Another day in the mountains

After the success of our first hike the obvious question was where to go next? The Snoqualmie Pass area has lots of nice hikes, but the Mountain Loop highway is only a slightly longer drive. The trail up to the meadows on Forgotten Peak only slightly longer than Melakwa Lake. And maybe her auntie, Auntie D, would be able to carry her for part of the hike? A little more of a push, but Cara Hsiu-Wen keeps proving herself up to new challenges.

The drive up gave Cara the opportunity for a nice nap, again ending just as we turned off the highway for the trail head. A diaper change, some sunscreen and general optimism at the lack of bugs and we were off. When we reached the falls and the creek crossing we discovered that our appraisal of the bug situation was incorrect. A planned stop for Cara to have a bottle and crawl around a bit was cut short by the swarm of deer flies that immediately descended whenever we stopped. Cara was somewhat less than thrilled with the program, but let Auntie D carry her and after some fussing fell asleep for the remainder of the hike up.

The endless switchbacks finally gave way to the open meadows of Forgotten Peak. We saw few people on the trail and almost no one on the meadows, so we hunted around for a prime location, part shade and part sun to stop for lunch, savor the views, and Cara stretch her legs while us sherpas rested ours. There were no bugs and a light breeze made conditions perfect for a leisurely lounge and some photo taking.

But the long trail down awaited us. Reluctantly we packed up our bags and Cara and headed down the buggy trail. We paused only briefly on our descent for some food, swarmed at each stop by biting flies. The lack of crawling time left Cara a little irritable on the drive home, but with the radio to distract her she eventually fell asleep and we enjoyed the satisfaction of having completed a fun day out in the mountains. Somehow Cara remained bite free, although her mother was less fortunate and required liberal amounts of calamine lotion to soothe her itching legs. A worthwhile trade-off as we continue to train our mountain girl.