You are missed, Jer.

~Sarah

This photo is what my year was. Walker at Paradise, at Mt. Rainier, on August 1st. There was still well over 5 feet of snow on the ground behind us. He was so happy, scampering around in it after this photo was taken:

In February with Walker, on a regional trail system at Cougar Mountain:

Mama and Baby out hiking:

On a cold morning hike in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains:

Cold but why waste a sunny day?

Walker is a big boy, I realized that when he went to a back carrier and I was carrying 45 lbs of him and gear!

Even in the late winter/spring the low foothills have their own bleak beauty:

Along the Cedar River in Washington:

Snuggled up warm n’ cozy in his BOB jogger stroller in spring, out on a rail to trail hike:

An overly excited hiking partner

What happens when two outdoor trail cooking mavens hike together and have lunch after hiking (That is Teresa of One Pan Wonders fame):

Along the Green River canyon having a post lunch hike:

On Whidbey Island at Ebey’s Landing with Kirk, going down to the Lagoons and the water:

On a trip out along the Carbon River at Mt. Rainier (when all else fails with snow levels, The Carbon is always pretty!):

Kirk and Walker contemplating a hike at Rainier:

On one of the forks of the Snoqualmie River:

Hiking near the city of Olympia, Washington at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge:

Silver Falls at Mt. Rainier in early summer:

At Sunrise, Mt. Rainier on the 4th of July. The snow was still 7 to 10 feet deep:

Mt. Rainier hid in the clouds in mid-July:

Mt. Rainier from near Chinook Pass in mid-summer:

Along the White River at Mt. Rainier:

Mt. Rainier in August, finally starting to melt out:

Paradise River (a creek these days):

Glacier Basin, at Mt. Rainier. Of all the hiking I did this year it was the hardest. I was about 3 months pregnant and very anemic. The trail had finally been restored, after being wiped out a few years ago, opened up the day before and I didn’t want to miss my chance to hike it. Lynn talked me the whole way, pushing me to do it. And it was worth it – in 2003 I had tried to go to Glacier Basin only to be turned back by deep snow and regretted never going back. We saw a black bear feasting on the way down and while it exhausted me, it was worth the normally easy 7 or so miles!

In September hiking on the Green to Cedar Rivers Trail near where we live, enjoying the easy months

More urban “hiking” with Walker. Moochie ducks and little boys go hand in hand:

In the late fall I took Kirk out for lunch at Salish Lodge – with a certain little one with us. After lunch we walked along the viewpoints for Snoqualmie Falls where someone had way too much fun on the rocks. Oh, it wasn’t “wildernessey” but who cares. He had fun. So did we. And that is all that matters!

But as fall came and got further along I quit hiking, I even quit the gym. Spending my late fall and coming winter just being lazy. Spring will be here soon enough, the trails will melt out and the flowers will come again. And the hiking will start again (as will that pesky gym). For now I fill my time with a lot of Mommy/food blogging on my personal website.

May you all enjoy the Solstice coming up soon and think of the coming spring!

~Sarah

And did I mention the crazy prices? 25¢ for children books, 50¢ for paperback books and a meager $1 for hard covers. You can see why I show up and dig through the books. Over the years I have found many titles, often vintage ones. I have even padded out my Trail Cookbook Collection doing these sales…..

So last night Kirk kept Walker entertained while I went through the books on opening day. I say I came out pretty good. OK, I’ll admit I passed over this classic:

Picnic Gourmet Hmmm…maybe I should have

I did though pick up these titles:

A Complete Guide to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument I realized I didn’t get a chance to take Walker down to St. Helens this past summer. We will have to make sure we do next summer!

Nature in the City Seattle A neat little book for urban wanderings!

Friday Harbor and San Juan Island (Umbrella Guide) I have a very soft spot for the San Juan Islands and especially so for Friday Harbor, the “big” town on the San Juan Island (last stop on the ferry ride before Canada!).

Take a Walk: 100 Walks Through Natural Places in the Puget Sound Region Another guide book that is good for urban wanderings.

Death Valley Wildflowers Anytime I see one of the wildflower books produced for national park areas I have to pick them up. I have a number of them. THe drawings are always so well done and often with full color photos. And hey, I haven’t been to Death Valley yet…so it can help my dreaming, planning and scheming!

I felt like I had gotten a steal – all the above for a measly $2.50. Ooh-la-la!

But maybe I should have gotten the cheezy picnic book. I am sure I will regret not – hah!

