Thanksgiving On The Trail is a section on Trailcooking that I have worked on for a couple years. It has many fun recipes to try out including this feast:

Sourdough Stuffing, Homemade Cranberry Sauce and Mashed Potatoes with Meat Gravy.

Need some Green Bean Casserole to go with that?

The Thanksgiving On The Trail section contains all the recipes and a lot more – from the above to The Trashy Thanksgiving and a Lower-sodium option as well.

Also check out:

Roast Chicken with Cranberry Sauce

For a tasty morning treat make a pan of Cranberry Pan Biscuits:

Need a fun meal that even young Scouts can do? FBC Hybrid Thanksgiving is a snap to make:

An easy meal for one? FBC Friendly and tasty – you will be eating quickly: Cranberry Chicken Rice

Fall inspired lunches?

Harvest Chicken Salad Wraps

Pecan Cranberry Ranch Sammmies

Desserts? Munchies?

Mocha Pudding with Glazed Pecans

Candied Pecans

And of course one can pick up single serving pies at many grocery stores/c-stores or you can pack in slices of homemade pie in light weight sandwich boxes (cram as much as you can in one box! If it gets mushed it is still edible….). Look for seasonal flavors of instant pudding mixes (pumpkin spice appears some years). Or save the pie for the way home as a treat for freezing That with a peppermint mocha is just heaven!

~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.

They have two options, Velcro closure and drawstring. Both work great but I found that the Velcro one would be superior for using in hiking.

The sandwich bags have a pleat on the bottom.

If anyone has looked for a reusable and washable bag for carrying food items (obviously not wet food, dry only) take a look. The interior is lined with a nylon material, cotton on the outside. There is a tiny gap on the closure that would allow small items to fall through  (the drawstring bag would work better in that way) but used for bars, nuts, candy, etc this is a nice option for the food bag.

I don’t have a weight for the bags – my office is packed up currently as we are remodeling and my scale is tucked away – the bags are feather weight though, no heavier than a shy ounce for the larger bag.

~Sarah

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

In the late winter and early spring of 2004 Teresa, Tori and I were excited – we had decided we were going to do the Wonderland Trail that coming summer. We were often out, nearly every weekend from the summer of 2003 on. Ford was in kindergarten so it wasn’t a huge issue if I pulled him out of school to play hooky on Fridays. And did we go to so many places. We hiked and backpacked all over Washington, went snowshoeing a bunch and when early spring came we had crazy weekends where we’d drive to Eastern Washington to hike the windy cold plains and the next morning drive down to Oregon and hike on the border. In that one year I put a good 15,000 miles on my Explorer. Gas was cheap and we had all the time in the world. Simple days then to say the least!

These photos are of a couple trips. The pictures are not great, I was shooting on my first digital camera. It was a heavy as a brick Kodak DC3400 that shot in the amazing 2.1 megapixels Kirk had given it to me to get me off of my pocket film camera. It took me awhile to realize that with digital I could shoot nearly all I wanted and to not skimp. But to me those trips were of places I had never seen, I was just happy to be there! The photos slightly blurry and low res but hey, it was a different time.

One weekend Teresa and I headed down to Eagle Creek on the Oregon side of the Columbia. Since then I have gone back many times but it was a real “first” that time. Walking the narrow path that was blasted out of the cliffs was unnerving that first time, especially with Ford with me. It was though a pretty hike.

Teresa crossing a side stream with man made pavers – the trail for the first couple miles is extremely heavily used. It is one of Portland’s favorite hikes. You can get solitude but you have to keep hiking.

Looking down on one of the many waterfalls as we hiked in:

Ford ahead of me and not overly amused to be out hiking that day:

The narrow trail as you approach the high bridge and cross over to the other side:

It is a pretty long straight down to the creek far below. The trail only exists due to the blasting and a couple bridges set over the canyon. There are a few spots near the river though where the walking is level, but not many. Many campsites though!

Another waterfall:

It was a greta backpacking trip. We stayed at I think Wy’East Camp if my memory holds. And had racoons in camp all night, trying to get into our Ursacks! My friend Drew’s snoring apparently scared them off eventually

The Columbia River basin in Eastern Washington is so unlike everywhere else in Washington. It feels like one should be in Utah or parts of Montana.

