The Pacific Northwest has finally graced us with proper summer weather. I’m finally wearing tanks and shorts!
This also means the return to summer hiking.
Because of this, we decided to go out to Snoqualmie Pass for a hike recently. This would be the third time we have been out here to the Lodge Lake trail — but the first time we made it all the way to the lake!
The first time we went during winter when I was pregnant (in the first? trimester). There was obviously a ton of snow everywhere so we didn’t even attempt to find/follow the trail.
The second time was last summer when baby was about three months old. Needless to say, our goal that time was just to make it out and hike for “a little bit.” I think we were out for a good hour that time and made it further than the snowy hike. Everything went swimmingly for baby’s first “real hike.” She napped for a majority of the hike but woke up just in time when we took a rest in a shady wooded area.
Now she’s 12 months and I carried her in the hiking backpack for this recent hike. Our hike clocked in at about 5 miles roundtrip and took us a little over three hours total. (This includes the 1+hour we spent at the lake resting and eating.) The weather was spectacular. We even spotted a frog jumping around in a muddy patch.
This age of 12 months is fun because she isn’t napping all the time now and is interested in everything around her. She likes to touch tree bark and moss. She listens for overhead planes and will point up to the sky. Granted, she did insist on carrying Elfie, her elephant stuffed animal/puppet during the hike. She carried Elfie the entire time! Well, there was one instance where we noticed Elfie was no longer gripped in her hand and I had to backtrack a bit on the trail to retrieve Elfie.
I’m looking forward to explore more with our budding outdoor enthusiast and hiker. Hope our good summer weather will continue on!
otter travel more 