30 Adventures in 360 Days: Adventure #9: July Hikes

One of the better parts of teaching is having summer vacation off, which means I get to spend a LOT of time outside. Many people (who have no experience in education) think it's unfair that teachers get the "entire" summer off, but I promise if you want teachers to be safe, effective, and somewhat sane during the school year, then they need the summer off. I know I always feel better when I have some time to sweat my way uphill to look at some beautiful places in nature.

Given that I've done a fair bit of hiking in July, I thought I'd combine them all into one summative post. It feels like cheating to count them each as their own adventure, but I wanted to acknowledge all of the cool places I've gone this month, and the wonderful people that I've gotten to spend time with.

Hike #1 July 8th: Bandera Mountain
Nothing like 3000+ feet of elevation gain to remind you how out of shape you are! This trail starts with a climb, and finishes with a scramble to the top of the rock pile, but definitely pays off on a clear day with beautiful views of Mt. Rainier. This was also my first hike with someone new and it was also a ton of fun getting to climb with Mike Schubert! He's a fellow Seattle improvisor, and runs Potterless (a Harry Potter podcast) so we had plenty to chat about when I was able to keep enough air in my lungs :)

Hike #2, July 11th: Upper Dungeness River
I hiked this gorgeous riverside path with my friend Cassondra, and my original hiking buddy, my mom! Beautiful river views and sounds as we strolled along the trail. It takes a bit of a drive to get out there, and navigation can be a bit confusing, but once we got there, it was smooth sailing. There are plenty of trails out there, but we decided to turn around at Camp Handy, which was a great place for a sit and a snack. Several people had come out to camp for an evening or two and it would definitely a great place for a gentle backpacking trip-- easy water source, little elevation gain, dog friendly, and beautiful views throughout the trip. Be sure to stop at Finnriver Cidery for a beverage when you're done!

Hike #3, July 13th and 14th: Ipsut Creek Campground
Time for Baby's First Backpacking Trip! It was a pleasure to be able to escort my un-biological nephew (and his parents) on his first backpacking trip. The hike is an easy climb to an old front-country campground, which makes it marvelously well appointed despite its isolation. Bear boxes and picnic tables abound, and the trail is wide, mostly flat, and well maintained. There aren't too many beautiful sites on the way up, but there are some great views just beyond the campground. We packed up the next day, given that Henry was not a fan of sleeping in the tent, and headed out the next morning to ride the gondola up to the top of Crystal Mountain for one of the best views in the state. While I've been to both of these places before, I'm counting it as (part of) an adventure because this was my first time hiking with Henry, or his dad, Steve!

Henry helping me set up my tent.

The view from the top of Crystal

Hike #4, July 27-31: Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument

I spent the later part of my July on a bit of a road trip through some beautiful national parks. While Cass and I easily could have spent a week in each of these places, we unfortunately have other things to get to, so we did what we could. We earned our junior ranger badges at each of these locations, and really enjoyed getting to see locations that are so vastly different from our PNW home. None of the hikes we did were particularly strenuous, and most were under a mile (as we were trying to see as much of each park as possible), but again, it's always a nice reminder that a hike does not have to be long or steep for it to provide opportunities for beauty, solitude, and wonder.