Summer Hike...On 10 Feet of Snow

Matt loves to hike. He loves the outdoors, nature, taking pictures; and could do it all day, every day.

Brooke loves relaxing. She loves the couch, naps, reality television; and could watch it all day, every day.

Ok, so that is extreme. I do like being outside, especially when the weather is nice. I like to explore Matt's hobbies with him, just as he as done for me (he watched the Bachelorette with me yesterday!) However, I am 100% OK with Matt taking a guys day to go hiking, kayaking, or whatever it is he would like to do that maybe I am not exactly thrilled to put aside my relaxing weekend time to do. Matt asked me earlier in the week if I would want to do a hike that he found in one of his outdoor magazines. The weather was forcasted to be great, I hadn't hiked with him since February (when we went out looking to try our new snowshoes but didn't find any snow), and I had never been to Mt. Rainier National Park, where he was wanting to go...so I agreed.

We set out yesterday morning around 9:00, because it takes a couple hours to get down there. I half entertained the idea of bringing our previously mentioned snow shoes, however it's July, so what are the chances that we would need them?! Boy was I wrong! When we got to the trail head we were quite confused. Basically, we couldn't see a trail head. We knew we were in the right spot, we knew there was a picnic area and a small lake that signified the beginning of the 4 mi hike....but we couldn't see said picnic area or lake.....because of the 15 feet of snow that covered everything!!

We found the lake! Or what was left of it.

And evidence of the picnic area.

We didn't realize that in July, the hike would still be completely covered with what looked like 5-15ft of snow. My initial thought was, "oh well! Let's head home!"....but we had come all this way, and despite the snow it was so warm and sunny, so we decided to do what we could and make the best of it. After all, this hike boasted amazing views of Mt. Rainier, something that we are both fascinated with.

Matt is excited, I'm thinking, "30 minutes max."

Honestly, it turned out to be one of the coolest hikes we've been on. It's funny how we joked about bringing snow shoes, and this would have been the perfect place. Now we know where to get our snowshoe fix in the summer months. We hiked for a couple hours, and it was quite the workout trampling through the snow! We even got a little sunburned :)

Our amazing Rainier views; just as the hike promised.

This picture gives a good idea as to how much snow there was.

At one point in the hike we knew there was a bridge, we were very excited to find it!

Right before this picture, I knocked a bunch of snow off trying to get on the bridge; subsequently soaking my entire backside :(

Matt's Photography

Matt's Photography

Moral of the story: we each have hobbies, interests, and free-time preferences. I could have easily let Matt have a guy day, and not taken him up on his offer to hike this weekend. However, this adventure reminded me that sometimes you just have to get out there and do it and you will be reminded of how fun memories often come when you least expect them!