Traveling is mega fun, but when we pulled into the Snoqualmie pass for our first night back in Washington it was amazing. We were in a dirty little parking lot that took fifteen minutes of trash cleanup before I would let the pets out, but it was cool, had huge trees, and mountains in every direction. An area of the world that makes you feel this good should really be your home.
Concrete Washington
We have three days of work on the engine of Tortuga in a couple weeks, so we camped near that instead of racing all the way back to our home area of Port Townsend. This is a heavy logging area with a disturbing amount of poverty and high prices, but also absolutely gorgeous. We had two amazing hikes and a third scheduled for today which was postponed for weather affording me the opportunity to catch up on blogging.
Hiking path outside my door 
You can’t tell it has roads on both sides. 
Less than 30 feet between roads on both sides. 
Small dog park in the campground
Sauk Mountain
One day after work Kendra hauled me out for a hike. Typically an after work hike is pretty easy, but this four and a half miles was steep and rocky. I should have prepared better. Was wearing standard walking shoes, had no pack, and brought no water. In the future I will happily turn up over prepared rather than under.
The forest service road to the parking lot was even tough. Our CRV doesn’t have a lot of clearance and we dragged a couple times. Had to stop as we left to let the brake system cool off too. Well worth it for the views though. If you are in the area I highly recommend the hike, and a Jeep to get to it.
Diablo Lake
Another evening after work we headed to the North Cascade National Park for a hike. This one I was well prepared for, but it was much easier than Sauk Mountain. The entire area is breathtaking. Every turn of the trail exposes a new and surprising view of the many surrounding mountains. Of the five National Parks/Monuments we visited on this trip, North Cascade is probably my favorite. Will need to return here to do more exploring!
May peace find you.
Torta Log 
Wow! Those are some amazing pictures! I mean, almost unbelievably beautiful. Thanks for sharing. But, now I’m thinking of a new Dr. Who story ‘Attack of the Butterflies” – be careful around those things. Glad you are back home! Jason and Polina
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Thanks, Jason. I really wish I had a video of that. It was several different types of butterfly in great quantities. All about a quarter the size of a monarch from back in Ohio. They were so thick in the air they kept flying into me.
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