~Sarah

Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes

To put it lightly it has been far too long since a modern – and easy to use – guidebook for backpacking Washington State has been published. The past decade has been a long run of dayhiking guides, which in reading a recent survey of WTA the numbers said 64% of those responding just dayhike. It is though nice to have a new up-to-date book now. One that wasn’t written in the 1980′s and updated in the late 1990′s! Craig has a passion for the trail and for writing about it.

Even with as many trails as I have traveled, at his presentation I still found many I had never heard of – it was almost embarrassing! Until I realized…why be shamed? Lets go hiking! But one question to myself, how have I never finished the High Divide in the Olympic National Park? I simply don’t know.

With the average being 18-25 mile trips this is a modern book – for those who can get 2-3 days off. I don’t know about others but for us that is the perfect amount of time. That is about the time an average person can get off from work. And while I sometimes dream of doing “treks” for the most part they have never held my attention – I get ancy after 4-5 days, ready to sit in a car and be lazy in front of my computer – and dream of the next adventure.

Attending Craig’s presentation I was able to experience his book without even reading it – it was a wonderful slide show of many of the hikes in the book, each with personal tales. As he showed Hike 22 on page 113 – Ipsut Creek and Seattle Park it made me smile. That hike (also known as The Mother Mountain Loop) is at Mount Rainier NP. The first time I did it was June 25th, 2005 with my friends Drew and Marty. We did it as a dayhike on a very cold and socked in day (well hey, at least you don’t overheat…..). That was a low snow year (not like this year!)

The hike starts at Mowich Lake and follows the Wonderland Trail down to the Carbon River and then runs up to Seattle and Spray Parks on the Wonderland Trail alternative. It is a loop trail that I would tell everyone that they must experience it once in their lives!

Heading up Cataract Valley:

In the rock and snow “wasteland” of upper Seattle Park:

Me and Drew behind me, one of those moments where if you quit moving you realize just how cold it is up there:

Heading down out of Spray Park:

Those are the kind of wonderful trails written about in this guidebook. Not too wordy, portable size book, true elevation gains (Oh Harvey Manning, how you loved to fib on that!), easy “cheat sheet” for what is at certain mileage on each trail (including potential camping areas). If you live here in Washington State or are thinking of visiting do check out Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes.

PS: Look on page 290 – Craig was awesome he even mentions my cookbook in the Recommended Reading section.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received a review copy of this book for potential review.

Quick Breakfast? Try our customizable instant oatmeal packets – no reason to buy those already stale ones at the store!

Instant Oatmeal Packets

A trail snack to keep you powered up passes?

Peanut Butter Granola Cups

Need a quick lunch while you sit on that awesome pass?

Savory Tuna Salad

Tired? Need a dinner that will fuel you with minimal thinking?

Cherry Chicken Couscous

Camping somewhere near a cold stream or snow bank?

Mocha Pudding

And as always, for more FBC (Freezer Bag Cooking) recipes head over to TrailCooking.

~Sarah

The morning started nice – we passed a huge Elk herd as we drove to the trailhead:

The highlight of the hike is the bridge over the river, where the waterfalls occur:

Walker and I (and wow, that is a way too bright pink top!)

Looking down at one of the waterfalls (there are actually more than two, oh well!)

Walker and I:

Looking upriver:

The ladies took their mid-hike break down at the bridge. Only problem is I was the only one with an active toddler – who no way was I letting out of his backpack to run around there. So he and I went back uphill to where there is a quiet off trail spot and he had lunch and then ran around having way too much fun with my sit pad:

Someone was very happy to get out of his backpack:

Dicentra on the way back:

Heading up the trail – Twin Falls is one of those trails where it goes up and down both directions:

Looking back through the trees to the waterfalls:

The river on the way back:

~Sarah

Kirk and I took Ford and Walker out for a nice hike – especially since we can take Walker in his jogger stroller. Of course, once we have him and our gear loaded on that stroller is somewhere in the 60-70 lb range to push. Still better than wearing that! Walker isn’t a small boy so I take it as a treat to push him – and he loves it. I’d be comfy too being pushed in a plush chariot

“Mmmmmm! Cookies!”

Anyhow, we got to the Carbon early – like before 9 am. How that happened I have no idea. I have gotten bad in the past year or so of getting up early but today was gorgeous. It was sunny and blue skies. With really bad storms predicted for the late afternoon. No way was I missing out on hiking on what has been very rare sunny weekend days! Usually the Carbon is also over run by 10 am – due to little parking. But oddly enough it was actually very sparse with other hikers/bikers – at least past the 1 mile mark.

The Skunk Cabbage was in “bloom” everywhere there was standing water. Gorgeous (although stinky). I also hundreds of Trilliums that had just opened. The little signs that say maybe, just maybe we will get Spring eventually here in the PNW….

