Heading to the Coast

The other day I noticed that the weather on the Washington Coast was going to turn sunny for a week or so. It isn't very often that there are several days in a row that are sunny along the coast.

I know, I just got back from a trip to Yellowstone NP, but this is too good to pass up.

Besides, I could then attend the funeral of an acquaintance of mine who passed away recently. He was a very good friend of a friend of mine. Its a sad story actually, they were fishing together when he fell overboard and just sank before my friend could turn the boat around and reach him. The body was found last week. I wanted to support my friend. The funeral was in the little town of Tenasket, just south of the Canadian boarder in Central Washington, sort of on the way to the coast from my home in Northern Idaho.

After the funeral I went through the North Cascades National Park, also on the way to the coast. One morning I went on this great loop hike, called Maple Pass. It basically goes along the ridges circumnavigating this high altitude lake, Lake Ann.

Along the way and especially along the ridges, the views are awesome. I spent my college summers working as a tour guide on the western side of the Park. It wasn't a park then and the highway across the mountains was just being constructed, so I haven't hiked much of the eastern side where this trail is. Judging by the colors, the larch trees must have been something else last week when they were changing colors.

The hike is about 9 miles long with about a 2000' elevation gain. Even with being a rather strenuous hike it and several hours from Seattle, there were a lot of people on the trail. I can understand why. It goes down as one of my favorites.

I love traveling in the Fall. No crowds. This is a nice little campground I found along the Strait of Juan De Fuca. That is Vancouver Island, Canada in the distance.

And this is the shore - no beach here- just below the park.