The day before the hike, I was told that the trail was 6 miles round trip and received a moderate from the hiking guidebook my mom held so dear to her heart. She told me to bring lots of water and layer my clothing. Here is what I wore the day of the hike:
- Hiking shoes
- Wool socks
- Black Patagonia stretch pants (yes, the one's with the sewn hole in them)
- A wife beater (good I hate that word)
- T-shirt
- Long sleeve hoodie
- A Light Blue Sussex Sweatshirt
- My Ski Jacket
- A Space Needle baseball cap
It took us about an hour and a half (this is why I love Seattle) to go from Seattle downtown where the temperature was 60 degrees to the beautiful Mt. Rainer National Park and a whopping 35 degrees!
The hike started off strong with switch backs for about twenty minutes. Once we reached the top of this part of the hike there was a fork. One way led to Crystal Lake and the other to Crystal Peak. I believe it was my dad who said that Peak sounded more difficult so lets take that path.
** The Beginning
Well difficult was right! After about two hours we still had not reached the "peak". And as we trekked higher and higher, the weather began to change. Instead of the misty gloom that Seattle is famous for, it began to snow. Perfect white flacks that sat on the ground for a couple of seconds before disappearing into the dark dirt.
Now for some of you, this must sound fantastic but let me remind you what my family was prepared for. My brother had regular trainers on and no real jacket. My mother was the ONLY person who had gloves. My father was wearing shorts (although he did bring his golf cover-ups). And I had these thin yoga-type pants on!!!
** Notice Dad's shorts!!!
WE WERE FREEZING!!!
** Notice how high up we are.... yes it was beautiful but it was also really high up! We had started our journey down by the river in the background!
We finally decided to stop for lunch. Since we were past the tree level, we had to find a spot that sheltered us from the wind. It was still snowing as mom and dad unpacked the backpack and cut up tomatoes and onions for our sandwiches. My blood sugar was so low that I immediately went for the Kettle's baked, not fried, organic, whole wheat, sans-trans fat, organic, green, festive, happy, wholesome potato chips.
As I stuffed the chips into my mouth, I began to fantasize about how delicious they were going to be wedged in between my turkey sandwich. However, the next moment crushed any hope I had of enjoying this dream.
Meg - Mom, where is the turkey meat?
Mom - [Blank stare]
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[Long Pause]
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Mom - I forgot it.
Family - WHAT!?!?!?!?!
Anyway, long story short, we sat on the slope of the mountain eating onion and tomato sandwiches, freezing and still not at the "peak" yet.
There isn't a happy ending to this story. We didn't make it to the top. But actually, it turned out to be a happy ending. No one got hurt and my brother and I sang every single song we could think of all the way down the mountain. Needless to say no bears bothered us that day
P.S. There might even be a YouTube video of the singing incident! Lucky you!
1 comment:
Still waiting for the video...... :D
Sounds like a well prepared and well executed hiking trip! At least compared to the flip-flop trip in Finland ;)
But the area looks great! Makes me wanna go hiking!
And when is the next attempt to reach the peak? I count this as a failed attempt and you should never let a mountain beat you!! Just imagine what could happen when the mountains get used to that.....
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