July 28, 2018
We went on our first official summer hike this month. By "official" I mean getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Somehow Andy and Toby got away unscathed. Other than our bug jackets we didn't prepare for anything else, which was fine. I think even with deet we wouldn't have had much peace from the biting flies and mosquitoes.
Anyways, we didn't let the annoying suckers deter us from having an awesome time with Toby on the trail. We actually went on this hike a few years ago before we had Toby. This was another good one for him. The trail is wide, elevation gradual, and there were plenty of flowing streams for him to cool off in. We also brought his gulpy water bottle for the hot stretches without a stream.
We started at the Stevens Pass trailhead (Lot D). It's a huge lot and you do not need a pass. There are no toilets either. For a sunny Saturday afternoon, it was a quiet day on the trail. There were about a dozen tents set up along the way and at the lake. A good amount of people were having lunch, relaxing and swimming when we arrived. Probably ran in to 6 groups on our way back down.
We went on our first official summer hike this month. By "official" I mean getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Somehow Andy and Toby got away unscathed. Other than our bug jackets we didn't prepare for anything else, which was fine. I think even with deet we wouldn't have had much peace from the biting flies and mosquitoes.
Anyways, we didn't let the annoying suckers deter us from having an awesome time with Toby on the trail. We actually went on this hike a few years ago before we had Toby. This was another good one for him. The trail is wide, elevation gradual, and there were plenty of flowing streams for him to cool off in. We also brought his gulpy water bottle for the hot stretches without a stream.
We started at the Stevens Pass trailhead (Lot D). It's a huge lot and you do not need a pass. There are no toilets either. For a sunny Saturday afternoon, it was a quiet day on the trail. There were about a dozen tents set up along the way and at the lake. A good amount of people were having lunch, relaxing and swimming when we arrived. Probably ran in to 6 groups on our way back down.
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| Wide trail from the beginning |
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| Lots of streams along the way |
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| Another yummy stream |
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| Shaking off the mosquitoes at Lake Valhalla |
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| Toby makes friends wherever he goes! |