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| Bridge of the Gods, crossing the Colombia River into Washington |
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| One of our favorite campsites, with a view of Mt. Hood in the distance |
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| Mount St. Helens |
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| Mt. Adams |
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| Beautiful landscape surrounding Mt. Adams |
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| Glacial fields on Goat Rocks |
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| Walking a thin line on a windy day, but were grateful for good weather here |
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| Switchbacking up! |
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| Mt. Rainier with cool cloud cap |
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| Daybreaker & Sneaky Elf's trail magic spread at White Pass |
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| Elk roaming through town in Packwood, WA |
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| Our first taste of falling snow in Washington, didn't amount to much at this point |
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| Another one of our favorite campsites, with Mt. Rainier in view & the sun keeping us semi-warm |
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| Beautiful trail as we bordered Mt. Rainier National Park |
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| Clouds breaking up |
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| The Aardvark food cart at Snoqualmie Pass was a happenin' place |
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| Unicroc's New boot vs. Old boot |
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| Such wilderness & beauty |
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| Thankfully those clouds hovered only over the mountains nearby |
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| Drying out our gear |
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| Snow carpeting the nearby peaks |
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| River crossing |
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| Pretty colors |
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| Another crossing |
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| Foggy view from our campsite |
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| Managed to get a campfire going with Pepper Flake, Shotput & Legend (had just gone to bed) |
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| Clouds breaking on our final stretch to Steven's Pass |
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| Clouds hovering, but not exactly threatening |
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| Packed house at The Dinsmore's, everyone trying to decide what to do about the weather |
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| Pepper Flake & Shotput prepared to push through some inclement weather! |
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| Until this came...at only 4,300 ft. of elevation...& Shotput's tent collapsed! |
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| On our way back to Steven's Pass |
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| As we hiked into higher elevation, the more snow there was...& it never seemed to stop falling! |
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| Were grateful whenever we saw signs like this proving we were still indeed on the trail! |
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| Madness |
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| 3 days after we awoke to snow, we made it back to Steven's Pass...24 miserable miles in 3 days. Just glad to have made it out with our toes intact! |
To be continued......next year (hopefully), when we can complete the remaining 160 miles...in August, when there's no chance of snow!
Until then, we will appreciate all of the things we so very much missed throughout this summer: Our family, friends, our cats, kitchens & grocery stores, showers, tap water, fresh fruit & vegetables, libraries. But we will also miss what we
had throughout the summer: Simplicity, sleeping outside, campfires, some of the best tasting water on Earth (once filtered), freedom, traveling to new & beautiful places, people who you feel like you've known forever after you've only met them once. Can we have the best of both worlds? Someday, we hope...
Goodbye for now.
To be continued........Excellent!!!
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