Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Weekly Hikes 3, 4 and 5: A Cougar Mountain Sandwich

A Cougar Mountain Sandwich? No, not what I ate on a Cougar Mountain hike, although I did eat sandwiches on those hikes. I'm calling this post a Cougar Mountain Sandwich because I'm going to talk about two Cougar Mountain hikes, with a Twin Falls hike in between.

The first hike at Cougar Mountain was on June 4th, Mr. D's birthday. All he wanted to do on his birthday was go for a hike with me and his sister, so off the three of us went. Here is what the trail looked like on that sunny day:


I did more chatting than photography that day, but I did get a shot of Mr. D's birthday blueberries, complete with candle, thanks to my sister-in-law, who provided both. It was a great, outdoorsy birthday party!




A week later, Mr. D and I decided to do the Twin Falls trail at Olallie State Park in North Bend. The weather was alternately sunny and rainy, and the hike was not the most fun, but we still logged over six miles, and there were many photo opportunities.


It was the height of salmonberry season.


The Upper Falls was beautiful during a sunbreak.


These young ferns looked like green corkscrews.

The following week, on June 18th, Mr. D and I went back to Cougar Mountain, but we took a trail from a trailhead on the other side of the park. This was a trail that I had never been on, and I was treated to many visual pleasures.

There were wildflowers:


Billowing clouds and a blue sky:


And best of all, there was the "Million Dollar View". High on the side of Cougar Mountain there is a pergola and a picnic table and this spectacular vista, with blue Lake Sammamish in the distance. It was a sweet reward after the long uphill to get there.


I hope you enjoyed the "sandwich". There are still many weeks of summer hiking ahead and lots of weekly hikes to come!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for taking us along with you on this beautiful hike!

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