Man, these are some good times. Ya know, bro?

Working on three weeks now, of do whatever you want, see whatever you want, all whenever you want is getting easier and easier to ~deal~ with

Before heading up to Birch Bay on Monday, we stopped in Port Townsend, WA where we camped at Fort Worden State Park. Nice little place right on the ocean. Not much cover, but a nice park nonetheless. Ate dinner on the bay at a place called Sirens. The place used to be pet friendly, but not anymore Good food. Real good beer on draft.

Took the ferry to Whidbey island in the early morning and we were off to Birch Bay. On the way north and east, we went through Deception Pass, Laribee State Park and Whatcom Falls Park. The later being a really cool water fall and short hike right near Lake Whatcom and the former being a pass along the coast with some mad turbulent and swirly waters. Kelly and I spent a bunch of time at DP. While at the beach we saw a seal swimming by munching on a salmon sandwich. Very cool.



We finally made it to Birch Bay that afternoon, where shortly after that we hooked up with Tom and Ryan.

Yesterday, we took the plunge into the hike that is Skyline Divide.

Wow.



So, for a while now Kelly has been talking about this hike she did 6-7 years ago and how cool the views were. Thank god we did. Although she did forget too mention the 2500 ft change in elevation there is over the 8 mile hike. Nice.

Well, all I can say is that the views were absolutely unbelievable. Surreal really. With Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, the San Juan Islands, and the Canadian Rockies all visible from the ridge at the end of the hike.



The hike itself was, at least for this group of rookies extremely tiring. A huge climb, basically straight up for 2 miles, and then exploring the various views the ridge offered. The next one always a bit better than the next. Seamus was awesome. Nailed it. He did great. He really enjoyed the patches of snow at the top near the meadows. Ran into a couple people camping, several day hikers and lots of dogs. Overall, a real great day. Took us about 4 hours to knock out the hike, and another 1 to get home.



As you can see Seamus is loving it.

These are a couple guys we met on the trail. Looks like they really liked the meadow portion of the hike.





Today, after soaking in some epsom salts we ventured into Bellingham, where we picked up lunch at Boundary Bay Brewery. Pretty good stuff.

We are currently awaiting the arrival of the last two members of the team to get here. Spiff Daddy Looking forward to a great day kayakking and carousing for sure. And of course some guacamole and chicken tacos tonite when they arrive.

Till later.

l8r

~macandfred