Vacation Loop

 

This weekend we set off on a 16 mile backpack loop. We were expecting beauty and mountains but we also ended up feeling relaxed and like we'd taken a long vacation. I love that about backpacking, that sometimes it makes time slow down and you have the time and energy to soak everything around you in without a pushing agenda.

 

Friday night we drove up to the Glacier Mountain area and camped at a free mini campsite. Early the next morning we drove the last few miles to the Little Wenatchee trailhead and started hiking. Mostly we bushwacked, very overgrown at the beginning so we waded through leaves and bushes until we popped out into some beautifully textured meadows spotted with dark pine trees. Winding our way up we started to discover the whole hillside was huckleberries and blueberries. Ripe, juicy amazingly delicious berries. Or pace was then stinted by shoveling them into our mouths every few feet.

 

Once we fan into the next trail we found a huddle of trees that created a perfect shady spot to hang our hammock and look over at Glacier Mountain. We napped, foraged berries, ate lunch, and lounged in the scrumptious cool shade. A few hours later we rallied and hiked a few more miles to Lake Sally Ann.

 

Here we set up a campsite looking at the pristine lake. The rocks around the lake were full of pikas that kept squeaking all day as they hopped around the rocks. I jumped into the lake and Joshua washed off which felt amazing. The lake was cold but not as bad as you'd expect. The day unfolded slowly and dropped into night slowly. We felt so relaxed and as we dried off from the lake making dinner we couldn't help but feel like we were on a long lazy vacation. While it fell into night we foraged in the shade for more berries to take home. Spent the rest of the night in our hammock cuddled with a sleeping bag sipping wine while we read Harry Potter.

 

The full moon was so bright it was casting its own shadows and when I woke up in the middle of the night I could still see all the way across the lake. It felt magical and special.

 

Next morning we woke up to squeaking pikas and had oatmeal full of fresh berries with coffee. Then hiked back out along the Caty Ridge which offered great views and amazing varied textures playing against one another.