Spray Park, and on....

What else better is there to do than go hiking on a beautiful summer day with the wildflowers in full bloom? We headed back to one of our favorite spots to camp for the weekend, Mowich Lake at 4900'.

We started with a day hike to Spray Park.


Just entering Spray Park at 5500'. Get out the bug spray. Lube up. Push on.


Taking a break on the path of wildflowers.


Indian Paintbrush. Always a beauty.


Some sort of delicate lilly.


Lupine. Fields and fields of beautiful lupine...


beneath a majestic mountain.


Mt. Rainier looks so close at 6500'! Tempted to run up to the top, but we'll wait. We'll see you next summer, friend, face to face.

Instead of heading up, we decided to push on and complete a 16.5 mile loop to bring us back to our campsite. This loop takes you toward Seattle Park, down to Carbon River, over to Ipsut Creek, then back over Ipsut Pass and to Mowich. Oh dear...what are we getting ourselves into?


When navigating through rocky territory, cairns (pictured above) are used to direct you back on trail, assuming you have strayed off admiring the mountain.


Getting ready to cross a snowfield. You might get an idea of the amazing views we had from the parks. We were looking at higher peaks all the way up in Canada.


This snowfield creates a beautiful pattern.
The difference between a glacier and a snowfield? Glaciers are always moving, where snowfields stay put. Interesting.


We stop at a creek to wash up and cool down.


Ever wonder what the beginning of a raging river looks like, before it has picked up speed, rocks, debris? Kinda like this. Peaceful. Quiet. Inviting.


Andrea thought it would be a good idea to add a gallon of water to her day pack for 'training.' It came in handy when we decided to push on past Spray Park!
Cataract Valley, 5200'


Part of the trail was to cross over this suspension bridge, built over the Carbon River at 3500'. Wow...it was high. And bouncy. But fun!



We crossed back over the Carbon River again at 2500'. Note all the debris and devastation from year after year of massive floods going through. The most recent being Jan '09.

We measled our way back up to 5300' through the pass and back to camp. We cleaned up a bit in the lake and took a dive into our sleeping bags. Ahh...another peaceful night at Mowich Lake.

HAPPY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY FINDING NOWHERE!

abandon. explore. find.

it's been exactly one year since we started this online journal. we were hesitant that we'd be able to keep up with it...and keep the audience interested. it's been great laying down our thoughts for family and friends to read. thank you.

we remember driving across the country [kansas to be exact] this time last year, brainstorming names for our journal. we pulled an old arby's napkin out of the glovebox and started scratching down names. we just found that same napkin a few weeks ago; still in our glove box. here are the titles that didn't get used. we're very pleased with the name 'finding nowhere.' a close second was 'the world can wait.'


it's been one year since we've left cincinnati, and we've seen more then we could have imagined. we've taken some time to reflect on all the miles we drove, all the photos we've taken, national parks we've visited, events that happened and people we've met.

in the past year...

we've driven through 19 states. and 2 countries [usa and canada].
and seen 4 of the 5 great lakes.

visited 8 national parks: rocky mountain np, grand tetons np,
mount rainier np, yellowstone np, glacier np, pacific rim np,
badlands np, and theodore roosevelt np.

we've taken 4089 photographs.


driven 22,871 miles

9106 miles were for trips between ohio & washington and
washington & montana. we want to be better about this next year.

price of gas in 7/07: $3.09 per gallon
price of gas in 7/08: $4.50 per gallon
average price of gas: $3.80 per gallon

27,871 miles @ $3.80 average gas price = $4138.56 spent on gas.
we definitely need to be better about this next year!

we've gotten three nails in our tires. all of
which we ran over in our parking garage.

we've tried to eat better. andrea hasn't had 'fast food' once.
brooke's eaten taco bell three times.


andrea hasn't had starbucks once! brooke has had way
more espresso than he should!


felt freer than ever!


all this to say... we're not done yet! andrea still has many more mountains to explore and brooke still has a lot more espresso to drink! we feel we've changed a bit; we feel a little wiser...about each other and the world. but our core values are still the same: we love god, we love each other, and we have an unquenchable hunger for this creation. our travels continue...in search of 'nowhere.'

don't worry... we'll keep you posted.

Little Si Trail Maintenance

We had the chance to team up with REI and Mountain-To-Sound Greenway to do some trail maintenance on the Little Si. You might remember reading about our Little Si summit. Little Si is a highly used trail in the Cascade Mountains. It order to avoid damage to the trail, we set out to build some fences to close off older section of trails. It was a perfect rainy day to 'Get Dirty!'

all tools and materials had to be carried up the mountain to their respective locations. it must have been a sight for those out hiking the trail to see a bunch of grubby people carrying eight foot long fence post, random hand tools, and pushing four wheel barrels up the mountain!

volunteers got some sweet shirts. i kind of wish it said 'gettin' nasty,' but i'll settle for 'get dirty.' maybe i'll wear it on corporate casual day!

it was a perfect day to get dirty. cold, rainy...and lots of mud! andrea likes mud so much!

better make that straight! our team built fences. we used all hand tools and no concrete... with exception of an electric drill.

gordon and mike from MTS Greenway. the lead and supervised our day.

almost done! this is part of one of the three fences we built. we also worked on regrading trail and creating drainage culverts.

happy and muddy; this was our team! we're looking into volunteering more...so if you live the seattle area and would like to help out, let us know!

hiking back down after a long day of playing in the mud!

Day Off, Skis, and Crystal Mountain

until this past friday we were unaware that we both had the day off on monday. bonus! we set up to venture out to crystal mountain ski resort with a few friends from rei: sarah, chad [who's been skiing this area for the past 15-20 years], and caleb. it was zero degrees on the slopes and the top ridge was closed down for wind gusts of 45 mph, but that didn't stop us!

my skis [blue] are soooo old! but they were free!

you can't beat the pacific sun. not even with a stick!

what don't you see?
let me help: rain and starbucks!
don't believe everything you read on the internet about seattle.

the calm before the storm.

the smell so alluring. breathe deep and hold.
yankee candle doesn't have anything on cedar or evergreen!

breakin' at the snorting elk. chad and caleb.

chillin'. seriously...it was cold!


andrea decided to really warm up with a 'face plant,' a wonderful concoction of peppermint schnapps, rum, and hot chocolate. simply divine.

brooke, chad, sarah, and caleb on the way up to the top to tear some stuff up.

mountain man mustache.
after looking at so many gear catalogs over the years, i
have longed for the day that i would sport an icy frozen
'stache... revel in it!

the shuttle back to the car. chad and sarah. we couldn't find
caleb, so we did what any tired skiers would do...we left him
behind.

after we went back for caleb, and found him, we finished our
outing at rainier pub and grill in enumclaw [land of evil spirits].

this was a rockin' day, friends...let's do it again!
check out all the pics at
picasaweb.google.com/thetrislers