosses. However, the water must have been extra high this time of year and didn’t give us anywhere to cross safely with the kids. So we ended up leaving our daughter, who had fallen asleep in the carrier, with my mother-in-law and backtracked a little bit to cross at a place where a small tree had fallen across the creek. Just because the creek is only 2-3 feet deep and 15 feet wide, doesn’t mean it is easy or not scary to have your 6 year old cross. However, him and I and Laura all made it across. We then double timed it around the trail. We had to cross the creek again up stream from the waterfall. This crossing was much easier. When we finally made it to the end, it was truly a beautiful view. With the clouds and mist it was an eery view that was really different from normal view that made this unique. We never did find the geocache. There was so much heavy snow around that was packed tight, it was most likely buried. We then proceeded to go back down. What we realized when we started following the trail down is that when we were first trying to make it up we couldn’t really find the trail and there were a lot of fallen trees headed straight up hill. We tried to pass that way but going uphill it became too difficult. Going downhill though we thought we’d give it a try and cut off about 3/4 of a mile of walking, plus gain a little adventure and training for our 6 year old. We repelled down the side of the cliff/mountain, grabbing onto whatever limbs/trees/branches we could. It was quite difficult, but still fun and it saved us some time for sure. We finally made it to the bottom of the trail ready for a snack!

Summary

Due to the weather, outside of the few hikes mentioned here, we spent a good bit of time looking for GeoCaches. There are so many in the area, it made it quite fun. It got to a point where anytime we would slow down the car, my son would flip his seatbelt out and yell out “are we geocaching??”. Up next Mt. St Helens, Packwood Area, and Yakima.

Days 3 and 4

So we’ve given you a brief overview of our trip to Washington as well as our first two days. Now we are going to give you a quick look at days 3 and 4 of our trip. Up on tap: Scenic Highway 20, Thunder Knob Trail / Diablo Lake, North Cascades Visitor Center, Washington Pass Overlook, Heliotrope Ridge Trail, and Chair 9 Restaurant!

Scenic Highway 20

We began our 3rd day in typical fashion with a stop at the Wake ‘N Bakery. From there we proceeded south toward the town of Sedro Wooley. We then picked up highway 20 to head east. The drive is absolutely beautiful and winds through several small towns. On a clear day you can catch glimpses of Mt Baker and many other peaks. On this day we were fortunate enough to have one of our few completely sunny days. Our first stop was the North Cascades Visitor Center. The turn off is relatively obscure, but the center itself is pretty neat. Boasting a 3D topographical map, video about the area and a gift shop with the usual Park Service trinkets. A short jaunt down a boardwalk out the back of the center leads you to a nice little view of a glacier. After this quick pit stop, it was time for our first hike of the day, Thunder Knob Trail

Thunder Knob Trail

Round trip this trail is about 3.5 miles. It is also almost completely straight up. It’s a pretty steep climb once you really get into it. However, the work is well worth it! We didn’t see many animals, just a few chipmunks, but the stench of possibly some bobcats was nearby. About half way up you get to a clearing where you get a glimpse of something so spectacular it makes you want to sit there and just stare all day. Alas we needed to move on to see what was at the top! This hike most definitely worked the calves toting a little one on the back, but our Deuter Kid Comfort III saved my back and shoulders!!! Once you get to the top though, you are rewarded with a gorgeous view of Diablo Lake. There are numerous sub trails you can take at the top to walk around for differing views. If you are lucky enough you can get a chipmunk to come up to you. This is another spot in which you can sit and stare for hours. It’s extremely peaceful and you’re lucky if you pass two other groups of hikers on the whole trail.

Washington Pass Overlook

Drive a little further, and by a little I mean a few hours further, and you reach the Washington Pass Overlook. At 5,400 feet it’s the highest point you can drive to in Washington State. On the day we drove up we were forced to park right at the entrance off Highway 20 due to snow covering the road way. However, that made for a more fun walk up to the boardwalk lookout. The road was pretty clear, but the kids had more fun running in the snow and throwing it. As with every stop we made this trip, the views were unbelievable. With an amazing view of Liberty Bell mountain and the surrounding snow covered woodlands, this was well worth the several hour drive.

Heliotrope Ridge Trail

In what was perhaps one of the most fun hikes we have done with our family, the Heliotrope Ridge trail did not disappoint! The access to this trail is just down the road from the Visitor Center for the Park Service in Glacier. Once you turn down the Forest Service road, it is quite a long drive up a very narrow road. Regardless, the drive is pretty bumpy, but oh so beautiful. Once you arrive to the end of the road you have reached the trail head. I will post a few pictures here of the trail, but they don’t even come close to doing it justice. Determining the full length of this trail was difficult due to all the snow. Based on our trek using the All Trails app tracking our GPS location, roundtrip we hiked 5.8 miles and exceeded 2,800 feet in elevation climb. Our 6 year old Evan hiked the entire trail roundtrip with no problem. Our 3 year old Olivia hiked the first 1.75 miles on her own before finally succumbing to our Deuter Kid Comfort 3 carrier. Pretty impressive from both kids as the hike was almost entirely straight uphill. From the moment we hit the trail we had to deal with snow. Three areas in particular where both sketchy walking across and beautiful at the same time. The first is at this small location of a waterfall where everything else is covered in snow and you have only a small thin path in the snow to walk, one slip and down you go to the bottom! Even more astonishing was the view as you look the opposite direction from the waterfall. For as far as you can see there are snow capped mountains and the view is just awe inspiring. The second was right before crossing the creek leading down from another waterfall. The creek was harder to cross on the way back as the snow melt later in the day had increased the water flow. Lastly, when we got to the stop, the snow was so deep, but as we were walking we could hear the water just rushing underneath us. It was very neat to hear, but at the same time a little scary knowing at any moment you could fall through. Lastly, at the top you are again blessed with an assortment of views with more snow and beauty. We took a break at the top to enjoy some snacks before heading back down. At this point we were covered in snow. Thankful we had some great hiking shoes and waterproof clothing…well most of us did anyway. My poor son’s pants were not waterproof, but he was a trooper! All told the hike took us approximately 4 hours roundtrip. We began after lunch around 1pm or so and made it back to the car around 5pm. When you have kids, hikes always take longer, but we wouldn’t have changed it for anything.

Chair 9 Restaurant

After a long tiring hike we didn’t want anything to do with cooking dinner. We were fortunate Chair 9 restaurant was on the way right outside the trail and right before Snowater, where we were staying. With free wifi, ice cold beer, and coloring pages and crayons for the kids, we were set! The pizza was excellent, the staff friendly, and the environment was really great. We couldn’t say enough nice things about this place.

That does it for days 3 and 4. We hope you enjoyed this post and look forward to our next post!

Tag: Deuter

Pacific Northwest!! Mt. Rainier Area (Post 6 of TBD)