Climb every mountain

Or at least one... Today, Gerry, Reed and I hiked to the top of Mt. Townsend in the Olympics. As far as we could tell from the weather forecast (and I know all of you know how "reliable" those are around here) today was going to be one of the last nice fall days for a while. We'd been itching to get out for a hike, and we figured we'd better seize the opportunity before we're confronted with rainy weekend after rainy weekend.

Neither Gerry nor I (nor Reed for that matter), had climbed Mt. Townsend but it was a real treat! It was sooo good to get out. The weather was beautiful and the air had the wonderful sweet smell of fall. We could tell that there had already been some good frosty nights as many of the meadow plants were looking a little worse for wear, but in the sub-alpine, there were still bright red leaves on the huckleberries and the vanillas leaf and thimble berries were all gold. In the woods, vine maples added their gold color to the green.

We got views of Seattle, Rainier, Baker and once we reached the top, the rest of the Olympics. It was foggy this morning and there seemed to be a haze hanging over most of the Puget Sound basin which obscured our view a bit, even after we'd climbed above it.

Reed seemed to enjoy himself! He spent a good amount of the time just taking in the scenery, but also like to reach out for the trees when we were in the woods, so we took many little stops so he could touch the trees, rhododendrons, etc. I'm so proud of my little tree hugger!!

We're going to have to figure out a way to lighten our load a little bit the next time we do this. I carried all of our food, water, extra clothes, diapers, etc. and the backpack I was carrying was a bit on the heavy side (I even hesitate to say just how heavy it was lest I seem like a crazy over-packer). The end result is that I'm whooped now! Doesn't help that we're working on cutting down Reed's night wakings by not getting him out of his crib when he cries at night (we still go to him, but try to comfort him in other ways). Hopefully it will pay off, but for right now, it means that all three of us are getting a bit less sleep!