Tuesday 10h August 2021

We managed a couple of good hikes in the North Cascades National Park. It was pretty hazy due to the 2 massive wildfires just east of the park. Over 114,000 acres already burned and less than 50% contained. Thank goodness the wind was not blowing in our direction.

There were Pikas leaping about all over the place. This little guy actually jumped on my camera on the end of my selfie stick which caused some pretty loud screaming on my part. Dean had a good laugh for sure. The Pika gave me a pretty disgusted look as well.

A family of mountain goats nibbled their way across our path.

After that big hike day it was time for a rest. Blackberry picking time.

And plum picking also.

I used my handy siever thingamabob to get most of the seeds out of the blackberries

I didn’t have enough jars to make the blackberry jam so have frozen the mixture until we get back near some stores. A nice bit of plum jam though.

Time for another big hike up the mountain. There were a lot of snowmelt streams and plenty of pink Monkey flowers.

They look so pretty in a close up.

We got a lot of use out of the water filter. Lovely ice cold snowmelt. It sure beat lugging extra liters of water up the mountain.

We were surprised to see Hidden Lake. I guess the wind kept the smoky haze in the background.

There was plenty of rock to scramble across.

It sure was easier going down the trail.

Moving on to the the coast the skies were a lot clearer. This boat was a definite fixer upper.

You know you’re in the Pacific Northwest when you see lots of Foxgloves.

A nice sunset to finish our stay in Washington.

We are now moving back into Oregon and taking a month or so to travel down the coast. We hope to see our Oregon Coast friends. Linae and Eric and also Esther and Roy sure hope we can latch up.