I admit that almost all of the trails we hike are a few feet wide, open (not overgrown with brush), are defined, and easy to follow. Aside from the fact that they are straight up the side of a mountain, they are pretty tame. I didn’t realize how tame actually until the other day.
Usually I suggest the hikes and hubby follows us wherever. The other day he came to me going on and on about this hike he discovered – Eagle Lake. It was clear he was excited. I jumped on the chance to go for a hike that HE picked.
It was a great hike. However, we took the “secret” back-door trail and it was different than we are used to hiking. It was narrower and overgrown with brush for the first quarter mile so we had to do a lot of pushing and ducking. The middle part of the trail was open and through the woods but it wasn’t well established in some spots. There was no danger of getting lost but we had to stop and scan the landscape to see where we were supposed to walk several times.
As we neared the lake, the trail crossed an open meadow. There trail started out established but turned into a maze of faint foot trails. There were some snow patches confusing the path too. We knew the main goal was to get to the other side of the meadow so we just picked our way through.
In a few places we had to cross a stream. I don’t mean a stream as in a shallow, narrow trickle of water either. In one spot, we had to jump a 3 foot gap between rocks. If we had missed and fallen in, the water would have been 3 or 4 feet deep. Chester and Gretel hopped, plowed through or picked their way across the rocks for most stream crossings but we had to carry them across this big one. I didn’t get any pictures of it. I think I was too nervous at first and too relieved after I made it to the other side 🙂
Right before the lake the trail got kind of lost. There were places we could walk but they weren’t established trails and we had to push our way through brush again. In some places where it was particularly unclear, some nice person had tied flagging to the trees (this is a pretty common practice in the Northwest).
The lake was beautiful and we stopped to have lunch before heading back down.
This hiking experience was different than we were used to. It certainly felt more adventurous and kind of made me feel like a sissy for sticking to the popular, established trails. They seem almost like cheating now.
The hike was a good reminder to get away from our regular routine and seek out some more remote places to hike. I am doing a good job of seeking out new urban adventures in our City but should remember that there are thousands of trails in our mountains we haven’t explored. My dedication to hiking someplace new most of the time is renewed.
We are nominated for the Best Active Living Blog Petties Award.
Please don’t forget to vote for us every day.
We really need your help so we can win the $1,000 to donate to the rescue that brought Gretel into our lives – Motley Zoo Animal Rescue. You can vote for us here (our category is on the bottom right).
Jane & Parker says
July 15, 2013 at 5:00 AMOh my dog! You hike in the most beautiful places! What beautiful scenery!
Roxy the traveling dog says
July 15, 2013 at 6:21 AMWhat a beautiful lake. We hike off trail a lot. Mostly we will hike on the trail, and make our way back a different route. If that’s possible.
Jessica Rhae says
July 15, 2013 at 4:18 PMIt’s not possible most of the places we hike…unless you like falling off mountainsides 🙂
Susie q says
July 15, 2013 at 6:45 AMWow, what incredible scenery! So jealous of all the beautiful hiking where you live. We love hiking off the beaten path, you can find some wonderful places hidden away!
Flea says
July 15, 2013 at 7:23 AMOh my DOG, but that’s beautiful. Kudos to the husband for finding a rugged trail to hike! I need to make hiking a priority this fall – when it’s not a hundred degrees out.
Jessica Rhae says
July 15, 2013 at 4:20 PMYeah, since I have been blogging I have realized how lucky we are that we can do things all year round. The rain sucks but at least blistering heat or snow and ice everywhere don’t mess things up for us.
GizmoGeodog says
July 15, 2013 at 8:52 AMThat is a gorgeous hike…I’m jealous as we don’t have mountains or views like that…But we do often have to bushwhack…One of the things I like about geocaching is that it gives me a point to locate that I have loaded into my GPS…The GPS guides us when the trail disappears, and if I’ve remembered to mark where I parked I also get a trail back…It’s come in handy more than once over the years
Jessica Rhae says
July 15, 2013 at 4:21 PMI thought of you guys on our hike today. As we started up the trail we came across a family that was looking for a cache 🙂
bichonpawz says
July 15, 2013 at 9:58 AMYou all hike in the most AWESOME places!!! So very scenic and beautiful!! We are heading on over to vote for you!!
xoxo Chloe and LadyBug
Jessica Rhae says
July 15, 2013 at 4:22 PMThanks so much. We really appreciate your vote!
Hailey and Zaphod's Lady says
July 15, 2013 at 11:49 AMWhat a beautiful place to hike! Sounds like it was fun! Lee and Phod
emma says
July 15, 2013 at 4:19 PMHiking in the mountain areas is always so beautiful! I did some of that when I lived in Southern Germany. Germany was a great place for hiking – my dogs and I did lots of it too! The Seattle area has so many beautiful places as well!
Jessica Rhae says
July 15, 2013 at 4:23 PMWe ARE very lucky to live in such a beautiful area. It makes putting up with all the rainy days worth it 🙂
2 brown dawgs says
July 18, 2013 at 1:48 AMPretty lake. Nice payoff to your hike. 🙂
Jodi says
July 22, 2013 at 6:56 AMWe’ve been talking about relocating and I can tell you, those mountains certainly call to me. 🙂
Jessica Rhae says
July 22, 2013 at 9:11 AMOMG…you mean we could be neighbors?? Ha, ha. I would love to go hiking with you and geek out on blog stuff 🙂