27/52: 4th of July and a Summery Urban Hike

Happy 3rd of July!  Our weather was fabulous and since it rained on the 4th and we had to work the 5th, we celebrated a day early!

Mandatory Deviled Eggs for every holiday!

Our 4th was on a Wednesday which felt like Sunday and we worked on Thursday which felt like Monday so by the time Friday rolled around it was time to hop on the train and try out a new pizza place in West Seattle called, Supreme.  Who doesn't like NY style pizza in a dark retro bar on a Friday night?

To clear out the carbs, we hiked through Discovery Park on Saturday morning.  It's a busy place and quite a trek down to the lighthouse from the Magnolia Bluff, but the weather was pleasantly humid with a nice breeze and the 4 miles was surprisingly easier than I anticipated (although I had jelly legs the next day when we did 3 miles through Lincoln Park).  

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Enjoy!
Stacy

33/52: Fun Times with Family

Brian's brother Kerry came for a visit this past weekend!  It's always a treat to see him and I missed his last visit in February as I was in Mexico.

Saturday we took a 4.5 mile hike through Discovery Park.  Brian and I toured the park a few weeks ago and we enjoyed sharing this beautiful part of Seattle with Kerry.  It's an amazing place to take an out of town guest and get in a great walk.

Brian did an amazing job on an old fashioned "cook-out" East coast style Saturday night and it was fun to enjoy our patio on such a beautiful late summer evening.

Enjoy!
Stacy

40/52: Hiking out to Dungeness Spit

Brian and I have talked about walking out to Dungeness Spit for over 10 year and this past weekend, we finally completed the journey.  We've spent most of our spring and summer training for the 11 mile round trip walk (GPS Tracker has us going a total of 13 miles).

Dungeness Spit was first founded by Europeans during the Spanish 1790 Quimper expedition.  The name "Dungeness" comes from the Dungeness Headland in England.  The spit was named by explorer George Vancouver in 1792, who wrote: "the low sandy point of land, which from its great resemblance to Dungeness in the Britich Channel, I called New Dungeness".

Dungeness Spit was formed by wind and water currents that formed river silt and glacial till to arch into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Over the centuries the spit has grown to over 5 miles.

You can hike the entire length of the spit to where a lighthouse has been keeping guard since 1857. The extreme tip, however, like the Dungeness Bay side of the split, is closed to public entry to protect important wildlife habitat. Over 250 species have been recorded on the spit and in the Dungeness Bay.

We planned this hike during low tide for easier walking on compact sand.  We caught an early morning ferry from Fauntleroy to Southworth and arrived at the National Wildlife Refuge about 9:45.  We each carried a backpack (mine was a camel-back) that included plenty of water, lunch/snacks and photography and video equipment. 

You follow the refuge trail for 3/4 mile through a maritime forest before descending to the beach. From this viewpoint we saw amazing views of the spit.  We dropped about 100 feet and emerged at the base of a tall bluff which is the start of the spit trail.  It's a straightforward hike from there to the lighthouse.  

To the lighthouse was easy.  The tide was out and the sand was compact with plenty of beach to walk on.  We stopped a few times, but I think our training really paid off.

Once we got to the lighthouse, we rested, ate our lunch and took a tour of the lighthouse including a museum and a 74 stair climb into the light tower for amazing views and pictures.

The journey back was tough.  The tide rolled in and we lost most of our beach.  We walked through deeper sand, rocks and climbed over driftwood.  By mile 11, we were spent, but managed to find our sense of humor and trudged on.

It was an amazing journey...and I don't just mean the walk to and from the lighthouse.   Setting goals and training brought Brian and I together on a shared journey.  The destination was spectacular but the journey leading up to the adventure was filled with challenges, pain, determination, frustration and awareness...ending in ultimate fulfilling rewards and a deep sense of accomplishment.

Yea, for us!

Enjoy!
Stacy

Old Photo Friday: Brian at Lake Twenty-two

WHO: Brian
WHAT: Hiking in the Pacific Northwest

WHERE: Lake Twenty-two
WHEN: 5/1/99

I love this hike.  Brian and I have been up here together, but this picture was taken a few years before we started dating.

Perched in a spectacular basin at the base of Mount Pilchuck's sheer northern face, sparkling Lake Twenty-two is a stunning sight. For much of the way the well-constructed trail follows cascading Twenty-two Creek through an exemplary ancient forest of gargantuan cedars.

As delightful a destination as Lake Twenty-two may be, the real treat on this hike is the forest. Nearly 800 acres of pristine forest surrounding the lake and its outlet were set aside in 1947 as a Research Natural Area (RNA) to study the effects on water, wildlife, and timber of an area left in its virgin state compared to a similar area that has been intensively managed.

The surroundings are lush. Water appears to seep and bubble from the ground everywhere. Moss carpets boulders and rotting logs. Maidenhair, deer, and lady ferns form showy bouquets beneath the behemoth trees. Although western hemlock and silver fir are the predominant species, it's the western red cedars that will garner most of your attention. Colonnades of the giants, some with trunks measuring almost 12 feet in diameter, hold up the sky.

Enjoy!
Stacy