Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

- John Muir quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir (1915) chapter 7

For those of you new to this scene, I am writing about 30 gifts I want to give myself for my 30th birthday. 

Today is....

Gift #26 Get out of the ordinary.

I often feel the urge to get out of the routine, to lose myself in nature. Usually this means we dump the kid in the stroller and go for a walk around Edmonds. It's often all we can afford, both financially and with our schedules. But "our usual" wasn't cutting it this weekend, so we decided to pack up (without the kid!) and headed to Colonial Creek Campground located on Diablo Lake in the North Cascades. Sidenote: Thank you, US Gov'mnt, for maintaining such a beautiful area. Thank you for protecting forests--the North Cascades National Park is truly amazing!

So where was I... Ok, we found a completely isolated spot right on a glacial river, perfect to pitch our tent and listen to the loudest rumblings of thunder I have ever heard. Each night the ground literally shook underneath us, for hours; it was remarkable. But during the day it was sunny and hot, and we took full advantage of the long summer days. First day we hiked up to Thunder Knob trail, an easy 4 mile round trip jaunt to a lookout over Diablo Lake. Then we hopped in our kayaks and Stiv even caught us a salmon for dinner!

At Thunder Knob lookout. Getting my daily yoga in!

The next day we stumbled upon the most beautiful hike I've ever experienced in Washington State. It's called Rainy Pass (not to be confused with Rainy Lake, who's trailhead was across the street).  We hiked up to about 8000 feet, where the Pacific Crest Trail meets up. It was about 9 miles r/t and took us just over 5 hours. We learned that this trail can be taken from Canada to Mexico when we stumbled across two young guys about age 20 who were doing it from Southern Washington to Canada. Good for them! They clearly don't have achy knees or kids and jobs to maintain! (Do I sound old or what!) After reaching the summit, our feet were barking mad and every part of our legs was screaming to sit down and rest. It's not everyday that I walk up a giant hill for 4 hours straight without stopping! We found that jogging down was easier on the knees and joints so we ran the majority of the way down.

Lots of waterfalls on our hike.

Summitting Rainy Pass and THRILLED (to be surrounded by such beauty but also to head back down and take a nap)

Pacific Crest Trail at Rainy Pass. Canada is in the far distance.

Stiv and I always say we are going to go hike this or that, but our schedules keep us busy so that we don't do the things we really want to do. My gift to myself is to make time for what I love doing, in this case camping, hiking, and exploring. Thanks to my husband for playing hooky from work and for saying "lets do it!" instead of "your crazy" when I tell him some of my dreams. I love you Stiv, my best and most faithful friend and companion.