Snow Day

At Jane and Levon's place on Camano Island we had an excellent morning, completely relaxing and satisfying. Jane had made us a makeshift breakfast bar which Katie and I both happily indulged in. I went for an early morning run while Katie joined the fight against our odorous van by doing some much needed laundry. After our morning of newspaper and coffee, we got into the car to head over to Anacortes to catch our ferry to Friday Harbor. It took us about an hour to get there which gave us about 5 minutes to make the ferry. I ran to buy tickets while Katie went to pay the parking. The ticket lady told me that she wouldn't guarantee that we could catch the ferry by buying the ticket and that we had better hurry. I quickly ran to get Katie then we both took off down the ramp and literally jumped on to the ferry as it was pulling away! It was a real photo finish and very lucky that we made it on that ferry since we didn't

have a back-up plan nor was there another ferry out to Friday Harbor until real late in the day, which would have basically made it pointless for us to go. But we did make it, in true nick-of-time fashion, and headed up to the observation deck to revel in our close call. We watched as we weaved in and out of many islands on our way to our final destination. We had hoped to see some of the Orca whales on the way out to San Juan Island, there are 3 or so resident pods in the area, but we had no such luck. The most wildlife we saw were tons of jellyfish swimming by the boat and some bullwhip kelp many of which were over 10 ft. long. We finally got to Friday Harbor, departed from the boat, and had a "what now?" moment. We agreed upon a quick meal first as there were several restaurants that overlooked the harbor and we needed some time to decide what to do on the island. Katie had a salad and I got a crab cake burger, which was surprisingly spectacular. Our ferry schedule allowed us 4 hours on the island but after our meal, we were still at a loss for what to do next. There was many storefronts in this harbor town which screamed Katie's name, but of course, I tried to steer her away from them as much as possible. We visited a whale museum for a bit, and though we didn't actually go into the exhibit, we discovered that you could do some whale viewing from the far side of the island. We figured out transportation costs and time and decided it wasn't worth 40 bucks and possibly missing our ferry to go to a place that we could hopefully see whales from. So instead, I conceded to Katie's

wishes and we hit up the shops. However, for the second time in our travels, it was me who was being dragged away from the stores, not Katie. This is because one of the first shops we visited was basically, the best shop on earth - The San Juan Hot Shop. This place was a shop devoted to hot sauces, but the real kicker is that you could sample almost every sauce they had! I began the tasting with the hottest sauce available on the market. The heat ratings go from 1 to 10 but this one was, 10++++. The owner warned me that it took an entire minute to build to full heat, but as soon as I took the spoonful, I knew I was in trouble. I instantly began hiccuping followed swiftly by some sweating; basically it was awesome! The lady took my photo at full heat to put up on a board full of other brave souls who dared try it. Fortunately, I ended up purchasing a bottle of this toxic concoction, so if you're feeling brave enough, all you have to do is ask to take the challenge next time we cross paths. But after sampling the hottest sauce available, I delighted in trying out about 30 more sauces before Katie dragged me away. We did some more shopping, this time more in line with

Katie's taste and finished up the rest of our day this way. We ended with a stop at the ice cream shop just before we got back on to our return ferry, this time we got there early and had to wait in line to get on the ferry. We got back to the mainland and decided to eat yet again, this time we went to Skagit Brewery and split a pizza, as well as some beers. We got back to Jane and Levon's around 8:30p.m. but no one was home yet. We made ourselves comfortable and sat at their table and utilized the internet. Jane came home after a while with John, and we talked for a bit about our day and she helped us

plan our next couple. We had decided to take the North Cascades loop through the North Cascades National Park and around the surrounding national forests. The main draw about doing this loop was to take a hike which came highly recommended from Jane and Levon. It

was the Maple Pass Loop hike which went to the top of a mountain, along the ridge line, and then back down another mountain, completing this 7 1/2 mile loop trip. When we left the next morning, the weather looked OK, not sunny, but not rainy. Though we had a computer, we still did not have the foresight to check the weather forecast, or else we may have been a little more prepared for what was to come. As soon as we got on the road and entered the actual North Cascades loop, the weather took a turn for the worse. At first it was only clouds rolling in low over the

mountains, but soon we had a light, constant rain, showering us non-stop. It took us about 3 hours to get to the trailhead, but this included multiple scenic stops for photos as well as a stop off at the visitor center for another passport stamp. As we prepared for the hike, Katie noticed

that she had misplaced her rain coat, a minor problem considering the weather, aside from that it was business as usual. We got ready for the hike in the normal way, packing a bag full of extra cloths and water, and we headed off for the hike. Katie was a bit nervous about the hike since it was basically going straight up a mountain, but it turned out to be easier than fear had made it. The trail led straight up from the start and was at a constant

incline, but it wasn't too bad. Katie took the lead for at least half of the climb up and we rarely stopped, only to shed layers as our body heat rose because of the exertion. As I said before, it was raining constantly, and it did not stop during our entire trek. I was wearing my trusty "hiking shoes," but as we got into the steeper grades, I began to slip and lose my footing

every once in a while. I didn't think much of it and we continued hiking further and further up the mountain. We hiked so high that eventually the rain turned into snow and we were covered in our first snowfall of the year. We made it to the top pretty quickly, again making adjustments to our wardrobe, only this time adding layers on as the temperature had dropped considerably. We walked the mountain ridge but unfortunately our views of the valleys below were completely veiled by the snowfall and clouds, so all we could do was trudge forward. We took the path as best we could find it until

we reached a crossroads and had no clue which way to go. By this time, we were both freezing. We were both drenched from the rain below, and now our clothes as well as ourselves began to freeze. Needless to say, we were unprepared for the elements. But more importantly, we couldn't find the way down. The snow had

covered up the path and we could not see any fresh footprints to direct us. There was a path in front of us, leading down to a lake and another that ran along another ridge line. Not to be dramatic or anything, but we were both worried about taking a wrong turn, especially in our current state, and getting lost in the woods was a real concern, at least in my mind. We scoped out our options and I decided on a path down that eventually turned out to be the correct one. As we descended we instantly could feel the warmth returning to the atmosphere. Both of our hands were frozen, and even hours later when we reached the van again, I still was unable to even unbutton my pants and Katie didn't have enough strength to grip a pen properly. However, for the time being, the decent from the snow into the rain was a welcome change, at

least for a while. It became evident very quickly that my shoes had even less grip going down than they did going up. I slipped multiple times and ended up falling 3 times, completely muddying up my freshly washed pants, much to laundrywoman Katie's dismay. Now, all of this may lead you to believe that we had a bad hike, but quite the contrary. We had a great time getting our exercise for the day on the mountain. We had spectacular views of mountain lakes on the way up before reaching the snow, as well as fall colors along the mountain side that looked like a virtual rainbow. The snow was really fun to experience and at the time we really didn't notice how cold our extremities actually were. The hike was great and we would easily recommend it, although we do suggest looking at the weather forecast and a map before setting out. We finished the hike in under 4 hours and were back on the road in no time, glad that CJ had enough juice in her to heat us back up from our chill. We stopped off in the town of Winthrop at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery for some well deserved dinner and drinks. Winthrop was a really neat little town. We didn't spend much time there at all, but we drove through, and it looked like an old west town. Even though we have traveled through numerous "old west" towns, it is still fun to experience and each town has its own variations. After our meal, we hit the road again and drove for another 3 hours before bedding down for the night on good old I-90 at a rest area, tired from our hike as well as the drive.