Cross Country Season

 I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Haleigh was running cross-country. Middle school sports are just six weeks long and we've reached the end of the season. I think she had fun, although she just kind of shrugs and says, "yeah, I guess it was good." 

The weather was perfect all season long, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her and her teammates run! 

Running so fast she's blurry!

Mallory

They had six meets: 

Bellewood Acres: 55th Place 13:00.3

Deming Logging Show: 56th Place; 12:50.9

Cornwall Park: 39th Place; 11:28.4

Sumas Rodeo Grounds: 44th Place; 11:45.1

Hovander Park: 44th Place; 11:13.0

LC: 38th Place; 11:00.0

It was so fun to watch the improvement each race!

Heather Maple Loop and Cutthroat Pass

 Given the beautiful weather we've had recently, and the desire to be outside hiking, Kim took a personal day and Kim, Kelsey, and I headed to Winthrop, WA for a fun day of hiking! We left Sunday afternoon and spent the night at the North Cascades Mountain Hostel. It was very cute and within walking distance to the main street in Winthrop. Our plan was to go out for dinner, but with one restaurant closed, one that was standing room only in the bar area (and out of burgers and chicken) and one with a very long line, we opted to order pizza and eat it back at the hostel. 

Studying the menu

Cute little room...there were 6 bunks in our room

Delicious pizza!

After a terrible night of sleep (thanks to very loudly snoring roommate) we got up at 5:30, along with quite a few other people...we had no idea there were so many people staying at the hostel! Apparently we all had the same plan of getting an early start for the day.

The first trail we did was the Heather Maple Pass Loop, which is about 7.5 miles, with a gradual climb up to the ridge and then a steeper descent back to the trailhead. Our timing was perfect...the colors were amazing! The goal was to find Larches, a unique deciduous conifer tree whose needles turn yellow and fall off. We found a lot of them!!

Kim hiking down...that's our trail zigzagging down the mountainside!

It was beautiful no matter which direction  you looked!

Looking down on Lake Ann

We made it back to the car by 10, which meant we had time for another hike. But first we took a lunch break. 

The second trail was a 9 mile out-and-back trail up Cutthroat Pass. While it was longer, it wasn't as steep, but also had incredible views. The parking lot was overflowing, but we didn't encounter too many people, making for a lovely hike. 

By the end of the day, we'd hiked a total of 18 miles. We all had tired feet but it was a great day. And minus the snoring lady, we'd all do it again!

Winchester Lookout

 Given the nice fall weather, Kelsey and I decided to go on a hike by Twin Lakes up to the Winchester Lookout. We dropped the kids off at school for Spanish Club at 7:30 on Monday morning and headed up towards Mt Baker. The trailhead was up a rough forest road, so we parked by the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead and walked the next 2 miles up the road. 

Once we reached the Twin Lakes area, we headed up the trail to the lookout. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and amazing fall colors! 

There was one part of the trail that looked like it was going to be a bit sketchy to cross over, but once we got closer, we realized that it was actually much easier to climb than it looked. 

Incredible view of Mt. Baker

One of the Twin lakes

The lookout is up on the top (straight up from our heads!)

Just a little bit of snow!

This was the part that looked very sketchy from a distance!

Sometimes it's hard to believe we live in such a beautiful area! The views were incredible, no matter which direction we looked. We didn't do much hiking over the summer, so it was great to get out and enjoy it today!