Ford walking a pooch belonging to a friend. We visited the Gingko petrified forest on that trip:

The next morning we drove down South to Dog Mountain where feeling crazy we hiked up the old trail, straight up until we joined the modern trail.

Teresa on Little Puppy, the shoulder below the summit, that once held a look out tower:

Ford, with the west behind him and the Columbia River below:

The odd nearly alpine summit of Dog Mountain:

Climbing on up:

Looking across at Mt. St. Helens, all white, and looking pretty right before she started spewing again:

Ford and I just below the back side of the summit:

We took the trail down the back side which I found to be the best choice. It wound around and dipped into the woods and was quite pleasant – with few people on it, where the other trails to Dog were very popular:

Until about halfway down we crossed paths with a nearly naked old dude, where upon Ford loudly stated “That man is NAKEY!”. Hahhah, that was rich.

That spring Teresa, Tori, Ford and I piled into the Explorer and drove down to Beacon Rock State Park and spent the weekend there, dayhiking and car camping. The campground was pretty much empty – it was perfect! It is tucked away from the highway, in a cool (temperature) hollow. Two things I remember: One was making fun of poor Tori’s subscription to Backpacker Magazine – Teresa and I were being super catty about it – and Tori was from the Midwest where seeing an issue with Mt. Rainier on it was the Bees Knees. Oopsies! The second thing was I made dinner for us. The one pot meal would eventually come to be Swiss Broccoli Mac & Cheese. We made it often when car camping because it is easy, tasty and fills you up. You have to bring a fresh loaf of bread for all the cheesy sauce! PS: There was a video made of this recipe.

When we got down to the Columbia River we met up with our friend Drew and hiked Hamilton Mountain. It is a pretty wooded hike past waterfalls:

And creeks:

That opens up to open windswept views – where the wind howls near constant.

The mountain itself:

A knob where you can look across to Oregon and the Columbia River far below:

In camp Ford and I took a short trail and checked out these rocks:

The next morning we went up Beacon Rock:

Ford at the summit looking over the view, with Hamilton Mountain in the distance:

Me at the top:

Looking down at Tori and and Ford:

A young Ford ready to hit a greasy spoon diner and a long drive home….

~Sarah

Like staring at Mt. Shuksan from Picture Lake (from a viewpoint nearly anyone can experience!):

Blundering into a hillside popping white with Beargrass:

Or maybe walking in a storm of snow and ice in August:

And hiding from it under large evergreens:

And a couple days later it is hot and sunny and you climb up into alpine tundra:

Ford walking ahead of me as we left a lonely subalpine lake in the central Cascades – a brutal short ascent to get back to the ridgeline where mosquitoes chase you back down to the truck:

You might recognize this photo:

As the sun sets and summer is nearly gone on the wind, the icy coldness of Rainier is there:

When you walk into two edible berries the living is good:

When the sun is up, the walking is easy and the summits are green:

Walking in the Olympic Mountains – always in back but not minding, Kirk and Ford ahead of me:

When you get back to the truck and change into jeans and sandals….ahh!

When it is 8 pm and you are still hiking, trying to outrun darkness:

But most of all….sitting in the shade and smelling the flowers in alpine – there is nothing like that:

~Sarah

At a shy 6 ounces (5.9 ounces to be technical) it is relatively light in comparison to most frypans. It is also deep sided (2.5″ high) meaning you can actually grill fish or a can o’ Spam® without losing any over the sides. At 7.75″ across it is also plenty wide enough for 2 hikers to share. The slickness inside is what will get you though. Nothing stuck. Not fried on eggs, pancakes or even a weird fruit/biscuit scramble I was trying to develop. Paper towel wipe out. And made in Thailand, not China. It retails for $29.95.

The skillet nestles on the bottom of a couple MSR sets as well, making packing easy. For example, it fits with my MSR Quick 2 set. If you are really into the gourmet side of cooking this is a great addition to your existing sets of any brand. As a bonus the skillet uses the same Talon handle as the pots do, with the simple click in to attach. And if are already carrying a Quick set you can carry just one handle.

