Summer = Hiking

It's been a while since my last post (have I started all my posts lately with those words??), and while I wish I could say it's because I've been off hiking for the last 3 weeks, really my life has been mostly filled with work. I have managed to fit several great hikes (and a quick trip to Las Vegas) in on my weekends however. Here are a few shots to showcase the country I've been exploring this month:

This is a view from the Denny Creek trail, while enroute to Lake Melakwa . I did this hike with my friend Kristie, from NYC. We were headed for the lake, but turned back 2 miles from it after losing the trail in the snow several times. I had strange flashbacks of my attempt to summit Mt. Whitney 2 months earlier!

Makayla and I hiked Mt. Si, a small peak just outside of Seattle. It's so convenient, and so popular, that people will even hike it after work. It's a fairly brutal 4 miles and 3100' from parking lot to summit.

The next weekend we hiked in a slightly more exotic locale...the Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. We hiked a trail with similar distance and elevation to Mt. Si, but very different scenery. This is a picture of us at the top of Turtlehead Peak.

Our destination, Turtlehead Peak, in the background.

Just last weekend we hiked to Granite Mountain, part of the Alpine Lakes network of trails. The trail was fairly busy since it was a beautiful day, but the views were absolutely worth it! Above is our first view of Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Our goal is the lookout at the top of the peak. The last stretch of trail was in snow and rocks, and very steep. It was challenging!

...but totally worth it! Mt. Rainier again..

I can't walk through snow and pass up an opportunity to go sledding! Believe it or not, there is a technical term for the act of sliding down the snow on your butt: glissading! (Though wikipedia seems to think glissade is a ballet term...ridiculous!)

So those are the highlights of the last few weeks. Who says summers in Seattle aren't fun?!