Into the Northwest

Spokane to North Cascades, WA (9/23):

Today was a lovely apple of a day, though nothing of particular importance happened. We left Spokane in the morning, stopping at Pearrygin State Park for a picnic lunch along the way to North Cascades NP. The weather was beautiful — mid-70s, sunny, with a slight breeze. We took a wrong turn after lunch and drove almost an hour before we realized that, but that wasn’t so terrible as we don’t really have a schedule or anything. The detour was perfect road trip driving anyway—small highway winding through beautiful scenery with the windows rolled down and stereo up.

Once we got to the Cascades, we took a one mile hike to Rainy Lake and back, which was probably the most pleasant hike we’ve had. It was a stroll more than a hike—I wore my flip-flops and carried my purse. Like Iceberg Lake from yesterday, Rainy Lake sits in a glacier cirque, which is formed when glaciers carve out a bowl-ish basin from mountains. We walked through a verdant forest of huge evergreens to get there, and I learned that the reason that trees on a slope often have a curve at the base of their trunks is because in the winter, snow leans on them going downhill while they want to grow upwards. It’s called snow creep.

After our stroll, we found a nearby campground and made a pasta dinner. Brad is currently throwing kindling on a roaring fire (after purchasing an ax, on Megan's advice - between the ax and bear spray, we are now much better armed to enjoy Nature. -B), while I’m starting a new book, and that’s pretty much the plan for the rest of the evening.
-M

A trick of geography has thrown us for a loop - North Cascades National Park is actually divided in two, with the divider - which has the main road and the campsites - being a strip of land called the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. So, tomorrow we'll have to take a hike to enter the park proper and add it to the blog list.
-B