Just the typical Carbon walk – road walk, trail walk, road walk, etc through those big trees that make you want to sit down and take a nap. Pull up some moss and snooze.

We came to the trailhead for Ranger Falls/Green Lake and kept going, thinking of stopping at Chenuis Falls for our break/turn around but the always pretty forest/shade at the TH called to me and we turned back. We took our break above the creek. Walker got out and ran around, happy to be free for awhile.

It was the better choice I realized, as the lovely Chenuis Falls break area is in the open sun (although it has picnic tables from back when it was a parking area/picnic wayside/view over the river).

Daddy and Walker heading up the “real” trail – OK, he didn’t get far but next year he will This was Walker’s second trip out on the Carbon. Last year we took him for his 1 month celebration and only went a mile or so each way. This year we took him for a lot more of it – which in certain sections while the “trail” is quite walkable taking a jogger stroller is a workout for the pusher – it is huge river rocks to clear. Walker was loving it, snort! Bouncy, bouncy!

We packed up Walker, he settled into his chariot and his little eyes closed and he happily snoozed most of the way back. Ford took off and trail ran to the van where he apparently ate his stock of energy bars while waiting for us. His ipod kept him alive, while blasting the greatest hits of heavy metal. Kind of funny/sad when you realize your oldest is well, old enough to go do that. No toddling with me – he can take care of himself just fine.

I on the other hand enjoyed the walk back smelling the freshly sawed cedar, the warm wind and even the little green native slugs that were out.

And now? It is dumping rain like crazy. Glad I went! It was a nice 6+ miler with the family

~Sarah

But as many parents do, once the kid get older you let them have their own lives and don’t talk about them as much. Ford will be 14 this fall so I respect that he should have privacy. I am with my youngest daily, I am a SAHM (stay at home mom) who just happens to have a side gig doing what I love. When I go walking, hiking, strolling , whatever – Walker is always with me – so it is very natural that I talk about him. Yeah, I know – hearing (reading) me wax on about my Stroller 5000 may not be exciting but that stroller is the reason I get outside, so to me IT is a big deal. I get excited when my baby walks in the woods with me, when he stops and starts getting all excited over a stick, a squirrel, over the blue sky. I’ll someday be back to doing death marches on the PCT – sooner than later – and I’ll talk about those things when they happen. But for now this is who I am.

But more than that, there is a vast group of women and men with children/grandchildren/etc who also want to know how to get their kids out – so yes, I will continue to talk about my hiking with them. (If you are someone who hikes with kidlings please check out Outdoor Baby Network, you will love it!)

This shift in my style of blogging doesn’t mean I have changed who I am though, nor what I do trail cooking wise. Recipes still get posted on Trail Cooking, food and gear finds still posted on this blog. I culled out most of my personal life (with as much kid stuff) and started heavily posting on my personal blog, Gazing In, where I often blog 2 to 4 times a day.

But most of all what I have noticed in the past year is how much more popular our Facebook Fan Pages are. If you are like me and you love Facebook for its ease in sharing, well, hanging out on the Freezer Bag Cooking page is natural. It is so much more interactive than the blog or the website. I love it when readers post photos, comments, etc – I often post quick things such as links that don’t make sense for a blog entry. As I mentioned, we maintain two Facebook Pages, the above mentioned FBC one and also one for TrailCooking. (I also have one for Gazing In as well) If you are on FB and haven’t checked us out, please do! I am often posting new things – it is simply so easy with my often busy life to maintain the FB pages but not always to get full blog entries done here. And if you have cool links or a blog you write, you are welcome to post them!

But most of all – it was a La Nina year guys, cut me a break, OK? The mountains are buried under snow (in some areas it is 100″ above normal still) and I didn’t feel like risking my life this past winter/spring to the horrid avalanches out there. Summer will come, the snow will (hopefully) melt and I will be back out there. But the kids will be talked about – after all, one of the best reasons to have kids is to hear them grumbling about how “this death march sucks” behind you.

~Sarah

The only way to get little ones out is to well, take them outside!

He was fascinated by the moss and stones – and a zillion little toddler sized sticks to pick.

It was only a little distance but we both had a great time ♥

~Sarah

A book on the history, geology, wildlife, flora and so much more. Beautiful drawings. But most of all? That smell that only an old bookstore has. I buy so much online now that I miss the smell. When I walked in with Walker in my arms it was like being 5 again and wandering through multiple rooms of knowledge. Yeah, I love books. Walker was more interested in all the cats living in the store.

If you love (Rainier) Tahoma this is a beautiful book and a glimpse into how it was once.

~Sarah