New Hiking Season

 

Spring is finally here, and yet its 37 degrees out and my sister-in-law reported snow on their deck. I've been missing skiing so much this season because of school. I've only been able to go once a week compared to three to four times a week last year. I've been missing the forest a lot. It seems so silly to say that, but it's how I feel.

I went on a fairly good short ski trip this winter to Loup Loup and Mission Ridge. Loup Loup was fun on the few runs they had, but I was really tentative on my skis. The next day at Mission Ridge, I had one of my best ski days. I went on lots of powder runs, hit a ton of well shaped moguls, and by the end of my day after my dad and brother had both quit, I had almost the whole mountain to myself. I felt so good after that ski day.

 

I need to go skiing. But I miss hiking in summer. I'm so glad I've at least been able to snowshoe a couple times, but it's still not enough. I've been doing a lot of thinking this winter about my hiking style. I'm one of those people that tends to want to rush the whole experience just to get home earlier. I don't want to hike like that anymore.

I like the whole idea of taking your time on the way there and then spend a lot of time at our lunch spot, talking, relaxing, enjoying. I'm still not sold that I want to go slow on the way down, because that is the part I hate the most. It always drags on forever. Part of me almost wants to start running down the trails just to get back faster, but I can't leave my group behind.



 

I'm really looking forward to this hiking season. I've got lots of great hikes planned and I really want to start crossing more peaks off my hiking wish list. My goal is to get to the top of every peak along I-90 from Issaquah to Ellensburg by 2020, which is about 5 a year. Some of them are super easy (Squak Mountain, Tiger Mountain) and some won't be easy at all. I'm looking forward to trying them all!