Larry and Dianna

Larry had Friday off because we had planned to attend the Jazz festival in Vancouver British, Columbia, but cancelled due to lack of interest.  The grandkids, age 11 and age 9, attend private school and do not have classes on Fridays.  Friday, being now a "hookie" day, dawned bright and beautiful so we set up a couple of extra packs,  picked up the kids, stopped by Payless Shoe Source to get them tennis shoes we could ruin, and headed to the Mount Pilchuck trailhead.  We had never hiked with the kids before so we made up our minds that this trip would be for them.  Easy pace, lots of snack and rest stops, and turning back when they were ready.  Being still a weekday, there were only 5 cars at the old ski area parking lot--on weekends it can be hard to find a place to park in the two acre lot.  We went through our things, explained the use of the whistles we attached to the kids packs and set off on the well maintained and much improved trail.  The climb was pretty steady, starting out in deep woods. 

 

You could really see the kids interest perk as we were faced with crossing a small stream just before it drops into a waterfall.  There were large stones spaced at rather large step distances that could be used . . . or you could get wet up to your shins.  At first the kids talked like it was a blocking obstacle--my granddaughter commented rather gleefully "I'm gonna die", but it took only mild encouragement to get the kids to try the rocks and as Gramma went first and was there to balance them, they made the last and widest step.  No one got their feet wet, and there were echoes of pride in their voices as they discussed how they got across.   My grandaughter gamboled up the trail like a young colt and my grandson very politely made sure Gramma was doing okay. Larry pointed out interesting things that we came across, including a very tall and hollow tree.  We made the first stop in the woods to check packs, shoes and test the granola bars, and gave the kids a brief sketch of trail etiquett.  Biggest issues were stepping off the trail where there were no plants when passing someone and to not take short cuts at switchbacks in respect for the danger of trail erosion.  We also explained about always seeing where you were going and about the many places where the water runoff from snow melt made false paths that looked like trails that led over cliffs.  We tried to give them enough information to avoid problems without scaring them our of the trail joy they were experiencing.

 

The trail climbed out of the thick woods and made a turn out in the open where we caught a good view of the lowlands towards Everett and a faint vision of Mt. Rainier, but patches of low clouds kept us from seeing the Olympics.  After that we made a left turn onto a trail that was flattened into a boulder field, scrabbling, sometimes on all fours.  After this scrabble, the trail returned to being a trail and we continued to climb.  We came across several spots where water running off the mountain had carved unique chair-like depressions into the large rocks.  Marina tried out most and enjoyed climbing the bare rock sides when she could.  We got some incredible views of Mt. Baker and several other standout mountains, still snow covered.  We saw a few snow patches on the hips of Pilchuck, too, as well as several ponds in small valleys.  Larry took time to point out the differences in the trees as we gained altitude as well as some of the tiny structures of the different mosses.  We did travel easy and since the kids were both due back for sleepovers, we promised ourselves that we would turn back at 2:30. We knew we would not make it to the old fire lookout structure and stopped for our final snack on a rocky meadow with the mountain top in sight.   Jon was looking at the rocky structures above us with his binoculars and said he could see the wooden lookout building.  There it was, seeming very reachable, but we knew we had to turn back.  The kids were ready and as we started down, easier, but somewhat trickier through the boulder drops, the kids made a lot of comments about "the next hike" and we discussed starting next year with good hiking boots and their own packs.  We had accomplished what we had planned to do--we gave them a sample of what they would like to do again.  We made a quick stop in Granite Falls for an ice cream cone and deposited them at home--in very dirty shoes--in time for their sleep-overs, and hopefully, not too tired to enjoy them.