Packwood Lake Family Backpack Trip

At last, our first family backpack trip! Elliott has been asking to go on an adventure since he has watched Adam pack and leave for 6 or so trips this summer. I prepped him about the commitment it would require and he agreed to the terms. Elliott insists he will make it to the top of Rainier soon. Adam is proud of this desire and tempted to oblige (we read that the youngest person to summit Rainier was a 4 year old. It took 7 days, but he made it).

On our way to the trail head, we had a lovely view of Mt. Rainier (somewhat in the clouds). Adam has summited twice and enjoyed sharing some of his love for the mountain with us.

 Adam had recently been on the trail to Packwood Lake on the SE corner of Mount Rainier and remembered it to be very moderate and doable for our current "combined ability level." After packing all morning (first day of Paternity Leave!!!), we drove away at 2 pm and began hiking at 5:30 pm! Luckily, we made it the 4 1/2 miles to the lake by about 7:30 pm - just as it was getting dark. Elliott did great on the trail. He rode his bike on the relatively flat places which meant fast hiking, and he walked on more steep areas while we carried his bike. He carried his own backpack with snacks, jacket, headlamp the entire trip. As i said, he wanted to go on this trip, so he never thought to complain about anything.

 Adam carried all our gear and helped motor Elliott. I carried Arlin on my front and all our food on my back :)

 On uphill trails, Adam would give Elliott a "motor" with his hiking pole.

 I kept a bored and squashed Arlin placated by slipping him a red mountain huckleberry every couple seconds. He must have eaten 100+ berries over the trip.

  Blister care...Adam was recovering from Mt. Rainier the week before.

 We made it to Packwood Lake:

 View from the eating area of our camp:

 Adam kindly set up the tent  (I was near useless as far as camp stuff went because I was holding a mobile and rambunctious Arlin) then we feasted on smoked salmon, incredible Gina Marie cream cheese in adorable packaging, and crackers.

 Best camp food. Was supposed to be our idyllic lunch picnic, but we got a late start.

 Tent doggies:

Lost Lake day hike photos coming soon....

sewing with vintage linens

A few days after we came home from California, Adam was gone for a week on a 50 mile backpack trip with the scouts. It was raining for some of that time** and I decided to take the week off from painting shiplap and use my personal time at night to sew and eat chocolate. I like the two items I made: linen zipper bag and linen tote. How do you like my shiplap wall? I love it :)

I have a collection of embroidered vintage linens, which I added to this summer from my favorite antique store in Ithaca (next to Moosewood Cafe). Here are some of the recent spoils:

I will use the "knives" and "forks" rolls to store my extra silverware. The embroidered runners will be project bags (to protect current knitting projects) for me a la Dottie Angel. I have been inspired by her beautiful project bags.

shell/ivory? belt buckles. I see these on a sweet, belted blouse for me....

Detail of the white and blue embroidery; it has a Japanese feel. I thought it could be nice to use the embroidered part as a collar on a girl's dress or a pocket detail on something for me....or both, I have 6 crescents. 

White handiwork looks stunning with natural linen backing. I could frame this.

 Elliott helped me put the "fences" back on the toddler bed to make it a crib for Arlin. Right off, Elliott showed Arlin how to use his new crib: throw out all the blankets, jump and shout. Arlin took careful notes.

I mentioned Dottie Angel...another fun personal treat was to visit her at TOLT, the new-ish yarn store in Carnation. I bought a few prizes for me which hurt Elliott's feelings. The black yarn is for my skotthufa!  

**The first night on the 50 miler, it rained. Second day, huge thunderstorm terrorized the scouts and some ill prepared leaders. Third day, all but 2 scouts and 4 leaders went home early. Sixth day, the rest of the crew came home and I heard many colorful stories. Here is a photo of the food I lovingly packed as per Adam's precise directions. 

The Enchantments part II - the fungi

Here is a photo list of the abundant, amazing, high elevation, Larch forest, Fall fruiting fungi we saw in the Enchantment Lakes area, Washington.

Some kind of Postia or Tyromyces ? The pink color caught my eye.

The same Postia/Tyromyces from below

Sarcodon scabrosum from above

Sarcodon scabrosum from below (has spines instead of gills or pores)

Clavariadelphus ligula

Hygrocybe conica

Gomphidius subroseus (gills)

Gomphidius subroseus (cap)

Phaeolus schweinitzii (from above)

Phaeolus schweinitzii (from below)

Some kind of Hydnellum....(makes me want to specialize in toothed fungi!)

The same unknown Hydnellum from below

The slime mold Hemitrichia, I love slime molds!

A cluster of Albatrellus floedii

Albatrellus floedii from below

Suillus ochraceoroseus growing with Larch at about 7,000 ft (remember this from Ice Lakes?)

Suillus ochraceoroseus (from below)

Hydnellum suaveolens

A tiny Hydnellum suaveolens :)

Tricoloma focale

Amanita muscaria! (saw about 100 on our last day)

An awesome, fuzzy, pink slime mold, Lycogola epidendrum growing on a fallen log.

I squished it and a bubble gum - like goey spore mass oozed out. Adam poked one and he thinks it sprayed him in his eye! Surprising!

It dries out to this. With a grey papery covering over a purple pastey spore mass.

Aleuria aurantia, the orange peel fungus :)

Close up of Aleuria aurantia

Sarcodon imbricatum (This was the first time I've actually seen this toothed fungus in real life but I knew immediately what it was from pictures I've memorized. It has huge scales. Some of the Sarcodons we saw were 20 inches in diameter!)

Gyromitra ambigua, or esculante?

Suillus lakeii (growing in a dry area with Douglas Fir)

whew...that's it!