Silver Forest Trail Hike

Scott & I played hooky from work today and met up with our friends Pam & Charles, who we haven't seen in forever due to the coronavirus.  We decided to do the short Silver Forest Trail hike on the Sunrise side of Mt. Rainier.  It has been super hot down here, so we were looking forward to some more temperate weather on the mountain.  It was sunny & warmer than we had anticipated given we arrived not much after 8:30am, but luckily our hike was short & mostly flat.  We saw lots of beautiful blooming wildflowers.  Of course the mountain was out in all its glory.  So glad we got to spend some time with them & enjoy the beautiful outdoors!  I hope we can get back there at least once more some time this summer.

Since it was just the two of us we took the Mini for the drive.  She really enjoyed all the twisty roads!

Sunrise Lodge

Charles & Pam

Pam & I

We stopped down by the White River after the hike to have a little snack.

Trip Around Washington

Gabby and her friend Shalice took a road trip on July 23rd and 24th around Washington.  It was a bit of a whirlwind!  On the first day they drove Highway 2 over to Leavenworth and made a pitstop at Lake Wenatchee. They also visited Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park, Palouse Falls and Lake Lenore Caves.  They spent the night in Pullman, which was weird for Gabby. She had never been to Pullman without the family before! The next day, they headed to Walla Walla where they spent some time walking around Whitman College where Gabby attended a summer intensive back in 2014.  Then they visited Twin Sisters Rock and the Gingko Petrified Forest, which we see signs for every time we drive through Vantage.  They did not seem very impressed by it! Then they headed home with a short pitstop in Ellensburg for food.  Gabby said it was really hot and I'm not sure Shalice was that taken with the east side of the state as it's very dry & desolate. 

Lake Wenatchee. There have been so many people visiting this state park that the governor announced (after their trip!) that they will be limiting entrance from now on to promote social distancing.

Dry Falls is 3.5 miles long and 400 feet high. When the falls were still flowing, this would have been the largest waterfall in the world!

The trail up to the caves wasn't very long, but it was straight up a large hill! Add that to the mid-90s temperature and this hike was a bit of a workout.

One of the caves. There were five that were easily accessible from the trail.

Cool lichen that was growing on the rocks.

Palouse Falls! I have never been here because there is a rattlesnake warning. Scary!

Gabby at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park.

Art installation on the Whitman campus. Gabby ended up remembering more spots on the campus than she anticipated!

Mural in downtown Walla Walla.

Hard to see, but there were people that had hiked down all the way to the cliff right over the falls!

Twin Sisters Rock. This was another short but steep hike.

They didn't end up finishing the full interpretive trail because it was so windy! The petrified logs were caged up to prevent damage, so it wasn't that exciting or easy to see anyways.