The only real drawbacks is with the handle – with the pot sets the handle flips over and locks the set together. On the skillet the handle folds over but flops, as it has nothing to rest against. While it is a bother, you just have to remember to take the handle off the pot instead of folding it and carrying it separately.And as well, avoid use on uncontrolled alcohol flame stoves, the Talon handle is plastic. Consider it a great choice for canister stoves.

And for a better long term storage of any non-stick pot/skillet if you are carrying it nestled against other metal, line it with a clean paper towel. It prevents scratches but also keeps your pots clean!

~Sarah

The Carbon is so different from the rest of the park, it has its own feeling. The first time as an adult I visited the area (and I don’t remember going there as a child, we would head up the Nisqually entrance, to Paradise) it was the early summer of 2003. The road was awful, if you could even call it that. 4 ½ miles of lumpy bumpy, narrow, trenches on both sides. The pullouts were few and far. I was glad to get to the end of the dumb road and go hiking. I had recently moved down South and the Carbon was free of snow – being in 2,000′s for elevation – so it made a great early season hike. A young Ford accompanied me and we did the hike out to the Carbon Glacier on The Wonderland Trail. Only thing is the WT was on a road bed as well in some areas. It was blazing hot with little shade for a good half or more of the hike. I don’t remember being overly impressed. Frankly the hike wasn’t stellar. It was over run. The trailhead sat next to the even more over run Ipsut Creek car campground that was always full of loud people and tons of dogs. What stands out in my memory of that hike was as we got back to the truck. There was a bear right there. Well, actually it was coming at us, flying out of the ladies outhouse. It was freaked out and scared.

The story behind the bear came out: a group thought that it was hilarious to feed a 3 year old male bear food. (That is when they leave Mom and are often very hungry). Bear came back. Idiots decided to let dogs chase the bear. Bear starts freaking out in the trailhead parking lot, gets on the engine of a newish pickup truck and starts jumping up and down, high pitched wail, claws out, while those damn dogs were barking non-stop. It was horrid. And illegal! I grabbed Ford after yelling at the jerks and drove out quickly to find a ranger to report it (the bear was caught 3 times and finally thankfully didn’t come back and was rehabilitated). I was soured on the Carbon to say the least. A blah hike, a bad road and a bad ending. I didn’t get why people got all excited about the area truthfully.

The next time I came back was in the summer of 2005 when I did the Mother Mountain Loop with Drew and Marty as a dayhike. The view here doesn’t exist at this point anymore – this part of the WT cleaved off in the storm of 2006. You got a great view of the Carbon Glacier, its snout and even the Mountain when there wasn’t clouds. I remember yet again hating the section to the suspension bridge/glacier. We encountered many people, even early in the morning and a couple of odd fruits who appeared to be doing drugs and making out instead of hiking. After all, ANYONE could drive out there. We were glad to turn off and head up the hard part of the trail where we saw only a few others the rest of the hike.

The last time I hiked it was in the summer of 2006 when Tori, Ford and I did a backpacking trip in Seattle Park and used the Carbon River Trail as a way to get up there (similar to 2005 trip above). We blew through that section both ways as fast as we could.

Ford ahead of me as we passed over the final creek before the suspension bridge:

I made a pact with myself that I wasn’t going back. No way. Every time I went out there I hated it. It was b-o-r-i-n-g. I could drive a paved road to Sunrise or Chinook Pass and go to alpine bliss in the same amount of time instead!

Then the storm of 2006 happened that fall. And what a storm. It crippled the park. The entire park shut down, all gates shut. Sunshine Campground by the Nisqually entrance was gone, wiped out in a blink. Major sections of the road to Longmire and Paradise were gone. Creeks jumped majorly. And the Carbon River Road was literally gone. There was a tragic drowning that winter out there on Ipsut Creek of a couple who had gone backpacking and got stuck on the wrong side when the water went up. It was nothing but water and trees everywhere.

The park closed the road at the park boundary and staffed the tiny old ranger station. There was a few parking spots. In the spring of 2007 I went out there, wondering honestly was the road really as bad as the papers touted? It was jaw dropping bad. That is as you got farther in. At first it didn’t look that bad, you know…go run it smooth, right? Well….that didn’t last long….

This was how it looked much of the way: the road bed crossed by massive old growth trees, coming in from both directions, with water flowing in the roadbed.

