This year’s summer vacation brought us to the American Northwest. First of all, it was a surprise in multiple ways for our kid - he did not know where we are going until we arrived at the gate for the final flight in Frankfurt. He did not know that we are going to visit his favorite mountain. And he did not know that there will be a concert of a band he likes.
The third day of our #PGBackPacking trip was the day we hiked back to the cars, and returned to our home or hotel in Bellingham.
As described yesterday, we had to slightly change the #PGBackPacking plan. Originally we had planned to hike to Monte Cristo, and from there to Silver Lake. Stay at the lake over night, and do a day hike to Twin Lakes.
When we arrived at Monte Cristo, it became clear that we won’t make it to Silver Lake in daylight. We decided to camp in Monte Cristo, and hike to Silver Lake and Twin Lakes the next day. Turns out that was the right decision to do.
At some point last year, Joshua and I discussed a backpacking trip. The idea of #PGBackPacking was born!
After considering our options, the available days and the physical fitness of our team members, we settled with an old ghost town about 60 km east of Everett: Monte Cristo.
Originally we had plans to go to Vancouver BC from Seattle, but we cancelled this part in the last moment. Instead we opted for a countryside tour to Bellingham, and staying an additional day in the hotel and at the pool. From Redmond we followed the WA-9 and left it near Everett, where we followed the Marine Dr along the coast. In Conway we switched over to the Fir Island Rd heading west, and from there on the Best Rd heading north. Eventually this got us on the scenic WA State Route 11, which leads directly into Bellingham.
As mentioned before, we spent a day on the pool, and on the second day we headed over to Command Prompt, in order to prepare the #PGBackPacking trip. After shopping and packing was done, we used the remaining time to visit the Whatcom Falls nearby.
After just walking around in Portland the previous day, for today we are scheduled for another highlight of this vacation: a The Piano Guys concert in Seattle/Redmond.
After being on the road for almost a week now, Portland was supposed to be restful. Of course it ended up in walking around 13+ kilometers, finding Starbucks shops, a few Geocaches and a huge number Ingress portals ;-)
Mount St. Helens the day before was certainly one of the highlights of this vacation. We are determined to see the mountain again today, but not that close. And we had a different agenda for today: visit the Ape Cave, a famous lava tube just south of Mount St. Helens. Originally we planned to go all the way to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint, but given that it is a 3 hours drive from Vancouver, WA (where we stayed over night), we skipped this part and decided to spend more time at the Cave site. Totally worth it!
The way to the Ape Cave is the Lewis River Road, WA State Route 503. Following this road will inevitably bring you to Yale Lake.
Getting some rest in Olympia was good, but the kid couldn’t sit still any longer - Mount St. Helens was finally on! If you ask the kid, it can probably tell you more about volcanos in general, and particularly this one than you might ever learn in a lifetime. Therefore visiting Mount St. Helens was supposed to be one of the highlights of this vacation.
You can’t really go up all the way to Mount St. Helens, but there are several places from where you have a wonderful view at the volcano. There are two ways you can use: in the north it’s Spirit Lake Highway, the 504. And in the south it’s Lewis River Road, the 503. Make your decision, each route is good for one day. For today, coming from Olympia, we decided on the northern route.
After doing the whole Twilight tour in Port Angeles, Forks and La Push, we arrived for a day of relaxation in Olympia. As the kid told us, that’s the Capitol City of Washington. Therefore, and because it was not far away from the hotel, we decided to visit the Capitol.