Vancouver B.C.

July 15-16

This is the last hike and I am officialy caught up! Yea!

Ok, this is another not really a hike, but sort of and I have really cool pictures. My mom and I took the train up to Vancouver B.C. for two days earlier this month. We stayed in a really nice hotel in the middle of downtown. The fact that we had to walk a little more than a half mile dragging luggage (ok, my mom drug the luggage) just to get to our hotel from the train station classifies this as an "official" hike. We spent a lot of the time just walking around downtown and relaxing in the hotel.

Then on the second day we went to the park.

Vancouver has a huge park (the perimeter trail is about 10km). We walked down to the park, and then walked around in it. There was a lake, a rose garden, and most of the edges of the park is water, so there were lots of ocean views. One of the things I really wanted to see was "The Girl in the Wetsuit" which is supposed to be similar to the famous "The Little Mermaid" statue in Europe. You can see how the tide comes all the way up to her feet.

For some reason, I just didn't have a lot of energy that day (maybe it was the big breakfast) so we decided to take a free trolley around the perimeter. That ended up being just about as much work because the trolley was so crowded we had to stand. I wedged myself into a window and held on, and my mom was out in the middle holding on to a bar overhead. But, we made it, and then walked back up the hill to our hotel, and then back to the train station with luggage in tow.

As you can probably guess, we were exhausted on the train trip back, but trains are so much more comfortable than planes or even cars really because you get so much more leg room, and can get up and walk around if you want. This was a really fun, although short, trip!

My mom is going to kill me, but this is the only picture I got of her that is even sort of in focus.

So, I don't know if I'm going to be able to go out this weekend. If not, the next pictures you will see will be of Yellowstone!

Mt. Rainier

July 6, 2007

My dad came into town during our Campmeeting this year, and on my day off we went to Mt. Rainier. No one can believe this, including me, but in my almost ten years in this area, I had never been to Mt. Rainier. The day was beautiful for it and I got some amazing pictures.

Although we didn't really do much "real" hiking, we did walk about a half-mile up to the top of Christine Falls.


I had no idea they were such beautiful falls in the park, and they just keep going. After we hiked up, we realized that the best view of all was just off the road at a viewpoint, but as my dad says, we can say we saw a part most people don't take the time to see.

We made our way to Paradise and the top of the pass. We took another trail that went a little higher up the mountain to get some great pictures of the top. I love how you can see the blue of the glaciers!

We ate a picnic lunch and then made our way down the mountain. I have a lot of other great pictures of the flood damage, the valleys and of course the mountain itself, but I can only get so many on here at a time.

Pray for my dad this week. He starts a new batch of chemo treatments Tuesday and will be in the hospital for several days. He and I both appreciate it!

Point Defiance

This was a really fun hike. The weather was beautiful this day and I trekked my way around the park. There are a lot of people everywhere, but it's not too hard to find a spot by yourself. I started at the reconstructed fort on the West side and walked across to the East side. (I only got lost once, but there are so many intersecting paths!) Then, once I got to the water, I decided to take the slightly longer smaller paths. I was hoping to get better water views, but mostly it was just trees. I continued my way around greeting all the other hikers and eventually got back around to the west side. It was here that I ended up taking a break on a fallen log and finally hearing God's voice on some issues. Has God ever said something funny to you? Ok, I know this may sound really strange, but here goes. At the end of my conversation with God, He told me, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," and it struck me so funny! (Ok, if I am totaly crazy, I'm sorry, but if something like that has happened to you PLEASE SHARE!)

Anyway, at the end of that, I finished out the hike and felt better than I had in months. I could tell I had finally hit a breakthrough because worship that next Sunday was completley different for me. I don't know if I was the only one who noticed the change, but I am so glad it happened! So I know this one is a little different than the rest, but it is late, and I'm trying to catch up. Sorry!

P.S. On my way out of the park, these two deer ran into the road and started fighting right in front of my car! Of course, by the time I got my camera out, they were already running off.

Coal Creek

June 8, 2007

Wow! Has it really been two weeks since my last post?! Well, I plead Campmeeting. I will try to get everything caught up this week.

OK, my second hike of the year was down Coal Creek. I had first heard that this hike exsisted from Joel. The trailhead is on my old commute into Kirkland, but I had never noticed it until Joel said something. When I found some information about it, I was excited to give it a try.

This trail is about 3 miles in and then 3 miles back and what they call "primative trail." (I love primative trails!) That basically means that they didn't do a whole lot to the trail to make it exsit. It gets really narrow at points and is a lot of up and down and over tree roots and under tree branches. In short, the perfect adventure! The trail follows Coal Creek from Coal Creek Parkway to old Coal Mines (which we will get to later).

A little ways in you can take a branch off trail that goes to a waterfall (through an even more primative trail. Fun!) OK, the waterfall wasn't that impressive, but the bridge after it was pretty cool (That's the picture at the top of this post.)

The really cool part of this hike was the end of the trail. There used to be a coal mine complete with buildings, railroad, and even a hotel; none of which exsists any more. All you will find there now is a few cement foundation blocks, and a lot of bricks and old debris in the creek bed.

this is what it used to look like

This is what it looks like now

There is also another waterfall at this site. Look how red the creekbed is here!

And to finish, here is the abandoned mine:

Poo Poo Point

May 11, 2007

So I know the name is ridiculous, but the view from this point is amazing! I don't think there could be a picture that does it justice, but look at that view! As I mentioned before, I started this hike last year with Jaz and we took a wrong turn. Somewhere I read that this hike was about 4 miles, so I figured that would be a good starter hike for the year. I knew it was steep, but I had all afternoon. I would just take my time.

The hike starts out on paths that I knew really well. One of the trails is called "Bus Trail." That's because there is an old rusted out bus alongside the trail. If anybody knows how it got out there with no roads nearby, please let me know!



(like the "vintage" look?)

The next phase takes you along a utility trail and then, when you take the right turn, you start up the mountain. It was definately steep, but I took my time and my journal and kept moving up the mountain.

This hike has it all: waterfalls, groves of different trees, wildlife, drop offs, strange trees, wildflowers, strange plants... After quite awhile on the trail I was getting really tired and started to wonder how much further it was. I started the "just until that tree up ahead" and finally came to a crossroads. The sign post said Poo Poo Point was .5 miles further. It also said that the trailhead was 4 miles back! Well, I couldn't come this far and miss it by just a half mile, so I kept going, and I am so glad I did. The view was breathtaking and there were all these parasailers using the point as a take-off spot. So I sat up there for about a half-hour just watching them take off and land. I also discovered that you can drive up to the point! I guess I'm kinda glad I didn't know that before hand, because then I couldn't say I made it.

the other half of the view from the top

Anyway, after a good rest up top I headed back down. This was when I realized 1) I had only brought enough water for a 4 mile hike, 2) I hadn't brought a lunch and it was already 3:00, and 3) I was going to die. Yes, this was another hike where I got in way over my head. It would be really interesting to watch myself towards the end of one of these hikes when I start to get a little woozy. At some point I usually start saying, "Please God get me out of here, I've done it again!" And then try to decide who would be the best person to call when I can't go any further.

But, I did make it. I survived not only the 9 mile hike, but the tounge lashing I got from everyone when they found out what I'd done. (I am so blessed to have people who will do that for me!) And, I have some really great pictures! I think I'll wait awhile before I try one of those again.