The road bed went through here, where the trees are crisscrossed. The park had quickly tried to put in some areas of fixes to make it walkable.

The roadbed is to the left, where the rocks are. Ford standing next to the massive tree’s root ball:

It really hit home when you walk into the clearing along the river and there was no road anymore. Nothing. A small path had been rudely cut out to the right to bypass it:

After the flood, Ipsut Creek had jumped its channel and was no longer going under the car bridge. The couple who sadly drowned had attempted to cross the creek on a log just upstream. The park installed very soon after that this first “bridge”, a planed log with a hand rail. You can see the road ahead of Ford, with a road sign warning about the 1 lane car bridge:

Cat, Ford and I spent the night at Ipsut Campground. It was tentatively a backcountry site but they let us use the garbage cans – and we had to have our own bear cans or Ursacks (something that normally you don’t have to have in Rainier). Picnic tables made camping great indeed.

I realzied on that first trip out that suddenly I had seen a side of the Carbon River I had never seen before. It was so quiet out there. The forest on the road walk was gorgeous. Old growth, rock walls, streams, a river. So many places to just stop and sit. A beautiful backcountry campground. And suddenly I was hooked.

I kept taking people out there, I wanted them to experience it. The walking was easy, you gain about 450 feet in 4½ miles. Kids could do it. You could bike or push a jogger stroller.

We celebrated New Years Day by hiking the Carbon in the snow on January 1st, 2008.

Teresa and Cat in the snow:

In March of 2008 I took Kirk and Ford out to the Carbon and showed Kirk the damage. The roadbed was still just as bad. You can see a road sign reflecting light under one of the trees. Kirk was shocked when he saw it.

Me standing by the same root ball that Ford had stood by the year before:

On one trip with Lynn we stopped and had lunch at the old parking area for Chenius Falls, which is across the river, accessed by a couple log foot bridges. At this time you could still see the falls clearly across the river. The flood of 2006 had wiped out everything growing in the river bed. The parking “lot” has picnic tables and a gorgeous view.

As we kept hiking the area we started hiking hikes that had been ignored before, such as Ranger Falls/Green Lake. The spot where the trail takes off from the road is a favorite sitting spot now, the creek pouring out to the Carbon. It is scenic and if daring…a great swim hole in the summer. We explored an old mine, waterfalls and more. If you read up old books and maps you will see what I talk about, or look for old parking areas and trails that wander from them.

The forest on the way to Ranger Falls is sublime, some of the best around:

Go in late spring/early summer for a great show. This year the lake isn’t even frozen right now. The falls are massive and go up a couple tiers. Loud as can be!

By 2010 the road in most parts has lost the “road feeling” and has become a trail. It is well loved and work is often done. Sections of the trail I didn’t recognize, they were that new. Suddenly I realized they had moved it away from the roadbed.

Walker’s first real hike was on the Carbon in late April of 2010, he was a day past one month old. It was to me the place I needed to take him.

I went back out this past summer with my friend Jared and we did a long day, a good 15 miles roundtrip, till we got to where the Wonderland Trail ceases to exist. The road I walked in 2007 was not the same anymore. It felt like a trail. But what I noticed was how quiet it was. While the road trail has become popular, it is popular with people wanting to get outside and exercise. Young and old, lots of families. Lots of smiling faces. A lot of people who have never walked in such a grand forest. When you go beyond Ipsut you suddenly realize how truly quiet it has become without the car. The waterfall of Ipsut Creek is now a destination worthy hike. In 2003 I took a quick glance but didn’t stop to enjoy it. After all it was a pithy .10 of a mile from the trailhead. That wasn’t a “hike”.

The old powerhouse is long destroyed by a massive tree going through it:

The waterfall is in a tiny canyon that feels like a grotto. Like AC cranked up high with clear water and so much green you can’t believe it:

The campground now is a real backcountry site with bear poles installed. The last half of the road/trail has smoothed out into a nice trail. Coming eventually in the plan selected, the road will become a trail with bike racks at points of interest. It will allow the area to become a quiet clean mecca without car exhaust.

~Sarah

Need ideas for meals to pack?

Dinners:

FBC style Cherry Chicken Couscous is easy and no cleanup:

FBC style Pizza Ramen is trashy good food. Consider it guilty pleasure fast food for the backcountry…..

