Back Country Anyone?

It has been a long wet spring here in the NW, coldest April on record. We stand in the house looking out into the damp backyard like prisoners sentenced to life, making a mental list of all of the work that NEEDS to be done, should be getting done, but alas, too wet to get done. So it should be no surprise to anyone that knows us, that on the first Saturday that the sun visited (Easter weekend), we jumped in the car and headed for the hills...hey the yard can wait another week or two!

Just past Sequim over the Dungeness River we turned left and headed into the Olympic Mountains to hike into Duncan Flats on the Slab Camp trail. Katie even decided to come with us! The last 100 yards of the dirt road the bottom of the Corolla was dragging in snow!

Katie is wondering here if she wore the right shoes to hike in the snow! I was worried that I didn't bring a heavy enough coat...Dad and his surprises!

But it was only 2.8 miles, so off we went!

You can see from this photo that the snow wasn't going to last much longer at this elevation. We only had to hike maybe half a mile in snow, then it was gone, thank goodness.

This section you can see that the winter brought down a lot of trees. Nice photo op.

KB took this photo of Tim and I rounding a switchback. It was mostly downhill on the way in...

I really need to learn to hike with my glasses in my pocket. This one is pretty good of the creek.

All the way in Tim and Katie were bantering about the bridge that we were going to see. So KB kept asking if this was "the bridge"... every time we crossed the creek.

Almost to the Dungeness...you can tell by the moss and ferns that it is pretty damp all of the time. Don't let Tim's shorts fool you, it wasn't that warm, he was just determined...

At the river we broke into the sunshine again and warmed ourselves on the rocks and ate our snacks. Here Tim is washing the grapes in the water. Yum... food always tastes better after some hiking.

Classic Dad photo.

This moth really liked Tim and kept landing on him while we ate. When the wings fold up, it looked just like the bark on a tree.

Moss on everything. Gotta love the PNW forests!

There's "the bridge"! It has 3 steal I beams that span the Grey Wolf river. When you walk on it, it bounces!

KB checking out the river from the bridge.

We thought that we had a big foot sighting...but alas

It was Dad checking out the river upstream. Soon it was time to mosey back UP the trail back to the car. We had a really nice hike together and we left the trail with a smile. Hopefully we will be back soon!