One pot style Spicy Tuna Linguine sticks to the ribs and will fill you up nicely.

One pot style Harvest Pasta is a great vegetarian friendly meal (leave out the cheese for vegan):

Trail snacks that pack some fat and energy, yet easy to eat? Easy Nut and Chocolate Truffles:

Dessert? How about Mocha Pudding. In winter making pudding is easy as can be!

Or Chocolate Pretzel Bark. It will disappear quickly in a group!

Have fun and be safe!

~Sarah

Ford got a new REI Trail 25 pack. It was picked to replace his REI Jet UL pack which we were never fully happy with – a good pack but it had no real support for gear inside and flopped. The Trail 25 is similar to the REI Lookout and as well the old Traverse pack. Ford doesn’t need a huge 40L daypack but he also wanted a pack that had better organizing features (the Jet was a large hole inside, no organizing in it!) He liked my daypack and had worn it periodically this past summer (mine was a bargain, I picked it up at a mega clearance sale a couple years at REI for under $40 in a gender neutral gray/reddish color). All of Ford’s gear fits in perfectly with room to spare. It doesn’t have the beefy hip belt that mine has but with it carrying a smaller load and him being young it works (it has a simple webbing only hip belt). He is very skinny and thick hip belts get in his way. The outer mesh pockets are big enough for quart water bottles and it does have a full pouch for a hydration bladder (which instead is where Ford’s Therm-a-Rest Z Seat sits, folded in half). The front pocket has plenty of storage for tucking away gloves, pack cover, headlamp, etc and the inside is roomy but easy to get into due to the full zipper (I have a love affair with panel loaders over top loaders. You can see what is in your pack!). So we shall see how it fares this coming year! And hey, Ford liked it being black. Cool and all, no?

Nalgene’s Everyday Bottles in quart size…yeah, yeah…I know: they are heavy. But they work. I remember being a new backpacker and how I proudly bought 2 of the old school grey ones with the blue caps. Everyone had them. You were so not a real backpacker without them. And then you immediately went and wrapped duct tape around them, cause that made you even more cool. Hehheh. And then I moved onto hydration bladders and then onto recycled Gatoraid and Snapple quart bottles. Finally I realized back in late 2008 that I was willing to suck it up and carry the extra weight (6.2 ounces per bottle empty) because I DID like the bottles. I have received never ending crud from hiking partners over this, even to telling me I have lost my UL edge Ah well. I can live with loosing my UL crown of being Queen Wanker of the Hikers…. So when Nalgene brought out the new line I snapped up 2 vivid blue ones for me, myself and I. No sharing. Finally this year I realized I was being a pig and maybe I should spread the love, no? So I picked up Ford 2 red and black ones:

And for Kirk I got him Orange with white caps. Snazzy, colorful and just as good as the old days, just more fashionable. Just don’t do what I did back a near 2 years ago and lose your new bottle down a steep snow filled ravine……

For Kirk I picked him up a pair of Kahtoola Microspikes in black.

Ford and I have been using them for a couple years now – I have to get Ford new ones this year as well, he blew through his this past summer and now needs “L”.  My friend Jared ended up inheriting Ford’s pair that no longer fit. Lucky him to have the right size feet. Microspikes have time and time shined for us and Kirk had been thinking about it, so I snuck a pair under the tree for him!

For Walker and I, I picked up an Ergo Performance carrier.

In my quest to reclaim my UL leanings I decided to give the Ergo a try. It is very comfortable and yes, it weighs 1/3 less than the original versions so it is “light”. I have tried Walker in a number of backpack style carriers and he is not happy in them. He isn’t tiny either, at 9 months he is 30″ tall (93% percentile!) but he isn’t a fat baby so gets ‘lost’ in the big backpacks. Add in that those backpacks weigh 5 to 8 lbs and dig into ones back…well, I will take a soft, comfy and UL front carrier instead as long as he is willing. He loves when we hike and he can see Kirk and I. We shall see how this carrier fares for us, it supposedly will carry up to 40 lbs and Walker is around 21 lbs so we have plenty of time!

Off to watch the rain fall (as usual) and plan/plot adventures with the new gear

~Sarah